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  4/3/01 Jeff Marlin Simply put:The most humane and touching piece of filmmaking of any sort I've seen in years. And that would have been true had the writing been the same and the animation been awful. As it was, I was enthralled by the beauty of the draughtsmanship and the color transparancies. Just marvelous. The most heartfelt and creative film I've seen in years. Thank you. 4/2/01 I watched the film last night (April 01) on KQED and regret that I didn't write the phone number for the video purchase. Even it wasn't made with the latest animation technology, its graphic was refreshing and oddly familiar to my eyes. With the wonderful narration, his selection of beautiful words, soothing voice, I felt as if I was reading a good picture book. I truly hope to see more of his works.Please tell me the phone number for the video, so I'll be able to give my friends who are afraid of dogs in our neighborhood lately. Thank you 4/2/01 Paul Fierlinger, Filmmaker Dear Speakers, I feel a bit overwhelmed by all the kind words and thoughts and am not used to letter-writing (did you know that you can first write a post in a word program and then copy and paste to "Speak"?) An animator often works very much like a writer: alone confronted by a blank sheet of paper. Since I work mostly for TV, I rarely hear from an audience. To have this opportunity to read your own experiences with Prague and looking back into a dog's eyes to connect with the mystery of a God is very, very special. Thank you all and I hope this keeps going for awhile longer. 4/2/01 Erik Mitchell I happened upon the program only by accident and was completely taken by it. The narration was wonderful - only after looking at the website do I realize that the artist is an animator, and not a writer (he is both, of course). I feel a renewed love for life after seeing things like this, Mr. Fierlinger has tapped into the lovely, sunny things in life that brings the quiet happiness that can be so fleeting. My dog was puzzled by the extra attention he received while I was watching this, how lucky I am to know him. 4/2/01 Brick Robbins One thing that is constant in a dog owners life is outliving his dog.I cried each time you burried yours.Leaving Ike behind must have been a very hard thing to do.Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" came to mind. George did the right thing for Lenny. You did the right thing for Ike. It was better Ike found a kind and quiet death at the hands of his master, than to be abandoned on the streets, confused and alone, and probaly just as dead.Though born an American, I spent enought time in the Soviet Block to know that staying was not an option.I still cried at the injustice of it all.Thank you for the film. 4/1/01 Charles H. Gaffeney <gaffeney@aol.com> Wilmington, De. This show was artistic and delightful. The drawings were beautiful. We need more shows like this instead of crap like Howard Stern on saturday night . My congrats to PBS. chuck Gaffeney 3/31/01 Kevin Muiderman I was awakened by a restless 2 year old at about 2 AM. Once he was back to sleep, I was not, so I turned on WTVS. Still Live With Animated Dogs was on. The art was lovely and expressive, the story and narration profound. I was entranced. I wish to share it with my wife and some friends. How might I get a copy? Thanks for the wonderful experience. 3/31/01 Thank you Paul Fierlinger for a wonderful tribute to man's best friend! I especially enjoyed "Molly" & her guardian/owner who wandered through the forest mis-communicating. It reminded me of a favorite anecdote: My wife & I enrolled Molly, our loveable but dumb cocker spaniel, in a ten-week obedience class. At the end of the term Molly had made little progress. We re-enrolled her, but at the end of the second course Molly was still noticeably behind her canine classmates. The instructor, perhaps determined to succeed with our dog, offered to let her repeat the course for the third time at no charge. That evening I heard my wife on the phone with her mother. "Guess what?" Marcie said, "Molly was the only dog in her class to get a scholarship! 3/31/01 nancy roberts I agree, we tend to anthropomorphize our pets, I don't think all the blame belongs to Disney's depictions though. I think people do it to feel less lonely. The animation was so expressive and yet a lot of the detail was left out. I loved the imperfection in the drawings. In this country we don't get to see enough imperfection in media. Perhaps with affordable computer stations and software available now to create independent projects, we will see more experimentation and creativity in animation. Disney will eventually have to take notice. My favorite episode was with spinnaker and Paul at his animation table, it was amazing how much was felt in that scene. Also the sailing scene below deck. Thank you for helping me remember all my own dogs and their peculiarities. Will we get to see it again on PBS? I would like to get a copy of the story but didn't copy the address to purchase it. 3/30/01 KC Smith I am really interested in the link between Man, and the world around him. I believe Mr. Ferlinger may have something when he states that theconnection between people and their dogs can also be the connectionbetween Man and God. I am one of what I believe is a growing number ofpeople who are searching for the connection/link/communication between allliving things and/or between all things. It is during these contacts thatI feel God. I feel something special when I make eye contact with manyanimals; when we know what each is going to do. I have worked for severalhours at a dog pound and had to put many dogs to sleep. I tried tocomfort them while looking deep into their eyes as the life left theirbodies, I felt many things but I the strongest feeling was not one ofsadness but a flicker of connection, of oneness. Maybe I amanthropomorphizing, but I cannot describe it as a human feeling. Thanks,Mr. Ferlinger for your wonderful story. 3/30/01 Larry James WOW Great show. When will it be airing again. I'm telling all my friends... 3/30/01 Paul Burke I enjoyed this film very much, but the author's quote "Having totake care of a dog made me hold on to the last trace of decency andself-worth left in me" disturbed me, since the film shows dog Ike beingsacrificed for the author's freedom, and the animation seems rather cold,matter-of-fact, and, well, totalitarian about the poisoning and burial. Ithad to be a gut-wrenching event, surely, given how the rest of the filmshows that the author really cared for and about his dogs? Or was thegovernmental oppression behind the Iron Curtain so relentlesslyoverwhelming that it turned many subtly iconoclastic citizens intonigh-automatons with regard to such choices as poisoning the dog to facilitate freedom , i.e. "what must be done, must be done" ? I know thatI would never have the fortitude of will to do what the author had todo... but then I have always lived in the relative freedom of the West. Do most Americans place more (too much?) personal feelings intoour friendships with our pets than most people in other countries do? Ifso, is it a result of the anthropomorphizing of animals in Hollywoodcartoons, or what? I've cried every time one of my dogs has died-- is thata strange or childish concept to most of the different peoples of easternEurope, South America, Asia, and/or Africa? 3/30/01 Ten minutes into this film I was compelled to take a phone call. With the sound muted, closed captions running, I remained engrossed, only barely getting away with my pretense of paying full attention to the person who was trying to have the phone conversation with me. Clearly this work is not about dogs...every bit as much as it IS about dogs. The choice of dogs as the focal point of a man's life was brilliant, and the animation is exquisite. I enjoyed it immensely...and only wish I could see it again...without the telephone interruption. with thanks for a beautiful and thoughtful work 3/30/01 Wilson Hunt My wife and I just stumbled across Still Life With Animated Dogs. Thankyou, Paul, for creating this. Two years ago, shortly after moving to the country, my wife and I pickedup a very small mut puppy we named Bailey. She was supposed to be oureight year old daughter's dog. However, my wife was alone in the housewhile the kids were at school. In two weeks my wife and Bailey wereinseperable. Then on a cold January morning, the last sunny day beforerain and snow, Bailey went outside to play. She fell into a small outsidepond and drown. This is how my wife and I learned to grieve. She restsbeneath a red bud tree entwined with a dogwood. We now have a horrible specimen of a Yorkshire Terrier we saved from abreeding program (she is spayed and will not have puppies). She hasbecome the love of our lives--behind the kids of course. Although sherecently has decided she loves the hand-me-down sofa I got from my fathermore than us. Thank you again. God bless you. 3/30/01 Kathleen enjoyed your series of animation on PBS, the coonection youshowed with your dogs and your dogs with you were expressed so perfectlyin you words and your Art, like you say the relationship with our petsbrings us closer to nature, which brings us closer to God, what awonderful peice...I recently as lst week lost a pet and a cat to be exact, of 14 yrs. it broke my heart, I still have a dog and he seems to betaking on Characturistics of the cat no passed in order to help me ease mypain and his too. We are sensing each other . Thanks for your talent itbrought a great moment of joy to me. |
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