Mike Milo’s Journal

The town Old Tappan, where I lived as a teenager, was settled in 1664 which granted is not old according to European standards but it’s pretty old for the US and played a large part in the revolutionary war. George Washington slept in my town numerous times and we even had a few traitors hung in a large oak tree in what was the center of town at the time. Behind my home we had at least 20 acres of woods which has now sadly been turned into condos and homes. At the time people didn’t worry so much about perverts, terrorists and murderers and our parents felt safe letting us be away from home for hours on end.

My friend Jimmy and I would get up on a Saturday morning and go hiking in the woods to explore like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer from sunup to sundown. the Horse trails which used to be the main thoroughfair in my town ran behind my house and although it had clearly been abandoned many years ago it still had remnants of life along it’s winding path. Many foundations of old businesses and homes dotted the path and sometimes would dig around them hoping to find a way into a still usable cellar. (more…)

Last school year my children joined the Chatsworth Chiefs track team last year and greatly benefited from it. They were healthier, trimmed down and seemed happier because of their successes in the sport.

Then our Governator jackass cut 3 billion in funding to our schools and the LAUSD felt it needed to make that money back by charging extra curricular organizations to use their tax-funded fields. This has got kid’s after school activities falling into jeapordy because along with the recesssion now we have to pay extra to allow them to be in these activities. That’s fine for me, it’s worth it and I make enough money topay for it but some kid’s families do not and so they will not register this year which will make the whole organization fall apart. 

The Daily News wrote an article concerning this crisis the other day. Below is what I posted in the comments section. I know I’ll never be a politician but it was written from the heart.

This is ridiculous! Gee why don’t we just go ahead and penalize the students now for drinking water out of the fountains? Seems reasonable.
The LAUSD could charge 15 cents per sip of water.
Oh and while we’re at it why don’t we also charge them a ‘per step’ fee for walking on the floors in the schools?  That could bring in some cash too! After all the floors have to be washed and water prices are going up.
Wait a minute! Why don’t we take the dirty floor water and pump it INTO the fountains. We can save a bundle that way!
Obviously all ludicrous ideas but then so is charging for the extracurricular activities. The fields are there anyway and if they’re not being used then people should be allowed to utilize them. I pay taxes that pay for that field  and it should not be allowed to be sold freely to make money from other deficits. Children NEED activities to keep them off the streets after school.
We CAN"T let them run around playing after school in L.A. because of the perverts and gang idiots. They might wind up dead. We’re not supposed to let them watch TV because it rots their minds. They can’t play video games because of the violence. they’re not supposed to snack anymore because it’s too fattening…
WTF are they SUPPOSED to do!?!?!?!?

Let’s show them we don’t care about them and really staying away from gangs and drugs. Let’s cut the funding to their extracurricular activities by charging to use the EMPTY fields on school property. Tax funded property!
Kathyrn Friedman is a jackass if she thinks this will do anything but cause more problems with our children. It’s amazing that the school system is still running at all.
Congratulations LAUSD.
You’re destroying our future one kid at a time.
Thumbs up!

Milt was my teacher at The Kubert School and he taught me a lot. Here’s a tribute to him I found on Youtube. At about 49 seconds he talks about handing a scene out. I was there when it was recorded and I remember it well. I think that’s my friend harry’s foot there in the top corner at around 2:33 because I remeber he always rolled his pants up then just like that.

If you’ve been reading my true Life Stories then you’ll remember I spoke about an old friend named Frank.

Frank and I have known each other for almost thirty years and in that time he’s always been a musician. He’s also been a close friend. We lost contact once I moved out to L.A. but in the last two years we’ve been trading emails again and he even did a song for my short Flavio which I wish I could have put in the film as it would’ve made it better for certain.

We got into quite a bit of trouble together as young fellas; most of which I can’t write about here and some that I can. We used to write and sing music together many years ago and I still have some of those tapes somewhere. Someday I will digitze them before they crumble into dust.

Recently Frank put up a website with some of his recent music which although is raw is pretty cool! MY favorite song is Someday I’m Gonna Find a Way which has a nice hook to it.

He’s doing a survey as to which three people like the most so post your comments here.

Also, if you know people in the music industry forward them his site!

Check out more of Frank James’ music here and check back often as he posts new music.

Sorry I haven’t updated the site with a new True Story but I’ve been really busy working on the storyboard for When Nature Calls which got the green light for a board from the good people at CN. They’re paying me for it too!  When I’m done with the board I will be pitching it to the head of CN and if he likes it they will green light it be a short cartoon! If he doesn’t like it I am free to pitch it elsewhere. Cool! Wish me luck!

Stay tuned though as I’ve got a ton more kooky stories of stupid things I’ve done in my life and almost killing myself in the process which I will be posting shortly!

In the meantime here’s a panel from the short!

This morning I had a woman contact me wondering how to write a script with MS Word and that she couldn’t find any info on how to do it. In the interest of helping here I sent her a template that an old friend made for me back when I was trying to learn how to write.

I figure that others might want to use this tool as well so I am uploading it here so people can find it easier. (more…)

Here’s Woodrow’s and Mr. Flint’s office… as always click the pic to see it bigger!

On Friday July 11th 2008, our beloved dog Bloo died.
He was a damn fine dog. We got him as a puppy and he was chubby and cute as a button which earned him the name "Chubby" even thought he was anything but once he was grown.
He was a cute dog.

Every summer when we would have pool parties everyone would love to throw the ball in for Bloo because he would retrieve it just like his name until we forced him to stop for fear of his drowning. The girls when they were young would hold on to his taila dn he would drag them along as he swam. With his giant webbed feet, he was a very good swimmer.
He was a powerful dog.

As an adult he had a big powerful chest and a stately profile. Bloo loved to swim and chase a ball more than anything and he would retrieve it without fail until he was about to drop and we’d force him to stop. My wife and I invented a voice for him which was a deep doofy English accent and when we would ‘vocalize’ what we thought he was thinking he would look at us as if to say "I don’t sound like that you know.
He was a funny dog.

Bloo was afraid of fireworks so when people shot them off on July 4th he would chatter his teeth and yet my wife tells the storyof one time when she was on the beach and some gang members walked by looking for trouble. Bloo just about tore through the leash to tear them a new ass if they came near her and my children
He was a brave dog.

He also just about bit through our fence when he thought someone was trying to break into our home and we still have the teeth marks buried deep in the fence
He was a fierce dog.

Even though he got to be over 100 lbs. he still wanted to sit on your lap. Bloo was a big baby and we loved him for it. He was also very jealous of pets and if you tried to pet our other dog Jessie he would get up from lying down and push her out of the way
He was a sweet dog.

In recent years he had a hard time walking due to his hip dysplasia which is deterioration of the joints and yet damn if he didn’t chase that ball up until his very last year.
He was an old dog.

Bloo inspired Harry and I to make our first animated cartoon about a dog and his secret life. and inadvertantly his name was made famous by Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends as well.
He was a famous dog.

He was 14 years old and I will miss him so much it’s hard to even talk about it without crying.
He was my dog.

L.A. is a huge sprawling metropolis that never seems to end and exploring can be a full time gig. It’s amazing that you can drive a few blocks and suddenly be in a completely different vibe than you were moments ago. I learned that very quickly one Saturday afternoon in 1990.
When I first moved down from Yosemite I was not even in the city a full week when an old college roomate of mine from art school wanted to know if he could come out to ‘visit’ and look for a job. I was fine with it actually because L.A. is a lonely place and the third day I was here my trusty pickup truck that I drove off the cliff  finally gave up the ghost and died so I had no car. Trust me when I tell you it’s not easy having a social life in L.A. with no car. (more…)

Unfortunately I once fancied myself as handy. I found out I had no skill at it one day quite abruptly.

In 1983 I turned 17 which is the legal age to drive in New Jersey. My first ‘car’ was actually a hand-me-down from my father; a customized van with swivel seats and carpeting on the floor and fabric on the ceilings. I thought it was the coolest thing ever and set about customizing it even more which was a big fad during the 80’s. This was made easier by the fact that I when to vocational school ( where they send all kids who do crappy in school) where I took classes in carpentry, plumbing, horticulture and masonry. My friends and I yanked out the interior that was already in the van and proceeded to put a bed in the back, as well as a radio and cabinets and an overhead console. Now just for reference these are the same fellas I canoed down the Delaware with so you know we were going to be messing it up in many ways. For the most part it came out pretty cool and when all was said and done I had a monster machine worthy of some serious coolness. I had one last jewel to put on my crown of coolness and it came in the form of a steering wheel. I got myself a chromed one with a soft rubber cushion around it’s perimeter. It’s center looked like it was made of chrome chain.

It was the coolest steering wheel ever to grace a van. (more…)