10 Till 6: Most Discussed Posts

The Sorry State of Super Bowl Commercials

sartomeister — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:44:01 -0800

I tried, I really did. I watched every single commercial on this year’s Super Bowl telecast. Unfortunately, I’m terribly spoiled by my DVR. I think I’d give up Diet Coke before I’d give up my DVR. Consequently, my tolerance of the sorry state of commercials is quite low. So my assessment of this year’s crop of spots is not particularly kind. Nor coherent. Nor relevant. I was not impressed. There were, however, a few bright spots.

Atlanta Braves Unhappy With Pixar’s Brave

sartomeister — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:39:07 -0800

At a casual glance, anybody taking on Disney in a court of law would seem either fabulously wealthy, fabulously nuts, or both. So, I find this news item of particular interest. As reported on the Yahoo Sports blog Big League Stew, Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves are slinging some arrows at Pixar, challenging them over the name of the upcoming animated feature, Brave.

Craig Barron's Tribute to Oscar-Winning Preservationist Kevin Brownlow

sartomeister — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 19:49:56 -0800

Craig Barron has posted a really nice short film tribute to film historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, who this past Saturday received the Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Brad Bird's Hilarious Acceptance Speech Video

sartomeister — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:46:49 -0800

If you weren't at Royce Hall for this year's ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards, then you missed something special - Brad Bird's hilarious Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement acceptance speech video. Even if you were there, it's worth a second look. Possibly a third...

A Monster in Paris Arrives in the U.S. on Blu-ray

sartomeister — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:27:23 -0700

The whimsical Parisian CG adventure gets a U.S. DVD release from Shout! Factory

Short film draws attention to plight of children in war

sartomeister — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:31:20 -0700

Frank Gladstone shot me a note about a short animated cg film called Mila being made by former Disney, DreamWorks and Imageworks animator Cinzia Angelini. Hoping to push the boundaries of non-photorealistic rendering to create a painterly aesthetic and character design, Cinzia is also striving to tell a socially relevant story about war’s most tragic collateral damage – the youngest civilians.

Sarto in Singapore Post 1 – Clone Wars and Chewing Gum

sartomeister — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:50:41 -0800

The boundless energy and enthusiasm I brought to Singapore Monday morning has dissipated somewhat now this fine Wednesday evening, done in by the heat, humidity and non-stop pace of our media tour. It’s late and still quite hot, a sticky hot that’s like summer in Texas, without the pickup trucks or shotguns. It will take a bit of time to properly synthesize everything, so my coverage here begins with a pictorial spread of the first couple days.

Visit Disney Nooks and Crannies in The Vault of Walt

sartomeister — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:20:41 -0800

“Think of this book as a Disney History companion filling in some of those nooks and crannies that may only be mentioned in a brief sentence or two, if at all, in other Disney history books. These chapters truly are the forgotten but fascinating Disney stories.” Through the compilation of the wide array of articles that he has written through the years, Korkis presents a work that provides his readers with little known histories and stories about Walt Disney and the empire that he created.

Levy Hits the Bullseye with Directing Animation

sartomeister — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:06:59 -0800

Without good direction, you end up with drek. Problems with sequence timing or the render pipeline can be solved with relative ease – problems of mismanagement are difficult to overcome and usually spell doom. Animation directors aren’t directing animation, they’re directing a group of people who are working in arguably the most time consuming and exacting of creative mediums. David Levy's new book Directing Animation at its heart strives to teach the reader how to keep an animation production crew happy, productive and on task.

Plympton's Winsor McCay Film Restoration Project Looking for Support

sartomeister — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:03:00 -0700

For the past 2 years, Bill Plympton has had a team of interns busy restoring Winsor McCay’s last short film, The Flying House. As work has progressed, Matthew Modine came onto the project as a producer and with assistance from business partner Adam Rakoff, has launched an online fundraising effort through Kickstarter.com.