I've always wanted to do animation. I want to write animation scripts, and I want to direct a few projects.
My first writing job for which I was paid properly, was an animation gig. Since then, I've always wanted to do an animation project on a grand scale.
I've watched cartoons since I was a young kid and frankly have never stopped.
My favourite anime of all time is Cowboy Bebop, which I believe as the reason God put us on Earth. AFter Cowboy Bebop, there is no reason for humans to exist and we should all die.
Tonight, at a barbecue, I met some people who do animation for a living. Very talented people who have a lot of their childhood wonder and good spirit intact, unspoiled by years of paranoia and backbiting spent in hellish office spaces.
There are whole groups of this people - entire colonies - uncorrupted by mere pettiness.
I believe that animated shows influence people to be good and sincere.
With REAL creative people, the questions of whose ass you kiss and what kind of politics you play have never seemed that important. Show me your work. That's all.
You can promise the sun, moon and stars, or backstab the President of Earth, and it doesn't matter. Show me your work.
And the great thing was that I didn't have to explain myself a lot to get things through. There is a shorthand somewhere, with people who read comics. There is an understanding of the values that are good - humility, hard work, appreciation of beauty.
And bad values - serious showboating, clique-forming, an obsession with belonging to a group, fighting people, backstabbing, dishonourable conduct.
The humour also is quite effortless. I can say some things in full sarcasm, and they get it. They don't question me whether I really thought of this or that. Or force their own version of things.
ANimation and comics teach us many things - honour, The Truth, give and take. Respect for others' space. Trust, which is in short supply in the real world.
I was advised, I remember, by some friends years ago, to not hang around geeks.
"You can be cool, if you don't hang out with losers."
Well, fast forward a decade later, and the 'losers' all have their own companies, are doing great work and generally quite happy in their own world, while the 'cool' ones are spiteful, petty and whiny.
The geeks have created a Nerdvana of sorts.
The geeks are actually smarter, and they don't play simple politics. They play much more complex computer games.
If you're working right now, in the real world, I tell you that politics is very simple, which is why I don't play it.
Politics, is simply killing people.
You know how you do this? Very simple. Step aside. Cause everyone dies, in the end.
It poses no challenge to the brain whatsoever. I mean, really. You think you can sneak into some things and for a while, you might think you've succeeded, and then BAM! - Sun Tzu's isolated ground.
I tried to warn lots of people, but they never listen to me, cause idiots always have a need to FEEL smart. That the rules of physics don't apply to them. That they are immortal.
That only happens in cartoons.
So anyway, I want to do animation at some point in my life, so I asked the people who are already doing it. Apparently, it is possible.
We shall see where this leads. One thing's for sure. I didn't sense any evil tonight - either there were none, or they were too smart to display it and I appreciate smart people as opposed to idiots - and it was quite refreshing.
