The Wide World of Geeky TV Fanart

Simpsons by Spacecoyote

Hey so you guys remember fanart right? Of course you do, half of you had a geocities website with all your crudely drawn pictures loaded up for everyone (read: no one) to see! These days with sites like deviantart and people knowing how to actually create non-tripod webpages and blogs fanart is all the more available. Well I decided to scrounge around the net and see what the current fan art for some of the great geeky shows looks like. Here's a sampling of what I found, some good, some...not so good, and some just plain strange. Enjoy!

-And for the record, nothing after the jump is NSFW, trust me, I came upon way too many of those types of images to count and had no intention of putting them up here. But yeah, thanks internet, I really could have gone without seeing some of that stuff.-



First up,
Battlestar Galactica

Nice trio of Starbuck, the Admiral and the Prez by Gould.


A couple of the Simpsonized BSG characters you may have seem floating around via Dylan Meconis.

Moving on, here's a smattering of some Mythbusters art:

The whole gang by Brian Prindville.

Adam and Jamie by Digital Duckie. Please note Adam's lovely pink underpants.

The duo again by Bill Drastal.

Heroes, anyone?

A lovely sketch card selection by crisishour. Bennet shot though the eye is always a fun image.

Here's Bennet alive and well via acidburn133, I prefer shot through the eye.

Nice rendition of the lovely Kristen Bell by scorch-d.

Goddamn that's some blood. Isaac by harbek. And speaking of blood, how about some brutal Metalocalypse art:

umm, yeah actually this is pretty character accurate for Toki.

The band by Chronofiend. Man Muderface looks even uglier, if possible.

Time for some Veture Bros.

Yes, awesome, always love when The Monarch looks badass.

Uh, woah, what the crap? Terrifying image brought to you by Spookychan.

Also ATHF:

Aqua Teens as real people, somehow not that much less creepy.

Another version of the force as humans, slightly less unnerving.

Okay see now here's where we go wrong, (or oh so hilariously right). Carl, as two characters from the anime Inu Yasha. Hilarious. Terrifying.

Now for some randoms:

Twin Peaks fan art? Yes, thank you Johanna.

COLBERT NATION MOFOS!

TEK JANSON NATION MOFOS!

Someone might like Jon Stewert just a little too much...maybe. We forgive you Carts, because it's an excellent rendition you've done.

Cowboy Bebop + Pulp Fiction = good fanart by ek

Cowboy Bebop/Fear and Loathing mix by ek.

A little Firefly courtesy of Kristele.

House NO! Why would you choke Gordon Freeman?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I'm not even sure...is that...Reboot and Zelda combined?

Oh hi Brendon Small, you're looking a little out of sorts today....

Not so much a nerdy show, but the Star Wars reference gives it a whole bag of win.

Okay so lastly, here's a ton of Futurama art I grabbed because well, it's so awesome:

League of Extrodinary Gentlemen/Futurama by loeg.

Claw Plagh! by spacecoyote.


The whole gang by spacecoyote.

Beck and Bender, again by spacecoyote.

SD Fry and Leela.

Futurama as the cast of Fifth Element. I'd watch it.

Fry playing the holophoner.

Fry and Leela ala Star Wars. It's a popular movie to mash with.


Badass rendition of the PE crew as if they were real people. Damn Zoidberg is terrifying.

OH GOD NO WHY WOULD YOU DRAW THIS PICORMDWE, WHY? WHY DO YOU WANT TO MAKE ME CRY?

Well that's it for today. I'll have to maybe do some more of these, anyone for a roundup of geeky tattoos?

Bring MC Chris' Rhymes to Life or: The Rise of Music Video Contests

Geek rap stalwart MC Chris is having a you-make-the-video contest for his new ode to the ladies, Nrrrd Girl. If the lyrics touch your heart (and they will) and you feel you can further illuminate the song's meaning with your video/animation mastery, enter the contest by February 29th for a chance to....what exactly? It's not clear, but probably the honor of having made an official MC Chris video, and possibly something else. There's no prize like a su-prize!

In related news, Chris will be a guest on Comic Book Club at the People's Improv Theater in NYC this Tuesday, January 22nd. He'll talk comics with the CBC hosts and classic comic artist Jim Starlin, and do a song or two to seal the deal. Tickets are surprisingly still available, only five bucks plus a dollar service charge.

In the wild west of user-generated new media, fan-made video contests have been embraced by a lot of mainstream artists in recent years. The winning entries vary widely in originality and profesionalism, but one tends to get what one pays for.

After the jump, we review high-profile winners and evaluate what it takes to give away your filmmaking talents for no royalties or monetary payment whatsoever. Take that, striking writers!

Kurt Nishimura won the infamous Decemberist Video Contest, one of the first challenges that promised the prize of a broadcast debut. Fans were challenged to build a video around footage of the band playing in front of a green screen, an idea Stephen Colbert contends was shamelessly stolen from his own Green Screen Challenge. The controversy culminated in a guitar battle between the Decemberist guy and Mr. Colbert, the humor of which was somewhat diminished when the Decemberists guy performed a yawner of a solo, which there's really no excuse for in the age of Guitar Hero. You might have gotten away with that in like, the 90s, but post-2005 nerds have been re-educated in the ways of the shred.

The winning video is something of a snooze itself, with a simple storyline stretched thin over the song's near four minute runtime. However, Nishimura did come up with the rather ingenious idea of encasing the pre-existing footage within a television set inside the world of the video, allowing total freedom to develop a storyline with original footage without having to use cutaways to get back to the band. More kudos for the muted cinematography, which makes everything feel a bit more professional, despite limited locations and not so polished actors.



By the way, here's the winner of the Colbert Contest, which can always use a second viewing.


From a pool of around 100 entries, Incubus selected both a Grand Prize Winner and a Band/Fan Pick. Wait, so who chose the Grand Prize Winner, the record company? Ooh, I hate those guys! The Grand Prize went to a film schoolie rape nightmare/fantasy with a generous helping of After Effects filters. The fan/band pick by Carlos Oliveira featured no band footage but instead a super emo-cartoon. Again, the problem here is a good idea stretched out to interminable lengths, achieved in case by having the characters move around verrrry slowly. But the art itself grabs you, and the story has a nice mix of literal lyric interpretation and angsty big eyed cartoons people. This entry did end up getting broadcast after all, though with cuts of the band interspliced. It's actually an improvement, and does a lot to improve the pacing issues.

Original Version

Broadcast Version


Bjork fans got the chance to create a video for Innocence, off the phenomenal Volta EP. The winning entry (chosen out of a whopping 500 submissions) was by Fred & Annabelle of France. Now THIS is a video. Perhaps there was a higher incentive for serious artists to submit their work, since Bjork has a rich history of groundbreaking music videos by the likes of Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham. This video fits snugly into that proud lineage, even including some familiar bear and robot imagery. The breadth of CG techniques on display here sometimes venture a tiny bit into demo territory, they come on so abruptly, but over all the images match the feel of the music perfectly. Also, please note this video features not footage of Bjork, but a computer generated Bjork. Amazing stuff.



Here's Levi Ahmu's winning video for the Smashing Pumpkins song, Tarantula. When did they get back together? Chosen from a mere 60-something entries, this is another After Effects party that looks like Ray of Light meets some of the newer iPod Commercials, with some disaster porn thrown in about 1:45 in. At least it's relatively short.


You may notice all of these winners heavily feature band members. This is due to the fact that these are all commercially distributed artists, and music videos are basically commercials in one form or another. MC Chris, however, is self-distributing his new album, so I'd guess the pressure to advertise his image may not be necessary for the win. You never know though, there's little Chris cartoons all over his merch. I'm guess there will be a lot of flash cartoon entries, given the web savviness and abundance of time I'd expect his fan base to have.

Personal Epilogue:

I'm entertaining the idea of pulling a Nrrrd Girl video together myself. I only heard the song a few days ago while aimlessly browsing my way further into late night depression, and the song helped put me in better spirits. Lyrics like "She might seem shy in person, it's no lie/She's always nervous/But the verdict is she's worth it/She gets crap but don't deserve it" and "She's romantic, known to panic/With anxiety attacks/Literary, it's so scary/Reading Brontes back to back/" really hit home, because some of those qualities hit home personally, and others remind me of the kind of girl I fall for. The whole thing got me a little choked up, and maybe a reaction like that is worth mining for video ideas.

Weekanerd NYC - Stephen Colbert Again, Sexy Robots, Sarah Silverman, Run Lola Run

Monday, November 5th

• Stephen Colbert
  
• 8pm @ Borders, 10 Columbus Circle, Manhattan
  

Stephen Colbert sure has been working overtime hawking his new book, I Am America (And So Can You!), in NYC. But I guess he has to work extra hard to get us godless libtards on the path to patriotism. God Bless him. And America.

Tuesday, November 6th

• David Levy Lectures: Love + Sex With Robots
  
• 7pm @ The Museum of Sex, 223 Fifth Ave, Manhattan
  

How much do you love your iPod? Enough to....marry it? David Levy lectures on the past, present and future of human emotional attachments to robots, from Tamagotchis to...other things. Should be an interesting crowd. Best of all, it's FREE!

Wednesday, November 7th

• Sarah Silverman
  
• 8pm @ Carnegie Hall, 57th St. & 7th Ave, Manhattan
  

"Excuse me sir, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Tell a lot of abortion jokes."

This show is way sold out, but if you've got the green there's always Craigslist, where tix are going from $55 to $350!

Thursday, November 8th

• Run Lola Run
  
• 8:30 @ The Museum of Modern Art (Theater ), 11 W. 53rd Street, Manhattan
  

I think I've seen this about ten times. A fast and fun movie from the the most fun country on the planet, Germany.

Weekanerd NYC: Stephen King For Free, Future President Colbert, Johnnie To, and the Men of She-Hulk

Monday, October 22nd

• Pet Sematary
  
• 10pm @ Riffifi, 332 11th Street, Manhattan

Why is it spelled "Sematary?" That's not a word. Free, no cover, and $3 PBRs if you're into that kinda thing.

Tuesday, October 23th

• Stephen Colbert
  
• 8pm @ Kaufman Concert Hall, Lexington Ave and 92nd Street
  

Stephen Colbert, AKA our next president, promotes his new book I Am America (And So Can You!). Tickets are a whopping $35, but as an American, if you can't afford it you have no one to blame but yourself.

Wednesday, October 24th

• Election & Triad Election
  
• 1pm @ The Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center Plaza & W. 65th Street, Manhattan
  

Remember when Hong Kong action movies were really big for a while? Here's a couple of mobster movies by Chinese director Johnnie To. You can order tickets for $11 bucks each online, but they're playing back to back, so it seems like you can probably sneak into the second one, right?

Thursday, October 24th

• Peter David and Dan Slott
  
• 6pm @ Jim Hanley's Universe, 4 West 33rd Street, Manhattan
  

Slott and David will be signing She-Hulk #22. I don't know why I'm not reading this book, Slott and David are so awesome. Apparently issue #22 is the beginning of the new arc, so now's the time for slowbies like me to get with the program.

Stephen Colbert Kicks A Nerd's Ass With Stone Cold Logic

Last night, video game theorist Ian Bogost came on the Colbert Report with the idea that video games can be used to further social and political understanding in the American public. CU-KOO! CU-KOO! Yeah right- more like Ian Bogus. Luckily our man Stephen don't pull no punches with leftwing nerd crazies. Colbert does seem concerned by one aspect of Bogust's argument; on the subject of whether games can prepare us for real world scenarios, Colbert poses the question "If I play a lot of World of Warcraft, will I be prepared if - if our world ever becomes Warcraft?"