Thursday, January 4, 2018

Academy Announces New Scientific and Technical Academy Awards for 2018

10 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS TO BE HONORED WITH ACADEMY AWARDS

Jonathan Erland to receive Gordon E. Sawyer Award

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that 10 scientific and technical achievements represented by 34 individual award recipients, as well as one organization, will be honored at its annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation on Saturday, February 10, 2018, at the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills.

In addition, visual effects technologist Jonathan Erland will receive the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (an Oscar® statuette) for technological contributions that have brought credit to the industry.

“This year we are happy to honor a very international group of technologists for their innovative and outstanding accomplishments,” said Ray Feeney, Academy Award® recipient and chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee.  “These individuals have significantly contributed to the ongoing evolution of motion pictures, and their efforts continue to empower the creativity of our industry.”

Unlike other Academy Awards to be presented this year, achievements receiving Scientific and Technical Awards need not have been developed and introduced during 2017.  Rather, the achievements must demonstrate a proven record of contributing significant value to the process of making motion pictures.

The Academy Awards for scientific and technical achievements are:

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS (ACADEMY CERTIFICATES)

--To Jason Smith and Jeff White for the original design, and to Rachel Rose and Mike Jutan for the architecture and engineering, of the BlockParty procedural rigging system at Industrial Light & Magic.

BlockParty streamlines the rigging process through a comprehensive connection framework, a novel graphical user interface, and volumetric rig transfer, which has enabled ILM to build richly detailed and unique creatures while greatly improving artist productivity.

--To Joe Mancewicz, Matt Derksen and Hans Rijpkema for the design, architecture and implementation of the Rhythm & Hues Construction Kit rigging system.

This toolset provides a novel approach to character rigging that features topological independence, continuously editable rigs and deformation workflows with shape-preserving surface relaxation, enabling fifteen years of improvements to production efficiency and animation quality.

--To Alex Powell for the design and engineering, to Jason Reisig for the interaction design, and to Martin Watt and Alex Wells for the high-performance execution engine of the Premo character animation system at DreamWorks Animation.

Premo’s speed and simplicity enable animators to pose full-resolution characters in representative shot context, significantly increasing their productivity.

--To Rob Jensen for the foundational design and continued development, to Thomas Hahn for the animation toolset, and to George ElKoura, Adam Woodbury and Dirk Van Gelder for the high-performance execution engine of the Presto Animation System at Pixar Animation Studios.

Presto allows artists to work interactively in scene context with full-resolution geometric models and sophisticated rig controls, and has significantly increased the productivity of character animators at Pixar.

SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING AWARDS (ACADEMY PLAQUES)

--To John Coyle, Brad Hurndell, Vikas Sathaye and Shane Buckham for the concept, design, engineering and implementation of the Shotover K1 Camera System.

This innovative six-axis stabilized aerial camera mount, with its enhanced ability to frame shots while looking straight down, enables greater creative freedom while allowing pilots to fly more effectively and safely.

--To Jeff Lait, Mark Tucker, Cristin Barghiel and John Lynch for their contributions to the design and architecture of the Houdini visual effects and animation system.

Houdini’s dynamics framework and workflow management tools have helped it become the industry standard for bringing natural phenomena, destruction and other digital effects to the screen.

--To Bill Spitzak and Jonathan Egstad for the visionary design, development and stewardship of the Nuke compositing system.

Built for production at Digital Domain, Nuke has become a ubiquitous and flexible tool used across the motion picture industry, enabling novel and sophisticated workflows at an unprecedented scale.

--To Abigail Brady, Jon Wadelton and Jerry Huxtable for their significant contributions to the architecture and extensibility of the Nuke compositing system.

Expanded as a commercial product at The Foundry, Nuke is a comprehensive, versatile and stable system that has established itself as the backbone of compositing and image processing pipelines across the motion picture industry.

--To Leonard Chapman for the overall concept, design and development, to Stanislav Gorbatov for the electronic system design, and to David Gasparian and Souhail Issa for the mechanical design and integration of the Hydrascope telescoping camera crane systems.

With its fully waterproof construction, the Hydrascope has greatly advanced crane technology and versatility by enabling precise long-travel multi-axis camera movement in, out of and through fresh or salt water.

ACADEMY AWARD OF MERIT (OSCAR STATUETTE)

To Mark Elendt and Side Effects Software for the creation and development of the Houdini visual effects and animation system.

With more than twenty years of continual innovation, Houdini has delivered the power of procedural methods to visual effects artists, making it the industry standard for bringing natural phenomena, destruction and other digital effects to the screen.

GORDON E. SAWYER AWARD (OSCAR STATUETTE)

Jonathan Erland

Presented to an individual in the motion picture industry whose technological contributions have brought credit to the industry.

The 90th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.  The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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Wednesday, January 3, 2018

"Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams" Debuts on Amazon Jan. 12th

Amazon Prime Original Anthology Series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams Debuts on Friday, January 12, 2018

All ten episodes—featuring an all-star cast including Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Greg Kinnear, Anna Paquin, Terrence Howard, Maura Tierney, Janelle Monáe, Richard Madden, Liam Cunningham, Vera Farmiga, Juno Temple, Essie Davis, Benedict Wong, Annalise Basso, Mireille Enos, Rachelle Lefevre and Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore, Michael Dinner, David Kanter and Bryan Cranston—will be available globally in select territories on Prime Video

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon announced that its new sci-fi anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will premiere on Friday, January 12, 2018, exclusively on Prime Video. Based on various writings from author Philip K. Dick, each of the ten standalone episodes are set in a different and unique world – some which lay in the far reaches of the universe, and others which are much closer to home.

While the stories may be worlds apart, central to each is the poignant and warm exploration of the importance and significance of humanity. From five to 5000 years in the future, each compelling tale will both illustrate Philip K. Dick's prophetic vision and celebrate the enduring appeal of the prized sci-fi novelist’s work. Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will be available as a Prime Exclusive Series in the U.S., as well as in select territories globally, including Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Spain and Turkey, among others. Dick’s Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle, the most-watched scripted series in the history of Prime Video, will begin its third season in 2018.

    “We’re excited to share the fantastical world of Philip K. Dick as it’s never been experienced before”

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams features an all-star cast, including Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Greg Kinnear (Heaven is For Real), Maura Tierney (The Affair), Janelle Monáe (Moonlight), Mireille Enos (The Catch), Anna Paquin (True Blood), Terrence Howard (Empire), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), Holliday Grainger (The Finest Hours), Mel Rodriguez (Last Man on Earth), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), Jack Reynor (Macbeth), Essie Davis (The Babadook), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), Geraldine Chaplin (A Monster Calls), Juno Temple (Vinyl) and David Lyons (Revolution), among many others.

Each episode is inspired by one of Philip K. Dick’s renowned short stories and has been adapted by leading American and British writers and directors, including Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander), Michael Dinner (Justified, Sneaky Pete), Tony Grisoni (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Matthew Graham (Doctor Who), David Farr (The Night Manager), Dee Rees (Bessie), Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim), Jessica Mecklenburg (Stranger Things), Francesca Gregorini (Humans), Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones, Mad Men) and Peter Horton (Grey’s Anatomy, The Shield).

“We’re excited to share the fantastical world of Philip K. Dick as it’s never been experienced before,” said Brad Beale, Vice President, Worldwide TV Content Acquisition, Amazon Prime Video. “With the combined creative genius behind this series, as well as the stellar cast and visually compelling locations, every episode of this sci-fi anthology is sure to be an entertaining experience for our Prime members.”

Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams is executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions (Outlander) and Michael Dinner of Rooney McP Productions (Justified, Sneaky Pete), alongside Bryan Cranston and James Degus of Moonshot Entertainment (Sneaky Pete), Isa Dick Hackett, Kalen Egan and Christopher Tricarico of Electric Shepherd Productions (The Man in the High Castle), David Kanter and Matt DeRoss of Anonymous Content Entertainment (13 Reasons Why), Lila Rawlings and Marigo Kehoe of Left Bank Pictures (The Crown) and Don Kurt (Justified) and Kate DiMento (Justified), in association with Sony Pictures Television.

The entire first season of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams will be available to stream and members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series will be available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video for members to watch via the Prime Video app for popular smart TVs, Fire TV, Fire Tablets and Android and iOS phones and tablets. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free 30-day trial at amazon.com/prime. For a list of all Amazon Video compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.


About Amazon Video
Amazon Video is a premium on-demand entertainment service that offers customers the greatest choice in what to watch and how to watch it. Amazon Video is the only service that provides all of the following:

  •     Prime Video: Thousands of movies and TV shows, including popular licensed content plus critically acclaimed and award-winning Amazon Original Series and Movies from Amazon Studios like Transparent, The Man in the High Castle, Love & Friendship, and kids series Tumble Leaf, available for unlimited streaming as part of an Amazon Prime membership. Prime Video is also now available to customers in more than 200 countries and territories around the globe at www.primevideo.com.
  •     Amazon Channels: Over 130 channel subscriptions that Prime members can add to their membership, including HBO, SHOWTIME, STARZ, Cinemax, PBS KIDS, Acorn TV and more. To view the full list of channels available, visit www.amazon.com/channels.
  •     Rent or Own: Hundreds of thousands of titles, including new release movies and current TV shows available for on-demand rental or purchase for all Amazon customers.
  •     Instant Access: Customers can instantly watch anytime, anywhere through the Amazon Video app on compatible TVs, mobile devices, Amazon Fire TV, Fire TV Stick, and Fire tablets, or online. For a list of all compatible devices, visit www.amazon.com/howtostream.
  •     Premium Features: Top features like 4K Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and mobile downloads for offline viewing of select content.

In addition to Prime Video, the Prime membership includes unlimited fast free shipping options across all categories available on Amazon, more than two million songs and thousands of playlists and stations with Prime Music, secure photo storage with Prime Photos, unlimited reading with Prime Reading, unlimited access to a digital audiobook catalog with Audible Channels for Prime, a rotating selection of free digital games and in-game loot with Twitch Prime, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive access and discounts to select items, and more. To sign-up for Prime or to find out more, visit: www.amazon.com/prime.

About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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Tuesday, January 2, 2018

DC Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 3, 2017

DC COMICS

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OCT170363    AQUAMAN THE WATERBEARER TP NEW EDITION    $19.99
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JUL170498    DC BOMBSHELLS STARFIRE STATUE    $125.00
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Marvel Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 3, 2017

MARVEL COMICS

NOV170908    ASTONISHING X-MEN #7 LEG    $3.99
NOV170991    BLACK BOLT #9 LEG    $3.99
OCT171002    BLACK PANTHER ADVENTURES DIGEST TP    $9.99
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IDW Publishing from Diamond Distributors for January 3, 2017

IDW PUBLISHING

OCT170539    ATOMIC ROBO SPECTRE OF TOMORROW #3 CVR A WEGENER    $3.99
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SEP170475    INFINITE LOOP NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH #3 (OF 6) CVR A CHARRETI    $3.99
SEP170476    INFINITE LOOP NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH #3 (OF 6) CVR B JOHNSON    $3.99
AUG170496    NEMO HC    $19.99
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OCT170519    POPEYE CLASSICS ONGOING #65    $4.99
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AUG170495    SUPERMAN ATOMIC AGE SUNDAYS HC VOL 03 1956-1959    $49.99
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Dark Horse Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 3, 2018

DARK HORSE COMICS

SEP170044    ANGEL SEASON 11 TP VOL 02    $17.99
SEP170103    DRAGON AGE KNIGHT ERRANT TP    $17.99
NOV170034    GIANTS #2 (OF 5)    $3.99
NOV170013    KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS #1 (OF 6)    $3.99

Image Comics from Diamond Distributors for January 3, 2017

IMAGE COMICS

NOV170713    BIG HARD SEX CRIMINALS HC VOL 02 (MR)    $39.99
OCT170660    BIRTHRIGHT #29    $3.99
SEP170716    CROSSWIND #6 (MR)    $3.99
OCT170630    ELSEWHERE TP VOL 01    $9.99
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OCT178651    WALKING DEAD #175 CVR B SIENKIEWICZ (MR)    $3.99
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