post-Sidewalk post

I told all y'all (here) that Bill Plympton was coming to town, and he did. Here's my report:

The talk he gave on Friday afternoon was plenty good. He showed several short films, talked about his history in animation and his general philosophies about it, and drew for the audience. There was a fairly sizeable group in attendance, which included several of our fellow SHC's (Tim Rocks, Brian Ratigan, Richard Haigler, and myself). I gave out handbills beforehand, publicizing our little club. Maybe we'll collect a couple new members.

After the presentation, Plympton drew on postcards for everyone who cared to wait to get their own drawing. Which was most everybody. He also had DVD's of his shorts collections for sale, and I picked up a couple of those.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to see Plympton's latest feature, Idiots and Angels. Plympton took a few questions beforehand, from the packed house. The film was well received. I liked it quite a bit, myself. I haven't seen all of his features, but here's how I review the ones I've seen: They have lots of funny bits, but as a whole, the storylines aren't cohesive enough. They kind of fall apart by the ending. Idiots and Angels, however, really stayed on track throughout. It didn't just have funny parts; it was a good feature film.


I had hoped to go see Brian Ratigan's short "Sunday" on Saturday night, but I lamed out and didn't make it. Brian, how was the screening? Perhaps you can tell us in the comments below. For those of us who missed it, it's airing on Final Broadcast, right? Will it be on THIS Friday, or when exactly?

Anybody else with good Sidewalk experiences, let us know in the comments here ... especially if it's anything to do with animation.