MONSTERS UNIVERSITY SCREENING

I feel a little guilty.

Monsters University

has been out for a while but I

didn't see it until last week.

Mainly because of Cars 2.

I'm one of the few people I know

that actually liked Cars!

(but that might be because I watched it 

eleventy hundred times with my kids)

So I was totally on board for a sequel!

KACHOW!

But... 

It kinda stunk.

And I was afraid that

Monsters University,

would stink, too.

So I was in no rush to see it.

But 

ASIFA HOLLYWOOD

was having a 

screening the other night so

I thought I'd go.

There was a really nice reception beforehand

with lots of delicious food, drink

and passed appetizers:

Director Dan Scanlon

and producer Kori Rae

were on hand to introduce the film:

And do a 

Q and A

afterwards.

(I love these!)

And you know what?

I 

LOVED

Monsters University

and LOL'd

lots of times!

I thought it was a great

 prequel to the original

and they did a wonderful job setting up 

Mike and Sully's relationship.

Sooper fun!

And I feel bad that I

didn't give it a chance 

earlier on.

So there.

DEAD MEAT!

That big dummy 

Maxwell Atoms 

(creator of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy)

has done it again!

He's come up with an

APOCALYPTAMAZING

project

with

puppets

mutant dogs

car chases

and

bullets.

Unholy mackerel...

SO

many 

bullets.

It's called:

It's not animated like everything else he does.

It's a labor of love.

Sick, twisted love

that only Mr. Atoms can make.

But he can't make this love himself.

I mean,

he 

COULD.

He can do anything.

But

he needs

puppets

and

people

and 

props

and 

camera folk.

And therefore he needs 

YOU! 

Although he needs your money more.

Therefore he's instigated a

Kickstarter

so folks like us 

can watch him make stuff like 

THIS:

Want to learn more?

Want to see Mr. Atoms

in real life

pitching his wares to you?

What to see what kinda

PRICELESS SWAG

he's offering 

for getting involved with this project?

Then go to his Kickstarter page.

Go.

Go now.

KND VOICE ACTOR REUNION LUNCH!

These pictures have already

spread around the

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

universe

but I thought I'd post them here

with a little more context.

Last week the mighty

Lauren Tom

(aka Numbuh Three)

successfully staged a 

Codename: Kids Next Door

voice actor reunion!

Held at an 

undisclosed location, 

to keep evil adult sooper villains

from showing up,

almost all the regular cast

(and some little Numbuh Fives)

were able to make it out for 

a tasty lunch.

Pictured from L to R

First row:

Candy Milo (Numbuh Two's Mom and Grandma)

Dee Bradley Baker (Numbuh Four, Toiletnator, every monster/animal in the show)

Jennifer Hale (Numbuh 86, voice of KND computer)

Collette Sunderman (Voice director and casting)

Cree Summer (Numbuh Five and Cree)

Cree's daughters, Hero and Brave (adorable and awesome)

Second row:

Lauren Tom (Numbuh Three and Genki Sanban)

Ben Diskin (Numbuh One and Numbuh Two)

Dave Wittenberg (Numbuh 74.239, Chip and Dodgeball Wizard)

Mr. Warburton (Voice of Ridiculousness)

Totally missing from the event

because they couldn't make it

OR 

we were dumb and thought they 

were on the e-mail chain 

when they weren't:

Tom Kenny (Mr. Wink, Common Cold, Knightbrace)

Maurice LaMarche (Father)

Grey DeLisle (Lizzie, Gramma Stuffum, Crazy old Cat Lady)

Jason Harris (Numbuh 274)

Tara Strong (Mushi)

Before we left we snapped

a shot of 

Sector V 

doing their famous logo pose:

To compare,

here's a pic from one of our

very last records:

Yup.

These

guys are

STILL

awesome.

SO GREAT

seeing 

everyone 

again!

A VISIT TO LOYOLA MARYMOUNT COLLEGE

Last week I had the honor 

of blathering inanely about my career

in front of

Van Partible's

animation class

at

Loyola Marymount College.

He's got a great bunch of students who

asked smart questions

and were polite enough to stay awake

while I answered them.

I don't have much to show from my visit

other than these pictures I snapped

of drawings done by

assorted luminaries who

have stopped by to tell

their stories:

Wow, right?

Van's really had some

sooper talented people

visit his class...

and 

ME!

Thanks for bring me in, Mr. Partible!

And sooper huge props to the student

that showed me the laminated 

KND id card

he still has in his wallet!

That made my night!

ALL HANDS ON DISNEY!

Every so often

Disney Television Animation

gets together for a sooper big

All Hands Meeting.

Here's proof:

This year we gathered

 in the fancy theatre

on the 

Main Lot

<sigh>

I miss working there.

Anyway...

The meeting started like this:

Sooper Senior 

TV Animation

Admiral

Eric Coleman

got up to tell us all the latest stuff.

Like how we had a new logo:

NICE!

Then

Craig McCracken

showed us a clip from

his brand new show

Wander Over Yonder:

Jamie Mitchell and Craig Gerber

showed us a 

sizzle reel from 

an upcoming

Sofia the First 

episode:

Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh

presented a clip from

the animatic for the

upcoming

Phineas and Ferb

Star Wars Special

(fun!):

Sam Levine rocked a 

sequence from the pilot of his 

recently greenlit show

Penn Zero: Part Time Hero:

Rob LaDuca showed us a song from an upcoming 

Jake and The Neverland Pirates episode:

There be some 

Gravity Falls shorts 

that'll air inbetween seasons

and Alex Hirsch was there to prove it:

Daron Nefcy snuck us a peek at

some new character designs 

and a clip from the pilot of her

new show:

Tom Ruegger

presented a clip

from the first episode of

Disney Jr's

next sooper big series

The 7-D

(that I may or may not be helping out on)

And

aaaaaaaaw yeaaaaaaah...

Paul Rudish 

blessed us with his team's latest 

Mickey short

which was

of course

beautifularrific:

AND THEN

we were shown

ALL

the latest sooper secret stuff 

currently in

development.

CHECK IT OUT:

...

AMAZING, RIGHT?!

please note that ONLY those with 

officially registered 

DISNEY TVA DEVELOPMENT

OCULAR IMPLANTS

can see the above photos.

we apologize

for the inconvenience.

After the show

we were treated to some

tasty food and beverages outside:

And look who showed up in a

centerpiece:

There's a lot to love about

Disney TVA

WHAT EPISODE IS THAT FROM... REVEALED!

So 

last week I

challenged

KND operatives

to try and find the 

episode

and exact frame

that this

original production drawing

came from:

And it didn't take

sooper operative

Andre Nassif

long to find it:

That's a screenshot from

Operation: ELECTIONS

and

YES

the exact frame

from the above drawing.

So

as promised

I'm sending Andre

this set of KND figures:

 And 

three

KND TCG

booster packs:

And

this:

Thanks, Andre!

You rock!

WHAT EPISODE IS THIS FROM?!

This...

is an actual animation production drawing from

Codename: Kids Next Door.

Hand drawn.

Inked.

And then scanned into 

a computer and colored.

Nowadays everything is drawn

right into the computer on

a Cintiq.

No paper involved.

So this is kind of old school.

AND IT'S THE ONLY ONE I HAVE!

KND Production Coordinator

and

Ninja Consultant

Erin Finnegan

got it when she was in Korea

and visited

our overseas studio,

Rough Draft.

And she was kind enough to give it to me!

But I can't remember what

episode it's from.

Any ideas?

Tell you what...

if you can find 

a screenshot of this 

EXACT

frame

(or prove that this drawing was never used)

(which is possible)

I'll draw you up an 

original 

color sketch

of the 

KND.

I'll even throw in this:

Or you can say,

I ain't got time for that crap, Warburton

Either way is cool with me.

Good hunting!

Hint:
The drawing looks
a little like the way
supreme storyboard artist
Maurice Fontenot's
used to draw Numbuh One.
I'm not positive but it might be a good
starting point!

UPDATE!

The mystery has been solved!

And in record time, too!

Check back in on

Monday

to find out the

WHO

WHAT

and

WHERE!!!

GLEN E. FRIEDMAN

Sometimes...

when I need a little inspiration

I'll hit the bookshelf and check

a book by

Glen E. Friedman.

You might not know who he is.

But if you're a child of the 80's

you've seen his photographs.

ESPECIALLY

if you were into

skateboarding

punk rock

and 

rap.

Mr. Freidman shot all 

that was cool in those days;

Like...

The Dogtown Boys:

Black Flag:

Run DMC:

And 

of course

The Beastie Boys:

Not to mention

Ice T

Fugazi

Tony Alva

L.L. Cool J

Public Enemy

Stacy Peralta

Bad Brains

and any

other

band/rider

with a

rebellious streak.

 Henry Rollins

(lead singer of Black Flag)

said this about Mr. Freidman:

The bottom line is that he was there at the beginning of 

so much cool stuff in so many different areas it's not funny.

Yeah.

For me,

his pics are a 

lightning bolt

that's struck

a single moment of

attitude.

It might not be pretty.

But there's 

always a

feeling of

movement

edge

and 

grit

in front of 

his lens.

If you like that kinda stuff,

pick up 

THIS

It rocks.