Just about to head off to the airport with Jess for our trip down to Siggraph! Got ours bags all packed, camera batteries charged, and a few episodes of “The Wire” / “It’s Always Sunny in Philadephia” ready to go on our iPhones. But before we jetted off for the big show, I wanted to post an article I found on Variety.

It reflects what I think everyone is starting to see in the industry. Recovery. The effects of the writer’s strike are starting to tapper, the economy seems to be slowly bouncing back, and studios are starting to ramp up on development to close the gaps in their 2010 schedule. All of which is great news, and I know I’m not the only artist out there that’s ready for things to stabilize and get back to some sort of normalcy. I guess it’s kind of fitting that our industry’s biggest conference is in New Orleans this year. A city that’s also on the path to recovery.

Read more by following the link below, and watch my twitter (@ZombieDUG) for pictures and videos from the Siggraph floor!

LINK: Big Easy and vfx – signs of recovery

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the Siggraph computer graphics conference was among the first major events to commit to return to the city. This week that commitment brought an estimated 20,000 CG experts to the Big Easy, leaving some laptop-laden hotel lobbies looking more like a Silicon Valley Starbucks than the French Quarter.The recession is depressing attendance, but there’s a whiff of good news in Nola’s humid air. Several California-based vfx studios report a sudden surge in work out for bid as the studios move to fill the holes in their 2010 slates. That’s driving talk that the movie industry is coming out of its recession.