Click for larger upright version of this Snoopy ruler.

Warner Bros. Motion Comics division has created new series of Peanuts Animated Comics to bring a group of Charles Schulz comic strips to life. They are now available through Apple’s iTunes Store. Here’s a sample:

If you need a hit of old-school Charlie Brown, here are several suggestions: 1. Check the Brew TV episode we posted last week. 2. Slate posted a nostalgic article on the DVD re-issue of the Peanuts holiday specials. 3. The Slate article also includes a link to a 1985 Peanuts documentary posted on YouTube.

(Thanks, Alex Rannie and Variety’s Hal Blog)

On sale tomorrow is Popeye Vol. 3. This 2-disc set features the classic wartime cartoons (banned from TV for several decades) with Popeye versus the German and Japanese armies. Restored cartoons, bonus documentaries and special features - the perfect video to watch after the election results come in! Here’s a tip: Best Buy is offering a bonus “vintage mini-comic book” if you buy it at the store.

This is the second of two contests today. The prize for this contest are two tickets to Ari Folman’s animated feature Waltz With Bashir. Prizes will only be awarded to contestants who can actually use the passes. Please only enter if you can attend the AFI Fest at the ArcLight Cinemas at Hollywood & Vine (the screening will be held on Friday night, Nov. 7th at 7pm).

Contest Question: Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Waltz With Bashir on December 25th. Last year Sony Classics release Persepolis (which was nominated for an Academy Award). In 2003 Sony Classics released what film (also nominated for an Academy Award)?

UPDATE: CONTEST CLOSED! Answer and Winners in the comments link below.

This is the first of two contests today. The prizes for today’s contests are tickets to animated features at the AFI Fest in Hollywood. Prizes will only be awarded to contestants who can actually use the passes. Please only enter if you can attend the screening of Bill Plympton’s new feature Idiots and Angels at the ArcLight Cinemas at Hollywood & Vine (winners can choose between Wednesday Nov. 5th at 9:40pm or Thursday November 6th at 1pm).

Contest Question: What was the name of Bill Plympton’s first animated feature?

UPDATE: This Contest is now closed! Winners posted in Comments below. Contest #2 will be posted here at 10:30am PST.

Here’s a neat find. Chuck Howell, curator at The Library of American Broadcasting at the University of Maryland, came across this two-page article from the Oct. 1950 issue of a trade publication called Advertising Agency and Advertising And Selling (I assume two trade organs had merged to come up with that mouthful). “Clipping Board” was a regular feature that focused on art and graphic design trends, covering everything from billboards to direct mail to (as in this case) the still-new
medium of television (click on thumbnails below for enlargements). These pages detail the creation of a TV commercial, for Sealtest ice cream, produced at Tempo Productions and directed by Bill Tytla (the article mis-spells his name “Wm. Tytle”).

A Norwegian radio host asked voice actor Harry Shearer about what various Simpsons characters thought about the upcoming US election. The video’s funniest moment is unintentional though: it’s when a black guy walks into the room as Shearer is doing the voice of Dr. Hibbert.

I swore on a stack of 16mm Kodachrome that I wouldn’t mention every piece of Oswald The Lucky Rabbit merchandising I came across - but I couldn’t resist pointing to this one.

I find it fascinating to watch the Disney corporation of today attempt to market an 80 year old cartoon character that most people (Cartoon Brew readers excepted) have never heard of. I love that they are doing it, of course, but some of the items produced are head scratchers. This Jumbo Oswald pin (above) looks like none of the merchandising models they’ve been using, nor the version of the character in any existent animated cartoons. This image was taken from the cover of the Oswald Stencil Set from 1928 and it was used in Universal trade ads. Apparently it’s the earliest model of the character, from possibly Poor Papa (which is a lost film) - an odd choice, but it certainly makes for an interesting fashion accessory.