Let's Talk Independent Film News and Media, Shall We

Toonami
Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Toro Urata

Yo, yo, yo, what better way to spend the holidays, or the couple weeks leading up to the holidays, then to send some love to some others around the internet that I really like.

Many of you who know me, know that there's a warm place in my heart for anime, but in America there's just not enough of it.  However, I'm getting my fix on Saturday nights between 12:00AM to 6:00AM (yes, that's right, the middle of the freakin' night) on Toonami (I DVR it, and watch when I'm actually awake), which is basically just Cartoon Network.

Summer Wars
Flickr Creative Commons Photo by CCSX

Toonami shows a series of some of my favorite shows, like FLCL, Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Bleach, Naruto and a few others.  To find out more, check out the site Toonami Faithful.

This month it's on hiatus, and in its place they've been showing some of the best feature-length anime movies ever.  The first week, they showed Akira, and unfortunately, I didn't know about it and I didn't DVR it, so I didn't get to watch pretty much the greatest anime movie ever.  However, this past Saturday, December 14, they showed Summer Wars, which I reviewed on Squidoo.  Please head on over and read my review, In Summer Wars, Dorothy Can't Hack This OZ.

Adult Swim Offices
Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Fred Seibert

Next week, they'll be showing Full Metal Alchemist: The Conquerer of Shambala and they'll wrap it up with Trigun: Badlands Rumble, before continuing with the normal run of series.

I also found a site by a couple of animators called GrisDismation.  They appear to be a couple who enjoy drawing together, and they're trying their hand at creating an independent animation studio.  I've checked out a number of their films, and they remind me a little of Ren and Stimpy, but with a far darker sense of humor.  The one I like best is called If I Didn't Have a Brain (The Anti-Drug Song).  You can check them out at GrisDismation.com

Heavy Metal Magazine
Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Rene Walter

The next one is called Blag Flag TV, and it's an independent TV station playing indie horror movies 24-7 on their website.  This one kind of took my by surprise, because I really didn't know what to make of it.  It appears any indie film maker can submit their B-horror film to be shown at some point in their schedule, and it will be shown to a wider audience.  Possibly, getting a little better play then if it were just sitting on YouTube.  The creator of the site is SV Bell, who is a film maker, comic book artists and Heavy Metal painter.

Finally, I'd like to send a little love over to the folks over at Huckaberry's Cryptic Crydders.  The site is run by Reggie Whitehead, who's art is extremely intriguing to me.  He makes art out of animal bones, and other buried treasures.  Yes, I know.  He actually uses animal bones to create works of art.  They're actually pretty awesome.  Check it out, whenever you get the chance.

Oh, and don't forget to check out my review of Summer Wars, In Summer Wars, Dorothy Can't Hack This OZ.  If you want to share the love, or just get a conversation going, go ahead and leave me a comment.