Barb has been in San Francisco all week, attending the National Health Lawyers Association meeting (I think). She’s been palling around with friends, including an old college chum, Julie. Julie is an old married lady with kids (and a nice husband, Jim), but I remember how hot she was at our annual Halloween parties.
She tripped all my fantasy switches when she showed up as an officer of the law. I just want to make sure her kids find this the next time they google “hot women in cop uniforms.”
Dave Morris shows off the HP Elite webcam. This little bugger ($60?) does face-tracking and auto-zoom/auto-focus. The audio on this demo is with a pro mic, however. Not sure what you get on the webcam
Update: I misunderstood. Dave says the audio was recorded with the webcam’s on board mic.
Side note: I’m surprised the Blogger video didn’t offer option of embedding. Perhaps Dave simply didn’t have that enabled.
This might be the most painful five minutes of video ever recorded. It features an old friend, Leigh Mullen. I grew up with her husband Larry and shared some of my best times with one or both of them. As so often happens, we lost touch over the years. This photo is from their wedding.
Leigh has resurfaced in this YouTube video (shot by her son Will) of her trying to free her (middle) finger, which somehow got super glued to a vent behind her bathroom toilet. This is a powerful testament to patience, good humor and long-suffering mothers everywhere.
Remember that kid that sat behind you grade school that was always drawing? Ever wonder what happened to him? Well, if he (or she) was as talented as Michael Spooner, he did okay.
Michael (we knew him as Mike back then) and I were classmates 45 years ago in Kennett, MO. Michael and I ran in different crowds but Kennett was a small place and everybody knew everybody.
In a previous post I mentioned that Michael stumbled across smays.com a few days ago and pinged me. He included some old snapshots and his resume, to let me know what he’s been up to.
He got into animation as a Layout Artist with Ralph Bakshi’s feature production of Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings. He spent some years at Disney where he worked on –just to name a few– Goof Troop, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Emperor’s New Groove, Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch. He also assisted on early development design of Dreamworks’ Shrek. And he Co-Art Directed Warner Brothers first full-length animated feature, Quest for Camelot. If you have kids or an appreciation for animation, check out his bio. He was also kind enough to share a dozen or so examples of his work.
I called Michael up this morning and asked him to share some of his adventures and we wound up talking for an hour. I’ve cut the interview into three segments about about 20 minutes each.
Today, Michael owns Spoonerville Animation Design, an independent visual development studio, providing both traditional and CGI design concepts and lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his writer-wife Beverly, and son Philip.
Michael is a visiting artist and lecturer, presenting in universities, art schools and animation studios throughout the United States.
Michael Spooner has worked in the animation industry for twenty-five years with such notable studios as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and DreamWorks.
Michael’s professional career in art began in 1976, when he was invited to join the faculty at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, after graduating with distinction. He taught for twelve years, simultaneously working as a freelance illustrator for clients that included the Public Broadcasting System, Zondervan Publishing House, Masda Motors, the National Football League, NBC Television, Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox.
Michael ventured into animation as a Layout Artist with Ralph Bakshi’s feature production of Tolkien’s, Lord of the Rings. Shortly after he worked with Filmation Studios on He-Man, Bravestar and Fat Albert and on the Bagdasarian feature, The Chipmunk Adventure.
Joining the Walt Disney Television Animation team in 1988 as a Visual Development Artist and Production Designer, Michael set the style for such episodic shows as, Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Talespin, Goof Troop, The Little Mermaid, New Bonkers and Aladdin. He also worked on the direct-to-video production of Aladdin and the King of Thieves.
In 1994, Michael and his family moved to Paris, France, where he headed up the Production Layout team for Disney’s feature film, A Goofy Movie.
Returning to Los Angeles in 1995, Michael Co-Art Directed Warner Brothers first full-length animated feature, Quest for Camelot. Following that he worked independently as a Visual Development Designer Consultant on Disney’s Dinosaurs, The Emperor’s New Groove, Treasure Planet and Lilo and Stitch. Michael also assisted on early development design of Dreamworks,’ Shrek.
Michael moved to the Chicago area in 1999 to become Vice President of Visual Development and Artist Education with Big Idea Productions, home of the popular 3D animated video series, Veggie Tales. There he developed and headed up the Visual Development process in Story, Concept Design, Modeling and Layout. He also served as Art Director on various productions and as an Art Direction Consultant on Big Idea’s first feature animated film, Jonah.
Today, Michael owns Spoonerville Animation Design, an independent visual development studio, providing both traditional and CGI design concepts for clients such as Big Idea, Inc., Star Farm Productions, ReelFX Creative Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios.
He lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his writer-wife Beverly, and son Philip.
Michael is a visiting artist and lecturer, presenting in universities, art schools and animation studios throughout the United States.
You may reach him at: spoonerville1@sbcglobal.net or 630 301-0895