The first thing I ever saw that really got me thinking about story arcs and stuff, was, believe it or not, a Ren and Stimpy cartoon.

In it, Ren and Stimpy are flat broke. Ren dresses up as a mouse, so Stimpy can charge for his services as a mouse catcher. The plan goes well, until the marks ask Stimpy to eat the mouse. Rather than give up the game, Stimpy puts Ren in his mouth and slowly chews. Ren tries to bear this treatment as long as he can, but he finally snaps; he pops out and yells that he is not a mouse, he is a chihuahua. (And pulls out his pedigree to prove it.)

Three new videos, one about my bike-wheel figrig and the other about the chest-cam.

Plus, a nearly incomprehensible scene from Night of the Sharks.

I also started watching a bunch of videos from these guys who do tips about shooting video.

Haven't been doing many comics, lately:

Moth! Big'un too!

Prompted by the latest How-to video from IndyMogul, I've decided to just list all the blood effects I've ever tried and thought of trying.

Tried:

My low-budget steadycam. Based on these instructions.

I've been reading a book by and about Ray Harryhausen. In it, he describes his experiences on his various movies, and whenever he had to create a creature through any means other than stop-motion, he doesn't like it as much. On the aliens from Earth vs. the Flying Saucers he says:

I was never happy with these creations. They always looked phoney and stiff, like men in costumes, which is what they were.

In Mysterious Island for a battle with a giant crab, he had a giant claw and a couple of legs made.

I always need to remind myself to shoot reaction shots. An easy trap to fall into is to focus so much on shooting a crazy spectacle that you forget to shoot the characters' reaction to the crazy spectacle. Reaction shots are a cheap and easy way to get the audience to think about how the character is impacted by what just occurred. (Thanks to the "Kuleshov effect," the audience can see an emotion, implied by context, even if the actor doesn't show it. But you need to give the audience the opportunity to project upon them.)

Watching this video got me to thinking about phrases and words. What was it about "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard" that makes it so catchy? I don't think just any phrase from the Lord of the Rings would work.

For one thing, it has two fictional words. And both "hobbits" and "Isengard" are kind of fun to say. There's also a very pleasing cadence to it.

My entry in the Gong Show got the best response since A Busy Day. It was based on an old skit my brother and I did when we were kids.