Channel Frederator Blog

The Orange County Register has a story about 10 year old Colby Curtin, who was diagnosed with vascular cancer. Colby enjoyed Pixar’s films quite a bit, and was looking forward to seeing Up in theaters. Unfortunately, she was much too ill to travel to a theater. Doctors told her mother she was fading fast.

A friend of the family began to cold call both Pixar and Disney. She was able to guess a name in order to talk to a real person via Pixar’s automated phone system. She got through to the right people and Pixar agreed to send someone out with a DVD screener the next day.

Pixar sent an employee (who is not mentioned by name) to Colby in the hospitol with a screener of the film and some Up memorabilia. Though she couldn’t see the movie (the pain kept her eyes closed during the film), her mother gave her a play by [Read more…]

Yeardly Smith talks about her 20 years on the Simpsons as Lisa Simpson (can you believe it!) and her new novel “I, Lorelei”.

-Floyd Bishop

“I do not like to repeat successes, I like to go on to other things.” - Walt Disney

Jim Hill Media has reported that Pixar has no less than three sequels in the works. In addition to Toy Story 3, and Cars 2, Pixar is in the beginning phases of Monsters Inc 2.

First off, I don’t believe the first Toy Story warranted a sequel. Yes, the film was good, and the Sarah McLaughlin montage was a tear jerker, but did Buzz and Woody REALLY need a sequel? What more of their story needs to be told? Who will lose their arm in the third film?

I thought that Cars was the weakest film in the Pixar library thus far, but the sheer amount of Matchbox sized toys sold to date has got to be enough to buy a small island. I didn’t really feel for any of the characters in the first film, so maybe they [Read more…]

The Big Lebowski - Jesus Quintana - Funny video clips are a click away

One of the most memorable characters from the film The Big Lebowski would have to be Jesus Quintana. Why is he so memorable? He’s got an interesting backstory, though we get to see very little of it. His actions, clothing, and accessories tell us so much about him as a person in so little time. Listen to John Turturro as he explains some of the steps he took in creating the character.

The same techniques work well. What is the character thinking, and why does he feel that way? Props, clothing choice, and movement all help fill us in on what a character is all about.

-Floyd Bishop

The TruTv network will soon be airing a new series called Man Vs Cartoon.  The show’s premise is simple: scientists try to successfully replicate the stunts Wile E Coyote used to try and capture the Road Runner. The degree of success is relative, given Wile E’s success at actually catching the Road Runner.

If no one dies, I would consider the show a success.

-Floyd Bishop

Disney/Pixar’s Up has had a great opening weekend.  The film has brought in an estimated 68 million dollars, which places it just behind Finding Nemo ($70 million), but ahead of WALL•E ($63 million).

It will be interesting to see how much of the revenue was due to the 3D release, which carries a higher ticket price due to the stereoscopic projection. Up is Pixar’s first RealD release.

Congratulations to the crew!

-Floyd Bishop

Animation Magazine is reporting that Disney is looking for Donald Duck portraits.

In honor of Donald’s birthday on June 9, D23  (the official community for Disney fans) is seeking submissions for the new portrait from fans.

Full-length oil, acrylic or watercolor canvas portraits of Donald Duck, no larger than 24” W x 36” H, are eligible. To enter, fans must submit original sketches of the planned artwork by June 15. Fans whose work is accepted must complete and delivere the finished portrait by Aug. 15.

Donald Duck turns 75 this year.

-Floyd Bishop

The Don Bluth film Banjo the Woodpile Cat is now available on a special 30th anniversary 2 disc DVD set. Created in mostly spare time in Don Bluth’s garage, this is the film that helped launch Don Bluth’s post Disney career. Hopefully the DVD contains stories of the around the clock production schedule, tight deadline, and exodus of Disney artists to join Don as he started to get his studio off the ground.

-Floyd Bishop

During World War II, with Europe under the threat of Hitler’s Germany, much of the European theatrical market was cut off. One way the US studios made up for that loss of revenue was to create films for the US government, which hoped that using the popularity of American cartoons would gain support for the US and their wartime causes.Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, and many other cartoon stars of the day did their part.

While much of the material seems politically incorrect by today’s standards, at the time it was one of the best ways to visually distinguish between the US an its enemies. Physical and cultural differences were focused on and exaggerated to the point of extreme characture.

Not every wartime film was so literal in its story or imagery. A few films managed to get across complex ideas by using metaphors of classic stories to represent what they were seeing [Read more…]

I have read (and read, and read, and read again, thanks to my own kids) the book “1000 Times No” from Mr. Warburton. The book, published by Harper Collins, is a great book for kids, and I can honestly tell you that it is a B.O.O.G.E.R. : a Book Of Offspring’s Glorified Exclaimed Resistance (Tom Warburton is the creator of the long running Cartoon Network series Codename: Kids Next Door).

The book focuses on Noah, and his resistance to wanting to leave. Leave to go where? Noah doesn’t care, he just knows he doesn’t want to go. His refusals range from a stern “No”, to spelling it out with sky writing. Noah is also fluent (or just fluent enough) in many different languages. Kids will enjoy trying to read each of the languages, often in different silly voices.

To help promote the book, Mr. Warburton has created this promotional trailer:

I’m wondering if there are [Read more…]