Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. Check out the latest installment from quizmaster Karl Staven, an accomplished independent animator and head of the Animation Department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Anime cartoon emotional conventions are a little different than some that we are used to in U.S. animation and comics. We will describe drawn anime visual shortcuts, all you have to do is match it to the emotion that it is associated with.

The 16th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film (May 5-10, 2009) has chosen a varied selection of 13 animated films for its competition AniMovie. AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION is celebrating its European premiere whilst CORALINE and THE MISSING LYNX are celebrating their German premiere.

Motion design and production company Monkeyhead created opening titles and custom graphics package for the RED BULL BIG TUNE documentary web series, and for the forthcoming BIG TUNE documentary special set to air in April on BET.

Get ready to root for the bad guys, here comes the LEAGUE OF SUPER EVIL, a new comedy series that will soon be unveiled on Cartoon Network.

The University of Westminster in London has enhanced its portfolio of courses within animation, games and interactive media with a one-year Masters of Science degree in Digital Compositing and Visual Effects starting October 2009.

Graduates from the course will be exposed to the theoretical, technical, practical and professional competences enabling them to follow a variety of careers within film, television, animation, advertising and gaming.

The Kennedy/Marshall Co. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way are discussing with Warner Bros. the possibility of a fourth NEVERENDING STORY film, according to the trades.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER says the studio recently bought the rights to the property and is looking at a new film in the 25-year-old franchise.

Original producer Dieter Geissler is set to produce the reboot with Sarah Schechter and Jesse Ehrman overseeing at WB in what is said to be a more nuanced take on the source material.

MODERN TOSS, a partially-animated, distinctly adult British comedy complete with gross-out moments, profanity and inappropriate cartoon characters was created by former journalists Mick Bunnage and Jon Link based on their comic and website also dubbed MODERN TOSS. This hilarious mutant television offspring that grew out of UK Channel 4's famed comedy lab anthology series will soon run rampant across the world of pop culture on IFC.

AKIRA gets a Blu-ray release, along with the DVD/Blu-ray debut of FUTURAMA: INTO THE WILD GREEN YONDER (the last FUTURAMA title ever?!), along with the first DVD set of Nickelodeon series THE MIGHTY B! plus anime titles KURAU PHANTOM MEMORY and LOVE HINA box sets to DVD and SAMURAI 7 on Blu-ray.

AKIRA on Blu-ray

A new production studio will be opening this summer in Philadelphia, called UArts Motion Heads (http://motionheads.uarts.edu/), a studio that incorporates various methods of animation with live-action, original music, voice-over talent, motion graphics and illustration.

Motion design and production studio Royale recently completed a comprehensive re-design of Discovery Channel's on-air look and branding. Playing with the idea of "discovery," Royale created a high-energy package that exhibits Discovery Channel's repertoire of stunning show footage and imagery in unexpected ways.

Mechanism Digital accepted the design challenge to develop a memorable show open and graphics package for Animal Planet's new series BEHIND THE CLIP. The show is produced by CBS Eye Too, who in turn came to rely on Mechanism's design team to create a quirky and fresh concept for a new show featuring animals skateboarding, driving a car and other surprising activities found on YouTube clips.

Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA) announces a call for entries for the 2009 SPJA Industry Awards, one of the most prestigious awards that can be given to any studio and/or individual within the Anime/Manga industries to be held during the Industry Reception at the nation's largest Anime/Manga convention Anime Expo 2009 (July 2-5, 2009; www.anime-expo.org).

Actress Jessica Biel will host the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Scientific and Technical Awards on Saturday, February 7, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

Among the six awards that Biel will present during the evening is the Academy's Gordon E. Sawyer Award, an Oscar statuette, which is being bestowed on Ed Catmull for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry.

FEAR(S) OF THE DARK came out Monday, with MADAGASCAR 2 hitting DVD/Blu-ray shelves on Friday. Tuesday releases include a MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER volume, AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION, the 20th anniversary edition of OLIVER & COMPANY, direct-to-DVD SPACE BUDDIES and more.

AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION on DVD and Blu-ray

New York-based motion graphics, design and production agency, Blue Room NYC created the graphics treatment and edited a trio of promos, a :20, :15 and :10, all with various end tags, for the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl Presented by State Farm that began airing during Super-Bowl Sunday on NBC. The promos were designed to promote the NFL Pro Bowl, "When The NFL elite come together for the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl. Live from Hawaii, February 8th, only on NBC."

SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival 2009 Call for Submissions
Deadline: March 4, 2009

The SIGGRAPH 2009 Computer Animation Festival call for Submissions are here.

For the Computer Animation Festival's Multicultural Representations and Visualizations call for submissions they are seeking works that showcase the wealth of cultures and diversity through the use of computer graphics. A unique medium that is able to reach beyond boarders, beyond languages to audiences, filmmakers, students and researchers worldwide.

-- Feature Films

Reed Exhibitions has announced the launch of Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2), which will take place April 16-18, 2010 at McCormick Place in downtown Chicago. The new show will be structured in the spirit of New York Comic Con (NYCC), which was launched by Reed Exhibitions in 2006 and saw attendance grow from 33,000 in its first year to 67,000 in 2008, making it the fastest growing comic and pop culture event in the U.S.

The Entertainment Technology program at Santa Monica College offers a number of exciting courses in animation, vfx, visual development, game design and motion graphics.

Enrollment is open to anyone, and classes begin at $24 per unit. Their state-of-the-art campus, the Academy of Entertainment and Technology, is located at 1660 Stewart St., Santa Monica. The spring semester begins Tuesday, February 17, so enroll now.

For a complete list of our spring courses, see http://www.smc.edu/schedules/2009/spring/default.htm.

The BOURNE trilogy comes to Blu-ray, along with special editions of MARY POPPINS on DVD, TEDDY RUXPIN and PINK PANTHER collections, BLOOD + and FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST on DVD and ROCKNROLLA on Blu-ray...plus more.

THE ADVENTURES OF TEDDY RUXPIN: Come Dream With Me -- Complete Series on DVD

Bang Zoom! Ent. was tapped recently to develop and produce a fun, new Web-based show, MANGA MINUTES for Manga.com.

Manga.Com is the official site of Manga Ent., publisher of anime titles such as ASTRO BOY, GHOST IN THE SHELL, NINJA SCROLL, BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE, and more. Bang Zoom! will produce 24 episodes of the show in total, which recently was ranked as high as #5 on the iTunes "Arts & Entertainment" chart.

Fifteen episodes are now available on Manga.com at www.manga.com/channels/manga-minutes.