If you haven’t read Part 1 of my interview with the two Croods directors, you should really check that out first.
Already read it?
Then let’s dive right in to Part 2…
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Monthly Archives: October 2013
Top 5: Disney/Horror Mash-Ups
It’s Halloween! Time for costumes and candy and killing time at work by watching horror movie mash-ups. Oh, and have I got a creepy collection to share with YOU.
Scared? You needn’t be. I’d never hurt someone as sweet and innocent as you. You can relax — really. This is going to be fun. Now I want you to sit back in your ergonomic office chair, pull out that bag of last year’s candy corns, and enjoy these five spine-tingling Disney/horror blends…
IF YOU DARE!!!
Chris Sanders & Kirk De Micco Discuss ‘The Croods’ - pt. 1
Okay, so you’ve all had a chance to see The Croods by now. If you’re an animation aficionado (or just have kids), you’ve probably seen it a number of times. Does that mean it’s safe to post this spoileriffic sitdown that I had with the film’s directors, Chris Sanders and Kirk De Micco? Will anyone complain if I share their behind-the-scenes anecdotes, insider info and — to reiterate — all-caps SPOILERS?
No?
Great! Then let’s begin!
Cartoon Review: gdgd Fairies
gdgd Fairies puts the ‘sweet’ in “Sweet Jesus, what am I watching?!”
My current cartoon obsession, the one that has all but whisked me away from family, friends and my gal, Mishka, is gdgd Fairies. It’s a lo-fi anime series about three young fairies (naive pkpk, troublemaker shrshr and deadpan krkr) with limited magical abilities and lots and lots to say.
I love it. Will you?
I dunno. That really depends on your penchant for surreal silliness and Nth degree meta-humor, not to mention perversely plotted segments linked together using only the flimsiest of premises. Did you like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s Mr. Show? Cuz gdgd Fairies is a lot like that. Except where Bob and Dave were working in sketch and stand-up, gdgd creator/animator Sōta Sugaharathe uses anime and YouTube clips.
Just What I’d Hoped For: Melodramatic Mutants
X-Men: Days of Future Past — Trailer & Pics
At last — the first official trailer to Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Days of Future Past! While very little *new* info can be gleaned from this trailer, it’s nice to once again see mutants crying, Xavier whispering regrets, and Hugh Jackman gripping his head in…what? Pain? Frustration? In order to make his hair do that cowlick-on-the-sides-thing?
Whatever it is, I’m loving it. ALL of it.
Continue reading
30 Second Comic Book Review: X-Men: Bizarre Love Triangle
This is my favorite type of X-Men story — the type that eschews big, beefy brawls for heartfelt character interaction and unabashed melodrama.
Miyazaki-Inspired Ad Retells Patty Hearst Story Using Teddy Bears
Okay, so that title is a little deceiving, I’ll grant you that. But *most* of it is true.
Well, sorta.
2nd Trailer For Michel Gondry’s Noam Chomsky Doc Is A Trippy Delight
I’m pretty excited to see Michel Gondry’s animated Noam Chomsky documentary, Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy? While I know very little about Chomsky, Michel Gondry is the director of TWO of my favorite films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Dave Chappelle’s Block Party). Not only that, but his music video collection, Director’s Series, Vol. 3 - The Work of Director Michel Gondry, is a Whitman’s Sampler of amazing animation — lo-budget and big budget, hand drawn and CG, stop-motion and puppetry, cutout and claymation.
To think that Gondry is about to release a FULL LENGTH FEATURE CARTOON delights me to no end!
‘The Good Dinosaur’ Poster Is A Fake!
Happy 103 Birthday, Tyrus Wong!
Like most animation fans, I first heard of Tyrus Wong via his work on Bambi. Legend has it, that’s the first time Walt Disney heard of him, too!
Okay, so the story goes…
Walt was chomping at the bit to make Bambi, only he was having trouble finding the ‘look’ he wanted for the film. He’d tried ultra-realism, but nixed it. He switched to super cartoony, but again, nope. It was beginning to look like the film would get shelved until late one night, while wandering through his studio, Disney happened upon a small stack of unusual watercolors. They were by a fella named ‘Wong,’ and they were…well, different.
Cartoon Crafts: Jack-O-Lanterns
Hot on the heels of our comic book jack-o-lanterns post comes this, our quickie, cartoon-themed cash-in! No, that’s not true. Well, not entirely. The fact is, I DO enjoy looking at pictures of people’s homemade holiday fire-hazards. And if downloading those pics and then hastily assembling them here happens to make for an easy post, who could blame me?
2 Clips From Studio Ghibli’s Next Pic
What’s the only thing better than a sneak peek at an upcoming flick from Studio Ghibli?
If you said, ‘TWO sneak peeks,’ you’re horribly shallow and have no real perspective. No, ‘WORLD PEACE and AN END TO HUNGER’ was the answer I was looking for.
But hey, on the bright side, I just happen to have two short clips from Ghibli’s next film, The Story of Princess Kaguya (based on the folk tale, The Tale Of The Bamboo Cutter). Try and enjoy them while millions of children slowly die from starvation and war ravages some humungous percentage of the globe.
Jeffery Katzenberg Loves Rihanna(The Brand, If Not The Person)
Jeffery Katzenberg hopes that adding pop star Rihanna to DreamWorks’ upcoming animated films will be a mutually beneficial business move — but only if SHE STOPS ACTING LIKE RIHANNA!
THE LEGO MOVIE: CHARACTER PICS & BIOS
“We’ve basically made a movie about totalitarianism for kids.”
USA Today just ran a piece regarding this year’s dark horse, The Lego Movie. In addition to an interview with directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street), the hotel hand-out posted a series of character pics and descriptions.
Here are the highlights: Continue reading
Halloween-Ready Mickey Mouse Tees
M-I-C
See? There ARE badass Mickey Mouse tees.
K-E-Y?
Why? Cuz not all Disney fans want to look like they bought their swag at Wal-Mart.
M-O-U-S-E!!!
My Neighbor Totoro…
…blocks the fire escape with his big-ass S.U.V.
New ‘Frozen’ Trailer Is The Best Yet!
This new Frozen trailer is GREAT. Instead of all the easy (and kinda cringe-worthy) snowman gags that dragged down the previous teasers, this trailer focuses on the STORY. Not only that, it finally tells us something about the Ice Queen herself, Elsa. While Anna looks like a nice, sweet, blandly inoffensive character, I’ve yet to see anything that makes her unique. But Elsa? In this trailer? She’s captured my imagination. She’s the accidental villain. The misunderstood mutant. A wounded soul. The victim of a ‘gift’ she cannot control, one that forces her to flee her kingdom, her family, EVERYTHING.
Beware The Batman: Bumped?
When DC branded their cartoon line, ‘DC Nation,’ they did so because it rhymed with ‘animation.’ What they forgot wuz, it ALSO rhymes with ‘cancelation’ — a problem that is plaguing their current crop of cartoons.
Top 5: Comics That Take Place On Halloween
One of my favorite things about the holidays is digging through my comics, finding the PERFECT stories to match the merriment. While the St. Patrick’s Day pickings can be a li’l paltry, Halloween never fails to provide. Listed below are my Top 5 comics that take place on Halloween. If you have any others that you’d like to recommend, feel free to share ‘em in the comments section. I’m always looking for more!
Comic Book Crafts: Jack-O-Lanterns
I’ve never been all that good at pumpkin carving. I think it’s cuz I adored Return To Oz as a kid, and now every time I stick a knife into one of those bulbous, orange orbs, I feel like I’m playing Jeffrey Dahmer to the pumpkin’s Jack Pumpkinhead.
Sliding my hand through the small, jagged hole at the top…pulling out those large chunks of stringy, slimy, seedy goo…hearing that wet, squishing sound as it seeps through my fingers, landing with a pudding-like PLOP! on the table…
It can be a little unsettling is all I’m saying.
Thank gourd these crafty, comic book-inspired artisans have no such qualms. Otherwise, none of these demented and delightful jack-o-lanterns would exist!
30 Second Comic Review:Something Terrible
Dean Trippe’s digital comic, Something Terrible, is a quiet, devastating, and yet ultimately uplifting piece of work. It’s about a young man who was sexually abused as a child, and who uses comic books (and genre fiction, in general) as a means to heal.
Continue reading
Superhero Housewares
Now that it’s only adults reading comic books, comics’ merchandising has had to follow suit. Gone are the Kenner toys and Underoos of yesteryear. In their place are X-Men Mazdas and $3000 Iron Man home theater displays. Ah, but those are just the ‘official,’ big-ticket tie-ins. Business is also booming in the humbler home goods market . Heck, there’s even a sub-section of this market made up entirely of HOMEMADE home goods — and it’s thriving!
Shown below are some of the more inspired superhero housewares currently available on Etsy. They’re not only charming as all get out, they’re CHEAP!
Continue reading
All-Time Favorites: Lilo & Stitch
It’s a silly, little Disney cartoon about an alien whose spaceship crash lands in Hawaii. So why does it reduce me to a blubbering mess of snot and tears every time I watch it?
Oh, yeah. Cuz it’s also a HEARTBREAKING ODE to the FRAGILITY OF FAMILY and one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL ANIMATED FILMS ever produced.
Comic Book Writers on Comic Book Writing
In summation: If you’ve got talent, it’s easy. Otherwise…
I’M KIDDING!
Pull the gun out of your mouth and relax that trigger finger, Mr. or Mrs. Struggling Comic Book Writer. After all, you’re gonna need that finger for clicking link after link in the vain hope that something said by Neil Gaiman, Joss Whedon or Grant Morrison will suddenly awaken your long-dormant talent.
Continue reading
Comics Artists Draw Disney
There used to be these old commercials for Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups where a man and woman would bump into one another, one holding peanut butter, the other some chocolate. The man would shriek, “Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut butter!” And the woman would spit back, “You got peanut butter in my chocolate!” The camera would then cut away to an unflatteringly close shot of a cut open Reece’s, and an unseen narrator would proclaim, “Two great tastes that taste great together.” We’d then return to that seemingly-so-different couple, only now they were in love — with each other AND with the Reece’s Peanut Butter Cup-like concoction their carelessness had created.*
“Two great tastes that taste great together.” This gallery of comic book artists drawing Disney characters is sorta like that for Skunk & Burning Tires. Enjoy!
Frozen’s Marketing Is Hella Sketchy(Or: Why Is Disney Using Hand-Drawn Art To Promote Their CG Films?)
Look at Disney’s Frozen booth from this year’s D23 convention. Notice something odd? 99% of the artwork decorating the booth was done in pencil, yet the film itself is CG!
A similar thing is happening on Disney’s Tumblr. In the week spanning Oct. 9-15, there were eight posts promoting Frozen. Only ONE of those featured a CG still from the film. HALF were hand-drawn character sketches, the rest were film-clips.
Why, if you’re promoting a CG film, would you INTENTIONALLY advertise it using images and art styles NOT FOUND in that film?
Marketing MUST have a reason…right?
Chris Sanders’ Student Film: Now On DVD!
Previously unavailable, Chris Sanders’ 1983 student film, Fun with Father, is now on dvd! Featuring Sanders’ super-cute, ultra-curvy art style and some uber-adorable voice-work, this short has long been the Holy Grail for many animation fans. Fun with Father is also Sanders’ first cartoon to explore the theme of family — a theme that would show up time and again in his work, from Lilo & Stitch to How To Train Your Dragon to The Croods.
Sexy Disney Dude Pics:Illegal Leaks Or A Purposefully Placed Distraction?
A series of nearly nude, NSFW drawings depicting various animated Disney males has hit the net. While the Walt Disney Company has officially labeled it “a travesty” and claims to have enlisted the FBI to help them track down the source of these leaked images, many doubt these claims.
After all, it was only one week ago that the company came under fire after Frozen‘s head of animation, Lino DiSalvo, was quoted as saying that “animating female characters are really, really difficult, because they have to go through these range of emotions, but you have to keep them pretty.” Having these sleazy pictures of Disney’s cartoon males suddenly appear NOW, well…it just seems a bit too convenient to some.
Comic Book News, In Brief
Dan Slott (author of my all-time favorite She-Hulk book) and Mike Allred (artist of one of my all-time favorite X-books, X-Statix) and are teaming up for a new Silver Surfer series. (You guessed it: One of my all-time favorite comic book characters!)
While this sounds an awful lot like Marvel is tapping my REM sleep, robbing me of my dream comics, I’m not planning on pressing any charges just yet. So long as the series ends up being as all-caps AMAZING as it oughta be, we’re cool. But if it starts slipping into guest writers and fill-in artists before the first TPB is complete, I’m calling on the combined powers of Freddy Krueger, Morpheus and Li’l Nemo of Slumberland to take back what’s rightfully mine.
Bambi’s Mother’s Murderer - REVEALED!
I’ve Got Good News, Charlie Brown!
Peanuts fans have reason to rejoice! Not only is there a new series of animated shorts on the way, there’s a GIGANTIC book of Schulz’ original artwork in the pipeline, as well.
GIFs Don’t Lie
Comic Book News, In Brief
Bridesmaids and Freaks & Geeks mastermind, Paul Feig, had a humorous pitch for a Wonder Woman movie. It involved Batman and Superman acting slightly sexist and, well, that was pretty much all Warner Bros. needed to hear before passing. Via.
Every Disney Cartoon Castle…EVER.
Comic Book Review:Deadpool & Cable (the entire effing series)
Deadpool & Cable was a 50 issue ‘buddy-movie’ starring the Marvel Universe’s equivalents of Jesus Christ & Bugs Bunny. It promised loose laughs and even looser sci-fi concepts, yet somehow managed to morph into an affecting ode to fractured friendships and surrogate families.
Toys: You’re Too Old To Play With ‘Em, So You Call ‘Em “Collectibles”
These three personality-packed stunners are from a limited line of “mini-busts” created by Grand Jester Studios. While their prohibitive pricing will keep me from ever actually owning one, I wanted to post these pics because of some very interesting choices made by the manufacturer.
Continue reading
Amy Poehler Shares A Li’l Inside Info On ‘Inside Out’
On a recent episode of the podcast, Comedy Bang Bang, Amy Poehler (Parks & Rec, U.C.B.) spoke to host Scott Auckerman (a.k.a. The Choctaw), about her work on the upcoming Pixar flick, Inside Out.
Posted below are a few of the highlights:
New Henson Bio Dissects The Fist Inside The Frog
Faulty logic makes filling out one’s daily blog posts sooo much easier.
Here’s today’s:
Cartoons are animation, and puppeteering is animation. Therefore, puppeteering is cartoons.
Which means…
I GET TO TALK ABOUT THE NEW JIM HENSON BIOGRAPHY!
YAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaay!
What I Wouldn’t Give For X-Men Powers(And/Or A Private Team Of FX Artists)
This clever bit of public pranking may be a thinly veiled ad for the unnecessary remake of Carrie, but that doesn’t make it any less amazing.
T-Shirts: Like Going Topless, Only Clothed
Seeing as how you’re sitting around, lazily browsing a pop culture website and not out ballroom dancing or walking red carpets, I’m guessing fancy clothes ain’t your thing.
Coincidence! Me, either!
T-shirts are my preferred gut covering. In fact, unless I’m attending a funeral or legal proceeding, they’re my ONLY gut covering. Still, one can’t just wear ANY t-shirt. They’ve gotta speak to your personality. Your likes. Your dislikes. Your current obsessions and your lifelong loves. Your favorite memes and your unrealized dreams. Basically anything and everything that makes you YOU.
Posted below are a few recent favorites.
Comic Book Review:Gus & His Gang
French cartoonist Christophe Blain approaches the Western genre in much the same way as the comic books of old. His stories are short, exciting, melodramas full of bank robbers and beautiful women — and occasionally, bank robbers who are beautiful women.* But where the Western comics of the 1950s downplayed dialogue in favor of action scenes, Blain does the opposite. The bank heists, train robberies, and fistfights in Gus are often brief, four or five panel affairs, while the title character’s inept attempts at wooing can easily eat up four or five pages. Normally, this might imply an artist’s unease with action, but with Blain, this is clearly not the case. He’s one of those rare, Kirby-esque cartoonists whose every brush stroke packs a punch. So why would Blain even bother to write a Western if he was only going to use the genre as a Christmas tree with which to hang his brightly colored characters and vivid, engaging, and above all, hilarious dialogue? For the same reason that novelists like Elmore Leonard and film directors like Howard Hawks did: because it’s fun.
Continue reading
My Neighbor Totoro…
…recently got a visit from the cops.
‘Frozen’ Getting Icy Stares From The Internets
There’s a rumble in the Tumblr over the following quote made by Frozen‘s head of animation, Lino Disalvo:
X-Men Funnies/Fails
Welcome!
This here’s my new website. Pretty soon it will be a full-fledged entertainment epicenter. But for now it’s a testing ground of sorts, a place for me to start writing again after an unintentionally long hiatus.
My last blog (and Tumblr!) was muy myopic, a fanatically focused fansite dedicated solely to sussing out all things pertaining to Chris Sanders’ (then-unreleased) third film, The Croods. This blog will be a bit more all over the place. We’re talking cartoons and comic books, movies and television, literature and low culture — not to mention any and all drama and demons I’m in the midst of battling.
Here’s hoping you like it. Oh, and if’n you do — PLEASE TELL A FRIEND!
