Free Republic

Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on modern warfare continues with another video on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, as we continue covering Putin's invasion with the events in March of 2024. In the aftermath of the fall of Avdiivka, Russia continues to advance slowly despite taking heavy losses in personnel and hardware. In this video we will describe the events on the front, internal situation in Russia and Ukraine, global diplomatic situation, allied support and much more.

Watching the Queen's Cartoonists perform live is a spectacle. There are cartoons, alongside jazz, a wide range of musical instruments, noise-making props and on-stage shenanigans. The band performs the soundtrack to old classic cartoons and contemporary animated films, while the audience watches the films. Playing music to visual media is not a novel concept. In fact, whole symphony orchestras tour the world performing to blockbuster movies like "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings." What the Queen's Cartoonists offer is a more unpredictable experience. The audience has no idea what music they will hear or even what cartoons they will...

Disney has created its first plus-size protagonist for a powerful short film about body dysmorphia. In the company's 85-year history of making movies, plus-size characters have only ever featured in the roles of villains or extras - and fans are full of praise for the change.

The marriage is still on, and the children are still around. Married...With Children appears on its way to receiving an animated revival more than 25 years after it originally went off the air, Deadline reported. The show, which follows a suburban family always at one another's throats, will see all four members of the Bundy family return. This includes Ed O’Neill as Al Bundy, Katey Sagal as Peggy Bundy, Christina Applegate as Kelly Bundy and David Faustino as Bud Bundy. Family Guy executive producer Alex Carter wrote the revival and will serve as showrunner. The outlet reported that Fox, Hulu...

As consumers dump their Netflix subscriptions in droves, the far-left streamer is reportedly taking an ax to its animation department, cutting programming and firing employees in the latest sign that the company’s days of carefree spending are over. Netflix laid off its director of creative leadership and development for original animation, Phil Rynda, along with some of his staff, according to a report from The Wrap. The streamer has also pulled the plug on existing and in-development shows. Some Netflix animation employees have also accused the streamer of using manipulated data to justify the cancellations. Planned animated series based on...

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said that he is “proud” of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon following criticism of the character. Original voice actor Hank Azaria stepped down from voicing the role last year, which came after a 2018 documentary called The Problem With Apu argued that the role was a racist stereotype. Speaking about the criticism of the character and whether he would change anything, Groening has now told USA Today: “I think the Apu stories are fantastic, and he’s one of the most nuanced characters on a silly two-dimensional cartoon show. “So, yeah, I’m proud of Apu. [Pause.] I’m trying...

A hate campaign has destroyed yet another business. But this time, it's a Regent University student's successful animation work that had paid for her education. Ever since she's been able to hold a crayon, art has been Emily Arunt's passion. "At age 11, I saw people drawing online and animating online," she said. "I was just instantly [drawn] – I want to do that too." That was 11 years ago. Since then, Arant has made a name for herself as Lupis Vulpes, a top animator known for her eye-popping animal characters and more than 200,000 YouTube subscribers. Her business proved...

Ruthie Thompson knew the Disney brothers long before they became the household names they are today. Thompson grew up near Walt and Roy when they owned their house on Kingswell Avenue in Los Angeles and was one of several neighborhood kids who served as a live-action reference model for the Disney brothers’ Alice comedies. As an adult, Thompson was offered a job in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Ink & Paint Department. She worked at Disney for 40 years, from 1935 until she retired in 1975. Thompson famously worked on nearly every animated Walt Disney feature film from Snow White...

As debate about representation in the animation industry rages, a new documentary show has arrived with perfect timing and a tartly ironic title. It’s called The History of White People in America. Of course, the title doesn’t signal that the characters are exclusively white. The first episode explains how “whiteness” was first defined in the context of early American legislation for slavery, setting the tone: the series is an exploration of race relations in the nation, ranging from the colonies to Obama. This long and painful narrative is told as a musical, the original score mixing song and spoken word....

The streaming wars are heating up, as John Krasinski’s 'Some Good News' signs on with CBS, 'Hamilton' heads to Disney Plus, and Tom Hanks’ new war movie goes straight to Apple TV.The coronavirus crisis accelerated the trend of consumers choosing in-home entertainment — particularly, video-on-demand streaming services such as Netflix that maximize choices and almost eliminate ad breaks. U.S. theater ticket sales had already been in decline for the past 20 years, and today most theaters remain closed due to concerns about spreading COVID-19 in crowded, enclosed spaces. Ten major streaming services are now vying for subscribers, with hundreds of...

Disney’s “Frozen II” is gearing up for an ice-shattering opening weekend ahead of Thanksgiving. The sequel to the hit “Frozen” is projected to earn over $100 million when it launches on Nov. 22, according to early tracking. Though “Frozen II” is expected to gobble up the competition during the Thanksgiving frame, it will have to contend with new offerings, including Sony’s Mister Rogers film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and STX’s drama “21 Bridges.”

Animation companies are moving haltingly to promote women to key roles producing and directing the films and shows they make, according to a new study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. In the past 12 years, 3% of the directors of animated movies were women, and just one, “Kung Fu Panda 2’s” Jennifer Yuh Nelson, was a woman of color. On the small screen, 13% of episodes from popular animated TV programs from 2018 had female directors, three of whom were women from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. That lack of diversity was reflected in the stories unfolding across movie...

Seeing is believing By now, everyone knows: the climate is changing, sea levels are rising, and the crises are likely to happen sooner than expected. Still, it’s one thing to know, and another thing to really see these potential disasters. Luckily (or unluckily), there’s no lack of tools to help the apathetic develop a visceral sense of what could be at stake. First, Information Is Beautiful has used data from NASA, Sea Level Explorer, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to create the aptly named “When Sea Levels Attack,” which shows how many years are left until major cities...

Will Vinton, the Oscar-winning visionary with the distinctive waxed mustache who coined the term "Claymation" and founded the studio that created the California Raisins, has died. He was 70. Vinton died Thursday after a 12-year battle with multiple myeloma, his children Billy, Jesse and Alex announced in a Facebook post. "He brightened any room with his signature mustache and continued to make jokes and laugh until the very end," they wrote. "His work will live on in animation history and will continue to inspire creative thinkers and makers." The Oregon native saw himself as a filmmaker first and an animator...

Alan Norton's groundbreaking graphics work from 1989 done at IBM Research on physically based animation. Basically, you mathematically created a world, put a mathematical object into it, and turned on the world to see what happened. The Utah Teapot was the common object used within graphics research. Alan's notion was to tease the community by breaking their common object. This is my video of Alan describing his research. For those interested in the fundamental figures in computer science, here is the raw footage of two 1990 interviews with John Cocke, the inventor of RISC architecture. An amazing and wonderful man....

There’s general agreement that this is a golden age of television. But less apparent is the fact that it’s also a golden age of animation, spawned by the same subscription video-on-demand companies — such as Netflix and Amazon — that are ushering TV’s shining period. The rise of streaming services — which are ordering season after season of animated shows for children and adults — has created an urgent demand for original content, leading to a surge in jobs at all levels of production. For now, the deluge shows no signs of letting up. “There’s more animation work now than...

An awesome CGI video about the 1456 siege of Belgrade, The Serbian Christians against the Turkish Onslaught!!

A brilliant (and funny) animated short about liberty in America and the dangers of socialism. Click here to watch.

This is a dumb request, but would anyone have a link to then animated gif of Trump slapping his opponent? I have a 9 year old who saw that yesterday and was really amused by it and wanted me to find it again.

This 2-minute animated talking pig video, resting in the dirt, will inspire you to think on how you live in every day life. I sing a hymn, A-Capella, Are You Washed In The Blood, written by; Elisha A, Hoffman. In the Bible; Philippians 1: 18 says this; What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.