geekosystem

There's nothing quite like parody covers of Disney songs. Especially when the video is choreographed in an amusing manner. Add a humorous conceit and you've basically got internet gold. Todrick Hall, a former American Idol contestant, is behind the ghetto-inspired parody "Beauty and the BEAT!" that stars a variety of known YouTube personalities. That includes, but is not limited to, a small cameo from Antoine Dodson himself. The song is based on Beauty and the Beast's opening number and is quite well-fashioned. Personally, I'm hoping the next one to crop up is a version of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. Regardless, I'm all for more comedic musicals of all shapes and sizes.

This trailer for a movie called Beauty & the Beast, by Thai animation studio "GM Toons" -- the castle-and-arc-of-light logo of which is certainly not inspired by Disney's -- looks an awful lot like the 1991 Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. Coincidence? Verily, what appears to be the shameless, shot-for-shot plagiarism of GM Toons' work seems to have embarrassed many Thai viewers, who write in the YouTube comments that the film doesn't reflect their attitudes or the quality of creative work in their country: One commenter writes "GM toons isn't a Thai representation. It's such an unprofessional studio in Thailand and deserves to get bashed. I dont think you're too stupid to bashing the whole country!~ be honest." But if anything, the weird, jerky gyrations and soulless expressions of these characters are about as good an advertisement for Disney's craftsmanship as the animation giant could hope for. See also: GM Toons' Land Before Time and Winnie the Pooh 'homages.' (io9 via Buzzfeed)

2009 was a good year for geek movies.  Of course, there were a few notable exceptions, but we are a culture that can occasionally embrace such duds as secret cinema gold, and usually forget the rest.  Usually. Yesterday's announcement of the 82nd Academy Awards nominees shows that Hollywood has also noticed that Science Fiction, animation, and, um, Quentin Tarantino stepped up to the plate and slammed out quite a few home runs this year. This year's awards ceremony includes the 2nd animated nominee for best picture in history, the first Wallace and Gromit movie since 2005, and... Well, we'll be honest with you.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was nominated for an award.  But its just Sound Mixing!  Nobody even knows the difference between that and Sound Editing.  The rest is much more exciting, we promise.  Follow the jump for the things we are most excited about in this year's Academy Awards.