NEW YORK

Check out these flicks from the NY Tattoo Tour location and one of the pieces..

I'm Counting On You, Anne!!

Well, the Academy Awards telecast is going to be starting in just a little while. Frankly, I'm just watching it as I have the last few years, out of habit more than genuine interest. It wasn't always this way. I used to look forward with excitement to the presentation of the Oscars each year, when I actually used to really love the movies. That's going back to when I started watching the annual telecast back in the 70's and continuing through the 80's. But in the last couple decades my interest has been steadily waning, as with each passing year Hollywood convinces me that they aren't really interested in making the kind of movies that I find genuinely entertaining.

I think the last Academy Awards show that I actually enjoyed was the year that the musical, Chicago swept many of the major awards. I was hoping that last year director Rob Marshall would have a similar success with his film, Nine, as it was my favourite movie by far released in 2009. Alas, neither audiences nor film critics shared my enthusiasm, and Nine was pretty much shut out even at the nomination stage. Instead, last year was a battle between the technological marvel, Avatar, and the gritty war pic, The Hurt Locker, neither of which I much cared for. Actually, I didn't even get around to seeing Avatar until its later reissue, and The Hurt Locker (which won) I'd rented just the day before the awards and really hated it!

Yeah, I know I'm completely out of step with contemporary moviegoing tastes, believe me I'm painfully aware of that. As such, I really haven't had a horse in the race for many years now and I don't even enjoy many of the films getting nominated in the major categories. I've seen several of the Best Picture nominees this year, including True Grit, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, The King's Speech, and (as of yesterday) The Social Network. They're all good films, but quite honestly, none of them can hold a candle to the type of Oscar winning films that came out of Hollywood in its glory years in terms of outright entertainment. Films like My Fair Lady, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Godfather, as diverse as they are, remain for me completely memorable and entertaining in their respective ways. In contrast, none of the films nominated this year I would make a point of watching again. Sadly, it's been like that for me for many years now.

I guess if there's a single reason I'm interested in tonight's Academy Awards, it's because of the choice of Anne Hathaway as one of the two co-hosts. She's not only beautiful but has great charisma to boot. I love watching her on screen and in interviews, as she just sparkles with personality. I thought she was terrific when host Hugh Jackman carried her up on stage from the audience to join him in his song tribute at the beginning of the telecast a couple years back. I'm hoping she'll sing and dance for us tonight too! As for the awards themselves....meh.

SOUL SUNDAY

Here is another rare and hard to find Soul record from a rare group..

TRAILER OF THE THE WEEK

Introducing Kyla Musselman!

Back in 1959 Once Upon A Mattress debuted on the Broadway stage. This musical comedy was a retelling of the fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea, and was the show that launched the career of Carol Burnett who starred in the lead role of Princess Winnifred. Though I'd been aware of the show's history, I had never actually seen it performed until last night when I saw a production of it at Theatre Sheridan.

While the play itself is, admittedly, a fairly lightweight piece of fluff, it does boast some really fun musical numbers. And although I didn't think it was as strong a show choice as Sheridan's offering back in December, The Drowsy Chaperone, it did feature exuberant performances from the entire youthful cast. The Drowsy Chaperone was probably the finest show I've seen performed yet at Sheridan over several years of attending their productions, so it would have been asking too much for lightning to strike twice in a row. Whereas that show seems to lend itself more to an ensemble cast with many plum roles to go around, Once Upon a Mattress strikes me as more of a star vehicle for the leading lady playing Princess Winnifred.

But what a performance we got from the young lady playing Winnifred in this production! Her name is Kyla Musselman, and I predict she'll go on to great things onstage once she graduates at the end of this college year. Kyla is a little ball of fire with an impossibly cute face, a huge smile and sparkling brown eyes. She seems to have boundless energy that she puts into her singing and dancing, while also possessing a flawless sense of comic timing. There's one song number that requires her to dash back and forth across the stage, alternately picking up a barbell then taking great gulps from a chalice of ale, among several other stunts, expertly hitting her marks without fail all while the rest of the cast is singing this fast paced song. There's also a dance number that progressively picks up pace that the whole cast starts out performing, only to drop out one by one until just Princess Winnifred finishes it up to its breakneck finale. This role demands a multi-talented performer and clearly young Kyla is up to the challenge.

Kyla Musselman also had a supporting role in the aforementioned The Drowsy Chaperone as Kitty, the ditzy chorine in love with theatrical producer, Feldzeig. Although in that show everybody got to shine, Kyla was still a standout with great stage presence and magnetism. Sheridan's music theatre program is highly respected here in Canada, having graduated many fine performers including Sarah Cornell, Michael Therriault, and Janna Polzin, all of whom I have written about before. I believe that Kyla Musselman will also be a name to watch for on the marquee, as she truly possesses star quality. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who thinks so, as I found this review of Once Upon a Mattress that would seem to agree that Kyla is one to watch for.

TEQA NYC

Here is a canvas we just did on day 1 out here in the NYC for our good friends opening of their new spot.

check it out here teqanyc.com

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Here is a record off of The Wu Tang Clans 36 chambers "Tearz" recorded 1994 and the Sample from Wendy Rene and her record "After Laughter" recorded in 1963

MANEKI NEKO

Here is the latest back piece on a client who came through from Tokyo Japan...

HARD KNOCK LIFE

Here it is! For everyone that has been asking...

THE BLUEPRINT

Jay Z and LeBron James came thru to check out a mural I painted for the kids in East L.A.

BLAME IT ON THE SAMBA

These recreated backgrounds are from MELODY TIME (1948).

The first two are unmistakably Mary Blair. The music-staff-themed B/G is a very different style.

Great stuff!

THE SMALL ONE: The Marketplace

This is an interesting image. I actually own several cels from the movie (a personal favorite). The most recent acquisition was a two cel setup from the musical number with a trio of swarthy characters. My setup has the three singers, and a cel with the top part of the "goods" to the right and the left. So it appears there was a background, a character layer, and two layers of cels with the "goods."

Here's a look at the B/G with the characters digitally eliminated, the other cel elements intact.

THE ARISTOCATS: Boudoir Part Two

Agari kaisen images

agari kaisen is expert in a unique face copying technique.

PLUTO'S CHRISTMAS TREE

Here's a special holiday treat. In one post, a comprehensive collection of digitally re-assembeld background art from PLUTO'S CHRISTMAS TREE (1952).

Here's the main title card- without the title! Note the Christmas card in the front...

The camera pans in... to this very merry house exterior...

Here's a re-created pan of Mickey's front door. Snow effects too!

A winter playground for Pluto, and Chip and Dale...

A"stage" for Chip and Dale (acorn: cel overlay)...

A re-created pan with characters included...

More snow!

a very long left to right pan B/G (Chip and Dale are in the last frame of the pan, so they stay...)

A snowdrift (snow bits are cel overlay)...

Chip and Dale's tree, soon to be "PLUTO'S CHRISTMAS TREE" ( and Mickey's too, of course)...

Inside the tree. Looks cold,doesn't it?

a snowy landscape...

Mickey stands on the ladder to decorate the tree. This sequence features a fade in, and the one "cel" ornament is in place before the fade ends. I actually hand-painted some Photoshop restoration to complete the ladder!

Inside the tree, in Mickey's living room!

Next, a series of views of the tree, inside and out!













A huge left-to-right pan across Mickey's living room. The last frame of the segment includes Mickey on the right.

Here's a closer look at the left side of the pan.

Even though unfinished, I had to share this magnificent tree art. The angle was inspired! The black area is what's left of Mickey... this area is never revealed. Even incomplete as it is, there's lots of beautiful detail to admire...

Another pan, including the beautiful tree on the right...

Anyone else grow up with a living room that looked like this in the 1950s?

another pan B/G...

and a closer look at the gorgeous tree...

Near the fireplace mantle...




The tree top...

And finally, the yuletide rubble left behind after the skirmish with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale!