Sometimes I can`t think of anything to write in these pages and sometimes there is too much going on and not enough time to write about all the things going on. This is one those times. I will label these photos later this week when I recover from Friday and Saturday.


























The clean up and sort at the old animation center went very well. A big thank you to all the volunteers that came out and help. Paul Abramson, David Gustafson, Edwin Austin, Jason Jones, Raven Loc, Tobias Loc, Michael (someone) and that weird guy in the hat.











  ¶ 9:44 AM

  Laguna College of Art & Design students take a little time out from killer end of semester deadline to listen to Aki Umemeoto talk about animation jobs outside TV and Feature animation.



Christina Yeung gets a few much need seconds of shuteye before the program starts



Aki Umemoto Creative Director for Mattel for 25 years, currently creative Director for Base Station, an industral film production company, talks about the other 80% of animation outside of film and TV







More details later:  ¶ 5:15 AM

  Call All ASIFA Volunteers

There is a Archives Move scheduled for this Saturday, April 29th at 721 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank (the old animation center) starting at 9 AM.

We are going to be cleaning and sorting and breaking down office furniture and basically closing the old animation center so that we no longer have to pay rent on it.

There will be no heavy lifting or real moving of stuff from site to site. We are just getting the stuff sorted and ready for the movers.

Bring gloves, bring tools, bring cleaning supplies, bring yourself. Help out ASIFA and meet other volunteers.  ¶ 10:11 PM

  This and That from Here and There:

The April ASIFA-Hollywood Volunteer`s Meeting took place last night at Woodbury University with 10 of our hardcore volunteers in attendance.(thank you Dori and Mary for letting up use your campus)

There is an archive move scheduled for this Saturday morning (April 29th) at the old ASIFA Animation Center, 721 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank at 9 AM running to about 2 PM. It is not really a move so much as a sort and box and break down. We are getting ready for the movers to grab the items and get us out of the old site. Bring your tools, bring you gloves, and come on out and help us close down the Victory Blvd. site.

The reason we need to get done by 2 PM is Jerry Beck`s AFI screening of Tunes for Toons. This looks and sounds like a great one and I am not going to miss it.

Saturday April 29th, 2006 - 3:00pm
American Film Institute
Steven Ross Screening Room (Warner Bros. Building)
2021 N. Western Ave.
Hollywood, CA

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD members admitted FREE / Non-Members Admission: $10.00



This just scheduled:

ASIFA-Hollywood Volunteer Meeting (South)
May 17th - 7 PM
Laguna College of Art & Design
Room 12

I am an Orange County guy in my residence if not my politics. One of the things I get asked all the time by all the other Southys is why are all the ASIFA events in Hollywood and Burbank?

Okay, it is ASIFA-Hollywood. But we do have a lot of members up and down the left coast. We even have a member in Texas. So with San Diego Comic Con coming up I felt it would be a good idea to get together with the ASIFA members who live in San Diego and Orange counties. These would seem to be the people best situated to work this event. And I need all the help I can get.

So if you are an ASIFA member who lives in a southern zip code this meeting is for you. And with the price of gas as darn Bush hight as it is it will be nice not to have to spend a couple of hours on the 5 freeway. If this works out I might just schedule a few more of these meetings-south in the future. More info to follow.  ¶ 8:45 AM

  ASIFA Volunteers on the Move:

ASIFA Volunteers Meeting (tonight)
Wednesday, April 26th
7PM
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91510-7846
Room M104
FREE PARKING

(See details below)

This coming Saturday Morning is the Victory Street Move. We need your help packing boxes and sorting animation artifacts. Come on out to the volunteer meeting tonight and help plan this move.

Planning for the upcoming San Diego Comic Con will also be discussed in great detail. As will a number of other volunteer opportunities . Come on out and be an active part of ASIFA-Hollywood. Be part of animation history past, present and future.


  ¶ 6:58 AM

  A couple of months ago I gave you a heads up on the Nicktoons Animation Festival. It is submission time. So get your shorts out.

  ¶ 5:17 AM

  ASIFA Volunteers Meeting
Wednesday, April 26th
7PM
Woodbury University
7500 Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91510-7846
Room M104
(FREE PARKING)

We will be meeting at a different building and room this month (only) because of a review that is taking place in the design center.

We have a lot of things to cover this month.
Plans for Comic Con
Upcoming Archives Move (Morning of April 29th)
Plans to hold an ASIFA Volunteer Meeting in Orange County in May
Animation Rescue Team

On Campus Directions to this Month`s Meeting Site:

When you enter campus, you will still park in the big parking lot. The building you are going to is on the right side of the parking lot facing the central quad. It is the second building from the entrance, called Miller Hall.

M104 is on the ground floor (you go down a few steps to get there) and on the side of the hall facing the quad.

Here's a campus map. You want building 3. PARKING IS FREE


Park in P1 meeting is in building 3 ground floor (click for larger image)  ¶ 7:19 AM

  Archive: Mexican Lobby Card Fiesta Here's another reminder to stop by the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive to see our exhibit of Mexican Lobby Cards. The images that we have posted in the Animation Archive blog just scratch the surface of this wonderful collection.



Media: Mexican Lobby Card Fiesta

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive  ¶ 12:20 PM

 

Update on Gerry Giovinco, AKA Captain Visual and it even deals with animation. Seems the man who started Comico Comics is now a professional clown and a world authority on balloon sculpting with a number of books on the subject to his credit. His web site is here www.captainvisual.com and an animation trailer of a film he is working on called Captain Visual`s Intergallactic Circus is here http://www.captainvisual.com/circus.htm.  ¶ 7:21 AM

 
Gerry is the guy on the right in orange

I just got a blast from the past. I got an email from Gerry Giovinco, the man that put Comico on the map. I first met Gerry working on Bob Schreck`s 1980 independent film The Incredible Hulk Meets the Ever Lovin` Blue Eyed Thing.

Bob, who is now a senior editor at DC comics, in those days was the bouncer at the Creation Comics Con. When Bob wanted to do a movie he got in touch with all of the people that had done cool costumes at Creation. Since I was doing slasher flicks and rubber suits at that time I was in that number.

We took over a bar on Long Island for 2 days and we filmed this movie that still holds up well today. Don`t look for it in the Internet Movie Data Base, none of my film work during this time made it to IMDB. I have a very dark VHS print of it and if you get me drunk sometime I might show it to you?

About a year later I got a letter from Gerry asking me to contribute to a new comic company he was putting together. I was doing Photo Comics with stop motion models at the time, and kick myself, I never sent him anything thinking that this was just another self published one shot. If I had only sent him something I would still be on the Right Coast starving in comics and covered in snow for 6 months out of the year.

Gerry, a high school friend of his, and the friends brother who was a dentist or accountant and owned a building and was looking for a tax write off, started Comico, but it was Gerry`s baby.

Gerry didn`t know from tax write offs, this was comics, this was what he wanted to do and do it he did. He got Mage, and Panda Kon, and Evangelina (bounty killer Nun in a leather habbit set in the future), Robotech, and Concrete. He built it up into the number 3 comic publisher in the country.

That is when the trouble really started. If the comic company was not a tax write off and was going to show a major profit then we can`t let some kid run it just because he built it. They took the company away from Gerry and gave it into the keeping of more mature looking people that Gerry had brought in to help him run the place.

The last time I saw Gerry I was on the East Coast visiting Chris Kalnick and we went in to Comico. I looked around and couldn`t find Gerry anywhere. I even asked and got a non answer. So I talked to other friends and stocked up on free sample comics.

Then when I was on my way out I ran into Gerry. I started talking to him. Just passing the time. Maybe 45 seconds in to the how are you doing? and the people that he had hired to help him run his company, who where now the bosses of the company he had created, came down on him like a ton of bricks like he was some dumb office boy off the street.

They soon turned Comico right back into the tax write off it was meant to be but both moved on and are still working in the field today. Gerry, I don`t know what happened to Gerry. I am waiting for a return email. This was the first time I saw this kind of dumb headed business planning. But it wasn`t the last time. And every time I see it I think of Gerry.  ¶ 7:51 PM

  Volunteer Call: Saturday Volunteer Days In May The Board of Directors of ASIFA-Hollywood have authorized the Animation Archive to open on Saturdays for volunteers who want to help process the backlog of material waiting to be formatted for induction into the archive database. We are looking for volunteers to help out in two areas:

PHOTOSHOP: Scanning and formatting of images to the various sizes and formats required. Basic Macintosh and Photoshop skills are required.

VIDEO: Capturing, editing and formatting of video using Final Cut Pro, iDVD, and other video software. Basic experience with working with video on the Macintosh required.

If you only have basic computer skills, we are willing to train you to use the software if you commit to several shifts over the next two months.

If you would like to help, you need to sign up for a shift, so we will know to have work ready for you when you arrive. There are two shifts available... afternoon (from 1:30pm to 5:30pm) and evening (from 5pm to 9pm). We have two computers devoted to Photoshop, and one devoted to video. You can sign up for two shifts in a row, and spend the whole day with a dinner break at 5 if you wish. Here is the weekly schedule of shifts...



You MUST reserve your shift if you plan to volunteer. To reserve a shift, see the calendar pages for the Saturdays in May...

Saturday, May 6th
Saturday, May 13th
Saturday, May 20th
Saturday, May 27th

Thank you for your support!
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive  ¶ 6:01 PM