It’s the Crappiest Place on Earth!

It’s one thing to bootleg a DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean, but it’s quite another to rip off an entire theme park! While copyright piracy is a major concern in trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, Beijing’s Shijingshan Amusement Park has gone ahead a built an imitation Disneyland right down to the costumed characters who look awfully - and I mean awfully - familiar.

An article about the park in China’s business newspaper, The Standard, quotes a Chinese consumer who asks: “I don’t understand why that is such a big problem. Shouldn’t others be able to use those characters besides [Disney]?”

The article also describes Beijing as being a place where “one can spend a morning at an imitation Disney amusement park, have lunch at a KFC knock-off, shop for fake foreign-brand fashions in the afternoon and relax at night with a DVD of a Hollywood film that is still in the theaters in the United States.”

Japan’s Doraemon and Hello Kitty are also swiped. Here’s a TV news report where a park executive claims their Mickey Mouse is simply a “cat with a big ear”.

More photos and video about this park can be found on JapanProbe.com.

(Thanks, Steve Worth)

Osamu Tezuka’s biggest stars endorse the Toyota Prius on its 10th anniversary.

(via Japan Probe)

There’s a big post at the Cartoon Modern blog about Sterling Sturtevant’s character design work on the 1955 short Magoo Express. The post features lots of artwork which has been hidden away in boxes for the better part of the last fifty years.

The indie animation blog Hydrocephalic Bunny informs about a very interesting looking new stop motion short out of the National Film Board of Canada called Madame Tutli-Putli. It debuts at International Critics’ Week in Cannes later this month, and will screen at Annecy next month. The official NFB site has more details about the 17-minute film, as well as video interviews with the filmmakers and a trailer. The clips from the film are dripping with a tense menacing atmosphere and the art direction appears to be superb. It’s hard to tell if the storytelling holds up to the level of the visuals, but this is a film that I’m definitely excited about checking out.

Madame Tutli-Putli is directed by Montreal-based filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, who are principals in the graphic arts studio Clyde Henry. Amazingly enough, this is the first professional film from the duo, who wrote, animated and directed the film entirely by themselves. If it’s any indication of things to come, these guys promise to be a real force to reckon with in the animation world.

(Thanks to Ira Gallen for posting this)

This Sunday, May 6th at 6pm, is the biggest annual animation event in New York City, the 38th ASIFA-East Animation Festival. Awards, films and a glorious reception afterwards - and it’s free. A wonderful evening of animation celebration! If you are in New York you’d be crazy to miss it.

Tishman Auditorium
@The New School
66 W. 12th St
Between 5th and 6th Ave.
NYC

Look!

Universal has posted a teaser page to promote the Woody Woodpecker DVD coming out on July 24th. Note that pre-orders can be taken from this site. The plan is to expand www.woodywoodpecker.com to a full site supporting the revival effort, with streaming clips of the restored cartoons, in the weeks to come. I’ll keep you posted.

COMIC SHOP PICK-OF-THE-WEEK: DC’s LOONEY TUNES No. 150.

It’s an all-star extravaganza as Daffy details his long, illustrious movie career. But the real highlight is the art by some contemporary cartoonists not normally associated with Looney Tunes material, including Neal Sternecky, Stephen DeStefano (see panel below), Peter Bagge, Bob Fingerman, Scott Shaw!, Mike Kunkel, Aaron Renier and Chynna Clugston. A very cool way to celebrate a milestone issue.