Monday, March 30, 2009

Jagged Line Blog Moves to CandlelightStories.com

The Jagged Line posts are being moved to their mother-ship, CandlelightStories.com. We've put together a nice new site design that is fully blog-oriented but maintains all of our great story, game and movie content.

So make sure you subscribe to the Candlelight Stories feed to keep getting our posts.

This will probably be the last post on Jagged Line. You'll like the Candlelight Stories feed much better. We promise!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Watchmen as Saturday Morning TV Cartoon

Here's a Watchmen trailer that's done as if it were a cheesy Saturday morning TV cartoon. It was made by animator Harry Partridge (aka Happy Harry). It's got an absurdly perfect theme song to go along with dead-on-the-money TV-style animation. I bet it's way better than the movie!





Remember, if you click through to the YouTube site, there may be content that is not suitable for young viewers.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Coraline: Official Film Trailer

Coraline is the stop-motion animated feature film of Neil Gaiman's novel. It is directed by Henry Selick and released by Focus Features. It's about a little girl who discovers an alternate reality in her home that is like a more interesting mirror image of her real life. The trailer looks really good. It's nice to see stop-motion animation like was done in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The effects were apparently all done by hand with miniature sets.



Sunday, January 25, 2009

The Cat Came Back: Hilarious Animation

The Cat Came Back is a 1988 Oscar-nominated animation by Cordell Barker. It is simply one of the funniest cartoons I have ever seen. It's based on an old folk tale about a man who tries desperately to get rid of an unwanted cat. Be careful. Really. This will make you laugh so hard your entire head might explode. Mine did.



Friday, January 23, 2009

Free Game: Hunted Forever

Kongregate.com is offering a fun free game called Hunted Forever. You must make your way to headquarters while collecting machine parts along the way. You must also survive the trip. Lots of running, jumping and climbing.

Go Play Hunted Forever

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Free Game: Monster Invasion

MiniClip.com is offering a fun free game called Monster Invasion. You spring traps in order to prevent monsters from overrunning the city of London.

Go Play Monster Invasion

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Incredible 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' Film

Absolutely magnificent work is on display here from filmmaker Patrick de Leon. His 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century' is one of the very best examples I have seen of online science fiction film. This guy is just exploding with talent and skill. His visual sense is astounding and his mastery of the old B movie sci-fi serial style is simply perfect. This is what internet video is all about. This is why the world is different now. I would rather watch this filmmaker's Buck Rogers films than most of what is shown on television. I sincerely hope this filmmaker creates many more of these. If he does, we'll show them here... every single one. Enjoy this fantastic science fiction treat!




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

County Ghost - Episode 3 Online

Mike Geiger has posted episode 3 of his County Ghost animated web series. 'Coast to Coast Ghost' has our delightful and naughty little ghost stealing moonshine and reveling in the moonshiner's desperate attempts to get it back. The cartoon is full of character and makes me laugh. I love the slightly retro drawing style that reminds me of things on TV from Hannah Barbera in the 60s. I think the County Ghost is a character many viewers will enjoy.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Original 1948 Animation

The story of Rudolph was originally written as a promotional device for a department store. In 1948, Max Fleischer directed this animated version for the Montgomery Ward department store. It has the song and everything. It's a totally different experience than the stop-motion version of the mid-1960s and is actually quite good. In fact, most of our modern imagery for Santa Clause and his North Pole operations were created by American department stores as merchandising gimmicks. It's actually one of America's best contributions to the world of holidays.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Christmas Comes But Once a Year: 1936 Animation

A 1936 cartoon from Fleischer Studios features the character of Grampy from the Betty Boop cartoons. When he comes upon an orphanage full of sad children he makes a Christmas far better than what they could have hoped for.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Friday, December 19, 2008

Santa's Workshop: 1932 Disney Christmas Cartoon

From 1932 comes Santa's Workshop, a Silly Symphonies cartoon from Walt Disney. It's super-colorful and has just that right old-time Christmas touch. Enjoy!




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Original 'Winnie the Pooh' Illustrations

The BibliOdyssey blog has posted original Ernest H. Shepard Winnie the Pooh illustrations. These are the illustrations that were originally published with the Pooh books. They are vastly superior to the Disney art and animations which make their usual mistake of being far too professional. If you want to nap, watch Disney's Pooh. If you want to laugh, read the original books.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Sleigh Ride: A Christmas Animation

Here's a music video for Christmas. It was animated by Funnypages Productions for a band called Relient K.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the Vimeo site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Monday, November 10, 2008

NASA Animation of Return to Moon

Here is an excellent NASA computer animation of their current plan for mankind's return to the moon. It covers the mission from launch to splashdown. Without any voice over, it explains the entire mission in simple visual terms.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Friday, October 31, 2008

County Ghost: A Cartoon Series for Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody! Here's a perfect treat for you. County Ghost is a lovely cartoon series by Mike Geiger. It's about a happy homeowner who finds himself doing battle with a ghost. He tries everything to protect his little home. Will anything work?

Episode 1: Not My Moonshine


Episode 2: The Big Suck


Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Graveyard Book: Neil Gaiman Reads the Entire Book Aloud

Coming just in time for Halloween, author Neil Gaiman has posted videos of his public readings of his latest novel, The Graveyard Book. You can hear the entire book which is about a child who is raised by the ghosts and werewolves who inhabit a haunted graveyard. He's a good reader and this story is perfect for a nice haunted listening session. The book is aimed at middle readers.

Watch all Chapters of The Graveyard Book Reading

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

There Will Come Soft Rains: Russian Animation

Here is a science fiction animation from the former Soviet Union. It is based on a Ray Bradbury short story about a robot caretaker that keeps functioning even after some sort of nuclear annihilation. This is one of those wonderful Russian films that makes you think and creates an unforgettable atmosphere.




Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Presto: Animated Short from Pixar

Here's a very nice little animation from the Pixar group at Disney. I like it. It looks good, it moves quickly, it's funny, and it's short. It concerns a magician's rabbit who is hungry for a carrot just before a magic show. He wants that carrot pretty badly and will stop at nothing to get it.




This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

How to Hook Up Your Home Theater: A Goofy Cartoon From Disney

Here's a new cartoon from Disney starring Goofy. It's about all the excitement of going out and buying a brand new television and setting it all up to perfection as only Goofy can. It's also the first Goofy theatrical cartoon since 1961. The film was made entirely without paper as an experiment by Disney to see if they could make a film with the look of a 1940s animation, but using computer drawing tablets. I think the experiment turned out well for them and perhaps it will give the company a welcome alternative to the Pixar computer animation they have been so inexplicably attached to.



Remember that if you click the video to visit the YouTube site, there may be material there that is unsuitable for young viewers.


This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Star Trek Comics for Free Online

Star Trek comic books from the 60s and 70s are available for free viewing on the Wowio.com site. The Planet of No Return was published in 1967, during the original run of the TV series. It is about an encounter with intelligent and hostile plant life forms.

The series was originally published by Gold Key Comics.

Have a sci-fi blast!

Star Trek Comic: The Planet of No Return

This blog entry comes from CandlelightStories.com