Sorry for not posting this sooner, but my air conditioner is broken and it’s 90º in my house.  So naturally I haven’t been doing much these last few days besides plotting the death of the sun.

ROFLCon was very interesting and also very weird.  One of the highlights for me was meeting Rob Cockerham of Cockeyed.com, a site I’ve been reading since the late 90s.  Rob was incredibly cool and it was very surreal to meet him in person after having followed his internet shenanigans since high school.  I briefly shook hands with Neil Cicierega of Lemon Demon (and countless other projects), who is almost certainly the most talented guy doing web content right now.  I also hung out with Dan Walsh of Garfield Minus Garfield fame, who was awesome and I highly recommend following his Tumblr.  I also had the incredible fortune of hanging out with Joel Veitch of Rathergood.com, who’s been making awesome internet stuff since before awesome internet stuff existed.  I also got to hang out with Ed Snow who does music for the Rathergood videos, and Ed Robinson and Matt Smith of the incredible Viral Factory, which has made so many great viral ads over the last decade.

There were dozens of other hilarious people I met at the conference (Charlie Schmidt is the King of the Internet) and there were some pretty interesting panels held, so it was a good time overall.  The video for the panels, including the one I was on, will hopefully be online in the next week or so.

Anyway, it’s very hot right now so work is progressing slowly for the next FilmCow short, but I am CHUGGING ALONG.  I’ll keep you updated.  In the meantime, check out this interview I did with OneMetal.com!

I’m leaving for Boston tomorrow to attend and speak at ROFLCon II, which takes play on Friday and Saturday (my panel is Saturday morning at 11:30 EST.)  The entire event is being streamed live here, and from what I understand all of the panels and talks will be uploaded to archive.org once the event is over.

I’ll be tweeting and video-tweeting the entire time, which you’ll be able to keep up with here.  Chris Alex is also coming (Carl, Doctor Fabulous, etc) so if you’re at the event you’ll be able to meet BOTH OF US AT THE SAME TIME.  He’ll probably be doing some tweeting of his own as well.

I was hoping to have a new cartoon finished before I left but I ran out of time.  Rest assured though, there will be a new FilmCow release next week.

Sorry about that, I had a ton of problems with the site today but everything should be running fine now.  Thanks to HostGator for their quick support – if anyone is looking for a web host I highly recommend them.  They responded very quickly and fixed a huge number of issues that I myself was too stupid to fix.

Anyway, I had a ton of “real life” stuff I needed to do over the last couple of weeks, but I’m back in production mode now so you should start seeing regular releases again.  OR A GHOST.  IF YOU SEE A GHOST DON’T TELL ME, GHOSTS ARE SCARY.

I’m working on a zillion projects at once right now (including Charlie 4, which I have just started,) but it’s been way too long without a FilmCow release so here’s a short little cartoon to hold you over.

“A Depressed Whale”

QuickTime:
http://www.filmcow.com/adepressedwhale.html

YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_dEtaNx2Vc

I’m going to try to start having a more consistent release schedule from now on, even when I’m busy with larger projects.  Cartoons like this one only take me a couple of days to complete so I should be able to at least have something for you guys on a regular basis.

You can now buy my friend Robert’s feature-length sock puppet movie “The Fracktaplots.”

http://www.badideapictures.com/index.php?page=products/fracktaplots

It is glorious.

For the last seven months my friend Robert Benfer (or “Knox,” as many of you know him) has been working on a feature-length sock puppet movie.  When he first told me about the project it sounded like a “Ha ha wouldn’t it be funny if…” sort of deal rather than something I actually expected him to go on and make.  But then a few weeks later I got a script in my inbox.  And a little while after that he was actually filming stuff.

So here we are, seven months later, and Robert Benfer has made a feature-length sock puppet movie.  And it’s actually really good.

Super-low-budget movies are always hit or miss.  Often independent filmmakers will ignore the fact that they don’t have a professional lighting rig or trained actors and go on and film their movie as if they did.  The result is usually a boring, unwatchable mess.  I’m sorry, but your friend Ron isn’t a good enough actor to make us understand his inner torment through subtle glances and stares.  And no, those two work-lights you got at Home Depot are not going to make your basement scene “super creepy and awesome.”

Then there are the independent filmmakers who understand the limitations of their budget and use those limitations to make their movies better.  Robert has done this with “The Fracktaplots,” and to such a degree that I can honestly say the movie would probably be considerably less funny if he had somehow acquired a million dollars to film it with.

Take an early scene in the film where the main character, Mick, gets a call from his girlfriend.  His cell phone hovers up from below the screen, tied with rubber-bands to a large stick, and then stops near Mick’s head.  It’s so silly looking that you can’t help but laugh.  If Robert had a budget for this movie I guarantee you this shot would have been far less hilarious.

The entire movie is filled with similar visual gags.  In fact, “The Fracktaplots” is visually hilarious period.  Each and every sock puppet is funny to look at and funny to watch, and they stay funny for the entire length of the film.  Combine this with the fact that everything is actually well shot, and you have a movie that’s surprisingly entertaining just to watch.  Having read the script beforehand I knew that the dialogue was going to be great, but I really was surprised by how much the visuals added to the experience.  I expected the socks to essentially act as a blank slate to Robert’s writing, but they provide something new here, something that makes watching “The Fracktaplots” a completely unique and weird experience.

Beyond the insane sock puppet visuals is your standard “Robert Benfer Nonsense Story-line” driven by consistently funny dialogue and AMAZING VOICE ACTING (I do two voices in the movie.)  There really wasn’t a boring moment in the entire thing.  From start-to-finish I was entertained, and that’s far more than I can say about most movies I’ve seen lately.

“The Fracktaplots” comes out in March, and will be available for sale at:
http://www.badideapictures.com/

You can watch the trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSG69jooQpM

And see a scene from the film (with me in it!) here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYeYh7bUd3M

For those who don’t know, I will be speaking at ROFLCon II which is taking place April 30th and May 1st at MIT.  Registration for the event is currently open:

http://roflcon.org/registration/

It’ll be a fun-filled and adventurous two days of internet people talking about the internet.

In THREEEEE DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Yeah so if you’ve got $65 bucks to blow ($45 for students) be sure to stop by.  I will be wearing a purple dress and holding a red rose with a ribbon tied around the stem.  Meet me in front of the old ice cream parlor.

I get requests for Llamas merchandise every week, so FINE, GOSH.

http://www.cafepress.com/filmcow/7073378

Also, speaking of llamas, Chris Alex (who voices Carl) is now on Twitter: @FilmCow_Chris

Anyway, here are the Llamas merchandise designs:

Making the universe safe, one prescription at a time.

QuickTime:
http://www.filmcow.com/doctorfabulous.html

YouTube (HD available):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2k7aoIGqTI

ENJOY, MY FRIENDS.

Well, the final scene of “Doctor Fabulous” is complete.  I’m just doing some touch-ups now and the movie will be released on Thursday or Friday.

The post-production on this video was considerably more difficult than I initially expected it to be.  In total there ended up being 112 effects shots (a couple of scenes take place in front of a green screen), and everything was done in full 1080p HD, so there was a crap load of work to be done.  In the end it was worth it, I think this is my favorite live-action short I’ve ever done.  It’s… fabulous HAHAHAHAHA SNORT.