The Animation Pimp

Due out late summer/fall 2010

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While visiting Japan, animation writer Chris Robinson gets lost. As he drifts through Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto he happens upon a number of mysterious figures including Bob Dylan, Haruki Murakami, Sumo wrestlers, Big Bird and, by good chance, many famous Japanese animators - living and dead. Each of these characters takes Robinson into a deep, dark, mysterious world of Japanese animation that doesn’t include Godzilla, Akira, Anime, Manga or Hasao Miyazaki.

cover illustration from Koji Yamamura’s Kafka’s A Country Doctor.

cover design by Theodore Ushev

The Faculty of Design of Lucerne School of Art and Design is hosting the first Lucerne International Animation Academy from December 8 to 11, 2009.

The goal of this Symposium is to encourage a theoretical debate about current and historical questions of animation as an independent form of the ‹Moving Pictures Production› in Switzerland.

LIAA mainly addresses researchers, lecturers and students in the field of media (animation, film, special effects, fine art). It is a unique international platform with more than 30 acclaimed lecturers from practice and theory, offering great opportunities for the audience to get involved in the discussions.

LIAA’s star-studded line-up of speakers includes Brothers Quay, Yuri Norstein, Igor Kovalyov, Priit Parn, Georges Schwizgebel, Jerzy Kucia, Gil Alkabetz, Normand Roger and many more

for more details: http://www.liaa.hslu.ch

Review of Ottawa writer Bill Brown’s new collection of short stories.

latest Lit Pimp column is HERE

OIAF among the best festivals for your buck.

National Post says OIAF is one of the three must-see Canadian events.
Hope Telefilm Canada is reading

Ballad of a Thin Man: In Search of Ryan Larkin has just been translated into Japanese. Although this new edition doesn’t contain Theodore Ushev’s perfectly in-tune art, it does have a nifty cover illustrated by the award-winning Japanese animator, Koji Yamamura.

Animators Unearthed

Animators Unearthed features writings on 20 international animators including: Chris Landreth, Don Hertzfeldt, Suzan Pitt, Pat Smith, PES, Michaela Pavlatova, Joanna Quinn, John Canemaker, Barry Purves and more.