My Writing Heroes: Jason Steele

You know, it occurred to me that I could fill all of My Writing Heroes blog posts with novelists and other famous writers, with writers like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams and Bruce Coville. And more than likely, I will write about these writers and probably many more. But a thought has crossed my mind. Many of these writers are already well known and their praises have been sung in ways more elequent than I could ever put them. Not to say that makes me not want to write about them. But I wonder how many good writers I know are not so well sung as someone who might have a novel series or an award beside them. And my next hero falls under that line. I want to talk to you about the wonderful style of Jason Steele, YouTube's Secretagentbob, creator of Charlie the Unicorn.

I discovered FilmCow the same way that most people in the world discovered him, through Charlie the Unicorn, a short animated piece about a disgruntled unicorn, harassed by two other nonsense spewing unicorns who lead him on a journey of misery that ends in... well even more misery. The video is random and funny, but more importantly, it was catchy and quite quotable. "Candy Mountain, Charlie!" "Oh man, they took my friggin' kidney". I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that I decided to check out more of their work. I was not disappointed.

Jason Steele and company has made dozens of videos, from short skits to short animations, on a variety of subjects, but they all have some things in common. They're all over the top, they're all incredibly silly and they're all very, very catchy. And that's what I think I enjoy most of all. Some of them (okay, many of them) require a morbid sense of humor to appretiate, something I thankfully have. Violence, blood and death are common amongst their videos, but so is their witty banter mixed with brilliant comedic timing. And that's something I can truly appretiate.

When someone can write something that sticks with you, long after you've read it, it means a bond has created between the viewer and the creation. Steele has created work that is catchy, lovable and wonderful that has lasted me for a very long time and he and his production company have made themselves a fan of their antics. Cause after all, we all need a good laugh once and a while. Especially one worth remembering.

Look for secretagentbob on youtube or FilmCow on the net for Steele's work. I recommend Charlie the Unicorn for starters and for the more morbid out there, the Cloak is excellent.

Peace and blessings
Eric Rawlinson
20110126