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Episode VII: Revenge of the Escargot

Edward Moyer Senior Editor
Edward Moyer is a senior editor at CNET and a many-year veteran of the writing and editing world. He enjoys taking sentences apart and putting them back together. He also likes making them from scratch. ¶ For nearly a quarter of a century, he's edited and written stories about various aspects of the technology world, from the US National Security Agency's controversial spying techniques to historic NASA space missions to 3D-printed works of fine art. Before that, he wrote about movies, musicians, artists and subcultures.
Credentials
  • Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
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Edward Moyer
2 min read
A virtuoso creator of computer-generated animation wolfs down a plate of snails while quaffing one too many glasses of Bordeaux. Naturally, he passes out. What nightmare would his subconscious cook up?

Attendees of Siggraph2005, the 32nd International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, will get a chance to find out.

Among the films being shown at the conference, set for L.A. at the end of July, is "Loop" by a team of students at France's Supinfocom. The short follows "les peregrinations d'un escargot dans un monde totalement abstrait."

Other films scheduled to be shown in the Siggraph art gallery include "Chrysalide," a digital look at the Japanese dance form Butoh, and "Grau," by a student at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, which depicts "memories coming up during a car accident, where past events emerge, fuse, erode and finally vanish" giving "a very private snapshot of a whole life within its last seconds." (Despite a longish download time, "Grau" is well worth checking out online if you're of an experimental bent).

Siggraph also promises a bevy of activities, from a larger computer-animation festival (groovy trailer available here) to courses and tutorials to panel discussions (including one on open source and the graphics community and another on the ultimate TV screen).

And last but not least, the conference features a keynote address by Star Wars creator George Lucas, as well as a display of storyboard art from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," including work by Aaron McBride, one of the film's visual effects art directors.

May l'escargot electronique be with you!