Merry Christmas

 

Carl - directed and designed by Márk Juhász

Well this is a first, got hit up to review an animated short (if you're a regular around here you know I love that shit) and I couldn't be more grateful, everything about this thing is just perfect.  Here is the email I got from the mastermind behind this project, "Hi, I am Márk Juhász, a recently graduated filmmaker/animator!  I am trying to make an online premiere for my animated sci-fi short, titled CARL: http://youtu.be/-Jj9Ra1Qr3U I would really appreciate it if you could feature it on your site. It won the Best International Student Film award at the Melbourne International Animation Festival 2014.  The plot of this Action/Romance short-film starts with the duel of Carl (Robot-Gladiator-Champion) and Space Jesus. Before the finishing blow could land, rescue comes in the form of a Techno-Angel, who turns out to be Carl’s long lost love. So he changes sides and goes head to head against Drill-Raptors, EggBeater-Scorpions and a mighty BBQ-Octopus.  The main driving force of the story is the strength of Love and the weakness of Hate. It also offers an opinion about religion and the robotic nature of today’s society, using references to Terminator, Spartacus, Transformers, Matrix, etc." I'm not a cinematography expert, but I feel like this thing has everything going for it. Check out that poster, how can you not be desperately curious about the flick? The short itself is nothing short of epic, squeezing a lot of story into less than 7 minutes. Really this thing could be developed into a full length feature. The animation is of the most superior quality, worthy of any of the big animation houses around these days, yet retains a unique surreal quality. So you've got story and quality art, why not throw in a perfect soundtrack. It suits the story note for note, but really could stand on it's own as a powerfully engaging composition. Character wise you have the statuesque Carl, who is impressive just to look at and backs it up with brutal action. The Techno-Angel is beautiful beyond compare, just as an angel should be, she's actually really hot in an animated character kind of way. Space Jesus has the presence of a deity in human form and you can feel nothing but compassion for him as he is beaten to a pulp. There's lots of little things too in this short that make it special, I love how in the dream sequence Carl puts his hand on his lady's perfect ass and I love how Carl is instantly transformed by the Techno-Angel in a bright white light. I couldn't find anything I didn't like about the film it's no wonder it has won awards and I'm sure Márk Juhász got an "A" on the project. Enough babbling, take time to check out some related links... robotcarl.tumblr juhaszmark.tumblr Youtube ...and then of course the marvelous short itself... [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jj9Ra1Qr3U]

The Swing Letters - All Right Here

My old buddy Charles "Chuck" Anderson of the immortal One Man Running and Grimace (look around this place you can listen to oodles of their tunes) has a new band that I'm head over heals excited about. I was lucky enough to have "found" Chuck on Facebook again, but to know that he's still doing music is a blessing for anyone lucky enough to listen. Don't know too much about the Swing Letters, except they fucking rock. Apparently they have recorded a bunch of tunes and have one mastered so far, and let me say this first one is a humdinger. Can you say C-A-T-C-H-Y? The tune is written by the singer/guitar player, Rand Berke, (I believe he does all the song writing) and he's no slouch when it comes to putting words to music. Chuck and the drummer make such a solid rhythm section that you'd have to physically hold your foot down to keep it from tapping along. For some reason early Talking Heads comes to mind. Anyway, they have a Facebook page of their own, so maybe if you dig the tune below as much as I did you could follow along with me and find out when they release some more... EDIT: Their Reverbnation page is dead (sad). I did find this vid though and stoked to see Chuck do his thing (I miss that guy)… [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlMBbM-EUjA&w=790&h=444]