I quietly added a new page to my site not too long ago.  It’s under the “Misc” link and it lists a bunch of exclamations from Hermes, from the show Futurama.  You know, the character that has funny lines like “Sweet honey bee of infinity!”  Enjoy!

Last night I watched Karas: The Prophecy, an animated OVA. The story is a bit slow and confusing, but the animation and visuals are easily one of the best I have seen in long time. The show uses a combination of 2D and 3D, but takes a much different approach than other animations. Much of the animation is originally 3D-animated, but then drastically altered using 2D techniques to finally achieve the final composition. Wikipedia has a good section on the production of the show, which summarizes the various 2D and 3D techniques used.

This DVD comprises the first half of the full story, which is concluded in Karas: The Revelation. It was actually a six episode OVA, but the U.S. release combined them into two movies. This first DVD is less than an hour and a half long, so they kept the pace moving pretty quickly.  If you want to see some amazing animations and fight scenes, add it to your Netflix queue (or try to find it at your local Blockbuster, if you’re still doing things the old way).

There is also an interesting extra feature, which shows several shots in different phases of production, including the initial bone animations (“bones” control a character and his movements), wireframes, render output, and then the final shot after post-processing. I was very surprised by how different the render output and final shot looked; the production team drastically re-worked some of the scenes to create the final look and feel of the movie, which is definitely unique.

A friend of mine has been trying to get me into the Flight of the Concords HBO show lately, but up until a few days ago I had only seen a skit or two while over at his place drinking. But then I decided to look up a few more videos on YouTube and I’m now I’m sold! I already bought the first season from Amazon.com, which should arrive later this week, I hope. In the meantime, I’ve watched these short clips a few times through and I crack up every time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FArZxLj6DLk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT5AQIlmM0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY8jaGs7xJ0

It’s been a while, but there isn’t a whole lot to report. I’ve been busy with work and I’ve wasted some spare time on my new XBox (Call of Duty 4 is very, very fun). I did watch the first three discs of Black Lagoon, which is a fantastic anime. But now I’m waiting for some other company to pick up distribution of the remaining episodes from Geneon, which dropped all US distribution late last year. Bastards.

I stumbled across these funny videos a few days ago (it’s best to watch them in order, but in my opinion the second is the best).  Note to the gullible – none of what you are about to see was serious, although in the second one Jimmy was surprised because he actually did not know what was on the tape.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-PZNfOZXPJk

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wnVJZkDuVBM

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sIQrBouWRiE

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tNkhWPThcf0

After a very long silent period, the gallery has a new post.  It’s something I started in the early summer and actually had some time this month to finish up.  It’s a model and animation of the Planet Express building from Futurama.  Check it out in the gallery section!

Sorry for the long hiatus, but the past few weeks have been busy.  Last weekend I was in Las Vegas to celebrate a friend’s upcoming first child.  This weekend was the real reason my time has been so scarce lately: I got married!  Everything went beautifully.  And in two weeks I’ll be touring northern Italy on my honeymoon.

In between now and then, I’m looking forward to a few small TV-related releases.  Tomorrow (Tuesday), the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia DVD is released.  There are a still a couple of episodes I haven’t seen, so I’m excited to finally watch them.  Right before I leave, the new season starts on FX, so I’m excited to watch that episode and set my DVR to catch new episodes for me while I’m gone.  If you haven’t seen the show before, it’s a great comedy.  You can even view a bonus episode (a full twenty-something minute episode) on the It’s Always Sunny… FX MySpace page.

Also, next Sunday is the new Lucy, Daughter of the Devil series on Adult Swim.  I’ve been waiting for this show since I saw the pilot almost two years ago.  Try finding it on YouTube, you should be able to find it and see what all the excitement is about!

Aside from the shows, I’m looking forward to relaxing these next two weeks and getting ready for my trip!  So don’t expect much out of me until October.

I checked the official Adult Swim schedule today to find out when the Friday night programming starts, what will be on Fridays, and when Lucy, Daughter of the Devil begins. Things I found out which are actually interesting to me:

• Friday night programming starts in the first week of July.
• The Friday night schedule is the same as the weekday schedule.
• The weekday schedule will also change then, starting at 11 pm Eastern instead of 10:30.
• Lucy starts August 5, although it is odd that they aren’t re-airing the pilot before then.
• It looks like Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law has 2 new episodes in mid-July (or maybe I’m misreading that; I thought that show was over).
• Home Movies re-runs are ending August 18 (again? stop messing with my re-runs!).
• There is another Futurama marathon on August 25.
• Voltron has been airing in the 5:30 am slot (not that I’m going to watch it, but I loved it as a kid).

This is pretty random, but I thought it was hilarious. Tonight on the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert talked about Illinois’ Ninth Congressional district, which includes parts of Chicago and some north-shore suburbs. Here is the except from the show that hand me laughing uncontrollably:

“The Northweastern Wildcats football team carries a reputation for excellence… in academics. But they suck at football. In fact, they hold the NCAA record of 34 consecutive losses. However, residents of the ninth don’t think of the Wildcats as losers because the district also contains Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, a team that year after year makes a 34-game losing streak sound attractive. The Cubs last won the World Series in 1908 and have experienced more than their share of frustrations ever since. For example, in the time it takes for me to speak this sentence, another Cub player will be injured by his own teammate.” [ Shows the clip of Zambrano and Barrett fighting in the dugout ]

On a related note, I checked out a recommended website created by a frustrated Cubs fan: http://hirejimessian.com/. I’m not an avid baseball fan and I’m definitely not a Cubs fan, but the writer has a great sense of humor and writes very funny posts. If you’re bored, take a peek over at the site for a few quick laughs. And if you’re curious, you can keep checking back to find out who will top his list of the worst Cubs players in the author’s lifetime.

I found out this weekend that Adult Swim made some recent announcements about their lineup, which included some exciting news.

The most exciting for me is that Lucy, Daughter of the Devil is in production and slated to air in the summer. The show is created by Lauren Bouchard (Home Movies) and stars some familiar voices: H. Jon Benjamin (aka Coach McGuirk) as the Devil and other voices, Melissa Bardin Galsky (Melissa from Home Movies) as the devil’s secretary, and Jon Glaser (Stroker from Stroker and Hoop) as DJ Jesus. The pilot has aired several times on Adult swim since it first ran in 2005 and it is extremely funny, so I’m looking forward to the series.

Additionally, Adult Swim will expand from six nights a week to seven nights, finally getting some air time on Fridays. The release does not give any details about the programming that will air that night.

The release also has some bad news for those of us getting exasperated with the new Williams Street humor style. The Tim and Eric show, Assy Mcgee, Saul of the Molemen, and Squidbillies are all getting new seasons. It’s amazing that shows like those get renewed during their initial run while quality shows like Venture Bros., Lucy, and Stroker and Hoop take months or longer to be green-lit, if they aren’t canceled first.

While spending time on my current favorite time-waster, Wikipedia, I found out that the production company that makes Venture Bros. also did a small web series that takes place in the Batman universe.

World Leaders Entertainment, which used to be Noodlesoup Productions, created Gotham Girls, an animated series on the web that features Batgirl, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn. The shorts are entertaining, although kind of corny. But who can resist the combination of Jackson Publick, Doc Hammer, and Batman characters? I know I can’t!

Although the main Warner Bros. page for the show is gone, this page has direct links to the episodes that still exist on the WB servers. A word of warning to the Harley Quinn fans out there: she’s kind of the screw-up in the crew. Be prepared to see her make a lot of dumb decisions!