With the new year underway, it seems like a good time to announce that Cartooon Brew now has a bi-coastal presence. As many have surely heard by now, I moved to NYC a couple months ago. My estimable co-editor Jerry Beck continues to take care of business on the West Coast. Our coverage of the animation world will remain largely unchanged, as can be evidenced these past few months. The agenda for the Brew remains the same as always: write about topics that interest us, and that’s what both Jerry and I intend to keep on doing. As an added bonus, perhaps the posts on the Brew begin to reflect an even broader and more diverse tone as a result of my new surroundings.

Personally I’m quite pleased to be in and around the New York animation community. The NY animation scene has appealed to me from afar for a long time. One big reason for that is because artists do things in New York. They make short films, they teach, they cross over into other media, they dip and dabble in everything and don’t pigeonhole themselves as “animation artists.”

Hell, they even make animated features; three local indie animated features are nearing completion — directed by Bill Plympton, Nina Paley and Emily Hubley — and a fourth is starting production by Michael Sporn. I point this out not to suggest that a feature is the highest form of expression, but because a feature is one of the most time-consuming and ambitious things that one can endeavor to do in this art form. To embark on an independent feature with limited resources and budget takes guts, and it’s a testament to the drive and dedication of NY animators that so many have undertaken the challenge. Animation and beyond, I’m looking forward to spending some time in this amazing city and experiencing its rich and vibrant atmosphere…and eating lots of pizza by the slice.

We reached a milestone earlier in October that I think is worth mentioning: 10,000 reader comments on Cartoon Brew. We only launched comments in mid-February of this year, and we reached the 10,000 mark in under 8 months, which averages out to around 42 comments a day.

What has surprised both Jerry and I is not just the sheer number of comments but the consistently high quality of participation that we receive from industry professionals, cartoon buffs, and animation students alike. Sure, online discussion by nature lends itself to some silliness, but there’s also a lot of lively, passionate and informed discussion on the Brew. For this the credit has to go to our readership, which certainly must be one of the most knowledgeable animation communities on the Internet.

Comments moderation is not an easy task for us and takes up a significant amount of time. That includes fixing people’s links and formatting, emailing readers when a comment is inappropriate or off-topic, despamming comments that accidentally end up in the spam filter box (over 25,000 pieces of spam to date), and in general, keeping things in order. However, we believe that the effort has been more than worth it; we’ve learned a lot from the comments and feel it adds a valuable dimension to the Brew. So here’s to the next 10,000 comments and beyond.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what the most commented upon posts were on the Brew. These posts by no means represent the finest comments, but they are revealing in that they highlight what has generated the most reaction amongst our readers. As it turns out, bad animation will do the trick every time.

119 comments: New George of the Jungle in Flash

118 comments: Worst. MoCap. Ever.

116 comments: How Many Licks Does It Take To Make It CG

109 comments: Brew Review: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film

108 comments: Here Comes Trouble

105 comments: Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Incompetence

Today I’m pleased to announce the upcoming publication of the first-ever Cartoon Brew book. Inside UPA is a 64-page volume offering an unprecedented look into the legendary UPA animation studios. Packed with over fifty photos, most of which haven’t been seen in decades, the book offers a rare glimpse into what it was like to work at the mid-century’s greatest design-oriented animation studio.

Like the studio itself, this book is a bit of an experiment. It’s an animation book that treats artists like the stars they are and allows them to be appreciated in a way like never before. Personally I think it’s quite the appropriate companion to my earlier book Cartoon Modern because as that book focused on artwork and animation, this book recognizes the artists who made those groundbreaking films a reality.

Inside UPA captures long forgotten moments from the studio’s history including such images as John Hubley sketching dancer Olga Lunick during the production of Rooty Toot Toot, Aurie Battaglia and Leo Salkin working on the unproduced James Thurber feature The White Deer, architect John Lautner talking to UPA animators about his building plans for the studio, Pete Burness and Mister Magoo voice Jim Backus going through a storyboard, Gene Deitch and Cliff Roberts having an impromptu jam session at a picnic, and a late-night production staff meeting at the Smokehouse Restaurant.

Inside UPA, which measures 7.5″x8.7″, is a softcover with french flaps and b&w interior. All proceeds from the sale of the book will go towards the production of the UPA documentary that Tee Bosustow is working on so every purchase helps to further advance the documentation of the studio’s output. The book also includes a six-page filmography, which is the most complete UPA filmography to ever appear in print. It includes not only the studio’s theatrical shorts, but also its industrial and training films, TV commercials and shows, and other special projects.

The book is available in a numbered edition of 1000 copies. It’s a limited run and certainly not the type of book that will be available forever. The pre-order price (valid through September 15) is $35 (plus S&H). After that date, the price increases to $45. Fifty of these copies will come with a bookplate signed by UPA veterans who are still alive. These are available at $150.

To order your copy today, visit UPApix.com.

A few spreads from the book are below:

Thanks to everybody who responded. I still haven’t chosen anybody but there were literally dozens of responses and there’s tons of qualified people among them. I’ll try to respond to folks within the day. Thanks again!

We’re currently working on the first book that’ll be released under the Cartoon Brew imprint (see here) and looking for somebody to help prepare the black-and-white photo files for the printer. Basically I’m trying to make sure the values are consistent throughout the photos. I know how to use Photoshop, as I’m sure everybody else does too, so knowing the program is not enough; we’re looking for somebody who’s done a lot of photo editing and understands how to create tonal consistency across a batch of b&w images. There is financial compensation for the project. Not to mention the book itself should be quite unique. If you’re interested, please email me at amid at cartoonbrew dot com and let me know your qualifications.

The winners of the Fleet Street Scandal book are David White and Cabel Sasser.

Don’t worry if you didn’t win a book. The book can still be ordered online at FleetStreetScandal.com,and Kevin and Chris will also be at the San Diego Comic-Con this week (Table E-4) where they’ll be selling the book, as well as lots of prints, including new ones like the pieces below:

So I’ve only got a few days to spend in Paris. To folks living there or those who have visited, what would you recommend I do? Any good animation-related sights to see? Comic stores to visit? Pâtisseries and boulangeries to indulge at? All good tips welcomed. And no, I won’t be doing this.

Well, we’ve wrapped up our first week of the new comments-enabled Brew. We were both surprised by the sheer number (as well as consistently high quality) of comments—over 350 in the first seven days, or an average of more than fifty a day. We love to hear from so many people, but since comments are moderated, please make our lives easier by reading the “ground rules for posting” before posting comments on the Brew. One of the most common problems we encountered was folks who sign their posts at the bottom. Your name (and website address, if you have one) are already included at the top of the post so please don’t repeat that information a second time.

Please take note that there are plenty of reasons your post might not get approved for the site. Here are some of the reasons from the past week: the comment includes factually incorrect information, posting a one-word comment, too many grammatical/spelling errors, making a point that is unclear or difficult to understand, and repeating info that is already included in the post. Also, keep in mind that your contributions will be most valued by the Brew community if you have something unique to add to the discussion. Posting for posting’s sake benefits nobody.

Overall, we enjoyed reading the huge variety of thoughtful comments and discussions on topics as varied as Pogo, the value of owning your creations and Disney’s American Dog, as well as the lovely memories of Peter Ellenshaw and Ryan Larkin. Thanks to all who contributed. We hope many more Brew readers will also join the discussion.

Welcome everybody!

It’s been a long time coming and here finally is the new Cartoon Brew.

Cartoon Brew launched in March 2004 and in the nearly three years that it’s been up, we’d never bothered to redesign the blog. When we finally decided to update the look, we not only wanted to make it more elegant and easier to look at (fixed column widths anybody), but also to add functionality that had been missing from the original design. To that extent, we’ve added post categories, individual page entries, article search/sharing capabilities, better organized monthly archives, and yessirree, the oft-requested ability for user comments.

None of this would have been possible without our incredible designers (Jenny Volvovski, Julia Rothman and Matt Lamothe) at Also Design. We’ve been working with Also on another big project as well so stay tuned. These guys can do it all whether it’s web design, graphic design, Flash or anything else you can imagine, and both of us Brewmasters are thrilled with what they’ve been able to do for us.

A few house notes:
* To make things less confusing, we’re keeping comments closed on all posts prior to the redesign. But posts on CartoonBrew from today forward will typically have comments open. If you have any questions about the ground rules for commenting on Cartoon Brew, check out these notes.

* Most of our older posts are not categorized. So when you click on categories, keep in mind that they are only for posts from January 07 forward. Time-permitting, we will go back and try to categorize some of the older posts.

We’d love to hear what you think of the new look. We’ll be working over the next few days to iron out any kinks so let us know if you encounter any issues. Let the posting and commenting begin!