Animator Matt Taylor informs me of an innovative exhibition he’s taking part in at Australia’s National Portrait Gallery. The show, “Animated”, takes a detour from conventional self-portraiture and offers fourteen animated portraits made specifically for the exhibition by Australian animators, including Anthony Lucas (The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello), Jonathan Daw (currently working on Adam Elliot’s new stop motion feature), Rick Bull, Anita Fontaine, Troy Innocent and Arlene TextaQueen. The show takes place entirely online and the pieces can be viewed on the gallery website through December 2008. It is curated by Michael Desmond and Gillian Raymond.

Bernie Shine is one of the biggest private collectors of classic American animation memoribilia. You can see a small part of Bernie’s Disney collection on the DVD Mickey Mouse In Black and White Volume 2 (Disc one, on the bonus segment Mickey Mania: Collecting Mickey Merchandise).

In addition to his cartoon collection, Bernie has a fascination with novelty products from the early-mid 20th century. He’s collected thousands of unique items from dusty warehouses, closed factories and old stores, in mint condition and never used. For years he’s been selling off some of his excess items on his website.

He’s just opened a cool new retail store at the Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. It’s located along the Third Avenue side, next door to Pinkberry. It’s an absolute must-visit destination for any cartoon buff or pop culture historian. One of the unique items I picked up on my first visit there last night was this ornate Popeye coaster (above, click it for a larger look) for $3. (He’s got dozens of them!)

If you are in L.A. or planning a visit, do check out the new Shine Gallery at the Farmer’s Market. It’ll be well worth your time, and Bernie himself is frequently there at the shop to answer questions. In addition to Shine’s complete line of authentic novelties, the store (and his website) has incredible one of a kind merchandise for sale (check out this Flip The Frog figurine).

David Stainton - According to Chuck Oberleitner:

The Walt Disney Company no longer employs David Stainton, former head of what was once Walt Disney Feature Animation. Stainton, who was last believed to be working for Mickey overseas in a warehouse at the far backend of the Tokyo Disney property, is back in the Los Angeles area. He is reported to have hung his shingle out and is doing business under the name of Henry’s World Media. Stainton owns a dog named Henry.

Thom Schumacher - Still President of Disney Theatrical Productions; he’ll be appearing in person at Barnes and Noble at The Grove (Los Angeles) on December 13th at 5:30pm, to sign copies of his new book (co-written with Jeff Kurtti) How Does the Show Go On: An Introduction to the Theatre.

Currently at Texas State University-San Marcos, just south of Austin, there’s a wonderful exhibit on The Making of King of the Hill. Writer and executive producer Jim Dauterive has donated 11 years worth of material to the Southwestern Writers Collection at Texas State. This vast amount of material includes original scripts, story pitches, production notes, promotional material, model sheets, research notes, and even tapes from the unseen, live-action spin-off Monsignor Martinez. The exhibit is on display through December 14, but all the material has been made available for research.

Last Saturday night, Dauterive was on-hand to discuss the show’s history - as well as to answer questions from admiring fans. For more information on this exhibit use this link. And click here for a page that includes a pdf of the complete archive inventory.

(Thanks, Jess Price)

Who needs paper? Your flesh will do just as well…

Apparently this clever little short was commissioned for use as a viral video by Samsung — to promote its new cell phone with video editing capabilities. More info about how it was done is posted here.

Disney consumer products design manager Juan Ortiz recently started an “official unofficial” blog about Disney Store merchandise and the artists behind them. Ortiz hopes to post a lot of original drawings, designs and product that may or may not make it to the store shelves. He’s currently posting about the first wave of Oswald Rabbit items. Check them out at The Disney Store Shelves.

Above, Saturday night at The Grove; The Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles

Say what you will (and most of you have) about Bee Movie, but it’s being reported that it will take the number #1 slot this weekend at the U.S. box office, its second week of release. It’s on track to gross over $100 million by Thanksgiving weekend.

I’m not looking to start another thread bashing the film - I liked it and, yeah, I wrote the Art of book, so I’m a bit biased - but I tend to agree with Steve Hulett that success leads to more health in our industry, and hopefully to more diversity in subject matter and visual styles in future animated films. You can add my congratulations to all the artists involved.

Getting screwed at the gas pump does seem to have one slight upside: oil companies are now flush with money to blow on frivolous ad campaigns, and some of these might be animated. For example, last spring, British Petroleum (BP) spent $35 million on a cartoon campaign that includes three animated spots (watch them below). The design aesthetic of these spots is typical contemporary—loud and generic (’iconic’ in Pictoplasma speak). On the plus side, the spots do a nice job of utilizing the BP logo and exploring the possibilities of three-dimensional space. The animation was directed by Ian Kovalik at Mekansim. Slate offered a review of the campaign and I’m inclined to agree that nobody really cares about brand loyalty to oil companies today, only which station has the cheapest fuel. The days of Chevron’s talking cars are long gone; there’s little that the price-gouging oil companies can do to make themselves look warm and fuzzy, and it’s certainly not going to happen with a campaign as artifical and contrived as this.

(Thanks, Mike Milo)