Shatner and Nimoy at their... ahem... best!

Florence Foster Jenkins: The Glory of the Human Voice

Words cannot describe what you are about to hear...

I just found out that an artist I knew from my art school days, Sanjay Patel, just published a 200-page illustrated book! In the same vein as Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues, it is his own interpretation of the Ramajana. I won't pretend I knew him well, he only attended CIA for one semester before he went back to Cal Arts. Sanjay did animation for The Simpsons and went on to work on pretty much all the Pixar films since Bug's Life. He took a year off to work on this project, all built in Adobe Illustrator. All I can think is "so much vector art... so many layers..." and he redid it four times until it was right!

It's been a long time since I've posted, well, anything! I've been seduced by that sexier mistress that is Facebook. But here is a sampling of the Oscar contenders this year for my favorite category, Best Animated Short.

The front runner is clearly the latest Wallace and Gromit short, A Matter of Loaf and Death. As big a fan as I am of W&G, I am rooting for one of the smaller, creator-driven films to win this year.

The Lady and the Reaper

A humorous, but cautionary tale of when the right to die with dignity is sometimes thwarted by doctors who perhaps think more of themselves than their patients.

French Roast

An everyday occurrence; a great bits of character animation.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Granny's just a wee bit bitter!

The Cat Piano

Wonderful hand-drawn look; pays homage to film noir, beat poetry and 60's character animation.

Logorama, the ultimate use of product-placement in a movie, or a commentary on the pervasiveness of branding in our culture and film. (updated 3/7/10)

CBS and ABC movie nights

Liam posted about HBO specials. Well, my memory was the iconic twirling CBS 'special' logo from their movie nights, and, of course, the ABC movie nights as well. Seeing that logo meant staying up late watching an "adult" movie like 'Star Wars' or 'Superman' on national TV for the first time.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was the last film project that Heath Ledger worked on. Still a work in progress. Director Terry Gilliam was forced to recast the roll mid-shoot, so three other actors, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell each make appearances to complete the project. Evidently the story was surreal enough to begin with that the change in appearance of the title character will be accepted by the audience. Any Terry Gilliam film promises to be entertaining or at least intriguing, but it will be fascinating to see this film.