Aardman made a gingerbread man for us.
Thanks Aardman people!

And thanks to stashmedia for making us aware of it. Ho ho ho!

Found one of those little tiny windows that you almost walk past but open anyway and find a new world to move into, explore, and live there: S Britt's blog, brought to my attention thanks to the genius of Secret Fun Blog. I keep checking out the links and it never stops. The latest revelation of links from S Britt: Chris Battle has this series of watercolors from Hayao Miyazaki.

Lovely animation here, courtesy of Stashmedia.

Let this be a lesson: get out there, and throw some flowers at neighboring planets!

Well there are some marvelous new characters at Creature Discomforts... disability ads from the folks that brought about Creature Comforts a few years back.

And, you know, Wallace and Gromit and all that lot.

Thanks to Animated News for the flag.


















Sylvain Chomet has a secret life. Lo! (click on Directors and then Sylvain Chomet... really.)












Eh... Cartoon Brew brings us an astonishing series of animation tit-bits, including this stimulating documentary about Russian animation. Please do look.

Does everyone know that my chum Damon Wellner over at the mighty Probot Productions is making a feature-length film,

THE GIBBON,

with Dan Milano (from Greg the Bunny and Robot Chicken)? Hot dog.





















And also... BE KIND REWIND by our friend Michel Gondry is on the horizon!

If you haven't seen Science of Sleep yet, you can borrow my copy.

O, I know, I don't really post anything anymore... but lookie.

Thanks, Drawn blog!

I can't remember the last time I recommended the Singeon site.

Please check in there, and give my regards.

Hey that's really something, Cartoon Brew!

Your chance to get caught up with the paintings of Vsevolod Ivanov here at English Russia blog. Amazing? It is for you to decide. But the answer is yes.















I never thought one mortal could say all there is to say about the Weebles Haunted House, but I was wrong.

Thank you, Kirk at Secret Fun Blog. your artistry exceeds, again!

Well this is the first time my kids have directed me to something interesting... this French Halloween videogame is perfectly goofy and spooky. And my six-year-old daughter won. Don't ask me how.

from Cartoon Brew


from Drawn!


from YouTube

According to Animated News, one of Hayao Miyazaki's favorite movies is a Russian film by Lev Atamanov called the Snow Queen. Which is available on DVD at eBay, with a little work.

HI!



I'm so sorry. I've forgotten where this came from. Thanks, whoever originally pointed me to this! Music is by OOIOO and the song is called "UMO." You may like this video for Sea and Cake, too. It's paperrad-ilicious!


Joel Trussell, you rascal! Why are you so always magnificent?!





Did you know people were taking pictures of Russia back in 1550?

No?

Check this 'un.




I seen HONKFEST making a ruckus in Harvard Square and it looks like big ol' fun. I'm glad I googled this phenomenon tho, cause I was a little scared that there were so many horn-playing schizos living so near my house! Apparently they came from all over for the HONKFEST and now they are gone. Whew!



I hope everyone knows about Hayao Miyazaki's Gake no ue no Ponyo, what is coming out next year. Hooray! I mean look at that picture! Gracious.













Plus, Seth Scriver still rulez!

We are back to flogging the already flogged... but just to be sure, we wanted to reiterate that this ongoing booklist from Yann Martel continues to inspire.

It happened to bring us to the Penguin paperback versions of some classix with formerly hip illustrators doing the covers... and the Chris Ware cover of Candide is in fact pretty clever and appealing. Perhaps the other RAW-cum-Penguin covers conceal worthy contents too. I know these translators provide text (inside the nifty covers) that are worth (re-)investing in.

Just sayin'.

Very nice! Life Magazine asked comic artists in 1947 to draw with their eyes closed, and most of the results look like Gary Panter comix. Excellent!

Thanks to boingboing for drawing this to our attentions.


Joel Trussell just changes our diapers, man. Dynamite!

Terry Border's Bent objects rulz this school. Thanks for to the Neatorama mention this.

Thanks cartoonbrew...

The Fun Never Stops is available at Amazon. Please buy this collection of Drew Friedman's stippled art.



Hooray for neatorama!

Peanut Butter Candy?
Banana Candy?
We can't decide.

Umm... What would Elvis do?














This man takes the cake.

Taeeun Yoo gets a little spotlight at Drawn! today. And we must say this Wrinkle in Time cover makes us want to go re-read this book.

Can't put a finger on it, but some quality of this illustration gets right to what literary characters feel like to an 11-year-old (at least how we remember being 11 years old...)




















Just saying... tho we seldom take a hard political line here at the playland of As Far As The Eye Can See, we would be sorely stung if the Feds took away our KSEY. And it looks like that is going to happen on July 15, what with the broadcasting tax that will begin on that date. No more Loretta Lynn, Bob Wills, and menus for Meals-on-Wheels in Seymour, Texas while we pine away in our miserable New England office.

Go vote for internet radio, y'all. Giddyap.

Anyone feeling nostalgic for a summer reading list? No? Come on now... you don't have to write a book report or anything.

No? Apparently neither does the Prime Minister of Canada. But Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, keeps pestering the guy with paperbacks. We have been excitedly reading these books as they appear on the list, making this a little like playing Space Invaders, except it's got learning involved. If I run into the Prime Minister of Canada, we will have a lot to talk about.

Book report to follow.



Wow. Wow. Bring your long-suffering brain into the 1960s with these over-the-top clips of Los Bravos, courtesy of WFMU blog.



Pierre Cardin's aorta house is just right for you! Err.. nice place to visit...

... thanks Neatorama.

L'animateur
Uploaded by nicop

L'Animateur for you! Thanks to the excellent Ursi's Blog for keeping the eyeballs trained on the horizon!

Faithless is puzzling and delightful, and doesn't make us especially thirsty for Coca-Cola products. Produced by several talented yokels at Paranoid Now.

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the pointer.










Hans Richter's Ghost Before Breakfast (link to Ubuweb's vast archives... as usual, pack a lunch because you will not return from this alternate universe for half a day, if you're speedy)!

Aaand the Digital Dada Library, from Iowa!! Yes!!!



Find out about Teen Time at the
Secret Fun Blog, and we will mail you a check for $7 if you don't laff out loud.

Mr Woo makes robots out of trash. Nicely done, boingboing.



Now, we personally know a farmer who builds cannons that can propel a turnip over the Connecticut River, using only PVC pipes, model rocket engines, and Aqua Net.

But we have no YouTube footage of him.

Fortunately he will be profiled in the upcoming PBS documentary on space travel, "Battle Beyond Belief."












We did find footage of my pal Jason tho... homemade welded scrap metal guitars, crazy backwards homemade electronics, the usual.

Plus, the new Casper the Friendly Ghost movie.

Which will be terrific, if you've gone without sleep for a few days.

Do you agree?

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the pointer.

Not to flog a dead horse, but now that our box arrived from Amazon.fr and we can watch all the episodes of Minuscule in their full-screen glory, we are more astonished than ever at the level of storytelling, beauty, and LOL humor this stuff is soaked in. It's French, but THERE ARE NO WORDS. So buy it! You can re-jigger your DVD player to watch it, and Amazon.fr will get it to you in a few days. It's a cinch.

Trust us! This is captivating, lovingly created animation!! OK?!

There was a time when the best you could hope for was to have your sheep follow you to school, right? These days you can look forward to all your toys following you to the movie theater.

If you are an avid fan of Wrigley's commercials, you've already see this. I had to get pointed to it by Stashmedia.

The Pingwings, courtesy of Cartoon Brew.

























The Bloody Olive, by Vincent Bal, courtesy of Neatorama.

From Fous D'Anim, some wonderful Swedish animation at Ljudbilden & Piloten. We'll be checking back often to see what develops.

Courtesy of Cartoon Brew... featuring links to a brace of terrific UPA shorts!


Sorry all you non-Japanese readers.
You can't have any cucumber soda.
A tip o' the fez to Neatorama for the pointer.

Boing Boing points to this one... way to be didactic without seeming didactic. Amazing!


Also, I am working on getting some good contacts for totem poles.

Apparently you are better off just coming across one in the woods than trying to buy one online. Imagine that.

Let me know if you have any good all-encompassing totem pole sites.

Stashmedia is very helpful these days... with a nod to the frabjous work of Osbert Parker (especially the amazing wig driving a car, seldom seen elsewhere)...







...PLUS an ad by one of my heroes, Michel Gondry.

The big news comes from the distant galaxy of Hydrocephalicbunny, which directs us to Rambler Vision... it is hundreds of samples of Russian animation. Thanks HCB!!!

Sorry... my computer got a virus and sort of died for a while.
Now I have lots of new non-Microsoft products to learn and play with.

But that's neither here nor there... there's animation news to share!

Firstly, the Minuscule shorts are finally available on DVD.

In French, with Region 2 copyright protection, so you have to re-jigger your DVD player to view French things. So, you'll probably never bother.

But, I will get them, and you are invited over to view them, because they are awesome. OK? See you.


Thanks to fous d'anim for the warning.


Also, the Newport Beach Film Festival shorts are extremely winning, and you should check 'em out.

Thanks to stashmedia for the note.



Stolen from Neatorama, which also has a Damon Wellner link today! Bwa ha ha!!!!


And finally... Spy Kids, as perceived in Belarus, actually looks very excellent. I wish every lousy Hollywood movie had posters hand-painted by someone who has never seen the movie or anyone in it.

Aren't you glad you have English Russia?

Nothing wrong with a million album covers, to start off an evening of eye candy. Mmmm.

Thanks, FMU, as usual.


This sketchbook blog is inconsistent, yet still pretty mesmerizing. It is NSFAWLKAMAAWEI (not safe for anywhere where little kids are milling around, asking what everything is).

























At the end of the day, is there really anything better than a whole mess of full-color Jack Kirby monsters? That you don't have to pay $35 apiece for on eBay?

Oh, really???

Why was it so spooky millions of years ago? Find out at Bibliodyssey!



From ze wonderful fous d'anim! Is very French!

Also treat yourself to Tadanori Yokoo, please.

There, there...

Thanks to the interweb, now I can join countless French children laying awake at night in fear of the Tarasque! Gaaaaaah!

Shat communicated from deep space, using the last few zontars left on his communicator, to make sure we knew about cookie monster with teeth.

Well.... Egads!

Still looking for the worst sumo-wrestling videogame ever made? Your search is over!

Thanks to you, metafilter.

We may have completely neglected to post about this. If you are a big animation-head, you can skip this because you already know about Animation Archive. Hopefully, tho, there are some out there who are just waiting for someone to give 'em them the green light.

Go! already! and follow all those links! There are illustration treasures galore waiting for you!!



That is a little bit too short, really... try this if you feel cheated.

From Cartoon Brew, this color key from one of my favorite animated films: 101 Dalmations. What a work of art.















Sergey Tyukanov certainly knows what he's doing.. go forth and learn, y'all!!

Credit goes to Bibliodyssey...