Author: artofthecartoon

The NEW Devastator

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Devastator was the first “combiner” transformer. It took six constructicons combined to make the dreaded Devastator. I was excited when I heard they were bringing the combiner Devastator (as opposed to the stupid tank from the first live-action Transformers) to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Here is comparison of the original Devastator and the movie version (thanks to Gizmodo).

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My first reaction…eh….

We’ll have to see if this NEW Devastator is going to rock. My nostalgia for the original overbears my critical judgment on this matter. I will always treasure the original G1 designs. But lest I point out, many folks were critical of the first live-action Transformers designs, and I have to say they turned out pretty well. I’m going to have to trust the animators on this Devastator thing, so I’ll hold off judgment.

What do you think?

Love

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I hope Valentine’s Day went well for most. Everyone has posted this video to death, so I think I’ll join in as well. It makes sense for Love Day, plus Bambu is in it…

Love – Greyboy feat Nino Moschella/ dir. Patricio Ginelsa/ 2009

Hit the jump to see the video:

Continue reading →

Inang…

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scan10015It has been a little over a year since my Inang (ilokano for grandma) passed. Her passing obviously saddened me at the time, but since I was so busy with the many things happening in my life at the time, the impact of her loss didn’t hit me until a month or so later, where I almost broke down at an Arts Kollective meeting.

My Inang was responsible for raising me until I was about 4 years old and I visited her in San Diego every summer after that until I was teenager. She had a big hand in making me what I am today. Here’s the thing though and I never noticed this before until just recently, but reflecting back one year later, her passing represented a huge paradigm shift in my life. Ever since my Inang’s passing, here’s a partial list of things I have done/ accomplished

  • 222 Show
  • Had an art piece in a gallery/ exhibition space
  • Established a brand new department at the Wing Luke…Visitor Services
  • Hired 4 new staff
  • Opened a brand new museum
  • Partied in Vegas (or maybe I didn’t….shhh!)
  • Lost a couple of pounds
  • Completed 2 marathons
  • Had 2 art pieces auctioned off
  • New clothes/ New Image
  • Went back to school
  • Started a new blog…=P

Okay so back on topic (I have a hard time doing that sometimes), this is a blog on animation and cartoons and the like, what does my Inang’s passing have to do with cartoons? Well, here is the painting(s) I did for the Sarili Cycle exhibition. It was entitled “Homage to the Fallen” and it was inspired by the passing of my Inang:

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Can you see the cartoon/ animation influence?

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Rest now Inang. I may have just focused on your influence on MY life in the past couple of words, but I hope you also know that you had influence and love for many countless others as well.

I’m starting to ball, so I better end this…

NBA on NBC (1990-2002)

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Animation and sports. I don’t think folks realize the importance of one on the other, especially in the television broadcast world. But let’s be real, many times the intro animations set-up the game. And a great set-up can be the difference from a good game and a great game.

In my humble opinion, the hands down greatest animated intro was the NBA on NBC from 1990 – 2002. Check out out their intro to the 1998 NBA Finals:

From the highlighting of the NBC logo, to the sliding NBA logo, all the way to brushed aluminum background, the animation for this sequence was beautifully done (I wish I knew who the designers and animators were). And to this day, no intro from the other networks (NBA on ESPN, NBA on TNT, MLB on FOX, NFL on FOX, NFL on CBS, NFL on NBC, etc…) has given me that WOW factor.

It isn’t all about the animation though (blasphemy, this is an animation blog..), what really makes the NBA on NBC’s intro shine is the sum of all the parts: the Bob Costas voiceover, the montage of previous games’ (heavily filtered) highlight clips, and of course the best network sports theme ever, “Roundball Rock” and it was composed by John Tesh of all people. The best example of the complete intro was game 6 of the 1993 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns. Check it out:

Alright, the real reason I’m reminiscing is because football season is officially over. The Mariners don’t play an actual game until April (Spring Training does not count and by all accounts the Mariners are going to suck this year). And the Seattle Supersonics are no longer here (no comment), so there is no NBA for Seattle…

But we do have this:

Once again, greatest animated sports intro…EVER!

PS: Enough time has passed, we can officially add Delonte West and Danny Fortson to the list of obscure Seattle Sonic players…

EDIT 2/11/09: BOO on youtube user TRJ22487, who has disabled the embed feature on the Bulls vs. Suns, and Bulls vs. Sonics intro videos. It’s all good though, just double click on the videos to get directly to the youtube feed.

EDIT 2/13/09: THANK YOU BILL SIMMONS! Thanks to the sports guy, Bill Simmons, from ESPN.com, for introducing me to this clip of John Tesh performing “Roundball Rock” LIVE! The set-up is classic, John Tesh humming the theme on his answering machine, and it ends with some sick violin vs. guitar action. YOU READ RIGHT!

Set the VCR: Here Comes The Ambulance! (Madden 92)

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This new segment in the blog goes over the moments in cartoon history that have to be recorded and seen over and over. Since I am old school and remember the VCR days (when setting the VCR took a whole day’s work), I am calling this segment “Set the VCR.”

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There is still time in 2009 to talk  football. Now folks now-a-days are spoiled with the  current “Madden NFL” series. The player models are looking more realistic with every passing year. The old school football game to go to will ALWAYS be Tecmo Bowl, but Madden 92 was the first to really bring the realism (and humor) of football to my eyes.

john_madden_football_92_gen_screenshot11

Background

Before Madden, Video Game football was not too realistic. Bo Jackson could potentially zig zag his way to score on every play in Tecmo, and there was always one play where no matter what, you could score (cough..flea flicker). I mean Tecmo only had like 4 plays! You could just mash buttons and play decently.

Playing Madden 92 for the first time was actually like football in that you had to know what the fuck you were doing. When I first played Madden I hated it because everything seemed so complicated (look at Madden now though…you need a degree to play that game). As I kept playing and getting used to the game, I started seeing how realistic this game was compared to Tecmo. 

And then the “Set the VCR” moment came that totally made me fall in love with the game…

Set the VCR

I was playing as the Seahawks (obviously)  against the (then LA) Raiders. My QB, Dan McGwire (aka QB #10) dropped back looking for a deep pass to Brian Blades (aka WR#89). Suddenly Howie Long from the Raiders (aka DE #75) came off the edge and totally blasted my QB. The game told me QB #10 was injured. Then something shocking and at the same time hilarious happened…

An ambulance came from nowhere and ran over 6 more players!!!

Don’t believe me, watch the ambulance montage in this clip:

The Impact

Ok so after that, I wanted to see someone get injured on every play! Not only was it the first time I saw a video game ambulance drive onto the field, the programmers and animators saw it fit that they add a little more realism and run over other players that was in the ambulance’s way (bravo, now that is art!). 

To me, this was a new path for video game sports. Madden 92 obviously started a franchise that is booming today. It even helped start a franchise based on absurd & hilarious Video game  violence (NFL BLitz). I don’t think its a stretch to say that Madden 92 helped pioneer the sports video games of 2009. However, they took out the ambulance around 1994 (bad move), and to this day I wish it would make a return. I know it won’t because the NFL (No Fun League) has Darth Vader Force Choke on violence in any NFL License video game. 

But for know, I’ll Set the VCR one more time…

HERE COMES THE AMBULANCE!!!

PS: Inspired by Chad Cocelmo’s The Memory Card on the Destructoid Blog.

‘Kung Fu Panda’ dropkicks ‘Wall-E’ at Annie Awards

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The Annie Award winners for 2009 were just announced (Jan. 30). The Annie’s are the like the “Oscars for animation” (one of the staffers at school said that). And would you look at that…controversy!!!!

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‘Kung Fu Panda’ dropkicks ‘Wall-E’ at Annie Awards by Tom O’Neil

“Kung Fu Panda” shut out all competition, including critical darling “Wall-E,” at Friday’s Annie Awards, winning 10 categories, including best animated feature. Does this sweep signal trouble for “Wall-E” at the upcoming Oscars?

Annie_awards_kung_fu_panda_walle

Since the Academy Awardsintroduced a separate award for best animated feature in 2001, the winners of the two prizes have matched up every year except 2006, when “Cars” won the Annie, but “Happy Feet” danced off with the Oscar. And last year’s double winner “Ratatouille” was also the clear leader at the Annies, winning nine of its 14 nominations and far outpacing the other two eventual Oscar nominees — “Surf’s Up,” which won two of 10 nods, and “Persepolis,” which went zero for four.

Although film critics ranked “Wall-E” as one of the top-rated movies of the year, those truly in the know about the art of making animation — members of the International Animated Film Society, who bestow the Annie Awards — were far less impressed. Of this year’s three Oscar contenders, “Kung Fu Panda” led going into the Annie Awardswith 16 nominations to eight for “Wall-E” and five for “Bolt.” Numbering triple nods in both character animation and voice acting and double noms in storyboarding and production design among its record tying tally, “Kung Fu Panda” won all 10 categories in which it was competing. And offshoots of “Kung Fu Panda” were also winners at the Annie Awards. The video game claimed an award and TV spinoff “The Secrets of the Furious Five” took four more.

Winners of the Annie Awards were announced at a kudofest at UCLA’s Royce Hall. The Annie Awards website has a complete list of winners and nominees.

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My Take:

I was entertained by Kung Fu Panda, but I was wowed by Wall-E.  Now supposedly the winners are voted upon by experts in the animation field (even though I also read you can purchase a ballot?), and I am no expert (I’m just a student what do I know) so I can’t speak on the technical merit of the films too much. What I can say is that I always appreciate “art with a message.” To me, Wall-E had more of message (i.e. critique of consumerism, albeit a safe message that wouldn’t offend kids and parents) than Kung Fu Panda (which I must admit was more entertaining). 

I was at school today, and a staffer had a good point that these films were initiated some years before they actually come out. So the politics of these films are mostly accidental.

That may be true, but like most things in life, we don’t live in a vacuum and you can’t separate out the politics. 

Anyway, Good Job Kung Fu Panda! but I’m hoping Wall-E takes the Academy Award.

Animated Super Bowl Ads 2009

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That was a surprise…It turned out to be an entertaining game. Too bad I HATE the Steelers. Oh and guess what…I  HATE the Cardinals too.  But congrats to Omar Epps (aka Coach Mike Tomlin) for winning the Super Bowl (at least I like that guy). 

Omar Epps on the left, Mike Tomlin on the right
Omar Epps on the left, Mike Tomlin on the right

 

Anyway, this is a blog on animation and cartoons and the like, so let me go over the animated ads that stood out to me. There was plenty of animation to go around, so  only a few make the cut (and NO, the horrible “3D” Sobe lizards did not make the cut). 

Coke Classic Avatar

Let’s be real, we live in an online world and everyone and their mom has some kind of avatar. When we meet folks, we’re just meeting their avatar. So good job Coke on being literal…

Coke Heist 

WOW, two Coke commercials (plus I enjoyed the Mean Joe Greene spoof). This one was just special. I don’t know what it is…maybe I just like the heist thing, but maybe its because I thought the insects were beautifully animated. But yeah, this one’s pretty good. 

GE Scarecrow

My initial thought…”eh” … but then my guy DJ Daps1 pointed out that the scarecrow in the commercial was some top tier animation. Looking back, that scarecrow is pretty detailed, so I have to concur. This one is for you Daps. 

Alright let’s stop it right there, but if anyone wants to know my favorite commercials were the 1 second ones. The Miller one were the dude Screams “HIGH LIFE!!!” and the Ivar’s one that just said “Ivars.”

Final quote of the night from ?uest Love’s Twitter “Yo, You got the juice now Q” (Ask me if you don’t get the reference…)

Filipin@s: Floro Dery

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All Transformers geeks should recognize that a large part of the Transformers phenomenon was begun by a Filipino. 

Let me introduce everyone to Floro Dery, a Filipino, who did the original character designs of the G1 Transformers cartoon show:

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Let me not blow this out of proportion now. Floro Dery DID NOT come up with the initial Transformers G1 designs. That credit goes to Japanese illustrator, Shohei Kohara (Transformers did start in Japan after all, look at the original G1 toy boxes for Kohara’s work ). What Floro Dery DID do, was simplify the designs so that Optimus, Bumble Bee, Soundwave, Starscream, Megatron, etc…were able to move fluidly (albeit with limited animation) in the cartoon series. He also designed Hot Rod and some other Transformers from the 1986 animated classic, Transformers: the Movie.

Floro Dery has said that without his designs, Transformers wouldn’t have taken off and would have gone the way of the GoBots (ouch!).

Is that true? Hard to tell, but Transformers fans, a reason for the Transformers success is due to a Filipino!

Plus, without his designs, Megatron would always be sporting some wood…

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American Akira

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Akira, an “anime” movie made back in 1988 and directed by Katsuhiro Otomo. It is heralded as “one of the greatest animated movies of all-time,” and credited for ushering in this current era of “anime.” Without a doubt, the high quality of animation combined with adult themes and a complex (maybe too complex) storyline, has not only set this movie apart from other animated films, but also set a precedence for cartoons being considered “art.”

Akira deserves its own post (which will come in the future), however, this post deals with the  scenario of “what if Akira was made (or remade) in America?” Check the video for the (hilarious) results:

A live-action movie is in the works. Warner Bros. has picked up the license. Leonardo Dicaprio is set to produce (and maybe star), and Joseph Gordon Levitt set to play Tetsuo. Slated to come out in 2011…

My Take: ( *sigh*…shakes head in disappointment)…