Assy McGee

Wow. I got told about this by a colleague, it was totally inappropriate but I am really pleased they did! Basically it's a cartoon about a talking ass with a gun who solves crimes. Yep. I love it. The animation is cool too.

Check out more stuff at adutswim.co.uk.

Epic Mickey Game Preview

Has anyone played this yet? Looks good! According to HERE:

"The character Yen Sid (originally from the Fantasia movie) created a world where all the original and now forgotten characters of Disney’s incredible animated history can reside.

Mickey Mouse, seeing all this through his mirror, decides one day to visit the model/world that Yen Sid created to see what it is truly like. In the process of Mickey’s exploration and Yen Sid’s sudden awakening out of bed;

Mickey accidentally spills thinner on the model, damaging the world and in effect creating “Wasteland” as well as the ink blot that becomes the game’s antagonist. He spends some time trying to quickly repair the damage he has made and then rushes back through the mirror and forgets all about the model.

That is until one day when the ink blot seemingly pulls him back through the mirror to face what he has done. You spend a lot of the game furtively trying to clean up the mess Mickey has made.

To accomplish this you must of course defeat enemies along the way. But you have two options; take the easy route and use the thinner which will essentially destroy your enemies or you can choose the more difficult path and repaint them."

World's Smallest Stop-Motion Animation

Following in the vein of the world's smallest things this week....
“Dot” is a film commissioned by Nokia, directed by Sumo Science and animated by Aardman. It was shot with a Nokia N8 using Cellscope technology.

Check out the making of "Dot" below.

The Head: A Short Film

A colourful and psychedelic trip through the mind from Matias Vigliano and Dante Zaballa.

The Simpsons X Banksy

I look forward to every couch gag of The Simpsons, but this has got to be one of, if not the, best so far.
Banksy guest directs on this one, and really goes to town!

Nobody Beats The Drum Stop Motion Video

Great stop motion video for Dutch Electro group Nobody Beats The Drum's tune Grindin'.

This sequence of 4085 photo's was patiently created by Nobody Beats The Drum's VJ / visual artist Rogier van der Zwaag.
Check out the 'Making of' video below.
Oh, and the guys are taking the piss by the way. You'll see.....

Ninja Tune XX Video Mix By MOX

A short mix made from snippets of Ninja Tune & Big Dada videos, manipulated and animated by the mighty MOX. Included on 'ZENTVDVD Part.2' a compilation of 58 Ninja Tune videos. More info on Ninja Tune's 20th anniversary - Ninja Tune XX - at http://www.ninjatunexx.net

art / concept by mox
audio mix: by mox

Logorama Video

A film to expose the insanely ad-saturated world that we live in...

This is a short film that was directed by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy + Ludovic Houplain. It was presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2009. It opened the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won a 2010 academy award under the category of animated short.
Many thanks to Adriana Wong in Melbourne for digging this one up for us!

Samurai Champloo

Samurai Champloo was written and directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (who also directed Cowboy Bebop). It aired in Japan in 2004 and is 26 episodes long. This anime blends action and comedy as well as some kick ass Samurai fighting and its all set during Japans Edo period.
Now Samurai Champloo would have you believe that we have the Edo period to thank for today’s hip hop culture, Graffiti, hippies and the flower power movement, beat-boxing just to name a few. And who am I to say otherwise, ok sure those pesky school text books and historians would have you believe otherwise, but come on what do they know.


This anime is set around 3 main characters: Mugen, a 19 year old, outlaw who will fight anyone that looks like they might be a bad ass and has never lost a fight. Jin, a 20 year old, ronin who is very reserved but can kick ass when needed and has also never lost a fight. And Fuu, a 15 year old girl, who decides to look for “a samurai who smells of sunflowers” (her dad), after Mugen and Jin get the tea house she was working in burnt down. The 3 of them set out on this adventure after Fuu springs Mugan and Jin from Prison in exchange for them promising her that they will help her. They are always broke ass broke and wonder around Japan getting into trouble wherever they go.


I know I say this about a lot of anime but I loved it, sure there were a few episodes that I could have skipped, but all of them had me laughing my ass off. To top it off I loved the ending as well it was a well rounded anime and it had something for everyone. I had put off watching this anime for some time as it didn’t sound like it was my thing, but I was happily proven wrong. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had to give up the TV half the way through (so someone could play PS3 games) I would have watched it in a day. The animation is very good, the music is kicking, the jokes run right the way through, and there is a bit of a storyline hidden in there as well.

White Box By Makoto Yabuki

White Box from makoto yabuki on Vimeo.

Train Bombing Animation

A great little animation video By: Bodie Jahn-Mulliner, Rasmus Hansen, Sylvester Rishøj Jensen, Rasmus Ustrup
[VIA]

New Blu Video Big Bang Big Boom

This guy is totally insane. His work just gets better and better with each new video...
"BIG BANG BIG BOOM:
an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life ... and how it could probably end.
[VIA]

Death Note

This anime started out as a manga series by Tsugumi Ohba, artwork by Takeshi Obata and ran from 2003 to 2006. It was then turned into an anime series in October of 2006 and finally in 2007 it was turned into 2 live action movies. The anime series has 37 episodes and was directed by Tetsuro Arake and was produced by Madhouse in Japan and licensed by Vis Media for the English language conversion. Death Note has had a lot of praise from various critics for its story line and use of violence making the anime very entertaining. It has also been banned in China because kids were altering their notebooks to look like a Death Note.

So what happens when a Shinigami (or Death God) gets bored? The result is this series. Death Note focuses on Light Yagami a very intelligent high school student and Ryuk a bored Shinigami. Ryuk manages to get his hands on an extra Death Note, and as the world of the Shinigami is so boring he tosses the extra Death Note down to Earth to see if he can get a little entertainment. Light is disillusioned with the up rise of crime and the lack of justice in the justice system in Japan. One day he finds the Death Note and after thinking that the notebook is some kind of a lame joke he decides to try it out. When it works Light's whole life changes; he meets Ryuk who explains that he is only along for the ride and Light can do what he likes with the Death Note. Light decides to exact his own justice on those he sees as evil, as well as those who get in his way. He is dubbed Kira by the public because no one knows who is killing the worlds worst criminals. At this point crime in the world is virtually non-existent and the worlds law enforcements agencies get together to try and bring down Kira. At this point L the worlds best detective is brought in to try and find Kira. No one knows what L looks or sounds like or his real name.

Now you have two world class geniuses pitted at one another. We the viewer know who all the players are and it's this game of cat and mouse, and just how far Light is willing to go that makes this anime work so well. Just when you think Light is going to get found out something else happens and he is able to go on. What would you do if you had a Death Note: Me, well after I took care of all of the people on my s*@t list (you know who you are) I might be tempted to do the same as Light.

I loved this series from the start it has everything that turns a good anime into a cult sensation. The story line has been thought out with precision to hook you in from start to end. The artwork is top of the line and the soundtrack is also good. I was able to get the first 24 episodes very quickly when it first came over to the UK and made the mistake of thinking that it was only 24 episodes long. Needless to say I was tearing my hair out when I found out that it was 37 episodes and there was a hell of a long wait to get the rest. Luckily I was able to get the rest fairly quickly from the states. With is anime series I really can't see anyone not liking it, it is that good. Please note that I am talking about the series and not the so called anime films (Death Note R and Death Note R2) these are just the condensed versions of the whole series and you miss out on so much that it ruins the whole feeling of that anime.

photos via photobucket

Aqua Team Hunger Force Cut You Up

If Mastodon were bits of food, then they'd look like this.....
Spied on the Burning Candy blog!

Jayne Helliwell

Illustrator and friend Jayne Helliwell tragicly passed away on the 14th April 2010 whilst cycling home in central London.

Having known her for some years now the news came as a devistating blow to myself all that knew and loved her. Jayne was an immensely talented and original person that never compramised or took the easy way out. The intention of this post is to celebrate the work of an extrodinarily gifted young lady.

Though she will be sorely missed by all that knew her, the memories will live on forever. See you on the other side little lady. x

BADLANDS II from JAYNE HELLIWELL on Vimeo.

Ali Love 'Diminishing Returns' from JAYNE HELLIWELL on Vimeo.

View her website here.

Skateboard Animation

Skateboardanimation from Tilles Singer.

An amazing animation made from hundreds of cut-outs from skate mags and some really cool budget backdrops....

Thanks to Toybotstudios for the heads up...

Patrick Boivin

Stumbled across some excellent stop frame animation by Patrick Boivin here.

Stay Away From the Light Animation

"This animation was created by Ericailcane and DEM from Italy and Will Barras from the UK. The music was written by Om Unit (UK), Tatsuki (JP) and Tayone (IT). Together these six artists worked as part of the first Original Cultures event in Bologna, Italy in June 2009. The audio and animation were created separately, without the artists knowing what the others were doing, before being brought together for a live showcase.

This edit gives everyone who couldn’t make the show, as well as those who did, a chance to see part of what happened on the night – a truly unique coming together of artists and cultures."

ROA Rabbit In London

ROA's Rabbit in London(Animated GIF) using photos from Ekosystem...The nervous system looks so good!!

Flippin' Pages Parkour

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

A nice take on traditional animation I found on web.