THE SIMPSONS NEWS

We had the studio Halloween party last Friday.  Overall it looked like it wasn’t going to be much fun. The studio has so few people the party almost looked deserted.  Things pick up when the costume contest began.  Suddenly the party got really fun.  Lots of cool costumes, including a group of people who dressed up as the cast of Gilligan’s Island (Ship and all).

As far as the rest of the work week, not much to report. Just churning away at scenes.  Today I’m going to be staying late to make up for the fact that I’ll need to come in late tomorrow.  Outside of the party, it hasn’t been too eventful

FAMILY

Taking another break from the trip to Disneyland story to write about Halloween.

I don’t like Halloween.  I’m not into dressing up and I’m not into going to parties, so Halloween does nothing for me.  That being said, I had a great Halloween this year.  Perhaps the best one I’ve ever had.  Why? Because of my kids.

We didn’t know what we were going to dress the kids up as for Halloween.  On Friday at daycare, they had gotten their faces drawn on so that Munckin looked like a dog and Dante looked at like a cat.  Munchkin really enjoyed that. So much so that when I wiped the paint off later, she got very sad. After that, we knew what she was going to be for Halloween. Dante was not so attached to the cat idea.  He really didn’t seem to care one way or the other.

On Saturday, we made our way to some Halloween stores where we bought some paint and a tail for Munchkin’s costume and figure out a costume for Dante.  He didn’t want dress like a monkey so in the end, we dressed him up like Superman.  When I showed him the costume we got him, he laughed out loud.

I had fun painting Munchkin’s face.  All I did was paint a white eye patch around one eye and then I painted her nose and put some “muzzle” lines around her mouth. She looked great.  Alesha later did her hair to look like floppy ears. When we put on her tail, she shook her hips to make her tail wag.  She was having fun being a puppy.

We met my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my nephew Paolo in front of a library where the stores in the area where doing a trick or treating event.  There were tons of kids and parents everywhere and we saw all kinds of costumes.  Little Paolo and his mommy were all dressed up like 50s greasers; even down to Paolos converse sneakers.  He was very cute.

Once we met up, we went Trick or Treating. This is where it just became super fun for me. Dante was too little still to really enjoy what was going on.  He had a good time but not in the same way that his sister was having fun.  She was really into it. It was a joy to see her go up to get candy.  She’d been watching Halloween cartoons for days and, for her to actually be doing the Trick or Treating that the cartoons showed, must have been the best thing ever.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the group was up to the task of taking the kids Trick or Treating for long.  After, about an hour an a half or so, we had to call it quits.  The ordeal was too tiring.  We all went back to my brother’s house, hung out and had dinner there.  That was fun too.  The kids ate candy, played and ran around. Meanwhile we watched Looney Toons talked about them and other things. It was fun.

We had to leave at 7:00pm though because my brother had to wake up early the next day. Still, it was a great day.

PODCASTS

Last week I wrote about the art podcasts I had been listening to but I left one out.

The Man vs. Art podcast.

Well, I just thought I’d plug it again.  Especially since the latest podcast has a Halloween theme and a Looney Tunes theme as well. Which is a strange coincidence since watching  Looney Tunes was part of my Halloween.

Raul goes into some interesting stories that Bill Melendez told him about working at Warner Brother on Looney Tune cartoons, back in the day.  Check out the podcast.

ART

Nov.  20-22 is the CNT Animation Expo, here, at the Burbank Convention Center.  It actually sound like great fun.  It’s like a little Comic Con but only for animation. Some of the best artists in the industry will be giving talks over their area of expertise. Many of the major studios will also be recruiting there. It’s a great place to get connections and network. It’s also only a block away from Starz Media/Film Roman, where I work.    I really want to go.

The only thing I don’t like about it, is the cost.  If you didn’t sign up before Oct. 31st, you have to pay 70$ to get in, in order to participate in any of the panels (which is really, the best reason to come). Otherwise, you just pay 25$ and you get the run of the show floor.

If you’re interested, CLICK HERE to get to the website.

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