animation

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McBain!

Oh wow. Every clip of McBain from "The Simpsons," cut together in sequence. Put down the donut and enjoy McBain's witticisms and gunplay: "Ice to see you" indeed. For exhaustive details on McBain, check out this page. See also: Watching 130 Episodes of "The Simpsons" Simultaneously and Every "Itchy & Scratchy Show"... READ ON

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Watching 130 Episodes of "The Simpsons" Simultaneously

Earlier this week I came across Every "Itchy & Scratchy Show" Ever, and went to see if its creator MrBestDeni had made more "Simpsons" stuff. Turns out he hasn't done more YouTube videos, though he's on Vimeo now. Anyway, in the "Simpsons" video experiment below, fellow YouTube hero Romain Vuillemot runs 130 episodes of the show simultaneously, in a grid, for about three and a half minutes. The result is an extremely weird visual experiment -- we get to see how the opening credits differ between... READ ON

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Every "Itchy & Scratchy Show" Ever

One of my favorite parts of The Simpsons is The Itchy & Scratchy Show, a cartoon within a live action show within a cartoon (Itchy & Scratchy is a cartoon on The Krusty the Clown Show, which is presented as a live action show seen within the cartoon show The Simpsons -- meta enough for you?). Itchy & Scratchy is the epitome of cartoon violence, with the minimum plot necessary to lead to the gruesome death of Scratchy, the hapless black cat. Of course, this tremendous violence is endlessly... READ ON

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Andrew Stanton on Storytelling: "Make Me Care"

In a new TED Talk from last week, director Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, WALL•E) tells some stories...including a famously profane story, that includes a single, deliciously well-placed f-bomb (in the first few minutes). If you don't mind that one four-letter-word, you'll love this talk -- Stanton is a terrific filmmaker, and watching him talk about stories and storytelling is delicious. Hell, just hearing him explain how hard it was to make animated stories in the 1990s is fascinating. A sample quote,... READ ON

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13 Amazing Cartoons from the National Film Registry

Every year since 1989, the National Film Preservation Board declares a selection of movies to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and therefore worthy of being recognized as national treasures. This National Film Registry boasts movies like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind, but there are also 32 animated films that have been deemed significant. Here's a sampling of the stories behind 13 of these amazing examples of America's animated heritage. Little Nemo (1911)... READ ON

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ThunderCats, LOL!

As a kid, I was a big fan of ThunderCats. It was pretty much a perfect storm: I loved cats, cartoons, and...uh...post-apocalyptic feline-dominated alternate realities, so the show was a no-brainer for my five-year-old self. I frankly haven't thought once about ThunderCats in something like twenty years, but was pleasantly reminded of it by this animated MAD parody. In the video, a classic TV trope (a father/son dispute over seemingly unprovable beliefs) is applied to internet memes, with genuinely... READ ON

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A 3D-Rendered Film from 1972

Ed Catmull (later a Pixar founder) and Fred Parke (later a professor) made a remarkable film in 1972. They made a 3D model of Ed's hand, then animated the hand moving in 3D space, including clenching into a fist. There are also other models, including a very primitive human face. While it seems very crude to us today, this was extremely groundbreaking stuff in 1972 -- and it led directly to the technology used in 3D animation today. According to some accounts, this is the first digital 3D-rendered... READ ON

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Rare Shel Silverstein Videos

Did you know that Shel Silverstein wrote "A Boy Named Sue," the song made famous by Johnny Cash? In this clip, the pair perform a brief, bizarre duet of "Sue" on The Johnny Cash Show, then Silverstein takes the stage solo to perform his song "Daddy, What If." The Giving Tree If that's not enough Shel for you, enjoy this 1973 animation of The Giving Tree, featuring a scratchily-recorded Silverstein narrating: For more on Silverstein: Shel Silverstein’s Unlikely Rise to Kid Lit... READ ON

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Walt Disney's MultiPlane Camera

In this seven-minute video, Walt Disney describes the MultiPlane camera. Invented by William Garity for Walt Disney Studios, the camera allows photography of multiple layers of film, with control over the relative movement of each layer. This allows for more realistic control of things like zoom-ins -- it's sort of "3D-ish," at least for cel animation. Worth a look for anyone interested in animation, technology, or photography. My favorite part is around 6 minutes in, when two clearly dubbed camera... READ ON

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The Late Movies: Disney Propaganda Cartoons

During World War II, Disney created propaganda for the US government. The cartoons dealt with subjects as varied as income taxes, the daily life of Nazis, and military tactics. I've collected a sampling of the cartoons below, for your viewing pleasure and amazement -- be warned, some are pretty weird, and many contain offensive racial or cultural caricatures. Note that most (all?) of these are included in the DVD box set Disney on the Front Lines, if you're into this kind of thing. I have this set,... READ ON