Month: January 2003

  • … It’s always a buzz when you realize the many little ways the WWW can make life easier.

    Just when we thought mail2web was a cool invention, (a site that allows you to check your e-mail from anywhere in the world – great for when travelling), I have just discovered web2ftp -  a site that lets you upload files to your server from anywhere in the world. This is good news. It means we can update our website from overseas….

  •   ¡MUCHA LUCHA! PRESS CLIPPINGS

    A big thank you to Michelle who brought us lots of Cartoon Network goodies today, and sent us these ¡ML! clippings from Disney Adventures and Barbie magazines. There is also going to be a ¡ML!  ad in Feb 2003′s FOXTEL TV Guide, and this morning the Mort family e-mailed from Melbourne to tell us they’d seen the promo. Little Declan Mort (aged 3) is already a fan. No feedback yet from the Chin family but they probably don’t get it.

    The first issue of the ¡Mucha Lucha! comic (DC Comics) – written by Eddie with cover art by Lili, will go on sale April 23rd 2003. We have already written to Kings Comics - let’s hope they’ll order some in!

  • CAFEPRESS

    We first discovered Cafepress.com over a year ago and became hooked on creating our own “fwak!” products: mugs, t-shirts, clocks. Since then, this online design-and-sell-your-own-merchandise website has expanded their product range to include backpacks, calendars, teddy bears…and now there is talk of CDs and books… Read recent article on Cafepress

    ….Now there’s absolutely no reason for anybody not to make his or her own swag. In a sense, this service fulfills and updates a Warholian promise: Not only can you be famous for 15 minutes, but you can also have your own brand to advertise your fame.

    The best part about Cafepress isn’t ‘making money’ – we don’t mark-up any of the prices on our fwak products. For us, it’s fun to design and have the option to buy our own customized goods.

    (prices in U.S. dollars, manufactured and shipped from the USA)
    Browse Fwak! Stores

     

  • The music maestro of Fwak!, DJ Mort, has done it again! Check out  Walt Waxline’s Keep Chasin’ The Summer – A new CD playlist posted at Art Of the Mix.

  • Christmas is over, but…

    The above figurine is actually a piece of xmas confectionary from Barcelona. The Los Cagones website explains it all…

    He’s fertilising the ground and ensuring the wellbeing of the family for the following year. Adding a caganer to the nativity scene is believed to bring fortune and happiness. Not having one is bad luck,” explains Joan Rosa.

      

    I found this Mechazawa Cigarette lighter on this entertaining weblog. Mechazawa is a Japanese comic character. More cute stuff at the Mechazawa website.

    And as for this Mickey Mouse vibrator …er, definitely more “handy-dandy” than the the Toy Story ones we designed for The Fuzz.

  • Slogan Generator

    I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Advertising Slogan Generator! Type in a name, word, anything! and generate an advertising slogan.

  •  

    The Cool Toys  website isn’t really as cool as sites like Kidrobot.com , but there is some fun stuff… like these RAY HARRYHAUSEN Chess-set figures! 

  •  
    “Create to Relate” article
     
    Our copy of Emmy Magazine arrived today! We were interviewed a few months ago for this.
     
    Article by Craig Tomashoff:
     
    It’s just kids’ TV. How hard can it be?
    it’s not child’s play, as anyone in the business can attest. Making shows that entertain and educate youngsters – without annoying parents – is a tricky business, indeed. These eight creators, among the hottest in the business, have backgrounds and interests as varied as their hit programs. What’s the common thread? They all remember what it feels like to be a kid, and a few have even refused to grow up.

    EDDIE MORT and LILI CHIN – ¡Mucha Lucha!
     
    Eddie Mort and Lili Chin know all too well what people are thinking.
     
    Oh no! Not another cartoon show about masked Mexican wrestler-superheros airing in the U.S. and created by Australians!
     
    “I’m sure to most people, it’s like, ‘Where did this come from?’” says Mort. “Whenever we tell people about the show, we have a lot of explaining to do”.
     
    Adds Chin: “It was certainly strange pitching Mucha Lucha. It’s true that we are two animators in Australia pitching ideas to US executives about wrestlers in Mexico. But honestly our characters are just a base for going into other fantasy stories.”
     
    Their Kids WB! show follows the adventures of Rikochet, Buena Girl and The Flea, three young fans who hope to become great masked wrestlers in a world where masked wrestling is a way of life. As bizarre as the characters may seem, they are based on the strange-but-true tradition of Mexican wrestling.
     
    “We sought that world out and got sucked right into it”, says Mort, a native of Manchester, England, who was raised in Melbourne and now lives in Sydney with Chin, his personal and professional partner.”We traveled to Mexico and found old videotapes of masked wrestlers, and we couldn’t get enough of it”.
     
    “It was totally wacky, and so colorful – we were immediately interested in making it a kids’ thing,” adds Chin, who was born in Malaysia. “Something like this had never been done before. Wrestling is usually associated with teen boys and older. But the costumes and acrobats are so much fun, we felt younger kids would enjoy it”.
     
    Growing up, Mort used to draw wrestlers in his notebook and get in trouble for it. He never realized he could get paid for it, but after teaming up with Chin in art school, the duo began to establish themselves as leaders in Australia’s small animation community.
     
    “He’s more of the idea person and I’m more of the artist” says Chin. They continue to work in their home country while selling their work abroad, which they insist is the best of all possible worlds for anyone in the kids’ TV business.
     
    “Maybe because we’re not in America, when we come across a cultural phenomenon like Mexican wrestling, we can see the possibilities from a different perspective,” Chin says.
     
    Adds Mort: “We are far away from everything. We have to travel, but we’re very open to that. And because of that, I think we’re more open-minded. Just because we’re from Australia doesn’t mean we’re limited to stories about kangaroos”.
     
    ——————————————
     
    Hate to be a party pooper, but there are a couple of misquotes – we didn’t ”team up at art school”; we didn’t find old wrestling videotapes in Mexico (we did travel to Mexico, but we got the tapes through the internet); and it was the costume and the acrobatics (not “acrobats”) that appealed to us…
     
    Also, we don’t really understand why where we were born is so relevant; and we wouldn’t call ourselves “leaders” in the Australian animation community… But, hey, maybe these are just normal Hollywood journalistic touches.

  • Newsflash: The AUSTRALIAN Premiere
    of ¡Mucha Lucha!

    Yay! We have the date! ¡Mucha Lucha! will premiere on Cartoon Network on February 1st. 2003 (Saturday) at 8.00am. 

    ¡MUCHA LUCHA! SHOWTIMES

    WEEKENDS - 8:00 am

    WEEKDAYS -  8:00 am and 4:30 pm 

    Even though we’ve watched all the episodes on video, it’s gonna be a big thrill watching them in context alongside other cartoons!

    Links: the official ML website; our ML press archive (click on the ‘dates’ to access links to articles/reviews); Cartoon Network website.

  • Words cannot describe this… Meet ILL Mitch!