keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

Unfortunately, I can only find a portion of this cartoon online, though the complete cartoon is part of the DVD set The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection . The clip below is courtesy of Kevin Langley . The Bandmaster-Drunkard Uploaded by klangley

( UPDATE : Thanks to Alan Cook , here's a link to four of the five animated shorts that are nominated. The only missing film is La Maison en Petits Cubes . ) The nominees for Best Animated Feature are Disney's Bolt , DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda and Pixar's Wall-E . It's a pretty good bet that Wall-E will take the prize. The only film of the three that could materially benefit from an Oscar would be Bolt , as the DVD is not yet out. Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda are done in theatres (barring a re-issue) and their DVDs were on sale for the Christmas season, so the bulk of their DVD sales are over. Wall-E also got a Best Original Screenplay nomination, though I would say that the odds are against winning in that category. All of the Wall-E writers are animation artists, so it's a good bet that the writers in the Academy won't be voting for it. They would prefer to keep the category in the family, so to speak. Wall-E did not get a nomination for Best Pict...

"Even as movie attendance has dropped nineteen per cent from its peak of 1.6 billion theatregoers, in 2002, the number of films released each year since then has increased by thirty per cent." - Tad Friend

There's a cliché that entertainment does well during recessions. It may not decline as much as other industries, but entertainment is not immune in any way from economic contractions. If you read about the film studios in the depression, you'll discover that all of them, except MGM, were in financial trouble in the early 1930s. Paramount was in receivership. Fox was taken over by the smaller Twentieth Century Pictures. There was a revolving door for management at RKO and it was financial desperation, not dedication to the art of film, that caused them to give Orson Welles the freedom that he had on Citizen Kane . What follows is something of a catalog of the layoffs, dead deals and belt tightening that's currently going on in companies related to animation. Canadian producer Cookie Jar was to have bought the Care Bears , Strawberry Shortcake and Sushi Pack from American Greetings for $195 million, but couldn't complete the financing due to the credit crunch. Bri...

This 1932 photo was taken in front of the Charles Mintz studio. Standing, left to right: Harry Love, Preston Blair, Allen Rose. Kneeling: Al Eugster. Preston Blair is a name that should be known to everyone in the animation business, if only because he wrote one of the first books on how to animate. That book has remained in print for around 60 years, which speaks to its usefulness. Even if you're not in the animation business, you've undoubtedly seen some of Blair's work. He animated on "The Dance of the Hours" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in Fantasia , did some owl animation in Bambi , and worked for Tex Avery at MGM, where his most famous animation is of Red, the girl who prompted sexual fireworks from Avery's wolf character. Tex Avery Uploaded by Texwolf This letter was in response to my questions about his time at MGM. The hand-written comment at the end of the third paragraph says "against Harman Ising." Click the pages t...

I no longer read comics as I once did, but I do keep an eye on the comics industry, mainly to give me a basis for comparison when I look at the animation industry. The comics field has long been the scene of conventions in various cities. They've been going on consistently since the 1960s in cities of various sizes. I've personally attended conventions in four different cities over the years and I haven't scratched the surface. While there is some industry business transacted at these conventions - mostly because they serve as a gathering place for professionals - their real audience is comics fans. They come to find items to buy, pick up news about what's happening next at their favorite companies or in their favourite titles. Finally, they come to meet the professionals. Conventions regularly advertise their guests as a draw for pulling in attendees. Guests will sign their work and perhaps do sketches. It's the opportunity for fans to have personal contact ...