QUOTH THE WARBURTON...

UGH!

Do ya think politicians are the only ones who get their words twisted by the media?

Nope... they're TOTALLY mangling the words of us
animator/author/singer/dancer/karate champs, too.

For instance, this very nice reporter from The Daily Hampshire Gazette called the other day to ask me questions about none other than this guy:


Yeah yeah...

Whats-his-beard Willems.

And I'm like, "OH YEAH...
Let me tell you a couple things about that guy!
Ya got, like, 62 hours 'cause Mr. W's about to go OFF!"

So I start by saying this,

"Mo Willems is a complete and utter DOODYHEAD!"

Clear, concise, and visual, right?

Well, it wasn't quite clear enough for this reporter. Here's what she translated that to:

"Warburton, who worked with Willems on various animation projects and has known him for years (the dedication of "Pigs Make Me Sneeze!" reads "To Mr. Warburton, who makes me itch"), says Willems has a gift for making all-is-lost situations not just bearable, but downright laughable."

HUH?!

How'd she get THAT out of 'complete and utter doodyhead' I'll never know.

Later she asked me about the Willems family as a whole. And I'm all like this:

"Didja ever read the original Grimm's Fairytales? There are big mean ogres, evil giant robots, crazy flying monkeys and ninjas. Lots of ninjas. And THAT'S the kind of little storybook the Willems family lives in! Oh, and I think they like doing puzzles together, or something like that."


So how in the name of ninjas and flying monkeys did she turn that into THIS?!?!:

"They're this great puzzle that goes together," Tom Warburton says of the Willemses' dynamic. "A perfect little storybook family."

GRRRRRRRRRR...
Reporters make me so MAD!

Want another example?
Well, okay... but talking about it is gonna make me even CRAZIER.

"I often told Mo to get out of Brooklyn. To move to New Zealand or something. Once I threatened to fling him up north over the horizon where he could live in a hamper for all I cared. But then I moved to LA so we don't talk about that anymore"

But after going through the Mis-quote-amatron 3000...

"When the Willemses lived in Brooklyn, Tom Warburton says, they talked frequently about moving. One day they might ponder New Zealand; another day, it would be another far-flung destination. "They always had their eyes set on someplace on the horizon," Warburton says.

"When they hit on Northampton that seemed like it was it for them," he adds. "They don't talk about moving anymore."

Sigh...

Seriously, though... it's a great story about Mr. Willems by wonderful reporter Margot Cleary! Check it out over HERE!