July 2 NEW YORK - On Wednesday, July 29th, a voiceover career seminar will be held at The Times Center in New York City. "Secrets of Voiceover Success" will feature a panel of celebrity voiceover talent, who will discuss the art of voiceover acting for film, television, advertising and promotions.
 

July 1 NEW YORK - Future Media Concepts (FMC) will hold the 5th annual NY Post|Production Conference (www.nypostconference.com) in New York City this October, offering four days of training on popular applications from Adobe, Apple and Avid. The event, set to take place from October 5-8, is being produced in association with the National Association of Broadcasters and will incorporate the same training methodology used at the NAB Las Vegas training event.
 

July 1 BLAUVELT, NY – Arri (www.arri.com) is shipping its new ArriLaser 2 film recorder, which offers performances increases that double those of earlier models.  

July 1 EMERYVILLE, CA - Animation Mentor is hosting a free Webinar that will take an in-depth look at lessons created by Walt Stanchfield for Disney animators. Animation Mentor CEO Bobby Beck will discuss Stanchfield's lessons and inspiration with Disney animation producer Don Hahn. The Webinar will take place on July 14 from 7-8pm PST.
 

June 29 NEW YORK - Company 3 (CO3) has added creative director/Flame artist Randie Swanberg and senior producer Angela Lupo to lead its new visual effects department. The department will initially focus on fashion and beauty projects - Swanberg's area of expertise – and will evolve to service a diverse range of clients.  

Don't fear change. This industry has undergone many transitions. Some of the most significant ones have occurred within the last two decades.  

Digital tools play a big part in making magic happen, and one of our workhorses is Autodesk Toxik 2009, the latest version of Autodesk's compositing and visual effects software package for 2D effects artists working at HD, 2K, 4K or above.  

All right, it's that time of year again where we either dread the hours it takes to fill out tax forms, or look forward to the rewards of keeping those books accurate. Here are a few quick applications and some other not-so-obvious items that have helped me at tax time.