Roll Call

Unrelated to my writing for Sesame Workshop's Shalom Sesame, I entered this new cartoon into the Aniboom Awards 4 Sesame Street animation contest. So if you like it, please share with your friends, and even register to rate.

ROLL CALL!
Illustration, animation, music and voices by William Levin.
Additional background vocals by Malya Kurzweil

Don't think of it as losing a Jewish Robot ...

Think of it as gaining a Jewish Robot Princess (JRP). Inspired by Malya's LG EnV2 mobile ringtone.

Illustration, animation, and musical adaptation of "Ringtone 15" by William Levin

188th Crybaby Cartoon

In January 2010 I met Joel Chasnoff, standup comedian and fellow presenter at the Limmud NY 2010 Conference. A few weeks later, we produced an animated cartoon trailer for his new book, The 188th Crybaby Brigade, a coming-of-age story about his year-long experience as an American soldier in the Israeli Army.  This selection from the book is narrated by Joel Chasnoff himself, and features background music provided by Shir Yaakov of Darshan.

JewishRobot at Limmud NY

On the weekend of January 15-18, 2010, I attended the Limmud NY 2010 conference, where I had the honor of presenting my Jewish heroes video to an audience of 700, sung backup for my "20 Things To Do With Matzah" song onstage with Michelle Citrin, and presented a beginners' workshop in Flash animation.

Read "700 Jews Can't Be Wrong", my blog post about the event for ROI, the organization that helped me travel to Limmud NY with a Speakers Bureau grant.

You can see more photos from the event on my Facebook photo album.

Kanye cartoon mentioned in MTV Newsroom

My quickie cartoon, "Kanye Interrupts the U.S. Open", was mentioned in the MTV Newsroom article, "'Kanye West Interrupts': The Internet Keeps On Giving" by Kyle Anderson on September 17, 2009:

There are even mad geniuses out there plying fancier forms of craft, like the folks who mashed together Serena Williams' U.S. Open meltdown with the VMA incident.

Read the article here.

Matzah Time

Time has posted an article online, So You Think You Know Matzo?, mentioning the "20 Things To Do With Matzah" video I made with Michelle Citrin. And, this Passover, our video has received over 1,000,000 views on YouTube!

Passover Videos

JTA, one of the sponsors of the Pass The Candle music video I made with Michelle Citrin for Hanukkah, was busy this week with articles and blog posts about Jewish videos for Passover. Author Amy Klein took an in depth look at the reasons behind the Jewish YouTube craze in her article, Let my people post Passover videos, where she interviewed Michelle about our Matzah Song, and followed up with a Top 10 list, 10 YouTube videos for Passover, (which I'm surprised failed to mention my Shabot 6000 "Seda' Club"), placing our "20 Things To Do With Matzah" at the #1 spot. And as a bonus, a JTA blog post, Two more Passover videos, by Ami Eden, gives a shout out to Bitter Herb.

Thanks for all the attention, JTA!

20 Things To Do With Outtakes

This Passover marks the first anniversary of Michelle Citrin's and my video, "20 Things To Do With Matzah". To celebrate, Michelle compiled this blooper reel of our experience while making the video. There are some really funny moments in it, and as well as few embarrassing ones I forgot about. Thanks, Michelle! And thanks, Jesse Epstein, for your camerawork!

Also see the original video, "20 Things To Do With Matzah", edited by Simon Weaver.

Happy Passover!

Hanukkah Around the World on ABC News Good Morning America

My Hanukkah video, Pass The Candle, featuring friend and fellow ROI participant Michelle Citrin, was announced on ABC News Good Morning America on December 22, 2008.

The video was made possible with a grant from ROI and support from The Jewish Channel and JTA.

SuperJews

Having just completed one of my most ambitious animation projects to date, I am pleased to present SuperJews - Episode 1: "The Package", part of the UJC Team Super Jews Color Wars campaign on Facebook. I worked with my longtime neighbor and friend, Bill Alger, who did the illustrations for all the characters used throughout the SuperJews.org website, Facebook Fan Pages, and the animation. This cartoon also features a music soundtrack I composed, inspired by the Peter Gunn Theme and Orbital's remake of the Saint Theme, mixed in with a little Tradition.

Voices by Jessica Wachsman, Jesse Epstein and me ... and special cameo voiceover by Meir Taub as "The Cough" ... long story, I had recorded Meir doing the lines of Captain Israel but gave poor direction and realized I couldn't use his audio clips when it was too late to rerecord.

Special thanks to campaign leaders Allison Weiner and Andy Neusner, and former leaders Naftali Goldsmith and Dina Garfinkel.

Pass The Candle

I am pleased to announce my third music video collaboration with Michelle "Rosh Hashanah Girl" Citrin. This one is called Pass The Candle, a Hanukkah celebration around the world. We received hundreds of submissions of video clips of our friends, families, and fans around the world, and compiled our favorites into a musical montage to our new song, "Left To Right".

Special thanks to ROI120 for honoring me with the 2008 ROI Small Grant to fulfill my "Music Videos for Jewish Kiddios" project. To fellow ROI120 participant, partner and friend, Michelle Citrin for her incredible talent, creativity and patience. And to Aryeh Goldsmith of Jewster.com for hosting the site and providing the inspiration for this music video over a year ago!

More thanks to Jesse Epstein for her help with the How-To video, and to Simon Weaver, who stayed up late at night editing the final music video.

Also special thanks to JTA and The Jewish Channel for their support.

And thank you, everyone, who sent in your video clips. We couldn't have done it without you! Including fellow ROI120 participants Marcus Freed, Harry Rubenstein, Esther Kustanowitz, Uri Levin, Josh Nelson, and Justin Korda. And friends Lisa Kingston, Andrew Krucoff, Ephraim "Ha'anak" K, Jesse Epstein and family, my niece Lola, Dina Garfinkel, Tova and Molly Gold, and Billy Weaver.

Song "Left To Right"
Performed by Michelle Citrin
Music, Lyrics and Production by William Levin and Michelle Citrin

Help Us Pass the Candle

Michelle "Rosh Hashanah Girl" Citrin and I are making our next music video for Hanukkah, and we need your help! Send us your video clips of you passing a candle and lighting a menorah, and it just might end up in our musical montage. Watch the demo video and visit PassTheCandle.com for more instructions.

But hurry, Hanukkah is almost here, and we'd like to have all the video clips by November 28! If you go home for Thanksgiving, get your family involved!

Rosh to Buy

Exactly one year ago, Michelle Citrin and I released our first music video together, Rosh Hashanah Girl. Now you can purchase and download the song, "I Gotta' Love You Rosh Hashanah", along with our second holiday hit, "20 Things To Do With Matzah", together in a double release, aptly titled "Rosh Hashanah Girl & the Matzah Song".

Now, what the Jewish Advocate calls, "The best parody songs since Adam Sandler's 'Chanukah Song'" are available for download on your iPod with the release of their double hit album "Rosh Hashanah Girl and Matzah Song", so you can listen all year round!

If you love Rosh Hashanah Girl (who doesn't?), show your support for the artists and download the songs from CD Baby!

Todd & God Get Their Fruit On

I'm happy to announce my latest cartoon for MyJewishLearning.com, Todd & God Episode 2: Eat a New Fruit for Rosh Hashanah. This is the second in the Todd & God series, after the pilot episode "How to Light the Hanukkah Candles" was introduced last year. In this educational series, featuring a young boy who befriends God, we learn about the tradition of eating a new fruit on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. And, as an added bonus, remember the old Sesame Street bit where a stop-motion animated orange sings Carmen? It was arguably one of the creepiest things I was exposed to as a child. Were the animators on drugs? You might ask the same question when you see this Todd & God tribute.

I Went To Israel (I Liked It!)

Check out my latest cartoon music video collaboration with Michelle Citrin ... "I Went To Israel (I Liked It!)", a new recruitment piece for Taglit-Birthright Israel. This is a fun parody of Katy Perry's hugely popular hit, "I Kissed A Girl". Pay close attention and you'll catch a reluctant cameo appearance by friends Meir Taub and Esther K!

Music and lyrics by William Levin (me)
Sung by Michelle Citrin
Illustration and Animation by William Levin

Matzah Song in the Holy Tongue

Thanks to Esther K. for finding this Hebrew translation of Michelle's and my "20 Things To Do With Matzah" song!

Rosh Hashanah Girl Power

My friend, fellow ROI120 participant and musical collaborator, Michelle Citrin -- known in some circles as "Rosh Hashanah Girl" -- is the topic of a nice article, "Jewish 'it' girl in the US", in the Arts & Culture section of the Jerusalem Post. Hey, they even mentioned me in the article :-) Keep an ear out for her new album hitting shelves and online retail soon!

Ha!Aretz

It's been surprisingly difficult to blog from Israel this time. I'm writing from Jerusalem, having participated in the ROI120 2008 Summit with 119 other talented Jewish innovators from around the world. More on the conference and travels when I return, but in the meantime, here is a funny article from Haaretz.com about the ROI120 Technology track I was in. My favorite quote:

The online animation that computer consultant-turned-cartoonist William Levine from Brooklyn put on for the group featured a computerized 50 Cents saying Chag Sameach - followed by a lewd obscenity.

Read the rest of the article, Getting Google to work for us, by Cnaan Liphshiz.

Happy 60th

Star-studded Hallelujah finale at the Radio City Music Hall

Last night I attended the Yom Ha'atzmaut Israel's 60th Anniversary Celebration at the Radio City Music Hall with my friends (thanks, Lindsay!). It was my first time in Radio City, and the show was really spectacular. An impressive lineup of Jewish and Israeli musicians, including Matisyahu, Idan Raichel, David Broza, Rami Kleinstein, John Zorn, and my favorite acts of the evening, Habanot Nechama and Yael Naim who performed her hit, "New Soul", made popular in the Apple MacBook Air commercials, as well as her cover of Brittany Spears' "Toxic". In addition to these wonderful musical acts, we were treated to special appearances by guest hosts Natalie Portman, Governor (and genetically Jewish!) of New York David Paterson, Paul Schaffer and Richard Belzer.

Alicia Post and Lindsay Litowitz share post-show shots

Esther K. and Doree Lewak descend at Radio City Music Hall

Steven I. Weiss finds his audience for The Jewish Channel in front of Radio City Music Hall

After the show, which ran past midnight, many of us ended up at Tavern on the Green for the Dor Chadash Yom Ha'atzmaut bash. I think every young Jew in New York was there, it was an impressive party!

Jewish Robot flanked by his Israel Girls, Lindsay and Sydney

More photos on Facebook

Honorable Mention

After just a few days online, our "20 Things To Do With Matzah" Passover music video is definitely making the rounds: It was a featured Viral Video Hit on Yahoo! Video and even made it to the main Yahoo.com home page, bringing in over 120,000 views to date. And on YouTube, with about 90,000 views, the video has received the honor of being the #40 Most Viewed Music Video This Week (#49 Most Viewed in Canada, and #78 in Australia).

You can also find mention of the Matzah Song in The Jewish Daily Forward, YNet News, and CNET News.com!