November 11, 2006

GASOLONE ALLEY

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I love when newspaper comic strips do crossovers and this weeks continuity of GASOLINE ALLEY is a particular treat. Walt Wallet visits the "Old Comics Home" and has a reunion with the likes of Smokey Stover, Joe Palooka, Steve Canyon, The Little King, and Albert Aligator. But that's not all. Animated stars Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Farmer Al Falfa, Mighty Mouse and Tom Teriffic show up in cameo. Even ancient characters Old Doc Yak and the Yellow Kid get into the act. Start here (Nov. 7th) and read forward to today's strip. I'm not sure how many more days this will continue, but it's sure nice to see.


Posted by JERRY at 06:33 PM

November 10, 2006

Predicting the Oscars

Never Like The First Time

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER published a couple pieces recently about '06 Oscar predictions for animated features and animated shorts. Jerry and I are both quoted liberally in the pieces and we offer our predictions as do others like the Animation Guild's Kevin Koch and Acme Filmworks producer Ron Diamond. The interview was conducted a while back and at the time I didn't know that Satoshi Kon's PAPRIKA had also qualified for the animated feature Oscar. Not a whole lot of people are aware of Kon's film at the moment, which really hurts its chances, but you have to assume that it stands a good shot of an Oscar nod if people actually have a chance to see it. Also, for the animated shorts, I recently found out that Don Hertzfeldt's new short EVERYTHING WILL BE OK, Bruce Alcock's AT THE QUINTE HOTEL and Jonas Odell's NEVER LIKE THE FIRST TIME qualified. These are all superb animated shorts and I hope Academy voters don't overlook them in favor of this year's batch of typical (and in my opinion, much blander) mainstream studio shorts from Disney (THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL), Pixar (LIFTED), Blue Sky (NO TIME FOR NUTS) and DreamWorks (FIRST FLIGHT).


Posted by AMID at 02:04 AM

Interviews With Indie Filmmakers

Guilherme Marcondes's Tyger

Directors Notes is a weekly audio podcast that interviews indie filmmakers who create short films, docs, music videos, art films, etc. The site doesn't focus exclusively on animation, though so far they have solid interviews with Brazilian animator Guilherme Marcondes of TYGER fame and Japanese filmmakers Takeshi Nagata and Kazue Monno who are responsible for LIGHTNING DOODLE PROJECT [PIKAPIKA]. This is one podcast I'll definitely be keeping an eye on.

(via Motionographer)


Posted by AMID at 01:34 AM

NICE PUNKIN' PUSS AND MUSHMOUSE BG

There's not a whole lot to recommend about the 1964 Hanna-Barbera cartoon PUNKIN’ PUSS AND MUSHMOUSE, but this background pan that Brew reader Bob Perman emailed is pretty nice to look at. Click on the pic below for the full image. I wonder if the original painting still exists somewhere?

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Posted by AMID at 12:58 AM

November 09, 2006

Piccolo, Saxo and Company

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What is it with The Weinstein Company? Harvey Weinstein is perhaps the smartest and savviest of the current Hollywood moguls, but his taste in animated films leaves much to be desired. Last year he launched his new company with the low budget (but clever) Hoodwinked, then fumbled with the British import Doogal. Now this? Weinstein's art house competitors, such as Sony Pictures Classics (Triplettes of Belleville, Paprika, Persepolis), Warner Independent (Scanner Darkly) and even his previous studio Miramax (Renaissance), have picked up challenging adult animated features that push the envelope. Weinstein has apparently bought into the stereotype that animated films are childrens films—not family films, children's films. He leaves on the table over a dozen brand new, more sophisticated international animated features (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Princess and everything being shown next week at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema) that are more deserving of U.S. distribution.

Weinstein's latest acquisition, Piccolo, Saxo and Company, is a French production, with animation produced in Romania and plot ripped from Paul Tripp's Tubby The Tuba:

The film tells the story of a far away planet on which musical instruments live. Marco Villamizar's tale follows Piccolo, Saxo and other brass and string instruments that band together to form a grand symphonic orchestra. The group goes on a quest to find musical notes and other instruments stolen by an evil doctor who dreams of building the perfect instrument.
Weinstein will no doubt dress Piccolo up with an all-star American voice cast and give it a token theatrical release en route to its permanent home on DVD racks at Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, etc. I have nothing against well made animated films for children (Curious George was a fine example), but animators need more visionary distributors who will expose U.S. audiences to the great work being produced around the world. Weinstein, Miramax, Lionsgate, Sony, Fox Searchlight and the others do a fine job with handling live action foreign films. Their animated siblings are waiting to be adopted.

I've given this rant before. And I probably will again. Maybe one of these days I'll end up doing something about it myself.


Posted by JERRY at 10:05 AM

MEGAN BRAIN'S PAPER SCULPTURES

Paper Sculpture by Megan Brain

For most artists, paper is an expendable material that one creates their art on, but Megan Brain's paper sculptures show that the paper itself can be transformed into a piece of art as well. While the art of paper sculpture is nothing new, Megan brings an appealing cartoon sensibility to the practice that I haven't seen before. The closest thing that I can compare her work to are the characters from the early-60s Disney short A SYMPOSIUM ON POPULAR SONGS though that cartoon never pushed it quite as far design-wise. Brain recently contributed her distinctive paper sculpture skills to Henry Selick's feature CORALINE, which is being produced at Laika. See more of her delightful work at MeganBrain.com (see if you can find the Craig Kellman piece) and meganbrain.blogspot.com.

Paper Sculpture by Megan Brain


Posted by AMID at 09:35 AM

BEE MOVIE TRAILER

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USA TODAY has an article in which Jerry Seinfeld discusses why he decided to make a live-action trailer for DreamWorks's next CG feature BEE MOVIE. Dare I say, the trailer is the most entertaining piece of filmmaking that DreamWorks Animation has produced to date.


Posted by AMID at 05:42 AM

November 08, 2006

FOUR-LETTER FILM

F*CK: THE DOCUMENTARY

This Friday, November 10, marks the opening of F*CK: A DOCUMENTARY, which examines the origin and uses of a certain word. Besides interviews with numerous celebrities, the film also features animated sequences by Bill Plympton. Additionally, Plympton's animated short, GUIDE DOG, will screen in front of the film, though a more appropriate animated short would have perhaps been Fred Crippen's IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS (2004), which is a comedic look at the many ways to use this particular word. The film is opening in LA and NY before expanding to other cities. In NY, it'll play at the Quad Cinema (34 West 13th St., New York NY) while LA folks can check it out at Landmark's NuArt Theatre (11272 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles CA). Upcoming cities and additional details can be found at the film's website FourLetterFilm.com.


Posted by AMID at 12:47 AM

LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION #4

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It's coming! The holiest day of the year for cartoon buffs—the arrival of the annual LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION. And I'm lucky enough to be holding the latest volume in my hand right now.

Under the shiny gold-leaf cover (bundled differently this year, thus the package is a bit thinner looking) are four discs loaded with pure cartoon joy (okay, there are a couple of lame late Speedy Gonzales cartoons on disc three, but I survived and you will too). Sixty more Warner Bros. cartoons to add to our personal archives, beautifully restored, with entertaining, informative bonus materials that add to our knowledge of how these classics were made.

Of course, as a consulting producer on the set, I'm intimately involved and biased. But I love the Golden Collection series—and I'm happy to do whatever I can to spread the gospel of Looney Tunes. Volume 4 goes on sale next Tuesday (Nov. 14th). I urge you to buy it right away! Here's a few good reasons to do so:

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Rare trailers (at left) and restored original titles (at right). Nuff said!
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90 Day Wondering: Cartoon Modern fans will love this lavishly restored, rarely seen 1956 Chuck Jones Army reenlistment film. You'll also see Ralph Phillips as an adult!
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Great menus! Can you spot the un-P.C. picture of Bugs on this menu from Disc 1?


Posted by JERRY at 12:10 AM

FREDEX

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In celebration of the Channel Frederator podcast’s first anniversary, Frederator Studios has created FredEx, an experimental animation jam. Frederator has assembled an international group of filmmakers seeking to answer an age-old question: What is it like to be a robot?

The Secret Life of Robots is the first installment of the FredEx series. Kicking off production in July, executive producers (and contributing animators) Dan Meth and Lee Rubenstein selected fifteen Channel Frederator alumni to animate on the project, randomly matching each of them with a single word. The filmmakers were given two months to produce 10-20 seconds of original content, using their appointed subject to depict a specific aspect of robot existence.
Premiering today, the cartoon is available for free download at ChannelFrederator.com. It's funny stuff and absolutely worth a look.


Posted by JERRY at 12:01 AM

November 07, 2006

John Korty's Brock & Throck

John KortyIt's Election Day here in the US so it's only fitting to mention a new politically-oriented Flash Webcartoon. The series, BROCK & THROCK WITH ANOTHER CROCK, was created by Oscar and Emmy-winning director John Korty, whose animated feature TWICE UPON A TIME (1983) is the subject of a huge piece in ANIMATION BLAST #9. New episodes of BROCK AND THROCK are being posted on Revver, and currently, the first two episodes are available for viewing HERE and HERE. The production values on the Flash leave something to be desired, but considering that Korty hasn't produced much animation since TWICE UPON A TIME, it's simply fascinating to see him return to action on the Internet.

Here's more about the series from its press release:

Although best-known for serious drama, Korty actually started as an animator. "This summer, I found some sketches from my very first experiments. One in particular was perfect for a dialogue between two characters—a single zigzag line that can function as the profile for either face. I had put it away, waiting for the right subject matter. The wait was fifty years."

The online series, intended to run parallel to the fall election campaigns, skewers the Bush Administration on various topics, failed legislation, wire-tapping, religion in politics, foreign relations, even their favorite news channel.

Both fictional characters are staff members, but the conversations are not the type ever made public. Brock is a hardened veteran, while Throckie got an entry-level job because of his rich uncle. He is a less-than-bright neophyte. He can’t understand the furor about domestic wire-tapping, for instance. "Who cares what domestics are saying to each other anyway?"

For his voice talent, Korty drew upon the resources of San Francisco’s improv humor community. Bill Bonham and Jim Cranna, doing Brock and Throck respectively, have both performed for many years on radio spots and film soundtracks. Cranna, in fact, founded and taught at the Theatre of the Deranged, a hot house of zany improvisation.

(Thanks, Taylor Jessen)


Posted by AMID at 01:02 AM

CARTOON NETWORK'S RE-ANIMATED

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Yesterday, Cartoon Network released the trailer for their first original live-action production RE-ANIMATED. We've already discussed this topic enough on the Brew so a simple link to the trailer should suffice. The movie premieres on CN in December.


Posted by AMID at 12:41 AM

November 06, 2006

The Less You Know...

Class of 3000

Below is an excerpt from an ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE article about the new Cartoon Network series CLASS OF 3000. In it, the show's executive producer/co-creator, Tom Lynch, proudly talks about how ignorant he is of the animation process:

Lynch confesses to "making every mistake anybody could make, and adding some new ones" on his road to creating a 2D series. "I think my worst one was when the cut came back [from overseas animation]. I looked at it and said, 'Okay, I have some rewrites.' They said, 'Uhhh, you get some retakes…' I had thought retakes meant whole scenes, but it was only moments or close-ups. That was an education right there, because in live-action I rewrite all the way through post-production, I change everything all the time."

Now, obviously, one would assume that a guy like Lynch, who is clueless about animation and art, couldn't just walk into Cartoon Network and demand his own animated series, right? CN must surely have higher standards than that. Well, here's how Lynch describes his pitch to Cartoon Network's Mike Lazzo:

"Mike asked me what I wanted to do next. I told him I really wanted to do an animated show, and I want to have some music in it. He said, 'great, you have a pilot with us — do what you want to do.'"

Nothing about this industry surprises me anymore, but I'd be lying if I said that reading things like this didn't piss me off. How is that CN won't greenlight a surefire quality cartoon series from Aaron Springer, one of the industry's most talented creators, but they'll offer a no-questions-asked pilot deal to an '80s kiddie show producer who doesn't understand the first thing about animation? Somehow, in its own twisted way, it makes sense though. In an industry where you don't actually need any knowledge of the art form to become an executive, it would be hypocritical to require that show creators know anything about animation either.

UPDATE: A Brew reader who prefers to remain anonymous, but who I can assure you is an excellent artist, writes in with the following. I had to edit most of the email to preserve their anonymity though you'll get the gist of the message, which is that non-artists have the freedom to create any piece of junk they want at CN while visual artists have to jump through an interminable amount of hoops to get anything on the air:

I just read your post about Class of 3000 and I would like to give you some additional info. Tommy Lynch was actually never required to produce a pilot before the show was greenlit. The show went straight to series without ever being tested! They poured buckets of money into the show before it was ever launched; Craig Kellman, Stef Choi and many others all took passes at designing the characters. As you can imagine, this has created a bit of a double standard at CN. People like Dan Krall and Derik Bachman, Thurop Van Orman, as well as myself, have projects that have languished through countless executive notes while crap like Class of the 3000 gets the red carpet treatment.

Posted by AMID at 12:35 AM

November 05, 2006

BOOK REVIEW: I AM PLASTIC

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The new book I AM PLASTIC: THE DESIGNER TOY EXPLOSION, by Kidrobot founder Paul Budnitz, is a handsomely designed and fun-to-flip-through visual history of "designer toys." For those who aren't aware, designer toys are essentially Beanie Babies for urban hipsters. They're like regular toys except they're garishly-colored, a lot more expensive and they don't have any functionality besides sitting pretty on shelves. One of the justifications for the high prices of these "toys" is because they're produced in limited editions, but as this book makes clear, there's thousands of "limited edition" toys on the market, and despite their superficial differences, most of them appear to be cut from the same cloth. If anything, seeing the toys collected in a book like this only emphasizes how visually unimaginative and inbred the whole movement is. It's sure to make a fine Christmas present for your friends who just don't know any better.


Posted by AMID at 09:03 PM

OF MICE AND MAGIC

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If you are interested in purchasing Leonard Maltin's essential animation history, Of Mice And Magic, make sure you order the one pictured above left. I've gotten several letters recently from readers who have made the mistake, when ordering through Amazon, of ordering the book on the right. I suppose it was bound to happen. While both books have in common several distinct talking mice, clearly David Farland's fantasy novel, published in 2005, should not be confused with Maltin's award winning non fiction history of Hollywood cartoons.

While I'm at it, neither book should be confused with the Herman & Katnip cartoon of the same name.


Posted by JERRY at 04:12 PM