The Museum of Cartoon and Comic Art Fest 2011

The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art -- MoCCA is pleased to announce that PETER KUPER has designed the image for the 2011 MoCCA Festival poster and t-shirt in honor of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art -- MoCCA's 10th anniversary. PETER KUPER is the co-founder of World War 3 Illustrated. His illustrations and comics have appeared in magazines running the gamut from Time to MAD.He has published over twenty books including an adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. His latest book is Diario de Oaxaca a journal of two years he spent living in Mexico.

Special guests at MoCCA Fest 2011 include Johnnie Arnold, Peter Bagge, Nick Bertozzi, Ken Dahl, Jules Feiffer, Pascal Girard,Tom Hart, Dean Haspiel, Ben Katchor, Chip Kidd, Michael Kupperman, Robert Mankoff, Joe Ollmann, Bill Plympton, Alex Robinson, R. Sikoryak, Eric Skillman, Ted Stearn, Adrian Tomine, Gahan Wilson, Julia Wertz, Sarah Glidden, Jessica Abel, Lisa Hanawalt, Leslie Stein, Domitille Collardey, Meredith Gran, and Kate Beaton.

Featured exhibitors include Abrams Books, Danish Consulate, Drawn & Quarterly, Evil Twin Comics, Fantagraphics, First Second Books, Kirby Museum, Mammal Magazine, NBM, New York University, Pantheon Books, Papercutz, Parsons Illustration, Picturebox, Random House Publishing Group, Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Sparkplug Comic Books, School of Visual Arts, The Center for Cartoon Studies, The Daily Show, Top Shelf Productions, Will Eisner Studios, World War 3, and Zip Comics
The 2011 Klein Award will be given to Al Jaffee by Peter Kuper!!
The MoCCA Festival will take place over April 9-10, 2011 at the Lexington Avenue Armory located at 68 Lexington Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets. The annual two-day event attracts thousands of comic art lovers and creators from around the globe to celebrate the world’s most popular art form in the heart of New York City.

Since 2002 the MoCCA Festival offers a unique venue to experience comics, mini-comics, web comics, graphic novels, animation, posters, prints, original artwork and more. Each year, the Festival invites dozens of established and emerging creators, scholars, and other experts to participate in two days of lecture/discussion panels on a variety of comics and cartoon topics. For 2011, the panels and programs are being organized by Brian Heater (The Daily Crosshatch)

Big visuals, big adventure put kick in 'Kung Fu Panda 2'

When you're the take on son of a noodle-making goose, you've got to wonder where you come from. That question takes DreamWorks' kung fu-loving panda, Po, on a new escapade in "Kung Fu Panda 2." It's the starting point for a slick 3D sequel packed with dramatic visuals, great slapstick humor and the return of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie.

Po's quest for individuality and his mission to destroy Lord Shen, a megalomaniac peacock out to rule China work jointly well and propel this tale along at a pleasant clip. The film's dramatic opening, which includes cut-out shadow puppet and 2D flashbacks to Po's childhood, sets the stage for many arresting visuals to come in this animated treat.
From fog-laced trees rank in secluded glens to the individual hairs in Po's fur, "Kung Fu Panda 2" comes alive with hard to consider realism thanks to its vibrant use of CGI colour and 3D technology. The movie's chases and martial arts showdowns are also a hoot.

One of the film's funniest scenes comes when Po and his warrior buddies disguise themselves in a dragon puppet to bypass Lord Shen's soldiers. One by one the racing puppet ingests the guards and poops them out the back end. Here and somewhere else, Po's klutzy, likeable personality shines through thanks to Black's playful voice work.

Yet Gary Oldman comes close to theft Black's thunder. As the voice of Lord Shen, Oldman's villain is so scrumptiously insane and vain that it rates right up there with Hollywood's all-time best bad guys. This sequel's only flaw is that it gives very few lines to its heavyweight costars like Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen and others.

Frankly, moviegoers will hardly even notice they're there. Audiences, however, will likely forgive DreamWorks this one mistake.

In "Kung Fu Panda 2" these animation maestros have created a warm, funny, action-packed crowd-pleaser that's no matter which but an assembly line franchise entry. Cute, cuddly Po doesn't merely save the day here. He finds out who is really is. That's always a victory.

All of us need to reward ourselves over a time for the stress toll taken both physically and mentally by us. One of the best ways to chill out is to take a vacation and here are some amazing worldwide vacation rentals you can consider booking for your vacations.

Flintstones set for yabba-dabba-do-over

 
Cartoon classic The Flintstones is set to return in a new account planned by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Fox Television has long-established.

The new series, likely to air in 2013, will give a "21st Century spin" to the 1960s Hanna-Barbera lively series.
The popular show followed the fortunes of Fred Flintstone, his wife Wilma and their neighbors Barney and Betty.

"The very first cartoon character I drew at age two was Fred Flintstone," said MacFarlane said in a statement.

"So it's suitable that events have come full circle, allowing me to create the newest incarnation of this great permit."

According to Fox entertainment president Kevin Reilly, it is hoped the new series - to begin production later this year - will bring in the prehistoric characters to a "whole new generation."

"Fox has long been home to iconic families like the Simpsons and the Griffins, so I have no doubt that the Flintstones and the Rubbles are going to fit right in," he said.

MacFarlane, 37, is best known for Family Guy, which centre’s on the dysfunctional family of awkward patriarch Peter Griffin.

The Flintstones first came into view on US television in the 1960s, going on to inspire three Hollywood films.
The new show will be a co-production between 20th Century Fox Television and Warners Bros Television, owners of the Hanna-Barbera stable of animated possessions.

Other new programmes proclaimed by Fox this week include Touch, a drama about a father-to-be played by Keifer Sutherland of 24 fame - with special mental abilities.

The network has also plans to make a cartoon version of cult comedy Napoleon Dynamite and a show about ghosts on Alcatraz - the brainchild of Lost and Alias creator JJ Abrams.

Roger Hargreaves' 76th birthday – Google Doodle

Google has put up at least 16 diverse doodles on its home page to rejoice the 76th birth anniversary of English author and illustrator Charles Roger Hargreaves. Hargreaves is best known for his series of Mr Men and Little Miss books for children.

Born on May 9, 1935, in Cleckheaton, England, Hargreaves worked in his father's dry onslaught business, then moved to the world of advertising and lastly came back to his original goal, cartooning. In 1971, he wrote his first Mr. Men book, Mr Tickle, which was a runaway victory and later led to the animated series Mr. Men Show, on BBC. A decade later, the Little Miss series of books began to come into view. His books have sold millions of copies around the world and have been translated into many languages. Hargreaves died of a stroke on September 11, 1988.

While Google has recently been doing a number of animated doodles, the last few have been static descriptions. The different Roger Hargreaves doodles that appear on every enliven of the Google home page feature popular Mr. Men and Little Miss characters including:

Little Miss Magic, Little Miss Tiny, Little Miss Naughty, Little Miss Shy, Little Miss Sunshine, Little Miss Chatterbox, Little Miss Curious, Mr. Messy, Mr. Rush, Mr. Happy, Mr. Dizzy, Mr. Forgetful, Mr. Tickle, Mr. Bump, Mr. Slow and Mr. Funny.

For a dozen years, Google has been infrequently swapping its everyday logo for a doodle. The Google doodles, an artistic take on the Google logo, have gained huge popularity over the past few years and the Google doodle team has put out remembrance doodles on numerous events of international or national significance, ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history. Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010. Some appear globally, and others are tailored for local markets.

On May 8, Google celebrated Mother's Day with a greeting-card-like doodle on its home page.

My Dog Tulip – review

Beware of the dog: this ain't no Marley and Me. Nor, in spite of the cartoon pooches, is it a top ticket for canine-mad kids. Paul and Sandra Fierlinger's version of the JR Ackerley memoir about the redemptive powers of a rescue Alsatian called Queenie (renamed for the film) is a good fit for those who like their New Yorker funnies, and like them good and sour. Christopher Plummer does a nice job voicing our misanthropic yet smitten narrator, and there's irrefutable beauty to the understated animation (hand-drawn plates, in a variety of sketchiness). But such a graphic and unrelenting interest in the contents of Tulip's tum, and in Ackerley's attempts to pimp her out ("The application of a little Vaseline to the bitch...") smacks first of obfuscation, then of extreme anxiety.

Warner Releases “Young Justice Season 1″ on DVD July 19th

The newest Warner Bros. Animation–produced hit series on Cartoon Network finally turns up on DVD as Warner Home Video (WHV) let loose its secret weapon with Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1.

These DC Universe teenage super heroes have quickly proven to be a hit as the preferred show among boys 9-14. With non-stop action, Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1 comes to DVD for the first time on July 19, 2011.

In Young Justice, being a teenager income proving physically over and over — to peers, parents, teachers, advisers and, ultimately, to yourself. But what if you’re not just a normal teenager? What if you’re a teenage super hero? How much harder will it be to prove yourself in a world of super powers, super villains and super secrets? Are you ready to come of age in such a world? Are you ready for life or death rites of way? Are you ready to join the ranks of the great heroes and prove you’re worthy of the Justice association? That’s exactly what the members of Young Justice — Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian and Artemis — will find out: whether they have what it takes to be a proven hero.

These teenage heroes together become the Justice League’s secret weapon against the forces of evil. The young protégés must put their super hero education to the test and band together to covertly fight the evildoers that exist on Earth-16. Utilizing The Cave as their home base, the teen heroes will take on under-the-radar missions that would be impossible for the league’s famous and particular elders to grip clandestinely.

“We are thrilled to bring the latest and youngest members of the DC Universe to houses with the release of Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1,” said Mary Ellen Thomas, WHV Executive Director of Family and Animation Marketing. “As a brand new series, Young Justice is by now a favorite and will carry on exciting fans with its group of crime-fighting teenage super heroes.”

Young Justice Season 1 Volume 1 is executive produced by Sam Register and produced by Brandon Vietti and Greg Weisman. The voice cast includes Jesse McCartney as Robin, Khary Payton as Aqualad, Jason Spisak as Kid Flash, Nolan North as Superboy, Danica McKellar as Miss Martian, Stephanie Lemelin as Artemis and Bruce Greenwood as Batman.

New 'Looney Tunes' entered to longer tales

In the old "Looney Tunes" cartoons of the 1940s and '50s, Bugs often was seen itinerant outside. In this new show, Bugs and Daffy are roommates in what appears to be a housing house.

In Tuesday's opening, they go on a TV game show, "Besties," to see how well they be acquainted with one more, competing against a pair of jovial gophers. In another episode, Bugs goes on a date with a female bunny voiced by "Saturday Night Live" mainstay Kristen Wiig.

Different past "Looney Tunes" shorts, the new episodes tell a single story -- with a "Merrie Melodies" intermission that plays like a music video -- over a half-hour.

"We knew we had to tell bigger stories and longer stories to get more characters involved," said Warner Bros. executive vice president of animation Sam Register at a press conference on the Warner Bros. lot last July. "We also wanted to make the characters look a little bit diverse and try something a little bit new since the world was going to be new."

Jessica Borutski, who re-designed the font for "The Looney Tunes Show," said she was initially wary of Warner Bros. intentions.

"I was worried that they might want to revamp them, maybe looking really cool in cool kid clothes or amazing," she said, acknowledging she was relieved when that proved not to be the case. "I took elements of the character designs all through all of the ages of 'Looney Tunes,' things from different directors that I really, really liked. ... I made their heads a bit better because I didn't like that near the end [of the original era] in the '60s, '70s, Bugs Bunny's head in progress to get really small and his body really long, and he started to look like a weird guy in a bunny suit."

Mr. Register said the need to update the characters came out of a desire to make them plea to children today.

"As the studio, we have a lot of asset in making these characters stay relevant," he said. "The interest is waning, and I think we want to share all of the great new stuff and with any luck bring in interest in the classic as well."

He described "The Looney Tunes Show" as the studio's greatest confront in recent memory with many re-takes when the dialogue and visual elements don't turn out funny sufficient on the first attempt.

"We spend, I think, one-third of our time on 'Looney Tunes' arguing about the past," he said. "When you are doing a unique show, you just move forward. And on 'The Looney Tunes Show,' they were so huge that we spend a lot of time just thinking about how to make them as good as they were at one time and being reverential to them while still trying to do something “