I’ve changed my showreel to incorporate the animation I did for Cartoon Network on a few Pink Panther promos for their Boomerang Channel.
Dan Chambers Animation Reel 2010 from Dan Chambers on Vimeo.
Archive for the 'miscellaneous' Category
I have found out that using three or more synonyms for the word “Nothing” is a SURE-FIRE formula for LAUGHS APLENTY. The more synonyms you can find and put in, the bigger the laugh.
For example
“Nothing, nada, nil!”.
But wait…
“Nothing, zip, zilch, zero, nada, bupkis!!!”
But before you go putting this SURE-FIRE DEAD-CERT GUARANTEED HOWLER into your comedic scripts be aware that I have registered copyright on this phrase and if you don’t pay me to use it I will SUE YOU.
Here’s my new showreel. It doesn’t include the promos I directed and animated for Cartoon Network, they’ll have to come later.
Dan Chambers Animation Reel 2010 from Dan Chambers on Vimeo.
Here is a fascinating craft project from Frank Key which presupposes ownership of a Pippy Bag.
What’s a Pippy Bag? You may well ask.
I’ve been writing scripts and animating for Lady Geek TV. It’s an app show specifically aimed at women and trying to show apps which make a practical difference. You can find all the episodes here. or subscribe via iTunes.
…the milk is UHT, but at least in Hell the tea is hot.
The May issue of Word Magazine has a feature on the best and worst kids’ cartoons of all time. Imagine my delight, then, to find that the Amazing Adrenalini Brothers came in at Number 2, just below Sponge Bob Squarepants!
Actually, I’m not entirely sure the 20 are in rank order, but still, to be in the company of Roobarb, Pocoyo (which won the Bafta in the same year we did), and Tom and Jerry, for goodness sake, is very flattering indeed. (Even more so because the magazine is actually a really good one.)
The review says that the show “… used to be a really good reason to get up early on Sunday and watch CITV.”
If you watch the digital channel G.O.L.D. (formerly UK Gold) you can hear my voice trailing the channel’s “Extravaganza Bonanza” lasting all of January, with double episodes of various classic sit-coms back-to-back from 9pm!
I would have titled this post “G.O.L.D.man Sachs” but for the fact that it doesn’t have anything to do with banking.
If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to make a stunning riposte to an American over matters of language or pronunciation or other cultural shibboleths (for example, you have been ridiculed for using the word “Aluminium” or “Jam”), simply ask them to repeat the sentence “Merry Mary married hairy Harry”. The resulting vowel sounds should be remarkably and hilariously uniform, coming out something like “Merry merry merried herry Herry”. You can have a good laugh at that as you flee behind something bullet-proof.
I should add here that I’m half-American, so I’m not just being nasty for the sake of it. How you use this information is your own affair.
Maybe because I’m attuned to it, sort of like buying a pair of pink drainpipes and suddenly noticing everyone else who’s wearing some, I hear a lot of multiple “is”es. That is, people repeating the word “is” in sentences. Look/listen out for it – “The thing is is”, “The point is is”, “The point being is” etc. As an often reluctant pedant, it’s one of those things that I notice but would feel uncomfortable bringing to anyone’s attention.
My theory is is is that the words “thing is” are being run together, to form a de facto noun on their own. So the sentence feels like it lacks a verb. Which is is is is why people add another “is”. Where you have a clear emphasis on “thing” instead of “is”, for example in the sentence “the important thing is that you buy pink drainpipes” it’s a lot harder to justify putting in the extra “is”.
What if I’m wrong though? Sometimes I will sneak a third “is” into a sentence of my own, just to see what happens. When it gets through undetected, I worry that I’ve worn down human resistance to “is” multiplication, that the third “is” is an out of control mutation, and soon we will all be unable to say “The thing is” without appending forty or a hundred “is”es to the end, and everybody will be buzzing around like demented bees finishing off a sibilant backlog. Could happen.
Horrors. I found a post which goes into such depth that even I had to look away in shame.
By the way, I don’t have pink drainpipes.