Reminder: Nuit Blanche this weekend!

Just a quick reminder of the Nuit Blanche happenings this weekend at The Rhino. In addition to selections from the Summer Showcase '09, we'll also be screening the TAIS Chickenjam! So if you missed it on the big screen, you can see it with a pint and some wings this weekend. Here's the online version to whet the ol' appetite. Later!

ChickenJam Online!

If you've been by the TAIS main site, you've noticed that the full version of the ChickenJam was uploaded to the newly minted TAIS Youtube page (been using me own up to this point) and is ready to enjoy. Kudos to Tara and Madi for the edit, Bryce for the V.O., and our sponsors Line Boil, Nemu-Nemu and the NFB.

And extra special thanks to our filmmakers: Martin Sal, Alex Novitski, Ariel Villaverde, Camille Grandjean, Jesse Jind, Jonathan Amitay, John F. Weldon, Max Hall, Neil Lapointe (who?), Daniel Epton, David Pagurek van Mossel, Jeff Tran, Fabian Dores Pais, Greg Parker, Mike Constable, Adam Fitzgerald, Hector Borboa, Janet Perlman, Joseph Troy, Lisa Murzin & Cesar Forero, Lorenzo West, Matt Hartwell, Michael Jessen, Michael Tallon, Mike Funt, Charles Wilson, Olanrewaju Oluwafemi, Nick Fox-Gieg, Onno Knuvers, Peter Giesbrecht, John F. Weldon, Raphael Rosenwald, Jonathan Cheeseman, Robert Shedlowich, Susan Justin, Tammy Dubinsky, and Madi Piller.

Photos and other stuffs from the TAIS Showcase next week. Have the happy weekend!

Chicken Jam hilites

Ba-Kawk! - Watch more amazing videos here

O.k., here's all the Chickenjam submissions I could find online. The whole evening was a-flippin'-mazing, and the crowd lost it when we screened these, and more than 20 others! I'll have a full report later in the week. Enjoy! And show these filmmakers some love by bloggin' about them or forum posting, Twitter, whatever...they rock.

Chicken Cowboy

Just to remind ya...Thursday's the night of the big TAIS Summer Showcase, so don't be doing nothin' else! In the meantime, here's some southwestern flava'd chicken for ya, courtesy of one Stephen Neary...it's the trailer to his full New York University senior film 'Chicken Cowboy', up on them thar YouTubes for a limited time. Damnit, Stephen, why din't ya send us something for the ChickenJam? You would've been in good company...more on all the excellent submissions later this week. Meanwhile, enjoy the trailer and go see the full film, while you can!

Chickenjam Sponsor: Nemu-Nemu

Here's my entry for the upcoming TAIS 'Chickenjam!' How, do you ask, do I justify this as a chicken cartoon? Nemu (the second pup, Anpan being the airborne pooch) is wearing a silly chicken hat. And the birdie character is named 'Pollo' (Spanish for 'chicken'). C'mon, ain't that enuff? Birdie! Pups! Silly Chicken Hat! What do you people want from me?!?

On to other things. I like having excuses to promote indy artists at TAIS events, which is part of what TAIS is all 'bouts. Last year, we gave away some excellent monsters courtesy of Toronto's own Monster Factory. So when Bryce came up with 'Chickens' as the theme for this year's animation jam, I knew my go-to peoples. (Pollo? See how it all comes together?)

Kimonokitsy Studios is a husband-and-wife team composed of Audra Furuichi (who does the drawrings) and her hubby Scott Yoshinaga (who does site admin, business and co-writes the strip). They've been posting their ubercute anime-flava'd web comic Nemu-Nemu since 2005, and the strip is a big enough hit that Audra works on it full-time. One of the strip's new characters is the small yellow bird named 'Pollo'. Hence my thinly veiled excuse for getting 'em to send us some swag for the contest.

And what great goodies we gots! Signed and doodled copies of their latest compilations, canvas totes with Nemu and Pollo on 'em, 'Pollo' stuffies and signed prints of the strip (featuring chickens) that Audra and Scott whipped up for the Easter edition of the East Oahu Sun...did I mention they hails from Hawaii?

Right now Audra and Scott are relaxing after a grueling (but productive) span of comics conventions and crafts shows (the last being Fanime '09 in San Jose), with the next one being in December. That's it, gotta run and get this batch o' goodness to Tara for safekeeping at TAIS H.Q. June 25th is fast approaching, so mark it on yer calenders. Oh, and go check out them Nemu-Nemu strips...it'll put the smile on yer face. Later!

Fred loves the chicken! (not literally, you pervs...)

Just a quick post with Episode #176 (!) of Channel Frederator, now featuring more chicken! Yep, the powers that be at the big red Fred were nice enough to program the ChickenJam trailer into this week's episode...look for it at around the five minute mark. And stick around for the rest of the show, o' course! From the site:

"First up, we have a sweet music video for Broken Social Scene's "Pitter Patter Goes by Heart" called "Note To Self." Second is the Manila Folder Classifieds and the adventures therein. Certainly, there are no adventures quite like the ones in the Manila Folder Classifieds, as you will see. and finally, we have something cool with "I've Got Nothing," a look at the creative process and the response to the blank page."

Sounds cool. Check it. And start makin' your chicken-a-mations, right after you mark May 29th and June 25th on your calendars. Get it to us by the first date, so we can throw it up on the big screen at the NFB Cinema come the second. I'm out...more later!

TAIS Showcase and Jam info!

Seems to be a bit o' confoosion on dates n' stuff, so here' s a followup to letcha know when everything surrounding the TAIS Summer Showcase is happenin'. Remember, if you got any questions about anything TAIS, the contact info is under the pic of the cute lil' foxy guy with the big green sword off to the right, in me profile.

TAIS Summer Showcase

Deadline: May 29, 2009 - 5:00 pm

Have you made an animated short film in the last two years? Want it to screen to a packed house as part of the fantastic TAIS Animation Showcase at the NFB this June? Then submit!

All Genres, mediums, themes! Films must be under 15 minutes in length.

Screeners should be in either MiniDV or Quick Time Movie films on DVD/CD. (NOTE: we'll accept FTP submissions as well, just e-mail us to let us know that's your plan first!)

Send your submission to:
Toronto Animated Image Society
TAIS Showcase 2009
60 Atlantic Avenue
Toronto, ON
M6K 1X9

Please include the submission form, a brief description, an artist bio and contact information, as well as two film stills (tiff or jpg @ 300 dpi - 2 x 3) . Description, bio, contact info and film stills may be emailed to tais@bellnet.ca or included in submission package.

TAIS ChickenJam

Deadline: May 29, 2009

TAIS is at it again with its annual Animated Jam session, or Anijam!

This year’s theme is... Chickens! Yes, you heard right. Chickens of the World, chickens of the sea, chickens of the forest, chicken scratch. Poulet of all sorts.

Create a 10 second long animated film that somehow encompasses our chicken theme! Use any animation technique you want... just make it delicious! Submit it to TAIS and we’ll edit the submissions into a chicken AniJam film which will screen at the TAIS Summer Showcase at the National Film Board this June!

Plus, we’ve got tons of giveaways!

Submit your films on CD/DVD-Rom or via email/file hosting link with the submission form, a brief bio and 2 stills (jpeg) from your film. Format of all Chicken Jam submissions should be a 720 x 480 Quicktime.

Send submissions with the submission form, a brief bio and two stills (jpeg) from your film to:

Toronto Animated Image Society
Chicken Jam
60 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 102
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 1X9
CANADA

Want to send it digitally? OK! Email us a zipped file, email us an ftp link to download from, email us a file hosting link to:

tais@bellnet.ca

There you is! We had an anonymous person o' interest leave commentary that they didn't know the dates...hope this gives you the info you needs. Now submit them films! And give a hand to our erstwhile admin Tara for putting all the website stuffs together. More later!

EDIT: Our anonymous friend is back, makin' this ol' pooch feel like an idiot...justifiably so, tho'. He/she points out that I forgot to post the event date and locale! The TAIS Summer Showcase and ChickenJam will be screened at the National Film Board of Canda Cinema, here in Toronto, on June 25th. Here's a link to the map: I'll do a follow-up post with screen times and ticket prices (should be about five bucks...bargoon) closer to the event. Thanks for the reminder, Anonymous...love yer poetry!