Thursday, July 15, 2004
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I pop out of bed like a piece of toast, slightly jet-lagged but so excited by the idea of being in Iceland that it doesn’t matter that I’ve only gotten about four hours of sleep. It’s 5:00 AM and the sun is up (the sun is ALWAYS up here - - I’ve gotta get used to that!). After a low-pressure shower of scalding hot water that smells like a beer fart I decide to take a walk and see just where the hell I’ve landed. Since I’m terrified of getting lost in a strange city I take pictures of every corner’s impenetrable street sign with my trusty digital camera.

The city is silent. I share the morning with chirping birds and an occasional stray cat. A block away from my flat I pass an ancient graveyard, moss-covered and doubtless filled with all kinds of Viking zombies.

As I cross a bridge over a giant pond that spans the city, a talking goose tells me where to go. Since the locals always know where the best places are, I take the bird’s advice.

The winding streets remind me of something out of Disneyland, but with way more seedy-looking bars. The quantity of guzzle shops hints at a promising nightlife. The 17 different versions of “Harlem Nocturne” that I downloaded from iTunes make a perfect soundtrack as I approach the phallic dirgefactory. It’s a pretty impressive structure, but for some reason it makes me miss my wife. I pass a company clown-car and figure it’s time to head to work.

I manage to find my way back home in time for Oddur (The Coolest Man In Iceland) to drive me to the studio for my first full day at LazyTown. I can’t wait to get a name badge and my first assignment!

Dreamworks is getting flak over the use of Italian American stereotypes in its new movie, SHARK TALE. While DreamWorks maintains that the movie is a comedy and that its (stereotyped) villains become “heroes”, the Columbus Citizens Foundation is taking the argument public with this response to Dreamworks claims.My question: Is anyone gonna complain about Will Smith’s character?SHARK TALE opens Oct. 1st.

In case you were wondering what ever happened to Alvin, Simon and Theodore:

“Fox 2000 Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Bagdasarian Productions will produce a live-action/computer-generated event motion picture of Alvin and the Chipmunks…”

Hoo boy! Read the sad story here.

The Museum Of Modern Art in New York is planning a big film-and-video tribute to CalArts that will take place in late 2005/early 2006. The program will highlight the School’s illustrious animation history (it will include student works only, not those of faculty or post graduates). This historical survey will feature films and videos produced by the following departments: Film and Video, Experimental Animation, Character Animation, and Film Directing. Also included are films and videos produced in the MFA program.Current students and alumni are invited to submit their films and videos for consideration. Please send these, along with a CV and any descriptive materials, to:Josh Siegel
Assistant Curator, Department of Film and Media
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019Film prints will be returned. Videocassettes, unless they are unique, will not. The curator of the exhibition, Josh Siegel, also welcomes any suggestions about CalArts graduates and where they might be contacted. Please email him at josh_siegel@moma.org.

Warner Bros. animation director Mike Milo (Xiaolin Showdown) has a new flash animation:

Sorry for this shameless self-promotion but I am part of a contest run by a Warner Bros’ website called Cartoon Monsoon. It’s a series of cartoons made entirely in Flash and each week they premiere a new cartoon. Well this week it’s MY cartoon “The Jackalope Boyz”! I’ve been in the biz for 15 years and I’ve had 7 projects go through development at WB, H+B, Cartoon Network and Universal and of course you have no idea who I am, so obviously none were ever green lit. Anyway I’m looking to stir up votes for my cartoon and it would only take three minutes out of your schedule.

You can check out Mike’s cartoon HERE. Also read Mike’s blog.

Good Luck Mike.

Scrappy and Gerald McBoing Boing shake hands with The Inspector and Hoot Kloot - It’s official:Sony has purchased the United Artists/Orion/A.I.P./post 1985 MGM library.

The first review of SHARK TALE is in. “Bottom line: An amusing cartoon that lacks real satirical bite.” Read the whole review on The Hollywood Reporter.com.

I’ve been following the on-going bidding war for the MGM studio (or as I like to call it “MGM/UA”). Time Warner (aka Warner Bros.) was close to acquiring the studio (and its library which includes the DePatie-Freleng Pink Panther cartoons, and the AIP/Orion library which includes FRITZ THE CAT, HEAVY TRAFFIC, ALAKAZAM THE GREAT, PRINCE PLANET, THE WORLD OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, JACK & THE WITCH, etc.)This morning Time-Warner withdrew it’s offer, and has left it to Sony (with it’s under ultilized Screen Gems/UPA classic cartoon library) to pick up the pieces.As I am currently writing a PINK PANTHER Ultimate Visual Guide for DK Publishing, all of this interests me. There are pros and cons to each of these studios acquiring the MGM holdings. If Warners picked it up, dvd sets of the cartoon library would probably make their way to the public rather quickly. Sony on the other hand, has no idea what to do with animated cartoons - nor classic feature films - based on what I’ve seen of the films they’ve already released (and not released) on dvd.
May the best media conglomorate (and cartoon fans) win.