The title felt very good to write; like putting on comfy pants fresh out of the dryer.
I hope your holiday was safe, refreshing and relaxing. Our family enjoyed a quarantined Christmas; everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. I got my Dad the original Speed Racer (which he watched as a kid when it premiered) and the complete 1966 Batman with Burt Ward and Adam West (and a lot more guest stars than I had ever realized; Cesar Romero, Vincent Price!?). Mom got a Sumo November tournament champions poster (which we’ve been watching together this year). Sister got Chocolate Charley (a local delicacy). And made sure my Niece got the Switch games she wanted (Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and Luigi’s Mansion 3).
Family was kind enough to get me quite a few awesome animation related objects of desire:
Super excited about pretty much all of it. Particularly looking forward to watching The Last Fiction, Iran’s first animated film, as well as reading through Reid Mitenbuler’s Wild Minds: The Artists and Rivalries That Inspired the Golden Age of Animation. While on a break from blog writing, I was able to wrap up some goals for some other projects. Looking forward to sharing more about them in the future.
Some big pieces of news broke while on break. The first being MGM has announced they are up for sale for $5.5 Billion after negotiations fell through with Apple. Now, I am no expert, yet, but I would assume this would include the rights for Pink Panther as well as The Phantom Tollbooth among other animation rights. It will be interesting to see where this deal goes, especially as we have watched the Big Six turn into the Big Four in less than five years. The rumor mill has Amazon and Warner Brothers (AT&T) as potential buyers.
Bruce Smith and Ralph Farquhar, the producers of Disney’s The Proud Family, have signed a deal with Disney committing them to multi-year, multi-project agreements that covers both live-action and animation. After having recently gone through The Disney Channel’s animation history, it was very cool to see that they will be influencing the next few years of output for the Big Mouse.
And lastly, Tommy Stathes, of Cartoons on Film, has launched a new Kickstarter for the sixth volume of his spectacular DVD and BluRay sets. The newest volume will cover Bray Studio’s Dinky Doodle and Pete the Pup. The following is the trailer announcing the project:
As of writing the goal of $16k is just over $10k. If you would like to add your support you can find the Kickstarter here.
Lastly, 2020 couldn’t leave us alone, adding one last kick in the gut on the way out the door; MF DOOM passed away in October, with the news of his passing breaking on New Years Eve. DOOM's collaboration with DJ Danger Mouse and [adult swim] on the stellar album, The Mouse and the Mask, was one of my first exposures to Hip Hop. Though, nothing is quite like MF DOOM's ebbs and flows. I ate up his entire discography after wearing out my copy of The Mouse and the Mask. His passing at 49 is another stark reminder, in a year of stark reminders, to appreciate what you have.
That’s all for now. Join me on Wednesday as I discuss how I view the rarity and importance of different animation paraphernalia.
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