The Animation Podcast

UPDATE: TOTAL RAISED $500Skip to the end of this post for the final update.

In September, I’ll be participating in the 2006 Nautica Malibu Triathlon to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. As part of a relay team, I’ll swim a half mile in the ocean and then hand it off to my teammates who will bike and run to the finish. In honor of the movie Cars, we’ve named our team the Tri Tractor Tippers. Say that three time fast.

It is for charity and I would really appreciate your support. I know that a great bunch of people listen to this show and if just a small percent of the audience donates any amount, no matter how big or small, it will be easy to reach my goal of raising $300. All donations are tax-deductable. I already feel good knowing The Animation Podcast may help bring something positive to this cause.

Click here to go my donation page and see how much we’ve raised.
Continue reading ‘A worthy cause’

Amid mentioned this on Cartoon Brew on Sunday, but listener Jeff Zirky doesn’t want anyone to miss it and I think he’s right. The Disney Family Albums aired on the Disney Channel in the ’80s and unless you taped them then, they are hard to find. Not any more, thanks to the wonder that is YouTube. Here’s what Jeff had to say:

If you click on the link below, you will find 3 of the Disney Family Albums. Frank Thomas, Marc Davis, and Ward Kimble Video interviews, in parts. This is not just inspirational, but a great sorce for learning. For example Frank talks about how he took the difficulty he had in life, and put it into his scenes. This is a great tool for creating charater.(Reminded me of your Nick Ranieri interview when he talkes about his scene in Rescuers.) I hope you share this with all of your listeners.

Check them out while they last.
Here’s the link.

Thanks Jeff!

All right, one more post before the next show.

Here’s some more animation related talk to check out.

I’ll put this one first because the series starts tomorrow. As the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition travels to The Science Museum in South Kensington, London, they are kicking off a series called Talk Animation. If you’re in London on April 3rd you can catch the first in the series:

Loren Carpenter, Senior Scientist at Pixar Studios, will talk about his Academy Award winning work in creating new technology that has enabled Pixar productions to be so fantastical, yet believable. Loren will also be talking about his work on the jaw-dropping 21st Century Zoetrope, one of the main features of the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition.

There are a bunch of different talks to attend. Go to The Science Musuem’s site for more details. LINK

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I’ve mentioned Smarter Than the Average radio show before. Their second show airs on April 3rd at 7pm GMT. They say the show will be dowmloadable the following day as an mp3 with ten extra minutes. For all the details go to the Smarter Than the Average site. LINK

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When I started the podcast, FPS Magazine told me that they had been thinking about podcasting too. Well, they’ve done it! Go to the FPS site to hear their first show, an interview with independent animator Phil Mulloy. LINK

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If you’ve ever been to any of the previous Marc Davis Lectures hosted by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, you know that they are some of the best produced animation lectures you can attend. This year the featured guests are The Brothers Quay. If you’re not familiar with their work, once you see it, you’ll suddenly recognize how many filmmakers were influenced by their work, not just in animation, but films like The Cell and even that modern masterpiece *cough* Saw. The Marc Davis Lectures sell out every year, so get your tickets early. LINK

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And of course, you must already know about The Splinecast. They’ll have an interview with Pixar art director Ralph Eggleston coming up. In the meantime, you can read Ralph’s answers to listener submitted questions here. LINK

“Smarter Than The Average” is radio program that airs on Resonance 104.4fm in London. They broadcast on the internet, but I missed the original airing of the first show when it played a couple months ago. The good news is, the hosts Julian and Jonathan have reconstructed and posted the audio for all to enjoy. It’s a fun, hour-long show where they play all kinds of animation related audio, some familiar, some not so common. Give it a listen and if you like it, tune in when they broadcast “Smarter Than The Average 2: The New Batch” on April 3rd, repeating on April 10th.

Here’s the link to audio of the original show.

Update: fixed the date (I had it wrong). Thanks Chris for pointing that out.

The past few weeks have brought quite a bit of animation media to digest:

PODCASTS/iTUNES

Channel Frederator - Awesome show. Each video podcast episode has a handful of great little shorts to watch. We were snowed in over the holiday and my video iPod (thanks honey) kept me entertained with shorts like The Naive Man from Lolliland and The Bastard. (iTunes link)

Happy Tree Friends - Each brief episode features another way of killing off the cuddly stars of the show. Disgustingly amusing. (iTunes link)

Vintage Tooncast - Distributing a new public domain cartoon in each podcast. It’s nothing you couldn’t find on archive.org, but they do all the heavy lifting for you. (iTunes link)

CGCast - CG-centric interview podcast. (iTunes link)

The Wubbcast - “The free weekly video podcast for pre-schoolers.” If you’ve been following their blog like I have, now you can see them in action. (iTunes link)

INTERVIEWS

John Kricfalusi interview - An animated version of a John K interview. I don’t know why it’s this way, but I like it! (via Cartoon Brew)

Mae Questel Interview - Brief audio interview with the voice of Olive Oyl. Hearing her voice brings me back to the Sunday mornings of my childhood. On the local station KTLA, Tom Hatten was the man!(via Cartoon Brew)

Walt’s People Volume 2 - Volume 1 was part of the inspiration to start my site (along with Seward Street’s Milt Kahl audio files). Great book containing interviews with people who worked with Walt Disney, edited by Didier Ghez.

John Lasseter Interview - Half hour audio regarding the MOMA Pixar 20th Anniversary retrospective. You can also check out the museum’s audio tour online. (via Cartoon Brew)

Dominic Sidoli interview - Visual effects producer for Double Negative on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (via FXGuide)

UPDATE:

Of course I should have mentioned Christian Ziebarth’s transcript of his interview with Eric Goldberg. (via Animated-News)

UPDATE UPDATE:

The Spline Doctors speak! - Listen to their first podcast where they discuss preferences for animating with splines versus linear keys (or knots).