RECORD D
INSIDE
SOUTH WHIDBEY
Experience in a bowl See...A10
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2013 | Vol. 89, No. 103 | WWW.SOUTHWHIDBEYRECORD.COM | 75¢
Animators bring motion art to Langley
BIGcomesGIVING in all sizes
By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record For all the art forms in Langley, animation is a new addition. Drew Christie, Amanda Moore and Dane Herforth, all animators at Kalakala Co., recently opened a combination store and studio in the Langley Village suite formerly occupied by The Record. Christie, the lead artist and animator, keeps almost 30 sketchbooks in the store for customers and visitors to peruse. They show the tiny storyboards he made for some of the animated shorts he has produced, like “Allergy to Originality,” featured on the New York Times’ Op-Doc section. His short films have been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, and have won awards at the New York Children’s Film Festival, Ashland Independent Film Festival, and MOHAI History is _____ Film Competition. The Stranger, an alternative weekly publication in Seattle, nominated Christie for a Seattle Genius award in 2012 for his body of work in animation. “If I can draw all day long, that’s what I’d do,” he said. Several years ago, Christie started in filmmaking. He moved to animation because it allowed him greater control and manipulation of a scene everything from characters to setting and lighting. “I was sick of trying to get my friends to be in my movies,” he said. The upstairs section of their leased space is where the animation magic happens. Christie’s desk, a former drawing board used by SEE ANIMATORS, A5
Clinton to suffer another blow with book shop closure By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record
jackets, gloves, scarves and caps for homeless children and women at the Everett Gospel Mission. He delivered the donations to the shelter in person and with a bit of fanfare, which at first made him shy, said mom Jennyrose Dill. It didn’t last long. Weston
Anchor Books & Coffee, one of the last meeting places and morning watering holes in Clinton, will make its last cup of joe Dec. 30. Owners Bruce and Trish Didier, Clinton residents themselves, announced Dec. 1 they would close the cafe and used book store. For the past several months, they tried to sell the business on Highway 525, but to no avail. “We just don’t have the time to devote to the management of the store,” said Bruce Didier. “And it’s not proving to be profitable, and not something we can continue to subsidize.” The Didiers — Bruce works in construction and Trish is a second-grade teacher at Coupeville Elementary School — opened the shop in May 2011 to much acclaim after the ferry area went without a sit-down cafe for years. It became a go-to place for Clinton residents to grab a latte and thumb through old paperbacks while chatting with neighbors and friends. Didier said there are 600 people signed up for trade credit through Anchor Books & Coffee. But business was hitand-miss, said one of the store’s employees who called the ferry a blessing and a curse. “When it’s slow, it feels extra slow,” employee Matt Bell said. “There has
SEE GIVING, A9
SEE ANCHOR, A9
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Weston John Dill, 4, displays some of his jackets, one of which was accidentally given away when he donated 37 coats to the Everett Gospel Mission earlier this month. The South Whidbey Co-Op Preschool student gave jackets, scarves and gloves to the shelter for children and adults, which he collected on South Whidbey and from his family.
Whidbey boy exemplifies holiday spirit By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Weston John Dill bounces around, fidgets, laughs, speaks loudly and does all the other things one would expect from an antsy 4-year-old boy. Except he is no ordinary 4-year-old boy. The South Whidbey resident recently spent one month collecting