The Animation Block Party is a new mini-animation festival which takes place regularly in New York City. They’re holding a Valentine’s Day edition of the festival on Monday, February 14, with two different programs of independent animated shorts and an after-party at Frank’s Cocktail Lounge. Film line-up and ticket details at AnimationBlock.com.

Emru Townsend makes an excellent point today on his blog In-Betweens:

In her syndicated column, Dr. Joyce Brothers responds to a 40-something legal professional, exasperated that her 40-something legal professional boyfriend likes to watch cartoons. Even after “F.T.” says that her errant beau likes to watch the “‘adult’ ones at night” - presumably Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim - Brothers leads off her response: “It is certainly reasonable to be puzzled by seeing a grown man - a professional, no less - howling at cartoons meant for a 6-year-old.”

I find it interesting to note that despite the fact that a grown man - a professional, no less - might like cartoons, and that there are cartoons being aired for adults, there’s no thought that maybe - just maybe - they aren’t all made for six-year-olds.

Brock writes in:

Everyone who has the stinky aftertaste of Hart’s new ‘Retro Cool’ book needs to immediately go HERE and print off page by page of “Fun With a Pencil”. Staple it together and PRESTO! They got their “retro-cool” cartoon book right THERE!

Here’s a whole Cartoon Retro thread taking Christopher Hart to task for his travesty of a book which I mentioned yesterday, CARTOON COOL: HOW TO DRAW NEW RETRO-STYLE CHARACTERS. Shane Glines himself comes up with a nice way that the publisher could advertise the book, while pointing out a few of the things wrong with the cover art:

Hey kids!
Learn how to use parallel lines!
Master the “No Construction” theory!
Learn how to draw eyes looking in two different directions!
Learn how to use inappropriate fonts!
Learn how to use tangents to kill your drawing!

Disney layout artist Luke Cormican says the cover reminds him of a “retarded Shane Glines.” Add your own comments.

Here’s some animation and cartoon-related books coming out in the next few months…

Heard any good Mark Twain quotes lately? CHUCK JONES: CONVERSATIONS, edited by ANIMATION JOURNAL’s Maureen Furniss, compiles numerous interviews with Warner director Jones. There’s already more than enough history books about Golden Age animation where historians interpret what happened, so it’s refreshing to see books of unedited interviews, like this and the new WALT’S PEOPLE series, which give us the opportunity to hear the artists relate stories and experiences in their own words.

An updated edition of Hal Erickson’s reference tome TELEVISION CARTOON SHOWS: AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA, 1949-2004 will be out in May. Unlike the previous edition which was a pricy book aimed at libraries and schools, this one seems aimed at consumers and is fairly affordable at $45. I’ll definitely be picking up a copy for my library.

Ed Hooks, actor and author of ACTING FOR ANIMATORS, was telling me about this book at Annecy last year and it sounded really interesting. It’s called ACTING IN ANIMATION: A LOOK AT 12 FILMS and it breaks down the acting performances in a dozen animated films including classics (PINOCCHIO, DUMBO), cg (TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS INC.), recent hand-drawn films (TARZAN, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO) and anime (SPIRITED AWAY, GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES).

OUT OF THE INKWELL: MAX FLEISCHER AND THE ANIMATION REVOLUTION is a book by Max’s son, live-action director Richard Fleischer. According to the book description, this biography is “one of a creative genius struggling to fit in with the changing culture of golden age cinema. OUT OF THE INKWELL captures the twists and turns, the triumphs and disappointments, and most of all the breathless energy of a life vibrantly lived in the world of animation magic.”

Despite my personal lack of interest in the subject, I thought VINYL WILL KILL: AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE DESIGNER TOY PHENOMENON was a pretty cool (if tackily designed) book, packed with a lot of sketches and insight into how they make these toys.

Fans of Steinberg will appreciate this one. STEINBERG AT THE NEW YORKER by Joel Smith is a collection of all of Saul Steinberg’s NEW YORKER covers, as well as over 130 examples of inside magazine art, ranging from his line drawings to color portfolios.

Last, and most definitely least, there’s CARTOON COOL: HOW TO DRAW NEW RETRO-STYLE CHARACTERS, a book that’s wrong on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin complaining. The atrocious cover should be the first clue that Christopher Hart hasn’t the wildest clue about how to draw “retro-styled” characters. Then again, when has Hart ever done a book that’s actually taught anybody how to draw anything correctly. Should make a good gag gift for your designer friends.

Happy Birthday to fellow Brewmaster Jerry Beck!

I didn’t even realize it was Jerry’s birthday today until I saw it posted on various message boards, like HERE and HERE. Here’s to many more Looney and Merrie years…or something along those lines.

I’m somewhat relieved to find out that the “Hell Yes” music video I mentioned HERE recently is not an official Beck video, but rather an indie effort by Mumbleboy for the Ghettochip Malfunction ‘8-bit’ remix of a Beck song. There are however two new Beck music videos worth pointing out - one is the highly inventive puppets-meet-neon “E-Pro” video by the British collective Shynola and the second is a less spectacular (but still slightly novel) ASCII-riff for “Black Tambourine” (watch in Windows Media or Real). (Thanks, Cory)

Here’s a SITE with examples of an artist doing a poor Jim Flora impersonation. Unfortunately, the artist is Jim Flora himself, and these are some of his later works created before he passed away in 1998. There’s another site HERE with later ship paintings by Flora, and these to me are a more honest expression of his design skills, not to mention more interesting to look at. Unlike the first set of paintings which are a hollow lesser recreation of his earlier glories, these nautical works show his growth as an artist and document another facet of his unique artistic skills. Of course, for the ultimate in Flora, one can do no better than the recent book THE MISCHIEVOUS ART OF JIM FLORA which reprints all his genius jazz art from the ’40s and ’50s. (link via BoingBoing.net)