Something for the Weekend: Henchin'

Some years ago, a friend and I wrote a short mockumentary film script called Henchmen, in which some luckless ex-henchmen talked about the travails of their careers in what they called 'henching'.

Well, seemingly good ideas never die, they just go to other people, such as Venezuelan/Canadian animator Javier Badillo in his short film Henchin'. I'm particularly loving the animated title sequence.

(via Cartoon Brew)

Buck Rogers... still incoming

Holy shit! Is that Gil Gerard and Erin Gray (who played Buck Rogers and Wilma Deering in the 1980s TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century)?

Empathic Civilsation

Amazing and fascinating (amazingly fascinating) video from the RSA, somewhere between animation and illustration, of Jeremy Rifkin's ideas about empathic civilisation. This idea is close to my heart and the method of presentation is nothing short of incredible.

(via Scott McCloud)

Stocking Filler: Hyperspace Montage

OK To Go by Claire L. Evans and Mike Merrill. How many hyperspace sequences do you recognise? I only got a couple.

(via Waxy.org via Rhizome)

Buck's Back

I am prepared to feel moderately entusiastic about this trailer for the forthcoming Buck Rogers web series.

(via Scans_Daily)

The Lighthouse Keeper

The Lighthouse Keeper by graduates of the Gobelins School of Visual Communication in France.

(via Drawn!)

Something for the Weekend: Rings Around the Earth

Yes!

(via Boing Boing)

Happy Halloween!

(via X-Ray Spex)

Something for the weekend

This is pretty awesome.

(via Drawn!)

Gene Luen Yang, American

Here's an interesting little video profile of Gene Luen Yang, talking about the experience of creating a new identity in America. (Ignore the slightly creepy propaganda vibe.) I've been meaning to check out his graphic novel, American Born Chinese.

(via Scott McCloud)

Quimby The Mouse animated short

Wonderful short animation, from This American Life of Chris Ware's Quimby The Mouse and Chris Kuramoto.

The Ennead

Currently enjoying the Lost-esque supernatural, suspense series, The Ennead. Of course, it's a Canadian production. Those Canadians get everywhere!

Cat Shit One

This looks really interesting. It is a trailer for a proposed 12-episode series based on the manga, Cat Shit One (aka Apocalypse Meow), about American GIs surviving in the combat zone.

(via The Beat)

Alison Bechdel on Making Comics

A really interesting short video in which Alison Bechdel talks about her process in creating Fun Home.

(via Drawn via Mike Lynch)

Saturday morning Watchmen

A note-pefect take on Saturday morning cartoons - think Scooby Doo, Defenders of the Earth - for comic geeks by 'Happy' Harry Partridge. The (better quality) original is here. The theme tune alone is brilliant. By the by, I find it incredibly inspiring how much work people put into making something like this. Almost worth getting up at 7 am for.

(via Conor via Wired)

Dave Sim's Glamourpuss

Here's a really interesting video documenting Dave Sim's (of Cerebus fame) laborious process of drawing Glamourpuss. Try to ignore Sim's creepy voiceover.

Destination Earth

Here is a wonderful, evocative promo for the American Petroleum Institute, from 1956!

(via Internet Archive via Jon K?)

Scott McCloud and semi-animated comics

Some members of the Irish comics community recently engaged in an interesting discussion about the future of the comics medium and whether or how semi-animated comics might expand the medium.

My view is that while such animations are great for promotions, they fall foul of what Scott McCloud describes as 'the classic McLuhan-esque mistake of appropriating the shape of the previous technology as the content of the new technology.' Here's a great talk by McCloud on the comics medium.

(via the Boards.ie Comics forum)

I hate Chip Kidd. I love Chip Kidd. I hate Chip Kidd. I love Chip Kidd.

Chip Kidd makes kind of creepy music. I like it.

(via Conor via Wired)

Takeshi Kitano

I don't normally respond well to the adjective 'hilarious' - for example, 'check out this hilarious clip!', 'No thank you' - but in this case I really must make an exception.

The presence of 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano, who hosts the show in the clip, just about merits its appearance here.