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An extended conversation (more than 140 characters) with our Twitter followers. Five questions finding out more about them and what they feel about the industry, with @TobyJOYdigital our Social Media Manager.

Super Bowl approaches – do you have your snacks at the ready? Have you chosen your team? More importantly, have you set your DVR to record the commercials? 

This week’s mashup consists of some Super Bowl sneak peeks – we have a “Twilight”-like tailgating party for Audi courtesy of The Mill, takes 2 and 3 for VW and the “Star Wars” enterprise involving Man’s Best Friend, a couple of car spots steeped in fantasy complete with bikini-clad extras, the Coca-Cola polar bears (Giants v. Patriots) up their game and “The Avengers” trailer.

I remember when you actually had to wait for Game Day to see the spots! 

This year’s previews are kind of light on VFX  - I suspect everyone’s still rendering. 

Let us know which ones you liked – and we hope your team wins!

As Oscar fever is mounting up, there were lots of stories related to awards last week - no surprise there. But there were also lots of goodies such as a very cool video from TedTalk, an interview with the VFX Supervisor on Hugo and much more. Here's my take on last week...

We caught up with Stu Schwartz once again to see how he’s doing and what is going on in his post CG Whiz life. He shared some interesting tidbits with us about his internship and a typical day at The Mill. Read on to see what he had to say:

Hello again!  It’s mashup time! This week’s goodies include some nice spots from our Advisory Board members over at Psyop, some behind-the-scenes with Fincher, a history of Lucas’ latest (well, it turns out, not-so-latest, just lately completed), a great “rise from the ashes” story, a Keanu Reeves documentary of analog v. digital filmmaking, a great interview with Terry Gilliam, Wes Anderson’s newest trailer, a look at the year in VFX and a reel breakdown for “Hugo”. Did we miss anything? As always, we welcome your feedback and comments.

Our first set of students just hit the mid-way mark of their courses so we decided it was high time we subjected them to a long-standing Escape Studios tradition, that consists of capturing their photos before they start pulling their hair out coming to grips with the more complicated side of the VFX pipeline.

Here is a mashup of news for this week – there’s a cry for old school technology, a list of tips for you to be better prepared for dailies, a couple of reports from CES, a fun commercial for Mini Coopers based on a fan suggestion, a great trailer from Blur, and a rendition of a Dr Seuss story as told by those who attended Burning Man last year.

What’d I miss?

Happy New Year! It’s a new year and a new mash-up. This week’s catch contains loads of info about US VFX Companies and their tax breaks, expansions, how to buy a camera, a plea for better treatment for the “Real” Wizards of Oz and more. What’s I miss?

With a rapidly growing VFX industry, there has never been a better time to think about carving out a career of your own. So we’re inviting you to come into Escape Studios, LA’s newest VFX training facility conveniently located in Santa Monica, to listen to VFX recruitment expert Pam Hogarth.

It's been two weeks since my last News Round Up. The holidays have gone so quickly and we are now in 2012, rested and ready to go. To get you in the mood and get you started in 2012, I have put together a summary of news published over the past couple ofweeks.