“I admire machinery as much as any man, and am as thankful to it as any man can be for what it does for us. But, it will never be a substitute for the face of a man, with his soul in it, encouraging another man to be brave and true.”
– Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870)
If Charles Dickens could see mobile phones today he might say, “By jove! A pocket-sized telegraph machine!”
Well, I’m not sure the fella above is texting another man to be brave and true. Instead he is probably texting a friend saying “Yo, I’m down at the Coffee Bean where some weird dude keeps looking over at me and scribbling in a book!” I try not to be noticed when I’m sketching in public, but sometimes it’s hard to hide on a small patio. Lattè cups aren’t quite large enough to duck behind. Oh well. Still managed to squeeze out a sketch in between sips before the stranger got up and left.
A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a version of the news below. Now that the video file can be embedded within the blog instead of being posted just as a link, I thought I’d share it once again…
A few months ago I was regularly sharing updates with you about the short animated film TIM that I have been producing with my friend Brian Joseph Ochab. Back when we went public with our fundraising efforts on Kickstarter.com, a relatively new cable channel (Reelz Channel) was talking to us about running a spot on their Hollywood magazine show Hollywood Dailies. Well, earlier this month it aired!
Hollywood Dailies did a real nice job capturing the spirit of our Tim Burton tribute film, including some interview footage of our narrator Sir Christopher Lee! The piece is littered with my artwork right from the get-go, and if you don’t blink, you’ll see some shots of me in my home studio along with some shots of Brian and me in Brian’s garage studio.
If you know of anyone with the resources to invest in a great film project, let me know! Kickstarter was NOT our answer and we need financial assistance if we are to get this great short project made! I can be reached at:
?…my oh my what a wonderful day! It’s beginning to look a little like one of them zip-ah-dee-doo-dah days! Perhaps I should explain…
Over the past seven weeks, I have mentioned and illustrated several times here on the blog that on May 10, Hotmail had turned it’s back on me. I was locked out of the e-mail account that has kept me in touch with friends, family and business associates for the past thirteen years. The digital wasteland of Hotmail rejection was quiet and lonely – I couldn’t have felt more shunned had I been wearing a big red letter on my clothing.
The reason for the lock-out? I was the victim of a drive-by hacking. Someone had violated the sanctity of my little ol’ e-mail doing who-knows-what in my name. I sat before my screen with grumpy displeasure conjuring up thoughts of random people getting bad knock-knock jokes from me, or perhaps “yo’ momma” insults that would come back to haunt me one day. I could be walking down the street at some point and a stranger would stop me on the sidewalk to say:
“Are you Chad Frye?”
“Why yes, yes I am.”
“Well, YO’ momma is sooo ugly that children shriek when she passes by!”
I would be shocked and appalled at this unnecessary act of verbal abuse from someone I had never met before, only to have the realization a few minutes later that ah yes, this must have been retaliation for something a hacker sent them in my name.
Well, my previous blog posts on this issue were not written in vain. Two weeks ago I received an e-mail from an employee of Microsoft (Hotmail’s owner) who had seen my blog and offered suggestions on how to get back in. He had nothing to do with the Hotmail division, but rather was just being a good Samaritan.
So, I followed his advice which amounted to typing up an inordinate amount of facts about my account to submit to Hotmail, then hitting “send” and going to bed. Waking the following morning and wiping the sleep from my eyes, I sat down at the computer to some stunning news. There on the screen was an e-mail from Hotmail (to an alternate account) stating that I now had permission to re-enter my account!!!
I don’t mind Mr. Bluebird being on my shoulder so long as he doesn’t leave any residue behind.
OH HAPPY DAY!!! The advice had worked and I have since returned to e-mailing everyone willy nilly like a giddy little schoolgirl! From all the e-mails I am now receiving, many people in foreign countries seem to be trying to get a hold of me to give me millions of dollars in transfers and lotteries once I provide them with my bank information. So, not only did I get my e-mail account back, I soon shall be RICH! Win-Win!
Two weeks ago at The Writer’s Guild in Beverly Hills, CA, entertainment legends Carl Reiner and Dick Van Dyke had a conversation on stage on the occasion of the release of Mr. Van Dyke’s new autobiography. Hosted by Writers Bloc Presents, these two legends swapped tales and memories before a rapt audience of which I was very happy to be a part.
Carl Reiner & Dick Van Dyke at the Writers Bloc Presents event on May 31, 2011.
As a child, it was quite easy to become a fan of Dick Van Dyke due to Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, only to further appreciate his talents with The Dick Van Dyke Show, and many other projects all the way up to the fairly recent Night at the Museum. When first arriving in California in 1997 to work for Disney, I was hoping that would be my ticket to finally meet Dick Van Dyke. Turns out that ticket was a wee bit elusive.
Every now and then, I would hear that friends of mine would have met him at the computer convention Siggraph that I would also be attending. Others would meet him on the Disney lot now and then, even once making a planned appearance with Julie Andrews at the renaming of one of the Disney soundstages in Ms. Andrews’ honor. Where was I? Foolishly working.
A few years ago, the charity group Actors and Others for Animals [click here to see my previous post on this group] were having their annual fundraising banquet in honor of Dick Van Dyke. Mary Willard, the very funny wife of the very funny Fred Willard, called and asked if I might be willing to draw their personal ad for the program book. How could I resist an opportunity to draw Dick, Fred and Mary? Better yet, the job came with an invitation to the event where one would certainly have the opportunity to shake the hand of the rubbery master of mirth himself!
This was my initial rough sketch to show the Willards for their input. After incorporating their comments, the final art below was produced.
After completing the whimsical ad for the Willards, my anticipations for meeting Mr. Van Dyke were growing exponentially each day. In a cruel twist of fate, those same precious anticipations were frigidly dashed yet again. The banquet was being held at the same time I was scheduled to be on the opposite side of the country on vacation with my family!
This was the final ad that Mary and Fred Willard placed in the black & white program book honoring Dick Van Dyke.
It was beginning to feel as though Dick Van Dyke was a myth that parents made up to tell their children about on cold winter nights. “Twas the night before movies, when over the lot it happens, a tall lanky sweep appears, that guy from Mary Poppins….” Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if I needed to hang a plate of tea and cakes from the ceiling at night to see if he would appear. Or at the least, add an ottoman to my office decor.
Well, Virginia, there really is a Dick Van Dyke. Last year, several years after parting from Disney myself, I was attending a private reception when I turned around and there before me was the man behind Bert, Rob Petrie, Caractacus Potts, Dr. Sloan and so many others. I finally was able to shake his hand, and thank him for being a part of filling my own head with imagination as a child that indubitably continues within me today.
Chad Frye with Dick Van Dyke at the Hollywood & Highlands complex in 2010.
Last May I was contacted by a studio in Woodland Hills, California called Moonscoop to come work for them as a character designer on a series of DVD movies based on Zhu Zhu Pets toys. Zhu Zhu Pets? I had been oblivious to their existence, despite the fact that the Christmas before they had been THE “it” toy. Turns out that they are cute little electronic hamsters that roll around the ground squeaking, laughing, and bumping into things. They sounded a little bit like animation artists.
So, I jumped into the project with all four paws working closely with fellow character designer Stephen Silver (known for Disney’s Kim Possible designs). The two of us worked on adapting the toy characters into personalities that would help tell the story that lay before us all under the guidance of our director, Bob Doucette.
This past Wednesday the first trailer for The Quest for Zhu was released online. The film will be released on DVD in the fall through Universal. Hopefully as it gets closer, I can show you some of my actual drawings created in the planning of the movie. For now, here is the very short official teaser of what is to come for little hamster-loving kids everywhere (batteries not included):
Back in the 1990s when the internet was young and naive, something called “e-mail” began to creep into our collective consciousness. I am usually not one to jump on a technological bandwagon immediately, choosing rather to observe its acceptance by others to gauge the likelihood of its staying power. For example, only recently have I been convinced of radio’s permanence.
That being said, I wasn’t the first to join the world of e-mail, but when I finally did almost fourteen years ago or so, I chose to set up my tent with the likes of Hotmail. For these many years, it has been a blissful existence where they have granted me access to instantly send a note to friends, family and business associates whenever I wanted to. As a result, the world was a smaller happier place.
Life as experienced with a functional e-mail system.
However, Hotmail giveth and Hotmail taketh away. Two weeks ago, my blissful web existence was given quite a jolt when I tried to log in to my Hotmail only to be callously and digitally informed that I no longer could have access to my e-mail account with the excuse that it was perhaps hacked.
To further complicate matters, I was being asked a security question I have no remembrance of setting up, and as a secondary measure, I could contact them via a questionnaire in which I am to remember details of my account that I no longer can open. I filled this questionnaire out twice, only to have Hotmail continue to say they don’t believe that I am me.
Without my Hotmail, it is as if the world has come to an end.
Hotmail does not provide a phone number. They do not provide an e-mail address, nor a live internet chat system. So, what is a cartoonist to do? Well, here in my case I am letting the hundreds, perhaps even thousands of you to know of my struggle with this Microsoft product through my drawings and words. Treasured messages from family, important business e-mails, and not to mention my contact list are all locked behind whatever reason they have decided to bring my life to a screeching halt.
If one can’t depend on something as simple as an e-mail system, how can one ever be convinced to get a cell phone or to believe in the existence of Bill Gates? If the internet is no longer young and naive, then neither am I.
UPDATE: This issue did eventually get resolved. This post remains live, though, as a word of caution to you!
Everyone loves a good ol’ fashioned singing cowboy. That is, unless he don’t sing too good…
Sometimes free range singing isn’t the best idea. Pick one range and stick with it.
I was just doodling in my sketchbook the other day, and started doing the face of what became the cowboy. Often when I grab that sketchbook, I don’t quite know what will pop out. So, once the hat was added, the rest just came forth, after which I whipped out my brush pen and put a nice dark line on the whole thing.
Recently at the office I’ve been working on some drawings of cute characters. I couldn’t quite shake the cute out of my arm when I got home, so I drew this pencil drawing of a young squirrel in my sketchbook. I’m thinking of doing another one in watercolor at some point when I have the time, but for now, enjoy this big-eyed acorn lover…
