News - 01/18/08...

Can't Draw? You Can Still Work in Animation!

Sanjeev Waeerkar, UTV Creative Director, will hold a workshop in Mumbai titled "Animation for those who can't draw" on January 19, AnimationXpress reports.

The workshop, which is being organized by The Animation Society of India, will focus on "teaching acting, managing a team and handling the project in the way director wants," according to Waeerkar.





"Justice League: The New Frontier" HD DVD Date Pushed Back; Final Specs Released

The High-Def Digest website is reporting final specs for the Justice League: The New Frontier direct-to-video animated movie on DVD, HD DVD, and Blu-ray disc. All 3 versions of the movie will include a set of common special features, including two audio commentary tracks, three documentaries, and three bonus episodes of Justice League Unlimited (including "Task Force X," which was penned by New Frontier writer/artist Darwyn Cooke). The high-def releases will include 1080p/VC-1 encodings.

As a result of Warner Brothers' decision to drop the HD DVD format, the HD DVD release of the movie will be delayed by three weeks. The standard and Blu-ray editions will go on sale on February 26, 2008, while the HD DVD version will street on March 18.





Marsters speaks to TV Guide about 'Dragonball'

In the January 21-28, 2008 issue of TV Guide actor James Marsters (Spike, Buffy/Angel, Brainiac, Smallville) spoke about his involvement in ‘Dragonball’, a live action adaptation of the Weekly Shonen JUMP title by Akira Toriyama (directed and written by James Wong):

“Oh, Dragonball is the coolest television cartoon in the last 50, 000 years. It’s got a Shakespearean sense of good and evil. The movie has incredible action scenes with characters with unbelieveable powers. It’s going to be really visually exciting.”

When his stint on Without a Trace came up Marsters spoke of how the producers were "...miffed that I wasn't available anymore [due to Dragonball], which was both a surprise and kind of a compliment."

Dragonball also stars Justin Chatwin, Chow Yun-Fat, Emmy Rossum, Joon Park, Jaime Chung, and Eriko Tamura while being produced by Stephen Chow.





From aintitcoolnews...

And Now - For the Next Strange Weird Foreign Thing That Harry Loses His Mind Over... CJ7!!!

Hey folks, Harry here... wow... I'm not entirely sure how Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) continually creates things of such awesome splendor that my mind goes into Robby The Robot spitz and cracklez - but he does it. Chow says that he loved E.T. as a kid and was inspired to make his own run at that type of thing. And here is what he came up with. It looks spectacular and the creature is so incredibly cute. And the best news - we get it stateside on March 7th! Woo Hoo!!!

Click Here To Fall In Love!





Official Star Trek Site Online

With the teaser trailer for the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek debuting in theaters with the Abrams-produced monster movie Cloverfield this weekend, Paramount Pictures has brought online the official website for the anticipated Christmas Day release. As of this posting, the site just includes the animated logo and a link to register for updates.

Star Trek stars Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Winona Ryder, Rachel Nichols, Jennifer Morrison, Chris Hemsworth, Clifton Collins Jr., Ben Cross and Tyler Perry.

Stay tuned for when the teaser trailer comes online!





WGA Nominates Games

While its ongoing strike is throwing a wrench in other awards ceremonies, the Writers Guild of America has nominated five video games for the 2008 WGA Awards. A planned Feb. 9 ceremony in Los Angeles has been canceled due to the strike, but WGA East is holding out hope that its event on the same night will go on as planned at the Broadway Millennium.

The nominees are:
Crash of the Titans, written by Christopher Michell for Sierra Ent.

Dead Head Fred, written by Dave Ellis and Adam Cogan for D3 Publisher

The Simpsons Game, written by Matt Selman, Tim Long and Matt Warbuton, with dialogue by Jeff Poliquin for Electronic Arts

The Witcher, with lead story designer Artur Ganszyniec, dialogue by Sebastian Stepien, additional dialogue by Marcin Blacha and writers Sande Chen and Anne Toole for Atari

World of Conflict, story design by Christofer Emgard, story consultant Larry Bond and script consultant Ed Zuckerman and Sierra Ent.

To be eligible, the games had to have been released between Dec. 1, 2006, and Nov. 20, 2007, but did not have to be produced under WGA jurisdiction. Writers of source material were not eligible, and the credited scribes must have been or applied to become members of the WGA’s New Media Caucus.





Eden FX Explores Life After People

The Warner Bros. blockbuster I am Legend has been getting attention for its visual effects depicting New York City after a nasty virus has all but wiped out mankind. Taking another angle on that concept, Hollywood-based Eden FX has completed digital effects and matte paintings for The History Channel’s two-hour special Life After People. Working for client Flight 33 Prods., Eden designed and produced more than 30 digital vfx shots for the program, which will air at 9 p.m. on Jan. 21.

Life After People explores the question of what, if anything, will be left behind should humans cease to exist on this planet. Eden was charged with digitally destroying a number of world-famous landmarks, including the Sears Tower, Seattle’s Space Needle, the Hoover Dam, Buckingham Palace, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Arc de Triomphe, as well as such major metropolises as New York City and Chicago.

John Gross, who co-founded Eden FX with Mark Miller, comments, “This was the first time we had to digitally illustrate, in a highly artistic fashion, the destruction and decay of numerous renowned locales. In so doing, we developed a new approach to time-lapse photography, which we utilized for a number of shots, including the aging of a cornfield as it grows, withers and rots away, a car decaying over 80 years, and even the Hoover Dam crumbling and spilling out a massive amount of water. This was a challenging, and certainly different, project for us, which we delivered with a very fast turn-around.”

Eden FX has also completed visual effects work on the upcoming feature film Get Smart, which Warner Bros. will release on June 20. The company is now working on more than 200 vfx shots for Walden Media’s family adventure Nim’s Island, which stars Jodie Foster and Gerard Butler. Based on the book by Wendy Orr and Kerry Millard, the pic will be distributed by 20th Century Fox on April 4.

For more information on Life After People, see the official website here.





"Dex Hamilton" Gets Green Light Down Under

Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist, a future-set series about a young explorer fighting an alien epidemic and preserving the ecosystem, has gotten a production go-ahead, World Screen reports. The series, from March Entertainment, SLR Productions and Parthenon Kids, has already been presold to Australia's Network Ten.





In Strike News...

January 16, 2008 - Twentieth Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount Network Television, NBC Universal, and Warner Bros. Television have invoked force majeure clauses to cancel more than sixty television production deals, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The clauses allow studios to unilaterally cancel production deals in the event of crisis events, including strikes. The deals being cancelled can be for as much as $2 million to cover staff overheads on the development of television series.

The move is seen as an admission by the studios that the development of shows for the new season will not occur. It will also allow studios to eliminate deals with marginal television writer-producers.

January 17, 2008 - The AMPTP has reached a tentative deal with the Directors' Guild of America (DGA) for a new contract, the Los Angeles Times reports. According to the Times, the three-year contract would give directors higher royalties from the online sales of movies and TV shows; terms are said to be better than those the AMPTP initially offered the striking WGA, essentially doubling the current paid rate, according to the Hollywood Reporter.





New Merch Lines Getting "Speed Racer" Branding

Speed Racer Enterprises has signed licensing deals to IMT Accessories, Saramax Apparel, Star Ride Kids, and other companies that will give them the right to produce merchandise related to its upcoming Speed Racer: The Next Generation series, World Screen reports. Product lines covered include indoor and outdoor furniture, bicycles, skateboards, and fishing rods; sleepwear, boxers, t-shirts, and sportswear; and Halloween masks and cake decorating kits.

The new series will premiere on Nicktoons in May.





"Pet Pals" to Save Venice in New Feature Film

Pet Pals will get a feature film spinoff in late 2009, World Screen reports. The Pet Pals and Marco Polo’s Code, from Italy's Gruppo Alcuni, will have the title characters fighting to stop the Crow Witch from draining the lagoons of Venice. Gruppo Alcuni is aiming for a Christmas release.





"Shrek the Musical" Coming to Broadway in the Fall of 2008

Shrek the Musical will have its world premiere in Seattle on August 14 before bowing on Broadway in the fall of 2008, producers announced today.

The play, based on characters created by William Steig and featured in the DreamWorks Animation films, will have a book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori. Jason Moore will direct; Josh Prince will do choreography.

No cast has been announced yet.





Carnival Cruise Offering "Betty Boop" Specialty Cruise

Carnival Cruise Lines will offer a "Betty Boop Fan Cruise" this October, the cruise line announced today.

The five-day specialty cruise aboard the Carnival Elation will feature special Boop-related events, including screenings, parties, and a photo, autograph and question-and-answer session with Mark Fleischer, the president of Fleischer Studios.

The ship will depart from San Diego on October 9 and visit Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico. For more information, visit here.






Re-Examining Mary Blair

Folks in and around the Bay Area should make a point to check out the “The Art and Flair of Mary Blair” exhibition which continues at the Cartoon Art Museum in downtown San Francisco through March 18, 2008. DreamWorks story artist Jenny Lerew recently visited the show and offered some perceptive observations about Blair’s work on her blog, including the notion that we shouldn’t allow today’s plethora of second- and third-rate Blair imitators affect our judgement about the quality of her original work. Jenny writes:

“There’s always a lot of talk about the obvious influence of Mary Blair on artists today–so much so, in fact, that it’s led in some circles to a bit of a backlash towards her or towards the stylings of artists who’ve been inspired by her. But when you see these up close and without the filters of photography(either the still camera’s or the animation stand’s)or the limitations of the published page, even now they leap out at the viewer and are as new and fresh as they must have been half a century ago. To see her technique up close is to appreciate how incredibly skilled she was. Intuitive, surely; imaginative and whimsical, yes–but also plain, keen, brilliant, diamond-hard thinking going on. It’s still a big wow.“





MyToons.com Bumper Blastoff Animation Contest

In response to positive animator feedback, MyToons.com, the world’s premier online animation community, is now accepting entries for Bumper Blastoff, its newest international animation contest, through February 28, 2008. Contestants are asked to create original animated bumpers lasting 30 seconds or less, for a chance to win their share of $7,000 in cash prizes. All animators, from students to professionals, are invited to enter Bumper Blastoff at MyToons.com.

Six “Rising Stars” in the student category will receive $500 each. One of the student winners will also be crowned “Supreme Rising Star” and will receive a professional portfolio review by INTERspectacular, Victor Newman of Freestyle Collective, and Michael Waldron of Nailgun.

Everyone else is invited to compete for one of MyToons.com’s three “Super Star” Awards. Winners will receive $1,000 each, with one “Supreme Super Star” grand prize winner being awarded an extra $1,000. In addition to these great prizes and worldwide exposure, MyToons.com will award limited edition T-shirts to randomly selected contestants on a weekly basis.

“The Art & Animation Community is our number one priority,” says Stacey Ford, chief creative officer of MyToons, “We are constantly looking for fun and creative ways to engage our members and promote their amazing skills. Bumper Blastoff will help us achieve this goal by empowering and rewarding the hard work and talent of animators everywhere."

Animations entered into Bumper Blastoff will be judged by leading industry professionals Luis Blanco and Michael Uman, founders and creative directors of INTERspectacular in New York City. The nine winners will be announced on March 12, 2008.

"We've seen that students and beginning animators have tremendous talent and great ideas," says Luis Blanco, one of the key creative directors of INTERspectacular, the award-winning New York-based design and concept studio. “We want to ensure that these amazing artists have equal opportunity to share their ideas and be rewarded for their dedication and creativity," agrees Michael Uman, co-creative director of INTERspectacular. "The Rising Star category in Bumper Blastoff offers students a much-deserved and challenging opportunity to shine."

Animators from across the globe are expected to participate in MyToons.com’s second worldwide contest. MyToons’ first contest attracted animators from countries as diverse as Australia, Brazil, France and Germany.

Winning selections will run as pre-rolls and bumpers on MyToons.com and on MyToons’ partner websites. This amazing opportunity will provide the winning animators with great exposure to the millions of people who enjoy MyToons.com. For more information, visit here.





BioShock Leads Interactive Acheivement Noms

The popular first-person shooter BioShock from 2K Games received a record 12 nominations to lead the pack of hopefuls for The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Released today, the list also includes top nods for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from Activision, The Orange Box from Electronic Arts and Valve Software, Rock Band from MTV Games and Super Mario Galaxy from Nintendo of America. All titles named will be vying for Overall Game of the Year Award when the ceremony commences on Feb. 7 at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, in conjunction with the 2008 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit.

Hosted for a third time by actor/comedian Jay Mohr, the peer-based kudo fest will recognize the outstanding products, individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry this past year. Those who aren’t attending the summit can view the ceremony online for the first time at gamespot.com, and via Comcast HD Video on Demand.

In additon to Overall Game of the Year, BioShock is up for Console Game of the Year, Computer Game of the Year and Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, among others. In many categories, the title is up against Call of Duty 4, which also received more than 10 nominations.

The following is a partial list of nominees for the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. A complete list will be posted at interactive.org.

Overall Game of the Year
Bioshock
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward

Rock Band
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix

Super Mario Galaxy
Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo

The Orange Box
Publisher: Electronic Arts/Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software

Computer Game of the Year
Bioshock
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward

Crysis
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Crytek

The Orange Box
Publisher: Electronic Arts/Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Publisher: Vivendi Games
Developer: Blizzard Ent.

Console Game of the Year
Bioshock
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward

Mass Effect
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare

Rock Band
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix

Super Mario Galaxy
Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Assassin’s Creed
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Bioshock
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia

Rock Band
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix

Super Mario Galaxy
Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo

The Orange Box
Publisher: Electronic Arts/Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software

Handheld Game of the Year
Drawn to Life
Publisher: THQ
Developer: 5th Cell

Jeanne d'Arc
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Level 5

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Publisher: D3 Publisher of America
Developer: Infinite Interactive, 1st Playable Productions

Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: High Impact Games

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo





Animated shorts on display at Sundance Film Fest

"Animation Spotlight," a program of shorts, will be shown four times at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, which gets underway tonight (Thursday) in Park City, Utah.

Whether hand-drawn, computer animated, or stop-motion, these animated stories are more mesmerizing and daring than ever.

A love story, murder and cover-up fill a gripping noir thriller. Delightfully strong women stop at nothing when identity, dinner, or their insatiable curiosity is at stake. A repressed man seeking God in forbidden places finds more than he bargains for. And to stir things up, a bunch of partying cowboys and revengeful astronauts are ready to rewrite the history of America.

Oh! And here's the latest from our beat-up rock idol Bobby Bird and his monkey tale of friendship.

Shorts include Madame Tutli-Putli, the much-honored tale created by Montreal-based artists Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski for the National Film Board of Canada.

Other films in the 105-minute program:

Yours Truly (dir. Osbert Parker; U.K., 2007, 8 min., Color & B/W)
Animation and live action collide in a dark romance as psychological tension surrounds the ultimate kiss-off letter.

Chonto (dir. Carson Mell; U.S.A., 2007, 15 min., Color)
Wilted rock idol Bobby Bird literally tries to buy a friend when he adopts a monkey from a zoo in South America.

Lapsus (dir. Juan Pablo Zaramella; Argentina, 2007, 4 min., B/W)
A curious nun ventures into the darker side of her animated world.

1977 (dir. Peque Varela; U.K., 2007, 9 min., Color)
A small town, a growing knot, and a girl searching for her identity.

For the Love of God (dir. Joe Tucker; U.K., 2007, 11 min., Color)
Graham lives with his overbearing mother in a Christian bookshop. They both love God, but in very different ways.

Dog (dir. Herman Karlsson; Iceland, 2006, 1 min., Color)
Remembering the death of a dog and the guilt of a boy that soon followed.

The Pearce Sisters (dir. Luis Cook; U.K., 2007, 9 min., Color)
An amusingly bleak-hearted tale of two old spinsters living on a remote strip of coast, scraping out a miserable existence from the sea.

The History of America (dir. MK12; U.S.A., 2007, 31 min., Color)
A psychedelic western space opera.

Screenings are at 5:30 p.m. Friday, January 18 at Prospector Square Theatre, Park City; 3 p.m. Saturday, January 19 at Broadway Centre Cinemas IV, Salt Lake City; 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, January 22 at Holiday Village Cinema III, Park City; and 3:15 p.m. Saturday, January 26 at Eccles Theatre, Park City.

Organizers of Sundance, the annual showcase for American and international independent films, will hand awards at a ceremony January 26, a day before the official end of the fest.

For box office information, visit here.






Suicidal Squirrels no fun for Romanian regulators

Romania's regulatory body for TV broadcasting will make an official protest to the European Commission about Suicidal Squirrels, a one-minute cartoon series shown every afternoon on British-licensed channel AXN.

The German cartoon's black "humor" includes images of squirrels hanging themselves and throwing themselves in front of cars.

The cartoon is also aired on cable television in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova.

AXN is seen on cable television. Licensed by Britain, it's therefore governed by British broadcasting rules and can't be controlled by Romanian authorities, Russia's Pravda news agency said Thursday. AXN did not reach an agreement with Romanian broadcast regulators.

The National Audiovisual Council doesn't think that the cartoon is damaging for children to view.

However, Gelu Trandafir, a member of Romania's broadcasting council, disagreed strongly.

"Some people may say this is an overreaction, but I don't think that such programs would be broadcast in Britain at two in the afternoon," Trandafir said.

Suicidal Squirrels

Not every TV series starring rodents is cute.





Kennedy Center Hosts Anime Premieres in February

The Kennedy Center will host a series of anime screenings as part of its Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture program in February.

"Genius Party" and "Genius Party Beyond" on February 15 and 16 will present a series of anime films, including Genius Party, Shanghai Dragon, Deathtic 4, Doorbell, Limit Cycle, Happy Machine, Baby Blue, Gala, Dimension Bomb, Moondrive, "Wanwa" the Puppy, and Tojin Kit. Directors Shinichiro Watanabe (Baby Blue), Koji Morimoto (Dimension Bomb), and Mahiro Maeda (Gala) will introduce the films and talk about their work.

"A Marathon of Anime Premieres" on February 17 will present 5 Centimeters Per Second, The Piano Forest, and Appseed Ex Machina. Shinji Aramaki, director of the latter, will introduce it.

For more information, visit The Kennedy Center: Japan! Culture + Hyper Culture.





Toon Nominees Compete for NAMIC Vision Award

The Boondocks, Handy Manny, El Tigre, Dora the Explorer: Dora's World Adventure, and Go, Diego, Go!: Diego Saves Christmas are among the nominees in the 14th Annual Vision Awards, the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) said today.

The awards are meant to honor and recognize achievements in original, multi-ethnic cable programming.

Dora and Diego were nominated in the Children's category, where they will compete with Cory in the House and High School Musical 2. The other series will compete with each other in the Animation category.





Smurfs film to feature “greater female presence”

Yahoo! Movies reports that due to the changes in the structure of society since the first appearance of the Smurfs, more female characters will appear in the upcoming CGI film. “There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years,” explained head of Smurf’s rights holder Hendrik Coysman. “One of these is girl empowerment.” The article also hints at more information regarding the Smurfs movie becoming available in the coming weeks.





American Film Institute to pick top 10 animations

The American Film Institute on Thursday introduced a new chapter in its Emmy Award-winning AFI's 100 Years... series.

AFI's 10 Top 10 will count down the top 10 films from 10 classic American film genres, including animation. This year, the jury will be asked to choose up to 10 movies per genre from a comprehensive list, including entries such as Pinocchio (1941), Shrek (2001), and Cars and Happy Feet (both 2006).

Of the 50 animated films on the ballot, 13 were produced by Walt Disney.

AFI defines "animated" as a genre in which the film's images are primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced by actors.

Other genres are fantasy, science fiction, gangster, western, sports, romantic comedy, courtroom drama, mystery and epic films.

AFI's 10 Top 10 turns a page in the institute's ongoing celebration of the American cinema centennial with a more diverse version of AFI's highly anticipated annual countdown special. Celebrating film genres that have never been honored before, AFI will create 10 new lists within the format previously designed for a top 100.

"Ten years ago, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies launched an unprecedented celebration of American film to mark cinema's centennial. As we continue this program into a new decade, we look forward to catalyzing a national conversation 10 times greater -- for the ultimate goal of this program is to drive audiences to discover and rediscover the classics of American film," said AFI president and CEO Bob Gazzale.

AFI's 100 Years... series has included AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (1998), 100 Stars (1999), 100 Laughs (2000), 100 Thrills (2001), 100 Passions (2002), 100 Heroes & Villains (2003), 100 Songs (2004), 100 Movie Quotes (2005), 100 Cheers (2006) and AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies-10th Anniversary Edition (2007).

The primetime special will be executive produced and directed by Gary Smith, executive produced for AFI by former AFI Board Chair Emeritus Frederick S. Pierce, and produced by Dann Netter. SFM Entertainment LLC is the distributor of the program.

AFI distributed a ballot Thursday with 500 nominated movies (50 per genre) to a jury of over 1,500 leaders from the creative community, including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers), critics and historians.





Winsor McCay's home town may honor him at last

Spring Lake, Michigan, the home town of Winsor McCay, may pay tribute to the pioneering animator at the Muskegon Film Festival, which runs from January 31 to February 2 this year.

Winsor McCay committee members meeting last Friday at the Spring Lake District Library agreed to consider honoring the creator of 1914's Gertie the Dinosaur at this summer's Spring Lake Heritage Festival as well.

Born in the Michigan town in 1871, McCay died in Brooklyn in 1934. The Winsor McCay Award is presented annually at the Annie Awards for lifetime achievement in animation.

Heritage Festival president Dave Hamather, who wasn't at Friday's meeting, said he didn't object to the plan to honor McCay.

As a youngster, McCay was first recognized for his art when he drew a picture of a local fire that destroyed his family home. He etched the scene in the frost of a windowpane at a neighbor's house.

On a school chalkboard, he drew an image of the steamer Alpena after it sank in Lake Michigan.

Reportedly, a photographer once sold pictures that he took of McCay's early drawings. Committee members are trying to find some of those photos.

Plans for the long term plans include a monument near Spring Lake Township Hall and the Spring Lake District Library. McCay attended the then Union Elementary School between the two sites.

Originally, plans included a monument in the park between the library and township hall. However, township officials objected, saying that parking places or building expansion may be needed in the indefinite future.

"This (monument) idea is just in its infancy," committee chairman Mark Miller said Friday.

Muskegon Film Festival president Mat Moore told the committee that an event at the Muskegon Museum of Art could include a screening of McCay's films tied in with a lecture.

Committee members suggested putting a marker or monument west of the library as near as possible to the original Union School site, perhaps with concrete "dinosaur" footprints pointing the way to the spot.

The Spring Lake District Library has a collection of books and videos showing McCay's life and work.

Those with information about McCay's local roots or descendants are invited to visit here.