John K. saves San Francisco
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Cinema

“Happy Happy! Joy Joy!” today I attended two parts of a retrospective of the work of animator/director John Kricfalusi (pronounced kris-fa-loosi), best known at the creator of Ren & Stimpy, but whom originally came to my attention as the Sr. Director on 1987-88’s seminal Mighty Mouse the New Adventures.

 

The first show was a “Gross but pure and Christian, child-safe matinée of rollicking cartoons for the children and celibate alike!" and advertised as “Safe, clean, gross and sparkly entertainment!” It contained a few of my favorite cartoons, kicking off with the brilliant “Stimpy’s Invention” and including the classic Mighty Mouse segment, “Night of the Bat-Bat”. The latter was my first introduction to the character who has remained a running gag for 16 years between my friend Tom and myself: The Cow.

 

Oh, did I mention that John K. was hosting the program? Did I mention that I chatted with him in front of the theater before the show as he did caricatures for all the kids who asked? Did I mention that he drew The Cow for me?

“How do you like them apples, Mighty Mouse? Ha, ha-ha... Moo!!!”

 

I asked John if The Cow was his creation. Yep. He mentioned that The Cow was voiced by Michael Pataki, who also voices his George Liquor character, which I also knew. He then told me that Pataki delivered The Cow's lines all wrong and didn't emphasize the jokes, so they re-animated the character to emphasize his weird pauses.

 

Anyway, after the matinee, I was joined by some co-workers and we went out for refreshments and to go over the Snoopy and the Red Baron game that we are finishing up at Namco. After pizza, we returned for the evening show, whereupon we were joined there by my friends Matt, and Christopher and Russ.

 

The shows were held at the Castro Theater, and the organsit played before the evening program. Ironically, as I came in from the snack counter, he was playing (but not that well) "Linus & Lucy", which is in our Snoopy game!

 

The evening show was billed as “ADULT: Rare, unseen and banned cartoons for adults highlighting each of the 7 deadly sins!” Well, not entirely accurate, but definitely not for the kiddies or those easily offended. John K’s understanding of comic timing and his take-it-past-the-limit approach results in his pushing the material so far over the top that I couldn’t help laughing at things that in most animators’ hands would just be puerile and tedious.

 

Both the matinee and evening shows featured John K’s hilarious take on Yogi Bear in which “Boo Boo Runs Wild” (if you ever wanted to see Ranger Smith and Yogi beat the crap out of each other, this is the cartoon for you). The best bits of the evening show were the Ren & Stimpy entries: the nearly unimaginable “Naked Beach Frenzy”; a segment from “Stimpy’s Pregnant”; and an animatic of an unproduced episode called “Life Sucks”, in which Ren reads a ‘Little Olden Book’ on the Children’s Crusade to an increasingly horrified Stimpy. Also screened was the cartoon which caused Nickelodeon to fire John K. from his own show -- “Man’s Best Friend” -- which features a slow-motion Raging Bull-esque sequence of Ren beating his abusive “master” with an oar!. The final bonus was a sneak preview of an animated video for Weird Al Yankovic’s new album.

 

During the matinée a group of Pee Wee Herman impersonators accosted John and invited him to a Pee Wee Party in the Mission. John told us about it, but my crew decided to forego Pee-Wee in favor of a nightcap.

 

...Besides, I got John K.'s business card. I'll buy him a drink some other time.

 

Moo! Moo!

Birds of a Feather Commute Together
Mood:  surprised
Topic: Just Fun

My lengthy morning commute to San Jose is usually a fairly uneventful affair, with most of it along the very pretty drive on Interstate 280 through rolling tree-lined hills and past various reservoirs (reservoii?).

This morning, minutes short of reaching Silicon Valley, I found myself behind slightly slower traffic... a flock of about 10 pigeons were traveling in the right lane of the freeway, roughly at windshield height, and moving with traffic. I slowed down when I saw them in front of me, expecting they would move out of the way as I approached. Nope. They just kept on flappin' down the road. After a few monments I changed lanes and passed them on the left. When I looked into my rearview mirror, there they were, still flying down their lane.

I wonder if they shifted to the HOV lane a few miles ahead. If so, I suspect they didn't signal the lane change...

A Bridge Not Quite Too Far
Topic: San Francisco

My friend Jim's visit from New York is coming to a close tomorrow, so we have one last major site to see: The Golden Gate Bridge. Yes, I know, we drove across it twice and looked down upon it from the Marin headlands last Wednesday, but that's not the same thing as what I have in mind.

We manage to get going early enough to get into the Ti Couz creperie before there's a line, and after a crepey breakfast Brittany style, we head for the Golden Gate. I park in a lot above Fort Point, which, albeit a bit farther away, doesn't have parking meters limiting our stay. It's a very San Francisco day, and the fog's a-rollin' in. We can't see much above the bridge roadway, and it's tough to see the far side of the bridge at all, but limited visibility's not going to stop us!

I've walked the bridge a number of times before, but never in fog quite like thus, so this is a treat. The towers appear and disappear from view and the wind shifts. It's a tad chilly, but not as bad as I expect. Before we reach the first of the two towers I notice a sea lion swimming into the bay almost directly below us. It's fun to see it surface and disappear from above. I don't get a pic, but Jim tries.

 

Atlas Shrugged

At the middle of the bridge we take silly pictures because it's the one spot you can reach out and touch on of the two main cables. It's these surprisingly skinny strands (less than three feet) that hold up the entire roadway. From this point we look noreth and sound and find we can't see either of the towers. The road and cables just vanish into the fog in either direction. It's like a road to nowhere.

As we cross we look down on various boats anf ships passing beneath. It sure doesn't look over 200 feet straight down!

Of the far side we take a break at sit outside the rest stop there. The trouble with walking the bridge is that you have to walk back! The fog starts to thin on the return, which allows us to better see the bay and the scenery. However, my attention quickly goes straight down when I notice that the old post holes in the sidewalk near the roadway go ALL THE WAY through the walk, and if you peek through, you can see straight down through the bridge. So, every 20 feet or so where these holes are, I'm bending to take a peek. I quickly figure out that I can stick the lens of my camera into the holes and take pictures. The hole itself makes a nicve little vignette effect, and I end up with a series of unusual images that I doubt most people who cross the bridge ever see.

 

 

Watch that first step! It's 24 stories straight down!
After reaching the car, we head to the Marina and the Palace of Fine Arts for the usual photo op. Afterwards, Jim wants a picture down the winding bit of Lobard, so I use my knowledge of S.F. streets to bypass the line of tourist cars and right to the target in a matter of minutes. From there, it's on to Coit Tower for some more photos, and my having to stop some old man who can't steer from banging into my car in the parking lot.

Dinner's at Nivana in the Castro. We got back home at a semi-reasonable hour, for probably the only time this trip!

E3 2006 -- Day 4: PAC-MAN the Love Bug
Topic: Work Stuff

 

Another car...this one not mine...dammit!

E3 2006 -- Day 3: No Wii for Mii
Topic: Work Stuff

This morning I’m driving Scott and some of the members of our Japanese sister company to the show. The Neverlost system goes bananas again. It can’t figure out where we are. Fortunately, having driven this route before, I’m able to do it by memory, and we get there with no issues.

Probably the only thing in the consumer videogame arena I’m really interested in seeing is the Nintendo Wii (pronounced “We”). Unfortunately, for mii to sii the Wii was not meant to bii this E-Thrii. I did try, though! Using the magic of mobile phone technology I tracked down by good friend Alyssa Finley, and after a brief look at the Playstation 3 (boring...look, we can render mud more realistically on HDTVii), we decided to try to sii the Wii. Unfortunatelii, the line to get in was thrii hours long! I visited with Alyssa until I had to run off to a meeting I had misentered on my calendar, leaving her to wait 2.5+ hours without mii.

So, what’s no interesting about the Wii? Well, the one thing I really respect Nintendo for is their focus on pure gameplay, and that they’re aiming to break some of the conventions of the industry with this new console. Instead of aiming to push the most polygons on the screen, they’re aiming for a low-cost machine with a simple controller with really fun games. The controller, which look not unlike a TV remote, is actually waved around. Swing it to bat a ball in baseball or serve in tennis. Point it at the TV like a gun then you shoot.

Today’s my second day hosting the PAC-MAN Tournament, but this time I go all out and don the big shouldered authentic 80s jacket I brought along with narrow leather zip-on tie. Now I really fit in with our 80s booth babes. At first I try to get the babes to co-host with me, but none give it quite the “oomph” it needs, even with the megaphone, so I take it over and play EmCee again...just louder than yesterday! PAC-MAN and Ms. PAC-MAN make another celebrity visit, and I compliment the Ms. on her sexy pink boots.

That tournament done, I’m asked to EmCee a spontaneous Time Crisis tournament, and spend the next 20 minutes walking around announcing, “Time Crisis tournament on now! Get the top score of the tournament and win this prize: Time Crisis 3 for Playstation 2 with Guncon!”

I end the day meeting a potential candidate for a job at our company, and walking through our comptetitors’ booths with him. In two words: we rock! Our booth and presentation shows we’re the company that takes this most seriously. The guy seems good. Seems to know his stuff. Will bring him to our office for a proper interview sometime after the show.

E3 2006 -- Day 2: It's time to raise the curtain...
COMING SOON

E3 2006 -- Day 1
COMING SOON

The Chairman Visits
Topic: Work Stuff

Important visitor at work today. Nakamura-san, the founder of Namco, visited our offices. This is the second time I got to meet him. He doesn't really speak English, but he did read a message to our whole group in English, which was a very nice gesture.

Barcelona Red
Mood:  happy
Topic: Day to Day

 

Me & my new baby. Three weeks old.

Why I love this city
Topic: San Francisco

While it's surprisingly easy to take for granted the place you live, it's not so in San Francisco.

Skip came over from Berkeley to see my new place and join me for bruch. I didn't want to hit any of the known spots, so I suggested Pachi's, a Peruvian restautant Terry and Carol told me about. After an excellent meal for a surprisingly reasonable price, the glory of the day refused to let us waste time indoors.

So, heeding mother nature's siren call, we headed north, across the Golden Gate Bridge and then up the hill along the Marin headlands. After a few weeks of gray and rainy weather, it was sunny and cool and absolutely gorgeous.

We stopped and amired the vista of the whole of San Fransciso, the bridges, the sialboats, and then hiked through the abandoned tunnels and remains of the old coastal defenses.

I commented to Skip, as I have before, on the irony that so many people I know say they couldn't live where I do because they want to be able to easily get out in the middle of nowhere, as here I stand, 15 minutes from my front door, on a hilltop overlooking one of the most amazing vistas, and from which I could start walking north and be just as in the middle of nowhere...and yet be within whim distance of museums and 2000+ restaurants.

After Skip and I parted company, Matt Levine called and invited me onto an evening dinner & music jaunt. He picked me up in his convertible and we drove along the coast, through the Marina to North Beach, where——after the usual seeking-a-parking-space-adventure, we made it to our destination, a Bolivian restaurant called Pei??a Pacha Mama, where we joiend Matt's wife Diana and another friend of theirs for a scrumptous organic meal of Papas y Yuca la Huancaina (Potato, yuca & Bolivian ground-nut sauce), Albondigas (Bolivian meatballs), Plantains (Fried bananas with black bean reduction), Yuca Frita (Yuca fries with zesty vegan cream sauce), Fresh King Salmon with sweet potato mash and organic spinach, and Vegetarian Papas Relleno (a lightly fried stuffed puri??e of potato, queso fresco gami).

And on top of this sumptuous feast there was music, sweet music, by the exquisite Pickpocket EnsemblePickpocket Ensemble, whom Matt had turned me onto a few months ago. Their music, which borrows from all kinds of musical traditions (hence the name), is played so tightly and precisely that three different instruments playing the same melody line can sound as one. Wonderful stuff! This was my second exposure to the group, and I will make a point to seek them out in future. Click here for a brief sample!

Top down on the Matt's convertible, we zipped through the crisp night air and home.

I love this town!