I've always been more of an overall idea guy.  I can come up with ideas and concepts for stories and worlds, but the actual writing of a script is something that has never come naturally.  I find myself now trying to work on those muscles and develope that skill.  I've got the germ of an idea for a children's show that I am in the process of trying to flesh out.  In the past, I've always kind of wrote "stream-of conscience" style and have generally ended up with a tangled mess of ideas not really well conected together and forced dialogue and un-needed exposition.

This time I'm trying to do it right.  I'm working from an outline with a beginning, middle, and an ending.  It may still end up a jumbled mess that I bring to one of my writer friends to help bring together, but I really want to try to bring this together myself and prove to myself that I can do it.  Like I tell young artists, if you want to draw you need to draw.  I want to write, so I need to write.  Just gotta work out those muscles, y'know.  Just may need to keep the Ben-Gay and a bag of ice nearby.

The Avengers

Finally getting around to adding my two cents (with inflation must be at least three cents) concerning the mega hit movie "The Avengers".  Why does my opinion matter?  It does only in so far as I'm a self proclaimed comic book geek and have forty some years of living with the subject matter.  I've always been more of a Marvel guy and a superhero team consisting of all the great Marvel super heroes was just too good to pass up (especially any book drawn by the great George Perez).

Anyhoo,... the movie is picture perfect.  Thank God for director Joss Wedon (another self proclaimed comic book geek).  He hits all the great points from action to comedy.  The comedy sections are what makes the movie for me.  Sure, the action and effects are incredible, but the light hearted moments that get a roar of laughter from the crowd really lift the movie up past your usual summer effects movie.  Love the cast too.  So cool to see the characters from their stand-alone movies come together here.  Never thought I'd see it, but it sure has paid off.

Couple things I didn't think were quite there.  Not a fan of Captain America's costume this time around.  Really liked the Bryan Hitch inspired costume from Cap's solo movie last year.  That one was more of a soldier uniform and looked bad ass.  The updated costume for the Avengers just looks kind of goofy.  I'm not sure what they could have done to make it look less so, but maybe more towards a modern soldier uniform with the Cap elements added in.  Tough nut to crack.
Also would have been cool to have Antman and Wasp in there as they are founding members, but they may be too fringe for your average moviegoer (although, I understand an "Antman" movie is in the works, so maybe the inevitable sequel).

I'm glad I got to spout some nerd opinion before this thing went to BluRay/DVD.  So there you have it.

When is APPLE going to make nice with ADOBE?  Many have been waiting years for their IOS devices (iPhones, iPads, and other iDoohickeys) to run Flash.  In re-doing my website, I was hesitant to put any Flash animation stuff up, as a large majority of of users are using their iPads and such to view the web.  My last site was completely Flash based, so pretty much unusable to any IOS users.  Hense the re-do.

Well,... I put up a small Flash animation this week (an animated Flash banner for my "PROBERZ" webcomic I do with my talented friend Clayton) and I realize it won't be viewable by some of the people that visit this website.  Makes no sense.  I don't see Flash going away, and not being able to access it limits your hardware.  Why can't APPLE and ADOBE find a middle ground?

I'll be the first to admit, I don't know the intimate details of the roadblock, but I know there has been rumours that the iDevices would run Flash at some point,..... but I've been hearing that for years now.  Which is a bummer.  So for now, .... if you have any interest in seeing the silly fun animated PROBERZ guys walking in front of their logo, GO SIT AT YOUR COMPUTER.  Not always that convenient.

Ideally, I'd like to create animated Flash banners for each page, but not gonna do it with the current lack of Flash support. <Steps down from soapbox>

Sometimes the hardest part of being an artist is knowing when to walk away from your project and pronounce the darn thing "FINISHED".  There is always the urge to "tweak" stuff cause you're sure that last little knudge will push the project towards unmitigated perfection.  But (at least in my experience) there never comes a time when you don't feel the need to "tweak".

I've been going through that with the website re-design.  I just finally have to say "We're open for business".  Otherwise, the site will be launched somewhere around 2040.  Luckily, I can easily update this site (much morer easily than my previous FLASH website) so if there is something that deservedly needs an adjustment, I can always do so.

So, we're OPEN for business (literally)!  Hmmmm,.... maybe I'll just nudge that banner position a few clicks to the left first....

Finally getting around to updating my website.  I am going live with stuff as I finish it, even though a lot of it is prolly just placeholder.  Either way,... I'm excited to finally be working on this.  Thank you MobileMe (who hosted my hard-to-update FLASH based website) for going Kapudt, as you forced my hand in this endeavor.

I've never really had a "blog" before.  I'll post mostly ramblings on entertainment and pop culture stuff as well as news and updates on the commercial animation business.  Thanks to anyone who reads this and comments are always welcome.  Cheers!

ps,... It's funny to write about yourself in the third person (see the "Author" description to the right).  I can see why professional athletes dig it.  I may start doing so all the tiime.