Cartoons on the Bay handed out its Pulcinella Awards on April 30, 2005, with AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER, FOSTERS HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS and PEPPA PIG all taking home two awards each. The event wrapped on Sunday with the awards shows having to turn away people because it was over capacity.
Draw Yenny Like A Pro ContestWorld Wide WebNovember 14, 2005Deadline: November 14, 2005
Alienware announced the availability of the new Alienware Aurora: Star Wars Edition, the first-ever officially licensed STAR WARS PC. Aurora: Star Wars Edition systems are based on AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processors and packed with exclusive STAR WARS content such as desktop skins, fan club membership and movie soundtrack samples. The systems are available in two versions, Dark Side and Light Side, which feature breathtaking STAR WARS artwork on the cases.
With the theme of feature films, the latest Acrobat version of Animation World Magazine is now available for download. Karen Raugust tackles the production of indie animated features. Phillipe Moins reports about the European scene. Chris Panzner kicks off his series on commissioned work, while Rick DeMott writes about the early 2004 Oscar buzz.
Gizmondo Europe Ltd, subsidiary of Jacksonville, Florida-based Tiger Telematics Inc., can confirm the new multi-entertainment handheld will be stocked by more than 700 stores across France for launch on May 19, 2005. The retailers confirmed for launch are Antares, Virgin Megastore, PC City, 3 Suisses (VPC), Leclerc, Madison Nuggets, Cora and Surcouf handled by three distributors Innelec, Erbel-Disca 7 and Sodifa, while Darty and Boulanger will be supplied directly by Gizmondo France. Gizmondo France will also be working with leading distributor, DIES, for Belgium and Luxemburg.
The 16th annual Dusty Film Festival showcases more than 100 films by graduating seniors from School of Visual Artss Film, Video and Animation Department and offers them a chance to present their films on the big screen and in front of a large audience. The festival includes a three-day viewing of short films, videos and animations; a Screenwriters Night, where professional actors read excerpts of screenplays by graduating seniors; and an Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception with notable presenters from the film industry.
Rendercore Inc., a leader in remote rendering solutions, announced complete integration and support for the latest version of Alias Maya 6.5 on Rendercore's state-of-the-art render farm, based in downtown Los Angeles, California.
Cartoonist Emil Samuel Zekley (aka Zeke Zekley), 90, died April 28, 2005 at his Beverly Hills home, with his family at his side, after a long illness.
He drew BRINGING UP FATHER/MAGGIE AND JIGGS, PEACHY KEEN, DUD DUDLEY, MCDONALDLAND MAGAZINES, THE SQUIRRELS CLUB MAGAZINE for Glendale Federal Savings and AT EASE magazine for the U.S. Army.
Radiant Media has been selected to create the HypeFest festival's 2005 show open that will run prior to each screening at the event, which takes place in Hollywood, July 29-31, 2005.
"HypeFest links independent ideas with commercial creativity and Radiant's concept and company attitude reflects that idea in a truly complementary fashion," said HypeFest Festival co-director Jessie Nagel. "Choosing the right creative team for our open is always a fun and difficult challenge. Each year we see such great work, and Radiant's concept is no exception."
Fox Broadcasting Co. has arranged a great many varieties of animated sitcoms into a great bouquet to be presented to viewers on May Day, May 1, 2005, with the return of FAMILY GUY at 9:00 pm, debut of the AMERICAN DAD series, airing at 9:30 pm, KING OF THE HILL at 7:00 pm and, reportedly, 350th episode of THE SIMPSONS at 8:00 pm.
e-on software announced its successful Vue line of products has been optimized to support Mac OS X Tiger. e-on software also announced the immediate availability of the free MetaVue plug-in for Spotlight. MetaVue will enable Mac OS X Tiger users to manage their Vue resources with unprecedented efficiency.
Digital-Tutors announced the worldwide availability of MAYA ADVANCED: BUILDING ADVANCED SHADING NETWORKS training kit, the first release in a collection for advanced artists and latest release in a library of industry leading training resources for emerging digital artists. Digital-Tutors offers more than 2.5 hours of comprehensive project-driven training, giving users a step-by-step guide through the intricacies of building advanced shading networks in Maya.
In its first national student survey on videogame preferences, The Art Institutes system of schools recently polled more than 1,000 Game Art & Design, Animation and Visual & Game Programming students from throughout its 31 schools on everything from favorite computer and console games to game purchasing behavior.
Aspyr Media Inc. announced that THE SIMS 2, Electronic Arts' sequel to the hugely popular Sims, will work with several of the new features in Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" to create a much improved gaming experience. THE SIMS 2, set for release in June, makes extensive use of the OpenGL technology to bring the most vivid, lifelike animations ever to the SIMS franchise. The title also benefits from the new .Mac services, which allow the player to share their own SIMS families with friends via their .Mac iDisk.
BLUES CLUES animator Paul Beard died April 22, 2005, from injuries suffered the previous day in a two-vehicle crash southeast of Kansas City, Missouri, reports THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS. He was 27 years old.
Beard, a 2000 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, was a passenger in a Ford Explorer driven by his girlfriend, Elizabeth Smail, when she lost control and swerved into oncoming traffic on state highway 13. A second Ford Explorer struck the passenger-side door, where Beard was sitting. Smail was injured, but survived.
Samsung Electronics and Microsoft Corp. announced an alliance to elevate gaming to the next level through high-definition technology. Microsoft has chosen Samsung as the exclusive HDTV worldwide marketing partner for the next-generation Xbox high-definition gaming platform. The announcement was made during the Home Entertainment Expo at the New York Hilton.
TOM Online Inc., China's leading wireless Internet company, announced that Cisco Systems Inc. and Macromedia Inc. will acquire strategic share interests in Indiagames Ltd., a leading global publisher of mobile games majority owned by TOM Online. This move enhances the India-based mobile games publisher's position for global growth.
Bradford Animation Festival (BAF) 2005Bradford, U.K. November 16-19, 2005Deadline: July 8, 2005
Bradford Animation Festival (BAF) is the U.K.'s largest and longest-running animation festival. The event hosts master classes, seminars, extensive screening programs and special events. The festival concludes with the BAF Awards, a celebration of the very best new animation from around the world and the only annual awards for animation in the U.K. For more information, visit www.baf.org.uk.
DreamWorks Animation has assembled a top-tier roster of voice talent for its upcoming computer-animated comedy, BEE MOVIE, which will star the films co-writer and producer Jerry Seinfeld. Starring opposite the famed comic will be Academy Award-winner Renée Zellweger (COLD MOUNTAIN, CHICAGO). BEE MOVIE is slated for release on November 2, 2007, following the May 18, 2007 release of the third SHREK movie.
VIII International Short Film Festival of Barcelona MECAL 2005Barcelona, SpainSeptember 10-18, 2005Deadline: June 30, 2005
MECAL 2005 is international and contains three principal sections: short films, documentaries and obliquas section. Entries can have originated from 16mm. or 35mm film, digital or Betacam, but must be converted to DVD, VHS-NTSC or PAL for submission. For more information, visit www.mecalbcn.org.
The Golden Elephant 14Hyderabad, IndiaNovember 14-20, 2005Deadline: July 15, 2005
BOXX Technologies announced the BOXX 7400 series of workstations featuring dual AMD Opteron Dual Core processors and the NVIDIA nForce Professional Media and Communications Processors (MCPs).
FamilyGuy.com begins its rollout today (April 28, 2005), offering FAMILY GUY fans loads of interactive online entertainment goodies as well as a community to coincide with the return of the animated series May 1, at 9:00 pm on FOX. The site launches with its first of what will be many Family Guy-centric sweepstakes offerings, Stewies Radical Remodel, with a prize package that includes dozens of FAMILY GUY stuff to fill the winners house, including limited edition cel art, action figures, lunchboxes, inflatable chairs, posters, pillowcases and dartboards.
Midway Games Inc. has shipped action thriller videogame, AREA 51, to retail outlets in the U.S. for the PlayStation2 and Xbox. The version for PC will ship on May 23, 2005. AREA 51 is an action/thriller featuring an intense storyline packed with scripted events, an arsenal of both human and alien weapons, and powerful multiplayer modes that allow up to 16 players to battle it out online.
Marvel Enterprises Inc. and Paramount Pictures announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Paramount will distribute a slate of feature films to be produced by Marvel, which include titles such as CAPTAIN AMERICA and NICK FURY. Marvel also announced a new, non-recourse financing facility to be provided by Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. that will allow the company to produce its own slate of feature films based on its renowned comic book characters.
