Commentary 04 Sep 2008 07:50 am
Melendez, Engel and Palin
Bill Melendez
- I was truly saddened to learn of Bill Melendez’ death via Cartoon Brew. I’ll have to collect my thoughts on this one, having just heard the news, and write a later piece.
Tom Sito also wrote a nice piece on his site worth reading.
Jules Engel
– There’s a new (to me) site set up for the appreciation of Jules Engel‘s work. There you can find a film by Janeann Dill Elegy for Jules which is just that, an abstract elegy. The site also includes a guestbook for others to leave memories or comments about Jules.
There is also a Facebook page for Jules Engel that’s worth viewing. On Saturday, September 13th, the fifth anniversary of Jules’ death, they are celebrating with a host of stories and writings about Jules on the Facebook page. “Everyone is invited to participate. Add a new discussion thread, or post drawings or animations or photos or video tales to share with those who knew him and with those who did not.”
- Here’s Janeann Dill‘s interview with Engel.
- Cartoon Modern displays some color designs Engel did for Magoo’s 1001 Arabian Nights, the Alvin Show, Gerald McBoing Boing and others. Worth the visit. The photo of Engel, to the right, is from Cartoon Modern.
- Asifa Hollywood’s Animation Archive posts some color keys for the Alvin Show by Engel.
- This is the Artsconversation page for Jules Engel including QT interviews and some of his artwork.
- For more information, here is a biographical page including chronology on Sullivangoss.com.
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Raw Meat
- It’s quite hard not commenting on the ridiculous firestorm that’s arisen over this Vice Presidential pick of John McCain. The past few days have been filled with sexist photos, wacky stories and endless ravings of the psychotic fringe end of the Republican parties. Honorable good ol’ gals like Christie Todd Whitman and Olympia Stowe were pushed out of the way for the sexy, anti-abortion, hunter of the Alaskan north and comments about her. The stories have filled the airwaves and the emails to the point of exhaustion.
Watching her read the speech written for her by Matthew Scully (who also wrote Dan Quayle’s acceptance speech) was disconcerting. She hit an in-the-park homerun for the meat-eaters at the convention. The first ten minutes of the speech introduced her family; the next fifteen were given to attacking Obama. Since the bar was set so low for her, the fact that she could read was enough to get her to third base. The speech used humor, and Sarah Palin delivered the barbs well. Of course, no mention was made of what she or her running mate would do for the populace.
An interesting side note to the speech. According to the NYTimes, Matthew Scully, the speech writer, wrote the text on the teleprompter helpfully spelling the word “nuclear†phonetically — as “new-clear.â€
I’m waiting to see her on the stump when there are no speech writers around and no John McCain stealing the screen as he wobbles behind her, impatiently waiting for her to finish so he can pander down to her.
By the way, what’s with this Republican Party? Are they all white, fat and over 60? That’s how it looks on tv. Tonight the “BIG” speech is scheduled, but we’ve all seen McCain give speeches in his angry intemperate way. I expect more of the same, but we’ll see. Hopefully, he’ll have some help.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 12:32 pm 1.Ashton said …
How old are you? Didn’t you know that everyone has a speech writer? That’s why Barack Obama sounds so good too. I’m waiting to see her on the stump when there are no speech writers too. I think she will do great. By the way I think you’re very immature by some of the things you are saying like “By the way, what’s with this Republican Party? Are they all white, fat and over 60?†If you are trying to bring more people to your website, I don’t think insulting some of your visitors that may well be Republican is the way to go. It’s to bad people get so mad and mean towards others because of what party they belong to.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 12:58 pm 2.Tim Rauch said …
I thought she did a “good job” (as in, I bet a lot of people enjoyed the speech, it was classic Red Meat) but I share a lot of your misgivings about the whole thing. I’ve been a bit turned off lately by the increasingly nasty nature of the campaign, coming from BOTH sides, but I fear Republicans In Power (RIP) more than dem Dems.
Oh, and an animation blog is a fine place for political commentary. It’s too bad there isn’t a larger part of the animation community that debates more than “2d vs. 3d”
on 04 Sep 2008 at 1:44 pm 3.Thad said …
Sarah Palin is just the cheap trick of a senile old man who thinks he can win over more voters by using an attractive woman as his running mate. McCain obviously feels women are incapable of reaching a decision themselves.
And she’s a horrible person herself, parading her down syndrome baby to gain sympathy from the voters (then demanding that the press keep out of her personal life). It’s disgusting and shameful.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 2:09 pm 4.Paul Spector said …
I would have felt a bit better if she’d used Hunter S. Thompson’s old line: “I never kill more than I can eat.”
on 04 Sep 2008 at 3:11 pm 5.John said …
Doesn’t matter if it’s Barack Obama or Sarah Palin. If you’re new on the political scene and you and your allies don’t make an all-out effort to define yourself, the other side will do it for you, and in the most negative light possible.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 3:14 pm 6.Michael said …
Ashton, I’m old enough to remember Ted Sorenson’s brilliant speeches for JFK. I wrote that the speech was written to remind people that these weren’t the thoughts of the candidate. Perhaps she’s not as cynical and nasty as her speech. My comment about the “Republican Party” should have been written more clearly. I was just commenting about the “pink faces” that filled that convention hall this week. I know that not all Republicans are “fat, white and over 60″.
As for writing my thoughts, I intend to continue doing it. Politics is my obsession, now, and this is my blog. If you’re upset by hearing the other POV, protect yourself and don’t come back until after the election.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 3:51 pm 7.Jenny Lerew said …
I didn’t see her speech, only heard it on the radio while in my car.
I hadn’t heard her speak before, but I heard her manner as OTT snide, superficially insulting to not just the “other side” but to those who believe in a message that’s not from the far right.
I really don’t care what she(or her writer)think of Obama. I don’t even care what she thinks of John McCain. I would be interested in a positive message about where she’d want to take our country. Her delivery was a huge turn off, so much so that I surmised the speech must come off better when you can match a face to the voice. The pundits this morning seem to be bending over backward to say what ‘fantastic” job she did. Boy, I sure didn’t get that.
Michael-it’s interesting what a breadth of visitors you must have here; I’d have thought everyone would at least know you’re an animator with several decades of studio ownership and work under your belt. Oh well!
Personally, as someone who doesn’t broach politics (or indeed much of a personal nature) on my blog, I’m happy to get the fresh-tasting evidence of non-cartoon life I read here. Please keep it up!
on 04 Sep 2008 at 5:41 pm 8.Jason said …
I needed sunglasses to look at that crowd. Whitest RNC in 20 years! LOL!
on 04 Sep 2008 at 6:17 pm 9.Thad said …
I know that not all Republicans are “fat, white and over 60″.
Yep. They’re also white people who are just parroting their parents views, and have probably never met anyone who was gay, Hispanic, on welfare, or didn’t go to a private preppy school. Anyone voting Republican this November should be stripped of their civil rights.
on 04 Sep 2008 at 9:10 pm 10.Tom Minton said …
Sarah Palin is also just a tad shorter than John McCain. Don’t think for a second that it doesn’t matter to him.
on 05 Sep 2008 at 3:02 am 11.DanO said …
Reading just a sliver of the posts in here reaffirms the well earned moniker of “the angry left”. Whining, squealing, and attacking without abandon against anyone who dares to think differently than them. The first poster is couldn’t be more correct – the earmark of an idiot is one who criticizes a politician for having a speech writer. ALL POLITICIANS have speechwriters.
Maybe the lot of you haven’t heard of David Axelrod. I’m left to assume you haven’t, and in not knowing that you prove yourself to be woefully ignorant of the facts about the candidates.
Mr. Avelrod writes every speech for Barack Obama. Some say Obama won’t even order a Big Mac without Axelrod to pen his address. With Obama turning down numerous town hall meetings with McCain and his piss poor showing on tv answering candid questions at that super church, I’m inclined to believe the rumor.
Its funny that I’m supposed to think less of Palin because her speech writer wrote for Dan Quayle when Mr. Axelrod was was the scribe behind many many addresses by none other than John “love baby” Edwards and Eliiot Spitzer(whom I guess we could probably also call “love baby”). The only thing matching the blind anger in here is the pathetic lack of knowledge. But thanks for posting the picture of Mrs. Palin hunting an elk in Alaska. It truly makes me like her more(and makes me hungry).
But listen, I also would much rather see discussions of 2D versus 3D. As much as you virulently disagree with me John, in that discussion I would be on your side and I would enjoy that.
on 05 Sep 2008 at 7:55 am 12.Michael said …
Dan-O, Get YOUR facts straight. David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s campaign manager not speech writer. Obama writes 2/3 of every key speech (he wrote about 1/2 of the speech last Thursday); he works primarily with John Fabrow and with a group of others beyond that.
I didn’t say anything negative about Matt Scully. He’s a good writer and his claim to fame was a good speech written for Dan Quayle (who delivered it poorly.) If you took that as a negative, that’s your problem. He’s written fine speeches for Bush as well. I said nothing negative, either, about Sarah Palin. I don’t have to. Either she’ll do that on her own or not. You read what you wanted to read.
In fact, if you wanted to hear angry and/or negative all you had to do was tune into ANY of the speeches at the Republican convention on Wednesday night. From Mr. Romney (who surely must still be living in the ’80s) to Giuliani to Sarah Palin. The aftertaste of that night was difficult to get past; it was so filled with rancor and acidity.
Finally, yes, I am part of the ANGRY left. Angry at the way we’ve been manhandled by the Republicans these past eight years. As Obama said: ENOUGH!
on 06 Sep 2008 at 4:59 am 13.DanO said …
Whoa – excuse me, but whomever told you that Obama writes the majority of his speeches is selling you something. He’s selling you a fantasy. Any tertiary investigation into any politician who has run for president will reveal to you that the process of campaigning fills so many hours that there is NO way that a candidate gets to pen their own speeches. I think you are getting into more of the deifying of “the One”. Also, no one from the McCain camp has ever confirmed that Scully wrote Palin’s entire speech. It has been the Obama camp that has alleged that. With all of the other attacks that have squeaked out of their headquarters, I wouldn’t invest in it. Likely the wre were many people who worked on her speech as there are many who work on Obama’s.
Now, you can categorize yourself proudly as the angry left.
…but you realize that you might be cutting your nose off to spite your face with that. This is a blog that people tune into to read what you have to say about animation. I am one of the many who feel that we have fallen on dire times with the grotesque CGI puppetry that persists and the dying art of traditional animation. There is a huge audience out there that is invested in what you have to say. But you always take the time to inject politics into the mix.
Now, you’re more than allowed to do that, but as the old saying goes; as soon as you add politics you alienate half of your audience.
I think thats a shame. That your anger is more important than the role you fill for the animation community. Maybe you only care about animators who share the same political beliefs as you do, but i find that hard to believe. I’m sure there are plenty of people you know and are friends with who don’t see eye to eye with you politically. As with them, animators only get half of the insight and brilliance this blog could convey when half of the effort put into it is wasted on the intrinsically divisive subject of politics. I don’t mind the left. I don’t mind liberal views. I can even get a few beers in me and end up agreeing with my friends who are very very left wing.
But I never understand the angry invective. Its a waste.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 7:44 am 14.Michael said …
As I’ve said in the past, this is my blog, and it’s all about my opinion. If you don’t want it, don’t read it. Just, kindly, don’t lecture me on having an opinion.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 5:38 pm 15.Thad said …
Suggestion: block comments from DanO.
Keep it up, Michael. Not only are you a practitioner of good taste, but you’re also one of freedom too.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 5:51 pm 16.DanO said …
I won’t lecture you. Sorry if I did.
…but I reserve the right to gloat when John McCain wins the election.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 6:17 pm 17.Michael said …
Thad, I have no reason to block DanO. He’s entitled to his opinion, and I’m glad he’s happy with the peculiar ticket he has running for his party. I’m, of course, ecstatic over my candidates and hope they will be able to correct the incredible mess left behind. Though I doubt it can only be done in four years.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 6:45 pm 18.Sasha said …
I’m stoned that we are such a sick nation! Declaring war to Osama and Hussein and considering for the Commander in Chef of the United States, well Obama Hussein? Oh by the way, the first Muslim faith candidate. This is not only apathetic, but ignorant, too. Enough being a “laughing stock” around the world and having a “Stupid American” image. It’s like overwhelmingly considered for nomination Rudolf Hitler, when we fought against Adolf Hitler.
We are not selecting an “American Idol”!
on 06 Sep 2008 at 6:55 pm 19.Michael said …
Obama is a Christian and was never a Muslim. He has said it more than enough times, and the right has attempted to tie his Christian Rev. Wright around his neck. Yet, people like you still throw “Muslim” at him (as if that were bad.) The only one who seems to have won “American Idol” is Sarah Palin.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 8:56 pm 20.Saha said …
Obama is a fraud, a liar and far more dangerous to this country then even Bush.
Does Obama really had a good and better judgment? Why was he part of the church in Chicago and close to his pastor for 20 years. Did not recognize that he knew about his pastor’s comments first and then change his position. And finally separated himself from the pastor when his rate in the polls were going down because the pastor said that he was a regular politician.
The huge coincidence that OBAMA rhymes with OSAMA and Biden with Bin Laden?? OBAMA
BIDEN LADEN ohh gee what a huge insulting. Perhaps, God is laughing at us?…
on 06 Sep 2008 at 9:12 pm 21.Michael said …
Sasha (aka Alex – whose comment was eliminated): Since you’ve lied in trying to spread ridiculous propaganda, I won’t post any more of your comments. Though you talk about his “pastor”, you chose to call him a “Muslim.” Ignorance is bliss. Sorry, to quote Obama, “You can’t just make stuff up.”
on 06 Sep 2008 at 10:37 pm 22.Jenny said …
“The huge coincidence that OBAMA rhymes with OSAMA and Biden with Bin Laden?? OBAMAeither “side” of a political spectrum debate is only worth a toss as long as the discourse is civil and respects basic dignity. I know so-called liberals as well as so-called right-wingers can be equally unbearable, but Michael has not only been thoughtful, he’s been amazingly courtly in his responses to some really insulting nonsense. I’ll take that as the very good example it is. Thanks, Michael.
on 06 Sep 2008 at 10:39 pm 23.Jenny said …
Whoops! My comment got all garbled and truncated. I quoted the italics above and afterwards added: “this would be hilarious if it were written for The Daily Show”. ”
Yikes!
on 07 Sep 2008 at 1:25 am 24.Hans Perk said …
Saying someone is incapable of being the best man for the job because his name rhymes with the name of someone else is the most ridiculously nonsensical thing I have ever heard! Close second would be a stand-up sales-person gathering admiration and votes because this person murdered a big mammal with a big gun. I seem to remember times when all this political stuff was about the candidates’ and party’s issues and viewpoints… Good thing I am staying out of this debate!
on 17 Mar 2012 at 11:40 pm 25.kids Snuggies said …
There are certainly a lot of details like that to take into consideration. That is a great point to bring up. I offer the thoughts above as general inspiration but clearly there are questions like the one you bring up where the most important thing will be working in honest good faith. I don?t know if best practices have emerged around things like that, but I am sure that your job is clearly identified as a fair game. Both boys and girls feel the impact of just a moment’s pleasure, for the rest of their lives.