MUPPET BABIES!

It's a new year!

And I assume by now most of you

heard about this:

I mean,

you probably read about it in

VARIETY

ten million week ago,

right?

But if not...

YES!

MUPPET BABIES IS COMING BACK!

It's gonna be on Disney Junior

as part of a joint venture with

DCPI Content and Media

and I'll be serving as

the mighty

Executive Producer!

We've been working on it since the summer

and let me tell you,

this puppy is rollin' like a freight train 

that's fueled by coffee-infused energon cubes

wrapped in a caffeine tortilla!

In other words,

it's moving 

FAST,

fam.

I can't tell you much about the show because

it's a sooper secret...

But I CAN tell you that it's

BEAUTIFUL

(the CG looks like REAL Muppets!)

It's funny!

(we've got a KILLER writing team)

And it's soooooper cute!

(it's for Disney Junior.

 So don't be expecting any 

big, giant explosions or Muppets wearing

Battle Ready Armor)

Buuuuuuuuut...

listen to the voices.

You might recognize one or two.

I know...

I know.

You want

Galactic: Kids Next Door.

So do I.

But this is what's happening right now.

AND 

I'M 

PSYCHED!

INSIDE THE INSIDE OUT SCREENING!

Well yeah,

of course 

I totally 

cried while watching

Pixar's

INSIDE OUT.

Mainly because I was so happy to go to a 

sooper nice screening on the Disney Main Lot

 held especially for the 

National Cartoonist Society!

There was a tasty reception beforehand:

And lots of kettle corn for the screening:

And we all got a really nice goodie bag

filled with fun 

INSIDE OUT

stuff!

Sooper biggie thanks to

Pixar,

Disney

and

NCS member/INSIDE OUT

director

Pete Doctor

for putting on the show!

I wish my two boys had come because I 

wanted to see their reaction to a movie like this.

It's a more talky than most Pixar films and very

adult in a lot of it's themes.

I'm curious to see how they'd react to it.

And yeah...

I totally cried while watching the movie because

EMOTIONS AND FEELS!

And if you didn't you're a

heartless, mean person.

Or not.

Who am I to judge

(ya meany)

THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

I bought my copy of THE ILLUSION OF LIFE when I was in high school. I saw it a  B. Daltons bookstore  in the  Montgomeryville Mall and asked my Mom to  buy it for me.
I studied it obsessively, even if I couldn't  remotely  draw what was inside.
But I could follow the PRINCIPLES described in this thick slab of animation knowledge.
And those very same principles have been described wonderfully by  Cento Lodigiani in this sooper fun video:

If you don't have THE ILLUSION OF LIFE make sure to pick it up.
It's STILL an important part of an animator's  balanced breakfast.

MONSTERS UNIVERSITY SCREENING

I feel a little guilty.

Monsters University

has been out for a while but I

didn't see it until last week.

Mainly because of Cars 2.

I'm one of the few people I know

that actually liked Cars!

(but that might be because I watched it 

eleventy hundred times with my kids)

So I was totally on board for a sequel!

KACHOW!

But... 

It kinda stunk.

And I was afraid that

Monsters University,

would stink, too.

So I was in no rush to see it.

But 

ASIFA HOLLYWOOD

was having a 

screening the other night so

I thought I'd go.

There was a really nice reception beforehand

with lots of delicious food, drink

and passed appetizers:

Director Dan Scanlon

and producer Kori Rae

were on hand to introduce the film:

And do a 

Q and A

afterwards.

(I love these!)

And you know what?

I 

LOVED

Monsters University

and LOL'd

lots of times!

I thought it was a great

 prequel to the original

and they did a wonderful job setting up 

Mike and Sully's relationship.

Sooper fun!

And I feel bad that I

didn't give it a chance 

earlier on.

So there.

ALL HANDS ON DISNEY!

Every so often

Disney Television Animation

gets together for a sooper big

All Hands Meeting.

Here's proof:

This year we gathered

 in the fancy theatre

on the 

Main Lot

<sigh>

I miss working there.

Anyway...

The meeting started like this:

Sooper Senior 

TV Animation

Admiral

Eric Coleman

got up to tell us all the latest stuff.

Like how we had a new logo:

NICE!

Then

Craig McCracken

showed us a clip from

his brand new show

Wander Over Yonder:

Jamie Mitchell and Craig Gerber

showed us a 

sizzle reel from 

an upcoming

Sofia the First 

episode:

Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh

presented a clip from

the animatic for the

upcoming

Phineas and Ferb

Star Wars Special

(fun!):

Sam Levine rocked a 

sequence from the pilot of his 

recently greenlit show

Penn Zero: Part Time Hero:

Rob LaDuca showed us a song from an upcoming 

Jake and The Neverland Pirates episode:

There be some 

Gravity Falls shorts 

that'll air inbetween seasons

and Alex Hirsch was there to prove it:

Daron Nefcy snuck us a peek at

some new character designs 

and a clip from the pilot of her

new show:

Tom Ruegger

presented a clip

from the first episode of

Disney Jr's

next sooper big series

The 7-D

(that I may or may not be helping out on)

And

aaaaaaaaw yeaaaaaaah...

Paul Rudish 

blessed us with his team's latest 

Mickey short

which was

of course

beautifularrific:

AND THEN

we were shown

ALL

the latest sooper secret stuff 

currently in

development.

CHECK IT OUT:

...

AMAZING, RIGHT?!

please note that ONLY those with 

officially registered 

DISNEY TVA DEVELOPMENT

OCULAR IMPLANTS

can see the above photos.

we apologize

for the inconvenience.

After the show

we were treated to some

tasty food and beverages outside:

And look who showed up in a

centerpiece:

There's a lot to love about

Disney TVA

MY ART OF THE LION KING BOOK(kind of)

So back in the old days,

when I was a dashing young 

New Yorker

with fire in my eyes

and a penchant for jaywalking,

I used to troll the city's used book stores

for animation books.

It was an

addictive 

treasure hunt.

You could find 

nothing...

or 

EVERYTHING.

One of my all-time 

favorite scores 

was this:

The Art of The Lion King.

Yeah, I know.

It's not rare or nothin'.

It cost $20 instead of the $50 retail.

Which rocked.

But when I started paging through it,

I found this:

Hmmmm...

signatures?

I thought it might have been a present 

for someone

named Jane who

really liked 

The Lion King:

Then I started to recognize some of the names:

Wait a second...

Holy crap...

THIS BOOK IS SIGNED BY

PEOPLE WHO WORKED ON

THE FILM!

And lots of 'em:

Cool, right?

But I've always wondered...

Who is Jane?

How'd the book end up in a 

tiny little used bookstore on 

4th Avenue in the

East Village?

Maybe it was stolen.

I think that's happened in NYC before.

Maybe some of you 

feature animation folk

might know

and/or be able to translate 

some of those signatures.

And if by chance Jane wants her book back,

please tell her to give me a yell.

DISNEY MICRO ART SHOW

Every coupla months

Disney Television Animation

puts on an art show.

There's usually a theme,

like 

self portraits

or 

monsters.

But the latest idea is a little more open.

Everyone has been given a 

teeny

tiny

4x4

canvas

like

this:

And you can

do whatever you want to it:

Paint on it.

Draw on it.

Make a collage

or

I 

dunno...

Zombies.

But then I decided,

Zombies?

meh.

So I did this instead:

When I dropped it off

I got peeksies at what 

some other folks have done!

And I was all like,

whoa.

The show is next Friday the 22nd

and unfortunately, 

for employees only.

But I'll be sure to take lots of pics

to show ya!

And you, too

 will be all like,

whoa.