Ed Beals "Defect" & "Giant Cow"

I first discovered the Flash animation work of Canada's Ed Beals in the days of the now sadly defunct Lycos' Animation Express. His series of Wenchell Bogum entertained my classes when I was too tired to teach. Despite naming his YouTube persona by the same name I am unable to discover the series on-line any more. More's the pity for its tale of a clueless janitor creating havoc in space was excellent, particularly the voice-over I seem to remember. It was an exemplar in witty animation using the medium of Flash. Giant Cow explores the comic possibilities of a transforming ordinary cow into giant cow. Made for Urban Surf Kings ten or so years ago it is as Ed has explained a very early example of the Macromedia (now Adobe) software. I commenced working with the program in 2000 and this cartoon was influential at that time. It's still fun today and has a catchy tune to boot. For a more recent piece try Defect made in 2003 about a machine working on an assembly line that inspects products for defects. It is in effect a huge eye on wheels, with metal grippers. When an unexpected termination in the assembly occurs the machine escapes to a more natural world and puts its mechanisms to productive use. Aided by pulse-like electronic music the piece flows along in rhythmic fashion to an optimistic conclusion. Hailing from Halifax, NS, Ed is an interesting figure, as demonstrated by a browse through his edspace blog and website where other movies are found, though sadly not Wenchell Bogum!