The Ear Tango show is on at 10pm pdt.

The "Ambassador Goodtime EarTango Radio hour" plays music and interviews based on a theme. New shows can be heard every Tuesday night and repeated every night at 10pm pdt thru WU Radio. All interviews will be posted to the new Animateducated YouTube channel for all to hear at a later date. Subscribe now and listen!

This week's interview is about David Dodd Hand, who was Walt Disney's right hand man. He later created his own animation studio in England and here's one about a cat.

There's a new YouTube channel Animateducated features an interview with Mindy Johnson about her new book, Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation.

Also listen to Animator and Producer, Jane Baer tell how she first got into Disney and started working on Sleeping Beauty.

Check out the video podcast below...

If you enjoyed this, subscribe to animateducated to see more when they are posted.

Show your support for the watchcat files by clicking on the ads or leaving a comment below.

Twas a busy week

I'm working on a new radio show that hit the ear waves last week called "The Ambassador Goodtime Ear Tango Radio Hour" on WU Radio. 
Take a listen every night at 10pm PDT, with  new shows premiering on Monday night. 
              Here's a link to the show.

Upcoming shows

Show 01: Animation: Author Mindy Johnson and Animator/producer Jane Baer.

Show 02: Superheroes: "The Helm", author J.R.R.R. (jim) Hardison. (now playing until 10/14)

10/15 Show 03: Hands: Author David Hale Hand's new book about his dad, who was Walt Disney's right hand man. 

10/22 Show 04: Hollywood: Actor, Writer and Director, Jeremy Foley talks about life in front and behind the camera.

10/29 Show 05: This is Halloween:
Stop by WU Radio in costume on 10/30 between 2pm - 3:30pm and get a treat.

All interviews will be posted to YouTube channel, Animateducated. Subscribe now and listen in later.

Every beginning of October, the 24 hour animation contest rolls around and animation school across the world participate in this event which grows larger every year.


Woodbury University this year, participated with 8 teams taking on the 24 hour challenge and here's more about those teams and their films.

And here's the announcement of this year's Winning teams...

And what about Watchcat???
Check in next Watchcat Wednesday and find out!

Good news, Bad News

So October is finally here and since Halloween lands on a Watchcat Wednesday this year, I wanted to premiere a Halloween episode of Watchcat. 

Well, a lot of things have been keeping me from that goal lately and the original idea turned out to be over a minute long. Even with some help on it, I haven't been able to get it together.
  And that's where you gotta get creative and I think I did just that by producing a much shorter idea. I can't really post much about it right now, because its so short and simple, that I would ruin the surprise. However, here are some of my reference images...





Our last post got over 1,081 views and hoping new viewers might check back more often.

Watchcat was started to see if I could animate a cat who fights crime in his neighborhood. We wanted to make several episodes and be able to string them together to tell a bigger story. We also wanted to upload it to Youtube to see if we could build an audience.

This weekend passed 5,300 views on our Watchcat Films Youtube channel, up to 156 subscribers and I'm pretty sure we would have more if our cat farted, barfed or pissed on something. But our subscribers are classier than that and deserve a lot more.

This blog is now up to 45,055, views and getting more everyday.

Viewers are showing their support by clicking on the blog ads more than ever before, or whenever I beg them to click on the ads. We received $6.62 in September.

Bad News

My biggest complaint is that we still don't have a solid story about this character. I discovered after making the first two episodes, which were edited together to make one, that our cat  goes after the bad guys and that's it. No flaws in his character, he's got powers, but how or why was never explained. I have suggested to Greg to come up with a graphic novel story, because making 2 to 3 minute animation shorts is very time consuming, since I'm the only person animating it. And whatever we do next, we need a solid character, not just one that chases the bad guys here or there. We need to show what is he afraid of, where does he come from, why is he doing this? And most importantly, Why do we care about this character?

The Good News

Animating a character in development with humor in very short pieces of :15 to :30 second is doable. Currently changing our animation design a bit to experiment with using a different animation technique called Cut Out animation in hopes to making the animation more efficient. This pipeline will be used for our upcoming Halloween short. So keep clicking those ads and get ready for Halloween.

Please show your support by clicking on the ads or subscribing to our YouTube channel Watchcat Films.

Next WeeK: follow this link Superheroes on a new radio show.

Famous Birthdays for this Watchcat Wednesday

Sept 26th: On this Watchcat Wednesday, Windsor McCay was born in 1869. Considered the Father of Animation, this American cartoonist and animation pioneer created the first true animated character in the form of Gertie the Dinosaur. 

McCay premiered the film at the Palace in Chicago on February 2, 1914.

Gertie was drawn by hand and that includes drawing the entire background as well. This was way before cel animation was invented.

And speaking of a modern day cartoonist 

Happy 60th to cartoonist and illustrator Bob Staake!

And back in 1888, T. S. Eliot was born. Most famous for his writing and it seemed that he fancied cats as well.

illustrations of T.S. Eliot and the poem “The Naming of Cats” © Nathan Gelgud

Check out one of his poems...

In 1939, T.S. Eliot also wrote his most whimsical masterwork called Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

This book was later adapted by the British musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and became the longest running musical in history, simply known  as "Cats".

And now more about Noir

Here's Jimmy McCammon's LAaf pocast featuring a talk with screenwriter/directors Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley, who's credits include the action thriller WAR and their upcoming horror crossover NOIR. Click this Link to Listen to Part 1 and Part 2.

News about Watchcat is in the works. Click on the ads to help support this feline adventure. Every little click helps. 

On this Watchcat Wednesday

For this Watchcat Wednesday, we have to travel back to France in 1940. Three teenagers were out looking for their lost dog and found him near the Lascaux cave. Inside, they discovered that the cave walls were filled with paintings and drawings of animals, human figures and abstract symbols. 6,000 images have been catalogued and were estimated to be made over 17,300 years ago. 

Below is a replica of the cave, which was created so tourist would not destroy the original site.

7,300 years earlier, Saber-toothed cats roamed the land and back in 2012, one returned to his old stomping grounds near the LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.

 

Actually, this Saber-toothed cat puppet named "Nibbles" was created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in 2010 and weighs about 75-pounds. The robotic head is controlled remotely by another puppeteer who can blink the eyes and change facial expressions. 

Nibbles was seen hanging out over at the LA Natural History museum as a part of their Ice Age Encounter.

And on September 12th, 1962 : In response to the progress made by the Soviet Union in the space race, President John F. Kennedy announced that America will place a man on the moon and safely return him before the year 1970.

Can you imagine being in that crowd, listening to the President explain how the US will send a man to the moon?

 

So, if you are in Berkley, CA tomorrow, you can see some films about cats at the 1st Annual Cat Film Festival.

 

And Fenilely...

Funny cat puns from Illustrator Katie Ruby, check out more of her purrfect puns, follow this link to see more.

The Watchcat Files hopes that everyone in North and South Carolina prepares for the worst as Hurricane Florence heads their way. This Hurricane path is the first one ever and so please take this one seriously and hang on tight. Anyone who follows this blog in that area, please let us know how you are doing.

Leave us a comment below or click on the ads to show your support. We are up to $3.66 so far this month in ad clicks and every click helps.

Thank You!

Noir Interview Part 3

We begin September with $2.57 in ad clicks and 42,340 all time views so far. Its been a slow week in Watchcatland with a lot of my time going to teaching 3 Harmony classes and learning more about the software. I actually woke up from a dream where I was using the software and trying to explaining it to someone. Not very restful.

Fall has always been a season of change and we are working on new changes as well. In order to tell the tale of Watchcat story properly, I feel I don't have the time or resources to create an animated series. Doing a graphic novel would be less of a challenge. 

J.R.R.R.Jim Hardison has a new novel called "The Fish Wielder" which I just finished reading over the weekend. This is a major accomplishment for me, since I don't read a lot of books, only ones I want to read.

Hardison tells the tale of Thoral Mighty Fist who is in search of adventure with his best friend, an air breathing Koi fish named Brad. And what an adventure they get in "Fish Wielder". Here's a sample of the first chapter.

I'm working on an interview with J.R.R.R... and will post it here soon. Until then, here's the third and final interview with the makers of Noir, Lee Anthony Smith and Gregory J. Bradley.

Give us a comment below if you give a crap about this blog or click on the ads to show your support.

Noir Interview Part 2

Watchcat's creator and head writer, Greg J. Bradley is currently working on finishing an independent feature called " Noir". Here's the second part to an interview from our last post."

Last month, my family and I fostered kittens to help out our local Animal Shelter. We kept a few kittens, fed them and got them use to living with us (people). A lot of the kittens are found on the streets and are given to other fosters who help raise them in their homes.

The hardest part of the program is taking your kittens to the Animal Shelter's kitten adoption fair and saying good bye. You meet a lot of people and families who want a kitten or to add a kitten as a friend to their other home pet. This is where the Foster parent must decide if the person, family or household would be a good fit. They usually find out what the other pet is which could be a younger cat, an older cat or a dog, who has lived with a cat before.

I always want related kittens, to be adopted together. Its the best of both worlds, the kittens are siblings, they play together and are never alone. Adopting a single cat is possible, but it all depends on the cat itself or the person who adopts it.

We met a woman who wanted only one kitten and not the kitten's brother it was playing with in the cage. I did my best car (cat) salesman pitch, however she ended up taking only that one kitten. 

As things turned out, she picked up the single kitten and took it to her house. All she had was a single scratching post and she called me the next day to ask why the kitten wasn't responding to her.

It was obvious to me, the kitten was now all alone in a new place and probably was depressed. The woman was disappointed and ended up returning the kitten to the shelter a few days later for a full refund. Luckily, this story has a happy ending since the kitten ended up in a better home. 

Cats can be fickle felines, but sometimes people are too. Here's a link to an article about dealing and living with a cat.
Do you have any cat tales to share? Let us know below.

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