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Showing posts from 2008

B -17 Days (17 days to BSG Season 4.5)

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Before it comes out on April 21st, you can read the script. Heck-- just buy it. Caprica Here's the Caprica pilot to tide you and I over... Script_Caprica_pt1 - Free Legal Forms

How to get stuff out of your Nokia

I busted my Nokia, but here's how-to I got the data out, via Those DeWolfes.com

BSG Face of the Enemy Episodes. GET THEM FAST

Amazon has accidentally released some of the key episodes before their real launch on sci-fi.com: Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 --- missing (who knows why... ?) Episode 10 (won't stream in Canada without a good Proxy source-- dang it!-- luckily there is Youtube UK )

It's all in the editing

This is why I love to edit stuff: take two VERY different shows-- one full a gripping tale of survival and brutality; the other about people in a paper company regional office. These two clips use editing and music to set most of the tone-- but swap the footage. The result is a amiable journey through space; and an operatic clerical world. vs.

Robot Chicken Does BSG

Batman Covers Redux Part 2

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Batman Covers Redux

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Happy Holiday!

Tom Cruise's Top Ten

Way to go crazy but entertaining Midget!

Big Three Welfare and How We Can Help

Dear Mr. Harper: I have been unsuccessful in generating advertising revenue. I do not know whether it is that I have been building unpopular content; or if there is a crisis of those who use advertising revenue to earn income. Regardless, I need the aid of the Federal Government or I will be forced to go out of the blogging business. This will create significant impact to my part of this crucial business sector. There will be no other blog producers present to serve the needs of blog consumers. I require an unknown amount of money-- I will let you know when I have enough. Please do not delay in forwarding all of the funds necessary. It is ridiculous that because the car makers are failing because of their incompetence that they should be bailed out. It is especially amazing that the right wing party in the country-- that should be the bastion of the free enterprise-- would bail out these car makers just because they hold their workers' futures hostage. If the Conservatives wanted t

Harper and Satan!

I am working on something for a larger project. I did this up as a 2 second part of that bigger work:

38,545 People Changed the Fate of a Nation

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Just remember-- you vote for an MP, not a PM. The people of Calgary Southwest elected the prime minister on October 14th; the rest of the country went along for the ride...

Old Math, New Math, Old Coke, New Coke....

Preparing for a Progressive Coalition

Here's my take on the Coalition : Canada has 30 million-plus people. Nine million votes were cast (30% of the people cast a vote-- some didn't care, some were ineligible; some were prevented from participating) 40% of the voters voted for Conservatives. Of the 30 million people in Canada, 3.6 million asked for Stephen Harper and his crowd to form a government. They don't have the legitimate position to rule. This from the Progessive Coalition call: We need to reach our friends, neighbours, and colleagues with a simple message over the coming days: we have confidence in a coalition, and 60% is a majority . The events of the last few days are cause for jubilation for Canadians who support a progressive coalition government. However, from our conversations with our fellow citizens we know that there is some confusion about the legitimacy of the coalition and concern about the stability of government. To be succesful, we must listen to those Canadians, speak to their confusion,

Weiner Straws

It turns out you can bend bendie straws into ANY shape.

Happy Turkey Day!

"As God is my witness: I thought turkeys could fly..." - Arthur Carlson, Station Manager - WKRP More on Thanksgiving

Five LONG WEEKS of Frakkin' Renos

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stairwell Originally uploaded by triviaqueen When we looked at the house, we came in realizing that the stairs super-sucked: 23" wide, one part had 3'9" clearance and rickety. So we moved in and immediately went into the renovation mode. I took out a lower cupboard, then popped a hole through the wall. Over the next weeks, we demolished a wall downstairs and a wall upstairs between the kitchen and stairs. A friend guided me through electrical fixes (ZAP). For example, they hid two junction boxes in the wall and seriously frakked up the wiring (red? sure-- or black, use whichever). We had to build a new alternative support for the wall (keep the wall up!). The wall between the stairwell and our bedroom has an unknown amount of vertical beams and maybe an extra layer of wall/drywall. In this process, we found that someone in the past used tremendously long screws (3" screws to hold drywall). The poor asbestos removal people found a similar dynamic in the stuff built in

Comics Links Galore

Here are some snazzy links to Geeky comic stuff: Alan Moore John Byrne Neil Gaiman Frank Miller Dave Gibbons Marvel Comics ( thanks to Daylife )

One Step Closer to Flying Monkeys

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This from the Daily Mail: While most cats are renowned for having nine lives, these moggies are clearly living on a wing and a prayer. The cute little devils began sprouting bumps on their backs, which later turned into wing-like growths, during a recent spell of hot weather in China's Sichuan province. Cat owner Feng says her Tom cat grew wings after becoming stressed during the recent mating season One cat owner, known only as Feng, claims her cat's wings are a result of stress after he was 'harassed' by females looking to mate. 'At first, they were just two bumps, but they started to grow quickly, and after a month there were two wings,' she told Huashang News. 'Many female cats in heat came to harass him, and then the wings started to grow.' This moggie also has the wings which genetic experts say does not harm his quality of life The harmless growths appeared during a recent spell of hot weather And while she says her lovable Tom is no d

October : A Month That Will Live in Infamy

Here's a rundown of my October in lieu of the 50 blog posts that the month would have generated: Staged a house for sale Strep Throat -- nothing like two weeks without sleep Found asbestos Bought a house -- some key details were botched Moved Sold a house -- no key details were botched: I rode the deal like a horse. Found a surprise workshop Met new neighbours Tussled over a non-plussed moron who some mistake for being smart. He is the hallmark example of the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Tore out a flight of stairs Put in a flight of stairs I had a 40 hr. meeting Found out how to double the load speed of a Drupal site. I got an Alienware laptop Saw some great photos from India and Pakistan Dealt with server callioping (similar to but different from a server crash) Realized I may have spawned Sarah Palin 2.0 Watched Steven Harper's musical chairs Dressed as a zombie Did barely any walking Drove to Nanaimo Drove back Took too few photos Shot no video Missed all of my

Big Cheques = Brain Breaker

We finally closed off the sale of our first house. I walked a big cheque into the bank and deposited it. The size of the cheque broke my brain: it's the most I had ever deposited in one move. I had an unfortunate epiphany: I need to be depositing cheques of that size every month. How will I do this? Stay tuned.

Quick Thought on Moving and Houseselling

There's light at the end of the tunnel. It's the train.

F-bomb X 2

I don't know why, I'm happy that the F-Bomb can snug itself onto the TV, but I do. Maybe because it's an F-You! to prudes and Washington censors and

Dogless Head! Dogless Head!

NOT SAFE FOR THE SQUEAMISH I think this is creepy, but it looks cool. The Soviets did some wild experiments.

Ha-Ha: Apple Sues North Studio

North Studio has been stealing copyrighted content for years . A few years ago, the word got out about their various scams (eg. charging students to develop commercial websites for clients) and they tried to clean up their rep. Rep? Did you know that window washing was part of their course work? Not "Window" as in "Microsoft Windows"-- windows, as in the clear panes of glass. Former victims , students, report doing all sorts of menial tasks in addition to learning about technology (read: Drupal). So they launched the Victoria School of Business and Technology to scrub their name-- of course they didn't scrub it too much, their old habits die hard. According to this piece from the Times Colonist , VSBT used a logo too close to Apple's for Apple's liking. If NorthStudio loses this legal case (likely-- the head of the company is a failed lawyer), expect to see NSIT (Northern Saanich Institute of Technology) launch at the same location and equipment with a

Quick Thought on Obesity

My size of jacket only comes with tent pegs.

Gatorrific!

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Wanna go out for a night on the town in St. Augustine? Leave the kids at the Alligator Zoo! This ranks up there with the "Pre-schoolers Handgun Safety Camp"

Fun in the Downtown Core

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At about 5:50 on Wednesday night, my daughter and I were ambling across Blanshard up Fort St.. A woman in a white 4-door sedan (like a late 80s-early 90s Dodge something or other), pulled across the crosswalk to position herself to turn right up Fort Street. A litte douche-baggy, sure, but she cut off had cut off no pedestrians. This guy ahead of us: - 50's maybe 60's in age - caucasian - average anglo-European feature - 5'10" - 6' 0" (it's a guess-- I'm not the Terminator with one of those HUD things) - average-to-slim build (maybe 170 lbs.) - salt-and-pepper grey hair, short but more-or-less a full head of hair - dark blue pants (cargo pants or un-worn jeans) - navy waist-length windbreaker-- Fall weight (some padding) The guy approached the drivers window and open palmed, smashed his hands against her window. It shatters. There is a moment of confusion, then he does a speedy walk South on Blanshard. I thought, "you're not getting away mothe

Way to shut down Fort St.

Sunday afternoon was wild in downtown Victoria. A disgruntled man was on top of the Custom House building on Fort Street. He was drinking beer, smoking, peeing onto the onlookers and negotiating with police. He cilaimed to be rigged up with his explosives. His beef? Custom House. He hung a banner for his WordPress site: Custom Heist.com Eventually, the police accepted his surrender and allowed him to come down and into custody. Chek 6 News did not know who the man was. I do not know who the man arrested was but the registrar of the site is : John Cavanaugh (YCZZK) jcavanagh@telus.net 1155 Oxford Street Victoria, British Columbia V8V2V2 Canada Phone: +1 (250) 385-9905

High Toll for No Tolls on the Coquihalla

Gordon Campbell came out of his rebuke at the Union of BC Municipalities. Then he proudly announced that the Coquahallia toll booth would no longer collect fees. The news surprised a number of people-- especially those who worked with the toll booth. They were unaware of the move, nor was the Ministry of Transportation informed of the move prior to Campbell's proclamation. The message is clear: Campbell needs to make sure he can get re-elected. So, we hit the Sticks and started doling out goodies: grants, discounts and public works. If his timing is right, the ribbon cutting cermonies will happen just months prior to the election campaigns. Campbell and his cronies will be able to fly into the hinterland on BC Govvernment "business." Then, they may come back to get re-elected. In the meantime, the staff who used to work the tolls will have to find other work in Merritt. When Campbell is blasting through the toll booths (which will not be dismantled-- you know-- in case th

Guess Who's Got the VCE Mailing List?

In 2007, the Victoria Civic Electors (VCE) disbanded. The farm team for the NDP-- their civic face in Victoria closed up shop. They had elected Dean Fortin and Pam Maddoff so that Maddoff could stop progress and Fortin could, uh, do what he does best? Fast forward to the current municipal election. Dean Fortin is out stumping for his favourite candidate (himself). Last week select people around Victoria began to recieve begging letters from Dean Fortin's campaign. This wasn't a scattershot approach going out randomly. No: it appears that many former VCE supporters are receiving these letters. So the question to put out there: how is it that the VCE was dissolved but Dean Fortin is mailing people from the VCE list? The better questions that recipients are asking range from "Why is my privacy gone?", "Did the VCE sell the list?" to "If the VCE didn't sell or volunteer this list to Dean Fortin, how is it that the campaign has a list of addresses of peo

Decision 2008: Canada rolls a D4

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What's More Popular?

What do people enjoy more on Youtube OPTION A: A city councillor running for mayor of the capital of British Columbia OPTION B: A claymation frog riding a can of shaving cream 35 hits 177 hits Sorry, Deano. At least you'll be lucky on election day: the plasticene frog is not running in the election. Otherwise his warmer deameanor and intrisinic honesty would beat the pants off of you.

Contextual Advertising Gone Wrong

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The Times-Colonist cares... they really do... Too bad their web site hints at their true colors and intentions.

Let Advertisers know you wanted to watch Dave and Simi

I have kicked the BTV habit in the wake of the Dave Gerry and Simi Sara booting. I thought I would share that with their few remaining advertisers. Here is my comment to the makers of Mini-Mini-Mini-Mini-Wheats (and sponsor of Breakfast Television in Vancouver): I wanted to let Kellogg's know that I have given up on the show you sponsor: CityTV Vancouver's Breakfast Televsion. After their firings and staff cutbacks, the morning show is no longer enjoyable. If your goal is to reach customers through advertising, I think you will find that Breakfast Television is a poor way to spend your advertising budget. For me, I've given up and I'm happy to be watching A TV's Morning show. It's local (for Vancouver Island) and it's entertaining. If you want to pass on that you've passed on BTV, why not let Kelloggs or Charles Bilash ( 2 ) know?

Travelling Eldritch Terror : Cthulhu's Tour

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cthulhu's_voyage Originally uploaded by triviaqueen In preparation for the sale of our lovely townhouse-- just a block away from the ocean near downtown Victoria, I had to dispense with my sculpture project : the fibreglass water fountain of Cthulhu ( 2 ). Dion , a friend of mine, was good enough to volunteer up his backyard as short term storage. The trick: getting it there. Like its creator, Cthulhu has undergone a slow but steady weight gain. It started out as a BBQ stand on a plank of wood; add in the forming and armature elements; then the plastering; MANY layers of fibreglass and resin; then some mortared stonework. He moved from an easy to shuffle 40 lbs. up to approximately 250 pounds plus. First challenge: getting it off of our property. I tried the patio door. Hah! Despite some strident ressistance (resistence is futile), I removed one of the fencing sections and trucked out on rollers. I was going to wheel around to the parking lot but the walkway was too narrow. So, Ch

Quick Thought on Gary Lunn

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In the interest of electoral fairness:

Quick Thought on Briony Penn

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In A Frakking Quandry?

What happens if you're addicted to Battlestar Galactica, but your timing is too bad to watch it on Space; and you're too moral (or fearful) to download the episodes via BitTorrent? Now you can download BSG episodes from Amazon:      

If you can't spare an article, could you spare your opinion?

For a few months now, I've been trying to get traffic to some sites I've started up. No dice. They are a fizzle-- I do not have contributors or traffic. Can you help? Can you take a moment to fill out a questionaire on this topic? Click Here to take survey Update: the survey form glitch has been de-glitched. Sorry and thanks for the early-adopter reports.

Sarah Palin : Dickless Cheney

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Quick Thought on Sarah Palin

Palin is like her state of Alaska: remote, white and frigid

Quick Thought On "Family"

I have it figured out. SC Johnson is a "Family Company." Steven Harper is a "Family Man" Family = Christian and Heterosexual That's a great code word. - Mike DeWolfe, A man in league with goats...

Dave and Simi are sleeping in

I start my morning with Breakfast Television. The insufferable perkiness of most morning shows makes me wretch. BTV was different because of acidic and thoroughly amusing Dave Gerry and his foil, the competant Simi Sara. For the last couple weeks, Dawn Chubai and Kyle "someone stole my eraser!" Donaldson have helmed the show on CityTV. I thought, "oh well-- those two deserve a vacation." Three weeks later I thought, "how much vacation do these guys, get?" Then I looked up BTV's site: No Dave. No Simi. They were booted on August 14th. I have to think this was because of two big factors: they were veterans who likely fetched high salaries; and CityTV is desperate for ratings. If they can't get the rating at least they will lose on the cheap. If you look at CityTV's advertisments it says it all: lots of spots going to the CityTV advertising department (Charles Bilash dances for the people who he pays money too-- likely there is an onslaught of co

Quick Thought on Obama's Experience

The talking hair-dos on CNN keep on going on and on about Barrack Obama's executive experience. Here are some quick bullet points: John F. Kennedy was also a senator but not a governor George W. Bush was a governor-- so experience seems to count for very little John McCain is ALSO someone without executive experience (never a governor) Nixon and George Bush I, both had no gubernatorial experience-- no maybe it counts for a little...

The Cthulhu Water Fountain

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My Cthulhu water fountain is done! This project started as a way to constructively dispose of recycling and construction debris. He was finished off in many layers of expanding foam (Great Stuff foam); and layer after layer of fibreglass and resin. He is man sized (on his perch his head tops at about 5 feet). He is a composite of wood, metal, stone, plastic, wire mesh, expanding foam, plumbers cement, fibreglass mess and polyester resin. The model in his arm is a plastic model of a PT boat, covered in resin. A tube that leads through the body pipes water from a hose attachment up through the arm and out. Combine the Zen calm of a water fountain with the Lovecraftian nightmare of a cold and uncaring universe. Links out: Youtube Flickr My site Wifey's site As we are moving, I am planning on selling this! Anyone want the type of lawn ornament that will keep Aunt Ethel quiet all night as she peers out the window afraid that the Apocolypse is at hand?

Quick Thought on Crime in Victoria

Since Victoria Police Chief Paul Battershill was suspended and then resigned, it seems like the Victoria Police are making a number of signifigant arrests. What was stopping them while he was in charge?

Crazy Frog Rocketship Launch!

I totally forgot to post this to my blog. Doh!

Obama's Back-up Singers

Here are details on the people who will be joining Barack Obama before he climbs to the podium at the Democratic National Convention. (drum roll please...) Barb Sackman of Fallon, Montana Barb is a teacher living in Fallon, Montana, a town of 150. She lives on her family's wheat and cattle farm, and rising fuel prices are making it hard to get by. She hopes Barack's plan for alternative bio-fuels will help the struggling economy in rural Montana. Barb volunteers for her church, sits on a hospital board, and organizes community events in Fallon. Barb says Barack "genuinely cares about the problems of people like me. We appreciate his continued trips to Montana to let us know that we are not forgotten." She will attend the convention with her husband. Lenny Julius of Emerald Isle, North Carolina Lenny is a retired naval officer who believes the Iraq War was a serious strategic mistake. He says that in 2000 he looked forward to seeing John McCain, a fellow shipmate, in t

The Annotated Edit

This is SERIOUSLY cool: you can annonate videos and put in links to other videos. I will be making heavy use of this in the near future.

The Annotated Video

You can ANNOTATE videos! This is so cool! You can add notes, links and speech bubbles. Expect to see me using this a great deal!

Clone Wars: The Movie

I thought I could super-spoiler the Clone Wars movie or I could do a review . I did both. Clone Wars is aimed at the Kiddie Set. Instead of the scroll that we've seen at least six times before (several video games in the license have used this too), we get a cheezy news reel narration. Instead of subtitling Jabba, people react and his protocol droid occasionally steps in. Rather than aim for the kid-lit crowd, Clone Wars aims for pre-lit crowd. While all of theSepartist gizmos (robots, vehicles, weapons) are on parade; the Republic side is sparse: Clone Troopers, Navy, a few Jedi and Padme for good measure. A nice small cast that even a six-year old could remember (that's handy for when they go intoToys'R'Us the next day). There is a real video game feel to this movie. It feels like you have a bunch of challenges to overcome: some fighting based, some logic based. If a video game isn't imminent, it could be knocked off in a weekend by pulling CGI models, clips for c

Clone Wars Comes Early

Thanks to some dubious decision making, I have tickets for the Saturday morning showing of the Clone Wars movie. I am very sad proud to say that my daughter has become obsessed with Star Wars (thank you Lego Star Wars). She hums the Imperial March when bored. So, we're feeding a daddy-daughter obsession. What is kind of funny: the ticket makes a real point of saying that "no recording devices" are allowed. Meh. I have a photographic memory, so why would I need to fumble with a cellphone or camera? Expect a Medianook review awash in [SPOILER] and white-out warnings sometime Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Upcoming WiiWare Titles

We have a growing fascination with the Wii. A cruise through the Nintendo Channel got me thinking: what's up next? With the help of Wikipedia , here is a list of upcoming WiiWare games: Title and Source   Developer(s)   North America Release Dates Aero Guitar Yudo TBA Alien Crush Returns Hudson Soft 0 2008 -12-33 Animales de la Muerte High Voltage Software 02008-09 September 2008 Bang! Engine Software 0 2008 -12-33 Battle Poker Left Field Productions 0 2008 -12-33 Big Kahuna Party Reflexive Entertainment 0 2008 -12-33 Block Breaker Deluxe Gameloft 02008-06-16 16 June 2008 Bomberman Blast Hudson Soft TBA Bruiser and Scratch in the Case of the Puzzling Paw Steel Penny Games 0 2008 -12-33 Butterfly Garden Autonomous Productions 0 2009 -12-33 Cocoto Fishing Master Neko Entertainment 02008-06-16 16 June 2008 Crescendo Konami TBA Critter Round-Up Epicenter Studios , Konami 02008-05-19 19 May 2008 Defend

Is Starbucks Circling The Drain?

I have a love-hate of Starbucks. I love their coffee. But I think that if Hitler had started a coffee company, it would be Starbucks. Order, efficiency and vou vill ve ordering! July 1st brought the body count of 600 store closures. While that seems like a lot, it just meant that the Starbucks in my room had to shut down, but the one in living room is still going strong. I have heard complaints from Starbucks staff for some time. No matter what the locations order for their stores, Starbucks ships what they please to the stores. If you're looking for French Roast, you end up finding only Kodiak (or whatever Godless brand they sell that tastes like Grizzly balls). If the high-end coffee company cannot cater to their customers' preferences, they are doomed. This Tuesday is touted as being "Black Tuesday"-- word of massive layoffs coming at the coffee giants' locations. Here is a sampling of web chatter: Posted by: Pins_and_Needles | July 28, 2008 at 07:21

Got Something to Say?

Do you have a great shortcut through modern day life? If you do, I would love to see it on my site, Tales of the Jumping Moose . What counts as a great tip? How about a way to free movie tickets? Or an alternative use for a household item? Or a way that businesses scam the little guy-- knowing the scam is half the battle-- so that you can out-maneuver their tricks. Is cooking or entertaining your thing? If so, how about adding your favorite recipe to my cooking blog, ClearYourPlate.com ? How about a great way to prep for a big party? Or a way to make the most out of a 100 mile diet? Heck-- do you just want to do a one sentence rant? Throw a message in a bottle and throw it into the ocean . (claim to fame: this is my first completed Facebook app).

Christopher Nolan's First Film

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Christopher Nolan's work goes back to the 1990s. Memento was his break-out film. Before that: Following (I will try to track down a copy to rent). Before Following, there was "Doodlebug": ( sorry-- this footage quality super-sucks ) Man, have his skills ever evolved, as given testiment by the Dark Knight . Since Memento, each of his films has gotten better, and Memento was amazing.

Crazy Frog Video - Edit 4

Here is edit #4-- shorter soundtrack and more footage. I have almost all of the material that we can use. The trick now: tweaking the stills and compositing the different layers of material. I haven't gone nuts: the most I have is 4 layers at any one point.

Animation Day Care aka Daddy Day Care aka Claymation Sweat Shop

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Special Effects Greats, according to the Visual Effects Society

I have been in Special Effects land this week, with the daily filming, nightly compositing of images for our stop motion / claymation / mixed media opus. Tonight, the super cool T2: Judgement Day is running. I started meandering around the web and found this article from http://www.visualeffectssociety.com/documents/ves50revelfin.pdf . I like that Citizen Kane is on this list given its bounty of special effects shots-- miracles in the day, now common place-- likely I threw a couple of those into my shorts (er-- short films). The Visual Effects Society Unveils “50 Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time” Los Angeles, May 10, 2007 – Eric Roth, Executive Director of the Visual Effects Society (VES), announced today the results of the VES 50: The Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time, which was determined by a vote of VES members. The VES 50 is the backdrop of the 2007 VES Festival of Visual Effects, which will take place the weekend of June 7-10 at the Writers Guild