Pee Pee Pees

It's no secret that long road trips and over-sized sodas don't mix. In this episode of Sony Digital's Rodents, Pee Pee bargains with Buttercup for a pit stop.

Baman Piderman

A love of comics mixed with an admiration for nonsensical comedy explains why I've spent the past few days replaying this one-minute short by Alex Butera on any device I could find it on.



Sitting here at my desk, overworked to the point that my brain can't take another intellectual thought, it's really hard for me to resist such brilliantly irrelevant lines as "my boots are sticky." I think I'm going to watch it again!

Can't Stop Watching

Citizen HeroGreat superhero sketch that plays on the everyday life of superheros.

Voice TalkersP0ykpak has some of the most interesting and original comedy shorts on the web. Even after the success of Mario Game Over and Hipster Olympics, few knew the Brooklyn comedy group. This sketch about a family of voice artists is one example of their unique and groundbreaking comedy.

Powerthirst

By far the most popular video on my list, I have had to have watched this video about a dozen times. I love the absurdity and how it plays off of so many energy drink ads and social norms.

Papercut Well-conceived animation about the boredom and frustration of a repetitive work environment.

My First CrushHeartwarming animation that layers people talking about their first crush with stunning simply animation.

Danny Bonaduce: Life Coach

Assuring tabloid publishers never go hungry again, Danny Bonaduce helps celebs keep their panties off.

Scissors

Contrasting bright colors with dingy greyscale sketches, this hand-drawn animation reminds me of the many days that we sit at work waiting to escape to the bright sun and fresh air.

Taking Back Sunday 12 Days of Christmas

Take a peek into the demented minds of Fred and Adam, two members of Taking Back Sunday, as they call out the senselessness of bird-gifting. This video is brilliantly animated and features giant blue elves, an ugly holiday sweater, and Donnie Bonaduce.

"The 12 Days of Christmas" is one of those songs that became a classic not because it has any music merit, but because it's obnoxiously long and easy to spoof. Taking Back Sunday’s unique rendition of the holiday carol is perfect example of how outrageous holiday songs can become.

Nuckin Futs- A JibJab Year In Review

The latest addition to the JibJab pop culture collection proves that the world is, indeed, Nuckin Futs.If you were cryogenically frozen earlier this year and just woke came out of a deep-seeded coma, JibJab’s “Year in Review” will guide you through '06. Google buying YouTube, Brangelina reproducing, and the Dems winning the Senate -- this elaborate animated dance number has it all... Read more

High Tide

A series of animated paintings, this visual decoupage evokes fear of being swallowed by a world filled with harsh realities and unfamiliar places.

Polytechnic - Man Overboard

Haunted by the howling of backup vocals and the repetitive pulse of the piano, this new track from the UK band Polytechnic has been named NME’s track of the week. The popular UK music mag NME describes Man Overboard as “a hypnotic marching anthem for dreamers on woozy prescription pills.”

With their album dropping in UK stores today, the Polytechnics' new track sounds a bit like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with a raging hangover. According to Stockard Channing of Stereogum, “the first time we bumped into Manchester's Polytechnic, we just couldn't get over just how much Clap Your Hands Say Yeah came through in the band's sound. It wasn't just in the nasal, Alec affectations; it was in the use of bass as melody mover, the simple, snare and closed-hat indie beats.”

Regardless of the song's inspiration, this video is beautifully traumatic and we love the dapper sparrow. With the urban sprawl devastating the half-man-half-bird's very being, the ink-on-paper animation style is as gritty as it is mesmerizing.

New Simpsons Movie Trailer

In a time when computer animation brings us worlds of unsurpassed beauty, one film dares to be ugly.
With the rising trend in animation being glossy comedies such as A Sharks Tale and the Bee Movie, this trailer for The Simpsons movie reminds 3D hungry consumers that some cartoons are better left undone.

Perhaps having realized the lucrative market for animated films in which talking cartoon creatures, voiced by celebrities, have touching and hilarious family-saving adventures, the good people behind The Simpsons finally get around to bringing Springfield to the big screen.

With clips from the new film circulating online, the official trailer aired on Fox yesterday during The Simpsons episode. My favorite part is when Homer is stuck between a rock and a hard place!

Vincent

Halloween is almost here. Check out one this unreleased Tim Burton short which happens to be one of my favorites.



I love this dark poetic piece. Created in 1982, there is something about it that reminds me of every film that Burton has ever has ever done.

Excluding the obvious style of claymation that Burton has crafted and made his own, there are brief moment when you giggle to yourself because an image reminds you of something, that you've seen some where, oh wait...it was in another Burton movie.

The part when Vincent taps his fingers reminds me of Edward Scissorhands and when I saw the smoke in the alley, my anxious mind was waiting for Catwoman to creep out.

I'm a big fan of Poe and Burton and the combination of the two (which I hear maybe happening again in the near future...let me guess, Johnny Depp?)

Another reason why I am enamored by this short is because the over imagination of a small child and clashed with a grim and almost violent twist. I was never that child, but knew a few who fit the character.

Is his dog's name really Abercrombie? Brilliant.

Tim Tom

This short from 2002 has been circulating the web for some time, but I love it.



I am a sucker for expressions…whether little kids, pets, or Garbo. I feel like there is something powerful in an unpainted stare or the explosive transformation of the cheeks and eyes when you laugh. For some equally captivating reason, having a notepad for a face makes it possible to convey the same meaning with just a few squiggles.

Tim and Tom are two little men (whose faces are in fact notepads!) trying to keep in touch each other. But the Creator (intended as the one who created them) tries very hard to interfere.

The animation overall is very polished and seemless yet the faces of these two men are simple but expressionistic. As a viewer you almost trust that each expression is planned to be meaningful, rather than preconcieved or unconscious.

I love when he uses the back side of his face to show the lightbulb. And the part where all of the scraps of paper are on the floor. Its almost like he was writing a novel (on the pad that is his face) and couldn't quite get the right word. I am personally a huge fan of post it, my favorite being the really small one's that can only fit about 15 words in pale muted colors.

After watching this short, I almost want to make a roll of simple Felicia faces sketched on post-its and display them on the back of the computer to show how I am feeling. Like today would be a focused with a dash of eager. We'll see how this turns out....

For Real

I fell like this video by Okkervil River doesn’t match the song. Watching it several times, I took a moment to appreciate each part separately.



This video is trying to take two artistic mediums and throw them in a blender; instead of Margaritas they got and chunky clumps of paint trying desperately to attach to its favorite cord.

Refusing to give up on the video itself, I tuned out the song and played this video to several tracks in my music library. If you ignore the lipsynch and the band gratuitously appearing in the wilderness, the best match visual/audio match I could find was with “Free Until They Cut Me Down” by Iron and Wine.

Still not entirely satisfied I closed my eyes, listened to the song and visualized each idea. I can see where the creative content for this video may have stemmed from, but I fell like it would have been far more effective using black and white with a gritty texture, combining static landscapes with intimate close-Ups. Frantically lost with nowhere to turn, haunted by deamons while looking for some one to free you from the monster you hide inside. Heavy stuff. I like the song but I think they should give this video another go.

Test it out with your music library and tell me what you think...

Real Audio: Jack Palance

Mah-mah... I get gitty over anything that uses "mah" in place of a boring or aggitating voice. Ever since I first heard the repeated trombone riff as the voice of the teacher in Charlie Brown, I realized that "mah" is probually one of the most brilant sound effects ever.

Some times, you just dont care to think up the most mundane or annoying thing for a character to say. And even if you did take the time to think it up, no one would want to hear your brillant attempt at immitating everyday life.

Besides the fantastic addition of an aggitating femme, this Real Audio clip takes an actual voice session with Academy Award-winning American actor, Jack Palance. Best known for playing the characters of Curly and Duke in the City Slickers movies, Palance is also one of the the most sinister cinematic villains of 1950s.

A characture of a not-so-uncommon moment in time, when some one may have wanted to slap this man for being so self-serving, animator Russell Arch brings Palance to life with texture and squiggles.

Predators of the Sprawl

The Nursery is a collective of young animators, filmmakers, writers, and illustrators devoted to creating fresh, edgy entertainment for your enjoyment.



Predators of the (Urban) Sprawl is a crude yet funky look at hipsters in the city. Now in their third episode, Predators takes issues that are commonplace to city dwellers and transform them into animated vignettes.

In this episode,

Life in the Sprawl heats up as summer temperatures soar and brainless hipsters take to the streets for relief. There is danger in them hoods hater: QuarterWatersaurs!

As a former New Yorker, I must say that Predators III perfectly present summers in the City when the heat becomes stifling, oxygen feels slimy, and the brain starts hallucinating.

You can find more Predators of the Urban Sprawl on the Nursery’s YouTube channel and their website. Here’s a Behind the Scenes video created by The Nursery.

I also recommend The Nursery’s other animated web series: Flex n’ Zepher and President of the Future.

Lil' Bush "Nuked" Episode

I wish that Bring your Child to Work Day was this distructive when I was a kid.



Usually, I was stuck in some conference room with a TV and a handful of Disney movies on VHS.

This animated series created by Amp'd Mobile features all the spoils and world domination plots that one would expect of Bush as a child. And even better, it miniaturizes all the
President's closest political confidants and makes them his playmates.

The concept of such well-known national figures being recreated as younger versions of themselves reminds me of the animated TV show Clone High. The series, which lasted on MTV for less than half a season, featured such historical big wigs as Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, and Gandhi and put them in high school together. Arguably the most brilliant shows ever created for MTV! Currently in it's second episode, I hold lil' Bush in equally high regard.

My personal highlights of this episode are when Bush gets bullied in school by Kin Jung Il, the inability of the Cheney's to utter a comprehensive thought, and Bush bombing lil' Mikey Moore and the Blue States.

For more lil' Bush check out the pilot titled "hot dogs".

Hebrew Crunk!

In order to revitalize young Jewish people's in the Holy New year's rituals, Taglit-isreal presents the following...



This animated sampling mixes a beat sounding similar to Ludacris's Money Maker with the blaring of the holiday's Shofar, a trumpet is an essential part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services.

I think that it's interesting that a religious foundation that organizes "birth-right" trips to the "Holy Land" would promote this video as a way to make the high holiday appeal to the younger or YouTube generation.

This viral, at a glance, may appear offensive to the religious nature of the Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the New Year, is the most important and widely celebrated Jewish holiday. Though not a member of the religion, even I can see how the Rabbi rocking out on a ceremonial horn could ruffle a few feathers. I can only imagine what the parents, who have never even heard of Crunk, might think of this.

All seriousness aside, I do think this video is absurd and well conceived. Nothing says "celebration" to the MTV or video-hosting crowd like a booty shaken rap video. But there is one thing I am still having difficulty deciding... which is more crunk, the gold teeth or the booties on 'dem apples?