News Round-Up: Monday 30 Jan, 2012

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...

Interview Sabotage – 5 Things That Could Kill Your Chances
from Animation Magazine
Most people think, "If I can just get a meeting, an interview and in-person meet and greet and I know I will ace it!" Well, for some of you that might be the case, but for a vast majority of you, please read the fine print.

Oscar-Nominated Shorts Get Theatrical Release
from Animation Magazine
ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures have announced plans to release this year's Oscar-nominated short films in 200 theaters across the U.S. and Canada on Feb. 10, 2012.

Jeffrey Okun Re-Elected as VES Board Chair
from Animation Magazine
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the 2012 Board of Director officers who were elected at the January 18, 2012 board meeting.

Taylor Is DreamWorks New Head of Development
from Animation Magazine
Gregg Taylor is the new head of development at DreamWorks Animation. Taylor will replace Alex Schwartz who will be working on the upcoming feature adaptation of Mr. Peabody & Sherman as producer.

Oswalt to Host VES Awards
from Animation Magazine
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced comedian/actor Patton Oswalt (Young Adult, Ratatouille) as the host for the org's tenth annual VES Awards ceremony, to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, February 7.

2011 Animated Oscar Noms Offer Surprises
from Animation Magazine
The nominees for the 84th annual Oscars were announced Tuesday morning, with the best animated feature race falling to...

DreamWorks Lands on Fortune's Best 100 List
from Animation Magazine
DreamWorks Animation is the sole entertainment company on this year's annual Fortune list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. The studio, which took the 10th spot last year, ranked 14th in 2012.

TEDx Talk on Molecular Animation: Combining Cinema and Biology
from Viz World
InformationAesthetics brings us a great talk from TEDx on Molecular Animation. Chemistry was one of the earliest forms of visualization, classic ball and stick visualizations that brought particles tinier than the eye can see to life.

Rob Legato on Hugo and The Joy of Filmmaking
from Death Fall
VFX Supervisor and 2nd Unit Director Rob Legato shares some of the secrets of a tribute to the love of making and watching movies, and insights into two filmmaking masters.

Underworld Awakens the World
from Death Fall
VFX supervisor James McQuaide reveals the 3-D and Uber Lycan creature work of the fourth Underworld film.

Obama Rolls Out New Higher Education Initiatives
from Education Week
President Barack Obama hits hard on college costs and calls for mandatory school attendance to age 18 in his State of the Union address.

College leaders question Obama’s tuition plan
from Washington Post
President Obama on Friday proposed that the federal government take the lead in curbing the rising cost of college by rewarding colleges that keep tuition down and punishing those that do not.

The big flaws in Obama’s education argument
from Washington Post
President Obama repeated a familiar refrain about the importance of teachers in his State of the Union speech: "A great teacher can offer an escape from poverty to the child who dreams beyond his circumstance."