Welcome to Eltingville – better late than never
Apr 06Canadian fans of Evan Dorkin (or Americans who missed out the first time around), rejoice – some kind soul has posted the Welcome to Eltingville cartoon pilot to YouTube. The pilot was intended to become part of the Cartoon Network Adult Swim line-up, but sadly didn’t make it, which is a shame as I think it would have found an audience after a few more episodes.
As it happens, YouTube is nerd paradise, as you can also watch Patton Oswalt and Brian Posehn’s Super Nerd pilot for Comedy Central, Joss Whedon’s Buffy pilot (dusting vampires using a four frame transition!), and Pryde of the X-men (so… many… bad Marvel cartoons). And those are whole episodes of geek shows. The sheer volume of clips, opening credits, and commercials for shows from around the world, not to mention whole episodes of non-geek shows (unless your a geek FOR those shows) is stunning.
Please. Stop with the photorealistic fur.
Apr 06Was watching American Idol last night (yeah, I watch it–what’s it TO ya?!) and caught a commercial for a film that I believe is titled Over the Hedge.
What is it? Guess.
Right! It’s another computer animated film featuring talking animals voiced by smartass celebrities!
I get that Ice Age was a big success. I get that Ice Age 2 opened HUGE. I get that talking animals have been a staple of animation since Bambi screamed about his dead…sorry, no spoilers.
But these movies look pretty shitty, so let’s see something NEW. Like animated cars.
What? Pixar’s doing an animated car movie? This very summer? Righteous.
Interview: Ernie Cline
Apr 05Originally published March 11, 2003
In Internet terms, if you can create one thing that people email around to one another, you’re a star. If you can follow up with a sophomore effort, that gets even more attention, you’re a superstar. Ernie Cline is now working on his third meme, as people slowly begin to start describing something extra cool as being “Airwolf,” making him, well, at least a superstar. What comes after “superstar” hasn’t been worked out yet.
I'm down with UMPC…yeah, you know me…
Apr 05I would totally buy one of these.
The dream/nightmare of device convergence is racing at us at an alarming rate, although content providers seem content to pretend that the evil pirates will someday hop back onto their ships and the rest of the world will return to calmly planting themselves in front of a couch to watch television, placing a plastic disc into any of a variety of trays when the time comes to enjoy recorded media.
Like the video iPod, which I lusted for and then got and now lust for even as I stare at it on my desk, the Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer has enormous potential to change the way things ARE. This tiny thing is basically a low-end laptop, but the size of a hardcover book.
I fantasize about sticking it in my bag, taking it to Starbucks and sitting there writing on it while the world passes me by. Sure, I guess I can do that with a laptop, but…but…this is a UMPC! See?!
Of course, the price is WAY too high, so this revolution may stutter before it can start. Imagine this device costing less than $500, though–a small portable device that is media player, personal computer, information organizer, datebook/planner/address book, and even phone (via VOIP) all in one.
I’m woozy.
Clerks 2 full of culture
Apr 05
As Kevin Smith releases more and more sneak-peak material for Clerks 2, I’ve been getting more and more antsy – I want to see it now! But in the meantime, I can share fun facts with you, which you can then use to show your snobby movie friends that you’re all cultured ‘n shit.
In a number of places in various trailers and on-set stills, you can catch glimpses of posters on the walls of the film’s main set, Mooby burger, each one a masterpiece fusion of fast-food and religious iconography. Here’s the thing, they’re real art. Actually, they’re photoshopped copies of real art. But still, at heart, it’s real art.
BC artist Chris Woods has done a series of paintings and installations that take a look at consumer culture – anyone who’s ever read an issue of Ad-Busters is likely familiar with his work. One of his earliest series, McTopia, mixes the fantastic with the super-sized mundane – it’s this series that got used by the Clerks production designers.
Bonus fun fact – Woods did the cover to 2003’s Everything to Everyone, by the Barenaked Ladies.
