Staving Off Sleep: Childhood Entertainers

I feel like I should explain how I got onto the subject before I just dive into it.

To kick it off, I am a huge fan of the application Stumbleupon, a friend in college suggested it to me, and although a major waste of my time, it has made my procrastination more productive (I'm a sucker for useless information). So I was using it today under the subject of "movies" and stumbled (not a pun, that is actually what it is called) this photo:

Yep, it is the teaser poster for Star Wars: Episode 1. The obvious feature of note is the tip of the hat to little Annie actually becoming Vader.

The thought crossed my mind that when I show my eventual kids the Star Wars movies, I would show them 4-6 before 1-3, to avoid spoiling the whole "Vader is Luke's father!" surprise in the 5th film. I posted a similar remark on my Facebook to which a friend responded that watching the Clone Wars cartoon "by the guy that did Samurai Jack". Without further ado, I present the list of people I attribute the entertainment of my childhood (in part, I did go outside or play with friends as a child) to:

Genndy Tartakovsky (his wikipedia page)

Known for:
- Dexter's Laboratory

- 2 Stupid Dogs

- Samurai Jack

- The Powerpuff Girls

- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (the good one, not the new terrible one)

Overall, Genndy has been nominated for 12 Emmy awards (nothing to sneeze at) with three wins. He has been named creative director of Orphanage Animation Studios whose goal is to compete with Pixar. I hope the basic ideology of democracy rings true here and the consumers are better off for it, not that Pixar's quality is lacking, I don't think they have done a bad film yet (a rare achievement). The company is founded by Star Wars veterans The Orphanage, responsible for films such as Pirates of the Caribbean (Dead Man's Chest and At World's End), Iron Man, Hero, Hellboy, Sin City, Harry Potter 4, and Live Free or Die Hard. Other rumors exist of a Samurai Jack film, he is directing a sequel to The Dark Crystal. The latest news is that he is working on a new TV show for Cartoon Network.