For the past year Jesus Orellana’s epic sci-fi short Rosa has been winning awards at festivals and attracting attention in Hollywood (it’s already in development to be a live-action feature). The short was created by Barcelona-based Orellana with “no budget” and took a twelve months to produce. What’s all the fuss about? It’s now online:

Cartoon Network ran a preview of Warner Bros. Animation’s DC Nation programming block last night during its debut of Bruce Timm’s CG Green Lantern: The Animated Series. The Superhero Shows blog has some great frame grabs and video preview which show the range of styles for the interstitial material. Here’s a sample of the Aardman spots, which play like a super-hero version of Creature Comforts:

Some days it seems that there are as many music videos as there are songs. We receive far more video submissions than we can possibly post on the site, and the number of submissions is growing all the time. That’s why we’re introducing the Music Video Round-up, a regular collection of new animated music videos. We won’t be posting every video we receive. The list will be curated to include the videos worth your time, but by creating groupings of videos in a single post, we will be able to present more videos than ever before. Also, we’ll still occasionally highlight individual music videos when the project merits greater coverage or if we have something unique to say about it. As always, keep submitting those videos, and we’ll keep posting them.

“Hurting” by David Lewandowski (US)

CREDITS

Music: Friendly Fires
Director: David Lewandowski
VFX supervisor: Dustin Bowser
Director of Photography: Christian Sprenger
Producer: Christian Heuer
Exec Producer: Laura Tunstall
Starring: Nikol Peeva, George Loomis
3D Modeling and Matchmove: Patrick Goski
2D Graphic Designer/Animator: Jake Portman
Editor: Trevor Durtschi
Additional Design: Brian Gossett
1st AC: Alyssa Soetebier
DIT: Chris Hoyle
Gaffer: Brandon Wilson
Key Grip: Yuki Noguchi
Stylist: Michelle Thompson
Makeup and Hair: Ashley Harris
PA: Mike Gammariello
Colorist: Mark Todd Osborne

---

“Thick As Thieves” by Kevin Parry (US)

CREDITS
Musician: Kalle Mattson
Director/Animator: Kevin Parry
Designer/Animator: Carla Veldman
Designer/Animator: Andrew Wilson
Live Action: Andrea Nesbitt

---

“Hired Killer” by James Reitano (US)

CREDITS
Musician: Layng Martine Jr.

---

“Do I Have Power” by Carlos De Carvalho

CREDITS
Director: Carlos De Carvalho
Production manager: Aude Danset De Carvalho
Animation: Pierric Danjou, Thomas Lecourt, Charles Lemor
Technical direction: Guillaume Baratte
Music: Timber Timbre
Production:Je Regarde

---

“Tribe” by Cyril Gfeller (UK)

CREDITS
Music: Piers Faccini
Production Company: Nomad Films Uk Limited
Producer: Spencer Wright
Director: Cyril Gfeller
Illustrator: Arnaud Mailly

While we await their CG Arthur Christmas and their clay-mated Pirates feature, Aardman tempts us with this superbly crafted short from director Peter Peake. Produced by Aardman’s commercials division during downtime between jobs; here’s sneak peek of the designs and a brief interview with Peake at 3D Artist Online.

Okay, I’m stumped. I get mail like this all the time and I try to be helpful. But this one just sounds so strange, I want to know what it is myself. It all started a few days ago when I got this email from animator Christy Karacas (Superjail):

Jerry,
I’m writing to you because there was a cartoon I remember seeing at the public library as a kid and have no idea what it is but really want to see it again. I remember a line drawing of a pair of legs, a giant eyeball (maybe a spider?) running around a castle. It was hand drawn. I know this sounds weird but thought you were the one to ask… I remember thinking this was really awesome-i feel like you might know it. thanks either way.

I requested more information. Was it a short or a feature? Anime or Saturday morning cartoon? Christy responded:

No it was a short film… I wish I could remember more about it. I’m so curious what it is… Not sure, but had a hunch it might be European. I saw it at my public library as a double feature with The Red Balloon as a kid…but…yeah, I dont really remember much more. I THINK there was no talking but not sure… I could draw how I remember the characters if you want?

Yes, please!

Hey Jerry-
These are SUPER QUICK SKETCHES (Ugh, the talkback will be about how shitty they are… hahhaah!), but I remember them running around a castle… up stairs I believe… and I think the eyeball was a spider. I can’t remmeber if it bounced around or changed size… maybe i am crazy and i should just do a ‘remake’ from my memory… a mash-up of sorts… create the animation from my childhood as best as I remember it because I can’t find it? hahaha. Amid-if you see or read these let me know if you know what I’m talking about…
Thanks!

If this rings a bell with you… please let us know in the comments below!

---

UPDATE: Our readers identified the mystery film. Find out what it is and link to it, in our comments section.

Entertainment reporter Patrick Goldstein has some harsh words about Pixar’s Oscar chances in today’s LA Times:

“There’s no guarantee that “Cars 2” will even end up being a nominee with such a crowded field… In fact, the reviews for “Cars 2” were abysmal, with the film earning a lowly 38% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Just how lowly is a 38% rating? Put it this way: “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family” and “Cowboys & Aliens” got higher Rotten Tomatoes scores. It didn’t stop lots of people from seeing the film, but it is bad news for Pixar’s chances of winning the Oscar for animated feature, a category Pixar has won four times in a row and six out of the last eight.”

No doubt Pixar’s had the lock on the top awards the past few years, but Goldstein poses some intriguing questions. Will Cars 2 be nominated? Do any of the foreign or independent films have a chance? What feature is the realistic front runner for animation’s best of year?

Mike Judge sits down for an interview in the latest issue of Vice. Judge talks openly about the whys and hows of the Beavis and Butt-Head revival. The interviewer Rocco Castoro also asks some unconventional questions, like this memorable exchange:

I noticed that the show’s logo now says “Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head” rather than “MTV’s.” I feel like I’ve seen it this way on the DVD boxes of the old episodes, but it was surprising to see that it was going to carry over to TV. Got any good dirt on this subtle but important change?

When [my relationship with MTV] began, I had these two two-minute shorts with Beavis and Butt-Head that I licensed to Liquid Television. Then MTV wanted to buy the characters from me—they didn’t say what exactly they wanted to do with them—and so I negotiated for a while and thought, “It takes six to eight weeks to do two minutes when I do everything by myself,” and I was kind of done. I’d produced two shorts and made a few thousand off of them selling them to festivals and Liquid Television, but that was it and I was a nobody at the time. So I sold it to them outright, and then they wanted me to do the show so I ended up getting paid that way. But at some point they decided, “We’re gonna call it MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head.” I was like, “Really? I created this in my house with pencil and paper and cels and film and… MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head? But whatever, you own it, that’s fine.” Years later the movie came out and they wanted a sequel. I was unhappy with some stuff, and I just did a fuck-you negotiation with them [laughs]. At one point my lawyer said, “You want to ask them to call it Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head?” and I said, “Yeah, go for it.” I kind of forgot that we agreed to that, and then when we were redesigning the logo I was like “Wow, OK.” Normally I wouldn’t splash my name all over something, but if it’s between MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head or Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head, I’ll take it.

Have you ever wanted to see a CG model of babyfaced baby-making singer Justin Bieber clunkily composited into a cruddy holiday special produced by Rankin/Bass? Me neither, but that’s what you’ll find in Bieber’s cover of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” which inserts him into the 1970 Rankin/Bass holiday special of the same name. I’m sure some viewers will be outraged by this, but frankly, I’m having trouble getting worked up over it. That’s probably because just about anything added into a Rankin/Bass cartoon promises to be an improvement over the original. What’s more concerning is that a second video of this song, featuring a live-action Bieber, will premiere in front of Arthur Christmas. If I’m a few minutes late walking into the theater for the film, you’ll understand why.

(Thanks, Whitney Grace)