What’s better than independent American animation? How about independent American animation commissioned by a propaganda arm of the US government. Brew reader Joel Schlosberg directs us to this campy mid-70s short posted on Archive.org:

Vincent Collins’s 200 (aka BICENTENNIAL) is an odd mix of patriotic Americana and post-Sixties psychedelic imagery, produced by the American government to commemorate the bicentennial.

Celebrate America HERE.

CARTOON BREW is heading for Ottawa.The world premiere of my two new books will be on Saturday September 24th, 5pm, at the CHAPTERS Book Store. Come by, meet me, buy a book and lets discuss cartoons! To warm you up, here’s an interview with yours truly from today’s OTTAWA XPRESS.

Tim Burton was a Disney animatoranimation artist and has been long associated with animated films including FAMILY DOG and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. Not counting student films made before 1982, CORPSE BRIDE is only the second animated film which Burton recieves director credit on. What was the first?Contest Over!The winners were B. Baker, Brendon Connelly and Joe Queen. They were the first correct answers.The answer I was aiming for was VINCENT (1982). In response to some of the other entries, Tim did not recieve a director credit on NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS - and FRANKENWEENIE was a live action film. Several readers noted THE WORLD OF STAINBOY - an internet cartoon - which I would have accepted as a correct answer. However, our winners were the first three entrants and regardless, they answered VINCENT. A lovely rolled one sheet poster of CORPSE BRIDE is being mailed to them from Warner Bros.Thanks to everyone who entered - now go out and support the film!

Tim Burton shares his thoughts about Hollywood’s misguided attitude of favoring technique over story and content:

In Hollywood, they think drawn animation doesn’t work anymore, computers are the way. They forget that the reason computers are the way is that Pixar makes good movies. So everybody tries to copy Pixar. They’re relying too much on the technology and not enough on the artists. The fact that Disney closed down its cel animation division is frightening to me. Someday soon, somebody will come along and do a drawn-animated film, and it’ll be beautiful and connect with people, and they’ll all go, ‘Oh, we’ve got to do that!’ It’s ridiculous.

(Thanks, Josh Moshier)

Tim Burton’s CORPSE BRIDE opens on Friday in selected cities - and next week it opens everywhere else. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m certainly looking forward to it. We’ve got several posters to give away - courtesy of Warner Bros. - so tomorrow morning, bright and early, 8am PST (11am on the East Coast) we will have one of our quickie trivia contests. First three people to submit the correct answer to the question posted at that time wins the prize.

Hayao Miyazaki offers a terrific new method for dealing with pesky Hollywood movie executives: threatening them with samurai swords. An excerpt from an interview that appeared in today’s GUARDIAN paper:

Miyazaki taps a cigarette from a silver case. The Disney deal suits him, he explains, because he has stuck to his guns. His refusal to grant merchandising rights means that there is no chance of any Nausicaa happy meals or Spirited Away video games. Furthermore, Disney wields no creative control. There is a rumour that when Harvey Weinstein was charged with handling the US release of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword in the post. Attached to the blade was a stark message: “No cuts.”

The director chortles. “Actually, my producer did that. Although I did go to New York to meet this man, this Harvey Weinstein, and I was bombarded with this aggressive attack, all these demands for cuts.” He smiles. “I defeated him.”

A backhanded compliment if ever there was one. Live-action director Guy Ritchie says he was so inspired by Brad Bird’s THE INCREDIBLES that he’s decided to set aside live-action and make a “children’s animated film.” Because after all, INCREDIBLES was nothing more than a kiddie cartoon anyways. Emru Townsend at fps magazine eloquently explains everything that is wrong with Ritchie’s announcement so I don’t have to.

Jeffrey Katzenberg says in the NY TIMES that he didn’t have much hands-on involvement in the upcoming Wallace & Gromit feature: “Any coaching that Nick [Park] and Steve [Box] got from me, or anybody, was incidental. From the beginning, their instincts have been perfect.” Lack of Katzenberg meddling also means that we might finally see a DreamWorks cartoon that is entertaining and enjoyable.