This Flash-animated music video for Telemetry Orchestra’s song “Suburban Harmony” is one of my favorite music videos of recent months. It was created by London-based Australian Steve Scott, who is also a member of the band. The video is pretty clearly a tribute to Heinz Edelmann’s production design for THE YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968), with touches of other late-60s graphic styling like Terry Gilliam’s animated films and the illustrations of New York design studio Push Pin. You can read more about Scott’s work at Cold Hard Flash or check out his animation/illustration portfolio at SteveScott.com.au.

Pixar story artist Jim Capobianco is working on a personal hand-drawn short called LEONARDO and he’s almost done with the rough animation (image above). He tells me the film should be finished by mid-2007. Keep up with the production HERE.

Japanese illustrator Toru Fukuda, previously mentioned here, has started this blog, where he’s posting all types of fun things that inspire him.

There’s some nice drawings on the blog of animation artist Stephen Nicodemus. Also, check out this slick series of bgs he painted for the new Cartoon Network series MY GYM PARTNER’S A MONKEY.

Former Spumco comrades Gabe Swarr and Wil Branca have started blogging.

This interview with Bob Iger is an interesting read. He discusses the Pixar acquisition at some length, and says that in his five months as Disney CEO, the Pixar deal is “what I’m most proud of.” The interview also lays out his three strategic priorities for Disney:

1. Creating great content.
2. Applying technology in the creation and distribution of your businesses.
3. Growing internationally, in terms of both expanding Disney’s businesses around the world and changing the notion that Burbank has a monopoly on creativity.

(via Animated-News)

This is a genius trailer mash-up of TOY STORY 2 and Darren Aronofsky’s gritty REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. (Click on the image above to watch the video.) It also inadvertently makes a powerful point about contemporary cartoons: the problem with most animated films today isn’t the actual artwork or animation, but rather the writing, the voice acting and the lack of directorial vision. TOY STORY 2 is a great film to begin with, but this trailer shows how so many weaker animated films could be improved if other aspects, besides the visuals, were overhauled.
(Official TOY STORY 2 REQUIEM trailer mash-up site HERE)

I rarely buy dvds, but one of the few that I’m planning to get is the forthcoming GOLDEN AGE OF CARTOONS: CARTOONS FOR VICTORY!. I saw a ‘rough cut’ of the dvd a few months back and it’s a spectacular collection of super-rare World War II-era cartoons from the US and Europe. The group of filmmakers represented on this dvd is stellar: Lou Bunin, Jiri Trnka, Hans Fischerkoesen, John Hubley, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Frank Tashlin, among others. DVD producer Steve Stanchfield is passionate about animated films and puts a lot of care into finding the best prints around and presenting these cartoons properly. The dvd also has commentaries by Cartoon Brew’s very own Jerry Beck, as well as Eric Goldberg and John Kricfalusi. For a mere $10 on Amazon, it’s hard to go wrong with this collection. For more details about what’s on it, check out this review.

An article in BARRON’S is suggesting that Apple may eventually purchase Disney, sending up stock futures by 6%. I think there’s a good chance of this occurring and said so back in January. Here’s what I’d written about a possible Apple-Disney merger: “If this were Vegas, I’d personally put money on this scenario happening within the next 18-30 months.”

It’s Mary Blair Week!
Guess where?

Yesterday’s NY TIMES (use BugMeNot to bypass registration) had a piece by Charles Solomon about John Canemaker’s Oscar-nominated short THE MOON AND THE SON: AN IMAGINED CONVERSATION. At the end of the piece is this eloquent thought by Canemaker:

The potential for animation to be emotionally expressive and personal has barely been touched. In the future, we’re going to see more personal films, including memoirs and diaries… Animation has been ghettoized as a kids’ medium, which is a waste of its potential for artists who could express larger visions.

(Thanks, Joel)