The first episode of the BooWorld mini-series has debuted on YouTube to virtually no acclaim.  Although several music teachers have voiced a concern that, at a time where high school music budgets are being slashed as luxury items, this video is doing nothing to help music educators’ efforts to convince school boards that they are adding value to the lives of their students.

The next installment in the series, called “Balls!”, should appall anyone with more than trace amounts of good taste.

BooWorld stars Michael Boo as “Michael Boo”,  is produced and directed by Doug Luberts, with Animation by Matthew Brackney.

TurboMandala owner Doug Luberts was nominated for a 2009 Streamy Award for Best Visual Effects in a Web Series for his work on the Season 2 Finale of  “The Guild”.

“It is a tremendous honor to be nominated for an inaugural Streamy Award along side established VFX companies like Zoic (Dr. Horrible) in a field of really strong work.  The Streamy Awards are the premiere event recognizing excellence in Web Video, and I look forward to a great celebration of the industry along with the rest of my colleagues from “The Guild.”

“The Guild” is a ground-breaking web comedy, created by Felicia Day, about a group of online gamers in a World-of-Warcraft-like Guild whose lives take a turn for the hilarious when they begin to meet in person.

The Streamy Awards will be broadcast live, over the Internet,  from the Wadsworth Theater on March 28, 2009

The Post Tribune has posted this video feature with TurboMandala artist Michael Boo, about his composition “In the Sky are Two Shining Stars”, which he wrote to honors the memories of Xiangyan Xu and Wei-min Liu who were killed in an auto accident while traveling to the Valpariso University in Indiana.

VALPARAISO — Chesterton composer Michael Boo called the August 2007 death of two Chinese scholars in a traffic accident on U.S. 30 “a shocking event.” (Click for full article)

The tragedy has moved Boo to compose a musical piece, “In the Sky are Two Shining Stars,” in memory of Xiangyang Xu and Wei-min Liu. The Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band will premiere the piece Saturday night.

The piece, just over five minutes, combines portions of songs from the universities from which Xu and Liu came, traditional music played at Chinese funerals called “Mourning Song,” and sounds of nature, as well as tinkling representing the stars.

Boo became familiar with “Mourning Song” during a memorial service for Xu and Liu.

“I liked the melody. It’s very elegiac and very emotionally satisfying in concert,” Boo said.

The title of “In the Sky” comes from a poem written in Chinese and English for that memorial service. The piece begins with the sounds of birds, crickets and rain “because it reflects the scholars’ lives on earth,” Boo said.

“It builds into a song of hope as they’re lifted into Heaven, because the Chinese believe in Heaven, and once they get there, the twinkling (of the stars) begins,” Boo added, referring to the tinkling at the end of the song.

Jeff Doebler, conductor of the VU Concert Chamber Band, noted the piece also contains a heartbeat motif throughout, representing the heartbeats of the scholars. He called Boo’s work “a very introspective piece” that gives listeners the chance to reflect on Xu and Liu’s lives.

Even if listeners don’t know all the symbolism in the piece, Doebler said, “it’s still going to be, I think, a very moving tribute.”

Squareternal specializes in Comic & Children’s Illustration.

Matt is a very talented artist whose work will also be seen this year in the opening credits of Felicia Day’s web hit, “The Guild“, as it enters its second season.

We’re very happy to have Matt on board.