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"Animation with Attitude"
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MAY/JUNE/JULY 2003 NEWS ARCHIVES
2003-JULY-30
BLAST-ing Back Into Business... It's been a busy month - all sorts of nasty computer problems, the San Diego Comic-Con, off to SIGGRAPH today (in San Diego again), and many other types of craziness happening around here. All I know is that my computer is working now and after I get back from SIGGRAPH, expect lots of regular updates. Also, BLAST #9 is now in full-fledged production and I'll have a complete preview of the issue up in August. Lots of good stuff coming to the BLAST so stay tuned.
Meanwhile, a few links to finish up the month. First, one of the newer sites on the web answers a question I've long wondered about: "Could there possibly be anybody who is grumpier and more dissatisfied with modern animation than myself?" The resounding 'Yes' answer can be found at MichaelBarrier.com. In years past, Mike was the esteemed editor of the groundbreaking animation magazine FUNNYWORLD and more recently, the author of the authoritative HOLLYWOOD CARTOONS. On his website, he reprints classic FUNNYWORLD articles and offers his take on modern films like FINDING NEMO and THE IRON GIANT. While I often find myself disagreeing with his views, Mike's opinions are backed up by knowledge of and respect for the animated art form. His presence is sure to make animated discourse on the Web a lot more interesting. A couple other sites which have been around for a while are Olivier Mouroux's Animated Movies, which is the finest collection of up-to-the-minute animation news and links to be found on the Web, and Don Markstein's Toonopedia, an ever-growing on-line encyclopedia about print and animated cartoon characters. It's a fun and easy-to-use reference source well worth checking out.
2003-JULY-13
Return of the Animation Hut. By popular request, the Animation Hut returns to the San Diego Comic Con this year. We'll be at Table I-9 so be sure to drop by and say hello. ANIMATION BLAST will be sharing the Hut with two masterful artists - Shane Glines and Jim Smith. Shane will be selling art prints as well as copies of his sketchbooks ICECREAM #2 and 3. He also says, "I'll have lots of stuff to look at...like stacks of my doodles, Russell Patterson, Enoch Bolles, Hurst and more. I'll also be running vintage Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons on my laptop DVD." Jim Smith, one of the original Bigshots on REN & STIMPY among many other things, will have his first-ever sketchbook at the Con this year. Thirty-two pages of amazing artwork. There's literally nothing Jim can't draw. He's great at girls, caricatures, architecture, machinery, superheros, cartoons, whatever, and this sketchbook has a little bit of it all...nearly all of it never-before published anywhere else. There's only 500 copies so be sure to pick one up early.
2003-JULY-11
Major Computer Crash... Hence the lack of updates. As great as Macs are, there are certain times when they suck just as badly as PCs. Also, my email should be working again now.
San Diego Panel. I'm doing one panel at the San Diego Comic-Con next week. It's called "The Secret to Good Animation Design" and takes place Saturday, July 19 at 2 pm. The Comic-Con website says Room 6A, but that might have changed by now, so be sure to double-check your program. Here's the event description:
Why do some cartoons look cooler than others? Which combinations of shapes and forms are most appealing? How do you design an animated character that'll make people ooh and ahh? There's a good chance not a single one of these questions will be answered during this panel, but you're guaranteed to still have a good time. Join Animation Blast editor Amid Amidi and an all-star panel of today's best animation designers, including Shane Glines (BATMAN BEYOND, SUPERMAN), Ricky Nierva (MONSTERS INC.), Jorge Gutierrez (Disney development), Gabe Swarr (BIG PANTS MOUSE), and Carlos Ramos (TIME SQUAD) for a lively discussion/slide show about the finer points of good (and bad) animation design.
2003-JUNE-30
A Cure For The Monday Blues. Feeling crummy and groggy today? Here's a happy photo that's sure to brighten your day. It's Disney Feature Animation head honcho David Stainton and his dog.
Wow, look at that big energetic smile on David's face... I don't know about you but I'm feeling great now. Thank you David Stainton for brightening my day.
 Books I Want! Here are a few new books that aren't animation-related per se, but should interest at least a couple animation folk. I'll certainly be adding as many as my budget allows to my own library.
2003-JUNE-28
Industrial Films Today! I'm hosting the monthly ASIFA-Hollywood film screening today, and you can check it out at 3 pm at the American Film Institute. The theme of the screening is "The Art of Animated Industrials" and we'll be projecting onto the big screen six ultra-rare animated industrials from the Fifties. A discussion will follow afterwards with Vic Haboush, who worked on two of the films in today's program. He'll speak about his experiences working at the leading animated industrial film studio of that era, John Sutherland Productions. All of the films in this program are near impossible to see nowadays so if you enjoy well-designed classic animation, don't miss this opportunity to see some extremely rare cartoons. For more details, check out the June 2 and 18 news items below, or visit the ASIFA website. Meanwhile, here's the line-up of industrials being shown:
Rhapsody of Steel (1959)
The Littlest Giant (mid-1950s)
More Than Meets the Eye (1952)
Man Alive (1952)
Depth Study (1957)
Energetically Yours (1957)
2003-JUNE-25
Harryhausen Fest on TCM. My favorite cable network Turner Classic Movies is presenting twelve films featuring special FX and animation by the legendary Ray Harryhausen this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (June 27-29) beginning at 8 pm each evening. The festival kicks off with the 1998 documentary THE HARRYHAUSEN CHRONICLES (June 27, 8 p.m. and 11:15 p.m.) followed by the world TV premiere of last year's Annie Award-winning animated short THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE. Started by Ray Harryhausen in 1952, and completed by Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero last year, TORTOISE AND THE HARE is a charming little retro-project which remains utterly faithful to Harryhausen's original vision for the short. Among the features that will be screened are JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, THE CLASH OF THE TITANS, and EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS. For the complete schedule, check out TurnerClassicMovies.com.
2003-JUNE-24
LA Book Signing Tonight! Tonight from 7 to 9 pm, Jerry Beck and Allan Neuwirth, will be signing their new books, OUTLAW ANIMATION and MAKIN' TOONS respectively, at the new Golden Apple location in Westwood (2028 Westwood Blvd in the Rhino Records store). Besides the authors, other guests scheduled to attend are Eric Goldberg, Genndy Tartakovsky, Paul Germain and Spike Decker. For all the details, check out CartoonResearch.com.
Jonesing For A Piece Of Spike Lee. While REN & STIMPY has been a smooth production all along, the network it's airing on has had a much rockier launch (well actually, a non-existent launch). TNN has still not been able to switch over to their new name, Spike TV, after filmmaker Spike Lee filed a lawsuit essentially claiming the name 'Spike' belongs solely to him (see June 9 news item). Now TNN is fighting back by enlisting the help of Spike Jones Jr., son of the legendary music satirist Spike Jones. The complaint they've filed from his son says that a biographical film currently being planned on Spike Jones is tentatively titled SPIKE, and there's concern that this injunction against Viacom (TNN's parent company) could hinder production of the film. Says Jones' son, "I do not believe that Spike Lee 'owns' or has any individual right to the use of the name 'Spike' or as an individual to prevent its use by others any more than I do." For more on the story, check out this NY POST story.
2003-JUNE-18
Special Guest For Industrial Screening. Animation legend Vic Haboush has confirmed that he'll be in attendance at my ASIFA-Hollywood screening "The Art of Animated Industrials" on Saturday, June 28 (for details, see June 2 news item below). Vic started at Disney on PETER PAN and was a layout artist on TOOT WHISTLE PLUNK & BOOM, LADY AND THE TRAMP, SLEEPING BEAUTY and 101 DALMATIANS. During these same years, he also worked with Bill Scott, Tom Oreb and Eyvind Earle on numerous industrial films for John Sutherland Productions, including THE LITTLEST GIANT, DESTINATION EARTH, RHAPSODY OF STEEL (which will be screened), and the classic THE ROMANCE OF CHEESE. In later years, he was art director of GAY PURR-EE and a successful commercial studio owner/live-action director, while more recently he marked his return to animation when he contributed visual development to THE IRON GIANT. But next Saturday, he'll be talking about his experiences working at the prolific, yet little discussed, industrial film studio John Sutherland Productions.
2003-JUNE-09
Everything's About Spike. Spike TV, formerly TNN, will be unveiled in one week, and the cable network is already being sued by filmmaker Spike Lee, for allegedly ripping off his name and "irreverent, smart" personality. What brings this into the animation realm is that Spike TV is the network which will be airing John Kricfalusi's new episodes of REN & STIMPY (which I'm currently working on) as well as two other animated series - STRIPPERELLA and GARY THE RAT.Says Spike Lee, "I was extremely upset to see my name connected with a network when I had never given any consent to use my name. To make matters worse, Albie Hecht, TNN's president, told the media that the name referred to a guy's name with specific personality traits that the public through media publications had come to associate with me - irreverent, aggressive, unapologetically male, smart and contemporary." The preliminary court hearing for the case is today. The lawsuit has already generated criticism around the 'Net, and all of it is aimed squarely at Spike Lee, who seems bent on taking the idea of frivolous lawsuits to a new extreme. One of the most entertaining commentaries is this WASHINGTON POST piece on the commonly nature of the name Spike. And speaking of irreverent people named Spike, the POST doesn't even mention Spike Jones and Spike Milligan, who have as much claim to the name as Spike Lee and Spike TV. Perhaps the biggest irony of all this is that Spike isn't even Lee's birth name; his real name is Shelton Jackson Lee. 2003-JUNE-04
How Low Can ANIMATION MAGAZINE Go? The deadline for the 2nd Annual ANIMATION MAGAZINE Pitch Party Contest is fast approaching. Basically, how it works is you send ANIMATION MAGAZINE $375 (that's not $3.75 but three hundred and seventy five of your hard-earned dollars) and they publish a 1/6th page ad in their magazine plugging your project. But wait, they know that most of the entrants are struggling artists and to show that they care, their contest page says: "To help you out, we're offering these ads at a heavily discounted price!" Bless their little hearts.
After you hand them your money, they corral together about ten animation executives in a room (imagine the play 12 ANGRY MEN, except most of them are women) and these executives then judge the pitches. The lucky winner of the contest then gets to pitch their project to the contest judge of their choice. JOY! To give you an idea of the level of talent entering this contest, here's a picture of last year's best cartoon winner:
 Assuming you didn't go blind looking at that last image, let me offer a humble suggestion: If you're thinking of flushing $375 down the toilet anytime in the near future, DON'T! Instead, send it to me and I'll use it to do something worthwhile, like publishing the next issue of the BLAST. In all seriousness though, this contest is one of the most despicable things I've run across recently. If ANIMATION MAGAZINE were sincere about promoting talented unknowns and getting their work in front of the right executives, it wouldn't be charging an arm and a leg to enter its contest. It is especially hypocritical for ANIMATION MAGAZINE, a publication that has shown only the most fleeting concern for artists and the animated art form, to be holding an art contest. The whole thing strikes me as little more than an ingenious way of making a few extra bucks by shaking down the artistic community and misleading gullible cartoonists into thinking this is their chance to make it big. The most telling sign is in the FAQ section,where the ANIMATION MAG folks respond to the question "How do I protect my idea?" with, "Well, the easiest answer is 'by entering the Pitch Party.'" Yeah, I'm sure that's what all the leading lawyers and agents tell their clients. One thing I can assure you of is that if you're talented and have a worthy project, you'll eventually get noticed by the industry, and you certainly don't have to give ANIMATION MAGAZINE hundreds of dollars to become successful.
2003-JUNE-02
Fin-tastic Opening For NEMO. That's weak, I know. Almost as lame as "Sea It" or "Fish Shtick." But in spite of the atrocious punning on the movie posters, FINDING NEMO posted the best-ever three-day opening for an animated feature, taking in a whopping $70.6 million at the North American box office this past weekend. A big congrats to all the artists at Pixar for their continuing efforts to keep this art form alive, especially at a time when studios like Disney and DreamWorks seem to be doing their best to destroy it.
THE ART OF ANIMATED INDUSTRIALS
Once upon a time, America's biggest corporations had this funny notion that people would be more willing to hear what they had to say if they delivered their message through the cartoon medium. They were right. In this one-of-a-kind screening, we'll present a half-dozen ultra-rare industrial films from the Fifties, produced by major studios like UPA, John Sutherland Productions, Playhouse Pictures and Quartet Films. Whether it's Standard Oil's ENERGETICALLY YOURS designed by famed British illustrator Ronald Searle, US Steel's RHAPSODY OF STEEL featuring dramatic background stylings by Eyvind Earle (fresh from his SLEEPING BEAUTY success), or CBS Radio's MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE with John Hubley's abstract Miro-esque graphics, these films will open your eyes to the artistry of an oft-neglected part of animation history. As a bonus, all the cartoons will be shown on 16mm or 35mm film.
Saturday, June 28, 2003 @ 3 PM
ADMISSION:
2003-MAY-30
BELLEVILLE Big At Cannes. In the bleak and desolate world which we call modern animation, one has to be thankful for every quality piece of cartooning that comes our way. The latest cartoon that gives me the slightest bit of hope for the future of this art form looks to be the French-Belgian-Canadian co-production LES TRIPLETTES DE BELLEVILLE (aka BELLEVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS) directed by Sylvain Chomet. The dialogue-free film (a risk no American producer would dare take) played out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month and turned out to be one of the festival's surprise hits. Among the first to sing its praises was NEW YORK TIMES film critic A.O. Scott who said the movie, "is the best French-language film shown in the festival so far," and "a far cry from either Walt Disney or Japanese anime." Scott also reported that director Chomet was given a "roaring ovation" when he took the stage after the Cannes screening. The LA TIMES, always a few steps behind everybody else in the entertainment world, soon followed suit with a similar article about the film's popularity. The UK's Screendaily.com however has not been as positive, writing "BELLEVILLE RENDEZ-VOUS is otherwise destined to appeal more to adults than to children, and more to French audiences than anyone else, especially given the fact that cycle-racing is central to the story. Hopes of SHREK or even CHICKEN RUN-like universal appeal are unlikely to be realised." Whatever its final theatrical gross, here's a film that is obviously aiming for something higher than box office receipts: artistry. That is the element which has been so sorely lacking from recent animated features, and if this film looks anywhere near as good as its trailer and lives up to all the accolades it's been receiving, then we should all be in for a very special treat. The best news is that several websites are reporting that Sony Pictures Classics, the art house arm of Sony Pictures, has picked up the film for US and Australian distribution. While it'll most likely result in a limited art house release for stateside audiences, it's still terrific to hear that it'll be receiving some sort of US theatrical distribution.
2003-MAY-29
The Dirty World Of Clay Animation. Here's a detailed account from THE OREGONIAN of the back-room wheeling and dealing that resulted in Will Vinton being shoved out of his own stop-motion house Will Vinton Studios. There are revealing facts abound, like how Nike founder Phil Knight's wanna-be-rapper-turned-stop-motion-animator son Travis was promoted to the studio's board of directors as soon as his father gained financial control of the studio, although to be fair, sources tell me that the son has always been more interested in being an artist than a suit. This past Tuesday, Vinton filed a $3.1 million lawsuit against Knight and the company's board of directors, written about in another OREGONIAN story HERE. And now that founder Vinton is gone, his former studio's next major project is to produce Tim Burton's stop-motion animated feature THE CORPSE BRIDE, due out from Warner Bros. in Halloween 2005.
Incidentally, I saw Will Vinton in the audience at the Motion Picture Academy just a few nights ago, where they screened his Oscar-winning film from the mid-'70s - CLOSED MONDAYS - co-created with Bob Gardiner. It was interesting to see where it all began since many trademarks of the Vinton Claymation style could be seen in this early effort shortly before he opened his own studio. Happy 100th Birthday Bob Hope! Not exactly animation-related, unless you count the BOB HOPE comic from DC which was drawn for many years by Warner Bros. layout artist Owen Fitzgerald. For more Hope, check out this Library of Congress tribute. Anyway, happy birthday Bob... and I think I'll save that story about Bob Hope having sold his soul to the devil for another more appropriate time.  2003-MAY-28
A Thought on the POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE. On Monday evening, I finally had my chance to see last year's THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE, as it happened to be playing on Cartoon Network. The film kept my attention for at least half an hour before I switched the channel, which is pretty impressive considering that I've never had the patience or interest to sit through a single POWERPUFF GIRLS short (honest folks, this writer has never seen one from beginning to end except the first What-A-Cartoon). As was to be expected, the movie had a strong visual sense, considerably larger in scope than the TV series, and it was apparent that a lot of effort and care went into the making of the film. My favorite sequence from the portion I saw was the manic tag sequence that ultimately ends with the Powerpuff Girls destroying the city of Townsville. Ironically, the reason I turned off the movie was to watch a tape I'd rented of Jacques Tati's brilliant 1967 film PLAYTIME, which is a film I've often heard praised for its art direction, but didn't know would turn out to be the live-action equivalent of the POWERPUFF movie's ultra minimalist-modern environment. The only difference being that in PLAYTIME's case, the sleek and stylish art direction serves a genuine purpose and is integral to advancing the action forward, whereas all the designy visuals in POWERPUFF GIRLS amount to little more than set dressing. I really want to like THE POWERPUFF GIRLS, and given the choice between it and almost anything on Nickelodeon, I'd opt for Blossoms, Buttercup and Bubbles, but it's disappointing that after all these years of the TV series and now a feature-length movie, the creators still haven't figured out how to overcome the shallow and uninvolving characterizations, and turn the crime-fighting girls into something more compelling than mildly amusing graphic elements.
2003-MAY-19
Gagné Toys Around. Even though I'm not big on toys or collectibles, I have to admit that the first sculpture based on Michel Gagné's illustrated book INSANELY TWISTED RABBITS looks extremely fetching. Sideshow Collectibles will be releasing the sculpture in a limited edition of 1000 this summer. Michel, who is also a great FX designer and animator, is one of the most dedicated artists I know and he is passionate about every project he undertakes, so it is hardly surprising that his first foray into the toy field looks so nice. To keep abreast of all his various projects, check him out at GagneInt.com.If Only It Were That Easy... The CBC reports that a British university lecturer, Sue Clayton, has discovered the formula for making great films and that under her theory, TOY STORY 2 is the closest match to a perfect film. She says that the ideal film must be made up of the following elements: 30% action, 17% comedy, 13% good versus evil, 12% love/sex/romance, 10% special FX, 10% plot and 8% music. So what is Clayton's next project? Finding out the formula to why she's 100% idiot.
2003-MAY-12
Conan In Clay. Thursday's episode of LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN will be done entirely in clay animation. The show was adapted from an episode that originally aired last October and took six months to reproduce in animated form. It was animated by staffers from the show's scenic department and should be rather interesting, if not necessarily for its animation quality then for its novelty value. Read the NY POST article about the episode HERE.
2003-MAY-07
Cool New Book Alert. MEET MR. PRODUCT: THE ART OF THE ADVERTISING CHARACTER is compact in size but packed with hundreds of images of advertising mascots from throughout the 20th century. Many of the characters were originally created for animated TV commercials, although the book uses images only from their print appearances. It's a great design reference and a lot of fun to browse through (not to mention it's fairly cheap).
WEBSITE UPDATE. As you may have noticed, AnimationBlast.com has been experiencing a lot of "technical difficulties" over the past week, which includes the loss of a significant amount of email sent to me. My webhost assures me that the problems are now solved, but if you'd sent me any emails in the past few weeks and never received a response, you might want to try resending it. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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