An Apatow romantic comedy.
A countdown killer.
Ancient warriors team up.
Coroners become killers.
Oooooo sounds like an interesting weekend. Lets check it out.

Can Apatow pull off another critically acclaimed comedy?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall – from the comedy empire of Judd Apatow comes his latest romantic comedy. Jason Segal gets dumped by his actress girlfriend played by Shamoozal favorite, Kristen Bell. To get over it, he goes to Hawaii where he runs into his ex with her new musician boyfriend played by Russell Brand.

Be prepared for lots of dramatic screaming.

I saw this animated short posted over at Cartoonbrew.com this morning, and was pretty blown away by it. It almost lost me in the first few minutes as it didn’t seem to go anywhere, but then it erupts and turns into one of the best animated pieces I’ve seen in a long time. The narration is in French which a commentator at the Brew posted a rough translation of. The short is basically about what it is like to be bound to a wheelchair, and about how he yearns to do things people normally do. The narrator then speaks about how when you can’t move normally, you begin to create movement and space within your own mind as the short moves into a more organic stage.

Embedding has been turned off, so I can’t post it here, but certainly follow this link and check it out.

I first heard Lifetime in the summer before my junior year of high school (that would be 1993… man it feels weird to say that), it was the ’seveninches’ CD which compiled their early vinyl releases. High school is such a different time, when you can hear an album and have it completely change your life. Looking back as an adult I realize the absurdity of that statement, but as a 16 year old kid I really felt like something changed inside me after hearing this band. I’m sure most people can relate on some level, whether it was a band, movie or book… I imagine everyone has probably felt this way on more than one occasion in their life.

Anyway, Lifetime went on to make a couple of the most influential punk/hardcore albums of the late 90’s: Hello Bastards and Jersey’s Best Dancers. After that, they broke up and left a legacy behind that was carried on by bands like Saves the Day (whose debut album sounds like it was lifted directly from Lifetime’s songwriting book). Then, ten years after the release of Jersey’s Best Dancers, Lifetime returned with a self-titled reunion album.

The amazing thing about this album is that it sounds like it could have been released in 1998 rather than 2008, it really feels like the follow-up to their previous album. Their style hasn’t changed, their sound hasn’t matured… this is Lifetime exactly how they were and exactly how I want them to be. Clocking in at 23 minutes this new album stays true to form with super-fast, catchy punk-anthem songs full of change-ups.

We took a week or so off to catch our breath after “Tactical Espionage Retail Simulation”, but we’re back to the drawing table hard at work. As we revealed in SRP#14, the voice over tracks have already been laid down, and tonight I spent some time blocking out the shots and storyboarding the opening sequence. We have a few good ideas for this one, and I think people will like it. Right now, I don’t feel like I have anything I feel comfortable sharing just yet, so I’ll keep any images from it close to my vest for the time being. If I was to compare it to “TERS”, I think this one will have a bit more “action” in it. Its less dialog driven and will probably be a bit shorter as well, but I’m trying to cut it (editorially speaking) to keep it moving at a quick pace.

As a side note, we’re bringing back two side characters from a previous episode to play minor roles in episode 3. Can anyone guess who they might be?

Glen Keane spent some time under Ollie’s wing back in his early days at Disney. Glen is one of the top talent still at Disney’s who has handled Ariel, Beast, and John Silver, and he is currently directing “Rapunzel Unbraided” which promises to push CGI to its limits in 2010. This interview was conducted a few years ago as Glen gave his thoughts on Ollie as he analyzes several of Ollie’s better known sequences. Despite the fact that I’ve been studying and working in animation now for 10 years combined, it still amazes me that what we see up there on the screen is drawings that came out of someone’s hand. Really nice stuff.

I was doing this bit during Shamoozal Radio Podcast#14. I find myself doing the “change…change…change…” to myself a lot and I ROFLCOPTER every time. Bob Odenkirk’s bit as the rich, irate golfer is frigg’n hilarious. You can see David Cross trying not to laugh during the shoot as Bob dancing around like a jackass. Classic.

Juno – a young witty high school chick (Ellen Page) gets pregnant after one night of sex with her best buddy (Michael Cera). She must deal with being a teenage mom while preparing to give her child to a couple who can’t have a baby of their own (Jennifer Garner & Jason Bateman).

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead – from well known filmmaker Sidney Lumet comes the story of two brothers, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke, who decide to rob their parents’ jewelry store. The big heist causes some major family problems. Also starring a nude Marissa Tomei.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem – picking up where the original AVP left off, a hybrid alien/predator is born. The predators ship crashes on Earth. So the surviving Predator is hunting down all the remaining Aliens who are giving birth through humans.

I just read this thread over at AnimationNation.com that the last of Disney’s “Nine Old Men”, Ollie Johnson, has passed away today. While the news comes as no surprise as Ollie was 95 years old, his death truly marks the end of an era. Watch ANY classic Disney film and you’ll see his work in just about every other scene. In the early 80’s, Ollie and his life long partner in animation crime, Frank Thomas, wrote one of thedefining books on animation, “The Illusion of Life”, which is still read today by students and pros alike. Ollie was instrumental in bringing the art of animation into what we see today. After the jump is a great interview that was conducted with Ollie a number of years ago.

Rest in peace, Ollie.

This was actually released last week, but I wanted to toss a link up here about the third and last part with Clay interview with animation maniac, James Baxter, at Animationpodcast.com.  I think this was one of Clays’ best podcasrs as James has a ton of great stuff to say about what his early career was like, thoughts on the animation process and how he goes about it, and just his point of view on art in general. Anyone who is interested in animation or is pursuing it as a career should take the time out to give these podcasts a listen. Go here and check it out!

If you keep up with game news like I do, you’ll have seen that yesterday Telltale games (the company whom have recently revived the old point and click adventure series Sam & Max) have announced an episodic WiiWare title “Strong Bad Cool Game for Attractive People” which is based on the Homestar Runner flash series.

From what I have read on a handful of message boards, people think that this upcoming series is garbage or that Strong Bad is way past his prime. I’ll admit that I don’t really keep up with Homestarrunner, but I totally respect what the Brothers Chaps have created over the last 8 years. These two have crafted a completely respectable series which in turn has become their living. It’s no secret that we at the Shamoozal have that same desire.

I not only respect what the Brothers have done in that area, but also how Homestar has reached such a large audience. It’s great that a 5 year old can enjoy Homestar just as much as a grown man. Most internet series deal with large amounts of violence, and language, and most of these would be animators can’t get through this hurdle. We too have tried to keep Shamoozal relatively clean, though recently we’ve tried to push our own personal envolope (and the podcasts are rather filthy). What people don’t understand is how hard it is to make something appeal to such a large range of people. Very few animated shows have actually done it, and off the top of my head, the only other recent animated show that I’ve known can reach this demographic is Spongebob Squarepants.