Because I loved Ninja Turtles so much

So, because I loved ninja turtles so much, I decided to go to rotten tomatoes and copy and paste all the good reviews for your viewing pleasure. First here is my review...
"I can't stop thinking about how fun this movie was, and can't wait to go see it again. Raphael rocks!!!" -Alex Fleisig
...Okay... now here's what real reviewers said...
The animated fight scenes are both beautiful and realistic. You forget you're watching a computer-animated feature. In a film about ninja turtles, you couldn't really ask for anything more. Other than perhaps a sequel, that is.
Shedding the confines of the original 1990s live-action versions, the new TMNT runs free with crisp, malleable animation and kick-ass action.
The action is breakneck and practically uninterrupted. We're talking a young boy's dream come true.
TMNT offers some real thrills. The computer animation gives the turtles relatively believable expressions, movements, musculature and (green) skin tones.
TMNT is a fun, action-filled adventure that will satisfy longtime fans and generate a legion of new ones.
As a piece of film design, the movie is first-rate; on sheer aesthetics alone, it rivals Triumph of the Will for astonishments.
The movie works despite its well-designed but boringly realized bad guy, a real testament to the well-defined, decently written characters of the Turtles themselves.
really nothing more than an overblown Saturday morning cartoon, but it didn't need to be anything more than that. The turtles rocked, and I had a blast.

WINE COUNTRY TRIP

Here's a bunch of pics of our big wine country adventures on Sunday. Thanks to Carolyn's family for showing us around. Thanks to Patrik and Amila for driving. Thanks to Bert for wearing his awesome Pink shirt. And thanks to PJ for being PJ.

this is the first place we went to... it had a big barrel at the entrance... alas there was no wine in that barrel

Here we are heading up to take our first gulp of wine.

PJ speaks passionately about his love of the white wine. Bert is thinking, "not again."

PJ shows us what its all about. Pretending to drink wine from an empty glass.

Bert wanted to measure the length of the grape fields, which took a while. Look at his awesome pink shirt. Isn't it awesome.

Look, its another winery. This one was fancier.

they gave us a grand old tour of the wine basement. Everyone asked lots of questions. I asked some really good ones, but it was Patrik that received the "that's a really great question" award. Good job Patrik. You win this round.

Here we are all together, like one big happy broken family that just drank alot of wine.

aren't they adorable

bert gives this winery a big korean thumbs up

I bought this really good zinfendel for 34 dollars. I geuss it had better be good for that kind of money... I could've gotten a used video game. I'm pretty sure amila is about to fall over here.

at the next winery Patrik was bitten by a zombie

but then we killed the zombie therebye curing patrik... so amila fell asleep... and PJ transformed into a muppet monster... we were all really worried because bert's head was about to explode

here's the last and final winery we exploited

my mission was to take more pictures than carolyn... also to drink alot of wine

a final huddle... after this it was off to see teenage mutant ninja turtles... which is an awesome movie by the way... go see it... or die trying

A new way to animate on the computer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JcSu7h-I40

This is something that maybe someday could replace a mouse and keyboard.
And maybe put an end to RSI as well.
Hopefully, in the future, animation studios will start using things like this.

TMNT

I watched ninja turtles tonight, and it was more awesome then I could have imagined. If you liked the old cartoon, I think you will love this movie. It's extremely fun and super awesome, the fights are great, and the action is really well animated. It only has a 28 percent on rotten tomatoes though, so maybe most people won't like it as much as I did. Bert loved it. Andrew Burke loved it. And I loved it. I want to see it again tomorrow. Also, some of my old DNA friends worked on it at reel fx. I saw sean ermey and ray chase and tim hatchers names. Those were the only ones I caught. Anyone else work on it? Also this movie proves once and for all that raphael is the best turtle ever. That is all.

TMNT pre-awesomeness

I just read that these two are voices in the new ninja turtles movie...

now it has to be good...
I can't wait to see it this weekend.

The Sandman

Here's my sandman drawing for drawergeeks.com. I can't wait to see that hayden church guy play him in Spiderman 3. He was awesome in Wings and Sideways, so that means he will also be awesome as the sandman. I have no idea what the sandman will look like in the movie, since I close my eyes during the trailers. But I assume he will look like mr hayden church but with lots of sand everywhere. I hate getting sand everywhere. I heard anakin skywalker hates that too. Happy Friday!!!

someone sent this out at work... thought it was neat

two greats born this day
kindly observe a moment of reverence:

Kaaaahhhhlllll !!!

PENNY ARCADE VIDEO GAME

Cool. They're making a Penny Arcade game.
Looks pretty fun.
Here's the link.
http://www.gametrailers.com/downloadnew.php?id=17859

Robots

Here's my two robot drawings for this weeks drawer geeks...

Some pictures from my trip to seattle last weekend

frasier may have once eaten at this restaurant... also there's a bunch of old dna folks here too... what are they doing in seattle... oh they work here now

here we all are in Seattle... home of Frasier

its tom saville and his twin sister brian menz

I'm riding the same monorail that frasier rode in that episode where he is supposed to get to the space needle to recieve the key to the city... but then the monorail breaks down and he doesn't make it... but this monorail didn't break down... and I didn't recieve a key to the city

the space needle!!!!
a very clever little picture by burke

tom's all like, "why shouldn't I jump? I'm superman."

more space needliness

leaving the space needle feels sad

more hot monorail action... if you flip these two pictures over and over its like animation

karaoke silliness at the burkes

matthew and brian are confused by my fancy new camera

exploring bellevue... which is a really really nice little city

we finished off the trip by convincing brian to eat at the number one rated indian restaurant in seattle... brian only eats cheeseburgers and sandwiches... so this was a big moment for him

he ate it all

all full of indian food and ready to go home

Update on Me... and I saw ghost rider

Well, my "run of show" time at Pixar comes to an end at the end of March, as I finish up on Ratatouille. I got a chance to work on a really cool disneyland submarine ride, and to work on a truly great film during my time here. And just yesterday, I accepted an offer to go to PDI Dreamworks at the beginning of May to work on Madagascar 2. I was a huge fan of the first one, and a really big fan of the style of animation. I've always prefered a more cartoony approach to animation. So this should be lots of fun for me. If anyone has any suggestions about places to live down near Redwood City, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, I saw Ghost Rider. Its fun. Nicholas Cage is great in it. The cheesiness lies mostly in some of the portrayal of the villains. But overall I really enjoyed the ride. If you liked Fantastic 4, you'll like Ghost Rider. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person that liked Fantastic 4 though. So maybe it will be hard to find like minds here.

New Animation

I did this quick little animation over the weekend.

Enjoy.

http://www.alexfleisig.com/animation/Big_Head_2.avi

Bridge to Tera...something or other

Go see this movie. Its really really really good.

If I tell you anything about it, it will ruin it.

Don't watch any trailers.

Just go see it.

Tomorrow I'm going to go see Ghost Rider.

I don't think it will be as good.

That is all.

THE CAT RETURNS

this is my new favorite miyasaki movie... I just watched it the other day... if you really hate cats though, you may not like this movie... there's alot of cats in it...
go buy it today!!!

SHAZAM

Here's my drawings for drawer geeks.

They're late.

Due to procrastination.