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Diary of a Camper is a short 1996 American film created by United Ranger Films, then a subdivision of a popular group of players, or clan, known as the Rangers. Made using id Software‘s 1996 first-person shooter computer game Quake and released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo file, the video is considered the first example of machinima—the art of using real-time, virtual 3-D environments, often game engines, to create animated films. The story centers on a lone camper, a pejorative for a player who waits in a strategic location instead of seeking active battle, who faces five members of the Rangers clan in a deathmatch, a type of multiplayer game whose goal is to kill as many opponents as possible. Although players had previously recorded segments of gameplay, these were usually deathmatches or speedruns, attempts to complete a map as quickly as possible. Diary of a Camper was the first demo to contain a narrative with (text-based) dialogue, instead of merely showing gameplay. Commentators agree that the work itself is primitive, but acknowledge its importance in establishing video games as a medium for filmmaking.

• … that the stylized animation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was inspired by rough sketches in school notebooks?
• … that the first lady of the Ivory Coast created an animated kids’ show in 1989?
• … that the only copy of El Apóstol, widely considered to be the first animated feature film, was lost in a fire?
• … that the creators of the cartoon Jade Armor filmed live-action martial arts stunts to visualize the show’s animated action sequences?
• … that director Isao Takahata reportedly stayed overnight at a doss-house to ensure that the Japanese animated film Jarinko Chie accurately depicts the city of Osaka?
• … that the live-action comedy series Community had a stop motion animated Christmas special?

Zenas Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). From a young age, McCay was a quick, prolific, and technically dextrous artist. He started his professional career making posters and performing for dime museums, and began illustrating newspapers and magazines in 1898. He joined the New York Herald in 1903, where he created popular comic strips such as Little Sammy Sneeze and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. Between 1911 and 1921 McCay self-financed and animated ten films, some of which survive only as fragments. McCay and his assistants worked for twenty-two months on his most ambitious film, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), a patriotic recreation of the German torpedoing in 1915 of the RMS Lusitania. In his drawing, McCay made bold, prodigious use of linear perspective, particularly in detailed architecture and cityscapes. He textured his editorial cartoons with fine hatching, and made color a central element in Little Nemo. His comic strip work has influenced generations of cartoonists and illustrators. He pioneered inbetweening, the use of registration marks, cycling, and other animation techniques that later became standard.

Family Guy's fifth season first aired on the Fox network in eighteen episodes from September 10, 2006 to May 20, 2007 before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. It premiered with the episode “Stewie Loves Lois” and finished with “Meet the Quagmires“. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family—father Peter, mother Lois, daughter Meg, son Chris, baby Stewie and Brian, the family pet, who reside in their hometown of Quahog. The executive producers for the fifth season were David Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith and series creator Seth MacFarlane. The showrunner for the fifth season was Goodman. The season received a mixed reception from critics, who cited a lack of original writing. More positive assessments were that the series saw “no sign of tiring”, and had “as many funny moments as ever.” Season five contains some of the series’ most acclaimed episodes, including “Barely Legal“, “Airport ’07” and “No Chris Left Behind“. The Volume Five DVD box set was released in Region 1 on September 18, 2007, Region 2 on October 15, 2007 and Region 4 on November 25, 2009. Thirteen of the eighteen episodes are included in the volume. The remaining five episodes of the season were released on the Volume Six DVD box set, released in Region 1 on October 21, 2008, Region 2 on November 10, 2008 and Region 4 on November 25, 2009.

• …that comedy writer Al Jean (pictured), who has been awarded with four Emmy Awards for his work on The Simpsons, graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics?
• …that The Old Lady and the Pigeons lost the Oscar but won the Genie?
• …that to watch an early screening of “The Gathering“, attendees of the Star Wars Celebration VI had to bring their kids with them?

Films released

• 1928 – Ride’em Plow Boy (United States)
• 1931 – Mother Goose Melodies (United States)
• 1932 – Goopy Geer (United States)
• 1938 – Porky’s Five & Ten (United States)
• 1948 – Daddy Duck (United States)
• 1966 – A-Haunting We Will Go (United States)

Television series and specials

• 1984 – It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown an American animated television special airs on CBS
• 2009 – Xavier: Renegade Angel, an American animated CGI television series finishes airing on Adult Swim

Births

• 1952 – Billy West, American voice actor
• 1959 – David Feiss, American animator
• 1994 – Liliana Mumy, American voice actress