Amazon has enabled the “Search Inside This Book” feature on my recently published book, THE ART OF ROBOTS, and because a handful of names appear throughout the book, you can view most (if not all) of the book’s pages online. For example, type in “Bill Joyce” and over fifty pages turn up, and then see even more pages by using the ‘forward’ and ‘back’ buttons. Unfortunately, Amazon limits the number of pages you can view online (somewhere around forty), but it’s still a nice way of previewing the book before deciding whether or not to buy it.

Recent CalArts grad J.J. Villard is having his first LA solo exhibition at Cirrus Gallery (542 S. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013). His Bukowski-inspired animated short SON OF SATAN is an incredibly raw and powerful work, and the exhibit will include drawings from that film, as well as new paintings and sculptures. The opening night reception is tomorrow, Feb. 26, from 5-8pm, and the show runs through April 9. See artwork from the show HERE.

Tom Neely, director of BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A JOB?, wrote in about yesterday’s post, which included the Bird cover by David Stone Martin:

I thought you might find it interesting that I recently designed an album cover that is directly influenced by the Charlie Parker cover you posted (check out the arms and feet of my Godzilla-esque monster).

This has nothing to do with animation, but everything to do with good drawing and design. It’s a Japanese website that has an extensive collection of JAZZ RECORD COVERS. There’s sixteen pages of covers, so click around. (Thanks, Oscar Grillo)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will be holding it’s 9th Annual Marc Davis Lecture on Animation Wednesday March 23rd at 7:30pm at it’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Wilshire Blvd.This year, the focus is on the work of Academy Award winner Frédéric Back, one of the world’s most honored animator-directors. Back earned his first Oscar with Crac! (1981), a chronicle of the changes the 20th century brought to life in rural Québec. Back followed Crac! with The Man Who Planted Trees, which won the Oscar in 1987. He spent more than five years on that film, with only a single assistant to help color the drawings.Back’s influence and work will be discussed by a panel of animators and historians including Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.), Production Designer Paul Felix (Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove), Glen Keane (Tarzan, Pocahontas), Bob Kurtz (owner of Kurtz and Friends animation studio, & creator of Cool Cat), and Charles Solomon (animation critic for The Los Angeles Times).Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building, 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more program information, check oscars.org

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (September 21-25, 2005) has issued a call for entries for its 2005 edition. Entry forms are available at the FESTIVAL WEBSITE. The deadline is June 1 so there’s still plenty of time to enter. The competition categories are very similar to last year’s festival, but one particularly interesting twist is the creation of a Children’s Films competition that will be judged by a jury of local children. Festival director Chris Robinson explains the idea behind this category: “Every year there is controversy over the choices for Films and TV shows for Children. After the last Festival a posse of kids approached the OIAF organizers to complain about the ‘utter incompetence’ of the jury decisions. So this year, instead of just giving them a free t-shirt and sending them on their way, we decided to give the kids an opportunity to put their words into action.”

In addition to the competition and non-competitive Showcase screenings, OIAF 05 special screenings include Drawing in Pink: A Tribute to The Pink Panther (curated by Cartoon Brew’s very own Jerry Beck), The Best of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Animation, Slovak Animation, a retrospective of award winning Italian Animator, Guianluigi Toccafondo, and DIY: Canadian Independent Animation.

Here’s an exclusive preview of this year’s Ottawa poster, designed by Gary Panter:

Check out the recent diary entries by MGM animator Irv Spence…apparently in February 1944 it was raining like crazy in Los Angeles…and if you’re in Los Angeles in February 2005, I’m sure you can relate.

Here’s another production blog called THE WUBBLOG. Bob Boyle explains it all:

After seeing your post about the production blog of Nick Cross I thought I’d let you know about mine. While Nick is documenting the struggle of an independent filmmaker I will be documenting the challenges of developing and producing a show for a network. I’m starting production on a pre-school show (WUBBY, WIDGET AND WALDEN) that I created for Nick Jr. through Frederator, and I’m attempting to keep a journal of the process.

The blog is only a month old but there’s already tons of valuable info on it that will help anybody interested in creating their own animated TV series. Well worth a bookmark.

Nick Cross, an incredibly talented Canadian artist who worked on REN & STIMPY: ADULT PARTY CARTOON, has started his own plog (or “production blog”) where he’s documenting the production of his 12-minute personal animated short THE WAIF OF PERSEPHONE. He’s been in production on the film for four years already and is well into the animation stage. Read his plog HERE and watch some of his earlier short films at his WEBSITE.

Submitted for your approval: the trailer for A SCANNER DARKLY

Here’s a work by Bay Area animation veteran Charlie Canfield called HIDE & SEEK. Download it HERE (23mb). It’s a light minute-and-a-half short about a young wolf cub interacting with different forest animals, set to Chopin’s MINUTE WALTZ. ASIFA-San Francisco prez Karl Cohen, who sent me the link, described it as “charming,” and that’s a nice way of putting it. Though the technique is overtly digital, employing After Effects or some similar software, the film feels like cut-out animation because of the segmented parts used to construct the characters and minimal use of squash-and-stretch. It’s nicely designed and has its own distinctive aesthetic. Charming, indeed. See more of Canfield’s work at CharlieCanfield.com.

One more time. Tonight at 7:30pm at the Nuart Theater (11272 Santa Monica Boulevard) is another screening of the new 2005 ANIMATION SHOW and afterwards I’ll be doing a little Q-&-A with the legendary Bill Plympton, director of this year’s Oscar nominated GUARD DOG, which is playing in the show.

Brew reader Bob Foster found a trio of dvds that compile the best of the industrial and advertising films produced between the 1930s & 1960s. These collections contain mostly the work of the Jam Handy Corporation and John Sutherland’s studio, and – although you can download most of these for free at Archive.org – they seem like a good deal for a dvd hardcopy. Check out the contents of the 1930s-40s disc, the 1940-50s disc and the 1950s-60s disc.

As if LOONATICS wasn’t enough, Eddie Mort of MUCHA LUCHA! fame has the lowdown on yet another new WB animation project called LOONATEENS!

Just a reminder…tonight, at the Nuart Theater (11272 Santa Monica Boulevard) is the premiere of THE ANIMATION SHOW. I’ll be moderating the Q-&-A with Don Hertzfeldt at the 7:30pm screening (definitely), and again at the 9:50pm screening (probably).

Also worth mentioning, at this Sunday’s 7:30pm screening of THE ANIMATION SHOW (same theater), there’ll be a Q-&-A with Bill Plympton, whose film in the program, GUARD DOG, is nominated for an Oscar this year. Bill’s visiting from New York for the Oscars, and will be stopping in only for this screening. I think I’ll be moderating the Plympton chat as well.