The Mysterious Traveller

If you are looking for an explanation th en, alas, I cannot give you one. Where have you been Thomas? The truth is I' m a laz y git. It take s an enormous amount of energy and discipline for me to sit down and write a load of rambling malarkey. But ramble I must . The deal is this; you suffer the amateur hour that will be my unpracticed writing [typing] and I will buy everyone who likes my blog post somethin g nice (and cheap). There you go; that's my long awaited re-introduction into blogging and it relies heavily on bribary.  Over seven months have dwindled away since my last entry, whereupon many significant and bothersome events have come to pass. Don't worry friend! I shan't be divulging into anything politial or socioeconomic because, to be quite frank, I barely know the meaning of those words. Besides, that's not exactly what this blog was originaly about; opinions of the real world ... w ho wants thos e? When you can happily remain in t he quint es...

I had only heard little nuggets concerning Anomolisa but it had all been reletively positive. Animators at work had mentioned it and there were online rumblings of an adult based stop motion film on the horizon. There was also a Channel 4 interview conducted by Krishnan Guru-Murthy, where directors and producers (of Anomolisa ) Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson described as best they could the logistics behind such a production. I think Krishnan Guru-Murthy wanted to try a different angle, perhaps relating to tax breaks, but it resulted in a very awkward coversation over politics and their thoughts on Trump. It might have been considered a wasted opportunity to plug the film, but behold! A fairly sizeable clip was shown and it looked absolutely bloody marvellous. And so did the rest of the film . A jolly ol' gr oup of us let our hair down last Friday ni ght to watch Anomolisa at Manchester' s Home cinema complex (it's love ly and shiney ther e) and t...

   This is a very belated Star Wars related (accidentally rhyming with excellent timing) piece of writing. I'm not going to delve into my own review, because I'm not a film critic and I'm certainly not capable of writing anything mildy serious. Instead, I'm going to write a few words as a Star Wars fan, a cinema goer and a twenty nine year old child. I ******* loved it. I loved the film. I love Star Wars. I bloody love you. I went to the midnight viewing, opening night, with my good friend Daniel James after an evening of blue milk (courtesy of Aunt Beru), the Christmas Special (courtesy of bad taste) and watching the loveable BB-8 patrol the room (simply a courtesy). I was very nervous; I could feel my heart pounding the closer I got to screen 7. I honestly don't think I have ever felt so excited, scared and emotionally drained in such a hypnotic way.  I have since watched it two more times, bringing the total to thrice. And if the Odeon cinema p...

Something to start us off with... Although I never went to any of the Manchester Animation Festival (hashtagMAF), I still place myself in a position to say that it was an utter success (hashtagFreeloader). I really should have booked a couple of days off from work as the whole thing sounded tremendous but, alas, I did not. Perhaps it was just another event that passed me by; I hate that. I seem to be doing it more often, which is possibly why I feel so distant from animation, regardless of working alongside it on a daily basis. What I mean (to save confusion) is that I haven't animated for well over two years and I'm not happy about that one bit.  Needless to say, after meeting up with my old University tutors Laura Weston and Daryl Marsh, amongst many more animation folk, it sounds like this newly titled animation festival will most definitely be an annual event. And when surrounded by such prestigiousness (ha! it's actually a word. I thought I'd get a squ...

Sometimes the call of duty may surpass your average daily routine, where enjoying those strange, random, albeit hilarious, YouTube videos is simply not enough. Sometimes you need to become the fool and create a rather special video with a good ol' chum of yours. Welcome to TommyRob Shimuu . We're not quite sure of the whys or hows of the situation; more so the why nots and how the bloody hell shall we film that eh? What I'm trying to say is; I am a fool. And so is Rob Millard. So please watch how we've used this to our advantage... But tomfoolery aside, I have actually been doing some productive and creative work to advocate my place in the art world; in the fine medium of sculpting. Now, unfinished they may be, once painted these models will hopefully play a role in the bigger project of which I shall one day pursue. Stoppit and Tidyup was a children's animated television show from the late eighties, and something that I was always enthralled with when I ...

Sod off, I've been on holiday. And now, as I very gradually slouch a little lower in my lazy stupor, I have almost succumbed to day time television; and I'll tell you why. I have just returned from a beautiful and glorious jaunt around parts of Europe, but now realise that I need to jump start my creative mojo. I mean, do you know how long it takes for me to write these bloody things or paint a picture? A day! (this is, however, calculated by adding up all the twenty minute sessions from the past three months). Either way, it's just bananas. Although, today I did find an inspiring saviour and I'm baffled to why I hadn't listened to it before: the Skwigly Podcast (above). Why am I only discovering it now? Tell me that! I've got 29 episodes to catch up on now, so Come Dine With Me can go f**k itself (no wait! I'll still have it on in the background). The Skwigly website  is something that I was aware of but hadn't fully explored, mainly due to ...