I saw this linked on Aaron Williams’ blog (if you don’t know, he’s a web- and traditional-comic book artist who does PS238 and Full Frontal Nerdity, which I really like). It’s a how-to cartoon by Ransom Riggs about taking over the world with nano-technology called “Be Amazing!”
Seems pretty straight-forward to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0dYPnui3rM
It reminded me of one of those old Disney instructional cartoons that starred Goofy (I remember there being a winter sports one and an exercise one; much later–I believe within the last few years, they had made a new one in collaboration with Best Buy about installing a big-screen TV), with a dash of Doctor Horrible mixed in.
I especially like the moment when the too-be villain demonstrates that he has a “soul full of evil.” I know, that probably makes me a bad person, too, but I think what separates me from the villain is that I don’t know if I could actually push the cat.
No, that’s not some sort of euphemism.
Things like this have gotten me thinking, though: Are super-heroes done? I know we still have traditional, tights-and-caps good-guys, but it seems, as a society, we’re always more drawn to the villains. For example, Heath Ledger wins the Best Supporting actor playing a psychopath, but when is the last hero to win an Oscar? Ian McKellen, for Gandalf?
I know this isn’t a new idea by any means, but even as new super-hero movies come out in recent times (Dark Knight, Iron Man, and especially Watchmen), the focus has been on the flawed nature of the heroes–none of these are exactly the do-gooder types of the George Reeves era of Superman. I wonder if that’s testament to the times we live in?
Either way, the “Be Amazing!” video is funny, so I guess the world isn’t all bad, eh?
Now laugh maniacally.
I said, “maniacally!”
I saw this linked on Aaron Williams’ blog (if you don’t know, he’s a web- and traditional-comic book artist who does PS238 and Full Frontal Nerdity, which I really like). It’s a how-to cartoon by Ransom Riggs about taking over the world with nano-technology called “Be Amazing!”
Seems pretty straight-forward to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0dYPnui3rM
It reminded me of one of those old Disney instructional cartoons that starred Goofy (I remember there being a winter sports one and an exercise one; much later–I believe within the last few years, they had made a new one in collaboration with Best Buy about installing a big-screen TV), with a dash of Doctor Horrible mixed in.
I especially like the moment when the too-be villain demonstrates that he has a “soul full of evil.” I know, that probably makes me a bad person, too, but I think what separates me from the villain is that I don’t know if I could actually push the cat.
No, that’s not some sort of euphemism.
Things like this have gotten me thinking, though: Are super-heroes done? I know we still have traditional, tights-and-caps good-guys, but it seems, as a society, we’re always more drawn to the villains. For example, Heath Ledger wins the Best Supporting actor playing a psychopath, but when is the last hero to win an Oscar? Ian McKellen, for Gandalf?
I know this isn’t a new idea by any means, but even as new super-hero movies come out in recent times (Dark Knight, Iron Man, and especially Watchmen), the focus has been on the flawed nature of the heroes–none of these are exactly the do-gooder types of the George Reeves era of Superman. I wonder if that’s testament to the times we live in?
Either way, the “Be Amazing!” video is funny, so I guess the world isn’t all bad, eh?
Now laugh maniacally.
I said, “maniacally!”
