What IS it about Thad, anyway?

Good lord, has it really been five months since I last posted here?

I’m finding I have less interest in maintaining a blog on my own time and server, though I’ll still keep it up for posterity, and maybe post something every so often. I’ve relocated to New York City (well, really New Jersey) to continue my graduate studies, so I haven’t been idly passing time. I’ve also written several pieces for not only Jerry Beck’s revived Cartoon Research, but his Animation Scoop blog on Indiewire, as well as monthly column on Stefan Blitz’s Forces of Geek. I’ve learned, quickly, that if I’m going to devote time to, say, interviewing Tod Polson about his amazing book on Maurice Noble, reviewing a new oral history of the Nickelodeon cable network, or putting out a warning about the Blu-Ray releases of Fleischer and Disney animation (link coming soon), I want as many people as possible to read my work.

Ergo, collaborating with and writing for what I’ve come to consider “hub-sites” is the most sensible way to proceed, as I make no mistake that my humble personal site doesn’t attract many visitors. The death of the blog happened some time ago, as evidenced by the fact that all of wonderful blogs that began in 2006-07 related to animation have fallen to the wayside. I think this is directly related to the rise of social media and the growing, prominent OCD of our culture. If it’s not a couple of sentences directly communicated in a span of minutes, it isn’t worth the bother to read.

I have a number of different projects going on, most pertaining to the art of animation, like a revised and expanded edition of Sick Little Monkeys, and I hope to post updates in the coming months. In the meantime, that capstone project of mine is still very much worth reading in even its imperfect form, if the reviews are any indication.