As far as I’m concerned, there can’t be enough praise and recognition for United Productions of America (UPA). They may be long gone and (by some) long forgotten, but their influence is still felt in every nook and cranny of the animation craft.

On March 30th in Los Angeles, I will be curating a special selection of UPA cartoons at LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) in conjunction with their ongoing exhibit, California Design. We will be celebrating the studio with ten newly restored 35mm prints courtesy of Columbia Pictures/Sony (titles will include ROBIN HOODLUM, ROOTY TOOT TOOT, THE JAYWALKER, GERALD McBOING BOING and others). Not only will I introduce the show, but my colleague Adam Abraham will be on hand to sign copies of his hot-off-the-press UPA history book, When Magoo Flew. We will also have copies of TCM’s new DVD collection, UPA Jolly Frolics on hand for purchase. The event, titled Madcap Modernism: Mid-Century Cartoons from UPA and Beyond will start at 7:30pm on Friday, March 30, 2012, in LACMA’s Bing Theater. General admission is $10. ($7 for LACMA members, seniors (62+), and students with valid ID; $5 LACMA Film Club members). Advance tickets are now on sale: call 323 857-6010 or purchase online. For more information visit the LACMA website. Several other surprises are being planned. Mark your calendar now – don’t miss this special cartoon event.

UPDATE #1: The Oscar for Best Animated Feature was awarded to RANGO.

Accepting the award, Verbinski said, “Someone asked me if this film was for kids. I don’t know, but it was certainly created by a bunch of grown-ups acting like children.”

UPDATE #2: The Oscar for Best Animated Short was awarded to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg (Moonbot Studios).

Joyce and Oldenburg seemed genuinely surprised at winning the honor. Joyce told the crowd “Look, we’re just these two swamp rats from Louisiana. We love the movies more than anything… and there are thousands of men and women, from the beginning of cinema, who inspire us. Everything we do everyday is to honor those people and those films. This is incredibly grand.”

In case you forgot, here were the results of Cartoon Brew’s Oscar Survey.
Read Cartoon Brew’s interviews with the five nominees of the Best Animated Short category. Congratulations to the winners and nominees.

Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis (Wild Life)

Enrico Casarosa (La Luna)

Grant Orchard (A Morning Stroll)

Patrick Doyon (Sunday)

Bill Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore)

One night after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences salutes excellence in film, Cartoon Dump is back saluting crappiness in cartoons! Now in our 5th year – join MST3K’s Frank Conniff as “Moodsy, the Clinically Depressed Owl”, comedian Erica Doering as “Compost Brite”, the infamous J. Elvis Weinstein as “Dumpster Diver Dan” and me, in Hollywood, on Monday February 27th at 8pm. And we are joined this month by special stand-up comedy guest Dana Gould (The Simpsons), Emo Philips returning as Cartoon Musicologist Professor Emo, and comedy/burlesque sensation Kasey Wilson! Fun! Fun! Fun! And Bucky and Pepito! Click here for more info!

If you’re in San Francisco, you’ll want to head to the Asian Art Museum sometime before April 22 to catch “Deities, Demons and Dudes with ‘Staches: Indian Avatars by Sanjay Patel.” The one-man show by Sanjay Patel, who works by day at Pixar, is an extension of his illustrated book projects that explore Hindu religion and iconography through a contemporary lens—The Little Book of Hindu Deities and Ramayana: Divine Loophole. The photos I’ve seen of the show online—wildly colorful large-scale murals spanning entire walls of the musuem—are sufficiently impressive. If you’ve seen the show in person, share your thoughts about it.

Video hosting website Vimeo will be presenting their second-annual Vimeo Awards this June in New York City. The deadline to submit films is next Monday, February 20. The awards have an animation category, as well as other categories that may apply to readers of the Brew, like music video, experimental, advertising, remix and motion graphics. The winner in each category receives $5,000 and there’s also a $25,000 grand prize. Entry fees are $20 per film, or $5 for Vimeo Plus/Pro subscribers. Submission details and official rules are available on their website.

I’m a big fan of the service that Vimeo provides to the filmmaking community. They get everything right from their high-quality video player to elegant site design and respectful community standards. That’s why I’m delighted that they invited me to be one of the judges in their Animation category, along with DreamWorks’s Marcy Page and Eran Hilleli, whose short Between Bears won the animation prize at the first Vimeo Awards. Make our jobs hard and submit lots of great animated films!

Tonight at 6:30, the Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street, between Park and Lexington Ave.) presents a special screening of Bill Plymptons’s colorized and voice-enhanced version of Winsor McCay’s The Flying House. Bill will be on hand afterward for a cocktail reception, as will the film’s voice actors Matthew Modine and Patricia Clarkson. Tickets are $10 (students), $15 (Society of Illustration members) and $20 (general public). Purchase them at the Society of Illustrators website.

This just in from Warner Bros. animator Tim Walker: The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association, is hosting Living Artistically with Parkinson’s Disease, a champagne brunch art exhibit & silent auction on Sunday, February 12th, from 11am to 2pm.

This one-of-a-kind exhibit will feature works of art – painting, drawings, photography, sculpture, and music – created by celebrated artists who have Parkinson’s Disease. Artists include Jorge Lacost, James Tim Walker, Herb Rosenkrantz and many more. Gallery sales from the exhibit and silent auction/raffle will directly benefit the artist and the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association in it’s efforts to provide support and education locally.

Tim has gotten his colleagues at Warner Bros. to contribute to several incredible one-of-a-kind murals which will be auctioned off at the event. One, partially pictured above (and badly photographed with my iPhone), features funny animal (and people) drawings by Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, Dan Haskett, Bob McKnight, Mark Christiansen and others. Another piece features adventure character drawings by Bruce Timm, Shane Glines, Glen Murakami and more.

The art exhibit opens February 8th and runs to the 14th. The auction is on Sunday at the James Gray Gallery, Bergamot Station Art Center, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building D4 in Santa Monica. Check with Parkinson LA for more information.

To kick off a new year of animation programs at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater in Hollywood, this Thursday (2/9) we will celebrate with our traditional Valentines Day program – aka Valentoons – an assortment of classic Hollywood cartoons based on the theme of love. From the sex-starved Pepe LePew to the appropriately named Woody Woodpecker (and yes, Herman and Katnip). This year our program features all 35mm Technicolor film prints, projected the way they are supposed to be seen on the big screen. Suitable for cartoon-lovers of all ages, for more information or advance tickets, please click the CineFamily website.

EXTRA BONUS: It’s my birthday on Thursday, so we’ll start the show (at 8pm) with one of my favorite “party” themed cartoons and a free slice of cake to everyone in attendence!