The board of directors for ASIFA-Hollywood, the local branch member of the International Animated Film Association, recently selected a new 16-member advisory board.
The advisory group is expected to meet twice a year to help shape strategy for ASIFA-Hollywood’s goals for the animation industry in Los Angeles County. Aubry Mintz, executive director of ASIFA-Hollywood, noted that the group will also look at “enhancements” to the organization’s annual Annie Awards.
“The perspective and expertise of these members will help to shape our various initiatives in meaningful ways, and can help guide ASIFA-Hollywood through exciting, impactful growth,” Mintz added.
New advisory board members are Brenda Chapman, Margie Cohn, Pete Docter, Dave Filoni, Matt Groening, Jorge R. Gutierrez, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Tomm Moore, John Musker, Ramsey Naito, Chris Prynoski, Sandy Rabins, Peter Ramsey, Linda Simensky and Tom Sito.
ASIFA-Hollywood is the largest branch of its organization and currently supports initiatives such as the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, Animation Educators’ Forum and other projects and events.
• • •
Our enterprising senior reporter Howard Fine last week wrote about Santa Clarita-based SetPoint Medical’s recent Food and Drug Administration approval for an implanted device to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
The day after the edition went to press, the company announced that the device had been implanted for the first time, to a patient at North Shore University Hospital in New Hyde Park, New York. The device will be activated in the next several weeks.
It is estimated that about 1.5 million Americans have rheumatoid arthritis, a disease in which the immune system attacks otherwise healthy joint tissue and causes painful inflammation and swelling. SetPoint’s device is designed to stimulate the part of the nervous system that, when malfunctioning, is largely associated with RA and other autoimmune diseases.
Given the unpalatable side effects of typical RA medication, let’s hope SetPoint’s device represents a successful advance in the field and, as it takes off, paves way for a much more tolerable future for patients.
• • •
Calling all Los Angeles-area sports fans: we may want to shape up a bit before next year’s FIFA World Cup matches and the 2028 Olympics.
According to a (very silly) analysis by the website JustGamblers, two of the Top 10 rowdiest sports venues – as measured by the number of articles about fan fights in every 10,000 articles – in the United States are in L.A. At No. 8, SoFi Stadium had 43 articles related to fan fights out of nearly 405,000 total articles. Meanwhile, Dodger Stadium had 39 articles about fan fights out of a total of more than 409,000.
To illustrate the seriousness of the study, the No. 1 venue, PHX Arena, had a whopping two articles about fan fights out of more than 3,400 articles, giving it an outlying 5.85 fights out of every 10,000 articles. Similarly, BMO Stadium clocked in at No. 17 nationally with a grand total of one fan fight article in nearly 19,000.
Fret not, pacifists: Crypto.com Arena serves as a shining light for us all as the third most peaceful venue in all the land. The storied home of L.A.’s Lakers, Sparks and Kings yielded just one fan fight article out of more than 186,000 total.
