“Man, I loves me some retro-animation!”

I personally cannot get enough of the current spate of short films that are affectionate homages to silent era, vintage Hollywood and golden-age TV. Canadian animator (and Spumco veteran) Tavis Silbernagel made a little silent-era goodie with Nick Cross few years back. Says Silbernagel of this film:

“It’s an independent film I did a few years after I graduated college. I worked with Nick Cross on it and we produced it from start to finish in two weeks time. There was a lull of work at the studio we were at and we decided to team up on two shorts. One of which was ‘Fruit, Juice! Protein?’. I’m a fan of whimsical names and next to my first sketch of the character in my drawing book was a very bland shopping list: Fruit juice protein. I’ve been developing the idea over the years and it’s expanded quite a bit. Right now I’m working on a game for the storyline and I’m very excited about it. Combining such an old style of animation with the world of gaming and interactive media is a novel idea and I can’t wait to see how it’s recieved.”

(Thanks, Michael Valiquette)

As is the case each year, dozens of potentially worthy animated features from around the world do not make it to these shores. Case in point: Leafie, A Hen Into the Wild which opened late last month in Korea. The movie, which cost $2.8 million to produce, is scheduled to open next month in China.

Then there’s RPG Metanoia, which opened last December in the Philippines. It’s the first full length CG Philippine animated film presented in 3D. Will it ever open in the U.S.? Probably not – so here’s a taste:

I’m liking the little films coming from New York independent animator Joseph Bennett. His latest project, this music video for the band Animal:

Yesterday, during commercial breaks on Stu’s Show, I was going through Stu’s complete collection of vintage TV Guide magazines. There I found this intriguing 1955 article (below), written by animation producer Paul Terry, called “How To Make Children Laugh” – subtitled “A Cartoonist Tells The Brutal Truth”.

What is that “brutal truth“? That “children react best to situations in which there is a slight suggestion of violence“. Terry, who had just sold his studio to CBS, was hyping his ancient Terrytoon shorts then being screened on Barker Bill’s Cartoon Show. It’s a strange little article and his conclusions are debatable – but he got one thing right, the last line: “…the popularity of animated cartoons will live on and on; the humor in them is visual and, therefore, universal.”

Once again I will be the guesting on Shokus Internet Radio’s Stu’s Show today at 7pm Eastern / 4pm Pacific. This is your rare opportunity to ask me live and in-person about Cartoons, Cartunes or even Kartunes.

Scheduled topics we hope to tackle include Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry on Blu-Ray, the Animated Features Oscar race, Harveytoons on DVD, Seth MacFarlane’s Flintstones and as always, whatever the listeners want to talk about. You are encouraged to call in your questions and comments on the station’s toll-free telephone number – or better yet, email your questions to: comments-at-shokusradio.com.

Stu’s Show airs live each Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. PST, with rebroadcasts at the same time each day through next Tuesday August 16th. Access to the station’s feed is free, with no registration required, and is available either by clicking on the Enter Site button on the home page (www.shokusradio.com), by choosing one of the audio player links on the site’s main page.

Apparently Disney gave their okay to a local Herriman, Utah (love the town’s name!) builder, Bangerter Homes, to construct a replica of the house in Pixar’s Up. The asking price is $399,000. The house comes with a home theater downstairs and two bedrooms in the basement — one pays homage to the Disney princesses, while the other is Andy’s room from the Toy Story films.

Here’s a video tour: