New month…new edition of FLIP, animator Steve Moore’s excellent online magazine for animators.

In this edition Steve celebrates independent animation with a round robin interview with fifteen top independent filmmakers including Patrick Smith, Mark Kausler, Nina Paley, Signe Baumane, Xeth Feinberg, John Schnall, and Chansoo Kim. Click for FLIP.

I’ll share my thoughts on the Platform festival in a bit, but first, a few snaps from this past week. As you can probably tell from these few photos, it was quite the star-studded deal. If you want to check out even more photos, FPS magazine has two great sets posted onto Flickr: one by Jason Vanderhill and another by Tamu Townsend. The official Platform photographers also have hundreds of photos posted onto Picasa. Also if you have other photos that really need to be posted up here, you can send them to me.

Indie animation is alive and well in the States thanks to guys like Don Hertzfeldt (l.) and PES.

Holland Animation Film Festival director Gerben Schermer (l.) and legendary indie animator George Griffin

JJ Sedelmaier is startled to see me in person as he reads Cartoon Brew on his laptop.

Jerry Beck moderates a fine panel about Basil Wolverton. Panelists from left to right are Monte Wolverton, Kenny Scharf and Marv Newland.

Innovators like Guilherme Marcondes and Miwa Matreyek help make the LA animation scene exciting nowadays.

The amazing directing duo Alan Smith and Adam Foulkes with PES’s producer Sarah Phelps.

Finnish animation artist Eliza Jäppinen was a troublemaker at my Tom Oreb lecture but we made up after she gave me one of her insanely cool business cards.

I have no idea what Bill Plympton (l.), ASIFA-East prez Dave Levy and commercial producer John Andrews are discussing but judging from Plympton’s hand gesture, it’s pretty important.

Laika hand-drawn animation director Ward Jenkins tries to convince stop motion animators Jerold Howard and Musa Brooker that they’re still relevant in today’s CG world.

Stop-mo powerhouses Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero of Screen Novelties fame are captured in the middle of a delicate business negotiation.

It was invigorating to see painter Kenny Scharf and other artists from non-animation disciplines participating in the festival.

Plympton collaborator Lisa LaBracio gets her twisted kicks by stealing the hats of important animation historians.

Installations and performance art were big items at this year’s Platform as evidenced by this balloon installation created in Biljana Labovic’s hair. Jessica Plummer (c.) and Pat Smith don’t know quite what to think.

Gunnar Strom (l.) tells Steve Segal about all of the wondrous sights to see in Norway…all three of them.

Danny Antonucci (right) and A.K.A. co-workers Hyuck (c.) and Dan Sioui admire vintage motorcycles hanging in the air at this fine Portland bar.

Jennifer Shiman, creator of the popular Flash series 30 Second Bunnies Theatre and her fiance.

Animators Paul Harrod, Joanna Priestley and Brooke Keesling could have just eaten the most amazing pizza ever but opted to order other items on the menu.

CN exec (and former MTV exec) Peter Dougherty, filmmaker and Royal College of Art instructor Ruth Lingford, and Projector Festival director Susie Wilson. Photo by Biljana Labovic.

UPDATES:
*Frederator exec Eric Homan points out that there’s a Flickr set from Frederator’s Drinking & Drawing event. And remember, at the end of the day, we’re all one big happy family in the animation world.

* Filmmaker and historian John Canemaker has sent in a couple pics from his presentation with Marge Champion, the dancer and choreographer who provided the live-action reference for Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In this second pic, Canemaker writes that, “The child in the shot is Ava Jenkins, Ward Jenkins’s little girl. Marge is telling her that she once worked with a girl at MGM named Ava: Ava Gardner!”

* And here’s a tip: if you’re not feeling well and have a long lecture coming up about Tom Oreb, you probably shouldn’t be doing this right before your presentation. The photo is by Matt Tamaru who’s posting some nice shots on his Flickr, including pics of Joel Trussell, Bill Plympton and Will Vinton.

* Brooke Keesling has sent in a couple terrific photos. This first one has from left to right: Brooke, Jerry Beck, Nick exec Eric Coleman and PBS exec Linda Simensky.

And this one is Brooke, myself, John Canemaker and Ward Jenkins.

* Ward Jenkins has posted his festival photoset onto Flickr.

* A nice Platform photo set by Eric Urban

This is my last report from the Platform Fest in Portland, the last time you’ll see my mug here for a long while. That’s me on the left and award winner Lee Rubenstein (Best Film for the Internet, Secret Life of Robots) holding the coolest animation trophy ever created, The God Of Animation (designed by James Jarvis).

Winners of the festival competition included Aardman’s The Pearce Sisters (Grand Priz award, shared with installation project, No Never Alone), Pen Ward’s Adventure Time (Best Film For Children), and Don Hertzfedlt’s Everything Will Be Okay (Best Film Under $5000). Click here for complete list.

The Awards ceremony and after party, tonight, were a blast. Bill Plympton was the host and guest presenters included Marv Newland, Danny Antonucci, Gary Rydstrom and Will Vinton. I’m a bit too tired at the moment to write a full report, but the entire week was an incredible success. But let it be known: a new major animation festival has been born.

Here’s an early heads up on one of the several books I’ve been working on this past few months. It’s just been announced publicly in the latest edition of Diamond Comics Previews, so I see no reason not to mention it here. The Hanna Barbera Treasury is a unique coffee table art book celebrating Hanna Barbera’s legacy (mainly the 50s and 60s TV series) through visuals including original production art, rare merchandising material and obscure comic books. It’s shaping up rather nice, I’m having a lot of fun with it, and it’ll make a nice gift for that cartoon fan on your holiday list. It’s being lavishly produced by Insight Editions, the folks who did the Surf’s Up and Monster House coffee table books. Look for it to go on sale in October.

This is the original main title, unseen for 70 years, to Popeye The Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves, shot with my cel phone camera off a TV screen with glare.

I promise you the visual and sound quality of this cartoon (and 59 others) on Warner Home Video’s Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1 is outstanding. If it were only the 60 cartoons alone it would be worth the $64.98 suggested retail price ($45.49 on amazon). But the collection (on sale July 31st) is loaded with additional content. Here are the bonus materials currently scheduled for inclusion:

Disc 1

Commentaries:
• Popeye the Sailor by Michael Barrier with Animator Dave Tendlar
• I Yam What I Yam by Animator Mark Kausler
• Blow Me Down! by Animators Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua
• I Eats My Spinach by Michael Barrier with Dave Tendlar
• Wild Elephinks by Historian Jerry Beck
• Sock-a-Bye, Baby by Historian Glenn Mitchell
• Can You Take It by Filmmaker Greg Ford
• A Dream Walking by Director Eric Goldberg

Full Length Documentary
I Yam What I Yam: The Story of Popeye the Sailor

Popumentaries
• Mining the Strip: Elzie Segar and Thimble Theater
• Me Fickle Goyl, Olive Oyl: The World’s Least Likely Sex Symbol

From the Vault
• Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat
• Domestic Difficulties [1916 Bud Fisher Short]

Disc 2

Commentaries:
• Beware of Barnacle Bill by Jerry Beck
• Choose Yer “Weppins� by Greg Ford
• For Better or Worser by Greg Ford
• You Gotta Be a Football Hero by Jerry Beck
• King of the Mardi Gras by Michael Barrier with Jack Mercer
• Adventures of Popeye by Historian Glenn Mitchell
• The Spinach Overture by Historian Daniel Goldmark

Full Length Documentary
Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation, 1900-1920

Popumentaries
• Wimpy the Moocher: Ode to the Burgermeister
• Sailor’s Hornpipes: The Voices of Popeye
• Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum [1918 Bray Short]
• Feline Follies [1919 Pat Sullivan Short]
• The Tantalizing Fly [1919 Bray short]

Disc 3

Commentaries:
• A Clean Shaven Man by Writer Paul Dini
• I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski by John Kricfalusi, with Eddie Fitzgerald and Kali Fontecchio
• Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor by John K., Eddie and Kali
• The Paneless Window Washer by Mark Kausler

Popumentaries
• Blow Me Down! The Music of Popeye
• Popeye in Living Color: A Look at the Color Two-Reelers

From the Vault
• Modeling [1921 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Invisible Ink [1921 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Bubbles [1922 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Jumping Beans [1922 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Bed Time [1923 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Trapped [1923 Out of the Inkwell short]

Disc 4

Commentaries:
• Lost and Foundry by John K., Eddie and Kali
• Protek the Weakerist by Jerry Beck
• Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves by John K., Eddie and Kali

Popumentaries
• Me Lil’ Swee’Pea: Whose Kid is He Anyway?
• Et Tu, Bluto? Cartoondom’s Heaviest Heavy

From The Vault:
• A Trip to Mars [1924 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Koko Trains ‘Em [1925 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Koko Back Tracks [1927 Out of the Inkwell short]
• Let’s Sing with Popeye [1933 Fleischer short]

Yes, it’s Jerry sniffing Gromit’s butt. A cel phone photo snapped at Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Thursday, 6.28.07, 04:00 pm

Amid gives a great presentation on designer Tom Oreb. Two photos by Tom Knott, Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Wednesday, 6.27.07, 04:20 pm

Jerry meets Marge Champion on Broadway – in Portland Oregon. Photo snapped on my funky cel phone by Toby Bluth. Platform Animation Festival, Portland OR — Thursday, 6.28.07, 05:00 pm

I was talking to my good friend Victor Haboush yesterday and he had an endorsement for Ratatouille that I just had to share. He says, and I quote, “It’s the best animated film since Pinocchio.” That’s a pretty bold statement but Vic is somebody whose taste I trust. And that’s not just because he’s worked on classics like Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians. Or because he worked on Brad Bird’s first feature The Iron Giant (and which he doesn’t share the same enthusiasm for as he does Bird’s latest). It’s because Vic knows what he’s talking about and because he’s always frank about what he thinks of things. If Vic says it’s good, then it probably is.

Animator Fred Cline has posted a rare 50s Air Force Reserve TV spot by Preston Blair featuring early abstract motion graphics. Click Here and enjoy.