Talk to the Snail

A: The 2007 Los Angeles Shorts Fest

Congratulations to Jim Wyatt and Karl Toerge for the acceptance of their Random! Cartoon short, “Ratzafratz”, into this September’s L.A. Shorts Fest, the largest shorts festival in the world. While made up of mostly live-action films, the event always has great animation thrown in (just look at the line-up from one of the programs last year: One Rat Short, Tart Aux Pommes, The Little Matchgirl, All Aboard, Kung-Fu Gecko, Little Blue, Tragic Story with Happy Ending, The Danish Poet, Close Your Eyes and Do Not Breathe, and Delivery).

Best of luck Jim, Karl, Cyrus, Squawk, and Urban. If you win, there will be extra cheese for all.

– Eric

If you’ve ever driven through downtown L.A., you’ve seen the big Felix the Cat sign at Felix Chevrolet on South Figueroa. Despite opposition from the mayor’s office and a local city councilwoman, the city’s Cultural Heritage Commission yesterday voted to declare it a Historic-Cultural Monument. This doesn’t mean it’s 100% protected forever, but it does mean it’ll be a lot harder to do away with.

Read about it here.

– Eric

Click here to subscribe to Channel Frederator or go to iTunes. Please send your suggestions to promotecartoons@gmail.com.

Yeah, yeah, I know. This post is all about the self-promotion, but here it is nonetheless. Noggin is now airing Bob Boyle’s Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! twice a day – at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. during the week and at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekends. The extra airings are more good news as Bob and his crew start production on the series’ second 26 half-hours.

– Eric

Congratulations to Pen Ward and “Adventure Time” for winning the category of “Best Film for Children” and to Dan Meth, Lee Rubenstein, Animax Entertainment, Steve Stark, Nylon Motion, Devin Clark, Bernard Derriman, Seed Animation, Joe Shakula, Mukpuddy Animation, Jeaux Janovsky, Javan Ivey, Bishop Animation, Doogtoons, and Michael Fallik for nabbing the “New Media/Internet” prize with “The Secret Life of Robots” at the first-ever Platform International Animation Festival earlier tonight.

Well-deserved, guys.

– Eric

Chris Battle has sent out a reminder for tomorrow night’s charity auction at Cartoon Network. I’ll be on my way back from Platform, but I would be there (great art and a chance to support the city in which I live). I’ll cut and paste some of which Chris had to say:

“Just wanted to let you know about a very cool art event this weekend: Cartoon Network Studios will once again be host to a special art auction to benefit the Family Service Agency of Burbank on Saturday, June 30th at 6:00 pm. Much like last year’s show, up for auction will be a large selection of original art by animation artists, production-related art + promo items, and special goodies, all going towards an excellent cause.

You can also check out all the items up for auction HERE.”

Best of luck with the auction, everyone.

– Eric

And it went great. Big congratulations to a ton of folks, including Lee, Carrie, and, especially, Dan, for a job well done.

The above shot shows the first group of about eighty animators for tonight’s jam. Clockwise from lower left: Jerry Beck, Dan Meth, Bill Plympton, Pat Smith, Dave Levy, and Lee Rubenstein. Thanks, guys.

A LOT of pictures and one funky film to follow.

– Eric

And Dan’s a better Platform blogger than I.

I did, today, see my favorite film in long while, but there’s still a few days left of the festival.

Can I make it to tonight’s Drinking and Drawing event without my beauty rest? Time will tell.

– Eric

Off to Rose City and the first ever Platform International Animation Festival in a few hours. See you there (especially at tomorrow night’s Drinking & Drawing event).

– Eric

Thanks to everyone who turned out for this afternoon’s Random! Cartoons screening at Nick (and thanks to Nick, too, for giving us the space and food, as always). Lots of familiar faces, like……

Above, that’s “Samsquatch” creator Adam Muto and Random!’s line producer, Therese Trujillo.

[Read more…]

Created by Alan Goodman and Manny Galan

This afternoon in the Nick Burbank gym we’re holding the ninth of ten screenings of our Random! Cartoons shorts for casts, crews, and studio employees.

Today’s four are the above plus:

Created by Guy Vasilovich

Created by Lincoln Peirce

Created by Adam Muto

Let’s continue to hope we actually get to see them on TV before we’re all lying moldering in our graves.

– Eric