Neil Cicierega
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Neil Cicierega (born August 23, 1986), a.k.a. "Trapezoid", is an Internet personality and artist, who has at times described his occupation as "youthful dipwad". He is the creator of many absurd Flash animations, which became highly popular circa 2001, as well as other animations and his own music (see below), both of which have gained him a small cult following that continued even after his mainstream Internet popularity died down. Cicierega currently lives with his parents and 2 of his siblings in Kingston, Massachusetts, United States.
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Animutation
Niel Cicierega created an original genre of Flash animation, which he calls the "Animutation". The "Animutation" features random scenes and pictures accompanied by foreign or novelty music, often Japanese (most of the original run of "Animutations" used music from the original Japanese version of Pokémon). His style, most famously seen in his 2001 work "Hyakugojyuuichi", has been imitated by other artists on the Internet. These works are known as "fanimutations".
Cicierega's Music
Cicierega has enjoyed some popularity as a musician, writing and performing his own music with the help of music authoring software such as Cakewalk Pro Audio 9. Cicierega says that his music is influenced by They Might Be Giants and similar "geek" bands. His lyrics tend to have a surreal, humorous slant, though he has said he rarely writes songs with "jokish" intentions. He started widespread distribution of his songs under the name of "Trapezoid", and then as "Lemon Demon". Following a notice from an annoyed trademark holder, Trapezoid was posthumously changed to "Deporitaz", though Cicierega is still known to go by the nickname "Trapezoid" or "Trapezzoid" occasionally. The website for "Trapezoid" was hosted on MP3.com before MP3.com was purchased by CNET, and is now gone, presumably forever, but its current incarnation, Lemon Demon, has a website (http://www.eviltrailmix.com/lemondemon/) on Cicierega's eviltrailmix.com. Some of his music is available for download there, and he also occasionally posts a link to a new song on his weblog (see link below).
Potter Puppet Pals
Cicierega's most recent projects are vastly different from his normal animutation style. He currently has created two parts in a series named "Potter Puppet Pals", a spoof on Harry Potter done as if all the characters were hand puppets. Characters in the cast so far have included Harry, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Dumbledore, and Voldemort. Episodes so far have focused on simply bothering Snape to saving the school from Voldemort in a matter not typically used by wizards. The style is done in the manner of a Punch and Judy show, with the puppets moving around a small area. The puppets are animated using Flash in cartoon style.
External links
- eviltrailmix.com (http://www.eviltrailmix.com/) - Cicierega's personal home page
- Cicierega's "Animutation" website (http://www.animutation.com/)
- Cicierega's weblog (http://www.livejournal.com/users/trapezzoid/)
- Lemon Demon, Cicierega's one-man band (http://www.eviltrailmix.com/lemondemon/)
- Cicierega's "Potter Puppet Pals" website (http://www.potterpuppetpals.com/)
- "All hail Neil Cicierega", Salon.com, 4/2001 (http://archive.salon.com/tech/log/2001/04/26/animation/)
- B3ta's interview with Cicierega (http://www.b3ta.com/interview/neil/)