Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Tom Hachtman and his wife, Joey, as I’ve written before, produce murals for people primarily in Southern New Jersey. They do this work through Joey’s company, Three Designing Women Studios.

Infrequently they send me some photos so I can see what they’re up to. Here are a recent few photos sent my way. Tom describes the photos.

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This job is in Colt’s Neck, New Jersey.

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We had to build a floor over the pit
so we could paint around that tree.
Joey said, “It looks like a Gehry house.”
Katie Mae, our coworker, said, “Yeah – inside out.”

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It is a faux finish – layers of silver and platinum metallic paints and
it really should be seen in person as it changes with the light every
time you move around. Katie Mott and Christine Myshka worked with us
and we couldn’t have done it without them. This sort of work makes me
feel more like a Flying Wallenda than a Michelangelo. I do think of
Philippe Petit now and then for further inspiration.
The Hazlet mural is nearly finished – I’ll send photos when it is.

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A mural in progress at Gem’s House of Bagels in Hazlet, NJ.

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This is our third Gem’s House of Bagels mural.

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Here I am working on our third Gem’s House of Bagels mural.

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I’m sitting in front of the first Gem’s mural – smaller store – smaller mural.

- Last night we were reminded during our late night news that the moon was at its largest. It was in its closest axis to the earth, and would seem fuller than usual to us. So Heidi and I went out to take a look at 11pm. At first, in Manhattan we couldn’t see the moon and had no idea where to look for it (except up). Buildings blocked the view. We had to walk a block from our house to see it.

This was the view we had. The moon didn’t look very big.

And all my camera would record was a big white blob.
But we got to see it and headed back upstairs to our apartment.

I took a look on line, and sure enough Steve Fisher had sent his moon shots. Here’s what he wrote:

While the moon was certainly large last night, the atmosphere
was not as clear as I’ve seen it on other nights, so the sharpness
isn’t really what I would have hoped for. But it was beautiful.
The star the night before surprised me, though. I was actually out
photographing (I almost said ‘shooting’ and realized how awful that
would have sounded) planes because the sky was mostly white with clouds.
But through the breaks in the clouds the sky was crisply clear and when I
focused on wonderfully visible stars, I was amazed at how well I could see them.

Then, cropping and enlarging the images later yielded some cool pix.

The star

Steve’s photo of the moon.

Today’s the vernal equinox, marking the first day of Spring. Too bad there’s no real way to photograph that, except metaphorically. (Lots of shots of new flowers etc.) The weather has turned nasty cold today to remind us that Winter was tough.

Talking about going out like a lion, check out Scenes from a Tsunami in today’s NYTimes. Three Japanese artists paint what they felt.

A while back, I posted a couple of pieces about things I love. Well, I’ve got lots more, and what’s the point of the Sunday photo sessions if I can’t share them with you?

This Mickey Mouse is an iron toy that seems to have jumped
out of the Thirties. My sister had it and gave it to me one morning.
It sits atop my computer. That’s a picture of Cocteau taped to the
wall behind my desk. A post card my brother sent from France.

Here’s another shot of Mickey.

This is an award I received from Annecy for my Children’s film,
THE MYSTERIOUS TADPOLE. I’m glad I wasn’t there to receive it.
I received a phone call from the airport – JFK – one day. They had
a wooden crate for me. I had no idea what it was and told them
to send it to me at my studio. The gigantic crate arrived, and inside
was a mass of plaster pieces. The award had been crushed enroute.
I carefully put the puzzle pieces together one day, using Elmer’s glue.

A large thing with stars of David all over it. The little plaster guy who
sits on top of it was missig his head. I guess it had been obliterated
in the shipping. When I look at it, I can’t help smiling over the memory.
Much better than a large award I would’ve had to carry back from France.

On the right is a Felix the Cat Zoetrope. Wendy’s had it as a give-away
a couple of years ago (maybe 15?). Dave Levy picked it up for me on his
lunch break. A great surprise.

The baby picture came from Bridget Thorne in announcement of
her first-born, Matthew. He’s now an editor living in LA.

This is a souvenir of the first EMMY Award ceremony I attended.
I didn’t win anything but picked up this great paperweight.

I remember bringing three friends with me who were living in LA. It took
a while for Louise, a friend, to pick out her dress. She wore a beautiful
black outfit. When we arrived, the tableclothes were black; the chairs
were black, the vases on the table were black. Everything seemed to be
black. Louise said if she’d known that she would have worn a color.

Her husband, Ernest, won an Emmy before I did (for a music score
he’d written.) I’ve since won four through HBO – children’s films.

This is a praxinoscope. A mirrored item that sits on the spindle of a
record player. The record has a label with dancing teddy bears (for
the “Teddy Bear’s Picnic) etc. You look in the spinning mirrors
and watch the animation on the record.

I had one of the Blue Bird items when I was a kid. I’ve bought
this one on e-bay. Thanks for the memory.

I have four theater seats from the old Radio City Music Hall.
James Wang gave me them one year when he was in NY.

This is an old Brownie still camera. The kind Kodak sold in 1917.
I bought one for a couple of dollars when I was 12 and used it to
take a lot of still pictures. My cousin destroyed it one year, and I’ve
replaced it much later in my life. More memories.

This is a 35mm movieola. I also have a 16mm version.
When I moved into this studio I gave up my steenbeck, but
I refused to part with the movieolas. I love them both.
One – 16mm – Weston Woods owed me some money. I gave
them $1, and they gave me the movieola.
The other – 35mm – I bought from an editor friend who
was going to flatbeds. I got it for $75.
To me, they’re both priceless.

- You know how there are days that just start off one way and make some kind of turn afterward; or, maybe, they don’t turn and the mixed emotions of the start linger. Some days you walk onto that subway platform and the train just shows up, and that’s the way it is all day. I call it “A good subway day.”

This past week started off with the idea that I’d take a picture each morning to encapsulate an overriding feeling that starts with the new day. So here’s the “diary” (for lack of any other word) of this past week.

Monday
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It’s a holiday, President’s Day. It’s snowing in NY after a weekend
of the temperature rising into the 40s & 50s. A light, almost refreshing
snow. This is my block, the first exterior site I see of any day.
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Here’s Park Ave looking downtown from 30th St. It’s 6am.
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The subway going downtown has been closed all weekend for repairs.
That means I walk about ½ a mile to the 23rd Street station at Sixth Ave.
Here I enter Madison Square Park, which looks lovely with the virgin snow falling.
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Charles K. Arthur doesn’t look like he’s
properly dressed for the weather.
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Here’s the children’s playground. I think of Laurel & Hardy’s
Babes In Toyland when I look at this entrance.
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It’s still snowing though it doesn’t show in the photograph.
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At the studio I cleaned up a lot of the work done last week for a short pilot I produced/animated. Maybe it’ll come to something, but it’s one of those jobs where the client doesn’t talk to you once you’ve sent in the final. Don’t they realize you’d like some feedback, even if it is positive.
Tuesday
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The doctor’s office

Went to the doctor’s this morning. The nurse there is an avid Knicks fan. I’m not much into basketball, but I can always carry a small bit of conversation about the subject. Today Carmelo Anthony has been traded to the Knicks and it’s a big deal in NY. The avid fan is over the top about it, though she realistically addresses the defensive problems left by the trade.

Wednesday
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Wednesday started off on the wrong foot.

There’s a lit sign when you enter the subways, these days. It tells you how long you’ll have to wait for the next train. I entered having 10 minutes before my ride would show up. I read and I read as the clock kept going from 10 mins to 22 mins; then to 9 mins to 21 mins. It couldn’t make up its mind, and the train arrived after about a 15 minute wait. I got grumpy when a sleeping homeless guy had taken over half the car with his scent.

All this at 6 in the morning.

Thursday

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Klee and flowers

This is our apartment. Looking from the coffee table, with tulips, to the piano, holding a book on Paul Klee’s love of the Theater and the theatrical drawings and paintings he did. It’s a beautiful book full of great illustrations. Heidi gave it to me on Valentine’s Day. I love Klee, and she knows it.

Many of those pictures will make it to the blog in the not-too-distant future.

Friday
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Friday, and it’s raining.

The weatherman said it we’d get a “soaking”.
It’s just a steadily persistent, normal rainfall. Rain is always an eyeopener for me in a basement studio. We’ve had floods several times, losing computers, books and artwork in the process. That hasn’t been for a couple of year though; we’ve figured out ways to protect the space. But the shadow of those floods remains in my brain, and I doubt I’ll ever be rid of them.

Saturday
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The Internet

Saturday was all about the blast that greeted me as I started trolling through some sites. Cartoon Brew led to The Huffington Post, and there was my friend, Mike Barrier being interviewed by some guy who was taking pleasure in saying some negative things about Pixar (without his really having to say them.)

Of course, Mike wasn’t really saying anything negative; he just gave a few honest critiques against the way Pixar makes their films.

Manipulative. Certainly, their films are. It wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t done so shamelessly. The road to the incinerator in Toy Story 3 is an obvious example. Naturally, it came with a built-in “deus ex machina.” To hear people tell of weeping during this sequence has surely confounded me.

Lacking in character. The only real “Acting” in these films is done with the first rate voice actoring. That’s where all the “character” lies. Brad Bird was nicely able to pull some excellent acting out of his animators, acting that went a smudge beyond the voices. I don’t see that in many other Pixar films. Just think if someone had performed at a higher level than Ellen DeGeneris in Nemo, or beyond Ed Asner in Up. As a matter of fact, the best acting probably came with Wall-E in the first half hour before the film became trite and tedious.

Yes, I agree every bit with what Mike had to say. I just wish he’d written the entire piece instead of having some go-between guy. Part of the pleasure in reading Mike Barrier is the glory in the language and his pure ability to write.

Sunday
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Robbie

Today, Robbie wanted to go out. That meant he wanted to climb the 10 foot wall adjacent to the studio. He, then, could also jump to the neighbor’s yard and bother their cat. It would mean my having to climb the wall and retrieve him. Those days are over. No going out.

So he runs to the bathroom every time he thinks I’m heading there, and he plops himself down in the sink. Cute, but he’s still not going out.

- Bill Peckman sent me some stills from a book of photos by O. Winston Link, Steam, Steel and Stars. They are magnificent pictures that were taken of steam railroads in America from 1955 to 1960. The photos are stunning achievements, and I had to post the images. You can see why Feininger had his attachment to such imagery. Ah, the romance! Judge for yourself.

Many thanks to Bill Peckmann.

The book’s cover.

From the front book flap.

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Here are shots showing the lighting setups done to take the photos.

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Here’s a 2004 newspaper article about
some of these photos that had been stolen.

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- It’s Sunday, and how more appropriate a time to show these pics by my friend, Steve Fisher. They’re of a temple in Elmhurst, Queens. There are a number of temples in Queens; it’s a very diverse community. I remember visiting an Indian Buddhist Temple in Flushing which had been built from stones and materials that were sent from India.

Here’s this Thai Buddhist Temple at 46th Avenue at 76th Street, in Elmhurst. The photos nicely capture the building.

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And just to give Christian churches some equal time, here Steve’s photographed two other temples, both in Maspeth Queens. The Transfiguration Church on Clinton Ave and the Holy Cross Church on 56th Road.

Stteve writes: Transfiguration, built in 1962, is of a style I would not have associated with a place of worship – kind of Swiss chalet trying to be Frank Lloyd Wright. Transfiguration taken to another level of meaning, probably not intended. The other (Holy Cross) is just a pleasant piece fitting in nicely into its mid-block residential context.

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The Transfiguration Church

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A detail.

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The Holy Cross Church (in hiding).

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Out in the open.

- Weather affects how your world looks. Recently we’ve had a ton of snow falling on NYC. (There have been some 56 inches since Christmas Day.) The whole place looks white for a time, then turns gray to black with floods at every street corner. It sure gets hard to navigate street crossings.

This past week we had something that you don’t get often – an ice storm. It hailed, mixed with rain, to create sort of an icy slush. Slippery in some places, wet in others. The trees and environment was encased in about a ¼ inch of ice.

I tried taking a picture at 6am that morning, but didn’t get anything worthwhile. Then Steve FIsher started sending some shots that are gems. So here they are, NY in a different light.

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These first two pics were the ones I shot at 6am
but wasn’t crazy about.

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The rest of these are by Steve Fisher.
They’re all color shots.

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___________________________

- It’s a couple of days later. The weather has gotten a bit warmer by Saturday, and another smaller snow dusting is expected. I decided to walk to the studio at 6:30am and figure out how to use my camera-phone thing. I’ve had it for two months and haven’t really figured out the machine. So here are some pictures. Note that a light hail was falling throughout the two mile trek.

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First off I walk through Madison Square Park.
I haven’t been here since Christmas, the first big snowfall.
I mistakenly had left the B&W feature setting on the camera.

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This tree looks to be dead. They’ve cut off a lot of it.
(See the logs on the ground.) Masses of squirrels are
climbing into the hole at the top of it.

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This is that light “Art-piece” I featured last year.
The lights (you have to look for them) aren’t on,
and the piece is silent.

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Then I walk down Fifth Ave. to Washington Square Park in the Village.
Some homeless person left their bin parked near a bike stand just
outside of the 23rd St. subway entrance. I guess they’re keeping warm.

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I almost forgot why I’d shot this photo.
If you look closely you’ll see that the entire building is
“For Rent”. I guess they gave up on the idea of selling it.

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Are these Christmas tree lights, still hung?
They look nice (in person) under this construction tunnel.

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The First Presbeterian Church on 13th Street and Fifth Ave.
I’ve realized I’d been shooting in B&W.
This is the first pic in color.

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Here’s the Arch at Washington Square Park , shot from 8th Street and Fifth Ave.

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Here’s a closer shot.

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This is Judson Memorial Church near NYU shot from within the park.

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A sort-of famous restaurant a couple of blocks from the studio.
All they serve is PB&J hundreds of ways. I haven’t been in there.
I keep PB and Jelly in the studio and my home; I love it.

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I turn West on Bleecker to Downing which leads me to Bedford.
“Hey ma, I can see our house from here!”
Finally, I reach the studio. The hail’s getting heavier.

- I’ve tried desperately to keep snow out of the photos for the past couple of weeks. I have had my fill of it. However, we were hit with another foot of snow this past week, and it’s hard to avoid.

Steve Fisher has been sending in some brilliant photos, so I can’t help but post them.

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6:44am

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7:10am

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3:47pm

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Inside Grand Central Terminal at high noon
while the snow comes to an end, outside.

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A day later.

Photos by Steve Fisher
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- A gigantor snow storm blew through New York overnight. The subway service was suspended for a half hour today, and it took a full 90 minutes to make the normal 20 min trip to the studio this morning. Global warming is on the march._______________________ .
- The Oscar nominations come very late in a film season. Of the animated features nominated, two of them, Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon have had full and complete DVD lives, The run is nearly done. Only The Illusionist is probable to gain a bit of a bump in theatrical sales from being nominated. It’s video version has not been released yet, so it can take advantage of the Oscar nomination in its marketing.

Of the live-action theatrical features, they all seem old by the time the nominations are released, and it gets hard to generate excitement for any of them. But, of course, I can only speak from the point of someone who has to take in all of these films early, so that I can participate in the vote. More probably most viewers haven’t come to the gate yet, so these films aren’t as finished as they feel to me.

Only the Producer’s Guild award, last week, to The King’s Speech has given me pause in believing that The Social Network will take the Best Picture Award home. After all, it even won the Golden Globe. However, the old-timey feel of the Oscar voters gives me reason to believe that The King’s Speech has a good chance. I don’t really supposrt either of them since I felt that The Illusiionist was a better film than either.

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- Bill Benzon has old time thoughts on his mind about a film that never seems to grow old.

I told you, last week, about his writings on Porky in Wackyland. Well, he’s back (Part 2) and (Part 3) with more to write more about this Bob Clampett classic.

It’s an interesting approach to write about the structure of the looniest of all the Looney Tunes. It’s almost like stepping into Wackyland yourself and trying to make sense of the surroundings. In a sense, you have to become Porky to be able to do that, and that doesn’t seem to make sense.

These new comments are critical and also very much worth the read. I suspect there’s going to be a Part 4.

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One of my two favorite film directors, Krzysztof Zanussi, is having a small retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art next week. Do yourself a favor and go see ANY of the films being screened.

The schedule is as follows:

Sat, Jan 29 6:00 pm THE CONSTANT FACTOR
8:15 pm REVISITED New York Premiere
(both introduced by Krzysztof Zanussi)
Sun, Jan 30 2:00 pm FAMILY LIFE
4:30 pm CAMOUFLAGE
Mon, Jan 31 4:00 pm FAMILY LIFE
Wed, Feb 2 4:00 pm CONSTANT FACTOR
7:00 pm CAMOUFLAGE
Thurs, Feb 3 6:45 pm REVISITED New York Premiere

The Museum of Modern Art is at 11 West 53rd Street, NYC 10018.

Here’s a recap of a photo spread I did back in January 2009. I like the way it turned out, and would like to post it anew.

- For some reason I have always loved the simple structure of a brick wall. I’ve often included them in the paintings I’ve done, and I’ve been fascinated by the many and varied differences you see in every structure made of brick. It was wonderful to hear Eyvind Earle discuss the architect’s tricks he used in Sleeping Beauty to detail all the brickwork in the castle backgrounds. Just another reason I enjoyed his artwork in that film.