After weeks of relentlessly warm and sunny days, it’s easy to forget we’re supposed to be in the midst of winter here in LA. But take a look around your street — maybe even your backyard — for undeniable proof: citrus fruit, heavy on the trees, the ultimate winter treat.

Did you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books when you were a kid? →

It seems that paper concepts are all the current rave in the current arena of stop-mo animation.  Check out this short called“Unboxed”, utilizing both classic hand drawn and stop-mo for an Audi commercial.  Created by directing team, Aaron Duffy at 1st Ave Machine and Russell Brooke of Passion Pictures.  Enjoy!

Joey Remmers “Tracking The Wounded” + Guest Artist, Devin Crane
Corey Helford Gallery – Culver City, CA
1/24/09
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Corey Helford Gallery is proud to present “Tracking The Wounded”, a solo exhibition of new works by Joey Remmers. For his first solo show at the gallery, Remmers creates a series of compelling visual narratives, many are adaptations from his favorite novels and short stories. Inspired by authors from Steven King and Chuck Palahniuk to Michael Chabon and Dean Koontz →

A few days ago word got out that Barack Obama stepped into a DC staple, Ben’s Chili Bowl to partake in a meal and to greet the locals. It’s these small gestures that make Obama that much more likeable. His everyday common man approach and the want to empathize with one another is what allows Obama to draw so much mass appeal.

PlayStation 3 Presents Naughty Dog’s UNCHARTED
Gnomon School of Visual Effects – Hollywood, CA
1/22/09
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Uncharted was Naughty Dog’s first game for the PlayStation 3 and presented a unique set of challenges to the developer of the smash-hit Jak and Daxter series. Using examples from the development of Uncharted, Lemarchand will describe the fast, collaborative, iterative way that things get done at “the Dog” and how the studio nearly doubled its size without losing its company culture →

The forthcoming film, Coraline gets points for being one of the most inventive hand-made, stop-mo animation to come out this year .  Although it was directed by Henry Selick, I must say that by no means is this an endorsement of The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was not my favorite animated feature (I actually viewed it as a saccharined “gothic Disneyland,” pandering to mainstream sensibilities.)  Yet I felt from the very inception of the project, Coraline boasted genuinely macabre elements, and is pretty much Alice in Wonderland’s darker stepsister →

I’m not really a fan of writing about Obama. It’s not that I wish for him to fail, or that even I get a thrill running up my leg at the mere mention of the man’s name. It’s the inexplicable sense of fear and loathing as I witness the mass of people gorging themselves on Obama’s massive intelli-cock in what seems to be a visceral reaction to the bleak reality thrust upon the world by the outright incompetence of the outgoing administration. I’m all for a little healthy escapism. But there’s a difference between having a little hope that our incoming President is able to at string together a coherent sentence, and hoping that he’s the next messiah. →

Free ScreenPlayLab Mixer in Beverly Hills
435 N. Beverly Drive – Beverly Hills, CA
1/26/09
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Many of you may know Robin Rowe from the Comedy Walk monthly event that took place near the end of every Downtown Art Walk. Well it seems that Rowe has decided to devote all of his time to other projects through ScreenPlayLab and kicking off the year is going to be a free SPL mixer in Beverly Hills on Monday →

The headline is pretty self-explanatory. An Indonesian photographer has made headlines lately because he bears a striking resemblance to Barack Obama. We’ve got pics. →

The Man With The Movie Camera (w/ live score by Thavius Beck)
The Silent Movie Theatre – Los Angeles, CA
1/21/09
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The Man with The Movie Camera is the kind of movie that turns cinephiles into cinemaniacs. A kaleidoscope of visual possibilities, a feast of energy and ideas, Dziga Vertov’s everything-including-the-kitchen-sink picture-poem teems with life, craft and innovation. It’s an ode to the city, to the machinery of modern life, to the rhythms of everyday people and to the visual splendor of movement →