Cartoon Brew (
http://www.cartoonbrew.com
) is the online blog run by two authors and historians of animation, Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi, who started the blog in 2003. It is home to a wealth of animation-related resources covering current events, projects, retrospectives, opinions, spotlights, and admittedly shameless plugs, no matter how famous, successful, or trivial. Jerry Beck worked with
Nickelodeon and other related studios in the 90's, created the one-shot pilot "Hornswiggle" for Nickelodeon's
Random Cartoons Show in 2005, can be seen in various DVD commentaries, and is a huge fan of
the golden era of cartoons. This sites'
50 Greatest Cartoons list, as well as
The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list, is taken from his own books. While Jerry works in Los Angeles, Amid Amidi recently moved to New York City and covers more modern titles, and he authored the Art Of books for
Robots,
Pixar, and Peter De Seve. The blog has grown in popularity since its creation and has attracted participation from industry professionals as well as fans- don't be surprised to find the likes of Tom Sito, Nina Paley or Eric Goldberg commenting on there.
As of February 12, 2013, Jerry Beck is
stepping down from involvement with the website
to focus on screenings, research and home distribution of classic animation, leaving the site in the care of Amid Amidi—
although four new writers have been hired as well.
Jerry continues where he left off in the newly-revised
Cartoon Research
website and the blog
Animation Scoop.
Has now started CB Biz, and CB TV. Under Amid's management, the site will also go mobile very soon.
This blog provides examples of:
- Accentuate the Negative: A lot of entries seem written for the sole purpose of telling you how bad the industry is and how you should want to kill it with fire. These kinds of posts are usually written by Amid, who likes indie, non-corporate, unconventional, art-house films, and sometimes only serves to complain about whatever he seems annoyed by at the time, such as the lighting structure in a Disney hotel
. - Current Events Blog
- Doing It for the Art: The bloggers only strive to spread awareness and support for good animation. And any project that also falls into this trope will be handsomely displayed on a new entry.
- Furry Fandom: Relatively well-accepted.
- The Golden Age of Animation: Being an animation historian, Jerry Beck is a nut for cartoons in this era.
- The Millennium Age of Animation: A frequent subject.
- Review Blog
- Serious Business: Animation in general, but in particular, an adaptation of a previously original title. Everyone will complain about the changed premise and every detail of the story regardless if it was indeed targeted towards them. This review
takes seriousness to the extreme. It's about a review of a plate. - Spiritual Successor: For Jerry fans, Cartoon Research