Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!! Is your costume this awesome?

Getting in the Halloween spirit.

Halloween like any other celebration has a very interesting past, and as like most north american holidays has nothing to do with what we find traditional about them.

"On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.
To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter."
- http://www.history.com/topics/halloween

Now a days we dress up in cotton and polyester costumes and go door to door for candy............I think we have the better idea!

Gainer Wins It!

We would like to acknowledge the works of our very own Greg Court and the Red Rover team for their award winning Sasktel spot with the ever so lovable Gainer. Congratulations Guys!

Halloween Time!!!

What are you up to this Hallow eve...........

Giving out Candy to tiny little monsters, but ending up eating it yourself? Watching the same ol' scary films that really are not scary anymore?

Halloween is not for the kids anymore! This year come join us have a drink or two, and then hit the dance floor to give us your best moves in that ridiculous chicken costume you've been dying to wear!

CASO Presents the "Halloween Bash", October 25th at Tryst Nicht Club.

Doors open at 9pm for those of us who need to catch that pumpkin ride home before midnight. For the rest of you party until the zombies go home!

25$ Ticket in advanced (includes 1 free drink)
40$ At the door.

casohalloween.eventbrite.ca

Prize for the best costume so start the creativity wheel going!

It's Not Animation But It's Definitely Awesome

A friend posted this on his fcbk page and I had to share it with you guys. Like the title says it's not animation but who can challenge the fact that these guys are AWESOME!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=UUTAgbu2l6_rBKdbTvEodEDw&v=mEyrfFwf3rI

Reward for information on the Pen Thief!

I know this is the age of technology and now a days computers and keyboards are what we use to drain our brains of thoughts. Weather they be in the form of an angry e-mail to an ex-boyfriend, business deals, dentist appointments, or finding that special someone through an array of PM and POF chats. I think we can all say it is still frustrating when you go to jot something down the ol' fashioned way, and you realize all your pens are gone. All you have left is a pair of scissors, 2 fat sharpies that will definitely bleed into the next 5 post-its, a white out pen...... I guess I could use that but really? , 2 dry erase markers that will do the exact same thing as the sharpies, and a really ol'fashioned orange 1 b pencil with no tip and no sharpener in sight!

I have bought countless boxes and packages of multiple pens, and for some reason I don't have one on this desk! ARGH!!!!

My Goal: To find the House of Cool culprit destroy him/her and regain control of my pen empire!!!!

I'll be posting suspects in a week, I need to do a really thorough investigation, I don't want to miss my chance to catch them, too much heat and I might scare them off. Crap I don't have a pen to take down notes ugh...............white out pen it is I guess?

Finding Nemo 3D at TIFF

Well I think the title says it all! If you fell in love with the adorable clown fish Nemo then you'll be happy to know it will be playing 3D style at the Toronto International Film Festival. Schedule is announced August 21st!

http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/tiff/2012/findingnemo3d

A BIG day at the Cool House!

Today was a very special day! We got to celebrate Rodrigo's 25th birthday and the "graduation" of our Interns! We filled our glasses, sang a song and then devoured the "Red Velvet" cake (which is a real flavour btw). Happy birthday to our favourite mexican artist and good luck to our interns as they take their first steps on their own.

Rodrigo and the interns........

Those look like allot of candles..........

Taking the first cut!

the wonderful cake!

and even more wonderful wine!

Best Family Friday the 13th! Have a great weekend everyone!

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!