A thank you and quick Q&A for the wonderful fans of Male Restroom Etiquette.

I’ve also released episode #037 of the overcast, which is the first time broadcast of an interview Lars Fuchs from AMAS conducted of me over Skype in December of 2006, shortly after the Machinima Film Festival for that year. Enjoy!

What’s the best way to bounce back emotionally after a day like yesterday?

If I were a character in Zoolander, I’d go shopping. Being neither a male model nor a lover of retail establishments, I’ve two more apt suggestions:

1. Never underestimate your friends and the machinima community as a whole. The outpouring of support (as well as enthusiasm over the prospect of a virtual event more of you can attend) has been phenomenal. Never believe anyone who tries to tell you there is no more machinima community. You’re alive and kicking. (Presently, you’re kicking some bloke at Arcadia, thank you very much.)
    
2. Get yourself on television. Apology is put front and center in this Moviestorm coverage on ITV from the other day. (Matt Kelland and the back of Johnnie Ingram’s head managed to also get themselves featured on the BBC this week as well! Bravo, Short Fuze!)

Getting some unsolicited festival invitations is my bonus third suggestion.

• The Lucca Film Festival (Italy) will be screening Male Restroom Etiquette, What I Love About Xmas, and Bodysnatchers.
• The Holland Animation Film Festival (The Netherlands) will be screening Male Restroom Etiquette.
• The 22nd Braunschweig International Film Festival (Germany) will be screening Male Restroom Etiquette.

So yes, I’m feeling much better today, thank you.

More about the little film that could, tomorrow.

The word has been circulating for almost 24 hours now, first via private channels to those close to the festival: the International Machinima Expo will not take place in Montreal as planned. After inviting us to expand and create this machinima program to something even bigger than the Roadshow Ingrid and Damien successfully did last year, the same people have now revoked that invitation, and have been very incommunicative in the aftermath as we tried desperately to work out another solution. It’s emotionally devastating, we’re all wrestling with feelings of betrayal… and guilt. Guilt for involving you in what turned out to be nothing more than a gambler’s wager on an unreliable handshake deal.

I guess technically, it is we organizers who chose to separate ourselves from Arcadia. But that decision was analogous to stumbling across the memo at the office that announces you’re going to be fired, so you quit before they can fire you. Or something like that. We decided not to further delay what was inevitable.

When this depressing cloud cover passes, there will be an upside: the virtual version of the event will be attendable by anyone in the world, no tickets, no fees, no travel or hotel. And with what is possible in Second Life now, we’re going to be able to do some wonderful things. It won’t be the entire show we had planned - Ingrid and Damien have an amazing workshop that really can only be experienced in person with people on a LAN in the same room - but many other aspects of the expo will translate to virtual quite well.

It’s not the ideal situation. It’s not the solution we wanted, at all. We’d have much preferred that the people on whom we were depending would honor their commitments to us, enabling us to honor our commitments to you. But we’re going to make the best of this, and are going to try to make it one of the most exciting events you’ve ever attended in Second Life.

More details will follow soon. If you can find it in yourself to forgive this utter debacle, I welcome you to stay tuned to Machinima-Expo.com for more information in the coming weeks.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the New York festival, which I am still attending, and I’d love to see you in avatar form at our virtual Expo the weekend after that.

This just in:

For the first time the Holland Animation Film Festival 2008 launches an international competition for web animations. The web competition will be open for entries from Monday September 8 onwards.

On HAFFTube you will find a link to the entry form for the web competition. Please read the regulations and note that your film should be uploaded on YouTube before submitting the entry form. HAFFTube will gradually fill up with animated films from all over the world.

The Holland Animation Film Festival will rate the films that have been entered for competition. When we have reached our set limit of 50 films, the voting begins. Every week, films will be voted out to make room for the new entries. Deadline for entries: Wednesday October 22.

An international jury of filmmakers selects the winner out of the final 50 titles.

The winner will be revealed on the opening night of the festival at November 5.

Check www.haff.nl and HAFFTube for more details.

Alex Torrenegra, President and Co-Founder of Voice123, recently wrote up his thoughts on the future of the voiceover industry. His educated predictions should be encouraging to those who have thought about taking their voice talent to a professional market. Generally, the trends indicate that independent non-union homegrown voice work will continue to grow as a preference among those shopping for voice talent. A home studio is a huge advantage in this game, because of the ability to turn around work quickly and keep costs under control. The entire article is worth giving a look, check it out here.

Voice123, if you didn’t know, is a site that matches voice talent with those looking to hire for voiceover jobs. Talent can create a profile, post targeted demos of their work, and peruse job openings - and all the while, an automated system is working to help the employers and voice talents find each other. They recently turned five years old, and continue to add features that make it easier to find work that suits your specialties.

A sampler of things to come.