In addition to traumatizing my childhood (with the MYSTERIOUS STRANGER...see below), Will Vinton also gave life to my favorite commercials. The "CALIFORNIA RAISINS" and "DOMINO'S NOID" commercials were so great that I would watch the commercials between the latest episode of Voltron or the Transformers in hopes of seeing them. Both commercials were so popular that they spawned toys, games, and cartoons based on these great characters. Naturally none of these byproducts were close to being as good as the original commercials. Here are two of my favorites:

I just began watching OBAN STAR RACER. Man, what a great show! Great characters, beautiful design, quality animation, epic story. Even though the show is geared at 8 to 12 year olds, there's something for everyone to enjoy. I've heard that the show will eventually be broadcast in around 80 countries...so no matter where you are in the world, you're bound to find a way to watch it.Much like Muttpop, the team behind Oban Star Racer is a multi-national group. Although originally conceived by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel and his SAV! THE WORLD company, he worked closely with an amazingly talented Japanese animation team to bring the animated universe to fruition. The results speak loudly for themselves.Here's a wonderful sequence where main character MOLLY races one of my favorite characters: THE SPIRIT.

I recently rediscovered one of those films that traumatized me as an 80s kid: the claymation feature film "The Adventures of Mark Twain". In it, Tom Sawyer and friends journey through various recreations of Mark Twain's stories. The characters had a wrinkly charm that made them oddly beautiful. But then came the mysterious stranger. That sequence mesmerized and frightened me to no end. Recently I have discovered that this movie was the creation of Will Vinton. Will Vinton was the Nick Park of the 1980s. If there was a great piece of claymation, chances were that it was done by Vinton Studios. I'll showcase some of my favorite Vinton claymation pieces in the coming weeks.

A few months ago, I finally got around to checking out the US version of The Office TV series. Man, what a great show! It's a mockumentary series where a film crew is observing the working life at the regional department of a small paper manufacturer. As in reality TV shows like "The Real World" and "Big Brother", each 30 minute episode's story is interspliced with fake confessionals/monologues from the various characters. Great characters. Inventively funny scenarios. And tons of stuff that any corporate employee can relate to. For me, Season 1 is very good; Season 2 had the best episodes; Season 3 (the current season) got a little generic with the "romantic" developments...but has recently returned to it's former brilliance. Here are some great scenes featuring Dwight: