Thursday, February 10, 2011

Web Sensations!!!

I Just wanted to take some time to visit some of the strangest animated shorts I've ever seen on the net. Some of them scary, some of them fantastical, some of them just plain f***ed. So enjoy another some of these internet sensations:

SALAD FINGERS


I first came across this David Firth creation at Jengajam, which hosted a link to Newgrounds. The Salad Fingers flash animation series has eight episodes, the first of which appeared in July of 2004. In 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle had placed the series in it's top ten list of pop culture phenomenas.

Eerie music surrounding a character who seems to reject reality and substitutes it with one of his own, this is one show that will either make you laugh, or make you scared of what the youth of today are being exposed to. It surrounds a slightly sadomasochistic young lad with scrawny 'salad' fingers who is very friendly, but apparently socially defected. Despite his quirkiness, and the difficulty we have relating to him, the audience feels very sympathetic to his plight. And it's very twisted.


HAPPY TREE FRIENDS

I've always thought of this is 'Carebears from Hell.' It disguises itself as a cute children's show, until everybody dies. And the death scenes are often times extremely graphic for a cartoon.

The best part is the characters. When you watch the show enough, you'll learn all of their personality traits. Some of them are:
  • Mime Deer, who doesn't talk
  • Flakey, a porcupine who is afraid of his own shadow
  • Lumpy, a moose who is just not too bright
  • Flippy, a Post-Traumatic war vet who goes Rambo on the other characters when triggered.
  • Petunia, who is an Obsessive-Compulsive neat freak.
  • And Many More!!!
Every character has their own distinct personality traits, and this show does a great job of portraying it with very little dialogue (everyone talks in mumbles). The "Charlie Brown" speech does not hurt the show, but actually helps, as the audience knows exactly what's going on anyways, and makes the death sequences even funnier.*


*I am not implying that death is actually a funny subject. I am only saying that this animation uses death as comedic device, and thanks to the talented writers, does so quite well. Not all audiences will find Happy Tree Friends funny. Only for those who like 'shock humour.'


MAAKIES

Tony Millionaire started MAAKIES as an alternative comic strip back in 1994. In 2002 - I think - he was asked to create four animations for Saturday Night Live. Not one of them aired. He then distributed these animations independantly. I can't find an official site that hosts the animations, but you can still visit his website for the comic strip at http://www.maakies.com/. The animations can still be found on youtube as well.

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There is a lot to be said about the internet. And it's good for more than just porn. Come on, and give it a chance. You may be surprised at what you find.

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