Satoshi Kon's Year?

Yeah, I know, I'm a perpetual tease about it, but one day I'll surprise you and finally get to write that retrospective on Satoshi Kon's films. In the meantime, I want to share a tought that has been bothering me. Two of the most popular films of this year (at least among the nerd crowd) were Inception and Black Swan, and both of them were widely compared to Satoshi Kon's last (Paprika) and first (Perfect Blue) movies, respectively.

I don't want to risk any conclussions, but isn't it odd that all this happened in 2010? I'm not talking conspiracies, here, but more rather a zeitgeist thing.

Tomorrow never knows

Who would have guessed that we’d make it all the way to the end of the year? Well, here we are and we’ll keep on rocking you like a hurricane next year. But first, we’ve got a long overdue message that we’d like to get across. Hell, it is our deepest honor to write these words:

As you might remember (or not), OKAM is NOT a blog about animation and various other forms of narrative. OKAM is actually a hard-working, ever-growing studio of pre-production for animated content and cross/trans-media integration. It has its own blog that I write and you read (or at least I wish you do), but it also has these AMAZING projects. And with AMAZING projects come the AMAZING people that have put their skills and hearts into making this dream come true.

Without further ado, the heroes behind the deed (and the respective blogs where you can see their amazing work and contact them):

The Undertaker Chronicles

Art department:

Paco Caballero http://pacocaballero-ilustra.blogspot.com/

Ignacio Lavizzari http://www.nachopinta.blogspot.com/

Juan Pablo Casini http://www.juancasini.com/

Fernando Sawa http://www.fernandosawa.com/

Gabriel Romero http://gaboleps.blogspot.com/

Animation Team:

Diego Forconi http://www.diegoforconi.com.ar/

Angel Tremosa http://angeltremosa.blogspot.com/

Juan Fernando Aguilera

Jorge Cuellar http://jorgemcuellar.blogspot.com/

Luis Morales Ciancio http://chanchopunk.blogspot.com/

Nicolas Taro http://nicotaro.blogspot.com/

Gisela Csecs http://gicsecs.blogspot.com/

Danielí Dipaola http://www.youtube.com/user/danllau

Edgar Morales http://igamoto.blogspot.com/

Fernando Witis

Nicolas Guidobono

Sound:

Casilda Merino http://casildamerino.blogspot.com/

Thanks!:

Mariana Freigeiro http://freshibusa.blogspot.com/

Chelo Paez http://www.chelopaez.com/

Special Thanks!:

Emilio Gimenez Zapiola

Michael Peterson

Malena Suburu

Pablo Forconi http://www.pabloforconi.com.ar/  

Nelson Luty http://nelsonnoelluty.blogspot.com/  

Paula Arrieta

Juan Antin  http://www.aylluanimaciones.com/   

Eduardo Macchiarelli

Lorena Walker

Juliana Millan

Esteban Molina

Julio

Juan Pablo Casini

Tomas Castagnino

REDHOOD

Art Team:

Claudio Iriarte http://thecloudboard.blogspot.com/

Fernando Sawa http://www.fernandosawa.com/

Santiago villa http://santiagovilla.blogspot.com/  

Gabriel Romero http://gaboleps.blogspot.com/

Nacho Malter http://nachomalter.blogspot.com/  

Chona Bustos http://ignaciobustos.blogspot.com/  

Ivan Olszevicki http://ivan-o.blogspot.com/  

Matias Pan http://matiaspan.blogspot.com/  

Mary Zancolli http://maryzancolli.blogspot.com/  

Paco Caballero

Ignacio Lavizzari

Juan Pablo Casini

Special Thanks!:

Martin Garcia Dietrich

Nacho Arias http://nachitz.com.ar/test/NACHITZ/index.html  

Santiago Casini

Noon

Art Team:

Franco Spagnolo http://francospagnolo.blogspot.com/

Nelson Luty

And, of course, our humble blog:

Animation:

Leonardo Campasso http://leocampasso.blogspot.com/

Like someone said before me: You know who you are! You fucking rule!

And if you want to know more about these projects, head over to OKAM's website. You'd be able to see all the love that was put into the making. 

Top 5 Christmas specials of 2010

Well, just a couple of days ago was that time of the year again and, with it, came a cavalcade of season-themed features to populate our screens. Even though I’m not a big fan of the holiday and I’m fully aware that most Christmas specials are meant to establish a cheap sense of empathy with the viewers, I can’t help but feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. It must have to do with repetition making your inner child comfortable or some Freudian crap of the sort. So here are my top 5 Christmas specials of 2010. Now, of course, I haven’t seen everything that TV around the world has to offer, so this list is personal and restricted to that small percentage I’ve seen. Also, I don't care much about Christimas, so the list we'll be based strictly on how awesome the special was and not on how much it reflects the spirit of the season.

Without further a-do, the list:

A little present for all our Argentinean friends

A friend of mine handed me down this amazing snap shot from Ralph Bakshi's classic, Fritz the Cat. What makes it so special? I don't know if you get to read the posters on the background, but they seem to be announcing a show from Argentinean legendary singer, Roberto Sánchez (aka. Sandro). It actually says "El ídolo de América. Sandro".

For those that don't know him, the man was a sort of Argentinean Elvis that, love him or hate him, helped to sexualilze our musical culture. He's the same kind of proto-rocker figure that the King represents and, today, a sort of kitch icon. He passed away almost a year ago, leaving us with a hole in our hearts.

Un amigo mío me pasó esta imagen sacada del clásico de Ralph Bakshi, Fritz el Gato. ¿Qué la hace tan especial? ¿Ven en los afiches del fondo la figura fantástica del héroe de América? Sí, ese es Sandro (cuyo nombre original era Roberto Sánchez). La leyenda de arriba del póster incluso lo corona como "El ídolo de América. Sandro".


No creo que sea necesario presentarlo en nuestra pequeña cultura hispanohablante, pero cabe destacar que, más allá de su iconografía kitch, es innegable el valor que tuvo al sexualizar nuestro panorama musical, herencia innegable que nos ha legado a quienes todavía creemos en el rock.


Les dejo esta rareza a modo de regalo de navidad, y espero que despierte en ustedes el mismo sentimiento bizarro y transcultural que despertó en mi.


¡Feliz navidad para todos y sigan animados!

Spot the differences!

Come on! Like you didn't see THAT one coming!

Anyways, Christmass looks especially jolly for all our friends in the UK with the return of the Once and Future Time Lord and Misfits special. It's been a long wait for the return of Doctor Who, but what really surprised me was to get one extra episode of the newcomer, Misfits.

Misfits feels like an indie superheroe comic made into a series, and we love it just for that. It's a little of fresh air in a market soon to be oversaturated by struggle between Marvel and DC franchises. Sometimes a little jaded and gratuitous but, just for that, a lot more free in its story-telling and mostly awesome!

If I don't see you before that, happy hollydays to everyone and a lot of envy to our friends in the UK for their awesome telly schedules.

Farewell to late Edwards

This year we've felt the loss of many a good men. Satoshi Kon, Yoshinobu Nishizaki, Dino De Laurentiis, Leslie Nielsen and, now, Blake Edwards.

We'd like to remember the man as we see him on this video (sorry, but can't embed it). Check it out, and have one last, good laugh before the grief.

Bundles-a-galore

If you don't live under rock, you've probably heard of the second coming of the Humble Indie Bundle. Pay what you want for some awesome games and decide what goes to developers and what goes to charity.

But there's also the Bundle of Wrong, meant to help Rob Fearon recover from his pneumonia. And if that ain't enough for ya, another charity bundle rises from the hands at YAWMA. The Giving Game + Music Bundle only lasts for seven days, but changes which games + music are available every 48 hs.

So, it's that time of the year, again. Buy a game for almost nothing (for you or as a present), help out some charity and feel good about yourself. Everybody wins!

Hacked Earthbound

I just LOVE creative hacking and modding. It is one of the most inventive ways to play with a system and the results can be quite amazing. Check out this video, which is pretty normal and dull until 20 minutes in and then it becomes epically amazing.

Have any hacking/modding story you want to share?

Via: Blistered Thumbs

Alberto Breccia

A couple of weeks ago we were celebrating Cartoonist Day. The nice people from alberto-breccia.net wrote us some lines about our post and we chose to visit their site, where we found this little marvel. It is a documentary about the man himself, in English.

It is great to see it in this language and to be able to share the art of this genius with people that might not be familiar with him.

Via: Alberto-Breccia.net, of course.

Wikileaks, animated

I don't know if you have been following the story, but this is kind of a funny way to be introduced to it. It is a story so big, so monstrously huge and grotesque, that this sort of cartoony, xavierrenegadeangel-esque presentation does it some kind of poetical justice.

One Chance

Speaking about video games, I recently found this little gem, One Chance. It kinda reminds me of You Only Live Once. And Every day the same dream. Give it a play. After all, you can only do it once.

Kinda dig the whole 8-bit canvas look, though.

EVA 2010

So, today and tomorrow we’ll be celebrating the EVA (Exposición de Videojuegos Argentina, or Argentinean Video Games Expo) here in Buenos Aires. There are some great lectures announced, and I’m specially looking forward to hear the Uruguayan Daniel Benmergui, from the infamously-popular-indie-narrative-experimental-breakthrough-flash-game, Today I Die (among other distinguished and interesting titles). Are you not hyped, yet? Check his site!

We’ll also be there, of course. Well, our team will be there, at the market. I’m kinda recovering from surgery, but I hope to be able to attend tomorrow.

Wesley Snipes to serve in jail

Who will save us now from Robert Pattinson?