Animation Magazine has a good article about the new art house movie The Ten and the Flash-animated sequence in it produced by Augenblick Studios. The film, directed by David Wain, is a series of ten short stories inspired by the ten commandments, one of which—”Thou shall not bear false witness—â€? is animated. Animation director Aaron Augenblick explains the piece has strong hints of Fleischer in it:

“They wanted a multitude of characters all sort of bouncing along and dancing and that kind of stuff. Fleischer cartoons have always been my favorites, so my approach was to try to do it in a style that was evocative of Betty Boop and Popeye, without trying to make it look old. I didn’t want to try and do some faux retro piece like in [our web series] Golden Age, as if it were an old cartoon. I wanted to do it in a style that was evocative of those cartoons, but still really vibrant with bright colors, dirty humor and disturbing, gross visuals. The approach was to imagine what Fleischer Studios would do if they were around today and they were animating an all-animal orgy.”

A bit of a curious trend worth noting is the growing number of MySpace pages dedicated to legendary animation artists. While the pages are often tacky and annoying (just like so many other MySpace pages), it’s nice to see classic artists being remembered and introduced to new generations in such a contemporary tech-savvy setting. Below are the classic animators I’ve found on MySpace. Feel free to point out others in the comments.

Tex Avery
Chuck Jones
Ward Kimball
Bob Clampett
Tom Oreb
Freddy Moore
Disney/WB composer Carl Stalling (here and here)

Brewmaster Jerry Beck will be broadcasting again, live on Shokus Internet Radio today, Wednesday August 22nd from 4pm to 6pm Pacific time (that’s 7pm to 9pm for you in the Eastern Time Zone).

Stu Shostak and I will be discussing the Popeye DVD, Terrytoons, Harveytoons and upcoming DVD releases of classic animation. If you have a specific question you want answered, call in during the broadcast toll free (888) 746-5875. If you miss the show, it’ll be rerun for the next seven days at the same time. Tune in!

A live action-animation TV commercial starring Olive Oyl has caught my eye. It’s currently airing as part of an advertising campaign for Prego Italian sauces. Renegade Animation provided the animation and our friend Darrell Van Citters directed the spot. Says Darrell:

“Renegade has had a lot of experience in recreating classic cartoon characters for commercials (Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, SpongeBob SquarePants, and many others) and it’s a job we take very seriously. Our animators are cartoon fanatics and treat these characters with reverential care. For the Prego spot, we modeled our Olive Oyl after the character in the Fleischer cartoons.”

Olive’s ad is one in a series of five different ads for Prego in which a “flavorful” character wonders aloud about what spice to add to their simmering pot of sauce (other spots feature “Baby Spice” and Olympic Silver Medalist Lea Ann Parsley). Scott O’Brien animated Olive Oyl and actress Diane Michelle provided her voice. Keep your pop-eye open for it.

Starting next Tuesday, Frank Conniff and I will presenting our live comedy show, Cartoon Dump, once a month at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood. Every month we will showcase different selection of “Worst Cartoons Ever,” present new characters and welcome guest performers. In our August 28th show we’ll debut a new cast member—a dumpster diving puppet created (and performed) by Joel Hodgson (creator, MST3K), and present a special appearence by comedian Dana Gould (writer/exec producer of The Simpsons).

Also joining our cast this month is Eddie Pepitone as Morty, the New Age Agent, who’ll join regulars Erica Doering (Compost Brite) and Frank Conniff (as Moodsy Owl) and… err… me. If this all sounds crazy — it is!

We sold out last month, so we recommend reserving your seat early. If you can’t make it this month, we’ll be back September 25th, October 23rd and Nov. 27th (the fourth Thursday of every month, except December). You can also catch our podcasts on CartoonBrewFilms.com (new weekly episodes will resume next week). Join us at 8pm next week!

There is something fascinating about watching the early silent films from Walt Disney’s studio. Knowing where Walt was headed and what he would later accomplish certainly adds to the experience - especially in the Alice Comedies where he was able to work a little of the “magic” in the combined live action and animation sequences. I was fortunate to be a consultant on the forthcoming Disney Treasures Oswald The Rabbit DVD (more about that when we get closer to the December release date) and I just spent the weekend dipping into Ray Pointer’s revised Alice In Cartoonland compilation.

I’ve previously mentioned that Inkwell Images had a reworked edition of their Alice DVD back in May. Now that I’ve reviewed it, I’m compelled to give it one last plug. This is a superior compilation of ten vintage cartoons. There’s excellent documentary material between each film, and all the cartoons are mastered from the best sources available. One of the new additions to this revised package, Alice Gets Stage Struck (1925), was taken directly from a Library of Congress 35mm transfer (the other newly discovered film Alice Wins The Derby looks great too) and it should be noted, all of the films contained in this revised edition are uncut and do not have DVNR. There are extra features that include a theatrical poster gallery with a printout feature, and bonus cartoons. Order direct from Inkwell Images.

The CBC has a followup article about the tragic police shooting of Vancouver animator Paul Boyd, mentioned here yesterday. The article includes a statement from Boyd’s family which explains his mental illness. The statement from Boyd’s family can be read in its entirety in this downloadable PDF file.

Some nice memories of Paul Boyd can be found in the earlier Brew post about his passing.

LP writes:

So very sad…I had the pleasure to work with Paul for about 3 years. He was a big sweetheart and always kind to me. One of those great guys that you always remember fondly regardless of your interactions. Illness or not, it breaks my heart to know how awful his last moments were and I grieve for the loss and hope his family can heal in time. The animation industry and the world in general lost a good guy.

Dany says:

paul did do the opening of ed and ed and eddy. the trio pass a video camera back and forth between them in the bit. this was done the old fashioned way - he had to plan all the camera moves himself, measure them out, dope it … his capacity for presice, almost mathematical animation was mind boggling.

i was his assistant a few times. his command of cycles and levels and how everything worked together - amazing. he did some funny bits of animation ill never forget too - like a part in werner 2 where a gas cylinder turns into a missle and wangs around the screen …he was very talented and very friendly. i know he had a capacity for rage - eight bullets to put him down, what does that tell you ? but i never saw it.

ill remember him fondly and not as a guy swinging a chain, getting shot by a cop with less than five years experience on the job. his last moments must have been pure anguish but he would have gone to jail and that would have been painful for him, also.

ill miss my friend paul boyd.

Karnival is a series of super-short animated pieces created by Jun seo Hahm at Portland commercial studio Bent Image Lab. The first two episodes are up at Karnival.tv with additional episodes debuting every two weeks. The films defy easy categorization though I thought the first couple pieces were amusing and original bits of animation. The characters have a strong 3D aesthetic but the films are actually “hand-drawn digital vectorized 2D animation,” according to the filmmaker.