You may already know about it from Brad’s announcement on Creased Comics. If not, here’s the story: Mr. Neely has just put the finishing touches on his first ever multi-part miniseries. It’s called China, Illinois and it stars just about every character he’s ever drawn (for Super Deluxe, at least) including Baby Cakes and the Professor Brothers. We can’t give too much away, but we will say that it is a musical of sorts involving a dead woman and it revolves around a community college in China, Illinois (more on that psuedo-fictional town in a moment).
Now for the premiere schedule. Every Monday in May, a new episode will premiere here on Super Deluxe. And then, in a wacky twist of cross-pollination synergy, the entire 11-minute miniseries will be broadcast on Adult Swim the night before the final episode AND entire 11-minute miniseries appears here.
To review:
As for the peculiarly named municipality of China, Illinois, wethinks it may just be yet another invention born from the mad brain of Brad Neely. A lil’ dot does show up in Google map searches…
…but upon further investigation, no such place exists. There once was a China Township in the Land of Lincoln. But apparently, they renamed themselves. We called the County Clerk and Recorder’s office in Lee County, Illinois and this is what they had to say:
Them: It’s now Franklin Grove. It used to be China Township. But it’s now Franklin Grove Township.
Us: Oh, because we found a China, Illinois on Google Maps.
Them: There is a Chana, Illinois. I don’t know about China. Chana, Illinois is in Ogle County.
Us: Chana?
Them: C-h-a-n-a.
Us: So, China, Illinois…
Them: Got changed to Franklin Grove Township.
Us: OK. You know any reason why?
Them: I guess, years ago, it was Franklin Grove. And they changed it. I don’t know why. And then about 3 years ago, they chose to change it back. They went through the proper procedure to have it changed back.
Us: Did it have anything to do with the nation of China?
Them: I don’t know.
Us: Do you know if there’s a community college there?
Them: No.
See? We know how to make ourselves sound “old” and “out of touch.” First, you address people as “kids.” Then, you just add the word “the” in front of “MySpace,” and voila! You’re a Golden Girl on a mission.
Now, as we were saying, wouldn’t this just look pretty on your “the MySpace?”
We think so too. We’ve got a whole mess o’ Super Deluxe skins (actually, just three) over at our MySpace page, free for the taking. So, please, take them.
That’s what you “kids” do anyways. Take, take, take.
What? You haven’t heard of Wack Magic yet? Apparently, you weren’t in Austin for SXSW this year. Because that’s the only place in the world where we’ve given it away so far.
We’re proud to announce that Wack Magic is our first-ever promotional DVD. And it’s quite the collectible treasure, if we do say so ourselves. Especially for fans of Brad Neely. Not only does it feature a healthy hoard of I Am Baby Cakes and Professor Brothers videos (as well as some other assorted Neely gems), it also comes with this two-sided mini-poster which Brad drew specifically for this project:
But that’s not all! Wack Magic also has a sampler platter of other Super Deluxe videos on it from geniuses like Devin Flynn, Dave Willis, Louis Katz, Dave Hill, The Post Show, Team Tiger Awesome and Nick Goossen. And they’re all viewable on a DVD machine.
Now for the contest part : we’ve got 10 copies of Wack Magic that we want to give away. Free. Gratis. Sans the filthy lucre. All you have to do to win one is show us your best and most creative “wack magic.” What does that mean? We’ll give you an example. Here’s something we did around the office here with the blog’s ombudsman and resident wizard, David Levin:
Got it? Now, once you make your wackical magical creation, here’s what you do: upload it to Super Deluxe, make sure to title and tag it WACK MAGIC CONTEST, and then paste the URL in a comment on this post. That way, we can’t miss it. When we get 10 good videos from you (or even 5 decent ones), we’ll post them all here on the blog, announce the winners and send you your free DVDs. Just like that.
Voila!
Last night, we joined Brad and his crew at The Dog And Duck Pub. This is the group of friends he gets together with every Wednesday for “Dude Night,” which apparently revolves around beer, fish sticks and comic books. They didn’t seem too concerned with taking part in any of the official festivities, but since we had the opportunity, we thought we’d pick Brad’s brain about his top picks for SXSW 2008.
Which means, we missed it. We don’t get there until this Wednesday but who knows? Maybe they’ll be screening it in some dark nook of the Austin Convention Center or something.
Either way, We Are Wizards is a fitting vehicle for Brad Neely’s first foray into the magical world of cinema. It’s a documentary about the rabid subculture of Harry Potter fandom and from what we can tell from the trailer, Brad figures prominently in it.
For the uninitiated, that’s Brad reading from his epic Wizard People, Dear Readers (available for download at Creased Comics). It’s an unauthorized alternative soundtrack to the first Harry Potter movie. The story goes that before he started doing videos for us, he used to do readings of Wizard People synched up to the Sorcerer’s Stone in various venues around this great country of ours. Just Brad, a microphone, a movie screen, a six pack of beer and an audience. Then Warner Brothers issued a “cease-or-we-will-sue-you-for-everything-you-have” order. Which Brad did. But clearly they haven’t silenced him from talking about the whole ordeal.
The funniest thing about all this is that Brad has told us that he’s never even read any of the Harry Potter books. Not a one. How’s that for fandom?
Besides the fact that he’s currently working on an animated musical called No Country In Rainbows? Or is it Kid Arizona? Or perhaps it’s The Big OK Computer? No? “OK” then, what we meant to type is Mr. Neely has also been honored by Creativity magazine in its Creativity 50 list of 2008.
Kudos, Brad!
A month ago, we axed you guys to watch Brad Neely’s I Am Baby Cakes - The Coffee Line with your eyes wide open and find us the most obscure visual reference you could spot. All for the love of a Boobie Bunny t-shirt in the size of your choosing.
Of the four entrants, one found something that stumped our collective cultural knowledge. Commenter Andrew Greenstone noted: “Im pretty sure the at 1:14 the dildo gun on the far left…”
…is from Shu Lea Cheang’s movie I.K.U.”
Only one of us had seen I.K.U., and on our multiple viewings of Coffee Line, no one had made the connection between the one dildo gun and the other. Whether it was Neely’s intention to make the reference or not, Andrew clearly found something we didn’t see. So bully for you, Andrew.
We’ll be in touch today via e-mail to get your size and address information. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Does this look like something you’d like to download and put on your desktop?
Of course it does. Now, how about music? You like music? Specifically, MP3’s of Baby Cakes songs and Professor Brothers songs and all types of other Brad Neely-made songs?
You do? Good. Because a gold mine of downloads has surfaced on his artist profile. Enjoy.
If you’re still in the hunt for the perfect last minute gift for your sweetheart, you could do worse than a pair of Eva Braun’s Panties:
(Photo from snyderstreasures.com, where Eva Braun’s lingerie really is purportedly for sale)
…wrapped around a laptop cued up to Brad Neely’s latest, A Valentine From Eva:
If you’re looking for something a little less politically offensive but just as stank, there are plenty of celebrity drawers to be had online for the right price.
[found on the Wermacht-Awards Militaria Forum]
Time to play our newly trademarked interactive blog fun game, Spot A Reference™. The rules are simple: all you have to do is watch the latest Brad Neely video, I Am Baby Cakes-The Coffee Line, Spot A Reference™, and then write it in a comment below. Don’t get greedy. One’s enough for each viewer. Whoever spots the most obscure one will get a free Booby Bunnie t-shirt (and for those of you who’ve already been promised said shirts, hold tight; we’re trying to contact you today). Just to get you started, we’ve already picked out our favorite visual reference:
We have it on good authority* that this scene is a direct homage to one of our personal favorite movies, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s psychedelic masterpiece The Holy Mountain. See?
*Brad Neely
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