Daily post 18 Apr 2009 08:46 am
Bits & Pieces
- Michael Barrier has an interesting piece on his site reviewing two Disney books: Amid Amidi’s The Art of Pixar Shorts and Don Hahn’s The Alchemy of Animation. I certainly agree with what Mike has to say. I’d already commented on Amid’s attractive book on this site back in February; as a matter of fact, I actually wrote about all of Amid’s books. I haven’t seen Don Hahn’s new book yet, but, if it’s like his last book, my general feeling was that I wish he’d dig a little deeper. He has a lot to say and he has the ability to write. I’d really like to see him write about the job of producing a Disney animated feature. He’s in a select club, and it’d be interesting to hear his heartfelt comments. Maybe someday.
- Ponyo on the Cliff, as you may already know, is going to be released theatrically by Disney in an English language version on Aug. However, if you’re as manic about Miyazaki’s work as I am, you may want to send, in advance, for the Japanese dvd which will be released in July. It includes English subtitles. That edition is available for pre-order now at Amazon.jp.
There will be two versions of this DVD. There is a basic edition and there is a nine disc set that includes the film, a twelve-hour five-disc making of documentary, and a two disc live performance from Miyazaki’s regular composer Joe Hisaishi. That peculiar documentary is also available on its own, in case you want to wait for the American version of the film and just want this extra. It would appear to me that the extras do not have English subtitles.
To keep up with news of this material, you might want to be watching Daniel Thomas MacInnes‘ excellent site, Ghibli Blog. It was recently remodelled and has an attractive new format. You’ll find 6 excellent clips from this Miyazaki film on this site. (Go here and scroll down a bit.)
- Here’s another site that I’m sure you are all aware of, but it doesn’t hurt to keep mentioning it. The National Film Board of Canada has on their site quite a few of their classic films for viewing, for free. If you’re not aware of these films or haven’t seen them, then got there and look. There are some absolute classic gems there in good editions.
Make sure you at least see the following shorts:
Start with these two Caroline Leaf shorts:The Street
Two Sisters
Then go at random to any of these:
The Sweater – Sheldon Cohen
The Big Snit – Richard Condie
Cat’s Cradle – Paul Driessen
The Great Toy Robbery – Jeff Hale
The Romance of Transportation in Canada – Colin Low
The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin - Janet Perlman__________________________Caroline Leaf’s brilliant film The Street
Walking – Ryan Larkin
When the Day Breaks – Wendy Tilby Amanda Forbis
Christmas Cracker – Norman McLaren, Gerald Potterton, Grant Munro, Jeff Hale
and, it goes without saying that you should know by heart the following Norman McLaren shorts:
Begone Dull Care
A Chairy Tale
La Merle
Hen Hop
Now, if I can make a request of the NFB: please add the Hubley short, The Cruise, to this list. It’s rarely seen and an important film in the canon of Hubley’s work.
Hubley’s The Cruise
- In case you’ve missed all the press releases, Fox has a new show premiering on Sunday evening at 8:30 PM Eastern. Sit Down Shut Up comes from the mind of Mitchell Hurwitz. He was the creator of Arrested Development, a writer on The Ellen Show and The Golden Girls. His writing compatriots come from the staff of Two and A Half Men. The voice cast is filled with a lot of talented comedians.
A lotta heavy-duty TV credentials.
There’s a NYTimes article in Friday’s paper which includes a confusing clip. And here’s another article in Saturday’s paper.
The NYDaily News review is headlined: From the Grossout School of Comedy and gives it three stars.
Variety‘s review includes the line: “Seemingly preoccupied with impressing teenage boys, the show should possess scant appeal outside that demo.”
Hmmm.
- Far and away, one of the most consistently excellent and important animation sites out there is Hans Perk‘s extraordinary AFilmLa. The documents Hans posts regularly are just incredible. Where does he find them?
Currently he’s running a patent filing for “The Blend“. Mary Louise Weiser, head of the Ink and Paint Department at the Walt Disney Studios in 1939, registered two patents for inventions she claimed for the Disney studio.
.
Hans posts all of the patent documents and a brilliant photo of Mary Louise Weiser.
By the way, I also note that the comments on Hans’ site are always so few. It’s impossible to believe that so few have anything to say about the material that’s found there!
on 18 Apr 2009 at 1:27 pm 1.Swinton Scott said …
Thanks for the heads up the NFB, I was able to watch Notes on a Triangle, a short my animation teacher screened back in the 70s. Thanks for all the Hubley drawings as well, good to see animation from a bygone era when characters could move in an off beat way special only to them.
on 18 Apr 2009 at 5:18 pm 2.DanO said …
Regarding “Sit Down Shut Up”, apparently this guy had a lot of help writing Arrested Development. But that didn’t stop him from garnering a hell of a lot of clout from that show’s success. When he approached Fox with his idea for this show they gave him carte blanche in every regard… then the episodes started rolling in. The execs at Fox were in a panic mode because not only was the show ugly, it was incredibly unfunny. They had a rotten egg in their hands and a ton of their money may have been wasted. Apparently they have hand picked a bunch of writers and sent them to Hurwitz with directions for them to oversee everything he does now, and the episodes are getting better.
What a catastrophe though.
on 19 Apr 2009 at 12:28 am 3.daniel thomas macinnes said …
Thanks for the kind words on my blog. It always means a lot to me. I’m glad you like the new site design, although I may have to make a few tweaks or alterations before I’m done.
As for Ponyo, I know it’s going to be tough to hold out on buying the DVD in July, but remember that the Blu-Ray version comes out in December. And not only that, but Japan and N. America share the same “region code” on the Blu-Ray format. This means we can play the import on our machines without any hacks or easter egg codes. Great news!
on 19 Apr 2009 at 7:33 pm 4.Charles Brubaker said …
I remember seeing “The Cruise” on Cartoon Network years ago. They used to air a bunch of NFB cartoons under the title “O Canada”. They also aired “Cat Came Back”, “Big Snit”, “Get a Job” and countless others.
One thing I remember was that the penis in “Bob’s Birthday” was censored by having a maple leaf superimposed over it. And this portion was frequently seen in promos for the program!
Anyway, I actually taped Hubley’s NFB short from CN’s airing, but alas, I don’t have it with me now. It’s at another house.
on 20 Apr 2009 at 12:35 pm 5.Hans Perk said …
Thanks (again) for your wonderful plug, Michael!
It is a great morale-boost for me to see that what I do is appreciated!
The things I write about are the things I care about, and as you know, if you are interested in something (and you are actively looking) long enough, you tend to attract certain things. Of course, eBay has accelerated things, as it opened for world-wide browsing. I do feel I have been lucky to have found so many interesting things recently, especially after more than twenty years of hardly anything. It makes me all the more glad to share it, even though much of it did not come to me without a price tag. In my mind I have those extra twenty years to spread that out over, and that makes me not feel too bad. Remember, my roots are Dutch, and we have a reputation like the Scots.
You are so right about the comments being so few! I tend to not be controversial, which is one strike against comments. Someone once said to me that he found it hard to comment on my postings because it would need him to get actively involved in the material, to which I can only say “So…?” I don’t think it should be that hard to comment, is it? I am always glad for your comments, as you are actively involved in the animation business, so you comment from experience. Comments that bring new things, or new thoughts, to light are my favorite, for if we can learn something new, it really makes “putting this stuff out there” worth while. But the very best part of blogging, I find is being able to get in contact with others with the same interests!
on 20 Apr 2009 at 1:06 pm 6.Michael said …
Hans, I have to say that I am surprised there aren’t more people who just say thanks for the incredible material you post. Obviously, I collect similar items as you, yet I’m always astonished at how incredible some of your posts are. That is material that CANNOT be found elsewhere. Is it so hard for people to tell you, at the least, that they appreciate your sharing such material? I don’t quite understand it.
All I know is that I appreciate it.
on 04 Dec 2010 at 6:26 pm 7.John Wilkins said …
Thanks for the reference. Mary Weiser was my great aunt.
on 05 Aug 2014 at 5:48 am 8.Elise Miessner said …
Im happy about this