Goofy's 'How to Be a Detective'

Exactly 56 years ago, this cartoon was released. It is a great Goofy cartoon. So, for your enjoyment, here is the 1952 Walt Disney short cartoon, How to Be a Detective:

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The Awards Season Loves WALL-E Almost as Much as He Loves EVE (Updated)

WALL-E was a truly awesome movie. (Check out my full review here).

Apparently, the rest of Hollywood thinks so, too. Here is a brief list of what recognition, awards and nominations WALL-E has received thus far:

• WALL-E topped Time Magazine's list of the top 10 movies of 2008, saying that it "still connected with a huge audience. Great science-fiction love stories (there aren't many) will do that. So will futurist adventures that evoke the splendor of the movie past."

• WALL-E was a part of Roger Ebert's list of the best movies of 2008; he commented that: "The best science-fiction movie in years was an animated family film. WALL-E is a solar-powered trash compacting robot, left behind to clean up the waste after Man flees into orbit. Hugely entertaining, wonderfully well drawn, and, if you think about it, merciless in its critique of a global consumer culture that obsesses on intake and disregards the consequences of output."

• WALL-E has been nominated for 3 Grammys, which include: Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (Thomas Newman); Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (For the track "Down To Earth" Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman); Best Instrumental Arrangement (For the track "Define Dancing" Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman)

• It also received 8 Annie Award nominations! They are:
  

Best Animated Feature

Directing in an Animated Feature Production (Andrew Stanton)

Animated Effects (Enrique Vila)

Character Animation in a Feature Production (Victor Navone)

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (Ralph Eggleston)

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production (Ronnie Del Carmen)

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production (Ben Burtt)

Best Animated Video Game (Heavy Iron Studios/THQ)

• WALL-E won Best Feature Film at the EA British Academy Children’s Awards

• WALL-E was named one of the top 10 films of the year by the National Board of Review and given the Best Animated Feature award
• UPDATE: From Variety.com: "The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. has named Disney/Pixar's "Wall-E" the best picture of the year, marking the first time in its history that it has given its top prize to an animated film." Woo-hoo!
  

Well that about sums up the total recognition WALL-E has received thus far (other than the fact that they are campaigning for the Oscars). I am glad that eveybody is appreciating the sheer greatness of WALL-E. And I expect this awards season to get even crazier in the weeks to come...


Sources: Upcoming Pixar, The Pixar Blog

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Happy Birthday, Walt!

Briefly: It was 107 years ago that Walter Elias Disney was born. He didn't know it at the time, but he would grow up to produce the world's most beloved animated features, the universe's best theme park, and the most recognizable mouse of all time: Mickey Mouse.

Today, I'd like to wish Walt a happy birthday. He was an animation and imagination pioneer. He was one of the first great thinkers in entertainment, and he took the first big steps toward where we are today. Without him, who knows what our world would be. I don't want to imagine a world without Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Donald Duck, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, or Walt Disney.

Happy Birthday, Walt!

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