Bill Plympton has updated his appearances page. This month, his films will
be appearing in various festivals and other events in the US, UK, France,
Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Taiwan. "I Married A Strange Person"
will have its U.S. cable premiere on Cinemax on October 22, 1999. Bill
will also be attending some of the events in the US, Italy and Germany.


Check out Bill's appearance schedule.

This month: Licensing And Merchandising.


As the holidays approach our minds turn to licensing and merchandising and
what is going to be on the shelves this winter. In this issue Tarleton
Gillespie takes us on a trip through Toys R Us to determine the meaning of
toys to kids. The French licensing and merchandising market is detailed by
Valerie Rivoallon. Sharon Schatz profiles toon loving Rhino Records and
Karen Raugust looks at how "Sesame Street's" content changes as the popular

MIPCOM: International Film and Programme Market for TV, Video, Cable, and
Satellite. Starting next week, thousands of producers, programmers and
broadcasters will converge on Cannes, France for the MIPCOM and MIP Junior
markets. From Reed-Midem, the organizers of MIP-TV, MIP Asia and MILIA,
MIPCOM is known as the place where international television deals happen.
Among the properties being offered are Sony Wonder's LION OF OZ AND THE
BADGE OF COURAGE, an animated musical prequel to THE WIZARD OF OZ;

The United States Post Office has issued a Yellow Submarine stamp with The
Beatles which was illustrated by Robin Shepherd and Caleb Lawrence of
Jacksonville, Florida-based The Robin Shepherd Group. The stamp was
officially dedicated on September 17, 1999 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the
package of fifteen stamps will be available soon at post offices across the
country. The "Celebrate the Century" stamp series features fifteen stamps
for each decade of the twentieth century. The final stamps were determined

Glendale, California-based Galaxy Digimation has created a thirty-minute
animated newscast for Universal Studios' The Amazing Adventures of
Spider-Man ride in Orlando, Florida. The Spider-Man ride integrates
roller-coaster thrills, realistic motion simulation, and stereographic 3D
computer-generated effects while immersing riders in a story that
transforms them into active photojournalists. Galaxy Digimation's newscast
plays on monitors while riders wait in line inside the newsroom of The

Santa Monica, California-based SIMEX DIGITAL STUDIOS has completed "Ice
Cliff," a spot for Dunlop Tires and agency Dentsu, Inc. of Tokyo, Japan. In
the spot, five luxury sport cars race on rapidly eroding, digitally
generated, ice covered cliffs. The camera moves back to reveal that the
cliffs are created by a giant digitally created Dunlop tire. CGI Artist
Jeff Chung used Alias Power Animator and Maya Media Illusion to create the
effects.

It's fall and that means new TV! In this month's issue, Amid Amidi tells us
about the newest shows hitting the air. Sharon Schatz gives us insight into
the world of interactive television. Interactive television has been
available around the globe for years, but has only just come to the United
States. We also go behind the scenes of Bob Clampett's "Time for Beany,"
one of television's first daily live puppet shows, Japan's Toei Animation
Studios and one of France's hottest pilots, "Fats and Moe." We also have a

Two years after its release in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki's top-grossing
animated film "Princess Mononoke" will be released theatrically in the U.S.
on October 29, 1999. It is noteworthy that the film is being released by
Miramax Films, a Disney company. "Princess Mononoke" is one of the few
animated features which can compare with Disney's in terms of audience and
box office. The film earned its spot as the all-time highest grossing film
in Japan, bringing in sell-out crowds, long lines at theaters and over $150

Fox Family Channel, which was launched on August 15, 1998 when Fox took over the Family Channel, has
announced its fall schedule. The schedule includes four new animated
series: WEIRD-OHS is about three kids uncovering the mysteries of life;
KIDS FROM ROOM 402, based on the book, GRACIE GRAVES AND THE KIDS FROM ROOM
402 by Betty Paraskevas, is about a classroom of ten year old eccentrics;
ANGELA ANACONDA, a cut-out style animated series, is about an eight year
old girl and her elementary school problems; and MEGA BABIES, revolves

This week's updates to the Calendar of Events includes the following
festivals: Imagina 2000 in France, Stuttgart in Germany, PISAF in South
Korea; Plus the first International Symposium On Non-Photorealistic
Animation and Rendering in France. The Calendar of Upcoming Events is a
constantly changing reference source for what's happening around the World
of Animation. Use it to stay abreast of animation related activities across
the globe. If you know of animation related events that we don't have