Does it mean anything that filmmaking icons Ingmar Bergman and Michaelangelo Antonioni passed away the same week The Simpsons Movie opens? Jeff Stahler’s editorial cartoon yesterday nailed the sad truth about current movie going tastes, and the general public’s ignorance of film history.

Update: Will Finn also notes the irony of Bergman’s passing and the Simpsons opening.

Sure, The Simpsons Movie made over $70 million this weekend at the box office. But the big winner in all this is the estate of lyricist Paul Francis Webster and composer Bob Harris (anyone know what became of him?).

Webster may have won three Academy Awards for Best Song (including Love Is A Many Splendored Thing), but his lyrics for the 1967 Spider-man TV cartoon theme will apparently live forever. In addition to its inclusion in the three recent Spider-Man live action features, the tune has become one of the most popular gags (re-worked as “Spider Pig”, by Homer) in The Simpsons Movie.

Compared to his other work, Webster must have been slumming when he penned the words for the Saturday morning cartoon show. But like Spider-man and the Simpsons, the song has established itself as a mainstay of popular culture.

In case you missed our earlier contest, here’s another brain teaser courtesy of our friends from Mental Floss. Can you tell the difference between these recent news stories and the plots from Scooby Doo? Take this quiz and test your knowlege. Sorry, no prizes for correct answers.

We’ve posted other swipes from Preston Blair before (here, here, here and here) but this one is the mother of them all!

Steve Stanchfield and Mary Dixon spotted this arcade attraction at the Fowlerville Family Fair (in Fowlerville, Michigan) and it blew their minds:

We were greeted first by a great array of sideshow freaks, including a little guy named ‘Poobaa’ who the barker proclaimed as being the last living Muchkin from the Wizard of oz alive (he was 9 at the time). Poor Poobaa was made to swallow fire over and over to a bored looking crowd of locals.

Then, turning the corner, I see THIS. I’ve seen a lot of things before, but this is far, far beyond the normal Blair ripoff; it’s almost an outsider art homage! I took a bunch of pictures (forgive my not quite perfect alignment of the whole thing…). I have more if you want, but I think these tell the story pretty well. This is a walk though carnival attraction. I didn’t go inside, but I bet I would have seen Red in progression, the policeman and maybe even the hippos from Fantasia…

(Click on pictures above and below to see full sized images)

One of the many people I met at the Platform Festival in Portland two weeks ago (I’m just now getting around to unpacking my bags) was Suzanne Buchan of Britain’s Animation Research Centre, and editor of a new academic journal, Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal.

Hers is the second such publication to be regularly published. We already have a great one in Maureen Furniss’s Animation Journal which mainly draws from papers delivered at the Society of Animation Studies. For decades serious discussion of animation, its theories and critical writing have been generally ignored by academia. It’s wonderful that we finally have two such publications studying the subject.

As much as I love reading about animation, scholarly journals can be a tough haul for me and many others outside the academic world. However, it’s another point of view, beyond online forums and blogs, with which to analyze and explore the art form. Suzanne’s publication is currently offering the contents of a sample issue free online, with subjects ranging from the origins of anime, to examining Polar Express and the work of Yuri Norstein.

Variety is reporting that the Michel Ocelot’s animated film Kirikou and the Sorceress is set to make the transition to a stage musical this fall. Ocelot has also written the musical’s libretto and additional lyrics. Playbill reports:

The French/Belgian film is a retelling of an African folk tale that centers on a young African boy who must save his village by ridding the world of an evil sorceress.

The animated version ignited controversy when distributors refused to release it in some areas because of the natural nudity depicted in the films – some went so far as to request airbrushing of male and female nudity. Ocelot maintained the nudity was an essential element in portraying African culture and refused to allow any changes to the film. There is no word on whether the stage adaptation will follow suit.

It’s a real shame that Ocelot’s amazing, literate, artistic animated features have never gotten proper (or any) distribution in the United States.

Congrats to Lou Romano who painted the cover for this week’s New Yorker. Various illustrators who work in animation, like Peter de Sève, have done New Yorker covers before, but could this be the first time a trained animation artist has done a cover in the mag’s eighty-plus year history? The New Yorker is also selling prints of Lou’s cover here.

(Thanks to Nate Pacheco for letting me know)

Eye candy and ear wax.

Tony from Way Out Junk has amassed a treasure trove of obscure, offbeat children’s records, mainly from the 60s and 70s. These include long lost tracks from Woody Woodpecker, Huckleberry Hound, and of course, The Chipmunks (above). Great downloads, cover art, and commentary at Way Out Junk.