September 23, 2010

Harvest MOON.

In honour of the Harvest, we went up to the Jean Talon Market. It's the best farmer's market in Montreal. Knowing there was going to be tons of fabulous colours, I brought my camera. Clicking away, I found myself salivating like a slobber-dog over all this gorgeous FOOD!

Holy Mother of Drool.

Who can resist corn on the cob?


Or tiny red and white radishes dipped in soft butter and sea salt, comme en France? With a glass of wine, c'est délicieux!


Artichokes, leaf by leaf, at the start of the meal....simply wonderful.


Asparagus, a tasty treat no matter how you pronounce it!


And those chanterelles, sizzling with fresh chopped parsely? Mouth watering.....


Uh-oh. There's the Harvest MOON.


What colour is your Harvest?

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September 15, 2010

Stealth LumberJACK.

PEOPLE!
It nearly killed me but I did it. I animated a 74 second film in two days. Complete with soundtrack an' everything.

There were 27 entries on the LumberJACK contest but one was late, so we can't count that. Sorry! So 26 entries, all great and the number drawn by my ten year old boy was number 20, Angela! A.K.A. @ang__c on Twitter! In case you don't already know, she wants the LumberJACK to make WhyIsDaddyCrying cry.



A small but IMPORTANT note of thanks goes out to @gabehabe for the poetic bit of code in the first scene.

JC: Congratulations Angela! You won the LumberJACK contest, so you get to be in the cartoon. Let's start with a a skill-testing question: How are you?


Angela: im groovy

JC: All lower case answers, huh? I like your style! Next question: Who are you and what the heck are you doing on the internet?

Angela: my name is angela and im online because it give me a break from real life sometimes and i .love reading the blogs

JC: Do you think the LumberJACK is going to be awesome?

Angela: i truly do

JC: Great. I feel no pressure whatsoever. Heheh.....*scratches nervously*. Tell me, why do you want him to make WhyIsDaddyCrying cry?

Angela: because i am truly trying to find out why he is cring there has to be more and its fun i love seeing your animations

JC: I wanna hug you! Have you ever chopped down a tree?

Angela: when i was little i helped chop down a christmas tree

JC: Christmas trees are trees so they do count! Next up on the sofa is popular daddy blogger WhyIsDaddyCrying A.K.A. @WhyIsDaddyCryin on Twitter. First, a skill-testing question: How much did you weigh when you were born?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: This is a “skill-testing question?” Seriously JC? At least make me jump on one foot while doing the wave and regurgitating chewed-up birdseed into a baby bird’s mouth while I give you my answer. Unless…unless I’m missing something? Is this a trick question?

JC: IT'S MY BLOG SO I GET TO HAVE SKILL-TESTING QUESTIONS OKAY?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: 6.8 pounds…I think. My mom didn’t answer her phone so I’m guessing.

JC: WIDC ...or should I call you ....EUSTACE!!!! SEriously dude, why did @EarlJW really stop following you?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: I was minding my own business, taking a peek at the lovely Friend or Follow website when I saw that @EarlJW stopped following me on Twitter....(JC here, folks. this part is kinda complicated so I'm interjecting. The follow / unfollow subject is a sensitive one. Lemmeeno how you feel about that, k?)…the man has a name-fetish. Beware!!

JC: You done? Good. How does it feel to be in yet another one of my little films?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: I’m absolutely shocked, giddy, nervous, elated and just a tad bit aroused. Although I should hold judgment until I see it! The last time you animated me you put a nice light-brown poop stain on the back of my jammies… So…I think out of all the adjectives, “nervous” would be at the top.

JC: Dude, that wasn't brown poop. It was yellow pee. BIG difference. You realize that the LumberJACK is gonna make you cry. Do you need another box of tissues or are you good?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: I think I can handle anything @EarlJW has to throw at me…whether he’s donning a lumberjack look or not! Bring it!!! But ummm…keep some tissues on the side if you don’t mind.

JC: Have you ever chopped down a tree?

WhyIsDaddyCrying: is this another trick question? Are you asking me if I’m a virgin? When I lived in Virginia a Category 1 hurricane came through and broke a tree in my backyard in half. So I ripped the sleeves of my best shirt, threw a bandana on my head, flipped some country music on, cracked a Budweiser and climbed up a  ladder to start cutting it down. Long story short, it took me three days to finish. Not because it was a huge tree but because I only worked when the wife was watching in the hopes she’d finally agree that I’m manly.

On the third day it fell down by itself. And I cried.

JC: He lives up to his name yet again! And now it's time to meet the star of our show...Eeeeaaaarrrrlllll Woodman! A.K.A. @earljw on Twitter! Here's your skill-testing question: Take the average age of your followers and divide that by 3.3  Add 68, 428. Then subtract 1 and multiply the whole thing by the year your favourite cousin was born.

Earl:  42.

JC: Wow, I can't believe you got that right. Gee. Second question: Is your last name REALLY Woodman...? I mean, wood as in lumber?

Earl: Yes.

JC: OK. A man of few words, eh? You may not realize this but many other onliners want what you now have: an animated alter-ego of their own. How does that make you feel?

Earl: Special.

JC:  Good. I'm glad you appreciate this. And I in return, appreciate the fact that you're actually letting me animate you. Do you think the LumberJACK looks like you?

Earl: Yes.

JC: Right answer again! Finally: Have you EVER chopped down a tree? Or are your lumberings restricted to "logging on" and "logging off"?

Earl: If Christmas trees count then yes.

JC:  Hmmmmm....folks, I want you all to notice that Earl didn't answer the second part of that question. Nevermind! Onward!


Should I do another contest like this?

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September 11, 2010

The Bad DOG.

This is not a great choice of name for a dog, I think to myself as I chase after her through the park, shouting, "Baby!! Come back!! Baby! Oh Baby, please come baaaaaaaack!!!"


Baby's been with us since she was five weeks old, rescued from a litter of puppies headed for the mill. Pretty white fluff-ball, had us all fooled.



But she's been hard work. For starters, she's smart. Too smart. And she's terrified of the front door. Intelligence + Fear = TROUBLE.


Once she bit the Post Lady on the face. The Post Lady bent down to pet her at the front door, breaking Rule No. 1 in the Mail Man's Rule Book. This made Baby a HERO in the Dog World.


And just the other day, my thirteen year old daughter came home with this one boy. Baby tried to eat him!! And who can blame her? He came through the front door!


Training? Oh she's had LOTS of training. And so have we...


Don't worry, the Post Lady was OK, and so was the boy. Despite the fact that Baby is a Bad DOG, I still love her.

Tell me about your dogs.

PS. These are life-drawn sketches. That's why they look a little different from what you usually see up here.

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September 8, 2010

TIMBER...!

It's time for a contest.

First let me introduce you to Earl Woodman, A.K.A. @EarlJW. By day, he's just a regular guy. But by night....he's a Stealth LumberJACK.

Here's a picture of him "logging off" which he says he does at least once a day.


If you wanna know what the real @EarlJW is like, just go follow him on Twitter. If you're feeling especially daring, check out his blog.

Now for the contest:
You simply have to leave a comment here, suggesting what you want to see the LumberJACK do. I'll use a random number generator (AKA my ten year old son) to draw the winner. And then I'll draw* the LumberJACK doing that thing (whatever it is).
Animation's fun right? It's kinda like having super powers!

What's the prize, I hear you thinking.....the winner gets a signed original drawing of themselves posed with the LumberJACK. Contest ends Monday night, Sept. 13th, prize awarded the following Wednesday.

*draw or animate, depending on how much free time I have.

OK folks! Finish this sentence "Dear JC, please make the LumberJACK ...."

Wanna see who won?

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September 3, 2010

TWEEN Comedy.

It's no secret that I see life as a cartoon.

Animation has owned me since Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth for 27 years. I've worked in many positions, sitting up straight, slouching, bending over backwards, and standing on my head. Then two years ago my dream came true and I got to actually direct the TV series that I had created.

There were 52 episodes, 26 promos, 9 bloopers, 4 music videos, plus the art direction for the website. And "directing" means guiding all parts of the process; casting, scripts, boards, animation, music, sound FX, timing. Everything.

I worked like a monster for two years. I was UNSTOPPABLE. It nearly killed me.

Then in February 2010, the production was complete.  But the show wasn't on TV yet so I couldn't talk about it or show it to anyone. It was like this huge chunk of my life didn't exist....until now.

So here it is folks, tween-comedy "My Life ME" trailer for Disney Channel Asia



Wait. WHAT? They disabled the embedding?!? Oh well, just watch it on YouTube.

A little FYI - My Life ME is a hybrid-manga styled show about four teens who don't always get along.  I had two co-creators who came on board to help me develop my original concept, comedy TV writer Cindy Filipenko and manga author/artist Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop's Dramacon, Yenpress' Nightschool.

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September 1, 2010

My BOOBS.

This is the story of a lifetime. The story of my boobs.

When I was a toddler, I went topless.
I was young, and unfettered by preconceived notions about boobs.


When I was teenager, I didn't want anyone to know I had boobs. I was deeply embarrassed by their existence.


But then, one morning I woke up and I was eighteen and lovely. I knew that my boobs had some kind of awesome power. People were being hypnotized by them, left, right and center.


The boob-powers went wild for a while, but eventually they settled down. When I married, my boobs seemed to swell with love.


The love in my boobs grew even more with pregnancy.


And when my babies were born, I discovered that bras went all the way up to H.


But then, my babies sucked away my boobs! This was actually cool, because people would finally look at my face when I spoke. My professional life flourished.



These days, thanks to she-who-shall-not-be-named MENOPAUSE, my boobs are up and down. I had a little scare a couple years ago, but everything turned out ok....anyways, I try to take care of them and check them every now and again. My husband helps me with that sometimes.



I wonder what the future holds for my boobs...


Tell me about your boobs.

You have the opportunity to make someone else smile by sharing.