October 07, 2006

TIMBERWOLF

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In case you were wondering (like I was the other night) what ever happened to Chuck Jones's final productions, the Thomas J. Timberwolf internet cartoons... well wonder no more. I found them here. Not sure how much Chuck was involved with these, outside of character design, but they are pretty good for early Flash animation efforts.


Posted by JERRY at 08:40 PM

October 06, 2006

LIMBO

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Check out the breathtaking sample animation and concept art for a new video game called Limbo. It's being developed by designer Arnt Jensen (Hitman 2, Freedom Fighters) and, according to Playthrough , he's looking to hire a programmer.

(Thanks, Thomas Martin)


Posted by JERRY at 02:25 PM

LOONEY TUNES MURAL IN HOLLYWOOD

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I got some photos of the bizarre DRx Looney Tunes mural in Hollywood, which I mentioned in this post a few days ago. It fills an entire wall... and apparently the painting "evolved" over several weeks. Below is a later, more gruesome, version. Click on photo below for a larger image.

With Looney Tunes for all intents and purposes off the air (save for a precious few appearances on Boomerang and TCM), and the LOONATICS revamp on Kids' WB! ruining the characters as a children's brand, I will give Warner Bros. some credit for not giving up on the original designs and aiming this marketing effort towards older teens and adult consumers.

drxmural1.jpg

Here's a music video (below) I found on YouTube relating to this new merchandising agenda. For more information about this DRx campaign, check out the What's Up, DRx website.



Posted by JERRY at 10:00 AM

Terry Teachout on Why YouTube Rocks

Despite some missteps on YouTube's part, like the unnecessary removal of dozens of public domain cartoons from its site, I'm still a huge fan of the service. WALL STREET JOURNAL drama/art critic Terry Teachout recently wrote a must-read article that explains far better than I can why YouTube is such a revolutionary site. While Teachout's piece focuses on the treasure trove of musical material that has popped up on the site, the same can be applied to animation. Over the past year on the Brew, we've linked to dozens of animated shorts on YouTube that would have otherwise been impossible to see by the average animation fan.

Just last month we linked to John and Faith Hubley's classic MOONBIRD (1959) and I'd wager that more people saw that film on YouTube than have seen it in a theater in the past twenty years. The film, however, has already been removed from YouTube due to copyright violations. Teachout calls these YouTube-fearing companies "short-sighted" in his article, but as he makes clear, YouTube is the beginning of something far bigger. Says Teachout:

As any economist can tell you, supply creates its own demand. Disseminating high-culture TV and radio programming for free via the Web is among the simplest and most cost-effective ways to expand the audience for the fine arts. Every time a Web surfer in South Dakota or South Africa views a YouTube video by Louis Armstrong or Arturo Toscanini, he's making a discovery that could change his life -- not to mention his concert-going and record-buying habits. I can't think of a better bargain.

The bottomline is that YouTube has proven that there is a market for quality entertainment, whether it be music performances or animated shorts. Now it's only a matter of time before other companies start making legal, higher-quality copies of this material available for a few bucks per download. An exciting new world of animation is about to open up, and YouTube deserves a heap of credit for helping make that world possible.


Posted by AMID at 04:49 AM

Animation Box Office Grosses

Mark Mayerson did some number-crunching recently and came up with some fascinating figures for animated feature box office grosses during the last six years. He figures out yearly box office totals, annual average per-film gross and also breaks down the numbers by studio. Definitely worth a look.


Posted by AMID at 04:33 AM

Most Ironic Exec Quote of the Week

We've known since April that Cartoon Network is abandoning its original programming charter and slowly moving into producing live-action instead of animation. This week they announced their first original live-action production—a movie called RE-ANIMATED. Here's CN exec Michael Ouweleen's take on the project:

"[E]ven though we are featuring live-action characters, it still had to be done the Cartoon Network way."

Live-action done the "Cartoon Network way?" That might almost be funny if it weren't for the sad fact that America's only dedicated cartoon channel has decided that audiences no longer like cartoons and that it could better serve its audience by showing them the same live-action fare that's already available on hundreds of other channels.


Posted by AMID at 04:05 AM

October 05, 2006

THE Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema

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I've been complaining for years about the fact that very few of the animated features produced outside the U.S. ever get distribution (or even shown) in North America. One outlet, however, is The Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema (WFAC) - located in beautiful Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario Canada - a bona fide annual film festival dedicated to showing many of these inernational animated feature films in an actual theatrical setting - the way they're supposed to be seen.

This year the four day festival runs from November 16-19. The full program will be posted on November 1st, but already scheduled to screen are:

Fimfarum 2 (Jan Balej / Aurel Klimt / Bretislav Pojar / Vlasta Pospíšilová, Czech Republic, 2006). Four adaptations of Jan Werich's stories "for small children and clever adults," by four master Czech puppet animators of different generations.

Fire Ball (Wang Toon, Taiwan, 2006). An animated telling of the Chinese classic "Journey to the West".

Gin-iro no Kami no Agito ("Origin: Spirits of the Past" - Sugiyama Keiichi, Japan, 2006). From Studio GONZO, set in a future world 300 years from now, in which nature has turned against man.

Kirikou et les Bêtes Sauvages ("Kirikou and the Wild Beasts" - Michel Ocelot, France, 2005). Sequel to the wonderful Kirikou and the Sorceress. (pictured above)

Knyaz Vladimir ("Prince Vladimir" - Yuri Kulakov, Russia, 2006). The story of the rise of the historical figure Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich (960-1015 A.D.).

Pettson and Findus: Pettson's Promise (Anders Sørensen / Jørgen Lerdam, Denmark, 2005). The story of a Swedish Santa Claus.

Princes et Princesses ("Princes and Princesses" - Michel Ocelot, France, 2000). A retrospective screening of one of Ocelot's most beautiful and creative films, in silhouette animation.

Princess (Anders Morgenthaler, Denmark, 2006). A clergyman returns home after years of missionary work abroad to take care of his orphaned niece when his sister, a porno star, dies from drug abuse.

Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles (Dong-Wook Lee / Tommy Yune, U.S.A., 2006). A new film based on the anime TV series of the 1980's that began modern anime fandom in North America.

Shisha no Sho ("Book of the Dead" - Kawamoto Kihachiro, Japan, 2005). The spirit of a long-dead prince begins to haunt a young noblewoman whom it has mistaken for an ancestor.

Screenings will be held November 16th-19th, 2006 at The Gig Theatre (the Hyland Cinema) in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. For more information contact program curator Joseph C. Chen via email wfac-at-wfac.ca or through the festival website.


Posted by JERRY at 04:30 PM

Virgil Widrich's FAST FILM (2003)

Fast Film

FAST FILM (2003) by Virgil Widrich is one of those films that reminds me why I love animation in the first place: it's a medium in which you can literally do anything you want. This film blew me away when I saw it at Annecy in '04 so I was excited to find that my friends at the Animation Show have discovered it on YouTube. Usually the things that make an animated film great are the story, characters and animation, but FAST FILM is one of the rare instances where a film is great primarily because of its technique. The visuals were achieved by printing out thousands of film frames (over 65,000 to be exact) and folding them into three-dimensional shapes. The paper-objects were then photographed and composited in After Effects. I can't even imagine the effort it took to mash-up hundreds of live-action films, often times with three to four films in each scene, and make it all work in a narrative context. It's an incredible creative achievement.

The film is unlikely to ever find release in the US due to the fact that it uses unlicensed imagery from over 300 live-action features. But don't let that stop you from enjoying it online. There's a lengthy interview with the director, Virgil Widrich, and details on how to purchase the dvd, at the film's official website. Be sure to also check out the "making-of" video and photos for more fascinating insights into the production process.

Here's the film on YouTube:



Posted by AMID at 03:02 AM

THE ANCIENT BOOK OF MYTH AND WAR

Scott Morse painting

Five Pixar artists are currently working on a new hardcover art book called THE ANCIENT BOOK OF MYTH AND WAR. It's scheduled for release in February 2007 under Scott Morse's publishing imprint Red Window. Participating artists are Scott Morse, Don Shank, Ricky Nierva, Lou Romano and Nate Wragg. Some of them have started to post bits and pieces from the project on their blogs and it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.


Posted by AMID at 02:06 AM

Why Did Fox Bury Mike Judge's IDIOCRACY?

Idiocracy

One of the biggest film mysteries of 2006 still remains unanswered: Why did Fox bury the release of IDIOCRACY, the new live-action film by KING OF THE HILL and BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD creator Mike Judge? Today's LA TIMES has an op-ed piece by Patt Morrison about this topic, though it doesn't really offer much in the way of answers. I'm surprised that the LA TIMES didn't treat this as a news story and interview people like Judge to get to the bottom of the story. A Fox spokesman says in the piece that the film was always planned as a "limited release" but limited releases rarely (if ever) get treated this poorly, especially for a well-reviewed film from an established filmmaker like Judge. I'm more inclined to agree with the line of reasoning presented by the TIMES's Morrison:

Did Judge's film, by sheer happenstance, mirror Rupert Murdoch's blueprint for a Fox-fed nation of fat, dumb and happy? Is the problem a threatened lawsuit over the way "Idiocracy" treats corporate America? Starbucks in 2505 serves speedy sex acts with the coffee, and Carl's Jr. and H&R Block get the same rough handling. But that's why studios have lawyers, and that's why we have the 1st Amendment.

Perhaps it's been cast out of distribution Eden for the same reason that Newsweek made "Losing Afghanistan" its cover story last week in every country except the United States. We got a cover story about a celebrity photographer....And that would be because Americans are being mollycoddled and infantilized. If we're not getting the truth — even delivered via satire — it might be because leaders think we can't take it, or they may be afraid of what we might do if we did get it. President Bush dismissed leaked intelligence reports critical of the Iraq war because they could "create confusion in the minds of the American people." Goodness no; don't confuse us with information.

And since Fox won't allow people see the film, you can download a PDF of the film script HERE and find out what you're missing.

Previously on Cartoon Brew: Jerry Beck reviews IDIOCRACY

(Use BugMeNot if registration is required at the LA TIMES)


Posted by AMID at 01:24 AM

October 04, 2006

THE LITTLE PUPPET BOY

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Johannes Nyholm is a fascinating visual artist, animator and filmmaker from Sweden. He's currently working on a stop motion serial, and the first episode is now online. The Tale of Little Puppetboy, Chapter 1: A Lady Visitor is bizarre fun. And check out the rest of Nyholm's work on his website, which offers many fine examples of his commercial music videos and personal short films.


Posted by JERRY at 02:30 PM

DOG DAYS OF ANIMATION

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Disney story artist Paul Briggs has started an unusual art project/blogsite called Dog Days of Animation. Says Paul:

It all began back in 1996 when I wanted to ask a colleague in the animation industry for a drawing. I was embarrassed to ask because I knew the pressure of being an artist and having to "think" of something to draw. So, I decided to use this photo of a random dog that I took one day in a flower shop. I had no connection to the dog so therefore there were no expectations of the subject matter from my end as well. All I wanted was the artists to represent themselves.
Most of the drawings are done by Paul's Feature Animation colleagues at Disney - including Chris Sanders (above), Alex Kupershmidt and Aaron Blaise. Twenty drawings have been posted so far, but Paul tells us he has over sixty drawings in total that he'll be putting up over the next several months. If you're interested in participating or want to see a photo of the original dog, visit this page.


Posted by JERRY at 12:00 PM

UNDER THE CHERRY TREE

Under the Cherry Tree

It's always refreshing to see stylized applications of CG animation as opposed to today's ubiquitous photoreal approach. "Under the Cherry Tree" is a new music video that combines cut-out characters (which look to be done in CG) within a dimensional, yet stylized and evocative, setting. It was conceived and directed by Dael Oates of Animal Logic for the Australian electronica/rock group Telemetry Orchestra. We also wrote about the group's earlier music video, "Suburban Harmony", a few months back.


Posted by AMID at 04:52 AM

Director of MALE RESTROOM ETIQUETTE Speaks

Overman, the director of the unbelievably popular Machinima film we mentioned yesterday, MALE RESTROOM ETIQUETTE, has posted an entry on his blog in which he theorizes why his film has become so popular. Lots of interesting ideas in his post. I particularly agree with this final thought he offers:

In closing, someone asked me recently, "What is a good machinima?" My answer, which may get published elsewhere too, was this: A good machinima is a film which is not intricately wrapped up in it's own "machinima-ness"… I believe the best thing machinima can do for itself is forget that it is machinima and remember that it is film.

Posted by AMID at 04:24 AM

October 03, 2006

WHAT'S UP, DRx?

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Forget LOONATICS.

It seems the classic Looney Tunes characters are getting another makeover, in a slightly different manner, with Warner Bros.'s full support. Three weeks ago, I noticed a mysterious new mural on a wall near my home in Hollywood (on LaBrea, near Melrose). It featured Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and Sylvester in an operating room - a strange, but cool, piece. I looked into it and it turns out to be the work of a Dr. Romanelli (an artist, clothing designer and "brand reconstructionist" also known as DRx) who has been engaged by WB to spearhead a new line of urban marketing and alternative merchandise.

The DRx line will include everything from a clothing collection (by upscale Japanese clothing label Over The Stripes), to a high end DRx/BUGS vinyl toy (by Span of Sunset). The official launch of this art project-slash-marketing effort will commence this Friday with an opening at the 181 Martel gallery space. I got myself invited. The gallery will also be unveiling a limited edition DRx/Looney Tunes Converse Chuck Taylor sneaker that night. I know a certain orange furry monster who might like that for Christmas.


Posted by JERRY at 06:25 PM

Curious Production Stories

This blog post about the making of the recent animated film CURIOUS GEORGE, written by one of the film's supervising animators, is pretty depressing, but probably not any more depressing than how the typical US animated feature is produced nowadays.


Posted by AMID at 05:05 PM

Cartoon Modern in Scotland

Projector Festival

I'm super-excited to announce that I'll be headed to Scotland for the Projector 2006 festival, which takes place next week from October 11-14. The festival takes place in Dundee, Scotland, about a one-hour drive north of Edinburgh. I'll be doing a "masterclass" about 50s design on Friday, October 13, and will also be presenting a couple different programs of rare 1950s animated shorts. If you're anywhere around the festival, these are screenings you're not going to want to miss. Even though I've personally seen all the films in the 50s programs, I'm anxious to attend the screenings myself because there's nothing quite like seeing amazing animation design projected via film onto the bigscreen, the way it was meant to be seen.

A full schedule of Projector events can be found at ProjectorFest.com. Festival director Susie Wilson has put together a strong slate of screenings and talks that also includes Chris Landreth of RYAN fame and sound designer Larry Sider, a frequent collaborator with the Brothers Quay. It promises to be a lot of fun. I'm also going to try and check out Edinburgh for a day or two. If there's any good animation sights to see over there, let me know at amid [at] animationblast [dot] com. Below are some of the shorts that I'll be screening at Projector:

50s design in Scotland


Posted by AMID at 04:12 AM

Miyazaki and Son

If anybody is in need of some tough love from Dr. Phil, it's probably Hayao Miyazaki and his eldest son Goro. This Reuters article about GEDO SENKI (TALES OF EARTHSEA), the first film by Goro Miyazaki, is quite revealing, sad and funny all at the same time. Among the details revealed in the piece:

  • Goro Miyazaki says, "For Hayao Miyazaki, now that I've made one movie, as far as he's concerned I've become a sort of rival."

  • The opening scene of Goro Miyazaki's film has a prince stabbing his father to death.

  • The elder Miyazaki didn't directly tell his son his thoughts about the film, but relayed them through a Studio Ghibli producer.

  • Goro Miyazaki wrote a blog entry about his father titled, "Zero Points as a Father, Top Points as a Director," and claims that "From the time I became aware of things up to the present, we have almost never talked."

    I must say though, in one sense it's refreshing to see somebody like Hayao Miyazaki who cares so much about his art that he's willing to put it above his family's happiness. Great works of animation like SPIRITED AWAY and PRINCESS MONONOKE certainly aren't made without sacrifice. Perhaps animation would be better in the States if more people were willing to make those type of sacrifices for their films.

    UPDATE: Just in case it wasn't clear that the entire post above was written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, let me say that I was not seriously suggesting that the quality of American animation directly correlates to how little time one spends with their family. I feel silly even writing that, but judging from the number of emails I've received, a lot of people didn't quite get that (due to my own poor communication skills).


    Posted by AMID at 03:18 AM
  • NY TIMES on the CG Glut

    The NY TIMES published a piece today about the glut of poorly performing animated CG films. That's hardly news to anybody working the industry. The article has your typical pass-the-buck quotes from execs, like this one from Nickelodeon's Julia Pistor: "I think audiences are saying, 'I've seen a lot of computer animation and it's not so special anymore." Of course, Julia. Audiences must surely be tired of the computer animation technique itself, not by the poor decision-making of animation execs who have continuously greenlit poorly conceived, derivative, stupid films over the course of this CG animation goldrush. On another note, the most interesting "news" revealed in the piece is that DreamWorks and Aardman have had a falling out and FLUSHED AWAY will be their last film together. To my knowledge, that's the first time this news has made print.

    Note: Use BugMeNot if NY TIMES registration is required.

    (Thank, Mark Gilson)


    Posted by AMID at 02:57 AM

    The First Machinima Hit?

    Machinima is a CG animation technique that uses real-time, 3D gaming engines for its imagery source as opposed to traditional CG software like Maya. The technique has been around for a while, though for the most part, Machinima has remained on the fringes of animation and pop culture. That may be changing however with the release of a recent film that could be classified as the first breakout Machinima hit. The film is MALE RESTROOM ETIQUETTE directed by Overman, and it uses the SIMS 2 game engine for its graphics. The 10-minute film starts off as a mock-instructional film but winds up documenting the world's toilet apocalypse.

    The film has been blowing up online since its release on September 14 with hundreds of blogs linking to it. It was featured on YouTube's front page last weekend—the first for a Machinima film?—and has received over 1 million views on YouTube in the past three days, and over 1.5 million views total. If anything, this film should go a long way towards proving that Machinima is a technique capable of resonating with mainstream audiences as long as the storytelling and filmmaking are on a par with other forms of animated filmmaking. We'll keep on top of further developments about this film.

    UPDATE: Alessandro Cima, director of the Machinima film DRACULA'S GUEST, points out this WIRED article from last January that highlights a couple of progressive Machinima films, including his own. He also writes:

    I think with a software tool completely focused on Machinima filmmaking and separated out from any sort of a game environment, Machinima will indeed be a powerful medium. For now, it's still a bit too difficult to make games flexible enough to tell real stories. I had to pull my footage out of the 'Movies' game and render my own soundtrack in order to get around the game's limitations. But very soon some enterprising company will give us a complete, powerful Machinima-making application.


    Watch MALE RESTROOM ETIQUETTE BELOW:



    Posted by AMID at 02:26 AM

    WE'RE ALL MAD HERE

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    Gallery 1988 on Melrose and LaBrea is opening another theme show on Saturday, based around the Cheshire Cat from Disney's Alice In Wonderland. For one week only, amazing art and vinyl toys will be on display celebrating the surreal feline created and animated by Ward Kimball in the classic 1951 animated film. Opening reception begins at 7pm. If it's anything like past openings there, it'll be quite a crowd.


    Posted by JERRY at 12:31 AM

    October 02, 2006

    According to LA TIMES, Sony Invented Squash & Stretch

    The LA TIMES published a piece today by Josh Friedman with this mind-bogglingly ignorant sentence about animation:

    [OPEN SEASON], based on the humor of cartoonist Steve Moore, introduces a technique dubbed "squash and stretch" that allows the cartoon characters to change shape during action sequences.

    I hear the animators working on HAPPY FEET have also come up with an exciting new technique. They call it a "walk cycle." What will they think of next?

    UPDATE #1: Paul Naas writes the following:

    I saw the item out of this morning's L.A. Times about squash and stretch, and dropped a quick email to the author, Josh Friedman. To my surprise, he responded quickly, saying:

    "Sorry about that. I'm working up a correction for Tuesday's paper."

    Quite a difference from the response a few months back from Mick LaSalle and his ridiculous comments about facial animation. I'm looking forward to seeing if the correction actually appears.

    UPDATE #2: Story artist Jenny Lerew comments about the LA TIMES piece on her blog Blackwing Diaries.

    UPDATE #3: The LA TIMES indeed ran a correction in Tuesday's paper. It reads:

    An article in Monday's Business section reporting the weekend box-office results incorrectly described as new the "squash and stretch" technique used in the film "Open Season." The method, which enables the cartoon characters to change shape during action sequences, has been used before.

    Posted by AMID at 01:28 PM

    Open Season Opens a Weak #1

    OPEN SEASON

    Sony Pictures Animation's first CG feature OPEN SEASON opened in the #1 slot last weekend albeit with a weak $23 million (estimated) from 3,833 theaters. Box Office Mojo points out that this opening only seems good when compared to the weak box office of other recent CG films like EVERYONE'S HERO and THE ANT BULLY. It also notes that DreamWorks's SHARK TALE opened on this same weekend in 2004 with $47.6 million. After this year's glut of derivative, concept-deprived, gutless CG animated films, it's unlikely we'll be seeing many more of those $40+million openings, save for the occasional quality pic. Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment prez Yair Landau attempted to put a positive spin on the OPEN SEASON debut: "This is our first time out and we don't have a track record or an existing brand that parents can look to. So we're very pleased to open Open Season comparable to the level of The Polar Express or Monster House that had the [Robert] Zemeckis and [Steven] Spielberg names attached to them."

    It's hard to imagine that there's many Sony execs who are actually pleased with this opening. The amount of money they spent on OPEN SEASON clearly indicated that Sony thought it was capable of playing ball with CG's big boys (Pixar, DreamWorks and Blue Sky) and instead they've turned out a big budget film that will end up grossing in the neighborhood of a mid-range feature like JIMMY NEUTRON or BARNYARD. I'd be particularly worried if I were Sony since their next CG feature is yet another 'talking animal' pic—SURF'S UP—and judging by the film's recently released TRAILER, not a particularly good one at that. It's a real shame that a studio filled with as much talent as Sony doesn't have the vision to allow its artists to work with quality ideas. They'll be paying for it at the box office, as evidenced this past weekend.


    Posted by AMID at 06:01 AM

    TWICE UPON A TIME Online

    So, you say you've read Taylor Jessen's amazing piece about the production of TWICE UPON A TIME (1983) in ANIMATION BLAST #9 and now you want to watch this rare film. You're in luck. Somebody has posted TWICE UPON A TIME in its entirety on YouTube. The choppy compressed video hardly does the visuals justice, but it'll have to do until Warner Bros. releases the film onto dvd someday. A YouTube playlist with all the segments is below.



    Posted by AMID at 05:28 AM

    3 Trees & 3 Flowers in November

    The must-see LA art show of the fall season has been anounced. "3 Trees and 3 Flowers" opens November 4 at the Gallery Nucleus (30 West Main Street, Alhambra, CA 91801). This is the second edition of the successful show that took place last year called "3 Trees Make A Forest." The "3 Trees" are Japanese ilustrator Tadahiro Uesugi and Pixar story artists Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa. They are joined this time by three female Japanese illustrators: Yoko Tanji, Icco Sasai, and Wakako Katayama. More details about the show can be found at the Nucleus website or Enrico's blog. Enrico has also announced that Gingko Press is publishing a book of art from their first show, which should be released by November. The book can be pre-ordered on Amazon.

    3 Trees & 3 Flowers


    Posted by AMID at 05:21 AM

    October 01, 2006

    Tom Oreb's MySpace

    Tom Oreb

    Guess who has their own MySpace now?

    http://www.myspace.com/tomoreb

    Poor guy has no friends though. Probably because he died in 1987. Become Tom Oreb's friend on MySpace so he can send you some of his amazing artwork from the beyond.


    Posted by AMID at 01:05 AM