So I found Gaijin…

On Youtube, wasn’t that hard to find really but I didn’t want to leave my post all broken up for you guys. I’m still keeping that review up anyways, the video being on youtube does not change my mind, in fact if I were to review now I might deduct points for this lack of respect for their own animation. I checked out their site, no real news as to why they took down the Gaijin site, even they are linking to youtube. Probably just for cheaper video hosting, but that seems a little unprofessional to me.

Not much else to report, I finished one of 4 exams today, 2 tomorrow then one last one Wednesday morning. Hopefully will get together a better routine for the site maybe some exclusive features you know for the sake of making this site worth more than my petty word. Of course Metal Gear Solid 4 did score 10 on IGN and Gamespot so I might be busy playing that and World of Warcraft… In terms of Flash, if your bored and already seen Gaijin stick to the links to the right of the page, Newgrounds (beware of NSFW content) and my personal favourite FlashTV. Sadly though, FlashTV seems like a beta and incomplete. Never really brought this up before but now is a good time as any, FlashTV has the best quality Flash on the net yet it does not do itself any favours with its semi unfriendly user interface. I can’t link to individual Flash on the site because its all embedded. Minor blip though for lots of top quality entertainment. So check those sites in the mean time, peace.

The Greatest Story Never Told 4!

The results are in and the winner is The Tired City for best movie. A slightly more artistic approach from a Flash artist, and more serious. I found it to be a nice breather from the general Flash movies out there. It is a Chinese short about the corporate world and how demanding and depressing it is/has become.

I personally liked Hold the Line and The Druffs. Of course those two were funny and that completely depletes my point about The Tired City. Check out all of the 2007 submissions here.

It is a shame that Adam Phillip’s latest Brackenwood animation was not finished on time to be submitted to the competition. His work is always getting better, and Waterlollies is no exception.

Jeremy Dower = Awesome Art

Jeremy Dower has a brand new site design, and he has a nifty gallery of unique creations. Although it is somewhat irrelevant to the Flash scene, it is E-Art so enjoy!

Jeremy Dower

He does excellent lighting effects which make some works look 3D almost.

Calico Monkey

Now I’d like to present to you all, my current favourite Internet Animated series, Calico Monkey. It’s a hilarious series about a dog named Sparky who runs a pet store, with a really unique twist. Animals and humans are reversed, and the pet store’s live stock consists of people of all professions and personalities.

I’d have to say the concept itself is enough to entice users to watch, but with a complementary unique art and animation style it really is quite the toon. The site itself is a blog of the animator Will Reinhardt who not only animates but also makes posts of advice about animation with Flash and recently he has switched over to BoomToons and is somewhat of a spokes person for them. He also posts about professional animation and his thoughts on the business, and its fun to post your own comments and share your thoughts with him as I have in his post on the Emmys.

The episodes are in chronilogical order and the start from where the previous episode left off, which is nice. I’ve tried some Flash animation myself and I have real respect for Will’s work over at www.calicomonkey.com, his series and this fun short about a robot with emotions “Emotibot & the Butterfly” are top quality Flash and you’ll find yourself checking his blog every day. I give his series Calico Monkey a 9/10!

-P.G

The Greatest Story Never Told

When your looking around the world wide web for Flash, sometimes you come across Flash that have something to do with contests. There are many Flash contests hosted by many different sites, most of these being game sites. Flash game design is a huge part of the Internet with hundreds of popular showcase sites. Most of these sites sponsor these games to have their site advertised and they get more money. In short, people are very rich off of Flash now, without having made any Flash themselves.

Now I will get straight to the point; one of these contests has cought my attention, mostly because it is an animation contest. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Greatest Story Never Told. The 1st competition was in 2004 and is currently on its 4th run. It is the biggest Flash story telling comptetion and by far the best (have not really seen any others myself…) the submissions are of the best quality from the best Flash authors.

Here is a list of the grand prize winners the past 3 years.

2004- Shopping At the BigMart by StinkyToons

2005- Prowlies At the River by Adam Phillips

2006- Manage Frej by Dyrdee Media

 I’d have to say though my personal favourite out of all 3 years is The Mustache Contest by Baby Bird Comics. I like that kind of humour. And here are the lists of submissions for all 3 years; 2004, 2005 and 2006.

I think thats enough Flash to keep you busy for at least a week. I would like to go into some depth on some of the authors though. Check out all the Flash in tgsnt and always keep checking back for the 2007 lineup!

P.S I changed my email address over at the About page.

- P.G