A few weeks ago, Mark Lynch of New England public radio station WICN ran two hours of interviews with animation authors on his radio show Inquiry: one hour with Neal Gabler for his book Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, half an hour with Tom Sito and his Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions From Bosko to Bart Simpson and half an hour for my Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation. The interviews can be listened to online through the end of of June. I have to admit, I was a bit tentative about doing such a long chat about the book, but the host Mark Lynch quickly put me at ease with his excellent interview style and solid understanding of the book’s material. Thanks to Mark for devoting such a big chunk of airtime to discussing cartoons.

From our friends at Mental Floss.

A new edition of FLIP is now up. I’d be plugging Steve Moore’s online magazine about animation (written and edited by animators) even if I weren’t profiled in it.

But since I am, I especially recommend it.

A couple new blogs which I’ll be visiting frequently:

Director/animator/writer Will Finn has started a personal blog. In his introductory post, Will says he hopes to “post thoughts, anecdotes, original sketches and share art and other influences that inspired me to seek a career as a cartoonist in the first place.” So far his blog has convinced me that I really need to see the TV play The Comedian starring Mickey Rooney.

(Thanks to Blackwing Diaries for the tip)

And here’s the production blog for The Cat Piano, an upcoming hand-drawn animated short blending beat poetry, film noir flavor, bold production design and lots and lots of cats. The film is being directed by Eddie White and Ari Gibson out of one of Australia’s more promising young animation studios, The People’s Republic Of Animation. Stay tuned to CartoonBrewFilms where another of the PRA’s shorts, Carnivore Reflux (2006), directed by Eddie White and James Calvert, will debut shortly.

It all started on John Kricfalusi’s blog in a series of posts where he analyzes UPA’s modern graphics, comparing them to traditional character animation as practiced by Warner Bros., Walter Lantz and Terrytoons.

Michael Sporn then responded on his blog, igniting a series of comments that are, in no particular order, thought-provoking, frustrating, insightful and maddening. Whatever your opinion, it’s a fun read.

Good news! Harry McCracken’s blog is back.

McCracken, former editor of Animato, current editor of PC World and webmaster of Scrappyland, has promised to step up the pace of his blogging at Harry-Go-Round, which he has just redesigned.

Also check out his many fun-filled archived articles and galleries like Those Wonderful, Memorable, Never-to-be-Forgotten Animation Restaurants of Yesteryear, his virtual museum of 8mm Cartoon Home Movie Boxes, and a curious section of Mystery Art.

Earlier this week, UCLA’s Department of Special Collections unveiled a new searchable website that houses 5,100 hi-res images from the archives of the LA Times and the original Los Angeles Daily News. Most of these images haven’t been seen since they were originally published in the newspapers. I was curious if there were any animation related photos among the collection and I’ve posted my finds below. Bear in mind that the entire archive consists of 3 million photos so the images online represent only a tiny fraction of the collection.

The animation and cartoon-related photos include images of Carl Urbano, Bill Peet, Gus Arriola, Matt Groening, June Foray, Phil Interlandi, Hank Ketcham, a couple Ward Kimball pics (1, 2), some nice shots from the Disney strike of ‘41 (1, 2), a few Walt Disney photos I’d never seen before (1, 2, 3), and a Snow White float from the 1938 Rose Parade.

(via LA Observed)

Is it possible to have an animation magazine about animators, written by animators, and edited by an animator?

It is… and animator Steve Moore is doing it. The first edition of FLIP: Lifestyles of the Hunched and Goofy is now online. The debut issue features an interview with Nancy Beiman, a profile of Jeff DeGrandis, James Baker on his drive-in movie memories, a feature on Blue Sky designer Mike Knapp, book reviews and more. Moore is doing this as a sideline hobby, and has no idea what he’ll put in the next issue. Let’s hope he can keep it going—it’s quite refreshing and deserves our support.