Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Before getting into my photos, let me put in my two cents on Annie awards. It’s absolutely ridiculous that WALL-E didn’t pick up any awards and Kung Fu Panda got it all. I didn’t like either film (for different reasons), but nothing for WALL-E! Ridiculous as it is, even screenplay went to the Panda when Waltz With Bashir was nominated!
We’re living in the world of the 17 year old!

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Just a bunch of varied pics and thoughts:

- My friend, Steve Fisher sent me this photo, and it got my juices flowing. I love slices of my favorite NY buildings. The Chrysler Bldg is right up there, #1. Of course, the Empire State is #2.

Wherever you go in NY, you have a built in compass to locate yourself. If you pick the Empire State as the center (or if you can only see the Chrysler Bldg, that’s close enough) you can gauge where you’re standing.
You know that building is at 34th & Fifth, so it’s either N, S, E or W of you. The rest is for you to make the mental marker and arrange accordingly.
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Steve’s photo (above) shows the Chrysler Bldg from Hellsgate Bridge in Astoria, Queens.

Above left I have a photo I took from 59th St. & Lex. Take just one step to the right (as pictured in photo on the right) and you can see the Chrysler Bldg. sliced nicely by all the other buildings on Lexington Ave.
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Here’s the Empire State Bldg as seen on Bleecker St & 6th Ave. You can see that
you’re South and just West of City central. You’re in Greenwich Village.
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Here’s Steve Fisher’s bird’s eye view of the Empire State Bldg
and he writes, “While this shot may not exactly help orient you
in terms of streets and avenues, it perhaps makes a statement
on the direction of our society.”
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This is another of Steve’s photos showing
the glowing orbs of a church on Lexington Ave.
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I love the glowing tops of these two buildings shot on Lexington & 29th St.
but I never seem to be able to capture the feeling of them.
There’s a feeling of dignified opulence in the two buildings.
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Changing the subject: I was in Hastings on Hudson earlier this week.
This was one of the days it snowed; within hours the rain washed it all away.
That type of weather has happened at least once a week since New Year’s.
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I also had a visit and a great lunch with my friend, James Wang and his wife, Andrea.
I’ve known James since 1976 when I hired him for Raggedy Ann & Andy as an in-
betweener. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so ardently dedicated to learning
animation. He’s one of those people in animation I love but see too infrequently.
The photo, taken by an animator in my studio, is mercifully out of focus.
Like Greta Garbo’s cameraman, he’s softened our ages.

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There’s an article about Coraline and the 3D system in today’s NYTimes.

- This past Thursday was an interesting day in New York.

It was a cold day. We woke to a snow storm. Not a bad one, only about 3 inches of snow. It was one of those nice snow falls that left everything white and clean looking, and the snow was just about gone by the time we went home.

We closed the day by hearing about a plane that had to land in the Hudson River after a flock of geese crashed through and destroyed the jet engines. No one was hurt, all the luggage was lost, and the pilot was proclaimed a “hero” – word of the decade.

It was a positive day. As David Letterman said, perhaps this will auger a different and more hopeful year to come. We had our first sample of it when Obama’s candidate for Attorney General told Congress that waterboarding is and always has been “torture” and that Gitmo would be closed.

Here are some pictures of snow in the morning and the skies at night. I took the snowy pics and my friend, Steven Fisher, took the shots in the sky. The pic above is our latest studio kitten, Ian, looking out the window as the snow falls in the alleyway.

Looking West, down Bleecker Street, at 6:30 in the morning.

That’s the Picasso statue in front of the NYU housing quarters on Bleecker Street.

Here’s a closer shot of it. Snow falls lightly, almost invisibly, around it.

Some early morning leaves.

Looking up – East – the heart of Bleecker St.

The famed Bitter End, with a slippery sidewalk.

The famed Le Figaro Cafe – oh, wait . . . that’s right
Le Figaro was destroyed to give us a fast food Mexican joint.
History rolls on, despite all the famous people that traipsed through Le Figaro.

Bleecker Street, looking West to the Hudson River. The invisible falling
snow has gotten so heavy it’s hard to get my automatic camera to focus.

Finally, reaching the studio where the snow was getting heavy but
didn’t show up in many of my pictures. This shot looks up at the sign
as you’d exit the studio, generally banging your head on the brick overhang.

- 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.

- Christmas isn’t officially over; I think that occurs on Jan 6th, Tuesday. But for all intent and purposes, it’s over. We’re into the New Year, and it’s back to work and school.

I was amused a bit to have seen this sign signifying the decorative Christmas festivities happening in Madison Square Park, as I entered yesterday at the rear of the park. (I walk uptown to downtown, entering at the rear, exiting at the entrance.)

I guess I read it a bit fast (it was cold out and I was moving quickly), and I misunderstood somewhat. I went to the Shake Shack expecting to see an elaborate display. This is a small eatery in the South-western side of the park. There’s always an extended line here for the hot dogs, hamburgers and other foods they serve. There was a display, but it hadn’t changed in the past weeks.

The Shake Shack is actually recognized – I think by New York Magazine -
to have some of the best snacks in New York.

However, the nearby fountain did catch my eye.

The water was artificially created with some clear plastic strips.
The encircling fountains were dressed with shiny, colorful egg-like balls.

There were about six of these around the centered fountain.

Leaving the park through the main exit at 23rd Street and Fifth Ave. is always
impressive. That Flatiron Building dominates the statue of William H. Seward.
From outside the park, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of decorative display within.
Only a Christmas wreath and a couple of colored eggs rest beneath Seward’s feet.

I’m curious to see how long before these are down and gone.
I guess that’ll be the end of Christmas.

- The other day, to escape the rain, I found myself in the 8th Street subway station heading downtown. It was a BMT station which features a number of artist images done in tiles. Called Broadway Diary some 40 mosaics are featured on this subway platform’s walls. The art was created by Tim Snell who specializes in mosaics and murals.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

A number of themes appear in the grouped images. NYU is part of the
neighborhood, so it’s prominantly featured in many of the pictures.

A lot of the animal life of the area also appears prominently.

Some of the animals appear on a leash.

The busy shopping area of 8th Street is prominent.

The free flying hat makes me think of the 23rd St. station
and its murals by Keith Godard of free flying hats.

Many of the local shops are also featured.
This one was on the other side of the station.

Rain seems to play a part in a number of the pictures.

It’s a delight to be able to see this work while waiting for a train. (I was able to snap all these pictures before the next train arrived.) It’s a bit like the 20th century’s answer to WPA art. (These were all done before 2000.)
Let’s hope Obama initiates art projects to keep some artists alive while giving us some positive artwork.

It’s Christmas!

The baby Jesus was placed in the manger early this morning, protected by the chicken wire. The local church on Bleecker Street and 6th Ave. is all aglow.

And here are two great Christmas photos taken in Queens by friend, Steven Fisher.

Enjoy the day.

- The last week has been a deluge of weather. All kinds – wet, sun, more wet, snow, more wet, ice and cold sun. I started taking random photos last week in all this weather, and found some pleasant (not professional) results. For want of better, here are some of the stills.

Visiting my mother, last Sunday, waiting for a train in the cold rain, I occupied myself with photographing the glimmer.

(Click any image to enlarge.)

I like the colors that came through. It just looked dark
when I was shooting it.

I saw the film, Defiance, and met director, Ed Zwick, at a screening room
across the street from Bryant Park. While waiting to go in, I shot the top of the park.
Because of the activities in the park, it felt like Christmas – in the rain.

This was followed by a dinner in Rockefeller Center, across from the tree,
which felt more glamorous than captured, here.

In Rockefeller Center, Spongebob, the Grinch and Santa posed with tourists.
(Heidi grabbed a hug and I shot it before the guy came over to ask for a donation.)

The diamond district, 49th Street, was lit with images of diamonds (quel
appropriate.) I guess the hassid’s of this area want to feel included.

The Chrysler Building in the snow (you can’t see the snow.)

The Empire State Building in the snow.

This motorcycle could have used a tarpaulin over it.

Of course, I couldn’t pass up the Madison Square Park tree
in the ice and rain after the light snowfall.

Here’s a closer shot.

Then there’s the crèches of St. Anthony’s church.
Jesus will join them on Christmas.

Heavy snow was falling outside the manger.

The snow made it hard to find a decent focus from the other side of the street.

Finally, here’s an agglomeration of trees shot yesterday in Union Square
on a little traffic triangle which was set across from the market of Christmas craft shops.
The trees are covered with the last bit of snow prior to today’s storm.

- Do you remember the old days, when construction sites used to rip holes into their barricade walls so that pedestrians could watch the inner workings of the construction site? This was something we’d see animated in many a Looney Tune. Those holes actually did exist and were often occupied by people who were curious.

Today, probably because of insurance demands, those holes are gone. Your average construction site offers no way for people to peer into the workings beyond the street level. This also makes people like me more curious to know if something dark and nasty is going on within those walls.

I thought of this while passing the three construction sites I have to walk around each morning on the way to work. One is rather large and has been under way for the past six months (and they’ve just begun to complete the foundation), and the other two are relatively small (brownstone buildings being replaced.)

(Click any image to enlarge.)

You’ll notice that this large site on 29th St & Park Ave takes up a full
quarter of the city block. They’ve erected scaffolding to walk under and
a big blue fence to keep roaming eyes out. No peepholes.

Sneaking a peek within the locked, gated blue wall gave me
a good view of this large buildling under construction.

A smaller site close to my studio, works hard to be the most at
inconveniencing pedestrians and their attempts to keep people from
checking it out are more extreme than on the larger site.

I was able to sneak my camera into the locked fence and get
these two photos – above & below – which really don’t offer a
whole hell of a lot of information, other than that they’re guarded.

However, on the weekend, I was able to get a decent shot of the
inner workings of this site by sticking my camera in and shooting blindly.

Walking away from this site and continuing about half a block
you come upon another even more secretive site.

Here, they’re placing these large, ominous looking tanks into the
base of the developing building. It’s not a large space, so one wonders
what will possibly be the purpose of these white tanks.

They sure have enough of them. Maybe they looking for a large boiler.

You can’t even get to that side of the street to see what’s going on.

There are many sites underway in the City. This one, downtown,
has been on my horizon for almost a year now. I watched it grow
from scaffold with a crane sitting on its roof to what you presently see.
One wonders, given the current economy, who will rent those spaces.

- Walking to work one early morning this week, I noticed the decorative archway pictured above. This is an outgrowth of what in classical architecture is called a “lintel.” A lintel is, in it’s basest form, a block placed over an entranceway. It solidifies the two columns that reach around the portal. As it says in Wikipedia: The lintel often rested on pillars made of piled stones such as in the building of the Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae, Greece. In architecture around the world however, a lintel is not considered (as it is in the very narrow view of classical architecture) as purely an element of the Post and lintel.

I decided to pay a bit more attention to the overhead arches that decorate doorways leading to my office.
Here are some of those I found:

(Click any image to enlarge.)

All are decorative additions, but some are more decorative than others.

Some are downright cheap, and one even wonders why do it?

Some are beautiful in their simplicity.

A number even imitate the look and feel of the
“Rosetta” window over a cathedral’s door.

The awning introduces a wholly new element.

Some are near identical to others. The same architect?

How solid this looks.

Brick buildings present a new problem. The doorway is an add-on.

This can be decorative cement-work.

Here’s an attempt to create the decoration in brick.

Wrought iron filegree creates a whole new element of decorative design.

This building is typical of many of the buildings one sees midtown Manhattan.

The decoration gets to imitate gold and excess;
it has an attractiveness all its own.

Happy Thanksgiving

Photo by Steve Fisher

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