Upcycled ACME Light Tables

A campus building was bulldozed recently that acted as a satellite storage for gallery items. Before it came down a few of us tried to salvage as much as possible, and here I found some unused plexiglass cases made for some kind of gallery display units. I used these to build light-box units now with acme peg-bars attached! They make for really cute close-courter workstations for animation, bringing this usual independent activity closer with peers, or could be nice for collaborative project OR splicing up different segments of a solo project.

I got to test them out for my animation course this Spring and I think it went well! hoping to incorporate these more into lesson plans in the future :)

Archive Extended! - Music Making Games

With the work I’ve done assembling non-traditional music-making video game titles (that include sequencers, synths, instruments, and other in-game apps) for audio-sculptures and DJ purposes, I’ve noticed a lack of resources with info about the game “genre” of music-making. Of course, there are rhythm games that are well documented, I’m speaking specifically about games like the Game Boy Color game Pocket Music, or the Playstation 1 game MTV Music Generator. Another example is the extra sequencer feature that’s including in the PSP game Lumines 2. I think these need to be listed all together as they are unique uses of console hardware to create something beyond gaming, but is a function utility, and serves as an opportunity to approach interactivity in new and interesting ways.

More info to come!

other areas I’d like to focus on eventually:

•comprehensive list of games with Create-a-Player

•list of games with in-game drawing applications (CoolBoarders 2)

In Time, All Together: First Scans of the Laserdisc Collection

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS LASERDISC SCANS

Here are the first scans related to the Laserdisc portion of the archive — an on-going part of this project is documenting covers, backside art, Oni, stickers, inside sleeves and/or any other paperwork (like advertisements or receipts).

•All Images are scanned at 600 resolution with an EPSON - 20000 Scanner / Image Capture / Mac

•Images are unedited

•Rights belong to the artists, these images are not my own

a few sample images below at a lower resolution:

Archiving for Animation: International Circulation of Secondhand Analog Media

Anomalies of the Collection; Region + Format

The majority of the collection consists of US, Canadian and Japanese animation and anime (respectively) on VHS tapes that use the NTSC region format, and Laserdiscs. A few format anomalies to this are DVD and Blu-ray, one BetaMax tape and several CED discs. Luckily the collection also includes PAL and SECAM formatted tapes, (see image above where designated regional formats are shown). I hope to increase the number of these (anyone have online retailer suggestions?)

Compilations of specific animator’s work, such as the wonderful Pioneer Pathfinder Laserdisc serie with animators like Norman McClaren and Oskar Fischinger, are also present in the collection. The Ghibli music video for On Your Mark is another example of media outside the norm.

I currently live in the US and use secondhand stores, EBay and online Japanese retailers to acquire most of the VHS and Laserdiscs. I’m able to find media at reasonable prices due to the original popularity of each media in a given country and the disinterest with the older formats by the common consumer in the last couple decades due to assumed obsoletion and upgrade trends. Luckily I’ve found a few French, Eastern European and/or former Soviet, Canadian and British animation media due to one of the following reasons:

1. When I’m lucky enough to travel abroad I’m always on the look out for comics and tapes

2. If titles are popular enough to find a NTSC region distributor (mostly Japanese)

3. With a little luck, donations by (assumed) immigrated media owners. With these specific serendipitous occurrences, I’ve found a few French tapes, including: Le Roi et l'Oiseau AKA The King and the Mockingbird (1952).

When examples arise where I have a copy of something I can’t watch due to region-lock, lack of equipment or damage, I try to find an alternative version or format to include in the collection. For example, for The King and the Mockingbird I was able to purchase a Japanese copy on Laserdisc from an online Japanese retailer. This copy, much to my excitement, has two language audio tracks split between the stereo outputs: one French and one Japanese.

I have (at least known to me) two bootleg tapes of hard-to-find / non-existent media: The Daft Punk + Leiji Matsumoto Collab for Interstellar 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (インターステラ5555) from 2003 is one of these. After nearly a decade trying to locate a DVD copy, I succumbed to purchase a bootleg.

Possible future blog posts: Why Collect/Why Digitize? CLA vs CAV laserdiscs, Zoetropes, Archive organizing updates, new additions, and more :L)

thanks for reading!

<3 M@