Recipe Round Up

This weekend I cooked to exorcise the house.  Nothing reclaims a living space like the smell of browned butter. 

Thank god for Smitten Kitchen.  Someone needs to give this girl a TV series. Sometimes I have to pause and be thankful that Al Gore invented the internet just to bring this blogger into my kitchen.

Here is what I made:


Jacked-Up Banana Bread (previously blogged)


Mixed Citrus Salad with Feta (I dropped the mint as fresh mint makes me gag)


Alternate Citrus Salad (New York Times)

Torta di Pere (Bittersweet Chocolate and Pear Cake)

I don't have a spring form pan, so this didn't turn out perfectly, but I think it's probably going to be delicious even though it didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted.  More torte than cake.

Stracciatella with Spinach

I threw in some glass noodles and lime to give this a Vietnamese flavor.  Ridiculously light and could be combined with endless meat/grain/vegetable combinations.

Haiti: Protecting Property or Protecting Lives ("Looting" Versus Emergency Requisitioning)

Actual Caption: A Haitian police officer ties up a suspected looter who was carrying a bag of evaporated milk.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Alternate Caption: "Ignoring thousands still trapped in rubble, a policeman accosts a sufferer who took evaporated milk. No adequate food distribution exists for Haiti's starving millions."

This week Salon published one of the most thought-provoking op-ed style pieces on natural disasters, colonialism, and lingering economic racism that I have read in years, and whether you agree or disagree, I think Rebecca Solnit's argument is well made and worth considering.  Read this if you've spent even a passing moment looking at images of "black" Haitians rampantly "looting" in the wake of the recent earthquake (or if you remember the same images coming out of New Orleans not so long ago).  Her article pinpoints the media, but the larger issues is that the media is feeding the public the thing most appealing and easily accepted - images of violence and fear, instead of compassion and aid.  As for my own opinion, there is not much I find more morally bankrupt than profiteering off of death, followed closely by looking the other way while it happens.

When the Media is the Disaster: Victims as Criminals

...

Imagine, reader, that your city is shattered by a disaster. Your home no longer exists, and you spent what cash was in your pockets days ago. Your credit cards are meaningless because there is no longer any power to run credit-card charges. Actually, there are no longer any storekeepers, any banks, any commerce, or much of anything to buy. The economy has ceased to exist.

By day three, you're pretty hungry and the water you grabbed on your way out of your house is gone. The thirst is far worse than the hunger. You can go for many days without food, but not water. And in the improvised encampment you settle in, there is an old man near you who seems on the edge of death. He no longer responds when you try to reassure him that this ordeal will surely end. Toddlers are now crying constantly, and their mothers infinitely stressed and distressed.

So you go out to see if any relief organization has finally arrived to distribute anything, only to realize that there are a million others like you stranded with nothing, and there isn't likely to be anywhere near enough aid any time soon. The guy with the corner store has already given away all his goods to the neighbors. That supply's long gone by now. No wonder, when you see the chain pharmacy with the shattered windows or the supermarket, you don't think twice before grabbing a box of PowerBars and a few gallons of water that might keep you alive and help you save a few lives as well.

The old man might not die, the babies might stop their squalling, and the mothers might lose that look on their faces. Other people are calmly wandering in and helping themselves, too. Maybe they're people like you, and that gallon of milk the fellow near you has taken is going to spoil soon anyway. You haven't shoplifted since you were 14, and you have plenty of money to your name. But it doesn't mean anything now.

If you grab that stuff are you a criminal? Should you end up lying in the dirt on your stomach with a cop tying your hands behind your back? Should you end up labeled a looter in the international media? Should you be shot down in the street, since the overreaction in disaster, almost any disaster, often includes the imposition of the death penalty without benefit of trial for suspected minor property crimes?

Or are you a rescuer? Is the survival of disaster victims more important than the preservation of everyday property relations? Is that chain pharmacy more vulnerable, more a victim, more in need of help from the National Guard than you are, or those crying kids, or the thousands still trapped in buildings and soon to die?

...

A number of radio hosts and other media personnel are still upset that people apparently took TVs after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. Since I started thinking about, and talking to people about, disaster aftermaths I've heard a lot about those damned TVs. Now, which matters more to you, televisions or human life? People were dying on rooftops and in overheated attics and freeway overpasses, they were stranded in all kinds of hideous circumstances on the Gulf Coast in 2005 when the mainstream media began to obsess about looting, and the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana made the decision to focus on protecting property, not human life.

A gang of white men on the other side of the river from New Orleans got so worked up about property crimes that they decided to take the law into their own hands and began shooting. They seem to have considered all black men criminals and thieves and shot a number of them. Some apparently died; there were bodies bloating in the September sun far from the region of the floods; one good man trying to evacuate the ruined city barely survived; and the media looked away. It took me months of nagging to even get the story covered. This vigilante gang claimed to be protecting property, though its members never demonstrated that their property was threatened. They boasted of killing black men. And they shared values with the mainstream media and the Louisiana powers that be.

Somehow, when the Bush administration subcontracted emergency services -- like providing evacuation buses in Hurricane Katrina -- to cronies who profited even while providing incompetent, overpriced and much delayed service at the moment of greatest urgency, we didn't label that looting...

Nominated!

Congratulations to my fellow ROAD VFX team members!  And to the 2012 team, and Thilo Ewers for his individual nomination.

Visual Effects Society Announces Nominees for 8th Annual VES Awards 

Los Angeles, January 19, 2010 - The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games.  Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 16, 2010, by numerous blue ribbon panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank and San Francisco as well as at other facilities in London, Sydney and Vancouver. 

“The Visual Effects Society is proud to present these nominations as the most outstanding work in the field this year,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society. “It’s important to keep in mind that it wasn’t machines that created these images but incredibly talented artists. We congratulate them all and look forward to seeing who is chosen as the best of the best at the awards show in February.”

As previously announced, this year James Cameron will be honored with the VES Lifetime Achievement Award and Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for pioneering.   

The 8^th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 28, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, CA. 

The nominees for the 8^th Annual VES Awards are the following:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion

Picture

2012

Volker Engel, Visual Effects Supervisor

Josh Jaggars, Visual Effects Producer

Marc Weigert, Visual Effects Supervisor

AVATAR

Richard Baneham, Animation Supervisor

Joyce Cox, VFX Producer

Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor

Eileen Moran, Overall VFX Producer

DISTRICT 9

Stefanie Boose, VFX Producer

Dan Kaufman, VFX Supervisor

Peter Muyzers, On-set VFX Plate Supervisor

James Stewart, Creature Supervisor

STAR TREK

Burt Dalton, Special Effects Supervisor

Russell Earl, Visual Effects Supervisor

Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Supervisor

Shari Hanson, Visual Effects Producer

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Scott Benza, Animation Director

Wayne Billheimer, Visual Effects Producer

Scott Farrar, Visual Effects Supervisor

John Frazier, Special Effects Supervisor

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture

ANGELS & DEMONS

Angus Bickerton, VFX Supervisor

Mark Breakspear, VFX Supervisor

Ryan Cook, VFX Supervisor

Barrie Hemsley, VFX Producer

THE BOX

Peter Cvijanovic, Compositing Supervisor

Mark Kolpak, Visual Effects Producer

Olcun Tan, Digital Effects Supervisor

Thomas Tannenberger, Visual Effects Supervisor

INVICTUS

Geoff Hancock, VFX Supervisor

Dennis Hoffman, Head of Production

Cyndi Ochs, VFX Producer

Michael Owens, VFX Supervisor

THE ROAD

Mark O. Forker, VFX Supervisor

Paul Graff, VFX Supervisor - Crazy Horse Effects

Ed Mendez, Compositing Supervisor

Phillip Moses, VFX Producer

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Dan Barrow, VFX Producer

Jonathan Fawkner, VFX Supervisor

Chas Jarrett, VFX Supervisor

David Vickery, VFX Supervisor

Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

9

Ken Duncan, Animation Supervisor

Jinko Gotoh, Co-Producer

Daryl Graham, Supervising Animator

Joe Ksander, Animation Director

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

Mike Ford, CG Supervisor

Chris Juen, Co-Producer

Alan Hawkins, Supervising Animator

Pete Nash, Animation Director

CORALINE

Claire Jennings, Animation Producer

Henry Selick, Animation Director

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

Galen Chu, Supervising Animator

Jeff Gabor, Senior Animator

Anthony Nisi, Animation Production Supervisor

Melvin Tan, Senior Animator

UP

Gary Bruins, Effects Supervisor

Pete Docter, Director

Steve May, Supervising Technical Director

Jonas Rivera, Producer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or a Special

ALICE - Night 2

Sebastien Bergeron, DFX Supervisor

Les Quinn, CG Supervisor

Lisa Sepp-Wilson, VFX Producer

Lee Wilson, VFX Supervisor

BEN 10: ALIEN SWARM - Montage

Evan Jacobs, Visual Effects Supervisor

Sean McPherson, Visual Effects Supervisor

Andrew Orloff, Visual Effects Supervisor

DISNEY PREP AND LANDING - Gadgets, Globes, and other Garish Gizmos

David Hutchins, EFX Animator

Scott Kersavage, VFX Supervisor

Dorothy McKim, VFX Producer

Kee Suong, EFX Animator

INFESTATION

Dan DeEntremont, Animator

PJ Foley, VFX Producer

James May, Technical Director

Efram Potelle, VFX Supervisor

SKELLIG

Sara Bennett, Compositing Supervisor

Jean-Claude Deguara, Senior Animation Supervisor

David Houghton, Visual Effects Supervisor

Jenna Powell, Visual Effects Producer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA SEASON 4 - Ep. 421 “Daybreak”

Michael Gibson, VFX Producer

Gary Hutzel, VFX Supervisor

Dave Morton, CGI Artist

Jesse Toves, CGI Artist

DEFYING GRAVITY - Pilot

Dale Fay, VFX Supervisor

Jared Jones, Lead Compositor

Sam Nicholson, VFX Producer

Mike Yip, 3D Lead Artist

FRINGE – Ep. 206 “Earthling”

Robert Habros, VFX Supervisor

Eric Hance, Visual Effects Artist

Andrew Orlaff, VFX Supervisor

Jay Worth, VFX Supervisor/Producer

STARGATE UNIVERSE - Air

Shannon Gurney, VFX Producer

Andrew Karr, CGI Supervisor

Mark Savela, VFX Supervisor

Craig Vandenbiggelaar, Digital Effects Supervisor

V- Pilot

Johnathan R. Banta, Lead Compositor

Karen Czukerberg, VFX Producer

Andrew Orloff, VFX Supervisor

Chris Zapara, VFX Supervisor

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

CSI CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION – Ep. 1001 “Opening Sequence”

Sabrina Arnold, VFX Producer

Steve Meyer, Compositor

Rik Shorten, VFX Supervisor

Derek Smith, Compositor

FLASH FORWARD - No More Good Days

Kevin Blank, Visual Effects Supervisor

Andrew Orloff, VFX Producer

Steve Meyer, 2D Supervisor

Jonathan Spencer Levy, Facility VFX Supervisor

KINGS - Ep. 001 “Goliath”

Ron Moore, VFX Producer

Brian Vogt, Lead Lighting TD

Craig Weiss, VFX Supervisor

Niel Wray, CG Supervisor

KRUPP-EINE DEUTSCHE FAMILIE - Krupp

Thomas Tannenberger, Visual Effects Supervisor

Olcun Tan, Digital Effects Supervisor

Mark Kolpak, Visual Effects Producer

Shane Cook, Compositing Supervisor

LOST - The Incident Part 1 & 2

Eric Hance, Supervising Artist

Samantha Mabie-Tuinstra, Visual Effects Producer

Sean Scott, Character Animator

Mitch Suskin, Visual Effects Supervisor

Best Single Visual Effect of the Year

2012 - Escape from L.A.

Volker Engel, Visual Effects Supervisor

Josh R. Jaggars, Visual Effects Producer

Mohen Leo, Visual Effects Supervisor

Marc Weigert, Visual Effects Supervisor

AVATAR - Quarich's Escape

Jill Brooks, Visual Effects Producer

John Knoll, Visual Effects Supervisor

Frank Losasso Petterson, Simulation Technical Director

Tory Mercer, Compositor

AVATAR- Neytiri Drinking

Thelvin Cabezas, Lighting Technical Director

Joyce Cox, VFX Producer

Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor

Eileen Moran, Overall VFX Producer

KNOWING - Plane Crash

Dan Breckwoldt, Lead Compositor

Camille Cellucci, VFX Producer

Andrew Jackson, VFX Supervisor

Angelo Sahin, Special Effects Supervisor

TERMINATOR SALVATION - VLA Escape

Chantal Feghali, Studio Producer

Charles Gibson, Studio Visual Effects Supervisor

Susan Greenhow, Visual Effects Producer

Ben Snow, Visual Effects Supervisor

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

AMF - The Caterpillar

Asher Edwards, VFX Producer

Jamie O'Hara, Lead Character Modeller

Becky Porter, Lead Compositor

Robert Sethi, VFX Supervisor

AUDI - Intelligently Combined

Jay Barton, Visual Effects Supervisor

Rafael F. Colon, Sr. Compositor

Chris Fieldhouse, Visual Effects Producer

Ronald Herbst, CG Supervisor

KERRY LOWLOW - Mouse

Ashley Bernes, Effects TD

Louisa Cartwright Tucker, VFX Producer

Jake Mengers, VFX Supervisor

Stephen Newbold, VFX Supervisor

PEPSI - The Flight of the Penguin

Murray Butler, VFX Supervisor/Lead Flame

Jenn Dewey, Senior VFX Producer

Seth Gollub, Animation Lead

Andy Walker, VFX Supervisor, Technical Lead

PLANE STUPID - Polar Bears

Scott Griffin, VFX Producer

Suzanne Jandu, Compositor

Jake Mengers, VFX Supervisor

Vicky Osborn, CG Artist

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES – Multi-plane Visual Effects

Susan Beth Smith, Visual Effects Producer

Cedar Conner, Lead Compositor

Daren Ulmer, Visual Effects Supervisor

DANCE OF THE DRAGONS - Eastern

Derry Frost, VFX Supervisor

Michael Morreale, VFX Producer

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game

CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 - Gulag Extraction

Robert Gaines, Lead Visual Effects Artist

David Johnson, Visual Effects Artist

Richard Kriegler, Art Director

Mark Rubin, Producer

FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 4 - Gameplay

Jeff Atienza, Producer

Jenny Freeman, Art Director

Ben Ross, Lead Character Artist

Frank Vitz, CG Supervisor

NEED FOR SPEED SHIFT - World Sequence

Robert Dibley, Lead Rendering Software Engineer

Dave Flynn, Development Director - World

Andreas Moll, Art Director

Sven Moll, Art Director

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Christophe Balestra, Technical Lead

Evan Wells, Game Producer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Video Game Trailer

DJ HERO

Diarmid Harrison-Murray, VFX Supervisor

Sarah Hiddlestone, Senior CG Producer

Jamie Jackson, Game Producer

Marco Puig, Art Director

HALO 3: ODST - The Life

Ryan Meredith, VFX Producer

Robert Moggach, VFX Supervisor

Michael Pardee, Executive Producer

Jens Zalzala, CG Supervisor

MASS EFFECT 2

Tim Miller, VFX Producer

Brandon Riza, VFX Supervisor

STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC

Tim Miller, VFX Producer

Brandon Riza, VFX Supervisor

Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture

AVATAR - Neytiri

Andrew R. Jones, Animation Director

Joe Letteri, Senior Visual Effects Supervisor

Zoe Saldana, Actress

Jeff Unay, Facial Lead

DISTRICT 9 - Christopher Johnson

Brett Ineson, Motion Capture Supervisor

Jeremy Mesana, Animation Lead

Steve Nichols, Animation Supervisor

Vera Zivny, Senior VFX Coordinator

G-FORCE - Bucky

Benjamin Cinelli, Senior Character Animator

Peter Tieryas, Character Set-Up Technical Director

Dustin Wicke, Lead Cloth and Hair

Ryan Yee, Animator

WATCHMEN - Doctor Manhattan

Aaron Campbell, Character Rigger

Kevin Hudson, CG Modeling Supervisor

Victor Schutz, Lead CG Lighting and Compositing Artist

Keith Smith, Lead Animator

Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

CORALINE - ‘CORALINE’

Travis Knight, Lead Animator

Trey Thomas, Lead Animator

ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS - Buck

Simon Pegg, Buck

Peter de Seve, Characters designed by

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS - B.O.B.

Terran Boylan, Character Technical Director

David Burgess, Head of Character Animation

Scott Cegielski, Effects Lead

David Weatherly, Animator

UP - Carl - “No Dad Scene”

Ed Asner, Voice of Carl

Carmen Ngai, Character Cloth Artist

Brian Tindall, Character Modeling and Articulation Artist

Ron Zorman, Animator

Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or

Commercial

AMF - The Caterpillar

Steve Beck, Lead Character Animator

Jamie O'Hara, Lead Character Modeller

Becky Porter, Lead Compositor

Robert Sethi, Lead CG Artist

DISNEY PREP AND LANDING - Wayne

David Foley, Voice of Wayne

Mark Mitchell, Supervising Animator

Hidetaka Yosumi, Character Technical Director

Leo Sanchez Barbosa, Modeler

EVIAN - Skating Babies

Jorge Montiel Meurer, Lead Animator

Jordi Onate, Animator

Emanuele Pavarotti, Animator

Wayne Simmons, Animator

PEPSI - Penguin - “The Flight of the Penguin”

James Dick, Technical Director

Seth Gollub, Animation Lead

Spencer Leuders, Technical Director

Andy Walker, VFX Supervisor, Technical Lead

Outstanding Effects Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

Rob Bredow, VFX Supervisor

Matt Hausman, Effects Animation Supervisor

Carl Hooper, Effects Animation Supervisor

Dan Kramer, Digital Effects Supervisor

CORALINE

John Allan Armstrong, VFX Animator

Richard Kent Burton, Stop Motion Effects Animator

Craig Dowsett, CG Modeler

MONSTERS VS. ALIENS

David Allen, Effects Animator

Amaury Aubel, Effects Lead

Scott Cegielski, Effects Lead

Alain De Hoe, Effects Lead

UP

Alexis Angelidis, Effects Artist

Eric Froemling, Effects Artist

Jason Johnston, Effects Artist

Jon Reisch, Effects Artist

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture

AVATAR - Pandora

Jean-Luc Azzis, Senior Compositor

Peter Baustaedter, Senior Matte Painter

Brenton Cottman, Lead Matte Painter

Yvonne Muinde, Lead Matte Painter

FRANKLYN - Meanwhile City Scapes

Tania Richard, Matte Painter

Christoph Unger, Matte Painter

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

David Bassalla, TD

Emily Cobb, 3D Artist

Tania Richard, Matte Painter

STAR TREK

Brett Northcutt, Digimatte Lead

Shane Roberts, Digimatte

Masahiko Tani, Digimatte

Dan Wheaton, Digimatte

Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

KAISER PERMANENTE - Emerald City

Kim Taylor, Matte Painter

Ben Walker, Matte Painter

Ben Walsh, Matte Painter

David Woodland, Matte Painter

Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Feature Motion Picture

AVATAR - Samson/Home Tree / Floating Mountains / Ampsuit

Simon Cheung, Modeller

Paul Jenness, Lead Modeller

John Stevenson-Galvin, Senior Modeller

Rainer Zoettl, Senior/Lead Modeller

CORALINE

Deborah Cook, Lead Costume Design Fabricator

Matthew DeLeu, Miniature Lighting Technician

Paul Mack, Model Maker

Martin Meunier, Facial Animation Design

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN - National Air and

Space Museum Escape

Robert Chapin, Digital FX Supervisor

Tony Chen, Model Maker

Forest Fischer, Model Crew Chief

Ian Hunter, VFX Supervisor

TERMINATOR SALVATION-Practical Models and Miniatures

Nick d'Abo, Model Shop Supervisor

Brian Gernand, Creative Director, Model Shops

Geoff Heron, Special FX Supervisor

Patrick Sweeney, Director of Photography

Outstanding Created Environment in a Feature Motion Picture

2012 - Los Angeles Destruction

Haarm-Pieter Duiker, CG Supervisor

Marten Larsson, CG Effects Animation Lead

Ryo Sakaguchi, CG Effects Animation Lead

Hanzhi Tang, CG Lighting Supervisor

AVATAR - Floating Mountains

Dan Lemmon, Visual Effects Supervisor

Keith F. Miller, CG Supervisor

Cameron Smith, Lead Compositor

AVATAR - Jungle / Biolume

Shadi Almassizadeh, CG Supervisor

Jessica Cowley, Senior Texture Painter

Dan Cox, CG Supervisor

Ula Rademeyer, Lead Texture Painter

Eric Saindon, Visual Effects Supervisor

AVATAR - Willow Glade

Thelvin Cabezas, Lighting Technical Director

Miae Kang, Lead Lighting Technical Director

Daniel Macarin, Lighting Technical Director

Guy Williams, Visual Effects Supervisor

Outstanding Created Environment in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

AMC THEATERS / COKE - Magic Chairs

Dariush Derakhshani, CG Supervisor

Steve Cummings, CG Artist

Harry Michalakeas, Technical Director

Rob Nederhorst, VFX Supervisor

ASSASSINS CREED: LINEAGE - Ep. 1 “Duke of Milan Assassination”

Nadine Homier, Compositor

Joseph Kasparlan, Lead Textures and Lighting

Mathieu Lalonde, CG Modeler

Christian Morin, Compositor

FLASH FORWARD - Pilot “Freeway Overpass”

Colin Feist, Compositor

Paul Ghezzo, CG Supervisor

Roger Kupelian, Matte Painter

Steve Meyer, Compositor

V - Pilot “Atrium and Ship Interiors”

Trevor Adams, CG Artist

Chris Irving, Lead Compositor

David Morton, Matte Painter

Chris Zapara, VFX Supervisor

Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture

AVATAR

Erich Eder, Compositor

Robin Hollander, Compositor

Giuseppe Tagliavini, Compositor

Erik Winquist, Compositing Supervisor

AVATAR - End Battle

Jay Cooper, Technical Director

Beth D'Amato, Digital Paint

Eddie Pasquarello, Compositing Supervisor

Todd Vaziri, Compositor

DISTRICT 9

Janeen Elliott, Senior Compositor

Simon Hughes, Senior Compositor

Hamish Schumacher, Lead Compositor

Shervin Shogian, Compositing Supervisor

SHERLOCK HOLMES - Wharf Explosion Sequence

Jan Adamczyk, Mid Compositor

Alex Cumming, Junior Compositor

Sam Osborne, Compositor

Kate Windibank, Senior Compositor

Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program or Commercial

CSI CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION - Ep 1001 Opening Sequence

Steve Meyer, VFX Supervisor

Derek Smith, Compositor

Christina Spring, Compositor

Zach Zaubi, Compositor

KERRY LOWLOW 'MOUSE' - Overall

Kelly Bruce, Compositor

Greg Howe-Davies, Compositor

Jake Mengers, VFX Supervisor

Stephen Newbold, VFX Supervisor

PEPSI - The Flight of the Penguin

Murray Butler, VFX Supervior/Lead Flame

Ben Cronin, Senior Flame Operator

Andy Rowan-Robinson, Technical Director

Miyuki Shimamoto, Flame Operator

PORSCHE - Family Tree

Tim Davies, VFX Supervisor/Lead Compositor

Jeff Willette, Lead Technical Designer

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Student Project

THE FULL MOON MYSTERY - The Discovery

Flip Buttinger, VFX Supervisor & Producer

Jeffrey De Vore, Director

David Goubitz, VFX Supervisor & Producer

MOTHERLAND

Hannes Appell

THEY WILL COME TO TOWN

Thilo Ewers

URS - Cliff

Moritz Mayerhofer, Graduate

Wiest/Buffington Wedding in Susquehanna Style

Last summer I had the honor of not only attending my oldest friend's wedding, but of being in the wedding party.  I remember third grade when Bridgit (fellow blogger over at Marshmallow Mondays) and I used to pass notes during math class and plan to sit together at lunch, and it was no surprise to me when this former wedding planner's wedding was featured in the local Style Magazine.  Nice work, B.  Skip to page 55.

 

New York Times' HAITI Coverage

Haiti Lies in Ruins; Grim Search for Untold Dead

Calling the death toll “unimaginable” as he surveyed the wreckage, Haiti’s president, René Préval, said he had no idea where he would sleep. Schools, hospitals and a prison collapsed. Sixteen United Nations peacekeepers were killed and at least 140 United Nations workers were missing, including the chief of its mission, Hédi Annabi. The city’s archbishop, Msgr. Joseph Serge Miot, was feared dead. And the poor who define this nation squatted in the streets, some hurt and bloody, many more without food and water, close to piles of covered corpses and rubble.

Agony Sets in as Medics Focus on Survivors  

Some of the bodies strewn on the sidewalk had names scribbled on pieces of cardboard. “Regina” had died somewhere before arriving at the entrance of the private St. Esprit Hospital a few blocks from the Doctors Without Borders compound. No one there could explain who Regina was. Within the compound, a French volunteer offered a harried summary: “We are overwhelmed. We don’t have capacity for more victims. We don’t have time to talk. Please, I do not know what more to say. I must go now.”

A Closer Look at the Destruction in Haiti 
Multimedia images.

Country Without a Net 

Haiti is a country created by former slaves, kidnapped West Africans, who, in 1804, when slavery still flourished in the United States and the Caribbean, threw off their cruel French masters and created their own republic. Haitians have been punished ever since for claiming their freedom: by the French who, in the 1820s, demanded and received payment from the Haitians for the slave colony, impoverishing the country for years to come; by an often brutal American occupation from 1915 to 1934; by indigenous misrule that the American government aided and abetted.

Salon's HAITI Coverage

Red Cross: Up to 3 Million in Need of Aid

Humanitarian officials said the proximity of the quake's epicenter, only 10 miles (15 kilometers) from the capital Port-au-Prince, and Haiti's crumbling infrastructure meant it was impossible to gauge exactly how many people might be dead or wounded...."There's probably 3 million people potentially affected," said Paul Conneally, spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. 

Obama Speaks on Haiti Earthquake  

Finally, let me just say that this is a time when we are reminded of the common humanity that we all share. With just a few hundred miles of ocean between us and a long history that binds us together, Haitians are neighbors of the Americas and here at home. So we have to be there for them in their hour of need....Despite the fact that we are experiencing tough times here at home, I would encourage those Americans who want to support the urgent humanitarian efforts to go to whitehouse.gov where you can learn how to contribute. 

A Disaster Everyone Knew Would Happen  

As the poorest state in the Western hemisphere, Haiti has trouble feeding its population, providing citizens with the most basic health care, maintaining a semblance of a functioning political system, and coping with some of the worst environmental degradation in the world. Making sure buildings are up to code was never going to rank high on the priority list, even if everybody knew the situation was a disaster waiting to happen. In Haiti, every day is a disaster....Some commentators have made comparisons between Haiti and New Orleans, noting that in both cases poor people bore the brunt of a natural disaster. But there's a key difference -- the United States had the resources to do far better. Haiti doesn't.

Three Ways to Help Haiti  

Here are three ways that you can immediately help the humanitarian effort in Haiti:

Disaster Expert: Why It's So Bad  

Earthquakes can be deadly even in the most developed parts of the world. But Haiti's earthquake took place amid extreme poverty in a country with shoddy infrastructure, two factors that will undoubtedly have considerable impact on the tragedy's scope. Salon spoke to Ben Wisner, a retired geography professor and research fellow at Oberlin College who has done extensive work about disaster vulnerability, to find out more about the particular challenges facing Haiti's recovery efforts.

Haiti: Untold Tragedy 

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after the strongest earthquake hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped....People pulled bodies from collapsed homes, covering them with sheets by the side of the road. Passersby lifted the sheets to see if a loved one was underneath. Outside a crumbled building the bodies of five children and three adults lay in a pile.

Poorest Country in Our Hemisphere Hit with Devastating Disaster

All of us, myself included, spend a lot of time wandering through our day upset about minor annoyances - deadlines at work and houses that need to be vacuumed and leases signed and groceries purchased and losing 5 lbs and getting 8 hours of sleep and having enough time to see loved ones.  And then you see one frame of news footage out of a 7.0 earthquake in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and realize you should shut the f up.  $5 will save lives in this situation.  What difference does $5 make to you? 

STATEMENT BY WYCLEF JEAN ON HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 02:05PM

“Haiti today faced a natural disaster of unprecedented proportion, an earthquake unlike anything the country has ever experienced.

The magnitude 7.0 earthquake – and several very strong aftershocks – struck only 10 miles from Port-au-Prince.

I cannot stress enough what a human disaster this is, and idle hands will only make this tragedy worse. The over 2 million people in Port-au-Prince tonight face catastrophe alone. We must act now.
 
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Thank you,
Wyclef

First Day of Winter

Sunset in Venice

Ammended Favorites

No, I am not recanting on "Transformers 2." I am instead moving FANTASTIC MR. FOX out of the "Missed" list to the "Favorites" list. Thanks to a timely screener delivery, I had the pleasure of watching Wes Anderson's animated caper last night, and I highly recommend it. For kids and adults alike, although like some of the latter-day Pixar work, I dare say that adults are going to get more out of it than the kids are. Down right gleeful.

Favorites of 2009

Cinematic recommendations to cap off the year that was 2009.

My Favorite Viewing Experiences of 2009, in no order:

• "The Road"
  
• "The Hurt Locker"
• "Drag Me To Hell"
• "Up in The Air"
• "The Hangover"
• "(500) Days of Summer"
• "An Education"
  
• "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen"
• "A Serious Man"
• "Bright Star"
• "Up"
• "Star Trek"
• "Coraline"
• "The English Surgeon"
• "The Informant!"
• "Julie & Julia"
• "State of Play"
  

Movies I Am Still Sad to Have Missed, and Will Be Netflixing Soon:

• "Sugar"
• "Moon"
• "Capitalism: A Love Story"
• "Big Fan"
• "Away We Go"
• "Broken Embraces"
• "Cold Souls"
• "District 9"
• "Zombieland"
  
• "Fantastic Mr. Fox"
• "Invictus" (soon to be viewed on screener)
• "Jennifer's Body"
• "Pandorum"
  
• "The Messenger" (soon to be viewed on screener)
• "Sin Nombre"
• "The White Ribbon"