Cartoon Brew
is an online blog founded by two authors and historians of animation, Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi, who started the blog in 2003. One of the best known sources for animation news for both fans and those within the industry, 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 is a Los Angeles-based animation historian who is one of the co-founders of Streamline Picturesnote , can be heard in various DVD commentaries and is a huge fan of the golden era of cartoons. The site's 50 Greatest Cartoons list, as well as The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list, is taken from his own books. He has also worked with Nickelodeon and other related studios throughout The '90s, eventually creating his own cartoon in the short "Hornswiggle" for Nickelodeon's Random! Cartoons in 2005. Meanwhile, Amid Amidi resided in New York City and has authored and edited a number of books, including the "The Art Of..." books for Robots, Pixar, and Peter de Sève. 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 (Sita Sings the Blues) or Eric Goldberg commenting on there.
On February 12, 2013, Jerry Beck stepped 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 and four new writers. Jerry continues where he left off in the newly-revised Cartoon Research website and the blog Animation Scoop, which focus solely on the historical side of things.
On June 20th, 2018, Amid announced he's going to open a CB branch in Montreal, Canada, relocating from Brooklyn to work there full-time covering the expansive Canadian animation scene, while the rest of the CB journalism team continues managing the main LA headquarters.
In addition to the main site, Cartoon Brew has CB Biznote , CB TVnote , and a weekly job classified list. The site went mobile in 2014. New writers have been hired as columnists perhaps to take some of the work off Amid, namely Darryn King who now writes the types of articles previously associated with Amid and who shares his snarky, sensationalist tone from time to time. Two of the 4 previous writers announced in 2013 no longer write for the site.
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 Amidi, whose preference lies in independent animation or otherwise unconventional works made outside of the Hollywood system. Occasionally, his posts just serve as ways to complain about whatever he seems annoyed by at the time, such as the time he criticized the lighting structure in a Disney hotel.
- Berserk Button: Amid despises Disney for cancelling his planned biography on Ward Kimball, which he says challenges Disney's so-called "squeaky-clean" image. Doesn't help that Disney blacklisted the site during its reporting on the industry's wage-fixing scandal during the mid-2010s.
- Current Events Blog
- Hitler Ate Sugar: Following Chris Savino's ousting from his show The Loud House for numerous allegations of sexual harassment, Amid wrote his belief that the show as a whole should be cancelled, as anyone who works on it will be contributing to a work based on the life of a sexual predator.
- 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.
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Spiritual Successor: For Jerry fans, Cartoon Research.
