Category : News

It’s not really animation, but come-on it’s Grover.

Minneapolis musician Jeremy Messersmith wrote a nice little song called Tatooine and Austin-based animator Eric Power crafted a video for the tune. The result, a two-minute recap of the original Star Wars trilogy, animated using construction paper.

I try to keep the podcast politically neutral, but this is just too good to pass up. Right Wing Radio Duck is a nearly seamless remix of Disney cartoons from the 1930 through the 1960s. Donald’s life is turned upside-down by the current economic crisis and he finds himself unemployed and falling behind on his house payments. As his frustration turns into despair Donald discovers a seemingly sympathetic voice coming from his radio named Glenn Beck. It was created by Jonathan McIntosh, and is the funniest and most relevant “Disney” animation in years.

With the nominations announced, two animated films, Up and Avatar, have been nominated for best picture by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (or the Oscars). This is only the second time an animated feature has been nominated for Best Picture (The first was 1991′s Beauty and the Beast).

While some will argue whether or not Avatar is animation (including James Cameron), with the film being nearly 90% CGI, it fits my definition of animation (see episode 6 for the debate) as-well-as the Academy’s.

Either way, congratulations to both Up and Avatar.