Do you know where I could get a copy of "sweatbox" to show the students at SJSU? A. Carter /Professor, Animation/Illustration, San Jose State University

I have to admit a few years ago, that i thought pixar films were so good because they looked so great, and it was that fact alone that entertained me so much. But a year ago i saw the final fantasy movie, which was the best looking film i've ever seen - but also the worst film i've ever seen. so much so that i couldn't bear to look at the screen. and it was because none of the characters had likeability and couldn't hold my attention. The movements of every person was clearly spot on - motion captured indefinately - but it made me realise that that does a good film not make. and as for the plot - i really wanted to throw things at the screen, violently. it reminded me of work done by a friend of mine - state of the art technology used, but artistic knowledge of a mollusc. Face it, the good people at Pixar are just a bunch of well-rounded geniuses.

In 1971 I had the privilege of being the guest at Zagreb film. My family and I were treated well. Zeilemer (sp) Matko, Director of the studio, was host to my family. Is he still alive?? Paul

i must say that Nick. has not had a cartoon worth watching since Ren and STimpy. but low and behold one day i'm mindless flipping channels and i see IZ. i was in aww that i have found the coolest cartoon ever. it was its own style, and had a smart/sick hummor to it. But no suprise that the jerks at Nick have desided to remove IZ, the only excuse that i can think of for such a stupid move is because they are a bunch of (insert naughty word here) idoits. however, to avoid the rath of zim lovers everywhere they should move the cartoon to mtv (since they own nick), where Zim can freely do as he pleases in his sick own way! lov ya johnen!!! :)

I am a 47 year old Fan of Tom Terrific I have been posting request on TVLAND to please air some of the old Tom Terrific Cartoons. I used to watch them on the Captain Kangaroo Show. And in one of the post one of the Host told me about Mr. Gene Deitch's site having Tom on his Site in Color. And I just had to say Thanks for the Memories. I loved Tom Terrific and his dog Manfred. It's been at least 35 to 40 years since I have seen Tom Terrific and wish somehow, or someway, My Grandchildren could enjoy the adventures of Tom Terrific Too! Is there any plans on letting another Generation join Tom on his Terrific Adventures?

..and never give up! Follow your heart, everything else will fall into place.

Dear Pam, Great article. It's good to be reminded to never give up on our dreams. And that the pursuit of our individual goals does not have to be achieved at the expense of others, but can be a positive experience for all concerned. Cheers, Dean.

hey Pam - good stuff! and, as a canuck, i can't say it enuf times: God Bless, America! (yeah, that's where i want the comma) hell has come, looked us all in the face, and we have all, for the most part, stared it down. that does not mean it won't raise it's ugly head, again.... yer advice is good, but ya gotta know, exactly, whom to befriend...never an easy task. as the saying goes, praise the lord, but keep the gunpowder dry!

I am an Art Director working in advertising and have been trying to find visual reference of Tom Terrific and the other characters. Does any artwork exist from the old Tom Terrific cartoons. I would be especially interested in locating any original art . I have unsuccessfully looked for any visuals either digital or physical of any of Tom's foes. Could anyone help me with this. I grew up loving Mr. Deitch's animation and Tom Terrific shorts in particular. I can barely recall how any of the villains looked, particularly Crabby Appleton, The Silly Sandman and Captain Kidney Bean and just want to see them again.

Although I disgree with this review, but I understand everyone is entitled to their own opinions. However, there's a few things in this article which I found that I am pretty sure are incorrect 1. The food Chihiro's parents ate were meant to be for gods, it wasn't a public resturant. 2. Yubaba did not take part of Chihiro's name because she didn't like it, it was to keep her there as her worker. Chihiro can not return to her own world without remembering her real name. 3. Her parents have no recollection of what happened during the time they were 'spirited away' therefore haven't changed at all from the beginning of the film. Chihiro was the only one who changed. And their cold family relationship is common in today's society. 4. The mother in "Totoro" did not live with the family because she was admitted to hospital during the course of the film. She was eager to go home to her family, Mei and Satsuki also wish to have her back home. The telegram which causes Mei's dissappearance was sent by the mother to notify the family that she may get recharged from the hospital earlier then she expected.

If i cant afford the software, I borrow it, plain and simple. As for small companies installing multiple copies for their employees, these business are just following the cutthroat necessity that IS business. Widely used software (the stuff that actually amounts to the millions your talking about) is all from Big Business. These Large corporations are usually run by those with the sole intent to channel consumption into a monopoly, creating one magical product everyone uses, forever. Invariably this destroys the options of the consumer, especially as the bureaucracy involved in development trickles into lines of code manifesting sloppy product without much inovation. These myopic goals of the executives are no more pungent then the imaginary losses caused by software piracy.

Wait a minute, Jesse - the Nativity is "the most document event in history"??? Try the most UN-documented event. Most historians agree that Jesus was NOT born in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth, and that the whole manger/shepherds/angels/wise men story was concocted long after the fact to jibe with the Old Testament and to make the story more palatable to non-Jews. So don't get on the pimp's case for calling a spade a spade!

I saw Aqua Harp on TV last night and was impressed A quick search turned up Animusic. Fred, nice report, but it would have been helpful (at least to me) to have a link for explaning the start and history of animation, and the transition to music. Just an idea. Regards, George

Dear Pat... I was rather dismayed to find your, frankly, flippant comment about Zagreb being the only place to find the true spirit of animation. Not only is that a very presumptuous, arrogant and ultimately ignorant comment that suggests that there is a single, true meaning of animation (which ironically sounds like the sort of 'magical' piece of bullshit that only Disney or Santa could produce) but it is also incredibly unfair to the other festivals. I've been to almost every festival at least once and I'd argue that there are MANY festivals that breath this SO-CALLED 'true' meaning of animation of which you speak (which I presume is independent friendly or 'art' animation---quite ironic given that you criticize the choice of an abstract film and lines later talk about how nice a film Ice Age was!) in Holland, Fantoche, Anima Mundi, Stuttgart, Hiroshima, Brisbane, Turku, Leipzig..and yes indeedy, Ottawa. And I'm pretty certain that you've not attended all of these festivals (I havent seen you in Ottawa since oh...1990 or earlier)..so I find it kinda hard to swallow your pro-Zagreb remarks. Could it be connected with the fact that Zagreb always invited and took extra special care of the ASIFA board (hotel and pass) while the others--which the exception of Hiroshima and Ottawa---were not in a position to do the same? I guess maybe if the other festivals had invited you and paid for your hotel as well they'd get more credit for showing their true spirit of animation too. I'm not knocking Zagreb (I thoroughly enjoyed my time there), but this stale ASIFA smelling 'feel sorry for poor Zagreb' attitude that has permeated the ranks of ASIFA for far too long is tiresome and insulting to all those neglected festivals that have been ignored for many years simply because they didnt seek ASIFA's support (eg. Holland, Fantoche, Anima Mundi, Stuttgart). You should know better Pat. Chris Robinson

An Animating Subject, I believe that the problem we have is that somehow, art and non-tangible work used to be a social, communal donation to the collective humanscape before we found a way of paying people for this work. Not too long ago, artists and actors were not wealthy people, but now an artist can copyright a joke; art, phrase and font. Actors and movie houses are part of the Fortune 500 lists at any time. In our world of true disparity between the "have's" and "have not's", true talent can remain obscured because the have's can creat work using tools purchased with dollars while exibiting very little talent. This is obvious in the movies and especially in music. The triumph of "The Matrix" EFXs over, say, "Phantom Menace" is a clear example of real talent and average tools overcoming etc. Thus our problem, the "have's" have set standards for those of us pursuing recognition of talent. The "landscape" favors the "have's", therefore the richly talented, poorly equipped use whatever means to get to the standards. I am not advocating for commercial piracy, but if the software makers could follow Alias/Wavefront's initiative of producing "Maya Personal (Learning) Edition" which can be submitted to Student/Designer awards and are accepted, then we are halfway there. Please note the price war that has developed between the big 5 3d software makers and the price slashing. Is it that they are now selling the software at what it actually costs and we were being overcharged, or has the software recovered its R&D costs and is currently selling at its base rate?

"Legitimate software publishers lost $10.97 billion due to piracy. " No they didn't. As a pirate of the first order, I'd be the first to tell you that if I had to pay for the oh, $30-$40,000 dollars worth of software I use, I would use other software... This is why piracy is tolerated, especially from Micro$oft. You think that I (and millions of other people) wouldn't ditch Windows for Linux if Windows suddenly became unpirateable. Hell, If I could find linux/unix copies of the software I do use, I'd change right now. Strength of a software or OS depends on how many are using it more than how many copies it sells. If everybody is using windows, everyone makes software to work on it. Even if it isn't the fastest or most stable platform it wins because everyone ends up using it so they can get software that works. Even if half the copies are pirated, it doesn't matter because there are enough professionals and corporations who have to buy legit copies to keep them on top. It stinks, but I didn't make the rules. Bring the prices down to something approaching common sense and I'll start buying software again. I don't see that happening in the near future though, so I will continue to pirate my software.

Yes, all you about piracy say is true, but remember, without software piracy there will be no animation industry! Up and comming designers/animators (the future in industry) cannot independantly afford these outragously expensive costs. Please know that the most cutting edge work comes from our basements!

This is silly, a "story" about the hardships of piracy with all the hard facts pointing to other countries as the source of the problem. Outragous software prices, crazy license terms and constant "new versions" that are just bug-fixes and the indusrty is shocked that people steal the software. People in these dirt-poor countries can barely afford an outdated computer, let alone the insane price of software. Even with the "Global Economic downturn" and the higher availabilty of means to pirate software, piracy has gone down or stayed the same world wide (according to the chart). Software compainies would double their income if they would find a price that consumers were willing to pay, in the meantime: "Viva Open Source!"

BEGINNING, ID LIKE TO STATE THAT NICKELODEON RAPES AND DESECRATES EVERYHTING GOOD. MY CHILDHOOD WAS REN AND STIMPY AND ROCKOS MODERN LIFE BASED....THEN IT WENT AWAY. THEY WERENT THE BEST SHOWS BUT A LITTLE SICK HUMO AND A LITTLE DISGUST GOES A LONG WAY FOR A KID.NOW..CANCELLING ZIM EH? BASTARDS!!!FEEL MY VOLUPTUOS CHESSE DOODLE!!!!!!I CANT EVEN LOSE MY MIND AN FURTHER BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE. ZIM BARELY EVEN HAS A CHANCE TO ENTERTAIN MY SICK LITTLE EXISTANCE. EVERY TIME I SEE IT LISTED...ASS UGLY MARTIANS COME ON. WHAT A RIPOFF.OK SORY I HAD TO COMPLAIN. ANYWAYS, IN OTHER NEWS. MR. VASQUEZ, ID LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT TO CREATE JOHNNY,SQUEE,ZIM,I FEEL SICK, ALL OF WHICH ARE QUITE THE ENTERTAINMENT TO THE FEW OF US LEFT WHICH HAVE THOUGHT PATTERNS OF THE INTELIGENT NATURE OUT HERE IN GEORGIA.I MYSELF AM AN ARTIST . NOT VERY RENOWNED OR ANYTHING BUT I TRY. IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR WORK SUCH AS YOURS FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW AND FINALLY ITS HERE. YES WE GEORGIA PEOPLE STAY IN THE DARK FOR SOME TIME.BUT ANYWHO, THANKS FOR THE INSPERATION. DONT LET OUR WONDERFUL NEIGHBORS , ''THE CRITICS AND GUIDANCES'' WIN. KEEP DRAWING AN DISTURBIBNG THE MINDS OF OUR NATION. GOOD LUCK.....BRANDON

it is funny in thomas and the magic railroad.. they stuck to the model animation .. i didn't think this worked for the movie. it gave it a feeling of being 'cheap' movie