Futurama, Oscars, and Ward Kimball

I haven’t seen Futurama since it first aired – the time slot doesn’t work for me, but I wonder why I haven’t been taping it. The fourth (and final) season started last night, so I finally made time to watch it again. What a great show. It was especially funny that the Al Gore character was voiced by the former Vice President himself. I guess it helped that one of his daughters was on the Futurama writing staff.

Associated Press:

"Gore's head is introduced at a global-warming convention as 'the inventor of the environment and first emperor of the moon.' He's also known as the author of 'Earth in the Balance,' and the 'much more popular Harry Potter and the Balance of Earth.'"

And on the big screen… Disney has submitted Spirited Away (in addition to Lilo & Stitch, and the upcoming Treasure Planet) for Oscar consideration, but only in the Best Animated Feature category, not for Best Picture. This increases my concern that it will be difficult for animated features to ever compete with live-action films for best picture, now that they’ve been relegated to a separate category. Other likely contenders will be Dreamworks' Spirit and Fox’s Ice Age. It’s not clear yet whether there will be enough films to trigger five nominees or just three, but either way I’d be surprized if Lilo didn’t take the win.

And finally… Animation Blast unveils their tribute to Ward Kimball:

"Ward Kimball has always struck me as being the quintessential animator. When I read about artists who played gags on each other and the crazy studio atmosphere of the Golden Age, I can't help but conjure up the image of the impish bushy-eyebrowed Kimball running amok and causing all sorts of mayhem."
Manton Reece @manton