The TDog Barks at Midnight...o.k., 2:41. Fred 100

It's 2:41 a.m. on Oct. 3rd, the day after Frederator 100, and I gotta get this off me chest.Plus, I accidentally put the wrong ep of 'Ask a Ninja' on my Play-Yan, so I had to go and get it off the compooter.

It's yer 100th ep. You coulda done so damn much with it. Kept what you guys felt were the best toons you saw submitted this year and spring 'em on us en masse. Do a student show with those wacky CalArts and VanArts kids, and the other great student work we've seen on Fred. A 'Best of Fred' show covering the cream of the crop, yer faves from ALL the eps. Another 'FredEx' style anijam or a viewer's fave collection. 100th ep. Ripe with potential. So much you could do to celebrate the fact that 100 episodes later Frederator represents one of the best ways to see short-form indy animation online.

Instead, you give the whole ep to one dood. One freakin' dood. I could go off on a tear about Doug Bressler here, but I won't...cuz he makes me laugh. Hard. His 'Ask A Ninja' eps are still some of my faves...not the greatest animation mind, but when you've got his sense of comic timing and his instinct for visual gags (retarded bear in the circus), the rest don't matter for shit. Doug ain't the issue.

Neither is Weird Al. Weird Al is a geek god, a dorkling demiurge who helped me laugh my way through the eighties, which were a long dark time for me. Like the Sheppard subway line on a February morning dark. Nope, Al ain't the problem either. Ya could have given the whole ep to any animator whose ever had a short in Frederator's run, and this pooch would still be barkin'.

No, my issue is this. The whole freakin' episode goes to one guy...JUST ONE GUY?!? And to top it off, it's not his best stuff, Al's neither. This big, long 11-minute plus rambler that goes on for ever, doesn't have a punch, and arrives nowhere in particular. And to top it off, this vid has been circulatin' round online since Aaron Simpson posted it in the Cold Hard Flash blog, what, eight flippin' months ago? This is how you choose to celebrate the 100th episode of Frederator? A music vid that doesn't show off the best the animator and the musician have to offer, and one that's almost a year old, widely played online and off. That's what you've got?

Wasted, guys, totally. Next time a landmark episode is comin' up, do a poll online, or sumthin'...take some freakin' suggestions, doods. Cuz this shit was weak. Weak, weak, weak.

And, yah, I know...free podcast put together for the love of doin' it every week. I love the idea of Frederator, still do. Anything you guys want from this pooch to boost the podcast, name it. Still, I gotta call foul. You've got better, I know, I've seen it. I've got the episodes archived, guys. It's great stuff, and I'm
lovin' it, but not this episode.

O.k., I feel better now. Don't worry Fred, still luv ya, but damn, the shit you pull sometimes. All right, let that flamin' feelin' begin.