Reel

Scavenger "Fun"-t

What's weaker than the title of this blog entry? Its tie-in to animation! Nevertheless, I must give a shout out to The Game 2007. This all-day scavenger hunt, which covered The Grove, Hollywood Forever cemetary, the Hollywood Wax Museum, SAG and 18 other destinations, was an unbelievable blast. My team consisted of Neil "Scrubs" Flynn, Rad "Fruit of the Loom Apple" Daly, and Blaine "My Husband" Capatch, the former two being complete strangers until that very day. Collectively, we were Gina, a spunky young actress, new to town and ready for success! And that's exactly what we got - if 14th place counts as success.

The entire thing was masterminded by J.P. "Fruit of the Loom Green Grapes" Manoux, seen here about to eat a donut off a string with a satan:

Okay, animation... well, Sutton, Barth & Vennari, an agency who reps the likes of Dee Bradley Baker, BJ Ward and our own Eric Bauza, was one destination. Once there, we had to record an advert for Knott's Berry Farm, then meet with actual agents Rita Vennari and Pam Sparks, who sadly declined to take us on as a client. To fully appreciate the other genius touches, do read the breakdown of the hunt here!

xoxo
Vera

Let's all play in the...

In my excessive summer busyness, I forgot to mention an entertaining new production at the Steve Allen Theater. Proudly billing their collection as the "worst cartoons ever," Cartoon Dump! showcases classics of a not-bygone-enough era. Typical attributes of these shorts include: ridiculous lipsync (recorded after the animation?), no lipsync (the kids in "Big World of Little Adam" speak exclusively from behind a book), frighteningly off-model characters, nonsensical storylines, artistic laziness, and general stupidity. In other words, laughs.

Cartoon Dump! is produced by CartoonBrew.com's Jerry Beck and Mystery Science Theater 3000's Frank Conniff. Between the horrendous flicks, Frank and comedienne Erica Doering perform delightfully dejected sketches as "Moodsy, the Clincally Depressed Owl" and "Composte Brite," and are periodically joined by a cast of characters that includes fellow MST3Ker Joel Hodgson as "Dumpster Diver Dan."

When's the next show? October 23rd!
Steve Allen Theater @ the Center for Inquiry - West
4773 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

More info here!

xoxo
Vera

The Greatest Time Lapse Film Cliches.

I screened this, my new short, at the 2nd anniversary of the Tomorrow Show last Saturday, hosted by Craig Anton, Ron Lynch and Brendon Small. Craig & Ron are also in the Tulsa Skull Swingers, the kick-assingest band that twinny and I go-go dance for.

Please enjoy.



xoxo
Vera

Lucha... VA VOOM! 15 - The Quinceanera

These two girls will see you here next week?

Annecy 2007

Maybe "Twincesses" wasn't ready to send to the 2007 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, but the twins sure were. Last week we made our sixth trip to the beautiful little French town near the Swiss and Italian borders. What fun! Usually our time is split between watching the latest independent short films and TV shows, drinking Kirs, and napping, but this year was special. London's TVC Studios celebrated its 50th year, and thanks to our escort - their past animator and our present dad, Mr. Jim Duffy - we were invited to the party. A whole lot of history was had; TVC, if you don't know, was responsible for "The Yellow Submarine".

Amongst these snow-haired gents, you'll find legendary animators/directors/producers Jim Duffy, Jack Stokes, Chuck Swenson and John Coates.

As for Annecy's films, the following are some of our picks, if you care to track them down:
* "Dji Vou Veu Volti" (Belgium; Barbara's all into love these days)
* "Lavatory - Lovestory" (Russia; same reason)
* "The Pearce Sisters" (UK; made by crazy people)
* "Meme en Reve" (France; clever 'n' funny)
* "The Wrong Trainers" (UK; heart-breaking)
* Bedtime Stories "The Land of Bogeys" (France; because we are secretly four years old and "croute du nez" is hilarious.)

Also intriguing, the Seven-esque Danish film "Down the Road". I got to compliment director Rune Christensen personally when two women I was with attempted to order coffee from him at the Bonlieu. Later, at the infamous Scot's Pub, he regaled us with tales of drunkenly breaking into his own hotel. Animators are so swoony!

Unfortunately, we missed the newest film by Andreas Hykade, whose "Ring of Fire" put hearts in our eyes when we first saw it at the 2000 Ottawa International Animation Festival. He also illustrated The Animation Pimp, the brand new collection of articles by OIAF's Artistic Director Chris Robinson. Boy, is this a good read. Opinionated, poignant, informative, amusing, and not afraid to coin "jamesbondingly," it's worth the price just for its glossary of animators.

I'm already dreaming of Annecy 2008...

xoxo
Vera

P.S. It's a long story, but Barbara and I are now addicted to Mackenzies Smelling Salts, which can be purchased at any British chemist's and is stronger than crack.

P.P.S. I've just watched my old dubbed copy of "Ring of Fire". Oh. I have the heart-sickness from its beauty.

Oh! How'd Lucha VaVOOM 14 go, you ask?

I SWEAR we had every intention of finally doing a burlesque dance, until a couple of sexi mexi stripping cowboys interrupted.

We asked them nicely to leave.

*Sigh* Why does it always have to end in Huracanrana Suicidas?

3 Things

1. Animation for Twincesses is heading for completion THIS WEEK, making it the busiest ever, since --

2. February 13th, 14th and 15th, me 'n' the twin are debuting our first ever beautifully choreographed BURLESQUE DANCE for Lucha VaVOOM, the Mexican wrestling / burlesque / comedy extravaganza, which you can read about in --

3. My INTERVIEW with the funny and charming Glasgow Philips, author of the upcoming novel The Royal Nonesuch.

Whew.

xoxo
Vera

Christmas 2006

xoxo
Barbara & Vera

What Christmas Meant to Us

Given the popularity of adult-oriented animations these days, people are always asking if "Twincesses" is for the younger set. Of course it is! We love children, as is evident with this documentary we made last year, on location at Saint Aidan's Primary School in Hornsey, London, where actual British school kids shared their unique views on a popular holiday. Filmmaker ZZalgern0n calls it "an amazing live-action/animated short that almost puts Roger Rabbit to shame." Enjoy!


(Please ignore the additional minute of black You Tube's added to the end; there is no hidden track.)

xoxo
Vera

A quick, unrelated note:

It is beautiful, no?



Saharat Tantivaranyoo designed this poster for our Lucha VaVOOM shows, tomorrow through Thursday. If you can find us, we’ll give you one.

xoxo
Fifi & Bibi

Happy Birthday BGs

September 11th: Boy did we get a special present for our birthday - our first backgrounds from Mindy Lee!



Mindy came HIGHLY recommended from Matt. We checked out her blog and found some amazing BGs - but what really fascinated me were her origami and related illustrations (scroll down the above link for awe).

Yep, so us twins was born on 9/11. Here are some other fun facts about that day that you might not know:

1226 - The Catholic practice of perpetual adoration begins. (I don't know what that is, but it sounds ADORABLE.)
1789 - Alexander Hamilton appointed as first Secretary of the Treasury. (That's right - never President. I know this because I saw his picture in my 8th grade textbook and thought he was cute.)
1885 - Birth of D.H. Lawrence, English novelist. (Lady Chatterley is pretty cool.)
1918 - The Boston Red Sox "Curse of the Bambino" begins. (If I gave any cares about basebat games, this might mean something!)
1921 - Motion picture star Fatty Arbuckle is arrested for rape. (FALSELY accused, poor Li'l Fats.)
1940 - Birth of Brian de Palma, American film director. (Our friend's mom kept his house when we were 7; he had an all-blue room & we ran around on his roof.)
1962 - The Beatles record their debut single, Love Me Do. (My husband likes this band.)
1981 -The Pee-wee Herman Show airs as a special on HBO. (My golly, this man is a genius.)

Do YOU have a fact to add??!?!

xoxo
Vera

Cleaning Up (the Ring with Your Face)

The first three weeks of August, Anna gave us a load more props as well as initial color and special poses. The fellows at Six Point -– James Crowley, Chris Toms and Zach Aufdemberg - cleaned up her drawings in Illustrator. It was kinda cool having these dudes try out different stuff, in part because it allowed us to figure out what kind of line weights and coloring worked best. Like using colored lines instead of black - I wouldn't have thought of that!

So things were moving along, which was lucky since in mid-August Barbara and I got a golly of a lot busier with training. Si, es verdad; when we're not creating adorable six-year-old princesses, we are, of course, tearing up the squared circle lucha libre-style as Bibi and Fifi Poubelle. The twin and I have been performing as luchadoras (Mexican-style wrestlers) for the past four years or so, in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and even Tijuana.

Refuse to believe us? Check this out:



(Nice music, huh? That's Mr. Uncertain, and you'll be hearing more of him in the Twincess pilot.)

So you probably donut want to miss our upcoming Lucha Va VOOM shows, October 24th, 25th & 26th at the Mayan Theater, downtown LA. Equal parts lucha libre, burlesque dancing and comedy, it will blow your mind OFF.

xoxo
Vera