Steve Vai's 30-hour Guitar Workout

If you're a guitar player and are looking for a good lesson, check this out. I found a digital copy of this great article in Guitar World magazine, "Steve Vai's 30-hour Guitar Workout". I know what you're thinking, "Thirty hours! Give me a fucking break!" Even if you don't employ the methods of extended practice Steve offers, the article itself is a good read and a point in the right direction for the aspiring guitarist to achieve speed and accuracy on the instrument.

Stereo-Scopic Photography

The following image was taken from Adam Jones' MySpace page. It illustrates a cheap and easy way to acheive stereo-scopic photography.

Check out more: Adam Jones.
I recently saw Adam's band, Tool, live at the Pan American Center at New Mexico State. It is a visual overload. Go see them if you have a chance. Here's some great images taken from taken from his page.

Thanks, Adam, and killer live show!

Animation Archive

Here are some pages from some really helpful vintage animation books I was fortunate enough to find on the Animation Archive site. The first few are from Preston Blair's tremendously helpful book.

This page was helpful for dialogue. ToonBoom's default dialogue consists of only five mouth positions and looks like shit.
Some tips on construction are available in this book as well as Nat Falk's book on animation.

Check this great site
Animation Archive.

Sketch at Work

Maybe I should have just acted this out and served the jail-time.

Nasty Cactus

If you are in a band in southern New Mexico and don't have a good quality recording there is a studio called Nasty Cactus local to Las Cruces New Mexico. Local bands A Null Rampage and Home Town Letdown have recently recorded a split album that includes eight songs from both bands. I’ve heard this thing and it sounds fantastic. I only hope that both bands continue to record and play shows.


Below: A Null Rampage's Matt Recording Guitar Tracks for The Corpse at Nasty Cactus (2005).

I myself have recorded a five song demo with Nasty Cactus that sounded great. Travis Manning, studio manager, is the man with the plan. This guy knows what he’s doing with all those buttons and switches. He’s the guy I payed to do all that recording stuff that I can’t do and he does a great job. Talk to Travis about recording your band.

"I knew when we started working with the local area bands that there was a lot of talent, but after really getting to know the bands and their music abilities (not to mention listening to their songs a couple hundred times within the course of the projects) I am actually blown away by the originality and songwriting abilities of the musicians in our area. I feel very privileged and happy to be a part of the creative process and it is my pleasure to dedicate our studio to helping you realize your creative vision and produce a very professional sound at an affordable price. Please give us a call if are interested in laying it down!! Or just hit the contact button and send us an e-mail!"

Travis Manning

Nasty Cactus Studio (and duplication Co)

nastycactus@comcast.net

505-644-8731

John K.

Let me talk about John Krisfaluci (or John K. for short). John K. is best known for creating Ren and Stimpy. DIG IT!! LOVE IT!! Those two crack me up. If you don't like Ren and Stimpy chances are you and I won't get along. I've read and continue to read John’s blog everyday and am disappointed whenever there's no new post.
I've read a lot of comments on the web from fans and John's colleagues suggesting that many of today’s artists and animators rip off his unique style. Ralph Bakshi, with whom John worked early in his career agrees (you might know him best for his films Fritz the Cat, Coonskin and Heavy Traffic).

"Don't do what so many animators did and just plagiarize someone else. Look what they did to John Kricfalusi. So much of contemporary animation is just ripped off from John's style. It'd be okay if he had a studio and was making a million dollars. But he's not, and I get angry."

Read it for yourself in the Bakshi interview.

John’s influence is clearly evident in such cartoons as Dexter’s Lab, The Flinstones: On the rocks (2001) and Cow and Chicken to name a few. There is no doubt in my mind that the man had a huge impact on the animation community in his hay day and years after.



Be that as it may, golden age animators, particularly Robert Clampett, heavily influenced John himself as he openly discusses in his blog. I myself, being the obsessive type, have found such an instance in the “Nurse Stimpy” episode where Ren is administered his medicine in a similar manner to the young duckling with a sucker here animated by Richard Bickenbach.
This is not a finding out of John's ripping off the Looney Toons style of animation by any means. It is only an observation and a reminder that even the greats still stand on the shoulders of their forerunners.

Zakk Wylde

Here's a sketch of the almighty Zakk Wylde. This one depicts Zakk in all his Zakkness just after drinking a hundred beers, killing a steer with his bare hands, ripping out an unborn fetus from a woman’s womb and crushing its skull to get that sweet nectar inside. After that, he beat up your dad and stumbled to the photo-shoot. This guy's fingers move so fast when he jams that they take up less space and their mass increaces.

If you ever get a chance go see this dude rock out all hard with Black Label Society, do yourself a favor and GO!! Don't believe me? Check out this kick-ass DVD and see him rip. Get it now!!



Doom Troopin DVD