TVSquad

Happy Monday, everybody. I've compiled some interesting news and tidbits from the world of animation just for you:

In keeping with the current trend of depicting cartoon characters as real people, someone has drawn the South Park characters as real people.

As reported by Brad last February, classic Gumby shorts are now available on YouTube, Google Video, and In2TV (which is run by TV Squad's parent company, AOL). The shorts are being made available through DMGI, which is also releasing a Gumby DVD later this year. I've placed the first Gumby short at the end of this post.

Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi of the blog Cartoon Brew, which all fans of animation should have in their Favorites folder, recently announced the launch of Cartoon Brew Films, a site dedicated to offering animated shorts that can't be found anywhere else. The shorts will cost two dollars each, with money going directly to the creators themselves.

Speaking of Jerry Beck, he really didn't like the Aqua Teen movie. I found myself disagreeing with his assessment until I remembered I haven't actually seen the movie yet.

Also in Adult Swim news: check out this discussion between Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green and Weird Al Yankovic over on MySpace. They talk about Robot Chicken's video for Yankovic's Weasel Stomping Day, and how Yankovic is still a god to many nerds.

Remember CatDog and Powerpuff Girls? Of course you do. Look for the first season of Powerpuff Girls to come out on DVD this June, and check out CatDog creator Peter Hannan's new site while you're at it.

Finally, Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington is donating $25,000 to an animated educational CD geared toward teaching kids about the Atlantic slave trade.