The Bare Necessities

Just a little over 24 hours ago, the new Platinum Edition DVD of Disney's Jungle Book hit the shelves! Unlike some of the last few Platinum Editions that have come out (Peter Pan immediately comes to mind), this edition seems to be chock full of bonus goodies, including a deleted character feature, "Making Of" documentary, art galleries, interviews & most importantly... an AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK!

Even though it's not my absolute favorite Disney film (Fantasia tops my list), this ranks pretty high up there. Like many other animators, this film is a pretty big inspiration to why I'm in animation today.

If you are a Disney fan, animation fan or just a fan, do yourself a favor & run out to your local video store & pick this baby up ASAP (except if you're a fan of Kipling's original book).

Just 'Trust in Me'! Go get it pronto!

Toon Pla-toon! Toon Pla-toon!

What's "Toon Platoon" you might ask? It's a second blog run by yours truly. But this new blog isn't all about me... it's all about a bunch of other artists, cartoonists & pencil fanciers who will participate in a weekly art contest!

Yes, it does sound very much like TOON CLUB. Well, it's a lot like TOON CLUB. As a matter of fact, it might as well be called TOON CLUB: Part Deux! Anyway, this blog is just somewhere where fellow artists, friends & cartoonists can interact & compare, contrast, study, suggest, comment, judge & critique each others artwork.

It's not quite ready as of this post, but it will be up & running before you know it. (Possibly even before I know it!) You can check it out HERE. I'll also put a direct link to it on my "LINKS TO CHECK OUT'' list.

& don't worry, For the Birds will still be here, & I'll update it just as I did before the new blog came along ( I hope).

College Soup IIII (Now in Glorious Technicolor!)

You heard right! Here's part for of College Soup, now in color! Enjoy!

& now for something completely different...

Last Thursday, I was lucky to meet Patrick McDonnell, the creator of the comic strip Mutts. Mutts happens to be one of my all-time favorite comic strips, & I met the father of Earl & Mooch myself. I'm still so giddy from it all! He even drew a personalized sketch for me. How 'shweet'!

Stay tuned later this week for more goodies!

My Anime Appreciation Post

The first Japanese cartoon I saw as a kid was most likely Speed Racer or DragonBall Z. Those two shows are probably the main reason why I've hated anime since.

Since then, I've always known myself to be an "anime-basher". I hate anime with a passion. Every show I've seen is made up of one or more of the following:

-1) Animals being collected/abused/pitted against other animals in glorified battles (Pokemon, Digimon, Monster Rancher, etc.)

-2) Genetically-altered flying people shooting large balls of energy out of their palms in quarrels spanning half a season's worth of episodes (DragonBall Z, Naruto, Street Fighter, etc.)

-3) Magical girls with extremely short miniskirts using sparkly attacks with ridiculously long names fighting evil-doers for no apparent reason (Sailor Moon, Card Captors, Magical DoReMi, etc.)

& every main protagonist has either a really big ego with a heart of gold or is a selfless hero saving everybody from some spiritual danger that nobody else knows about except for some kind of cuddly yet wise woodland creature of questionable origin. & many of them seem to have gender issues.

& all the names are too long to remember or even pronounce properly:


"Hi, I'm Michael. What's your name?"

"Yumichika Ayasegawa"

"Uhhhh... god bless you?"

& don't forget all the big-eyed, small-mouthed, cutesy-wutesy 'chibi', limited-animated lipped, poorly-dubbed nonsense in between!...

...but recently, it seems that I've been bitten by the Anime Bug. There are some things that I really admire about it.

Japanese animation (unlike most of today's American cartoons) is extremely detailed & well-animated. Anime in general is chock full of appeal, design-wise. Each show I've seen (or at least a majority of them) have real plots & strong character development. I was completely blown away by Miyazaki's Spirited Away, not just because of the animation (I saw no trace of computer animation at all. It's either non-existent or they just hid it pretty well), but because of the story, characters, their personalities & relationships & the imagination that Miyazaki has to create films of this magnitude. Unfortunately, besides Spirited Away & Kiki's Delivery Service, I have not seen his other films. I've heard a lot of positive things about Princess Mononoke & My Neighbor Totoro. I'll have to go check those out ASAP.

From what I've seen, Japanese animators seem to be superior draftsman & skilled 'actors'. I've seen recent American films animated by Japanese (Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, The Tigger Movie, etc.) that prove that they're way ahead of us in another field: animation. First cars, then electronics, then video games, NOW cartoons. They never cease to amaze me.

Oh, & did I happen to mention that all the female characters are REALLY HOT!? Boy, do I envy those Japanese animators!

A few of my friends back home & two of my roommates here at SVA are definitely major influences in my sudden liking of cartoons from the land of the rising sun. But even before I came to the Apple (it's not the BIG Apple; that's a common misconception), I've already had a taste of anime. I've gotten into a few shows that are on late at night on Adult Swim: Bleach & Ghost in the Shell. Somehow, they stood out from the rest of the 'crap' I've seen, & I've come to the point that I'm looking forward to seeing them each night. Unfortunately, if I miss even one episode of either show, it feels to me like I missed something important & then every episode on doesn't make sense to me. Thanks to sites like TV Links, I might be able to get myself back into the groove.

I'm not quite at the point where I can call myself a 'fan', but I'm slowly edging my way up.

& don't get that "American Anime" crap confused with the real thing. You know, shows like Xiaolin Showdown, Ben 10 & the like? There's no comparison whatsoever. Even though it's animated by Korean people doesn't mean it's the genuine article.


*Oh, by the way, I'd like to direct you to my roommate's work. His name is Chris Niosi. He's the mastermind behind the Go, Go Parody Rangers that are all the rage over at Newgrounds.com. He's an awesome Flash animator & a really gifted voice-over artist. Don't forget to check out Parts II & III!

Also, I apologize for not putting up the fourth installment of the 'College Soup' story today. Don't worry, that'll be up by the end of the week. Take care!

For the Birds - College Soup III

Here's part three of "College Soup".

Since drawing comics isn't my forte, my thought & word bubbles take over the whole panel. I gotta keep working on my layouts.

For the Birds - College Soup II

"College Soup"... that's what the story is called...enjoy!

*Update - by the way, nobody has guessed the answer to the question I posted August 25th. I'll give it one more week so any guessers could have a last chance to win the prize. Guess away!*

Stay tuned for Part III!

For the Birds via SVA

Here I am, settled down in my cozy little pad at SVA...with 6 other roommates!

Seriously, it's a real blast here. All my roommates are all swell mates & they great to be around. All the comforts of home all in one place. College life is sweet (& pretty expensive).

Here's that big surprise I promised you guys a few days back: a shiny new comic starring your favorite blog-oriented & heavily copyrighted fowl!

Unlike my last comic fiasco, I've got a majority of the story laid out already, so all I got to do is scan 'em, post 'em & finally bask in the blogger love!

Stay tuned for the second installment in the next couple of days