Thursday, December 15, 2011

Clowns

So in the creation of this flick, I have been making peace with clowns, all things clowns, and what clowns mean to me. Having always related to monkeys, I had a deep seated distrust of clowns, and never liked being in close proximity to them.

My views have changed.

Why? Having a child can really rip you apart. There is great joy but also terrible worries and stresses and the world tips and turns upside down on a regular basis. My boy Cameron has been undergoing a lot of tests lately for his "weird kid behaviors", and so there is constant blood being drawn, and samples being taken. It is very stressful to him and my wife and I. Sometimes we go to Scottish Rite Children's Hospital to have the tests taken.

This hospital is geared for kids, and it isn't the cold cruel antiseptic world you usually experiance. There are bright colors and gigantic train sets and aquariums everywhere.

Look, I'm not going to be eloquent here. There are some really sick kids out there who are going through some tough stuff. I ran into some clowns at Scottish Rite who were entertaining a little girl who was hooked up to some psychotic monitoring devices and who's legs were bent up, she sat in a big wheelchair, and these two clowns were doing their best to cheer her up.

I'm just saying, the kid broke a smile, and her caregiver said that it was the first time she had seen her smile in months.

MONTHS!

Monkeys, where were you man.

I'm changing charities. If you buy a copy of the movie, the money goes to the organization that provides the performers to these hospitals.

I don't care that hipsters hate clowns (actually I love that), I don't care that Patch Adams was a stupid movie. Don't care. Just don't. Clowns are anarchists. That's what I've learned from working on this movie. Monkey's are all "monkey see monkey do". Sure you get a Gacy every now and then. But I don't care. Don't care. Don't.

Charity changing. http://www.bigapplecircus.org/community/clown-care.aspx

SD

Sunday, October 30, 2011

10 Things You Must Know About Clown Versus Monkey

1. It's Halloween and the movie is finished!
2. Just kidding.
3. I did my traditional last week of October vacation and locked myself in a small room, ignored telephones, friends, family, and hygiene, and now I am please to announce that I am a whole half scene closer to being finished!
4. Note to self: This is not operating in mind time, but in sticky reality time. Clown Monkey Time goes by a lot faster then People Day Job Time.
5. I spent the week animating baby clowns in an aquarium.
6. Borrowing a new scanner that is like a wand I wave over the pictures and upload them, and then my computer crashes and I drive to Sonic and drink a Pumpkin Pie Milkshake and then fill the empty cup with tears and sadness.
7. I am seeing the film not as a film, but as a slow stream of visuals based on a them that will eventually be collected and arranged in a film and book. But it isn't about the traditional "finishing the movie" How boring. What the hell is a movie anyway? It is about the moments that condensate onto the idea. Like a cold bottle of coke. Coke = Clown Versus Monkey, Updates = wet glass, Finished movie = sponge bath.
8. This whole thing is sort of inspired by the terrible movie Speed Racer, where I sat there going "what a terrible movie" while simultaneously going, "what an awesome series of Trapper Keepers".
9. Look they still make Trapper Keepers. Maybe I can release this movie as a series of Trapper Keepers. http://www.mead.com/meadstore/catalog/category.jsp?categoryId=Trapper_Keeper_MEAD&pageName=catPage&rootCatId=Brands_MEAD&isSubCategory=true&catId=Trapper_Keeper_MEAD&isEqual=&prodId=&parentId=
10. To the true believers who have bought a copy of the movie, don't fall into despair and disillusionment yet, Clown Versus Monkey grows stronger by the day, and it's love for you with it.

BONUS - I had another "moment" uploading on YouTube, but it got chunked up, so it's coming, baby clowns in a collection aquarium coming soon.