Trippin' (Poke) Balls

Dead Arts

It's a rare chance to comment on two passings today, and both regarding artists.

The first is LeRoy Neiman (91), who made his reputation painting sports events and athletes, but I know as the creepy moustache guy who hung out with Hugh Hefner and made shitty scribbles of naked women on the Playboy joke page.  I will say that he made pretty good use of color, in an almost psychedelic way, but like much of the art I've seen, I have to wonder who the hell is going to buy and display it.  I get it if you want an impressionist twist on a picture for a game program, but what wall needs a painted Mark McGuire?

The other is for the Life In Hell comic strip, that Matt Groening is ending after three decades.  The strip, which ends after it's 1669th publication, was once in close to 400 publications, but in now in under 40.  Known for anthropomorphic bunnies Binky and Bongo, and fez wearing homosexuals Akbar and Jeff, the comic was serialized in many publications "_______ (Life, Childhood, School, etc.) In Hell", and was key in getting Groening the gig making animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show that led to The Simpsons.  The strip stopped being interesting or funny once he shifted to Akbar and Jeff as the focus, but some of his 'toons are gold.

Cartoon Lagoon

  The pitch: MST3K on a submarine for cartoons, with animated puppets.

Fisto Also Has The Power

I don't know why they never made a Masters Of The Universe figure for this character...

Jersey Shore And Family Circus?

Who knew that two things that are horrible on their own are great together? Jersey Circus!

Quackception

Gabriel at Videogum editor seems to have gone deeper...and found the real origin of Inception - a Scrooge McDuck comic strip! Yes, it's a shock to see that Christopher Nolan ripped it off, but casting Juno and 500 Days Of Summer to help out Gilbert Grape, well, that's where it becomes okay. Here's the full comic: Uncle Scrooge in "The Dream of a Lifetime". I just saved you $10, but really it's your loss if you don't see the film.

Head Trip

200 Episodes...And The Consequences

South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker speak with Xeni Jardin about the 200th episode of their series and plans to revisit battles over the boundaries of what can and cannot be done on television.

Ghost In The Sealab

The sequel to Ghost In The Shell was a horrible piece of shit...but with a little Adult Swim mixed in, it's not just watchable, but brilliant.

An Afterthought From Yesterday

We Didn't Forget Last Year, We Just Took A Break

Some would call it a repost, but history remains history.

• Deconstructing the Great ATHF Freak Out of 2007

• Mooninite on the Haunted Mansion

• Hoaxdevices.com

• Stickers: This is engineering, not bomb-making

• State of Massachusetts insists on calling ATHF ads "hoax devices"

• Boston LED terror scare: a message to the media

• Mark on ABC news about Mooninite devices

• Fake pipe bombs found in Boston

• Video of Mooninite menaces

• Boston Mooninite installer arrested

• Boston Channel photoshops Mooninite LED signs

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force is the Bomb T-Shirts

• LED ad campaign ignites terrorism scare in Boston

• The tribute in Boston - one year later

Internet Win

Cobra Takeover is a blog where the infamous leader of of G.I. Joe's enemy documents his experiences talking to (or not talking to) random people on ChatRoulette.com who are generally not at all prepared to suddenly find themselves talking to Cobra Commander.

Please Say Something

Under The Influence Of Meth

An assload of Dan Meth animation.

The Sound That Face Makes

Here are the people behind some of TV’s best known cartoon characters, thanks to the stalkers at Unreality:

Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson

Pamela Segal Adlon as Bobby Hill

Seth Macfarlane as Peter, Brian and Stewie Griffin

Tom Kenny as Spongebob Squarepants

James Avery as Shredder

Alexander Gould as Nemo

Rachael MacFarlane as Meg (pilot) and Hayley Smith (American Dad)

Mila Kunis as Meg Griffin (2000-Present)

Lacey Chabert as Meg Griffin (1999-2000)

Adam West as Adam West

Lorenzo Music as Garfield

Dan Castellaneta as Homer

Elizabeth Daily as Tommy Pickles

Trey Parker as…you know

Matt Stone as…you know

Kathleen Herles as Dora

Jonathan Katz as Dr. Katz

9

Last night Scartoe got me into a preview of 9, which opens today. Above is the short which inspired the film, and here you can see the official trailer, but beyond those, I don't know that it's worth more of your time. SPOILER ALERT? Sure...

The film itself is a scant 79 minutes, but it seems longer due to the repetition of the we've-got-to-rescue-so-and-so / we've-got-to-run-away-from-such-and-such-monster storyline. I didn't dislike the movie, but I don't know that I cared for it much. Why? Because I don't think the movie knows what it wants to be.

The animation is well done, but is this for kids or for adults? The characters are kinda cartoon-y and cute, except for the antagonists that are fairly gritty and grim. The story is simple enough for kids but it is a pretty dark film, visually and in the tone. How many children's movies are set in the apocalypse? It tries to stand amidst all of those to find a happy medium, and that was the wrong way to go. Either lighten up a little and make it for families or make it dark and innovative (a la Chet Zar, Cam De Leon, The Brothers Quay) so it is purely adult - but not committing either way makes it feel incomplete.

The threadpunk style was cool, but it seems like it would have made a better video game, given the storyline and the quest-like nature of the plot. That would have made it more of a standout from it's peers than it will in the theater. And with properties being converted and mixed across media platforms, I wouldn't be surprised if the design and art direction came from non-film origins.

If The Nightmare Before Christmas and Hot Topic is your level of gothic darkness, you may like this film, but those of you looking for more should hope to find a friend with a free pass to a showing...

And in deference to the date and the re-release of their catalog, here's a different "9" for you.

Revolution #9 backmasking, reversed

Tachikoma!

All you anime nerds now have a real good reason to move to Planet Japan. The Japanese have created a life sized Tachikoma robot one in which you can actually travel. They call it the 'personal edition', the cocoon shaped vehicle (for non Ghost In The Shell fans) has a camera on the outside which projects the view on the spherical cockpit inside (image after the jump). As seen in the video it can be controlled by a joystick. For now it can accommodate a medium sized passenger weighing no more than 130 lbs.

Hmmm, that was underwhelming.

Destino

Dali vs. Disney, finally seeing release in 2010.

From The Acme Novelty Library

Who Watches The Wall-E?