Wizard World Texas is a pop-culture expo featuring some of the biggest names and companies in comic books, toys, anime, manga, video games, film and television. Wizard World events are produced by Wizard Conventions Inc., a sister company of Wizard Entertainment Group, which publishes a number of magazines for the collectibles market, including INQUEST GAMER, TOYFARE, ANIME INSIDER and the comics publication WIZARD. For more information visit http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/texas.cfm.

The 2nd Annual Art Festival will have two workshops called "New Techniques for All in the Arts" and "Presentation Techniques". The Art Festival includes All in The Arts -- singers, writers, poets, painters, photographers, illustrators, dancers, musicians, sculptors, storytellers, mimes, actors, actresses, dancers, clowns, etc. are invited to attend and display and perform your works. The most spectacular highlight of this Art Festival is that we will have an art agent there to sign you up. For more information contact Help 2 Succeed, 1115 N. Scottsdale Road Suite #104, Tempe, Arizona 85281, or e-mail: help2succeed@consultant.com.

The I Castelli Animati Festival highlights animation in all its forms from commercials to features films. The international competition awards the following prizes: grand prize, special jury prize, best debut short film, best European short film, audience prize, Fabrizio Bellocchino prize, best Web animation and best non-narrative short film. The Italian competition will give a grand prize and special jury prize to the top Italian productions. The event includes exhibitions, retrospectives, conferences and screenings. This year

The Future Film Festival is the first and most important Italian show dedicated to the latest digital technologies applied to cinema, television and the Net.

The theme: animation and special effects featuring experimentation of new media and of new digital technologies.

Screenings: extensive retrospectives of traditional animation from Japan to the USA, France and Britain; premieres of important animation films or special effects, of new television series and of experimental shorts.

Meetings: the most important artistic directors, directors and creative designers working in special effects and animation are invited to Bologna from all over the world to premiere makings of, revealing with incredible images the manipulations of environments, scenes and virtual actors in the most innovative digital productions.

The Visual Effects Society (VES) presents the 2004 VES Awards, a celebration of the best in visual effects. Participants can submit their entry forms for any one of the 23 categories through the VES Awards online submission site at www.vesawards.com. The 2nd annual event will be held on February 18, 2003 at the Hollywood Palladium. The deadline for submission is December 1, 2003. For the first time, a special Lifetime Achievement Award will be given.

Awards categories include: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture; Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Visual Effects in a Televised Miniseries, Movie or a Special; Outstanding Visual Effects in a Televised Series; Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial; Outstanding Visual Effects in a Music Video; Best Single Visual Effect of the Year; Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Motion Picture; Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture; Outstanding Character Animation in a Live Action Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Special Effects in Service to Visual Effects in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Matte Painting in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Matte Painting in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Visual Effects Photography in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Visual Effects Photography in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture; Outstanding Compositing in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial; Outstanding Performance by a Male or Female Actor in an Effects Film; and Outstanding Performance by a Male or Female Actor in a Televised Program, Music Video or Commercial.

Founded in 1997, the Visual Effects Society is comprised of distinguished visual effects artists and technologists who are professionally committed to the specialized industry of visual effects. The society provides its members with a platform for communication, education and recognition of the current and future state of the visual effects industry. Society headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California with approximately 850 global members. For more information contact the VES at 2308 Broadway, Santa Monica, California 90404; tel: (310) 315-6055; Email: rules@vesawards.com or Web: www.vesawards.com.

Seybold Seminars New York 2003 will be an intimate gathering of media technology professionals. This year

Co-Produced by Future Media Concepts and Videography Magazine, The DigitalMediaDC Conference runs December 2-4, 2003 at the New Washington DC Convention Center. The Conference features over 75 expert-led training sessions targeted toward professionals in the Broadcast, Video and Multimedia arenas. Sessions will help digital media professionals maximize their skills in the the latest post-production software including Avid Media Composer

The Western Show is dedicated to the technological advancements that will drive bottom lines for the cable, Internet, telephone, computer, satellite, broadcast, motion picture or new media industries. This, the 36th edition of the event, will be the last. The National Show has grown so much that the National Cable & Telecommunications Association decided there was only need for one show. The Western Show is allows people to network in timely educational seminars, interactive roundtables and CableNET '03, a gathering of demonstrations by companies from various industries as part of a educational exhibit. The 2003 program will cover the latest developments in these areas: digital cable services, high-speed Internet, video-on demand, HDTV, digital rights, security, retail CPE and POD, sports programming --

AnimationHQ is hosting a chat with talented and veteran animator, Heidi Guedel. She spent time at Disney, Don Bluth Productions and Warner Brothers. She has worked on many Feature Animation titles including The Secret of NIMH, The Fox and the Hound, An American Tail, and Quest for Camelot. In addition, she did character layout for Rough Draft Studios (Futurama), worked in multimedia at Vortex Media Arts, and worked on videogame animation for the classic 80's laserdisc games "Dragon's Lair" and "Space Ace". The chat will take place on Saturday, December 6th at 8 pm EST. You can go to http://animationhq.net/v2/features/events.htm for more information on him and the directions on how to get to the chat room located towards the bottom of the page. Don't miss it!

On Tuesday, December 9, at IATSE Local 44, 12021 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood, the Animation Guild (http://www.mpsc839.org) and Studio Arts (http://www.studioarts.tv) will co-host a free presentation and discussion panel on making the transition from 2D to 3D and