MONSTERJAM: Edits n' stuff

Sorry for the delay, folks...getting all them logos together. Plus, Christian Nelson's entry still won't work, dammit! Meanwhile, here's a teaser...Joseph Troy's entry. He's worked on My Friend Rabbit and Max n' Ruby, among others. Here, he takes a breather from bunnies and shows us who he thinks the real monster is. More to come...

TAIS Showcase 2008: Monster, baby...monster.

Find more artwork like this on Channel Frederator RAW

First off, apologies for not posting sooner, but the whole thang left me a lil' wore out. Trust me when I say this thang was huge...so huge we had to pull chairs in from the foyer (thanks to the NFB staffers!) to accomodate the extra folks wanting to see the show, and we still had to turn people away!

The TAIS Showcase 2008 Monster Edition was just that, monster. A huge crowd, special prizes (thanks to Monster Factory, they were a huge hit!), some incredible films, and then there's the MONSTERJAM, the piece de resistance of the night. 45 entries, an incredible 8+ minutes of animation from around the world. Special thanks to TAIS judges Patrick Jenkins and Jeff Baker for taking the time out to pick us some winners.

The prizes for the night went to:

Best Monster Category:

1st Prize Monster : Mateus Acioli & Naima Almeida from Brazil
2dn Prize Monster : Alex Novitsky form Toronto
3rd Prize Monster : Ceri Watling From UK

Best TAIS SHOWCASE 2008 Category :

1st Prize : Vladimir Kooperman from Toronto, Film: C- Block
2nd Prize : Elise Simard from Montreal, Film: The Occupant
3rd Prize : Marc Beurteaux from Toronto, Film: The Last Feast

Audience Award :

Best Monster : Mateus Acioli & Naima Almeida from Brazil
Best TAIS Showcase 2008 : Brian Sinasac from Toronto , Film : Headwinds

I'll be expounding on the virtues of our winners more come Monday, as well as picking my three fave monster films for the TAIS Blogger's Choice awards! As for the MONSTERJAM, I'll be submitting it to Frederator hopefully next week, but it's so huge, I'll be sending it in two parts...more on that later. Meanwhile, enjoy the photo slideshow of the event. Photos by our own Madi Piller and hosting courtesy of Fred Raw. Enjoy that there weekend!

George Carlin: No Bullshit, he's dead. Phnark.

One of my comedy patron saints died (not passed away, you jerks) on Sunday. Heart failure. If there's any justice, they'll take the body, put it on top of a pile of explosives and blow it the fuck up...or shoot it out of a cannon onto the White House lawn. Here's a cartoon with George doin' v.o., courtesy of Drawn! I'm gonna go punch a wall now. Enjoy.

TAIS Showcase Monster Edition 2008

It's almost time! The TAIS Animation Showcase will be held on Friday of next week, featuring the MONSTERJAM! We'll be giving away prizes, there's a special jury awarding a lil' sumpin' to the best films in the showcase and the 'jam, and a sweet reception afterwards. All that for 5 bucks...cheep! Double-special night for me, cuz my film 'First Time Out' will be screening as well as the jam film I've help organize...nice! So come on out, and show your support for independant animation!

MyToons goes HD

The guys from MyToons have slapped a major upgrade onto the site, with toons in glorious High-Def now, thanks to an updated player and site layout. From the Animation Snack newsletter:

"MyToons has been redesigned and is now the first global animation community to offer you the ability to upload and view your animation in High Definition – the top of the line, all digital format for broadcasting, streaming and viewing video. Consider this the new age “black and white to color” transition – and it’s all at your fingertips. Find out more about HD here.

MyToons is here to make your life fun and easy – check out our other new features!

Channels: Watch up to 19 different animation channels, add animation tags, and share with your friends – all without leaving the homepage!

Filter Feature: Play the animations, artwork, and games you’re craving with our new filtering feature – just organize by “Time,” “Sorting,” “Category,” and “Style.”

Rating System: Rate animation, artwork, and games on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. Gold Star or No Star? Let ‘em know what you think!

Start Page: Get a fresh start with our new, one-stop control board! Manage, edit, and personalize your stuff – all from the “My Start Page” button on the homepage!"


Noice. Go and check out all the hi-def goodness.

Cold Hard Flash: Top 10 Flash Cartoons

Aaron Simpson and a cadre of his animation homies have got together and came up with a list of what they consider the best o' the best of flash animated films on them there interwebnets, and they're all available to view on the Cold Hard Flash site. Along with the shorts themselves, Aaron's serving up in-depth interviews with the creators. Go, watch, learn, enjoy. And big kudos to MyToons for continuing to support independent animation on the web!

MONSTERJAMmers: Rafa Toro

Now that the MONSTERJAM submission deadline has come and gone, I'll be spending my time in June profiling some of the filmmakers who sent us animated monster goodness. Meet our first monster-mator, Rafa Toro. Hailing from Spain, he's a graphic artist, animator and character designer with a serious monster fetish...here is but a sample of what Rafa is dishing up. John Martz profiled Rafa's creepy-groovy takes on Batman's villains in 2006. Ya gotta see what Rafa sent us, it's 10 seconds of pure awesome. More monster-mator's in the coming days!