Everyone can go check out the latest Zoink short, the first in over a year in a half, right here. Enjoy.

First, a big thanks to everyone who took part in Shamoozal Live last night. It had a rocky start with some technical difficulties, but it came into its own by the end. I may have been slightly exhausted, but it was worth it.

My wifi connection has been kind of bad lately, so when I kicked off the stream at around 2:00, I kept losing my signal and it would take me a few minutes to get it back. On top of that, I was having sound issues with my crappy old computer mic. I had to rush out to Best Buy and pick up a 50 ft ethernet cable, and I also decided to pick up a cheap 14 dollar mic hoping it would help out. By the time I got in and set everything up it was close to 3:30, but thank god it all worked. The cable made it up into my room with plenty to spare, and the mic picked up everything just fine. With everything set, it was time to roll.

Nothing was together for the ‘Zoink’ short, aside from the idea that I had. I began by editing my old Zoink model, which was the first character model I made in Flash well over two years ago.  When I was finished with that, I roughed out some really crummy story boards to get an idea of where I wanted to take things, and with that everything began to fall into place. About 12 hours later, I had a nearly finished Zoink short.

Santa’s brother?
A political thriller.
A parking garage killer!
This is what the movie business brings us this weekend. Enjoy!

Pig Vomit and Swingers Guy. A bunch of nobodies.

Fred Claus – Vince Vaughn plays the brother of Santa Claus (Paul Giamatti). When little brother Santa, bails big brother Fred out of jail, he makes a condition that he comes to work at the North Pole to repay the debt. Hijinx ensue when Fred starts causes a Christmas ruckus.

Tom Cruise for President

Clocking in at 2 Hours and 5 minutes, we present to you the latest and greatest in Shamoozal Podcasting technology. Shamoozal Radio Podcast #10: Mad Dog 20/20 (LIVE!?1). As the title suggests we’ve broken our previous threshold of debauchery. To be honest…. I don’t even remember what the hell we talked about, so just download it and give it a spin.

Hit it after the jump…

NATIONAL PARK, New Jersey – Shamoozal.com today announced that site owner Phil Summers will create and animate the next short in the “Zoinks” series of cartoons, live over the course of 24 hours. Beginning Friday November 9th at 2:00 PM EST time and ending Saturday November 10th at 2:00 PM EST time, Phil will be streaming the entire animation process through ustream.tv.

On Saturday November 3rd during SHAMOOZAL RADIO PODCAST 10 LIVE, Phil made a promise stating he would created 2 new shorts for Shamoozal.com by the end of the year since the animation side of the site has been at a standstill since CRAPFEST FORCE wrapped up in May.

“Basically if I don’t get these two cartoons finished, I’m either going to be beat with a switch Joe Jackson style, or have to go through some other terrible form of abuse on the next podcast since I agreed to take some sort of punishment if I don’t live up to my word.” said Summers.

“Many aspiring animators ask me exactly how we do things around here. I figure this way we’ll be able to show people a trick or two, and at the same time I’ll be able to knock down a new short. People will be able to talk to me through chat or AIM the day this is happening, so I’ll also be able to answer questions, and even take some criticism on the fly. This could either be a fun experiment, or I’ll want to kill myself by the time everything is all said and done. I guess I’ll find out.”

Ratatouille – the latest Pixar animated film about a rat that is unlike other rats. He loves putting together some fine food while all the others just eat garbage. He helps a clueless chef become one of the best the restaurant has ever seen. Remy the rat’s voice by Patton Oswald.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – a widower firefighter (Kevin James) is losing his pension for his kids. His womanizing firefighter friend (Adam Sandler) agrees to fake a gay marriage in order to help him out. They are investigated for fraud by Steve Buscemi while Jessica Biel is the lawyer that helps them out. Other appearances by Ving Rhames, Dan Aykroyd, Nick Swardson and the usual Sandler cronies.
Sicko – Michael Moore’s critically acclaimed documentary on the healthcare system in the United States. Moore does his typical one-sided reporting proving how other countries have the universal healthcare working perfectly while the US of A is still screwing things up.
Deck the Halls – Matthew Broderick is the king of Christmas in his neighborhood. That is until a new neighbor (Danny Devito) moves in and tries to one up him. A battle ensues with the neighbors trying to outdo each other with decorations for the holidays.

Clay Kaytis over at Animationpodcast.com has posted a new interview yesterday. Clay is a long time animator for Disney’s which gives him access to all the people who actually make what you see up on the screen. This one is about Dale Baer. Like Clay, I have never heard of him before, but he’s a soft spoken guy who has a really interesting story about how he came into animation. Highly recommended listening for anyone interested in animation and the people who work in it.

Also of note is that Clay is now being sponsered by AnimationMentor.com which means he’ll be able to get a new podcast up at least once a month. That’s really great news! If you’ve never listened to any of Clay’s podcasts, I suggest giving the Andre Dejas, Glen Keane, and the Nick Renieri interviews a listen. Go check it out!

WOOOWWW!!! Okay now, don’t forget! Shamoozal will be broadcasting our semi-bi-monthly podcast LIVE! on Saturday Nov 3rd @ 8:00 PM EST. All you have to do is click on the Rawk-as-Fawk picture of David Lee Roth and you’re on your way. Register w/ ustream.tv ahead of time so you can join in the chat room hi-jinx. See you there!

The Super NES is home to some of the most memorable video game sound tracks of all time. Much of this is thanks to the then incredible sound processor inside of the SNES. See, unlike nearly all video game consoles before it, the SNES had a dedicated sound processor called the SONY SPC700, which was designed by none other than Ken Kutaragi. The SPC700 worked in conjunction with a digital signal processor or DSP, and together they made the most amazing game music possible. One thing that impresses me even today is how much better SNES music sounded even compared to arcade games that were released during the same period. For example, the music in Street Fighter II for the SNES outclasses the arcade original by a long shot.

Some game music composers were able to do really incredible things with the sound card, making many of the most memorable soundtracks in gaming.

The following are a handful of games, in no particular order that made the most of the SNES sound chip, and pushed the hardware to its limits.

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest

The DKC series may not have aged with grace (though they still have the tightest controls you could hope for), but the music in the series is really quite good. Diddy’s Kong Quest in particular, really pushed the limits of what an SNES game could sound like. From the windy tops of a pirate ship, to the murky sounds of a swamp, Diddy’s Kong Quest made ambient sounds in gaming an art form by mixing these elements and making them part of the music. The DKC series trademark atmospheric music is in full swing, with themes that blow away what you’ve heard in the original and even the series finale. The variety of samples used to create a distinct feel for each environment is really impressive, with tracks ranging from disco, something that sounds like rushing honey in a bee hive, trippy techno/new age stuff, and sweeping epics within castle walls. Also cool is that the short melodies like Diddy and Dixie’s victory dance, stage goal, and death sequences sound different depending on the stage.

Jerry is a Bee.
Russell takes down Denzel.
Cusack adopts a Martian.
Curious? Then continue.

What’s the deeeal with honey?

Bee Movie – Jerry Seinfeld returns to writing and acting with an animated comedy. He stars as the voice of Barry B. Benson. Barry doesn’t like the idea of having only one career choice – getting honey. He breaks a rule among bees and talks to a human (Renee Zellweger) and finds out they have been stealing the bees’ honey. Also voices by Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, and more.

This ain’t no drug ring!