Seconds Apart

The After Dark films have always been a favorite so I'm excited for their upcoming release, Seconds Apart. The film is directed by award winning short-film director Antonio Negret (Toward Darkness) and stars Orlando Jones and Gary & Edmund Entin.

Seth and Jonah are murderous twins who share an evil kinship. Damned from the moment of their births, the brothers possess a talent for telekinesis- a power they are suspected of misusing in the most horrific ways imaginable. As fellow students meet gory fates, a local investigator suspects the twins are connected to these gruesome murders, culminating in one final showdown of brother against brother, evil against evil.

Great Moments In Geek

What is this? Is it a "Lost" deleted scene? Nope. World's collided earlier this year when Lost's Jorge Garcia (Hurley) emceed a Weezer show presented by AXE. Towards the end of their set, Jorge joined them on "Perfect Situation." Awesomeness ensued.

Click here to see it the performance on youtube

Taste Test- Green Lantern Glo-Balls

I'm not a big fan of the Hostess snack cakes. In fact, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a Twinkie or a Ho-Ho. It's literally been years since I've had one. They're just really unappealing to me. But, being a geek and a sucker, I immediately bought the Flash cakes when I saw them at the grocery store. Slap a superhero on your package and I'm sold. That's how they got me to eat countless Ninja Turtle pies. For those who don't remember, they were a "vanilla puddin' power" filled pie surrounded by a green frosting. Not great but it was a Ninja Turtle pie so I kept buying them. I only got through half the box of the Flash cakes before I gave them away (they tasted horrible). When I went back to the grocery store about a week later I saw that they had Green Lantern Glo-Balls (green Sno-Balls).

I was veeerrrry curious as I've never tried the original Sno-Balls but I just couldn't bring myself to buy them. Especially since friends (I'm looking at you, Greg) had made crude jokes about the fact that I really wanted to try these "Glo-Balls." Of course, I decided, "what the hell," and bought them.

I didn't read the box and hadn't realized it was basically a big marshmallow. Did not enjoy it at all. I love marshmallow peeps but these were nothing like that. So now, I can say I tried "Hal's balls" (as The Nerdy Bird put it) and I can say that my experimental days are now over and I will be Glo-Ball free for life.

Review: Star Wars- Clone Wars: Republic Heroes

I'm a bad gamer. It takes me forever to start a game and even longer to finish it. I finally had some time to sit down and dig into the year-old Star Wars- The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes game on the X-Box 360. I played it on and off for about a week before finishing it. After having just finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, I was ready to trade in the first person shooting for some badass Jedi action. This was not the game I should have picked up.

Yes, it recreates the characters and storyline that makes me love the Clone Wars series so much but that's pretty much all it has going for it. If only the team at Krome put as much time into the mechanics of the game as they did in the storyline then we might have gotten a decent game. Pretty much all of the characters from the shows first season pop up in the game. You get to control Jedi (Mace Windu, Obi-Wan, and Plo Koon amongst others) and Clones. Padme and Yoda show up in the game but, unfortunately, they are not playable characters. The villains that make appearances include Count Dooku, Cad Bane and Asajj Ventress.

The game is set up in three acts that are comprised of 20+ levels. That's 20+ repetitive levels. It works for the Lego games but here it's just plain BO-RING. Not only that, but the game is plagued by horrible camera angles and even worse controls. There were many times when jumping was frustrating as hell due to the fact that I couldn't really gauge distances. Oh, and couple that with the fact that sometimes the controls were unresponsive and you have the recipe for some good times. There were some points in the game were you have to bounce between walls. During these points you WILL attempt it at least fifty times before getting it right. Thank goodness you have unlimited lives.

When playing as a Clone Trooper you have your trusty blaster at your side. In theory, running around as a Clone Trooper shooting Droids is awesome. In Republic Heroes, it's damn near impossible. You can't really lock onto enemies so you just have to run around firing and hope you hit something.

Overall, I'd have to rate this a 5 out 10. The storyline is comparable to the show (that's good) and the cut scenes look and feel like the show (also good) but the in-game graphics weren't at all impressive. In fact, they reminded me a lot of the Dreamcasts Jedi Power Battles game. Not what you want from a next-gen console. Unless you want to risk your patience and sanity, this is not the game you're looking for.

Searching for "Killer Klowns From Outer Space"

14 miles south of Santa Cruz, California is the city of Watsonville, my hometown. Its claim to fame is its agriculture (strawberries, apples and lettuce) and Martinelli’s (known for its sparkling apple cider). What many people don’t know is that in the 1980’s Watsonville had some visitors. From space. Specifically, Killer Klowns From Outer Space.

I was never scared of clowns and never understood why other people are. I found the ones in this film pretty silly, even if they had razor sharp teeth. When Killer Klowns From Outer Space was released I looked at it as a comedy while friends were terrified. Most of the classic Chiodo’s Bothers film was shot in Watsonville and the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. After rewatching the film recently I decided to go on a little tour of some of the places where it was shot. Some were in walking distance or a short bike ride away. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), I didn't run into any Killer Klowns. Check out the pics from the film and the locations as they look today.



Get your GEEK on

I love being a Geek. We get some of the coolest products on the planet. Below are 5 items that every Geek can appreciate.


Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Wii Remote-


The Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver is in your hands. This time it's a fully functional Remote Controller accessory for Nintendo Wii and is compatible with all your favorite Wii games. It can be connected to the Wii Nunchuck controller and Wii MotionPus attachments.



It's not a cheesy attachment like the lightsabers that were made for the Wii. No siree. This is an actual Wiimote. THIS IS AWESOME SAUCE! Unfortunately it'll only be available in the U.K. But, from the research I've done, even though the games are region coded, accessories/peripherals aren't. Translation: I will be importing this from the U.K. after it's released on October 29th.

Lady Clankington's Little Death Ray-

Introducing the world's first steampunk "adult toys" from Lady Clankington's Cabinet of Carnal Curiosities. Uh, yeah, 'nuff said.

Wii Darth Vader Sensor Bar Holder-

Yet another awesome Wii accessory. Channel the Force into all of your games with this Wii Darth Vader Sensor Bar Holder! This sculpture-quality Darth Vader character in high-density resin will look great in any room. The specially crafted Lightsaber is engineered to safely support the sensor bar while maintaining full range and performance. Specially made to Nintendo standards to work perfectly with original Wii Sensor Bar.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles BATSU Action Figures-

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are ready for martial arts action with this latest series in the new BATSU collection of stylized action figures! This set includes stylized versions of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michaelangelo, each 5" tall and equipped with their signature weapons.

The DC Vault: A Museum-in-a-Book with Rare Collectibles from the DC Universe-

The DC Vault unlocks DC Comics' most fascinating secrets and deeply buried treasures, presenting a colorful array of historic and never-before-published memorabilia, including early sketches, covers, memos, press materials, and much more. From a working reproduction of a 1942 Junior Justice Society of America decoder, to a series of Public Service Announcements starring Superman and Batman, to the original pencils and inks for Wonder Woman #63, this dazzling chronicle contains more than 25 plastic-encased archival pieces for readers to pull out and examine, all while learning about the artists, writers, and world-famous super heroes that make up the DC Universe.


I received one of these for Christmas a couple of years ago and LOVE it. There are so many cool  pieces within the book and it's all ridiculously well put-together. A MUST for any comic fan. Also, be sure to check out the Marvel and Batman versions!

Links

I have been ignoring the blog waaaay too long. Getting ready for the move and enjoying Santa Cruz as much as I can before I leave has made me lazy when it comes to posting. Bad, I know. So, here are some links of things that you can hopefully enjoy as much as I do. Now, I'm off to the beach!

Fanedit.org- Love this site! What are fan edits? They are "a new take on existing movie material created by video artists. Anything can be changed, improved, restructured for a different watching experience and only the sky is the limit."

Double Rainbow- You haven't heard about it? Well, you'll have to see it to understand just how awesome it is.


Robot Unicorn Attack- A game that will suck up HOURS of your life.

Rilo Kiley Network- I have a thing for girls with guitars. I don't know why. It's a thing. There may be none finer than Jenny Lewis. This is a great place to get live music and video's.
Undercover Karaoke with Jewel- Jewel goes undercover and sings karaoke to an unsuspecting crowd.
 
Kermit the Frog reacts to "2 girls one cup"- Pretty self-explanatory.
 
 

Making Mixtapes...with @Nakedhobo

It's that time again! Bringing you another awesome mixtape, this time from fellow GEEK (yeah, capital G-E-E-K) Glenn. Those of us on Twitter know him as @Nakedhobo (if you're not already, that's a none too subtle hint for you to follow him. GET TO IT!). Glenn also has a blog, Naked Hobo, where he regularly posts movie reviews. I discovered it after we started chatting on Twitter. Yes, lots of people do reviews but I think Glenn is doing something really cool. If you go waaay back to the beginning of his blog you will see that he put down a challenge for himself:

500 Movies

Inspired by my friend Mike I have decided to watch 500 movies I have not seen before and write short reviews here. I plan to have all 500 done within about 1 1/2 years or so, depends how ambitious I feel. Don’t expect real in depth reviews for the most part as it really is not my forte. Two films are up already and I will most likely add a third tomorrow.

How far is he? Well, to date he is on number 252. Half way there! Check out his blog, stalk him on Twitter and enjoy his mixtape!

Glenn- "I use this when I need to get stuff done."

Intergalactic- Beastie Boys

Boom Boom Boom- John Lee Hooker

That Certain Female- Charlie Feathers

Clash City Rockers- The Clash

Just Like Heaven- The Cure

Amazing Grace- Dropkick Murphys

Weapon of Choice- Fat Boy Slim

Lust for Life- Iggy Pop

Priest 85- Irritating Rainbow

Ace of Spades- Motorhead

Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver- Primus

Cool for Cats- Squeeze

Ant Music- Adam and the Ants

Flash- Queen

Have You Met Super Meat Boy?

I was recently CD shopping at the local Streetlight Records when I happened upon a shelf full of flyers. On that shelf I found a copy of a comic called "Super Meat Boy." After going through the comic and laughing my ass off I went straight to the computer and typed in supermeatboy.com to find out more about Meat. Just who is Super Meat Boy? According to the comic, he's "a boy made of raw meat who leaves a trail of blood wherever he goes. He's like The Little Engine That Could, Obama and Jesus wrapped into one. He's that awesome."

Super Meat Boy is the brainchild of Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes. The two creators will soon be bringing Super Meat Boy to your computer or console this Summer on XBLA, WiiWare, and PC. The official description of the game:

In Super Meat Boy you take the role of a small animated cube of meat on his quest to save his lady love Band-Aid girl from the clutches of the evil Dr. Fetus! Sliding his way through saw mills, salt factories and even hell itself, Meat boy jumps into action in this fast paced and extremely challenging platformer that will "melt your face off".

Super Meat Boy features platforming madness spanning over 300 levels of saws, disease, fire, lasers, missiles, and various other traps that Meat Boy must avoid to rescue is lady love.



Isn't that one awesome looking trailer? I CANNOT wait for this to be released. I've never downloaded a game for any of my consoles but I WILL be getting this bad boy on the Wii. Oh, FYI, if you simply cannot wait for to get your hands on some Meat, Super Meat Boy Handheld is now available on the iTunes AppStore for the low low price of $0.99!!! Unfortunately, I haven't had the Iphone Kool-Aid myself yet so I have to wait.

Star Wars Episode I- Attack of the Federation (A Fan Edit)

I have something to admit. This isn't easy. Here goes. I loved the Star Wars prequels. Not as much as the original Star Wars Trilogy, but I still enjoy them immensely. When Episode I was released I was one of the cats in line for the midnight showing. Then, I went back for the 8 a.m. showing. I also have to admit that I don't mind Jar Jar. I don't love the character, but I don't spew the vitriol that others do. I mean think about it, we could be living in a world with no new trilogy. That would probably mean no Clone Wars on Cartoon Network, no Darth Maul and we wouldn't have gotten to see the baddest of badass MoFo's Samuel L. Jackson wielding a lightsaber (unfortunately he went out like a punk in Episode III).

That being said, I did have issues with some of Lucas' choices. I never did like the fact that the Battle Droids could talk. I probably wouldn't have minded it if their dialogue weren't so horrible. Also, the talk of Midichlorians and virgin births was also something that bugged me. Don't even get me started on the announcers during the Pod Racing scene. They were not funny at all and just looked really silly. The real killer though, was the pacing. A lot of (in my opinion) unnecessary scenes just brought the film to a crawl at certain points.

Thankfully, someone was just as bugged about these issues also; so much so that they made their own cut of the film that, I have to say, I like a lot more than the official version. It's known as a Fan Edit, which is a "new take on existing movie material created by video artists. Anything can be changed, improved, restructured for a different watching experience and only the sky is the limit." This particular edit is known as Episode I- Attack of the Federation and was done by a video artist named JASONN. According to the video artist, this version "combines the best aspects from other TPM fanedits along with the faneditor's own concepts/edits to create a definitive version of "The Phantom Menace".

JASONN's cut is now going to be my preferred go-to version of the film when I feel like watching Episode I. All of the issues (and a lot more) are literally cut out of the film. Now, Battle Droids don't speak (save for one scene in the film), which makes them feel more threatening rather than being incompetent and annoying. Gone are the announcers and a lot of Lucas' (Jar Jar) weak attempts at humor. The film was cut by 30 minutes and 2 minutes of deleted scenes were added into the film. To give you an idea of all of the changes, here is the cutlist from the films fanedit.org page:

*Added a new title crawl (developed from an After Effects "Star Wars title crawl" sequence originally created by Taolar)

*Major cuts/edits to Jar-Jar Binks, Anakin, Padme, the Gungans, and the Trade Federation

*Removed all references to midichlorians, Anakin's virgin birth, or the Chosen One prophecy

*All scenes featuring Sidious now has his face from under his hood removed and his voice has been altered/lowered to conceal his identity

*All Battle Droids' voices have been removed (with the exception of one scene, where the voice is needed for plot purposes)

*Removed dialogue redundancy throughout the film

*No "Planet Core" sequence (both first and second parts)

*Removed a lot of redundant dialogue by Ric Olie (aka "Captain Obvious")

*Took out the Viceroy's "Now there are two of them!" line followed by his cronie's "We shouldn't have made this bargain."

*Removed Jar-Jar's redundant scene with Padme cleaning R2

*Removed Jar-Jar stepping in sh*t

*Added in Watto humming the "Cantina theme" in his first scene in the film (audio taken from Magnoliafan's "Balance to the Force" edit)

*Added Watto shouting "You break it, you buy it, eh!" line to Jar-Jar (audio taken from Magnoliafan's "Balance to the Force" edit)

*Added the deleted scene of Anakin beating up Greedo back into the film

- it now serves as Anakin's character introduction to Qui-Gon

*Removed the "Jar-Jar antics" at the Skywalker table

*The Pod Race has been patterned after Slumberland's cut (with a few additional tweaks/edits of my own)

- No two-headed alien "sports announcer" commentary

- No scenes of Jabba the Hutt

*Added the deleted scene of Qui-Gon cutting down the probe droid back into the film

*No mention of Queen Amidala being "elected" in the Senate scenes

*Anakin does not talk after the "No Sir" line during the Jedi Council's testing

*Took out Qui-Gon's description of Obi-Wan to the Jedi Council to "sell" them on making him a Jedi Knight

*Numerous cuts to the Battle of Naboo sequence (Gungan army, Padme's group, Anakin in space)

*Padme's "Get to your ships!" line has been replaced with the voice that was used in the TPM trailer

*Anakin's ship is no longer on autopilot (now pilots of his own choice)

*Removed Qui-Gon asking Obi-Wan to train Anakin at his death

*Removed Obi-Wan's "I gave Qui-Gon my word" line to Yoda on training Anakin at end of film (Obi-Wan now decides to train the boy on his own)

*Corrected the bad match-cut of Anakin turning his head at Qui-Gon's funeral

*Added "Faneditor's credit" to the end credits

As you can see, a lot of work was put into this edit. The result is a much better version than the one we saw in theaters. It's a film with a much faster pace, a tighter focus and a lot less comedy; making it a wholly different experience. Check out fanedit.org for this and many more fan edits, ranging from movies (Spider-Man) to television shows (Prison Break).

Interview: Sean Hartter- Artist

                                 Remember this classic movie?

If not, don't worry, you're not crazy (as far as I can tell). Can you imagine it if it was made? Brilliant casting, right? This poster comes from the mad genius that is Sean Hartter and it is just one in a series of posters in which he casts actors in roles which should've, could've and would've been had he been a studio head. If you pop on over to his blog (Hartter), you'll see posters for Clint Eastwood as Wolverine, Boris Karloff as Freddy Krueger, Brad Pitt as Plastic Man and (my favorite) Gary Busey as Bizarro amongst others. Sean took some time out to answer some questions and tell us what's next on his plate:

I'm a big fan of your movie posters. You've made some inspired casting choices. Can you take us through the process of making one?

I usually get the basic concept when I'm driving or watching TV and I get that germ of an idea down, find some pictures of the cast and create a rough layout. Then as I'm working on the picture I mull over in my head things like "Who would I want to do music for a Bizarro movie starring Gary Busey?" (Nelson Riddle, composer of the original Batman theme) Or "Who would direct a 'Masters of the Universe' movie starring John Phillip Law, Christina Lindberg and Boris Karloff as Skeletor?" (Mario Bava, who directed Law in 'Danger: Diabolik' and Karloff in 'Black Sabbath'). I try to assemble the idea so that all of the names involved are more or less part of the same era, so maybe the movie could have happened or did happen in an adjacent universe, a universe where the Nazis won the war and Carrot Top was never born.

Do you have a favorite piece?

Of my own? Maybe the X rated "Robo Cop" movie starring Wings Hauser.

What artists inspire you?

I'm the bastard son of 10,000 artists hahaha...Saul Bass right off the bat, Aidan Hughes aka BRUTE!, Genndy Tartakovsky, Edward Gorey, Jack Kirby, Frank Frazetta, Mike Mignola. Frank Miller probably the most out of anyone since I read the one two punch of the Wolverine mini-series and "The Dark Knight Returns" back in the day. "DKR" is my favorite thing ever. All of my art sensibilities come from that book.

Can you tell us a little about the other projects you've worked on, "Brothermaniac" and "Torture Chamber"?

"Brothermaniac" is a musical collaboration between 5 people, all of us longtime friends, though its primarily Doug Salvador's project as he creates 99.9% of the music and spends all the wee hours mixing and tying it all together. Kinda rap-rock-industri-techno-metal in a nutshell. For Dante Tomaselli's "Torture Chamber", I created the official posters as well as a bit of the score. Dante is making a film that is a real throwback to the days of great horror flicks like "The Sentinel" and "Suspiria". All of the music I did for "Torture Chamber" was highly influenced by Goblin's film scores, especially "Suspiria".

Any new pieces/projects in the pipeline?

Highest on the to do list for me is a book cover for a kid's book as well as working on a 15 minute animated cartoon "pilot" featuring the character I created, Nobody the Idiot. There's a bunch of other stuff too but those are on the burner right now.

 

 

To check out Hartter's Gallery at deviantart.com click here

D. Gray-Man

I just started watching this interesting anime series, D. Gray-Man after it came highly recommended by my cousin (who is a big anime fan). The series (based on the manga created by Katsura Hoshino) follows 15-year-old Allen Walker, an exorcist who carries the burden of a dark past. Allen has the unique ability to see evil akuma (demons) when they are disguised, as well as a left arm that can transform into a weapon that can destroy the akuma. Allen joins a team of exorcists in the Black Order to battle The Millennium Earl. The Millennium Earl is an evil being that promises those in grief that he can bring back a deceased loved-one simply by having them say their name. Once they do that, the deceased comes back as an akuma and The Earl commands them to kill the one that brought them back. The Black Order is in a race with The Millennium Earl to collect all the pieces of “innocence,” which can be used as anti-akuma weapons while The Earl wants to destroy them.

The show has a total of 103 episodes in the series. This is a lot, considering that the majority of anime series last between 13 and 26 episodes. The sets (parts 1 & 2) each contain 13 episodes. So far the episodes have been well paced and exciting. I can only hope that this continues and we don’t see too many of the requisite “filler” episodes that many long-running anime shows tend to produce. This is definitely a series that warrants a look.

Napoleon Diablo

This is Napoleon Diablo

He's a Spider-Man fan

              That is all     

Making Mixtapes...with Amy Ratcliffe (@amy_geek)

Here's a feature that we haven't done in a while, Making Mixtapes... This time, one of my favorite geeks ever, Amy Ratcliffe is dropping the beats. Amy runs her own awesome blog, Geek with Curves where she shares her "passions for travel, cooking, photography, the interwebz, reading, comics, tabletop gaming (D&D), anything touched by the Whedon tribe, Star Wars, and most things science fiction and fantasy." I love her reviews and interviews and follow her site religiously. You can also become a fan of Geek with Curves on Facebook and you can find her on Twitter at @amy_geek. She also writes a column (Geek Fab) for Pink Raygun.com and has contributed to Geek Girls Network. Enough with my blabbering, I'm going to let Amy take it away:

I believe you can be geeky with your music. And geeky? Pretty much always appropriate. I queue up this playlist for housecleaning, working away on spreadsheets, and when I spend a day in the kitchen cooking. I'm sure the neighbors love those days, when the Dr. Horrible soundtrack and my less than perfect voice waft out the kitchen windows. Ah. I like to include tracks from movie or TV scores in my playlists for a couple of reasons. 1) I have a score addiction. 2) It's a change up of pace.

The Playlist:

All Along the Watchtower - Brendan McCreary, Battlestar Galactica Season 3 Soundtrack
The Galapagos - Master & Commander
Going Through the Motions - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once More, with Feeling
Firefly Theme
Gollum's Song - The Two Towers Soundtrack
Brand New Day - Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog
Spanish Ladies - Jerry Bryant & Starboard Mess - Roast Beef of Old England
Big Bang Theory Theme - Barenaked Ladies
In the Black - Marian Call
The King Of The Golden Hall - Two Towers Soundtrack
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar - The Guild
My Eyes - Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog

And there you have it, a geeky mixtape from Amy! Big thanks to her for contributing! Don't forget to follow her blog, twitter, facebook and her column over on Pink Raygun.com!

Interview: Dean Fraser- Creator of Springfield Punx

The other day I tweeted a link to some awesome art entitled “Star Wars: Empire of the Bat.” It was a mash-up of Star Wars and Batman characters and it was AWESOME. The response to it was really great. It was created by the extremely talented Dean Fraser. I discovered his work through his blogspot page, Springfield Punx. On that site, Fraser takes some of his favorite pop-culture characters and “Simpsonizes” them. He’s taken characters from G.I. Joe, Lost, DC Comics, Ghostbusters and Karate Kid (just to name a few) and worked his magic on them. Fraser was cool enough to answer a few questions about his process and even gives us a little preview of what’s to come on the site.

What started this awesome madness?

Well it started when, as a pretty big Batman fan, I started drawing characters from the 60's Batman show in the Simpsons style, having seen Adam West appear as Batman on the Simpsons (fighting Krusty the clown) and really liking it. I did up Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and some villains, and put them up on my website. Finding it pretty fun to visualize what different characters might look like on the Simpsons, I did a few other characters and personalities I liked to go along with the Batman ones. I got some good feedback from friends and soon had a small collection up there on my website.

Then one day I found that my site had gone down due to a huge amount of traffic within a couple of days. I was able to trace it back to someone linking to my Simpsons characters. It was at that point that I decided to put up a dedicated blog, Springfield Punx, just for these characters. I started receiving suggestions on different characters and personalities to 'Simpsonize' and whenever I thought "Yeah, that really would be a fun one to do!" I tried to do it.

The whole thing has just sort of snowballed from there. It's been enjoyable to also have a place to share my thoughts about a character, sometimes a good memory of that personality or superhero from my childhood, things like that. I've really enjoyed the feedback as well, and if one of the drawings can give people a little smile for the day, that definitely gives me a lot of satisfaction.

Can you walk us through your process from beginning to end?

Usually what will happen is this; I collect a good amount of reference images and then do a sketch of the character/celeb/whatever. I concentrate most particularly on the head, then the body after that, though sometimes I decide not to sketch out the whole body and plan to just finish that part on the computer. I scan my sketch and then trace the lines on the computer, usually in some type of vector graphics program, and with the help of a pen and tablet (definitely worth it). I then color it, export, and post it on the blog.

What's the most challenging part of the process?

The hardest part is probably in the translation to Simpsons style. You want to make it look like whoever the person/character is, but you have to do it within the style. Simpsons characters have no chins (which is a pretty defining feature on someone) and always an overbite to one degree or another. That really means that you have to get the other features, colors, clothes and accessories done well enough that you can easily tell who it is. That especially applies to a caricature of a real person. I don't know that I've had the best success at doing it every single time, but that's what you have to try to do.

The other difficult thing can be staying interested - If I somebody were to do this as a 9 to 5, 7 days a week thing, you could easily imagine growing tired of it and even losing a bit of your sanity. I don't know how professional animators do what they do. Drawing characters and personalities I enjoy and have a connection to is really important in keeping it interesting for me. Springfield Punx is a fun side project where I can explore this style, but I enjoy not having to be stuck with it in everything I do.

Do you have a favorite piece?

I have a real affection for some of the Batman villains I did, the characters are really well suited for the bright, colorful, 'loud' look of Simpsons characters. I'm also pretty pleased with the way Buster (from Arrested Development) and Daniel Faraday (from Lost) came out.

Can you tell us a little bit about your other site, deantfraser.com?

http://deantfraser.com/ has been around for quite a while and is a place where I like to have fun and express myself artistically in a lot of different styles. I like to share work I've done (new and old) and fun little ideas I've had. I've enjoyed the feedback I've had from a lot of the stuff there.

Can you give us a little hint on future characters we'll see on Springfield Punx? On a personal note, will we ever see some Doctor Who or Silver Hawks Punx?

Going forward - if they're not up already, you'll soon see a couple of Goonies characters and some more Batman villains, among other things. I plan to get to some movies I have in mind as well (eventually). You asked about Doctor Who and Silver Hawks... I will confirm that characters from one of those are ready to go and should be posted in the near future.

Goonies Preview

1,000 Kinds of Awesome

These are some things that have me geeking out right now. Enjoy.

Supa Pirate Booty Hunt

Pirates. Booty. Two things I quite enjoy. Steve Sievers apparently does also. The difference between him and I? He created the HILARIOUS characters Zack the Pirate and Daniel the Turtle. The characters started out as a skit on his college internet radio show. They proved so popular that Sievers, along with Dahveed Kolodny-nagy (co-creator and animator of the show) turned it into the webisode series, “Supa Pirate Booty Hunt.” If you’re a fan of Adult Swim-type shows you’ll love it. In fact, the show would fit right in with their line-up. Why it isn’t on television is beyond me. Do yourselves a favor and check it out. Also, check out the official blog. Pirates. Booty. ‘Nuff said.