on achievement

I was watching Boundin' with Jiahao the other day (the Pixar short film that ran before The Incredibles) and marvelling at its subtle yet indubitable brillance. On the commentary track, Bud Luckey talks about how it was his pet project from start to finish, and although he doesn't sound like the most personable guy, you just have to love someone who spends 3 years building a story around a depressed sheep and a tapdancing jackalope. (The Pixar president says that the short is Bud Luckey) His co-workers go on to call him the "unsung hero" of animation, and -- get this -- he was the one, back in the day, who drew the Ladybug's Picnic on Sesame Street (you all know the one. 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 10-11-12, ladybug's twelve...at the ladybug picnic. If you don't know it, please don't admit it to my face because then you will not be my friend/sibling). There's a lot a person can behind leave for posterity, but honestly, if I could be remembered for just one thing after I die, I could do a lot worse than the Ladybug's Picnic.

And, just for fun, here are the words for Boundin':

Here's a story on how strange
Is life with its changes
And it happened not long ago
On a high mountain plain
Where the sage brush arranges
A playground south of the snow
Lived a lamb with a coat of remarkable sheen
It would glint in the sunlight all sparkly and clean
Such a source of great pride that it caused him to preen
And he'd break out in high-steppin' dance

He would dance for his neighbours across the way
I must say that they found his dancin' enhancin'
For they also would join in the play

Then one day...

[Lamb gets sheared]

Then a-boundin' up the slope
Came a great American jackalope
This sage of the sage
This rare hare of hope
Caused to pause and check out the lamb

(Jackalope:) Hey kid, why the mope?

(Lamb:) I used to be somethin' all covered in fluff
And I'd dance in the sunlight and show off my stuff
Then they hauled me away
In a manner quite rough
And they sheared me and dumped me
Back here in the buff
And if that's not enough
Now my friends all laugh at me
'Cos they think I look ridiculous
Funny and pink

(Jackalope:) Pink? Pink?
But what's wrong with pink?
Seems you've got a pink kink in your think
Does it matter what colour? Well that gets a 'nope'
Be it pink, purple or heliotrope
Now sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down
When you find that you're down, well, just look around
You've still got a body, good legs and fine feet
Get your head in the right place, and hey, you're complete
Now as for the dancin', you can do more
You can reach great heights, in fact you can soar
If you just get a leg up and slap it on down
And you find you're up in what's called a bound
Bound, bound, bound and rebound
Bound and you're up, right next to the sky
And I think you can do it if you give it a try
First your leg up...slap it on down...

[Much boundin' ensues]

So every year, long about May
They'd load him up and they'd haul him away
And they'd shave him and dump him all naked and bare
He learned to live with it, he didn't care
He'd just bound, bound, bound and rebound

Now in this world of ups and downs
So nice to know there are jackalopes around