I've just returned from the Annecy Animation Festival in France - it was so much fun, it was difficult to return.

Let me see if I can summarize last week. Just before I left for France, I caught "Finding Nemo", a wonderful undersea adventure comedy by Pixar and Andrew Stanton. Great visuals and storytelling as usual. Run out and see it!

So, I arrived in France - being a festival judge, your every whim is catered to, which causes you to become a spoiled adolescent -

The opening ceremonies featured a just-completed 50-year-old film called "Destino". Originally begun during WWII, Walt Disney commissioned Salvador Dali to create an animated short using Dali's surreal vision to the music of "Destino", an old Spanish song. Roy Disney discovered the original drawings and commissioned the completion of this magical film that had its world premiere at Annecy. Mr. Disney introduced the film, and it was a delight, very faithful to the Dali style. A pure, psychedelic experience.

In between the judging of the films and the parties, I did some business: I appeared at a FNAC store (the French Tower Records), introduced a local theatrical showing of "The Tune" and sold art and books at the B.D. Fugue bookshop.

The jury experience was quite pleasant - we reached our decisions fairly quickly and easily, so I had time to join my hero, Marv Newland, on a pedal boat on Lac D'Annecy with 3 lovely French girls. (see sketch)

ut the highlight for me was the screening of "The Triplettes of Belleville", an engaging and handsome feature film by Sylvain Chomet - what a delight! It should open in the U.S. in the fall from Sony Picture Classics.

The Bonlieu Center at Annecy also hosted a retrospective gallery showing of my art, including some of my illustrations, caricatures and cels from "Mutant Aliens" and "Hair High".

Now, I'm back in the cold reality of New York, where no one caters to my every whim and I must finish "Hair High" by the end of June.

Here is my next installment of the "Cartoon of the Week" - again it's a comment on rock musicians and their relationship to technology. It's again heavily influenced by R.O. Blechman, my hero.

Bill Plympton