Bill Murray stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman again. As always, very entertaining. Though no mention of the Fantastic Mr. Fox DVD. Part 1 is below, part 2 after the break.

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An interesting article today from The A.V. Club on the philosophies of some of Bill Murray’s most famous characters, including Herman Blume from Rushmore.

The asceticism of Scrooged and Rushmore
As practiced by certain sects of Hinduism, Jainists, and even Christians who reject the ideas of “prosperity theology” (and actually, you know, listen to Jesus), asceticism involves a conscious abstaining from worldly pleasures in favor of focusing on one’s spiritual life. While he doesn’t end up wandering the desert in sackcloth eating only what may fall into his bowl, Murray does arrive at these basic tenets of asceticism in two of his most popular roles: In Scrooged, Murray’s Frank Cross is dedicated to success no matter the cost to his basic humanity, until a night of being tormented by spirits—who are really just manifestations of his own conscience—opens his eyes to the simpler joys of “putting a little love in your heart” and helping your fellow man. In Rushmore, Murray’s Herman Blume is a self-made tycoon with his own multimillion-dollar business and the lifestyle to match, yet he’s crippled by ennui, and despairing over the alienation he feels toward his family. Pursuit of a truer definition of love eventually tears his world apart—and wrecks him both financially and physically—but by movie’s end, Blume has undergone a total spiritual reawakening, and seems to have found happiness at last in his total unburdening.

Read the full article at The A.V. Club.

Jason Schwartzman was the guest DJ on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning, playing some of his favorite songs and chatting for forty-five minutes. You can listen below or at KCRW’s wesbsite.

In addition to the Golden Globe nomination, yesterday Fantastic Mr. Fox picked up two screenwriting awards from west coast critics associations. Wes and Noah won the Best Adapted Screenplay for the film and it was also named the runner-up for Best Animated Film from the San Diego Film Critics Society. Similarly, The San Francisco Film Critics Circle awarded Fantastic Mr. Fox their prize for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Update: Also recieved another Best Animated Film, this one from the Toronto Film Critics Association, a nomination in the same category from the Chicago Film Critics, and another Best Animated Film and Best Screenplay win from the Utah Film Critics Association. In addition, Best Family Film and Best Animated Film from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society and the latter from The Sattelite Awards.

And so Fantastic Mr. Fox’s award season begins. It was announced today that the film is nominated in three categories for Annie Awards (which you can read more about here), which as you might have guessed honor animated films. Mr. Fox receieved nominations for Best Animated Feature, Directing in a Feature Production, and Writing in a Feature Production. Congratulations Wes, Noah, et al.

The awards will be given out Saturday February 6, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Full list of nominees after the break.

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Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger sat down for a roundtable discussion with Wes, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray to talk about Fantastic Mr. Fox. The first part is embedded below, and it continues after the break. Unfortunately you’ll need to use the EW link to see part 3.

And for those who continue to see Mr. Fox over the holiday weekend for the first time (or second…or third) please stop by and leave us your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.

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See it below or at Apple in HD.

Noah Baumbach is of course the co-writer of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and the director of the Wes produced The Squid and the Whale.

Greenburg is scheduled to be released on March 12, 2010 from Focus Features.

NPR Weekend Edition did a little piece on Wes Anderson’s influences in Fantastic Mr. Fox:

“Eric says he thinks that it’s based on my relationship with my older brother,” says Anderson. “He was always taller, and he’s very intelligent, and he was always better adjusted than I was. He’s also very well-mannered and just always had it together. Now he’s a doctor. … I was a kind of grouchier, less well-adjusted child, so I think that might’ve been an inspiration without me ever thinking of it.”

Jason Schwartzman is going to be the guest for the “Not My Job” segment on Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me (“the NPR news quiz”) this weekend. Here is Jason’s apperance.

Here’s Bill Murray’s full apperance on The Late Show with David Letterman from last week. They discuss Fantastic Mr. Fox in the second part, which you can see after the break.

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Jason stopped by MTV recently to talk to the children about Modeling, Miley Cyrus, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. The hooting and hollering and young people is embedded below.