This is an honest, if not particularly funny, bit from the MTV Movie Awards about the desperation in Hollywood for finding new and unique ways to promote movies online. Just remember the key word: viral.

Animation contests are not a popular subject around the Brew, but this one sounds intriguing enough to mention. MTV is currently recruiting animators, designers and filmmakers from around the world to participate in a show called Engine Room, in which four teams (Europe, the US, Asia and Latin America) compete for a chance to win $400,000 in cash plus lots of tech gear from Hewlett-Packard. The contest was described to me by an MTV producer as “a design/animation-based reality show.” The show is casting through the end of June, and will be filmed for four weeks beginning in mid-July.

Here’s a bit more description from the materials he sent me:

Each team will be made up of four members with one or more of the following talents: graphics and web design, animation, filmmaking, and sound mixing. Each team member will need to make sure they’re making the most of their unique talents if their designs are going to stand up to criticism from our panel of experts.

The Engine Room is a unique opportunity for talented creatives to compete in a high pressure, highly creative environment – and the prize will give the winners a massive head start in their professional lives.

As sponsors of the show, Hewlett Packard are there to ensure that the stars are working on top of the best hardware they’ve got to offer, with a selection of cutting edge design packages.

MTV channels will be screening Engine Room on-air and online across the world this autumn, but this is so much more than a reality show. This is the perfect opportunity for young talent to shine.

I’d mistakenly posted earlier that they’re only looking for Europeans, but there are slots open for all regions. To submit a portfolio or for additional details, visit MTVEngineRoom.com or email engineroom [at] mtvne.com.

Nothing is going to deter me from going to see a film about wacky animals who engage in martial arts, not even this video from the Kung Fu Panda movie premiere.

This has been around for almost two months, but I just caught up with it last night and had to share. It’s apparently a viral promo short created to boost comic book sales. It’s the best CG version of The Hulk I’ve ever seen, and the Spider-man and Iron Man characterizations seem spot on. I wonder who made it. Anyone know?

Brewmaster Jerry Beck will be broadcasting once again, live on Shokus Internet Radio today, Wednesday June 4th 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 Universal fire, Looney Tunes Vol. 6 and all other 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!

I can’t describe this commerical any better than Jason Kottke does on his blog:

“Smokey the Bear is back! And he’s preventing forest fires in Uncanny Valley State Park!”

Harvey Deneroff has announced on his blog the forthcoming publication of his new book with Fred Ladd, Astro Boy and Anime Come to the Americas. The book details the story of Ladd’s involvement with bringing Astro Boy (and by extension, Japanese anime itself) to America in the early 1960s. Ladd was significantly involved with Tezuka’s pioneering series and subsequently responsible for bringing Gigantor, Kimba The White Lion and Sailor Moon to U.S. audiences.

The book will go on sale in November, from McFarland.

Restored prints of Tender Game and The Adventures of * on the MoMA bigscreen tonight. More here.