Disney Animation to Close down

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This isn't to say there will be no more movies, HOWEVER, I have 3 different friends in the feature animation department who have all confirmed that after the two features currently in production are finished, there will be no more classic hand drawn animation. It will instead all be computer generated stuff like BUGS LIFE or TOY STORY.

Personally, I think this is because some "suit" saw the commerical success of SHREK and decided that it succeeded because it was computer animated and not because it was actually GOOD.

The last two conventionally animated movies sound dull as well - so if you were looking for Disney to ever do another 'Lion King" - it ain't gonna happen.

I'll try ad get more details this weekend - but I consider this information to be fairly reliable.

Can anyone confirm/deny this report? It sounds like hearsay, at the moment...

Ailing orca dies

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Yahoo News has published an Associated Press report that Bjossa, a 25-year-old female orca, died Monday at San Deigo SeaWorld. Bjossa had formerly lived at the Vancouver Aquarium, and was transported to SeaWorld in April. A spokesman for the aquarium said that Bjossa had suffered from a lung infection for at least a year before she arrived at SeaWorld.

Man's Burmese Python Eats His Pit Bull

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A Merced, CA man discovered his 200-pound Burmese python had escaped from its cage, and his pit bull puppy was missing. He soon found them both, in a matter of speaking.

See this story at Yahoo! for more info.

SlugBot: Enemy of Slugs

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According to this story at wired, a prototype robot capable of hunting down over 100 slugs an hour and using their rotting bodies to generate electricity is being developed by engineers at the University of West England's Intelligent Autonomous Systems Laboratory.

This thing is a lot like the Klingon Engineered Tribble predator in he old Star Trek animated series. Soon to come a competeing French design "Escargot Bot!" ;)

Conifur Artshow Waiting List Info

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Conifur's Artshow may be sold out, but there's still a way to get panels!

Several artist- and editor-types have confided to me that they may not be able to fill the panels that they have reserved in the show this year. That means more panels for eveybody else!

The waiting list works on a first-come first-serve basis, and as soon as an artist is done hanging, any unused panels will be immediately available! I am currently estimating between five to ten panels will open up this way, and I'd hate to have blank panels, you know!

Even mail-in artists can get onto the list! Just email me at artshow@conifur.org for information!

South African stork arrested

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BBC Online reports police in Burundi, Africa, "arrested" a stork on suspicion of spying. The South African stork was fitted with a satellite tracking device and was part of a study of the migratory patterns of the bird. There's a picture of the stork and the device in the story.

Forest Fires Threaten Siberian Tigers

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According to NewScientist:
"Fires in eastern Russia are threatening the last stronghold of the Siberian tiger, according to WWF."

Apparently, Six hundred square kilometers are ablaze near an area densely populated by this endangered species. The WWF have six fire brigades attempting to control the fires.

For more information, check out NewScientist's article

New Line Cinema buys Centaur movie script

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From yahoo.com

New Line Cinema has picked up the comedy spec "The Centaur" from writing pair Jack Angelo and Sam Brown for management-production outfit Benderspink to produce.

The script is described as a romantic fable about a woman who falls in love with a seemingly perfect man, only to discover that he is a centaur (half-man/half-horse) brought to mortal life through the aid of magical potion.

'The Centaur' was one of those rare screenplays where you find yourself literally laughing out loud," New Line president of production Toby Emmerich said. "Few writers can weave adult humor with romantic innocence and make it work. Jack and Sam creatively manage this difficult task in a way that is endearing and fun."
Benderspink's J.C. Spink and Chris Bender, who have a first-look deal at the studio, will produce the project. New Line production executives Michele Weiss and Cale Boyter are overseeing.

Angelo and Brown previously teamed on the short film "Chutzpah," which can be seen on IFILM.com

Cave wall pony pics older than thought

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BBC News Online also reports that new accelerator mass spectrometry tests on the carbon atoms from the ancient charcoal drawings of horses on the wall of a cave near Chauvet, France, date the pictures at 30,000 years old. The spectacular pictures have been described as intricate and sophisticated, indicating that early humans began developing art techniques far earlier than previously thought. The article includes a photograph of a portion of the cave drawings.

Endangered sheep cloned

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BBC News online reports the existence of a six-month-old lamb cloned from a dead member of an endangered species of wild sheep. The mouflon sheep is native to Sadinia, Corsica and Cyprus. The surrogate mother was a domesticated ewe of a related species. Click on the link to read the full story. There's a picture of the cute little lamb there, too.

Conifur Northwest Artshow is Sold Out!

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The Conifur Northwest artshow has reached maximum capacity!

Artist registration was closed last week due to an overwhelming response, and after some compilation of figures, it turns out we're sold out of panels! If you would like to participate and haven't already registered, then you can still get on the standby list for abandoned panels. Just email me at artshow@conifur.org and let me know.

Cat-using 'Space cult' members arrested for murder-for-hire

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Four heads of a 'Space cult' were arrested in a murder-for-hire plot here in Maryland.
Full article by the Baltimore Sun
. Aparently, at least one of them is whacked out of his mind: they used cats to communicate to their "mothership".

Heathcliff Creator Dies

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George Gately, the creator of the 'Heathcliff' cartoon, passed away Sunday after a heart attack. He was 72 years old. Further details are available

Yahoo! Animal News

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A suggestion to anyone who likes to follow news stories about animals - bookmark the Yahoo! Animal News site and check it on a regular basis. They get many stories that individually would be worthy of mention on Flayrah, but collectively would be a bit overwhelming if we tried to include them all (though we still welcome submissions of particularly interesting animal stories).

At this writing, the top four animal stories listed are:

Feel free to post comments on any of the above stories.

From the Yerf Archive