Sorry for the late notice, but if you are in L.A. this weekend you might check out the animation panels going on at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood:

On Saturday 11/7

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM: A Crash Course on Character Animation with Eric Goldberg.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Commercial Television Spots: Shortest Shorts with Bob Kurtz.

3:45 PM - 4:45 PM: The Incestuous History of Technology & Animation with Bill Kroyer.

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: The Importance of Story in Animated Shorts with Jim Capobianco.

On Sunday 11/8

1:15 PM - 2:15 PM: The Making of Pixar’s Partly Cloudy with Peter Sohn.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM: Short History of Animated Shorts with Tom Sito.

3:45 PM - 5:00 PM: How MTV Rocked the Animation World with Yvette Kaplan and John Andrews.

For ticket prices and more information, visit the American Cinematheque website.

Dr. Sketchy’s is an alternative life drawing salon and traveling artists social club - and it’s coming to California.

It started as a one-time Brooklyn art event and is now a nationwide movement. Founded in 2005 by artist Molly Crabapple, Dr. Sketchy’s Roadshow inaugural tour will take place throughout California between November 2nd and 14th, with stops in Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Long Beach, Sherman Oaks, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Bakersfield, Fresno, Monterey, San Jose, Sacramento and Alhambra. To quote their blog:

Artist and art voyeurs need only bring a $10 donation and their favorite drawing supplies. Dr. Sketchy’s and the Roadshow’s art-centric host venues will provide everything else (top notch models, refreshments, casual networking opportunities, and an all around good time).

No RSVP necessary, but space at each venue is limited. The L.A. date is Thursday November 5th at Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks. Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra will host the show on November 14th. Check the full list of locations and dates here.

More John Canemaker news! John will present his do-not-miss lecture/screening on the art and life of animation pioneer Winsor McCay (1867–1934) at the Wexner Center for the Arts at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, next Tuesday November 3rd.

As part of the lecture, Canemaker presents Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) the way it was meant to be shown – as a vaudeville act with live musical accompaniment (photo above is from Canemaker’s recent screening in Annecy). The program starts at 7:00 pm at the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater, 1871 North High Street in Columbus, Ohio. The event is part of the current Winsor McCay: Legendary Cartoonist exhibit at the OSU Cartoon Library and Museum. For tickets and information, please visit the Cartoon Museum website.

If you are a member of Asifa Hollywood, this is a killer week: you can meet Henry Selick, Peter Docter and Wes Anderson and see their films at free screenings in Los Angeles. And at each one, yours truly, Brewmaster Jerry Beck will conduct a Q&A with the filmmakers (that’s my mug above with two puppets from Coraline from my session with Henry Selick last week in Ottawa). If you haven’t RSVP’d yet - do it now. Info is posted here.

Tonight at 7pm is the screening of UP with Pete Docter at the Chinese Theatre (6925 Hollywood Blvd.) in Hollywood. I know this is short notice, but they’ve opened it up to all members of the Animation Guild, students from Cal Arts and readers of Cartoon Brew. But you have to RSVP. If you can make it, call (818) 560-4350 right now to reserve your seat - it’s FREE!! See you there!

Speaking of Ninja Turtles… My next screening at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood is a tribute to animator Fred Wolf.

Wolf collaborated with Harry Nilsson to create The Point!, with Frank Zappa to produce 200 Motels, and with Peter Yarrow to make Puff The Magic Dragon. He’s the man behind the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series, Marlo Thomas’ TV special Free To Be You And Me, the animated feature The Mouse And His Child, the classic “How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?” commercial (see below) and won an Oscar for his short The Box. He even animated the iconic opening sequence to The Flintstones! Yours truly (Jerry Beck) will present rare clips from his movies, TV shows, vintage TV commercials, his award winning shorts and will conduct a live on-stage interview with Wolf himself, discussing his career in film and his relationships with his world famous collaborators.

Join me on Tuesday November 3rd at 8pm. Advance tickets available now… the first 100 admissions will receive a free DVD of The Point!, and every admission will receive a free Tootsie Pop! Buy Tickets Here!

Last week we posted about Asifa-Hollywood’s Iron Giant 10-Year Reunion. It sold out within 24 hours.

Now, a limited number of additional tickets are available for the reunion, because the event has been moved from Woodbury University to the Stephen J. Ross Theater on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank - a much larger venue.

Here’s what you do if you want to attend: send an email to antran@asifa-hollywood.org with the number of guests and your guests’ names. You will then be given further instructions via email on purchasing tickets. Tickets are $10 for ASIFA-Hollywood members and $15 for non-members. Tickets are non-refundable.

The Iron Giant reunion is this Friday, October 23rd, at 7:30pm. Among the many artists expected is writer and director Brad Bird, background artist Anne Guenther, art director Alan Bodner, lead animator Steve Markowski, and artistic coordinator Scott Johnston. The panel will be moderated by animator Tom Sito.

Ticket holders are required to park in the Franklin parking structure, located at 4301 W. Olive Ave, Burbank, which is across the street from the Warner Bros. Studio Lot. At the parking structure, guests will be given an entrance pass, then directed across the street to Gate 2 for entrance onto the studio lot, and then to the theater. You must purchase tickets ahead of time to be included on the guest list, as Warner Bros. studio security requires a list of every person attending. In addition, all guests are required to show a valid government photo ID, in order to be admitted into the parking structure and onto the studio lot.

Due to the large turnout to this event, guests are advised you to arrive no later than 7:00 p.m., to insure that they have enough time to park and get to the theater before the program begins. Seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, visit asifa-hollywood.org.

Shhhh…. We are having a top secret performance of Cartoon Dump this month. Why top secret? Because the date was shifted around with little to no publicity. So we expect a small turn out this month.

We used to be every fourth Tuesday of each month, but starting in 2010 we are moving to fourth Mondays. As for our remaining dates in 2009: In October, we are on this Wednesday (10/21) at 8pm; In November we perform the fourth Monday (11/23); and in December (our Xmas party) we’ll party on the third Monday, Dec. 21st.

This month, Cartoon Dump stars MST3K’s Frank Conniff (TV’s Frank) and J. Elvis Weinstein (Dr. Erhardt & the original Tom Servo), Erica Doering and special guest star comedian Jay London. It’s Wednesday night 8pm at The Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood. Comedy! Songs! Puppets! Magic! And God-awful cartoons from the wasteland of 50s and 60s Saturday morning television! Advanced tickets click here.

If I were in LA next Monday, I’d go to see this multimedia music/animation performance by The Decemberists at UCLA’s Royce Hall. With seemingly every other band using animation for their videos nowadays, the format is in need of some fresh takes like this:

On October 19, The Decemberists will unveil Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized, a special project that takes their ambitious and acclaimed song cycle to new heights for its final American performance at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles. This unique live experience will feature The Decemberists in collaboration with four filmmakers—Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria—each of whom have created animation to accompany a section of the music. Flux commissioned the films and worked with Hornet Inc. who produced them. This is a one time only - not to be missed - live experience. The film will later be released on iTunes.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. This is the trailer for Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized.