Check out this new live-action/animation short, titled Cute Attack, which features the work of a number of notable animation industry folks. The short was directed by Matt Danner (The Drinky Crow Show director), written by Eric Kaplan (The Drinky Crow Show co-creator), and starring Eric Bauza (El Tigre voice actor) as the bear voice, Matt Danner as the punching bag and Zach Aufdemberg as the teacher. The music at the end is from The Frankenburies, which is Eric Pringle’s (Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends animation director) band.

Here’s a couple NASCAR-related animated clips to check out. First up is the second episode of Slotcar, an online series that parodies stock car racing. It’s sponsored by Hardee’s and the shorts are produced by Animax Unplugged. It’s not stop-motion, it’s not really puppet animation, but it’s sure damn funny. [NSFW - swears]

Next is an animated music video featuring FOX’s racing mascot Digger. The song is by Keith Urban, and the short was directed by Matt Danner (The Drinky Crow Show).

Drinky the Crow began his life in Tony Millionaire’s bleak-but-hilarious comic strip Maakies, which is syndicated in newspapers like The Village Voice, the Chicago Reader and Seattle’s The Stranger. Whether or not this makes Adult Swim the LA Weekly of television I don’t know, but the new TV series The Drinky Crow Show is definitely not ready for prime time. Let’s see why:

The show features buckets full of gunplay, blood, suicide, vomiting, incest and, of course, drinking – which ain’t for everyone. If the grotesque and gratitious is for you, aim your remote control at Adult Swim at 12:45 AM on Sunday nights. If not, maybe you should go watch another episode of Ghost Whisperer.

While the subject matter pushes the limits, there’s surely nothing grotesque about the production values of the series, which may be remembered as one of the shows that helped push CG animation art direction to new heights. Challenged with keeping Millionaire’s detailed inking style in tact, the Mirari Films crew brought an aesthetic to CG that we’ve rarely (if ever) seen before – what Millionaire calls “a Sunday newspaper comic come to life.” The show doesn’t “wow” us with exceptional character animation or acting prowess (are you familiar with Adult Swim’s anemic budgets?), but the look and feel surely made me rethink what a CG show can look like.

We are now joined by co-creators Tony Millionaire and Eric Kaplan (who also runs Mirari Films) for an few sobering questions.

AARON SIMPSON: What about the The Drinky Crow Show makes it a fit for Adult Swim?
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