This music video, Ankle Injury by British alternative musicians Fujiya & Miyagi, was directed by Wade Shotter of UK’s Factory Films.
CG — or stop-mo of actual dice? Discuss.
No Dice?
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Author Archives: Jerry Beck
Human-Powered Animation
Can animation exist in real time? Without film, without video, without digital tricks… this is the opening ceremony for football’s Asian Cup and these are apparently workers for Samsung in South Korea. Pretty amazing…
(Thanks, Rob Carroll)
Comic Cover Browser
Philipp Lenssen’s ambitious comics website Cover Browser attempts to compile the covers to every popular comic book ever published. He has a long way to go, but I’m happy to report he’s just expanded his entries to include several of my favorite comedy and animation titles including Dell’s Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, DC’s Sugar and Spike, Funny Stuff and Real Screen Comics and Creston’s Giggle and Ha-Ha Comics. Lots of good inspiration here and well worth a browse.
1955 Terrytoons article for kids
Animator Mark Kausler (who has a great new blog, by the way) recently unearthed this 1955 article on Terrytoons, written for children, from Junior Scholastic magazine. This was written shortly before the studio was sold to CBS and Paul Terry himself retired. The piece explains the basics of how animated cartoons were produced in ’55, with a great photo we hadn’t seen before of director Connie Rasinski and storyman/voice of Mighty Mouse Tom Morrison. Mr. Terry also has a great quote at the end:
“My advice to a young artist is this: Always carry a pencil and pad with you. Draw anything and everything you see that may give someone a laugh. That’s what a good animator does. He makes people laugh,”
Click on thumbnails below to see full size scans.
Jerry Beck in Person!
“Here we come, walking down the street, get the funniest looks from, everyone we meet…”
Hey, Hey.. I may be comin’ to your town in the next few weeks. Here’s a list of public appearances I’ll be making soon, just so you can mark your calenders (and spread the word):
•Wednesday August 22nd Radio appearance: on Internet radio, Stu’s Show – two hours of classic cartoon talk and your phone calls. 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific (And don’t miss Stu’s broadcast all this week in the same time slot, with animation writer Earl Kress and Yakky Doodle voice actor Jimmy Weldon).
•Tuesday August 28th Cartoon Dump – I’ll be hosting another live performance of our popular podcast at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood. Surprise guests are planned (to be announced as we get closer)!
•Monday September 17th Worst Cartoons Ever! – a special screening for ASIFA-East at NYU (room to be announced). I hope all my New York friends will drop by. I’ll be en route to the Ottawa Animation Festival later that week.
• Thursday November 8th Worst Cartoons Ever! – a special screening at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus Ohio. Meet me at this rare visit to Columbus.
I’ll post more information about these events as we get closer to each date. I always love meeting our readers and I hope to see you there.
Ugly vintage Oswald Rabbit costume
Yeeechhh! Take a look below.
No, it’s not Leatherface – but a vintage cloth Halloween costume of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit now selling on ebay. The fabric mask would scare the bejesus out of anyone. Talk about being “off-model”!
(Thanks, Raymond)
The Vinyl Side of Hanna Barbera
Today’s must read: From Wall of Sound to Huckleberry Hound: The Vinyl Side of Hanna-Barbera by Kliph Nesteroff on the always informative and entertaining (i.e. info-taining?) WFMU’S Beware of the Blog.
In addition to a bounty of obscure audio downloads by the likes of Cindy Bear, Hokey Wolf and Snuffles, rare cover records and unusual tracks by Paul Frees and Daws Butler, Nesteroff’s post tells of (and links to) other offbeat product released by Hanna Barbera Records – obscure garage bands, psychedelic rock groups, folk singers and B-movie soundtracks – during the company’s short-lived existence (1965-1967). It casts the later work of The Banana Splits and Catanooga Cats in a whole new light.
Creation Museum spot
Whatever your feelings are towards the controversial Creation Museum in Petersberg Kentucky, I think we can agree this is a pretty nice TV spot:
KidRobot does Underdog
Just in time to clear the stench of that current Underdog movie debacle from my memory cells, come these delightful KidRobot figures that restore the fun designs of the original characters.
Click here to see close-ups of (and get ordering information for) these cool vinyl figures of Underdog, Polly, Riff Raff, and Simon Bar Sinister. Like a breath of fresh air – these characters look great in three dimensions!
Popeye Bonus Material
Here’s a couple of odds and ends that won’t be found on any Popeye DVD collection anytime soon…
Sounds like Jackson Beck Allen Swift doing the voice of Popeye in this commercial – and he’s not doing a bad job!
Now, sing along with this… (below, in Arabic!)
Comic Strip du jour
My New Favorite Anime
(Thanks, Billy Bond)
JibJab “Starring You”
First, let me again apologize for foisting my face on the blog, but it’s an image from my latest starring role. The big news is that starting today, anyone – even you – can be in a JibJab video!
Starring You allows you to upload your own heads, cut them out, and star in a JibJab! They’ve made five template movies to begin with and this sample (starring me and Walt) gives you an idea of the possibilities. If you want to try out the tools and see the other movies just go to JibJab.com
Anyone can make a movie, but you have to register with JibJab to publish. You can then email your film or the links, post them on your blogs, MySpace pages, Facebook accounts… anywhere! And it’s completely free. Check it out.
Cartoon Dump Episode 2
Calling all animation haters! The second episode of our new web series Cartoon Dump is now up at CartoonBrewFilms.com. Somehow we are managing to keep up with our schedule to deliver a fresh episode once a week. This week, Compost Brite reads her fan mail!
The big news in Dumpster-ville is that we’ve arranged to perform Cartoon Dump live, one night every month, at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, California. We’ll be there every fourth Tuesday of each month starting August 28th. (Mark your calender for Sept. 25th, Oct. 23rd and Nov. 27th in 2007). If you are in town, or planning a trip to L.A., please come by and meet the cast and crew in person. We will be introducing new cartoons, new characters, and guest “famous name” comedians each month.
Mama Don’t Like…
(Thanks Andres Silva)
