Midnight in Paris: a stop motion Book Revue? Embroidered handbag designs by Olympia Le-Tan inspired director Spike Jonze to make this animated short, Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side). The film, co-directed by Simon Cahn and animated by Sylvain Derosne, made its debut out of competition at Annecy last spring.

(Thanks, David Zweig via Nowness)

Never judge a book by its cover – especially the one pictured at left. The artwork inside is more like the fantastic painting above. I haven’t seen the new Puss In Boots movie yet, but two books in particular are being released this month, tying into the Dreamworks feature, that are seriously worthy of your bookshelf space. Puss In Boots: The Cat. The Boots. The Legend, adapted by Tina Gallo and illustrated by character designer/story artist Ovi Nedelcu, is a delightful children’s book made moreso by Nedelcu’s appealing images. This 24-page book is part of Simon & Shuster’s Spotlight line (their equivalent of Little Golden Books) and it only costs $3.99. Wanna see more? Check out all the cool art on Ovi’s blog.

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Never judge a movie spin-off by its preceding Shrek connections, nor how good its “Art-of” book looks – but once again the concept art connected to a new Dreamworks film looks amazing. My friend Ramin Zahed has penned an informative text to accompany the gorgeous inspirational pieces (Richard Daskas, Ronald A. Kurniawan, Guillaume Aretos, etc.), character designs (Patrick Maté), storyboards (Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, Bob Persichetti), color script (Nate Wragg), and all the paintings, paintings, paintings (by Nathan Fowkes, Dominique Louis, Kirsten Kawamura and so many others) collected in the new The Art of Puss In Boots. I just got a copy and highly recommend it – a worthy addition to the collection. Now, let’s hope the film lives up to all this great visual material.

The Baby Peas were created by musician/voice actor will.i.am to immortalize his hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas (featuring younger versions of will.i.am, Fergie, Taboo, and Apl.De.Ap). According to their press release:

“The Baby Peas are a fusion of the “Little Rascals” mixed with the “Peanuts Gang”, with the edge of “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.” Then add some Black Eyed Peas music vibe with the classical approach of the W.B’s Looney Toons and that’s The Baby Peas!

Well, I’m not sure they can live up to that hype – but the initial videos are certainly well made. They were produced at Dipdive, Inc., will.i.am’s digital creative agency. Key members of the animation team include executive creative director Pasha Shapiro, creative directors Ernst Weber and Huan Ngheim, and executive producer Julia Pistor (Lemony Snicket, Jimmy Neutron, The Rugrats Movie). Here’s the latest music video:

I don’t get out much, but luckily my readers do. Chris Stulz found these Looney Tunes USB flash drives during a recent trip to OfficeMax. These are quite cute and also come designed as Speedy Gonzales (photo below) and the Tasmanian Devil. They store 4GB – and it’s apparently the first set in a series.

While out shopping, Chris also found these scary Looney Tunes Show Mr. Potato Heads (below center, click to enlarge) at Walmart, as well as these funky Looney Tunes Laplander hats (below, right) at Hot Topic. Looney Tunes merch is back, people! Woo-hoo!

Nelson Boles, who’s sensitive Cal Arts student film Little Boat was a big hit with our readers when we posted it last month, created this early pencil test three years ago from a completely different POV.

Calling all animation historians! Today on animator Mark Kausler’s essential It’s The Cat blog, Mark discusses his restoration of two 1930s nitrate Terrytoons. Whatever you think of early Terrytoons (many serious historians consider them practically worthless) they have not been preserved and are essentially being neglected by their present day owner (cough, Viacom, cough). Mark’s descriptions (and frame grabs) of the two shorts he just acquired only increase my appetite for these rare cartoons. Read all about it here.

I’ve been aware of this 2010 live-action/puppet film from the Czech Republic – and its new English trailer (below) intrigues me. Kooky, by Academy Award-winning (Kolya) live action filmmaker Jan Sverak, isn’t stop-frame animation per se, but since we’ve showcased The Muppets on several occasions, I think this is worthy of notice on the Brew. The story concerns a seven year old boy whose teddy bear has been 
thrown away and how he imagines the doll will find his way home.
 Hope it gets seen in the US at some point:

(Thanks, Ben Ettinger)

The dancing fire fairy “Ho-Ho” runs around Tokyo spreading happiness – or something like that – in this inventive cut-out music video by Masanori Okamoto. Okamoto is currently an animation student at Tokyo University of the Arts. The music is by 8-bit artist Saitone.

Sure is a strange way to sell yogurt – but I’m sold! This new spot for Müller Dairy makes clever use of Yogi Bear, Mr. Men, Kitt (The Knight Rider) and Muttley! Directed by Mustashrik Mahbub for UK’s Partizan Lab.

(Thanks Betsie Beadling, via Facebook)

I love Popeye cartoons as much as the next guy – maybe a little more than the next guy – but even I can’t afford the new clothing line now on sale at Bloomingdale’s. The store is promoting its new King Features Collection featuring designs using Popeye, Beetle Bailey, The Phantom and Hagar the Horrible at its stores this week. Popeye T-Shirts for $40 bucks, a pair of socks (left) is $45 and a Popeye scarf for $145? Blow that down! The department store even took out full page ads in major newspapers yesterday to hype its annual “New York Nights” event, taking place tonight at 6pm in stores in New York (including the Men’s Store on 59th street and Third Avenue in Manhattan) and Los Angeles (in Sherman Oaks, Santa Monica, and at The Beverly Center). “Attendees are invited from 6 to 8 p.m. to see the merchandise, which includes everything from T-shirts and overcoats to sneakers and toys. All of the merch will be available for purchase through the holiday season.” All of it way overpriced! In this economy, I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday (2016) for those Popeye socks at today.

I know, I know… you think I’m simply a shill for everything Craig Yoe and Steve Stanchfield produce. I admit I’m a minor contributor to many of their projects… but ya gotta believe me: their stuff is great! Both are back this week with two new items I can’t recommend highly enough:

Making ‘Em Move:Rare Behind the Scenes footage of Vintage Animation Studios, is the new DVD from Stanchfield’s Thunderbean Animation studio. I really thought I knew of all the classic studio “behind-the-scenes” films – like the Paramount Popular Science short (from 1939) at the Fleischer Studio (included on the Warner Bros. Popeye Vol. 2 dvd set), Disney’s Reluctant Dragon feature (1941), the Universal Cartoonland Mysteries (1936) short that goes to the Walter Lantz studio, heck even Gertie The Dinosaur (1914)… but none of those are included here. Instead Steve packs this disc with ten rarely seen films made from 1919 through 1967 that are equal parts educational, entertaining and eye-opening!

The set begins with the long lost educational film, How Animated Cartoons Are Made (1919), featuring animator Wallace Carlson showing us how they did it at the pioneering Bray Studio. This print has been gorgeously restored from an uber-obscure 28mm original! Other incredible finds on this disc include the Jam Handy Drawing Account (1941) featuring animator Robert Allen explaining the nuts and bolts (literally) of cartoon production in the 1940s; Old Chinese Proverb (1941) featuring a look inside the Jerry Fairbanks (Speaking of Animals) Studio; rare color footage of animators at work at Terrytoons in the 1940s; Disney animator Clair Weeks setting up a modern (1956) animation studio in India; and Otto Messmer animating the giant electric Time Square billboards. There is also a Disney behind-the-scenes promo from a forgotten RKO Newsreel; a rare Paul Terry Social Security sales pitch; and just for fun, Van Bueren’s rubber-hose animation classic Makin’ ‘Em Move (1931) – which is probably the most accurate film in the whole bunch!

This is a must-have video compilation for everyone reading this blog – yeah, even you! Animators, educators, students, vintage cartoon collectors. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore – here’s everything you need to know about how they did it. Buy it today.

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Wowie-KaZowie! Speaking of “not making ‘em like this anymore” – The Carl Barks Big Book of Barney Bear is the latest Craig Yoe hardcover collection of classic comic book stories, this time bringing together the 1940s Barney Bear comics – written and drawn by Disney Legend Carl Barks (Uncle Scrooge)! Barney Bear was an MGM animated cartoon star and these stories originally appeared in Dell’s Our Gang Comics. They feature Barney teamed with one Benny Burro – a team that began on screen in MGM’s The Prospecting Bear (1941) and ended with Half Pint Palomino (1953); though Benny also appears solo in Rudolph Ising’s short Little Gravel Voice (1942). Barks was a major creative figure in comics: an outstanding gag writer and story-teller who’s work has gone on to influence comic artists, filmmakers and animators. Everything he did is worth a read – and this is no exception. Barney and Benny may not been Disney characters, but these stories are pure Barks – superbly drawn, cleverly staged and very funny. My favorite is one where Barney tries to catch an escaped convict, Klepto Klippo – a character designed to look like a 8-foot Mickey Mouse. I almost forgot to mention that Jeff Smith provides an Introduction and a wonderful tribute cover. If you love cartoons, MGM cartoons in particular or Carl Barks you need to buy this right now.

Paramount has named David Stainton president of its new animation division. Stainton, the controversial former president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, will now report to Adam Goodman, President of the Paramount Motion Picture Group and will begin setting up shop this week. According to the Paramount press release:

“Paramount Animation aims to focus on high-quality animation with budgets per picture of up to $100 million, with an initial target of one release per year. The division’s mandate will be the development of the broadest range of family CGI animated films, with a key piece being titles under the label of Viacom’s Nickelodeon, the No. 1 entertainment brand for kids worldwide. Paramount will also build on Viacom’s already thriving global consumer products business by seeking to capitalize on merchandising opportunities tied to all Paramount Animation releases.

“David’s accomplishments speak for themselves, and I am glad to welcome him to the lot as we start this exciting new chapter,” Adam Goodman added. “With David’s leadership, we will look to build on what has been a very strong year for our studio in animation, with Rango and the upcoming Adventures of Tintin pointing to the kind of artist-driven, broad-appeal films we intend to make at Paramount Animation.”

Paramount announced last July that it was launching an in-house animation division. It expects to release its first feature under Stainton in 2014.