I’m en route to Columbus Ohio today to screen The Worst Cartoons Ever at the Wexner Center tomorrow night (11/8). The actual screening starts at 7pm.

But join me first at 6:00pm for a book signing - I’ll have free Hornswiggle buttons and postcards to give away, and I’ll be bringing an advance copy of my new book The Hanna Barbera Treasury to show off.

This will also be the launch party for my new DVD with Rembrandt Films, The Worst Cartoons Ever Made!. We shot video of me introducing these awful animated shorts in a big empty field during the picnic at the Platform Animation Festival in Portland. The video came out great - if you can’t get out to Columbus or the San Diego Comic Con, this is the next best thing. Order your copy today from Rembrandt.

FPS magazine reports that film distributor Atopia has acquired the North American rights to The District! (Nyocker!). The 2005 Hungarian feature, directed by Aron Gauder, did quite well on the festival circuit, but has otherwise been difficult to see. Atopia’s limited rollout includes engagements at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin beginning November 16, the Cinematheque in Winnipeg in late November, and Cleveland’s CIA Cinematheque in late January. Additional cities and dates will be listed on the film’s MySpace page.

Having seen the film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival a couple years ago, I’d say that it’s commendable more for what it attempts than what it accomplishes. It’s definitely worth a look though, and in fact, I’m curious to see it again myself as a standalone film instead of in the overwhelming and hectic film festival setting. The trailer is below, but first, the film synopsis:

A group of teens from the wrong side of Budapest’s tracks band together to make themselves rich by traveling back in time, burying a horde of wooly mammoths under the city’s streets, then returning to the present and drilling for oil. As creators of a new oil-producing nation, their scheme draws the attention of Putin (who uses the district’s Russian hookers as spies), Blair and George W. Bush. In the midst of it all, star-crossed teen love is in bloom.

ASIFA-San Francisco president Karl Cohen recently checked up on the whereabouts and condition of Alex Anderson (nephew of Paul Terry, Jay Ward’s original partner, creator of Crusader Rabbit, Dudley Do-Right, and Bullwinkle). According to his wife, Pat:

“He had a little setback 3 weeks ago. He fell and severely bruised his hip. He is now using a walker and slowly progressing. He was very agile before that.”

Get Well cards are greatly appreciated. His address is:

Alex Anderson
c/o Flanders Court
25661 Morse Drive
Carmel, CA 93923

I recently stumbled upon the work of Polish director Julian Józef Antonisz (1941-1987), a previously unknown (to me) master of the camera-less animation technique. Like most people, when I think of camera-less animation, the type of films that immediately pop to mind are by filmmakers like Len Lye and Norman McLaren. It’s a revelation to discover Antonisz who has such a refreshingly unique take on the technique. A well known figure of the Polish animation scene, Antonisz made dozens of films between 1967 and 1986, including the anarchic Dada-infused How a Sausage Dog Works which can be viewed below. YouTube also offers us his first film, Phobia (1967).

Antonisz is a largely unknown figure in the West, but if the nearly 100,000 views on YouTube and dozens of comments in Polish are any indication, his work seems to be better recognized in his native Poland. I discovered a rough English translation of the film courtesy of YouTube user Wodzu and have posted it below the film, though chances are it’ll simply add to your confusion.

Translation
[min:sec]
[00:04] this is how a simple electrical mechanical “hitter-knocker” works
[00:18] this is how a cherry-”kapacitron”(???) works
[00:23] this is how a dyfusional pimbdziaula works
[00:30] this is how a electro-”cabbager” works
[00:38] this is how a steel-koziówka(???) works
[00:45] this is how a safety pin works
[00:49] and other very very-complex inventions
[00:59] and how does a dachshund work?
[01:06] this is how a dachshund works
[02:26] dachshunds have a head
[02:34] a middle
[02:39] and rear part of body
[02:44] inside he have intestine
[02:47] eventually, everything that lives, have some intestines inside
[02:57] dachshund have 3 emotional states
[03:05] he can be angry
[03:11] furious
[03:20] and he can be sad, sorrowful
[03:27] he can be joyful, happy
[03:32] he can be happy
[03:41] [song] …because i’m afraid of emotions, here and there
[03:45] he can be cheerful
[04:00] EWARYST (it’s very strange and funny first name)
[05:02] don’t destroy a dachshund! because it is very complicated mechanism. even a computer is a piece of cake, compared to dachshund
[05:29] don’t destroy the kitty!
[05:38] don’t destroy the pike!
[05:50] don’t destroy the “zurawka”!
[06:12] because these are animals which we need to live
[06:21] rather try to model ourselfs on a nature
[06:30] let’s build quiet muscle-power engine!
[06:41] small estimate
[06:53] one butterfly’ eye is built from thousands of biological photo-diodes
[07:05] the cost of one german photo-diode type FG-70 is 75zl
[07:15] times 20.000 = 1.500.000
[07:28] times 2 eyes…
[07:33] 3.000.000
[07:34] when we destroy one butterfly, we destroy very high class device with biological value
[07:45] 30 million zlotych! (yes, she should have said 3 milion zl, but director of this film asked caretaker of block of flats where he lived for giving her voice to film, that’s why announcer sometimes has problems with the reading ;) )
[07:54] don’t destroy the dachshund!!!

Here’s the cover to one of next year’s must-have animation books: Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi by Jon M. Gibson and Chris McDonnell.

I’ve peeped the interior and can report that it’s a 264-page visual feast packed with page after page of amazing artwork. Any book that can make Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings look like a competent piece of filmmaking has done its job well. Plus, a foreword by Bakshi aficionado Quentin Tarantino and interviews/anecdotes with John K, Albert Ruddy, Bruce Timm, Peter Chung, John Sparey, Tom Minton, and Frank Frazetta among others. Book launch is slated for Comic-Con International: San Diego in July 2008. Pre-order for $26.40 on Amazon.

The LA Times has an in-depth profile about the new “Animated Painting” exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art. The show, which runs through January 13, 2008, features “25 cinematic works by 14 international contemporary artists who adapt traditional painting and drawing methods to the concepts and technologies of animation.” Participating artists are the Barnstormers, Sadie Benning, Jeremy Blake, Sebastián Díaz Morales, Kota Ezawa, Ruth Gómez, William Kentridge, Ann Lislegaard, Takeshi Murata, Serge Onnen, Julian Opie, Wit Pimkanchanapong, Qiu Anxiong, and Robin Rhode.

This week’s special guest on Stu Shostack’s internet radio broadcast is actress/cartoon voiceover leading lady, Janet Waldo (Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop, etc.). She’ll join Hanna Barbera cartoon expert Earl Kress and Stu to discuss her experiences as a Hanna Barbera super star. She and Earl will also take questions from callers. Here’s your chance to talk to a living legend. Tune into Stu’s Show starting at 4pm, Wednesday (11/7).

Tomorrow night (11/6), at the Directors Guild (7920 Sunset Blvd.), Asifa-Hollywood is screening The Simpsons Movie - preceeded by a reception (at 6:30pm) and succeeded (at 9pm) by a question and answer session with the filmmakers. There are still a few seats available - RSVP to (310) 369-8033

I’ll have the honor of moderating a Q&A with creator Matt Groening, director David Silverman, writer-producers Al Jean, Mike Scully and executive producer James L. Brooks. I’ve never met Brooks before and that will be quite a thrill. He’s one of Hollywood’s greats (Broadcast News, Terms of Endearment, Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi and on and on… not to mention Carleton Your Doorman and The Critic).

If you can’t make it tomorrow night - and keeping the questions strictly related to The Simpsons - what do you think I should ask Brooks, Groening, Silverman, Scully and Jean?