This is to let you know that I am STILL looking for a good quality, 300dpi if possible image of BAXTER from THE GREAT SPACE COASTER for my new book, THAT IS ALL.
THE ONE I AM LOOKING FOR is the clown with the rainbow belly.
This image is not large enough, and has too many non-Baxters in it.
I HAVE SEARCHED THE INTERNET, to MINIMAL avail, so what I am really after is a scanned promotional image or something else in your private collection that likely has not made it to the Internet yet, and any copyright information you can provide.
IF YOU CAN HELP ME, please electronic mail me. If I use your photo, I will THANK YOU AND PRAISE YOU both on the internet and in the book itself.
UPDATED! I AM ALSO LOOKING for an image of The SF Giants mascot known as CRAZY CRAB!
WHILE I HAVE BEEN TAKING A RESPITE FROM JUDGING PEOPLE this July, you may know that I was recently asked by Johns Flansburgh an Linnell, aka the THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, to judge a VIDEO CONTEST.
HUMANS ON THE INTERNET were asked to make a video for the new TMBG song, an uplifting anthem of bitterness and resentment called “CAN’T KEEP JOHNNY DOWN.”
THIS IS A SONG from their new album entitled “JOIN US” which is being released ESSENTIALLY RIGHT NOW.
JUST ABOUT 100 men, women, children, and teenagers submitted videos to the TMBG Facebook page, and I broke my usual vow of non-Facebooking to watch and enjoy ALL OF THEM, and I encourage you to do the same.
THERE IS NOT A ONE AMONG THEM that is not inspiring, fun, and FLABBERGASTING in the amount of time and effort these people put in to them.
AND YET, I was given an impossible of job of choosing JUST ONE to be the best.
AND SO I CHOSE 6, in 6 different categories. While only ONE will win the prize of $1000 plus a pizza from the winner’s pizza parlor of choice, there are many that I enjoyed SO MUCH that the TMBGs have agreed to give these runners up their own “JOIN US” T-shirt. And I will also PERSONALLY BUY THEM A PIZZA.
RUNNER UP!: BEST REFERENCE TO “THE SHINING”
There were many videos that were visually arresting, hilariously quirky, intermittently funny, and sometimes mind-bending in their painstaking editing and/or creation of an animated visual world.
LOOK, I DON’T KNOW HOW TO MAKE PAPERCRAFT ANIMATION OR HOW TO USE AFTER EFFECTS OR SUPER-DUPE PRO OR ANY OF THAT CRAZY SOFTWARE YOU CHILDREN HAVE, and so I salute you.
HOWEVER, I am a writer, and thus I require at all times narrative: a sense of being drawn constantly forward by mystery to some sort of satisfying and surprising end. SORRY, HIPPIES, THAT’S JUST THEY WAY I’M BUILT.
THIS ENTRY was the first to draw me along in this way. It’s obviously very cinematic, and almost to a fault: the story it’s telling is clear, and funny, and straightforward, with a fun punchline, but no real moments of transcendent beauty or strangeness. It’s a great joke, told well.
BUT IT’S SUCH GOOD FILMMAKING that I urge you to watch it. I especially like the use of the song as a ring tone.
SERIOUSLY, this is how the creators explain how they made the faces move.
“The animated characters were made out of polymer clay, which was then baked in an oven at 265 degrees, making the clay into soft plastic.”
WHAT? HOW DOES ANYONE DECIDE TO DO THIS? Why not use sculpey?
WHILE MANY, MANY people interpreted this song as a celebration of the unbreakable spirit of a great guy, this was the first video I saw that really made me understand that it’s actually about a spiteful, angry jerk who even thinks astronauts are out to get him. Seeing that plastic head stalk angrily toward the camera through that old abandoned school was honestly and surprisingly powerful and poignant and entirely new to my retinas. Unfortunately I found the whole video to be just a little repetitive.
BUT I LAUGH EVERY TIME he snarls when he plays the accordion.
SO MANY of these videos were made by teenagers and other young people, and for the first time in a long time, watching their submissions made me feel extremely awed and excited by their talents instead of merely THREATENED BY THEM. HOORAY FOR YOUTH!
THIS YOUNG PERSON was one of MANY to respond to Linnell’s call for “stylish capes” by making his Johnny a super-hero. But he was one of FEW OF ANY AGE to realize that this super-hero is kind of an ass.
I ADORE JOHNNY’S low-key friend who is constantly following him around, cleaning up his messes. AND WHILE CATS WERE TECHNICALLY NOT WELCOME IN THESE VIDEOS, I find Johnny’s stealing of the cat in this video to be HILARIOUS.
I THINK TK’S INTERPRETATION OF “I NEVER FORGET A FACE” is just brilliant, and I think he looks AMAZING in his own video. This is a great interpretation of the song, and more, an intrinsically inspired bit of filmmaking. If it were a little less muddy, better lit, and more polished, it would have been a strong contender for BEST.
I LOVE this video. It took me completely by surprise. The young men involved created a completely unexpected interpretation of the song, and created their own universe in which to explore it. It’s one of the few to really and directly engage with the beats of the song itself: I get gooseflesh every time I see those fingers making those little rhythmic dots. Many of the shots are just lovely, and the editing and acting is often breathtakingly assured and winning.
IF ONLY THEY HAD shot the fight choreography a little bit more cleanly and clearly, and if only it was a little bit more clear what pith helmet dude was doing with that knife to the clock, I would have been EVEN MORE TORN UP ABOUT THE FINAL DECISION THAN I WAS, which is to say: ALREADY PRETTY TORN UP.
THESE GUYS GET EXTRA TOPPINGS on their free pizza from me, and I hope to see more of their work, but in the end, they fell just one thin, curly, backwards red hair shy of the utter beauty of…
THE WINNER! in the category of BEST:
I KNOW there have been backwards videos before, but every time I watch this video, I see new beautiful things in it. The reverse spit take, the firecrackers arcing through the air, the weirdly poetic, jiggling man-flesh, and the fact that they actually startled a deer make this a wonder, complete and impeccable.
WHAT’S MORE, they perfectly capture both the assholic and exultant nature of Johnny, and this man’s face and body are something I can look at all day long. He deserves an INTERNET VIDEO OSCAR just for his last look on his face.
IT WAS A TOUGH CALL, but I present to you, delightedly, your CONTEST WINNER:
THANK YOU, TMBG and thank YOU ALL ESPECIALLY for the opportunity to review your amazing work.
I RETURN NOW TO MY REGULAR WORK getting this new book ready for you and applying lobster rolls to my terrible sunburns. RUNNERS UP, meanwhile, can electronic mail me and we will arrange the pizza.
The photo of Newt on a rock came to me via the great @hotdogsladies . I do not know its origin. Yale trained me to cite my sources, Internetfrom Twitter for iPhone
1984, BURBANK, CA: Byron Allen makes a pact with the devil during an unusually satanic segment of Real People. As co-host Skip Stephenson’s dog, Hobo, whined piteously and bled from his eyes, Allen swore eternal allegiance to Satan in exchange for a career hosting syndicated television programs until the end of time. Satan appeared by possessing the body of Mark Russell. — MAY 4
