Murry Crustmush

This post is a few days late, but it doesn't matter. Merry Christmas to you! And/or Happy New Year! Jess and I haven't been able to get organized enough to send out a card to friends/family. We're slackers I guess, but we took this photo in hopes of getting half-way toward achieving a Christmas card. The photo is a long exposure, about 12 seconds, but we shot two photos... one of each of us while the other waved a flashlight beam in the other's face. Ugh, I'm not very articulate. Sorry for my clumsy description.

Aside from taking photos, I haven't drawn or animated much since You Cried Me. I spent a lot of energy on it, and I think I'm still refueling.

In other news, I've been added to the director roster of Klasky Csupo's commercial division Ka-chew!

Wexley White Elephant

Click the image above to check out Wexley's online holiday card. I had the privilege of shooting all the videos and programming it. It's fun! It makes me want to be a hand actor.

Interview on WeLoveYouSo.com

I was also interviewed this week on Spike Jonze's blog: WeLoveYouSo.com. It started with a focus on "You Cried Me," but ended up being an all-around look at my work in general. Many thanks to Graham for writing the intro/interview questions!

Answering Questions

This has been an exciting week for me. "Kid Show" is currently featured on Channel Frederator, and they just posted an interview full of great questions (and hopefully great answers).

Check it out "Kid Show" on the Channel Frederator Youtube channel. If my film gets the most views for the month, I'll receive $200, so feel free to spread the word or embed.

Many thanks to Frederator and Bailee DesRocher for asking me questions!

I did another interview this week, but it's not posted yet. I'll update this when it's posted!

Tallahassee

My buddy Scott, whom I met at RISD, is part of a band called Tallahassee and they're releasing their first album, Wolfe Moon this week. Scott's face was on my last Clap Twice title image:

The hand is Anna's, who sung backup vocals for their song "Jealous Hands." Check it out at their blog. It's beautiful. Thanks for posting it Scott!

blind bed

Greetings. I'm currently floatiny bedo. Blind typing again. Will the wireless signal make it through the wall? I hope so.I've noticed something recently. When I work really hard on animation, and focus, .. and if it's been a few hours, I start to hear things in my head. Nothing from me, but its quiet, faint and sometimes turns out to be advertisements. Sometimes real ads, sometimes made up ones. It's an automatic flow. It's eerie to listen to. The feeling of tapping into, instead of creating..

The current title photo is a shot taken during a power outage on my block, well, more my whole neighborhood. It was great. I mean, it scared the crap out of jess and I, because there was a huge boom at the city light place (across the street from us). Jess screamed and slutched for me. The lights were out. I remembered where a flashlight was. Grabbed it. Lit candles. It was fun. Fun fun. Unusual. Interuptions are good. Excuses to detour.

I'm lying here with my eyes closed. I zoned out for a while. It is late. Jess is snoring in a lovely way.

--
Now back at the computer. It worked again! Wow, I'm impressed with this wireless keyboard. I'm leaving the misspellings and errors above.

You Cried Me

I made a music video. It's for Jookabox's newest album Dead Zone Boys. The song is called "You Cried Me." It's a great song, and great album as well. Check it out.



I animated the video entirely in flash with my wacom tablet. Jessica assisted me with visuals and ideas. This usually consisted of me turning around and saying "Jessica, can I get your opinion about this?" Some of her responses included "His heads too fat." or "Leave it be-- I think you're overthinking it."

I'm excited about it and hope this is a kickoff to more animation and storytelling.

Blind Wondering

Believe it or not, but I am in my living room. I'm typing this with a wireless keyboard. I can't sese the screen. I honestl don't know if this is evenven being typed. The wirelesss. Hmmmm. I can't really delete things that weren't working out. I have to just go with what's here. Candid.

I find blindness intriguing. I guess it's a good way to interrupt any . I just throught so long that I forgot where i left off. What I meant was that blinding yourself makes yyou. It's vulnerable. All the "togetherness" , or image of togetherness is put aside.

Typing with a a screen keeps your mind refreshed on what you've already said. What would the effect of always doing it this way? Is it good for the mind? Would it improve my memory?

I still don't know if any of this has gone through. A part of me is scared--that this is all in vanin vain.. Who cares. It was my birthday yesterday. I'm 25. I feel just the same as I've always been. I hear people ask "--or, nevermind, I heard people SAY "Gosh, I'm [age], I'm so old." I don't feel old yet. I just feel current.

I'm going to go check now.

Holy smokes, it worked. Ha ha, I didn't write as much as I thought I had.

Octobrrrrr

The above is a still from a new animation project I'm working on. It should be done in a few weeks. It's a music video.

The air is cold. It's Fall. My birthday is coming up on the 7th... feeling cozy.

I've been reading the book of Luke. If you've ever wanted a straight-forward look at who Jesus is, I recommend it.

I'm thankful for the mercy of the vinedresser in this parable from Luke 13:

And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Color

I've been experimenting with coloring my drawings.

Want to have a cup of coffee?

The above drawing, or at least the right side of it, was inspired by a guy I met on the street yesterday named Kirk. I'm happy about it. I forgot how weighty true character is. I had lost faith in them for some time.

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I'm reading Embracing the Wide Sky by Daniel Tammet. It's blowing my mind.

Lots of my personal projects are piling up. I need to improve, or acquire, time management skills.

Just got back from Boston. It was good to see "old" friends. Old, because they're friends from college, but not detached. I'm excited that our bonds haven't weakened, even though we see each other about once or twice a year.

I've been struggling with a condition for the past 10 months. I'm not quite ready to share it with the world, except for the fact that it's improving.

Heat Is A Thief

Just in case you're not from Seattle, you ought to know that we just escaped a heat wave. Of course there are hotter places on earth, but Seattle is never prepared for any kind of extreme weather. Wednesday was 103 degrees and I had no sanctuary of cold, cool air. Work and home were both furnaces. My only relief was going to Green Lake after work with my friend Tim and Jessica, and Jessica. The above photo was taken by Tim.

The photo is a pretty good expression of what the heat was doing to me. I'd been having a very hard time thinking. Everything was off balance and difficult.

It was so hot in our apartment that I couldn't use my computer. It automatically shut off to prevent over-heating. Work was sluggish. Nothing seemed worth doing.

But it's in the 70s and 80s today. It's over. Yay. Suddenly I have this burst of motivation to do things!

Complexities of Life

I like this photo a lot. I like it for several reasons. A big reason is that it's of my beautiful wife. Another reason is the pained expression on her face. Why would I like that? Because it's unique. The photo has weight. I'd like to think that a good photo expresses a lot about what you're not seeing.

Stop and think to yourself why she might be having that expression. Did I ask Jess to pose with that emotion? Feel free to post a comment of what you think.

The truth is that the photo actually is an honest moment of clashing emotions. For the preceding minutes, I'd been taking photos of her in the living room in her pretty dress. She was delighted at the attention, and I was excited about the wonderful lighting.

Then we heard a little ripping sound coming from the couch. I swung around and saw Renton (the cat) digging his claws into our new sofa. I yelled, he darted into our studio, I went after him, but as I entered the studio, he was running back out again and I went to stop him with my foot and ended up kicking him pretty hard. In the face.

I could feel myself bubbling inside with anger and shame as Renton darted toward the kitchen. I turned around and looked at Jess. Even in the despair of that moment, I recognized the opportunity and took the photo before Jess had a moment to move.

I couldn't just ignore the fact that I had kicked Renton in the face, so then I went off to look for him. I didn't have to look far--he was under our bed. It took a while to get him out. I looked at his face, which was fine. No damage. No kitty tears. I was relieved, but anchored by regret.

So that's the story behind the picture. I will give $5 to anyone who thought that before reading the truth.

Oh, and in case you were wondering why Jess was all dolled up, we recently celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. It's been a great 3 years. I'm looking forward to the next 60ish.

One more heart-felt tid bit: I went skating with my longboard today. I've had a harder time having fun with it the last couple years. I don't really have the time or the balls to do crazy stuff anymore, so sometimes I get bored with it.

Today I decided to switch it up and ride goofy instead of regular. For anyone who is unfamiliar, that means that I usually ride with my left foot forward (called Regular) but I rode the opposite (called Goofy) today.

Why is that significant? It's basically like throwing away 14 years of cultivated skateboard coordination and returning to the fear of a wobbling beginner. Usually it'd frustrate me, but today I embraced it. When you start over, victories are easier to come by, since it doesn't take as much effort to get as far as you were before. It was theraputic for my mind and body.

It's like breaking both your arms and then being overcome with joy because you wrote a poem by tapping computer keys with your nose.

Those little victories happen everyday, all day long, but I take them for granted.

Don't forget that breathing is a victory.

"Actually Tom, I forgot already. That's such a lame Hallmark card thing to say. You suck."

Yep, I suck BIG time.

Cowboy

This is a little animated documentary about cowboys.

Toil Nor Spin

30 Second film about going to the Tulip Festival with Paul and Charity.

Vacation

I've enjoyed good weather these past few days. Jess and I are currently in Stow, MA visiting her parents. We visited New York City for a few days before we got here. Good times.

Although I much enjoy vacations like these, I feel as if I don't really absorb them. When I'm on vacation, it's like my job and normal routine cease to exist, but not in a comforting way. I don't recline and say "Awe, this feels so good, because I'm usually at work right now."

It's like work never existed. It doesn't even surprise me.

Then when I return to my job, it's as if my vacation was a dream.

What's the deal?

I think part(most) of the dissatisfaction arises from the fact that my idea of vacation is based on fantasy. This vacation ideology is probably just a mash-up of all the summer vacation films I saw in the '80s and early '90s.

The funniest part is that this has been a great vacation: I've spent time with friends and family that I missed greatly, spent hours in the sun, swam in a bay alone during a thunderstorm, recorded audio and video of bees, stayed in NYC for free, etc.

I take it for granted so easily. Then I over-think it and get myself down for it not feeling like the movies. What a bunch of bullshit.

Be careful not to compare your vacations (and life!) to the movies. It feels like a subtle influence, but it can run very deep in your ideas.

Kid Show, Big and Beautiful

So a year or two ago, I uploaded Kid Show to youtube and it looked like a piece of crap. I patiently waited for compression qualities to improve on video portals like youtube, and the waiting has finally paid off, thanks to vimeo.com. You can now watch Kid Show, BIG, and CLEAN, in STEREO (ooooo) on vimeo.com. So for those of you who always watched the tiny, crappy version on my website, this should be a treat for you.

Also, I've been very inspired by The Mighty Boosh. If you've never heard of it, watch some clips on youtube. It's a silly, British, surrealistic, comedy show.

Victoria BC 2009

Last weekend, Jess and I went on a little 4-day vacation in Victoria, BC. The above is a little mini-documentary of the trip. Over half the video is from our last night, which we spent with Brandon Velestuk and his friend Jason. We stayed up drinking beer, discussing film, art, and Victoria. It was a great trip.

Our hotel was amazing. We swam everyday and I actually was able to teach Jess to swim 10 feet! We need to find a local pool so she can continue her practice. Good job Jess!

About Dogs for real

Ok, so maybe it's not my comeback film, but it's a silly film and I hope to make more soon. Hope you enjoy it.

It was a challenge to control the look of things since I was in the video. Jess helped me out though. One of these days I want to actually write a script down and use actors so I can control the composition at every point.

But so far I'm only able to write things down after I've shot footage. I react to the visuals. I've yet to just write something into existence.

Oh and you'll probably realize that About Dogs is actually about cats. This was intentional. My conceptual answer for it is that I'm experimenting with internet misinformation.

Girl In Front of A House

Interesting street view on google maps. It's like a painting. Way to go, google maps.

About Dogs

I'm working on a film about cats. It's called About Dogs. Should be done soon, because I already have it edited, just need to do some audio tweaks and edits. The above is not a still from the film, but was taken moments before I started filming.

It's my comeback film.

Also, I am now doing music under the pseudonym Dynamote. Check out dynamote.com for a song. The song is called Time For Bed. Let me know what you think. I don't think it's very good. I've decided not to care about trying to make quality/clever songs anymore; just honest ones. And if for now, honest means poor/boring/amatuer, then OK. Sold. There's no other way.

It's 5am AGAIN but it feels kinda good.

John Raux

Meet John Raux. Artist, explorer, and Etch A Sketch genius. The above photo is a portrait he did of me while I was at work. Click on it to see it big.

John is from Kansas City, but he's in town for a wedding, so Jess and I have enjoyed spending a little time with him. He crashed at our house the other night and we almost killed him with our cats. We got the wrong allergy medicine, so he was coughing and wheezing all night long. Sorry John!

In other news, life has been really up and down lately. I'm glad that God is always good, because if it weren't for him, I'd have gone insane for sure.

Jess and I are still keeping an eye open for a house to buy.

I'm really into chess now. I've been playing for a couple weeks. I'm not very good yet, but I really enjoy it.

Cats Are Stupid

In less than 24 hours, our new chair has sustained more damage than it had experienced in its previous 45 years of life.

Cats are stupid.

Green Chair

Behold the newest addition to our living room:

Inc. and Lost Beer

...Not every potential client is ready. A while back, Jansport came by. Jansport makes backpacks. Tom Deslongchamp, who is an art director but, like everyone else at Wexley, is agile and contributes to pretty much everything, put on a white jumpsuit and a top hat and squeezed himself into a gigantic Jansport bag that sat in the corner of the upstairs conference room. When Jansport's marketing reps arrived, Deslongchamp hopped out of the bag and handed over the presentations. Perhaps it was a little much -- Wexley didn't get the job. Which is OK. Either you get what Wexley is selling -- a very particular sensibility and approach toward marketing -- or you don't.

The above excerpt is from an article about Wexley School for Girls (my employer) in the March issue of Inc. Magazine.

I'm trying to figure out how to datamosh(watch in HD). I can do it sloppily, but nothing close to the quality in that Chairlift video.

Jess and I are looking for a house to buy.

Here's a flyer I saw taped to a utility box:

coffee

I just experienced an epiphany:

The days that I have coffee, stuff gets done.

Oh no..

I don't want another expense. I don't want to rely on it. I guess I'm old now.

someone help

Reuben Can Fetch

Reuben Can Fetch from Tom DesLongchamp on Vimeo.

Check it out--my cat can fetch! He can do it forever. He must have dog genes.

Animal Massage

Animal Massage from Tom DesLongchamp on Vimeo.

Hope you enjoyed the experiment above. Jess was giving me a back massage, and it hurt so bad that I thought it'd be funny to record it. All the animals, except for Reuben the cat, are from PETCO.

I'm starting to feel like I'm in a place to make something substantial again. By substantial, I mean something that takes more than one evening to create. Kid Show is finished, from a festival standpoint, and it's time to make something new. I'm planning on doing some kind of live-action short, because that's the language I've been using lately... thanks to my new camera.

I'd like to write something original, but I was thinking about trying an adaptation. It might help me get my own gears rolling. I've been thinking of using some Richard Brautigan, because his writings are short/surreal snapshots of his life.

I'm going through a bit of a health trial at the moment. Nothing life-threatening, but worrisome. It's causing me some serious anxiety. I usually just ignore my anxious feelings, but these ones are a bit stronger. If you think to, say a little prayer for me--God will know what it's about.

Slow Down

The above photo was shot through a jeep window. The girl on the left is my wife Jessica, and the girl on the right is my sister Jenee.

I've decided to slow down. In a certain way, I've decided to give up. I've been fighting for the last year. Fighting for time, always to be discouraged, because there wasn't enough. There will never be enough, so I decided to stop trying and just slow down for a while; let things happen naturally. Soon after deciding that, I found myself enjoying things more, because I wasn't worried about what I could be doing. The little times I have for art seem more potent, because I'm not competing with life itself.

In the words of James Murphy:

"You got to give it up--if you want to live it up."

Except he was talking about money, but I think it still applies.

I'm still creating things, but I'm not letting it stop me from spending time with people.

Happy New Year

New Years Eve '09 from Tom DesLongchamp on Vimeo.

Happy New Year! Above is a little video I put together with footage from my new years' eve at my brother's place in Seatac, WA. It's got laughter, drama, ice covered pool, blood, hugs, and an unintelligible "Auld Lang Syne." It was an interesting night. Thanks to everyone who made it a fun night.

I saw Clint Eastwood's "Grand Torino" last night. It was the first movie with a packed in audience that I had seen in a while. I forgot how great that is. The audience is so responsive, because it feeds off the movie then off it's own excitement. I really enjoyed the movie. Some of the acting wasn't that good, but the story was so great that I could overlook it. You come out of the film feeling 50% veangful and 50% humbled. Well... maybe more humble, but it was great. I haven't seen most of Clint Eastwood's films, but I'm glad I saw this one.