August 26 - I flew to Palm Springs for the Shorts Film Festival - it's one of the top short film festivals in the world, and perhaps the most prestigious in the U.S. There are a lot of distributors there, a lot of press, and also it's a qualifying festival for the Oscars if your film wins the top prize. I did my special workshop and told everyone how short films should not be just a "calling card" to Hollywood producers. They can be more, they are a distinct art form that in fact, can bring in a good income, and in my case, they're my primary source of revenue.

The parties in Palm Springs are wonderful, star-studded events since Hollywood is nearby, and a lot of famous actors actually live in Palm Springs. Opening night, I was lucky to meet the great director John Dahl (of "You Kill Me" and "Red Rock West) and also James Woods, who swore that he'd met me before.

Now that the bulk of the artwork and animation for my film "Idiots and Angels" is finished, it's post-production time. Biljana, my producer, is busily involved in coordinating all the coloring and compositing of the scenes. Also, now's the time to lock down the music choices.

We've got some beautiful music lined up - of course Hank Bones and Maureen McElheron are involved, as usual. And, we've got some superb music from Nicole Renaud, Corey Jackson and Rachelle Garniez. But we are also using music from some big-name artists - Moby, Tom Waits and Pink Martini.

At this stage of the process, it's important to test the film with audiences, because I've been so close to the film for 2 years - it's hard for me to see it fresh. Therefore, I've organized some test screenings - SVA and Pratt generously let me show my rough cut to some of their students.

Also, Gabe Levinson organized a massive test screening at the Music Box Cinema in Chicago. It was a triumphant success - we had over 500 people come to the late-night screening - I introduced the film, declaring that a lot of the colored shots were missing, the editing and sound were rough, and not all the music was in place. Also, I stated that I didn't want to necessarily hear good stuff about the film, I wanted to hear what might be wrong with it, and how I could make it better. The audience was given little questionnaire forms to fill out.

The good news was that the comments were almost all about the same thing - the film starts too slow and there's too much music. Fortunately, those two criticisms were easy to fix, and I agreed with them both. So, we're busy recutting the film and the music, and we hope to have a locked picture and finished cut by early January.

On September 14, I attended the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival, and I had a great time! It's one of those festivals that has all the perfect ingredients to be a hot festival:

It was a great time of year to be in the Vineyard -
The headquarters were in this charming, historic New England hotel -
The staff and volunteers were all very nice and helpful -
There were a lot of distributors and press people there -
There were a few celebrities there, because the island is home to many famous actors and musicians -
And the film selections were excellent - every film I saw was amazing.

If you're a filmmaker, I heartily suggest you enter your film in the Martha's Vineyard Film Festival and go - you'll have a great time.

Now that most of my work on "Idiots and Angels" is completed, I can work on some other projects - namely, the Kanye West book. I've been commissioned by Simon and Schuster to illustrate a book of Mr. West's lyrics - it's all very exciting. He will select 12 of his favorite songs, and he'll discuss the deeper meanings of the lyrics, and I'll create a large drawing to illustrate the feelings and emotion of the song.

We found time in Kanye's busy schedule to meet at someone's apartment (his New York place was being remodeled) and he sat down with me and my editor, Jim Fitzgerald, to talk about his songs. I looked around the apartment and noticed a larger-than-average number of L.Ron Hubbard books - he said it was the apartment of Tom Cruise. I'll tell you, I've never seen a cleaner apartment, everything exactly and geometrically in the right place.

I'm now close to finishing the book, and I think it's some of the best artwork I've ever done. It will be released in the fall of 2008, be sure to check it out!

In early October, I went to the Edit/Ves Festival in Frankfurt, Germany - it's not really an animation festival, but it does have a large special-effects category, and I guess I fit in there. The people there were very nice, and I got to hang out with two of my favorite people, PES and Sarah. Also, I got to have dinner with one of the all-time Hollywood greats, Tippi Hedren, of "The Birds" and "Marnie" fame. She was totally charming, and open and had great stories about Hitchcock, Sean Connery, her daughter Melanie Griffith, and Melanie's husband, Antonio Banderas.

Upon returning, I began work on some wine-bottle designs. Apparently drinking expensive wine has become very fashionable with a younger audience, and wine labels are reflecting this surge in younger connoisseurs, so I've been commissioned by both a Napa Valley specialty winery and also a Portuguese winery to design hipper label artwork.

The Portuguese company is particularly interesting, in that it involves a humorous 10-panel comic strip that wraps around the bottle. Apparently their thinking is that as the wine is consumed, the drinkers are looking for a little cheap entertainment to liven up the evening. And the cool thing is, I get to name the brand - and I chose "Merton". So I refer to it as "Chateau Merton" - so watch for it at your better wine shops and please buy a bottle, because I get 5% of each sale.

Another film festival that's very high on my recommendation list is the Woodstock Festival. They always feature animated shorts, and it's always one of the first programs to sell out. One of the highlights of this year's program was Signe Baumane's "Teat Beat For Sex", a hilarious 3-minute look at Ms. Baumane's sex life. This film just got selected for the Sundance Film Festival, by the way. The other hit of the show was Arthur Metcalf's "Bubble Wrap", where the tiny bubbles have faces and personalities, and each reacts differently to the inevitable giant killer finger.
Everyone was so nice and helpful at the Woodstock Festival, and again, it's got a lot of celebrities and press, so do send your films there.

I was able to see "Persepolis" as part of the New York Film Festival - I've been hearing about this film for a number of years, and I enjoyed the graphic novel it's based on, so I was very excited about seeing the film. The story, of course, is wonderful, and has a very powerful human message. But I felt that the artwork (which is identical to the graphic novel's art) was very weak. All the characters looked alike, and I had a tough time following the people throughout the film. Marjane Satrapi, the author, is not really an artist, so the people are very simplified. It's too bad, because with such an interesting story, it begs for character designs that have an equally interesting look.

Also boosting the film's high visibility is the fact that the Iranian government is doing all it can to stop screenings of the film around the world, and so that only increases the public curiosity of the film. Word at the Academy of Motion Pictures is that this year the Best Animated Feature Oscar will go to either "Ratatouille" or "Persepolis".

Another big animated feature is "Bee Movie" by Dreamworks and Jerry Seinfeld. I was very disappointed in the film - with all the money and talent going into this project, it should have been a knockout film. First of all, the colors were garish and badly designed. The CG clothing still does not have fabric wrinkles - everyone still looks like they're wearing a painted rubber suit.

You'd think that with Seinfeld writing the gags, it would be hilarious, but all the jokes were just variations on puns about honey and bees - the only people that laughed were 5-year old kids.

My next trip was to Krakow, Poland, for the Etudia and Anima Film Festival. Krakow is a beautiful historic city, made even more charming by a fresh layer of snow - I began to feel very Christmasy. Somehow, I got roped into a bunch of bureaucratic functions, so once I was finally able to tour the city, it was a great release. There is a legend about the ancient St. Mary's Cathedral - hundreds of years ago, a trumpeter high atop the tower sounded an alarm as the Mongols approached, and an enemy arrow killed the bugler before he could finish his call to arms. So, every day at noon, a bugler from the fire department blasts his unfinished song to the four corners of the city. We were privileged to visit his little room in the steeple as he sounded the alarm.

I'm writing this scrapbook entry on a plane returning from Istanbul. This trip started out in Budapest, Hungary, at the Anilogue Animation Festival. Budapest is a gorgeous city and the festival took place in an amazingly beautiful gold-painted mosaic opera house called Kino Urania. I was one of the festival's judges, along with Koji Yamamura, and we gave the prizes to "Lavatory Love Story" by Konstantin Bronzit and my favorite, "Carnival of Animals" by Michaela Pavlatova. On the last night, we all went to the Turkish baths - it's a real scene, guys and gals go there to meet, and there's a lot of hugging and kissing in the water - very decadent.

I then flew to Istanbul, Turkey, for the Instanbul International Animation Festival. The fest was not that well organized, but it has a great potential - there is a large culture of young kids who love cartoons, both in print and on film. The real pleasure for me was visiting the city - before I arrived, I had visions of camels and goat herds walking down the street, but the city is as cosmopolitan as New York.

I stayed at the Beyoglu, the main shopping area, and stuffed myself with great Turkish desserts. I visited the justly world-famous Hagia Sophia and then the Topkapi Palace. Of course, one must visit the circumcision room at the palace, and the star attraction is the harem quarters, which is truly impressive with all its beautiful rich designs and decoration motifs.

But they're missing a big opportunity there - I suggested they install a hologram projector, so if you desire and you're not a strict Muslim, you can flip a switch and see the harem girls and eunuchs as they were 500 years ago. I'm sure they all looked like Barbara Eden from "I Dream of Jeannie". Actually, the rumor was that the sultan liked his women rotund, so maybe the hologram is not such a great idea.

That pretty much sums up my last three months - I've just finished a wonderful Turkish meal here on Turkish Airlines. It seems that my best meals are on airlines - someone should open up a restaurant that serves only airline cuisine, I'd be a steady customer.

Now, I'm just waiting for word from the Berlin festival to see if "Idiots and Angels" got in.

This installment's cartoon is my Christmas card for 2007 - Happy Holidays!