The F Tales

Honestly this is actually a well put together cartoon that embodies childrens folk stories with the X Files. Done by Rob Renzetti, creator of My Life as a Teenage Robot its one of those things that i wished I saw years ago its that great a short.

Whatever Happened to Brian Wood

Animators they have really seem to have become a part of the art community, they really have the integrity to bring their artwork to life. Animation has touch the hearts of children and adults alike and we owe it to these masters to have made us laugh and cry with these revolutionary flicks. Out of all the animators in the world there is one who has been on my mind for so long; that persons name is Brian Wood.

 

For those who are unfamilar with this fellow Brian Wood was known for his creation The Cramp Twins. It was a well done cartoon based on a graphic novel it had original character designs, interesting stories, great characters and it's catchy theme song. Telling the story of 10 year old twins Wayne and Lucien Cramp who make it through the modern world with their constant sibling rivalry it has proved it's self to a hit among young children and teens and I also like to consider it as one of my all time favourite program. (As you can see I've added it to my top 10 animated shows list)

 

One thing that has bothered me since the show's cancellation is what the dickens has happened to him over the years, I mean I have searched his name over the web and have found barly anything to do with him. There is no profile of him on Wikipedia and I've seen no website of his not even a blog. The only images I've found of his work (that are not Cramp Twins related) were these (below)

http://www.whateverittakes.org/celebrity.aspx?celeb_id=02

 http://www.britishanimationawards.com/awards_history/2004/awards_wood.htm

                                                                                                                                                                           Things like this makes me wonder why Brian Wood never went on to make another great cartoon like cramp twins or even another childrens book. Also how come no one has written about him on Wikipedia didn't he have any friends or colleagues that could have written a profile for him.
 Where the hell has he been all these year!

If I knew better I say that the people at 4Kids abducted him and left him on an desserted island at the edge of the earth to die. Or maybe they threw him into a space shuttle and blasted him into space where he got sucked into a black hole. Well even so it's a shame that people will never see another new product by Wood, it's also a shame that I've never have been able to find Wood's website infact I don't understand why he hasn't made a website, and even if he did how come we have not been able to find it .

But despite this I have been so lucky enough to find two animated short films made by Wood himself "Mr Jessop" and "School Disco"

Mr Jessop

Made during Wood's college days, Mr Jessop is a simplictic tale about a man who goes to the train station with dark, graphic occurances that make this a unique combination of surreal twisted doodles with the mature conflict that occures in real life. It's the same equavilant of a childhood crayon drawings on acid.

School Disco

Wood's next animated short was School Disco, which illustrates different points of views of high school students. This short is definately one of Wood's more mature pieces, it shows his ability to adapt slice of life events to animation. It even feels rememisent of those nights of attending such school discos as well the club scene of the 90s. This was probably the influence behind the Cramp Twins episode "Dance Pants"; infact you'll find alot of resemblance to that show in the character design. 

Overall as well as creating the cult classic The Cramp Twins, Brian Wood has made some strange mature expressionist toons in his lifetime.Although it really sucks when theres not much about him on the web and that he just disapered from the world of animation. I don't understand why someone who could have made a great cartoon like The Cramp Twins fade into such bitter obscurity for so long that it feels like he left the face of the earth. His work is alot better than anything that Dreamworks Animation have made in the past 7 years and way way way way way better than anthing and mean anything that the producers of that Problem Solverz show could make (BTW that show is gonna suck) But I digress it was great to find his early shorts, as a fan of the Cramp Twins i really think it would do justice to see this man return to animation.

If you know what happened to Brian Wood for the past 6 six years, where he is and why he never made another product ever again or if you know the proper web address of where you can see his work for real than tell me at the comment box below. I would really appreciate it.

......................and Brian Wood where ever you are we just want you to know; we really miss you u_u

                                                                                                                                          

Leave me Alone-Michael Jackson video

Oh yeah I love Michael Jackson, he's the greatest singer and dancer of all time and  what so amazing about his music is his music videos. Out of all the music videos he's made this one is my favourite. Taken from the film Moonwalker "Leave me Alone" is a surreal combo of fantasy, music and incredible animation. The song is basically a message to the money hungry journalists who wouldn't let Michael live his life in peace, god rest his precious soul. 

***KING OF POP FOREVER***

My top 10 Favourite Animated Shows

Cartoons, what can we say about them accept they are creative, funny, energetic, beyond comprehensible and they what made our childhood so great. Whatever era you grew up in there was always a cartoon that you either love or hated and all the best cartoons came out during our childhood. Me as being an animation fan myself would like to count down the cartoon I loved back than and always will.

10. Cow and Chicken

, It had an original style of writting, humor, characters and definatley one of those shows you wouldn't want to forget. The show was about a young cow named well Cow and her brother called of course Chicken who would get into seroius mischief and come across a Devil called The Red Guy. Every kid in the 90s loved this show including me and was definatley one of those cartoons that felt new and nostalgic at the same time. Probably in the future I would introduce this show to my children so they like this show just as much as I did.

 9. Star Wars Clone Wars  

Not to be confused with the new cgi Star wars the clone wars show that is on now, this show had a different style of animation, writting and amibence and it is way better by comparison. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky who created other cartoons I watched in my childhood like Dexters Lab and Samurai Jack, this show was actually very good for an action orinated cartoon, not only because I love Star Wars with a passion but because it was so close to Star Wars 2 and 3 and that the character designs actually look better than in the cgi version. 

I really liked this show as a child because to me it was the real animated Star Wars.

8. Foster Home for Imaginary Friends

Now as a kid I was into this show and looking back now I can see why, because it was new, clever, and well animated at the time. The characters like Mac, Bloo, Wilt, Edwardo, Coco, Frankie, Madam Foster, Cheese and Goo were executed well and the humor was good for both kids and adults to enjoy.

My favourite epsiode was "Good Wilt Hunting" where Wilt runs away and our favourite characters go off to find him. And the other episode are very memorable too. Out of all the cartoon network shows of the early 2000s this was definatly one of the most colourful and original series ever.

7. Tom and Jerry Kids Show 

Now i flipping love Tom and Jerry, I mean who doesn't and out of all the products  to have spin off from this franchise this was definatley the most memorable and most closet to it's processor. People have always made

a series that would show a classic cartoon character what they were like when they were young and this was certainly the bestest.

  The stories were great, the character acted like themselves, the animation is as good as it was than and the theme song was pretty catchy too. I loved to watch this as a littlen and watching it now really brings backs some happy memories. Not only did this show had Tom and Jerry it also showed new episodes of Droopy (which is another MGM cartoon). If you love the Tom and Jerry cartoon than why dont you check this show out because its closest thing you'll ever see to the MGM shorts and to a 90s toon.

6.Shakespeare-The Animated Tales  

For those who havent heard of this, Shakespare the animated tales was a series on the BBC that showcased some of William Shakespeares greatest plays and interpertated them into beautifully animated materpieces. Using different varieties of animation like stop motion or hand drawn this concept was made possible by under-rated animators from around the world bringing plays like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet to life in the same way Disney did to fairy tales. 

I guess you're probadly wondering how I got into this show in the first place, well when I was 9 and I was wondering through my local library till I found a video tape of one of the epsiodes "Romeo and Juliet". I was getting into Shakespeare so I watched it and from that moment on I was toally hooked. In fact at my school my teacher showed episodes of this series when we were learning Shakespeare. I loved this series so much I got the dvd collection, overall it was such a under-rated program with such elegant styles of animation, the voices fit the characters perfectly and the apmosphere is just as wonderful too.  

5. Fairly Odd Parents 

Talk about originality and a surprise hit with everyone. The show revolves around Timmy Turner a ten year old boy who is constantley toutured by his evil babysitter Vicky and has two magical fairies Cosmo and Wanda to be on his side. Timmy's fairies grant him every wish he wants whether its going back in time, turning invisable, superhero parents and even Christmas everyday. What I found interesting about this show when I first saw it was that the idea of a cartoon about fairy god parents sounded interesting to me but it wasn't girly like Winx club it was winsical funny and surreal like in fantasy films. After this show had a hiatus in 2007 it got a new character called Poof who is Cosmo and Wanda's baby, now alot of the old fans don't like the newer episodes but I don't mind them at all. Infact I can still watch the old episodes even now; but with a live action movie coming to the UK, I'm having a bit of mixed feelings whether it'll be good or not.

4. Spongebob Squarepants

Now who doesn't love this quirky little sponge we cant help to laugh at the nartical nonscence that he gets up to. After 10 years Spongebob has been the longest running nicktoon delighting children of all ages. My friends was a Spongebob fan my cousin was a Spongebob fan and I started becoming a fan as soon as it became popular. With a great cast of characters and timeless epsiodes and hilarious quotes like "I DEFY YOU HEARTMAN!!", "CHOCOLATE!!" "Have you finished those errands?", "Barnacles", "Fishpaste!" and "NO! This is PATRICK!!" we all cant help to admire it's randomness and quirky animation to re-live a part of our childhood. Nowadays 50% of all Spongebob fans think Spongebob has lost it's way but thats not how I think of the new epsiodes. As long as Spongebob is around I'll always find plessure watching the old and new episodes and I highly recommand this cartoon to anyone who likes animal cartoons (did I forget to mention the movie was awesome!).

3. The Cramp Twins

Now this cartoon was the greatest, who ever thought this cartoon would be so well done. Now before you haters start bashing me just because it wasn't as popular or as wacky as all those other cartoons I was actually one of those few who found it entertaining and gripping. It makes sense that its an under-rated children's show based on such a under-rated children's novel but that how simplictic a show can get. 

The show was about Wayne and Lucien Cramp, two twins with absolutly nothing in common Wayne was an aggressive jerk who just loved junk and sugary treats and Lucien was a peace loving nerd who loved nature and art (I can so relate to him). This show would centure around the siblin revalary of these two and how they would deal with problems like school, saving the swamp, girls, being the best at everything and many more adventures; so you can concider them as the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of cartoons.

The only problem I had with this show was why the f was it cancelled. I mean it happens to alot of kids shows but this show had endless possibilities and deserved to be treated better. The show had great characters, great animation, great plots and it had a great cast of voice actors and they just threw it out like yeasterdays trash, Jesus!!! what has this world come to?

2. The Simpsons

What I can say about the Simpsons everyone loves them and I love them too. It's the longest running family cartoon since the Flintstones and over the years it gone stronger and stronger through the years with its whitty story lines, great jokes, incredible timing, lovable characters, cool art style, pop culture refrences which makes it one of the greatest sitcoms on today.
 Whats not to like about this show I mean Homer is hilarious, Marge is relatible, Bart''s a rebal, Lisa is smart and kind hearted and Maggie is just so loveable. Not to mention all the other supporting characters are great too there are even guest stars that just pop out of no where seriously. The show also has funny and memorable quotes like "No beer and no tv make Homer something something", "Hmmm doughnuts!", "Thats a Paddling", "Thank you come again", "my eyes the goggles do nothing!" and so forth.
I can never stop loving the Simpsons, it's no wonder this show hasn't gone off the air and I hope to see more of our favourite yellow family in the future.

1. Ed Edd n Eddy

I just had to make it #1 on this list because it's just so off the wall amazing. Ed Edd n Eddy is about 3 young boys who spend the whole summer attemping to scam kids out of their allowences to buy Jawbreakers.Ed is the stupid big guy who often wrecks the other boys attemp to make money, Edd (aka Double Dee) is the gentle genius who is also the brains behind the plots he can be too spiffy and he can also get frustrated at time, and theres Eddy the leader with the Napolian complex to make up these crazy scams and has an obsession for jawbreakers, hes greedy and no one else likes him but we cant help but to like him. 

And theres the other supporting characters like Johnny, Plank, Kevin, Sarah, Jimmy, Nazz, the Kanker Sisters and my favourite Rolf who are fully dimensional and great in their own unique way. Is it any wonder why I love this show, I mean we dont even see the grown up characters which makes this show as a homage to the Peanuts/Charly Brown cartoons.

Now when this show first came out I didn't think I would love it so much but the more I watched the more I fell in love with it. I mean it has great animation, great characters, great stories and great lines which I like to repeat in my social life like "summer rains you can never predict them" or "my least is raising" and so forth. So yeah it wasn't as big a phenomian as Spongebob but it had a huge fanbase ( To be honest I thinks its better than Spongebob in my opinion) also its Cartoon Network's greatet and most memorable masterpiece to date. 

So that was my top 10 favourite animated programmes and I've hope it have brought back alot of memories for all your cartoon lovers I bet you have alot cartoons that you keep close to your heart. All I can say now is......THATS ALL FOLKS