Ready, Set...

totally smitten.

2009-09-21T19:53:00.003-04:00

Okay, so updates are in order.

We WILL have an actual flash cartoon by the end of October, just in time for Halloween. So update your flash player for our first try at AWESOMENESS!

in the mean time and between time, this video is what I've been watching on repeat for four reasons.

1. Band is awesome
2. She can sing extremely well.
3. Dynamic and catchy song.
4. Uh, I think I'm in love with her cause of reason 2? Don't judge me for my pop guilty pleasure.

So, enjoy the video and stay tuned for updates - we promise this time! ;)

There are 10 types of people in this world (BINARY!)

2009-07-17T13:06:00.004-04:00

A new obsession of mine. Totally geeked out.

The Mid Summer Classic

2009-07-15T17:21:00.005-04:00

The MLB All Star Game has come and gone and has marked the halfway point of not only the baseball season but the summer season as well. Now baseball has things that make it unique from any other sport. Basketball has the slam dunk, Hockey has the uninterrupted fisticuffs, Football has the endzone celebrations/dance, and Baseball has the unique art of manager/coach/player vs umpire arguments. In every sport a player or coach can be ejected for misconduct, but only in baseball does the ejection become on art form. Managers and coaches who and enraged get their money's worth and give the umpires an ear full of sweet nothings before they go back to the locker room. And this unique phenomena is seen in almost every level of baseball from professional to amateur leagues. I have been interning for a baseball team this summer in a college summer league and the more memorable things I will remember are seeing the coach arguing and getting ejected by the umpire. There are stories of fathers being tossed in their sons little league game, so this gesture is apart of the game as fighting is in hockey. Here is a video of the most amazing and hilarious baseball ejection brought to you by Phillip Wellman a minor league manager of the Mississippi Braves. And enjoy the rest of your summer!

Summer = movies

2009-06-30T11:48:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in this thing for a LONG time, but now its time for one of my random rants. Summer has come upon us and that only means one thing, summer movie blockbusters. That's right all the movies that we've seen previews for the past months are finally being released. And of course some of the movies that are/coming out are gonna be awesome or suck or somewhere in between depending on ones taste in movies.

I recently saw the new installment of Transformers, and if you liked the first one you will love this one. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, comes back with the characters Sam (Shia LaBeouf), Mikaela (Super hot Megan Fox), Optimus, Bumble Bee and the rest of the transformers are back to save Earth from destruction from Megatron and the Decepticons. Just like that first film the film is not shy of starting off with action and destruction and explosions. We can thank all the pyrotechnics to the director of both films Michael Bay. The new film is not shy from the firework display throughout the film. Here is a clip inside the mind of Michael Bay brought to you by none other than South Park

And don't get me wrong I came into the film thinking it wasn't going to be great, but I did throughly enjoy it. I only had a few problems with the film and I might sound nitpicky with this. Well first of all the length of the film, 2 1/2 hours! I believe most films should stay at the 2hr mark. Even though the film didn't have many dull/slow moments I did catch myself looking at the time a couple of times. Second was the amount of plot lines that was being shown in the film. The film of course focused around Sam Witwicky and the Autobots and N.E.S.T. and of course a good narrative usually has 2 plots, A-story B-story, that go back and forth and eventually intertwine by the resolution. But with the over two hours of film, it still seemed that there was still too much going on for one narrative. Many things could have been cut out and still would have still made the film enjoyable. Including things that could have been toned down was the amount of comic relief in the film. It is necessary to keep an action film of this magnitude to enjoy. Jive talking twin Autobots? Mother Witwicky eating weed brownies? funny but almost unnecessary. Finally the action scenes were easier to follow than the last film, but that does not necessarily mean I still fully grasped what was going on when giant robots fight each other. If someone didn't randomly say Optimus or Bumble Bee when the fight was going on it was hard to determine who was winning til the end of battle.

Overall, I did enjoy the film and it met my expectations. But hopefully the rest of the summer films will be better than Transformers. Sorry for such the long post, but I needed to make up for lack of posting on the blog.

classic

2009-06-18T22:41:00.001-04:00

taking it back to the ol school.

googoogJOB?

2009-06-11T03:25:00.002-04:00

hiatus much? yeah, we've been pretty ghost. job searching post grad life is tough.

this might hold us over for a bit though.

Stay Thirsty My Friends

2009-05-06T16:18:00.002-04:00

To quote Tanner, "he reminds me of chuck norris"

Tribute to Otis

2009-05-05T13:46:00.002-04:00

Okay, so we missed those april/march deadlines.

But we have a good excuse - we're graduating!!! So, actual comic strips will be soon forthcoming.

In the meantime, I've been studying while listening to this awesome cover. Check it out!

spring breakin boogaloo

2009-03-16T09:04:00.009-04:00

i feel obligated to explain a recent lack of posts - this video of fan adoration at a washington wizards game should explain it all.

It was McGee! - Rizzy Ref

explanation given: it was spring break for the readyandset crew!*

as we ambitiously tried to work day in and day out to try and start to provide you some in-office/at work browsing entertainment, we got sidetracked by road trips to atlantic city and to dc for a wizards game. debauchery ensued in straight sets (and apparently we also were reading dictionaries to improve our vocab - bad pun)

we still are striving for more content to include but need you, YES YOU, our loyal followers to help us brainstorm scene specific stuff of what you would like to see! so we'd like to start with a very easy brainstorming game of word association. we're going to post a phrase and then you to look around and pick 3 objects close to you and put them in context with that word. sound confusing? well, here's the phrase and 3 examples from yours truly.

Phrase: Violence in the workplace

Objects:

Scissors - for fencing style combat a la Errol Flynn style
A circle made of rolling office chairs - an arena for a battle royale
Post IT note pads - instant ninja star death

So you get the idea right? So get to commenting and we'll get to facilitating your great ideas! if we do use your idea, we promise to list you in credits. pinky promise.

* btw, the player featured is also Javale McGee - a Wizards rookie who's supposed to be the next Channing Frye. which might not be a good thing to be Javale McGee

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

2009-03-03T09:54:00.004-05:00

To all of ReadyandSet's faithful followers:

We are sorry to report that our first goal of having a comic strip/storyboard by the end of February will not be happening until late March (hopefully). The ReadyandSet team has been diligently trying to piece together our ideaphile personalities (and remember to write or record some of these ideas when not in "questionable" states of mind) and finish our undergraduate careers at our respective universities. But anyways, to be proactive and motivate our lazy asses, here's a list of some things to expect in the coming weeks:

First comic strip (WE PROMISE!) by end of March. with a bona-fide guest illustrator!
A peek into how our group brainstorming process works! check out our iMeem player for updates!
an actual logo for us? ideas are welcome!

So yeah - lofty goals eh? We don't think so - the lower our goals are, the more we won't be dissapointed later - we like to strive for mediorce-tion.

In the mean time, please enjoy an awesome clip from Flight of the Conchords - R&B style.

All Hail the King!

2009-02-18T22:44:00.004-05:00

I am a very big Late Night with Conan O'Brien fan. I remember staying awake even though i had school at 7 am to catch some classic late night moments (Andy Richter being fake-shot in his classic sidekick chair, the introduction of the string dance, and the coining of "Settle down my babies!"). So in honor of the last week of Late Night before his new gig taking over for Leno, below is a clip from last night's show about immortalizing a classic (and one of my favorite) characters.

Warning: this clip is not for those with reservations. but definitely for any star wars fan.

p.s. keep listening to the mix to the right! i wonder if I should start to include songs I'm currently listening to on this..hmm.

Office Space Jam Party

2009-02-17T16:46:00.007-05:00

To the right for your enjoyment, an exclusive session from Corporate America. Props to Mike Rizzy for the upload!

btw - Netflix on your xbox is the shiznit.

black mamba kicks

2009-02-09T20:45:00.005-05:00

when i get to work in the morning, i have my daily routine of what websites i check out before i actually start working (pending 830am meetings, which never make sense to me). gmail, vcu stuff, cnn, mikerizzy, monpetitchaton, vbtodc, marinel's, pretty ricky (whose blog has thank goodness resurrected!) and whatever else i want to tab browse. but what caught me today was on hypebeast. after seeing a crazy simpsons painting, i run into this animated movie about onitsuka tiger shoes. crazy concept on how the years of the chinese zodiac were chosen. check check it out.

Big things poppin

2009-02-06T12:00:00.004-05:00

Inside The Mind Of Mike Rizzy - check out the interview!

Wonderful weekend. I didn't do anything related to work, school, or cartoon endeavors. Saw a show, drank a little, slept, ate. Perfectly enjoyable.

Mega Man's Cousin

2009-01-16T11:27:00.002-05:00

totally psyched about this. and at least they out a shirt on him to cover that bird chest of his.

Plug One

2009-01-06T14:02:00.003-05:00

VOTE VOTE VOTE! Chek and the Family for best urban group!

Auld Lang Syne

2009-01-05T09:58:00.004-05:00

Well, 2008 has come and gone (as well as vacation time - but hanging out with long lost friends in person as opposed to just AIM is great). Hello 2009. I hope we get to know each other intimately in this uncertain future.

Enough of all that, down to business.

During a mid week birthday celebration, J Zap kindly introduced me to her new blog which highlights events, local talent, and etc. from Va Beach to DC. Pretty ambitious and cool project.

I've been meaning to respond to Mar's 16 random facts about yourself but I think that may have to wait until I've finally finished answering all these e-mails and phone calls. Life post-vacation is already becoming nerve racking. But what I do appreciate most about this little answer survey is the ideas that can come out of it. And my 2009 is going to be about accomplishing these ideas, straight up - Thanks Mar!

A recent show I went to at the Norva for my friend Jojo's band Chek and the Family went well. Their syncopation is tight (especially the bass, drums and keyboard - and am I wrong in seeing that their keyboardist was reading sheet music off her macbook? shit was tight) and its pretty obvious that their musicality and chemistry with each other is dope. * Video to be posted soon.

And finally....

Please expect to see storyboards and an actual comic strip (fo real fo real) by late February. All that downtime sure did leave me motivated.

Tukes and the E-dubbetes

2008-12-15T14:37:00.004-05:00

So I've been debating on buying a bass guitar to try and relearn my music skills. Instead I ended up buying this.

That's right - I ended up buying Guitar Hero: World Tour with the complete instrument set. Which brings up the debate of kids playing this instead of learning actual instruments. Coming from my POV, I did learn bass before this ever came out and I gotta say that this is still *%^@-ing awesome. I mean, this is still cheaper than buying a damn Gibson Les Paul with lessons (but who would actually buy a Gibson and then have to take lessons?) Plus, South Park heavily influenced my decision.

The Tonight Show with Manny Pacquiao?

2008-12-13T20:25:00.004-05:00

Well by now you know that Jay Leno is staying with NBC and moved to an earlier timeslot with Conan taking over the Tonight Show. We also know that Manny Pacquiao is the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Now what would happen if the two collided? Well in this article I read in examiner.com what would happened if Late Night and Pac-man joined forces.

Here's and insert of the week's lineup if Manny hosted the show
just imagine, each weeknight could feature Pacquiao in a different format.

On Mondays, Pacquiao could host "Boxing with the Stars," in which each week a Hollywood celebrity gets the tar beat out of him or her by an emerging male or female pugilist who wants national attention.

On Tuesdays, Pacquiao could host "Who Wants to be a Sports Millionaire," in which each week he asks sports trivia questions of eager fans who think they know everything there is to know about winning athletes, ranging from Max Baer to Jackie Robinson, from Olga Korbut to Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

On Wednesdays, Pacquiao could host "Whose Punchline is It, Anyway," in which each week rising young comics join old comedy pros live on stage to trade unrehearsed verbal jabs.

On Thursdays, Pacquiao could host "Olympic Sports Idol," in which aspiring athletes in every field of Olympic sports compete each week for audience votes with the winner joining the next Olympics team.

On Fridays, he could host "The Manny Pacquiao Show," a high-quality variety show, you know, the live show that NBC should have produced last week instead of the bomb it dropped with Rosie O'Donnell.

Why not? American television is ready for Manny Pacquiao... but this is a good article to generate ideas off of. It a good source of inspiration.

Bugs Bunny as Queer as a Three Dollar Bill?

2008-12-05T19:23:00.004-05:00

It's been a pretty damn long time since I posted, with the semester ending and turning papers in and taking test, I've finally had time to express myself about something I read about awhile back.

Looney Tunes cartoons, we've all grown up on them, with Bugs Bunny being our primary protagonist. But did you ever consider Bugs being the symbol in the 1950s and 60s are a queer icon? Well in a essay I read entitled "Bugs Bunny as Queer as a Three Dollar Bill" by Sartin, it explains how Bugs Bunny is an avid crossdresser. And after viewing a few Bugs Bunny cartoons on youtube, I would have to agree that Bugs likes to dress in drag. The funny thing is when Elmer Fudd or whoever is after Bugs they always falls for Bugs dressed as a woman, then something happens that compromises Bugs costume and Elmer Fudd or whoever is super pissed that he isn't a woman. I decided to post one of the more famous Looney Tunes cartoons entitled What's Opera, Doc?

Now the essay goes on, that the Production Code, which was like the MPAA of the 1940s didn't allow any sexual suggestive material in any films, but cartoons were left alone and the code was rarely enforced for cartoons, letting animators do anything they want. So they could get away with such suggestive material. Nowadays these cartoons seem more or less harmless and still funny as they were 50 years ago. But now I can't help but have my image of Bugs Bunny tarnished after reading this essay.

Fly me to the moon.

2008-12-03T10:59:00.005-05:00

How the hell did I miss this? I need to start stargazing more.

Venus (left) Jupiter (right) Frank Sinatra Song Theme (middle)

...and the Procrastinating Student.

2008-12-01T19:50:00.002-05:00

I dislike turning this blog into a forum of how I frequently go on youtube, but this did catch my eye (and ear). Also, I promised a comic strip with two characters soon - might not happen until this hell week of exams is over. But stay tuned and you might see something funny!

mickey R&B

2008-11-23T18:23:00.000-05:00

Look at this Ne-Yo wannabe.

T.G.I.F.

2008-11-21T12:51:00.003-05:00

With all jokes aside on Family Matters, Full House, and Step-by-Step, I am very glad its the weekend. Even though I will have a shitload of work to do by Monday, at least it can be done in the comfort of my home and in pajamas.

I have been meaning to post lately (Please stay tuned for the first two CHARACTERS! In a comic strip spoof maybe?), but work and school do seem to suck the life out of you. And since it's also so close to Thanksgiving, getting ready for my family's annual trip to Jersey (Bloomfield in the hiizzzzouse!) to visit the other TuKay's is making all of us a little antsy.

But even in this gloom of the work week, there are certain things that can't help to make me laugh. NBC's Thursday lineup of the comedy heavy hitters, Boston's asswhooping of Detroit on TNT last night, and the below:

That Martin Lawrence. Talagang funny Pare.

PaRappa Big Pooh

2008-11-06T11:45:00.006-05:00

Daytona 500 - Ghostface Killah f/ Raekwon - Props as always to Mike Rizzy for the video scoop.

Hip-hop is always going to be top 3 in my favorite music genres - Classic Rock being one (damn you Guitar Hero 2!) and R&B (who can deny Tevin Campbell's "I'm Ready?" = mood setter ). Anyways, listening to 92.1 this morning they played "Can I Get A..." as a BACK IN THE DAY JAM. Depressing cause I still remember it in the first Rush Hour movie. But hearing it also jogged my memory on a site I found a while back where someone used a whole bunch of charts/graphs to represent hip hop lyrics. After diving into my IM convos, I finally found it again.

Click and enjoy!

p.s. Picture 12 from the top was the LINE of summer 98.

p.p.s Almost forgot my idea - since there would be an anime show on the TV set where ever these characters live, how about having a hip-hop type sesame street where children are taught simple things? minus the stereotypes but with "play on words" on real artists - i.e. tribe called REST (about the value of sleep)? ranting at work does spark my imagination.

All my peoples in Osaka, Tokyo, Fu-koko, all of that!

2008-11-03T19:57:00.007-05:00

I was home this weekend and as always, my sister is constantly knitting in her spare time. But what really caught my eye this time was a scarf she was working on that had Domo's face on it. For those of you who don't know, Domo is the mascot of NHK, Japan's public broadcaster (you might have also noticed him in the Halloween Target commercials). Intrigued by what I saw, I ended up googling (my new all-time favorite hobby when I am clueless about something) it and found their effing awesome site. Everytime you click on a character, the scene changes. Usaji's home is the shiznit too.

So on a side note - how about some Japanese anime/giant robot/crazy fantastical epilepsy causing shows that a certain charcter loves (nerd/dork type kind of guy/girl)? I even think I got a name for one of them -- Boy Run Kick Go!

The Darkest of the Dark

2008-10-31T09:58:00.008-04:00

Well it is Halloween and I decided to post some thematic pics in the light of this spooky day.

Batman "The Dark Knight"

Ozzy Osbourne "The Prince of Darkness"

The Undertaker "The Lord of Darkness"

Darth Vader "The Dark Lord of the Sith"

The Comic Book Guy "The Nerd Who is Afraid of the Dark"
who is currently checking online if my "dark" references are correct and bashing my errors on his nerd blog

Hope you guys enjoy your Halloween

where am I again?

2008-10-24T13:43:00.004-04:00

A very interesting article on CNN on Friday featured some insights on forgetfulness. Some highlights that I liked:

There was Colliding-Planets Syndrome, which occurs when you fail to grasp, until too late, that you've scheduled a child's orthodontist appointment in the suburbs for the same hour as a business meeting in the city.

Quick-Who-Is-She Dysfunction surfaces when you are face-to-face with someone whose name stubbornly refuses to come to mind.

What-Am-I-Doing-Here Paranoia leaves you standing empty-handed in a doorway, trying to figure out what you've come for.

The Damn-It-They-Were-Just-in-My-Hand Affliction leads to panicky moments spent looking for your favorite new sunglasses, when all the while they're on top of your head.

And Wrong-Vessel Disorder results in placing the ice cream in the pantry rather than the freezer.

So, the idea I had was the absent-minded ward of a nursing home with these traits. Thoughts?

a threesome of sorts

2008-10-22T22:56:00.009-04:00

I work at this software company where most of the staff is out of the office until next Monday for a trade show. So I've had a lot of time on my hands to do what I want. So I decided to make this awesome traffic light from this Illustrator tutorial I was trying out.

But then I got to thinking, what if this traffic light actually had three different personalities? So, I decided to add a couple of mouths and some words of what I think they would say.

And that's how I passed the time today at work.

Have you heard the word?

2008-10-22T11:12:00.005-04:00

Watching TV the other night Family Guy was on, a good show I must say. But this one episode I was watching particularly got pretty annoying as it went on. It involved Peter singing and dancing throughout the episode to Surfin' Bird by the Trashmen. Now it was funny this first couple times he did it, but the joke was dragged probably on purpose.

Now Family Guy isn't the only show guilty of the one joke episode. South Park recently did an episode about Indiana Jones getting raped. And there one joke claim to fame is that you shouldn't shoot a guy in the dick as seen by Butters multiple times in the episode.

Now after analyzing these two successful cartoons that have been on the air for years now. There formula is quite simple, take one or two jokes build it around a narrative and stretch it to 22 mins.

i'll tell you where you can put that football lucy....

2008-10-21T11:55:00.001-04:00

My friend and I were talking about Halloween costumes and the subject of Peanuts came up. While both of us were goo-ga-googling for costume ideas, he stumbled upon this picture. Who would've thought that Charlie could look Shaolin?

Welcome to Goodburger, home of the goodburger, can I take your order?

2008-10-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

Well finally launching this starship off the ground. Enough procrastination and actually trying to make this dream into reality. I want to start off by determining where we should start off. I was sitting in class last night and both of my classes had a common theme of "genre." Now I know that comedy is what we are aiming for, but sitting in class made me ponder about what specifically should we write about? Something that we've seen before like family sitcoms like Family Guy and Simpsons, or maybe a buddy cop thing like Lethal Weapon or Rush Hour? Or should we come up with something original like a sci-fi western or some type of mixing of genres? I was personally thinking of having a film noir type of show, which is completely the opposite of comedy, but satirizing or spoofing noir elements it could possibly work... maybe.

up, up, and atem!

2008-10-20T17:36:00.000-04:00

First post. Nate and Joel are finally starting up a shared lifelong dream: to start a cartoon series. What will follow (hopefully) are some mock-ups of characters, little scripts, and etc. A timeline of wasting time or of creative genius? You decide.

Just remember that we're still going to do it regardless if you like it or not.

p.s. nostalgia for comic nerds? effing aye!