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.

There’s a lot of good stuff happening at the Ottawa International Animation Festival this week. Eric Goldberg, Henry Selick, David Silverman and Ronnie del Carmen will be speaking up there, Don Hertzfeldt, Suzan Pitt and Jim Blashfield are having retrospectives, and there’s the to-be-expected impeccable selection of shorts as well as features like Mary and Max , $9.99 and My Dog Tulip. Inbetween this animation frenzy, I hope you’ll take the time to check out the retrospective of filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek. His films screen Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17, at the Arts Court Theatre, both nights at 7pm.

It’s a disservice to label VanDerBeek (1927-1984) merely a filmmaker because he was so much more than that. He was a multimedia artist years before the term even existed. He was constantly getting his hands dirty with new technologies and trying to figure out artistic and educational applications for them. This included creating huge murals via fax machine, projecting film onto steam, and designing interactive multi-screen TV shows. No surprise that VanDerBeek was also a computer animation pioneer who starting experimenting with CGI in 1965.

His short films—often surreal, often funny, and always a visual free-for-all—combine animation, collage, cut-out, photography and video, with manic cutting that looks more contemporary than ever. Terry Gilliam has said in interviews that it was VanDerBeek’s cut-out films, and specifically Breathdeath (which will be shown in Ottawa), that inspired his animation style for Monty Python. I’ve personally been influenced by VanDerBeek’s work since I first saw it last year, and I recommend you check him out in Ottawa later this week. The screening will include examples of his analog and CG films, as well as rare film clips of VanDerBeek at work and at play.

This Thursday, October 15, Galerie Arludik (12-14 rue Saint-Louis en l’Île, 75004 Paris) presents a one-man show of the work of illustrator and character designer Peter de Sève. The opening, from 6:30 to 9:30pm, will feature published and upublished pieces by de Sève, some of which will be available for sale. A preview of the show’s artwork can be found at Peter’s blog here, here, and here.

The event also marks the official launch of Peter’s monograph—A Sketchy Past: The Art of Peter de Sève—for which I wrote the introduction. I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but Peter tells me that it looks gorgeous, and I bet that he’s right.

Last month we told you about the animators expo shaping up for this November in Burbank being organized by former Disney character designer/animator Tina Price. In addition to the folks attending we mentioned in the last post, we have these updates and additions to announce:

• Pixar Art Director Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, Laika Art Director Lou Romano, Sony Art Director Andy Gaskill, and Disney Art Director Dave Goetz discussing the art of Color Scripting. Moderated by LA Times animation critic and author Charles Solomon.

• Pixar comes to CTN-X with Andrew Gordon (Pixar/Spline Doctors), character designers Derek Thompson and Jason Deamer, art director Scott Morse and Pixar recruiter Pam Zissimos who will be participating in Raising the Bar Recruiting, looking for Story Artists.

• Live art demonstrations by Sean Galloway (Got Cheeks?), Marshall Vandruff, Kent Melton, Peter de Sève, Eric Goldberg and Mike Mignola.

• A screening of The Secret of Kells and Banjo the Woodpile Cat on Saturday night. 3-day pass holders admitted first.

• An artist contest sponsored by Corel and Wacom. Artwork is executed on site at CTN-X and judged by top creative talent. Two categories Pro and Non-Pro and the winners of each win a free software package of Painter from Corel and an Intuos 4 tablet.

• Also, Cartoon Brew will be holding a contest for 2 free room nights at the event hotel plus a 3-day pass. Includes all panels and speakers, Raising the Bar Recruiting, Speed Talent Portfolio Reviews and CTN-X@nite schmoozing and connecting.

• Also note: as of Oct 1st the exhibitor floor is sold out.

The CTN Expo will be held at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center - located across the street from the Burbank Airport and an Amtrak Station - on Friday November 20th through Sunday, November 22nd.

Early bird tickets are $25 for the exhibit floor only, $50 for a day pass and $125 for a 3-day pass. Early bird deadline is Sept. 30, 2009. Discounted rates are available to students, active military and professional industry organizations. Space is strictly limited at this groundbreaking event. Click here for more information or to register or call (800) 604-2238 and mention the special member discount code (BrewX09) to obtain an extra 10% off any 1-day or 3-day professional/general passport.