Yelling with my mouth shut

Some more podcasts to sink your ears into, if that were how ears worked. It's been a minute but there's a new episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast up now in which we meet four of the rising talents at Walt Disney Animation Studios who have recently made films for the first season of the Disney+ exclusive shorts series Short Circuit.

Participating in the roundtable discussion are Jennifer Stratton (Zenith), Trent Correy (Drop), Kendra Vander Vliet (Downtown) and Jeff Gipson (Cycles).

Also discussed in this episode: The welcome return of Animaniacs, the unwelcome return of Ren and Stimpy among other recent Gen X Comedy Central reboots, Don Hertzfeldt's teaser for World of Tomorrow: Episode 3, the curious pushback against the creator of A24's new acquisition Hazbin Hotel as well as the rapid adaptation of the animation festival landscape midst the continuing pandemic. Direct download link is here or stream below if you're the streamin' type:

Maybe it's lockdown or maybe it's the heat - or maybe that we're nearly 100 episodes in - but listening back while putting this one together it feels a little more contentious and didactic than usual. As always if anyone out there has any thoughts on some of the stuff we go into feel free to get in touch, even if it's to tell me what a grouchy melt I'm being.

If that still leaves you wanting then there's good news in that the Skwigly Film Club is still clubbin' along. Recent episodes have included watch-throughs of such fine fillums as Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Roger Mainwood's Ethel and Ernest as well as Chris Butler and Sam Fell's ParaNorman. The polls are still open for which film we'll babble over during this week's episode, so be sure to cast your vote and assist in determining our fate.

On the subject of a possible future podcast strand, some of you may recall Tanya Scott's Skwigly article Inclusion & Diversity in UK Animation Workforce: A Response addressing the findings of a prominent industry survey. It's prompted a lot of discussion and through podcasts and panel discussions Tanya's been expanding on some of the conversation points in the months since, such as a recent Inclusion In Animation panel back in June. The reactions have been very encouraging and hopefully it will prove to be something Skwigly can assist with further. In the meantime Tanya will be conducting a follow-up panel further discussing BAME issues within the industry and if you're interested in hearing more, helping out or contributing questions be sure to follow her new organisation Visible in Visuals. If you missed the original panel unfortunately it wasn't recorded but the Cardiff Animation Festival put up an excellent infographic series breaking down the points and insights that came up.

Speaking of the ever-wonderful CAF team, Laura-Beth and I will be mucking in with their next Cardiff Animation Nights screnning in a Skwigly capacity for some filmmaker Q&As. The event will take place August 27th via their YouTube channel, kicking off around 8:15pm so be sure to tune in.

As my brains are melting out of my ears right now I think I'll wrap up this post here, but swing by again soon as there's some more good news a-comin'...

Keepin' on

Howdy folks, hope everyone out there's having a fun (or at least tolerable) lockdown. I suppose now would be as good a time as any to stock up on some reading material, and fortunately the fine folks at CRC Press have kicked off another site-wide sale running until the end of May that knocks 20% off their paperback titles - including my own Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films! See, it's not all gloom and misery after all.
If you're not too wild about having things delivered then there's some even better news, as the eBook edition is available at a whopping 35% off!

On the subject of keeping ourselves entertained by wonderful indie animation, be sure to check out our brand new podcast series Skwigly Film Club, a new, quicker-turnaround affair in which myself, Steve, Laura-Beth and other members of the Skwigly team discuss animated feature films as we watch them (as such they can work as a sort of commentary track if you fancy it). In episode 1 our focus is Don Hertzfeldt's wonderful, hilarious and moving It's Such a Beautiful Day which the director has generously made available to watch for free for the time being.
In the episodes to come we're hoping to get listeners involved so be sure to keep your eyes on our Twitter and the hashtag #skwiglyfilmclub to see how you can get involved. Other ways you might want to interact with Skwigly during these housebound times include getting involved in our Tuesday evening chatroom sessions as well as #SkwiglySelfPromotions on Wednesdays. For more info check out this article and to hear the podcast you can direct download here or stream below:

Visdüm Tooten

Still need painkillers but at least the swelling's going down

After months of needless delays I've finally had my shitting bastard wisdom tooth pulled. It's been a thorn in my arse every few months for the past couple years and I was cheerfully informed in my drooling, post-extraction haze that the removal couldn't have gone worse and as such the inside of my head has so many stitches Jennifer Chiaverini could write a goddamn novel about it. I was hoping to get to keep the tooth afterward so I could occasionally take it out and taunt "Haha, shithead, I beat you in the end!" but apparently it came out in like fifty different pieces that then each splintered off into fifty more different pieces, so I was denied even that simple joy. As such I find myself nursing a more swell't head than usual and taking painkillers to the point of potential liver damage. Luckily I have the new Don Hertzfeldt Blu-ray to take my mind off it.

While I was stoned off my gourd at the clinic yesterday the latest Skwigly Podcast went up, this one featuring Felix Massie who is presently working at Nexus on the latest Google Spotlight Stories project Rain or Shine. This comes on the heels of some highly-acclaimed work such as Keith Reynolds Can't Make it Tonight and the particularly excellent In The Air is Christopher Gray.
Also discussed amongst Steve and myself are the usual pertinent industry issues such as which is the better Batman and why 'College Jock' and 'Tube Steak' are both in my search history. It's a fun one, bung it on and brighten your day, why doncha?
As always you can direct download and/or subscribe.

I also spent last weekend gleefully revisiting the old 90s video game chestnut Day of the Tentacle which has been reissued with updated graphics (blessedly it's the same design and animation, just traced over for HD resolution purposes) and all sorts of goodies. I've also put up a review of the original game and its new incarnation that in part borrows from an earlier post on here. All in all my appreciation for the subject remains the same as it did in 2007.

Some more Klementhro news - the film's next stops on the Kurzfilmnacht Schweiz tour will be this Friday 8th in Baden-Wettingen with the evening's screenings kicking off at 7pm at the Kino Orient, with another showing the following evening (the 9th, which to be fair most of you could have worked out yourselves) in Aarau at the Kino Center Schloss, again starting at 7pm.

More immediately, however, the film will play tonight in the Czech Republic at the Prague Rock Café at 7:30pm as part of AniScreen's series of thematically-curated screening nights. I clocked this by happenstance at the last minute so apologies for the short notice, but to whoever might be reading this in Prague (it's a very light shade of green on my stats map, I'll concede) that fancies something to do tonight then swing on by!
A bit of a tease to end on is that I cheerily note a certain handsome, wall-eyed ginger appears to show up in the pocket guide for this year's edition of ITFS Stuttgart. What might that mean, I asks ya? Stay tuned...

'Cocky cockerel cuckolding' - quite proud of that one...

The latest podcast is now up! It's been a while but this will hopefully be worth the wait. It features the usual blather-on between myself and Steve on recent and upcoming Skwigly events, gushing over the new Don Hertzfeldt film and the glut of remakes this year has brought. In keeping with the latter I also chat to Ciro Nieli, the Exec Producer on Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the franchise that simply cannot die. Plus my indie hero Bill Plympton joins us again to discuss Revengeance (yet another feature film he's directing, this time in collaboration with writer and fellow indie animator Jim Lujan) and the mockumentary Hitler's Folly. Good stuff all round, so treat yisselfs and stream, download or subscribe away:
It's been a while since the last one, and realistically speaking it's getting less and less tenable to keep doing these podcasts in the same way I've done since I started three years back when both Steve and I didn't have quite so much on our plates. That isn't to say it's going away any time soon - if anything it'll be more of a frequent thing, albeit streamlined. But I'd like to do one more in the 'traditional' format and get us up to thirty before mixing things up a bit.
Also up this week is an interview with Tom Schroeder, whose magnificent animated film work includes Marcel, King of Tervuren, a tale of cocky cockerel cuckolding and one of my absolute favourites of 2013. When you've had a read of the interview give the film a watch, it's a good'un:

The World is Yours

I hope you're all geared up for a weekend of eggy chocolate Jesus zombie antics. I myself am rebuilding myself emotionally from an intense end-of-March deadline while cracking on with what's proving to be a rather therapeutic day-job. I don't think I can talk about it until it's done but I'll just say it involves lots of wavy lines that have proved to have quite a calming effect. Right this second I'm waiting on a bit of client feedback to come through so I'll take the opportunity to do a li'l update post.

I have two new interviews up on the site I hope you'll all enjoy. The first is with directorial duo Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano who made Love in the Time of March Madness, one of my favourite films from last year. It's essentially a docu-memoir about Melissa's own romantic misadventures as a uniquely tall athlete, with Robertino putting together a host of truly impressive visual interpretations that really showcase how much more effective animation can be when it comes to communicating abstract concepts within non-fiction. Have a read here.

Speaking of abstract concepts, Don Hertzfeldt released his new film this week. It's called World of Tomorrow and is more than worth the price of admission; You can stream it for a month for a paltry rental fee on Vimeo, and I can't recommend doing so enough. Like most of his recent work, such as the graphic novel The End of The World and his independent feature It's Such a Beautiful Day, it solicits a huge gamut of emotional response and, primarily, is goddamn hysterical. Gladly I also got an interview with Hertzfeldt himself, something I've been angling for really since day one. Good times indeed.
Also I've noticed that Shaun in the City, the arts project that will see a whole gaggle of oversized Shaun the Sheeps dotted about London (similar to the Gromit Unleashed project in Bristol a couple years back) is now in effect. So there's no harm in putting up some of my own submissions, all of which were sensibly rejected:

Counterclockwise from top-left: Shaun as a Blue Meanie, Shaun as Wallace, Shaun as an old-timey cartoon and Shaun that'd go great with a side of mint jelly

I can appreciate 'Blue Shaunie' may have been a bit thorny, rights-wise, and while I assume 'ShaunWallace' wouldn't have been as big an issue it's a bit on-the-nose (see, he's Shaun, but he's all coloured in and dressed like Wallace geddit? Teeheehoho etc). That being said I quite liked 'Rubberhose Shaun' on the bottom right and, my personal favourite, 'Mrs. Bleaton's Cookbook', top right. Like all truly great artists I'm sure the genius of them all will be more appreciated after I'm dead. It's a fine cause so check out the Shaun in the City site to find out more.
Completely changing the subject, this wonderful new item of vinyl Faith No More-ery is now in my possession:

It's been a month since the song debuted and I still can't fully convey in words how goddamn in love with it I am. It's worth mentioning that the vinyl version sounds better, and I don't mean that in that douchey way vinyl enthusiasts insist upon; It's actually a different, less 'produced' mix that feels more traditionally FNM to my ears. Adrian at newfaithnomore.com put up a little comparison analysis I made (which you can also listen to here).
Let it not be said that I don't give back to my community.

Real wrath-of-God-type stuff

Bit of a manic week with a deadline today and two more Friday, so gotta make this one quick. BEHOLD - new Skwigly podcast: Discussion in this episode mainly focuses on the various upcoming awards ceremonies, dotted with the usual tangents such as Croods crudity and fond frog-cock memories. As always you can stream, subscribe or download directly. Guests include the recently Oscar-nominated Daniel Sousa, whose beautiful film Feral is now available to buy online. Also Skwigly correspondent Tom interviews Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi (he who wrote a rather nifty little book called Cartoon Modern) and Steve talks to British Animation Awards director Jayne Pilling.

Jayne also has a few pretty darn decent books on animation under her belt, you can read my recent review of her latest Animating The Unconscious: Desire, Sexuality and Animation here.

On the subject of book reviews, I recently picked up Don Hertzfeldt's wonderful new graphic novel The End of the World from Antibookclub. The capsule review is that I can't recommend it enough, but the full review also went up on Skwigly this week. I also got wind that the man himself reposted it, which is mighty nice indeed.

Post by don hertzfeldt.

Bringing Home the Macon

Just a quick follow-up from last week's entry, with some details on the inclusion of 'House Guest' at this year's Macon Film & Video Festival. It'll be shown on February 21st (Saturday) at 9pm EST at the Douglass Theatre. For more info you can go here or check out the festival schedule.
It looks like a fun few days, with filmmakers such as the great Don Hertzfeldt among the others included, as well as a surprise screening involving Karen Black. Y'know, just my luck I bet it'll be 'Firecracker', which in spite of my alarming devotion to Mike Patton I never managed to see.
Wow, I put a lot of external links in this post.