Talk to the Snail

Salerno, Italy, that is.

Random! Cartoons’ “Samsquatch” (which Nickelodeon still hasn’t aired, yet *cough*) will be featured in Cartoon on the Bay’s International Showcase screening in April. The showcase “gives a picture of the latest cultural, technological and industrial trends in the field all over the planet, giving special attention to those that seem most innovative. “

Congratulations to Mr Adam Muto and his cast and crew on a job well-done.

– Eric

The boys from Ghostbot - Brad Rau, Roque Ballesteros, and Alan Lau - are down in L.A. from S.F. this week and were nice enough to stop by the Frederator compound this afternoon. You’ve all seen their Flash work, mostly through their Esurance ads. They’re also famous for their past and future contributions to Channel Frederator. Thanks for visiting, guys.

– Eric

After our catching up with Jun last night, I ran into Ms Anne Marie Walker this morning. As you recall (from so many years ago), Anne’s the creator of one and a half Random! Cartoons. After a good long stint at Renegade on the Mr Men project, she’s back on a Frederator show, this time storyboarding on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, produced out of Film Roman. Hopefully, we’ll get another round of shorts soon, with Anne back making her very own cartoons again.

– Eric

Fred and I met with Jun Falkenstein tonight to figure out life for Kyle + Rosemary beyond her terrific seven-minute short which hasn’t aired even yet. Since Random! Cartoons, Juns’ been journeywomaning for a variety of cartoon projects around town including AstroBoy, 9, and a couple of features at Starz. Right now she’s directing a feature animated film about which I can’t tell you. Best of luck, Jun.

– Eric

Morning KidScreen highlight: meeting producers Peter Lewis and Anne Sweeney from Ireland’s Boulder Media. If you’ve seen El Tigre! or Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, you’ve seen their fantastic animation work.

– Eric

Day #1 at KidScreen (”the ultimate kids industry experience of the year”) in dreary NYC. Luckily, Walden’s here to point me where I need to go.

– Eric

Tomorrow (Saturday) night’s the opening reception of “A Band of Bugs”, an eight-artist exhibition of “insect paintings, plush, sculptures, and installations.” Held at Nucleus in Alhambra, the event features work from Anna Chambers, Lou Romano, Don Shank, Megan Brain, Chris Rabilwongse, Michelle Valigura, Amanda Visell, and Alex Kirwan (that’s Alex’s stag beetle above). It’s free, the artists will be there, and the festivities begin at 7:00 p.m. If you can’t make it tomorrow night, you can still see the exhibition until March 3.

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You know, I’ve seen it coming for a while, and I’m the one who blogged it, but I still didn’t catch the fact. Anyway, we’ve just passed Frederator Blog Post No. 5,000. Of course, I’m too lazy to track down when we first went online with this, but it was probably sometime in 2005. Now, I’m no mathlete, but I figure 5,000 divided by 2005 equals about 2 ½ posts per hour. Not too shabby. Thanks to all our contributors and readers and commenters. Here’s to the next 5,000.

– Eric

Even the Mother of All Downpours couldn’t stop me from heading to L.A.’s Central Library this afternoon to check out the brand new Bunker Hill by Leo Politi exhibit (so new, in fact, it doesn’t officially open until Saturday, 2/2.)

Caldecott Medal-winning artist Leo Politi is best remembered as a children’s book illustrator and author who called downtown Los Angeles and nearby Angelino Heights home for most of his 87 years (he died in 1996). Many of his books are centered in L.A.

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We have a stack of nifty Adams/Morioka-designed Frederator New Year’s/10th Anniversary posters left over. Do you want one? If you do, be one of the first 25 people to email me at Hey at frederator dot com. Make sure you put “I want a poster” in the subject line. Then, of course, include your name and shipping address (no P.O. Boxes, sorry). If you’re lucky, you may also receive a 2004 Geno Mattos poster and/or a 2006 Frank Olinsky poster. Oh, and you’ll get a free poster tube, too.

P.S. We’ll ship outside the United States.

– Eric