Nostalgia

Hammerman

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By request from Daps1…

From 1990 – 91, MC Hammer was arguably the biggest hip-hop star in the world. You can’t deny the fact that his break out hit “U Can’t Touch This” was catchy, and with it’s heavy (understated) sampling of Rick James’ “Superfreak”, it made heavy, HEAVY sampling of funk hits popular in future hip-hop songs. Hammer helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream audience with an entertainment style that no hip-hop artist had back then. 

But how do you know you when someone hits it big? They get their own cartoon series…

hammermanHit the Jump, to read more about hip-hop’s first animated series… Continue reading →

2Pac: Do For Love (Music Video)

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While uploading my animation assignments to youtube yesterday, this random video popped up on the main screen. It was 2Pac’s “Do For Love” with Blackstreet. One of the forgotten posthumously released 2Pac songs, I remember this video back in 1997 and I thought it was a unique touch being all animation in getting around the fact that a live 2Pac wasn’t available (RIP Pac!). Still, I wasn’t too impressed with the animation back in 1997. In 2009, still not impressed, BUT now I do admire the fact that several animation techniques were used to produce this trippy video. 2D animation, 3D animation, claymation stop-motion, rotoscoping, among others came together to create something that, while not impressive in terms of animation, was still quite entertaining. Plus, no 2Pac music video ever looked like this:

“Do For Love”/ 2Pac/ 1997/ dir. ???

Listening back, I really do enjoy this song. It may find a rotation on my iphone. Plus, apparently according to wikipedia (so take this with a grain of salt),”Do For Love” actually rechopped J Dilla‘s production on a remix of the The Pharcyde‘s track Y? hmmm…..

Speaking of J Dilla, head over to my dude DJ Daps1 Thaswassup site. In preparation for his site getting to the 10,000 hit mark he has made available a Tribute Mixtape to J Dilla he made back in 2006. Congrats Bro! I’m not sure I’ll ever get to that mark. 

PS: Around the 3:07 mark in the video, where it was a mix of 2D and the 2Pac claymation, did that seem a little off to you? Maybe it was just me.

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).

devastator2009

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?

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!

Transformers: “Generation 1”

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1984 – 1987

transformers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So many cartoons, so many memories, so many moments, so many inspirations that turned a tiny spark of creativity into the huge bon fire that has helped me choose the path that I am on today. How do I choose which one to kick off this blog?

Obviously, if you took a look at the title, you know exactly where I plan to start. But first here were some of the other contenders:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Voltron, 90’s style X-Men (aka Jim Lee style), Bugs Bunny, Batman: The Animated Series, He-Man, Thundercats, Chuck Jones, Jack Kirby, Whilce Portacio, Super Mario Bros, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

This was just a small sampling. I have a good 10 pages of topics (movies, people, comics, tv, etc…) that I hope to write about in the future. But I chose to start off with the old school Transformers, the original, Generation 1 or G1 as some fans like to call it.

Looking back, the animation of this show was not the best, the stories were somewhat forgettable, the human characters were…bleh… Many critics called it a 30-minute commercial and you could really tell the toy came first. So why did I choose Transformers to begin this blog?

 To answer that, I go to July of 2007. A group of over 50+ people (Mostly Seattle Southsiders, myself included) came together and filled up the entire back row and then some of Lincoln Square Cinemas, which is the most bourgeois theater I have been to, to watch the live action Transformers movie. This was all organized with an email chain that ran some 120+ messages. 

 transformersmovie2007

Nostalgia and memories of the original Transformers was the foundation of how this group of people came together. This same fondness is what has kept the Transformers franchise alive and thriving, with what seems like hundreds of Transformers spin-offs, toys, comics, and reboots, some 25 years after the original cartoon. It’s one of the few animated series I know of that has crossed generations.  To this day, I know plenty of aunties and uncles, and parents that call any large toy or cartoon robot a “transformer”.

It’s easy to admit now, but yes, Transformers: Generation 1 really was a weekly 30-minute commercial for toys. I know I had my share of them and there are plenty of folks who collect them. But for many, Transformers: Generation 1 is like a time machine that takes them back in time to their childhood. It doesn’t matter that the animation wasn’t tight, or stories weren’t well told, or characters weren’t all that deep. All that mattered was that they were entertained, they were happy, and they were inspired.

 That’s why 50+ people, some who hardly knew anyone in the group, organized via email to fill up the entire back row and then some of Lincoln Square Cinemas.

 That is the true Art of Transformers: Generation 1

That and cars and planes turning into robots was pretty tight as well =)