The Amazing John Ratzenberger!

The amazingly talented John Ratzenberger

Ever heard of John Ratzenberger? Actor, has a mustache, voices a character in every single Pixar film to date? Ring a bell?

Cliff Clavin, the character that made John famous, from "Cheers"

John Ratzenberger is well known for having played the mailman Cliff Clavin (the role which made him famous) in the TV series Cheers and also made an appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as Major Bren Derlin. He also recently joined Twitter, and is following Pixar Corner's Twitter feed!

Major Bren Derlin from "The Empire Strikes Back"

If you had never heard of John Ratzenberger before reading this blog post, or just weren't aware of his history with Pixar, you may be wondering, "Which Pixar characters has this guy voiced?"

Well...

- In the Toy Story series: Hamm the Piggy Bank

- In A Bug's Life: P.T. Flea

- In Monsters, Inc.: The Yeti/Abominable Snowman

- In Finding Nemo: The School of Moonfish

- In The Incredibles: The Underminer

- In the Cars series: Mack the Truck

- In Ratatouille: Mustafa the Waiter

- In WALL-E: John

- In Up: Tom the Construction Foreman

All of John Ratzenberger's Pixar characters, so far

Now think about all these characters' voices. Do they sound similar?

John Ratzenberger is considered Pixar's lucky charm, which is why they never do a film without him having at least one line. He is set to once again play a character in Brave, although it has not been announced which one. See if you can catch his voice when you watch the film this summer!

John Ratzenberger sure is one talented guy! Follow him on Twitter, if you're not already!

Which is your favorite John Ratzenberger character?

The Pixar Alphabet!

Do you know your Pixar ABCs? Enjoy this fantastic piece of art by artist Mike Boon!

By the way, it's alright if you don't recognize the "X" character (his name is XP). He isn't technically a Pixar character, but he's from the Disney series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.

Pixar characters really inspire lots of artists to make amazing creations for the world to marvel at! I give this a big two thumbs up!

"Cars 2" Left Out for Oscar Noms; "La Luna" Nominated

The Oscar nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been announced, and there is some disappointment yet some excitement in the air for Pixar fans.

First of all, Pixar's 12th feature film Cars 2 did not get a nomination for the "Best Animated Feature" category. In fact, many animated films from 2011 that I had hoped to see nominated were not recognized by the Academy this year, like Disney's Winnie the Pooh. Since now neither Cars 2 or Pooh are nominated, I hope Rango takes the prize.

I would've loved to see Cars 2 nominated, but even if it isn't, that doesn't stop it from being a great film.

On the bright side, there is still a chance for Pixar to walk away with an Oscar this year. Their new short, La Luna, directed by Enrico Casarosa, received a nomination for the "Best Animated Short Film" category, and is sure to win. I have not seen La Luna yet (only a short yet breath-taking 30-second clip), as it doesn't debut in cinemas until June 22, but it most definitely looks like a beautiful little fable.

The 84th Annual Academy Awards will take place on February 26. Stay tuned.

The Real Pizza Planet Truck - Finished!

A couple of months back we heard about a group of students from California with a seemingly impossible mission: recreating the iconic Pizza Planet Truck and take it all across the state. No big deal.

Well, it looks like the "recreating the truck" part is complete, because the crew recently posted a picture of the finished Pizza Delivery Shuttle on their blog. And, boy, does it look fantastic!!! I bet Pixar is going to be impressed!

These guys made sure they tackled everything - down to the last tiny detail. This extremely accurate replica of the Pizza Planet Truck includes even the three Aliens from Toy Story dangling at the front seat, and the lettering "YO" on the rear.

I can't wait to see this thing travel all the way to the Pixar Studios in Emeryville. It's going to be spectacular!

Be sure to check out the official "Road to Pixar" website!

The only difference I can find between the truck from the Pixar films and this recreation is that this one, rather than being filthy and rusted like the film version, is nice and shiny. But, who knows? Maybe it will look filthy and rusted by the end of the trip!

Behold the Awesome Cars Die-Cast Exhibit!

There's a pretty astonishing exhibit going on right now over at the Peterson Automotive Gallery in Los Angeles. It's called "From Silver Screen to Die-Cast: Disney-Pixar Cars Imagined by Mattel". It is essentially an exhibition of every single Cars, Cars Toon, and Cars 2 die-cast car ever made. Being both a big Cars fan and a Cars die-cast collector, I would not miss a chance to get into this spectacular exhibit!

And it features more than just little collectible cars. There is even a section that educates people on the history and evolution of Cars die-cast packaging! The astounding 1:55 scale fully-animated Lightning McQueen ALIVE toy also makes an appearance.

There are also some sweet recreations of famous Cars posters and movie scenes using the die-casts, along with a car-shaped shelf filled with more die-casts! Another section of the exhibition focuses on extremely rare or never-before-seen Cars die-casts.

The exhibit will also give you a sneak peek at the new Cars die-casts coming in 2012!

Watch an awesome video from the exhibition below:

 

I would do nearly anything to go see this downright mind-blowing exhibition.