An update of an item we posted here on July 28th: Bill Griffith’s ZIPPY THE PINHEAD steps in to save the day in this strip to be published September 26th:

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Here’s one of the first examples of post-DreamWorks animation by James Baxter. It’s a TV spot for Microsoft that can be viewed HERE. His studio, James Baxter Animation, is uncredited, but Baxter and his wife both receive animation credit.

Ottawa animation festival director Chris Robinson, aka “The Animation Pimp,” has penned a short and sweet piece at ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE about how best to view abstract/camera-less/scratch animation. He writes:

People don’t know how to react to these films. They think it’s a riddle, that there’s a deep dark mystery to be uncovered. In some cases, sure, that is true… but if you take a look at, for example, the work of [Steven] Woloshen, Richard Reeves, or Theo Ushev’s moving new film, TOWER BALLIHR, these are films about making you feel something. They convey the jumbled up emotions of their creators….they simply want to evoke emotions. You don’t need to seek out deep mysteries, you just need to shut up and let the images and music take you over.

Casey Safron’s NYC based Animation Block is dedicated to exhibiting independent, professional and student animation through internet streaming, free public screenings, DVD distribution and their sponsored Animation Block Party festivals. They support their on-going efforts by selling T-shirts and buttons (one of which is pictured at right). They sent me their first dvd, Animation Block Party Mix Tape, and it’s a pretty good collection of old, new, quirky and obscure independent animated shorts. Veterans Howard Beckerman, Irra Virbitsky and Don Duga are side by side here with such new artists as Lori Samsel and Jeff Scher.Submissions are being taken now for their next Block Party September 15th at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

If this is what computer animation means at Disney, then I wish they’d made the switch years earlier. The new pieces of art shown at SIGGRAPH 2005 for Disney’s forthcoming AMERICAN DOG, directed by Chris Sanders, look just as gorgeous as the first examples of AMERICAN DOG art released last year. Does the film really look like this, or perhaps more appropriately, could the film really look like this? This is the type of animation art one typically only sees in the pre-production phase before it is watered down for the “needs of production;” the lush painterly quality of light and restraint in color styling are a refreshing departure from the aesthetic norm of Disney features. And dare I say, the Sanders style of character design translates even better to these images than they they did to his hand-drawn effort LILO AND STITCH. Yet another sign of promise is that Sanders is the sole director of the film, a significant change from the studio’s standard filmmaking-by-committee style of production. Sanders is, in fact, only the second director in modern Disney times to take the solo helm of a major animated feature. The first was Mark Dindal, who directed THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE (as well as the upcoming CHICKEN LITTLE) by himself. So far, everything about this film looks great, and the story sounds entertaining as well. If AMERICAN DOG somehow manages to deliver on the promise of these visuals, I predict the studio is going to have a major hit on its hands.

UPDATE: Scott Graham wrote to let me know that Sanders will not be the second, but the third modern director at Disney to helm a feature solo. Steve Anderson is directing the forthcoming A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON by himself, and that film is scheduled for release before AMERICAN DOG.

Brew reader Tony Sykes in Sydney Australia spotted this down under:

I was somewhat shocked the other day when I saw a prime-time TV commercial broadcast on a major Australian network featuring our favorite spinach-munching sailorman Popeye, promoting a popular form of gambling, the Scratchies Instant Lottery (click on ticket at right for larger image). Once such a fine ambassador for the healthy consumption of spinach to the kids of the world, poor old Popeye is now setting a fine example for the youth of today to squander hard-earned cash for the slim chance at striking it rich by gambling. That’s what I call making your cartoon franchise work for a living.Hats off to King Features Syndicate and Hearst Entertainment for paving the way. It could put a whole new spin on the Golden Age of animation. Gee, next we could have Daffy Duck Bucks, Bugs Bunny Money or, for the UK market, how about Huckleberry Hound Pounds. I personally can’t wait for the Itchy & Scratchy Scratchie!

The suits at King Features have no idea how powerful a character Popeye is. They think they do, but they don’t. If they did, they’d allow Warner Brothers to release their classic Fleischer cartoons on dvd. It’s like trying to market the likeness of John Wayne, but witholding all the classic John Wayne movies. We who understand must sit back and watch helplessly while King Features manages to destroy one of the great cartoon stars of all time.That said, I’m delighted to see Popeye marketed at all - on lottery tickets, Fried Chicken, maquettes or spinach - at least Stephen DeStefano’s artwork keeps the Fleischer spirit, and my hopes, alive.

Lest I forget, tomorrow night at 8pm in Hollywood I will be running several 16mm cartoons and vintage live action shorts - preceeding a live and lively performance of Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys. We do this the first Thursday of every month at the Steve Allen Theatre, 4773 Hollywood Blvd. (two blocks west of Vermont, across from Barnsdall Park), in the lovely Los Feliz area. Please check Janet’s website (under “Showtime”) for even more details and nifty vintage artwork .

THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION, the well-received 28-minute animated short by famed animation historian John Canemaker, will be playing in LA this weekend for its Academy qualification. The film screens on August 5, 6 and 7 at 11:30am and 12:10pm at the Laemmle Sunset 5 (8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA). I think ticket prices are normal admission prices listed on the site. From Taylor Jessen’s review of the film on AWN:

Animated shorts are a personal art form. THE MOON AND THE SON is really personal . . . a devastating colloquy that mines the content of the animator’s childhood even as it matches the form of his childhood drawings. . . . stylistically it’s completely liberated and roams freely between whatever media gets the point across quickest - still photos, stock footage, home movies and camcorder video as needed. There’s a potpourri of traditional non-digital techniques, applied to media ranging from cels to rough paper.