courtesy of Tao Nguyen


I just learned that Robert "Bob" Winquist died on September 10th. Through most of the 1980s Bob was the head of the Character Animation Program at Cal Arts. There he influenced and inspired a great many of today's top animation professionals.

Check out the touching remembrance on Jenny Lerew's website THE BLACKWING DIARIES
http://blackwingdiaries.blogspot.com

Be sure and read the comments section, many are by some pretty well known animation folks like Pete Docter, Mark Kennedy, Ash Brannon and Ralph Eggleston, who all left some wonderful memories of Bob.

The ancient Egyptians said:" If we are spoken well of after we pass, we have achieved immortality. If we are forgotten, we die a second time."

Judging from the postings, I don't think Bob Winquist will have any problem.

One positive aspect of the very negative political climate in the U.S. is the proliferation of independent work on the web. Here's two examples sent to me by Karl Cohen.

Figures, UPA does it again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWTYVx2IKwGlobal Warming as seen from Space.

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Question: Did the Star of Bethlehem really happen? Was it a supernova?

Yesterday’s Question Answered Below: To all art history majors, Who was Ghiselbertus?
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History for 9/14/2008
Birthdays: Lao Tzu -604 b.c., Caliph Al Mansur -the founder of Bagdhad-711 A.D., Dr. Ivan Pavlov, Charles Dana Gibson, Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood, Clayton Moore t.v.'s Lone Ranger, Luigi Cherubini, Joey Heatherton, Bowser from Sha-Na-Na., Walter Koenig-Proton Torpedoes Armed and Ready,Captain , Nicol Williamson, Sam Neill, Hal Wallis, Czech nationalist Jan Masaryk

1224- Followers of Saint Francis of Assisi noted that on this day after a lengthy vigil of prayer in the mountains a Seraph came down out of the sky bearing an image of the Crucified Christ. After the angel left St Francis noticed his hands and feet began bleeding with the same nail marks as Jesus. This is called Stigmata.

1324- In Ravenna a few hours after he put the finishing touches on the last part of his epic poem The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri died of malaria fever.

1502-Battle of Lake Smolina- Grand Master Waltur von Plattenburg of the Holy Order of Livonian Sword Brothers (no, they weren't a rap group) fights his way out of the surrounding Russian army of Czar Ivan the Great, outnumbered ten to one.

1523- Pope Adrian VI died. He was a Dutchman who thought he had been selected to be a true shepherd to his Christian flock. But when he entered Rome he was hurled into a hurricane of Vatican power politics and intrigue. It was said he died of shock. He was the last non-Italian pope until John Paul II in 1978. Romans hated Adrian so much that when he died they sent flowers to his doctor in thanks for losing his patient.

1812-NAPOLEON ENTERS MOSCOW- Napoleon entered the great Russian city and expected to be met by a delegation to surrender the keys of the city, and discuss peace terms. This happened in Berlin, Rome, Milan, Vienna and Madrid. Instead, the civilian population had fled. The lord mayor of Moscow, Count Theodore Rostopchin ( nicknamed "Crazy Theo" by Catherine the Great ), had opened up all the prisons and lunatic asylums on a promise from the inmates that they would do no less than burn the city down around the Frenchman's ears. The GREAT FIRE OF MOSCOW would last for four days and leave Napoleon thousands of miles from home with no winter shelter

1814- BRITISH NAVY BOMBARDS FT. McHENRY – Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key was sent to the British to negotiate the release of a local Maryland doctor named Beanes. The British had accused Scottish born Dr. Beanes of mistreating their POW’s but relented when Key brought with him a letter written by men saying they were being well taken care of. Still, Key came at an awkward moment because they were about to attack Baltimore. So Admiral Cochrane invited him to stay and watch the show. Francis Scott Key watched the Rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air all night. Colonel Armistead the American commander at Ft. McHenry flew a big ass American flag to show everyone his fort was still fine and dandy. Dr Beane’s eyesight wasn’t very good and in the Dawns Early Light he asked Key:”If the flag was still there?” This question inspired Key to start writing down stanzas for a poem. After 25 hours of bombardment the British gave up firing on the fort and sailed away to save their resources for the attack on New Orleans. Key wrote a neat little poem and showed it to his brother-in-law Judge Nicholson. He thought it would sound good matched to a British pub song called "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song had a few difficult final high notes that enabled the bartender or publican to tell if you had too much to drink. It became the U.S. national anthem in 1931. Despite Jimmy Hendrix s’ rendition at Woodstock there has been occasional calls to replace it with America the Beautiful.

1837- Charles Tiffany with two partners set up their first store- Tiffany & Young. Tiffany stressed upscale merchandise from Europe to the best of New York society. In 1848 Charles Tiffany was on vacation in Europe when a revolution in France broke out and he wound up buying loads of cut-rate diamonds from aristocrats trying to flee. This moved his business exclusively into Jewelry and he soon bought out his partners and it became simply Tiffany’s. His son Louis Tiffany was the artist in stain glass creating Tiffany windows and lamps.

1901- After lingering two weeks with an assassins bullet in him, President William McKinley died. Teddy Roosevelt became the nations youngest president at 42. Republican party boss Marc Hanna groaned:”Oh, no! Now that crazy cowboy is President!”

1927-Modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan died in freak car accident when her scarf tangled in the spokes of her Bugatti sportscar and snapped her neck. The scarf was a gift from the mother of famed Hollywood director Preston Sturges.

1957- TV show “Have Gun Will Travel” with Richard Boone as Paladin, premiered.
The head writer of this show was Gene Roddenberry, who would later create Star Trek.

1960- Several oil producing nations among them Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia form the cartel called OPEC.

1968-Filmation's "the Archies" "Sugar...ah, honey honey...."

1972- Premiere of the TV show The Waltons. “ Goodnight John-Boy, Goodnight Jim-Bob..”

1978- The Mork & Mindy show with young comic Robin Williams debuted. “Na-Nuu, Na-Nuu.”.

1993- Former Simpson’s writer Conan O’Brien takes over David Letterman’s old spot at the Late Show.
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Yesterday’s Question: For all you art history majors, who was Ghiselbertus?

Answer: Sculptor Gislebertus of Autun (circa 1120) carved on his work Gislebertus Hoc Fecit, or Giselbertus Made This. He was the first artist to sign his stuff.

Question: For all you art history majors, who was Ghiselbertus?

Question: What does it mean when you call a law Draconian?
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History for 9/13/2008
Birthdays: Gen"BlackJack" Pershing, Clara Schumann, Arnold Schoenburg, Jacqueline Bissett, Frank Marshal, Laura Secord, Jesse L. Lasky, Richard Kiel – Jaws in the Roger Moore James Bond movies, Maurice Jarre, Roald Dahl,Network Programming exec Fred Silverman “The Man with the Golden Gut.” Don Bluth is 71

122AD- In England the Roman legions began to construct Hadrians' Wall.

1759- THE BATTLE OF THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM. England took Canada away from France. Gen. Wolfe defeated The Marquis De Montcalm and captures the great fortress of Quebec. Both Wolfe and Montcalm are killed, the only time both commanding generals were killed in a one battle at the same time. Gen. Wolfe (32) was aware he was asking his redcoats to scale a sheer rockface in a driving rainstorm then defeat a huge army with their backs to a cliff. So to boost their morale he read them his favorite poem: "Elegy in a Country Churchyard". with lines like:" The paths of Glory lead naught but to the Grave..." Gee, that would cheer me up....

1805- Admiral Nelson leaves London to take out HMS Victory and his fleet to sea.
He will achieve death and glory at the Battle of Trafalgar. Shortly before he had a conversation with the artist Benjamin West. He told West his portrayal of the Death of General Wolfe at the Battle of Quebec was his favorite painting and why had he not painted anything as good since? West replied that there hasn't been any comparable incidents of tragic heroism lately. Nelson laughed and said: "Well I shall make a it a point to get myself killed in my next battle, to provide you with suitable inspiration !"

1812- Napoleon’s army makes camp within view of the domes and cupolas of Moscow.

1814- After destroying Washington DC and Alexandria , the British Navy began a bombardment of the forts surrounding Baltimore. Baltimore then was the main port of the many American privateers pirating English ships. After 25 straight hours continuous bombardment of Fort McHenry, the forts big Stars and Stripes flag was still flying. A simultaneous land attack failed when General Ross, who was a veteran of Wellingtons’ army, was shot down by American snipers. Ross had ate his breakfast on shore in a local inn. When the proprietor asked if he should have a dinner ready for him Ross replied:" No thank you. Tonight I shall sup in Baltimore or in Hell!" After the failure of the bombardment the British gave up and sailed away leaving Francis Scott Key on the shore with notes for a neat little poem. More tomorrow.

1845-THE IRISH POTATO FAMINE- An Irish newspaper printed this day announced that a fungus named Vituperia Infestae was affecting most of the years potato crop, the one food staple for the poor. The same parasite carried over in American fertilizer had effected continental European agriculture as well but a drought minimized it’s effect. Ireland was more devastated by the famine than she had ever been by any war. The famine raged for three years and killed millions. And all this while Ireland was administered by the richest nation in the world, the British Empire. Irish companies were still exporting other grains at the time as well. British relief agencies that were set up were inadequate and refused to just dispense food for fear of creating "a race of dependents". They established works projects that killed more as the starving were made to clear roads and move boulders. Also to pay for the programs landlords were taxed based on how many tenant farmers they had, so they evicted the poor. Truth be said most industrialized countries at this time were hard on their poor, poverty was viewed as a lack of character. It’s just everyone was too slow or apathetic to realize just how great a disaster was occurring in Ireland. By the time the famine eased in 1849 one quarter of the entire population of Ireland had died or immigrated to North America.

1848- The first lobotomy.

1899-First man hit by an automobile. (74th and Central Park West in New York City).

1916- A Tennessee judge orders Margo the circus elephant hanged for killing three men. It took a railroad crane and steel cable but it sure taught her a lesson!

1928- Riding high on their big hit film the Jazz Singer, the Warner Bros. buy out First National Pictures and move into their big Burbank studio lot, where they still are today.

1945- Henchmen of mobster Bugsy Siegel buy a 30 acre roadside tract from a widow in Las Vegas. On it will rise the Las Vegas Casino resort, the Flamingo. There were two little hayseed casinos in Vegas already, but the big glitzy hotel strip of mega casinos was Bugsy's dream.

1961- TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? debuted. Can you still sing the opening theme? " There's a fire in the Bronx, Brooklyns' broken out in fights, there's a traffic jam in Harlem that's backed up to Jackson Heights; There's a scout troop lost a child, Khruschevs' due at Idylwild...Car 54 Where are you?!"

1963- The sci-fi thriller series The Outer Limits premiered- Do not attempt to adjust your television- we control the horizontal, we control the vertical, etc.

1969-Hanna Barbera's "Scooby-Doo,where are you?" and "Dastardly and Mutley and their Flying Machines" premiered.

1971- ATTICA, ATTICA! Mass prisoner riot in a top New York State Penitentiary acquired counter-culture celebrity status and heavy race-war overtones. The legend was cemented after Governor Nelson Rockefeller used a massive military force to retake the prison this day.

1974- The Rockford Files TV series with James Garner debut.

1979- Animator Don Bluth quits Walt Disney Studios taking a third of the top artists with him. Often controversial, Bluth becomes Disney's most serious rival since Max Fleischer and helps sparked the animation renaissance of the 1990s. A whole new group of young talent, "bluthies", exert great influence throughout the animation business.

2001- As the world was still in shock from the Sept 11th terrorists attacks, controversial televangelist Pat Robertson issued a statement interpreting the tragedy as God’s punishment on America for our permissive society that tolerates homosexuality. Ralph Bingham, one of the hero passengers of United Flt. 93 who fought the terrorists and sacrificed his life so that his plane could not be used as a bomb to hit the White House, was a gay man. A New York Times columnist angrily wrote: "If I am ever in a plane that’s being hijacked, I’d rather have a Ralph Bingham seated next to me than a Pat Roberston!"

2001- Two days after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, all civilian air travel was banned over the skies of the US. Despite this ban, a special flight evacuated two dozen members of the Saudi Royal family attending school in the US. Among their number were relatives of 9/11 mastermind Osama Ben Laden. None were ever detained or questioned. One FBI agent complained:" It’s like if after the Oklahoma City bombing we had let all members of the Timothy McVeigh family fly out of the country!"

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Yesterday’s Question: What does it mean when you call a law Draconian?

Answer: Overly harsh law judgements. Named for the ancient Athenian judge named Draco (621BC), who sentenced death for everything.

Mein Leibe Kamerade Hans Bacher is launching a new blog site.

http://one1more2time3.wordpress.com/

Hans and I shared vindaloo and second-hand smoke all through Beauty and the Beast, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and more. His book DREAMWORLDS is a must for anyone interested in motion picture art direction and design. Han's insights into the psychology of graphic design is comprehensive and enlightening.

Question: What does it mean when you call a law Draconian?

Yesterdays Question Answered Below: In 1970 Japanese robotics expert Mashiro Mori coined the term The Uncanny Valley. What is that?
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History for 9/12/2006

Birthdays: Piero 'the Fatuous' DeMedici, King Francis Ist of France-1494, H.L. Mencken, Maurice Chevalier, Ben Blue, Jesse Owens, Barry White, Alfred A. Knopf, Ian Holm is 77, Hans Zimmer is 51, Rachael Ward, Michael Odaatje-author of The English Patient, Margaret Hamilton -"I'm mellllttinnng,,oooohh.." Joe Pantoliano, Jennifer Hudson is 26

1866-Theater producer Fred Niblo got stuck with a French ballet troupe stranded and broke after the New York Academy of Music burned down. So he combined the dancers with a rather mundane melodrama and created" The Black Crook" and invented the first true Broadway Musical. It ran for twenty years and was continually revived until 1925.

1940- In southern France near Montignac a pet dog fell through a crack in the ground into an underground chamber. When four boys follow in to retrieve the dog they discover the Lascaux Caves Ice-Age paintings, where, a Stone Age man traced his handprint in chalk is considered the world’s oldest signature.

1941-THE WALT DISNEY STRIKE ENDS- Everyone goes back to work after the NLRB, with a lot of behind the scenes pressure from the Bank of America, settled the dispute. Walt Disney had to recognize the cartoonists guild, give screen credits, double the salaries of low
paid workers retroactive to May 29th and re-hire animator Art Babbitt. When Walt Disney returned to LA from his South American trip and was told of the results of the settlement, he immediately got on a train to Washington to try and convince the feds to reverse the decision or get an injunction. He failed and Roy finally convinced him to stop fighting and recognize the Cartoonist Guild. Afterwards he insisted everyone on his lot be unionized, even the gardeners. Ironically within a few months the war would break out and artists who had been bitter foes would be compelled to work side by side in the U.S. Army Picture Unit.

1945- Young Captain Ronald Reagan was discharged from the US Army Signal Corps. He never left Hollywood but starred in movies, training films and USO benefits. Yet in his old age he acted the great war hero. Some annoyed veterans told me Marlena Deitrich in fishnet stockings and pumps got closer to the fighting than Captain Reagan ever did.

1954- Television comedian Ernie Kovacs married Edie Adams, the Muriel Cigar Girl. They married in Mexico and at the insistence of Kovacs used a priest who read the entire service in Spanish, a language neither of them understood.

1953- THE RED REDHEAD-? McCarthy investigators accuse top t.v. star Lucille Ball of being a communist. She and husband Desi Arnez immediately went and testified that Lucy’s grandfather was an old Socialist who routinely enrolled all his grandkids in the Communist Party as a birthday present. America wouldn’t stand to see their favorite t.v. family go down, so the matter quickly blew over. Years later Desi would condescendingly joke:" Lucy didn’t even know who the mayor of L.A. was. The only thing that was red about Lucy was her hair, and even that wasn’t real !"

1957- Market researcher James M. Vicary explains at a press conference the theory of Subliminal Advertising. His company proposed to unconsciously compel people to buy products by flashing messages at 1/24th of a second during movies. Even though the concept was discredited (givetomsitomoney) by the American Psychiatric Association (givetomsitomoney) a national panic ensued as people feared brainwashing.

1965- The Beatles release 'Yesterday'.

1966-"Gee Mr. French..." Family Affair premieres on t.v.

1966- The Monkees TV show premiered. Two young television executives- Bert Schneider and Sam Rafaelson, convince their network to make "A Hard Day's Night" for American television. Of the four kids in the make-believe band Mike Nesmith was the only real musician. Micky Dolenz was taught how to play the drums on the first day of shooting. Insiders nicknamed them "The Pre-Fab Four". Still, the show was a major hit, won Emmy Awards and all their albums went gold. The producers took that success and used it to finance the hit film "Easy Rider". Mike Nesmith later married into the Liquid Paper Company and used his fortune to help start MTV. I confess I had my own Monkees shirt, double row of buttons, puffed sleeves, cobalt blue with tiny red polka dots. Last Train to Clarkesville!

1992- Anthony Perkins, the star of Hitchcock’s Psycho, died of HIV/AIDS. His widow, Berry Berensen the sister of actress Marisa Berensen, died in one of the hijacked airliners that plunged into the World Trade Center on 9-11.

2005- Disneyland Hong Kong opened.
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Yesterday’s Question: In 1970 Japanese robotics expert Mashiro Mori coined the term The Uncanny Valley. What is that?

Answer: Mori noted that there is a point when robots and other synthetic life become so life-like, they start to creep people out. So we feel more empathy to R2D2 and the Robot from LOST IN SPACE, yet we don’t like the figures in BEOWULF or FINAL FANTASY.
I'm so pretty, oh so pretty...