Hey folks, Harry here. Having met John Lassiter, Phil Tippet, Ray Harryhausen and Henry Selick... I'm quite pleased by the number of animating geniuses that I have met so far in my life. Ol Keane at Disney is one I've yet to meet... and Brad Bird. Well... I think I might just go ahead and do something about that one. I'm headed to L.A. this weekend, and this sounds like the sort of thing a Harry guy should go do. I tell you folks what... I'll see those that show up, there. Mechanical Moriarty will be there too. If you spot us... come on over and we'll go get shitfaced with several bottles of some sort of concoction the dear professor worked up to lube out Robogeek with... it's good shit man... I'm serious....

Hey, Head Geek...

"Moriarty" here.

Now that I'm finally coming up for air again, I have to restock on various nefarious supplies. In my brief forays out, I'm planning to make one detour that's purely for fun, and since you're going to be out here at the start of the week, I figure I'd tell you about it. Any LA area readers should also do their best to turn out between 3:00 and 5:00 PM on December 5th to the Warner Bros. Studio Store at the Glendale Galleria.

Why am I plugging a Warner Bros. event? Because I don't trust them to do right by IRON GIANT. Not now, not never. Have you seen those television commercials with the skateboarding kids and the rock music and the guy singing something like "Unlock the Iron Giant within you! You got the Iron Giant in you!" It's astonishing how horrible the ads are. At a recent licenser's show for OSMOSIS JONES, both Brad Ball (the VP of publicity for Warner) and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (the executive who gave the film so much "love" and "support") admitted that they dropped the ball with IRON GIANT. Does that strike anyone else as incredible? They know they did it wrong... AND THEY CONTINUE TO DO SO!!!

Grr... grrr... must punish Mongo... must calm down...

There. I've just ducttaped Mongo's mouth closed with a scorpion inside. Since his hands are bound, it should be fun to watch him try to get that little rascal out of there. That helps. I'm calm enough to get back on track and tell you that there are, as always, some good things about the video release of IRON GIANT. First and foremost is the fact that there's letterboxed versions of the film on both tape and DVD, and that there's a special edition of the DVD coming this spring that should be astounding. Second is the fact that there's events going on to promote the release, one of which is the one I'm writing you about.

As a rabid fan of the film, I'm dancing at the idea that there are limited edition prints of artwork from the film that will be available at the various Warner Bros. stores, as well as other goodies (not exactly sure what yet) that can be signed by the artists who worked on them.

Artists? you say. What artists?

Ah... well... how about Brad Bird himself? Want to meet the genius who spearheaded the year's best animated feature? Want to tell him how much you appreciated the film? Here's your chance. You'll also get a chance to meet and speak with Mark Andrews, Alan Bodner, Tony Fucile, Paul Rogers, Dennis Venizelos, Dean Wellins, and Mark Whiting, talented guys each and every one.

I'm still picking out my disguise, but I'm definitely going to be there. You've gotta come, Harry. Anyone else who's interested should RSVP (you can also place an advanced order this way) by calling Paul Willimas at 818.547.2284.

See you at the airport, Big Red. Until then...

"Moriarty" out.