Going On Hiatus

I hate to do this, especially since there's a lot of exciting things going on in the animation world at the moment but as the title says...I'm putting this blog on hiatus for a bit.  For how long, I don't know.  It's definitely not permanent, but I just don't have time for it at the moment.  I really need to keep my focus on other things that are more important, such as job hunting and working on bettering my art portfolio.  But I will be back!  I just figured I should give an explanation as to why I've been ignoring recent news.

Later, guys!  Keep supporting animation!

The Clone Wars Lives On Through 'Legacy' Series

The televisions series may have ended with Season 6 "The Lost Missions", but there were still plenty of Clone Wars stories that had been written and were waiting to be told.  Last week, Lucasfilm announced that those stories would not be locked away forever, but would be told through other mediums.  Rejoice, fellow Star Wars fans, The Clone Wars lives!!!

'Korra' Book 4 Official Trailer Debuts

Aw, yeah!  The official trailer for Book 4 has finally arrived...and it is AWESOME.  And bittersweet, and haunting, and beautiful, and even sad, because this is it, folks...the last season in the Avatar franchise.

Top 10 Things I Loved The Most About 'Legend of Korra Book 3: Change'

Book 4 of The Legend of Korra may be quickly approaching, but for the moment let's take some time to celebrate the awesomeness that was Book 3, the best book in the Korra series so far.  Book 3 was fantastic from start to finish, and we were treated to a lot of cool stuff over the span of thirteen episodes.

Please beware, there are major spoilers in this post.  I'm not holding anything back, so if you want to watch the episodes first, visit the Nickelodeon website first.  Trust me, you do not want to spoil anything for yourself!

And with that, here are my Top 10 Things I Loved The Most About Book 3! (with some honorable mentions).

BIG NEWS: 'Legend of Korra' Book 4 Release Date Announced!

Just when I've started to recover from the awesome and heartbreaking Book 3 finale, Legend of Korra creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino made a surprise announcement that Book 4 would be released sooner than anyone anticipated.  It's so soon that it's given me emotional whiplash!

New 'Star Wars Rebels' Video

More video promoting Star Wars Rebels was released in the last week!  Although I am really looking forward to the show, the video has me torn.  Some of it looks really great...and some of it makes me cringe.

'Making Of Frozen' Special To Air Tonight On ABC

Are you one of the thousands of fans let down by the disappointing lack of bonus features and behind the scenes featurettes on the Blu-ray/DVD release of Frozen?  Well, then you're in luck!  If you're one of the millions who hasn't had their fill of Frozen and is itching to know how they made "Let It Go", then ABC and Disney have a treat for you!

The Latest Pixar News

Pixar may not have released a film this year, but they're still busy working on plenty of cool stuff.  We've got our first video for this year's Christmas special Toy Story That Time Forgot, the latest news on next year's releases Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur, and a clip from the short film Lava, which will be released with Inside Out!

'Song of the Sea' And 'Star Wars Rebels' Release Dates; New Rebels Short

Release dates for two of my most anticipated animated entertainments have finally been announced!

'Art Attack' Rebels Clip

 

Last week's short from the new Star Wars Rebels show focused on the characters Chopper, Hera, and Kanaan, so this week featured a different member of the crew: Mandalorian weapons and explosives expert Sabine Wren.



The really cool thing about Sabine that I love is that she's an artist.  We've never seen a main character in the Star Wars universe express themselves in a creative way, and I love the fact that Sabine likes to make artistic explosions and uses graffiti to express herself and to rebel against the Empire.  It's very reminiscent of the graffiti that was all over the Berlin Wall in Germany before it was torn down.  Of course, the fact that she's a Mandalorian is also very cool, and I'm really interested to know her personal history as a member of that group of warriors and if she has any ties to the planet Mandalore, which I hope we will visit or at least find out what happened to it when the Empire took over.  When we last saw Mandalore in the Clone Wars, it was embroiled in a civil war and could very well have been invaded by the Republic.

I love these little shorts that Lucasfilm keeps teasing us with; hopefully they'll show a little love for Zeb next!

Remembering Robin Williams

In the wake of the news of the death of Robin Williams, tributes to his life and legacy have been all over the web, including statements in his memory from the animation community and the announcement of special airings this weekend of the film Aladdin.

'The Machine In The Ghost' Rebels Clip

Another Rebels clip was released today featuring an absolutely fantastic space battle with some TIE fighters starring main characters Captain Hera and Kanaan, the resident Jedi residing on Hera's ship, the Ghost.  This clip was released as a short, but I'm pretty confidant that it is part of the first episode.  A small preview of the clip was released last week, but this full short is over three minutes.

Everything in it is fantastic, from the lighting to the sweeping camera shots that looked like they were taken straight from Episode IV: A New Hope, to the witty, snappy banter.  It's 100% Star Wars, and it is awesome.  Check it out below!

Robin Williams Dies At Age 63

Some very shocking and unexpected news today...voice actor and comedian Robin Williams was found dead in his home just north of San Francisco.

'Book Of Life' Trailer #2

The Book of Life has a new trailer!  I haven't watched it, for fear of spoilers since the movie isn't that far away, but here it is for you all to view!  The Book of Life comes to theaters October 17, 2014.

New 'Rebels' Clip & Music, Official Soundtrack For 'Clone Wars'

Just when I thought we'd be getting a break from Star Wars Rebels, more cool stuff was released!  It's so good, it's almost torture, knowing we all have to wait a little longer to see the show!  Plus, Disney has thankfully not forgotten about The Clone Wars music that fans have been clamoring for.  Read on for details!

New 'Star Wars Rebels' Featurette

The Star Wars Rebels hype continues to build!  Yesterday, Lucasfilm gave us a seven minute preview of the very first episode, and today they've given us a featurette that poses the question: what is a Rebel?

New 'Penguins of Madagascar' Trailer

A new trailer for the upcoming Penguins of Madagascar has been released!  This film just looks funnier and funnier every clip I see!  For me, the penguins have always been the best part of the Madagascar franchise, and it looks like this film is going to do them justice.  There's plenty of great jokes and wacky hijinks, and I'm looking forward to see more of how Dreamworks tackles the spy genre.  Enjoy!

Penguins of Madagascar is set to come out on November 26, 2014.

'Star Wars Rebels' Preview Online

The 7 minute Rebels preview is online...and the folks who saw it at Comic Con weren't lying when they said it was awesome!

Star Wars Rebels Sneak Peak Airs Tonight!

Want to catch a sneak peak of Star Wars Rebels? Well, tonight you can do just that!

Disney's Phineas & Ferb Star Wars episode premieres tonight on Disney XD, and if you stick around you'll be able to watch the first seven minutes of Star Wars Rebels.  The schedule on TVGuide.com says the short preview is set to air at 8:45 PM tonight and again on Saturday at 12:15 PM.  Since I don't have Disney XD, I won't be able to catch it until it hits the internet.  Be sure to come back when it does, 'cuz I'll be taking about it!

Comic Con News Part 2: Animated Features

Welcome to Part 2 of my Comic Con recap!  Part 1 was all about animated television, and I wrote up a separate post about Star Wars Rebels, so now it's time for the films!

Comic Con News Part 1: Animated Television

Plenty of cool animated news came out of Comic Con this year, but it's all too much for one post to handle, so I'm splitting it into two parts: Television and Movies.  First up: Television!  Please keep in mind that I'm only covering the stuff in depth that I'm really interested in, so there won't be any great discussion on some panels, such as Adventure Time or Gravity Falls (I don't watch either of those shows, so I don't really have anything to comment on!).

I've already discussed Star Wars Rebels in depth in another post, so be sure to check that out for some great clips and interviews.  With that, let's get to the other stuff!

Rebels Report From Comic-Con: This IS The Trailer I've Been Looking For!

Comic-Con is upon us!  There's lots of cool stuff being discussed but the most exciting thing to me at the moment is Star Wars Rebels.  Remember how I was hoping that we would get a really great Comic-Con Rebels trailer in the same vein as the epic Clone Wars trailers?  Well, my wish was granted!

Awesome Interview With 'Book of Life' Director Jorge Gutierrez

The Book of Life is only a few months away, and if you aren't excited about this film yet, I bet you will be after listening to this fantastic interview with the director, Jorge Gutierrez!

The New Face Of Evil: The Inquisitor Revealed!

Anticipation for Rebels is starting to ramp up, and with the Rebels Comic Con panel just days away, the crew at Lucasfilm Animation has given us a look at the last main character, the Jedi hunting Inquisitor!

First 'Big Hero 6' Trailer And Character Posters Released

The first official Big Hero 6 trailer was released today!!  This is the perfect time for it, considering it's just a couple weeks before the panel for the movie at Comic Con.  Have a look!

'Legend of Korra Book 3: Change' To Premiere on Friday!

YES! The wait is over!  Like any other show, I thought for sure we wouldn't get Korra until fall, but Nickelodeon surprised everyone last week when they announced that Book 3 would debut this Friday, June 27th!  And not just one episode...oh no, my friends, we're getting 3 new episodes in one night!

According to this IGN article, the first episode will debut at 7 pm, followed by the second episode at 7:30 and the third episode at 8 pm.  Then they'll take the week off for Fourth of July, and pick it up with the fourth episode the week after.  This is so exciting, guys!!  The only thing left for me to do now is to decide if I want to wait for the episodes to hit Hulu in a month, or pay extra money to watch the show on Vudu when it premieres...who am I kidding?  I'm not waiting another minute!

Just in case you didn't see the trailer (or if you want to watch another 10 times or so, like I have), here it is for you!

Review: How To Train Your Dragon

The highly anticipated How To Train Your Dragon 2 was finally released to theaters, and in it's honor I thought I'd take a look back at the 2010 film that started it all, How To Train Your Dragon.

I remember being totally disinterested in this film when it came out.  I'd seen the trailers for it, but for whatever reason it just didn't grab my interest.  One day, a week or two after it's release, I was bored and decided to go to the movies.  I browsed the internet looking to see if this film was worth going to or not, and to my suprise, people were saying that the movie was actually...good.  So I went off to the theaters to check out How To Train Your Dragon, and boy am I glad I made that decision.

Just so y'all know, this is a spoiler filled review.  I've given you fair warning!

Nickelodeon Releases The Official Trailer For 'Legend of Korra: Book 3'

Well, that didn't take long!  I speculated yesterday about whether or not Nickelodeon would make us wait for an official trailer after some Korra episodes were accidently leaked, and not too long after that, the offical trailer hit the web.  And if you thought the fan trailer was awesome, wait 'til you see this one...it's even BETTER.

New 'Korra' Trailer, 'Feast' Reaction At The Annecy, & 'Big Hero 6' Posters

A new, fan-made trailer for Book 3 of Legend of Korra has surfaced on YouTube...and boy is it AWESOME.

'Book of Life' Trailer & Images Are A Feast For The Eyes

The first trailer for The Book of Life arrived today...and it is GORGEOUS.

Dreamworks Switches 'Penguins' & 'Home', 'Home' Characters Revealed & 'Kung Fu Panda 3' Logo

In an interesting turn of events, Dreamworks has switched the theatrical release dates of Penguins of Madagascar and Home.

Big Hero 6 Trailer & Poster, Plus Details On Disney's Short Film "Feast"

The trailer is here...and it is AWESOME!

New Images From Big Hero 6

I was going to talk about something else today...but then something big came up...

 

New clips for How To Train Your Dragon 2 have been released!

Top 5 Most Awesome Things in the Star Wars Rebels Trailers

There were two Rebels trailers last weekend: a 30 second preview for the trailer, and the full minute long trailer itself.  Both showed some pretty cool stuff, so now it's time for a Top 5 list!  Normally I would do 10, but these trailers are so short there's not much to choose from.  Since we're essentially starting a new story from scratch again, there's nothing to speculate about.  So with that, here are my Top 5 Most Awesome Things in the Star Wars Rebels Trailers!

Happy May The Fourth, everyone!  I hope you are enjoying your Star Wars holiday...I didn't have any time today to watch any of the films or any Clone Wars episodes, so I just blasted some good old John Williams music while I did my work.  But for the moment, what better way to celebrate the holiest of geek holidays than with a new Star Wars Rebels trailer?

The Rebels are coming!!

Yesterday was a great day to be a Star Wars fan...in addition to other exciting news in the Star Wars universe, it was announced that the first official full trailer for Star Wars Rebels will be released on Star Wars holiday May The Fourth!

See the full Rebels WonderCon panel on YouTube!

A few days ago I posted the Star Wars Rebels highlights from WonderCon, but if you want to watch the whole panel, you can just head over to YouTube!  Isn't the Internet great?

New How To Train Your Dragon 2 Trailer, Clips, Posters, & Images!

Can you believe that How To Train Your Dragon 2 is less than 2 months away?  I certainly can't!  Anticipation is really starting to build, and Dreamworks has released some really great stuff to hold us over until the film finally arrives.

Rebels Report from WonderCon!!

Well, I was about to go to bed...but then this happened, and there was no way I could sleep without talking about the new Rebels info!!  We've got more behind the scenes concept art, the reveal of the composer for the series (complete with a new interview), and best of all...our first real completely animated clip from the show!  So let's get to it!

News: Book of Life, Big Hero 6, and Shaun the Sheep

Yikes, it's been almost a month since I've been here!  It's been a busy month, from wrapping up some personal art projects to some much needed job hunting.  But it's so good to be back to talking about what I love, so let's get to it!  I'm actually going to break up today's topics into separate posts, since there's so much to discuss.  First on the list is the latest news on some of this year's upcoming films!  Specifically, Big Hero 6 and The Book of Life.  I'm saving all of the How To Train Your Dragon stuff for a separate post, so we'll get to that later.

EVEN BIGGER NEWS: Pixar announces 'The Incredibles 2' & 'Cars 3'!!!

There might not be a Pixar movie this year, but there are big things happening at the studio!  As if the new Peanuts trailer wasn't enough, today the announcement that fans have been waiting almost 10 years for: The Incredibles 2 is finally happening!!!!!  And a Cars 3, but I can live with that...because we're getting finally going to see the Incredibles again!!

BIG NEWS: The Peanuts teaser trailer has arrived!!

I suppose I should have seen this coming, considering Rio 2 is only a couple weeks away.  But I'm glad I didn't, because what a pleasant surprise!!!  A couple images and a trailer for this film, set to debut in November 2015, were released this morning.  So what did I think?

The Clone Wars, New Trailers, Pixar's "Party Central," and that Wascally Wabbit

Lots of little bits of news to talk about here!!  It's amazing how much stuff can pile up over a few days.  So let's get to it!

Returned, The Clone Wars have...

It's finally here!!  Honestly, it feels like Christmas!  After a whole year of waiting and speculating, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has returned!  But before we get to the Top 10 Things To Look Forward To In Season 6, here's a couple of other cool things I want to share to help celebrate The Clone Wars.

But beware, there are spoilers for episodes and plot points in past seasons.  So if you haven't seen the show, don't read this.  Please don't read this.  Trust me, you don't want to spoil this for yourself.  It's all on Netflix now (all 6 seasons), and the first month is totally free, so you all have no excuse!  Go watch the show, and then come back.  Here's the link: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/70155581

Only 3 More Days...

...until The Clone Wars, in all of its 6 season glory, hits Netflix!!  On Friday, fans will finally have the episodes we've been waiting for since last March.  It's been a long year, and I can't believe it's almost here!  To help quench our thirst, I've searched for all preview clips released and posted them below to drool over (and analyze; I won't just gush, I promise!).  Two of them were actually released to the internet last year, and three more were released this week!  But beware, one clip in particular does contain spoilers, so read at your own risk...

And the Oscar goes to...

And the results are in from 86th Academy Awards.  The ceremony was held last night with the usual pomp and splendor that one could expect from a party thrown for Hollywood's elite.  I mostly just see the Awards as an opportunity for Hollywood to pat themselves on the back and tell themselves how wonderful they are, despite the fact that the actors put far less hours into a film than the production crew does.  And of course, the fact that receiving these statues at all at times seems completely meaningless.

But I'll get to that in a moment.  Let's talk about animation!  So who were the big winners?

New Dragon Poster!

A few days ago, Dreamworks released the last main character poster for How To Train Your Dragon 2 onto their Tumblr In The Works.  The image features Snotlout and his Monstrous Nightmare named Hookfang!  The image description reads:

"A classic Viking through and through, Snotlout always carries himself with bravado. Hookfang is his partner - a stubborn Monstrous Nightmare that can light itself on fire. Five years later, this pair of warriors is closer than ever." 

This is where the fun begins...

Welcome to my blog!

When I was a kid, I tried keeping a diary a few times but could never keep up with it.  I didn't know what to talk about, since I always found the usual "here's what I did today" and "this is how I'm feeling today" type of entries to be so boring.  About this time last year, I finally hit upon the idea of blogging about animation because once I get started, I can't stop talking about animation!  It's the thing I love most.  I genuinely love everything about it, and this seems like a good outlet for me to share my thoughts with other animation fans.

So what will I be talking about?  Well, for starters, reviews.  Mostly movie reviews, but I do plan on reviewing animated television series as well as books.  There will also be the occasional rant.  There's some popular topics that I have some very strong opinions on and will be discussing sooner or later.  For example, I'm planning a rant in defense of the Disney Princesses.  And, of course, animation news!  I'll be blogging about news mostly on the major American Studios, and if I see something interesting, on foreign animation as well.  I'm also hoping to discuss some animation history from time to time and you can also expect Top 10 lists to pop up as well.

So to start off, this week I'll be talking about the upcoming Season 6 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the news that the entire Clone Wars show, all 6 seasons, will be coming to Netflix on March 7.  Starting next weekend, I'm going to kick off a "Countdown to Star Wars: Rebels" by reviewing every single Clone Wars episode before the new Star Wars animated series from Lucasfilm animation starts up in the fall.

And of course, Mr. Peabody & Sherman debuts next weekend as well!  So I'll be seeing that, and I'm hoping to dig up a little history on the classic Mr. Peabody & Sherman series, since it's something that I really know nothing about.

That's it for now!  Feel free to explore the other pages; There's a lot of cool links to look at and I've set up an animation calendar for the year with links to trailers and IMDB pages for your convenience.  Enjoy!