Best of Spike and Mike 2007, so says I!
Jan. 29th, 2007 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerSo I saw Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival last night. Spike and Mike's festivals hold a place in my heart, ever since Mom used to take me to see them since I was five at such late and lamented DC theaters as the Key and the Biograph (the greatest Georgetown theater, now a CVfuckingS). We went to see the show a couple years ago, but were sorely disappointed by the lack of quality. What does it say when the sole highlight of an animation festival is the Happy Tree Friends?
Well, I was worrying that this festival would be much of the same after watching the first few cartoons. Once, back in the early pre-internet days when only the most sanitized fare made it to TV, showing cartoons that were crass and vulgar for the sake of being crass and vulgar was shocking and subversive. Now that we live in a world where, say, South Park uses vulgarity and offensive material not merely to offend but to provoke thought in blisteringly smart satire, cartoon shots of a shroomed-up canary fucking a horse (a real cartoon I saw last night) just ain't gonna cut it. Neither will Festival staples like "No Neck Joe," by Craig McCracken. It's hard to believe this is the game genius behind "Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends." But then, these toons are almost ten years old, around his "Dexter's Laboratory" days, so perhaps it's not to hard to imagine after all. "No Neck Joe" is utter tripe and needs to be retired promptly, along with the pointless smut crap.
And yet, just when I was really starting to fear this festival would be more and more of the same... I saw the following 'toons. Now, the fact that I can readily link from youtube pretty much all of the cartoons I saw kinda says something about Spike and Mike's relevance in today's world. OTOH, I probably never would have heard about them if Spike and Mike hadn't selected them in the first place. Each of these little films are marvelous, the cream of the crop from the whole festival.
I'll post these films embedded in a second behind a cut, but for the sake of you who dislike such things, I'll just start by linking them.
"Don't Fuck With Love," by the Sad Little Stars. Definitely worth checking out for fans of indie music, The Dresden Dolls, and unconventional animation. I wish it didn't just "end" without a point, but regardless, I loved it.
How to Cope with Death. Gorgeous, gorgeous hand-drawn animation, a dying art form in today's world of CGI and Flash.
Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. Holy. Crap. People. No wonder this was the rousing favorite at the San Diego Comic Con last year. This film is twelve minutes of pure geek porn awesomeness. Fans of video games, this is an absolute must-see. A mini-masterpiece.
Now, some of you already know (and possibly adore) Dr. Tran. I do too. I showed it to my mother, who also fell in love with it. In fact, the main reason we decided to even see this festival again was because we heard there would be two brand new Tran cartoons. Sadly, they are not yet on-line. However, the final film they showed *is*, namely the marvelously bizarre and disturbing Roybertito's Commercial.
Far Superior Version of Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 Here, with the grainer (but less MB) version is below, for those with slower connections:
Well, I was worrying that this festival would be much of the same after watching the first few cartoons. Once, back in the early pre-internet days when only the most sanitized fare made it to TV, showing cartoons that were crass and vulgar for the sake of being crass and vulgar was shocking and subversive. Now that we live in a world where, say, South Park uses vulgarity and offensive material not merely to offend but to provoke thought in blisteringly smart satire, cartoon shots of a shroomed-up canary fucking a horse (a real cartoon I saw last night) just ain't gonna cut it. Neither will Festival staples like "No Neck Joe," by Craig McCracken. It's hard to believe this is the game genius behind "Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends." But then, these toons are almost ten years old, around his "Dexter's Laboratory" days, so perhaps it's not to hard to imagine after all. "No Neck Joe" is utter tripe and needs to be retired promptly, along with the pointless smut crap.
And yet, just when I was really starting to fear this festival would be more and more of the same... I saw the following 'toons. Now, the fact that I can readily link from youtube pretty much all of the cartoons I saw kinda says something about Spike and Mike's relevance in today's world. OTOH, I probably never would have heard about them if Spike and Mike hadn't selected them in the first place. Each of these little films are marvelous, the cream of the crop from the whole festival.
I'll post these films embedded in a second behind a cut, but for the sake of you who dislike such things, I'll just start by linking them.
"Don't Fuck With Love," by the Sad Little Stars. Definitely worth checking out for fans of indie music, The Dresden Dolls, and unconventional animation. I wish it didn't just "end" without a point, but regardless, I loved it.
How to Cope with Death. Gorgeous, gorgeous hand-drawn animation, a dying art form in today's world of CGI and Flash.
Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006. Holy. Crap. People. No wonder this was the rousing favorite at the San Diego Comic Con last year. This film is twelve minutes of pure geek porn awesomeness. Fans of video games, this is an absolute must-see. A mini-masterpiece.
Now, some of you already know (and possibly adore) Dr. Tran. I do too. I showed it to my mother, who also fell in love with it. In fact, the main reason we decided to even see this festival again was because we heard there would be two brand new Tran cartoons. Sadly, they are not yet on-line. However, the final film they showed *is*, namely the marvelously bizarre and disturbing Roybertito's Commercial.
Far Superior Version of Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006 Here, with the grainer (but less MB) version is below, for those with slower connections:
