Tssst

What, you never seen two celebrities chippin' about or sumthin'? Tssst.

This is myself and Lyle 'Chip' Chipperson, international sensation. After a superlative set of his in Montreal this past weekend I managed to get a quick snap with the brilliant comedian and performer Jim Norton, known for his standup, The Opie and Anthony Show and, of course, this animation I did back in 2011:

He's lost a lot of weight since then (from "gahn t'the jahm'n ate'n beh-tehr") so if I ever have time to do another one I'll have to redesign his character to have a neck.
O&A has been a background staple of my working life since 2008 and, as some may be aware, it appears to be no more after Anthony Cumia fell prey to the media hypocrisies they've so astutely ridiculed over the years and got his over-passionately-tweeting self fired. I could rant about it but many others have voiced my exact issues with far more articulacy and wit than I could, especially magical man-giant and all-around top bloke Penn Jillette:

  

Sad times. But I got to meet Chip regardless, and Ant's starting a new show on August 4th which I expect will be pretty decent, so the world appears to still be turning.

Still Skwiglin'

Just a quick fumble to keep you all appraised of some Skwigly updates.
The latest episode of Lightbox is now up and features the amiably amiable Dean DeBlois, director of How to Train Your Dragon 2. I'm more of a casual Dreamworks fan and, while I certainly enjoyed the first film, the sequel is a genuinely solid, witty piece of work which I'd definitely recommend checking out when it opens in the UK tomorrow.

There's also more Annecy 2014 coverage I haven't yet mentioned on here, have a read of some of the short film highlights and special events. Also the first piece from our time with Cartoon Network is up, wherein Laura-Beth chats to Ben Bocquelet, creator of The Amazing World of Gumball. Laura-Beth has also stepped up to design and animate this month's site banner:

These are getting to be a really nice way of engaging out writers and readers alike. You can check out an archive of prior banners here, including two personal favourites by Rumpus:

...and Sophie Klevenow:

Both of whom fall firmly into the category of people I periodically have to fight the urge to call up and say how awesome I think they are, mainly because it'd doubtless creep them out.
Some news to end on is that I've been told that Project Group-Hug is in the final stage before getting the go-ahead or not. As I've never elaborated on what it even is I appreciate that any interest in said news is probably less than nil. But it's worth keeping tabs on should it proceed. And if you never hear of it again...well, consider it a massive, derision-worthy failure. If I can offer you all nothing else than schadenfreude it's surely the least I can do.

"You don't feel it after awhile; You take the beating."

Holy effing moly, did I take a beating on Friday. While I'd planned to watch all the BST acts from afar, my overzealous enthusiasm in the moment planted me pretty much bang in the middle of the mosh pit for the first five hours. So the main thing I've taken away from the experience is: Yep, I am too old for that shiz (also for using words like 'shiz', but let's stay focused). True, it did take me back to them halcyon days of going apeshit at the Astoria and Mean Fiddler, but that was when I was young and foolish and didn't carry valuables; Nowadays nothing puts the fear into an old prick like me than the possibility of a mildly-scratched HTC display. Cold sweats just thinking about it. Brrr.
As for the day itself, bruises aside it ruled. Lemmy and his bulge were on fine form, Ozzy and the rest of Sabbath absolutely killed it, Soundgarden were nice enough to play all of Superunknown and Soulfly...um...were there also.

But Faith No More were obviously who I came for above all else, and they were utterly goddamn blistering. Of the four shows I've now seen them do, it could very well be the tightest, it's just a shame that as openers they only got an hour slot. The setlist kept to mainly tried-and-tested live classics, the only song I'd not previously seen performed being the unexpected deep track Zombie Eaters which they opened with. Also peppered throughout were all-time personal favourites Midlife Crisis, Caffeine, Everything's Ruined, We Care A Lot, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies and King For A Day. Oh, and there were the new songs they threw in near the end. The first new songs written in years, which they debuted for what I can only assume was my benefit. No biggie, whatevs. Jeez, chillax, yo.
In truth I think I experienced what women in the olden days referred to as 'the vapours'.
Being the quintet of mischievous cockteases they're known to be, there've been no subsequent updates as to what this indicates, but predictably I've been obsessing over the new material, this one in particular:

Whether or not it's a work in progress, I love it. It brings to mind moments of Perfect Crime, What A Day, Digging The Grave, even the pre-Patton days of Introduce Yourself. I am over the freakin' moon. Along with the mysterious song Matador, which debuted in 2011, this now makes for three new songs in five years of being back together. Another couple years and we might have ourselves an EP, people!
Now to not move for several weeks while my bones knit. In the meantime I'll leave you with some Faith No Moreoke:

Post by Ben Mitchell - Creative Offal.