Well, my dear audience - I just barely finished the rough cut of "Hair High" on time and sent it off to the Sundance Festival. Now, let's all cross our collective fingers + toes + ears + tongues, etc. You may think I now I can relax - Noooooooo!

Now, I've got to reshoot all the defective shots, show the rough cut to my group of advisors, and get some feedback as to how to fix the mistakes and how to make it better - then re-edit and complete the soundtrack...a lot of work.

Fortunately, all my drawing is done, so I can sleep in until a normal time. I can now consider my next project - I want to write a book, and I have an idea for a short film I want to do.

Also, I'm able now to take in some money-making projects, to help pay for "Hair High".
One of them is lecturing - I'm headed off to Macau (in China). Remember that old 1950's film with Jane Russell and Robert Mitchum, where they play 2 grifters that fall in love in Macau? Well, apparently now it's the "Las Vegas" of China, and they've invited me to do a Bill Plympton extravaganza - I'm very excited about it. I hope to visit Hong Kong and Taiwan if I have time.

Last week, I programmed an animation show ("Plympton's Picks") for the Red Bank International Film Festival in New Jersey. It's a wonderful little festival in its 3rd year, in a charming seaside city. I took a bunch of the animators out there - Signe Baumane, Biljana Labovic, Josh Rechnitz - and even through the weather was cold and rainy, we had a wonderful time. They were so nice to us, the show was packed, and the audience seemed to love all the films.

Check out the Red Bank Film Festival - it has a lot of great energy, and there are a lot of animation fans there.

So now I'm off to China, I'll give you a report when I return.

This week's cartoon is another "oldie but goodie" - this cartoon was inspired by the architecture I discovered when I first moved to New York in the early 70's. The contrast between the old Baroque/Art Nouveau buildings being squashed by these huge steel and glass skyscrapers - it was like the pressure squeezed the decor out like cake frosting.

Bill