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2012/06/28

Neatorama

Neatorama

The Star Wars That I Used To Know

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 04:42 AM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This hilarious parody of the music video for Gotye’s hit song Somebody That I Used To Know takes us back to a time when Star Wars was fun and familiar, without all those cheesy deleted scenes, less than creative explanations and CGI nightmares.

Darth Vader was somebody that I used to know, but now that I’ve seen him with a braided rat tail in his hair I just don’t know…

–via Geeks Are Sexy

I Saw You Walking In The Rain

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 04:17 AM PDT

Is there anything better than going to Japan and then seeing Totoro with an umbrella waiting for a bus? Now that’s simply magical. I sure wish he was my neighbor.

Link Via io9

March of the Ducks

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Quack! That's Chinese duck farmer Hong taking his flock of 5,000 ducks out on a 'lil stroll down the road to a nearby pond. He claimed that not a single duck was lost in the march: Link

Thrill Murray: The Bill Murray Coloring Book

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 03:00 AM PDT

What could be more awesome than Bill Murray (other than his South Atlantic League's baseball hall of fame acceptance speech and except for Garfield)?

How about this: Thrill Murray, an upcoming coloring book by Mike Coley of Belly Kids, featuring artwork from various artists. This one above is by Logan Fitzpatrick, featuring Bill in Lost in Translation.

Link - via Get Addicted To

The Portable Bottle Cutting Tool

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:39 AM PDT

If you’ve ever seen those nifty glasses made out of old alcohol/beer bottles and thought “I sure would like to make those for my house” then check out this neat new device.

It’s called the Kinkajou Bottle Cutter, and it was invented by Patrick Lehoux, a man with a vision for just what to do with all of those empty bottles he had lying around the house.

Right now this invention is at the Kickstarter phase of production, but I’m sure it will do quite well when it’s released commercially. I know what my friends are getting for Christmas this year!

Link  –via DesignTAXI

10 Awesome Video Game Bathrooms

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:07 AM PDT

If you truly live for The Horde, then you darn well ought to dedicate everything to your faction -even your toilet time. For more delightful game-inspired bathrooms, don’t miss this great Mental Floss article.

Link

The Valedictorian Lawsuit

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT

Straight A's and a 4.50 GPA, accepted to Stanford with an engineering internship at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to boot but that's not enough for some parents. No, they wanted their daughter to get the top honor of valedictorian ... even if they have to sue for it:

And to Elisha’s mother, Carol, the second-place finish means that her daughter's "sleepless nights" were essentially “for nothing.”

"It's flawed. It's wrong," Carol told The Times. "All her hard work is not being recognized. All she had was straight A's. Not a B, ever."

Nelson said his family is considering suing LAUSD for failing to award their daughter the honor of valedictorian.

Link

The Art Of Arm Contortion

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 01:38 AM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This video features the Turf Dancers showing off their “bone breaks”, arm contortions that are almost painful to watch.

I have a feeling that these guys are part puppet, either that or they’ve had their joints replaced by rubber bands!

–via Stuff I Stole From The Internet

Always Blow Dry Your Pets After Cleaning

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 01:06 AM PDT

(Video Link)

Those long hairs take forever to dry. Fortunately, this air conditioner fan also works as a multi-pooch hair drier.

Via Cute Overload

Stormtrooper in the Rain

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Laugh all you want, but he’s staying dry. Geeks Are Sexy reader Amy, the proprietor of this tattoo, writes that “I live my life by lessons I learned in Star Wars.” A commendable attitude.

Link -via blastr

That Peculiar Subway Step

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 12:32 AM PDT


(vimeo link)

Dean Peterson noticed that the tenth step up on the staircase at his subway stop in Brooklyn was a fraction of an inch taller than the other stairs. That’s just enough to make everyone whack it with their foot, because by the time you reach it, your feet know how tall it should be. According to the comments at vimeo, the stairs have been cordoned off with caution tape just today. Maybe this video had something to do with it. -via Metafilter

Tiny LEGO Versions of Famous Scenes from Science Fiction

Posted: 28 Jun 2012 12:00 AM PDT

The Living Brick’s “Mi-Fi” competition didn’t challenge contestants to build enormous and elaborate dioramas using tens of thousands of bricks, but to express, using as few bricks as possible, memorable scenes from science fiction. This is Carl Merriam’s depiction of Leela, Fry and Bender of Futurama delivering pillows to a high-gravity planet. You can find the other contest entries at the link.

Link -via Geekosystem | Photo: Carl Merriam

One Joke From Every Episode Of Mystery Science Theater 3000

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:32 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

Take a fond look back at MST3K with this supercut video, which features one joke from every episode ever made!

It’s like a really quick refresher course on how MST3K brought the funny, and brought their lighthearted derision towards cheesy old movies into our homes each week.

This video has inspired me to waste even more of my precious time-Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon here I come!

–via Uproxx

Ramen Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:00 PM PDT

I’ve never thought of combining these two treats, but I suspect that it’d taste really good. Sarah J. Gim suggests using cheddar, American, mozzarella and Monterrey jack cheeses. You can find her recipe at the link.

Link -via That’s Nerdalicious!

1,143,839,622,748,050,000,000,000,000 Computer Generated Anagramic Sonnets

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:30 PM PDT

Click on the button on Mike Keith’s page, and you’ll be presented with two out of a potential one octillion sonnets, both of which are anagrams of each other. Here’s how:

The two poems above each have the form of a classical English sonnet with fourteen lines of iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. In addition, these sonnets are anagrams: each one can be formed by rearranging the letters in the other one. Every time you click the button above (or reload this page) you will see a different pair of mutually-anagrammatic sonnets – one of a grand total of about one octillion (1027) available.

This is made possible by having, behind the scenes, a text consisting of 14 sets of 10 lines of iambic pentameter. For each number n (from 1 through 14), we choose two different lines (say A and B) from set n then assign line A to the nth line in the left sonnet and line B to the nth line in the right sonnet. The resulting poems always have reasonable grammar and sense, as a result of the way the lines are worded; in addition, the fact that the sets as a whole obey the sonnet rhyme scheme (all lines in set 1 rhyme with all lines in set 3, and so on) ensure that the sonnets rhyme properly. Finally, the two poems are always anagrams because of this fact: all 10 lines in each of the 14 sets are anagrams of each other.

Read more complicated math stuff (sorry, that’s the best I can do) about it at the link.

Link -via TYWKIWDBI

Google’s Artificial Intelligence System Loves LOLCats

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:11 PM PDT

Google has been hard at work creating an artificial intelligence system that could revolutionize the way we think about AI…just as soon as it’s done cataloging all the cat related posts on the interwebs.

Here’s what happened when it was released on the interwebs to start learning on its own:

The neural network taught itself to recognize cats, which, John Markoff of The New York Times reports, is actually no frivolous activity. This week the researchers will present the results of their work at a conference in Edinburgh. The Google scientists and programmers will note that while it is hardly news that the Internet is full of cat videos, the simulation nevertheless surprised them. It performed far better than any previous effort by roughly doubling its accuracy in recognizing objects in a challenging list of 20,000 distinct items.

Now that’s one hi-tech way to catalog kitteh videos!

Link  –via Geekologie

A Dutch Company Wants To Colonize Mars By 2023

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:12 PM PDT

Some people aren’t content with merely taking pictures on the surface of Mars–they want to plant their flag and colonize the red planet as soon as possible.

And by some people I mean the Dutch company behind the project Mars One.

Led by Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders, they propose establishing a human colony and using it as a media spectacle to create mad profits and kickstart mankind’s adventures into the cosmos.

What do you guys think–is this an interesting and feasible idea, or the maniacal ravings of a madman?

Link  –via GeekTyrant

DeLorean Limo

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:50 PM PDT

Go back to the future in style in this limo. Just be aware that it’s heavier and getting it up to 88 MPH is harder on the engine.

I’m not sure who made this car (or the photo), but I suspect that it’s Rich W., a DeLorean modder.

-via Jalopnik

Muppet Movie Camera Test From 1979

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:20 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

Here’s a delightful behind the scenes video showing Kermit and Fozzie hanging out in a tree waiting for The Muppet Movie director Jim Frawley to get his angles and lenses all worked out, and later Kermit and Piggy discuss their relationship, and what their offspring might look like… *grin*

It sure is fun to see these fleece friends banter back and forth, Fozzie’s real bear status in question, Kermit discovering that he has rods coming out of his arms, and Miss Piggy letting her jealous nature get the better of her as usual.

This video proves that Muppet improv is the best kind of improv!

–via i09

Soft Kitty Plush Backpack Clip

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:12 PM PDT

Soft Kitty Plush Backpack Clip – $8.95

Do your summer travels include backpacking across foreign lands? Are you worried that this fabulous trek will leave you feeling lonely and sad? You need the Soft Kitty Plush Back clip from the NeatoShop. This adorable clip-on backpack plush features Soft Kitty from The Big Bang Theory. He is the perfect pick-me-up for any homesick individual.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more fabulous Backpack Clips and The Big Bang Theory items!

Link

 

Rubegoldbergian Light Switches

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:00 PM PDT

Etsy seller GreenTeaJewelry makes beautiful but complicated light switch covers using brass gears and wood. They’re fully functional. Turn the crank and the toggle switch will flip.

Link -via Boing Boing

Fashionable Leather Chainsaw Bag

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:24 PM PDT

This super chic leather chainsaw shaped bag by (you guessed it!) Facetasm is made to cut down the competition without the need for fossil fuels or a ripcord start.

Shameless in both the bold power tool styling and the in your face branding, this bag doesn’t need to saw through trees because it just looks cool when you carry it.

You may be asking yourself–why is it shaped like a chainsaw? The simple answer–for the sake of fashion.

Link  –via Gizmodo

What Eddie Campbell’s Daughter Drew While He Worked On From Hell

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:31 PM PDT

The seminal graphic novel From Hell featured a superstar collaboration between Eddie Campbell and Alan Moore, and while the duo worked away on this dark saga Eddie’s daughter Hayley, who was 7 years old at the time, had her own project in the works-The Ripper File.

Full of grisly ways to meet one’s end, yet softened by the childish nature of the drawings and numerous misspellings, The Ripper File is just the sort of thing that would have cost young Hayley a trip to the school counselor had it been discovered in her book bag.

You can see a young mind hard at work at the link to Eddie’s blog below, it’s adorable in a creepy sort of way.

Link  –via ComicsAlliance

Zombified Video Game Characters

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:23 PM PDT

This fun series of illustrations by Swedish artist Go-MaxPower shows what classic video game and cartoon characters might look like as shambling undead.

Of particularly hilarious note are the image of Ray Man eating himself, and an armless Street Fighter Ryu still trying to kick some tail.

Link  –via DesignTAXI

Guess the Special Purpose of This Gun

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:15 PM PDT

This rare handgun was made to function in an unusual environment. Can you guess what that is? Hit the jump for the answer.

Underwater. According to my sources, the Soviet 4.5mm B-VI-307 was developed in the 1960s specifically for submerged use. The gun never made it into production. The one pictured above is at the Central Armed Forces Museum of Moscow.

Did you guess correctly?

Link -via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: Dmitry Dreamer

A Camera Conversation

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:00 PM PDT

By Hühnerauge, taken in Aachen, Germany.

 

A Terrifying Wall Of Teddy Ruxpin Dolls

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 04:20 PM PDT

(YouTube Link)

This installation by Sean Hathaway is made up of 80 Teddy Ruxpin dolls streaming emotional content from the internet, the talking bears cycling randomly through one minute emo bursts and causing the viewer to feel uneasy almost immediately.

Part of a project called Transformations, Emotional Deconstruction, the artist claims that the wall of bears is “taking the emotional temperature of the internet”, but I think he’s just dredging up our childhood fears and giving us yet another reason not to sleep at night.

–via Topless Robot

Tattoo Parlor Ad on Calfskin

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 04:00 PM PDT

For edgy tattoo studio Chaos Crew, a poster just won't do. For its ad campaign, the Bavarian tattoo artists opted to tattoo the most important events of 2011 on a calfskin.

Get Addicted To blog has the post and video clip: Link

 

Brian Rush’s Bench

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 03:00 PM PDT

What good is art if it doesn't bring people closer together? Well, Brian Rush's Bench 2011 did just that with a wee bit of industrial rollers and gravity: Link - via Booooooom

 

Boom-boom Sirens

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 02:00 PM PDT


Photo: Aaron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post

Most people pull over (safely, to the right and then stop) to let emergency vehicles pass, but not in Denver!

Because too many Denver motorists refuse to yield, ambulances there have a special technique to get drivers to pay attention: they turn up the volume.

The 100/200-watt siren amplifiers point at the ground, generating a frequency low enough to vibrate everything outside the ambulance — an experience akin to pulling up next to a club kid blasting hip-hop from a trunk filled with speakers.

It turns heads.

"They vibrate the entire ground," Bookman said. "People can feel it throughout their car. It's pretty neat."

After testing the boom-boom sirens for 18 months, Denver Health is satisfied with the results and is making them standard issue for all new vehicles, Bookman said.

Link - via Fark

Jack and Jackie

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 01:30 PM PDT

It appears that two attractive young people wandered into a photo booth together in 1953. You can see more pictures of the young Kennedys taken in another photo booth session at Retronaut. Link -via Nag on the Lake

Chillax

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 01:07 PM PDT

Chillax – $9.95

Attention all you weekday warriors! Summer is finally here. Are you ready to chill and relax?  It is time to get your groove on with the Chillax ice pop maker from the NeatoShop. This excellent mold and handle set is perfect for beating the heat with your favorite ice lolly treat.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more great Ice Trays!

Link

Digital Circlism

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 01:00 PM PDT

Ben Heine, the artist behind the famous Pencil vs. Camera project (previously on Neatorama), has more art tricks up his sleeves. This one above is his modern take on pointillism, which was made famous by Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Ben called it "Digital Circlism" and wrote:

This portrait is only made with "flat circles" on a black background. Every circle has a single color, a single tone and a single size. I placed each circle one by one. It's a time consuming method. Please see some details, the work in progress and other portraits here below. If you wish, you can also view this making of my portrait of Elvis Presley (video) to understand how I'm exploiting this technique with circles...

Link | His full Digital Circlism gallery over at deviantART

Rainbow Oreo

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 12:55 PM PDT

The creme colors of the rainbow Oreo do not exist, but the controversy it whipped up was real. On June 25, Kraft Food posted the gay pride Oreo on the cookie's Facebook page, and garnered tens of thousands of comments (both positive and negative) from Oreo fans.

Tiffany Hsu of The Los Angeles Times wrote:

It’s not the stack of six crème patties that’s whipped up a frenzy at Oreo’s official Facebook page: It’s that together, they form a rainbow in celebration of gay pride.
The image of the multi-layered Kraft cookie appears above a date – June 25 – and the word “pride.” A caption declares “Proudly support love!” The cookie isn’t available for purchase.

Of the profile’s nearly 27 million fans, more than 154,000 liked the Pride post. Not all the nearly 20,000 comments, however, were quite as supportive.

“Bye Bye OREO!,” wrote user Jeni Friedersdorf. “Why can’t companies stay neutral on such things?” A few quoted the Bible; several swore to boycott the snack.

In response came an outpouring of Oreo love. One user, Matthew Merix, wrote: “Homophobes = tacky. Kraft Foods = progressive. Cookies = AWESOME.” The debate quickly spilled onto the rest of Oreo’s Facebook profile and also onto Twitter.

But was it just a cynical marketing ploy?  Be prepared for more "gayvertising," said Dan Zak of The Washington Post:

The rainbow-colored Oreo graphic unveiled for LGBT Pride month proves at least one thing: Gays are just as susceptible to clever marketing as straights. At long last! Equality under commercialization.

The graphic was posted Monday evening on Oreo’s Facebook page and drew more than 52,000 shares and 177,000 likes in 24 hours — a robust social-media response that amounts to free advertising for Oreo, which is made by Nabisco, which is a subsidiary of Kraft Foods, which, with annual revenues of $54.4 billion, is the planet’s second-larget food company and doesn’t really need your pro-bono assistance with brand expansion.

Be Serious for 30 Seconds

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 12:30 PM PDT


(YouTube link)

Fred Armisen asked videographers to submit short serious videos. There are rules, plenty of them, which makes me wonder what he will eventually do with all these videos.

Rule 1: It has to be serious.

Rule 2: It has to be 30 seconds or less

Rule 3: No more than 2 people in it

Rule 4: At least 1 5 second dramatic pause

Rule 5: At least 1 cutaway to an object

Rule 6: Do your best acting

Rule 7: It needs to have a door slamming

Submit your own videos (make sure to include the words “Be Serious for 30 Seconds: somewhere in the title), and check back here to see what people have made.

Should we expect a supercut some day? Despite the fact that there is no end project announced, no payment, and no prizes awarded, there are already 200 submissions. Link -Thanks, David!

The Chip Shop Awards

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT


The fictional "Stop Childhood Obesity" campaign, one of the mildest examples I could find - by Creative Vein

Ad people are a creative lot, but they've got to constraint themselves lest they offend their clients.

Well, not at the Chip Shop Awards: the annual advertising award lets the creative types run wild. Here's what they came up with, if they weren't afraid of being fired by their clients: Link [warning, totally tasteless and offensive ads therein] - via Adweek

 

The Web’s Hand-Written Thank You Note Service

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:32 AM PDT

Perhaps you don't have a pen or do not practice the long-lost art of handwriting (how quaint!) in the age of keyboards and smartphones anymore, but don't let that turn you into an uncivilized savage.

Thanks to the InterWeb, you too, can send a handwritten letter and thank you note without ever having to touch a pen :)

Take a look at the handwriting service of Epistly: Link - Thanks Mike!

The Realistic Game of Life

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 11:00 AM PDT

Hallie Cantor of College Humor has put together a realistic version of the game of Life. You can print it out and assemble the full version and laugh and weep at the same time.

Ready, set ... go! Link

 

Leap Second to be Added to Clock

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:30 AM PDT

Saturday night will be just a little longer than usual, as a “leap second” will be added to the clock. That adjustment comes around every once in a while to keep our clocks on track with the sun.

A leap second has been scheduled for June 30, 2012. A leap second is an adjustment to the atomic clock-based Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to bring it more closely in line with Universal Time (UT), which is based on the rotation of the earth. The two time standards do not agree because the earth's rotation is ever so gradually and unpredictably slowing down.

I don’t know about you, but “unpredictably slowing down” doesn’t sound all that reassuring. But no far, I don’t see any scientists and chronologists panicking. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Alan Cleaver)

The Secret of Ozersk

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 10:00 AM PDT

In the early 1950s, Russian scientists were worried about a nuclear attack by the United States and wanted to know how radiation damaged tissue and caused cancer, so they decided to do an experiment. A massive one:

The town of Ozersk, deep in Russia's remote southern Urals, hides the relics of a massive secret experiment. From the early 1950s to the end of the cold war, nearly 250,000 animals were systematically irradiated. Some were blasted with a-, ß- or ?-radiation. Others were fed radioactive particles. Some of the doses were high enough to kill the animals outright; others were so low that they seemed harmless. After the animals — mice, rats, dogs, pigs and a few monkeys — died, scientists dissected out their tissues to see what damage the radioactivity had wrought. They fixed thin slices of lung, heart, liver, brain and other organs in paraffin blocks, to be sliced and examined under the microscope. Some organs, they pickled in jars of formalin.

The town of Ozersk is now closed to the world, but in 2007, a team of European scientists decided to find and save the scientific evidence:

The old collections provide a resource that could not be recreated today. Most of the experiments were done under precise conditions, at a wide range of radiation doses and usually for the lifetime of the animals. “We will never be able to repeat the scale of those animal experiments, for both funding and ethical reasons,” says Gayle Woloschak, a radiation biologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. “But maybe we can reuse the legacy tissue.”

Nature has the story: Link - via BLDGBLOG

Awaglass

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 09:16 AM PDT

Norihiko Terayama's Awaglass is an hourglass filled with soapy water - the magic happens when you shake it a little. The Book of Joe has the video clip of the mesmerizing bubbles that arise: Link [embedded vimeo clip]

 

Block Crayons

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:30 AM PDT

Block Crayon – School Pack | $16.95

How neat is this -building blocks made of crayon, so your little ones can color and build at the same time! The Block Crayon School Pack from the NeatoShop comes with 24 stackable crayons in the shapes of both cubes and sculpted animals. Block crayons make a great gift for any toddler or preschooler! While you’re at the NeatoShop, check out the fine selection of other baby toys and arts and crafts sets as well.

Link

Cheese Top Burger

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:07 AM PDT

KFC in the Philippines has a new product they’re trying out. What an innovative idea -putting cheese on top of a burger! What could possibly go wrong? Link -via reddit

Meanwhile, at the Library

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT

In her "Meanwhile In" series, Wendy MacNaughton illustrates what happened in a typical day in a particular place. This one above is what happened at the San Francisco Public Library (Main Library): Link

 

Nicholas Cage Cats

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:30 AM PDT

Putting Nicholas Cage’s face on pictures of cats is such a random, creepy, and hilarious idea that it’s fired up an entire Tumblr blog. Reminds you a little of the movie Face Off, doesn’t it? No? Link  -via Everlasting Blort

Aces of Bass

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 07:00 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

Ace of Base was a Swedish pop group of the ’90s. Aces of Bass is a tribute band that performs cover versions of their music …on bass fiddles! -via The Daily What

Men’s Desks are the Dirtiest

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:30 AM PDT

Phones, doorknobs, and keyboards in the workplace are all covered in bacteria, but the dirtiest places of all are men’s desks. Scott Kelly and his team from the University of San Diego tested surfaces in 30 offices each in New York, San Francisco, and Tucson for both the amount and kinds of bacteria.

Of particular interest, the bacteria levels the researchers found depended on the gender of the office occupant. “The surfaces inhabited by men tended to have more bacterial cells and more abundance of cells than those inhabited by women,” Kelly said.

The researchers have two suggestions of why this might be. First, this could be just because men are frequently larger than women, so they have more surface area to grow bacteria, and therefore end up shedding more bacteria into their environment.

The second idea is not nearly as flattering. Previous studies have shown that men are just dirtier than women; they don't wash their hands or brush their teeth nearly as often. This could be the cause of their extra dirty offices (and orifices), the researchers said.

However, most of the bacteria found in the entire experiment was “inert,” meaning harmless because they are germs we carry around with us all the time anyway. Still, these results make one want to wash one’s hands, doesn’t it? Link -via the Presurfer

Crispy Tauntaun

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 06:00 AM PDT


(YouTube link)

A new Epic Meal Time video is out, with a Star Wars themed meal. Get ready for Crispy Tauntaun! Language may be NSFW. -via The Daily What Geek

6 Obscure Classic Cartoon Characters

Posted: 27 Jun 2012 05:05 AM PDT

You may have seen these characters here and there, but even if you have, chances are you haven't seen their entire cartoon catalog unless you're an avid animation fan. Still, just because these characters are lesser known doesn't mean that they don't deserve your attention. So sit back and relax and enjoy learning a bit about a few characters that played a surprisingly big role in the history of animation.

Bosko

(Video Link)

You may not recognize his face and you probably didn't watch many of his cartoons, but you've almost certainly seen Bosko's face here and there and with good reason –he was one of the first early stars of the Looney Tunes and starred in over forty shorts. Animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were working at Disney when they first drew up the character in a style they thought would suit the new "talkie" movement at the theater. In fact, when the first Bosko cartoon was released, it was the first animation to include synchronized speech.

If you're trying to figure out what kind of critter Bosko is supposed to be, well, he's a human. In fact, when the animators registered the character at the copyright office, they described him as a "Negro boy."

(Video Link)

While Bosko’s designs may have been based on minstrel show portrayals of African Americans, many Bosko cartoons feature Bosko and his girlfriend Honey acting more like Mickey Mouse cartoons than racial caricatures, although the cartoons featured far more singing and dancing than a typical Disney cartoon. Interestingly, throughout the early 30's Bosko rivaled Mickey in popularity and it wasn't until later on that the mouse surged ahead.

At both the start and the end of their popularity, the characters seemed more like characters out of a minstrel show though, particularly after the redesign he was given when Harman and Ising moved the character to MGM in 1933.

(Video Link)

 A big part of the reason Bosko isn't a cartoon icon in modern times is the fact that Warner Bros. tried to sweep the potentially racist Looney Tunes characters under the rug. In fact, when the characters were reintroduced to the public in a Tiny Toon Adventures cartoon, the are shown as dog-like creatures instead of their original form.

Sources: Wikipedia and Gawker

Buddy

(Video Link)

Here's another face that probably looks familiar although you probably haven't actually watched too many of his cartoons. Buddy was the second star of the Looney Tunes series and was born when Harman and Ising left Warner Bros. and took the company's biggest cartoon star with them. It wasn't long before producer Leon Schlesinger hired new animators, resulting in the birth of Buddy, who animator Bob Clampett fairly critiqued as "Bosko in whiteface." Like Bosko, the Buddy cartoons largely focus on music and portray the character's interactions with his girlfriend and his dog. Buddy starred in 23 cartoons, but he has been largely forgotten in modern years as he was mostly a knock off of Bosko, who wasn't even that strong of a character to start with.

Source

Foxy

(Video Link)

Foxy wasn't around very long, but he has an interesting history in the Golden Age of Cartoons. The first thing you'll likely notice about Foxy is that he looks a lot like Mickey Mouse. Well, that's because while working for Disney in 1925, Hugh Harman claimed that he drew images of mice on a picture of Disney that then inspired Ub Iwerks and Disney's creation of Mickey Mouse. Because Harman felt like Disney had capitalized on his design, he and his partner, Ising, thought it was only fair that they do the same to Disney.

Foxy was the first star of the popular Merrie Melodies series, but he only ended up appearing in a total of three cartoons. Before he left though, he started a Merrie Melodies tradition by bursting out of a bass drum and saying the line, "So long, folks!" That's right, he held Porky's famous position before Porky was even created.

Source

Flip the Frog

(Video Link)

After Ub Iwerks, co-creator of Mickey Mouse, had a falling out with Disney, he eventually started working with MGM. That's when he created Flip the Frog, who may never have become as famous as Mickey, but he's still undoubtedly a face you recognize.

While Flip seemed quite similar to many of Iwerks' previous Silly Symphony creations, his first cartoon still has a place in animation history as it was the first ever color sound cartoon. While he was notably frogish in this first cartoon, he started becoming less froglike as time wore on, as MGM thought the series would do better with a more humanized character at the helm. Flip also started developing a distinct Charlie Chaplin-like personality as time wore on, making him easy to identify with during the Great Depression. Unfortunately, MGM grew tired of the character and had him discontinued by 1933, after that, the public largely forgot about the character.

Source

Inki

(Video Link)

While Bosko's cartoons often seemed more about music and less about stereotypes, Inki cartoons, part of the Merrie Melodies series by Chuck Jokes, were basically animated minstrel shows about a little African boy with a loin cloth and a bone in his hair. Inki never speaks and most of his cartoon appearances featuring him hunting some sort of illusive prey.

These days, you're unlikely to catch many Inki cartoons on television as the character is considered pretty racist, especially by today's standards. The bird that often helped him out though, the mynah bird, has been featured in many of the WB's modern cartoons, giving at least some recognition of the company's heritage.

Source

Private Snafu

(Video Link)

While these cartoons were never officially made available to the public, the series has been widely shared since they were always part of the public domain. That's because they were created specifically for the U.S. government to help show Army trainees, particularly those with weak reading skills, the right and wrong way to behave in the service.

Many of the episodes were written by a then unknown artist and writer named Theodor Geisel –aka "Dr. Seuss." The series was produced by Warner Bros. under the direction of Leon Schlesinger and featured the work of a number of famous animators including Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, and Frank Tashlin. As it turns out, these shorts are part of what kept the animation industry alive during the war –because they kept up morale and helped educate soldiers, the studios were considered an essential industry for supporting the war effort.

Private Snafu (a military anagram for Situation Normal: All F-ed Up) was sort of like the Goofy of the military. He always did things wrong, thus, showing recruits what not to do while at war. Throughout the series, he leaks classified information, gets malaria, catches an STD and manages to die in six different cartoons. Later on though, Snafu starts to catch on and actually becomes a savvy soldier ready to take down the enemy.

Because the cartoons were only to be released to soldiers, they weren't subject to the Haye's Code and as a result, they contained some rather racy material for cartoons of the time –including semi-nude ladies and curse words.

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So, how many of you have actually seen these characters in action before? And, do you know of any other characters that you think should be included in this list?
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