If you like chasin' your tail...

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This one bubbled to the surface many years back. Still tickles me a little bit. Sorry for the roughshod appearance - these are the raw squeezins, right out of the coconut.

Copyright 2000 Tony Grillo

Puppy Boy. Like so many superheroes before him, born of a radioactive bite. Hey, it was either that or being fused in some kind of transporter. It's really just an excuse to show dogs doing funny things... and introduce the world to this talented canine cast:

Copyright 2000 Tony Grillo

I don't know if we'd ever see any actual action... when this was conceived, it was more about the silly, mundane day-to-day life of a hero - in this case, among a city of dogs who attempt to deny their base, doggish desires - like rolling-off in the grass and butt-sniffing on a first date.

Nowadays, Adult Swim shows like like the Venture Brothers, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Family Guy cover this subject matter pretty completely. Still, I hope we get to churn out some dopey laughs with this one sometime.

T

Better Kids

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As we wrap up on the Inspector McCloud project, we're putting together a new project for Better kids TV. It's a series of videos designed to educate kids about finance in an entertaining way. The project is pretty involved, incorporating multiple media and new technologies to present a combination of animation and live action.

Here's a peek at the main characters from story that weaves through the lessons and interviews.



I'd love to tell you more about the project, but it's still early in the process, and we can't share too much info. As Willie is busy cranking out some more looks for the project, we're digging into our live-action production roots to "cast" some of the live action roles. More to come...

T

A New Song

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I'd like to present a new song, produced by myself and Will Jenkins, the composer for Inspector McCloud's Stormwater Adventures.

This little ditty, called "The Republic of the Rio Grande", was inspired by the history behind the Texas/Mexico border towns, the culture that links all of these regions, and the need to unite in the protection of their most important natural resource.

Listen to The Republic of the Rio Grande

This version of the song, which will play during the closing credits for Inspector McCloud's Stormwater Adventures, features samples from the show, and is voiced by Stephen Grillo as the character of the Narrator. There were incredible contributions from several other musicians as well, all of whom will be credited in the final piece.

The original Republic of the Rio Grande was an actual nation located in a disputed zone between Mexico and texas back in 1839. The country lasted less than 200 days, and was governed from Laredo.


To learn more about it (its actually a fascinating history) visit The Republic of the Rio Grande Museum website and take the tour. Nice folks there!

T

Suck or Chew?

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T

Inspector McCloud Part 10: Music

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Here's a little bitty taste of the score we are producing for Inspector McCloud. This piece will open the show.


Flinch music is almost always a family affair - Composer Will Jenkins, my brother in law, scores more than half of our projects, and my brother Steve steps in to co-write songs for our musical shorts. Sister Barbara often provides vocals, and of course, I fill in where needed.

This time around, we were joined by my talented brother Jerry, who provided the whistling cowboy you hear in this song. I tried to pull it off, but clearly I was not the one who inherited our Father's world renown lips. When Jerry's not blowing me away (what a delicious pun!) he's a senior editor for Georgia Trend magazine and a funny playwright.

Thanks to all my musical kin and the others talented musicians who have jumped into the mix - stay tooned for more hot numbers!

T

Another Flinch Monstrosity

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Meet inspector McCloud. No, I mean... Meet Inspector McCloud! He's actually out there, walking the streets of Laredo. Probably scaring the crap out of little kids!


These pix were sent to me by my friends over at the City of Laredo... they work fast. I'm not even finished with the dang cartoon, and they already have a costumed supermascot ready to thrill his future fans with tales of storm water adventure.


I don't know about you, but I was always terrified of man-sized manifestations of cute cartoon characters. Strolling the idyllic lanes of Disney World, I always made sure to circumvent the giant Mickey and his unsettling incorrect proportions.

Truth be told, it is absolutely a pleasure to see your drawings turned into living towers of felt & pleather. Just the idea that some costume designer spent hours ogling my artwork is thrilling in itself... but when you see pictures of little kids hugging them, it just plain awesome, damn it, and I don't care if I'm obviously lame and easy to please.

It's not the first time one of our creations has made the jump from 2D to a strip mall near you. You may remember Otto, our Irvine Auto Center mascot.


Clearly, not every kid shares my fear of cartoon characters come to life and towering over them. Good for you, cast of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... good for you.


Robin Williams knows what I'm talking about...



To quote the Mork: (regarding a trip to Disneyland): "Mickey Mouse to a 3-year-old is a six-foot f***ing rat!"

(sorry for the censorship, it's a Family Blog).

T

Inspector McCloud Part 10: Wreaking Havoc

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Another exciting moment from Inspector McCloud - the Pollution Cartel drowns Laredo in a sea of garbage.


T

Inspector McCloud Part 9: Going into Battle!

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On their way into battle, our heroes get a little distracted.


T

Inspector McCloud Part 8: Action in the Park

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Wrapped this scene last week. Things get messy at City Park... where's Inspector McCloud??

Takes a while to load... patience....



T

Democracy

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Another Game for Psyclops

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This is another game we did for Psyclops.com. This one's a little easier to get the hang of!


Have fun!

T

You think I did this?

Inspector McCloud Part 7: A little piece of animation

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Here's another peek at sequence 2 - no music, but completed animation.


Not really prepared for internet delivery - give it a minute to start playing!

Animation is taking a gruelingly long time. I may starve to death before I complete this dang thing. But it's gettin' done!

T

A new game from Flinch

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Check out this new game we created for the Psyclops site.


It takes a few minutes to get the hang of it... but it gets fun really quick!

T

The Universal Position of The Biker

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T

before stewart did it...

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Before you saw it on the daily show...

T

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Just saw W.
Reminded me of this old doodle I did...

T

Inside the mind of a 6-year old filmmaker

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In between the long hours of running this company (into the ground), coaching T Ball, being a reasonably attentive husband and coercing Flash to give me adequate results, I somehow manage to selflessly donate time to helping kids fulfill their dreams - provided they are related to me and do what I say at least 85% of the time. And have small dreams.

So one day, my 6-year old (who, by the way, has never seen Mad Max) shows up with this drawing of a most heinous bullet car, and says he wants to turn it into an animation. After trying unsuccessfully to convince him that I didn't know where to find any animation equipment, I relented and let him have full access to my Cintiq (which I haven't even started paying off yet, for you cynics who doubt the depth of my fatherly love).

This was the result:



While I helped him with the technical aspects of animation, this film is all Charlie. Every little detail, down to the blood-soaked spikes in the road, came from him. This chaotic, violent masterpiece is his Directorial debut... a Dad couldn't be more proud.

And, he's starting to get pretty comfortable with Flash too. Perhaps I have found some cheap labor to exploit?

T

Inspector McCloud Part 6: Uhhh... more Color Animatic

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So, here's another piece from the Inspector McCloud Color Animatic / Rough Cut.

In these scenes, we see the Pollution Cartel taking over the city park while Stormy & McCloud get to know each other. Still working with very little animation and temp music (Thank you Juan Garcia Esquivel and John Barry).

Probably going to need a "meanwhile.. " or two.



Have fun!

T

Inspector McCloud Part 5: Color Animatic

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3 weeks, no new postings. I'll try to make up for that here.

We have completed the Color Animatic / Rough Cut of Inspector McCloud, and are ready to share a little!

There is very little animation at this point, and the music is all temporary, to give a taste of the direction we're hoping to take it (thank you Ennio Morricone).

Have a peek at this scene, which takes place early in the show:


Obviously, there is a lot more work to do... we have another pass at animation, as well as a mountain of post production - but we're proud of this little bit.

I hope you enjoy!

T