“Chase” is an art project from 2005 that I only heard about recently. In it, animated cartoon characters participate in a never-ending chase in which their speed and actions correspond to the speed of a moving car. It’s a modest experiment but I could see the idea being applied to more interesting and ambitious marriages of interactivity and animation in real-world environments. The artist, Karolina Sobecka, offers the following artistic statement about the work:

Danger, violence, fear, persecution are popular themes driving the children’s cartoons. Such infantilized representation of these concepts stands in absurd contrast to the stark reality of the urban LA context.

What hath Alvin and the Chipmunks wrought?

It’s being widely reported today that Sony is co-financing a live action/CG Smurfs feature film. I’m not usually the pessimist around here, but this can’t be any good - can it?? Variety reports that David Stem and David Weiss (Shrek 2, Jimmy Neutron) are being hired to write the screenplay, and Sony Pictures Animation has certainly made some good films (Open Season, Surf’s Up)… maybe they can pull it off?

(Image above from ComingSoon.com)

Speaking of Chuck Jones, as we were yesterday, here is his infamous 1969 TV special based on Walt Kelly’s classic comic strip Pogo. Kelly, who wrote the special, allegedly hated the final results and felt that too much of his personal vision had been subverted into that of Jones’s. Both artists voice characters in the film: Jones is the voice of Porkypine, Bun Rabbit and Basil the Butterfly; Kelly is Albert, P.T. Bridgeport and Howland Owl.

Hal Willner’s 1988 Disney tribute CD, Stay Awake, is going live.

Stay Awake: the Official 20th Anniversary Concert will take place at UCLA’s Royce Hall on October 30th. Willner has previously staged live concert versions in London and New York over the last year. For its LA performance Willner will attempt to bring in as many of the record’s artists as possible. Artists on the original album included Herb Alpert, Los Lobos, Natalie Merchant, Aaron Neville, Harry Nilsson, Sinead O’Connor, Buster Poindexter, Sun Ra, Bonnie Raitt, The Replacements, The Roches, Ringo Starr, Michael Stipe, and Tom Waits. Who will appear in person? That info will be revealed closer to show time. For now, you can order tickets here.

Animator and director Will Finn recently watched the entire Warner Bros. output of Chuck Jones and has composed a thoughtful blog post analyzing the work of Jones. Lots of good insights throughout, especially this spot-on comparison between the work of Jones and fellow WB director Bob Clampett:

“Unlike his arch rival Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones wants to prove to us that he is smart, tasteful and always in control of everything. Clampett of course is ultimately “in control” too, but his genius is for giving the genuine impression that all Hell is breaking loose onscreen. Much like that other Jones, namely bandleader Spike, Clampett makes us feel (frequently throughout an entire film) that every person in his troupe has gone out of their minds. This never happens in Jones’ world because he won’t allow it. Clampett’s embrace is wider: he can grasp the highbrow world of surrealism in one hand and the lowbrow crudeness of burlesque with the other–he has no boundaries. Boundaries are Chuck Jones’ stock in trade, his main theme is pitting the rational against the irrational. Even when he adopts the point of view of an irrational character, (as with the Coyote), he only does so to mock himself.”

The fourth edition of The Animation Show continues it’s rollout across the United States with openings in Los Angeles (The Nuart), Boston (Kendall Square), Washington DC (E Street Cinema) and San Diego (Ken Cinema) this week.

I’ll be in attendance at the Nuart on Friday where filmmakers Mike Judge (King of the Hill) and Steve Dildarian (Angry Unpaid Hooker) will do a Q&A after the 7:30pm show.

In honor of the theatrical release of Vol. 4 we will have two trivia contests this week. The winners will recieve a copy of the just-released MTV-Paramount Home Video DVD of The Animation Show Vol. 3. The contests will be posted here Wednesday and Thursday at 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific. For more information on The Animation Show and when it’ll play in your town, visit the website.

Here are three cartoon and film-related books that aren’t on my bookshelf but will be soon.

The Adventures of Herge: Creator of Tintin by Michael Farr appears to be a well researched and nicely illustrated volume about the legendary comic artist.

Wordless Books: The Original Graphic Novels by David Berona came out last month and it is packed with STUNNING artwork that falls somewhere between comics, illustration and fine art. The book also discusses the work of Milt Gross and Fleischer animator Myron Waldman, who created the 1943 graphic novel Eve.

I’ve always wanted a copy of Amos Vogel’s influential Seventies book Film as a Subversive Art and didn’t realize until recently that it had been reprinted. The book is inspiring and packed with lots of black-and-white stills. Animation filmmakers are also sprinkled liberally throughout the text.

Chris Lopez has posted all the pages of a vintage Flip The Frog Coloring Book on his ComicCrazy blog. The beautiful artwork for this rare licensed piece was certainly done by the cartoonists at the Ub Iwerks studio. Says Chris:

The remarkable thing about this coloring book is that the colored pieces are original to the printing. They are beautifully done, too. The back cover is the same as the front, so I only posted one side. The cover is holding together by the slimmest of pieces. I dare not scan this book again. It’s stored away for safe keeping.

Chris also posts scans of complete comic book stories on his blog - including this Mighty Mouse classic by Jim Tyer!