It looks like Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit feature has spawned a real-life were-rabbit in England. The oversized rabbit is eating prize-winning leeks and turnips in the town of Felton. A BBC article has this quote from farmer Jeff Smith:

“This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster. It is absolutely massive. I have seen its prints and they are huge, bigger than a deer. It is a brute of a thing.”

(click for larger version)

The Ottawa International Animation Festival website has been updated with details on its 2006 edition, which will take place September 20-24. This year’s festival poster (above) was designed by Gary Baseman. The entry deadline for films is June 1, and for the first time, films can be entered via an online entry form. Also, the festival has unveiled its programming schedule for 2006. Fans of the funny will be rewarded with retrospectives of three comedy masters: American Bob Clampett, Italian Bruno Bozzetto and Russian Konstantin Bronzit.

Cartoonist/animator Marc Deckter has a great post on his new blog about some of his favorite old-timey rubber-hose dance scenes. Van Beuren, Iwerks and Fleischer all get some love in his piece.

Last night’s episode of SOUTH PARK did a parody of FAMILY GUY. It’s little surprise that the SOUTH PARK version is funnier than the actual Seth MacFarlane show. Also, now seems like a good time to link to Jaime Weinman’s perennial blog post “Why I Hate FAMILY GUY.”

Here’s the SOUTH PARK parody:

Animation director Steve Moore, who previously posted Duane Crowther’s long-lost student film BLUM BLUM, has posted another amazing rarity on his website. It is an animatic from a 1993 attempt to produce a Betty Boop animated feature. The project was spearheaded by Max Fleischer’s son, Richard Fleischer (who passed away last month), and was to have been directed by Moore.

The animatic is for a musical sequence with Betty and her estranged father Benny. It was boarded by Steve Wahl and features a piano performance by the legendary Jimmy Rowles. The concept piece above was drawn by Fred Cline. Moore recalls that the difficult-to-please Richard Fleischer teared up after watching the reel.

Frederik Du Chau (QUEST FOR CAMELOT, RACING STRIPES) has been hired to “direct” another film. The project he’s ruining this time is Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1960s cartoon series UNDERDOG. To get an idea of how the animation industry feels about Du Chau’s directing skills, look no further than this blog post.

If you have an extra ten minutes to spare today, you can spend that time no better than watching the lyrical short HERON AND CRANE (1974) by Russian animation genius Yuri Norstein.

Here is a bit of background about the film that I found online:

Norstein’s third feature is based on a Russian fairy tale. It marked the first of several collaborations among Norstein, his wife, the artist Francesca Yarbusova, and a cameraman Alexander Zhukovsky. To achieve Norstein’s artistic vision, they invented a special piece of equipment which allowed them to animate on layers of glass. Norstein’s original script was not approved by the studio administration. Veteran director Roman Kachanov was assigned to serve as project “supervisor” and write an acceptable script. Unbeknownst to the studio administration, Norstein filmed the original script. Thanks in great part to support from Fyodor Khitruk, Norstein’s HERON AND CRANE - with Norstein credited as co-writer - was approved for distribution after numerous additional clashes with the studio management. Very Popular in the former USSR , the film also won many honors abroad.

A dvd of Yuri Norstsein’s complete works can be purchased from RussianAnimation.com or Amazon. There’s also a fairly new book out about Norstein written by Clare Kitson - YURI NORSTEIN AND TALE OF TALES: AN ANIMATOR’S JOURNEY - which I’ve heard good things about.

Some sick perverted souls in South Korea came up with this piece of Flash animation. It might make you queasy. It might make you hate animation. If you know what’s good for you, just don’t click on this link. Seriously, DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK. If you clicked on that last link, then for heaven’s sake, please don’t click on this one HERE! Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
(Thanks?, Karl Cohen)