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

Super viral market

Earlier this year, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamaas official, was assassinated in Dubai, presumably by Mossad agents who had forged British passports to carry out the mission.

Now an ad agency has produced a viral video for a discount supermarket chain, Almost Fre, parodying the surveillance footage recorded at the site of the assassination.

From the Jerusalem Post:

The ad itself will begin airing next week and will show footage of people dressed up as secret agents, wearing the costumes used by the Dubai team, walking around the store and picking out products that are on sale. One is a man wearing a tennis player outfit, another is a man in a business suit wearing a fake mustache and the third is a woman with a wide brimmed hat. Whenever one of the characters picks up an item, a red circle appears around it, parodying the circles picking out the agents in the surveillance videos.

The video is being released just in time for Passover grocery sales!  Looking forward to seeing the commercial.

Welcome to the Dollhouse Seder

Check out hip Jewish trendsetter and friend, Sara Schwimmer Marcus of Jewish Wedding Network, and her mom, Helen, in this segment, Modern Jewish Mom Passover Special: Barbie at the Seder Table, from The Jewish Channel.  The clip was released last year, but I'm only discovering it now!  With guidance from this video, I would have had a much better vintage He-Man action figure seder in 2009.  Skeletor was the Angel of Death.

JewishRobot on The Jewish Channel

Friend and The Jewish Channel correspondent, Steven I. Weiss, reports on Ahmadinejad's alleged Jewish roots, includes a clip from my "Iran to Israel" promo cartoon for Taglit-Birthright Israel.

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.

Shabot ShaBOOM!

Support Seda' Club in the FOX-Aniboom Holiday Animation Challenge!

Share the video with your friends, and if you think it deserves a chance, vote for it in September. I'll post a reminder then, too.

Thanks!

Can you tell me how to get to Washington, D.C.?

“Sesame Street” writers Judy Freudberg and William Levin stand with Bert & Ernie in support of public broadcasting

From the WGAE blog:

WGAE Continues Advocacy Efforts For Increased Funding For Public Media

Writers from “ Sesame Street ” and WGAE staff held meetings in Washington D.C. to advocate for increased funding for public broadcasting.

“Sesame Street” Writers Advocate in Washington D.C. for Increased Funding for Public Media

On Thursday, July 23, “ Sesame Street ” writers Judy Freudberg and William Levin, along with “West Wing” and “Without a Trace” writer Allison Abner, accompanied WGA East staff to advocate for increased funding in public media. The members of Congress we met with, including Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY) and Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) both from the House Appropriations Committee, have already allocated a 10% increase in funding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is great news for our members. Furthermore, they both expressed interest in potentially getting involved in our current contract negotiations with PBS. Overall, this was a very productive endeavor. The Guild looks forward to taking similar trips to D.C. in the near future.

Congresswoman Nita Lowey happens to be a big fan of Sesame Street!

Round Two with David Pogue

Two years ago I worked with New York Times technology columnist David Pogue to produce the animation for his Video Recorder Deathmatch, a battle between TiVo and generic DVR. And last week we followed up with a new epic battle, the Kindle 2 e-Reader vs. ... a Book! The video aired on CNBC last week, and can also be seen on JetBlue flights. You can also watch it on the NYTimes.com video website, and download a hi-res version from iTunes.

Concept, script, voiceover and video by David Pogue
Illustration, animation, and sound design by Macboy.com (me)
Edited by Ben Thompson at CNBC.

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.

Giant Jewish Robot

I never heard of Mado King Granzort, but if it came down to a fight, I'm pretty sure this Jewish robot would kick my Jewish robot's shiny metal ass. Does anyone know if the Star of David means something in this opening sequence?

TJC on TWCNYC

My friend Steven I. Weiss of The Jewish Channel is proud to announce that TJC can now be ordered On Demand on Time Warner Cable of New York City and New Jersey. Last year I was pleased to work with TJC to air my Shabot 6000 "Head of the Year" cartoon for Rosh Hashanah, and I'm looking forward to see the great new content Steve has been programming for the station.

The Hanukkah in NYC Real Estate

Shabot fan Stephanie from IntoTheBox.tv submitted this video blog episode, The Hanukkah in NYC Real Estate, about a new synagogue being built in Lincoln Square. Lincoln Square Synagogue will be the first new temple build in NYC in decades.

Behind the Scene

Tuesday August 7 was National Underwear Day, an event launched by Freshpair, based on the simple belief that underwear deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. What does this have to do with Jewish and/or robots? Other than my sneaking suspicion that many of the models were actually androids, the event was founded by Freshpair president Michael Kleinmann, and the video production was coordinated by Alex Lirtsman, with on-the-fly editing by buddy Dave Marcus, who got the Jewish Robot in on the job of preparing the videos for YouTube for The Underwear Observer blog.

Alex smiles because, well, we're blogging about National Underwear Day!
Seen the behind? Behind the scene in Hard Rock Café at Times Square
"Must ... concentrate ... on ... editing ... Ignore ... girls ... in underwear!"
Jewish Robot, Dave Marcus, and Freshpair president Michael Kleinmann, (who bears an uncanny resemblance to ROI120 leader and friend, Elias Parker!)

Think Indifferent

There is at least one thing wrong with the Aish brand "Jewlarious" when it comes to their Jphone video parody of the recent Get a Mac commercials, especially if the word Jewlarious is meant to be a hybrid of Jewish and hilarious. If, however, the -larious suffix is actually derived from malarious, then it makes a bit more sense.

I don't find many things offensive. In fact, usually, the more offensive people find something, the more I like it. But in this case I was offended at the level of cliché and gratuitous "oy vey" humor. I guess this Jphone viral video is so poorly done and unfunny, I am ashamed it has the letter J in front of it.

Frumster, who are a bit more conservative in their humor department, actually managed to pull off a funnier Jewish "Get a Mac" parody than Aish. I think that says a lot.

This is not to say that all of Aish's videos are unfunny. I did like their Boycott Israel video. Maybe there are others.

Flynt vs. Falwell Brings Freedom of Speech

I didn't know much about Jerry Falwell, so his passing didn't seem very relevant. But as a huge proponent of Freedom of Speech, and a person who often makes a living through parody, I found this statement given by Larry Flynt to Access Hollywood on Falwell's death enlightening:

The Reverend Jerry Falwell and I were arch enemies for fifteen years. We became involved in a lawsuit concerning First Amendment rights and Hustler magazine. Without question, this was my most important battle – the l988 Hustler Magazine, Inc., v. Jerry Falwell case, where after millions of dollars and much deliberation, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in my favor.

My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in

California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling.

The most important result of our relationship was the landmark decision from the Supreme Court that made parody protected speech, and the fact that much of what we see on television and hear on the radio today is a direct result of my having won that now famous case which Falwell played such an important role in.

I guess something good can come out of everything after all.

Macboy Miscellanea

Two weeks ago I had the honor of producing a short cartoon animation for the New York Times under my other animation brand, MACBOY. The podcast, produced for technology columnist David Pogue, was produced on a deadline of just one day. Here is the result, "Video Recorder Deathmatch":

You can read about the process involved with creating the video on Pogue's Posts.

In other news, my personal favorite Macboy cartoon, Dad vs. AOL, was featured on Canadian television show G4techTV (aired last summer, but I just found the episode online recently). My cartoon was introduced by perky host Amber MacArthur, which made me jealous of my own cartoon. Here's the clip from G4techTV.

The Itche Kadoozy Show

For a guy who is supposed to be involved in the cutting edge Jewish entertainment industry, boy do I feel out of the loop on this one. I cannot explain why I am just now finding out about The Itche Kadoozy Show, an educational Jewish themed puppet show created by Dovid Taub and Jonathan Goorvich, hosted on Chabad.org.

Upon looking up candle lighting times for shabbat on the Chabad.org Calendar, I caught a glimpse of a small Itche Kadoozy icon at the bottom of the page. I followed the links until I reached Itche Kadoozy in The Quest for Fish, and watched the latest episode, Chapter 4: Detours, in which the puppets learn about the importance of the Omer.

This is some funny stuff! Ignore the "KIDS" logo at the top of the page, these cartoons are entertaining for adults, too.

Frumster is so PC

Frumster have produced a couple of cute video ads for their online Jewish dating service, this time spoofing the popular Apple "Get a Mac" television commercials, (a pastime I am intimately familiar with). As with the Get a Mac campaign, Frumster pairs up a quirky fellow, representing other online Jewish dating services, like arch rival JDate, versus a less offensive guy who represents the values of Frumster. There is also a female version, featuring a flaky JDate girl pitted against a wholesome, virginal Frumster gal.

Ironically, as with the original Apple commercials, I find myself drawn more toward the "PC" characters in the new Frumster ads. Most people find the nerdy antics of the PC-player, actor John Hodgman, more endearing than the smarmy attitude of the Mac guy, played by Justin Long. Similarly, I feel like the Frumster guy comes across as boring while the JDate dude looks like he'd make entertaining company. And in the female counterpart ad, while I might fall asleep on a date with the Frumster girl while staring at her brown potato sack dress, the caffeinated fairy princess chick actually looks like she knows how to have a good time. Just watch her horse riding impression.

I do like the new Frumster campaign, even better than the one I produced for them. So if you haven't done so already, watch the Frumster ads online now!

Cyberg

The Conan O'Brien minyon is not complete without Cyberg!

I got an e-mail from my friend Threebrain last week, casually informing me that he'd be appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in a bit role as ... the JEWISH ROBOT!

How could Threebrain have been so "Oh, by the way" cavalier with his announcement? He knows that I'm the Jewish Robot, but he mentioned this character as if it were any of the other roles he's played, like Masturbating Bear or an astronaut. He didn't use nearly enough exclamation marks, either.

In this skit, Conan was celebrating his 13th year on air. He considered it his bar-mitzvah episode. So in order to make it kosher, he summoned a minyon of Jewish characters, including the rabbinical robot, Cyberg, played by Threebrain. I suppose it was funny because, well, any time you mix something Jewish with pop culture, it's sure to be a hit, and rein in those wayward Jews.

Conan and rabbi stare in disbelief at Cyberg

So you thought Jew could dance

Hehe, I can't stop watching this clip! When Orthodox Jewish So You Think You Can Dance contestant, David Warshaw, was disqualified after falling flat on his face in the middle of his routine, I'll bet he thought the worst was over. But the embarrassment didn't stop there, with video clips of his yarmulke-popping punim-plant quickly circulating on the Internet. Although the videos have all been removed from sites like YouTube at the request of the copyright owner, you can still enjoy Warshaw's flying kippah act in the form of an animated GIF, commonly used in the signature files and profiles of LiveJournal members.

You can also see the extended clip, complete with judges' reaction. I like the way thet cover their heads in astonishment, as if to compensate for Warshaw's dislodged beanie.