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IS JOHNNY BRAVO FILIPINO?

Seriously.  ”Is Johnny Bravo Filipino?”  For those of you who think that’s an odd question, given he’s a blonde, buffed, Elvis talking, American male, I would have to agree.  From all accounts, he doesn’t scream Filipino.

Irish?  Maybe.

German?  Perhaps.

Russian?  That would explain his love of Pancake Week.

Filipino?  You gotta be kidding me!

Yet, I’ve been asked that question more than you would think.

The short answer to the question is, music please, (Pum puh puh pummmmmm!): “sort of.”

Since I was born in the Philippines, have Filipino parents, and know a few Tagalog words (Maraming salamat sa inyo.), that would classify me as “totally ” Filipino.  And since I created Johnny Bravo, and I can’t help but be influenced by my ethnicity and culture, that would make Johnny “sort of” Filipino.

If this were the DC universe, Johnny would be my illegitimate son from Earth 26.

I rarely get the opportunity to do international publicity (let alone Asian ones) so whenever I get the chance, it’s really exciting.  Below is one I did for a story on Cartoon Network Studios back in 2002.  That’s me on the bottom right.  (If anyone can translate what it says, that would be awesome!)

Recently, CN Asia set up a press junket with various publications in the Asian region to promote “Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood.”  And this may be hard to believe but, after 15 years in the industry, it was the first time I ever did an interview with a Filipino journalist!  I know, right?!  Unless I count the unaired, sit down, on-camera interview I did with Cheche Lazaro for her Probe show in the Philippines (it never aired as the show ended before they put the spot together).  Of course, all the people I talked to were very nice, but it was interesting to me that they were surprised by my ethnicity.

So for those of you who are still reading (who didn’t have to go back to watching “Dancing With Stars” on their DVR), before the PR folks throw you to the media, they usually do a briefing. Below are a few of the “possible questions” I received before my interviews.  Note the Filipino nature of many of them.

1. Tell us about your lineage. Are you full Filipino?
2. How long have you stayed in the US?
3. How old are you and how long have you been with Cartoon Network?
4. What got you into animation?
5. Describe the animation process from storyboard to production.
6. For those who are unfamiliar with the show, who is Johnny Bravo?
7. What inspired you to create a character like Johnny Bravo?
8. How long did it take to create and produce Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood?
9. Why did you choose this premise for the movie?
10. What, in your opinion, is the state of the local animation industry in the Philippines?
11. What are the strengths of Filipino animators?
12. What does the future look like for Filipino animation?
13. What would you want Filipino animators to know about the animation industry?
14. Do you have upcoming projects with Cartoon Network?
15. What’s next for Johnny Bravo? Will we be seeing a sequel to Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood?

The one comment I kept getting from the reporters was that they were disappointed that I have never been back to the Philippines and know very little Tagalog (Welcome to my world.).  But like the song from “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” says, “There’s always tomorrow.”  So, in case you haven’t gotten enough of me talking about me, here are a few links to some of the interviews I did in the Philippines:

http://entertainment.inquirer.net/23473/meet-the-creator-of-‘johnny-bravo’

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=750601&publicationSubCategoryId=70

http://www.asianjournal.com/galing-pinoy/59-galing-pinoy/14296-van-partible-executive-producer-at-cartoon-network-and-creator-of-johnny-bravo.html

And if you hate clicking links, posted below is an interview I did with Balikbayan, an Asian Journal Magazine in the Philippines, which also highlighted my roots.

So the next time somebody asks you if Johnny Bravo is Filipino (which I know they will!) you can send them over to this link.

Thanks for stopping by!

FUN FACT:  CN Asia had a Bollywood poster artist paint a few 8 foot tall posters for “Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood” the way they do with regular Bollywood movies.  Below is a copy of one of them. Enjoy!

JB GOES TO BOLLYWOOD… DONE DONE AND DONE!

So it’s finally finished!  After almost two years of work, we’ve finally outputted the final mix for our 72 minute opus, “Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood!”  It was produced primarily out of Asia and will soon be arriving at a Cartoon Network near you!  The only problem is, I have no idea when that day is!  What I do know, is that it’s going to premiere in Australia later this year.  Other regions will soon follow after that.  In the meantime, I’ve posted a few images from the production.  Above is the layout for the opening main title.

Below is a mood board produced by the artists at Inspidea for the Bollywood Song, “Learn About Bollywood.”  For those of you who don’t know what a mood board is, it’s a technique used in animation (and other design arts) to help set the tone and style of the production.  I wanted to share this piece because it gives you a nice idea of how much effort we put into the production to make it really feel as alive and as vibrant as the most colorful Bollywood productions…

And finally, a faux magazine cover which appears onscreen for a few seconds in the middle of the film.  There’s barely enough time to enjoy the full magazine cover in the film, so I thought I’d give props to the artists who put so much time and effort into developing this fun piece of art…

As I get more information, I’ll be sure to let y’all know.

So until next time…

PRESS CONFERENCES AND MONKEYS

No.  I didn’t have a press conference with, or about, monkeys.  The title was my eyecatcher for those of you who love both press conferences and monkeys.  But before you skip this post because you don’t see any monkeys (I didn’t hide any in the above picture either), you may be pleasantly surprised by the end of this post.

Above is a stitched picture pan of the lovely people from the press in Malaysia.  The group included representatives of The Star, The Sun, NST, Berita Harian, Superkidz, K-Zone, Gempak,  New Man, TV2, HOT, and RTM News.  Interesting note: the majority of them were female journalists. I don’t know if it’s because that’s the way things are in Malaysia or if they thought that they were going to meet somebody that actually resembled Johnny Bravo.  Either way, it was fun chatting with them all.

We officially announced the start of Cartoon Network Asia’s Malaysia specific Snaptoons initiative.  We kicked it off with a talk from Silas Hickey of Cartoon Network Asia, then Kamil Othman, Vice President of MDEC (Multimedia Development Corporation), and myself. Beforehand, we got our talking points and press briefing, which made me a tad nervous because I tend to talk off the top of my head with a lot of nervous energy.  But then again, it’s not like we were trying to hide a scandal or anything.  Everyone ended up being very cordial and the whole event made the morning that much more fun.

Afterwards, I spent my final day at Inspidea Animation Studios drawing pictures and hanging out with the crew.  Again, it’s just like any other animation studio in the States.  On their free time, they play video games…

Gossip…

And hang out in front of the studio playing guitar and smoking cigarettes.

I spent my final night with the staff at a fantabulous dinner where I got to know them all a little better.  Who’s dating who, what they do in their spare time, what their favorite movies are, why they’re ranked number one in countries that spend the most hours on Facebook and have the most number of friends.  Bonding stuff like that.   It was a fun way to end my time in Malaysia.

So now is the part where you say, “Can we get to the monkey portion of the post already?”  Wait for it…

Before I hopped on my plane to LAX, CJ See brought us out to the Batu Caves where you can climb 272 steps and see… you guessed it…

Monkeys!  They’re just all around you frolicking the way monkeys do.

From Mongkok to Malaysian Monkeys, thus ends my time in Asia.  Ni Hao America!

INSPIDEA

I downloaded the above picture from my camera, looked at it, and thought, “That just doesn’t look real.”  But it is.  It’s the view from my hotel of the Petronas Twin Towers, which were the world’s tallest buildings from 1998-2004 (before Taipei 101).  Whatever it’s height credentials, it’s still massive!  Every time I look out my window, I imagine myself as Big Man Japan tromping around the downtown area.

So with that, you may have been able to guess that I’m in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Yesterday, I went and visited the lovely animation studio, Inspidea.  They’re the ones that are doing the heavy lifting for our upcoming TV special, “Johnny Bravo Goes To Bollywood.”  For those of you that have never been to an animation studio in Asia, I thought that I’d give you a mini-tour of the place.

First off, I wanted to share my lunch with you.

(I love makeover shows, so I had to fit in some sort of before and after shot somewhere.)

Anyhow, Inspidea was founded by four guys, two of whom are still there, Andrew Ooi and CJ See.  Terrific to see them.  We worked together on another Snaptoons project a few years back.  I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the outfit they run here in Malaysia.  The outside of the building is rather unassuming. Below is a picture of Silas Hickey, the Creative Director of Asia Pacific Animation Development, Turner Entertainment Networks Asia, Inc. (Whew! Long title!) waiting for them to buzz us in.

The first thing I noticed was the most obvious cultural difference: we had to take our shoes off.

From there, it was just like any other independent animation studio in the states.  There were several floors of artists, all working on computers, but in different areas of production.

Again, the only differences were cultural.  For example, you weren’t really allowed to shake the hands of some of the females due to religious beliefs.  More interesting to me though, was the average age of the people who worked there.  At Inspidea, they were a predominantly young lot.  It may have been due to their Asian skin, but it felt like I was walking amongst a group of university students. I’m used to seeing veterans who had been around for decades peppered in with a few younger folks.  I was told that it was because there isn’t a huge pool of talent to pull from in Malaysia so a lot of their talent come straight out of the schools.  Below is a group shot of all the people that are going to be working on my show.

I gave a talk, similar to the one I gave at CNAsia, where I introduced myself, talked a little bit about my background, and expressed my gratitude and excitement for the project they’ve agreed to undertake.  I’m really looking forward to seeing what they can bring to the table and excited about their potential of being a major player out here in Asia.

So that’s day one in Malaysia.  I’m hoping to get a picture of the monorail that runs through all the major parts of the city.

Wait a second.  What was that?

Did I just say monorail?

I sure did.

CARTOON NETWORK ASIA BOUND

If you’ve been missing my day-to-day posts, fear not, I’m still here. I’ve most recently been working on an international Johnny Bravo project with Cartoon Network Asia that should be finished some time next year.  It involves Johnny Bravo and Bollywood.  Then hilarity ensues.  In different languages, even. (That last sentence should be said using Snagglepuss’ voice.)

We just finished a whirlwind recording with some amazing voice artists this past week in Los Angeles.  The show was directed by the multi-talented Charlie Adler and we went from 8 in the morning to 5:30 in the evening, non-stop, with one five minute break.  It was like a crazy rollercoater ride!  But even though we went at a breakneck speed, Charlie was able to yield every ounce of direction from his being and make sure that the performances ended up being top notch.

Below, from left is Lou Fagenson (composer), Sharon Muthu, me, Cree Summer, Tara Strong, and Charlie Adler.

Charlie, Tabitha Kumar, me.

From top: Me, Guy Hector, Charlie, Brenda Vaccaro, Jeff Bennett

From top: Eric (the engineer), Sheetal Sheth, Lou, Charlie, me, Amir Talai

Me, Mark DeCarlo, Ajay Mehta, Sunil Malhotra, Tom Kenny

Having finished that, I’m now in the middle of my trip overseas.  My first stop was to visit the offices of Cartoon Network Asia in Hong Kong.  I was finally going to to meet the folks across the Pacific to say “Thanks!” and poke my head in their offices.  So after my fourteen and a half hour flight, I hopped in a taxi with Silas Hickey and Ivy Lau from CNAsia, ran to a boat, and took a bus to a golf course where CNAsia’s creative services team was having a retreat.  I was told that many of them never leave work earlier than midnight so when you talk about dedication, props to them!  I put on an improptu presentation, met a number of folks, took pictures, and drew a few drawings.

The following day, I was able to venture around the offices and meet some more fun folks.  I got to see their crazy offices and spent some time in the massage room (a little room with electronic massage chairs!)  From there, it’s been a lot of meetings mixed in with sight seeing.  And scary taxi rides.  All in all, it’s been a fun and cultural experience visiting here.  If I had to sum up my experience in Hong Kong, I would have to say that it’s an eye catching, fast paced city, filled with lots of color and beautiful architecture.  A few random observations:

Hong Kong is a very vertical city.

The hotels have a 13th floor.

It’s daunting to see bamboo used as scaffolding.

At 8:00, the skyscrapers put on a light show.  So it’s like Disneyland.  Without the churros.

The escalators in the subways move twice as fast as the escalators back home.

Random people tend to unabashedly burp in your face without saying “Excuse me.”

I now know what a real “pungent” smell smells like.

And if you’ve never been to Mongkok, the Guinness Book of World Records calls it the most densely populated area on the planet. Mixed with the heat and the smells, let’s just say it’s an experience and a half.

Next stop: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!  But before I go…

Big Hug to Hong Kong!

P.S. My new friends, Tim and Tina, took this picture to make sure the kid didn’t pickpocket me.