Oh! Flashy!

... again, cause I don't have much to do, I was looking around at something funny to post (like this, or this, this even) when I found THIS site about the top 10 flash animations. Then I watched the ones I hadn't seen.

And here's my review of them all:
Enjoy!

10. 'Laid Off: A Day in the Life' by Odd Todd
First released in 2001, I had seen this one before and I quite enjoy it. I think that it's message (or rant really) still rings through today and it's pretty awesome that a flash movie that was put out by some guy venting on about how he was out of work has now evolved into a screenplay! The guy who compliled the top 10 list rated the shorts on all of these crazy things like "artistic merit" and "influence" but really the images are quite sloppy and even though the animation is smooth, it wouldn't exactly get anywhere at Pixar. However the mix of commentary and character makes this one classic.

9. 'Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me' by Bernard Derriman
I had also seen this one before thanks to Albino Black Sheep but it was originally released in 2004. I agree with Aaron Simpson (interview for Cold, Hard Flash and top 10 list compiler) when he said: "[Derriman's] hard-earned skills as a Disney feature animator brought a look to Flash that had rarely been seen at the time." This short has a great soundtrack and is very unique in its style. Although alot of animators use animals as characters, Derriman uses the smoothness of a motion tween in Flash while still paying attention to character details enough to make this a great animation.

8. 'Urine Trouble, Part 1' Mr. Wong by Pam Brady & Kyle McCulloch
This was a new one for me to see and I honestly didn't like it. Perhaps I need to watch more but the animation was very cut and paste from traditional animation, it was very obvious that the animators were using flash but only as a test of the medium with the style from traditional animation which I think is a moot point of using flash in the first place. The speech joke was mildly funny once but only evoked pity the second time around, a point well taken if not for the other many reasons we already had to feel sorry for Mr. Wong. Even with a preview to the next episode I couldn't maintain interest.

7. 'Dragon' Strong Bad Email #58 by Mike and Matt Chapman
As an avid avid fan of Strong Bad, I have sent this link to many many friends and even delved into the creative myself with my Trogdor Plate. This short stands out from the rest because of it's lack of blaintant political/social commentary. (The commentary is subtle at best) even though the social commentary is all over the place in the other emails. It says something about the viewers really, that they can take as much as they dish out in terms of being made fun of. I could watch this one over and I even know all of the words to the 'Trogdor' song which has now made its way into the real world as an easter egg on Guitar Hero II.

6. 'The End of the World' by Jason Windsor
Ho-kay, here’s this other video… chilling. Damn, that is a sweet video, you might say. WRONG! … alright ruling out the PC melting, networks becoming crashed into us, the internet leaving, and the a-drive exploding, we’re definitely going to blow our selves up. With laughter.
Ho-kay, so basically we’ve got Strongbad, Odd Todd, Badgers, Gollum, annoying singing lady, Gary Brolsma, and us in videos. We've got about twenty-six hundred more than anybody else, whatever.
Hanyway, one day we decides that those Strongbadia Sons of a Bitches… are goin’ down. So we post a new video. While it’s on its way, Homestar’s like “Shit! Shit! Who the fuck is posting about us!?” “Oh well, post our shit!” Then Odd Todd is like “Shit guys, they got ze videos, zey are coming, post our stuff!” But then he got tired and had a power nap.
Meanwhile, everyone online is like “WTF, mate?” Shit gets launched about Badgers and Gollum and even Captain Picard, so now we got videos about other videos all over the internet.
Russia's like, "Ahh, MOTHERLAND!" Then England's like, "'Bout that time, eh, chaps?" "Right-o," so now Disney’s like, "Fuck, we're dumbasses." Canada's like, "What's going on, eh?" Everyone is still like “WTF?” Pixar’s laughing at us, and Alan Becker’s like “Well fuck this.”
So, now we got a lot of videos. Heveryone’s got one, except Australia, and they’re like “WTF?”… but they’ll get one soon. Fucking kangaroos…
But assuming the videos keep coming, we’ll just have to worry about breaking away from the norm and continuing to be the best. Of all time. Alaska can come too. THE END!

5. 'Napster Bad!' by Bob Cesca
This video was kinda old since the specific Metallica issue is not really new anymore but I liked the sarcasm. A good use of flash in style but nothing too special.

4. 'Prowlies at the River' by Adam Phillips
This animation I hadn't seen before and is a little slow to get going but with a pretty funny finish. Thanks Disney for laying off someone else good. A good soundtrack keeps you engaged long enough to catch the ending. Unlike alot of flash clips I've seen this also has a complete beginning and ending which bumps up my rating to a 7/10.

3. 'Babysitting the Idiot' The Goddamn George Liquor Program by John K
This one is very similar to the Mr. Wong episode, earlier style, doesn't really do much new with the new medium and the dialogue could use some work. I didn't find anything about this one particularly funny or engaging. And dancing poop? that's so 90s. :P I never really liked Ren and Stimpy- so sue me.

2. 'Spin Fun Knowing Ya' Happy Tree Friends by Kenn Navarro & Rhode Montijo
A "not for big babies" violence disclaimer precedes this short, one I had never seen before today and rightly so. Even though I am usually not a fan of such sadistic pointless violence as this, it does bridge a gap between traditional tv censorship and the internet. It makes a statement about the internet in general which I do think tv and other media should pick up on. I mean really, yeah, kids shouldn't see this but it should be available anyway on tv with higher parental control software. Because without it, we just end up with crappy filler shows like the O.C.

1. 'This Land' by Gregg & Evan Spiridellis
I am usually not a fan of this style of video, to me is reeks of laziness. "End of the World" might be lazy in style but there is still a huge amount of work that it takes to put something like this together. Cutting a pasting pictures of politicians and making them talk is really so easy a child could do it. Aaron Simpson points out that he works for JibJab Media who produced this short which takes my skepticism up a notch but the media took this short to heart. The vocals are really great and the animation isn't sloppy. So much that the brothers Spiridellis were named People's well.. .People of the year in 2004.
I wouldn't really call this the most influential flash video of all time, perhaps in America but not on a global scale. And since this video was just about one issue that is now long gone, something with a longer lasting influence should take its place.