Silly Fish

One of the following news bites is definitely an April Fools gag that's hung around like a bad smell; the other certainly sounds like it to me too - but what do you think? Could it be genuine?

Firstly, an increasing number of sites are slowly picking up on a hoax story originated at The One Ring. They claimed that Peter Jackson was deep in preproduction on a live-action Powerpuff Girls movie. Why are a bunch of sites picking this up now, on Tuesday? Are they nuts?

A new animated Powerpuff movie would be good, though, if Craig McCracken were to be behind it.

The second story features a quote from Christina Ricci, concerning her new tattoo. Apologies to Ms. Ricci if this actually is something she said, but the whole thing does sound so screwy to me I can only assume it's another hoax that's making it's way across the web too slowly.

She describes the tattoo thus:

It's Aslan, the lion from The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. It's a symbol of my hellish childhood. I struggled through my oppressive teenage years and when I turned 18 I escaped. Like Aslan I was finally free.

Riiiiight. Stay tuned until next April 1st when she'll get Nelson Mandela on her ankle and the Israelites on her buttocks.

Bloo Cloned?

Variety sez: Steve Baker won the Tropfest top prize on Sunday with his film An Imaginary Life. Unfortunately, it has turned out to be uncannily similar to Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, and Cartoon Network lawyers are already on the case.

I doubt that Baker would be stupid or naive enough to rip off such a high profile show as Foster's Home, but the evidence seems to make a case a clear cut one, at first glance. The images posted above are of Andrew, the protagonist of Imaginary Life and Bloo, the showstealing star of Foster's. Both are imaginary friends. Both animations are Flash-style affairs.

There are plenty of differences between the stories, notably that Imaginary Life adopts a pseudo-documentary aesthetic (well, as far as an animated film can) which is very different to the graphic, classical stylings in Foster's Home.

As much as I'd hate to see Craig McCracken getting ripped off, I think Baker has done so only by accident, if at all.

Powerpuff Girls Season One DVDs Coming In June

The first season of The Powerpuff Girls is headed to DVD in June. There are extra features, and TV Shows on DVD have the details.

Craig McCracken should be making feature films. Fact.