Saturday, January 30, 2016

Local papers on animation

Why sad movies make for kinder kids

[in print as Crying gain: Sad movies teach kids all the right feels].
Express

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Animated Heavy topics are lightened by the whimsical possibilities of the form [in print as The Big Shorts].

By Noah Gittell
Washington City Paper January 29, 2016, p 25.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/47861/oscar-nominated-short-films-2016-animated-reviewed-heavy-topics-are/

Friday, January 29, 2016

The Post on Kung Fu Panda and Oscar shorts

Oscar-nominated shorts come to E Street [in print as Short, but alternately sweet and serious].



Chilean animator Gabriel Osorio's "Bear Story" is beautiful to look at, but was inspired by the abduction of the filmmaker's grandfather. (Bear Story)

'Kung Fu Panda 3': Welcome return of a bravehearted bumbler [in print as 'In a world with more pandas, this third film's a charmer].


In "Kung Fu Panda 3," Po, left, reunites with his father, Li. Po remains a charming bumbler — excited to learn, for example, that other pandas don't eat with chopsticks. (DreamWorks Animation)

Thursday, January 28, 2016

New comics journalism newsletter from Josh Kramer

There's a new email newsletter in town.

Hi from Josh Kramer, Editor of The Cartoon Picayune. If you're a fan of my work or The Cartoon Picayune, you'll love The CoJo List, a new email newsletter dedicated to bringing you the best in nonfiction comics from around the internet. Please sign up!

E Street Cinema on Anomalisa animation

Filmmaker Letter: Anomalisa

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/anomalisa-filmmaker-letter

Filmmaker Letter


by Charlie Kaufman, co-director/writer/producer

The Express on Kung Fu Panda 3

'Kung Fu Panda 3′ uses technology to communicate emotion [in print as The 'Kung Fu Panda' balancing act].



Po (left, voiced by Jack Black) and his dad Li (voiced by Bryan Cranston) are here to eat bamboo and kick butt. And they're all out of bamboo. (Fox)

1/29-2/3: OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2016: ANIMATION

E Street Cinema

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/washington-d-c/e-street-cinema/film-info/oscar-nominated-short-films-2016-animated

Don't miss this rare opportunity to see all five Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Animated Short and more! Program includes: "Historia de un Oso (Bear Story)" (Chile), in which an old, lonesome bear tells the story of his life through a mechanical diorama; Pixar Animation Studios' "Sanjay's Super Team" (USA), about a young, first-generation Indian-American boy whose love for western pop-culture comes into conflict with his father's traditions; "We Can't Live Without Cosmos" (Russia), in which two cosmonauts who are friends try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality; writer/director Don Hertzfeldt's "World of Tomorrow" (USA), in which a little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future; and "Prologue" (UK), in which a small girl bears witness as warriors battle to death during the Spartan-Athenian wars of 2,400 years ago. Additional animated shorts will also be shown. (Note: "Prologue" contains mature content and will be shown last, so that parents and caregivers can usher children out of the theater if desired. Other shorts in the program are acceptable for kids of all ages.)

Sherman Lagoon's Jim Toomey has new cartoons online now

Jim Toomey has done animated public service announcements sponsored by Pew Trust. From their press release:


"Ocean governance. Even policy experts will admit it sounds pretty boring. But now those of us with less ocean savvy are in luck. 

 

The Pew Charitable Trusts has joined forces with cartoonist Jim Toomey—whose daily comic strip, Sherman's Lagoon, is syndicated in more than 250 newspapers in the United States—to animate terms like "ocean governance" and nine others that can sometimes be confusing.

 

And after hundreds of hours spent by Jim Toomey "Cartoon Crash Course" is live. The hope was to offer a fun way to engage our audiences about important marine topics that needed explaining.

 

You can watch all 10 new short films here: http://ow.ly/XDDs6

 

We hope you check out these humorous cartoons and come away with a better, more animated understanding of what it means to take care of our oceans."

Feb 4: Gareth Hinds at Takoma Library

Thursday, February 4

10:30 a.m. at Politics & Prose and 7:30 p.m. at Takoma Park Library (MD) - Gareth Hinds - Samurai Rising: The Epic Life of Minamoto Yoshitsune

Book Cover

Politics and Prose has a graphic novels reading group

Graphic Novels: This group reads graphic novels from independent to superhero comics, memoirs, fictions, and everything in between. Led by two P&P booksellers, this group strives for inclusivity, welcoming seasoned comic readers and others just starting out.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Tom King featured in Sunday's upcoming Post Magazine

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Comic Riffs on Marvel's amputee Venom

Marvel gave its amputee superhero prosthetic legs — with the help of an Iraq War vet


2016
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/01/26/marvel-gave-its-amputee-superhero-prosthetic-legs-with-the-help-of-an-iraq-war-vet/

Webcomic: 'First Time Parents'

Local cartoonist Chris Mararac is running an occasional web strip called "First Time Parents," which covers his and his wife's experiences being first-time parents. Below is one of the installments; click here for more.

Reprinted with permission.

Jan 30: Youth-facilitated panel: Exploring Historical Comics

Youth-facilitated panel: Exploring Historical Comics

National Museum of American History
1400 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20004


This event now takes place on January 30. Stay tuned for updated timing on that day. Apologies for the inconvenience!

Join us on January 30, 2016, for our youth-facilitated panel Exploring Historical Comics from 12:30pm-1:30 p.m. in Wallace H Coulter Plaza at the National Museum of American History featuring our Youth Civic Engagement Program teens, representatives from Hirshhorn's ARTLAB+, Rebecca Goldfield, author of "Captive of Friendly Cove" Troy Allen and Evan Keeling of District Comics and Andrew Aydin, author of "March Book 1" and "March Book 2" with a book signing following in 1 Center in front of the Lego American flag.

Comics writer Willow Wilson reviews a Koran

'American Qur'an' is an old/new masterpiece [in print as A Holy Book Remix].

By G. Willow Wilson
Washington Post January 24 2016, p. E12
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/american-quran-is-an-oldnew-masterpiece/2016/01/21/c067c350-becd-11e5-9443-7074c3645405_story.html

Monday, January 25, 2016

The Post on Disney's mid-1990s movies

Researchers have found a major problem with 'The Little Mermaid' and other Disney movies


Wonkblog

Magic Bullet 12 cover peak

Here's a sneak peak of the cover image for Magic Bullet 12, which will be hitting the streets, soon.

We're excited to unveil a sneak peek of the next cover for "Magic Bullet"! Designed by Matt Rawson, this will be the twelfth issue of the newspaper, and features over thirty five different comic artists from around the area. It will be hitting the streets of the city in the last week of January and through February. Look for it in your favorite comic book stores, or check out www.magicbulletcomics.blogspot.com for an updated list of places that carry it.

DC cartoonist Dana Maier added to Go Comics site

I'm afraid I haven't been familiar with her before, but ComicsDC sends out congratulations. From their press release:

GoComics Introduces Four New Webcomics in January

More than 300 comic strips, panels and editorial cartoons are now available for daily and weekly reading online and via the free GoComics mobile app.

Kansas City, Mo. (January 25, 2016) — GoComics, a part of the Universal Uclick
syndicate family, is excited to announce the addition of four new features to its lineup of classic and new comic strips. Offering classic archives including Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield and Dilbert, and popular syndicated and webcomics such as The Argyle Sweater, Pearls Before Swine, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and Jim Benton Cartoons, GoComics provides new, fresh and free content every day. All are available at GoComics.com or on the free GoComics mobile app on multiple platforms.

The Worried Well by Dana Maier


Dana Jeri Maier's comics provide useful advice, philosophical musings and spot-on witticisms. She shows us ourselves, not unkindly, as silly and vain and self-involved. Her cartoons feel very interior, a mind watching the world and muttering to itself. They're what that person standing by themselves at the party, not talking to anyone, pretending to look vaguely interested in nothing in particular, has been secretly thinking the whole time.

Dana Jeri Maier is an artist and cartoonist living in Washington, DC. She has exhibited widely throughout the DC Metro area and various street corners, if you know where to look. Maier's site-specific mural, Inscrutable Comic, is on permanent display at the Flashpoint Gallery in Washington, DC.

Read The Worried Well at http://gocomics.com/the-worried-well.

And John K is a friend of mine, so we'll point out his new strip too.

Dadding Badly by John Kovaleski

Dadding Badly documents one dad's experience of raising a miniature version of himself who can't talk, walk, forage for food or have any concept of proper bathroom habits.

John Kovaleski is a cartoonist and writer living somewhere above ground. He is the creator of the comic strip Bo Nanas, and a contributor to MAD Magazine. He is also a father of his own small human, who seems to be turning out OK so far. Fingers crossed.

Read Dadding Badly at http://gocomics.com/dadding-badly.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Flugennock's Latest'n'Greatest: "#DCBlizzard"


"#DCBlizzard"
http://sinkers.org/stage/?p=1838

I rather like the shoveling -- repetitive, relaxing, meditative. Big ol' mug of coffee, smoke a bowl, suit up, stomp on out there and just kinda get into it. Some of my neighbors are out shoveling, too, so everybody's taking a break and hanging out. Round 2 begins soon -- or soonish, seeing as it's 8:30 on Sunday morning as I write this...


--

Mike Flugennock