By Lisa Kaye

You've done the interviews, references have been checked, and your recruiter called and said they've prepared an offer. You wait and wait and then wait some more and two weeks pass and nothing. When your job world has gone stone cold silent and you are ready to sign it off, there are a few more things you can do to stir the proverbial job pot before throwing in the towel!

There's no use banging your head against a brink wall.  The holidays are here and instead of grumbling because you can't get anything done, take some time to enjoy your friends and family.  The New Year will come soon enough.

You may make the mistake of thinking that the only way to change your circumstances is to make a clean break.  Sometimes that strategy helps, other times it can be seen as an over-reaction in your attempt to shake things up.  When you are in doubt about your circumstances, whether you should stay or whether you should go, or think about moving to a new job, stop, and ask, “Could I improve my situation instead?”

 

IT WAS A GREAT NIGHT!

Here is some footage I took at the premiere of PETE’S ODYSSEY. It has the students, Michelle Armstrong singing and a snippet from PETE - shot off the screen.

Marcy (right) celebrating with the The Danish Poet team after the Oscar win last year. © AWN Inc.

I sent out six questions to the nominees and producers of the nominated shorts. I’m hoping everyone will have time to answer them before the Tour begins, however I know how unbelievably busy they are at the moment. Marcy Page, producer of Madame Tutli-Putli and Oscar Tour alum, has written back and here is what she had to say about the Oscar experience, as well as the eye-catching stop-motion film that she worked on. (Okay, that was a pun I couldn’t resist).

 

Hello from China….this time in Fuzhou.  This is quite a city and province.  It’s located on China’s Southeast coast and rests at a junction of the Yangzte River Delta and Pearl River Delta..both are dynamic economic circles.  Across the Taiwan Straits lies its closest neighbor, Taiwan and nearby neighbors include Hong Kong and Macao.  Temperatures are moderate and the infrastructure is excellent.  There’s building going on all over the city.

I’m here to attend the 8^th World Summit for Multi-media and Internet and the 1^st. China International Conference for Creative Economy Cooperation.  The program is being held over the course of four days.  There were a couple of dozen topics discussed including Global Digital Creative Industries with a focus on Brazil and India, Intellectual Property Protection,  and International Trends on Creative Industries.

One of the most under valued skills during the interview process is the ability to LISTEN!  This applies whether you are the job seeker or the interviewer for that matter.  What is that?  Yeah, I said it, “Listen Up!”  Talking, multi-tasking, distractions, or moving too fast forces you to derail quicker than any express train traveling through downtown.  The more you listen the more you learn.  When you listen you do so for non-verbal queues as well.  While some of you are natural listeners, other folks may need to be interrupted, or physically gagged in order to get a word in.  Which one are you?

2009 TV Series (episodes 1-24). Director: Tsutomo Mizushima. 600 minutes. DVD, bilingual, $69.98. Distributor: Funimation.

Watanuki isn’t your average teenage boy. Spirits have been haunting him since birth; it’s been one disruption after another. But today these meddlesome visions might have actually done some good. They’ve dragged him to the doorstep of Yuko, a mystical witch whose decadence dangerously overshadows the depths of her insight. She’ll quell Watanuki’s visions, if he works in her shop of dreams and wishes.

 

By Tony Willis

Blipvfx Productions

Well as always Hong Kong is a great host to people from around the world and as always puts on a fabulous show. I arrived in Hong Kong and have not stopped meeting people for 4 days, which is great.

The first day saw me wandering around the digital media hall, which I have to say was bigger better prepared and a lot more digital content was around. Many more animation companies, lots of visual effects companies and of course cameras films and hardware for stereoscopic filming. In fact very hi technology was all around, but also low technology was also in abundance, (Hong Kong always has its own solutions) this bodes well as much of this was Hong Kong based, and you absolute need a multiply approach to this type of work.

I managed to meet many old friends there and touch base with many new friends, so the social aspect of Filmart is excellent, even if you find out that these new friends was only down the street from you.