Friday, September 7, 2012

Kickstart This Art - September Edition


The Internet can be a dark cave overflowing with trolls spouting hateful bile under the mask of anonymity, but it can also be a wonderful place filled with (sometimes) hilarious cat videos, inventive remixes (and remixes of remixes), and Tumblr accounts rife with the animated gifs of yesteryear. My "Kickstart This Art" column is meant to celebrate one of the cooler things the Internet has to offer those of us who want to not only discover, but ultimately be a part of something innovative and deserving. That's right, I'm talking about Kickstarter. This feature will highlight some of the awesome, at least in my opinion, art-related Kickstarter campaigns that are currently running and competing for your money.

Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa ($200,000 Goal)


The Pitch: Charlie Kaufman, the genius behind films like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine, and one of my all time favorites, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, wants to make a movie. But not just any movie. The guy wants to create a stop-motion animated film about, "a man crippled by the mundanity of his life." What does that mean? I have no idea, but I'm sure it will be equal parts challenging and entertaining.

Why I Love The Idea: Dan Harmon (creator of Community) is producing, Kaufman is overseeing the film's creation and wrote the play Anomalisa is based on. Hmm...I feel like I'm forgetting something. Oh yeah, and it's freaking stop-motion animation! I'm not sure if you've already watched the above video, but the whole thing is narrated via an animated puppet. How cool is that? The answer is "None. None more cool." If this isn't worth your hard-earned mula, I don't know what is.

Bottom Line: I'm going to throw out a few words at you: Kaufman. Harmon. Animated. Stop-Motion. Kaufman. 'Nuff said.


Strange Kids Comix Magazine - Issue #3 ($2,500 Goal)


The Pitch: Picture just about everything you loved from the 80s. Can you visualize that for me? Okay. Now imagine all of those things forced to inhabit the same universe and drawn by artists like Jason Edmiston and Brent Engstrom and then finally printed on paper and made into a magazine. Sounds pretty good, right?

Why I Love The Idea: If the pitch or video didn't grab you, then Strange Kids Comix may not be for you. However, if, like me, you saw the above illustrated Videodrome-esqe fever dream and immediately fell in love, then congratulations, you're one of the good guys. In all seriousness, this is a great opportunity to support something that's made by nerds for nerds and it's being independently published to boot (you don't even need to live in Portland or some other hipster-y town to contribute!)

Bottom Line: Oh. And did I mention there's still a few hirsute Teen Wolf posters by Ze Burnay left for those donating $35 or more? Go ahead and click the "Back This Project" button below. Issue #3 is so close to actually reaching its goal. Make it happen!


Garry Brown's DIE HARD Poster ($1,200 Goal)


The Pitch: Do you like the movie Die Hard? I mean, really like the movie Die Hard? Well, so do the folks behind the Die Hard poster campaign and they'd love it if the National Film Registry felt the same way.

Why I Love The Idea: Not only is this a really great idea (who wouldn't want Die Hard to be in the National Film Registry?), but as a reward for supporting the campaign you can pick up a pretty sweet Die Hard print by Garry Brown. Not sure who Garry Brown is? Well, if you're a fan of Brian Wood's The Massive, you may recognize the man's work, as he's the regular interior artist. If you're not a fan of or have never hard of The Massive, then just know that he's a kickass artist.

Bottom Line: What could be better than supporting the preservation of great film and getting an awesome poster to beautify your wall? Not much! Although, it would be cool if Nakatomi Inc was doing the printing.

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