Apparently a new Pixar short – their first with extensive 2-D traditional animation – will available on the Ratatouille DVD and Blu-Ray Discs (on sale November 6th). The short was directed by Jim Capobianco, who says he was particularly inspired by Ward Kimball, and was written by Jeff Pidgeon and Alexander Woo.

Sci-Fi.com has some more information. Animated-News has posted several stills.

Performance capture and opera: a match made in heaven. Quick, get Robert Zemeckis on the phone and have him follow up Beowulf with this:

(Thanks, Pete Emslie)

If you don’t know who this animation genius is, click on the picture to find out.

Happy birthday to animation legend Ollie Johnston who celebrates his 95th today!

(Thanks, John Canemaker)

Slightly off topic, but fans of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and Cartoon Dump will appreciate this news.

Original MST3K writer/performers Trace Beaulieu, Frank Conniff, Josh Weinstein and Mary Jo Pehl have re-teamed with creator Joel Hodgson to create a whole new movie spoof comedy machine, Cinematic Titantic.

Details on this new show will be posted on Joel’s new website as it develops. Frank and I are still producing Cartoon Dump, and Joel (as “Dumpster Diver Dan”) is still part of the regular Cartoon Dump cast at our live shows each month. I wish the cast and crew of CT the best of luck with this new venture… consider me your number #1 fan!

Independent animator (and former syndicated cartoonist) Chris Harding (Learn Self Defense) launches a new online comic strip today called We The Robots. There are thirteen comics currently posted and new ones scheduled weekly. I tend to be a fan of just about everything Chris does and this latest project is no exception. It should be noted that the strip is loosely related to the next animated short that he’s currently working on. He explains in one of his blog posts:

“It’s hard to explain the relationship between the animated Work In Progress, and the non-animated comic strip that goes with it. Both take place in the same fictional world of robots. The short is more broad and doesn’t revolve around any specific robot, where the comic strip has several regular characters.”

Today’s Non Sequitur comic by Wiley has a nice dig on th Schulz bio. Click HERE to read the entire strip.

(Thanks, Patricio)

It’s a good day for DVD collectors: Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5 and The Three Stooges Collection Vol. 1 have been released.

With all the recent discussion about Charles Schulz, I thought it’d be fun to share this 1969 photo of Schulz pulling a ‘Lucy’ on Peanuts animation director Bill Melendez.

Actually, this portrait of the Mouse (by Marcelo Braga) is one of the nicer ones.

A blog devoted to bad drawings of Mickey, sent in by its readers, is quite entertaining in its own right. Click here to enter the unhappiest place on Earth: Mickey Feio.

Howard Green sends us this sad news: Janie Reitherman — Woolie’s widow — passed away on Saturday at her home in Burbank from complications due to cancer. She was 83 years old. There will a memorial service for her this Saturday at 11 am at Crippen Mortuary (2900 Honolulu Ave in La Crescenta) followed by a reception at her home in Burbank. She is survived by three sons: Bruce (voice of Mowgli, Christopher Robin) of Summerland, CA; Richard who lives in Orange County, and Robert who lives in Half Moon Bay. Janie attended the special “Jungle Book” evening at the El Capitan Theatre on Sept. 6th.

(Pictured above, Robert, Woolie, Richard and Janie)

I thought we’d celebrate the day with a viewing of my favorite Bakshi short, the grooviest cartoon ever made: Marvin Digs (1967).