The Week's Animation Links

This article about Frank Nissen and Disney Toons is worth perusing (if you haven't already)...

I met Frank when he came to work for Disney Features to work on Dinosaur, and he's been with the company ever since, moving from boarding with features to directing with DisneyToon Studios. A nice, nice guy.

And let me get in line and put in a plug for Nancy Beiman's storyboarding book Prepare to Board. I've known Nancy a long while. We both worked on Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore when Calvin Coolidge was President, and she served as a TAG labor delegate a few years back. Nancy has been a crackerjack animator and board artist like forever...

And while different studios get behind different high-def dvd formats, Jeffrey Katzen berg opines that:

...both formats are unlikely to appeal to anyone beyond videophiles.

"Blu-Ray and HD DVD are a niche business. They're not going to become the next platform," he said. "I think for the general consumer, there is not a big enough delta between the standard DVD in terms of where it is today and the next generation."

I'm sure the execs over at Sony were thrilled with Mr. K.'s comments. But he calls them like he sees them...

And great news from our former arch-enemy, the state formerly known as the U.S.S.R.:

Since the beginning of April the first in Russia round-the-clock animated cartoon TV channel "2õ2" has started working.

The viewers of "2õ2" will have an opportunity to get acquainted with cartoon films from England, France, Italy, Czechia and Japan, yet the majority of air-time will be given to American animated cartoons. Russian films will take two hours per day.

The audience of the TV channel will consist of people aged from 11 to 34.

Apparently the 35-year-olds (and their parents) are out of luck