Friday, July 11, 2008

Ironman and Bugs Bunny

On my last day of freedom before tour kicks in,
Wendy and I went to the 2 exhibits at the Academy of Motion Pictures, home of the Oscar...

the first, a mind-blowing collection of hand-drawn animation cels laid out in such a way that each looked like a jewel in a crown. from Bugs Bunny lathering the head of an unsuspecting victim with his toes...to the gorgeous 60's drawings of Gay Purreee...Sleeping Beauty's dragon battle...and Queen Malecifent...Lock, stock & Barrel from Nightmare...
SO many of these pieces I wanted to look at every day, no photos allowed though, so i can not show them here--but they will live in my mind. Amazing what a human can create.

Upstairs at the exhibit of set decoration, photography was allowed. They had assembled several set pieces from GET SMART, INDY 4, SPIDERWICK, MUMMY 3, IRONMAN and more. The attention to detail, incredible. Can you see the name on the checkbook on Indiana Jones' desk? The tiny labels in the Spiderwick set? The tiles on the floor of the Jet Li character in Mummy 3 are the only thing made here in USA, all the rest was crafted in China, as accurately as possible, copied from original pieces. The tile was reproduced from an original, but the work was done here. Going with Wendy was fascinating, as she was able to tell me, step by step, how things can be recreated.












Outside, we took off our shoes and put our feet in the sinky green grass outside the Academy, our version of Graumann's cement footprints.



These exhibits are free, up until August 24th. Go see them: 8949 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA.
your homework: go to the movies and help to support this kind of amazing work....

tomorrow I leave on tour, and i will not have many days of down time. Will try to post as often as I can.

9 comments:

spacedlaw said...

Fascinating! I wish I could be there but thanks for the tour, Kitty.

on the deck said...

Details can so easily undo the "suspension of disbelief" that this art reaches for. Love the checkbook - thanks for pointing that out. Would love to see this exhibit.

Tour on. Looking forward to seeing you out this way is an understatement.

P

Dan Guy said...

As Aaron Cater sang on SNL, "Party party party! Ends at 9 o'clock."

ariandalen said...

That's so cool. Would be nice to just nip out to Hollywood, CA to see the exhibit, but not being independently wealthy, it's not happening.

I did go see "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" last night, though. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen, though I was almost in tears when Hellboy had to kill the elemental. Loved the fight choreography, too.

EmilyLady said...

I hope you are having a wonderful time, despite all the madness of travel, especially the kind of traveling that touring must be! And I wish you the best of luck!

~Emily

EmilyLady said...

Ariandalen, it's a very good thing I don't know anything at all about "Hellboy" or I should wish to chastise you for revealing such information. (But see, I'm not sure whether it's CRUCIAL information, because again, I know nothing of the story.)

~Emily

kali_licious said...

What a cool exhibit.:)

Just popping in to send soothing thoughts to Ms Kitty and her poor nerves. Maybe some earplugs would help?
I went to see Dresden Dolls a while back and didn't know the band they were opening for..Panic at the Disco.(Yeah, I felt um..old;) The teenyboppers were fine while DD was playing, but when the lead singer for Panic came on for a couple of songs I was sure my nerves had been vaporized..and this was a small venue.
So yeah, deepest sympathies and thoughts of a nice calm space for you while you're away with the Jonas Brothers.:)

kali (aka tuaregblue)

Malena said...

Hey! I wish I knew about this. Miles sculpted Ironman and the creatures for Spiderwick. I'll let you off the hook this time. Thanks for introducing me to Brian. We get along like two peas in a pod! I miss you already. I'm in earring photo land at the moment. We LOVE YOU Meow Meow! Let me know about Ghosty!

Bill said...

hi dear...do you know a touring chef that goes by the name of Steven that just recently had a problem with a collapsed lung?