Coach Ben

Coach Ben
Coach Ben

Thursday, January 29, 2015

In the Hospital

Hi, Friends. I'm writing this in my hospital room. 

I checked into this medical institution yesterday, and was promptly put on a strict diet of nothing! Oh, but I can have water if I'm thirsty. Yippee.


So far, I've had x-rays, an electrodardiogram, a CAT scan (meow), and this afternoon, the doctors are scheduled to go probing with a camera into my 'nether regions' "Where no man has ever ventured before!"  (that would be a lie)--so that they can decide the next step. There's a lot of waiting and I'm hungry, Hungry, HUNGRY! Even a crust of bread would be welcome...


I've been receiving lots of nice e-mails from my fans, through my Selz address. If you have a very personal message, please send it there. If you'd like to send a message to me that I can share with the world, then please send it here.


All messages will be read (and cherished!)


Thanks.:)

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Whatever Happened to Animan?

Questioner--Animan! What's the new Animan video going to be called?

Animan--"Animan's Hercules".

Q--Oh boy! When will it be done?

A--Not for a long while yet.

Q--But I want to see it NOW! What's causing the delay?

A--Health issues. Influenza flattened me all through December. And now, I have been scheduled for surgery on January 29. You see, there's a rather large tumour inside my colon and I have to have the operation as soon as possible.  The doctor said it was probably the result of too much stress---I think he's right.

Q--That's too bad, Animan. I hope you get well soon! What will happen to Hercules?

A--Well, I won't be working on it while I'm in the hospital of course, but before and after that, when I'm home I will. 

Q--Can we see some pictures from the video now?

A--Sure.This is Hercules.
His first labour is to fight the Nemean Lion, shown here:
His last labour is to fight the Cretan Bull:

Q--Why are the first 2 pictures in color, but the last 2 are grey?
A--They haven't been animated yet. These are scenes #72 and #73, in still drawings. I have the whole video planned out like this. The drawing is pretty bad! All I have to do is go in and redraw and animate them, scene by scene. 
Q--How many scenes are there all together?
A--There are exactly 150. Most of the men will be big and musclebound; there will be some wrestling scenes and lots and lots of naughty Animan cartoon scenes.
Q--I'm looking forward to it.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

An Amazing Newspaper Picture

What better place than my blog, for sharing interesting pictures?  And what better picture to share with you this week, than this one? I don't know what newspaper it came from, but it's obviously from a few decades ago, when people were much more conservative. That's why it's so amazing that this picture was even published at all! The caption below the picture reads, "Cheering Manager Bucky Harris in the clubhouse."

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2015!

A new year is upon us, Friends. First I must give a heartfelt "thank you" to all friends of Animan all over the globe. I never dreamed that my work would ever be known by so many.

As for the new year, it's my hope to break new ground as I animate more of the fantasies and dreams we all have in common. 

I found this interesting lobby card---for a scene from an old movie called "The Desperadoes". A woman comes into the bedroom and finds two handsome men by the bed, and one of them is partially undressed!  What a situation!
Randolph Scott is one of the actors. If you're not familiar with him, then I suggest Googling: Cary Grant & Randolph Scott. You'll find a lot of interesting information.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Merry Christmas 2014

As 2014 draws to a close, I remember all the wonderful friends who have been so loyal and supportive ever since Animan's World began. It's my sincere wish that the Animan ideal continue improving, and growing. I appreciate all the helpful suggestions and ideas, positive and not-so-positive, sent to me or posted on other blogs during the past few years. Thanks, Guys. 

Today, Animan's World posts a photo that pays homage to both the world of classic animation and the world of gay culture: "Variety Shop Popeye Group"!  I'm pretty sure that Elzie Crisler Segar never dreamed that his comic strip creation would one day grace the billboard of a snazzy gay porn shop located somewhere in Tokyo.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Important Message For Animan's Customers in the EU


As most of you know, I sell my videos through Selz and they informed me that from January of next year, all Animan digital goods sold in the EU will be subject to the sales tax rate of that country, and customers pay that tax to me when they make a purchase. Then, I must report and pay those taxes back to the EU. 

I feel as if I were sleeping and somebody poured cold water in my ear!


Sunday, December 14, 2014

Animan is Under the Weather :(

I'm sorry Friends, that I have not been talking much about the next cartoon. I have been very sick for the past 3 weeks. It happens when I have to commute long distances on crowded trains all week, and then deal with roomfuls of people, many of whom are coughing and sneezing. I end up coughing and sneezing myself, and I come home totally exhausted!

Today is my day off--I am home all day, and I'm feeling much better now--so I can work on the cartoon. I just wanted my friends to know what's happening in Animan's World.

The other day, I managed to snap this picture of a little girl wearing an unusual coat.

Of course, the character on the coat is Olaf, from Disney's "Frozen".
                                                                                                              
                                          Copyright Walt Disney Pictures

The design of this snowman reminds me of this picture of Milton Berle, who was a popular television comedian of the 1950's and 1960's..

Here's a picture of Milton Berle with Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand during the filming of "Let's Make Love".

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Animan's World Salutes Jack LaLanne

Jack LaLanne was an American fitness, exercise and nutrional expert who is sometimes called "the godfather of fitness" and "the first fitness superhero".

Perhaps he is best-known for his early morning excercise programs which started in the early 1960's. Some of them can be seen on YouTube.  He makes the program fun and he keeps it interesting. The most impressive thing about him is his enthusiasm and positive outlook. Here's the first show on YouTube:

I found some other photographs of Jack LaLanne, which will probably be of interest to fans of Animan's World. These are his physique photos, probably taken during the 1950's. They are beautiful!

 






Tuesday, November 18, 2014

THANKS

I would like to say "Thank You" to all my wonderful friends and supporters, who have bought their Animan videos from me directly. Selz sends me an e-mail for every order received, and one by one, I read them and then transfer them to a special folder.  A lot of orders come from new friends, and that's always very exciting! Orders from old friends are heartwarming. No matter who they come from, I say "Thank you" out loud for each and every one I receive. Thank you, Friends!  YOU are the fuel that powers the Animan cartoon machine!

I was checking out Ebay, and input the word "Beefcake". There were lots of contemporary photos, but Animan loves retro-photos! Anybody know the name of this handsome model?











Thursday, November 6, 2014

Over One Million Views on This Blog!!!

I was out today at my day job, and arrived home to find that my blog had exceeded one million views! Wow!!!!  From 163 different countries, can you believe it??

In a reply I made to a comment in my last blog, I mentioned Hercules and the Nine-headed Hydra. It's a well-known story wherein Hercules was fighting with a 9-headed dragon called the hydra. Every time he cut off one of the heads, more heads would grow back.  I know what that must be like. Every time I write to a gay porn clip site to get my videos removed, the next moment I find more of my videos appearing on other sites. I can't clean them up fast enough.

Speaking of Hercules, I was searching for some pictures to illustrate this post. Here's one from Ancient Greece.
Here are some sculptures of Hercules that are really sexy. First there's the mature daddy hunk Hercules.
My all-time favorite sculpture of a young Hercules is this one below. The wide hips are very sexy, in an Animan type of way. YUM! (Anybody got a photo of the back view?)

Thursday, October 30, 2014

THIS IS WAR

Just this morning, I received several messages intended for this blog. I did not post any of them because they contain clip site URLs which I would rather not reveal at this time.

On one site, I found ALL my Animan videos up to "Poker Game" offered for free. I felt my heart shatter into little pieces.

Then, I received a tipoff to another site. There it was: "The Sheriff of Lone Gulch".  I only started selling it 5 days ago, and already people are screwing me (and not in a good way).

For both of these sites, I went through the long and troublesome process to get the material removed.

If anyone reading this sees my animation posted anywhere, would you please send me the URL (address)? That way I can remove my work, and have an honest chance to make my business successful.

And I have a special message for those of you who are posting my stuff. Even if I have to do it all day every day, I'm going to remove as much as I can. If you like my work so much, then why can't you help me out, instead of working against me? In any case, I will be the victor, thanks to the kind cooperation of my friends and allies, who are the REAL fans. Their numbers are huge, they patrol the internet on my behalf, and they hate piracy and stealing just as much as I do.

Monday, October 27, 2014

What's This Spanish???

EMERGENCY POSTING





To precede my new video, I also made a non-piracy message. I'm the one speaking Spanish for our South American fans in it. 

The language will change for the next video releases. The message comes before the video, but has no connection to it, language-wise.

Unfortunately, as a result of this, I'm getting messages like this:
I went to the Animan Shop to buy it today. I had TONS of trouble with the site (I always do when buying your movies) but I finally got it to go through. After it approved my card it locked up and wouldn't go to the download page. I waited for the confirmation email and clicked the link there to download my zip file. That worked! I downloaded my file. Finally! I was going to get to see your new movie. But... I got the Spanish version?!?! UGH! I need the English version. I'm certain I didn't select the wrong one but I suppose it's possible that after all the failed attempts I clicked the wrong thing. Is there a way for me to get the English wmv version?  I hope you can help. I'm DYING to see the The Sheriff of Lone Gulch!! 

Before you send a complaint, please check to see that the movie is indeed in English (the chances are over 99% that it is).

Also, Selz always has trouble when several people all try to buy a video at the same time. I know it sounds corny to say, "please wait and try again", but.......that might be the only option when it's got several fans all at once. I'm very sorry about it.

--a worn-out, bedraggled, and nerve-wracked Animan

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Saddle Up, Pardner!

At last, Animan's Western adventure is finally finished. It was a big job, believe me!

As always, if you wish to use Paypal to purchase this wonder of wonders, please contact me through the Animan Shop (just click the logo on the right side of this page). I'll send you all the information you need to carry out the transaction.

It's 3 in the morning where I live. I'm totally exhausted. If you don't hear from me for several hours, please don't worry. I'm just catching up on some badly needed sleep! See you guys in the morning. (Yawn....)

Friday, October 17, 2014

Counting Down

I'm hoping to have the new cartoon finished by October 26 (U.S.A. time). As always, if I can finish it before then, I most certainly will. 
What remains to be done at this moment in time:
1) Animation on the final scene
2) Adding sound effects
3) Composing and recording the music
4) Putting it all together, and editing
5) Tying up the loose ends
6) Making a Spanish subtitled version
7) Creating all the different movie files and uploading them to Selz

That's as much as I can tell you right now! My thanks to everyone for their infinite patience.

Friday, October 10, 2014

The Lone Gulch Cast

Here are the main characters from my upcoming animated movie, "The Sheriff of Lone Gulch". As you can see, there is a wide range of types and ages. You can get the trailer now at the Animan Shop or use the links at the right side of this page.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

In the Meanwhile...

I'm working very hard on the Wild West video. Some time this week, I'm hoping to create a short teaser. That will be the next posting on this blog.

As Animan, I have many friends who ask to know more about the animation drawing process. I found a wonderful artist on YouTube who is very expert at drawing animation. I thought it would be a great idea to put his video here for those of you who are interested. 

I really enjoy watching this artist draw, and I hope you enjoy it too!

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Drawing the Body with Shapes

Here's something I studied when I was about 13--a way to draw the body using circles, ovals, triangles and straight lines. I made hundreds of drawings like these, trying to understand and get this simple idea into my drawing and into my head. I destroyed all those first drawings, which is a good thing, because they were just terrible!  I'm happy to say that my drawing ability is a little better now--but there's always room for improvement.