"Arrietty" Will Be Ghibli's Biggest US Release Yet
How Much is a Ward Kimball Painting Worth?
"The Space Stallions"
My Favorite Super Bowl Commercial
Follow @CartoonBrew on Twitter
YouTube
Vimeo
RSS
Follow Cartoon Brew on Facebook
|
|
|
|
POSTS FOR “March, 2006“Cartoon Brew's home for up-to-the-minute, unedited announcements and press releases direct from industry sources.
March 31, 2006 12:30 pm
 Japanese robot maker Vstone Corporation has just released its latest consumer product: Tetsu-jin 28 (aka Ironman 28 – or Gigantor™, as it’s known as in the U.S.). Based on the Japanese manga and classic anime series, the remote-controled robot – which is 15 inches high and weighs 5.5 pounds – comes as a kit you have to build yourself. If you construct it correctly, its arms and legs should move smoothly and it will walk around like a human being. But no, it doesn’t fly. The price is in the ballpark of $3 thousand dollars. For specs (in Japanese), to order one, or just to look at the box art, go here.(Thanks, Edwin Austin) No Comments » posted in Old Brew 
March 31, 2006 9:02 am
 The upcoming feature TEKKON KINKURITO, scheduled for Japanese release in December 2006, is produced by Studio 4°C, the Japanese animation outfit behind MIND GAME. It is based on the comic BLACK AND WHITE by Taiyo Matsumoto, and is being directed by Michael Arias, a first-time director who was previously a segment producer on THE ANIMATRIX. Pixar story artist Enrico Casarosa saw a portion of the film in Japan last month while visiting the studio, and he speaks highly of it on his blog. A lo-res version of the trailer can be seen HERE. Here’s to hoping that the film isn’t neglected like MIND GAME and actually receives some distribution in the US. No Comments » posted in Anime
March 31, 2006 8:00 am
 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’s annual Marc Davis Lecture will be presented on Friday, April 21st. In a year that saw two stop motion films made in Britain nominated for a Best Animated Feature Oscar, it seems appropriate that the spotlight be cast on London’s most notorious stop motion artists. The Brothers Quay, in their first-ever speaking engagement in the United States, will discuss their work and screen clips from their unique, film noir-esque animations. This is a rare opportunity to meet and greet these two incredible filmmakers. Admission is only $5. For more details, visit the Academy’s website. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
March 31, 2006 7:30 am
 Get ready to hurl.With billboards and bus posters for ICE AGE 2 (opening today), THE WILD (4/14) and OVER THE HEDGE (5/19) plastering the city, I’m reminded that this could be the year of Hollywood’s rude awakening (re: computer animated features). Hey, I’m an optimist. I don’t want these films to fail. My hope is for animators to remain employed, to make great movies. But then I see something like THIS.Hollywood will get what what it deserves. And it can’t come too soon for me. No Comments » posted in Old Brew
March 31, 2006 7:22 am
Just a brief update on the status of ANIMATION BLAST #9: I’m almost done with the issue and planning to send it to the Canadian printer in the next couple weeks. It should definitely be out by the end of April. A huge thanks to everybody for their patience. Here’s something I had to cut from the issue this week. It’s a DePatie-Freleng era thumbnail board by one of the issue’s featured artists, John Dunn (1920-1983). I have no idea whether it was for production (unlikely) or just a personal idea. I also don’t know if there’s more to the board; these three pages are all that exist at the moment. There’s a bitter undercurrent in a lot of Dunn’s humor, and it comes through rather strongly in these boards. 
No Comments » posted in Old Brew
March 31, 2006 4:44 am
If you have an extra ten minutes to spare today, you can spend that time no better than watching the lyrical short HERON AND CRANE (1974) by Russian animation genius Yuri Norstein. Here is a bit of background about the film that I found online: Norstein’s third feature is based on a Russian fairy tale. It marked the first of several collaborations among Norstein, his wife, the artist Francesca Yarbusova, and a cameraman Alexander Zhukovsky. To achieve Norstein’s artistic vision, they invented a special piece of equipment which allowed them to animate on layers of glass. Norstein’s original script was not approved by the studio administration. Veteran director Roman Kachanov was assigned to serve as project “supervisor” and write an acceptable script. Unbeknownst to the studio administration, Norstein filmed the original script. Thanks in great part to support from Fyodor Khitruk, Norstein’s HERON AND CRANE – with Norstein credited as co-writer – was approved for distribution after numerous additional clashes with the studio management. Very Popular in the former USSR , the film also won many honors abroad. A dvd of Yuri Norstsein’s complete works can be purchased from RussianAnimation.com or Amazon. There’s also a fairly new book out about Norstein written by Clare Kitson – YURI NORSTEIN AND TALE OF TALES: AN ANIMATOR’S JOURNEY – which I’ve heard good things about. No Comments » posted in Animators
March 30, 2006 6:49 pm
Some sick perverted souls in South Korea came up with this piece of Flash animation. It might make you queasy. It might make you hate animation. If you know what’s good for you, just don’t click on this link. Seriously, DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK. If you clicked on that last link, then for heaven’s sake, please don’t click on this one HERE! Don’t say I didn’t warn you. No Comments » posted in Animators
March 30, 2006 5:06 pm
 Film buff John McElwee posted another great entry on his blog about old cartoons. This time offering some perspectives on Fleischer’s Color Classics series. McElwee acquired a 1937 booking ledger from a rural North Carolina theatre, allowing him to compare actual rental prices for Paramount shorts against RKO (Disney Silly Symphonies) and MGM (Happy Harmonies) cartoons. This is great information. “…a Silly Symphony through UA, Woodland Café, was $5.00 flat, while a later Donald Duck (Self-Control) through RKO got $5.25. Paramount took only $2.00 for a December 1937 booking of Christmas Comes But Once A Year, but that Fleischer Color Classic was by then an oldie, having come out the previous December, so terms were a little more favorable for this run. Otherwise, this theatre doesn’t appear to have used the Color Classics, although they did book heavily on the Popeyes (I Like Babies and Infinks cost $4.86). The best money for cartoons from this venue seems to have been collected by MGM, whose Bosko and The Pirates got $6.65, while Bosko’s subsequent encounter with the Cannibals netted $6.95 for the Metro exchange. Just a lot of numbers for long-ago, and long forgotten, bookings — but they give us some insight into the selling end of the cartoon business, at a time when such nickels-and-dimes as these kept small showmen, and big studios, afloat.” (Thanks, Mark Mayerson) |
ADVERTISEMENTS
EVENTS
RECENT BREW TV EPISODES By Sitji Chou. A man tries to understand the futility of creating human connections when they’ve been impeded by the microcosmic void between material particles.  By Nikolas Ilic. A story of a Scottish sheep farmer who shears his sheep and tosses them cliff side…  By Dylan Hayes. Lesson 1: Everyone gambles, not everyone loses. Lesson 2: The world is full of traps. Lesson 3: You cannot win if you don’t take risks.  By Jean Yi. A personal and humorous exploration of being the ‘Nice Girl’ and coming to terms with the label and all its different meanings.  By Ferg Brennan. A lonely fisherman catches an unusual fish, which he decides to keep as a pet. |
