Friday, September 17, 2010

Your Weekend Linkorama

Nick's Dog of Resilience.

Now with lightly salted Add On. And new Sunday Nite Add On!

As another week of labor draws to a close, a new gathering of links looms on TAG blog.

We start with a state government assault on our freedoms:

Comic book creators say California game law could clobber all media

Can a California video game law banning the sale of violent games to minors potentially spill over to other media? ... In a brief filed Friday with the Supreme Court, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund urged the high court to reject the law, saying it "would undermine more First Amendment principles in a single case that any decision in living memory." ...

Who gets to decide what's too violent? ... Sexy? ... Gory? ...

Wildbrain Entertainment is a longtime San Francisco animation company that is now a Los Angeles animation company. WBE might be headquartered in L.A., but it's now Canadian:

Canadian kids TV producer DHX Media has acquired Los Angeles-based animation studio Wildbrain Entertainment for $8 million in cash.

Wildbrain president Michael Polis will remain at the company, which is best known for producing "The Ricky Gervais Show" for HBO and the Nick Jr. series "Yo Gabba Gabba!" ...

Here's one feature I'm thinking won't get a wide, stateside release.

Hollywood studio Warner Bros has picked up distribution rights of animated feature film ’Ramayana — The Epic’, slated for a Dussehra release on October 15. ... [It's] one of the most ambitious and expensive full length animation feature film to be made in India, ... [and] will be released in three languages simultaneously across India — Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

The Bruce Timm unit at WB Animation keeps rolling:

James Denton, Christina Hendricks and Anthony LaPaglia are lending their pipes to Warner Bros.' "All-Star Superman," the animated adaptation of one of the most acclaimed comics of the past decade.

"All-Star" is the 10th DC Comics story line to be turned into an original PG-13 movie by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video. ...

The tub-thumping never ends:

Actor Will Ferrell is setting up a new publicity stunt for his newest movie “MegaMind” ... hoping to snag the Guinness World Records title for the Largest Gathering of Superheroes by bringing together over 1,500 costumed superheroes. ...

As for Ferrell's MM co-star:

Megamind director Tom McGrath told Pitt he wanted him to channel Presley while voicing Metro Man and Pitt enthusiastically took up the challenge. ...

'For us, it was always Elvis Presley versus Alice Cooper.'

Hand-drawn animation isn't dead, it's just residing in Europe.

Spicy Spanish alternative to Disney animated fare. ... Spain joins the derby with "Chico & Rita," the new film from Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba ("Belle Epoque") ... In composing this visually hypnotic, musically electric film, Trueba worked with two co-directors: designer Javier Mariscal and animator Tono Errando. ...

Let us end with the L.A. Times preview of television toonage:

This fall's impressive slate of new kid-oriented shows has a lot to please children as well as their parents — from an adorable claymation sheep to a hyperactive animated antihero battling a villain named Dorkus to a trio of intergalactic escapees bonding together "sym-bionically" to save the Earth.

Add On: Down Argentine way, a different Indian-made animated feature has had a successful rollout:

"Gaturro", an animated feature film produced in Kerala has topped box office collections in Argentina, where it is creating ripples for the second consequent week of its release, according to reports ...

Add On Too: The Reporter reviews Legend of the Guardians.

... Zack Snyder, director of "300" and "Watchmen," has made his first 3D animated feature, "Legend of the Guardians." This picture sometimes rivals "Avatar" in its spectacular landscapes and thrilling flying sequences ...

Sunday Nite Add On: Collider dot com reports on the Tangled press junket, and this caught my eye:

Mertens and our tour guide also talked about the long hours they put in and how Disney takes great strides to break up the time with activities, workouts, meals, and an effort to make sure everything they do is ergonomically correct. While it may look fairly corporate and plain on the inside, they certainly treat their employees well. ...

At the same time, Collider loved the movie, said the art direction was wonderfully good, with which I would agree.

Have a productive Friday and joyous weekend.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the heads-up on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund case. Time to renew my CBLDF membership...

Anonymous said...

^
what he said. butch is a hack of the worst kind. first he rips off dexter, now he rips off most of the dog design from mighty bee. what an f'ing tool. total f'ing corporate tool.

Anonymous said...

Wow, kinda harsh character assassination in more ways than one.

Anonymous said...

Who gets to decide what's too violent? ... Sexy? ... Gory? ..."


well apparently these guys want to:

"In defending the law, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown argued in a brief submitted to the Supreme Court that violent games should be regarded under the same standard as porn.

"There is no sound basis in logic or policy for treating offensively violent, harmful material with no redeeming value for children any different than sexually explicit material," Brown wrote.

The state's argument hinges on the belief that violent games damage children.

"Ultra-violent games are a public health issue," said Jim Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media Inc., an advocacy firm in San Francisco that supports the California law. "Therefore, their sale should be considered in that light."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/09/business/la-fi-ct-game-violence-20100910


common sense media group claims to be a non-partisan advocacy group, however it seem that their board of directors (which includes somebody by the name of "chelsea clinton") are overwhelming democrats (based on their political donations).

http://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/who-we-are/board-directors

http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/

what's up with that?

Anonymous said...

Wow. What, John K. wasn't available for dissection? But even he gets praise from time to time.

Comments like the two anons make it sound like Hartman slashed your tires and hit your children. Bad cartoons does not equal the right to take potshots at a man's integrity (but it's the internet, so I guess it's an exception). Besides, he's not the only writer or executive on his shows; though I will say the original crew in the early 00's for FOP and Danny Phantom gave the shows better quality than the latter seasons.


As for the video game law--seriously, that's a parental issue not a state issue. I wouldn't play Gears-of-War (couldn't if I tried), but I love watching the game played and reading the graphic novel. But I know the difference between real life and graphic fantasy....of course that also has to do with maturity, another private, not state related, issue.

Anonymous said...

Another assault on our private lives and the first amendment by the CA gNOp. Gov. Ahnold and his "administration" is an abject failure.

Anonymous said...

re: "Another assault on our private lives and the first amendment by the CA gNOp. Gov. Ahnold and his "administration" is an abject failure."

please refer to anonymous post above from Friday, September 17, 2010 11:07:00 PM.

uh, do you even know who California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is? do you have any idea which party he belongs to?

this "assault on our private lives" appears to be headed by, well, um, liberals intent on protecting us from ourselves.

as for the governator, many republicans would consider him to be a RINO.

Anonymous said...

Are you kidding? Anyone reading the two anon posts would see it as a personal attack on Mr. Hartman. One of the post even called him a “hack”. If that’s not a personal attack, I don’t know which posts you’re reading.

Anonymous said...

What's getting "personal" about criticizing the guy's work? He makes crap. And when it comes to character assassination, Hartman's an expert, given the way he's destroyed the appeal of his own characters in Fairly Odd Parents.

Anonymous said...

I'm not going to defend Butch Hartman's work, but one of the anon poster saying "what a f'ing tool. total f'ing corporate tool." is a little bit much. He maybe a corporate tool, but "f'ing?" I think that may be leaning on the personal side. Which poster are you?

I would love to see higher standards in TV animation, but knowing the time/budget constraints, I'm just amazed at the quality of some of the shows we do see from the studios (2D and 3D).

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