Animation director Mike Sporn is always posting inspiring items on his Splog, among them, these two rare magazine articles about stop motion masters Lou Bunin and Jiri Trnka. Makes for some good weekend reading.

Rhett Wickham at LaughingPlace.com has a positive report about what’s happening at Disney Feature Animation and how John Lasseter is encouraging, but not forcing, the return of hand-drawn animated films. It sounds like Disney is again becoming a studio worthy of its name, and that’s great to hear.

Today only, Classic Media is offering up a bunch of cartoons for free viewing on Google Video. Episodes of Roger Ramjet, Jay Ward’s Rocky and Bullwinkle, Oriolo’s Felix The Cat, The Mighty Hercules, and some awful DePatie Freleng Magoo cartoons. The Ramjet cartoons are always worth watching. If you don’t know the series, we highly recommend checking these out.For some really great classic cartoon downloads - always free - don’t forget ReFrederator.com

Nice bit of publicity in today’s L.A. Times: a full page article for the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive. Pictured in the piece (and above) is archive director Steve Worth, middle, with animators Katie Rice and David Gemmill.The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is the only dedicated archive, museum, and library for the benefit of the animation community, students and general public. In case you came in late, ASIFA is amassing a virtual archive of significant animation production material and inspirational art, as well as archiving the organization’s existing (and growing) physical collection - all of it to be made available for personal inspection or online reference. Visiting the archive and reading the blog is always a treat. Donating to the cause is always welcome.

My name is Amid and I’m a YouTube addict. I can’t help it. There’s so much great animation being posted on that site and I’ve just got to link to it. Today’s link is to a must-see 1939 MGM cartoon called JITTERBUG FOLLIES. There was an interesting, short-lived period at MGM in 1938 when comic legend Milt Gross took over the animation studio, and promptly managed to produce two shorts starring his characters, Count Screwloose and J.R. the Wonderdog.

Below is excerpt from Leonard Maltin’s OF MICE AND MAGIC discussing the production of these shorts:

Some of the animators balked at trying to animate Gross’s intricate, highly individual drawings, and Bill Littlejohn recalls, “I got tired of hearing this, so one night I just stayed overnight and animated about twenty feet of the dog, J.R. - just slashed it out. Milt [Gross] grabbed it, had it shot, and it was then proved that the things could animate.”Quimby was shocked at the finished product, however. “He didn’t want to release them,” says Littlejohn, “because he said they were ‘below the dignity of films that MGM would want to have.’ And they were so funny. I’ve never seen a bunch of animators laugh so hard. It was like Mel Brooks’s kind of humor. The vitality of [Gross’s] comic strips was right in the picture.”

Watch JITTERBUG FOLLIES below, thanks to the Classic Cartoons blog. On a sidenote, fellow Brewmaster Jerry Beck tells me that Mel Blanc does many of the voices in this short:

Several days ago Amid posted some harsh reactions to Disney’s new 2-D short, The Little Matchgirl, screened at Annecy. I saw the film a few months ago at the studio and I don’t know what all the fuss is about. The Little Matchgirl is a sweet film, filled with beautiful elaborate images and teriffic traditional animation. The fact that it was finished at all under the old management is a minor miracle. Thankfully this won’t be the last 2-D film the studio ever makes - and it’s certainly no disgrace to the great Disney brand name. Bill Desowitz wrote a good behind the scenes article (with clips from the film) over at VFX World. Ron Barbagallo has an extensive interview with director Roger Allers here. It may not be as artsy as Destino or as dazzling as Lorenzo, but I have to give the studio some big points for making the effort to keep the hand drawn art alive.

A couple brief notes on my soon-to-be-released book CARTOON MODERN. If you’re a member of the media and would like to receive a complimentary review copy of the book, please let me know ASAP and I’ll put you on the list. Just drop me a line at amid [at] animationblast [dot] com with your details. This offer is only valid to legit media, and it has to be sent to a news media address.

If you’re not media and want to be the absolute first to get your style-hungry hands on a copy of the book, I’ve just confirmed a signing at the San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 21st, from 3-4pm at the Chronicle Books booth (#1019). Chronicle doesn’t think the book will be in their warehouses at the time so they’re shipping a very limited number of copies from China especially for the Con. Also, Canadian folk will be able to find the book (and me) at the Ottawa Animation Festival (Sept. 20-24). More details to come about that signing.

Gallery 1988 on Melrose Ave. has an interesting show currently on display called “The Storybook Series: Winnie the Pooh.” Here’s the concept for the show: a bunch of preschoolers from the Hollywood Schoolhouse were read a Winnie the Pooh storybook and then asked to draw their favorite scenes from the story (without any visual reference, not that it would have made a difference). Then, the preschoolers’ drawings were handed off to a bunch of contemporary LA artists who reinterpreted the children’s drawings as paintings and mixed media works of art. The pieces are being sold as a set, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the preschool. All the pieces from the show can be seen at the Gallery 1988 website.

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