The Animation Show World Premier Tonight

Across a cubicle wall not too long ago we heard someone say "I am Cornholio." We of course holla'd back, "I need t.p. for my bunghole." This little exchange set off explosions of laughter as eight people within earshot realized our shared history through Beavis & Butthead, the series that truly defines 90's animation for us. Austinite Mike Judge, creator of that cultural zeitgeist and all-around-super-cool-guy, got his start on the art house circuit with traveling animation compilations and in turn has cultivated The Animation Show, a blitzkrieg of independent animation talent, the 4th annual edition of which will have its world premier tonight at the Alamo Drafthouse.

Featuring a wide range of styles and narrative structures, including repeat appearances of some jail-bait bunnies, a Teletubby like crotch-cruncher and a couple of wacky, half-witted Australians, our eyes were glued to the screen for the full hour and a half. Amongst the power packed program, we found a couple of favorites. John & Karen, a work by Matthew Walker, gingerly tiptoes through the "I'm sorry" portion of a relationship quarrel over tea and biscuits, with the unlikely pairing of a Polar Bear and a Penguin. Another relationship quarrel is explored in Steve Dildarian's Angry Unpaid Hooker, the subject of which we will leave to your imagination. Also in our top five is Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker, a John Woo meets Quentin Tarantino-esque time bender about a police officer,a noise complaint and three very different apartment tenants. Written, Directed and Animated by Stefan Muller, Mr. Mr. Mr. is definitely one of the more ambitious narratives and certainly one of the most, shall we say, intriguing.

Rounding out our top five faves are Western Spaghetti by PES (who will be present at tonights screenings along with Joel Trussel, who created the title reel!) and This Way Up by Smith and Foulkes. PES, if you don't know, creates all of those amazing stop-action commercials, like the ones for Coinstar and Bacardi, and in this outing created a full Italian feast from pick-up-stick spaghetti and shredded yarn Parmesan. This Way Up was one of the specially commissioned works for the Animation Show, and is a Rube Goldberg-like comedy of errors involving a couple of undertakers and a wayward coffin.

The Animation Show will be screening for the next week. Go and see it and let us know what your top five are. Who knows - one of these indie artists could create the next Cornholio-like cultural phenomenon.