Dear Gerard Cosloy,

I hope you had as great of an April as Illustrator, Animator and Director Joel Trussell did. This is a long update¦ However in a nutshell Z!nk magazine published a few illustrations, the most recent music video, œFloat was accepted by two more film festivals, the video also received an award from AIGA, Joel is a guest on the WNYU™s, œCity Wide show and he is working on two new music videos. We are hoping you may have an assignment that could utilize Joel™s skills. In the meantime, here are the details of April:

EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS
First, the April issue for international Z!nk Magazine hit the stands. We posted the illustrations created by Joel Trussell for Z!nk in Joel™s editorial section.

FILM FESTIVALS AND AWARDS
Second, The Music Video, œFloat animated and directed by Joel Trussell has been accepted in two more Film Festivals: The Indie Music Video Festival, and the Vancouver International Digital Festival. This brings us to four Film Festivals for the video, œFloat.

The Atomic Swindlers Video, “Float” also received a œSilver award at the AIGA Tenshow for “Design for Film + TV”.

RADIO INTERVIEW
Animator and Director Joel Trussell will be a featured guest on New York University radio’s arts talk show hosted by Darren Levy. Joel Trussell will discuss directing the music videos for The Atomic Swindlers and KID 606, among other things. The show airs May 10, 2005 at 7:30 PM. Citywide is WNYU’s arts talk show featuring interviews with some of today’s most innovative artists. Past guests on Citywide include members of the popular Blue Man Group, the President of Metropolitan Museum of Art Emily Rafferty, Jim Rose from the infamous Jim Rose Circus, and Brendon Small who co-created Home Movies currently showing on Cartoon Network.
Tune in to 89.1 FM.

NEW MUSIC VIDEOS
Joel is currently working on two more music that should be completed this fall. We will post more information as he gets closer to finishing them.

Now that was a great month! If you think, you have a project that would be a fit with Joel™s style of illustration or animation and please contact us.

Warm Regards,

Harvey
Harvey M. Abouelata

Abacus Creative Management, LLC

Dear Harvey,

Do you mind if I call you Harvey?

It would be an understatement to say my April wasn’t as great as Joel Trussell’s. For one thing, I was diagnosed as having typhoid. Typhoid! In the year 2005! How the fuck did I manage that? Apparently, some of those “charming roadside diners” that I’ve been favoring on my travels across the USA don’t pay attention to local health regulations.


(perhaps the all-you-can-eat special was a bad idea)

Following that setback, one of my cats was struck by lightning. ‘Lil Sparky was like a member of the family, and seeing him vaporized before our eyes was a traumatic experience we’ll not soon forget.

While my own news has been nothing but gloomy, you can excuse me for hoping for good things from the rest of extended family. I’ve longed for the day that one of my young cousins would make his debut in a court of law. However, I was hoping that would be after he passed the California Bar. Not as a witness for the prosecution in the Michael Jackson trial.

Whew, what a month!

Anyhow, thanks for listening. I feel a lot better getting all of this stuff off my chest, but if it’s ok with you, would you mind not sending me further updates about Joel’s career? Hearing about all the tremendous things happening in his life makes me feel a little inferior, and my psychologist says I’m supposed to work on my self-esteem issues. He also says I need to start wearing trousers to our sessions, but hey, one day at a time, right?

your friend,
GC