Monday, September 7, 2020

The Fundraiser to Help Chris Jenkins

  
 
Last Monday, animation veteran Chris Jenkins suffered a stroke in the thalamus of his brain.  His sister has set up a GoFundMe page to help ease the financial burden of his recovery.  The $30,000 goal has already been shattered, a testament to Chris' standing among his animation peers.  If you'd like to help out....

click this link. 

 FLiP wishes Chris a most speedy recovery. 


Thursday, September 3, 2020

And now, David Lynch with the Number of the Day

                                                                                              
If there's one reason to get up during the COVID lockdown, it's David Lynch's morning weather report and number draw.  Each morning he picks from ten numbered ping pong balls in a jar (fans have been waiting for a seven for weeks).  In a separate video, he does the weather report from what appears to be his home office, piping hot cup of coffee steaming in the foreground.  
 
There's a certain calming quality to these videos that, for me, starts my workday off right.  Lynch is heavily into Transcendental Meditation, and these videos carry that vibe.
 
 Go on, try it.  It's free! And it's David Lynch! 
-Steve

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

So Long, Sue

Animation lost another great artist yesterday, as Sue Nichols lost her life after a long battle with cancer.  FLiP posted about her fight back in March of 2015, ten months after cancer took my wife, Donna. And though we weren't close,  I really, REALLY wanted Sue to make it.  Medical justice, I guess.   

Sue worked in story and development on a heap of features, from Beauty and the Beast to Princess and the Frog, and most recently, Ugly Dolls.  I knew her from our student days at CalArts where she was best friends with Brenda Chapman, a friendship that lasted until the day she died.  Often, if I ran into Brenda somewhere, Sue was with her.  She had a big bright smile and taste for twisted humor.  At CalArts, she was responsible for creating a series of haunted house mazes in good ol' A-113.  I experienced one of these mazes first hand, and I can attest to their brilliance.  There's a FLiP post about it from back in 2012 that is a worthy tribute to Sue.  Click here to check it out. 

So long, Sue!

-Steve