Saucers in the Sky
[Link: Saucers in the Sky][via Fudgeland]
March 15, 2008
February 28, 2008
The Fabulous Baron Prášil
Karel Zeman was a brilliant Czech animator who produced magical films, filled with surrealist whimsy. I stayed up late many a night in my youth in order to watch the fruits of his fertile imagination flicker across the screen of our old RCA television set.
His special effects were astonishing for their time, employing simple, in-camera optical effects, flawless stop-action animation, and live-action to produce stunningly beautiful imagery that looked as if it came straight out of an engraving by Gustave Doré. His work has inspired Terry Gilliam of Monty Python, and Wes Anderson, among many others. Anderson paid homage to Zeman in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Gilliam even went so far as to remake Zeman's film, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (AKA Baron Prášil), with decidedly mixed results.
Zeman's Munchausen is an unqualified masterpiece of fantastic cinema that is, inexplicably, unavailable in the US on DVD, and extremely difficult to find everywhere else. Fortunately, several clips are available on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and spend some time watching them. You'll be glad you did.
[Link: The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (review)]
[Link: Baron Prášil Clips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
[Link: The Special Effects of Karel Zeman Part I and Part II]
[Link: Karel Zeman Short Subjects]
May 31, 2007
Clear, Clean Taste
Cute little animated forest creatures are here to sell us booze in this bizarre promotional film for PM whisky salesmen. Pour me a stiff one, Mr. Bear!
[Link: PM Picnic][via Kitschy Kitschy Koo]
April 26, 2007
Gym Nauseum
The latest episode of It's Jerry Time deals with the horrors of being forced to swim nekkid in middle school. As usual, it's a brilliantly painful study in low-key Schadenfreude.
It also reminded me of my own awful Phy. Ed. experiences in junior-high school. Our gym teacher's name was Elton Fessier (rhymes with "brassiere"), a decrepit, and in retrospect, probably pre-verted old geezer who used to jog behind us with a big wooden paddle as we ran the 440 track, and gleefully use it to swat anyone who ran slower than he did. He'd also peer over the wall and watch us take showers, occasionally shouting out, "I want to see soap on those bodies!"
Brrrrr!
[Link: The Naked Swim]
April 24, 2007
Cartoon Brou-haha
Many thanks to scrubbles for hepping me to Something Awful's snicker-worthy, and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny parody of Cartoon Brew. Don't miss the spot-on, bogus John Kricfalusi commentary "Why All Modern Animation Sucks," on page 2.
[Link: Animation Website]
September 6, 2006
Jerry Gets Sheepish
In the latest episode of It's Jerry Time, our titular hero heads to the city looking for fame, and finds it...sort of.
[Link: The Big Time]
September 3, 2006
The Sluggo That Can Be Named Is Not The True Sluggo
This has been all over the Internets, but I think it's brilliant and sublime, so I'm going to link to it too. Behold Glyph Jockey's animation of The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn. Music by Hawaiian slack-key guitar legend, Gabby Pahinui. Buddhist narration by Alan Watts.
The only thing preventing me from achieving Nancy Nirvana while watching this is the absence of Bushmiller's Three Rocks.
[Link]
That Moustache Feeling
The Tick wakes up with a moustache and is overcome with joy. This clip contains the greatest disco song of all time.
[Link]
April 3, 2006
Jerry Knows Kung Fu
January 9, 2006
Prison Punk Jerry
I forgot to mention that the newest episode of It's Jerry Time is up. This time, the twitchily-animated Everyman winds up briefly in the pokey after causing unintentional mayhem with an advertising truck. I have to confess that I was expecting something a bit more...um....Oz-like to happen to him while he languished in the brig, but hey, if he didn't keep it real, then it wouldn't be Jerry, would it?