Yo Gabba Gabba!

As many of you may or may not know, my career in "Media Arts and Animation" humbly started out in Boca Raton, Forida. I designed cheap toys and packaging for a less than reputable company that changed its name about three or four times, due to its shotty financial book keeping. Kids, if your employers keep the company running by "robbing from Peter to pay Paul," get the heck outta Dodge!

Thankfully God spared me from that death trap, and delivered me to a job flowing with milk and honey. Currently I work for my church, on a three-man team that produces a weekly kid's show for our Children's Ministry. It's a really neat gig, and I'm quite proud of it! Considering we run on less than a skeleton crew and have a next to nothing budget, we put out some quality stuff. Check it out here:

www.youtube.com/markanthonycruz

Since it's our job to produce a kid's show, we've made more of an effort to pay attention to what the ankle-biting population of America is watching these days. That's when my buddy Rob brought a specific show to my attention called "Yo Gabba Gabba."

"What in the world kinda name is that," I asked.

"I don't know, but it's like crack for kids," he replied.

Needless to say I wheeled over to my desk, searched for "Yo Gabba Gabba" on YouTube, and saw this:

I was instantly hooked! I did a little more research and found that the show was produced and created by some of my favorite artists and musicians. Also it premiered in August 2007 and was already in production for a second season! I continued to devour tons of clips from the show on YouTube, and found that it wasn't just crack for kids...it was crack for geeks like me as well!

I said to myself, "Man, where were shows like this when I was growing up?!"  Then I felt it...the overwhelming sense of betrayal to my own childhood. I was brought up on shows like "Sesame Street," "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," and "3-2-1 Contact!" These shows were a child's bread and butter in those days. I measured time with those shows. (i.e. 2 and a 1/2 hours...oh that's 2 Sesame Streets and 1 Mr. Rogers)

Now here I was, bedazzled by the glitter and glamour of "Yo Gabba Gabba"...stabbing my childhood shows right in the back. I felt like I was joining a gang, signing up to be a "Gabber," if you will. I could see it now, DJ Lance Rock leading a mob of rainbow-colored ruffians through "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood..." taking what they felt was theirs. It didn't matter if you had some juiced-up snuffleupagus on your side, or a trolley for drive-bys...it was judgement day...and the streets ran red with blood, yellow feathers, and purple-panda fur.

Robots and Rabbits

Well, this little doodle has been floating around in my sketchbook for a while.  I figured I'd post it.  Hopefully you guys'll find it as amusing as I do.  It's based off of a song written by Drew of:

www.toothpastefordinner.com

More doodles to come! Cheers, everyone!

Cloverfield Movie Review

I thoroughly enjoy movies...especially those of the horror persuasion. Tuesday night I had the opportunity to catch a free pre-screening of "Cloverfield," thanks to my awesomely-awesome wife who loves me enough to scour the net for these pre-screening dealies! For those of you who don't know, I'm pretty critical of movies...and even more so the "scary ones." I think I've even been dubbed a movie snob in some circles, but I can't help the way I feel. I'm very passionate about the entire film making process. "Cloverfield" was one of the big movies I was really looking forward to seeing, but after the last two mediocre seasons of "Lost" I was worried that J. J. Abrams's newest creation wouldn't deliver. However the fact that Phill Tippett ("Constantine," "Robo Cop," "Starship Troopers") was in tow doing the creature designs was very promising.

The movie begins with a little backstory of the protagonist(s) to set the stage...pretty much what you see in the previews. However once the creature begins destroying N.Y. and lobs Lady Liberty's head into mid-town like a soccer ball, the whole film takes off. From there on out it's utter mayhem! You'd have to be a drunken, overworked toll-booth operator to fall asleep during this movie.

What I liked about it:

- The special effects and creature designs were great! Unlike in "Lost," you definitely get to see what all the baddies look like. Don't worry they're nothing like the gummi-faced vamps from "I Am Legend."
- The story was told from the p.o.v. of average, everyday people. No heroic, stiff upper-lipped speeches from the president or some gun-toting, military official.
- There was no explanation of where the creature came from, or what it is.
- The non-stop suspense and scares kept you on edge. I'm not gonna lie, the puckering factor of the "rear-iris" was pretty high with this one.
- No character was sacred. Whether you were a man, a woman, a youngun' or an old codger, death was right behind you. Don't get attached to ANYONE!
- The off camera comments from the protagonist's best friend were great. No movie would be complete without the plucky sidekick, who adds a little levity to the situation.

What I didn't like about it:

- The ending was a little labored. You'll see what I mean. :)
- J. J. showed a little too much of the giant creature. Again, you'll see what I mean.
- The protagonist's selflessness seemed a little stretched. This one's debatable.
- The life-span of the character's camera battery was infinite! This one's not debatable. Man, if you actually own a camera that can shoot for over 12 hours straight I'll give you my left kidney for it.

Overall "Cloverfield" was seriously amazing and well worth the watch on the big screen. So if you're debating whether or not to shell out the $9 to see it this weekend, do it. You won't be disappointed...but as good old Levar Burton always says, "You don't have to take my word for it (insert an explosion of rainbows here)"



Before we saw the movie, my wife closely examined the trailers and swore that the creature in "Cloverfield" looked like a koopa from Super Mario Bros. It doesn't. LOL But I dedicate this sketch to her, and dub it..."Koopafield." I wonder if J. J. would be willing to produce and direct this flick?

It's a New Year...of things...

Yay! 2008 is great...so far. Well, I finally broke down and got a whole mess of those notorious on-line accounts...you know the ones:

Facebook - Wow, another annoying personal account site that confuses users with horrible design and tortuous page format! And what's with the poking thing, eh? They have so many useless gestures on there: high-five, hand-shake, the super-poke...they should just get it over with and throw in this one. LOL:



Deviantart - Everyone and their mother at art school had one of these...I totally thought it was lame till I got one. There are so many amazing artists out there!

Blogspot - You're on it!!! This one is probably the most useful one since it's an art blog, and will help discipline me in the ways of daily pencil and paper.

Anyway, here's this year's first art dump. Quck face sketches! Old guys...woo-hoo! Lemme know whatcha think, and be sure to leave comments.



Since youre here, why not check out my wife's superior blog at:

http://www.pachechi.blogspot.com/