Alex Ross, in The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, states that Schoenberg’s twelve-tone method of musical composition “… finally reached the silver screen by way of Scott Bradley’s inventive scores for Tom and Jerry cartoons in the forties, notably Puttin’ on the Dog and The Cat That Hated People.” Which gives me an excuse to post some High Culture, courtesy of Tex Avery.

Nina Paley, unable to release her movie Sita Sings the Blues through conventional channels because of insane copyright laws, is giving it away, free. You can download it here in a variety of formats and resolutions.

(Via Maureen.)

Neil Gaiman and Gahan Wilson:

And Raymond Scott:

Via Cartoon Brew

*****

That other dealer is holding a “bargain bin blowout.” It’s mostly junk, of course, but there are complete sets of some worthy anime available for very reasonable prices, including Bottle Fairy, Divergence Eve and Misaki Chronicles, Haibane Renmei, Serial Experiments Lain, Shingu (including a t-shirt), Someday’s Dreamers and Sugar, a Tiny Snow Fairy. There’s also some Miles Davis.

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So Sailor Moon is girl stuff? Check the results of this poll.

Odds and ends, some of them involving animation, Japan or spandex.

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In a discussion of anime involving classical music, the writer at Transientem included links to several animated versions of Liszt’s second Martian Hungarian rhapsody, including performances by Tom & Jerry

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