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Well, it's September now and the kids are headed back to class. Which means that it's time to start stocking up on those essential school supplies: Pencils. Erasers. Lined paper. Copyright 2008 Silman-James Press. All Rights Reserved And if you've got a son or daughter who's heading off to Cal Arts ...

Next Friday night, Toontown's top talents will put on their Sunday best and then motor on over to UCLA 's Royce Hall for the 35th annual Annie Awards . Copyright 2008 ASIFA-Hollywood. All Rights Reserved This is the night that the animation industry honors its own. When the very best work from 2007 in...

Who is Hans Bacher ? Trust me, folks. If you're a Disneyana fan, you know this man's work. If you were creeped out by the look of the Beast's lair in " Beauty & the Beast " ... Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises. All Rights Reserved ... or ever marveled at the clean, crisp design of the logo for the...

You have to admit that it's a pretty amazing time to be an animation fan. By that I mean: The best reviewed film of 2007 was " Ratatouille ." With " Enchanted " and "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater," we're getting our very first glimpses of the revival of hand-drawn animation at Walt Disney Animation...

There's this genuinely eerie passage in Karen Paik 's " To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios " ( Chronicle Books , November 2007), which talks about how a single book basically changed the course of John Lasseter 's life. In ninth grade, Lasseter was searching the art section...

This is probably going to seem like a very weird request. But -- if you could -- I'd really like it if you guys could buy up a bunch of copies of " Walt Disney's Cinderella " (Disney Press, August 2007) Copyright 2007 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved "And why should we do that?," you ask...

I know, I know. You people just love behind-the-scenes tales about the Walt Disney Company. Articles that take you behind closed doors in Burbank to reveal how the magic is really made at the Mouse House. Well, if those are the sort of stories that you really do enjoy, have I got a book for you. Jeffrey...

If you've been reading JHM for a while now, you already know that I'm a very big fan of Didier Ghez 's "Walt's People" books . So -- that said -- is it really all that big a surprise that I enjoyed reading " Volume 5 " of this ongoing series. Mind you, at 443 pages in length, this paperback is the heftiest...

What's your absolute favorite musical moment from a Walt Disney Production? Me? If I really had to choose, I guess it would either be that moment in "Uncle Remus Tales" when that old storyteller leads an animated congregation in singing Ned Washington & Leigh Harline 's sweet spiritual, "I'll take...

It is one of the more intriguing aspects of the production history of Pixar 's latest, " Ratatouille ." The fact that this animated feature started off with one director (I.E. Jan Pinkava , who helmed this animation studio's Academy Award-winning short , " Geri's Game ") yet wound up being completed...

This past Friday, Amid Amidi (Who -- along with noted animation historian Jerry Beck -- rides herd on the always-entertaining-and-informative Cartoon Brew ) was singled out for a pretty amazing honor. You see, the Theatre Library Association declared that Amid's latest book -- " Cartoon Modern: Style...

In October of 1994, when Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg first announced that they were about to launch a brand-new entertainment company ... Well, this trio of show business vets was thought to be so unstoppable that the Hollywood press corps dubbed them the Dream Team. But 11...

I've been getting a lot of e-mail lately about Michael Barrier 's new book, " The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney " (University of California Press, April 2007). Particularly from Disneyana fans who just purchased Neal Gabler 's " Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination " and are now...

Karen M. writes in to ask a special favor: Dear Jim -- I just want to send you a quick e-mail to thank you for writing about Charlie Ridgway 's new book, " Spinning Disney's World ." On your recommendation , I picked up a copy and found that Mr. Ridgway's biography was just as you said it would be: Loaded...

In a little more than three months time, Pixar 's next big release, " Ratatouille " will be rolling into theaters. And -- to date -- Walt Disney Pictures ' promotional department has done everything that they can in order to get the word out about this Brad Bird film. This includes creating a teaser...

Given that it's only 64 pages long, " The Art of Meet the Robinsons " (Hyperion, February 2007) can hardly be called an in-depth look at the creation of Walt Disney Feature Animation's next release. Copyright 2007 Disney Editions But -- then again -- given that making-of books aren't selling all that...

Gaelic Gary G. writes in to say: In honor of St. Patrick's Day , could you please share a few stories about my favorite Disney fantasy film, " Darby O'Gill and the Little People ?" Well ... What I always found intriguing about this Robert Stevenson movie is how long Walt Disney Productions had this project...

I don't know how Didier Ghez does it. I mean, the guy holds down a full-time job at Warner Bros. He also travels the world (Didier & his wife just got back from a trip to Africa). In addition to running his snazzy Disney History website (If you haven't already bookmarked this great little site, do...

First up, Kelly T. writes in to ask: Whatever became of Roger Colton ? I used to really enjoy his "Ruminations" column. But it's been months now since you last published anything from Roger. Is everything okay? Kelly T. Everything's fine. It's just that -- after almost four years of writing for JHM ...

Got a Barnes & Noble giftcard or an Amazon.com gift certificate that's burning a hole in your pocket? Well, if you're a Disney dweeb, you may want to hold off on those book-related impulse purchases for a while. In fact, you may actually want to start setting some dough aside. Given all of the great...