By Matt Ployhar

I’ve been following slates, tablets and similar PC form factors for quite a while now. They’ve actually been around for a very long time when one comes to think of it -- at least a decade from what I can tell. There’s a ton of hype around them all of a sudden, since Apple released the iPad over a year ago. So where will they go next?

Will consoles try to jump on the bandwagon? Will slates and tablets be able to displace laptops? What about netbooks? Then we have Windows 8 coming down the pipeline. It’s probably a good bet that Microsoft will throw a ton of eggs into the slate basket.

 

Much has been written about the subject of BE-DO-HAVE in the self-help arena. But applying it to screenwriting can be very helpful as well.

Ted Soward's After Today Live.

Disney’s 1995 backup animated feature A Goofy Movie – and one of its songs in particular – struck a chord with a generation of school kids who are now in college. Fan videos and mash-ups are nothing new, but one student took it a step – or two – further…

Special Guests:  Will Krause and Fran Krause 

On this week's episode of the Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum, Alan gives Joel a sneak peek at his decades-old experimental energy sleep activity cycle! Then, the most impressively twinned pair of animation super-star multi-makers Fran and Will Krause ride into the forum on their tandem bike to discuss making things, breaking things, and their high-octane bacon-powered recipe for dancin' dancin' dancin'.

How come that every cheapo 100-Dollar point-and-shoot digital still camera automatically records EXIF data (metadata) about lens size, F-Stop, etc., and I can put any autofocus lens on every 500-Dollar SLR camera out there, and it does the same, but the 20/50/180,000-Dollar (or the I'm-so-expensive-you-can-only-rent-me) digital film cameras don't have that?

Check Out the Trailer

This follow-up does what all follow-ups should do and that is to extend the story instead of simply trying to replicate it. In the original, Po the Panda, the greatest kung fu fanboy of all time, was astonishingly chosen as the legendary dragon warrior, the hero destined to save kung fu. In this chapter, with him finding his kung fu groove, he must save kung fu from a new weapon and its wielder, a vindictive peacock determined to take over China. Po must find inner peace to overcome this awesome threat.

Jack Black is back as Po, who is still in awe of the fact that he gets to hang with kung fu legends, the Furious Five. He begins having flashbacks to his youth and goes to his father Mr. Ping (James Hong, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) to learn more about where he came from. Turns out he was adopted. I would have thought the fact that his father is a goose would have clued him in much earlier. What Po doesn't know is that the evil peacock Lord Shen (Gary Oldman, HARRY POTTER) has something to do with why he was not raised by his panda parents.

The people who put together the Video Games Live concerts are putting together an official Video Games Live MP3 player. The MP3 player will feature 2 GIGs of internal memory, a built in mic to record audio, a built in speaker in case you lose your headphones and what looks like a color LCD display. The MP3 player will be packaged with a pair of VIVO headphones and a USB adapter to transfer songs, of course.

If you are anything like me, you spend a majority of your waking moments in front of a computer. So much so, that you might forget about the pleasure of watching films in a darkened theater full of short film enthusiasts. Despite -- or maybe because of -- plentiful online resources, festivals continue to be a relevant and compelling opportunity for filmmakers to understand and connect with audiences. They can also provide fertile ground for self-promotion and career enhancement.

Jeff Drew (http://www.jeffdrewpictures.com) is an independent animation director, illustrator and designer whose recent project, “One Square Mile of Earth,” has charmed audiences at numerous film festivals, including Sundance and SXSW.

Getting back to my online life, I caught up with Jeff (read: emailed him) to ask about the uniquely populated “One Square Mile of Earth” and his festival run.

Jeff Drew

Standardized core competencies provide an explicit benchmark defining the content and level of expertise that should be evident throughout an educational or training regimen. They not only provide a framework for developing curriculum and courseware but also guide the instructor when he or she is planning, organizing and presenting the content of individual lessons and tasks.

Autodesk Inc. has made considerable progress in improve this situation through the development of instructional standards for their flagship animation applications, Maya, 3dsmax and Softimage. Intended for those applying for Instructor certification, they are extremely useful for everyone teaching and training these software products and for others in the educational sector.