A Little Note of Thanks

There’s a link on the side to a blog authored by a young man named Kamden Spies. Every two or three days, he’ll post about things connected with animation that he enjoys ferreting out in old newspapers and other sources.

Kamden put up a Top 15 list of “Best Websites for Animation Lovers,” and he has picked this blog (and our companion blog) as number two. That’s very kind of him.

I certainly wouldn’t rank either blog that high. The Yowp blog, if you read it, has a very, very narrow focus. I happen to like the stock music in the original Hanna-Barbera cartoons and I set out to try to identify it. The blog has expanded from that and, to be honest, has just about run its course. This blog doesn’t even deal with animation all the time; you’ll notice posts about old radio and TV shows and stars from contemporary sources, pretty much of the comedy/variety vein. It started as a place to put up frame grabs (like the one from an Iwerks cartoon on the right). I haven’t done much here all year, to be honest. In January, I banked almost a full year of posts through to Christmas. My personal life isn’t allowing me the spare time to post.

Neither blog is terribly weighty. Other people are better at that kind of thing.

It’s a shame that a number of blogs I used to read have fallen by the wayside. David Gerstein always seems to have found information no one else could about some early cartoons. Andrea Ippoliti posted some fine reviews of old cartoon shorts that I occasionally go back and re-read. That’s just to name two blogs that are no longer active.

Kamden has named Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research as the number one. I’m really not a list person, but I’d probably rank it there, too. I’m not interested in all the topics on it, but someone else will be, so there’s a nice eclectic mix. And I enjoy any posts involving actual, dig-around-and-find-it, cartoon research where I can learn something about a studio or someone who worked in the industry in the olden days.

This gives me a chance to thank all those people who take the time to post about the animation industry for all to read (for free!) and Kamden for his nice thought.