#Allison Cardon

[robinleejordan]

Excited to have selections from They Ate Each Other Up and Diary of my corpse at various stages published in P-QUEUE, an annual journal of poetry and poetics published out of the University at Buffalo Poetics Program. Many thanks to editor, Allison Cardon! The theme was RUIN. 

We also had an amazing RUIN-themed event at Sugar City featuring poets Nina Vega-Westhoff, Zack Brown, Dana Venerable, and myself. Plus a performance by Senso di Voce. It was ruinous and magical. 

[athlonsports]

2018 FCS National Title Contenders

North Dakota State is the team to beat again, but others are lining up for the chase

If a team had to beat North Dakota State in a playoff series, the NCAA might as well save the time and (the Bison opponents’) energy and ship the FCS championship trophy to Fargo in early September.

But it only takes a one-and-done day for somebody to knock off the NDSU dynasty, and though it’s only happened once in the Bison’s six national championship seasons over the last seven years, James Madison proved in the 2016 semifinals and nearly in this year’s final that it can happen.

That’s why teams keep lining up to take their best shot at toppling college football’s most successful program this decade.

With North Dakota State leading the way, here’s a look at seven programs that hold legitimate national title aspirations in 2018.

— Written by Craig Haley, who is part of the Athlon Contributor Network. Haley has covered the FCS level since 1999 and is the national writer for www.fcs.football. He appears frequently on radio shows and podcasts to discuss everything FCS. Follow him on Twitter @CraigHaley.

North Dakota State Bison

Head Coach: Chris Klieman (54-6, four seasons)

2017 Season: 14-1 (7-1 Missouri Valley champion), FCS champion

Key Returnees: QB Easton Stick, RB Bruce Anderson, RB Lance Dunn, WR Darrius Shepherd, C Tanner Volson, DE Greg Menard, DT Aaron Steidl, LB Jabril Cox, SS Robbie Grimsley, CB Jalen Allison, PK Cam Pedersen

National Title Aspirations: The national champs will have a senior-laden team as they go after a seventh FCS title, which would set a new record (the Bison and Georgia Southern are tied for the most with six each). Stick returns with a 34-3 record as a starting quarterback. Three starters on the offensive line also are back to pave the way for a ridiculously good stable of running backs led by Anderson, Dunn and Ty Brooks. Not surprisingly, the defense ranked No. 1 in the FCS this past season and it gets back All-American Menard from a preseason knee injury. The schedule is advantageous because the Bison don’t leave the Fargodome until October and play seven of their 11 games at home.

(Photo courtesy of North Dakota State Athletics)

James Madison Dukes

Head Coach: Mike Houston (28-2, two seasons)

2017 Season: 14-1 (8-0 CAA Football champion), FCS runner-up

Key Returnees: QB Cole Johnson, RB Marcus Marshall, RB Trai Sharp, WR Riley Stapleton, WR David Eldridge, RT Jahee Jackson, DE Darrious Carter, CB Jimmy Moreland, CB Rashad Robinson, SS/PR D’Angelo Amios, PK Ethan Ratke, P Harry O’Kelly

National Title Aspirations: The Dukes lose more key players than new rival North Dakota State, but Houston has quickly built the program to withstand such change. The running back stable will rival NDSU as the deepest in the FCS if Cardon Johnson (Achilles tear in 2017) is granted a sixth season and rejoins Marshall and Sharp. It will be difficult to replace the leadership of quarterback Bryan Schor, but candidates Cole Johnson, Gage Maloney and Ben DiNucci, who is expected to transfer in from Pittsburgh, hope to deliver productivity. The front seven of the defense has to be retooled after big senior losses, but Moreland and Robinson form a pair of shutdown cornerbacks in the strong secondary.

(Photo courtesy of James Madison Athletics)

Read the full story on Athlon Sports

[awardseasonblog]

Annunciate le nominations agli Annie Awards, uno dei più importanti premi del cinema d’animazione, assegnati annualmente alle migliori produzioni cinematografiche che si sono distinte per originalità e creatività

Da quando gli Academy Awards hanno inserito la categoria miglior film d’animazione tra i premi della Notte degli Oscar, gli Annie Awards sono passati in secondo piano diventando però una sorta di anteprima degli Oscar. 

  Il vincitore degli Annie Awards quasi sempre conquista poi l’Oscar come miglior film d’animazione. Infatti su 25 edizioni (dal 1992) ben 11 volte il risultato è stato poi confermato dagli Academy Awards: Shrek, La città incantata, Alla ricerca di Nemo, Gli Incredibili, Wallace e Gromit, Ratatouille, Up, Rango, Frozen, Inside Out, Zootropolis. Tenenendo bene a mente che la categoria del miglior film d’animazione è stata introdotta solo nel 2002 (per un totale di 15 edizioni) e quindi solo 4 volte gli Annie Awards non hanno predetto il verdetto degli Oscar.

Non a caso quest’anno il maggior numero di nominations agli Annie Awards le ha conquistate il film favorito agli Oscar 2018, Coco (Pixar Studios) che si è aggiudicato ben 13 nomination, dopo aver già vinto l’Hollywood Film Award, il National Board of Review e convinto i critici di New York.

Segue con ben 10 nomination il film d’animazione The Breadwinner prodotto da Angelina Jolie. La forza di questa pellicola è sicuramente nella sua trama potente raccontata attraverso un stile semplice ed essenziale. Sicuramente sarà una delle sorprese dell’anno, anche in virtù del suo impianto narrativo. Infatti la storia è ambientata a Kabul, in Afghanistan, durante il dominio dei talebani. La protagonista è Parvana e lavora al mercato locale leggendo lettere a coloro che non sanno leggere. Pur di dare sostengo alla sua famiglia, la piccola si finge un ragazzo in modo da poter lavorare. Infatti la parola che dà il titolo al film, “breadwinner”, significa “colui o colei che procura il pane per la famiglia”. The Breadwinner‘ è l’adattamento dell’omonimo romanzo della scrittrice canadese Deborah Ellis e pubblicato in Italia con il titolo ‘Sotto il burqa’.

Segue con 6 nomination Baby Boss che ha ribaltato le previsioni superando teste di serie come Cars 3 (2 nominations), Cattivissimo 3 e Capitan Mutanda (3 nominations). Inoltre snobbati nella categoria miglior pellicola d’animazione Ferdinand che si è dovuto accontentare di solo 2 nomination e The Lego Batman Movie che ha conquistato solo 3 nomination, dati come favoriti per ottenere una nomination agli Oscar 2018.

  Purtroppo non ha ottenuto alcuna nomination la pellicola d’animazione Le jeune fille sans mains, considerata una delle grandi sorprese di Cannes 2016 completamente disegnata a mano da Sébastien Laudenbach, che prima di queste nomination era data favorita per entrare nella short-list degli Academy Awards dopo il suo grande successo internazionale.

Delusione anche per Loving Vincent che meritava una maggior attenzione da parte dei membri degli Annie Awards, considerato dagli addetti del settore il film d’animazione rivelazione dell’anno per via della sua innovativa tecnica. Infatti si tratta della prima pellicola animata interamente dipinta su tela, creata rielaborando oltre mille dipinti per un totale di più di 65 000 fotogrammi realizzati da 125 artisti di ogni parte del mondo. Loving Vincent pur avendo conquistato la nomination per il miglior film d’animazione indipendente ha però ottenuto solo 3 nomination 

Ecco di seguito la lista di tutte le nominations agli Annie Awards:

Best Animated Feature

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” DreamWorks Animation

“Cars 3″ Pixar Animation Studios

“Coco” Pixar Animation Studios

“Despicable Me 3″ Illumination

“The Boss Baby” DreamWorks Animation

Best Animated Feature-Independent

“In This Corner of the World” Taro Maki, GENCO, Inc. and Masao Maruyama, MAPPA Co., Ltd

“Loving Vincent” BreakThru Films, Production Company Trademark Films, Co-Production Company

“Napping Princess” Nippon TV

“The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales” Folivari/Panique!/Studiocanal

“The Breadwinner” Cartoon Saloon/Aircraft Pictures/Melusine Productions

Animated Effects in an Animated Production

“Avatar Flight of Passage” VFX Supervisor: Thrain Shadbolt Sr.; Richard Baneham; Compositing Supervisor: Sam Cole; CG Supervisor: Pavani Rao Boddapati; Daniele Tosti

“Cars 3” Development & Effects Artist: Amit Baadkar; Effects Lead: Greg Gladstone; Stephen Marshall; Tim Speltz; Effects Supervisor: Jon Reisch

“Coco” Effects Artist: Shaun Galinak; Jason Johnston; Carl Kaphan; Effects Lead: Dave Hale; Keith Daniel Klohn

“Despicable Me 3” Computer Graphics Supervisor: Bruno Chauffard; Frank Baradat; Lighting & Compositing Supervisor: Nicolas Brack; Effects Supervisor: Milo Riccarand

“Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” Head of Effects: Christopher Hendryx; Effects Animator: Dan Lund; Mike Navarro; Hiroaki Narita; Steven Chitwood

Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Animator: John Chun Chiu Lee (Character: All characters)

“Coco” Animator: Allison Rutland (Character: All characters)

“The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales” Animator: Marco Nguyen (Character: all characters in scene); Directing Animator: Benjamin Renner (Character: all characters in scene); Supervising Animator: Patrick Imbert (Character: all characters in scene)

“The Boss Baby” Animation Supervisor: Bryce McGovern (Character: various)

“The Boss Baby” Animation Supervisor: Rani Naamani (Character: various)

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Character Art Director: Daniel Arriaga (Character: All characters); Additional Character Art Direction: Daniela Strijleva (Character: All characters); Character Design/Sculptor: Greg Dykstra (Character: All characters); Character Modeller: Alonso Martinez (Character: All characters); Character Designer: Zaruhi Galstyan (Character: All characters)

“Despicable Me 3” Character Designer: Eric Guillon (Character: All, Balthazar Bratt, Dru, Gru, Minions, Valerie Da Vinci, Gru’s Mom, Vincenzo, Freedonians)

“Smurfs: The Lost Village” Character Designer: Patrick Mate (Character: Multiple Characters)

“The Boss Baby” Character Designer: Joe Moshier (Character: Various)

“The Breadwinner” Character Design: Reza Riahi (Character: Story World Characters/Rough Design); Character Design: Louise Bagnall (Character: Story World Characters/Clean Character Design); Concept Artist/Character Texture Artist: Alice Dieudonné (Character: Story World Characters/Texture Design)

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Director: Lee Unkrich Pixar; Co-Director: Adrian Molina

“The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales” Co-Director: Benjamin Renner; Co-Director: Patrick Imbert

“The Boss Baby” Director: Tom McGrath

“The Breadwinner” Director: Nora Twomey

“The LEGO Batman Movie” Director: Chris McKay

Music in an Animated Feature Production

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” Composer: Theodor Shapiro

“Coco” Composer: Michael Giacchino; Composer/Lyricist: Kristin Anderson-Lopez; Composer/Lyricist: Robert Lopez; Composer: Germaine Franco; Lyricist: Adrian Molina

“Loving Vincent” Composer: Clint Mansell

“Olaf’s Frozen Adventure” Composer/Lyricist: Elyssa Samsel; Kate Anderson; Composer: Christophe Beck

“The Breadwinner” Composer: Mychael Danna; Jeff Danna

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Production Design: Harley Jessup; Danielle Feinberg; Bryn Imagire; Nathaniel McLaughlin; Ernesto Nemesio; Tom Cardone; Arden Chan

“Ferdinand” Production Design: Andrew Hickson; Mike Lee; Jason Sadler

“LEAP!” Production Design: Florent Masurel; Pierre-Antoine Moelo; Julien Meillard; Jean-Jacques Cournoyer

“Mary and The Witch’s Flower” Production Design: Tomotaka Kubo; Tomoya Imai; Satoko Nakamura

“The Breadwinner” Production Design: Ciaran Duffy; Julien Regnard; Daby Zainab Faidhi

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Storyboard Artist: Dean Kelly

“Coco” Storyboard Artist: Madeline Sharafian

“The Boss Baby” Storyboard Artist: Glenn Harmon

“The Breadwinner” Storyboard Artist: Julien Regnard

“The Star” Storyboard Artist: Louie del Carmen

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” Nick Kroll as Professor Poopypants

“Coco” Anthony Gonzalez as Miguel

“The Breadwinner “ Saara Chaudry as Parvana

“The Breadwinner” Laara Sadiq as Fattema

“The LEGO Batman Movie” Zach Galifianakis as Joker

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Writer: Adrian Molina; Matthew Aldrich

“Loving Vincent” Writer: Dorota Kobiela; Hugh Welchman; Jacek Dehnel

“Mary and The Witch’s Flower” Writer: Riko Sakaguchi; Hiromasa Yonebayashi; David Freedman; Lynda Freedman

“The Breadwinner” Writer: Anita Doron

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production

“Coco” Steve Bloom; Lee Unkrich; Greg Snyder; Tim Fox

“Ferdinand” Harry Hitner; Tim Nordquist

“The Breadwinner” Darragh Byrne

“The LEGO Batman Movie” David Burrows; Matt Villa; John Venzon

“The Star” Pamela Ziegenhagen

Annie Awards 2018, agli Oscar del cinema d'animazione #Coco conquista 13 nomination #Pixar Annunciate le nominations agli Annie Awards, uno dei più importanti premi del cinema d’animazione, assegnati annualmente alle migliori produzioni cinematografiche che si sono distinte per originalità e creatività

[lovelyarc-blog]

THE PERSON OF THE WEEK, #7: GREGOR HOLTZ

Gregor Holtz is 6'2". I know Gregor Holtz because of my friend Allison Cardon, who I know because of my friend, Drew Swenhaugen, and other future The Person of the Weeks, that sort of thing. He moved up to Portland from Arizona, like half of my friends. Science fact: over 50% of my Portland friends have lived a significant amount of their coming-of-age years in Arizona. Gregor is one of those friends. Gregor has something against Archaeology. He just doesn't think it jives with him. So, instead of being an archaeologist, Gregor is an illustrator and is currently studying to be a graphic designer at PSU. Recently, we've started collaborating on a graphic novel together. I'm writing it and he is illustrating it. It is called Mammother. It is going to be really good. It is about a man who may or may not be turning into a mammoth. It has a lot of sex in it, which Gregor is excited about drawing. We pretty much have the prologue done now, and we're working on the first chapter. We're in no rush, really, but we'll work on it more now that Gregor successfully passed his portfolio review at school. He worked really hard on that, and all of his teachers are impressed by him, including my friend, his teacher, Kate Bingaman-Burt (another future The Person of the Week)(you're going to have to be more patient). Gregor made his first dick joke at the age of four. He is now almost to 20,000 dick jokes for his whole life. Also, around that time, when he was a kid, neighborhood kids used to throw rotten fruit at him because they were jerks. If they are reading this now, they should probably write him an email and apologize. He read an entire fantasy novel almost every month when he was a teen. He knows everything there is to know about the Forgotten Realms. It is a D&D thing. Gregor just recently lost his virginity. By recently, I mean sometime in the last fifteen years. Speaking of having sex when you're not alone, he is getting married to Jass Hunter this winter in Arizona. She is also from Arizona. I got invited, so no big deal. Gregor works at Movie Madness. We hang out a lot at Beulahland on Sunday nights together. Gregor has seen the most recent episode of Game of Thrones but refuses to spoil it for anybody so don't ask. So, because of these reasons, especially because he passed his portfolio review this week, Gregor Holtz is this week's The Lovely Arc's The Person of the Week.

Learn more about Gregor Holtz and his design and illustration work at his website here. And read his most recent dick jokes on his Twitter here.

Please submit your suggestions for next week's The Lovely Arc's The Person of the Week to me via email.