What a hectic, hectic, terrible week. If it wasn’t the start of studying for this PE exam in October, it was the blog here getting hit by a mysterious bug. Of course it had to happen on the day I was without internet and hence couldn’t properly resolve it. By the looks of things, it was an issue with the previous theme; now completely removed. Thus the hunt begins for a new one, probably to come on Monday. Anyway, here’s some week links for you all.
Why I love … Dumbo’s pink elephants
The Guardian’s Henry Barnes explains why the pink elephants scene in Dumbo counts as one of his very favourites:
We talk now about mainstream animations pleasing parents and kids. About the ability of the best cartoons to speak in two languages simultaneously. That’s presumed to mean that an adult joke can be slipped into a children’s movie. But Pink Elephants does the same thing with fear. It’s a hostile and alienating piece of film-making. Fascinating and terrifying to kids and grown-ups alike. I can’t believe it exists. But I’m so glad it does.
Behind the scenes: how a Disney logo is created
This intriguing post over on Creative Bloq takes a look at just how the logo for Wreck-It-Ralph came about. It’s actually a rare look into how one of the most critically important part of a film’s marketing comes to be.
Finding Nemo lied to your kids, and they will do it again in the sequel: Finding Dory!
The subject of this post is probably of interest only to those studying biology, but this is in fact, a humurous look at how the lives of clownfish are portrayed in Finding Nemo in a fairly inaccurate kind of way. When you read the article, you’ll discover why!
The Cartoon Eye Chart
This wonderful thing is the creation of Jaleesa Scotland and if you click through for the full-size version. Tip of the hat to Stephen Brooks for this one.
Why The Japanese Love Twitter But Not Facebook
No, this link isn’t a mistake. It actually is quite an informative article from Taylor Beck at Fast Company that highlights how different cultures can have different affinities to different things.
What IS of interest to us about the post though, is that it points out that the record for the most tweets sent in a second:
This month, Twitter announced the latest record set by Japan: During the August 2 airing of the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki on Japanese TV, the movie’s climax became the most tweeted moment of all time.
The 143,199 tweets posted in sync with the (spoiler alert) magic word “barusu” (???) as it destroyed the flying castle, also exploded the previous Twitter record of 33,388 tweets per second.
Of course, we’ve been here before with the same film, but it’s always nice to see animation have an impact in any way that it can.
Tweets of the Week
You are not living well if you don't sometimes sidle up behind your spouse to spoon them and screech the theme to Evangelion into their back
— Smallbu Animation (@SmallBuStudio) August 21, 2013
Did I just see a commercial with Smurfs endorsing Quicken Loans? Papa Smurf always says, lend money to unqualified buyers on inflated assets
— Emil (@emilgh) August 22, 2013
Rumor has it Hayao Miyazaki is planning a sequel to Nausica, starring Ben Affleck
— Giancarlo Volpe – BIack Lives Matter!! (@Giancarlo_Volpe) August 23, 2013
I really want to meet the person who stole the "Foodfight!" harddrives halfway thru the production.
— Alison Donato (@alisketch) August 26, 2013
https://twitter.com/k1pster/status/372227500329275392
Perhaps the ultimate proof that animation is only understood by a special breed:
My strangest moment on The Simpsons: explaining the production process to Dr Stephen Hawking. Whut th – ??
— David Silverman (@tubatron) August 27, 2013
My daughter is now calling Powerpuff Girls "my show". I win.
— Jeremy Whitley (@jrome58) August 29, 2013
https://twitter.com/Peter_Gutierrez/status/373614552052551681
Proper eye contact is the least of that terrible looking film’s problem.
Haha, true, but it’s an elemental problem that shouldn’t happen on any production, even the crappy ones.