Pascal Campion‘s work is always a lot of fun, and his Flash-animated holiday greeting is no exception. But don’t blame me if you can’t get Feliz Navidad out of your head.

Ward Jenkins has given us a wonderful holiday treat on his blog: hi-res scans of the entire 1959 Golden Book THE FIRST NOEL illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Thanks, Ward!

Let’s remember James Brown with this terrific Lipton Brisk commercial from 2000. Brown also provided his own voice for the spot.

(click here for a larger image)

Here’s an old photo of me in 1964 (age 9) under our pathetic aluminum Christmas tree, all dressed up and proud of my favorite Chiristmas gift that year, the Ideal Monster Lab game (which turned out to be one of lamest toys I ever owned – more info about it here). My sisters Stephanie (middle) and Laurie (right) hold up their favorite gifts, but I’m hogging up the picture space with my prize. Gosh – remember those neck ties? What were they called?

Studio Ghibli presented an early Christmas gift to Tokyo’s Nippon Television Network on Wednesday. A huge mechanical clock, designed by Hayao Miyazaki. The Mainichi Daily News reports:

The clock, which is 12 meters tall, 18 meters wide and weighs 28 tons, was made from 1,228 copper plates, and displays 32 mechanical trick features. The clock resembles images from Miyazaki’s film “Howl’s Moving Castle,” and at fixed intervals blacksmith dolls come out of the clock as music is played.

Jeremy Bernstein sent us a You Tube link to a video of the clock.

(Thanks, Tom Bertino)

Circulating amongst animators this week was the shortlist of possible Oscar nominees in the Animation Short Film category. The final nominees, chosen from this list, will be announced in February. Till then, here’s what Academy members will be considering:

The Danish Poet by Torill Kove (NFB)
Everything Will Be OK by Don Hertzfeldt
Family Ties: Dreams & Desires by Joanna Quinn
Guide Dog by Bill Plympton
Lifted by Gary Rydstrom (Pixar)
Little Match Girl by Roger Allers (Disney)
Maestro directed by Géza M Toth
No Time for Nuts directed by Chris Renaud & Mike Thurmeier (Blue Sky)
Tragic Story with Happy Ending by Regina Pessoa
One Rat Short by Alex Weil

Here’s a Christmas treat from the bloggers at CityRag. They found the Wikipedia list, taken from my 1994 book, of The 50 Greatest Cartoons, located every one (or almost every one) on YouTube and linked to them on one convenient page. Enjoy it while it lasts!(Thanks, Cathy at CityRag)

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has posted an amazing 1942 LIFE magazine article about the Disney Studios during WWII. Lots of great artwork and photos worth peeping.

DoCopenhagen has compiled a list of their top 50 music videos of 2006 with a YouTube link to each video. Plenty of animation throughout. This is a perfect way to ensure that you don’t actually get any important work done on the Friday-before-holidays.

No idea how long this is going to last but Amazon is offering a major discount (70% off) on dvd sets of various Adult Swim series. The VENTURE BROS. set might actually be worth the money:

VENTURE BROS. Season 1 – $8.99 (70% off)
ROBOT CHICKEN Season 1 – $8.99 (70% off)
HARVEY BIRDMAN Volume 1 – $8.99 (70% off)
THE OBLONGS Complete Series – $8.99 (70% off)
THE BRAK SHOW Volume 1 – $8.99 (70% off)

Can you guess who this quote is from:

I have a number of figures that are caricatures of me with an extra-big nose and a longer chin, and I do a lot of animations with myself dancing. But the tough stuff is really smoke, water and fog. I’m forever working on my water effects.

It’s none other than 81-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke, who apparently has been dabbling with CG animation since the days of the Amiga Video Toaster. Today’s LA TIMES talks with Van Dyke about his fascination with visual fx.

(Use BugMeNot if registration is required)

You won’t find a funnier commentary about the pathetic creative state of American animated features than this short called OUTSIDE THE HOUSE. It’s created by Alex Whittington. The discussion of the “storyline” is dead-on. The film is posted on YouTube as a “video response to OVER THE HEDGE” but it could describe the filmmaking process at just about any of today’s major studios.