New from the B-Hive.

So, our Canadian friends at Studio B are working on Ricky Sprocket, Showbiz Boy, a new series from the creators of Bob and Margaret. Poking fun at the Hollywood machine so famous for swallowing child actors whole seems an obvious fit for me. Let's see if it's any good when it comes to the US on Nick.

 1.6 billion dollars doesn’t go as far as it used to. Time was, you could buy yourself a decent-sized banana republic for that kind of cash. Or your very own drug cartel. Or maybe just a fixed presidential election or two.

These days, that’s what it costs to snatch up a popular little website that hosts a bunch of short video clips. Google, the not particularly profitable search engine, has purchased YouTube, the not particularly profitable web site, for an amount of money they might be able to collectively earn back if the world wide web remains alive, well, and utterly unchanged for the next 200 years. And some people still wonder why the tech bubble burst.

The problem I have with Google’s impulse purchase is that the sole asset of YouTube is quick, easy access to all sorts of clips that are mostly copyrighted material. And the giant corporate entities that own these copyrights are fiercely protective of their assets because, unlike Google and YouTube, they know how to make money. YouTube has said that, in the future, they’ll be happy to take down any copyrighted clips from movies, TV shows, etc. if the owners simply request it. Expect an avalanche of cease-and-desist letters from a jack-booted army of lawyers to be delivered to the Google head office via a caravan of forklifts any day now. It shouldn’t be too long before every video you might have ever wanted to seek out on YouTube will be pulled down to avoid the greatest shitstorm of infringement lawsuits since the sharks played seek-and-destroy with Napster.

For me, personally, that will suck because it will shut off the only outlet I have to see all those cartoons I wrote last year. Okay yes, I’ve been watching them in Spanish, but it’s possible I wrote the screenplays in Spanish in the first place. I really don’t remember, it’s been awhile.

By the time the lawyers have picked YouTube clean, the only clips left will be all that homemade dreck the users upload. And really, there’s a limit to how many lip synchings, vomitings, and epic two part zit squeezings I need to see. Sure, the world’s largest online collection of self-humiliation video footage is a treasure to be held near and dear by all of humanity, but I don’t think I’d cough up twenty bucks for it, never mind 1.6 billion.

Damn

  As if Connor and Sparky  weren’t enough of a phenomenon already, they are now in the process of invading Latin America faster than Hitler on amphetamines. The episodes we’ve been producing for CN are starting to crop up on Youtube. The first cartoons I caught were in Spanish, but I guess it’s now airing in Mexico because the latest ones to appear have all been in English. Among them is my Elan-nominated ,Being Bernard making it only the second episode of something I wrote deemed worthy of piracy on the web (my pilots for TCASS being at that.

Other clips from the new Dupend show have also slipped out, including the Jetix promo that’s currently on their page, and this cool demo reel from Tony Cliff who worked on a couple of my episodes as animator. The infectious theme song is also worming its way into popular culture, and although some bands have expressed interest in covering it, the only covers I’ve seen so far are the kind that will get you beaten up by your classmates Monday morning at school.

An few updates.

 Ok so both the Kearplax and Connor and Sparky websites aren't updated all that often... or ever. But I've been busy so cut me a little slack. As soon as the projects I'm working on these days slow down a little I'm going to do a massive overhaul on my sites.

The thing is; I spent a lot of time trying to learn the interactive side of Flash inside and out to have a really cool site that does a lot of really cool things. In that time I really did learn how to do a bunch of cool stuff... then I got busy with other work and promtly forgot everything. So now I'm resigned to keeping it nice and simple until I can get someone on staff to make it look decent.

The big news is a developement deal with Nickelodeon/Frederator for a show I've been working on for quite some time now. I don't want to jinx anything by giving out too many details but I'm partnering up with Mikey Invantchev and it looks like we've got a killer show on our hands.

CONNOR AND SPARKY NOW ON THE AIR!

Finally, The Connor and Sparky Show is on the air...... in the U.K. and Netherlands. It is set to come out in the US sometime soon on Cartoon Network, and in Canada on TELETOON.

If you are lucky enough to see it in Europe, you will be seeing it in it's full, 

unadulterated form. with few censorship edits. We had a lot of freedom on the show, which was great. 

But some of the stuff we did is biting us in the butt now, as the FCC rules in the 

states don't allow certain content from reaching our children's extremely fragile minds.

In the meantime, check out this promo material we created. Which was highlighted in a recent 

issue of STASH magazine. 

There's also an article about it at COLD HARD FLASH

and don't forget to check out the official TCASS site at Cartoon Network's website.

Blogs that are worth following!

I think most of the people that pass by here probably already know about these two sites but they are definitely worth a mention...

KAUF

First up is Todd Kauffman's NEPTOON or KAUF blog. They just started in on a show called Camp TV and the designs are incredible. The look probably comes close to something you've seen before but the emphasis on character is what makes these stand out for me. One look at each of the individual characters and you immediately know exactly who and what they are about. That and the linework makes me crazy jealous. I find it takes too much time but it definitely makes for great eye candy. Congrats Todd I look forward to more.

The Teenage Roblog
Next up, The Teenage Roblog. It's been up for about a month now and I can't believe that I didn't find it sooner. There's nothin' I love more than seeing the creative process and they seem to be posting it all. Different artist's interpretations of the characters, props, color tests, character building. I love it! Check it out here.