Animation Scoop

Today I’m happy to announce the launch of my new animation blog, Animation Scoop.

What? Another animation blog? I can hear you now, “How and why are you doing two animation blogs?”

A funny thing happened on the way to rebooting this blog, Cartoon Research – I ended up loving Cartoon Research. Let me explain.

Originally I intended to return Cartoon Research to the same news, reviews and commentary format that I had established over ten years ago. But once I started to write posts for Cartoon Research – and began to add additional weekly guest columns by Jim Korkis, Fred Patten, Charles Brubaker and others – this blog began to take on a life of its own. And I’m loving it. It’s become a comfortable place to hang out with my friends. To talk about classic animated films amongst knowledgable colleagues, akin to hanging out on a Sunday afternoon with my buds. Casual, informative conversation (and debate) about the history of animation.

One of my first posts here was for the new trailer for the sequel to Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs – it got almost no response. It just seemed out of place. At the same time, I started hearing from other readers wanting me to return my book reviews, reporting on current movies and TV, and to continue offering a place for reader feedback to trailers, clips and shorts.

Wanting to keep Cartoon Research pure, I decided another site was in order. Not wanting to duplicate any already established blog, I began to imagine a new animation website that could serve both the animation community and the industry at-large. I approached several colleagues who immediately agreed to join me in what is now called Animation Scoop (logo above by the uber-talented Kevin Kidney). Indiewire, a collective of film commentary blogs (their roster includes Leonard Maltin and Anne Thompson), is allowing Animation Scoop to join their network and will handle the advertising.

Initial contributors to Animation Scoop include animation historian Charles Solomon (author, The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation and many more) who will be reviewing new features – as well as showcasing manga artists and anime filmmakers; entertainment journalist Bill Desowitz (Immersed In Movies) will be covering animated features with interviews and behind the scene pieces; animator Floyd Bishop will be covering the latest in video games and CG developments; Greg Ehrbar will review DVDs and blu-ray releases; and Martin Goodman will take a look at new books and TV animation. Me? I’ll be posting about anything and everything that’s of interest on any given day.

I think it’ll work. Oh, and don’t worry, I’ll be posting regularly here on Cartoon Research. I realize some Cartoon Research readers are only into the “old stuff” and might not be interested in what we discuss on Animation Scoop. I get that. But I hope you’ll check us out on occasion – heck, you might want to know about the lost Oswald Rabbit cartoon being screened in June, or the upcoming classic 3D cartoon festival in September.

So “That’s NOT All, Folks!” – Bookmark the link and join us at Animation Scoop.