For Tax Reasons

Site Update

Hey everyone, we've done a site update and are changing our RSS feed for For Tax Reasons news. So if you'd like to keep following the goings ons at For Tax Reasons, subscribe to: http://www.fortaxreasons.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2

Irony of Ironies

Oh sweet irony. Some of you may have noticed that the last episode of our series, Ronin Dojo Community College DX: Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga, has had it's audio track muted on Youtube. Apparently, Warner Music Group did not enjoy the use of a Balzac song in our web series revolving around internet piracy and digital rights and flagged our video. It's just perfect. So perfect, you could say we planned it to go down like this. You really could say that. But it wouldn't be true. We'll have a fix for this audio problem in the new year, but in the meantime you can still check out the uncensored version in the animation section of this site. Other things to expect in the new year, some new merch and some new toons and we're going to try to get this site to drop about 5 pounds. So while you're waiting for the decimation of the oughts, you can check out Ben's blog or check out the shirts we've got in our merch section.

October Schmoctober

October is here, and For Tax Reasons is still working away on some top secret freelance animation projects to pay the bills and feed our many illegitimate children across the contintental United States. Just a little bit longer until some new Ronin Dojo arrives. In the mean time, check out Ben's recent blog post on the music video For Tax Reasons is animating for the band Teenage Bottlerocket. It's for the song "Bigger Than Kiss" off their new album "They Came From The Shadows". If you like catchy, adrenaline-infused pop-punk, we suggest you buy it- stat. We were wondering if any Ronin Dojo Community College DX fans out there would be interested in a DVD of the Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga. We'll be taking an informal poll via email, so drop us a line and tell us if you'd be interested in fun little DVD with some sweet extra's not found on the internet, or you'd rather us just "post some new shit with more LARPing jokes". It's up to you. But until we get the results in, you'll just have to stick to buying our sweet t-shirts. Go check them out in our merch section, we got all sorts of sizes- even girly ones for all you internet ladies.

C.R.E.A.M.

Thanks to Matt Lee for setting up that Midsummer Night Toons screening, and thanks to everyone for coming out! Lots of fun to actually see animators, live face to face. Animation is not usually condusive to- social interaction. Matt and I are working away on several freelance projects to get our landlords off our backs, but we hope to be posting some new material soon. We're also scheming about a possible Ronin Dojo Community College DX DVD. In the meantime, take a peek behind the For Tax Reasons curtain, and check out my blog post on how For Tax Reasons colors with Photoshop. And we're still selling our new Ronin Dojo shirts. In fact, check out our buddy Rudy rockin' one at a Pietasters show. Yeah you know you want one so you can skank and scream in it. Go check out our merch section, we got all sorts of sizes- even girly ones for all you internet ladies. More merch and toons coming soon, so go outside and get some vitamin D while you still can.

Screeningings

Mid Summernight Toons Trailer This Wednesday, August 19th- For Tax Reasons will be featured in an animation screening in NYC. Mr. Matt Lee has culled together some sweet animated shorts for a program called Midsummer Night Toons. Check out the trailerabove. Admission is free, so if you're in the area, come check it out. Here's the info if you're too lazy to watch the trailer: Wednesday, August 19th M1-5 Bar Lounge 52 Walker St. (b/w Church + Broadway) 9:00-9:30 Admission is FREE In other news, we're still selling our new Ronin Dojo shirts. In fact, check out our buddy Rudy rockin' one at a Pietasters show. Yeah you know you want one so you can skank and scream in it. Go check out our merch section, we got all sorts of sizes- even girly ones for all you internet ladies. More merch and toons coming soon, so go outside and get some vitamin D while you still can.

New Bad-Ass T-Shirts!

Check it out! We got some new bad ass Ronin Dojo Community College T-Shirts in our merch section! It was an epic struggle with silk screening, but we prevailed! Now For Tax Reasons offers all of you fans TWO new shirts- all hand printed on fine quality American Apparrel jersey tees. MADE IN AMERICA, SON! If you buy them, you can look just like Tom up there- but you gotta provide your own staff and fire and stuff. In other news, Tim Martin (voice of Seth/Hank Henderson) came over to the For Tax Reasons recording studios for a little voice sesh. We can't tell you what that means, but some cartoonage is a brewin'. I don't know where I get all this lingo from. More merch and everything to come. Until then, re-watch the finale of the Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga, and join in on the divise debate in our Youtube Comments section.

RDCCDX: DPODWS: Episode 4: End of the Road

Here it is! The final episode of Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga! It's Episode 4: End of the Road! Directed by Matt Burnett & Ben Levin Starring Matt Burnett, Ben Levin and Tim Martin We premiered it this Friday at our "Let's Talk Animation! with For Tax Reasons" panel at Otakon 2009! It was awesome. We thought for sure only 3 to 0 people would show, but we actually filled up the room. And though we'd only planned on only showing the final episode, by audience demand we screened every single episode as well as H.P. Papercraft at the end. It was a lot of fun, and we hope we can come back with some new cartoons and do it all again next year. Thanks so much to everyone who came out, it was great to finally see some fans in person. Thanks also to the Otakon Staff, Panel Ops, and the A/V techs. Alan and Scott for helping us out with Otakon Stuff. Zack and Darrell for helping with the panel. Thanks to Tim Martin to providing hilarious voice acting as always. Matt Mayer for making some sweet 3-D titles and helping us with compositing. Darrell for coloring and taking photos during the panel and Zack for video taping the panel and giving us his sage advice.

RDCCDX: DPODWS: Episode 3.5: You Are (Not) Loved

Here it is folks.It's the second to last installment of the Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates Of Dark Water Saga! It's Episode 3.5: You Are (Not) Loved. In this episode, Mark and Barry suffer that classic, awkward car ride that always comes after your father finds out you're being interrogated by the FBI for pirating movies. We've all been there. Starring Matt Burnett, Ben Levin and Tim Martin Written by Matt Burnett & Ben Levin Additional Writing by Tim Martin There's only one episode left in the saga, and it's going to be premiered at the For Tax Reasons panel at Otakon, July 17th-19th. We'll be at the biggest anime convention on the East Coast, talking about DIY animation. So if you're in the Baltimore area, come on down to wherever they put our panel- they haven't told us yet. Go to the Otakon website, get the registration info, find a place to sleep and we'll see you in Charm City!

Sup bro's and bro-ettes

For Tax Reasons is back to work. As this poster illustrates, Matt and I will be going to Otakon where we'll be hosting a panel entitled "Let's Talk Animation! with For Tax Reasons". We'll be discussing DIY animation and premiering the final episode of Ronin Dojo Community College DX: Digital PIrates of Dark Water Saga. The Otakon officials still haven't posted the exact time of the panel, but it will be happening at some point at the Baltimore Convention Center between July 17th and July 19th. We'll let you all know once they give us the schedule. So if you're in the area, come check us out, yell questions at us and tell us we suck- in person. We're tired of just reading about it in the comments section of the G.I. Joe parody videos we did during the election. Seriously though, there are some crazy political debates going on in those comments sections. Anyways, we've got Ronin Dojo Community College DX: Digital Pirates of Dark Water: Episode 3.5 coming out next week! Until then, go watch some Michael Jackson vids or play Moonwalker. Dude was the Prince of Pop.

We're back!

INTERNET! Thank goodness we found you! We've been sequestered in a dark apartment in Queens with some top secret work-for-hire animation jobs. Two months ago the Obama Administration approached us to create an animated television show solely for first kids Sasha and Malia. It's pretty much Avatar: the Last Air Bender, but with Obama's head on top of Ang's. The show is called Obama: The Last Policy Bender. It's pretty good, but as we said- only Sasha, Malia and a select group of their Super Secret Sleepover Friends will ever see it. But now we're back- we're back FROM the future- with two awesome news items. ONE- Ronin Dojo Community College DX: Episode 3.5 will be coming out in June. TWO- yours truly will be making an appearance at the greatest anime convention in the world. That's right, For Tax Reasons has a panel at OTAKON! July 17th - July 19th, Matt and I will be at the Baltimore Convention Center, discussing DIY animation and premiering the final episode of Ronin Dojo Community College DX. It'll go online shortly after, but your first shot at seeing it will be at Otakon. We'll be handing out HIGH FIVES afterwards. More details on all this in the coming weeks. Thanks to everyone for sticking around during our unannounced hiatus, you all are the best. And a big shout out to the amazing fan who painted Barry's "Mercurial Shield of Lightning Defense" onto a DnD miniature. We hope he only copied the artwork and not the mechanics. We did not playtest how 3d20 of electrical damage would work in game.

Episode 3 of RDCCDX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is out!

In this episode, the Feds have all the dirt they need to put the Ronin Dojo boys away for a long time. Will a surprise guest to the interrogation be their savior? Or their executioner? A big thanks go out to Emily and Tim for reprising their roles as Agent Wilkins and Hank Henderson in this episode. They made all the funny in this one. Thanks also goes out to Darrell for scanning a bunch of our crap, Dan for pulling some sounds for us, and Kuddy and Jonah for letting us reuse their music ad infinitum. It's been working out great. So we're going to use it in the next episode too.

Episode 2.5 of RDCCDX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is out!

Jeez, we just keep adding episodes to this thing! Episode 3 of "Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga" is on its way, but for now, enjoy the interlude we like to call Episode 2.5: Parking Garage Diplomacy. The anonymous source that led Agent Wilkins and her FBI team to Mark and Barry's pirate bay makes his appearance. . . or is it reappearance? Did you guess correctly? Of course you did, smart guy/gal! Unless you guessed Jerry. In that case, you're dead wrong, buster. This is the For Tax Reasons cartoon ever to not feature either of our voices, so special thanks are due to our voice actors Tim Martin and Emily Tarver! Our sultry smooth tones will be back to melt your ears next episode, but Tim and Emily more than carried this installment in our stead. And they'll be back for Episode 3 as well, so keep checking back for news on its release.

Episode 2 of RDCCDX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is out!

Episode 2 of the Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is out!

In this installment, Mark and Barry are enjoying their ill-gotten copy of Cold Pheonix Saga IV until shit get's real. The Feds wouldn't send you to Guantanamo for pirating Space Jam- or would they? (Note: if this makes no sense to you, check out Episode 1 and Episode 1.5)

MONDAY MONDAY MONDAY

Episode 2 of the Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is almost done!

We just finished mixing the sound, and if everything else goes just as smooth and creamily, we'll be releasing it to the gaping jaw of the internet this Monday, December 22nd. If you want to follow the story, make sure you watch Episode 1- and Episode 1.5 if you're really bored.

241

Episode 2 of the Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga is coming out soon, but we've got some crap to keep you busy until then. First off, we did an interview on the Otaku Generation podcast this past Monday. Go to their site and listen to episode #181 to hear us ramble on and on and bore people to death. Otaku Generation Episode 181 Secondly, we animated a RDCCDX mini episode starring everybody's favorite minor- Jerry. In this mini episode, Jerry is interrogated by police about his involvement in the "fastball special" from Episode 1 of "Ronin Dojo Community College DX: The Digital Pirates of Dark Water Saga".

YES WE CAN!

YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! BARACK OBAMA FTW! We couldn't resist completing our trilogy of G.I. Joe P.S.A. parodies in light of this historic election.

Watch it on Youtube or download them in our animation section.

TWO- count 'em- TWO rushed political cartoons!

Squeaking in before Election Day, For Tax Reasons is proud to bring you two politically charged satirical shorts that will either reaffirm your love for us or inspire you to send us really mean emails. Either way, check out the new cartoons, which are our way of reminding you to vote on November 4th for Barack Obama!

Watch them on Youtube or download them in our animation section.

NEW SHORT!

We just finished the very first installment of the new Ronin Dojo Community College DX mini saga entitled The Digital Pirates of Dark Water. Well, we didn't JUST finish it, but we just posted it online!

The boys of Ronin Dojo are back for the midnight release of the best practical stealth espionage game ever- "Cold Phoenix Saga IV: Transgressions of Freedom". But of course, trouble is lurking in line. Hope you upgraded your PS3 controllers to DualShock, because this episode comes ready to RUMBLE!

Go watch it on Youtube or download it from our animation section.

New shorts on the way & Matt's Blog

So we're almost through the recording process for a new Ronin Dojo Community College DX saga. We'll be posting some stuff as things progress. In the meantime, check out Matt's rantings and ravings on his new blog, aptly and referentially titled,

" I Have Wasted My Life"

. If you like comics a lot, you'll understand what the words mean in the sequence that they've been put into.

Ronin Dojo High School DX Fan Sites

So, the other day we were googling "Ronin Dojo High School DX"- this Japanese manga/anime from the 90's that our short "IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR" is based on- and we found these two old geocities fan sites from like 1997 or something. Check it out, there's:

Michael Hubert's Ronin Dojo High School DX Fan Site

and

r0nind0j0pr1me's Ultimate Ronin Dojo High School DX Fan Site

It's weird. And they both seem to be competing with each other, or mad at each other. I don't know. You'll have to read them to find out.

IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR on front page of Youtube

Thanks to Channel Frederator for putting our holiday short IM IN UR MANGER KILLING UR SAVIOR up on the front page of YouTube. We've been getting tons of comments, mostly from people who hate us, so if you feel like fighting join in the fray