http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog This is Hoggworks trying to make the second season of dotBoom, while building several other shows at the same time, and hoping each of which will be exponentially better than dotBoom 1. This is, perhaps, a catalogue of the thing that will kill Brian Hogg. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:12:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This will only seem terribly interesting to Canadians, probably, but this is my response to Rogers' recently announced, and fairly ridiculous, pricing for the new iPhone: http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/07/01/open-letter-to-ted-rogers/ Am I proud to be a Canadian? You bet. And since it's Canada day, I thought I'd let puppet Brian detail some of the reasons why... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/07/01/why-im-proud-to-be-a-canadian/ I'm trying out the beta of a neat service called Evernote, one of the features of which being the ability to record all sorts of scraps of info, be it text, audio, or imagery, and to post it in a public scrapbook. So I'm going to be saving photos of ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/07/01/photo-reference/ Here's another video link, but this one ISN'T the Muppets. It's a music video for the Barenaked Ladies. This video is for "Pollywog in a Bog," from their recently released children's album. A friend of mine is one of the puppeteers on the project, and it's very well done all ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/30/pollywog-in-a-bog/ At the risk of turning this into a blog where I link solely to Muppet videos, I just came across this pretty funny bit for America's Independence Day, which the commercials tell me is on July 4th. It's a pretty good little bit, and made me laugh out loud. You ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/29/happy-independence-day-apparently/ Watching this clip from the Muppet Show today, I'm in awe of the creative and technical aspects of it (it's such a complicated production, and it looks so seamless!), but when I was a kid, and saw this on television, it scared the hell out of me: Speaking as a puppeteer, ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/27/lime-in-the-coconut/ The Bono puppet is done! I think he turned out really well, and is one of our better puppets so far. This is what he looks like: And this is how he was built: http://www.flickr.com/photos/inelegant/sets/72157605759679230/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/26/building-a-better-bono/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/24/cookie-monster-on-the-colbert-report/ For reasons I can't yet get into, we're working on a Bono puppet. We're just about at the "putting the skin on the foam skeleton" phase, and it's already looking cool, and the likeness is there. Makes a person feel good. This is the design. Click on it to see the ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/23/building-bono/ Not to turn this blog into a lesser rehash of drawn.ca, but they were kind of enough to point to the very swanky-looking art book for the upcoming Pixar movie Wall-E. The Art of Wall-E has a ton of production sketches, concept art, and the like. I consider this relevant ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/19/the-art-of-wall-e/ I'm working on a design for a new puppet (for a couple, actually), with one hopefully getting made over the weekend in an atypically rush-rush kind of manner. I'm going to see how little sleep I can manage with, how quickly I can build the thing, and how little I ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/19/caricatures/ This isn't puppet-related, but I want to send a link along because it's about good design. Specifically, it's about Ralph McQuarrie, famous concept artist on the Star Wars saga. He apparently did concept sketches for Battlestar Galactica, and I just saw a link today of some paintings he did relating ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/17/great-concept-art/ I've been watching the development of Spore, the upcoming universe-sim game by legend Wil Wright, for some time now, as have many millions of others. The release is coming up pretty soon, and they've just released a trial version of the game's Creature Creature. You can download it for both ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/17/the-spore-creature-creator/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/14/video-ask-palpatine-21-star-wars-exposed/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/14/video-stephen-colbert-calls-out-johanne-kepler/ The set is finished, and it's up on the framework: Which means, of course, that the framework works! I'm pretty excited about that. As I may have mentioned before, I was worried that it would fall apart. But it didn't, thankfully, and everything's good. It looks pretty shiny, too. Having the set ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/14/this-deathstar-is-now-fully-armed-and-operational/ Check it out! The puppet I built for Halifax-based puppet troupe "The Wippets," Jerry, is now listed as a cast member: http://thewippets.blogspot.com/ No video of him yet, but he's being used in rehearsals, and they're sussing out his character. He's in pretty good company. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/13/wippet-good/ Hey all, Phase one of the new set for Ask Palpatine is nearly complete. It's not quite as polished as I'd have liked, but I think it'll do nicely, and photograph well (especially on the web-sized resolutions we're pumping it out as). Today's got me a bit nervous, because as I ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/06/13/deathstar-nearly-complete/ After many months of simply talking about it, I've finally gone ahead and done it: http://puppetchallenge.hoggworks.com/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/05/19/take-the-stephen-colbert-puppet-challenge/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/05/09/jim-henson-video/ There will be a couple tweaks to it, with some type adjustments, and such, but this is pretty close to what the landing page for the Colbert Puppet Challenge video will look like. I'm happy to say that I did the design myself, and that it came out pretty snazzy. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/05/08/puppet-challenge-design-in-progress/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/28/puppet-design-arthur-apollo/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/28/puppet-design-wolfman/ From the recent FITC Festival: http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/27/photos-of-gideon/ I've been thinking recently about a gap, or what I am choosing to view as a gap, in online video metrics. People are shouting about the total number of views their videos have, with great relish, but what use is that number, really? When someone gets on the front page ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/26/looking-for-a-new-metric/ Here at Hoggworks, we realize the importance of a demo reel to sell ourselves to clients. We need to have something not just to show to people who show up at our door asking for our services, but to send out to people who don't yet know that they need ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/16/building-a-demo-reel/ This guy's being made for another client. He's coming together well, I thinki. He just needs a body. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/01/in-progress-doucet/ This is Git. He's a puppet I built for a couple short video bits we'll be doing for FITC, the design festival coming near the end of the month in Toronto. Git's meant to be your stereotypical pretentious art director / web designer. He'll be interviewing some of the speakers ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/04/01/new-puppet-git/ I am obscenely proud to report that the Stephen Colbert puppet is complete! http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/03/06/stephen-colbert-the-puppet/ Here at casa de Hoggworks, we're always working on stuff. Case in point, two designs that are getting hashed out for a pitch we're doing: http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/02/29/two-designs/ Made a few changes to the main site. The landing page is a little different, with a handy-dandy listing of our shows right there on the front, Palpatine has been added to the Puppets listing, and our fairly recent client work, Spaggy, has also been added. Neat stuff, and there's more ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/02/25/updated-the-site/ Check it out! http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/02/13/ask-palpatine-valentines-e-cards/ Behold, the awesome conclusion of my conversation with Nick! http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/02/01/7-talking-with-nick-part-2/ Check it out: http://www.askpalpatine.com/2008/01/24/is-tom-cruise-a-sith-lord/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/24/ask-palpatine-5-is-tom-cruise-a-sith-lord/ I've ordered reticulated foam from Pasha (over at Project Puppet), and I am now trying hard not to obsessively check the tracking status updates. I see that it's sitting at "International Dispatch," and it started at Duncanville, Texas. I am wondering if it means that it's at the Canadian border, ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/18/waiting-for-foam/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/18/6-building-the-emperor/ Check out this puppet company in Germany. Amazing, amazing stuff: http://www.figurenschneider.de/ It's work like this and Thistledown that's at a level that I want to achieve at Hoggworks. Such creative and technically wonderful work. Bravo. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/16/figurenschneider/ This one is called "Jedi Romance Tips." Check it:  http://www.askpalpatine.com/2008/01/10/ask-palpatine-3-jedi-romance-tips/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/10/ask-palpatine-3/ Nick and I talk about the writing of dotBoom 1, where it failed, and how it can be better for season 2. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/09/5-talking-with-nick-part-1/ Got a brand new show, "Ask Palpatine." Check it out if you'd like to get to know the Dark lord better. He's really not such a bad guy, all things considered. Check it out: http://www.askpalpatine.com/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/05/ask-palpatine/ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/04/4-process-part-3/ Here are two designs, both of which might get built. One is pretty obvious, and the other is a newscaster, which we might build as a character for use in The Rant Puppets. Thoughts? http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/04/two-new-designs/ This is the second part (now of 3) in the look at the elements of the production that we're going to improve. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2008/01/01/3-process-part-2/ I'm building a Stephen Colbert puppet as part of this increasingly large publicity effort, and, as part of it, I decided to scrap what I had before so I could make something ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. This is the first design sketch of the Colbert puppet concept #2: http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/23/the-stephen-colbert-puppet/ In which I discuss "The Stephen Colbert Puppet Challenge." http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/19/25-promotional-things/ It didn't come out Thursday night, I know, but I hope to get something up late tonight. Watch the skies, true believers! http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/14/episode-delays/ I just this moment finished writing the first draft of my upcoming book, "Creating Video for the Web: Podcasts, Ads, and More." It's long, and I have already started on the revision. They tell me the book is due in stores April 3 (or 8th). It occurs to me how soon ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/10/the-first-draft-of-my-book/ I'm hoping to get the next episode up on Thursday, once I get some other things done. I've already recorded the footage; I simply need to edit it. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/10/new-episode-coming-thursday-night/ This is the first of two episodes detailing the various aspects of our production cycle, how I think it fails, how we can make it better. In this first part, I talk about the Sets, the Audio, and the Puppets.You can watch this video on Youtube, if you like. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/02/2-process-part-one/ For those of you waiting, I apologize. The episode is practically done, but a couple things came up which have slowed me done. I'm hoping to find some time to work on it this evening, though. We shall see. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/12/01/slight-delay-on-inside-hoggworks-2/ I've linked to Thistledown before in the dotBoom blog, but  I was just looking at their work again today, and, wow. It continues to blow me away. When I look at Thistledown's stuff, I want to be able to build puppets the way they do; their work is consistently creative, ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/27/thistledown-puppets/ Here's a great video of a rat in a lab coat, dancing on a stage. He's got legs, even. It's nice.  http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=IchyqA7pYZQ http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/27/happy-feet/ Mr. Wojtal is a great puppet-builder, and has had a hand in shows such as Crank Yankers and Bear in the Big Blue House, and also Avenue Q. You should check out his portfolio site, because it kicks ass. (There's no reason for the link other than that it's cool) http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/27/james-wojtal/ Hey everybody, As part of the insane ramp-up to not only a dotBoom 2.0, but the couple other shows that we have in the works, we're looking for more people to help out with the production of the show. If you're in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, or can get yourself here somewhat ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/23/were-looking-for-volunteers/ Excellent article over at the Muppet Central forums about the things you need to think about if you're going to build puppets for money. Check it out. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/22/how-to-approach-a-business-deal/ The plan is to create dotBoom 2.0, to make it significantly bigger and better than the first season, and to do so while also making a handful of other shows at the same time, in our spare time, with no money. This first episode is something of a mission statement. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/21/1-unrealistic-expectations/ Question: Who do you think would be a good guest-star on a puppet show about lewd web designers? The answer can be as realistic or as pie-in-the-sky as you please. (I am of course referring to dotBoom.) http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/10/guest-stars/ The Ask the Optimist video that we did with Jesse Thorn of Maximumfun.org and George Saunders, which is here, is featured currently in the Comedy section of Youtube. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/categories_portal?c=23&e=1 Powered by Qumana http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/09/youtube-feature/ As part of the whole 'treating Hoggworks like a real company' thing, I'm working out plans for multiple shows. Going to be the dotBoom, plus the Inside Hoggworks, plus some others. The plan is to create a framework which will allow me to easily shift between shows. As part of ... http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/08/new-sets/ This'll be a behind-the-scenes blog, with photos of upcoming designs, in-progress stuff, and the like. It'll also be the home of "Inside Hoggworks," a show I'll be doing detailing the process, and my attempts to make multiple dotBoom-level shows concurrently. http://www.blog.hoggworks.com/blog/2007/11/07/welcome-to-the-blog/