With no formal training the self proclaimed king of trial and error Brian Garrison, made good on his FOX holiday animation challenge submission - Ghost Squad becoming a finalist and in the running for the Grand Prize.



So, what does Brian have to say... More...

'Twas a big week here at Aniboom--a very big week.

On Tuesday, we announced the Marvel Wildcards for Aniboom's Marvel Motion Comics Competition, one awesome Hulk entry by Guicho Nuñez and a dazzling Nova piece by Arnaud Faire.  Next week, we'll announce our $10,000 Grand Prize Winner Motion Comic, which will then grace the ions and electrodes of Marvel.com.

Our featured Youtube animations showed off the Five Finalists in our Fox Holiday Animation Challenge.  We also gave you exclusive interviews with our FOX Finalists, on this here very same blog.

And, as all this was going on, we celebrated The Simpsons' 20th Anniversary in style.  So, without further Apu, let's give y'all Simpsons addicts one more priceless clip, before I sleep the weekend away, so that I may return to you rested and ready to impart only the greatest Aniboom news there is!

(Stephen Leonard)

We close out the week of FOX Finalist interviews with animator Stephen Leonard, our Fan Favorite and Community Choice!  His awesome series, My Life Plus Animals, is a huge hit on Aniboom, and it's no wonder his Thanksgiving installment grabbed FOX's eye.  Watch it and then read the words from the slacker animation master himself!

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What has most defined the humor of the generation that came of age in the 1990s?  There are many answers but the only right one is The Simpsons.

Mixing irreverance with political satire, cultural commentary, and familial love is perhaps the most influential television program of all time.  The endless-running The Simpsons is turning 20, and instead of trying to make endless references to its stories and characters, rather than regurgitating its history that everyone knows, I'll give you five personal opinions I have on the show (and then some clips!).

1.  The best character relationship is Lisa and Homer, the most human and heart-breaking interpersonal dynamic of any two characters on the show.  Both know that the other operates at a different mental and emotional level, but over time each has found mutual satisfaction in accepting, and being accepted by, the other.  While Lisa is too smart to ever truly connect with Homer, a man of simple delights who approaches the world with little nuance or reflection, it is their love for one another, simply that of a girl to her father, that sustains and strengthens their relationship, as well as the fact that both understand the cognative chasm which divides them.

2.  The show jumped the shark after Season Ten.  There, I said it--the show was good through Season Ten (most state Season Eight, but they are wrong).  It's been better in the last two seasons though.

3.  Homer Badman is the funniest and best episode.  Why?  Because everyone (every character, social group, political ideology) is attacked and mocked, the jokes and writing are impeccable, and the Under the Sea spoof is unmatched.

4.  Second place is King Size Homer.  This needs no explanation.

5.  The Simpsons Movie should have been nominated for an Oscar.  Yes, it should have lost to Ratatouille (itself written and directed by Simpsons vet Brad Bird), but it was way better than Surf's Up.

Okay--CLIP TIME!!!

And the best clip EVER

(Yotam Perel)

Today we speak to the hilarious Yotam Perel, a talented and witty Israeli animator with as much a love of Flash animation as comedy, and whose blending of the two has made him one of FOX's Finalists.

Check out "The Dangers of Halloween", and then our awesome interview!

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(Jay Malone)

FOX Finalist Interview Week keeps on rollin' along--rollin', rollin', rollin' along--as we sit down with each and every one of our Five Finalists in the FOX Aniboom Holiday Animation Challenge!

In the hottest seat on the interwebs today is "Santa Intervention" animator Jay Malone, who's here to talk animation, art, comedy, and everything else a FOX selectee would talk about.

Let's get goin'!

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(Sean Worsham)

We are pleased to announce that for the next week or so, we'll be sitting down with our FOX Holiday Animation Challenge Finalists for the traditional Aniboom Success Stories Interview!

Today, we're lucky to have animator Sean Worsham in the hot seat, creator of the hilarious and brutal Scare-Horn and Belle Jingles, one of FOX's top picks!

Watch it and then read our in-depth exchange!

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We're proud to announce the Five Finalists in Aniboom and FOX's Holiday Animation Challenge!

We garnered over 500 animations from animators hailing from 22 countries around the world!  After months of submitting, voting, commenting, and nail-biting, we can finally reveal to you FOX's top Five!  Those Aniboom animators, now awarded a cool $5,000, now go for it all: a $10,000 Grand Prize and Development Deal with FOX!

Without further ado, here are your Five Finalists:

• Jay Malone's "Santa Intervention"--the rude, crude, and hilarious story of Santa’s stay at an overeaters’ center, and what it took to get old Saint Nick back on the wagon…without breaking it.
• Brian Garrison's "Ghost Squad"--a beautiful animation showing what happens when inept ghost “hunters” meet three docile ghosts who don't have to work too hard in their haunting tasks.
• Sean Worsham's "Scare-Horn and Belle Jingles"--the tale of a homicidal pumpkin-headed psychopath who meets his match in a sweet little girl.
• Yotam Perel's "The Dangers of Halloween"--a local news “public service announcement” about the rather incredible and disgusting dangers of Halloween.
• Stephen Leonard's "My Life Plus Animals"--a turkey (and tofu) filled Thanksgiving insta-classic is Aniboom’s Community Choice.

Congratulations to all our Finalists, and to everyone who participated!  We'll be announcing the Grand Prize Winner on or around November 17th, so keep watching, rating, and voting!  We'd like to know who you think should go all the way!

Hello All!

It's been a very busy week here at Aniboom--as you all know, the Marvel Finalists Announcement has been delayed until October 26th (and again, we apologize for that).  We're getting ready to start accepting Wildcard Submissions to the competition, that will last from October 26th through November 2nd, so keep on working on your Motion Comics!

We also are continuing to receive History Channel Competition Wildcards, which end on November 4th.  We've received 36 incredible entries so far!  You should totally check them out!

FOX is currently their Finalists, and we'll be excited to announce them (on time, natch!) on November 3rd.  Check out the animations now--one will be FOX's next big Holiday Special!

We had some incredible Daily Animations on our top-ranked Youtube Channel, this week, including my personal favorite I've put below!  But do check out Mirage (below), The Date, and Toaster Purse!

Things are really heating up here, and stay tuned, 'cause next week's gonna be a big one!

Yes, it's two months late, but I'd like to pay my respects to the recently departed show King of the Hill, animation legend Mike Judge's ode to a man with the strictest adherence to a bygone set of values in today's strange, affected modern world.

Truly, Hank Hill is one of the most morally rigid and complex characters on television reflective of the American experience.  He leads a cast of fully realized characters, in a scrupulously created world, one that was consistent, nuanced, and continuatively complex from Day One.  Be it Joseph Gribble's paternity, Buck Strickland's debauchery, or Peggy's big feet, it was there from the beginning and fully explored throughout the show's run.

The characters were rich, and the culture clashes fantastically rendered.  Arlen, Texas became as real as any town, and while a kind of willing provincialism cast a cultural torpor on Hank and his brethren, the show still managed to convey the goodness and broadness in the American heartland often mistaken for closemindedness and simplicity.  The show gently mocked attitudes left and right, and became a fantastic guidepoint to mid-American values ranging across the Clinton and Bush years.  In years to come, I predict the show will find itself a cultural time capsule.

Anyway, as we say goodbye to Hank, Peggy, Bobby, Luanne, Boomhauer, Bill, Dale, Kahn, and the rest, let's take one more moment to swig some Alamo...