Epic Meal Time is the epitome of the phrase “loving your craft.” These dude (and sometimes scantly clad, really hot chicks) take cooking to a whole new fucking level. There’s a certain amount of dedication needed  to wrap full meals inside of other full meals then deep fry said meals to make one large meal. I, personally, have used Epic Meal Time episodes to inspire myself when I cook, which is extremely tough to do when I primarily feed hospital ridden patients. But fuck ’em, bacon trumps all. On the opposite end of the spectrum from bacon lies a land of terrible things. It’s like the Island Of Misfit Toys, except no happy ending is on the horizon for these terrible abominations also known as my dislikes. And if this island nation had an anthem it most certainly would be dubstep. I’ve talked about my dislike of dubstep plenty of times here before, but yet I still seem to end up reviewing video after video filled with it. I guess it’s the fact that the music isn’t made with real instruments, just sound effects, simulated cat dry heaves and looped bronchitis coughs that upsets me most. The amount of time it takes for you to properly learn your MacBook, properly operate GarageBand and record this drivel you could have easily learned any Ramones song on guitar. All of that said, I kinda like the beat to this song. The artwork on the other hand is fantastic. As I watched the video, I couldn’t help but feel like I’ve seen this style of art before. It took until the end credits to notice that animator (and Webs Day alumni) Zeurel did all the artistic dirty work for this video! The art has a bit of an old school Saturday morning anime feel which totally lends itself well to the incredible food based battles happening on screen.

So lets recap:

• Music- Catchy, could also be used to torture someone chained to a radiator in your basement.
• Artwork- Very well drawn, bright but not overly flashy.

All in all a great little video deserving of a good score.

(8.5/10)

PS. While I hope someone from the Epic Meal Time crew ends up reading this, I offer a suggestion. Summertime is fast approaching. Maybe you guys make a move on Kool-Aid? Mixes well with booze, just sayin’.

And now I’ll write a sentence that will probably cause the Internet to seize, melt and fold in upon itself like a dying planet: I’ve not seen one second of any episode of Doctor Who. Where’s the Ka-Boom? There was supposed to be an Earth shattering KA-BOOM! At any rate, what we’ve got here is actually a pretty neat little concept. The story of Doctor Who told in a orchestra based, child like stop motion animation style is brilliant! Since there isn’t much by the way of voice acting the emotions are all sold by the music, which doesn’t happen as often in todays animation. You young animators could take a lesson or two from older shows such as The Pink Panther. Words only carry so much weight, it’s the emotion behind them that drives the point home. And sometimes that emotion is more aptly changed with a key signature than it is with the inflection of the vocal cords. The puppetry and stop motion in this show has that claymation Christmas feel that this medium tends to be typecast into. I don’t really know if there’s a way to change that either. If you see anything stop-mo or claymation you’re thinking one of two things: Robot Chicken or Frosty. Fact. I enjoyed this video, even though I haven’t (and don’t plan on ever) watched the original show.

(8/10)

Alternative band They Might Be Giants are no strangers to animation. Just do a quick YouTube search of their videos and you’ll find that a good portion of them are animated in some form or fashion. Hell, back in the day they damn near had an entire episode of Tiny Toon Adventures to themselves! Still one of my favorite episodes to this day. You just cant fuck with Particle Man or Istanbul(Not Constantinople) being played over that mid-90’s style artwork. But the video I’ve got for you today is for “Insect Hospital” off the band’s new album “Nanobots.” This video follows the same style of stop motion animation as “Sober” by Tool and “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. Except this video isn’t as depressed as Tool and isn’t as high on Shrooms as Peter Gabriel. No, I’m pretty sure They Might Be Giants had a little bit more “mind expanding” drugs in their systems during the writing process, which is why I think I’m so intrigued by the song. Coming in at an infinitesimal 2:45 yet being able to tell such an interesting story is truly a lost are in this day and age when it comes to the music industry. Nowadays artists are more interested in taking selfies and getting into wars of words with other “celebrities,” all the while forgetting what got them to the pinnacle of success in the first place, and that’s writing an interesting fucking song with engaging yet relatable lyrics and a catchy hook. Is that too much to ask? Thank God for older bands who still have a passion for the music business because I don’t think I could live in a world full of Beiber’s, Swift’s and Cyrus’s.

(7/10)

Twitter please.  (@chefrichBB)

As our time draws to a close here on this glorious Webs Day, I’d like to remind you that I’m always looking for new and interesting artists and videos to review. Feel free to send those suggestions to me personally (Chefrich@bubbleblabber.com). I’m looking for some animators who are a bit less main stream than usual so if you are or know one, send ’em my way. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna head back to the dark corners of YouTube and see if I can’t find a way to build a time machine. Or if nothing else build myself a Cybernetic Ghost Of Christmas Past From The Future, because I’ve always wanted to meet Danzig.

Adios dweebs!

ChefRich