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Well, they were not terribly interesting this year. I feel for Martin Scorsese, I wonder if he is ever going to be recognized for his work by the academy. You know they are going to have to give him a lifetime achievement award at some point.
Did anyone else feel it was a really strange format with presenters in the audience? I feel it broke things up too much and created some really awkward moments. Hell, for best Animated Short Film, we did not even get to see any clips... or Best Picture for that matter!
All-and-all it was a pretty ho-hum ceremony this year.
Ok, I'm going to keep this on-topic -- here are the Animation Highlights from the Oscars:
Shrek gets screentime with Charlie Chaplin. Nice little bit of CG work having him play "hacky sack" with Chaplin.
Brad Bird takes home two Oscars for The Incredibles - Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature.
Pierce Brosnan presents costume design award with Edna Mode (from The Incredibles).
Ryan wins Best Animated Short Film. (Anyone see this film?)
The best animation moment of the night goes to a very animated comic, Robin Williams. Before presenting for Best Animated Feature, he went off on a short tirade about the controversy over SpongeBob allegedly being gay:
"They tell me now that SpongeBob is gay. SquarePants is not gay. Tight pants maybe. SpongeBob Hot Pants? You go, girl!"
"What about Donald Duck? Sailor top, no pants. Hello?" "Chip and Dale, never apart, live in a tree, run around gathering nuts? Hello?" (ed: don't recall the exact quote on this one and can't find it, sorry) "Bugs Bunny. More dresses than J. Edgar Hoover at Mardi Gras. Hello?"
I think if ABC allowed him sing his originally planned song in "the voice of a preacher" it would have been even funnier... but ABC showed the usual spinelessness associated with the post-Jackson-nipple era by cutting the whole thing. Read more here.
The cut song included the lines:
"Pinocchio's had his nose done! Sleeping Beauty is popping pills! The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher! Betty Boop works Beverly Hills!" "Fred Flintstone is dyslexic, Jessica Rabbit is really a man, Olive Oyl is really anorexic, and Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan!" "Chip 'n Dale are both strippers," "Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic," and "Josie and the Pussycats dance on laps."
Now that's comedy.
Did anyone else feel it was a really strange format with presenters in the audience? I feel it broke things up too much and created some really awkward moments. Hell, for best Animated Short Film, we did not even get to see any clips... or Best Picture for that matter!
All-and-all it was a pretty ho-hum ceremony this year.
Ok, I'm going to keep this on-topic -- here are the Animation Highlights from the Oscars:
Shrek gets screentime with Charlie Chaplin. Nice little bit of CG work having him play "hacky sack" with Chaplin.
Brad Bird takes home two Oscars for The Incredibles - Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature.
Pierce Brosnan presents costume design award with Edna Mode (from The Incredibles).
Ryan wins Best Animated Short Film. (Anyone see this film?)
The best animation moment of the night goes to a very animated comic, Robin Williams. Before presenting for Best Animated Feature, he went off on a short tirade about the controversy over SpongeBob allegedly being gay:
"They tell me now that SpongeBob is gay. SquarePants is not gay. Tight pants maybe. SpongeBob Hot Pants? You go, girl!"
"What about Donald Duck? Sailor top, no pants. Hello?" "Chip and Dale, never apart, live in a tree, run around gathering nuts? Hello?" (ed: don't recall the exact quote on this one and can't find it, sorry) "Bugs Bunny. More dresses than J. Edgar Hoover at Mardi Gras. Hello?"
I think if ABC allowed him sing his originally planned song in "the voice of a preacher" it would have been even funnier... but ABC showed the usual spinelessness associated with the post-Jackson-nipple era by cutting the whole thing. Read more here.
The cut song included the lines:
"Pinocchio's had his nose done! Sleeping Beauty is popping pills! The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher! Betty Boop works Beverly Hills!" "Fred Flintstone is dyslexic, Jessica Rabbit is really a man, Olive Oyl is really anorexic, and Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan!" "Chip 'n Dale are both strippers," "Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic," and "Josie and the Pussycats dance on laps."
Now that's comedy.
From the AP - NEW YORK Feb 17, 2005 — Bugs Bunny and his pals are being updated for the future way in the future. The WB network will take the famed Looney Tunes characters as models for a new children's series, "Loonatics," that will air on Saturday mornings starting this fall. The characters' descendants Buzz Bunny and the like will be superhero action figures for the cartoon set in the year 2772.
The network's animators have re-imagined Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote as sleek new figures for a modern age.
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Oh man, here we go again ... reaching back into the archives for an "update." I know in my Bio I complained that were no "new" Looney Toons when I was a kid, but this is not quite what I had in mind. I like dark animation as much as the next guy, but to take a classic such has this and to twist it to this end ... I've got a bad feeling about this. Superhero actions figures? It's like seeing Looney Toons in Bizarro world. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
You may not want to see more, but look at this. Aint It Cool news has a preview of the new toon.
The WB has done some really good updates in the past, and most of them were superhero related. Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Justice League, and Teen Titans were all good updates of some older cartoons. But unlike this, most of those updates made the cartoons more true to the original source material, the comics they came from ... this is a real deviation from the source. The Loonatics look like "new" pro-sports mascots.
And the biggest question, can this be funny? I certainly don't see any "What's up doc?" happening here.
Darkness clouds everything.
Post your thoughts in the forum.
This is a good year for fans of Seth MacFarlane. First, Family Guy will be coming back with all new episodes on Fox starting in May after a three-year hiatus. In addition, American Dad, a new animated sitcom by MacFarlane also begins airing on Fox in May. The pilot episode of American Dad aired after the Superbowl two weeks ago and will again in March, and it looks very promising.
American Dad is the story of Stan Smith's family. Stan is a right-wing nutjob of a CIA agent who seems to spot terrorists at every corner and not afraid of using his government influence to his advantage - or wacking toast if it pops up the wrong way. His wife Francine is a seemingly sweet doting wife that hides a party-girl past, and 18-year old Daughter Hayley is as much to the left as her father is to the right. So far the All in the Family parallels are pretty strong... but once you add in the geek son Steve, Area-51 alien escapee Roger and CIA-expirement-gone-wrong fish-with-the-brain-of-an-East-German-guy Klaus who has an unhealthy crush on Francine... well the similarities end. Whew.
Although not as mad-cap as Family Guy, the comedy is true MacFarlane - irreverent and racy. One of the best cut-away's came when President Bush gets a phone call from God asking him to downplay their relationship ... only to have God hang up when he gets a call from Cheney, "Yes Sir?" Woah boy!
The animation is in the exact style of Famly Guy, I suppose you could say the Smith family lives in the same "world" as the Griffins... so there are no issues with the quality. It looks really good.
As far as concerns go, I don't know if Stan can be as endearing a focal character as Family Guy's Peter Griffin, or how easily political satire can connect with this medium in the current U.S. climate (though the idea of furnishing Iraq with Ikea is still pretty funny), but if anyone can pull this off, I think MacFarlane can. The show did have a few shining moments, and I think it has a ton of potential... and MacFarlane lending his voice talent to Stan and Roger certainly helps. I'm looking forward to the season starting.
Check out American Dad when it airs again on March 6th and decide for yourself.
American Dad is the story of Stan Smith's family. Stan is a right-wing nutjob of a CIA agent who seems to spot terrorists at every corner and not afraid of using his government influence to his advantage - or wacking toast if it pops up the wrong way. His wife Francine is a seemingly sweet doting wife that hides a party-girl past, and 18-year old Daughter Hayley is as much to the left as her father is to the right. So far the All in the Family parallels are pretty strong... but once you add in the geek son Steve, Area-51 alien escapee Roger and CIA-expirement-gone-wrong fish-with-the-brain-of-an-East-German-guy Klaus who has an unhealthy crush on Francine... well the similarities end. Whew.Although not as mad-cap as Family Guy, the comedy is true MacFarlane - irreverent and racy. One of the best cut-away's came when President Bush gets a phone call from God asking him to downplay their relationship ... only to have God hang up when he gets a call from Cheney, "Yes Sir?" Woah boy!
The animation is in the exact style of Famly Guy, I suppose you could say the Smith family lives in the same "world" as the Griffins... so there are no issues with the quality. It looks really good.
As far as concerns go, I don't know if Stan can be as endearing a focal character as Family Guy's Peter Griffin, or how easily political satire can connect with this medium in the current U.S. climate (though the idea of furnishing Iraq with Ikea is still pretty funny), but if anyone can pull this off, I think MacFarlane can. The show did have a few shining moments, and I think it has a ton of potential... and MacFarlane lending his voice talent to Stan and Roger certainly helps. I'm looking forward to the season starting.
Check out American Dad when it airs again on March 6th and decide for yourself.
I watched a couple of more episodes of Teen Titans on the DVR this weekend. In "Birthmark" we see the return of the Titan's archenemies, Slade. He's back from the dead, bigger and badder than ever ... and has a message for Raven on her birthday: "You will fulfill your destiny." It seems our favorite goth girl is destined to destroy the world - and Papa wants to be sure it happens.
This could get interesting.
In 'Cyborg the Barbarian," Cyborg is transported several thousand years into the past where he becomes a barbarian tribal champion after defeating hordes of green monsters with his "boomstick." This episode felt so much like Army of Darkness that I was waiting for him to grab the tribal leader and say, "Gimme some sugar baby."
Alas, not this time. But, at least they allude to some fun movies in this show, if I had a dollar for every Star Wars reference ...
Buy Teen Titans at Amazon
This could get interesting.
In 'Cyborg the Barbarian," Cyborg is transported several thousand years into the past where he becomes a barbarian tribal champion after defeating hordes of green monsters with his "boomstick." This episode felt so much like Army of Darkness that I was waiting for him to grab the tribal leader and say, "Gimme some sugar baby."
Alas, not this time. But, at least they allude to some fun movies in this show, if I had a dollar for every Star Wars reference ...
Buy Teen Titans at Amazon
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