Animation Show Journal

After nearly 5 years The Animation Show returns to New York with a huge live event kick off for a new tour. We’re thrilled to be back this time opening at the IFC Center. Friday July 25th (8:20 show) will be a grand kick off event with our video preshow and Q&A featuring animator Dave Carter and Animation Show producers. Tuesday July29th animator PES will be onhand for a Q&A as well hosted by animator/writer Dave Levy (8:20 show). Tickets are onsale now!

This is the last live event for our current tour so please come out and bid adieu to another grand year of terrific shorts. Our DVD releases never duplicate the theatrical so once this program is gone, it’s gone forever.

The new tour isn’t just landing in NY this week. Look for big premieres in Sacramento at the Crest and Denver at the Starz Filmcenter all starting July 25th!

The mass migration to San Diego has begun. This year the largest sci-fi, animation and comic convention in the US is set to burst at the seams. It looks like events and guest speakers are still being added and four day passes to attend sold out weeks ago. We haven’t had a chance here to comb through it all with everything else going on but quite a few sites have. Check out Cinematical, Cartoonbrew and Comic-con’s official page for some highlights and the full breakdown. This year we’re back with long time Con partner Bill Plympton holding down camp at booth 5356. We’re draggin the kitchen sink down to the convention this year so expect a firesale on all sorts of Animation Show goodies. Brave the heat the and great unwashed, costumed hords to say hello!

If you’ve been following along on the site this year you’ve read a bit about this shows current departure from previous tours with our first commissioned short films. The first of the four that came together was with Stop-motion titan PES. The description for this film gave us a sense of where he wanted to take things for this culinary quickie but we really didn’t have a solid picture of the project until it arrived on our doorstep to as “Western Spaghetti”. Taylor recently caught up with PES and had this to share. For more production pics head over to his facebook page for a gallery of behind the scenes.

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 4 Theatrical
PES
Animator, “Western Spaghetti” (2008)
Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 6/9/2008
Via phone from New York

Animation Show: You’re at a post-production house right now. Tell me where and what you are post-producing.

PES: Actually, I’m editing a new commercial for Scrabble’s 60th Anniversary. They just put out this diamond edition, all the trays, you know, all the tiles and stuff are contained inside the box. It’s kind of like, made to travel. It’s their 60th anniversary, so…

AS: The mind reels at what the PES animated short based on the Scrabble set will be like.

PES: Well, you know, when you do a commercial, it’s not really my idea. I’m just really acting as the director. So it’s a totally different thing than conceiving and then shooting a film.

AS: So someone came to you with a precis and you’re a hired gun, basically, on this one?

PES: Yeah, I mean advertising you know, in general, like, the advertising agencies, they work for sometimes months, even a year, sometimes to sell concepts to clients. So I don’t have to deal with any of that part of it.

AS: Was that the modus operandi of some of your other commercials as well, because, I mean, you really have a personal stamp on the bits you were doing for, I believe there was a Coinstar spot and the Orange ads that you did. They seemed like they were really springing directly from your head.

PES: Well, always in commercials, there’s always a chance to put that personal kind of touch, you know, little humorous things here or there, but by and large, I’m always looking to see the best concepts I can get from advertising agencies. Because the better you start with, the better the end product will be. So, I like to put myself in a situation where I’m working on good concepts that I only have to make better, rather than try to take a concept that I don’t really think is that strong and turn it into something, that rarely works.

AS: So would you consider yourself in a pretty lucky position now that you’re getting a lot of things thrown at you and you can kind of pick and choose?

Watch out world… another superhero team-up is in the mix! Baman Piderman is by Alex Butera from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

Movie goers taking a break from the 24/7 Dark-Night-O-Thon can catch us this week in Kansas City, Omaha and Hartford Connecticut. Next week is huge with a visit to Comic Con and openings in New York, Sacramento and Denver to name a few. More soon.

-Via Drawn

It’s only a matter of time until animator Dave Carter is a household name here in the US. His ability to capture a performance visually and translate it to animation is truly inspiring and the interview below is a great glimpse into that process. The good citizens of New York can meet Dave in person Friday July 25th for our big kick off at the IFC Center. Taylor caught up with him recently via phone and had this to share.

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 4 Theatrical
Dave Carter
Animator, “Psychotown” (2008)
Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 4/6/2008
Via phone from Australia

Animation Show: I’m talking to Dave Carter, the creator of Pyschotown. And the first
question I have to ask you, Dave, not just because it affects your process as an animator but because it affects this very phone call, is that you are deaf. You have a cochlear implant. Can you talk about the extent of your deafness? How is your hearing now? And when did you first hear?

Dave Carter: Well, I didn’t hear anything until I was eight. So nearly up to then I was pretty much living in complete silence. And so ultimately that’s kind of had an effect on the way I see the world and obviously everything is so visual. And it still very much – even if I’ve got the implant nowadays. Yeah, so I guess it’s programmed this sort of visual orientation, way of seeing things.

AS: So I guess you learned to lip-read from an early age.

DC: That’s right, yeah. I never learned sign language, so – because my mother decided that her mission was going to be – that would ostracise me from the real world so she insisted that I learn to lip read. So yeah, that’s been my main mode of communication. And lip reading has sort of paid off in a good way because I’m pretty good at lip syncing because I can tell when it’s not right when I’m animating it.

AS: You have a real clear speaking voice, all things considered, so how did you get to
where you are now? Was there a lot of therapy involved?

That’s right! Over the last month and for the next two weeks you can catch a handful of shorts chock full of Animation Show love at the center of it all in Manhattan’s Time Square. MTV’s 441/2 screen (named after it’s location between 44th and 45th streets on Broadway) is one of the largest HD screens in the world. All to let the good folks of NYC know that we’re coming to the IFC Center July 25th for a massive premiere. More details to follow.

Rob Shaw and Paul Harrod of Bent Image Lab experiment with a little card play in this new spot for BC Dairy Foundation. Bent just updated all of the recent videos and projects on their official site. Check em out.

During the last few Animation Show Q&A’s a number of different videos have been referenced and I wanted to pass along some more background incase you wanted to share with audio visual treats with friends.

Ankle Injury directed by Yukfoo. The song is by Fujiya and Miyagi.

Black / White directed by Blind. The song is by the Raveonettes

I’m Impressed directed by Bent Image Lab. The song is by John Linnell

Salmon Dance directed by Dom & Nic with visual effects by Framestore CFC. The song is by The Chemical Brothers

Myriad Harbour by Flourescent Hill. The song is by The New Pornographers.

D.A.N.C.E by Jonas and Francois from “75” Production. The song is by Justice.

It’s time again to answer a few e-mails and comments that have come in over the last few weeks…

Hello there. I am a nineteen-year-old animation student in sunny Los Angeles, California. I am a huge fan of the show and just about everything Mike Judge has ever done. I saw this year's show at the Nuart (though not on the opening night, to my great sadness). My complaint isn't about the show itself, which was vastly better this year than last year, but about the selection of animation show t-shirts on this website. I notice the minimum size you offer is Medium, ranging all the way to XX-Large. I personally am gravely offended by the implication that the only people who like independent animation are obese and very visibly uncool. Let's not continue to perpetuate such a stereotype. I will be waiting for my small shirt.
Yours sincerely,
J

Yikes! We totally offer small sizes for shirt J. There is one specific shirt that’s only in Large and XL because it was a very limited batch and that color shirt was only available in the two sizes. If folks are interested though we’ll continue to explore more variations. We’ve actually found that most of our theater goers and the animators we work with are quite fit and trim. I guess obsessive people have peculiar eating habits.

Hey, I was just wondering the full details on the IFC Center showings of Animation Show, like which filmmakers will be there and at what showings? Thanks!
Yours sincerely,
E

I think showtimes for the IFC won’t be 100% locked until a week ahead of time. I would guess a 7:00 (ish) and 9:30 (ish) showtimes. We’re really looking to blow things out for NYC with animator Q&A’s a few times a week during the run. We open on Friday July 25th with Dave Carter and the Animation Show squad in the house. This will be a Q&A to remember! I think Monday or Tuesday (July 28 or 29th) we’ll have PES out and I’m still trying to connect with Bill Plympton for something at the end of the week. We’ll shoot out a screening newsletter when tickets are ready to go onsale so sign up for the NYC letter.

I was wondering when the Portland, OR Animation Show will be opening?
Yours sincerely,
A

Good grief me too. The Cinema 21 in Portland has been our home on and off for the last six years and we really want to open there again with this show. But as a single screen they’re strapped down to the big studio’s whim for releases. The date we had back in June was pushed because of Mongol and now we’re hoping for fall. We’ll update when it’s a go.

is there going to be a Milwaukee show this year!!!!!
Yours sincerely,
S

There is going to be a Milwaukee show. Yes, yes! It’s looking like September 9th we’ll return to the Times Cinema. We’ll post up on the schedule page and send out a newsletter when that’s locked.

Do you have a link to the previous years website design with the waves? Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
S

Weird. No.

Where can I get posters for the 3rd and 4th Animation Show?
Thanks much -
G

San Diego Comic Con will be your next opportunity for show posters followed abruptly by e-bay I imagine.

Hi gang,
I recently saw a commercial on MTV2 for The Animation Show. It had a polar bear talking to a penguin in a living room. I thought it was great... do you know if that's an actual film?

Yep, the short you mention is called “John and Karen” by Matthew Walker and is currently touring in our Animation Show 4 program. Check out the schedule page for updates on when it’ll hit a city near you.

I went to Key Cinema, a small theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana and watched the new Animation Show #4. I like it, especially "The Unpaid Hooker" short. Because I like simple and funny. The paintball was also cool too, in a different way. Overall very nice! I am a fan of Beavis and Butt-Head, Aqua-Teen Hunger Force, much of the Adult Swim line-up, many South Park episodes, Ren and Stimpy adult etc, and enjoy some amateur projects like the cartoons on NewGrounds.com and HomestarRunner.com.
I have been thinking of making a computer animated cartoon series for a while. I am focusing on the character humor content more than the artistic graphic ability. So the simple shorts of the Animation Show volumes are inspiring to me!
Yours sincerely,
D

Thank you for writing D! Keep at it and send us a link or DVD if you get some headway on our series.

I have written you three times and still heard no response. I’m trying to reach Mike Judge for casting his new film. Attached are my headshot, resume and agents information. I would like to read for Dale or the Kenny. If you can not forward this to Mike you must notify me.
Regards,
B

God damn actors. I don’t even think “the Kenny” is a character in Mike’s new feature. We’re not connected at all to Mike’s current production so I’m afraid you’re barking up the wrong tree. You get points for the pissy urgency though.

Hello!
I have a question, i'm from europe and want to buy The Animation Show box vol.1 & vol.2. Is it possible to get a European version of the DVD? otherwise it will not work on my DVD-player.

I’m afraid it isn’t. We’re not available on PAL. Our DVD will probably play on your computer DVD player but there aren’t currently plans for a world wide release. We gotta get folks here in the US to take a wider interest first, yahoo!

So Animation Show what’s next?
P

Travel, travel, Comic Con, travel, NYC, travel, sleep.. vacation.

Thank you all for your e-mails and comments folks. Sorry if we haven’t written you back directly. E-mail has become a daunting giant between travel, phone calls and everything else. If you have questions you can’t find an answer too though drop us a line and we’ll write back or post a response here in the news area.

Steve Dildarian’s short film “Angry Unpaid Hooker” has caused quite a stir in our current touring program. There is dialog in this short that crawls into your head to wait and spring forth at inopportune moments. Lunch with family members: THEM “This coffee is so expensive” YOU “I know, half the blow job money is gone!”.. Ok, I’m not doing it justice but it’s damn funny stuff. Writer and archivist Taylor Jessen chatted with Steve recently and had this to share…

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 4 Theatrical
Steve Dildarian
Animator, “Angry Unpaid Hooker” (2007)
Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 5/30/2008
Via phone from Los Angeles

Animation Show: A quick life story please, a short precis of where you’ve been and how you got to where you are now?

Steve Dildarian: Oh, I’ve always done advertising until recently – grew up in Jersey, went to Glassboro State and then School of Visual Arts in New York. I’ve forever been doing TV commercials, a lot of beer commercials. Budweiser’s been my main thing for a long time, and then through that, got some other opportunities, and started drawing, and then a bunch of different things that led me to making this short animated film. So, kind of series of events lead to me stumbling into animation by accident, almost.

AS: When did you say to yourself “Good grief, I gotta get into advertising” and when did you say “Hey look at me, I’m in advertising?”

SD: You know, honestly, I knew in high school that I was going to do comedy writing of some kind, and went to college actually to try to get into TV writing, then just kind of switched. I think it seemed more realistic for me to go to New York instead of L.A. at the time. So I thought advertising made sense, and before you know it, I started doing well in some of my classes. So in the back of my head, writing TV shows was always plan A, but once advertising kind of took off, it was hard to turn back. I started doing Little Caesar’s commercials when that was popular – “Pizza Pizza.” Then the Budweiser lizards thing caught on and that ran for years. So, you know, I was enjoying it enough, and getting enough creative freedom, where I never missed not doing TV. You know, a lot of the advertising I ended up doing was more like comedy writing and sketch writing. So I had no complaints.

AS: That’s really interesting that you felt more free. I mean, weren’t the client breathing down your neck at all?

Our Fourth of July kick-off in the bay area was success! A huge thank you to Steve Dildarian and Dave Carter both for an excellent post show talk. We’ve got interviews with both that I hope to get up this week. More news and reviews from this last weekend’s openings are up in the latest headline block now. Friday brought the demise of my camera so no snaps to share unfortunately but we’ve got a week or two to regroup here before Comic Con and the final live event in NYC. More details soon.

It’s another big summer weekend for movies folks. If you’re not particularly hip to the superhero genre I can pass along some geekish advice. This summer your priority for superhero movies should be as follows… Batman, Hell Boy, Iron Man, (safe to stop there but if you must) Hulk aaaaand Hancock. Pascal illustrates that point nicely above. Now the top two on that list aren’t even out yet and you should have seen Iron Man back in May so… come on. The post below details our exploits July 5th in San Francisco and there is a wide swath of art house Cineplex’s this weekend that will share new Animation Show goodness. It’s nice to be back in the Bay Area. Here’s what the local print folk had to say.

Attention San Francisco residents! July 5th we are taking over Landmark Theatres Lumiere Theater for a dynamite evening of animation. Animator Dave Carter is flying in from Australia to talk Psychotown and SF local Steve Dildarian will share all things Angry Unpaid Hooker. This Fourth of July weekend marks the Animation Show’s widest opening weekend of the year as we roll on to eight new screens from San Francisco and Berkeley across the country to Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, St. Louis, Madison and Ann Arbor. The reviews have just started to stream in so we’ll be posting more updates in the headline box over there to your right throughout the weekend.

For SF residents come out early to catch our sonically delicious preshow packed with surprises and giveaways after the program during the Q&A.

Talk of two great new Disney shorts has been creeping along the web the last few days. The first short “Presto” is attached to Wall-E and now available via iTunes. The second short is called “Glago’s Guest” and will most likely be attached to "Bolt" which arrives to cinemas before the holidays. Our man Taylor Jessen caught Glago early and had this to share…

Full disclosure: I am a Disney cast member. If you check your program notes, you’ll find that I play the part of “Secretary III” in tonight’s show. But even though I’m on the company payroll, they’re not gonna dump me and bring on the understudy as long as I don’t spoil anything, and I think I’m far enough removed from Production to stay objective, kinda.

Animation people know that Bolt has a little cloud following it. Old director fired, new director hired. The new director’s name is Chris Williams. IMDB him and you will find he is an accomplished story man. But can he direct?, one wonders. Ratatouille changed directors mid-stream too, and it rocked – but still, that was Brad Bird. We need a sign.

Here is one very good sign: Glago’s Guest, the new Disney short Chris Williams directed that will be attached to Bolt. Glago’s Guest premiered at Annecy, and won’t be seen by the general public until it opens in front of Bolt – both flat and, when appropriate, in Disney Digital 3D – in November.

I’m no hardcore Disney connoisseur, but I think I’ve gathered a reliable impression over my lifetime of the kind of thing one can expect from the Mouse House, animation-wise. This is like NOTHING in the Disney filmography. Put aside all the gee-whiz steroid-juicing comic book action we’ve seen this year, last year, every year, and just try to remember the last really good straight science-fiction moviegoing experience you had. Something where the viewer is dropped into someone’s prosaic little world somewhere on this planet and something awesome happens. Think Primer or Close Encounters or Contact.

Glago is a Russian soldier in a deserted frontier outpost in 1924. This outpost is a clean-air, big-sky plain, a snowy version of the Black Rock Desert playa. Were it to host a Siberian Burning Man, six million people could park there, and then instantly freeze to death. The guard tower is a highly evolved shack, cozy inside, stretching up a few stories, with a little sign stuck in the ground so you know you’ve arrived. Which you haven’t, because no one ever does. We meet Glago outside during a blizzard, bundled in furs with binoculars pressed to his bearded, bushy-eyebrowed, snow-dripping face as he stares at the horizon confirming the imminent arrival of no one whatsoever. Night falls. The skies clear. Binoculars. No one is coming now, either. He sits at his desk and takes some notes about no one. Notes from previous days describing their previous no ones suggest that today was not atypical. Dinner, some 78s on the Victrola, a book, bed.

The next day it’s clear and sunny, and Glago goes out again. He scans the horizon and confirms the precipitance of not one bloody human being as far as the eye can see. Then he hears a low rumble. He looks north, south, east, and west, but still he sees nobody coming. Then he looks up, and things start getting seriously atypical.

Glago’s Guest is, no kidding, a poker-faced sci-fi thriller that’s completely uninterested in being cute and telegraphing gags and more interested in simply being awesome. Apparently we do this now. Based on evidence of the past year, Walt Disney Animation Studios is now ready and willing to produce both the likes of Goofy Presents How To Hook Up Your Home Theater and Glago’s Guest, two very different notes in a gamut that’s suddenly much broader than anyone could have guessed.

Williams pitched the short two years ago, and it was green-lit before he got onboard with Bolt. Glago was put aside at first when Williams got his new gig – but then a bunch of crewmembers gathered to demand its completion, and John Lasseter said “Yes, please.” Two years and lots and lots of downtime hours later, they finished it in time for Annecy this month. The music is by John Brion, and the landscape design features the single best sky I’ve ever seen in CGI.

Got the news late last night that Bill Plympton’s animated feature "The Tune" is available for download now over at iTunes. For those that haven’t seen the film the following details were provided for further inquiry:
“Bill Plympton's first feature-length extravaganza that earned a nomination for a Sundance Grand Jury Prize. It tells the story of Del, a struggling songwriter who must come up with the perfect ditty for slimeball mogul Mr. Mega, or run the risk of losing his job and his girlfriend Didi.”

So.. a worthwhile addition to you download library. Operators are standing by.

Postpanic director Mischa Rozema and 3d wiz Ivor Goldberg join forces again for the second episode in the Postman series. I found the first segment absolutely nutso addictive when we first caught this on a One Dot Zero reel a few years back. Postpanic Postman was intended for Postpanic’s reel but was extended due to popular demand by friends. Watch the hi-res version above the first one here.

Via - Motionographer

Yes, I had even dorkier headlines but that one took the cake. If you’ve been following along each week we’ve done film head-to-head film matches as our new Animation Show rolls out across the land. This weekend Wall-E opens. Nuff said. For residents of Portland Maine you can see us tonight for a one-night-only event at the Space Gallery in Portland Maine. How cool is Space Gallery for hosting a game of Zombie Kickball, the rock wizards Harry and Potters along with a fine bevy of Animation Show shorts. Check em out!

With the promise of “Award Winning Films in Higher Quality” Youtube unveils it’s new screening room of currated content. You can check out the first four films to be posted here. The site (in a press release I haven’t seen) touts the potential for rev share and even a ‘Buy Now’ button! Cause… after you’ve watched it for free…

But good for Youtube, right? We’ll see how people react as advertising starts to trickle into the UGC giant. Like any corporate monster you’d expect deals for shorts will only be with larger distribution groups (NFB, Shorts Unlimited) so will independents feel any love? Now you have to ask… what does Youtube deem rev share worthy?

Via – Short of the Week

This week over at Frederator Dan Meth wrapped the final Meth Minute in his web series Meth Minute 39. The 39th episode We Were the Meth Minute is fitting tribute and ending to a series that’s pulled in a gazillion views across Frederator’s various cartoon depots. If you’ve never heard of the Meth series head over to Dan’s site to catch up with the other 38.

The Meth Minute started with Internet People! a hilarious web tribute to the great viral performers of our time long before South Park and Weezer jumped on board.

Our visit to Seattle was a relatively quick turn around but a stellar night out was had by all. Joel Trussell flew out from Knoxville to join us at the Varsity Theater for a short and sassy Q&A after and before the two evening programs Friday night.

(*side note* Last Wednesday we shipped a huge box of posters to the theater to give away to the audience Friday and unfortunately the posters were a no show. So for anyone interested in an awesome Animation Show onesheet head down to the Varsity theater and ask the kindly staff.)

The best treat of the night was getting to meet Joel’s crew and some of Seattle’s animation gang. Thank you to Anton Bogaty, Gene Blakefield, Matt Tamaru and Tom DesLongchamp for a fantastic night out after the show! It was an honor to see so many incredible local animation giants turn out for the event. You owe it to yourself to check out these guy’s sites if you’re not familiar with their work. Joel was a tremendous tour guide and we lucked out in the weather department with the first full weekend of sunshine apparently in months. I’ve inserted various touristy Seattle pics below to better detail our merriment. Sir Trussell stayed in town through Sunday and we bolted Saturday morning to return to the muggy nastiness that is Los Angeles. For those that missed us over the weekend we’ll be onscreen through Thursday so please tell a friend. Next up.. San Francisco Bay Area for the 4th of July.

It gets dirty this weekend in Seattle, Detroit and Philly as the Animation Show 4 rolls into town with a slew of independent film releases and a garbage pale full of love guru’s and Maxwell Smarts. Pascal Campion illustrates the thrashing above that I think cinema goers will want to take part in after sitting through the above guru (it’s opening on 3012 screens). We’re ready to hit the Varsity tonight! Seattle press has been great to us this year with some love in the Times here. For Philly and Detroit residents catch us this weekend for very limited engagements. Seattle’s run is set for a week only so come out tonight and say hello. See the post below for details on the event. Happy weekend everyone!

The Animation Show splashes down in Seattle tomorrow night for the northwest premiere of the new tour. The show staff will be on hand with very special guest Mr. Joel Trussell. The preshow we’d been working on the last few weeks was a hit in LA so we'll will kick things off Friday at the Varsity with this visual treat as well (get there early). For those looking to grab our new poster or other fun show oddities we have some giveaway surprises for you as well. Tickets are onsale now. See you soon!

Mr. Taylor Jessen has been burning the midnight oil on the interview front to bring you some live creative insight from the talented filmmakers involved in this year’s line-up. We’ve been sprinting from opening to opening so we haven’t had a chance to sit down with all of these podcasts and get them formatted for your listening enjoyment, but soon! In the meantime a handful of artists have been nice enough to communicate via e-mail, fax, carrier pigeon… you name it, to bring us background and details on work past and present.

One of this year’s current program highlights is animator Grant Orchard “Love Sport – Paintballing”. One of ten short films that was commissioned for MTV Itialia’s web portal QOOB. Take a peak.

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 4 Theatrical
Grant Orchard
Animator, “Love Sport - Paintballing” (2007)

Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 6/11/2008
Via e-mail from London

Animation Show: Did your first big design epiphany come while you were playing Castle Wolfenstein on the Apple II+? Or were you inspired growing up by videogame graphics in general?

Grant Orchard: No, not really. I did love Daley Thompson’s Decathlon on the Commodore64 when I was younger though.

You had to hit the keys alternately to run, and if you wanted to throw or jump you pressed spacebar. The last event was the 1500 meters and you had to keep pumping those keys for what seemed like hours. It was business class.

As for design epiphany I’d like to say it was seeing a Hockney painting for the first time or being truly moved by the typography on a New Order album cover, but I think it was probably seeing Dogmatix in the Asterix books.

This year our new program features a number of short animations from the prestigious Gobelins school of Animation in Paris France. Each year for the Annecy International festival of Animation the school creates short show openers that kick off the days programming. There’s a new opener to watch each day and now that the festival has wrapped all of the latest shorts have been posted on Gobelins website. Go check out this years mix.

The Animation Show opened with a triumphant return to the Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles this weekend! We had a great time and it was really nice to finally play the film close to home. For those that aren’t familiar with the Nuart it’s a single screen that’s really the founding father of the midnight movie here in LA. This is a tradition they still proudly uphold, this week with a midnight screening of JAWS and ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, after the evening show. So the venue was perfect for the cavalcade of animation goofiness that was brought fourth. Lots of familiar faces arrived from Mike’s family tree from King of the Hill, Beavis and Butthead and MTV in general. Thank you to Taylor for taking all of the pics. He was a life saver and grabbed some sweet shots. I hosted the Q&A after the first show with animators Steve Dildarian and Corky Quakenbush and a few more familiar faces joined them for the shot below.

Peter Cornwell, Corky Quakenbush, Mike Judge, and Steve Dildarian

After the evenings proceedings we headed off for an after hours drink leaving some additional goodies behind for the folks partaking in the final screening of the night. I have to say that the move from 35mm to digital this year was a scary thing for us, especially after investing so much time and money into last years HD arrangement, and it worked perfectly. The digital Qube projection is stunning! It’s the best looking thing I’ve seen on screen. This is the future of all theatrical distribution and Landmark has nailed it early. You can catch the film the Nuart Theatre until Thursday of this week. Our eye grabbin music preshow will accompany the film for the duration of the week as well. Friday we’re moving down to the Regency Fairfax cinemas so you still have time to come check out the program folks! Presale tickets should be available for our live shows in Seattle this coming weekend and look for us in Philadelphia and Detroit as well. The shower you forced yourself to take after watching The Happening should be finished by now. It’s time to heal with a little cinematic treat ala Animation Show.

The Animation Show returns to cinemas this week prepared for the onslaught of CG Hulks and spooky Happenings. It’s especially nice to be back at the Nuart in west LA for our Los Angeles return. Nation wide the tour also lands in Boston, Washington DC, and San Diego. With the roll-out comes some more nice write ups this week. Like every tour city to city reviews for individual shorts completely contradict themselves paper to paper. For the humor impaired reviewer “Yompi” and “Angry Unpaid Hooker” seem to swing wildly with heaps of praise for Grant Orchard’s “Love Sport - Paintballing”. My favorite review snipit comes from Betsy Sherman at the Boston Phoenix…

“And the weird-ass championship belt goes to Satosho Tomioka’s “USAvich, ep. 18: Beware of Dance!” — creepy-cute as only the Japanese can do it. A syncopated car ride with humanoid bunnies and a frog that shits out a live goldfish, this one will be on a permanent loop in my brain for weeks to come.”

The LA Times had a nice write up earlier this week and we’ll post more of the DC, San Diego and Boston reviews in the headlines thread over there to your right.

We’re off to the Nuart! Angelenos head on over to the west side tonight for a dynamite program equipped with rock-em sock-em preshow, some fun swag and snappy Q&A with animator Steve Dildarian. Rebecca and I will be there thank you personally for your support.

The always spectacular Animation Magazine is holding a contest now for a handful of Animation Show Volume 3 DVD copies. We’ve gotten the Magazine for years but I hadn’t spent much time on their site. Low and behold there’s a groovy behind the scenes interview with PES you gotta check out that just went up. Good stuff. Go take a look and don’t forget to enter to win!

Advance tickets for this weekend’s openings in Los Angeles, Boston, San Diego and Washington DC are on sale now! No nasty ticketweb or ticket master to deal with this time. The show team and artist Steve Dildarian will be on hand for the LA premiere Friday night. I’d really recommend arriving early for our preshow entertainment. We’ll be giving out posters, prizes and feature a dynamite mix on screen to delight the senses. Stop by and say hello.

Back in 2006 Cold Hard Flash ran a fantastic piece on the 10 most influential flash artists working and now they’re back with a stellar new online event! CHF teamed up with MyToons to recruit a diverse panel of judges who then assembled The Flash Animation 10: Best Animated.

This online film festival shares 10 of the very best flash shorts online with interviews to share a lot more behind the scenes all counting down to number one. It’s a great list with some familiar faces and surprises!

The Brew will be serving up some all new Animation Show Volume 3 DVD’s for folks this Wednesday and Thursday so check in and win. Contests will be held both mornings at 1pm Eastern / 10am pacific. Thank you Jerry!

A handful of artists return each year to the tour and we're thrilled to include Matthew Walker's name into that mix with the hilarious "Astronauts" available on Animation Show Volume Three . Taylor caught up with Matthew back in December for this quick interview. Congrats are in order as well as both "Operator" and "John and Karen" are in competition at the Annecy Animation Festival this year.

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 3 DVD
Matthew Walker
Animator, “Astronauts” (2005)
Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 12/11/2007
Via e-mail from Bristol England

Animation Show: What was the story kernel for “Astronauts”?

Matthew Walker: When I was trying to think of what I wanted to do for my graduation film I decided I wanted to do something simple, something that was primarily character based, like an interaction between two characters. I thought of the idea of two characters bickering in an isolated environment and then this became two astronauts traveling through space in a tiny spaceship. The story developed from that.

AS: What were your duties – animation, sound design, voices, background design, other?

MW: I did everything except for the voices and the sound design, plus some of the props (pot plant, lunch box, watering can etc) were built by other people for me.

It’s raining kung fu pandas this week. It seem like there isn’t an artblog or animation related site that isn’t in full.. pandemonium (sigh) over this thing. Well the Animation Show is bringing the thunder this weekend to Columbia and Springfield Missouri with OUR all new program of ballistic primates. We’re also opening in Fort Collins Colorado for the first time I believe (with dates in Boulder TBA). I’d still take Usavich in a fight against a CG panda any day of the week. As before.. a hearty thanks to Pascal for illustrating our animation cage mach above. Next week we go wide with big openings in LA, Boston, DC and San Diego. Animation Show smash!

A fantastic spot for the French TV channel Tiji called “The Balloon”. This was created by DDB Paris and answers the question “where do balloons go when they fly away?”

Tuesday (June 3rd) our third touring collection of animation officially hits store shelves and to celebrate we’ve got another great interview with a filmmaker that’s new to the Animation Show. Guilherme Marcondes “Tyger” played extensively at festivals back in 2006-07 and we’re honored to have the film in the mix with last year’s theatrical program. I caught up with the Guilherme briefly last week and he’s currently got his hands full with several new works. Two of these are opening credit sequences, one for a film called “Bunraku” which has him animating with puppets (both 3D and 2D) and the second sequence is for a Brazilian horror movie that mixes several styles and looks astonishing. I hope to share more info on the latter project soon as details are still very hush hush. The final project is a teaser trailer for the new online animated series inspired by the Mahabharata and written by Grant Morrison. Guilherme took a break back in December to speak with Taylor about “Tyger” and a lot more…

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 3 DVD
Guilherme Marcondes
Animator, “Tyger” (2006)

Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 12/23/2007
Via e-mail from Los Angeles

Animation Show: Talk about Cultura Inglesa, and talk about how you picked the subject for the short.

Guilherme Marcondes: Cultura Inglesa is an English school in Brazil. Every year they sponsor a festival of Brazilian art related to British culture. There are music shows, theater performances, fine arts exhibitions and a “digital cinema” scheme that gives a grant to help produce three chosen scripts based on a British literary text. Tyger was one of the films sponsored in 2006. I always wanted to do something related to that poem by William Blake so it made sense to me to apply a script for the competition.

AS: Were you in charge of all the visual aspects, or was it an across-the-board collaboration among the whole team?

GM: Although I guided the production of all elements I gave the collaborators a definite but open brief, more like “go that direction” than “do exactly this”. I let each person interpret the script and do their own thing based on the mood I was after.

AS: Talk about the artists you admire that have made you who you are.

The track is “Mister Jung Stuffed” from the band Man Man. It’s the perfect primer for the raucous house party you probably shouldn’t attend tonight. This walks that NSFW line (sort of ) so be warned. The video was illustrated by Arthur Jones using hand-painted backgrounds and composited stop motion effects. Great animated music vids are popin up everywhere. Wired has three more gems here.
-Via Motionographer

Each year we launch a new traveling tour we put out a call for help to spread word about the show in order to get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible. This year we’ve streamlined things and have posted a number of printable posters up in our Underground area. We have postcards and flyers we can send you as well but this is the speediest answer for the quick draw supporter itchin to plaster his neighborhood with signage. If you send us examples of your handiwork around town we’ll get you free tickets and more based on your adventures. This show would be impossible to pull off without the support of the animation lovers out there that have lent us a hand each year. We thank you all! Viva la Underground!

Next week the third volume of the Animation Show will hit shelves across the country and to celebrate we wanted to share some more background on some of the new titles that will added to the previous theatrical mix. Tony Comely’s brilliant “Abigail” was a gem that arrived to the office late in the game so this release gave us the perfect opportunity to share the title in this set. Taylor Jessen caught up with Tony just before Christmas and had this to share…

THE ANIMATION SHOW YEAR 3 DVD
Tony Comley
Animator, “Abigail” (2006)

Interviewer: Taylor Jessen
Date: 12/12/2007
Via e-mail from the UK

Animation Show: What was the story kernel for this short?

Tony Comley: In a way the idea happened backwards. I began with lots of detailed sequences, which then coalesced into themes and eventually found a home on board a burning airplane.

It was a conscious decision to write that way. At the time I was surrounded by lots of overwrought animation about war or moving to London from Bratislava, so I wanted to write something less self-conscious. For that reason the ‘meaning’ of the film fluctuates according to my mood, but really it’s just a collection of angry rants about evangelical Christians, art snobs and public transport.

AS: What were your duties – animation, sound design, voices, background design?

TC: Pretty much everything except the music and acting. It was made on a budget of £700 (about $1300), which went on a graphics tablet, a hard drive and lots of caffeine.

Chicago was a blast! Bill Plympton arrived safely Friday night and signed DVD’s, books and countless Hot Dog sketches for a gracious Music Box crowd. This year’s run was the first that Rebecca and I have personally been able to attend out in Chicago and I have to say the Music Box Theater itself ranks as one of the top 20 twenty venues in the country. It’s a classy, gothic venue complete with creaky doors, broken toilets and a nice musty auditorium. When we arrived early in the afternoon to drop off the film you could tell the joint has ghosts and been witness to years of epic cinema. All of that adds to what makes going to the movies so great when the lights go down. I didn’t take a lot of photos as we were continually running from errand to errand but got a few pics of Bill in action at the table after his Q & A. We’ve still got some work to do on the preshow for LA’s kick off so it will be a busy couple of weeks. Saturday was all recovery with a long trip home in time for the holiday. This Friday the show travels to Notre Dame and Indianapolis for a little Indiana love. More soon.

We’re back on the road this week going head to head with the Jones’s. Pascal Campion illustrates the match up nicely above... Like Iron Man the Indiana Jones movie is onscreen literally every seven seconds but Chicago reviews for our new show have been through the roof! A huge thank you again to Pascal for illustrating our show cage match this week. You can check out his Iron Man and Harold and Kumar too for more summer battles between our viking warrior and the various summer baddies. We’re off to the Music Box Theatre now to deliver the film for tonight’s screening, meet up with Bill and prep for the preshow festivities. If you’re in Chicago and reading this stop by the Music Box tonight and give us a shout. I leave you with a really great review from Aintitcool News that just landed today.

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