Channel Frederator Blog

This latest issue of Giant Robot Magazine (#55) has an article about Monkmus, who has drawn and animated music videos for the likes of Badly Drawn Boy (hug-fest “Year of the Rat” is seen above), Kid Koala, Death Cab for Cutie, and Los Campesinos. (The interview is not available online–you have to buy the magazine, and you should!)

His real name is Ken Wong. He lives in NYC and is represented by Hornet. You can peruse his Hornet bio page here. Wong went to RISD, animated for The PJs, in-betweened for Prince of Egypt and collaborated with J. Otto Seibold on a webtoon.

Watch his videos on his YouTube page. Then see the tofu balls he had for lunch when he dined with Giant Robot editor Eric Nakamura.

After the jump, his quietly touching bunny-themed video for “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Death Cab for Cutie. [Read more…]

In response to Floyd’s earlier post today about catchy music and childhood memories, here’s one version of Mahna Mahna, performed by the Muppets.

So that I don’t get off that easy blogging today, I did a little research about the song. It was written by Italian musician Piero Umiliani for an Italian faux-documentary/softcore porno movie called Sweden, Heaven and Hell (1968). I am not making this up!

Hear the original recording on the Piero Umiliani MySpace page. (It’s the second song. There are other versions including a samba and one that mixes in snippets of Christmas carols.)

You can buy the soundtrack of Sweden, Heaven and Hell from Dusty Groove, which is, by the way, my favorite groovy online music store.

Mahna Mahna was first performed by The Muppets on the Ed Sullivan Show. The scat-singing puppet’s name was officially Bip Bippadotta (voiced by Jim Henson). There were numerous Muppet versions after that including the one up top from The Muppet Show. By then, the long-haired dude was renamed Mahna Mahna (Jim Henson) and he was backed by the Snowths (Frank Oz).

Some folks who have performed the song: Sandra Bullock, Ruth Buzzi, Goldie Hawn, Johnny Carson, characters on the British version of The Office, and the band Cake.

After the jump, a 1969 version. [Read more…]

Here’s the latest animated video for a They Might Be Giants song: an artsy craftsy, naive-yet-sophisticated interpretation of “Davy Crockett in Outer Space”. It’s a great use of chalk board animation. For insight into this advanced, high-tech process, check out a comprehensive behind-the-scenes page at the Tiny Inventions site.

(I am glad to see that cartoon workers protect themselves from chalk-dust inhalation by wearing stylish mouth masks.)

And these folks are deft with cotton balls, for sure!

Tiny Inventions worked with illustrator David Cowles on this piece. David has worked on animated vids for many TMBG ditties, including “The Mesopotamians” and “Seven Days of the Week”. Links to all his animated videos are here.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Being a Mac person from way back, I haven’t paid much attention to Microsoft’s entry into the digital media player pack, Zune. But I have taken an interest in Zune-Arts, a related experiment that commissions artists to create original content. Above, you will find an example: an animated very-short short with a great deal of heart (viewable on the Zune-Arts site as well as YouTube)…no Zune required!

Earlier this year, Yves Geleyn (of the animation production company Hornet) created “Mother Like No Other” using fabric, textured paper, and photographs. A beaver and his cardinal sidekick search for ingredients for an appropriate Mother’s Day bouquet.

Music is “Come as You Were” by The Bird and the Bee.

See a behind-the-scenes podcast after the jump. [Read more…]

I admit to being a bit late to the waffle party, but I just discovered the wonderful world of cartoon waffle testimonials. It all started with the above video, made by Nathan Mazur to go along with the song “Do You Like Waffles?” by Parry Gripp of the band Nerf Herder. (The song is from his solo album For Those About To Shop, We Salute You.) This is the “official” animated video for the delicious ode to round morning goodness.

But then fans started making their own videos, starring famous cartoon characters. After the jump, links to a whole bunch of manic breakfast lovers including Sonic, Pucca, and Naruto.

And please don’t be tempted to drown me in maple syrup (the real stuff!) if you dream about this song.

[Read more…]

The Channel Frederator Awards are Here!!! It was a hot, feverish, and fierce competition!!!

Find out if your favorite cartoons claimed the Big, Red, Hunk of Burning Fred!!!

This episode we’re showing you one heck of a funny cartoon. But don’t worry…

This film is mighty.

This film is epic.

This film is really, really, really funny.

Check out which cartoon made us squirt milk outta our noses and won a dang Freddie for our Funniest Film Award.

Watch all the nominees at channelfrederator.com

-Jeaux Janovsky 

Earlier this month, I blogged about Alex Budovsky’s music video for “Last Time at Clerkenwell” by The Real Tuesday Weld. At the time, I didn’t realize that Stephen Coates (the guy behind TRTW) was such a heavy duty fan of animation. The music video above is “The Show Must Go On” which was made by the small Brooklyn animation house Giant Squid Eye Productions. Giant Squid Eye is George Fort (director) and Monica Smith (producer). (Recently, George worked on backgrounds for over-the-top action fest Superjail—coming to Adult Swim this fall. And Monica was color key designer for Supernormal on CITV. A super coincidence?)

Of interest to animation history buffs is the new score Coates composed for Winsor McCay’s The Centaurs. The Centaurs was an unfinished animated film that only survives in fragments. McCay worked on it between 1918 and 1921. Most of the completed footage deteriorated due to poor storage. I think it’s really, really [Read more…]

Simple. Clever. Succinct. That’s how I would describe this Post-It animation. But who’s behind it? Turns out it’s an Argentinian motion graphics company called Gazz. It’s worth it to explore their website, as only a few examples of their work show up on YouTube. You can check out a stop-motion town full of egg-cars and a smoking belly face ID for MTV, among other fanciful things.

Also, don’t miss the videos in the section called “zzzaping”, which compiles tests and demos. One project is a motion-capture kit comprising two marachas and a belt, which can harness your rhythmic chops and sexy hip action to make an animated monkey dance.

Here’s a lovely music video they did for the song “Marta Ý Nestor” by Robot Bajo El Agua. I really love the song, although I don’t speak Spanish and don’t know what exactly they are singing about— I suppose love?

For the band: the [Read more…]

I’m not a big ol’ techno freak, but Gangpol & Mit just may suck me into the scene with the way they blend animation and music to create a mutant vibe that’s been described as the soundtrack to day care on another planet. Two guys from Bordeaux, France, Sylvain Quément (music) and Guillaume Castagné (graphic design), output a klutzy kool music/video universe that is childlike and threatening at the same time. My brain hurts in a good way!

Hitspaper interviewed them (and the awkward translation from Japanese just makes it even better!)

For more stimulation, transport yourself to their website. Guillaume’s art is showcased at his own site, here. They also have a MySpace page.

Guillame contributes to a more toned-down (no knives!) project for kids called Carton Park with Norman Bambi & Mami Chan of Juicy Panic. See a somewhat Devo-esque performance, complete with alterna-scout uniforms and limboing children, here.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Floyd’s recent post on the fredblogs reminded me of a great video of Daniel Johnston’s Monster Inside Of Me by Eric Fensler, of GI Joe PSA fame.

Here’s some fanart I created for Daniel a few years ago. 

-Jeaux Janovsky