At the San Diego Comic-Con last week, Matt Groening revealed that in an upcoming SIMPSONS episode, one of the characters will come out of the closet and take part in a gay marriage. In the episode, Homer becomes an ordained minister over the ‘Net and begins performing gay marriages. Timely cartoon indeed, but I doubt it’ll out-gay the new batch of REN & STIMPY episodes premiering August 20th on Spike TV. [Updated 7/29: John K. wrote to inform me that there is no gay humor in the new batch of REN & STIMPY episodes and seeing as how he's the director, he probably knows best about these type of things.]

I’ve only bought one DVD so far. REN & STIMPY: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS will be my second purchase.

Mike Barrier has announced that he’s starting a regularly updated blog on his website MichaelBarrier.com. I’m looking forward to reading his insightful, often provocative, comments about animation and comics on a more frequent basis. New to Mike’s site is an update of his Europe trip journal, with an entry about Zermatt, Switzerland and the city’s connection to Walt Disney. Also added is a none too complimentary review of SHREK 2. I have to give Mike credit though: he was brave enough to actually sit through the entire film. Even the chance to see it for free hasn’t been enough to lure me into the multiplex for this Katzenberg gem.

While cartoonist-types don’t often appear on late-night talkshows, this evening’s THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO will feature an appearance by JibJab.com co-founders Gregg and Evan Spiridellis. Their Web animation site has been around for quite a few years, but they’ve shot to a new level of fame in the past few weeks with their biting political short THIS LAND.

This is a great INTERVIEW with Bill Plympton where he talks about his latest films – HAIR HIGH and GUARD DOG, as well as numerous other topics. On the subject of why more animators don’t go independent, Bill has this to say: “And what surprises me is that more people don’t do it, because it’s really not that difficult; as long as you keep your films short, keep the film funny and keep it cheap, you can do it.”

It’s a shame they don’t make movie posters like THESE or THESE for animated shorts nowadays. Oh, I forgot, they also don’t make shorts anymore.
(Thanks to Oscar Grillo for the link)

While USA TODAY is often criticized for being written at a fifth-grade reading level, the intelligence of its reporters is apparently at an even lower level. In this ARTICLE about DreamWorks Animation’s decision to spin off into a separate publicly traded company, there’s this gem of a line: “The SEC filing gives the public a first thorough look at the finances of the biggest part of the privately held company famous for computer-animated hits including SHREK, ANTZ and CHICKEN RUN.” Tomorrow USA TODAY is publishing a piece on the third quarter financial results of McDonald’s, or as they like to call it, “That fried chicken restaurant.” But that’s nothing compared to their story next week about Apple Computer and how the company revolutionized the world with its Windows software.

(Thanks to Fred Patten for the tip)

I’m off to San Diego this morning. I’ll have my Apple Powerbook in tow so I may end up doing a photo-blog from the convention. Then again, there’s a good chance I won’t be updating until early next week. In either case, I’m looking forward to meeting Cartoon Brew readers in SD. Also remember to check out the AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER panel that I’ll be moderating on Saturday from 1-2 pm (room 8) with show creators Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Should be a fine week. As long as you don’t buy cheese from illegal street vendors. (Thanks to Mark Evanier for that last bit of wisdom)

I mentioned Saul Bass here yesterday and if there’s another film title designer who can hold his own against Bass it’s Pablo Ferro. He is perhaps best known for his quirky hand-lettering style and quick-cut techniques as exemplified in DR. STRANGELOVE and the split-screen techniques that he developed for THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. At Design Observer, Michael Bierut pens an appreciation of Ferro’s latest title work for the indie film NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. Bierut’s closing thought about Ferro’s work on the DYNAMITE titles should ring as true for animation artists as it does for those in the design world:

In an age where computer-generated this and special effects that are within the reach of anyone who can afford a copy of Final Cut Pro, it takes real restraint, not to mention confidence, to stick with a simple idea, simply executed.

Stockholm’s freshest animation studio Filmtecknarna has created one of the most excellent music videos I’ve seen in a long while – “Take Me Out” – for the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. It’s directed by Jonas Odell. The video, in addition to being highly entertaining, is jammed with all manner of references to early modernist art movements such as Dada, Surrealism and Constructivism; in one shot there’ll be a De Chirico-esque background, in the next a pulsating El Lissitzky-inspired construction. Says Odell from a studio press release, “The band referenced a lot of artists and groups of the DADA movement, and all this is stuff that I always loved, but never found a chance to incorporate in a project, so naturally this was a dream project to work on. I dived headlong into the sea of art history and emerged at the other side soaked in references, trying to figure out ways of turning this into a contemporary piece, but the wonderful thing about this period in art is that it does feel completely modern. It is all about the moment, and it still feels very ‘now.’” After you’re done seeing the video, check out more of the studio’s work at Filmtecknarna.com.

The wildly talented Ed Bell now has his own website at EdBell.net. Ed’s been working in animation since the days of Bakshi’s MIGHTY MOUSE: THE NEW ADVENTURES, and in the past few years he’s been up north directing some fine commercials for Wild Brain (Wrigley’s “Urban Hip Hopper,” Sprite’s “Voltron,” and Nike’s “Playa’s Delight”) as well as directing the Emmy-nominated live-action documentary UNCHAINED MEMORIES (HBO). If you want to experience more of his artistry, Ed’s going to debut a sketchbook in San Diego – a 64-page collection of sketches called GIRL BOOGIE which will be available exclusively at the Maverix Studios booth (D1/D2 inbetween rows 600 and 700). Maverix is a Bay Area collective of animation/comic book artists so show them some love while down in SD.

JimSmithCartoons.com!!! Need I say more. As California governor Schwarzenegger might say, this is most definitely not a website for “girlie men.” The site is just getting started and so far there’s a preview of Jim’s amazing new personal project called CHESTACLESE and info on how to order his sketchbook. You can also pick up his sketchbook in San Diego at the Asylum Press booth (#2103 in the IP Pavilion) where Jim will be signing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He’ll also be showing animated clips of CHESTACLESE. While there be sure to check out the comics of the talented Frank Forte who runs Asylum Press and is responsible for bringing Jim Smith on-line.

Here’s Badly Drawn Boy’s “The Year of the Rat” music video as directed by Canadian animator Monkmus. I wasn’t familiar with Monkmus’ work, but a quick search on-line reveals that he’s represented by Klasky Csupo’s commercial division ka-chew! You can see more examples of his work HERE. Pleasant and appealing work if not particularly groundbreaking.

This past weekend, the Design Museum in London opened an exhibition about designer Saul Bass (running through October 10). The retrospective presents a look at his entire career, but focuses on how Bass “transformed the film title into an art form.” Bass was responsible for many classic film titles including ANATOMY OF A MURDER, VERTIGO and WEST SIDE STORY, as well as the animated closing credits to AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. The museum’s website is DesignMuseum.org.