Animated Calvin & Hobbes

I was pretty impressed by the above animation was created by a student at the CFP Milano film school as final film thesis project. From a fanboy point of view I’d say that the animator deserves an A+!

Animator’s Boot Camp

If you’re near NYC on Saturday (May 19th) and want to get into animation you’re going to want to check this event out:

Animator’s Boot Camp & Field Manual Workshop

Is Your Animation Career Set on Idle? Don’t Let It Stall! Learn the secrets and strategies you need to know to be successful in today’s marketplace. Immerse yourself in a day of stories, insights and best practices in the burgeoning and diverse field of animation. We’ll bring you news you can use from the professionals in the trenches. So whether you are a student or a practicing professional, get the tools, tips and talking points you’ll need to get your career to the next level.

Read more…

The Bil & Cora Baird TV Show

There’s an amzing article on tv puppet pioneers Bil & Cora Baird (and their marionettes) at Michael Sporn’s Splog:

More Marionettes

“Bil & Cora Baird had ruled the theatrical environs on TV (Bil & Cora Baird Show and Peter & the Wolf) , in theater (Flahooley, Baker Street) and on film (Sound of Music). Yet when the very successful scene in the film, Lili, where Leslie Caron talks to Bil Baird’s marionette, moved to Broadway as the musical, Carnival, it was Jim Henson who built the puppets for the show. A sea change had happened. The marionette had become a hand puppet.”

Rodriguez to Direct Land of the Lost & the Jetsons

I have to admit that a live action Jetsons movie doesn’t get me excited, but on the other hand the idea of Rodriguez taking on Land of the Lost is a great idea! Of course I’d like to see them use the sort A+ writers like they had on the old 70s TV series:

Future or past for Rodriguez?

“Grindhouse might have taken a drubbing at the boxoffice, but director Robert Rodriguez is very much in demand. He is in talks to direct a live-action feature version of futuristic 1960s cartoon “The Jetsons” for Warner Bros. Pictures, being produced by Denise Di Novi and Donald De Line.

At the same time, the helmer has met with Will Ferrell and Universal execs for helming duties on “Land of the Lost,” based on the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft fantasy TV series to which Ferrell is attached to star. While no offers have been made, sources say “Jetsons” has the edge because its script, whose latest draft is by Adam Goldberg (“Fanboys”), is further along.”

Angel Yau: An Animated Self Portrait

I love the above animation by Angel Yau, it’s a great example of the power of the web to tell a very personal and interesting story on a low budget. What I like about videos like this (and other ones on YouTube) is that it brings me back to the golden age of MTV in the 80s when young film makers were using the new medium of cable TV to make little gems of story telling magic.

Read more…

Ratatouille: The Good Rats

Say what you will about the limits of computer animation, but man Pixar knows how to make rats look cute! And having come across few real street and subway rats in New York City I can tell you that’s pretty darn hard thing to do…

AstroBoy Likes Hybrid Cars

This Toyota ad celebrates ten years of hybrid car technology features AstroBoy and quite a few other Tezuka characters.

Found via JapanProbe.com.

Off The Wall

Seen above is a cute animated short from CalArts student (soon to be grad) Alex Hirsch that combines animation and live action.

Found via coldhardflash.com.

Too Art for TV, Too

If any of you are in New York City you might want to head out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn on Friday night for this animation event (last year it was quite the party):

Too Art for TV, Too
Second Annual Exhibition for New York’s Animation Industry

Stay Gold Gallery
Friday, May 4th – May 25th 2007
Opening Reception: Friday, May 4th, 7pm-10pm

Special DJ guest: Mikael “DJ Ronny Monstrous” Jorgensen

“Stay Gold Gallery is pleased to present Too Art for TV, Too, the Second Annual Exhibition for New York’s Animation Industry. 35 artists, by way of toys, comics, prints, and paintings, liberate the skills otherwise “owned” by their television networks bosses.

In January of 2006, Too Art for TV opened as the first of this annual event. Drawing in an excited, elbow-to- elbow crowd of artists, illustrators, filmmakers, animators, and gallery goers, Too Art for TV unquestionably demonstrated the wide spread appeal of animation inspired art.

Animation artists are experts in monsters, robots, villains, and the changing genres of pop influence. They are the lusty consumers of graphic novels, toys, video games, art books, and the many incarnations of obsessive geek culture. Their careers make them excellent drafts-people, skilled at drawing and well adapted to the latest design technologies. Loaded with influences and abilities, their works when combined create an umbrella movement for pop surrealism, geek-core, graffiti, low-brow and the finer arts.

Read more…

30 Minutes of the 90s

This fan made video features 30 minutes of opening titles from animated tv shows from the 1990s. It’s funny but looking at the animation from Animaniacs (or even TailSpin) I was quite impressed with the quality of the animation itself, it’s a real cut above what kids animation looked like on tv in the 70s and 80s.

Also it’s refreshing to see good old fashion squish and squash in the animation itself, these days with computer graphic rendered films like Shrek, there’s something very stiff about the animation. It may be a bit early to judge the 90s, but it’s good to recall that there was some good work going on. I also guess now that kids from the 90s will start hitting their young adult years that we’ll start to see more nostalgia from the Clinton era.

Makibishi Comic

Shown above are two shots from an interactive online manga game called Makibishi Comic, which is a promo for Makibishi Inc. (a studio that does some nice Flash work). The term makibishi refers to small spiky objects ninjas used to deter pursuit in ancient Japan. The spines were often hooked and coated in poison for maximum non-pursuitedness. There’s a great little interview with Shinnosuke Kumazawa (one of the creators) here:

In the Flash: Makibishi Comic

The Simpsons Turns 20 Years Old

Twenty years ago today on April 19, 1987 the Tracey Ullman Show aired a two-minute animated short by Matt Groening that introduced the world to the Simpsons, a family from Springfield, USA. Here’s a well done interview with Al Jean on the subject that’s worth a read for any true Simpsons fanboy:

Homer’s 20-Year Odyssey

“As Homer and his family were being fleshed out in the first season, the show’s creators also began building the menagerie of side characters who inhabit Springfield. Despite the many smaller players he has helped create, Jean identifies his favorite without hesitation: “Comic Book Guy.”

“When we first came up with that character, I could not believe we were doing it,” he said. “A comic book guy as a featured character was unheard of. But everyone knew a guy just like him growing up.”

Obnoxious and condescending, “Comic Book Guy” mocks everyone—and everything—that crosses his path. Simpsons veteran Hank Azaria reached into his own past and found the perfect voice for one of the show’s most mimicked characters.”

Aachi & Ssipak

I just discovered this interesting animated film via Drawn, what’s interesting is that it’s not from Japan but from Korea and it came out last year (so it slipped under my radar some how). It looks like it’s got some nice quality character design and animation directed by Jo Beom-jin. By doing a bit of research I found that you can buy it on DVD at yesasia.com. Here’s the trailer from the film:

And here’s a quick plot summary from the New York Times:

“A futuristic city that is literally fueled by excrement provides the setting for this animated comedy concerning two dangerous delinquents who become inexorably tied to a deadly power struggle within the methane-laden metropolis. Soon after it’s discovered just how much power can be generated by fecal waste, the government installs special sensors on citizen’s anuses as a means of monitoring the production of the valuable natural resource.

Meanwhile, as the public becomes addicted to hallucinogenic and highly-addictive popsicles designed to keep them in line and stimulate even greater bowel movements, street thugs Aachi and Ssipak cross paths with a tough-talking porno star and incur the wrath of a dreaded group of outcasts known as The Diaper Gang.”

…and here’s the official website for the film (in Korean of course):

www.aanss.com

Spirited Away on Turner Classic Movies

If you’re an anime fanboy like me you’ll want to set your DVR to catch Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar winning film Spirited Away on June 3rd at 9:45 p.m. ET playing on Turner Classic Movies.

Christina Ricci will be the New Trixie

I guess to me Corinne Orr wil always be the true voice of Trixie! That said Christina Ricci has done some nice work, but I hope they cast Trixie more in a cute light than make her too sexy:

Ricci scores date with ‘Speed’

“Christina Ricci is joining Larry and Andy Wachowski’s live-action adaptation of the 1960s cartoon “Speed Racer” for Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Joel Silver. Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman already have boarded the high-octane project, which is based on the anime series created by Tatsuo Yoshida for Japanese audiences and later imported to the U.S.

“Speed” centers on a young race car driver, Speed (Hirsch), and his quest for glory in his thundering, gadget-laden vehicle Mach 5. Ricci will star as Speed’s girlfriend Trixie, his formidable ally on and off the track. The show revolved around Speed’s family. In the big-screen adaptation, Goodman will play Pops, a race car owner and builder. Sarandon is on board as Pops’ wife, the backbone of the family as well as the Mach 5 Go Racing Team. The Wachowskis, who are writing and directing, are eyeing a summer shoot in Berlin with a summer 2008 release.”

…you know it would show some class if the brothers Wachowski gave bit parts to Corinne Orr and Peter Fernandez. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they keep the fanboys like myself happy.

Update: Here’s a video interview with Christina talking about playing Trixie:

Yamato’s Final Voyage

I admit it, I’m a huge fan when it comes to Star Blazers also known as Space Cruiser Yamato for your hardcore anime fanboys. Tonight I was very surprised while channel surfing to see that Nova on PBS did an amazing special on the final voyage of World War II battleship Yamato. The special showed some footage of the ruins of the Yamato underwater, along with some nice computer animation and some very touching interviews with actual survivors. The website for the show is well worth checking out:

Sinking of the Supership
The tragic WWII story of the Yamato

“The final phase of the Pacific war during World War II saw a terrible new tactic: massed kamikaze attacks on American ships by Japanese planes. But the biggest kamikaze attack of all was the suicidal mission of the super battleship Yamato, the largest, most advanced warship of the day. In this program, NOVA joins an international team exploring the grave of this magnificent vessel to learn the secrets of her design, her final mission, and the violent events that brought her down.

Yamato lies on the floor of the East China Sea, 200 miles north of Okinawa, blown apart by one of the most massive explosions ever to occur at sea. Altogether, more than 2,700 men went down with the ship or drowned after it sank, making the loss of the Yamato one of the greatest naval disasters of all time. Despite the destruction, the majesty of the ship is unmistakable, symbolized by a six-foot-wide chrysanthemum crest, icon of the Japanese imperial family, still gracing Yamato’s prow like a figurehead.”

Ratatouille Images

As usual Pixar does a good job…

Easter Yeggs

Easter always makes me think of the classic 1947 Bugs Bunny cartoon Easter Yeggs. What’s amazing to me is how well the humor holds up today, almost sixty years later (well as of June). By the way it’s interesting to note that the catch phrase of the Easter Rabbit “Keep Smiling!”, is a takeoff of a character actually created by Mel Blanc for George Burns and Gracie Allen’s radio show during the 1940s; Mel’s character was called “The Happy Postman”.

If you want to check out this classic it’s on the web at the Looney Tunes website (gee sometimes big media gets it!).

Disney’s Retro Rabbit Returns

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit will be back on DVD! Poor old Walt lost his pre-Mickey hit to Universal – it’s too bad that he never lived to see his company get his character back, but somewhere he must be smiling:

Oswald Unleashed in Walt Disney Treasures Wave VII

“Walt Disney Home Ent. continues the popular Walt Disney Treasures series with three new two-disc DVD sets, available Dec. 11. Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, who predates Mickey Mouse, is one of the highlights, having recently returned to the Disney fold. Oswald comes out of the vault for the first time ever on DVD. The silent shorts made from 1926 to 1927, with Walt’s personal touch, are revitalized with a brand-new score specifically made for Walt Disney Treasures Wave VII.”

Here’s a non-restored version of Oswald in “Oh Teacher!” from 1927:

Anime Wartime Propaganda

This is a rare find, it’s a Japanese WWII animated propaganda film designed to educate civilians on how to respond to incendiary bomb attacks from American planes:

Here’s a description of what’s going on:

“The cartoon characters in this video introduce the concept of incendiary bombing and explain how citizens can extinguish the fire from each bomb. The methods range from simplying putting a bucket of water over the bomb to throwing wet blankets over the fire. After the explanation there is a short cartoon showing the cute animals of Japan responding to an American bomber attack and putting out the fires from bombs before any major damage is done. If you look closely, you can see the evil face of President Roosevelt appear in one of the fires shortly before the Japanese citizens eliminate it.”

Found via JapanProbe.com

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue

This tv special has the worst of everything I hated about animation in the 80s: You’ve got the Smurfs, Alf, Garfield, and Alvin and the Chipmunks all getting together to * yawn * fight the war on drugs:

Here’s a great description of the anti-drug tv special from 1990:

“Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue is an animated drug prevention television special starring many of the popular cartoon characters from American Saturday morning television, among them Winnie-the-Pooh, Bugs Bunny, ALF, the Muppet Babies, and several others. Financed by McDonald’s, the special was originally simulcast on April 21, 1990 on all three major American television networks: ABC, NBC, and CBS, along with most independent and smaller networks. McDonald’s also distributed a VHS home video edition of the special, which began with an introduction from President George H. W. Bush, and First Lady Barbara Bush.

The plot chronicles the story of a teenage boy named Michael who is using marijuana. His concerned sister Corey worries about him, and her cries cause many of her toys, which depict several popular cartoon “all-stars”, to come to life. The various cartoon characters proceed to take Michael on a fantasy journey that teaches him the health risks and other downsides a life of drug use can bring. The special was able to get so many characters from various franchises because the licensors gave producers royalty-free access due to the public service aspect of the special.”

Found via Linkfilter.net.

The Times Trashes the Robinsons

It’s funny I can just look at the character designs (they’re so vanilla) from the Robinsons and get a bad taste about this film. But I think Disney will turn things around yet, just not with this picture:

A Nerdy Orphan Plows Ahead With a Lot of Familiar Novelties

“Meet the Robinsons is surely one of the worst theatrically released animated features issued under the Disney label in quite some time.

Lewis, the bespectacled orphan who is this film’s hero, is a budding inventor whose obsessive nerdiness turns off potential adoptive parents. One of his less successful creations is a peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich machine that sprays brown and purple goo in every direction except onto the waiting bread.

And so it is with “Meet the Robinsons.” With increasing desperation, the filmmakers (Stephen Anderson directed and shares screenwriting credit with a half-dozen other writers) and their Disney and Pixar supervisors hurl fun at the screen, digging deep into their bag of used novelties.”

New Transformers Posters

I think I like the Optimus Prime one best!

Found via aintitcool.com.

Ratatouille: The New Pixar Film

Make sure you check out the trailer for the new Pixar film Ratatouille, the quality of the animation (and story of course) looks pretty darn good!