Start hanging out near stationery stores NOW!Brew correspondent Tom Giatras sent me this link from Carlton Cards showing off their 2004 Xmas ornament cartoon collection (yes, already). They have some good new ones featuring Dexter’s Lab, Gumby, Rankin-Bass’ Rudolf & Frosty, The Simpsons and Mr. Bill. But for me, the big news is this nice one based on UPA’s Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol! With Gerald McBoing Boing on his shoulder (as Tiny Tim)! Pretty cool.Perhaps Carlton will dig deeper into the UPA line and next year produce Joe Jitsu and Go-Go Gomez Christmas cards, Christopher Crumpet and Pete Hothead wrapping paper, and a Tell-Tale Heart snow globe.

The difference between this blog and other animation news websites is that, instead of reporting the news of SHREK 2’s box office achievements or the award winning films at ANNECY, we take note that the sale of CRUNCH TOONS (2003-2004) has ended.Poore Bros. has announced today that their saltly snack chips, that had packaging tied into the Looney Tunes brand, has officially failed. They are discontuing the brand as of September 30th. The press release is here.

I’m back!Where’ve I been? The Missus and me took an anniversary trip (it’s been one year since we got married!) up the coast to Hearst Castle.So I’ve been off the internet for three days, out of touch with the real world, and having a a great time exploring the towns along the US 101. And I found a few cartoon items in the Antique stores along the way… blogging to continue shortly.

Here’s an interesting poster I ran across in Annecy. It says “The Lion King is Coming to Disneyland.” And, of course, what better way to promote THE LION KING than to have Captain Hook hanging off of a building? I’m still scratching my head over this one.

There was an older gentleman sitting in front of me on the bus a couple days ago, and he was talking to some other folks about Harry Houdini. For some reason, I felt compelled to take a glance at his name tag and find out who he was. It turned out to be none other than the legendary Jimmy Murakami, UPA veteran, independent filmmaker, and longtime animation director in the UK of, among many other projects, WHEN THE WIND BLOWS. That’s the great thing about festivals. You never know who you’re going to meet, but it’s guaranteed to be somebody interesting. I’ve met a bunch of great artists over the past few days including BLAST readers Lance Taylor (whose TV pilot MONSTORIES is in competition) and Jamie Badminton, who is working at Vanguard Animation on VALIANT. I also had a chance to chat with Tomm Moore and Paul Young of the exciting Irish cartoon studio Cartoon Saloon, and fellow Irish studio head Barry O’Donoghue, who produced Teddy Newton and Bert Klein’s BOYS NIGHT OUT and has some other interesting shorts currently in production at his studio Barley Films. Just a few of the other folks I’ve met: animation designer Harald Siepermann from Germany, animator Joseph Gilland from Canada, Vancouver Film School students Aron Steinke and Adam Yaniv, San Francisco musician Nik Phelps, and his wife/producer Nancy, who both do an admirable job of promoting indie animation, and the New York cartoonist contingent (Patrick Smith, Jim Campbell, Celia Bullwinkel and Robert Kohr of AnimatorsUnite.com).

Sleep is not part of the schedule at a festival like Annecy. With the exception of one night where I managed a full twelve hours of sleep, all my other nights in Annecy have only generated 3-4 hours of shut eye. But the opportunities to meet all the people mentioned above among many other fine folks more than makes up for the lack of slumber. To give an example of the type of activities available here in Annecy, in the span of the last 24 hours, in addition to watching films, I’ve been to an intimate late-night gathering at the picturesque ANIMATION MAGAZINE villa, a fun little picnic by Lake Annecy with animation folk like Bill Plympton, Georges Schwizgebel, Signe Baumane and Patrick Smith, and a late-night gathering at the incredibly packed “American Bar,” a Scottish pub where mostly English-speaking folks hang out when there’s no other parties going on.

If I were running the Museum of Broadcasting, I would schedule a program like THIS!

Our spy Tom Giatras snapped this sad shot of a section of the King Features booth, at the NY Licensing Show going on this week. Baby Popeye and Baby Boop are once again being offered to merchandisers who probably have no idea of the legacy of these classic characters. Heck, I don’t know if King Features themselves understand anything about them… Sigh!

A newly released import, Cartoon Melodies: A Tribute To The Classic Warner Bros Cartoons — Music Composed & Conducted By Carl Stalling (retail $9.99) appears to be a reissue of THE CARL STALLING PROJECT from small label Bud Movies in Spain. The 18 track set features music from “Hobby Horse Laffs”, “Porky In Wackyland”, “Curtain Razor”, “Hillbilly Hare”, “Satan’s Waitin”, “Putty Tat Trouble part 6″, “Calling Dr Porky”, “Porky’s Preview”, “The Good Egg”, and “Porky’s Tire Trouble”. (CD also features a bonus multimedia track to play on any Windows system — with information on the artist and other notes). If you’re curious, it can be ordered from Dusty Groove America.com.