FLIGHT

(Sort of a "Movie I've Seen Recently," but I didn't want to derail the ongoing dicussion in that thread...)

Anyway, on Kazu's strong recommendation, I caught the show (nearing its last lap) at the Laemmle on La Brea. Small crowd, eager to laugh (esp. at the Hertzfeld stuff!)

My personal favorite shorts were Mt. Head and Das Rad. (In order of billing, not preference.)

The treatment of time-passage in Das Rad was simply wondrous. I don't want to give away the fun, so I won't go into detail (unless everyone's seen it...?)
Mt. Head had some of the coolest handdrawn animation. Video reference seemed evident, but there was mucho plenty of personal touch applied to it. The narrator's voice was really... wow.

[The?] Cathedral nearly put me to sleep.
On the other hand, the CG character animation in the afterlife short (title?) was some of the best, most "Illusion of Life"-like work I've seen in that medium. Quite cool.

I'm quite curious as to how any of you received the show, if at all...

I agree, Mt. Head and Das Rad take top honors. Surprisingly, the one film I didn't like was Bill Plympton's Parking. I'm a fan of his experimental animation, but when he has to tell a story, his work tends to fall flat. Don's stuff, however, made me laugh so hard I almost broke my ribs.

Mt. Head and Das Rad! yeah!

Agh! Stop with all your glowing comments! Don't make me drive all the way to Montreal to see this!

Ah, this movie finally came to Pittsburgh and I saw it tonight. I agree, "Mount Head" and "Das Rad" really stand out.. That was a sensational ending to the program. The painting animation with the horse-riders was also pretty moving.

I think I disliked the computer-generated stuff the most ("50% grey"--that afterlife one--and "Cathedral").

The Don Hertzfeld and Mike Judge cartoons were really laugh out loud funny.. and so was the Canadian one ("Space Invaders")--that opera music was really well used!

However, I think the films have a pretty bitter, cynical overall feel that accumulates in kind of an unpleasant feeling.. But I'm probably just an over-sensitive dweeb.

Don brought the show to UCSB the other weekend. I liked his stuff the best as far as humor goes. I liked Das Rad as well. After all it did have my name in the title.

Just thought I should give this thread a bump, since the Volume 1 dvds are shipping now. (order at www.animationshow.com)

I never got a chance to make it to the theaters to see this, but I'm watching it right now as I type this and man, what a breath of fresh air this is. I have to agree with you guys... Mt. Head is just... man that is a big 'wow'... and I thought that before I read this thread! Haven't gotten to Das Rad yet so I'm looking forward to that one.

And of course... I love everything Don Hertzfeld does. Hey Kazu do you remember when we all went to his studio to do voice recording? I guess he never used it huh?

It's out on DVD now. Wahoo!

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Kevin Woody's Between Mars: Cartoonist Man About Town

I just got back from seeing it in Laguna Beach! It was amazing, except for the very first one, Strange Invaders. I agree with you guys that Das Rad and Mt. Head were the best, but I actually really, really liked The Cathedral. Hm. The rock people in Das Rad were super cool, and I think I'll go draw some fan art right now...

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c l a a a n k d o t c o m ! ! ! !

I guess the Animation Show is different depending on where you see it, which is actually pretty neat, so I don't know if anyone else saw the segment that made my skin crawl: Ricardo.

But the rest of it was awesome. Das Rad was probably my favorite, though I was absolutely transfixed with the "Life On Mars" clip, which I'm not sure screened everywhere. It wasn't new, and maybe it wasn't called Life On Mars, but it was some simply stunning 50s animation. I'm actually really sad that it won't be on the DVD.

I'll buy the DVD anyway though, just to get Das Rad and to finally have Billy's Balloon.

I actually got the DVD, and it contains a lot of animations that I didn't see, but it also DOES NOT contain a bunch of ones that I DID see. I would have liked it to have Rejected and some others that I can't think of right now. Well, shoot, d00d.

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c l a a a n k d o t c o m ! ! ! !

You can buy Rejected straight from Don Hertzfeld's website. It will be worth your moneydollars.

Rejected is the best short film ever.

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Agreed. It is about one million times better than the horrible short film they showed us in film school about an old woman and a homeless man who share a tender moment over lunch. There are no tender moments in Rejected. Only bleeding, giant spoons, and a collapsing universe. And what more could you want?