MetaFilter posts tagged with Cartoons

An Alternative Version of Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead"

jason's_planet — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:11:35 -0800

Good morning. It's Monday. I know that it sucks to have to come back to work after a holiday weekend. So I am going to share with you this alternative version of Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead" mixed with archival footage of old-timey American dancing. I hope this brightens your day a little bit.

Post Thanksgiving (Just Another Friday) Video Filter

filthy light thief — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:07:41 -0800

Thanksgiving may be over, but you can still join The Beverly Hillbillies for Turkey Day (1963) and (the controversial) Calvin and the Colonel for Thanksgiving Dinner (1961). Both episodes are available on Archive.org, along with another 50 or so episodes of the 274 Beverly Hillbillies episodes, and three more episodes from the 26 episodes of Calvin and the Colonel. Bonus bits: Jerky Turkey [YT] (1945, directed by Tex Avery), and Tom Turkey and His Harmonica Humdingers (1940).

"... that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape"

ollyollyoxenfree — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:18:12 -0800

Vulgar Army: Octoprop to Octopop is "an informal study into the representation of the Octopus in propaganda and political cartoons, and influence on, or co-option of, popular culture." Highlights include: The nation-state as an octopus in cartography. Standard oil in the 1800s represented as an octopus.

Get your Saturday morning on

Rhaomi — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:27:21 -0800

Saturday morning cartoons were once a staple of American television, but by the year 2000 they had all but disappeared. Of course, the Internet never forgets. Case in point: Cartoon Network Video -- a free, searchable, ad-supported service that provides hundreds of full-length episodes of classic shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and The Powerpuff Girls, as well as current offerings and scads of shorter material. Too recent for you? Then give Kids WB Video a whirl -- it does the same thing with the same interface, but for older programs like Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Thundercats, and the original Space Ghost. If you're in the mood to learn (and don't mind some live-action), PBS Kids Video has educational fare such as Arthur, Wishbone, and Zoom. And don't forget about Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, The Magic Schoolbus and Schoolhouse Rock! Now if only we had some Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs...

Saturday Morning Cartoons

mrzarquon — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:16:19 -0800

How about some saturday morning cartoons, compliments of The Animation Show's Blog? Ultimate Muscle Roller Legend [post] snow-bo [post] Bar Fight [post] Also, from there you can find RDCCDX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water, episode 1, from the same people who brought us HP Papercraft [previously]

BORN TO DIE! NEW YORK'S NEW YORK! THE TURN OF THE CENTURY! ALL CRIME!

Dr-Baa — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:07:27 -0800

STEVIE WASHINGTON- THE ANGRY YOUTH! If you watched MTV in the late 1980s, chances are during a commercial break you'd catch an episode of Stevie and Zoya (A.K.A. Stevie Washington- The Angry Youth). The series was created by Joe Horne, who later produced the similar series The Specialists (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)for MTV's Liquid Television . Narration was provided by Russell Johnson probably best known as The Professor on Gilligan's Island. There's also a couple of recent flash animations for Stevie Washington, which may or may not be by Joe Horne. (I'm thinking not.)

South Park Episode 0

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:06:18 -0800

The complete and until today unaired pilot of South Park for Comedy Central, with an additional creator's commentary track. About 90% was recut into the first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe," but with a few slightly altered scenes and characters. After gaining underground popularity with two shorts that you've all probably seen already at this point, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were contracted by Comedy Central to produce a full pilot episode for a potential show based on the shorts. This pilot episode is what would ultimately lead to a series that is now 12 years old, spans over 180 episodes, and is one of the most successful shows in the history of cable television both in ratings and revenue. The pilot is also the only episode in the series that, like the original shorts, uses stop-motion animation of paper cutouts instead of computer software.

Kocham Reksio!

Askiba — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 08:07:38 -0800

Bolek i Lolek and Reksio are both Polish cartoons with little dialogue and similiar animation style. Both cartoons originated in the 60s (during the Communist era in Poland), and were extremely popular for decades. Due to their general lack of vocalization (except for Bolek i Lolek's later seasons), both cartoons were easy to bring to other markets. Famously, Bolek i Lolek was one of the cartoons broadcast on Iranian television after the 1979 revolution. Bonus: the cartoons are funny! They will find the inner child in you, and drag it out of you kicking and laughing. Both cartoons have relatively large bodies of work, but one Youtube user graciously uploaded a large collection of videos, showing cartoons from both series. Bolek i Lolek: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Reksio: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21* 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 *My personal childhood favorite I grew up watching old tapes and DVDs of the series, but it still has a place in my heart.

Recombinant Records cartoons by Stuart McMillen

kliuless — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:40:25 -0800

Recombinant Records cartoons by Stuart McMillen, e.g. Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell. (via)

Otaku in Love

digaman — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:53:07 -0800

"Nisan didn’t mean to fall in love with Nemutan. Their first encounter -- at a comic-book convention that Nisan’s gaming friends dragged him to in Tokyo -- was serendipitous. Nisan was wandering aimlessly around the crowded exhibition hall when he suddenly found himself staring into Nemutan’s bright blue eyes... 'I’ve experienced so many amazing things because of her,' Nisan told me, rubbing Nemutan’s leg warmly. 'She has really changed my life.' Nemutan doesn’t really have a leg. She’s a stuffed pillowcase — a 2-D depiction of a character, Nemu, from an X-rated version of a PC video game called Da Capo." The New York Times' Lisa Katayama on "2-D lovers" in Japan, the latest outgrowth of otaku subculture.

"That Was Way Too Close!"

nooneyouknow — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:51:55 -0800

"That Was Way Too Close!" Wonderfully absurd escapes from mortal danger in the original G.I. Joe cartoon.

What's Opera, Doc?

litterateur — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:34:35 -0800

And now presenting the 10 Best Uses Of Classical Music In Classic Cartoons!

The trouble with CG is that nothing is left up to chance

filthy light thief — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:58:33 -0800

Since the mid 1990s, Don Hertzfeldt has been making animated shorts by hand. To date, his 8 primary films have an apprioximate runtime of 75 minutes, and in total have won 117 awards, all shot on 16 or 35 milimeter film. (There is another 8 minutes or so that was part of the Animation Show (previously).) His recent films have been shot on the same camera rig that recorded It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966), as he noted in a 2007 interview (part of a Scene Unseen Podcast (direct link to the MP3)). Hertzfeltd is currently two thirds of the way through his most ambitious project to date, a trilogy of films which have been called "the closest thing on film yet to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey." (Video links inside) Ah, L'Amour (1995) - awarded Grand Prize Award for "World's Funniest Cartoon" in 1998 from the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (now known as The Comedy Festival). Genre (1996) mixes stop-motion and 2-D animation, and was shown on an episode of MTV's Cartoon Sushi in 1997. Lily and Jim (1997) - single-handedly animated from over 10,000 drawings, and was shown on an episode of MTV's Cartoon Sushi in 1998, and Hertzfeldt's first short with a vocal track. Billy's Balloon (1998) - The film was invited into Official Competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival (where Don Hertzfeldt was the youngest director involved), and it won the Grand Jury Award at the 1999 Slamdance Film Festival; has also appeared on Adult Swim and MTV Rejected (2000) toured North American theaters between 2000 and 2004, first as part of Spike & Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation, then with fellow animator Bill Plympton's films called "The Don and Bill Show," and finally as part of Hertzfeldt's own the Animation Show tour. Welcome to the Show/Intermission in the Third Dimension/The End of the Show - 3 shorts created as an introduction, intermission, and end for the first "Animation Show." The Meaning of Life (2005) is the result of almost four years of production and tens of thousands of drawings, single-handedly animated and photographed by Hertzfeldt. Everything Will Be OK (trailer) (2006) won the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Jury Award in Short Filmmaking, a prize rarely bestowed on an animated film. I am so proud of you (2008) Hertzfeldt traveled with the film on a sold-out special theatrical tour of his work in 2008 and part of 2009.

Collaborative animation goes doink

Rhaomi — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:28:17 -0800

Like iScribble and Oekaki before it, DoInk.com is a place for people to create collaborative artwork online. The difference? It's for animation. Using a sleek interface similar to a pared-down Flash, DoInk lets users sketch 2D objects, animate them with keyframes and vectors, and upload them to the site for public viewing. YouTube integration is baked in, and finished clips are embeddable and downloadable as .swf files. Most impressive is the collaborative gallery -- need a camel, a waterfall, or a tree, but too lazy to make one yourself? Just search the database and, like with Spore, browse a graphical menu of objects uploaded by the community. DoInk is owned and operated by a small Massachusetts start-up, so it has a cozy feel and a responsive dev team. The site is still in beta, so it's a tad rough around the edges, but it's already pretty robust and new features are on the way. Share ideas in the forum, or keep track of development with the official blog, which also interviews popular animators from the community on a regular basis.

The Naked Taoiseach

Fence — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:07:52 -0800

With threats of strikes and an emergency budget due you might assume the Irish government would be more concerned with economics than artwork. You’d be wrong. After discovering the two “uncomissioned” portraits of Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen the gardaí (Irish police) have gotten involved. The national broadcaster has issued an apology and removed all trace of the original broadcast. (It hasn’t gone away you know). In response twitter is having a field day and now there’s an online nudey-postcard(NSFW) campaign gaining ground. Has the recession stolen Mr. Cowen’s sense of humour (NSFW)?

Hark, A Vagrant!

flatluigi — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:40:06 -0800

Kate Beaton, Historical Cartoonist

Is he suggesting the President needs to be shot?

happyroach — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:44:33 -0800

An editorial cartoon in the New York Post gets reactions from around the world about its possible racial depictions. Al Sharpton denounces it, and the Posts editor defends it. And bloggers all over the internet have a field day. With people quickly taking sides as to whether the artist meant to draw a racial slur, it's worth noting that Delonis is no stranger to controversy. And Obama has been compared to monkeys before, at Republican events. And of course there's a long history of depicting negros as apes. With all that, can an editorial cartoonist really claim in good conscience to be unaware of any racial context?

Friends Help Friends Who are Under the Weather.

Del Far — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 19:50:08 -0800

The Console War Is Officially Over (Via)

The Visual Telling of Stories

carsonb — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:53:36 -0800

The Visual Telling of Stories
A lyrical encyclopedia of visual propositions;
a visually orientated taxonomy of the ways in which pictures are used to tell stories. And we, spectators always, everywhere Looking at, never out of, everything ! It fills us. We arrange it. It decays. We rearrange it, and decay ourselves. Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies, the eighth elegy, 1922

The Motorots are attacking Zantoo!

Servo5678 — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:57:06 -0800

Invasion of the Big Robots! Say what you will about the decline of Garfield, but he had his brighter moments, like the time he woke up in the wrong cartoon and had to fight the big robots. Garfield and Friends writer Mark Evanier tells the story behind this budget-busting episode. [Previously] Says Mark: "As it turned out, it was a good investment. When the network people saw the storyboard, they thought the episode was so clever that they gave the series an early pick-up for the following season. That saved the studio a lot of money...way more than the overage on this cartoon. Sometimes, it's cost-effective to spend money."

Short films, court métrages and more from up north

Shepherd — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:21:52 -0800

Mentioned here earlier in its beta form, Canada's National Film Board has released the bulk of its films online, for free, in the NFB Screening Room. With hundreds of films from the 1920s onwards, including groundbreaking work by animator Norman McLaren, documentaries, dramas, bizarre anti-smoking (or pro-smoking?) screeds and much, much more, it's a breathtaking trove of amazing film to be discovered from north of the 49th. Personal favourites: The Sweater, the story of a young Quebecer's crushing blow due to the malfeasance of the Eaton's catalogue; Waterwalker, a feature-length documentary about one man and his canoe; Cartoons by Zlatko Grgic, a master of comic timing; Our Northern Neighbour (1944), a short film about how awesome it is to be allied with the Soviets and how nothing can possibly go wrong with that plan. See also Inside Fighting China (1942); Carts of Darkness, a recent documentary about homeless people who have turned cash recycling into an extreme sport. How can one viewer manage all this content? I recommend the Playlists, a section of the site where guest "curators" present a selection of NFB films around certain themes. I should note that the site launched yesterday or the day before, and their servers seem to be getting slaughtered -- connections are somewhat spotty, and YMMV but bookmarking the site and the films you want to check out and coming back to it in a couple of weeks might be more fruitful than "stalling out" halfway through a 60-minute documentary.

What do you say to THAT, Mr. Gore?

flatluigi — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 06:54:25 -0800

If Global Warming Is Real, Then Why Is It Cold?

Classic Animation Remixed

Rhaomi — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:50:06 -0800

While Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of irreverent short-form animation -- especially for 'toons that reimagine past hits -- it wasn't always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a series of short toons and interstitials that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation. (warning: monster post inside) PART 1: The Early Days The groundwork for the following projects was arguably laid by two cartoons: The Moxy and Flea Show (the network's first original series) and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Though little is remembered of the short-lived Moxy, which starred mo-capped entertainers Penn Jillette and Bobcat Goldthwait as a 3D animal duo, Space Ghost hit a chord and ran for years in the night block as a cult series -- its bizarre, incoherent "interviews" and repurposed 1960s characters set the stage for Adult Swim in later years. PART 2: Cartoons That Never Made It Crafted by the aforementioned-Ouweleen in the mid-90s, "Cartoons That Never Made It" was a brief series of four "bumps" -- short cartoons that play before commercial breaks or split up longer programs. The four shorts acted as promos for various fictional cartoons, all rejected for obvious reasons. Surprisingly twisted for the network's early, more staid days, the popularity of the bumps inspired Ouweleen to expand his ambitions in projects to come.

Salt n' Slug - Rupert the Grouper - Frothy Dawg - Heidi and the Yodelers

PART 3: The Groovies "Groovies" was the term for a new series of shorts which took the form of music videos. Each one was based on a property in the Cartoon Network stable, from Betty Boop to Dexter's Lab. Old clips and in some cases fresh animation work was mixed with original music from well-known artists like Devo, The Apples in Stereo, and will.i.am, resulting in amusing and surprising tributes that respected the classic animation while showing it in a whole new light.

The Flintstones - "Meet the Flintstones" by Joe Boyd Vigil, "Walk Around in Circles" by Soul Coughing The Jetsons - "24th Century Mecha Mix" by Michael Kohler Quick Draw McGraw - "El Kabong Rides Again" by Calexico Atom Ant - "We Must All Get Ready Now" by Michael Kohler Betty Boop - "Rolling" by Soul Coughing Superfriends - "That Time is Now" by Michael Kohler Porky Pig - "Pork Jam" by Michael Kohler Elmer Fudd - "Wascally Wemix" by Todd Eaton Bugs Bunny/Marvin the Martian - "Mars Forever" by Fantastic Plastic Machine Magilla Gorilla - "Gorilla 4 Sale" by Michael Ungar Yogi Bear - "Yogi Bear" by High School Jim Jabberjaw - "Jabberjaw" by Pain Josie and the Pussycats - "Music Evolution" by Michael Kohler Powerpuff Girls - "Signal in the Sky" by The Apples in Stereo, "Go Monkey Go" by Devo, "Chemical X" by Cherish Courage the Cowardly Dog - "Courage the Cowardly Dog" by They Might Be Giants Ed, Edd n Eddy - "The Incredible Shrinking Day" by Stuart Hill, "My Best Friend Plank" by Steve Patrick Dexter's Laboratory - "Secrets" by will.i.am, "Back to the Lab" by Prince Paul, "Dexter (What's His Name)" by Coolio, "Dee Dee and Dexter" by They Might Be Giants Johnny Bravo - "Hey, Johnny Bravo" by The Reverend Horton Heat

PART 4: The Shorties Following the success of the Groovies, Ouweleen acted a little more adventurously by introducing the Shorties. Shorties were similar to Groovies in that they repurposed older properties broadcast by the network, but they did so in longer-form shorts sans music, and more often with a new visual style. The shorts were often more sarcastic in tone than their inspirations, and acted along with Space Ghost as the sources for later programs like Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks: "Harasscat" Pixie and Dixie sue Mr. Jinx for stalking them. Huckleberry Hound: "Sound Hound" An exasperated Huckleberry tries to silence a noisy soundscape collage. Birdman: "Birdman Coffee Break" Birdman shows Falcon-7 just how trained his companion Avenger is. Superfriends: "Whiners Can Be Losers" The Legion of Doom runs into a few issues at its biweekly meeting. Johnny Quest: "Time is Running Out" Using sound bites and music from the original series, gamepiece versions of Johnny, Hadji, Race, and Bandit fly over a gameboard outrunning their various opponents. Hillbilly Bears: "Miss Understanding" The Hillbilly Bears appear on a Jerry Springer-like show to air out their problems. Quick Draw McGraw: "City E-Scape" Quick Draw and Baba Louie, drawn as real horses, travel to New York City to wipe out crime. Droopy: "Thanks a Latte" Droopy, a coffeehouse barista, haunts a caffeinated businesswolf who refuses to tip. Yogi Bear: "When Animals Nap" Yogi and Boo-Boo try to hibernate despite the efforts of a TV crew working to get footage of a ferocious bear attack. Wally Gator: "Alligator Liberation" A cool 3D plastic doll-like version of Wally Gator is "liberated" from the confines of the city zoo by a group of concerned citizens.

PART 5: World Premiere Toons Known variously over the years as World Premiere Toons, The What a Cartoon! Show, and The Cartoon-Cartoon Show, this program was the magnum opus of Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi and cartooning workhorse Fred Seibert, the original creative director of MTV and Nickelodeon and the one-time president of Hanna-Barbera. Seibert, who would later go on to found Frederator Studios, intended to recreate the atmosphere of the 1950s animation industry by returning creative control to the animators. The cartoons introduced by the show ranged from the quaint to the grotesque, from the traditional to the bizarre. Many were popular enough to become full-fledged series -- these characters, referred to as the "Cartoon-Cartoons", would serve as the network's programming backbone for years to come. First, the one-off shorts that never got picked up by the network. (NOTE: Only some of these videos have made their way online. To save space, I've excluded all the episodes I couldn't track down. If you want to look for yourself, there's a full episode list here. If you manage to find any more, feel free to post 'em here!)

"Help?" - Bruno Bozzetto A cat that pricks his finger while sewing asks for help at the hospital, but the ruthless personnel there offer nothing but pain. "Boid 'n' Woim" - C. Miles Thompson A gangly worm hitchhikes through the California desert with a Bird that secretly wants to eat him. "Kitchen Casanova" - John McIntyre A first-time cook is preparing dinner for his date, but trouble arises when the wind flips the pages from his cookbook. "Rat in a Hot Tin Can" - Jerry Reynolds, Russ Harris A rat and his fly companion try to find a place to stay for the night during winter in the city. "Tales of Worm Paranoia" - Eddie Fitzgerald Johnny is a peaceful and forgiving worm until a human steps on him repeatedly. As a result, he becomes paranoid and angered at the human race, seeking revenge. "Hillbilly Blue" - Butch Hartman Crawdad Eustace is tired of being treated like food and goes with possum pal Mordechai on a cross-country trip to New Orleans to be "served" in royal fashion. "Gramps" - Butch Hartman Gramps tells his grandchildren about his battle against alien invaders, getting corrected by the children repeatedly. "Larry and Steve" - Seth MacFarlane Steve, a homeless dog, is adopted by dimwitted Larry (the only man that can understand what he's saying), and experiences disaster when Larry takes him shopping. A prototype of MacFarlane's later hit show, Family Guy. "Drip Dry Drips" - Jon McClenahan Brothers Louie and Elmo start a laundry business, expecting to earn some cash. They get a request from the president, but accidentally destroy his suit. "No Tip" - Robert Alvarez A delivery boy must deliver a pizza to Antarctica safe and sound and before time runs out, or he won't get a tip. "Awfully Lucky - Robert Alvarez A valuable yet cursed pearl brings both great luck and disaster to its hapless owner. "Buy One, Get One Free" - Charlie Bean A neurotic cat is afraid when a newcomer trashes his abusive owner's apartment. "School Daze" - Robert Alvarez A Wild West outlaw needs to finish the fourth grade, and deal with his obnoxious class rival Little Timmy. "Lost Control" - Zac Moncrief Two zoo animals lose their prized remote control and must travel to the waterworks to retrieve it. "A Clean Getaway" - Meinert Hansen Captain Buzz Cheeply and his robot sidekick Sly must escape a planet whose inhabitants have abnormally sized foreheads but tiny brains, while also finding a place to do their laundry. "Raw Deal in Rome" - Eugene Mattos A superpowered flea named Flick has a strange vendetta against a local performer, a dog named Shake, in an anachronistic Roman setting. "Mr. Monkeyman" - Van Partible Jealous King Raymond stains Jungle Boy's heroic reputation by impersonating him and causing mayhem. "Hard Luck Duck" - William Hanna Hard Luck Duck, after venturing away from Crocodile Harley's watch, is a hungry fox chef's next target. "Bow-wow Buccaneers" - Mike Milo Bloo and his fellow dogs sneak out of their owner's houses at midnight to set on a pirate adventure in the city. "Ignoramooses" - Mike Milo Two moose believe they're going to be adopted by a rich hunter, and wreak havoc in his mansion.

Next up, the more popular shorts -- ones that made it to two or three episodes, but didn't quite make the cut.

Pfish and Chip - Butch Hartman
"Short Pfuse" (clip) - Pfish and Chip (a carefree shark and a short-tempered lynx) attempt to stop their foe, the Mad Bomber. The only problem is that the chief needs to take his nap and demands quiet. "Blammo the Clown" (clip 1, 2) - The bomb squad face an evil clown, with several gag traps. They also find themselves taking care of the chief's teddy bear while he's at the circus with his mother.

Malcolm and Melvin - Ralph Bakshi
"Malcolm and Melvin" - Melvin is an alienated looser, until he meets Malcolm, a trumpetist cockroach. "Babe, He Calls Me" - Melvin's saga continues, as his partnership with Malcolm is compromised by an urban superhero's intrusion. Meanwhile, Melvin's mother aids a criminal after being unable to meet with her son.

Mina and the Count (5 episodes) - Rob Renzetti

Yuckie Duck - Patrick A. Ventura
"Short Orders" (works, slow) - Yuckie Duck works as a cook and waiter in a dirty restaurant, and delivers unappealing orders to the demanding customers. "I'm On My Way" (unavailable) - Yuckie Duck works as a paramedic, but does more harm than good to his patients.

George and Junior - Patrick A. Ventura (based on the 1940s short "Henpecked Hoboes", in turn based on Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men characters)
"Look Out Below" - A bird crashes a light bulb so it doesn't disturb his sleep and sits in the empty socket. Geroge and Junior, the building's janitors/engineers, are sent to fix it. "George and Junior's Christmas Spectacular" - George and Junior are forced to deliver Santa's presents to the kids, as they fail to deliver one of Santa's letters.

Finally, the shorts that became pilots for successful series.

Dexter's Laboratory - Genndy Tartakovsky
"Changes" - Dee-Dee and Dexter battle turning each other into animals, using Dexter's latest invention. "The Big Sister" (unavailable) - Dexter prevents giant Dee-Dee from attacking the city. "Old Man Dexter" - Dexter uses a machine to age himself and be able to watch a late-night movie, but ends up aging far too much. "Dimwit Dexter" - Dexter's brain shuts down after exhaustive activity, and he becomes the neighborhood's laughing stock.

Cow and Chicken - David Feiss
"No Smoking" - Chicken is saved from damnation of smoking by Super Cow, who is his sister, Cow.

Johnny Bravo - Van Partible
"Johnny Bravo" - Johnny Bravo tries to score with a zookeeper girl by capturing a runaway gorilla. "Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women" - Johnny Bravo is left stranded in an island filled with beautiful tall women, and their bodyguard elephant.

The Powerpuff Girls - Craig McCracken
"Meat Fuzzy Lumkins" - The Powerpuff Girls fight to stop Fuzzy Lumkins' plot to turn everything into meat. "Crime 101" (unavailable) - The girls aid bumbling Amoeba Boys in becoming able criminals.

Courage the Cowardly Dog - John R. Dilworth
"The Chicken From Outer Space" - A fearful dog tries to stop an alien chicken's plans to invade Earth while in his owners' farm. Oscar-nominated.

PART 6: SPECIAL MUSICAL BONUS!! Most, if not all, of the music used in Cartoon Networks various bumps and interstitials -- including much of the music in the Groovies shorts -- can be found on Bluetube.com, the homepage of Michael Kohler, the chief composer of most of these projects. So if you heard some music you liked while browsing these videos, chances are its on his site, free to listen to and without any distracting sound effects. Just click on "WORK" from the main page and scroll through the list of pieces. PART 7: Random Miscellany Two Yogi Bear shorts, "Boo Boo Runs Wild" and "A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith" (unavailable), directed by , creator of Ren & Stimpy. Not connected to any of the above projects, but just as strange. "All-Star Cast" promo Rap promo Cartoon-Cartoon Fridays intro A smorgasbord of classic promos and bumps (Surreal) intro to "Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theater", a weekly special that broadcast obscure animated films Updated versions of same "Acme Hour" bumps: takeoffs on classic Warner Bros. themes that don't really fit anywhere else.
Invisible Paint - Earthquake Pills - Glass Cutter - The Weight - others

Cocktayle Napkinf

Rumple — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:10:18 -0800

A retro set of cocktail napkins showing Eisenhower-era damsels and drunkards, with captions by The Bard. via

Nora's freezin' on the trolley...

Guy_Inamonkeysuit — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:47:24 -0800

Yes, 'tis the season once again, and back in the day that meant the reappearance of the beloved Christmas carol in the comic pages, more specifically in the late, lamented Pogo. Cartoonist Walt Kelly wrote many bits of doggerel for his famous strip, and even recorded some of them, but Boston Chas. is far and away the best-known. It has been recorded by such luminaries as Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. So this holiday season, take a moment to lift your heart in song. All together now: "Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Washington and Kalamazoo..."