It took them a while to capitalize on the huge movie success of Iron Man. Here’s the trailer for the new upcoming animated series on NickToons.
Let’s be real, I’m not sure I’m sold on the Tony Stark as a teenager premise. It didn’t work for me when X-Men: Evolution turned most of the X-Men into teenagers attending a regular high school. If done right, like Batman Beyond or Next Avengers, where the original heroes were homaged and played a vital role, maybe it could’ve worked. But Tony Stark just doesn’t work as a 16 year old kid for me. Tony Stark needs to be Robert Downey Jr.
I’ll actually watch some of this before I pass more judgement. I will say this though, it already seems better than the last Iron Man animated series.
Actually, based on that catchy theme song, I’m not too sure anymore.
“I…I….AM…IROOOON MAAA-A-AAAAN!” Don’t tell me that’s not catchy.
International Working Womyn’s Day was this past Sunday March 8. I feel bad since I missed the event that happened in Seattle =(.
Anyway speaking of strong womyn, I thought I would pass along this dope Filipina artist that I recently discovered about a week ago. Her name is Jac Lim, and on her deviantART page says she’s currently residing San Pablo City. She’s a Game Developer, cosplayer, artist, comic stripper, facepainter, model, graphics designer, senior penciller, video editor.
I’m not sure if she’s still doing her online web comic strip called “Pilya” which translates to naughty girl in tagalog. Some of it’s really funny. Here’s two examples:
Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen, genius. He is one of the first writers to establish a literary and structural tone to comic books that rivals traditional novels. It’s no secret that Alan Moore is not a fan of the care-free licensing that major comic book companies (Like DC) take with writers’ characters. He has always decided to take his name off writing credits when a movie is made based on one of his many genius comic stories. With the disaster that was The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie, Alan Moore became more frustrated with the whole licensing process.
Because of this, I don’t think he gets out in public that much. Actually, for many years I just knew him as that dude with the beard…
Yup, thas him! That’s all I knew of him. He never really seemed human, like if I ever met the dude I would cower in his presence. I never really heard him speak or got a sense of his personality until this fateful Set the VCR Moment: (there’s the jump!) Continue reading →
The Art of the Cartoon blog just passed the 1000 hit mark!
Many thanks to those who read this blog. This inspires me to keep writing in this thing. It only took a lil over 2 months, I never thought I would hit 1000 this fast, I figured people would get tired of my writing about cartoons and animation and stuff…
Check out this trailer for the upcoming Indian Animation (as in the Country India) Sultan the Warrior…
WHAT ….THE FU@K…WAS THAT!?
I can’t hate on the animation though (I sooo want to though…..). These are folks I might be working with in the future, I don’t want them saying, “why you hating on our animation?”
You have to admit, it’s hilarious that the main dude’s facial expression never changes (I can watch this trailer over and over for the unintentional comedy that is the dude’s face).
Oh and one last note, A.R. Rahman, the same dude who did the music to Slumdog Millionaire, did the music to this piece of…wonderful animation (grits teeth). Interesting….
This could all be just me though. Have a good laugh!
Awww Yes… Players have reported to spring training and baseball season is about to begin. With Griffey Jr. returning to the Mariners, I thought it would be fitting to have this Bootleg Classic dedicated to one of Griffey’s greatest guest starring roles ever. Even though baseball is tainted at the moment, and because of the “steroid era” we’ll probably never feel the same about baseball ever again, this Bootleg Classic takes you back to a time when baseball seemed as genuine as Griffey’s smile on his Upper Deck rookie card.
The Simpsons “Homer at the Bat” 1992 (originally aired Feb. 20, 1992…17 years ago!)
Background:
Do I really need to do a background on The Simpsons? It is one of the most influential animated programs in the history of cartoons. So influential that folks have written books on the Simpsons’ effect on society. So I am going to assume everyone knows about the misadventures of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson, as well as the other loveable townfolk of Springfield.
The Episode:
Homer and the other Power Plant workers sign up for their work’s softball team. Thanks to Homer’s homemade bat, the Power Plant goes undefeated and makes it to the championship game vs. the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. Mr. Burns (owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant) makes a million dollar bet with the owner of the Shelbyville Power Plant that his team will win. In order to secure victory, Mr. Burns hires 9 Major League players: Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia, so they can play for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant softball team.
Hilarity ensues…
(Hit the Jump to find out what makes this episode a Bootleg Classic)
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.”
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.
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.
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
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…)
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…
Anyway speaking of strong womyn, I thought I would pass along this dope Filipina artist that I recently discovered about a week ago. Her name is Jac Lim, and on her 
Art of the Cartoon 
