ICE AGE is Back!

Your loveable prehistoric characters were back in the Cool House earlier and are now ready to make their debut on the BIG screen. Nice work team!

Ice Age: The Continental Drift opens in theatre's July 13th 2012!

Toads on Toast

Check out Toads on Toast, illustrated by Colin Jack - He's worked on a number of HoC projects and we're stoked about his third Children's book, first with a Canadian Publisher.  Congrats Colin!

http://www.amazon.ca/Toads-Toast-Linda-Bailey/dp/1554536626

Available at chapter/indigo in September.

TAAFI Don't Miss Out!

If you guys haven't bought your tickets/passes yet better hurry! TAAFI starts in less then 2 days. Here's some info on this amazing event. Don't miss out!

With more than 100 local and international shorts 2 feature films 2 retrospectives and much more
Take advantage of first year pricing on PASSES at $99* ($175 value) and enjoy:

SPECIAL GUESTS
John K. will be here for a weekend of cartoon keynotes, first-time master class and discussions on style!
John Kricfalusi creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show for Q&A's and story master class!
A Live Almost Naked Animals cartoon script read featuring Sean Cullen and Emilie-Claire Barlow

FEATURE FILMS
May the oily gods help his soul.
Ronal the Barbarian The North American premiere of acclaimed R-Rated Danish film in 3D
Rock And Rule Nelvana's 1983 cult classic and Toronto's first animated feature film (followed by a special film maker reunion Q&A)

 

RETROSPECTIVES
The Monster of Nix, a visually overwhelming dark musical from Rosto A.D
Rosto A.D: So Far, So Evil including The Monster of Nix featuring the voices of Terry Gilliam and Tom Waits
Kaj Pindal a retrospective of the NFB master's work followed by a Q&A with the living legend himself

PARTNER SCREENINGS
STASH Magazine Presents: The Best in VFX
**Family Screening and Workshop at the NFB Meditaheque
(different venue, 150 John Street)


PITCHLAB and PITCH-A-PALOOZA
Sign up soon for TAAFI's Pitch-A-Palooza and Pitchlab for the opportunity to speed date with development executives, have your idea heard and maybe even picked up. Each participant is guaranteed a minimum of three (3) face-to-face speed meetings with some of the industry's key decision makers from broadcast and development.

With all of this plus workshops, master classes and more films than we can sanely list here, TAAFI promises an awe-inspiring weekend of animation arts!

For passes, tickets and information visit taafi.com

*Festival pass does not include the workshops, or master classes.
**You must call (416)-973-3012 to REGISTER for Family Screening and Workshop at the NFB Meditaheque
Do not hesitate to get in touch!
Info@taafi.com

@TheTAAFI

www.taafi.com

taafi.com/

A little Bit of Harry in My Life

I figured most of our posts are about food and ping pong games and rarely about cool animated pieces, so I wanted to write about this and give the pie and cheesecake a break for a bit. So humor me as I try to delve into the world of animation...... that is what we do here right? :P J/K

So I have recently been missing Harry Potter in my life, now that the movies are finished and I've read each book at least 3 times, I was feeling a void. To fill this hollow emptiness I turned to the LEGO series of Harry Potter for XBOX 360. I have finished both games now and have started working on unlocking all the extra goodies in order to reach the 100% mark.

In the Deathly Hollows movie they had added a "beautifully cool" animated bit to tell the story of the Peverell Brothers and the 3 deathly hollows. The story originated in the Tales of Beddle the Bard, a separate book written by "Beedle the Bard" (JK Rowling) depicting young wizard fairytales. I fell in love with this section of the movie and was delightfully surprised when I got to the "Luna Love" level and found that they had Incorporated it into the game. As I played the level, which was extremely frustrating at times, you meet Death like 4 times, that is like meeting bowser 4 times in one level, I realized though through gritted teeth and loss of LEGO studs that the beautiful art on my T.V screen was a video game! Amazing what we have done with the mix of art and technology!!!

I have added a video of the level below (skip to 5:00), it does not do it justice, but I thought you might enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Our Intern's Gallery

Our Interns Seema and Perrin have been hard at work for the past few months. They have been learning the ins and outs of the business. I decided it was about time to show off what we've been teaching them here at House of Cool. All art work is up for sale except the octopus, that was made specifically for Collin as a token of their appreciation for his teachings. Apparently he reminds them of a slimey top hatted 8 tentical bow tie wearing creature? The wiener dog pieces were inspired by a dog used by a fellow artist to attract more attention from the female race. The Interns felt the need to stand up against animal cruelty!

The Bosses are Away!

Well it has been about a week now that the Boss man and Boss asian man have been away and I think we are finally starting to let loose at the studio!!!

Best Game Ever!

Ok so the title might be a bit drastic. But If you are a big fan of the TV show Community, then to you this might be the Best Game Ever!!

If you don't watch the show you definitely should. It is a big part of my TV followings along with Game of Thrones, Adventure Time, Archer, Family Guy..........  you get the point. Its a great show! Recently they delved into the animation world and made an episode in the form of an 16-bit video game. Here's a clip from that episode.

Now after this episode Reddit user Derferman has actually taken the time to turn the episode into an actual game. He took no favoritism and made the game compatible with both Windows and Macs, here is the link to the game enjoy! And if you haven't watched the show yet you should probably get on that!

http://www.reddit.com/r/hawkthorne/comments/urbmm/release_journey_to_the_center_of_hawkthorne_v0014/


cool............cool, cool!

Ricardo's Interview

After the posting of "People Demand Pie", I was able to catch up with Ricardo himself to ask him why his promise for pie fell through, and this is what we talked about.

Click here to view Interview

The People Demand Pie

A little while ago and incident happened at the studio. It involved a promise that was never fulfilled and then a protest that was definitely answered.

The situation:
A certain Ricardo Curtis had decided to promise the people of House of Cool that there would be pie last Thursday. Well as you can guess that did not happen. There were allot of grumblings and unfulfilled cravings for the sweet and tart dessert. By Friday there was nothing Ricardo could do but give the people what they deserved. PIE!!!

The people were satisfied and extremely full!

Lebron

Check out the Article on "The LeBrons"
http://www.animationmagazine.net/people/believe-entertainment-groups-the-lebrons/

Employee of the Week

Today's employee of the week is Vivian Ho! Our accountant extraordinaire! She keeps everything running smoothly.  Besides counting the beans and cutting the chqs Vivan  has a love for plants! Most of the greenery in the office was donated from her green thumb. Without her our plants would be nothing more then brown dead leaves on the floor. So thank you Vivan for getting us paid, keeping our plants green and always having a smile on your face!

Beer and Star Wars

Beer and Star Wars, 2 amazing things in this universe brought together with this amazing article called "What would Darth Vader Be Drinking". I cannot take any credit for this except in knowing the writer of this beer blog, Mr Stephen Rich, Craft Beer Mastermind Extraordinaire. I did notice that we missed the intergalactic Star Wars day "May the 4th be with you", so this is in honour of that very special day.

Hope you enjoy, Cheers!

http://definitionale.com/2012/05/04/what-would-vader-be-drinking/#more-1409

The Avengers Have You Seen It

Well all the way up here at the front of the studio it seems pretty quiet, and really the rain has been the only eventful part of my day. I have decided to write today's blog about the "Avengers"!! Yeah!!! (I am sure there are things going on in the back but that's a far walk for a Wednesday)

Pretty much if you haven't seen it you definitely need to even if you are not the comic book type. A great cast, excellent writing and tons of action sums up a recipe for something very entertaining. 

The only thing I didn't enjoy was watching the movie with glasses on that makes things look semi-cooler. I am an asian which = no nose bridge to wear those ridiculous plastic glasses.

If you do go in the next week AVX is the way to go, no line ups and reserved seating is awesome. If not I would opt to see it minus 3D. After watching Avatar all other 3D movies seem a little bit under the bar. If your girlfriend is not convinced just remind her that Chris Evans plays Captain America, who doesn't like hunky men in blue tights running around?

 

 - Shara Kim

Family Time at House of Cool

We all know how the weeks fly by and the projects pile on. We loose touch and work too hard. Even when working in the same building we can forget about the importance of being a family. Fridays better known as "Beer Fridays" have now been re-named as "Family Time Fridays".

Thank you to our gracious host and hostess, Rodrigo & Kim, who brought us together with Cheese, Wine and Patte. Everyone was "forced" to take 10mins today and catch up with each other and talk about the origins of cheese, how wine is hardly a substitute for beer, play a few rounds of ping pong (Even though the broken elevator has given us all of our exercise for the day), and discuss the video of the hungry lion at the zoo. The Reluctant Jason was even happy to grab a few crackers and slab on some creamy Brie and join in on the not so "manly" event.

Don't forget about your "work" family, they're the ones who listen to your stories about your "home" family and show you the latest videos on you tube!

Our hostess Kim!

 Everyone digging in!

 The Cheese is a hit!

 Yup that says "Duck, Pork, and Pistachio" patte........ Yum!

Keeping Up With FCBK

With the ever changing world of technology we must constantly keep up. So with that said check out our NEW FCBK Fan Page! great stuff is happening there everyday, so make sure you don't miss out! Come on you know you LIKE us! http://www.facebook.com/houseofcoolstudios