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Last night Matt and I were invited to see Richard Williams speak at a 2D or Not 2D Festival pre-event at Digipen. Richard presented a few excerpts of his new Animator’s Survival Kit - Animated animation course to a room of enthralled animators both professionals and students. Even at 75, Richard is not only a brilliant and giving instructor but also an amazing storyteller. I’m so thankful that we had the chance to meet him and listen to his personal stories working and engaging with Disney’s Nine Old Men.

The Animator’s Survival Kit - Animated is available for purchase as a 16-DVD box set on the web and will be offered for 20% off at the 2D or Not 2D Festival which will be held at the Pacific Science Center, November 14 - 15, 2008.

Need a little break from the election? Try out our silly game Wack-A-Maverick. Available in two flavors: internets and Facebook.

1. Steal Back Your Vote!

Originally uploaded by Greg Palast

Check out the whole comic from Greg Palast & Robert Kennedy Jr. from the fine folks at Top Shelf for tips on how to make sure your vote counts! Pages 19 and 20 have the seven easy steps to follow.

Come out and support the CD release party for Lisa’s band PartMan PartHorse - - October 31st at High Dive bar located at 513 N 36th, Seattle 98103; the cover charge is $6; costumes are encouraged.

We had a great visit the other week with some lovely people from Adobe who were looking for some design-house feedback for a future release of Creative Suite while they were in the Seattle area. We had a lot of fun and it was an honor being ask our opinion of what should be included in the next version of such a great and epic product. But we really enjoyed the compliment we were paid afterwards. They seemed really excited about how we embrace new technologies and express creativity, the collaborative way we do it and even said that we were in the “upper echelon”!

Sometimes it’s nice to have a reminder step back and admire our vision of working with great people to do great work.

Josh Lovison in Gaming Insider has been writing on developments in casual gamers’ gaming news (Bejeweled hits WoW: flash-based procrastination tools and night elves together at last! Plus: women play games while chatting on phone) which we found pretty interesting, including this little nugget:

Now Microsoft, feeling fairly secure with the core demographic for the Xbox 360, is pushing a multimillion marketing blitz to expand the console to casual players. Having dropped below the $200 price point for their Arcade version of the system, and with their Netflix exclusive, they are poised for solid sales this fall.

Also in casual gaming, a little repositioning news: Scott’s Blog notices Texas Hold ‘Em and a “mildly entertaining” Hexic have appeared on his Zune. These come with the 3.0 update, and let players use music from their own playlists to use as their game soundtrack. This would be the Hexic whose UX, design, and asset production work we had a hand in; a “quality title” and “a great way to kick off Zune gaming”.