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The Americans
at Grass Hut Gallery
811 E. Burnside
Portland, OR

Opens at noon on the 4th of July
Bar Bee Que, Fireworks, Beer, Lemon-aid and art.

Line up:
Dawn Riddle
Scott Barry
Ryan Jacob Smith
Claire Miller
Scrappers
Jesse Brown
Kim Scafuro
Justin Lovato
Nick doodles art
Shawn Wolfe
Brad Simon
Dr. Medz
Ross McSweeney
Ryan Berkley
Pete Toms
Bwana Spoons
Brett Superstar
Chuck Hill
John Black
Ademar Matinian
Sean Alexander
THE HANNA
BT Livermore
Arbito
Dickbird
Jimm Lasser
Caley Feeney
Aidan Koch
Amy Morrison
Devi Pellerin
Niles Armstrong
Tripper Dungan
Reverend Benny Bob
Steve Mathews
Shayla Hason
Tom Webb
Josh Herbolsheimer
Merideth Hamm
Mark Gunderson
David Wein

Ian Ross, Drake Brodahl, Troy Parke, Matt and myself went down to the screening of “The Animation Show 4” at the Varsity this Friday.  We sat next to a crew from the old Sucker Punch days including Suzanne Kaufmann (who currently instructs at Digipen and is working with us at Plexi this summer), Ramey Harris, Bart Kaufman and Gene Blakefield who worked with us (meaning Matt, Troy and Joel) at another studio before going over to Sucker Punch. 

The highlights of the show for me included Joel’s intro piece, Pes’ “Western Spaghetti”,  and Matthew Walker’s “John and Karen”.  Word straight from Joel was that he did an ending animation that wasn’t included in the screening.  Perhaps it’ll make an appearance sometime in the not-so-distant future. 

After the screening, Joel Trussell, Rebecca Moline and Robert May (Producers of “The Animation Show”), Anton Bogaty, Gene Blakefield, Tom DesLongchamp and his wife Jessica, Matt and I went over to Flowers for a couple of drinks and lots of animation chatter.   The group eventually ended up in Capital Hill for more drinkage and deep discussions.  Hanging out with Gene, Anton, and Joel again after such a long time was such a wonderful treat–reminiscing, talking about new stuff, being wacky, eating lots of fries and fried fish, *sigh*!  The cherry that topped everything off was getting a chance to meet and talk to the very delightful Rebecca and Rob.  Thank you for some fun times!!!

Joel in the Plexipixel animation clubhouse

Troy cheesing it up with Joel Trussell

Rob May, Joel Trussell and Rebecca Moline rocking HARD

Getting crabs in Northgate with Gene Blakefield and his adorable family

Joel, Anton Bogaty (and Matt) reliving old times at the Canterbury

Our old friend Joel Trussell will be at The Animation Show screening along with “The Animation Show team” (I have no idea who that entails).  Matt and Joel worked together way back in the “old days of Flash” (circa late 90’s) on groundbreaking projects like Zombie College. 

Since then Joel’s worked on a number of totally amazing animations for Yo Gabba Gabba and Esurance as well as the award-winning War Photographer video for Jason Forrest. 

Joel will be at the 7:15pm showing on Friday, June 20th at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle. 

Matt, Troy, and Vicky will definitely be there!

Saturday, June 7, 2008
10am - noon
Under the Arches near the Pacific Science Center

Meet the star of Wall*E and other nerds like us taking photos with the cute little dude.  Don’t forget to bring your camera!

Those Hiberts are busy!  Snaggs will be in a group show at Giant Robot New York with Le Merde and Scrappers from June 21 to July 16. 

Arbito has a print in the “Now Showing” Poster Show at Cosh in London.  The show runs through June 13th, 2008.

Ryan Worsley (humble Plexiperson by day; amazing fine artist during the remaining 16 hours) will be showing her gorgeous work in June, at Tigertail: 

Ryan Worsley - Buildings on Glass
At Tigertail
704 NW 65th Street
June 1-30, 2008

Opening reception Thursday, June 5 from 6-9pm

I’ll be at the Ion Conference right here in Seattle starting tomorrow through Thursday.  If you’re planning on attending, don’t forget to say “hello!”

Also, on Friday, Matt and I will be flying out to Burbank for a few animation events:

• Screening of “Endangered Species” at Mockfest 2008: “Endangered Species” is a film by Tony White that showcases the great and classic moments of animation’s history.
• Animation Book Look 2008: co-hosted by Van Eaton Galleries and Creative Talent Network, is a gathering of animation authors and artists as well as a number of industry insiders.  Nickelodeon reps will also be there doing portfolio reviews. 
• Ollie Johnston’s Train Station Dedication: Ollie Johnston, the very last of Walt’s “Nine Old Men”, was considered one of the world’s leading train enthusiasts.  There will be a dedication at Walt’s Barn in Griffith Park on Sunday.

We’ll be in LA from Friday, May 16th until Monday May 19th.  Give a shout if you’re in the area! 

6th Annual ECCC :: May 10th & 11th, 2008 :: Seattle, WA
Washington State Convention & Trade Center
http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/

1. awesome costumes–like the Wolverine we saw last year with butter knives taped to his hands
2. great artists like Peter Bagge and Ellen Forney
3. a bunch of extra talented comic artists I totally don’t know
4. the hot dude from Battlestar Galatica
5. fun people to meet like Suzanne Kaufmann—the 3D animator who will be working with us this summer who we met at the ComiCon years ago
6. amazing up-in-coming illustrators, animators, comic book artists you haven’t heard of, yet
7. being able to buy that Yoda or Strawberry Shortcake toy you remember having as a kid
8. Wil Wheaton, AGAIN?!?
9. watching people you know totally NERD out
10. urmmm… the Suicide Girls?

See you there! Be forewarned that photos of the event will of course be posted…

Our latest casual game, Sushi-Me, is up for nomination this year in the Zeebys!  Sushi-Me is an online casual game created for play on PC, Mac, touch-screen and Nintendo Wii that combines fast-paced action, cute characters, hilarious animation, catchy audio, and witty writing.  It’s “winning rave reviews throughout the seven seas!”  Everything including character design, audio, and even the very witty copy for Sushi-Me was done in-house by our super talented Plexi peeps.

If you haven’t heard of them, the Zeebys are the Annual Casual Game Award with games from casual game developers of all sizes—even huge companies like Vivendi and Ubisoft!  Award winners will be announced at the Casual Connect Conference 2008 being held in Seattle this July. 

We’re in the running for:

• Best Web Game of the Year
• Best Visual Arts of the Year
• Most Innovative Game of the Year
• Best Story, Narrative or Original Character of the Year 
• Best Audio of the Year

You must be a current member of the CGA to vote.  If you’re not yet a member of the CGA, you can sign up here for free and be eligible to vote in this years awards!

You can also check out the winners from last year on the Zeeby’s website.  Happy casual gaming!

  

Showing their work

Originally uploaded by ChrisB in SEA

Every third Monday of every month a collision of burlesque, life drawing, booze, and bawdy humor takes place at Rendezvous’ JewelBox Theatre in downtown Seattle. Last month, Troy–our Design Director– took two of our Designers to Dr. Sketchy’s. A good time was apparently had by Troy, Drake and Devi. Here’s a photo from the Dr. Sketchy Seattle Flickr photo album to document the event.

This month, we’re opening up the invitation to anyone from the studio. Who knows… maybe the woman in the office/closet in the corner of Suite C might break out her charcoals and kneady eraser and join in on the fun.