Updates about the site and things you may want to know
SIGGRAPH is returning to take over downtown L.A. next week. The Disney booth is back too and we’ll have real live animators there to demo our tools and answer questions. They’re taking reels too, so bring it on!
On Tuesday, I’ll be working the booth and driving the Maya from 10 to 12:30. Stop by and say hi if you’re in the neighborhood.
See you there,
Clay
I was so excited this morning when I upgraded my iTunes software to see the new podcasting feature of the iTunes Music Store, and saw that The Animation Podcast is listed! Now there’s a place where all my shows are available in one easy list. I haven’t downloaded anything yet, but it looks super easy (hey, Apple made it). Now I’ve got to learn how to fill in a bit of information they don’t have from me, but thaz cool nazgul.
I’m not going to trash my iPodder and iPodderX just yet, but if this works the way it should, I don’t see much use for them anymore. This may be the simplest way to find and subscribe to many different podcasts so check it out and let me know what you think.
Here’s the link to The Animation Podcast at the iTunes Music Store. (The link only works on a computer that has iTunes installed.)
Well, the month of May has come and gone with the launch of The Animation Podcast. I have to send out a BIG thank you to Andreas Deja for being my first guest. He was the perfect choice for many reasons, but I think most of all for his unabashed enthusiasm for animation. What a start!
I’m working on getting the shows going for June, so stay tooned.
I also MUST thank all of you who came and listened and especially those of you who took part by commenting, emailing, voice-messaging, and voting at Podcast Alley – we made it to number 14! That just blows my mind. Again – what a start! (Sidenote – Podcast Alley resets every month. I don’t expect you to vote since I don’t have a new show for June yet, but keep it in mind for later if you’d like to recommend the show.)
Anyhow, I appreciate the support. I’m going to try to keep making compelling shows for all of us to enjoy, hopefully for years to come!
Hey everybody,
I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth, just been busy. I’m here to let you know that I’m working on Show 3, and doing more interviewing in the meantime, so look for the last Andreas Deja segment this week. If you want the shows faster, someone needs to pay me enough to quit my day job. 😉
-Clay
I’ve added Show Notes to Show 1: Andreas Deja, Part One. It’s not too much, but there are some links to maps and external sites that provide some more info where applicable (and easy to find online 😉 ). I’ll see how it goes, timewise, to determine if I can continue this with each show. I’ll post the show and then add the Show Notes when I have time, so you don’t have to wait to hear the show.
UPDATE: Show Notes for Show 2 are up.
Right now I am shattered. I just received an email stating that animation legend Joe Grant passed away today. I had talked to him last week about meeting for an interview. We said it would maybe happen this week. Things came up and we didn’t get together. I sent an email last night saying we should definitely do it next Wednesday.
Joe was going to be my second guest. I feel like I’ve completely let him down. I saw this as the one opportunity for people to hear him tell his story from being hired by Walt Disney to work on shorts and then Snow White all the way up to conceiving the idea for last year’s Oscar nominated short Lorenzo. What an amazing man and an amazing career.
This isn’t about me at all. I’m not sad for this measly show. I’m sad for Joe, because he deserved to have people know how GREAT he was. The man wrote Dumbo. All I can say is I’ve been slapped in the face by the reason I started this thing. I let the opportunity slip through my fingers because things got ‘busy.’
Maybe this can be a lesson to us all. I have to admit that I’ve worked in the same building as Joe for over ten years and never once did I knock on his door because I thought I would be bothering him. What a fool I was. In creating this podcast, my secret intention was to have an excuse to bug all the people I admire and ask them all the geeky questions I’ve always wanted answered. I’m sorry I couldn’t share having that experience with Joe, and in turn with you.
If Andreas showed us anything, even the most talented artists are regular people who have a story they’d like to share. Don’t get burned like me. Go out and knock on those doors and get your answers. I’m just glad I finally met Joe last week.
God bless Joe Grant. I’m sorry.
EDIT: Over at Seward Street, Jim has posted a nice addition about Joe, written by Tom Sito.
Thanks to PJ for the link to this article about Joe at The Laughing Place.
Now, I’m new to this whole podcasting thing so I want to explore all the experiences it has to offer. That’s why I’ve been asking you, my gracious audience, to show your support and cast a vote for The Animation Podcast at Podcast Alley. Well, you’ve answered the call and about five minutes ago we (you and I) broke in to the covetted Top 50 List!
What this means in the long run, I’m not sure, but other podcasters sure seem to want to be there. I think in the end it leads to more exposure for this thing we love called animation and for the artists who create it. That makes me happy because from the start, I’ve been saying that what this Podcast is really about is the people.
Thanks for voting. (A couple more wouldn’t hurt, so we don’t fall off the list.) They reset the votes for everyone at the start of each month so I promise that if this voting thing isn’t what it’s all cracked up to be, I’ll drop it in the future. For now, let’s score one for animation!
UPDATE: As of 5/9 The Animation Podcast has broken in to the top 20! This is incredible and I thank everyone for their support. It is definitely directing more traffic to this site and I can only imagine those people are giving the show a listen. As I commented over on Podcast Alley, my listeners are AWESOME!
I’ve had some questions from people wondering if there is some sort of email list for notifications of updates. There isn’t but there are other options.
The simplest way to get updates is to take advantage of what is known as RSS. If you know about this already, good, then you’re excused. Otherwise, read on for more…
My wife and I tested all the new tools on Sunday night and it worked great! I would post our conversation but it just barely touched on animation. She’s got a great voice. I’m sure I can get her to be part of the show sometime. Maybe she’ll interview me when I’ve run out of people to talk to. Now there’s nothing holding back the show. Interview #1 should happen this week and I’ll probably try to post it the same night. If you’ve found this site through a podcast directory, please don’t dump my feed because all I had in it was the theme song. The content is almost here. Take care everybody.
Just got some mics and other fun stuff delivered. I’ll be testing the new audio gear this weekend and as long as there’s no snags, I’ll be good to go! We still have to wait about a week probably, but I’m getting going as fast as I’m able. (I say ‘we’ because I really want to hear it too!) I’m also waiting on a theme song from my guest DJ since I have no idea how to do any of that. You can hear my feeble attempt with the flash player in the sidebar as long as it is still linking to that old file. The mystery man, “DJ Sweettooth,” is much better at music than I am.
UPDATE May 1, 2005: Now that the first podcast is done, the player will always play the latest show.
I think you’ll be excited by who I’ve been asking to participate. It should be pretty cool. If I was still in animation school, I’d be geeking out. Hell, I’m still geeking out. It’s going to be fun. I’m just a little scared at the bandwidth hit I’m going to take. If you find that the site goes down over the next week, it may be because I’m switching hosts in aticipation of that hit. No big deal though, it’ll be back.