animation & cartoons
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (2005)
with Aaron Ehasz as head writer. It aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons, from February 2005 to July 2008.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is set in an Asiatic-like world in which some people can manipulate one of the four elementsâwater, earth, fire, or airâwith telekinetic variants of the Chinese martial arts known as “bending”. The only individual who can bend all four elements, the “Avatar”, is responsible for maintaining harmony between the world’s four nations, and serves as the bridge between the spirit world and the physical world. The show is presented in a style that combines anime with American cartoons, and relies on the imagery of mainly East Asian culture, with some South Asian, New World, and Inuit and Sireniki influences.
The Legend of Korra
Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (2014)
The series is animated in a style strongly influenced by anime.
As with its predecessor, the series is set in a fictional universe in which some people can manipulate, or “bend”, the elements of water, earth, fire, or air. Only one person, the “Avatar,” can bend all four elements, and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world. The series follows Avatar Korra, the successor of Aang from the previous series, as she faces political and spiritual unrest in a modernizing world.
Harley Quinn
Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, & Dean Lorey (2019)
Look
Sébastien Tellier (2011)
Hold Yourself
Tune-Yards (2021)
Video by Basa
Directed by Diego Huacuja T.
Producer: Melissa Lopez Ley
Character Design: Diego Huacuja T.
Background Design: Max Vera
Character Animation: Alberto Bala, Francisco OrtĂz, Daniela Espinosa.
Animation & Compositing: Diego Huacuja T., Eduardo Moya
Production Company: Obsidian
Executive Producer: Doug Klinger
Head of Production: Anna Heinrich
Post Coordinator: Maddie Ogden
Directorâs Rep: Doug Klinger, Undine Markus @ Reprobates
Hamir Atwal – drums
Nate Brenner – bass, drum programming, percussion, keys, vocals
Merrill Garbus – vocals, drum programming, DX7, Mellotron, piano, percussion, loops
Matt Nelson – saxophone
Ross Peacock – synths
Mixed by Eli Crews / Mastered by Joe LaPorta
Official website: http://tune-yards.com
Real
Chelou (2020)
Vinyl Available from: https://chelou.bandcamp.com/â
Video by Stan Wright.
Naked Lunch
David Cronenberg (1991)

âNothing is true; everything is permitted.â Welcome to Interzone, the hellish playground of William Burroughsâ âNaked Lunchâ. Along with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, Burroughs was among the central figures of the Beat generation. Over a frenzied decade bridging the 1950s and â60s they were instrumental in reshaping Americaâs cultural landscape, tearing up their eldersâ starchy doctrine and blazing the trail for the counterculture that followed. As dynamic, brilliant young things they seemingly make for ideal cinematic subjects, but only one film managed to capture something of the essence of its author and the Beat generation at large: David Cronenbergâs Naked Lunch.
A key idea of the Beat generation was to treat the most authentic, uncensored human thoughts and desires as art. In a buttoned-up society, they challenged social norms via their insatiable appetite for sex, drugs and confessional intimacy. âNaked Lunchâ was banned for years in the US and even taken to court for its perceived obscenity, while Ginsbergâs âHowlâ suffered a similar fate. Both eventually won their respective trials, ultimately helping to liberate American publishing. Liberalisation was, in many ways, what the Beat generation was all about: from strait-jacketed literature, from sexual repression, from lock-step social conformity.
The problem with films about the Beat generation is that so few are genuinely transgressive. But Naked Lunch is a different beast altogether. As is protagonist Bill Leeâs typewriter â itâs an insect that groans with pleasure as he works it, crowing for him to rim its pulsing sphincter with drugs. Bill Lee is really Burroughs, and Cronenbergâs film is about his becoming a writer â his relationship with his typewriter. Rather than attempting to adapt the book in a literal sense, Cronenberg treated Burroughsâ schizoid prose as a secondary source. He gave it structure, but it remains essentially a bizarre work.
To read more of this article by Tom Graham follow the link: https://lwlies.com/articles/naked-lunch-david-cronenberg-william-burroughs/
American Pop
Ralph Bakshi ft. Jefferson Airplane (1981)
Following the production struggles of The Lord of the Rings, Ralph Bakshi decided that it was time to work on something more personal. He pitched American Pop to Columbia Pictures president Dan Melnick. Bakshi wanted to produce a film with an extensive soundtrack of songs which would be given an entirely new context in juxtaposition to the visuals in a film. While the film does not reflect Bakshi’s own experiences, its themes were strongly influenced by individuals he had encountered in Brownsville. The film’s crew included character layout and design artist Louise Zingarelli, Vita, Barry E. Jackson, and Marcia Adams, each of whom brought their own personal touch to the film. Bakshi once again used rotoscoping, in an attempt to capture the range of emotions and movement required for the film’s story. According to Bakshi, “Rotoscoping is terrible for subtleties, so it was tough to get facial performances to match the stage ones.”
The score for American Pop was composed by Lee Holdridge. As the result of his reputation as an innovator of adult animation, Bakshi was able to acquire the rights to an extensive soundtrack, including songs by Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, George Gershwin, The Mamas & the Papas, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed, and Louis Prima, for under $1 million in permissions fees. Due to music clearance issues, the film was not released on home video until 1998.
Sorry
Danny Elfman (2021)
Animation by Jesse Kanda
Art Direction and production by Berit Gwendolyn Gilma
Videographer: Melisa McGregor
Make-up & Hair: Lizbeth Williamson
Music & Lyrics by Danny Elfman
Produced by Danny Elfman
Recorded and co-produced by Noah Snyder
Mixed by Zakk Cervini
Mix Assistant: Nik Trekov
Mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound
Vocals, Guitars & Synths by Danny Elfman
Drums – Josh Freese
Guitars – Robin Finck & Nili Brosh
Bass – Stu Brooks
Percussion and Additional Drums â Sidney Hopson
Orchestration by Steve Bartek and Mikel Hurwitz
Choir orchestration by Marc Mann
Midi Prep â Orlando Perez Rosso
Copyist â Scott McRae
Executive Produced by Laura Engel
Project Produced by Melisa McGregor
Danny Elfmanâs Representation – Kraft-Engel Management
Sorry (lyrics by Danny Elfman)
Iâm So SorryâŠ
There isn’t time â for revolution
There isn’t time â to evolutionize or hide
Those things most precious – Our most precious
Things that got erased, corrupted, infiltrated
I’m so sorry â I’m so sorry
Iâm gonna try, Iâm gonna try
To get away from your compelling
Mist of lies and misconceptions
No protection, no escape
Where I will never have to see your fucking face
You suffocate me
I canât breathe while youâre alive
I canât breathe while youâre alive
You suffocate, you suffocate
And Iâm so sorry that I didnât die
Or just evaporate into a toxic cloud
It’s gonna break â it’s gotta break,
It’s made of glass, it’s gonna break
And all the hate that you collected
And infused into protected piles of shit
Glass eyed devotees will flock to your gates
Your house is on fire â your house is on fire
Pull it forward â pull it back
Your eyes are empty, cold and black
We gotta break it, we gotta break it
We gotta break that fucking jack whip
on a broken hip â my life is a joke if I can’t even breathe.
Sorry you exist because you suck the fucking air out of my lungs
I am not afraid to die â still alive, still alive
And I won’t let you bury me
© 2021 Danny Elfman, under exclusive license to Epitaph / Anti Music & lyrics published by Morte Pharmaceutical Music (BMI)
Morning
VojtÄch DomlĂĄtil (2019)
Raya and the Last Dragon
Don Hall & Carlos LĂłpez Estrada (2021)

Raya and the Last Dragon takes us on an exciting, epic journey to the fantasy world of Kumandra, where humans and dragons lived together long ago in harmony. But when an evil force threatened the land, the dragons sacrificed themselves to save humanity. Now, 500 years later, that same evil has returned and itâs up to a lone warrior, Raya, to track down the legendary last dragon to restore the fractured land and its divided people. However, along her journey, sheâll learn that itâll take more than a dragon to save the worldâitâs going to take trust and teamwork as well.
Raya and the Last Dragon features an outstanding voice cast, including Kelly Marie Tran as the voice of the intrepid warrior Raya; Awkwafina as the legendary dragon, Sisu; Gemma Chan as Rayaâs nemesis, Namaari; Daniel Dae Kim as Rayaâs visionary father, Benja; Sandra Oh as Namaariâs powerful mother, Virana; Benedict Wong as Tong, a formidable giant; Izaac Wang as Boun, a 10-year-old entrepreneur; Thalia Tran as the mischievous toddler Little Noi; Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk, Rayaâs best friend and trusty steed; Lucille Soong as Dang Hu, the leader of the land of Talon; Patti Harrison as the chief of the Tail land; and Ross Butler as chief of the Spine land.
Animal Farm
John Halas & Joy Batchelor (1954)

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell in 1945. It is an allegorical novella, first published in England. The book tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals can be equal, free, and happy.
Disenchantment
Matt Groening (2021)
Bean (Princess Tiabeanie Mariabeanie de la Rochambeau Grunkwitz) must step up her princess game amid royal plots, deepening mysteries, King ZĂžg’s increasing instability, and concerns about who will rule Dreamland.
Bean must step up her princess game amid royal plots, deepening mysteries, King ZĂžg’s increasing instability and concerns about who will rule Dreamland. Set in the medieval fantasy kingdom of Dreamland, the series follows the story of Bean, a rebellious and alcoholic princess, her naive elf companion Elfo, and her destructive “personal demon” Luci. Disenchantment stars the voices of Abbi Jacobson, Eric Andre, Nat Faxon, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Matt Berry, David Herman, Maurice LaMarche, Lucy Montgomery, and Billy West.
Tattertown
Ralph Bakshi (1988)
The special was an unsold pilot episode for a series, Tattertown, about a place where everything discarded in the world came alive. Christmas in Tattertown aired on the cable television network Nickelodeon.
Ralph Bakshi originated the idea for Tattertown in high school, where it was originally a comic strip called Junk Town. The strip made light of the human condition by showing the value of things we throw away.
Bakshi worked with Nickelodeon to bring his strip to life as a regular television series, which would have served as Nickelodeon’s first original animated series. In 1988, they commissioned him to create a pilot, which aired on December 21, 1988 during the network’s Nick at Nite block of programming.
Learn more about Ralph Bakshi at https://www.ralphbakshi.com/
She Rock I Roll
Chelou (2019)
https://www.chelou.co.uk/
I Won’t Dance
Willie Nelson & Diana Krall (2021)
for Nelsonâs upcoming tribute album Thatâs Life.
Willie Nelson explores the deep corners of the Frank Sinatra catalog on his new album Thatâs Life, out February 26th. In addition to tackling classics like âYou Make Me Feel So Youngâ and âIâve Got You Under My Skin,â Nelson interprets lesser-known Sinatra recordings like 1959âs âJust in Timeâ and âA Cottage for Sale.â âIâm just glad to be able to do another tribute to him,â said Nelson, who released his first Sinatra tribute, My Way, in 2018. âIâm anxious to get it out there.â
On Friday, Nelson released another track, âI Wonât Dance,â a standard composed by Jerome Kern and recorded by Sinatra in 1957 for A Swinginâ Affair!, his 12th studio album (He cut it in 1962 for SinatraâBasie: An Historic Musical First too.) Nelson recorded the track â which has also been covered by everyone from Fred Astaire to Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett â with Diana Krall. The two star in a joyful animated video by Manuel Casares and Antonio Corral (a.k.a. Crocantes), an animation team who say their video was âinspired by classic cartoons, fashion illustrations and Hollywood glamor, screwball and slapstick comedies.â
Nelson has called Sinatra his favorite all-time singer. âHe had a great choice of songs,â Nelson said recently. âHe picked all the best songs in the world to record â and of course he had access to them. But I loved his phrasing. He and I recorded a couple of songs together many, many years ago. We did âMy Wayâ together, and we did âA Foggy Day (in London Town).â We did a commercial together one time, I forget what it was for. Some satellite or something. I got to hang out with him a little bit but not as much as I wanted to.â
Written by Patrick Doyle for Rolling Stone magazine.