Friday, February 27, 2009
Angelica Pickles Cartoons
Angelica Charlotte Pickles is a character voiced by Cheryl Chase in the Nickelodeon shows Rugrats and All Grown Up!, and is among the series' original characters. She is a spoiled brat and the cousin of Tommy and Dil Pickles.
Angelica's physical features and clothing on Rugrats were blonde hair with 2 pigtails (each punctuated with a large purple bow), an orange-and-black-striped shirt with flared cuffs, a purple dress, blue tights with green dots, orange socks,and purple sneakers. She is an only child — as a result, she has become a very spoiled child whose parents pander to her every need and give her anything she wants without cease. Her parents — Drew and Charlotte — are hardly ever around because of their jobs, which in turn may mean that her parents are neglectful; they also rarely punish or discipline her (the only time we see her being punished for doing something bad was in Runaway Angelica, where she gets a time-out in her room for breaking her father's fax machine after going into her father's study without his permission).
Being spoiled could also come from her parents' vast wealth, which is used to buy her toys and very expensive birthday parties. She whines and cries to get what she wants, and has a very whiny voice. Until Susie came along, Angelica was unique among the regular children in that she could properly talk to grown-ups, and as such, she acted nicely towards the adults, and was notoriously mean to the other babies especially by lying and distorting their view of the world; after Angelica says something crazy, a freak accident will occur and thus "confirm" her warnings. Despite this (or because of this), she became among the show's most popular characters. When Susie did come along, Angelica soon became a rival to Susie, and often competed in many things. In fact, almost every time Susie is in an episode, Angelica is also in it, although perhaps ironically, Susie's introduction episode did not feature Angelica. Interestingly, Angelica and Susie are the only characters who didn't appear in the two Rugrats pilot episodes.
She is two and a half at the beginning of the series, until In Angelica's Birthday, Angelica turns to a big three-year-old at the end. Despite acting mean to the babies most of the time, it is revealed in the 1995 season finale "Moving Away" that she was the reason Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil befriended each other and, even more, that Angelica considered the other babies her best friends. Her first word and favorite food is cookies.
Angelica's parents, especially her mother, seem to also be spoiled. In Rugrats, Charlotte was Angelica's role model in some ways. Charlotte is the powerful boss of a major corporation. In a realistic dream sequence, she said that the only thing she liked better than corporate domination was corporate domination with her special girl. For Angelica's thirteenth birthday party, she hired an ice sculptor to sculpt Angelica out of the iceberg that sank the Titanic. She even suggested adding Angelica's face to Mount Rushmore for her sixteenth birthday. Drew is a little more responsible and reasonable with his daughter. He is often the one who worries about Angelica becoming too spoiled, but when he discusses this with Charlotte, she usually disagrees. Angelica's, as well as her parents', address is 53 Briar Tree Lane (stated in Rugrats episode "Stu Gets a Job." Stu mentions the address when he is calling to have Drew's Car towed).
She has a cat named Fluffy, most recently seen in the All Grown Up! ("AGU!") episode "Lucky 13" (first transmitted in the US: August 28, 2004). Also, since the beginning of the series, she was often seen with a doll named Cynthia, which she apparently considered her most prized possession.
When the series started, she, Tommy and Chuckie were their respective parents' only children. However, by the end of the series, Angelica was the only "only child" remaining, as Tommy gained a brother Dil through birth and Chuckie gained a stepsister Kimi through marriage. One episode late in the run focused on this fact ("Sister Act", first transmitted: January 26, 2001). Angelica came seventh in TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters, above Bart & Lisa Simpson and Mickey Mouse, and she was the only Rugrats character to appear in the list.
In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, when the babies control the robot Reptar, Angelica has many near-death incidents:
* When the babies crash into the balcony Angelica is on, she falls onto Reptar's nose, hanging on for dear life.
* As soon as the babies notice, Tommy presses a button that sends green gas out of the nose Angelica is on. She falls to the ground but the babies catch her in Reptar's hand. She squeals: "This isn't the parade I wanted!"
* Robo-Snail squirts purple goo at her.
* Lil opens a hatch and Kimi climbs up. As Angelica starts to, Robo-Snail grabs Reptar and Angelica falls but manages to grab a tooth. Reptar starts spinning around but poor Angelica manages to stay on.
* When Reptar boosts up the Eiffel Tower, he stops with a huge jolt at the top, sending a shrieking Angelica flying into the sky. She falls but is caught again. Angrily, she shouts: "What's the big idea? Are you potty-heads trying to get rid of me?"
* With Angelica in his other hand, Chuckie points at the Church his dad is at. Now he isn't holding onto the Tower, Reptar falls. He throws a screaming Angelica into the air and grabs the rail of the Tower. Angelica falls and lands on the head though. (Wikipedia)
The Dorvack Document Pt 2
Continuing from the first post on the Dorvack series of WWII-inspired model mecha posted in January. No-one, except MaK is anywhere near the wicked aesthetic Makoto Kobayashi achieves. Click on images below to see details of either the dioramas or the sketches. Inspiring stuff!
Abandoned School In HK
Nice flicks (dunno bout the girl in the last pic!) of an abandoned school in Shau Kei Wan, HKG. The school has been closed for a number of years and has now become a great hang-out and proving ground for local writers.
Pics [VIA]
Santos And Ortega Graffiti
Santos
Ortega
Couldn't find any info on these guys, but definitely digging their style! (T-agang crew?)
[VIA]
Gigapixel Camera
The best professional digital cameras can capture photos containing tens of megapixels. But, thanks to an affordable robotic tripod, it is now possible to use a consumer camera to take images in the gigapixel range.
The tripod robot, called Gigapan, was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and uses motors to capture a scene with a grid of hundreds or thousands of images with the camera set to full zoom. Photo stitching software then combines them into a single super-detailed image containing billions of pixels, called a gigapan. The largest, most spectacular gigapans can be too large to handle on all but the most powerful desktop computers.
The result is too detailed to be viewed on any printout, but gigapans can be uploaded to a dedicated site where users are able zoom right into the images.
With an affordable version of the device launched last month, the three-legged robot has the potential to be a boon to science, as well as holiday snaps.
Check out the detail HERE when it was used at President Obamas' inauguration.
[VIA]
The tripod robot, called Gigapan, was developed at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and uses motors to capture a scene with a grid of hundreds or thousands of images with the camera set to full zoom. Photo stitching software then combines them into a single super-detailed image containing billions of pixels, called a gigapan. The largest, most spectacular gigapans can be too large to handle on all but the most powerful desktop computers.
The result is too detailed to be viewed on any printout, but gigapans can be uploaded to a dedicated site where users are able zoom right into the images.
With an affordable version of the device launched last month, the three-legged robot has the potential to be a boon to science, as well as holiday snaps.
Check out the detail HERE when it was used at President Obamas' inauguration.
[VIA]
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Karborn Show In London
'Unknown Master'
A forward look at identity within ideas of space and time. Using a striking stand on what and where technology harmonises with more traditional mark making techniques... This isn't toy story... This is Charles Dickens and Andy Warhol watching Blade Runner in The Garden of Eden... beautiful and thoughtful and mysteriously English.
Unique artworks and print editions available, beautifully framed signed artists proofs. Hope to see you down there...
'Karborn I-I-I'
Twenty-three-year old Karborn is an anomaly on the London streets, an urban dreamer with feet riding the bassline and head in the clouds. The son of John Foxx (with whom he often collaborates on audio and visuals), Karborn’s work marries the organic to the technological, creating post-post-modern computer-meets-paper-meets-sound collages that are hard to decipher. Are they dystopian or utopian?
'Dream Mirror Portal'
'Birth Of Venus'
Volcano Zone Tourists New Canvas
VZT's Camera Guy makes his debut as a belt-fed, fully automatic snapper in US Marine digiflage.
"Get some, get some baby, yeah!"
Acrylic on canvas
61x26cm
Acrylic on canvas
61x26cm
Mummy Mickey
I love alternative designs for Mickey Mouse. This one is the newest one I have found and want for the collection. It's the Black & White version by VCD which stands at 6inches tall and weighs in at $60USD. Available at Sideshow Toys.
You can see more Mickey Posts:
Riot Police Use Mickey Mouse
Evil Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse Used In WW2 Propaganda
Transformers X Mickey
[VIA]
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Casper the Friendly Ghost Cartoons
Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable. According to the 1995 feature film Casper, his family name is McFadden, making his "full" name Casper McFadden.
Given that Casper is depicted as a ghostly little boy, there is a controversy among fans of the series about whether or not he is a dead child. Early Casper cartoons seemed to suggest this, as they portrayed him "living" beside a gravestone. Specifically, the short There's Good Boos To-Night featured Ferdie, a fox befriended by Casper, coming back from the dead as a ghost. Casper's death (as well as the reason why he became friendly) has become disputed since then.
This somewhat macabre premise was later abandoned in favor of the idea that ghosts were merely a type of creature, similar to ghouls, goblins, etc. He was thereafter portrayed with feet and shown to have ghostly parents. In the 1960s and 1970s, the stock answer provided by Harvey Comics in response to those wondering how Casper died was that he was a ghost simply because his parents were already ghosts when they were married.
The 1995 feature film Casper, however, revived the notion that Casper was a deceased human and provided a brief account of his death. According to the film, Casper was sledding in the snow and stayed out for too long, dying of pneumonia. The first direct-to-video film to follow the feature, Casper: A Spirited Beginning, showed Casper's early days as a ghost, not showing how he died and ignoring the story provided in the previous film.(wikipedia)
Betty Boop Cartoons
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick, appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. With her overt sexual appeal, Betty was a hit with filmgoers, and despite having been toned down in the mid-1930s, she remains popular today. She has been featured in two different comic strips, one in the 1930s and another in the 1980s.
Betty Boop made her first appearance on August 9, 1930 in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, the sixth installment in Fleischer's Talkartoon series. She was originally designed by Grim Natwick, a veteran animator of the silent era who would become lead director and animator for the Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney studios. The character was modeled after a combination of Helen Kane, the famous popular singer of the 1920s and contract player at Paramount Pictures (the studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons), and Clara Bow, who was a popular actress in the 1920s who had not managed to survive the transition to sound because of her strong Brooklyn accent which nevertheless became a trademark for Betty. By direction of Dave Fleischer, Natwick designed the original character in the mode of an anthropomorphic French poodle. The character's voice was first performed by Margie Hines, and was later provided by several different voice actresses including Kate Wright, Ann Rothschild (a.k.a. Little Ann Little), Bonnie Poe, and most notably, Mae Questel who began in 1931 and continued with the role until 1938.
While the original design was rather ugly and awkward, she was developed further after Natwick's departure under Berny Wolf, Seymour Kneitel, Roland Crandall, and Willard Bowsky. Betty became finalized as completely human by 1932 in the cartoon Any Rags. Her floppy poodle ears became hoop earrings, and her black poodle nose became a girl's button-like nose. Betty appeared in ten cartoons as a supporting character, a flapper girl with more heart than brains. In individual cartoons she was called "Nancy Lee" and "Nan McGrew", usually served as a girlfriend to studio star Bimbo.
Although it has been assumed that Betty's first name was established in the 1931 Screen Songs cartoon Betty Co-ed, this "Betty" was an entirely different character. Though the song may have led to Betty's eventual christening, any references to Betty Co-ed as a Betty Boop vehicle are incorrect. (The official Betty Boop website describes the titular character as a "prototype" of Betty.) In all, there were at least 12 Screen Songs cartoons that featured either Betty Boop or a similar character.
Betty appeared in the first "Color Classic" cartoon 'Poor Cinderella', her only theatrical color appearance (1934). In a cameo appearance in the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), in her traditional black and white, and voiced by Mae Questel, Betty mentioned that work had "gotten slow since cartoons went to color," but she still had "what it takes."
Betty Boop became the star of the Talkartoons by 1932, and was given her own series in that same year beginning with Stopping the Show. From this point on, she was crowned "The Queen of the Animated Screen." The series was hugely popular throughout the 1930s, lasting until 1939.
Betty Boop's films found a new audience when Paramount sold them for syndication in 1955. U.M.&M. and National Telefilm Associates were required to remove the original Paramount logo from the opening and closing as well as any references to Paramount in the copyright line on the main titles. However, the mountain motif remains on some television prints, usually with a U.M.&M. copyright line, while recent versions have circulated with the Paramount-Publix reference in cartoons from 1931.
A display of Betty Boop collectibles.
The original "Betty Boop" cartoons were in black and white. And as newer product made for television began to appear, her cartoons were soon retired, particularly with the arrival of color television in the 1960s. But Betty's film career saw a major revival in the release of "The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974", and became a part of the post 1960s counterculture movement. NTA attempted to capitalize on this with a new syndication package, but there was no market for cartoons in black and white. As an answer, they had them remade cheaply in Korea, but were unable to sell them due largely to sloppy production that belied the quality of the originals. Unable to sell them to television, they assembled a number of the color cartoons in compilation feature titled, Betty Boop for President to capitalize on the 1976 election. But it saw no major theatrical release, and resurfaced in 1981 on HBO under the title, Hurray for Betty Boop.
It was the advent of Home Video that created an appreciation for films in their original versions, and Betty was rediscovered again in Beta and VHS versions. The ever expanding cable television industry saw the creation of American Movie Classics, which showcased a selection of the original black and white "Betty Boop" cartoons in the 1990s, which led to an eight volume VHS set, "Betty Boop, the Definitive Collection." To date, no official DVD releases have been made in spite of the tremendous interest. In spite of this, there are currently 22 public domain Betty Boop cartoons available at the Internet Archive.
Marketers rediscovered Betty Boop in the 1980s, and "Betty Boop" merchandise has far outdistanced her exposure in films, with many not aware of her as a cinematic creation. Much of this current merchandise features the character in her popular, sexier form, and has become popular worldwide once again. The 1980s, rapper, Betty Boo (whose voice, image and name were influenced by the cartoon character) rose to popularity in the UK largely due to the "Betty Boop" revival.
There were brief returns to the theatrical screen. In 1988, Betty appeared after a 50 year absence with a cameo in the Academy Award-winning film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In 1993, producers Steven Paul Leiva ("Space Jam") and Jerry Rees, best known for writing and directing The Brave Little Toaster, began production on a new Betty Boop feature film for The Zanuck Company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The script by Rees detailed Betty's rise in Hollywood in the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was to be a musical with music and lyrics by jazzman Bennie Wallace. Wallace had completed several songs and seventy-five percent of the film had been storyboarded, when, two weeks before voice recording was to begin with Bernadette Peters as Betty, the head of MGM, Alan Ladd, Jr., was replaced by Frank Mancuso, and the project was abandoned.
Ownership of the Boop cartoons has changed hands over the intervening decades due to a series of corporate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures (mainly involving Republic Pictures and the 2006 corporate split of parent company Viacom into two separate companies). As of 2008, Lions Gate Home Entertainment (under license from Paramount) holds home video rights and CBS Television Distribution retains television rights. Ironically, Paramount continues to hold theatrical distribution rights, although any sort of video or theatrical re-release has yet to be announced. But the "Betty Boop" character and trademark is currently owned by Fleischer Studios, with the merchandising rights licensed to King Features Syndicate.
The Betty Boop series continues to be a favorite of many critics, and the 1933 Betty Boop cartoon Snow White (not to be confused with Disney's 1937 film Snow White) was selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress in the National Film Registry in 1994. Betty Boop's popularity continues well into present day culture, with references appearing in the comic strip Doonesbury, where the character B.D.'s busty girlfriend/wife is named "Boopsie" and the animated reality TV spoof Drawn Together, where Betty is the inspiration for Toot Braunstein. A Betty Boop musical is in development for Broadway, with music by David Foster.(wikipedia)
Rios Innovative Ads
Really nice set of ads designed by Otavio Rios promoting Brazilian design firm Artplan. "We Put Anything On Paper"
Sol AGC Crew Is 10 Years Old
I know this girl has been on the net for a while now, but I managed to find more pics of her and I just can't believe it! This girl has talent! Solveig is a 10 year old girl and graff writer hailing from Brighton, UK and is founder of the All Girls Crew (AGC). She has been painting since she was a ripe old age of 8 and has been known to do the odd tattoo as well! She is amazing and I will definitely be following her progress over the next couple years....
Pics [VIA]
Monday, February 23, 2009
Have Your Say: Vegetarianism – yay or nay?
Aside from proposed health benefits, some climate change scientists are now claiming that people can reduce their carbon footprint more effectively by eating less meat or becoming vegetarians. The amount of energy needed to farm, transport and cook meat is so great that going veg would greatly reduce the worlds emissions.
In a recent documentary by Supreme Master Television, NASA’s top Climatologist Dr. James Hansen claims that saving water, changing light globes and using cars less is not as effective in combating climate change as ‘going veg’.
Do you agree?
If global warming is real, do we all have a responsibility to go veg?
How far would you go to save the plant?
Leave us your comments.