Jim Henson Interactive (JHI), the interactive division of The Jim Henson Company, released the first of a series of MuppeToons on its Muppetworld Web site. This collaboration between Pulse Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company and its award-winning Jim Henson's Creature Shop will feature the first 3D version of Kermit the Frog and Fozzie the Bear.
Two new shorts from Spunky Town have set down on Shockwave.com. Two episodes of THE BEATLESS, "Zombies of Love" and "Beat Less the Devil," have come to the Netcaster. The series follows three of the world's worst rockers who investigate paranormal activity. Also premiering on Shockwave is HIX HOLLAR, USA, a new comedy cartoon about a suburban family's move to a farm town.
Stardust Entertainment Filmproduktion, a computer animation and visual effects studio located in Berlin-Potsdam, Germany, is looking to recruit a number of people to work on this and other upcoming productions this year. The company language is English.
On March 26th in Los Angeles, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the winner for Best Animated Short Film...
April 1st, 2000 marks the first day of AWN's fifth year in existence. This is also the 15th anniversary of "The Big Snit," Richard Condie's Academy Award-nominated animated film...
Bill Plympton will be appearing at Carolines on Broadway in New York City on May 24, 2000...
Chris Robinson, Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival, is on tour in Canada to present a screening and discussion of the Best New Canadian Animation. The screenings will take place in Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. Admission is free. The schedule is as follows: Vancouver: Wednesday, April 5th, 7:00pm at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Granville Island; Hosted by ASIFA Vancouver. Calgary: Saturday, April 8th; Contact Carol Beecher at reaper@spots.ab.ca; Hosted by the Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS).
Plympton's new series of comics extracted from the comic book, "Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton," is for ADULTS ONLY...
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz...
Prestigious life drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu is offering two new video tapes of his classes on drawing, a PROFILE DEMONSTRATION and a FRONT VIEW DEMONSTRATION. Vilppu said: "These are the best demonstrations of head drawing that I have done so far. The two demonstrations are done using black, red and white pencils. I also have a new mike so the sound is excellent." In the Anatomy Demonstration series, now available is a DEMONSTRATION OF LEG DRAWING video. Each video is available for $24.94 plus s/h.
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet!...
On Wednesday, March 29, 2000, Disney lobbyists helped deliver Gemstar's FCC complaint against the America On-Line and Time Warner merger to members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Gemstar has agreements with TV stations in every market in the U.S., which allows the company to engrave program information into broadcast signals. VCRs equipped with Gemstar's VCR-Plus technology can then decode the signal, making it easier for users to record TV programming.
Montreal-based CINAR Corp. has come to an interim deal with Globe-X Management, which halts the pending lawsuit against the investment firm. The agreement allows CINAR Corp. to look into investments made, without board approval, in Globe-X Management's affiliate Globe-X Canadiana. However, the deal does not finalizes the terms in which CINAR will be able to recover the nearly US$76 million invested in Globe-X. The lawsuit was filed on Monday, March 20, in an attempt to recover the funds, which were signed by former co-CEO Ronald Weinberg and senior executive VP Hasanain Panju.
Perhaps, Neitchze was correct because GOD is dead. At least NBC's rendition of him is. The troubled toon GOD THE DEVIL AND BOB has been excommunicated from NBC's line-up. The decision to pull the series out of the line-up came in response to the lowest ratings ever for a regularly scheduled program in the Tuesday 8:30 pm time slot. Nearly 5% of the country's NBC affiliates had already pre-empted the show from their schedule for either religious concerns or they felt it just wasn't funny. Recently, advertisers were even turning their attention away from the ify animation series.
The Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film was celebrated March 16-21, marking its 20th year in existence. The biannual festival presented a wide ranging programme, giving prizes worth 142,000 German marks (70,000 euros or US dollars) and enjoying a growth of 25% in the number of spectators. With approximately 42,000 spectators and some 500 films in the programme, Stuttgart calls itself, "The second largest animated film event world wide," a definition which might well be true. A new competition category this year was for feature animations.
*Wednesday, April 5, 2000. Burbank, California. U.S.A.
* Sunday, April 10, 2000. Orange, California, U.S.A.
* Friday, April 21 - Sunday, April 23, 2000. Toulon, France.
The 9th edition of the Cartoonist International Animated Film Festival & Market is expecting 30,000 participants, including production and distribution companies, as well as comic book and game companies. For more information contact Cartoonist M. Gilbert at: Residence du Port, Impasse St Dominique, 83000 Toulon, France; Tel.: ++ 33 (0) 4 94 03 12 67; or Fax: ++ 33 (0) 4 98 02 57 06.
* Tuesday, April 25 - Saturday, April 29, 2000. Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
* Tuesday, April 25 - Monday, May 1, 2000. Soprani, Hungary.
* Wednesday, May 3 - Sunday, May 7, 2000. Fredrikstad, Norway.
* Monday, May 8 - Thursday, May 11, 2000. Santa Clara, California, USA.
* Thursday, May 11 - Sunday, May 14, 2000. Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada.
* Monday, April 3, 2000. Studio City, California, U.S.A.
On March 21, 2000, Macromedia, Inc. announced the formation of a venture unit to invest in companies that share Macromedia's vision of Web infrastructure and the interactive, multi-device, broadband Internet of the future. The unit's first investments include Spiderdance, Context Media and iHarvest Corporation. Spiderdance, with branches in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New Jersey, develops a software system that synchs the Web with TV broadcasts.
