TOM GASTALL

I have a tendency to collect crap - or stuff, as George Carlin put it. My house is the big pile of stuff with a cover on it that Carlin was talking about in his routine. Stuff collected from the past ten years that I intended to do something with at some point. A lot of this stuff is books. Some of the books were actually bought by friends, paperback novels leaving their houses for the Salvation Army, but somehow making a several-year pit stop at mine. One of these books is the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Gatsby’s story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, a young man who moves to Long Island and becomes Gatsby’s neighbor in the 1920s. Nick’s shallow cousin Daisy and her husband Tom also live in the area, as well as Jordan Baker, Nick’s love interest. At the center of the story is Gatsby, a man of mystery and a former lover of Daisy’s who wants her back.

Throughout the novel Carraway idolizes wealth. And although his perspective on morality changes, his perspective on materialism does not. While reading the novel I couldn’t help but think of not only the excess of the 80s, but the alterna-yuppies, starbucks punks, & chuck basses of today. Not much has changed, and as I shop for a blu-ray dvd player to go with my HDTV, I doubt much ever will. But hopefully we can treat each other a little better (especially this holiday season), lest we suffer the consequences, like the characters in the Great Gatsby.

Things are pretty smurfy on the fulltime freelance writing front. I just finished work on the game dialog for Coraline, and should be finishing another draft of Destiny Men shortly.

I’ll be in San Francisco from 11/12 through 11/15 with the wife to meet up with pals. At the moment we’re considering a visit to the Cartoon Art Museum and some stuff Geetika suggested. I’ll post photos if Ursula finds the camera.

Last Saturday morning, Marvel Studios treated an all-ages audience at Comic-Con International to the first two episodes of “Iron Man: Armored Adventures.” The panel consisted of head writer Chris Yost and Nickelodeon executive Keith Dawkins. Marvel Studios’ Josh Fine introduced the footage, produced by Method Animation studios in France.

Read the whole piece here.

Second City Los Angeles will perform their final showing of Stereotypecast Friday June 27th . I checked the show out with Ursula a few weeks ago and really dug it. The show is a collection of sketches about stereotypes, ranging from everyday occurrences to surreal situations. Ticket are $10 each in cash at the door only. Show starts at 9:30 pm.

Occasionally Tim Gastall (aka Sonic Nova) will contribute to projects. Here is an example of his work:

Tim’s illustrations are available on clothing, mugs, buttons, & magnets .

Check out Norma and Margie, my latest dabbling in writing and animating in Flash.

When it comes to being an extra-dimensional courier, Norma is the oldest of the old-timers.

Margie is employee of the month, with skills and techniques that are state of the art.

Together they set out on their greatest mission!

• Norma & Margie trailer in Flash or Quicktime. Trailer music by Kriss Bliss.
• LoFi Flash [8.1 MB]
• HiFi Flash [11.7 MB]
• Deluxe Flash [13.5 MB]

This cartoon requires the Flash Player plug-in.
N&M preloader by Fridolin Brandl.