Happy GRAMMYs wknd, Digital LA peeps!

It's GRAMMYs Week! Our Digital LA - Music Startups panel kicked off pre-GRAMMYs Week, featuring speakers from Techstars and Silicon Beach music startups. Music investment and startups are slowly coming back pianissimo, focusing on revenue from music services transactions and subscriptions, rather than actual song licensing. In LA, Troy Carter's SMASHD Labs accelerator had some music startups. And new Techstars Music accelerator will invest $1.2M in its first class of expected 10 startups to be announced later this month. After our panel, band
FOXTRAX, an official SXSW 2017 showcase band, performed. See our highlights recap in our article.
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8 Weekend Events

AWARDS

- GRAMMYs,
 often the most social media active awards show, is live on Sunday! James Corden hosts. Performances by Lady Gaga, Adele, Bruno Mars, and Katy Perry. Chance the Rapper is nominated for Best Rap Album, the first streaming only album to receive a GRAMMY nomination. Follow @RecordingAcad #GRAMMYs

-  Academy Sci-Tech Awards recognizes science and tech achievements in filmmaking. This wknd, 18 awards will be presented to ILM VFX facial mocap, ARRI Alexa camera, Viper camera, RED digital camera, OLS and more nominees . John Cho and Leslie Mann host. Yes, you can win an Academy Award with your algorithm, software or camera. We will be live-tweeting the show. Follow @TheAcademy #SciTechAwards @DigitalLA

-  Art Directors Guild Awards recognizes outstanding art direction. Who will win feature: La La Land, Arrival, Fantastic Beasts, Passengers, Hail Ceasar! We will be live-tweeting the show. Follow @ADG800 #ADGaward   @DigitalLA

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Sunday Feb 12, 4:30p
CTRL Collective Downtown LA


Join us to watch the GRAMMYs livestream at CTRL Collective's big screen 4:30-8p. The GRAMMYs starts at 5p. Join us to watch! Play our winner prediciton game for the top categories.  After the GRAMMYs livestream, two bands will perform:
- Hobart Ocean, a top US-origin band touring Asia
- Adriana, singer songwriter

REGISTER w code DLAFREE   http://dlagram17.eventbrite.com
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Three Day Rule Clean Slate Pre-Valentines Day Party. Bring a photo of your ex and burn it at Three Day Rule's Clean Slate Pre-Valentine's Party on Sat 2/11 at the Viceroy Santa Monica

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SHOWS
- Beck @ Palladium, Fri
- Timbaland @ Create, Sat

MOVIES

- LEGO Batman Movie  premiere featured the cast, LEGO characters and the LEGO Batmobile on the black and yellow carpet at the Fox theatre in Westwood, LA. The animated film is hilarious, quick-witted, and parodies action movies, superhero movies, and past Batman films, all in the same upbeat, hyper-energy style as the LEGO Movie. All your favorite Batman characters are in this movie. Highlights include dozens of Batman villains, and a cameo by the Justice League, including Batman vs Superman tension. Congrats Warner Bros. Animation and Animal Logic on the animation. Premiere pics of the cast in our article. 

- Fifty Shades Darker features Dakota Johnson, back as Anastasia, in her "it's complicated" relationship with Christian Grey (Jamie Doran). Fifty Shades Darker launches two immersive 360 VR experiences to bring you deeper into the film's world.  In Fifty Shades Darker: Masquerade Ball Cinematic VR experience, you can experience the masquerade party in immersive 360. The experience transports you to several locations at the masquerade mansion party to observe the ballroom, outdoor patio, and foyer.  Stream it via YouTube to watch on your VR viewer, download it, or try it with VR headsets at kiosks at two theaters in LA: the Cinemark Playa Vista or Cinemark 18 Howard Hughes, Feb 10-12, 4-8p. Oculus, Life VR and Jaunt worked together to create the experience. Details: http://www.fiftyshadesmovie.com/vr

In the Christian Grey's Apartment experience, you can explore Christian Grey's apartment, and find keys to unlock his secret red room. Click to areas in Christian's apartment to go there: his living room, kitchen, bedroom, gym, and his balcony with a very nice view of the Space Needle. Explore his room at
 
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Mon Feb 13, 7p
CTRL Collective Playa Vista


Speakers from Tinder, eHarmony, Three Day Rule, and more discussion online dating, love, and dating apps at our pre-Valentine's Day panel. Plus includes a consult where panelists will give tips on improving the social dating profiles of volunteers in the audience.

SPEAKERS
- Dr. Jess Carbino, Tinder, Sociologist.
- Kerianne Mellott, eHarmony, Social Media Director
- Clancy Cauble, Three Day Rule, Matchmaker
- Julie Spira, Online Dating Expert
- Jen Friel, Talk Nerdy to Me, Founder
- CJ Harvey, Grindr, Product Manager
- Desiree Bogan, Spokeo, Head of Recruiting

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Thurs Feb 16, 7p
 CTRL Collective Playa Vista

Women gamers discuss how they create content, build their audience, and engage fans at our pre-GDC panel.

SPEAKERS:
- Renée Reynosa @lolRenaynay Twitch broadcaster into shooters, adventure titles, and bad jokes
- Mari Takahashi, @AtomicMari is a professional ballerina turned Internet personality and amer on YouTube channel and Smosh Games
- Emmalee Garrido, world champion captain of Selfless esports team of women gamers.
- BrizzyVoices plays Overwatch, League of Legends and Pokemon with a YouTube and Twitch channel
- Amber Plaster, YouTube creator and covers This Is Us on Afterbuzz TV
- Briana White is a YouTuber and actress


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Digital LA - Baby Tech panel, Mon Feb 21, 12p @ WeWork Santa Monica Promenade. Baby Tech is a new growing category, as parents use apps and internet of things to help with their infants' safety, child care, education and more. Join speakers from Silicon Beach baby tech companies including Happiest Baby cradle you rock with your phone, Mahmee, and Helpr baby-sitter on demand for this parent-friendly lunch time panel.

Digital LA - Oscars Viewing Party, Sun Feb 26 at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. Watch the Oscars and play our winner prediction game for prizes. Details TBA.

Digital LA - Digital Women. We're working on our third year of programming to celebrate International Womens Day March 8. Stay tuned!I If you'd like to get involved, email info@digitalla.net with WOMEN as the subject. 

CALL FOR SPEAKERS: We want to put together panels on Smart Home, and Robotics. If you can speak with 1.5+ years of experience /launched product / app, etc. email info@digitalla.net with HOME or ROBOTS.



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LA TECH NEWS

More than 300 LA tech and entertainment leaders have signed an open anti travel ban letter to the President. See THR article, or sign the letter yourself.
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AWARDS 

VES Awards.  Stories about kings, The Jungle Book and Game of Thrones, ruled the 15th annual VES Awards recognizing outstanding visual effects in movies, TV, games and VR at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. More than 1,000 VFXers attended, celebrating the Visual Effect Society's 20th anniversary. See our article.
Disney's The Jungle Book was king of the film awards, swinging to the top with five awards:
The top award VFX in a Photoreal Feature, as well as Virtual Cinematography, Effects Simulations (nature effects), and Compositing, all in a Photoreal Feature. The huge King Louie won Animated Character in Photoreal Feature.
Kubo and the Two Strings won the Animated Feature category, the first time a non-Disney film has won in this category in the past 19 years. In his acceptance speech, the winner joked: Wow we aren't even a Disney film.
Laika studios uses a combination of 3D-printed stop-motion puppet and practical sets, plus digital effects and background extensions, to create Kubo's magical world, said speakers from Laika at a Gnomon School panel this week.
Disney's Moana won two awards in the Animated Feature categories: Created Environment (Motunui Island) and Effects Simulations.
Moana lead voice actor Auli'i Cravalho presented some of the awards (photo right).
Finding Dory's Hank the cranky octopus won Animated Character in an Animated Feature.
Doctor Strange won Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature for the New York City mirror dimension scene.
Game of Thrones "Battle of the Bastards" episode rallied five awards in the television episode category for photoreal feature: Visual Effects, Animated Performance (Drogon), Created Environment (Meereen City), Effects Simulations (Meereen City), and Compositing (Winterfell).
The Battle of the Bastards episode feature epic battle sequences including battling armies, flying dragons, fire and wind effects, and more.
Marvel's Victoria Alonso won the Visionary Award. She is Marvel producer and VP Physical Production, and has worked on films including Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and more. Working at Marvel with dozens of visual effects studios, she joked she knows just about everyone in the room.
Alonso is the first woman to receive the VES Visionary award. Previous winners include Syd Mead (2016), JJ Abrams (2015),  Alfonso Cuaron (2014), and Ang Lee (2013).
In her acceptance speech, Alonso spoke on the importance of including women on VFX projects. She said that of the 476 VES Awards nominees, there are 43 women, about 9%. "We can do better," Alonso said.

ASC Cinematographers Awards - Denzel Washington, Samuel L Jackson, Dakota Johnson (50 Shades Darker) and more attended the ASC Awards on Feb 5 at the Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. The ASC Awards recognizes outstanding achievement in cinematography in film and TV. Congrats winners:
- Lion - Greig Fraser, ASC won the top Theatrical Film award
- Ron Garcia, ASC won Career Achievement in Television Award, saying 'Art and activism still go hand in hand' in his acceptance speech. He's been a strong supporter of technical aspects of cinematography and advancement.
Annie Awards - Zootopia won six awards: Feature Film, Directing, Storyboarding, Character Design, Writing and Voice Acting (tie) in Animated Feature - at the Annie Awards on Feb 5 at UCLA Royce Hall.
Kubo and the Two Strings won three: Character Animation, Editorial and Production Design in an Animated Feature.
The Pearl immersive 360 VR experience by Google Spotlight series also won three awards: Directing, Music and Production Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast, a first for the category.
Get the complete winner list on AnnieAwards  site.
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JOBS. To get or place a job, visit http://digitalla.net/jobs
 
- Account Mgr at Spellbound Group  http://digitalla.net/job/spellboundam
- SalesPlanner at Wikia in LA.

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OUR RECENT EVENTS

Chinese investors have increased interest in Silicon Beach, especially in entertainment, AR/VR, influencer data, and more, said speakers at our annual Chinese - LA Tech panel to celebrate Lunar New Year, held at Cross Campus Downtown LA. Speakers included Jiyuan Hu of ArcheMatrix Investment Group, and Stella Poon of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Speakers discussed how startups can open operations in Hong Kong as a gateway to expanding into China. Silicon Beach startup Milk & Honey custom shoes did just that before founder Dori Howard sold it. We also talked what's hot in China, including eSports, games, and more, in our  article. 


Women VR experts from Specular Theory, Huffington Post Ryot News, and more discussed how to create, produce, market VR on our panel, with food by Clean Living Club. Panelists said that trends to look for in VR include untethered, live VR, social VR, and more. Several speakers said that there are several great 360 video experiences, but more interactive VR experience will really showcase VR. Also, brands like Cartier are experimenting in VR to build their worlds. Four female founder pitched their VR projects ranging from saving honeybees to creating VR games for female gamers. See our  photos. Article soon. 
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Digital LA - Digital Health is increasing in LA and worldwide, said speakers at our annual Digital Health panel, timed to New Years health and fitness resolutions. Attendees included startups, PR, developers, and a cardiologist at CTRL Collective Playa Vista. See our  article.

Since our Digital Health panel last January, Techstars Cedars-Sinai Healthcare Accelerator has invested more than $1.2M in 11 startups. Eight of them were from the LA area. Techstars held a demo day with 600 attendees at the Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, the largest digital health event in LA, with physicians, health and HMO administrators, entrepreneurs and more. Nearly all of the 11 startups announced deals with Cedars-Sinai hospital or affiliates at the demo day.

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Silicon Beach Fest celebrated 5th anniversary

Silicon Beach Fest celebrated its fifth anniversary with three days of panels, parties, keynotes, mixers and a VIP yacht cruise at the Marina del Rey Hotel and other venues last week. More than 400 speakers shared insights and experience on more than 80 panels and sessions over five days, on topics including growth, VR, advertising, influencers, social media, developers, design, and more. 

Thanks to speakers, sponsors, volunteers, organizers, vendors, and attendees for making our fifth summer Silicon Beach Fest such a success! Several attendees said and tweeted they found the panel topics that continued into engaging hallway and mixer conversations both information-packed and inspiring. Watch for our Silicon Beach Fest one-day event this fall. 

Read article with  SBF HIGHLIGHTS

Kitterly wins SBF Startup Showcase 2016 Title
Kitterly won the Silicon Beach Fest Startup Showcase 2016 title. The crafting site is an alum of 500 Startups, and is founded by Mari Bower, CEO. Kitterly wins the prize package including the SBF 2016 title, $5,000 courtesy Media Temple, a Surf Air flight to its California destinations, two Air New Zealand tickets on its LA - London route, ten hours transactional legal services from Sheappard Mullin, and three months membership at CTRL Collective, at either its Playa Vista or new Downtown location (for a tour email tm@ctrlcollective.com) . Kitterly was first of the 20 startups pitched at the Silicon Beach Fest 2016 Startup Showcase. Five judges choice and one audience choice advanced to the finals on Friday. The six finalists were: Kitterly, Markett, Heal (doctor on demand), Heartbeat (women millennial marketing network), Canny (cannabis directory), and audience choice Vampr (music networking). Markett, an on demand marketing company that is part of Amplify accelerator, placed second. Watch the Friday Final pitches in this replay video. 

Silicon Beach Fest receives Certificate of Recognition from LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. At Downtown Day on Monday, Office of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti city officials presented Silicon Beach Fest founder Kevin Winston with a Certificate of Recognition, on the 5th annivesary of Silicon Beach Fest this year (photo right). Then, LA City Officials described the Mayor's tech initiatives, including attracting tech companies to move to LA, open data hackathons, digital divide programs, opportunities for startups to bid on city projects, and a huge job fair in January, which Jason Nazar is spearheading as LA City Entrepreneur In Residence.  


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