Keloid by Big Lazy Robot

 Trailer:  Insanely Amazing Robot Warriors! Hell.Yes.Please.

Its a 3 minute trailer set in a future of robot warriors verses humans in robotic armour... nothing particularly new there, but these have got to be some of the coolest robots I have seen for a long time.

This trailer blew me out of the water as soon as I started to watch with a sound track that could come from Batman and robot soldiers so realistic in their movement and a look matching what could very well be the future of robotics as it stands now.

Not much back story in this except the government put a load of A.I. soldiers out there to control the uprising citizens (what could possibly go wrong with that plan?) but if it hits the cinemas here, you would find me front and centre with a massive bowl of popcorn and a childish excited grin on my face that would make those around me give a wide berth!

Thanks Big Lazy Robot, for keeping me up a bit later tonight... I'm gonna watch Keloid again right now. You should too. 

Also have a look at the first short  here: http://vimeo.com/biglazyrobot/keloid

Gracht

 Shorts:  Gracht, Porcelain magic.

Porcelain get more than its fair share of mentioned here... with not only the characters looking like they are made of it but also the toilet variety gets a mention!

Funny little story but the main reason for putting it up here is so you can see the mulleted, drug crazed, raver steal whatever he can get his hands on... animation gold!

Gracht by Joost de Jong, Michael Koning, Nick Groeneveld, Jeroen Hoolmans

The Backwater Gospel

 Shorts:  Moody, scary and a little violent... 

...Just what you want in a short. It also has a great graphic style to boot, with dark and dirty looking characters.

Telling the story of a small backwater town who has a visit from the undertaker and his crows, the omen of death. The local preacher, a horrible, angry man, riles the townsfolk up to lynch a local musician who's not turned by the preachers faith... and all hell breaks loose.

I love this short by Bo Mathorne, and hope I get to see more from him and the team.



The Backwater Gospel by Bo Mathorne on YouTube

Alma. By Rodrigo Blass

 Shorts:  Alma: Cute & Creepy

Heres a cute little short for you to check out, and it has a creepy twist to it that left me wantint to know more. Who owns the shop & whats its reason... Watch it full screen with the sound to really get into the great animation and wonderful story writing.


Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Yakenohara - Relaxin' Music Video

 Music Video:  Stop Motion Relax Time

Sit back, relax and soak up this great music video (not bad tunes either!). Its got some fantastic stop motion in it with entire rooms being moved around, funny little dancing men and huge piles of records cleaning themselves up!

Definitely worth a watch! Very cool.

Relaxin' by Yakenohara Music Video on YouTube

Len Wein Talk at Graphic 2013

 What's Onion:  Len Wein @ The Playhouse (Opera House) 

Comic book legend and Creator of The Wolverine lets us in on how he started out and his career to date.

Len Wein, Comic book writer and all round good guy

Len Wein is a man who's inspired generations and it was clear as soon as I walked in the The Playhouse that he was still doing just that. With everyone from the kids down the front dressed as the Joker & friends to the hard-core comic fans who couldn't stop reading their latest graphic novel until Len himself walked out on stage.

He talked us through his very early career, ditching school and doing the DC Comics tour every month until everyone in the offices knew his name... using that to his advantage when he went in with his school friend, Marv Wolfman, to pitch their first story (he actually drew that but quickly turned his hand to writing instead!). Taking us on a journey through his working with Golden Age & Silver age greats, his Fanzines, his back and forth between DC & Marvel plus of course his most famous creations, The Wolverine, Swamp Thing and his personal favourite The Human Target.

The very first time anyone (other than Len & a few others) saw Logan aka Wolverine, in the last panel of The Incredible Hulk #180, 1974.

A really great interview with an easy going, very likeable guy who just makes me wish I could have been there, wearing Mickey Mouse ears with everyone else in his office so I could see the look on Stan Lees face as he left for the day (that was one of many crazy stories Len shared with us, another being that the famous pirate hat was actually only ever worn once and it was just the image that kept coming back to haunt him!).

Well worth the trip down to the Opera House on a sunny spring day (not that hard really!)

Len tells a mean story, on paper and in person.

Marvel: Agents of Shield

 TV Series:  Agent Coulson... is that you?

Super heroes, bloody everywhere these days, thank Zeus. Without them I'm not sure how I'd get through my week. 

Personally I'm waiting for the day some mad scientist offers me the chance to really show the world how good I am at breaking stuff... I don't normally have access to gamma-ray-emitting type devices or bio-engineered spiders (although I did see a huntsman once that were big enough) to really get a chance to be in a marvel movie.

Agents of Shield is just the kind of show that might show us all just what a mess we could make with weird technology attached to our arm. The supers in it seem to be your average Joe, down on his luck and given a second chance, only to find its not only giving him super strength but also a nasty case of mental health issues. 

Thats where Shield come in, sweeping up the mess made and helping you get back on your feet yet again... men in black with a conscience?

The show is set after the battle of New York in the Avengers movie and we catch up with Agent Coulson and his small, 'handpicked' team of agents... hold up, back up a little... wasn't Coulson killed in Avengers I hear you ask! Well, yes he was, but he has made  a remarkable recovery and is back... there are hints that something may have been done to him whist out of the game but we will have to watch more to really find out!

In true Marvel fashion, the show doesn't take itself too seriously, with jokes and puns interspersed with the action and pretty big special effects for a TV show (and the reason it's in this blog!) it a fun little roller coaster ride with characters that are likeable enough. Actually I found the characters a little stereotyped, with the nerdy, useless in battle but brilliant in the lab, scientists (Fitz and Simmons) and the two hard as nails field agents (Ward and May) who are pretty much unstoppable in a fight with mere humans and the newbie, Skye, who's the alternative, grungy hacker with a heart (but which side is she on?) and finally Coulson, who has a little too much compassion for somebody at his level. 

It all feels a bit teen novel to me, but it is early days so I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for now (the Marvel fan coming out of me there!) I think its got a lot of potential and if you haven't already, its worth a watch... especially after reading back this recommendation... its not the most positive of things so let  point out the good stuff.

Lola, Coulsons classic car,  is pretty cool. Its old school with all the best bits of a 007 car on steroids (well it flies on jet wheels for a start) and the fight scenes are long and aggressive enough with sprinklings of super-tech thrown in for good measure.

I'm hoping the writers are allowed to tie the storylines in with the upcoming movies like Thor: the Dark World and maybe get the odd cameo with Iron Man or something. 

This has a lot of potential, I will be watching every week and if it takes off will blog more to keep you lot up to date!

Head over to www.agentsofshield.com for more.

Ryan: Oscar®-winning animated short

 Animated Documentary:  Ryan 

Now this ones a few years old, but as I was scouring the YouTube archives, I come across it and was hooked in the first 30 seconds.

The CGI might be a bit dated but the interview by Chis Landreth is an enthralling look into the life of the influential animator Ryan Larkin and his downward slide into alcoholism, drug abuse and homelessness, a slide it seems, that was caused by the very industry he was part of, ripping him off and leaving him out to dry.

The very stylised CGI shows the viewer graphically the mental scars Ryan, Chris and the peripheral characters (there for ride but not really much else) carry. If only it were that easy to see someones emotional scars that easily in real life... mental health issues might be more easily understood, diagnosed and  treated.

This Oscar award winning animated short is definitely worth 14 minutes of your time!

Mega Plush Animated Short

 Shorts:  Plush Toys Dark Side

Ever wondered what went on in the teddy bear underworld? Well wonder no more... The Punisher meets Toy Story with the kind of adventure I wanted to be going on with Ted!

Hell Yeah, can't wait for the next instalment!

Find out more at http://www.themegaplush.com/

Blick - Animated Short

 Shorts:  Blik

Heres a nice little graphic animation with no need for a music soundtrack or dialogue. Fantastic use of moving shadows to convey time during this story of a boy falling in love with his new neighbour. The faceless characters have a lot of warmth.

Nice and simple does it.


Blik from Polder Animation on Vimeo.

Graphic 2013

 What's Onion:  Graphic 2013 

@ Sydney Opera House. 4-7 October 2013

Robot Chicken,  Art Spiegelmans 'Wordless', Free Stuff, Panels and workshops... all at one of the worlds most famous buildings! Nice!

Don't miss Graphic at the Sydney Opera House this October, Len Wein will be there talking Wolverine and Swamp Thing. Seth Green and the Robot Chicken. Master Classes with Animal Logic... the team behind 'The Legend of the Guardians' as well as much, much more! Excited is a bit of an understatement!

See you there!  http://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/graphic

Attack On Titan

 Anime:  Attack on Titan 

Titans. Lots of Titans. 60 meter high, skinless Titans with the ability to appear out of nowhere and easily kick in the thickest wall you could build. Titans with a taste for human flesh and a knack of growing back any limbs that happen to be hacked off by the little flying humans. 

What the hell is going on here!!? And why didn't I know about this sooner!

If you've been hiding under a rock and don't know about Attack on Titan, you should be ashamed (unless your hiding under that rock because of the Titans, then its entirely understandable). 

Rest assured though, you can make up for this lapse in judgement and watch the entire series (at the same time it airs in Japan, once you've caught up) in the Madman Screening rooms, right now. So finish reading this post, leave a nice comment thanking me and get watching!

Attack on Titan is bought to us from the mind of Hajime Isayama in a Manga of the same name. Set in a world ravaged by the Titans, Giants that can be anywhere between 3-15 meters tall (although there are some that throw that rule out the window and can be bigger, like the Colossal Titan with no skin mentioned above) they can regrow any severed limbs simply through the energy from the sun. 
Humans have lived the last 100 years in huge walled cities that have for the most part kept them safe. That is until the Colossal Titan turns up with another, the Armoured titan. These two manage to smash in the first two of three protective walls, letting the masses of other 'normal' titans in, to reak havok amongst the Humans.

Enter the young hero, Eren Yeager and his adopted sister Mikasa. Their mother is eaten by the Titans (yep thats the favoured way to off a human in this one... not for the faint hearted or the young-ens) and their Father seems to have disappeared, so the two orphans must escape and head off to join the army to kill them some titans! These two, along with their good friend Armin, are the perfect combination of tactical brains (Armin), cold calculated skill (Mikasa) and pure unadulterated anger and passion to kill all the titans (Eren)

Humans have one wicked piece of kit that gives them an edge over the titans, Vertical Manoeuvring Equipment. This kit, with built in replaceable sword blades, allows them to manoeuvre through the skies (provided there are tall buildings/trees around) like they are flying, giving them access to the only vulnerable part of the Titan... the nape of its neck.

With so many huge, differing and freakish Titans everywhere, as well as humans flying around like hornets on steroids, there are some pretty amazing fight scenes, especially since theres no holding back on the gore... Titans are quick buggers for their size and like nothing better than munching down on someones leg/arm/entire body as they whizz past, dodging flying clock towers and splintering roof beams!

The characters in this series are likeable and believable, with the differing personalities interacting well and the anguish and horror of seeing your best friend bitten in half shown as well as the true grit they need to get back up and have another go. 

As much as I want to, I won't go and give away all the juicy secrets this anime has to offer but lets just say that Eren has a BIG secret that he has trouble controlling and thats just the start of the twists and turns this anime has in its gigantic bloodied hand!

I think the only issue I have is the overuse of still frames but then again they do often create a nice break in the action giving you a detailed look at the characters and the world they live in. So they are not that bad!

Loving this anime!

You can watch all the episodes, free and legally, over at www.madman.com.au so a big thanks to them for bringing it to us!

UTS Sydney International Animation Festival

 What's Onion:  UTS Sydney International Animation Festival 

@ UTS. 25-28 September 2013  http://www.siaf.uts.edu.au/

This Wednesday through to Saturday is the Annual Sydney International Animation Festival at UTS. With a ton of FREE talks, workshops and viewings theres plenty to keep us animation fans talking for ages.

Liquid Television's, John Andrews will be there talking about everything from Beavis & Butthead, The Maxx, & Aeon Flux through to South Park & Family Guy. Theres also workshops on writing for Children's Animated Series, student animations, Sundance award winning documentaries as well as the Oscar nominated adventure The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello by Anthony Lucas.

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello

Best of all it's Free (all you have to do is register & turn up! So head over to http://www.siaf.uts.edu.au/ and check it out!

The Maxx

 Retro Animations:  MTV's Oddities: The Maxx. 

Maybe you missed it first time around or maybe you weren't around at all then... either way you should check out MTV's THE MAXX.

Its been 20 years since Sam Keith's comic was first released by Image Comics and 18 since the series was released on MTV's Oddities. This wonderfully dark, moody and violent series covers a lot of bases, everything from depression and homelessness to alternate worlds and monsters. Mixing them up with wicked style.

With bad guys (Mr Gone) that are seriously bad. Good guys, (The Maxx) that are seriously unstable and Heroines (Julie) that have seriously messed up pasts... all linked together through past events and an ability to travel into the alternate (or is it the real) world, Pangea/Outback/Australia.

Maxx is a huge, violent, depressed homeless guy in a purple suit with massive spikes on his hands that just also happen to be his middle finger, which is a nice touch. He struggles through everyday life, living in a box with his only friend and ally being Julie, a freelance social worker, who is being stalked by Mr Gone, an awful murderer & rapist. 

All three travel between the real world and Outback (sometimes called Pangea or Australia) a place filled with, among other things, Isz... small white eyeless creatures that when bought through to the 'real' world turn black, powerful and bloodthirsty! These are the bane of Maxx's life in both worlds. As the King of the Outback, Maxx's reason for surviving is to protect the Jungle Queen (Julie)... fighting off Mr Gone where-ever he goes.

The graphics in this animation stay true to the original comic and jump between clean and bright to dark, scratchy and dirty in others... used to great effect to show the mental and physical anguish the characters, particularly Maxx, go through.

Not only does this series have some seriously cool fight scenes but it also shows a depth of character and an insight into the hopelessness of the depressed and homeless. 

Absolutely a must watch on anyones list!

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Maxx, you can watch all the episodes at MTV The MAXX. I've put the first episode here for you, but a bit of a web search will find you all the episodes without the amazingly high advert content!

The Maxx - Full Episodes

Lego Thriller

 Shorts:  Always running out of red LEGO two-ers?

So here it is, the first post on the new blog. Its not an easy thing to commit to but then something lands in front of your eyeballs that just has to be shared around!

Everyone loves Lego and even with the dubious nature of MJ's life and death I think we all love Thriller... put the two together and you get just over a minutes worth of animated gold.


Lego Thriller by Annette Jung from Talking Animals on Vimeo.