ANIMATED MEMORIES

When I was working on my first animation job, my bank was within a few blocks walking distance!! After a lifetime of scrounging freelance print work, I was making a good weekly sum, was excited, and thought I had finally *found my life*. I knew things would slow down every now & then, but there was no way I could have predicted this complete crash. First, everyone was trying to learn a computer program to keep working, and it seemed that within weeks, the program was outdated. (A lot of the small studios were wiped out that way; wasting huge sums on obsolete technology.) Then Flash was supposed to bring the work back to America, but it only made it easier to ship overseas. Now, unless you want to "create" a show (I don't), things are very tough. After The Simpsons, everyone was saying "Go to Fox and get a series", as if cthey were ripping contracts off like sheets of toilet paper.

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When I moved to L.A., friends were predicting I'd have a chauffeur who resembled Ginger within months. A man, meeting me, was disappointed, and said he imagined me as so cool & stylish that I'd have Borzois leashed in each hand. Always letting folks down.

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As subtle as Bluto.

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A few days after beginning work for Bakshi, someone from the union announced over the studio's loudspeaker that I and several others to come downstairs and pay 2 grand to join the union. That job turned out to be the last union job I ever got.

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As usual after a plane trip, I got sick after I moved to L.A. That was after I had started working for Bakshi. I took one day off, and his secretary was calling me every other hour to tell me I was disappointing Ralph and ask me when I was returning to work. I didn't want to lose the job, so I 'turned off'' the illness, went back, and was dismissed after 6 months. I kept thinking I was ok, but it turned out I had a worsening pneumonia.

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Things happened fast when I moved to L.A. I got my first job in two days, and I didn't even want one yet. Unfortunately, it was on COOL WORLD. That was the smooch of death, at least for a bit.
Attitudes back home were different. I went to a NY party, and everyone was congratulating me. I reminded them of what a bomb it was, and they said, "But *you* worked on it!!" Such a difference from the "you're hot or you're not" deal here.

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Found this Rasinski page being auctioned as mine on the web! Hail Connie Rasinski; I am, of course, very flattered by the error.

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Books do have some use. I was able to scan an image NOT on the internet to send someone. I suppose they're still good for some things.

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There was a scene in POLLOCK in which his wife is screaming at him: "WHY DON'T YOU PAINT??? PAAAAAIIIIIINT!!" It doesn't work that way.

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PREJUDICE FOR PROFIT.

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