Uhhh...

I could comment on the recent "Pete Elmslie: Art Critic" thang, or Disney buyin' Marvel, or stuffs, but hey, it's the cusp of the Labor Day weekend, so, here's some inspired insanity from Japan, of course. Courtesy of our ever-luvin' homies at Cartoon Brew. Have a good one, and expect more and better posts in the fall. Cheers!

TAIS nooze! April edition

Hookay, bunch o' stuff to cover here. Latest TAIS newsletter done be out (thank you Tara and Madi), but there's just too much goodness to post it all here. Honestly, it's huge. So, if ya wanna reads it, become a member! Come on, ya know ya wanna.

I finally managed to get the DEFINITIVE version of the ChickenJam trailer up...for a while there, we was going through sponsors like nobodies bidness. I originally wanted to get Toon Boom onboard, but them's busy folks...hopefully I'll get ahold of somebody there before the big date. And MyToons? Ah, alas, MyToons. Amid has posted about it, read it here. So, officially, our event sponsors are:

Channel Frederator: Eric Homan's given the green light to run the trailer in the April 21st episode of the big red cartoon show. Noice!

Line Boil: Aaron Simpson's sister site for all things animated. Aaron already gave us some of that there pimpage, and he's also shippin' us some shoits. My man!

NFB: Michael Fukushima over at the National Film Board got us 9 dvd's of chicken-flava'd short animated goodness, as well as a venue (The most awesome NFB Cinematheque here in Toronto) to host the event. Good on ya!

Finally, I've got a line on some prizing from afar...specifically, Honalulu. More on that later. Meanwhile, relax, sit back, watch a decidely green ep. of the Fred, and I'll be back with more nooze. Be sure to drop by the TAIS website and click on the links on the left...Tara's been updating like mad!

The Brothers Krause go Upstate on yo' ass.

Badjoojoo: The Cliche list

I try to avoid re-blogging at all times, but blog comments I consider fair game. For example, Jerry and Amid over at Cartoon Brew recently posted a quick round-up of summer animated features, and blog-goer BadJooJoo felt the need to drop the knowledge. Below is a nicely thought out list of all the crap feature studios needs to stop pulling for awhile, in hopes that they don't appear to be freakin' hacks. Above, the trailer for 'Space Chimps', appearing this summer, illustrates many of Badjoojoo's points. Enjoy. Oh, and more MONSTERJAM nooze next week.

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Here my a top ten list of animated movie cliches (that must be banned for 25 years.) It can be used as a drinking game. I noticed that approximately 80% appear in the Space Chimps trailer alone.

1, THE SLO-MO NO - This is a scene played for laughs which usually involves some kind of (usually mid-air) slow-motion action. Extra points for scenes that involve slow-motion speech. Extra-extra points if that speech is the word “Nooooooo!”

2. YESSSS! - This involves a character (it’s usually a kid) pumping his fist and saying “Yesssss!” aloud or simply mouthing the word.

3. GREETING THA ‘HOOD - This usually occurs at the opening of a movie where a character (typically the protagonist) is stolling through his “neighborhood” greeting everybody he passes (typically with a big wave and/or a high-five). Extra points if the character does the “wink and point.” Extra-extra points if he uses both hands to do the “wink and point”.

4. AAAAAAAAAAAAGH! (a.k.a. Whoooooaaaaa!) - This is a scene that includes a reaction shot in which one or more characters engage in a prolonged scream in a frightening situation. Extra points if one character continues screaming long after all the other characters have stopped.

5. THE CRASH AND SLIDE - This is where a character crashes into some sort of obstacle (typically a window, but sometimes a wall or ceiling) then sticks there for a moment (usually to make some offbeat remark) before sliding off.

6. THAT’S GOTTA HURT - Right after some slapstick calamity, some other character fliply remarks, “That’s gotta hurt.” or something similar.

7. THE MILITARY MANEUVER - Typically happening right before the final showdown, The Military Maneuver involves civilian protagonists in non-military situations springing into action and adopting military mannerisms. These include call and response chants, training montages, lots of inspections and saluting and are usually accompanied by lots of snare drums and horns on the music track.

8. THE ANIMATED BOOGALOO - When a character in a non-musical suddenly busts out into a fit of spontaneous dancing (usually breakdancing).

9. THE RIGHT STUFF REVISITED - Scene which parodies the slow-motion walking scene from “The Right Stuff.”

10. ANNOYING A.D.D. SIDEKICK - Blabbermouthed sidekick or secondary character with Attention Deficit Disorder. Males are usually cowards, females are usually loud and sassy. Bonus points awarded when the character is portrayed by an African American actor.

Back up for Emru

I don't like re-blogging, but in this case, I'll make the exception: From today's Cartoon Brew:
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Animation writer and critic Emru Townsend was diagnosed last December with leukemia and a condition called monosomy 7. He is in need of finding a bone marrow donor match soon. While donors can’t specify who they want to donate too, Emru’s family has started a website HealEmru.com that offers information on bone marrow donation and teaches adults how to sign up for their country’s bone marrow registry.

For those who aren’t familiar with Emru’s work, he founded Frames Per Second Magazine in 1991 and has continued its puulication in one form or another up through today at FPSmagazine.com. As a fellow publisher, I can say that nobody publishes an animation-related magazine to get rich; we do it because we love the art form, and Emru has for decades been one of animation’s best friends and most intelligent critics. Both Jerry and I wish him a speedy recovery.

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Fuckin', fuckin', fuckin', fuckin' cancer, man. Hit up HealEmru.com, and check out FPSmagazine. Let Emru know yer thinkin' of him.

David O'Reilly

Quick post about Irish experimental animator David O'Reilly, whose style o' choice has been dubbed by the fine folk at Boing Boing as 'VectorPunk', reminiscent of early experimental 3d, but with an 8-bit videogame edge that wraps the whole thing up in lo-fi goodness. Here, his characters give a brief history of animation timing that makes a whole shitload o' sense once ya let it sink in. Courtesy of Boing-Boing and Cartoon Brew. More of David's stuff later!

Thanksgiving greetings from Lev!

Here's a greeting card from animation's kid fireball Lev Polyakov. 18 and already workin' on his THIRD short film, due out in early 2008. Crazy, man. Happy turkey day, dood! And greetings to the animeister, Jerry Beck, for the post. Cheers!