Movember, the month formerly known as November, is a moustache growing charity event held during November each year that raises funds and awareness for men’s health

I already know of a few people around Birmingham who are getting involved this year. Feel free to identify yourselves in the comments (with a link to your donation page).

Meanwhile, here’s a Movember-themed animation from The Brothers McLeod.

The event will be taking place at The Victoria, and will welcome Myles McLeod, Animation Writer and Director of The Brothers McLeod and David Edmundson-Bird, Director of Digital Marketing Communications at Manchester Met University, who’ll be introducing some fun and interesting things.

Director of Rubber Republic, Chris Quigley, will also be parading the event dressed as a giant cat, and talking about the latest internet memes and viral trends.

Tickets are free, and can be booked via Eventbrite, where you can also find more info on the event.

To be honest, I’d be surprised if anyone is reading this (and to be even more honest, I wrote this a few days back anyway) but, in case it’s timely, here are a few things on TV that you might be interested in today:

• Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Cinderella, BBC2 at 3pm
• Best of European Opera 2010 (ft Birmingham Opera Company’s Othello), BBC4 at 7pm

Screen WM have done a round-up of the festive stuff they’ve been involved in, including The Brothers McLeod’s The Moon Bird (Christmas Day, 12.40am on Channel 4 – oh, bit late for that, sorry), the new series of Upstairs Downstairs (Boxing Day, 9pm on BBC 1), Toast (30 December, 9pm on BBC 1) and, later on in January, the return of Hustle.

If you’ve got some vouchers burning a hole in your pocket then Soulboy and Nativity are out on DVD.

On the radio side of things, Robin Valk’s Handsworth Evolution will be played on 30 December on BBC WM.

Flip Animation Festival is happening on 4 – 6 November in Wolverhampton. The festival is organised by Light House Media Centre and hosts a programme of educational workshops for young people, along with experimental animation for grown ups, plus industry led panels, feature film screenings, international showcases, retrospectives of short films and spotlights on animation studios.

While there are still plenty of events yet to be announced, here’s a peak at a few of the highlights announced so far;

Workshops in Introduction to Animation and Writing an Animated Comedy with The Brothers McLeod, both on 4 Nov.

Gaming themed workshops, including an Introduction to Building a Game with XNA and Big Screen Gaming on Halo: Reach, also on 4 Nov.

Young animators aged 14 – 16 are invited to the free Film Nation: Shorts Animation Workshop on 5 Nov.

Plus Wolverhampton Art Gallery are also running an exhibition entitled RE-animate which will be on until 27 Nov.

Tickets have yet to go on sale for this year’s festival, so keep an eye on the Flip website for the latest announcements.

The Moon Bird

Names that stick out for me are BAFTA-nominated The Brothers McLeod, who will be showing their dark animated fairytale ‘The Moon Bird‘, and Lewis Arnold, whose film ‘Stained’ is inspired by author Ronnie Thompson’s time served as a prison officer. After the screening there will be a Q&A with some of the filmmakers, so have your hand-raising and poser-posing hats on ready.

To find out more about all of the films on show, visit the Light House website here, and to reserve a free place at the screening, contact info@light-house.co.uk.

The Flip Animation Festival brings three days of animational loveliness to the Light House in Wolverhampton, starting on 5 November (although the launch will be at Millennium Point in Birmingham).

There’s a fair amount being packed in – portfolio reviews, screenings of shorts and student films and workshops on game design and scriptwriting. Greg McLeod, from the Brothers McLeod will be animator-in-residence on the Friday, allowing all and sundry to watch him working. In fact, borrowed from the newsletter, here’s a summary of what’s on (follow the links for detail):

Thurs 5 Nov

• Scriptwriting for Animation Workshop
• Games Design Workshop
• Big Screen Gaming
• Get Involved with First Light
• Festival Launch: Animation in the West Midlands: A Snapshot

Fri 6 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Looking at Sound: Hearing Animation
• Studio Spotlight: Axis Animation
• Portfolio Reviews
• Coraline (PG)

Sat 7 Nov

• Open Shorts
• Family Animation Day
• Personal Views: The Brothers McLeod
• Studio Spotlight: ArthurCox Studios
• Flip Animation Challenge
• Student Screening and Awards Ceremony
• Flip Closing Party

Tickets are now on sale via the Light House box office (01902 716055) or on the Flip Animation Festival website.

The Brothers McLeod were commissioned to make some short animations for 4mations, two of which are now up with the third to follow on 7 October.

The show follows the escapades of a Dogg whose enthusiasm outweighs his intelligence. In the three short episodes Dogg must find new ways to chase cars, clear up his mess and retrieve some stolen sausages.

I was going to embed them for you to watch but that feature on the 4mations site doesn’t seem to be working.  No matter, here are some links:

• Episode 1
• Episode 2

Digitoons Talks

• 2 Sept @ The Theatre, Custard Factory with Tobias Fouracre (Tandem Films) and Chris Randall (Second Home Productions)
• 3 Sept @ The Herbert, Coventry with Greg & Myles McLeod (The Brothers McLeod) and someone from Cosgrove Hall Films (TBC)
  
• 4 Sept @ Light House, Wolverhampton with Helene Friren (Tandem Films) and Richard Hayes (Cosgrove Hall Films)

All talks last from 6.30 to 8pm with nibbles until 9pm.  They’re all free too but places are limited to you’ll need to book – call 0121 753 7700 or email kate@hi8us.co.uk for that.

Digitoons Masterclasses

In addition to the talks:

The Brothers McLeod, will give six budding animators the opportunity to take part in five masterclasses to enable them to create their own one-minute animations. The finished product will be screened alongside renowned industry professionals at Millenium Point, as part of Hello Digital.

The classes will take place weekly between 16 Sept and 7 Oct 2008.  To apply for that call 0121 753 7700 or email kate@hi8us.co.uk.

For more info on the talks and masterclasses see the DigiToons eflyer.