New Animation by A.M. Frasier "Donald Glover: Weirdo -Toys "R" Us Animated Clip"

EXpedition Status Report 9: Humor Clause

Over the last week I came across Illtown215 A series of ill-gotten, ill-affected and ill-mannered comedic sketches that's from the mind of one of the Whaaaaaassup Guys Philly native Fred Thomas Jr. These sketches are satirical so they aren't just the senseless random type of comedic jib jab that pollutes the internet. The other piece that I appreciate is that Mr. Thomas is writing, producing, and directing these shorts himself!

Check it out!

Keep Sharp
A.M. Frasier

Illtown215: Using Your Resources - watch more funny videos

Poster for MonKKey

There Will Be Blood.

EXpedition Status Report 6

It has been awhile. But, that's ok because we've been extremely busy over the last few months. I finally made the jump to the big L.A.. In just the few months I've been here freelance work has increased incredibly. I truly enjoy talking with and working with other artist that share the same dreams and seem ready to "do" and not just "say".

Monkkey is still under construction and so is the LOGOS. In the move many of my tools to create Monkkey have been lost but I'm getting back up to speed. With LOGOS I'm slowly but surely hacking away at the chapters.

Slice of Heaven, an idea inspired by a drawing, is being brought into reality in the form of greeting cards. The art work for the cards will be from myself and Mr. James Bowman (Poochie) and verses by Keena Ferguson. The cards will feature cute cuddly kids but will also have a sexy contemporary metropolitan animated feel to them as well. That website is nearly completed and the pricing for the cards are still under negotiation.

For those of you who get a chance check out http://www.africomics.com/. This website features great information and links to a large variety of african american comics and graphic novels.

All of this while I hack away and continue my training as a psychologist. I will be in touch. Keep Sharp!!!

EXpedition Status Report 4

This has been a great summer! Lots of good news.

Mr. Bowman's film, "Kindred the Immortal." will be shown at Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival this weekend. The Festival kicked off on Wednesday and will conclude this Sunday Aug, 12Th.

We just received a nice size contract to do animation on a website for a company based in the UK. Can't get too much into details right now but we'll be able to provide more as we wrap up the project. Inadvertently this project has slowed production of MONKKEY and LOGOS.

This week the website has been updated with another a scene from MONKKEY and a teaser trailer of a project called GILGAMESH.

Also since the last update the website has been a little revamped for better maneuverability!!

Cliche' phrase for this week, "Iron sharpens Iron". Word of the week Audacity.

EXpedition Status Report 3

The images are flowing this week. Jim Brothers has 5 new pics added to his portfolio that are phat (real good) and I've added 4 more to my folder as well (A.M. Frasier).

This week 4 new characters that are apart of the LOGOS universe and have been added. In 3 of the four pictures the characters are truely in motion. I went back and numbered each piece by when I completed the sketch. So the pictures may appear to be out of order because they are not aligned chronologically in the portfolio.

Two more scenes of MonKKey have been cleaned up. There are currently 20 scenes. There are a few more scenes that still need to be added. I orginially was going to split this chapter into three parts (A, B, and C) due to thinking the file size maybe two large. However part A is coming out to be reasonably small in file size so I may combine A and B into one segment.

part II MEDIA: Victimization

Let’s look at two boxing scenarios. In the first scenario a boxer is beaten and has taken substantial physical abuse which included bruised ribs, bruised brain, and a fractured left hand. The fight ends abruptly because the boxer is knocked out resulting in him loosing five million dollars. In scenario two, after the boxing match, a spectator is mugged in the restroom he loses five hundred dollars, the loss of his wallet and receives a black eye. Comparing these two scenarios there are obvious distinction as to why the boxer in the first example is not a victim and the spectator in the second example is. It can be assumed the boxer did not intentionally mean to have a physical or monetary loss but it can also be assumed that he knows they are the possible risks of boxing. The spectator going to the restroom more than likely did not expect to be robbed and punched in the eye.

There are several factors that contribute to a person being a victim; lasting psychological trauma; severe physical injury; and a disruption of a person’s safety template. A safety template is what the person holds to be true or safe about something. We all have safety templates about various activities. Driving a car, flying in airplanes, taking medication, or going to a public restroom are examples of situations that individuals may take for granted but could take a turn for the worst. An individual also becomes a victim when something happens that is unexpected from outside of there safety template. Mendelshon’s first typology of victimization theory (Mendelshon, 1963) defines this as being an innocent victim. An innocent victim is someone that is unaware of the potential to be victimized. Cohen and Felson’s routine activities theory (1989) also suggests that there are three requirements for victimization to occur; an available suitable target, absence of capable guardians, and the presence of a motivated offender. Using these theories and working backwards we can see how it is possible for a person to become a victim of the media. (a) The “Presence of a motivated offender”: is the media sensationalizing a chosen event; (b) “Absence of capable guardian” can be applied to children that watch television. However many children may have their parents to regulate their viewing. Who regulates what the parents are viewing? Thus the suitable target of any form of media becomes very broad. Newspapers, listening to the radio, or watching television are within our safety templates making us innocent victims to what we’re exposed to. Many people may watch or read about something and just think, “That only happens to people somewhere else.” However the power of sensationalized media can allow a person to feel as though the same event could happen closer to home. A violent action that happens in New York City can have traumatic affects in San Francisco. Young Caucasian girls from an affluent neighborhood may be perceived as the only children getting kidnapped on a regular basis. All of our senses that we use to observe and assess information from our environment are influenced through these mediums.

The affects of positive and negative visual reinforcement is not a new idea. BoBo Doll Studies, based on Albert Bandera’s (Banduras, 1963) Social Learning Theory, showed that people learn intentionally or accidentally by observing others. Since then his theory has been applied to television shows worldwide concerning topics such as the transmission of disease, illiteracy, overpopulation, and gender discrimination. These shows visually tell stories in which there is a problem and a resolve amongst the characters. If what we see in the media can affect us in a positive manner then surely they can have a negative affect as well.

The mediums we use for news and entertainment are vast and powerful tools. Like the boxer in the first example an individual knowingly exposes themselves to these mediums for the entertainment and the information they provide. But, like the spectator many are unaware of the specific social effects through media use. Media can be very subjective in the information it provides and its entertainment bias. In many instances it appeals to the wants of an individual more so than their needs. It bombards a person’s senses with stimuli. Many have incorporated multi-media as apart of their safety template allowing them to think no harm can come from its use. Being unaware of its influences is what allows a person to become its victim.

EXpedition Status Report 1

-One new image to the A.M. Frasier folder has been added this week.
-First chapter of the LOGOS is currently in the inking and toning stages and should be complete by next Friday. This project was set back do to work being done on youth program proposal that Exodus will be apart of sometime in the near future.
-The second episode of Monkkey is in the production stages. We're looking at having that completed by the end of May.
-As you can see I've added some new links to the blog. The links that have been added are excellent resources for learning Flash.

What is E-Motion

E-Motion is an ongoing project that will be updated with at least one picture each week. Some may get colored others will not. These drawings are apart of my 30 to 60 minute warming up before I jump off into the real work of the day. E-Motion is a study of the characters that populate the LOGOS universe. They are captured in a snap shot of their most unguarded moment. Images can be found on the Exodus Publishing website under Art-A.M. Frasier-2007.