A nice treat arrived in the post - a copy of the issue of Screen with my article on Rocky IV inside. It's been so long since I've received a physical copy of anything that I've published, with so much academic work being digital only these days.

A long held scholarly wish has finally been fulfilled. Today I'm visiting the Margaret Herrick Library to do some Hollywood-based research!

I was very fortunate this afternoon to attend an event with Paul Dooley (best known to me as Wimpy from the live-action Popeye movie) at the Hollywood Heritage Museum. He's 97 years old and still going strong!

I'd always wanted to visit Portmeirion since seeing The Prisoner (1967) on DVD a quarter of a century ago. I finally got to go last weekend, and it did not disappoint!

I got to spend a couple of days with Biddy Baxter when I was working at the BBC. As the link indicates, she had a reputation for being quite short with people & my colleagues has experienced this on previous visits. Somehow I met her approval and she was very nice to me when I had to deal with her!

My Blu-ray copy of Essential Polish Animation has arrived. Looks fantastic!

I had a good time at the preview of the new Naked Gun movie last night, thanks to @empiremagazine.bsky.social. I know the studio is leaning heavily into this in the marketing, but it really was nice to once again see a silly comedy on the big screen with a packed and appreciative audience.

A few days late, but here are some photos that I took from the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference. First up, UAL's own Kim Noce in PANEL 3C: MICRO TALKS. #SAS36 @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social

David Sproxton, co-founder of Aardman, closes #SAS36 with his keynote talking about his career.

And so #SAS36 comes to a close. Thanks to chairs David McGowan and Susi Wilkinson, and their entire team at the London College of Communication at the University of the Arts, for a great conference! Hope to see you at #SAS37 in Pittsburgh in 2026!

Life drawing with legendary British animator Joanna Quinn Only at #SAS36

Starting this year's Society for Animation Studies conference strong with a fascinating keynote by Malcolm Cook! #SAS36 @sasanistudies.bsky.social @malcolmcook76.bsky.social

The 36th Annual SAS Conference begins TOMORROW, July 7 (hosted by London College of Communication @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social). Use #SAS36 to tag any conference-related posts and/or follow to see what is happening. Info about the conference is at bit.ly/46qkcDZ. Have a great conference!

Malcom Cook giving the first keynote of #SAS36! His presentation explores useful animation and the petroleum industry.

Opening of #SAS36! Thanks to David McGowan and the team at London College of Communication at @unioftheartslondon.bsky.social!

It's beginning to look a lot like #SAS36!

Last week, my wife proposed that we cancel Netflix as we don't use it as much as we used to. I managed to talk her down, and then today Netflix emailed me this supposedly 'personalized' recommendation. I went to bat for you, Netflix, and *this* is what you think of me...?!

Am excited to see that my newest article, '"If I can change": multigenerational cinematic franchises, retconning, and the spectre of Rocky IV', has recently been published in Screen! Available at: academic.oup.com/screen/artic...

I'm a bit late to the party but finally saw the latest Mission: Impossible film this weekend, and was disappointed that it went even further than its predecessor in being quite grim and self-important for the majority of its extended running time.

FINAL REMINDER: Tickets for this year's Society for Animation Studies conference must be purchased by the end of today (Friday, June 6)! Book now or miss out on a fanstastic line-up of speakers! sas2025.cargo.site/registration

My Switch 2 arrived! Am still cursing Nintendo for releasing this while I am so swamped with conference admin, but hopefully I'll find a bit of time to give it a try!

Registration closes on June 6! Last chance to join us for the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies conference in London next month! sas2025.cargo.site

I had a fantastic time talking about Mickey Mouse and cartoon stardom on the Fantasy/Animation podcast. Thanks to Chris and Alex for inviting me on! HEALTH WARNING: A drinking game based on the number of times I say 'um' or 'yeah' may prove fatal. www.fantasy-animation.org/all-episodes...

Once again, for reasons completely unknown to me, the Kindle version of my book Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts, has had a temporary price cut, down to £1.99 at Amazon UK. Nice to see it at an affordable price! www.amazon.co.uk/Animated-Per...

Registration is now open for the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies conference, ‘Sustaining Animation’, to be held in London between 7-10 July 2025. Please see sas2025.cargo.site/registration for further details.

‘there is now a worry that REF2029 will enable a different injustice: that institutions can hold onto the outputs of staff they have sacked, while making it harder for them to gain new academic employment because they are no longer linked to the work they created.’ This must be changed.

James Bond will return. And return. And return. And return. And return. And return. And return. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

It's publication day for this edited collection that I've been working on with my two fabulous co-editors. Plenty of great work in here on animation, fandom and transmedia, and the general importance of this classic film 🕷🎃🎄 www.bloomsbury.com/uk/nightmare...

If the show does get revived on another platform, I'm sure I'll continue watching, but I'm also not too distraught (secretly relieved?) about it likely concluding here. www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/f...

There's less than 12 hours left to submit a paper/screening proposal to participate in the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies conference! The deadline is tonight (Friday, January 10) at 11:59pm GMT. See the CfP details here: sas2025.cargo.site/call-for-pap...

We are delighted to announce that renowned British animator Joanna Quinn has agreed to deliver a keynote at the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference. Joanna's work includes Girls Night Out (1987), Famous Fred (1996), and the recent Academy Award nominated Affairs of the Art (2021).

We are delighted to announce that renowned British animator Joanna Quinn has agreed to deliver a keynote at the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference. Joanna's work includes Girls Night Out (1987), Famous Fred (1996), and the recent Academy Award nominated Affairs of the Art (2021).

Some fantastic looking titles coming in the next few months! In terms of animation, I've already been looking forward to the Nightmare Before Christmas edited collection, but was not aware of the forthcoming The History and Theory of Cut-Out Animation. Sounds fascinating!

A reminder that the deadline for submitting paper/screening proposals for the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference is 11:59pm GMT on Friday, January 10. CFP information here: sas2025.cargo.site/call-for-pap...

This is a bit of an anticlimax from my Letterboxd 2024 Year in Review. I went through a decent number of Pixar movies with my son last year, but still...

A reminder that the deadline for submitting paper/screening proposals for the 36th Annual Society for Animation Studies Conference is 11:59pm GMT on Friday, January 10. CFP information here: sas2025.cargo.site/call-for-pap...

Tomorrow! Acclaimed as being the first silent British science fiction film - coming to #TalkingPicturesTV complete with a new score! A MESSAGE FROM MARS (1913) is showing Saturday 4th January at 10am - A Martian comes to Earth on Christmas Eve to 'cure' a selfish man!

The website for the 2025 Society for Animation Studies Conference is now live! The conference will take place in London between 7-10 July 2025. Please be reminded that the deadline for paper/screening proposals is January 10, 2025! sas2025.cargo.site @anistudies.bsky.social #SAS #Animation

The website for the 2025 Society for Animation Studies Conference is now live! The conference will take place in London between 7-10 July 2025. Please be reminded that the deadline for paper/screening proposals is January 10, 2025! sas2025.cargo.site @anistudies.bsky.social #SAS #Animation

I'm sad to see the end of Big Lots. When I was living in the US, it was one of the last physical stores that carried new DVDs and Blu-rays, albeit as overstock clearance. I got so many bargains on Golden Age Hollywood films by looking through their shelves. boingboing.net/2024/12/21/e...

I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but I managed to be the winning player of our group at the Taskmaster Live Experience, and received a surprisingly hefty medal for my troubles!

I ended up letting #noirvember run into December this year, as I was a bit slow in getting started. I've been surprised how many noir films that I saw this time around - which were mostly random, and previously unwatched, picks from my home video collection - mentioned Christmas in some way!

I've had this boxset staring down at me from the shelf for the last few days. If I wasn't so busy at the moment, I'm sure my Letterboxd 2024 Year in Review would have had a last minute contender for 'most watched director'. Instead, I suspect the 2025 result is now already a foregone conclusion!

There's now less than a month to submit proposals for the 2025 Society for Animation Studies Conference, taking place in London in July next year!

In the same week when a new Indiana Jones video game has been released to strong critical acclaim (but likely won't run very well on my Steam Deck), I picked up this from my local charity shop instead...

A view of London, including the Imperial War Museum and the London Eye, from my classroom earlier today.

I've seen several films over the years lazily described as being like a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon, but I think Hundreds of Beavers (2022) comes closest to actually delivering on that promise - blending live-action with a lot of composite shots and actual animation in a very distinctive way!

***ANNOUNCEMENT*** Coming on February 11th on Blu-ray from @kinolorber.bsky.social in association with #LibraryOfCongress: #OscarMicheaux: The Complete Collection (1920-1940)! In this unprecedented undertaking, Kino Classics, in cooperation with the Library of Congress and

As part of my #Noirvember viewing, I recently watched Because of You (1952). Life has become so bad for the protagonists' daughter that she finds no joy in a Woody Woodpecker cartoon. However, as they were both Universal properties, the scene makes it clear that everyone else loves the film!

I recently watched Revenge of the Creature (1955), and was surprised to see a brief - and rather wooden - appearance from Clint Eastwood in his screen debut. I know what you're thinking: did he have four rats in the cage or only three? In all this excitement he kinda lost track himself.