Next Club Meeting: April 20, 2024, at the Fountaindale Public Library in Bolingbrook from 11:00 am - 5:00 pm

The Animatrix Network is an anime & manga fan club located in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. We usually meet on the third Saturday of each month (except when holidays or conventions coincide). The meetings are free and open to the public. Join us for a day filled with anime.

This site provides news, reviews, commentaries, and previews of the world of anime and everything it inspires, such as live-action films, comics, music, art, and other weird things to enjoy and contemplate.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Disney's Trick or Treat

Clasic Animation

Kim Possible Halloween Episode

This is a KP episode entitled "October 31st." While in the process of fighting Drakken, Shego, and Killigan, Kim accidentally has a strange bracelet attached to her wrist. She discovers that the bracelet grows every time she lies, leading to embarrassment when she tries to get out of a series of engagements to attend a party with Josh Mankey.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 (Part 2 of 2)

 Day 31 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

The Haunted Mansion - Audio Tale

This album was released way back in 1969, I got my first copy of this record (yes it was a record…ahh vinyl, the good old days) back around 1977 or so. While it is a Disney tale, it was one of the scariest stories I had ever heard when I was a kid. Hope your nightmares are just as pleasant. 

“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host – your ‘ghost host.’

Part One

Part Two


Part Three

Saturday, October 30, 2010

FireBreather the Movie

An animated CGI film by Cartoon Network, to premiere November 24, 2010, 7:00PM/6:00PM Central Time. The film is co-executive produced by Hester, Kuhn, and Julia Pistor, written by Jim Kreig, and directed by Peter Chung (Aeon Flux,Phantom 2040).

Kafka's A Country Doctor

[Source: aicn.com] Koji Yamamura is considered one of the greatest independent Japanese animators of this generation. Born in Japan in 1964, he has been crafting animation since age twelve by combining traditional drawings with mixed media such as modeling clay, still photography and painting. Yamamura has fashioned entirely distinctive, stunningly imaginative worlds with free-spirited creativity: trees grow out of heads, birds dream of fruit, and children are swallowed by whales.

Koji Yamamura first garnered major international attention in 2003—when his universally acclaimed Mt. Head received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film. Yamamura is the only Japanese animator (besides the legendary Hayao Miyazaki) to ever receive such an honor.

KimStim is proud to present a collection of Yamaura’s most remarkable works for the first time in the U.S., including his latest masterpiece Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor — a nightmarish, virtuoso drawing-on-paper rendering of the famed short story and winner of seven Grand Prizes at major animation festivals worldwide.


Part One


Part Two


Part Three

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 (Part 1 of 2)

 Day 30 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Chainsaw Maid

THEY are coming for your FLESH and BLOOD! Now the last hope of the family rests on a sexy faithful MAID! Witness the most brutal clay-animation you've ever seen... if you dare!  Bwahahaha!!!

The Bear Wit Project - Blair Witch Parody by the Muppets

Comic-Con 2010 Day 4 Highlights

 Day 29 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Free Double Feature at College of DuPage, Oct. 27

Shaun of the Dead
&
Zombieland
 Free Admission and Free Popcorn
Come in Costume!
When:  October 27, 2010, 6-10 pm
Where:  MAC 153 (College of DuPage Campus)
And see a special showing of our movie: "Living with the Undead"
Click Map to Enlarge

Comic-Con 2010 Day 1 Highlights

 Day 26 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Animation in Starts and Stops, Simplified

Cecil offers water to a neighbor in the short stop-motion animation film “Dried Up.”
[Source: NYTimes.com] By Peter Wayner, Published October 20, 2010
For Stuart Bury, Jeremy Casper and Isaiah Powers, the path to a student Academy Award for their stop-motion animation cost less than $1,000, although it did require four months of often constant filming in Mr. Powers’s basement.
The animators, all of whom were students at the Kansas City Art Institute at the time, built the sets and the dolls out of found objects and material rescued from junkyards, staying up late to animate the items by shooting still images of their set and moving the objects a few millimeters before shooting again. “We had to share the room with other people who had their winter clothes down there,” said Mr. Bury. 

The co-directors of “Dried Up” won the 
silver medal in animation at the 37th 
Student Academy Awards in 2010. 
From left, Isaiah Powers, Stuart Bury 
and Jeremy Casper,
But despite the long hours — by Mr. Bury’s estimation, “well over 80” a week — all three said that the production was much easier with the low-cost software that any aspiring filmmaker can buy — in their case, a $275 program called Dragon Stop Motion. 

Their efforts paid off. The six-minute film, “Dried Up,” the story of a man’s quest to bring hope and life to a drought-ridden town, won the silver medal in animation at the 37th Student Academy Awards in 2010, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

“It still comes down to a ridiculous amount of work,” said Mr. Powers. “But it’s really nice when the new computer software is so streamlined. It’s nice to work with it instead of fighting it.” 

While putting together stop-action animation can still be tedious, the process is now easier than ever. The art form is familiar to anyone who has seen a Wallace and Gromit short or last year’s movies “Coraline” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” 

To simulate movement and expression, animators bend or twist their objects ever so slightly between shots, a painstaking process that makes it difficult to achieve consistency from frame to frame. But now, software can help remedy that, with programs that help check the alignment of the camera and the lighting of the scene while letting the animator flip between recent images to see if the items are moving realistically. 

That part of the process — synchronizing the shots — was what made it difficult for amateurs to make a good movie. “We have one really solid product, and we make it reachable for a serious college or high school student, considering the gadgets that kids have these days,” said Jamie Caliri, a stop-action film director and a founder of Dragon Stop. His co-founder and brother, Dyami, is the software programmer. 

“I really enjoy putting the real tools into someone’s hands. I wouldn’t buy my kid a plastic guitar,” Jamie Caliri said. “I also use the product. That’s part of our story about how we sell it. I won an Emmy last year.” The award-winning animation in question, the title sequence of the “United States of Tara,” took six weeks to shoot after four weeks of preparation. 

Software like Dragon Stop Motion is making animation even simpler. Children, adults and professionals alike can construct elaborate stories with their toys, paper goods, found objects or sculpture, and the computer organizes the images into a film. Some filmmakers are even beginning to build three-dimensional movies using special rigs. 

“An animator who used to shoot six seconds a day can now shoot 20 seconds a day,” said Paul Howell, the founder and director of Stop Motion Pro, another software package. 

“Young kids can make a film in their room and distribute it and have half a million people view it,” said Mr. Howell. “Very young kids can have huge audiences for their work. Not long ago, it was impossible to consider someone that young having access to an audience that large. Students of the art can find hundreds of stop-motion films on video-sharing sites like YouTube, many of which are constructed by children who are younger than 10.” 

Mr. Howell also says that many schools, and even some medical centers, are using the software to tell stories because it lets children express themselves when traditional words fail them. 

The filmmakers used a homemade 
camera rig for moving shots.
“It’s become the software of choice for working with autistic children,” said Mr. Howell. “They’re uncovering issues that they’re finding hard to talk about conventionally or by writing down, but they’re quite comfortable making a film about it.” 

The basic version of his product, Stop Motion Pro, begins at $70, but more sophisticated editions, which offer higher definition and the ability to connect with high quality digital S.L.R. cameras, can cost up to $295. A number of other programs are on the market at prices that range from free to hundreds of dollars. 

While many of the free versions are adequate for experimentation, they usually only offer a limited collection of features. 

The older version of AnimatorDV from Wroblewski Multimedia, for instance, is available at no cost, whereas the newer version, AnimatorHD, comes with a free demonstration mode that shuts off some features after a minute. iStopMotion, a program for the Mac, offers a demonstration mode that works for five days. 

The more sophisticated Dragon Stop Motion package includes a number of features that simplify the tasks done by a computer, allowing an animator to concentrate elsewhere. One button on the keyboard toggles between the last frame and the current image captured by the camera, a common task when an animator wants to ensure that any moving object is seen to move properly. 

Other options help control and balance the lighting to ensure that the images have consistent hue and saturation, a problem that is even more of a challenge in stop-motion animation than in other types of filmmaking. 

Synchronizing the sound with the images is also difficult, especially when a clay mouth must approximate the way a real mouth moves. Dragon Stop Motion manages a list of frames and plots the audio tracks with the associated sounds or phonemes, making it much simpler for an animator to adjust the size and shape of the mouths. 

Other programs bundle a database of common sounds that can be added with a click. Diarmuid Brennan, the chief executive of iKITSystems, which distributes iKITMovie, created his software after his 12-year-old son became frustrated with the lack of options for adding sound to movies. The current version comes with over 2,200 sounds. 

Mr. Casper on the set of “Dried Up.”
“We have 15 to 20 different types of footsteps, like walking on gravel or walking on concrete,” he said. But with a clientele of children, the library of sounds goes beyond that. “There are 20 different burp sounds” and 20 different sounds for passing gas. 

His software for all 2,200 sounds is either $69, or $80 bundled with a Web camera. Mr. Brennan says that his product was originally intended for children who made movies recreationally, but he found that schools were interested in filmmaking as an educational tool. Creating an animated lesson, he says, requires diligence and a thorough understanding of the topic at hand. 

“If they’re dissecting a frog, they can do it in clay and animate it,” he said. “When a child creates a project to explain something, because it’s methodical, they’ll never forget what they’re explaining.”

Comic Con 2008 Highlights

 Day 25 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Diwali - Festival of Lights

Here's a cultural dance performed by Japanese children to a Tamil song. Keep an eye on the youngest girl (at the far right end of the first row). Even though this is a complicated dance, she is able to keep up with the rest of them. Enjoy! [Repost from May]

Crazy & Cool Costumes at Comic Con

 Day 22 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thai Version of 'Beauty and the Beast' Rips Off the Disney Classic

[Source: Yahoo News] by Matt McDaniel
It's a tale as old as time, or so the song says. The classic fable of "Beauty and the Beast" has been told and retold countless times. But there's a difference between reinterpreting a fairy tale and the outright theft of intellectual property.

Slashfilm uncovered the trailer for an animated version of "Beauty and the Beast" that looks to be a shot-for-shot remake of the 1991 Disney version that was the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture. The Thai version is done in cheap, blocky computer animation, not the sumptuous hand-drawn art of the Disney original. But it looks like every character, setting and situation has been lifted whole cloth from Disney's take. Here's the trailer for the Thai remake:



This version -- the title of which literally translates to "beautiful girl with curse devil" according to thai2english.com -- looks to follow the Disney version beat for beat, right down to the stained-glass windows that tell the backstory. There's a big-eyed brunette with a doddering father. She's pursued by a muscle-bound oaf, gets locked in the Beast's castle, and makes friends with the talking objects there. The Beast even has a rose floating in a glass case. And of course, Beauty and the Beast end up dancing together in a golden ballroom with the camera sweeping around them. 

There are some differences between this and the Disney version, most noticeably in the character designs. The Beast basically has the head of a lion -- it actually looks just like the adult Simba from "The Lion King" -- except with poofy hair and the horns of a water buffalo. The Gaston character has white stripes in his hair and a truly unfortunate beard. And their version of Lumiere is a single candlestick, rather than a candelabra. 


The trailer shows logos for GM Toons and Erawan Edutainment, but a cursory web search shows no results for either company. So the Disney Corporation might be out of luck if they're looking to sue for copyright violation. But the YouTube channel where this trailer was found shows off previews for several other animated movies, including a shameless copy of "Snow White." 

The Thai "Beauty and the Beast" trailer seems to indicate that the movie is available on DVD, but good luck tracking down a copy. You'll have an easier time finding -- not to mention a more enjoyable time watching -- the original Disney version. It was just released for the first time on Blu-ray in a new "Diamond Edition." Take a look at the trailer and clips from Disney's classic: 

Comic Con Costumes

 Day 21 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Crazy Transformer Costume at Comic-Con

 Day 20 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Star Trek Convention - Oct. 22-24, 2010, Chicago

 
CHICAGO, IL AREA
Fri., Sat. & Sun.
October 22-24, 2010
Westin O'Hare
6100 N. River Rd.
Rosemont, IL 60018

<-- Click here for more info
CHICAGO has always been one of the true hotspots for STAR TREK fandom and it is a particular delight to be returning to the city for a fantastic weekend of entertainment that won't be the same without YOU! Make your plans now to join the celebration honoring Gene Roddenberry's legacy! We're going all out to provide a non-stop three days of celebrity guests, on-stage events, contests, parties, autographing, photo ops, special performances, vendors, and tons of fellow fans. 

 

GUEST CELEBRITIES

leonard nimoy
LEONARD NIMOY

Mr. Spock. It is our great pleasure to welcome a true American treasure to Chicago as a headliner for the convention. As an actor, director, writer, producer, author, and photographer Leonard has been part of our popular culture for over 50 years. His thrilling return as Mr. Spock in the recent blockbuster STAR TREK movie was one for the record books and in person Leonard is a joy: warm, funny and inspirational. Leonard will appear on Friday of the convention.
christopher lloyd
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD
Super-popular iconic performer best known for a incredible series of roles including Dr. Emmett Brown in the BACK TO THE FUTURE films, Reverend Jim in the classic television series TAXI, Judge Doom in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, and of course Commander Kruge in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK. We are thrilled to welcome one of our all-time favorite stars to CHICAGO for the very first time!
Appearing Sunday

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Craziest Costume at Comic Con

 Day 19 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

See the First Five Minutes of Megamind

[Source: Wikipedia] Megamind (Will Ferrell) and his life-long archenemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt) are aliens that were sent away from their respective home planets in time of crisis (much like Superman's origin story), with Metro Man ending up in a loving home and Megamind landing in the local prison. Megamind, taking the role of super villain, tries to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way, each attempt a colossal failure thanks to Metro Man, who becomes the hero of Metro City. It seems that the pattern will never cease until Megamind seemingly defeats Metro Man during one of his many botched hostage plots involving news reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey). Now freed from his rival's shadow, Megamind proceeds to take control of Metro City. Over time, Megamind comes to the realization that he no longer has any purpose in life without an enemy. To appease his depression, he turns Roxanne's lonely cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill) into Metro City's next big superhero, the fiery-headed Tighten. Unfortunately for Megamind, Tighten decides to utilize his new power against humanity as revenge for the lifetime of rejection he has endured. When Metro Man is discovered alive by Megamind and Roxanne, but uninterested in resuming his superhero duties, Megamind is forced to do the inevitable: become the hero of the crisis. Aided by his childhood sidekick Minion (David Cross), Megamind now sets out to stop Tighten's rampage of destruction, thus beginning a path to redemption.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek

[Source: Wikipedia] The film is based around "Otokoyo", a game of hide and seek played by children, wearing fox masks, near the ruins of an abandoned old city. The children who play this disappear, believed to be spirited away by demons. Kakurenbo follows Hikora, a boy who joins the game with hopes of finding his missing sister, Sorincha. The storyline is built on the idea that Tokyo is losing its natural aesthetic, which includes child's games such as hide and seek in order for industrial progress to ensue i.e. lighting the city of Tokyo costing innocence of childhood games.

Part One of Three
 

Part Two of Three
 

Part Three of Three

Girls of Comic Con 2010

 Day 18 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Chicago International Hobby Exposition

26th Annual 
International Hobby Expo
October 23 - 24, 2010
(Saturday and Sunday)
at the
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center · Rosemont · Illinois · USA
 

Children Under 10 - FREE!

Adults $10
Seniors - Over 65 are just $8

For more information, go to
Attractions for all ages!
See over 500 booths!
Indoor Plane & Heli Flying Exhibition
Giant Radio Controlled Race Car Track
RC Monster Truck Competition
Nex RC 4x4 Rock Crawling Exhibitions
ROBOT Combat Events
Huge Operating Model Railroads
Slot Car Races
See Newest Products from Manufacturers
USA Toll Free - (877) TO-HOBBY or (877) 864-6229 | Outside USA - 973-283-4680 | Email - 1information@ihobbyexpo.com
© iHobbyExpo™ all rights reserved

Obligatory Hot Girls Of Comic Con

 Day 16 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Comics on Comic-Con 2010: The Spirit of Comic Con

 Day 14 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

ANN CEO Speaks on Oreimo Episode Leak

CEO: security errors were exploited; site assumes full responsibility, offers refunds

[Source: ANN] Anime News Network (ANN) CEO Chris Macdonald issued an apology today in response to the recent leak of the second episode of the television anime Oreimo, ANN's first simulcast. Macdonald explained in the apology that the video was downloaded from a server contracted by ANN through an exploit that took advantage of failures in the security systems. 

Macdonald also announced that ANN will provide a full refund to everyone who purchased a premium streaming account, and expects that to be completed "within a few days." 

Responding to follow-up questions from ANN, Macdonald specified that "this was not, as many claim, a simple case of pointing a web browser to a URL," but rather an exploitation requiring "a fairly advanced knowledge and software tools, and spoofing a security protocol." A secondary security feature was supposed to have been in place to prevent such an occurrence, but Macdonald confirmed that it "was not functioning" as it should have been, and that the error has been fixed. 

Meanwhile, both of ANN's simulcasts — Oreimo and togainu no chi -Bloody Curs- — have been suspended indefinitely. Macdonald would not comment further on the possibility of their restoration. When asked whether ANN will have other simulcasts in the future, he confirmed that he expects to have simulcasts "in January, if not sooner." 

Macdonald also acknowledged that episode leaks may cause Japanese companies to become "less inclined to support simulcasts" and apologized for contributing to that. He also thanked the site's Japanese partners for their support. 

Asked whether the user or users who pirated the video were being pursued, Macdonald declined to comment.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Oreimo - New Anime

[Source: Wikipedia] Noticing Kirino has no one to share her hobbies with, Kyōsuke suggests that she make some otaku friends. She is invited to an otaku tea party at a maid café in Akihabara, but has trouble talking to any of the other members. However, she is later asked to join members Saori Bagina and Kuroneko, the latter of which gets into a heated debate with her about their favorite anime. After a day of shopping around Akihabara, they decide to keep sharing messages while Kyōsuke finishes the game Kirino asked him to complete. 

Costumes at Comic Con 2010

 Day 13 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Free Zombie Double Feature at College of DuPage

Shaun of the Dead
&
Zombieland
 Free Admission and Free Popcorn
Come in Costume!
When:  October 27, 2010, 6-10 pm
Where:  MAC 153 (College of DuPage Campus)
And see a special showing of our movie: "Living with the Undead"
Click Map to Enlarge

IDOLM@STER2 PV dance with "irony-ClariS"

Comics on Comic-Con 2010: Guess The Anime

 Day 12 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Controversial Simpsons Intro

[By Tara Ariano of Yahoo! TV Blog] It takes some effort for a TV series to inspire shock, amazement, and controversy in its 22nd season, but last night's episode of "The Simpsons" accomplished this seemingly impossible feat.

The episode, "MoneyBART," opens with an extended "couch gag" — the opening sequence in which the Simpson family takes its place on their sofa — created by British street artist Banksy. The artist's dark vision gives viewers a horrifying look at how he imagines the hit show and its lucrative merchandise are made: sweatshop conditions for its animators; unsafe conditions for producers of its apparel; boxes sealed with the tongue of a disembodied dolphin head; the center holes popped out of its DVDs with the horn of a shackled, emaciated unicorn. Really.

According to the Guardian, Banksy's involvement marks the first time "The Simpsons" has solicited the work of an artist unconnected to the show. And though "Simpsons" executive producer Al Jean's comment on the disturbing sequence was, "This is what you get when you outsource," he and his colleagues had to have known that Banksy couldn't help delivering something subversive. Banksy — who recently reached a wider audience with last summer's documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" — is known for making controversial statements with his work, which most frequently involves stenciling public buildings all over the world. (Indeed, the very medium in which he works is hotly debated, with some critics regarding it as vandalism.) Banksy even once infiltrated the Louvre to hang one of his paintings, which mimicked the "Mona Lisa" with a yellow smiley face in place of the original visage. (TheDailyWh.at blog also notes that this is not the first time Banksy has addressed "The Simpsons" in his work, recalling a mural he created in New Orleans in 2008.)

The opening also joins a long tradition of "Simpsons" producers mocking their corporate masters. There have been countless jokes over the years about the moral bankruptcy of Fox programming and the evil genius of Rupert Murdoch, founder of Fox parent company News Corp. However, this instance pushed the show's self-mockery to a new level: BBC News reports that, according to Banksy, "His storyboard led to delays, disputes over broadcast standards and a threatened walk out by the animation department."


Were the show's creators trying to draw attention to the unethical business practices an animated series must engage in to remain competitive? Are viewers meant to draw conclusions about our own complicity as we consumers indirectly fund companies that enslave people overseas? Or was the sequence merely a stunt calculated to bring attention — negative or not — on an aging, fading series?

Finally, if someone at Fox signed off on the gag, how "subversive" could it really be?


The rest of "MoneyBART" was nothing especially out of the ordinary — it involved Lisa managing Bart's Little League team with a rigid devotion to Sabremetrics — and bore no relation to its pessimistic credits sequence. You can see the full episode on Hulu, but the only part anyone will be talking about is below.

San Diego Comic-Con 2010 - Top 101 Costumes

 Day 11 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The characters of Comic-Con

 Day 10 of Our 31 Days of Halloween!!!

Deadman Wonderland

[Source: Onemanga] Ganta Igarashi has been convicted of a crime that he hasn't committed, and sent to a new, privately owned and operated prison, where the inmates are the main attraction in a modern day twist to the gladiatorial coliseums of ancient times. Throw in a healthy dose of weird little girl, some new-found super powers, and a little conspiracy theory, and you have Deadman Wonderland.

Note: This anime has been delayed till April of 2011.  Too bad since the manga is awesome!

Comic-Con 2010 Show: Disney Tron Legacy