Interview No. 4

Interview By: @The-Great-One

Today's artist is one who has captured our minds through violence and blood as well as simplistic cartoon work. His flash submission Chuck's New Tux! has won the Daily Feature award as well as the 2008 Newgrounds Tank Trophy. His other works include titles such as Irving, which has won the Daily Feature and the Weekly 5th Place awards. Chris & Harry, which has won the Daily Feature, the Weekly Users' Choice, and the Review Crew Pick awards. And as we have recently seen Saturday Morning Watchmen, which has won the Daily Feature, the Weekly Users' Choice, and the Review Crew Pick awards. This one and only artist is none other than Harry Partridge better known as @HappyHarry.

Q: Your 2nd flash submission entitled Batman Lives was a short parody of Batman. I for one found this funny and would like to know the process of creating this flash and will there be a longer parody in the future?

A: Oh man, way to dig up the past! Well I was still learning Flash at the time and had intended to make an ambitious 3 minute or so Batman tribute. I was animating as I went along and had gotten to the moment where Batsy dramatically spreads his wings creating that cool silhouette against the moon and then... then I really couldn't be bothered to continue! I don't think I'll be returning to the dark knight any time soon.

Q: Your first Daily Feature award was for the flash movie Irving. A story about a socially awkward bee. A funny flash, but where the fuck did this idea come from?

A: I had just moved away to university and I suppose I missed my friends from home. The short was dedicated to my friend Nathan "Poss" Tuffin who I share a joke with based on a drawing of a bee he once did when we were teens. To put it kindly - he's no Da Vinci, and I mused that if there was ever a creature resembling his drawing in it would be socially ostracized by the other bees and thus Irving was born - The Joseph Merrick of the insect world. An elephant bee if you will...

Q: Your next Daily Feature would be just as random as your first one. 50 Llamas Day. Is this basically a parody of office fun events or just something you decided to write?

A: Even though it was an original idea It was intended to be sold off. It was my first ever commission and the deadline was missed by a just a couple of hours due to hardware failure so I kept the rights in the end. I don't know what I was thinking with the idea for this one in hindsight, the gag is ridiculously dumb and I don't like the animation. I do like the song however, and this marks the first time I would do my own music, a trend I've continued.

Q: One flash that has given me intrigue would be "A Slice of the Action". You took the obvious and shocked everybody with something else. After viewing this I believe you implemented the same effect in your flash Chuck's New Tux!. Why did you write these flash movies this way?

A: Just to note - Nathan Tuffin actually came up with the idea of Chuck's New Tux and is credited in the animation, but both are pretty defining of my sense of humour. I guess I love anticlimaxes and antijokes, it's not that I'm setting out to gross out people, or even make them laugh necessarily (though that is a welcomed side effect), I really just want to surprise them with something crazy and I love playing on people's abilities to second guess an ending.

Q: Chris & Harry was your first time hitting the triple crown here on Newgrounds by receiving a Daily Feature, Weekly Users' Choice and Review Crew Pick all at the same time. How did it feel providing a voice for this flash movie and what's the behind the scenes look on it?

A: Let me just say that any glory that movie received should all be directed towards Chris O'Neill as all I did was lend my voice after all. Chris was already way in to production before I knew anything about it but he kept me well abreast after that. I recommended he use the music you hear at the very beginning and I originally suggested we do each other's voices (Chris as myself and myself as Chris) and then ham it up for comedic effect, he wasn't having any of it unfortunately. It was very flattering to be animated by him nonetheless.

Q: Your recent flash movie Saturday Morning Watchmen was so successful that people begged for the song so you gave them the Saturday Morning Watchmen Flash Theme, which made many users feel that nostalgic feeling from TV superheroes. What was the experience in making this flash movie and song?

A: Again, a commission! I had come up with the idea because I believed it could be a big viral hit and because I'm a huge fan of the graphic novel and kids shows from 15-25 years ago, however this time round I decided I didn't want to sell the animation and so I maintained the rights out of choice. The experience was pretty damn tiresome, I churned the thing out in about 3 weeks, song and all. I'm glad people got a kick out of it.

Q: Although you are a wacky and zany cartoonist you have a gift for making great audio submissions. One being Heroes March. Do you plan to return to the audio portal and grace us with more great music such as this?

A: Heroes March was the first piece of synthesized music I ever made and it really really shows. I uploaded it out of excitement I guess. That said, I love music and songwriting, almost as much as animation, I've made hundreds of pieces since then which I haven't uploaded and I feel I've improved a lot. You'll be getting some more by me soon including the music to a game I scored and some from an up and coming animation.

Q: What can we expect from Happy Harry Toons within the near and/or far future?

A: I'm currently working on quite an ambitious project I've talked about on in numerous news posts called 'STARBARIANS' which should be uploaded in the summer, I have another Happy Harry Toon finished which will be up before then and will possibly be collaborating on a game as well...oh and I really want to make something for Christmas this year too :)

After interviewing HappyHarry I must say that he certainly is an interesting animator. He holds the true values of the cartoonist as well as captivating many users on Newgrounds. I seem him as one who is not held up in glory. By receiving a Newgrounds Trophy I can only hope that he will get the recognition he deserves.

Interview No. 3

Interview By: @The-Great-One

There comes a time when you come across an artist on Newgrounds who doesn't make artwork just for fame, but just for fun and just to be acknowledged. Possibly the most humble of any Newgrounds user I've ever met and believe me when I say we have had our share of quarrels in the past. This flash artist has been acknowledged for his flash works pulling in over 50 Awards. Including Daily Features for his works on The Morgue, -Created-, Joey's Bright Idea, and The Greatest Idea Ever!. He has also received Daily 2nd Place awards for his works on the Weird Al Yankovic music video flash Your Horoscope for Today! and has worked with TheWeebl to create Weebl and Bob: Wizard. He is also nominated for a Tank Trophy this year for his contribution to Metal Gear Funnies. This Newgrounds user is none other than @ZekeySpaceyLizard.

Q: The first flash I remember watching that was made by you was entitled "I'm Blue." What was the experience working on this flash and do you plan on remaking it?

A: the thing I remember the most about that film, was that it was the first time I realized how quickly I can sling together something decent when I feel passion. Just clenching my teeth and working as hard as I can for several hours, sitting back, and having a whole finished cartoon.

the thing i dont like about that film is that I ran out of ideas so the majority of the second half of it is filler.

i still remember importing the planet painting i did in paintshoppro into flash, tracing it, and going "hmm this could be a useful technique to use later on"

as for remaking it, no. i still enjoy the first half, that and its not really an important film. it was like the 3rd thing i made that ever won a daily award, and theres no real reason to go back and improve it since its so old and obscure.

Q: One flash collaboration that you participated with was entitled "The 5 Shades of Blue," in which your contribution was honestly one of the most creative things I've seen on Newgrounds since The Liar. What was your experience on working with these flash authors?

A: it was great. I'd never been part of a collab before, but I had, just weeks prior, seen "The 5 Shades of Green"

at the time of that collab I was really getting into color theory and so the theme really attracted me. of course we had to be very conservative since the limit back then was 5 mb.

but through that collab I met alot of great people. Renaenae who still keeps me up to date on art contests, and Mynamewontfitin who has become a fucking incredible artist of digital paint. SpaceChicken who changed his name and actually wants to bring back the 5 shades one last time. Greedom who introduced me to RedMongoose and then disappeared off the internet.

i recall it was also the first time i got hatemail of sorts when some angry child felt the need to contact me through aim to tell me what a terrible person i was for entering the contest and having my entry picked over his.

of course, once he realized i wasnt influencing the contest, because i wasnt the one PICKING THE ENTRIES, he tried to backtrack his argument. but it was too late. i had seen newgrounds true face.

i entered two more shades collabs after that.

Brown which was one of my first attempts at really trying to make something fancy

and Purple whose part i never finished and submitted it on some alt months later unfinished.

Q: Tell me what it felt liking working with BlueHippo on the Weird Al Yankovic flash music video Your Horoscope for Today!?

A: i'd already known hippo for years. he and i met back in like 2001 on the weebl and bob forums and had become good friends. so having him help me fix flash errors (of which there were many) was good.

Q: The first independent flash you made to win a Daily Feature award was The Morgue. In my opinion this flash was a Mind Fuck, but it was entertaining. Tell me how this flash came to be?

A: ah. one day me and blue hippo were chatting on msn at like 1am and i was going through websites trying to find free mp3s. this was in the days of Kazaa. and even then, kazaa sucked. so i was going through sites trying to find classical or weird music to use for flash when I happened upon the website of voice actress and radio host april winchell.

she had like.....an ark of WEIRD music.

including a bunch of employee training tapes from the 1960's. i was so inspired to use these that i wanted to use them in something really rancid. the tapes had such an upbeat happy theme, i really wanted to have a visual that was the complete antithesis of the merriness. the sickest thing i could think of was a morgue. although thats probably because i had become a fanboy of kingdom hospital and Rijet at the time.

Q: Are there any users here on Newgrounds you like or get along with?

A: sure there's plenty.

i make it a priority to block people i dislike so i can save myself time. the people i REALLY like i talk to on aol instant messenger. i used to use msn but it sucks balls.

Q: Are there any users here on Newgrounds you dislike or do not get along with?

A: oh thats a long long list there. a LONG long list.

and its getting longer since newgrounds is being overrun by /b/ newfags who are using the "lol i troll u" method of arguing whenever someone points out how stupid they are.

but specific people would take me a good hour to list.

i would never want to be a mod of this place, but everyday i wish i could ban certain people. there's too many assholes here who don't contribute diddly squat and then bitch like the authors owe them something.

Q: Do you regret any decisions you've made on Newgrounds?

A: nothing i've DONE here do i regret. but theres a few personal relationships i've had with a few people here that began due to me hurting someone's feelings. those are never too good.

Q: You constantly complain about the state of the BBS. If you had the power to change it, what would you do?

A: delete it.

there is seriously no fixing it at this point. half the laughable moderation staff only sign on like once a month. the other half are people who brown-nosed the staff and now just do the whole "HEY I'LL BAN A BUNCH OF PEOPLE AND WRITE A REALLY RUDE POST HAHAHAHA I AM SO EDGY EPIC" thing, while a slew of 10 year olds make 40 new naruto topics. the amount of stupid kids and even stupider kids trying to troll the stupid kids is massive. and then we finally get a new forum, the art forum, and its slowly ruined by people posting stolen art, people who fly off the handle when someone accuses someone else of stealing art, and people who cant do art at all posting their own crap in all the other threads.

the bbs is a tumor.

but of course, dont point the flaws out or you get banned!

Q: How did you find Newgrounds?

A: i found newgrounds. back then other than a few nice things, the site was mostly people trying very hard to copy xiao xiao.

which was cool. i made some cartoons. everyone hated them. why? well for two reasons, one was because they were awful. feel free to watch my 2003 films. the second reason is because the entire culture of this place at the time was "IT NEEDS MORE VIOLENCE OR NUDITY TO BE GOOD"

so i remained an obscure nobody making things i felt like making and not really caring that anyone liked them. i was in high school at the time.

then i discover the star syndicate, roughly halfway through season 1 of the original dailytoons. it was hilarious. marrying the most bizarre concepts to weird television pop culture, and done in the crudest way imaginable with the most annoying sound as possible JUST TO GET PEOPLE UPSET

and oh people got upset. oh people went NUTS. its like stomping an anthill. they all crawl out waving their tiny little pinchers uselessly. we changed the culture of this place.

and it was fucking hilarious. they made fun of the userbase here, the idiots who ran the bbs. it was great.

so I joined.

somewhere between then and now, I got popular. i have no fucking clue how. i guess tweening my drawings to music caused people to like me. but then, standards here have always been low.

but currently we're stuck in a time when the original rebels here are disbanded, replaced by terrible wannabe's like the duck division, the rock revision, the fuck fascists, etc

and people who think that just because i have a fanbase now (and one thats starting to rival legendary frog's in terms of annoyance and brownnosing and people who mistakenly think i know what i'm doing with my life) means that suddenly I have to straighten up and be a role model for the goons here. the same goons whom years ago sent me angry private messages because i dared call out shit like foamy for what it was.

no.

unlike alot of people here, i chose to NOT just suckle the tit of anime and videogames so people would notice me. i didnt WANT to be noticed. but i was anyway. and now each time i make anything its like an ambush of people who, like you, seem determined to find some sort of 'message' in my stuff.

unlike alot of people here, i chose NOT to suddenly cease being an active member of this community simply cause i was popular. how often does knox come to newgrounds now? once a year. fuck that. what about legendary frog eh? what about all the other 'popular' authors? how many of them actually GIVE A SHIT about this place? hardly any.

unlike alot of people here, i chose to improve myself. and I have. no not by much because i'm a talentless hack. but i'm a hell of alot better than i was in 2002.

i've worked like a dog. and been rewarded for it a couple of times by the very generous tom fulp. do you know how life-changing it is to have 700 dollars land on you for making a cartoon you spent 2 weeks on that everyone was sure was going to lose to "BOWSER HALLOWEEN SPRITE CLOWNFUCKERY 5" and everyone thought you were going to commit suicide because you're an already cynical and depressing person? to be able to afford tools so my art can look less terrible? so I can have some creative freedom? especially when you make minimum wage?

its a fuckin gift.

i havent changed my ways for anyone here.

and i've had alot of fun pissing off people in the process.

and I sure as hell won't be stopping any time soon.

Q: How does it feel being nominated for a Tank Trophy for your contribution to Metal Gear Funnies?

A: it feels like i bit into an apple and clam chowder came out

After interviewing ZekeySpaceyLizard I can truly see an individual who deserves a NG Tank Trophy for Best User this year. Zekey is certainly a flash artist that will continue to be a part of Newgrounds and chances are he wants the site to become better or become a revival of the old days of Newgrounds. Although there are many spam flashes amongst his works, you can surely find some flash movies that show off Zekey's artistic skills.

Interview No. 2

Interview By: @The-Great-One

The following below is an interview with Newgrounds Forum Moderator @EyeLovePoozy. Although EyeLovePoozy hasn't done much within the flash submission or even the audio submission community he is still a well known face around Newgrounds.

Q: Why did you join Newgrounds?

A: I was fucking around on the internet one day and came across one of Krinkel's Madness flashes and I thought it was awesome. I dug around on the site some and stumbled upon other stuff from artists such as illwillpress and weebl. After a year or so of going to the front page and watching or playing what was there I decided I wanted my votes to count for something so I made an account. The rest is history.

Q: How did you become a Newgrounds Forum Moderator?

A: One day while talking on aim to Wade he said "Read this" and had linked me to a thread in the mod forum. For further details you'd have to ask the rest of the mod team being that they voted me in.

Q: Some people refer to you as the next bigbadron. Would you agree or disagree, and why?

A: That's a good question. I remember when he was around and I've got to say that I don't think I'm anything like him. Sure we have the same type of sense of humor but so do thirty other people I know, haha. I for starters have a full head of hair, don't have a knee jerk reaction to all things 4chan and I have working shift keys.

I constantly read user's posts that say that I'm his replacement, that I'll never compare to him, that I'm way better than him. I pay no mind to any of that shit. Every mod is different and BBR (when he was a mod) and I are no different in that respect. Two completely different people with somewhat similar modding habits.

I am positive that more than three quarters of the people spewing out that nonsense are just repeating what they saw someone else say. They repeat it because they think it makes them look cool or perhaps they feel it makes them seem more like a regular or in the know. It's sort of like a band wagon effect. I see it a lot on the forums.

Q: It seems you are one of the famous Newgrounds Moderators. A Google Search would list a petition to remove your modship and another petition to make you a Newgrounds Administrator. There is even a Newgrounds Alt Account called "De-Mod-EyeLovePoozy" dedicated to getting rid of you. What is your opinion on these statements?

A: I could not possibly care less. Sometimes I am linked to these petitions and I find them hilarious and so do most of the mod team. Wade and I have had more than a few laughs at it actually. The fact of the matter is that the makers of these limp dicked petitions are butt hurt users that have been banned for breaking the rules, over and over and again in most cases. Mod team mate Dry-Ice said it best in my opinion:

"Online Petitions have never done anything more than show how weak and insignificant someone's cause is."

LMAO =D

The "De-Mod-EyeLovePoozy" account belongs to a user named russianfederation, btw. The petition linked in my sig was made by him and I put it there because he was telling me via PM that I better be scared. No amount of reasoning could assure him of my apathy concerning his actions. So I linked it where everyone was sure to see it to prove my point, haha.

Q: Which users do you enjoy seeing or talking to on Newgrounds?

A: Nobody, I truly hate them all. I hate some less than others. Like Gagsy for instance, she gives excellent head. There are also some others that stand out as good users. Such as DingotheDog, he's pretty funny. JackPhantasm is another good poster. Fyndir used to be but cool now he's just gay. Jamoke is an excellent user as well. There are lots of good users but I talk to very few regularly.

Q: Which users do you dislike or avoid talking to on Newgrounds?

A: God... There are so many. About two dozen of them come to mind but I wont list them here being that they are dedicated attention whores and would absolutely cum in their pants seeing me mention their names.

Q: While browsing the forums I was informed by an "EyeLovePoozy Hater" that the other moderators weren't exactly thrilled with you becoming moderator. Was that true? If so, have they changed through the course of time?

A: There were several that were against the idea but as far as I know they have changed their mind or have been demodded. If the team didn't want me to be a mod then I wouldn't be a mod. I would be demodded, it's that simple.

Q: Do you truly enjoy being a Forum Moderator?

A: Absolutely. You have to enjoy it. It's a thankless position and to do it well you have to immerse yourself into a sea of stupidity and weed out the stupid fish that are fucking shit up for the rest of the fish. That entails becoming intimate with the post histories of every active user. Keeping tabs on who said what and when. It's not an easy job but I do it because I love NG and its BBS. The day that I don't love it anymore will be the day I step down as a NG BBS moderator.

Well readers. It is certainly clear that there is more to EyeLovePoozy than what we see and have seen on the Newgrounds Forums.

Interview No. 1

Interview By: @The-Great-One

The following is an interview with the creator of this beloved website Newgrounds.com. @TomFulp. There weren't many questions I could ask him that weren't already answered in the Bio section of Newgrounds, so my questions are limited. However I think you'll enjoy what answers I received.

Q: Why did you create Newgrounds?

A: Newgrounds happened kinda naturally over the course of time. I originally wanted to just good off and have a place to entertain an audience, but as the site grew in popularity, other people wanted to share their stuff here too.

Q: What decisions did you make for Newgrounds that you have regretted?

A: Sometimes I wonder if I could have done things differently to avoid NG having such a negative association with it. Probably now, though, NG is what it is. I probably could have marketted it better though, since there's a lot more to it than what a lot of people realize.

Q: What decisions did you make for Newgrounds that you're proud of?

A: I'm very proud of the decision to bring Ross on-board in 1999 to program the automated Flash Portal.

Q: Many people have asked for different features such as the NG Chat and Writer's Portal. Do you plan on delivering upon those and other features as well?

A: Chat and Writers' Portal should both become available in 2009! We have a lot of features in the works.

Q: How is Pico 2 coming along?

A: Pico 2 remains in limbo, until I feel ready to put myself into it completely again.

Q: What is the story behind Alien Hominid?

A: Dan Paladin and I were making goofy Flash games together and one day he sent me a drawing of the yellow alien. I was in the mood to make a Metal Slug style game, so we ran with it and made the original web version. The video game company Dan was working for later shut down and one of his co-workers, John Baez, had the idea of forming a new company to make a console version of AH. And here we are with the Behemoth!

Q: Tell me about Castle Crashers?

A: After Alien Hominid, we had a lot of great tools for developing console games and wanted to stretch our wings a bit. We decided to tackle a four player, on-line brawler with RPG elements. Three years later, it was done!

Q: One flash game which is the only one to receive three Newgrounds awards has been League Bowling. What all can you tell me about this game?

A: League Bowling was an underappreciated Neo Geo game that I like playing. I decided to make a Flash version, which required some really obsessive compulsive sprite ripping.

After interviewing Tom Fulp, there really isn't much to him. Just your average joe who decided to make a website to host his creations. He has excelled in the Internet world that only people on YouTube wished they could.