A Jewish State

Last night I finally watched Exodus, as research for my Seder-Masochism project. It was actually a much better movie than I expected. The film is mainly about showing a very hot young 1960 Paul Newman from various angles, mostly in sexy profile but sometimes portrait, but it’s also about the pressures that created Israel, and very sympathetic to the desire for a Jewish Homeland.  Today, fortunately, we have this excellent alternative:

 

I’d move there.

Last night I finally watched Exodus, as research for my Seder-Masochism project. It was actually a much better movie than I expected. The film is mainly about showing a very hot young 1960 Paul Newman from various angles, mostly in sexy profile but sometimes portrait, but it\'s also about the pressures that created Israel, ...

Ye Olde Animation

Guess what I found at my parents’ house in Urbana? A VHS tape called “NINA PALEY DEMO REEL 1998.” It contained my very first animation as an adult (my very very first was when I was about 13, but I’ve lost those Super-8 reels). I didn’t go to school, I just taught myself from books and asking friends. It helped that I was dating an animator; he owned an animation table, which I’d never seen before let alone used, and it was on that that I made this:

Straight out of Nina’s Adventures, right? Audio is from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.”
The first stop-motion clay animation I made, Luv Is…, is Not Safe For Work and is embarrassingly neurotic, but the same characters appear in this, my second stop-motion clay animation:

I Heart My Cat was shot on a 16mm Krasnogorsk camera with a light leak, and you can see the adorable Desi at the very end. Nik Phelps made the fantastic score, one of my favorite scores ever.

For “Cancer” I drew, scratched and painted this directly on an old 35mm porn film. My boyfriend-at-the-time’s sister had just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Music is the Del Rubio Triplets singing the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction.”

These all have copyright notices on them, because I believed in copyright back then. But I hereby release them, consider them CC-BY-SA but better still ignore all licenses no matter what they are and do whatever you want. Thanks to Ken Levis for digitizing the VHS tape. You kids today should be grateful you have all these digital formats instead of VHS! It was awful to work with, and as you can see the quality was crap too. Hooray for technological progress! Power to the people!

Guess what I found at my parents\' house in Urbana? A VHS tape called \"NINA PALEY DEMO REEL 1998.\" It contained my very first animation as an adult (my very very first was when I was about 13, but I\'ve lost those Super-8 reels). I didn\'t go to school, I just taught myself from ...

BLACKOUT

If anyone needs to download Sita Sings the Blues or copy Mimi & Eunice or anything from any of my web sites, including this blog, do it now because they’re all going dark for 24 hours in protest of SOPA/PIPA and the lobbyists and bought politicians who wrote them and will write the next stupid bills attempting to break the internet even after SOPA and PIPA “die” only to be resurrected zombie-like under new stupid acronyms.

Although I’ll truly miss Wikipedia while it’s down tomorrow, maybe I’ll use the time to get some actual animation done instead of just “research.”

If anyone needs to download Sita Sings the Blues or copy Mimi & Eunice or anything from any of my web sites, including this blog, do it now because they\'re all going dark for 24 hours in protest of SOPA/PIPA and the lobbyists and bought politicians who wrote them and will write the next ...

R.I.P. Hiram Paley, 1933-2012

Some articles about my Dad here, here and here. The passage of time is incomprehensible and very in my face this week.

Life in the Ancient Middle East

I actually have been working this past week, I’m just nowhere near ready to share any animation yet. Here though is a still from a work-in-progress. Everything might look different in the final thing, but at least this is evidence I’ve been doing something.

I actually have been working this past week, I\'m just nowhere near ready to share any animation yet. Here though is a still from a work-in-progress. Everything might look different in the final thing, but at least this is evidence I\'ve been doing something.

Crazy Little Thing

I interrupt this series of Ziz iterations to tell you about a new book you are likely to enjoy.  It’s called Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive us Mad, by Liz Langley. Why are you reading about it here on my blog? Because there’s a whole chapter about ME, that’s why! Apparently I am a paragon of how not to kill your ex in a tormented rage, and make a work of art instead. Most of the other profiles in the book are about people killing/maiming/permanently damaging their exes or themselves after breakups, but an alternative is to make a feature film, which is what I did and how I merited this sweeeet chapter. Also the book is well-written and funny, and you should read it.

I interrupt this series of Ziz iterations to tell you about a new book you are likely to enjoy.  It\'s called Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive us Mad, by Liz Langley. Why are you reading about it here on my blog? Because there\'s a whole chapter about ME, that\'s why! Apparently ...

Brown Outlines FTW

See, this is why I leave myself open to comments, even though they can cause discomfort. Sasha Rubel made an excellent suggestion. On areas that were already brown, I used gold outlines.

See, this is why I leave myself open to comments, even though they can cause discomfort. Sasha Rubel made an excellent suggestion. On areas that were already brown, I used gold outlines.

Ziz of a Different Color

Two Zizzes, actually. The first has black outlines, which are thicker in the animated gif than the source file:

The second has no outlines, reminding me of 1930′s travel posters.

Maybe this Ziz is on its way to visit Palestine.

Two Zizzes, actually. The first has black outlines, which are thicker in the animated gif than the source file: The second has no outlines, reminding me of 1930\'s travel posters. Maybe this Ziz is on its way to visit Palestine.

More Zizzy color

Slight improvements? Or exprovements? Either way, I’m still fiddling and posting the Ziz as it develops.

I’ve only just learned that if you post a work in progress, everyone wants to tell you how to change it. Not once did I request advice, but advice is clearly what I’ll get if I post unfinished work (or finished work, come to think of it). I’m free to ignore any or all of it; everyone on the interwebs is just talking, they don’t have any power over me unless I give it to them. I can “take what I like and leave the rest” – and sometimes someone offers something useful. (Of course praise is always useful! It’s like water and sunshine to a plant.) Instead of criticizing the critics, which was my initial impulse, I’m remembering that it’s my choice to post these W-I-P’s, and my choice to accept or ignore people’s “helpful suggestions”, and that I’m actually in control here.

If I can learn to do that here, I’ll be better at living with criticism elsewhere. As my daily prayer says:

…forgive us our criticisms
As we forgive those who critique against us

So whether you’re criticizing or praising or ignoring what I post here, I’m benefiting by getting a little stronger and growing up a little more. And hey look – a ZIZ!

Slight improvements? Or exprovements? Either way, I\'m still fiddling and posting the Ziz as it develops. I\'ve only just learned that if you post a work in progress, everyone wants to tell you how to change it. Not once did I request advice, but advice is clearly what I\'ll get if I post ...

Ziz color test

This is a test. This is only a test.

This is a test. This is only a test.

Birdy Ziz II

I can’t stop! And I haven’t even added color yet. This one replaces the sin-wave wings with the stiffer wings I made before, adjusted for a 24-frame cycle.

I can\'t stop! And I haven\'t even added color yet. This one replaces the sin-wave wings with the stiffer wings I made before, adjusted for a 24-frame cycle.

Birdy Ziz

This one has a beak and a different mane, a whole new head design actually. Also: dotted lines everywhere.

In case you’re wondering, all these modifications aren’t in pursuit of the Perfect Ziz. Any of the ones I’ve made so far would be plenty adequate for storytelling, and my motto is, “Adequate is Good Enough.” No, I’m just pulled along by curiosity right now. “What would happen if I did _______?” This kind of open-ended fiddling gets a lot of us artists in trouble – it’s addictive, and also “safe,” not risky like designing a whole new character, or actually telling a story, or moving on and getting a project finished. Hence my motto.

That said, I’m indulging myself right now. Plus I’m getting great exercise ignoring criticism, something I’ll have to do lots more of in the coming years.

This one has a beak and a different mane, a whole new head design actually. Also: dotted lines everywhere. In case you\'re wondering, all these modifications aren\'t in pursuit of the Perfect Ziz. Any of the ones I\'ve made so far would be plenty adequate for storytelling, and my motto is, \"Adequate is Good Enough.\" ...

Another Day, Another Ziz

This one’s for Ravi Swami. It needed a little movement in the neck and head, but I thought the feathers were too much. Of course I might redesign the head, so all this will have to be re-done, but who cares, I’m crazy.

This one\'s for Ravi Swami. It needed a little movement in the neck and head, but I thought the feathers were too much. Of course I might redesign the head, so all this will have to be re-done, but who cares, I\'m crazy.

The Ziz With The Feathery Mane

Can I spend all day doing this? Without showering or leaving my apartment? Yes, yes I can. Now you know.

This one has a feathery mane.

Can I spend all day doing this? Without showering or leaving my apartment? Yes, yes I can. Now you know. This one has a feathery mane.

Ridin’ a Fast Ziz

Those previous Zizzes are 36-frame cycles at 24-frames-per-second; each cycle lasts 1.5 seconds. Above is a faster Ziz, on a 24-frame cycle. Because I left various components spaced per the 36-frame version, this one’s a lot more “active” – curvier, wavier, more energetic – as well as being faster.