Saturday, March 24, 2012

Bill Plympton

The multi-oscar-nominated independent animator, cartoonist, and illustrator showed some of his projects last night.

Summer Bummer - the imagined horrors of a summer predator are too funny to seem real - or are they?

The Flying House - this is actually the work of an early pioneer of animation, Wilson McCay, and it was his last animated feature in 1921. Plympton took it upon himself to restore this film, add color and music and voices and released it using Kickstarter to fund the entire project. Impressive animation from the man who also did Gertie the Dinosaur and The Sinking of the Lusitania but it sounds like William Randolph Hearst was not impressed with McCay's animation attempts and put pressure on him to stop making them to the point that McCay did just that. If this story is true, then is that the second filmmaker's career that Hearst has intervened in and seriously impacted?

TMZ - a music video for Weird Al Yankovic. A funny look at the paparazzi.

Waiting for her Sailor. Do not blink. Ever.

The Cow Who Wanted To Be a Hamburger. Short-listed for the oscars in 2011. I've seen this one a few times but the story of how Plympton came up with the idea for this short while driving through Oregon, honking his car horn at the grazing cattle, and realizing they could care less about his horn, or his car, just the grass at their feet.

A special world premiere of a pilot episode - Tiffany The Whale - a super model, who is a whale? Voiced by two improv actresses, this follows the typical quirky humor of most of Plympton's work, and has a great ending. But a TV series? Might be a tough sell.

Also received a special hand drawn version of the cow afterwards.

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