Joe Murray's Journal

Okay, since everyone is getting involved, lets put some voting action into it.

I’m not saying I’ll go with what gets the most votes, but I’m curious as to your thoughts because there seems to be a highly intelligent readership out there to this blog.

If I were to switch from SpazTV ( you can vote for not switching too) do any of these names catch you?

Hiccup.TV  ( notice this is a dot TV not a dot Com)

ToonervilleTV.com

O-TownTV.com

KaboingTV.com

CrispyTV.com

Any preferences?

Part of my toy stash in my studio

Okay, well. Since this animation website will be a global brand, and I want it to be enjoyed by everyone ( including the very people who have been called this derogatory label before) I’ve decided to change the name.

And since I want it to be kid friendly, ( even though it’s not my main target audience) I don’t want kids in the UK repeating this term if it’s offensive. Having kids myself, I don’t appreciate when others teach my kids words I don’t want them saying.

So I have a new title in mind, but I’m living with it for a bit to make sure it feels right to me. I’ve already registered it. 

The main thing on this site will be the content. And thats  what I want it remembered for.

Thanks for all of your input and help. You have all just gotten a crash course in business start up hurdles.

Do we feel that I would lose a big audience ( consider my audience, and the type who watch my work), if I kept with SpazTV?

Would the UK completely tune out?

All day I’ve been going round and round with alternative names, and I’ve gotten so used to this name it’s hard to picture it as anything else.

But I don’t want to be insensitive.

Thanks to the power of the “blog”, I’ve received great support for my new site, but also some information that troubles me. That the word “Spaz” can be found offensive to some in the UK.  I had no idea. 

I learned a little about some of the words we use freely on this side of the pond becoming offensive over there while I was doing Rocko, but I think that also gave Rocko an edge that the British audience liked. I didn’t mind that so much.

What I don’t like is that apparently it’s insensitive to a group of medically challenged people. That bothers me.

I guess I’ll have to go back to the drawing board for a new name. But the mission of the site is still the same, and thanks so much for the feedback and support.

My intentions with www.spaztv.com, is an all cartoon, all animation channel, not only with my content, but bringing in other content providers as well. Playing new cartoons, as well as old, retro commercials, fresh original animated filmwork and other “spazzy’ stuff.

It’s a huge undertaking. I’ve been working on it since the early 2000′s, but the technology  wasn’t there yet for the streaming. I’m selling my Mercedes ( I haven’t driven it since I bought my Prius anyway) and probably cashing out my pension to make this happen.

I just want to make a home for animation that is cool, creator driven, and fair business wise to the people who make the entertainment, as well as being responsible in the advertising we choose to run.

We will see how it goes. I feel good about it. We need our own channel.  Help me make this work.

Thanks for the encouragement on my sneak peek. I’m hesitant to let things out until they are absolutely finished, but these projects take so long to put together, I wanted to put it out there. It feels good.

My web guy Brian Dominey and I revamped the Tin Box Theatre on the front page of the web site. Along with Moss Fleckman, we’ve added a preloader to the Family Pop episode giving some background on the series. If you load quickly,  well,, that’s better. Slow loaders get some additional “bonus features” for their patience. 

If you helped out with Heal the Bay’s Coastal Clean-up, thank you! We picked up 300,413 lbs of trash!

Trash that won’t end up in the ocean! Many thanks.

The site has not launched yet, so don’t go looking for it. Still building. But this will be the first cartoon on it.

Joe Murray Studio tour guide Moss Fleckman, and his Swedish pigmy elephant Peter.

Happy first day of fall.  I love fall. Except when its time to rake the leaves. 

Today its 100 degrees here.

Not like fall. 

We have a new tour guide named Moss Fleckman appearing in the Tin Box Theatre today. He was the tour guide of the studio site a few years ago. He’s out of work so I brought him back.

http://www.joemurraystudio.com/home.shtml

Peace to all. Feeling better today.

I can’t believe this month is almost over. What have I done? What have I accomplished?

I volunteered for this job as an artist. Back when I was six I told my parents it was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Little did I know what I was in for. At times it really sucks. You teeter on the brink of madness. At times it slips into what society says you should be proud of. I had someone come into my house and pick up one of my Emmys and say “This…… now this is real!” 

Is it?

Nobody sees what goes on behind the closed doors of the studios of creators of cartoon shows, or animators, or amazing painters, musicians, poets. Yes, you grapple with the notion that you are grateful you have a talent that can be shared with others. It is a gift, that is true.

But it is also walks down very dark corridors. Ever try to be funny sitting in a dark spider hole?

Most of the time, I feel very lucky to be able to do what I do for a living. At times it feels like a curse.

It’s the life I signed on for, and I will take the good with the bad. Most of my problems are luxury problems and I have no business being down about them.

Had a great morning cleaning up the beach on Saturday with my daughter and her stepbrother. If you are a smoker ( And I was, 25 years ago) can I ask you this? STOP using the beach as your ash tray. It’s mostly what we picked up. Birds and marine life eat the cigarette butts and die from it.  Please use proper containers, and take it off the beach.

Thats all that is in my head today.

” I’m at the top of my artistic game when I maintain a consistency of vision and a sense of purpose.”

-Joe Murray

It’s not  enough for me to sit down and make something fun to look at. It needs to say something and have a reason for existing.  Doing shows and big projects take so much out of you and require such an investment of time and focus, I have to feel a reason for them to even take up space in the already cluttered world of creative contributions.

Otherwise, I’ll just spend more time with my kids and my girlfriend. 

But the minute the vision and the purpose kicks in, I’ll still spend time with those I love, but there is always a hint of madness in my eye. That project that is bubbling in the laboratory. Sometimes things explode and I come up for air with my face covered with soot. I have to start over. 

When I’m done, it may be considered a contribution, or it may not. But I’ve been asked to do it by the creative  Gods for some reason. It’s not ours to question why. We get our marching orders.

Off to clean up the beach today.