Ahhhhhh.  Nothing says Saturday Morning like a film about a dystopian society.  I know I don’t geek out often* so you might be surprised to find out that in middle school and high school, I was quite the anime head.  It’s true…who would’ve thought?  The guy with this passport photo was into anime.

Yes, I know.  It’s a mix between Goku and Doug E. Doug.  That’s exactly what I was going for.  Watch Akira above, dammit!  The entire film’s on the YouTubes.  And then watch this live-action rendition of it, because it’s very dope.

Via Nerdwithswag

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I was in middle school, I heard much about the Freaknik – Atlanta’s periodic outdoor street parties complete with music, art, and people dancing on cars butt-or-nearly-butt naked.  I was intrigued, but being at the height of my germiphobia during this point in my life, was terrified by the idea of walking around and accidentally bumping into a face full of chest hair.  By the time I made my first visit to Atlanta, the Freaknik was long gone, but now The Boondocks producer Carl Jones and T-Pain have linked up to present Freaknik: The Musical!!!  And sure, a cartoon on Adult Swim isn’t nearly as appealing as a party filled with scantily-clad college students, but the all-star lineup of some of my favorite musicians including Lil Wayne, Big Boi, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Cee-Lo, Snoop Dogg, and Kelis makes for something worth checking out regardless.

Freaknik: The Musical premieres on Adult Swim March 7 @ 11:30pm (ET/PT).

Via MyFunk

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This is pretty iLL…but Dahlak says he doesn’t know how he feels about it.  At the same time, how are you supposed to feel about a split-screen animation that explains Creationism in the most scientific of senses, while breaking down Evolution like it was a Sunday Sermon?  Of course, the point of Ryan Uhrech’s Duelity is to demonstrate how theory is often driven by practice.  I, for one, am still committed to the story that we’re all the wives and children of Morgan Freeman.

Via Brain Pickings

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Here’s something a lil different for the return of Saturday Morning Cartoon.  Legorama by Robby Ralston is a dope take on the universe that we have created with corporate images.  I found myself getting sad when the M&M guys got run over, until I realized that they’re just M&M guys.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Considering that claymation is one of the greatest things in the world, why, pray tell, do claymation series’ never last?  Do the animators’ fingers just get tired?  Don’t answer that question.  Anyway, I’d like to take us back to ‘94, when albums like Illmatic and Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik came out.  I, of course, was still in my Ninja Turtles pajamas watching cartoons like Bump in the Night, a series about a closet monster named Mr. Bumpy who played in little boys’ rooms while they were away.  Completely inappropriate nowadays, but apparently exactly what CBS wanted in its Saturday morning lineup…for one season, that is.  But any cartoon with a full minute-long theme song is okay in my book.

Who would’ve thought that the period when Howie Mandel had a jheri curl would signify the time when he wasn’t a douchebag?  Anyway, here’s one of my favorite cartoons, Bobby’s World.  In it, a little kid takes real life situations and daydreams them into wild wild adventures that could never happen in real life.  Sort of like when I go to the club, and imagine a woman actually talking to me.

The other night I took my roommate’s son M’kai out for his birthday and, despite me reeeeeeeeeaallly wanting to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, he was more partial to The Princess and the Frog.  And I could go on and on about Disney being an evil transnational corporation and how problematic a movie with the evil villain being a voodoo magician is, but at the same time I do admit that I was pretty geeked about Disney reviving the musical numbers in its cartoons.  And although a story that takes place in New Orleans leaves room for some lightweight racism, it also leaves space for some great jazz numbers…and keep it real, Disney’s musical prowess really can’t be denied.  As I mentioned before, many of the adlibs and random sound effects in iB4the1.1 are directly inspired by films like this.  Engage!

The night before I left NY i was invited to the abode of the fantastic Lauren of 12ft. Dwende to watch Disney’s holiday special Prep & Landing, and to engage in the consumption of some delicious turkey calzones.  I often feel conflicted about Disney, but even though they might be an evil empire hellbent on taking over the world through cartoons with racist undertones, it’s hard to deny that these cartoons with racist undertones are damn good.

And so alas, Prep & Landing was great in the way one would expect any Disney cartoon to be great.  Even with their one black elf. 

ENTER THE BELLY OF THE BEAST TO WATCH IT ALL!!

Reboot used to be one of my favorite cartoons because it let me know that there was a critical mass of fellow 10-year-olds who used the internet enough to be entertained by the concept of a defender of the Mainframe that fought viruses.  And then the show got canceled and I was sad because I knew that that meant that the internet was a trend that was never going to catch on.  Oh well, there’s always the world wide fax.

Jump fo mo foo!

Last week while in DC I caught an exhibition of short cartoons by Osamu Tezuka, best known for creating the series Astro Boy.  I went on a last-minute invite whim, but I’m glad I did…these are some of the most incredible short films I’ve eva eva eva eva eva seen in my entire life!  And I say that knowing that I have quite an extensive relationship with cartoons and anime.  I used to memorize Dragonball Z episodes, and I don’t even speak Japanese!  But before I start sounding like a white East Asian Studies major from UC Davis (lower the fees, you smelly regents!) I’ll let these amazing Tezuka cartoons take it away.  WATCH THEM THEY’RE GREEATTTT!!