Thursday, December 25, 2014

A Cosmic Christmas, Clive A. Smith, 1977

"Cosmic Christmas would have to rate as my fave forgotten Christmas masterpiece. Weird and ultimately heartwarming -- it really deserves resurrection."

I agree with Metafilter user phillip-random. I'll do what I can.


A Christmas Carol, Richard Williams,1971

Monday, December 22, 2014

HOLY SHIRT...

So, I don't monetize this blog -it's just aggregation of other people's hard creative work for educational (and entertainment) purposes.

However, I do have wares of my own to sell, and I have some that may be relevant to your interests.


TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS AND WATCH CARTOONS merchandise, to be specific. The design features a blue monster with a big shiny butt, running free as the pantsless do, and can be found in three colorways (for now.)


Be forewarned I haven't edited the color choices for the shirts, but you can preview what the design looks like on each background, and I think I can trust you not to screw this up for yourself.

Feel free to peruse the rest of the items in the shop as well.

The Candlemaker, John Halas and Joy Batchelor, 1957

Monday, December 8, 2014

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

After Hours, Micah Buzan, 2014

Just brand-spankin' new music video by Micah Buzan for the song by The Velvet Underground.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The Crashers and The Snappers, Matt Semke, 2014

We interrupt this string of old Disney posts because people I know did something beautiful.



Music video by Matt Semke for Breakaway.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Synethesia, Michel Gagné, 2014

In the summer of 2013, composer Gheorghe Costinescu commissioned artist Michel Gagné to create an animated abstract visualization based on his 1973 work, "Dots, Lines, and Patches for recorded electronic sounds". This film is the result.



Via Cartoon Brew

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

But I'm A Nice Guy, Scott Benson, 2013


A quick editorial cartoon about the intersection of self-pity, entitlement, rape, territoriality, misogyny and fear of women. You see it all over the place online in the form of Men's Rights Activists (of whom there are a few reasonable non-misogynists), Men Going Their Own Way, Pick Up Artists, and dudes touting the "Red Pill", because The Matrix is a good movie. Look any of these up if you have the stomach for it. These are extreme examples, but watered-down forms of these ideas are everywhere.
In lurking their blogs and youtube channels for a while, I've noticed that beyond the standard patriarchal chauvinism there is this deep fear of women - what they will do to me, how they will reject me, how they will use me, how they are changing society in a way that does not favor me, how they are making men into something I don't like, how they are making themselves into something I don't like, that they won't give me what I want, and that they won't give me what I think is rightfully mine. This goes beyond fear of feminism- this is fear of women at its purest. And that, to quote a puppet, leads to anger and hate. It's sad.
- Scott Benson


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Title sequence for ABCs of Death 2, Wolfgang Matzl, 2014

Wolfgang Matzl, you might recall, submitted a short for "ABCs of Death 2." M is for Meat did not receive nearly enough votes to be considered for inclusion in the film, but it must have made a memorable impression, because Matzl was commissioned to make this delightfully macabre title sequence.



ABCs Of Death 2 title sequence from wolf matzl on Vimeo.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Lonesome Ghosts, Burt Gillett, 1937

This will look familiar to anyone who ever played with one of those awesome Fisher Price movie viewers. I was OBSESSED with those things.


Saturday, October 25, 2014

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

The Pumpkin of Nyefar, Tod Polson and Mark Oftedal, 2004

Charming short, co-written by Maurice Noble! and narrated by June Foray!


Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Couch gag from The Simpsons episode 553, "Clown in the Dumps," Don Hertzfeldt, 2014


You are probably already aware that The Simpsons has had guest directors and animators making the infamous "couch gag."

You have probably already seen this.

If not, you must watch it immediately, because it might just be the BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED.


Swing of Change, Harmony Bouchard, Andy Le Cocq, Joakim Riedinger, Raphael Cenzi, 2011

Monday, September 22, 2014

Spring Melodies, Dmitry Babichenko, 1946

The Key, Lev Atamanov, 1961


Translated by the ever-gracious Niffiwan. NIFFIWAN!

If you love Russian animation, you might know that name.







Sunday, September 21, 2014

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Perspektive I-V, Radovan Ivančević, 1972

Croatian series that teaches perspective. No subtitles, unfortunately, but fun to look at nonetheless.

I mean, fun for me, at least.


Friday, September 19, 2014

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Heaven's Countryland, David O'Reilly, 2014

Parts 1 - 4 of a series O'Reilly produced for Adult Swim.







Thursday, September 11, 2014

House of Hashimoto, Connie Rasinski, 1960

Hashimoto-san was an animated Japanese mouse created by the Japanese-born animator Bob Kuwahara for the Terrytoons animation company. Hashimoto was a judo instructor living in Japan with his wife Hanako, son Saburo, and daughter Yuriko.

Since it was common to portray Japanese and other Asians as houseboys or manservants (or worse) in American cartoons prior to the Hashimoto series, Hashimoto the Mouse is today regarded as having perhaps been the first positive characterization of an Asian character in American animation. Some episodes contained scenes whose artwork reflected Japan's traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints.


- Wikipedia

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

What is Animation? Martin Pickles, 2014

Martin Pickles animated interpretation of an interview with legendary animator Bob Godfrey.


Thursday, September 4, 2014

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Squirrel's Improbable World - Bigfoot, Shawn Keller, 2014

Suggested by Will Finn, who left this in my allegedly capable hands.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Cry of Achilles, Micah Buzan, 2014



AWESOME Music video for Alter Bridge.

Animation I made for Genero.tv music video contest. It didn't win, so I'm uploading for Youtube. Description: Hand drawn animation consisting of approximately 2,000 drawings. I interpreted the message of the song as a battle to overcome difficult states of mind like depression and confusion. I've attempted to make an eclectic, dreamlike world where things are in a constant state of change. The story is open for interpretation.


Friday, August 15, 2014

Malfunction, Cyriak Harris, 2014

ALSO FOR MY BIRTHDAY - NEW CYRIAK VIDEO


Thank you! It's just what I wanted.


Here is a lovely birthday song! For not wearing pants and sticking googly eyes on things.


TMZ, Bill Plympton, 2010

It's my birthday, so more of this! Because it makes me happy.

Music Video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song TMZ.





BONUS!

Also by Bill Plympton, from 2006, Don't Download This Song

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Mission Statement, Eric Oakland , 2014

Music Video for "Weird" Al Yankovic's song Mission Statement, form his album Mandatory Fun.


I am sure that many of you saw this when it was released, during that glorious week when the videos were unleashed.
Watch it again, because it is absolutely brilliant.

I have listened to the album many many times, and while this isn't my favorite song, per se, it might be the most ingenious - a whole song of corporate bullshit-speak in the style of Crosby, Stills, and Nash? I laughed, I cried, I pounded my head entirely through a desk and flung myself out a window.



Sunday, August 10, 2014

TWO THOUSAND! Y'all Strut and Augentier, Emily Kaplan, 2013-2014

My 2000th post had been looming for a while, and I wasn't sure what to post for such a momentous occasion. Something grand? Rare? Bizarre? Famous? A feature?


Any of those would have been a good idea, but since I had the option and decided to go with a terrible one and post some of my own work from the past year. And by "work" I mean "exhausted flailing on the lawn hoping the neighbor kids don't poke me with a stick to see if I am dead" work.

Both of these were made to be seen in an environment where there would be no audio, so neither of them have it. Portions have also been used visual accompaniment for live music. If you are going to watch them, I would recommend putting on some music you enjoy.

Honestly I would recommend not watching them at all, but I can't stop you.


Y'all Strut was made for Artists in Storefronts 5: Cineteca (curated by Joan Vordebruggen and Jaime Carrera.) It was on display in the window of the Icehouse restaurant on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis.


Apparently it is fun to watch while high.




Augentier was made for Northern Spark, Minneapolis' Nuit Blanche, for a project we called Oculus. I have wanted to participate in Northern Spark for YEARS, since an all night arts festival seems like the sort of thing I was born to do. Unfortunately, we were plagued by absolutely Biblical weather, horrible parking lot lights, and the most terrifying bathroom I have ever seen in my life, so not very many people got to see it, save my co-exhibitors who were all wonderful.


Be extra super forewarned - this is a series of animated vignettes that was made long on purpose, so passers-by would see something different every time they looked or passed. It is just over 33 minutes which is... very long.





Thursday, August 7, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Turen til Squashland, Lars von Trier, 1967

Lars von Trier made this when he was 11, and it explains a lot.


Saturday, June 7, 2014

Aug(de)mented Reality, Marty Cooper, 2014


Using a unique animation technique involving traditional animation cels and his iphone 5s, Hombre_mcsteez turns everyday life into an odd creature infested cartoon universe



Tuesday, June 3, 2014

G.I. Jane, Myzyk & Moriceau, 2013

SUPER DUPER TOP SERIOUSLY NSFW

Lots of dicks and terrible things happening to them.


Music video for Jackson & His Computer Band.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Friday, May 9, 2014

Still Moving, Alla Gadassik, 2008

This is a short experimental digital film I made in 2008 in Toronto, Canada.
The film emerged as part of my research and interest in medical animation and experimental animation history. The entire film is made with low-resolution footage from the Visible Human Project I was able to obtain online. The project also recalls the wax animation experiments of Oscar Fischinger.


Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Saturday, March 29, 2014

The Sticks, Chad VanGaalen, 2012

Music video by Chad VanGaalen for Mother Mother.

Friday, March 28, 2014

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

The Poor Man and the Judge, Alexandre Fatta, 2014

No subtitles (French subs will be added soon - in the interim, I discovered that Google's "translate caption" feature, while not clarifying, is a real treat.)

In the interim, Alex offers this synopsis(also translated by Google):
Meanwhile thereof, a summary in my words (and memory): The poor and Judge A poor man and his wife had no money and nothing to eat. The woman said to him, "Go get us some flour, doing yourself as you want Otherwise we die.." There go to the village is saying. "I have fooled a rich merchant" It comes at a store, "Marchand Give me a bag of flour. " "You pay what?" asked the merchant. "I have no money," said the poor man "... but I have a very fatty beef that I must soon kill him. "In this case, takes two flour sack and relates me rear part of the beef. " He will then see two other vendors and by the same means to get roughly the same result. He reports flour to his wife. This cooking pies. He eats his fill. He realizes that merchants will come back against him, and he goes to the judge and corrupts promising him half the beef.. Judge: "Every question I ask you in the presence of merchants thou shalt say. BACHTRA CHTRA-RA- The first merchant goes to the judge. The judge called the poor man. "Old man, have you promised to beef merchant?" "BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA." "Old Man, did you take the flour?" "BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA . etc.. etc.. judge the merchant: "You can see he's crazy! I can not judge. You did not to do business with this idiot, go home! " The poor and the judge do the same thing for the other two stores. Once the judge and the poor alone, the judge: "You see I am rid of these merchants. Now go kill your beef and bring me back some. " "BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA". "Stop fooling around, merchants are gone" "BARCHTRA-CHTRA-RA! Party vendors, party silly party and beef! Beef I have ever had, hello! "

In the original French:

Le pauvre et le juge

Un pauvre homme et sa femme n'avaient plus d'argent ni rien à manger. La femme lui dit : "Va nous chercher de la farine, débrouille-toi comme tu veux. Sinon nous mourrons".
Il pars au village en se disant : "je dois berner un riche marchand".
Il arrive à un magasin : "Marchand, donne-moi un sac de farine".
"Tu as de quoi payer?" demande le marchand.
"Je n'ai pas d'argent" dit le pauvre homme "...mais j'ai un boeuf très gras que je dois bientôt tuer.
"Dans ce cas, prend deux sac de farine et rapporte moi la partie arrière du boeuf".
Il va voir ensuite deux autres marchands et par les mêmes moyens obtient à peu près le même résultat.
Il rapporte la farine à sa femme. Celle-ci cuisine des tourtes. Il mange à sa faim. Il réalise alors que les marchands vont revenir contre lui. Il va voir le juge et le corrompt en lui promettant la moitié du boeuf.
Le juge : "À chaque question que je te poserai en présence des marchands tu répondras : BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA.
Le premier marchand va voir le juge. Le juge appelle l'homme pauvre.
"Vieil homme, as-tu promis du boeuf à ce marchand?"
"BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA".
"Vieil homme, as-tu pris de la farine?"
"BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA.
etc.
etc.
Le juge au marchand : "Tu vois bien qu'il est fou! Je ne peux pas le juger. Tu n'avais qu'à ne pas faire affaire avec cet idiot, rentre chez toi!"
Le pauvre et le juge font la même chose pour les deux autres marchands.
Une fois le juge et le pauvre seuls, le juge : "Tu vois que je me suis bien débarrassé de ces marchands. Maintenant va tuer ton boeuf et rapporte-moi la partie arrière".
"BACHTRA-CHTRA-RA".
"Arrête de faire l'idiot, les marchands sont partis"
"BARCHTRA-CHTRA-RA!! Partis les marchands, parti l'idiot et parti le boeuf! De boeuf je n'en ai jamais eu, salut!"



Monday, February 10, 2014

The Last Unicorn, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, 1982

I am sometimes known as someone who loudly and publicly proclaims a dislike of unicorns.

That doesn't mean I did not watch this movie eleven billionty times when I was a kid and I still actually choke up a little when I hear the theme song.


NOW YOU KNOW.

Also (as with anything else you see here) if you like this you should buy it since I suspect this will not last.


Saturday, February 8, 2014

The Smokey Bear Show, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass, 1969

Hey, it's Smokey Bear! He kept us from burning shit up in the 70s!

Don't be idiots with fireworks kids! Don't play with matches!


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Cavern, Michael Sporn (1946-2014) 1983

OK, change of plans.

I just learned that animator Michael Sporn passed away on January 19th.

Animation Scoop

Cartoon Brew



Not only was he a great animator known for his deep artistic integrity, his Splog is really fascinating and educational.

I might be interspersing the Arthur Rankin with some of Sporn's wonderful work, most likely some of Sesame Street shorts.

Here is his video for Liquid Liquid's Cavern.




Monday, February 3, 2014

Chimpnology, Cyriak Harris, 2014


Not to take anything away from the previous post, but new Cyriak guys.



Willy McBean and his Magic Machine, Arthur Rankin (1924 - 2014) and Jules Bass, 1965


On January 30th, the world lost legendary animation director and producer Arthur Rankin. (via Animationscoop.

If you were a kid that was even near a TV for the last, oh, fifty years or so, you know the name.

The output of he and his partner, Jules Bass, was impressive and far reaching.

I'll be posting some of their work for the next... oh, until I stop.

Here is one of their early stop motion features.









Ghost Burger, Lee Hardcastle, 2013

The sequel to T is for Toilet.


Sunday, February 2, 2014

T is for Toilet, Lee Hardcastle, 2012

Yesterday I posted something from The ABCs of Death 2 (which is also part of the ABCs of Death 1.5 collection) Today, I post Lee Hardcastle's winning submission to the first anthology.


Saturday, February 1, 2014

M is for Meat, Wolf Matzl, 2013

Originally made for The ABCs of Murder 2 competition where it scored far, far too low.


(Thanks for the correction from Mr. Cavin, see comments)



Thursday, January 30, 2014

Macskafogó (Cat City) Béla Ternovszky,1986

Here's one of the rare Hungarian animated features that I actually recall being released in the United States, although it was very limited and poorly publicized.


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Hófehér (Slow White) József Nepp, 1984

OK, someone posted a some Hungarian features with English subs and I am really unreasonably excited about this.
This one is a wry take on Snow White.

Monday, January 27, 2014

János Vitéz (John the Valiant) Marcell Jankovics, 1973

The tale of the Hungarian folk hero John the Valiant, as animated by Marcell Jankovics. You might recall he is the director of the stunning visual feast that is Fehérlófia: this is not quite as bonkers, but bears a lot of the same stylistic flourish.

This is a feature, so get comfy.


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Szaffi, Attila Dargay, 1984

OOH It's a FEATURE. From Hungary!

Don't worry, though, it's got English subtitles. Unlike what I usually do to you.


Friday, January 24, 2014

Monday, January 20, 2014

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Transfigured, Stephen Arthur, 1998


An homage to Canadian artist Jack Shadbolt--the late "eminence gris" of West Coast modernism--made entirely of 80 of his paintings animated as interacting entities in a contiguous environment. Transformation. Surrealism. Symbolic abstraction. Fine art animation. Filmmaker Stephen Arthur took 3 years, working full time, to create the 5-minute film (released in 1998).





Monday, January 13, 2014

Junk Head 1, Yamiken Hori, 2013

If you would like to see a sequel to this fantastic short, you can contribute to here


Via Metafilter



Wednesday, January 1, 2014

A Long Day of Timbre, Mirai Mizue, 2011

Timbre is a series wherein animator Mirai Mizue uploaded a brief abstract film every day for 26 consecutive days, one for each letter of the alphabet.




BONUS: here is Letter A