From Reuters News Service:

Fans dressed as cartoon characters, The Smurfs, watch a match during the second day of the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in Hong Kong March 19, 2005. The three-day international sporting event has a carnival atmosphere and attracts fans from around the world.

Women dressed supposedly like The Powerpuff Girls pictured here.

If THE INCREDIBLES on DVD isn’t enough for you - grab a Mr. Incredible Pez dispenser - heck, buy a whole case of Incredibles Pez - their super!The Elasti-Girl Pez is the best, because with her powers she could actually become a Pez dispenser! By the way, THE INCREDIBLES DVD is great - and a must-have for anyone who enjoyed the film. I haven’t reviewed the dvd here, mainly because the deserved rave reviews have been posted everywhere else, but I strongly recommend it.(via Scoop)

Bill Plympton, who was nominated for an Oscar this year for his short film GUARD DOG, writes about his experiences in LA during Oscar week. Read his diary and see photos HERE.

I’ve been neglect in mentioning the forthcoming publication of Maureen Furniss’s wonderful collection of Chuck Jones interviews, Chuck Jones: Conversations. The volume, which goes in sale April 1st, spans thirty years of talks with Jones and includes several previously unpublished interviews. Furniss is the editor/publisher of Animation Journal, the only regularly published scholarly publication on animation history. She has recently moved back to Southern California to teach at Cal Arts.Chuck Jones Conversations is available at discount on amazon.com

Tonight: Cartoon Network, Lucasfilm, and ASIFA-Hollywood present ANIMATION A-GO-GO! TWO NIGHTS WITH GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.Wednesday Night:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ 9th Annual Marc Davis Lecture on Animation, March 23rd at 7:30pm at their Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Wilshire Blvd. The focus is on animator Frédéric Back, with a screening and a panel discussion with Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.), Production Designer Paul Felix (Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove), Glen Keane (Tarzan), Bob Kurtz (owner of Kurtz and Friends animation studio, & creator of Cool Cat), and Charles Solomon (animation critic for The Los Angeles Times). For more program information, go to oscars.org

Here is the cover of the new book - on sale in October - by cartoon music historian Daniel Goldmark.Tunes for ‘Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon presents a set of case studies on cartoon music, with chapters on Carl Stalling, Scott Bradley, jazz, classical music, and opera in Hollywood cartoons, with particular attention to Warner Bros. & MGM. With this book your knowledge and insight on cartoon scores will double - and, more importantly, you’ll now be able to understand why Stalling used Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse,” and Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2,” (among others) so skillfully in so many Looney Tunes.

I went to the unveiling of a wall sculpture dedicated to Bill Hanna & Joseph Barbera - and a birthday luncheon for Joe Barbera (94 years old!) - today. Mark Evanier explains it all HERE.

The SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE has an interesting piece on a touring film program called “The Dark Side of Dr. Seuss.” The program, curated by Dennis Nyback, screens the films of Dr. Seuss (then Theodor Geisel) from when he was in charge of the US Army Signal Corps’ animation unit during WWII. That unit produced the Private Snafu cartoons (through Warner Bros.), among other projects.