rfaust76 (Creative Commons)

See also:
*"Lauren Faust: Let's Hear It for the Girls"
*"Top 5 Lessons for Adults From My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"

For this year's L.A. Weekly People Issue, I interviewed Lauren Faust, the fabulously talented artist and writer who has worked on top-notch shows like The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Now, though, she's best known for developing the TV series that launched the Brony phenomenon, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. More recently, Faust led the team behind the DC animated short series Super Best Friends Forever.

We talked about a lot of things in the interview that didn't make the final version of the story. Below are a few outtakes.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic screening at Royal/T

See also: "Boba Fett as a Girl: N.C. Winters Mashes Up Star Wars and My Little Pony in 'Abandoned Menagerie'"

It's easy to forget that My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a kids show. After all, it's mostly adults -- known as Bronies and Pegasisters -- that we see dressed as Rainbow Dash at conventions. Plus, artists like Luke Chueh, Shojono Tomo and Mark Mothersbaugh are getting artwork ready for next month's My Little Pony Project in Los Angeles.

But MLP is, technically, geared toward the little ones and, on Saturday afternoon, Royal/T was filled with young girls, and a few boys, ready to attend the nuptials of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The royal pony couple is getting hitched in a two-part episode that debuts on cable's the Hub next Saturday. Last weekend was the sneak preview.

"A Canterlot Wedding" isn't your typical TV wedding extravaganza. There's intrigue, a lot of action and, like all episodes of MLP: FIM, a few good lessons. But the morals of the stories in MLP: FIM aren't necessarily typical of children's television. They're less about eating your vegetables and more about developing social skills that will last the rest of your life. While those lessons are aimed at children, they're important reminders for everyone. Check out the top five My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic lessons for adults below.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

Heckle and Jeckle mural by Steven Daily

For the past few years, L.A. artist Steven Daily has brought together a wide variety of artists to explore the animated influences in the group show "Gag Me With a Toon." Where previous installments of the event focused specifically on the cartoons of the 1980s, this year's show broadened the scope. The decision makes sense. After all, how many Angelenos spent our '80s youth watching classic Popeye shorts on KTLA? Certainly, cartoons can have a very long shelf life.

"Gag Me With a Toon 4" opened at Culver City's WWA Gallery on St. Patrick's Day and runs through April 21. I stopped by last weekend to check out the show. Below are 10 impressive pieces inspired by retro cartoons.

More >>

Courtesy of Comedy Central

In Ugly Americans, which began debuting new episodes last week on Comedy Central, wizards, demons, zombies, humans and more live together, and often clash, in New York City. At the center is Social Services trying to ease the rifts between the varied members of the community.

Callie Maggotbone works in Social Services. She also dates the show's central character, human Mark Lilly. Voiced by comedian Natasha Leggero, Callie is a half-demon/half-human succubus.

"You don't play the succubus part," says Leggero over a recent phone call. "She's a woman and she's in love with Mark. It's very much how I've been in relationships, minus being Rosemary's Baby."

More >>

The characters Red and Blue drive each other crazy in the web series Dick Figures, pictured in the episode entitled "Zombies & Shotguns"

Red and Blue are stick figures with a Bugs Bunny/Daffy Duck type of relationship. They drive each other crazy, but somehow remain friends. Their adventures are at the center of one of the hottest shows online. In less than a year and a half, Dick Figures has become a YouTube sensation, racking up views as its central characters reference memes and wreak havoc across their town.

Produced by Six Point Harness and airing on YouTube via Mondo Media, Dick Figures is written and directed by Ed Skudder and Zack Keller, two friends with a fondness for Internet humor and dubstep. With season 4 set to premiere April 5, Dick Figures made an appearance Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Animation Festival, with both Skudder and Keller on hand for the panel. I had the chance to speak with them after the event.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

Tom Kenny as emcee for LAAF's opening party.

Read about LAAF artistic director Sean Lennon's picks for the festival in last week's Cult Stars column.

Wednesday night, the third not-quite-annual Los Angeles Animation Festival opened at the Regent Showcase. The free event was essentially a preview of what's to come over the next few days, with trailers of upcoming screenings, introductions to the LAAF team and sponsors and a live performance from local rock band Nylon Pink. Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants as well as the Ice King in Adventure Time, was the event's emcee.

But last night's festivities set the stage for more than just the animated action that will take place on the Regent Showcase's screen. It was a mixer, with animation students and industry professionals milling about the theater, drinks in hand, talking shop and maybe posing for a photo with Shrek. Songs from vintage rock bands like Love and Electric Prunes accompanied Chuck Jones' classic Bugs Bunny-Elmer Fudd "Hare Tonic," which played muted on repeat before the presentation. This was a true animation party that embraced the odd, funny and psychedelic while touching on the industry's history and diversity.

More >>

Katiechimera via Wikimedia Commons

Sean Lennon is best known in music circles. The 36-year-old son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono has released three solo albums, as well as two full-lengths with girlfriend Charlotte Kemp Muhl under the name Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger (GOASTT). He played with Cibo Matto, collaborated extensively with his mother and worked with The Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr. Right now, he's in the studio producing Muhl's new project, Kemp and Eden, which will be released on their record label Chimera Music.

What people might not know, though, is that Lennon is an animation buff. He animated his own video for the song "Would I Be the One," a T. Rex cover that appeared on his album Friendly Fire, as an homage to Fantastic Planet (La Planète Sauvage). He also translated and sang music for the French animated film A Monster in Paris, which premieres on the West Coast March 10 at the Los Angeles Animation Festival.

Lennon is actually artistic director for this year's five-day event and has chosen several of the works screening at LAAF. We recently chatted with him by phone about his selections and A Monster in Paris.

More >>

Women clearly have an ambivalent relationship with Disney characters. In question 12 of our sex survey, UCLA vs. USC: Who's Sluttier?, we asked about the worst date movies, and Disney films were named again and again by our female respondents: The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog and "anything Disney" were frequent answers.

More >>

Liz Ohanesian

Shadows of Dangerous Men by Scott Listfield (The Venture Bros.)

See more photos in "The Best Art Inspired by Adult Swim."

Gallery 1988 has hosted plenty of group shows that explore the influence of pop culture. From video games to cult films, Garbage Pail Kids to Watership Down, artists have come together at the Melrose Ave. space with a mission to transforms well-known works into something new.

On Friday night, Gallery 1988 took a slightly different approach. Where group shows often touch on nostalgia and early influences, in "[gallery 1988 x adult swim]," artists took inspiration from their peers, the creative teams behind the shows that comprise Adult Swim's programming schedule.

More >>

Image courtesy of Fox

In 2004 when Napoleon Dynamite -- a low-budget indie film about the strange and awkward characters in a small Idaho town -- took mainstream America by storm, were we laughing at Napoleon, or with him? It's an interesting question to ponder as a viewer, but one even more fun to pose to Jerusha and Jared Hess, the film's writers.

Mike White, who's worked with the Hesses on Nacho Libre and Gentlemen Broncos, moderated a panel at the Paley Center last night that focused on Fox's new Napoleon Dynamite animated series premiering this Sunday, and began by musing on this very idea. "Are Jared and Jerusha just making fun of ugly weird people?" he wondered aloud, though eventually concluded that once you get to know the pair, you realize that "ugly weird people are their people."

More >>