Comedian George Carlin has died at 71. Below is the 1985 short Drawing on My Mind, written and narrated by Carlin and directed by the accomplished Bob Kurtz.

While I work up a few reviews from the Annecy International Animation Festival, held earlier this month in France, check out the Annecy festival openings created by groups of students at French animation school Gobelins. My favorite openings this year are Garuda and La ballade sauvage.

There’s minimalist animation and then there’s Grant Orchard’s work. His short Park Foot Ball (mentioned on the Brew back in 2006 is a masterpiece of graphic clarity and communication. I was pleased to learn in this interview Grant recently did with The Animation Show that Italian broadcaster Qoob has commissioned him to do ten more sports-themed shorts based on the pared-down graphic and aural approach of Park Foot Ball. The first of the ten new “Love Sport” shorts—Paintballing—can be viewed below. I can’t wait for the rest of the series.

Ryan, Jeremy, Alex and Tim - The Muks of Mukpuddy Animation in New Zealand - have taken a break from their day to day animation work to work produce this:

According to the creators:

It’s an idea we’ve had for sometime now and has always been something we’ve discussed while doing other jobs. Finally, we put everything aside and put all our effort into making a short. It was created in 3 weeks by the four of us here at Mukpuddy.

Our Flash animated 3 minute pilot is called It’s the Pughs and is the story of a man so desperate for a son that after the birth of his daughter, decides to bring up the poo that follows as “his boy”. The idea is based on our observations of the “typical” New Zealand bloke. The dad who wants nothing more that his boy to be the Rugby player he always wanted to be. As kiwi as this is, it seems to us this is a fairly universal trait.

As disgusting as the idea of raising a poo as a child is, we’ve tried to focus on the relationship between Rudy (the dad) and Peter (his poo son). As much as we embrace that the show will be a lot of gross poo jokes, we like to use the phrase “heartwarming toilet humour”.

Clearly, poop characters (Mr. Hankey, Stinky, Doodie.com, etc.) are here to stay - whether we like it or not. The Muks also have a bunch of production sketches posted on their blog.

I’ve mentioned the amazing work of London’s VooDooDog studio before. Between commercial assignments, the company supports and encourages its animators to create short films. Among the showreels and illustrations on their elaborate website are several of these works: Paul Donnellon’s Figment (above center), a violent battle between man versus toon; Scribble (pictured above left), a burst of pure energy with stick figures; and Maki Yashikuras’ The Girl Who Did Things She Didn’t Like First (aboove right), a charming fable.

The prizes for the 2008 Annecy Animation Festival were announced last Saturday. The top prize for short film, The Annecy Cristal, went to La maison en petits cubes by Kunio Kato. He is only the second Japanese filmmaker to win the Cristal, following Koji Yamamura who received it in 2003 for Mt. Head. The top Cristal prize for animated feature was awarded to Nina Paley’s wonderful Sita Sings the Blues. It’s interesting to note that the major winners in both short and feature categories are 2-D works of animation. A complete list of winners can be found on the Annecy website.

The fourth edition of The Animation Show opens tomorrow in Los Angeles (The Nuart), Boston (Kendall Square), Washington DC (E Street Cinema) and San Diego (Ken Cinema). But today we have two copies of The Animation Show Vol. 3 to give away.

The first two people who submit the correct answer via the comments link below will win the prize. CONTEST CLOSED! We have our winners!

What were the names of the two live action feature films directed by Mike Judge?

Don’t miss The Animation Show 4 coming soon to a theatre near you.

Rabbit by Run Wrake, City Paradise by Gaelle Denis, Everything Will Be Okay by Don Hertzfeldt, Guide Dog and Shuteye Hotel by Bill Plympton, Game Over by Pes, Learn Self Defense by Chris Harding, ten other amazing shorts and a brand new intro by Beavis and Butt-head. The Animation Show Vol. 3 has just been released by Paramount Home Video, and it’s a must-have.

We have three copies to give away today. The first three people who submit the correct answer via the comments link below will win the prize. CONTEST CLOSED! We have our winners!

Joanna Quinn’s Dreams and Desires is part of Vol. 3. What toliet tissue product did Ms. Quinn do TV commercials for?

And don’t miss The Animation Show 4 coming soon to a theatre near you.