Jacob in Print, Batman in Jersey, Frylock in My Yard

I did an email interview last Monday for a small Spotlight piece that runs in a bunch of newspapers around the area. April Helms did the interviewing (I did the answering, of course) and not being a fan of talking on the phone, I quite liked the email-based method. I met April last year as she did a story on the premier of Batman and Losers. None of the papers are available in my neck of the woods, but April was kind enough to send a copy my way, I'm looking forward to checking it out. It actually ran on April Fool's Day. Oddly fitting for this goofball, no?

I got an email back in January from Jay Wulff. He told me he's hosting the Kevin Smith Fan Fest and asked for a DVD so they could screen Batman, so I sent him the nearest handy DVD with the cartoons on it. He sent me a note tonight to remind me that the fest is next Saturday, April 14th. Looking at the lineup, I was surprised to see that not only are they showing Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face, but also Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution and Tootsie Blow Pop.
Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it out for the fest, but if you're in the Franklin, New Jersey area, swing by, support the event, and have some fun!

In similar news, Larry was contacted a couple weeks ago and told that they want a screener of Batman for the 16th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival (November 8th-18th). How awesome is that?

I'm working hard on The Girl and the Ghost these days. We haven't even recorded voice work yet, but there's still plenty for me to do before that. It's coming along slowly, but I'm loving the look more and more.

Once again, the weather's going from 70s to snow this weekend, but it was enjoyable while it lasted. One odd thing happened during the warm spell. While outside, I noticed our rake bears an uncanny resemblance to Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. What do you think?

A Call to Digg

Okay, another small update. As of yesterday, the absolute best looking version of Sex Love and Honey is at iFilm.com. Right here, as a matter of fact:

http://www.ifilm.com/video/2828188

Now that that's settled, I'm a-callin' for your help. Do you like the films the Bullcrank crew and I make? Do you want to help get them seen? Do you like the smell of the air after a fresh summer rain?

If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions (or even if you answered "no", I don't discriminate), then here's what you have to do.

Step 1:
Click the link- http://www.ifilm.com/video/2828188

Step 2:
To the right of the video, click "Digg this video"

Step 2.5:
If you're not a Digg member, click "Join now", it's quick, easy, and completely painless. Plus it's a one time only thing.

Step 3:
Rejoice in having helped the hard work of some strapping young lads (and lasses) get their work seen by a much larger audience.

Step 4:
Repeat steps 1-3 (excluding 2.5) with the following links.

The Eyeball Papercuts
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2665456

Zombies in My Neighborhood
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2677439

Nintendo:OldSchool Revolution
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2686716

Tootsie Blow Pop
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2725691

Real Men of the Mat
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2715529

Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2766332

The Losers Have a Junkyard
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2766330

The Common Truth
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2821146

Harvey Daggit and the Devil's Olives
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2822444

Security
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2821139

Kira's Office
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2821144

Man on the Street Interviews
http://www.ifilm.com/video/2821149

There. Doesn't that feel better? There's some new project news on the way, so stay tuned.

Losers and Monkeys and Bats. Oh My.

After one week on iFilm, the films are doing pretty well. The Losers Have a Junkyard has chalked up 18,471 views so far at the moment I'm typing this, while Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face has been viewed 8,833 times and is currently the #1 most viewed animation in the past 7 days. A cool little bonus is that still hanging in at #3 is Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution, which is currently up to a total of 411,171 views. Thanks to everyone who's been watching!

I think Revolution spoiled me. In its first week online, it racked up over 200,000 views. I've been finding myself disappointed with Batman's numbers, thinking "Okay...only 8,000? What's the problem here?" Then I remind myself that a year ago I would have freaked at the thought of eight hundred people seeing my work would have freaked me out. No matter what the numbers, I'm extremely proud of Batman.

Another cool note, Batman and Losers are both officially listed on the Internet Movie Database! You can view the pages here and here.

I'm still plugging away at that script of mine. It's taking longer than I'd have liked, but I'd rather take a bit longer and get it right as opposed to rushing it at the cost of quality. Wow, with all this talk, this thing better not suck.

I watched Sin City again tonight and it's got me feeling the creative flow, not only because it's an awesome movie that was amazingly executed, but because, cheesy as it might sound, Robert Rodriguez inspires me.
I mean, the guy started out by basically being a guinea pig at a drug testing facility to make enough money to shoot his first feature. He worked his way up to where he is now because he loves doing what he does.
He's such a hands-on filmmaker, doing everything he can do himself to keep the films as close to his vision as possible. That's how I want to do things. It'd be torture for me to film a whole movie and then just pass it off to somebody else to edit.
His movies just get me pumped to make movies. Can you tell?

I'll end this post with something I have recently finished, the second installment of Ask the Reading Monkey! Enjoy!

Lappy's On Life Support

My laptop's been acting funny for about a week and a half. It was making a strange grinding sound and running really slowly. On Monday night, she gave out and wouldn't start up again.

Seeing if anything could be done, I headed out to the Apple Store yesterday. In a nice change from the norm, I got helped way before my scheduled appointment.
When I mentioned the grinding sound, I couldn't hold back the laughter when the guy actually whipped out and used a stethoscope to listen.

Long story short, my hard drive is shot and I'm now running my system from an external drive. After four long, good years, my lappy's on crutches.

In more cheerful news, Batman's doing great at iFilm! They featured it on their main page today and it's currently been viewed 3,500 times!
Losers is cleaning up too! After being featured yesterday, it's up to 12,300 views!

Keep spreading the word!

Film News

Okay, for anyone who had trouble with the films before, the wait is over. Bullcrank.com has been revamped and the video issues have been resolved. So go check it out!

Also...

As of a few hours ago, Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and The Losers Have a Junkyard are online at iFilm!

To see Batman, click here:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2766332

To see Losers, click here:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2766330

Enjoy and spread the word!

The Big 2-4 and Other Tidbits

It's now the early hours of my birthday. Some time around 4:30 AM, I'll officially be 24. Mom and I are leaving in the morning and heading up to Niagara Falls for a few days, that'll be a nice little getaway.

I've still been keeping myself busy and creative. The script is moving along slowly, but I really do love how nicely it's coming together.
Jeff and I got together tonight and shot the 2nd episode of Ask the Reading Monkey. I'll cut that together and get it online after I get back from the Falls.

iFilm said Batman and Losers would go online on Monday. As in last Monday. It's been a week, but no films yet.
If you're waiting for them, I suggest you go and check out the shorts at How it Should Have Ended in the meantime. These guys are great, you'll see.

Well, if I don't post again before I leave, I'll be back Thursday. Y'all be good now.

The Addiction Continues

And now I'm hooked on the video blog chronicles of LUCYinLA, a Texas girl trying to make it as an actress in Hollywood.

How did this happen? I'm not reality TV guy, this is basically the same thing (minus the oh so realistic premises reality shows have). Okay, I'm not a total reality naysayer, I'm one of the millions sucked in by American Idol and I thoroughly enjoyed the second season of Road Rules back in the old days. Timmy and Christian were great. Anyone that remembers "high elbows", give yourself 100 points.

But yes, I'm hooked. I may try my hand at making one soon.

The buzz on the interweb is that Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and The Losers Have a Junkyard should be up on iFilm tomorrow.
In the meantime, take a look at the hilarious behind the scenes footage from the set of Losers, featuring Lloyd Kaufman. There's some heavy (but funny) language ahead, you've been warned. Enjoy!

Films Are Online!

Ladies and gentlemen, without any further delay, I'm proud to announce that Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and The Losers Have a Junkyard are now online!
Go! Watch! Enjoy!
Oh, and just as a heads up, there's a little bit of strong language. So those of you who aren't into that, consider yourselves warned.

The Premier

Wow. What a day.

I don't even know where to begin.

Nervous energy prevented me from getting much sleep last night, so I'm running on fumes as I type this.

We got to Classic Fairways fairly easily, only making one wrong turn along the way. As soon as I got there, the meeting and greeting began. I said hello to everyone in Larry's group I had met before as well as those I hadn't, which was a bit odd, I've seen their films so many times I wasn't 100% sure whether or not I had met a few of them.

The place itself was really nice. Lots of space, really clean, big couches, a bar, and a bunch of enormous projection screens all around.

Shortly after 6 PM, the show began. Larry said a few words and The Losers Have a Junkyard started playing on all the screens.
The hard work put into Losers wasn't hard to see, Larry and his crew should be proud of themselves. The atmosphere, the music, every bit of it made for a really cool and fun short film.

Next up was Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. Larry started to introduce it, I could hear him on the microphone, but I couldn't see him. I leaned over and whispered to Mom, "Where is he?"
She responded by pointing, behind me. I spun around and he was right there. Before I knew it, I had the mic and I was rambling off my thoughts on the cartoon. Considering I hate public speaking, I think I did alright on the mic, except I didn't have time to position myself, so I sort of had my back to most of the audience. Ah well, let's just say it was an artist's eccentricity.
After a brief hunt for the remote control, Batman began on the screens.
That was a very surreal moment. The project created entirely on my little 13" laptop was now being projected onto giant screens in every direction in front of over 100 people. And the people were loving it. They were laughing at all the right places, some even had tears in their eyes from laughing. The laughter was followed by applause, which was interrupted by the last joke during the credits, which was followed by more applause.
That was such a rush and absolutely worth all of the work.

The cast of Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face

After that, Larry had all of the other films playing. Zombies in My Neighborhood, Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution, Real Men of the Mat, The Eyeball Papercuts, and Tootsie Blow Pop along with some behind the scenes stuff and deleted clips.

Another surreal moment was watching the Johnny McCocky skit from Eyeball Papercuts with Andy Larsen, Johnny McCocky himself, standing 5 feet away.

In the hour or so following Batman, I said "Thank you" more than I ever have before. People kept congratulating me and saying how much they enjoyed the cartoon. What really caught me off guard was when people would introduce themselves as fans of my work.

I really don't even feel like I've done that much yet. I haven't even been doing this for a full year yet and I have fans? Cool!

Surrounding me from left to right- Allan Derby, Aaron Longstreth, Larry Longstreth, Clint George, and Vince Bruno

What a crazy and awesome day. I want to thank Larry again for bringing me into all of this wonderful madness. I also want to that everyone who came out to support us and see what we've been working on, I hope you all enjoyed myself.

The films should be online sometime tomorrow.

Now I'm gonna go kick back and relax.

PS- Sorry about the dark pictures, I'm looking into getting a new camera.

Pre-Show

Well, it's now the wee hours of Sunday morning. The big premier with Batman and Losers is tonight. About 12 hours from now.

When I started my work on Revolution back in late September, I never would have expected I'd have animated three short films and be having a premier in under a year. Sure, it's no Hollywood red carpet thing, but people will be coming to sit down and watch something I worked on and helped bring to life along with my new friends. Not many people can say they've had that experience.

I can't thank Larry enough for letting me get in on the game with his team.

I'm a big mix of nerves and excitement right now. This is too cool.

I better go rest up. I'll be sure to update on how things went when I get home tonight.

Premier Date!

Well, it's official. Sunday, August 13th is the official premier date for Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face and The Losers Have a Junkyard!
We're having an actual premier screening of both down in Stow and then both films should be available online later that evening.
If you'd like to attend the premier screening, contact me for details. There's an email link in my profile on the right side of the page.
Hope to see you there!

Batman News and Other Updates

Hey gang, got some cool news! Last Thursday, I saw the finished version of Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face. I'm gonna be honest and I hope I don't sound too cocky, but this is going to blow Revolution out of the water. I'm extremely proud of how it turned out and I'm hoping everyone else enjoys it too.
Larry's talking about doing a premier for Batman and his new short film, The Losers Have a Junkyard. There aren't any details on the premier yet, but for now, you can view new trailers for both films over at Bullcrank.com

I also have to mention that late Friday night, Nintendo: OldSchool Revolution passed 400,000 views at iFilm and it's still going strong! It's like the little cartoon that could.

So, I've now been done animating Batman for almost two weeks. I'm definitely enjoying the break, but I'll admit, it's pretty weird not having a project waiting for me every day. After the initial aimlessness of the first couple days post-Batman, I haven't had much trouble finding ways to keep myself busy. I've actually been working on quite a few projects and hobbies. So far I've...

• Started rewriting a script of mine.

• Resumed reading Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors.

• Gotten roped into Monopoly madness with Mikey, Brendan, and Corey.

• Created some new artwork.

So, yeah, I'm keeping my hands full, but looking forward to the next big project.
Closing thoughts for now: Go see Clerks II, it's great. And while you're at it, see Superman Returns. That movie's amazing and beautiful and deserves more love from the moviegoing public.