A quick update from "The Dead"

Hey guys!

I'm not dead D: but things have been insane for me, guys. So... I've started my senior year at SCAD this past week, and uh... oh my god.

"Have mercy on me! I've only been back for a week!"

See, I'm in a particularly crazy situation with my scheduling that pretty much means that I'm doing studio classes for... the rest of the year. Three at a time. Which pretty much means that I'm going to kiss sleep good bye until I graduate. Also, I still have to work.

:(

But I'm not here to make excuses for my inactivity, damn it, I'm here to talk about something with you! So, with that, I want to quickly share with you guys what I consider the good, the bad, and the ugly in animation this week.

The Good:

Skip to 1:57 for the juicy stuff. Article via Cartoon Brew

I don't usually pay too much mind to CG, but Genndy Tartakovsky does it so gooooooooood (go see Hotel Transylvania). And if they stick to this feel for the actual feature, than I am 1000% on board. My favorite part about this test is that Genndy directed the "modernizing" in such a way that is so faithful to the Fleischer Popeye shorts, like... I was speechless. Note to everybody who wants to modernize another classic property: "modernizing" does not mean stuff an hour and a half with modern pop culture references and... dubstep, I guess? I don't know. Either way, take notes from this, all. I'm excited to see where this goes. Also, Popeye translates surprisingly well in CG. Creepily well...

The Bad

Noooooooooooooooooo! Why!? Article via Cartoon Brew

Aaaand we've taken a step back, CG. This is exactly why I don't pay attention to it - this kind of bull(   )t happens when I look. For those of you guys that don't know, Mexican animation house Anima Estudios released what I like to call "a step forward" in 2011: a 2D animated Top Cat movie called... Top Cat. The movie. ...

It wasn't the most beautiful animation ever made by any stretch of the imagination. I mean, I concede (from experience) that there's not a whole heck of a lot that can be done with Flash puppet-style animation, but just look at this.

Oye. Also, some of the character design choices made in this movie

just make me uncomfortable.

Despite that, though, any studio that's willing to re-venture into 2D is okay by my book. And than, they just... gave up? ... why? Anima Estudios, you've disappointed me. I'm going to give this one, and the studio, a pass.

The Ugly

Hands down, this:

Not real. Yet. Unfortunately.

I dabble into Disney World news every now and again, mostly in my inability to afford to be able to go down there myself so I feel the need to make up for that by gawking on the internet. In doing my dreaming, the internet (in typical fashion) turned my dreams into a nightmare when it started talk about Disney looking to shove Frozen in my face every turn I take in the parks (I despise Frozen, but more about that later). A summer event? Okay, that's cool. I can't go in the summer anyway.

Oh, what's that? You want to shut down a 30 year old ride that celebrates the mythos and heritage of a legendary culture in the name of permanently shoving Frozen in my face some more? ... okay. sure. I see. Well, at least it's just a crappy internet rumor.

What's that, Disney? It's not?

You know. But no big deal, you know. Just sayin'.

Aside from spitting on anything that had to do with Walt Disney's vision for Epcot, and the more personal issue that I have with Disney's need to shove Anna, Elsa and Olaf in my face constantly, I believe that this is just bad foresight strategically in the parks. Think about it - how long have even the biggest fads on the internet stayed popular? And I don't mean in the way that they're still being used today... I mean as in, how long has a fad been actually, legitimately popular? To say two years is a stretch, for the most part. 

A note to Disney - I don't know if you'll believe me or not... but Frozen is still an internet fad. And not much else. And, thank goodness, it's starting to go on the decline. So, before you decide that the appropriate reaction to an internet fad is to stomp all over Walt Disney's ideals for his very last dream - and by extension, his grave - to try to make a few more bucks off of Frozen, consider stepping back and thinking about it. Just, do that much.

This doesn't have to be a lesson you need to learn the hard way.

Don't be like these guys.