The southeast Asian adventure continues…

Special props must be given to Canuck indy sensations BEND SINISTER for the awesome tunes.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world, folks!

8)

B

My friends in Rawai asked me to whip up a wee vid from their charity kickboxing show. Now all can savour the fruits of my tropical labours 8)

Happy Holidays to all…and keep on rockin’ in the free world!

B(e)

Our stop-motion, Flash-powered ode to all things Wapos Bay (and a few from Mariokart) is finally complete!  You can click the image above to visit the Newgrounds hub and give it a whirl 8)

From the press blurb thingie:

Start your engines and get ready for fun in the award-winning stop-motion world of Wapos Bay – it’s 3 laps and winner-takes-all on the biggest Flash-powered kart racing game yet: WAPOS RACERZ! Play as one of four beloved characters as you explore the town, discover shortcuts and hidden secrets, and collect ‘Slushie Kitties’ to unlock movies from the series finale!

(Oct. 18, 2011) – Wapos Bay: Long Goodbyes, based on the Gemini award-winning TV series, will have its world premiere at the prestigious imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto at its Closing Night Gala presented by Global Toronto. A co-production with the National Film Board of Canada, the movie was selected for the closing night of the Festival’s 12th edition and will screen on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 7:00 p.m. ET at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St W).

Fans from around the world will also have the opportunity to be part of the premiere via the Closing Night Technical Partner IsumaTV and a free live streaming at www.isuma.tv/nfb. Creator / producers Dennis & Melanie Jackson, actors Andrea Menard (The Velvet Devil, Moccasin Flats) and Eric Jackson will be available for the Q & A following the screening, moderated by imagineNATIVE executive director Jason Ryle who will be taking questions from the floor and via Skype for the online viewers.

“It is humbling to have our Wapos Bay finale movie screened at imagineNATIVE because it is one of the premiere indigenous film festivals in the world,” said Dennis Jackson. “It is always an honour to be recognized by your peers whether other indigenous people, animators, filmmakers or friends. This screening will be a unique experience because fans can log in online and they don’t necessarily have to be here in Toronto to watch the premiere.”

The night will feature a special tribute to Wapos Bay cast member, the late Gordon Tootoosis (North of 60, Legends of the Fall). Announcements of the future of Wapos Bay will also be made on the night, including the launch of several digital media properties. Led by Brooke Burgess (writer, director & producer of Broken Saints), properties include a Mariokart style video game, eBooks and episode downloads.

Tickets for the world premiere / imagineNATIVE are available in-person at the TIFF Bell Lightbox or
Phoenix Concert Theatre, by calling the TIFF Box Office at 416-599-8433, or online at
www.imaginenative.org. The national broadcast premiere for Wapos Bay: Long Goodbyes is Saturday, Dec. 3 on APTN (8 p.m. ET on APTN HD and APTN East, 8 p.m. MT on APTN West, 8 p.m. CT on APTN North).

The movie has also been selected to screen at the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (Oct.
29), American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco (Nov. 5), LA Skins Festival in Los Angeles (Nov. 16-
20) and Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival in Sydney, Australia.

Here’s my latest iPhone short-film montage from San Diego Comic Con:  IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN SAN DIEGO…

Featuring the trancey goodness of Broken Saints composer Tobias Tinker!

If you’re going to be in the San Diego area in July, most likely you’re there for San Diego Comic Con 2011…and so am I!!!

Below is a shake-down of my schedule for the big show – hope to see you there:

PANEL:  On Thursday July 21st from 6:00 – 7:00 PM in in Room 23ABC, be sure to swing by the Arcana Comics panel!  It’s a candid look at One of the World’s Largest Independent Graphic Novel Publishers:  Sean Patrick O’Reilly (Clockwork Girl), Josh Blaylock (Devil’s Due), Erik Hendrix (SideShows), Mike Kalvoda (Banshee), Brooke Burgess (Becoming), Matt Wilson (Scrooge & Santa), and Ryan Colucci (Harbor Moon) take us through some of the amazing talent coming out of one of the world’s largest graphic novel producers. Passing 150 graphic novels released, find out what the publisher currently has in the works, what’s coming in the near future, a sneak peak at the 3D animated feature film, Clockwork Girl, Arcana’s slate of interactive apps, and more. See how independent publishers make their mark in the comic book industry and blur the lines between mediums, Arcana style. Attendees will get free comics and also for free is the first in a series of “Arcana Universe” posters!

SIGNINGS: I’ll be at the Arcana booth with breakout artist DANE CYPEL to sign preview teaser copies of our upcoming book.  Here’s the official 411 on signing times (and if you make the effort to visit, we might have some extra tasty swag for you )

Just a slice of our 22-page Exclusive Comicon Preview!!!

Wednesday – PREVIEW NIGHT – July 20th

· 6:30 PM – 7:15 PM

Thursday – July 21st

· 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM

· 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM

FRIDAY – JULY 22nd

· 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM

· 5:00 PM – 5:45 PM

Saturday – July 23rd

· 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM

· 4:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Sunday – July 24th

* 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM

· 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

Feel free to share with any (soon to be jealous) LotR fans  8)

When I was first exposed to Wapos Bay, I was genuinely amazed; here was a world-class stop-motion animation program that was made in Canada – in Saskatchewan, no less – and it had completely slipped under my radar. Now, I consider myself pretty ‘media savvy’ (especially when it comes to genre programming, and even more so with animation), so if I was surprised by this revelation, the odds implied that a lot of other folks were similarly in the dark. This was a situation that needed to be remedied.

Enter ‘digital media’…or ‘transmedia’, as the hip kids like to call it. When the series creators and producers had mentioned that they were working on upgrading the web presence for the show early last year, I threw my proverbial hat in the ring. Their original plan was to create a basic video hub that featured short clips from the series…and not much else. My goal was to take advantage of current web technology – specifically Flash animation – to create a slice of the Wapos Bay experience online. People from around the world could come to the site, and immediately be immersed in the sights, sounds, and hand-made CHARACTER of the show. It would be packed with custom animations, easter eggs, and access to behind-the-scenes material that showcased the incredible craft of the creative team. 9 months later, Waposbay.com was born – mission accomplished!

So now – with the award-winning series coming to a close with a feature film – we wanted reach an even larger audience to celebrate its conclusion. And with the explosion in casual gaming online, the next phase seemed obvious: give new visitors and established fans a chance to meet the characters and explore the town in a stop-motion racing game. We hope you enjoy a sneak peek at what we have in store for later this Fall – Wapos Racerz is coming to a screen near you!!!

God have Mercy, for what we shall BECOME...

Pencils and inks are looking sharp…

4-6 weeks for colours…

Lettering SOON after…

Stay tuned to this space for the latest!

More soon – just busy brewing my own slow-cook savoury word-stew