director

Some of my fellow bloggers refer to me as the "animation expert," a nice label, but I don't personally consider myself an expert on animation. I'm really just a big fan with a knack for remembering trivial things. Besides, there are a ton of great Web sites and blogs out there by people who actually work in the industry and can talk about things with an authority I just don't have. Case in point: John Kricfalusi recently posted a lengthy missive from Milton Gray on his blog in which Gray, who currently works as an animation timer on The Simpsons, talked about the importance of timing in animation and sung the praises of early animation directors, especially Bob Clampett. Gray writes about how important the hands-on approach was in those early cartoons, and about working within the confines and restrictions of modern animation. Check it out.

They've chosen a director for the new Simpsons movie, and it's Steven Spielberg.

Wait. I'm sorry, I didn't have my glasses on. The director is actually David Silverman, a name Simpsons fans should immediately recognize. Silverman is a supervising animation director on the show and also worked on the movie Monsters, Inc.

While I'm sure David Silverman's direction will be just fine, I wonder if they ever considered having Brad Bird direct the film (or if Bird was even available, for that matter). Bird seems like an obvious choice to me, having worked on The Simpsons and also having helmed two of the more well-respected animated films in recent years, The Iron Giant and The Incredibles. I think a mix of Simpson-y irreverence mixed with Bird's knack for storytelling would have been nice, but oh well. I'm still excited, regardless.

Oh yeah, and Sitcoms Online is reporting that Albert Brooks (one of my favorite occasional guest voices) will make an appearance in the movie, too. This movie just keeps sounding better.