Wow, that's a reference that no one will get...
But, she's neither here nor there. I'm just here to say that I've got nothing to say. The only thing I wanted to mention is that I 'finished' the outline for another short story on my writing blog, 'Ad Pedem Literae". It's called The Dream, and unlike much of what I've been working on, it's truly a short story. Weighing it at about 6 pages, 2,600 words, and 14,000 characters, it's one of the shortest things I've written in a while. Many of my blog posts are longer (well, not really).
Now, the thing to keep in mind here is that I wrote this as an experiment, I'm trying to find out if this will work as an ending to another story I'm working on. Although that story is very different, the situations are different, and the characters are different... it's in the vain of what I'm plan to go for. I think it works, but any thoughts you'd like to share would be pleasantly received.
Some old pictures to pick through...
Old Pictures. That's all it is. Old Pictures. It's a poorly designed site, yet it seems to mesmerize you with it's ways. I'm sure it will keep you busy for a while.
That's it. That's all I've got tonight.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Saturday, April 28, 2007
So much internet...
... so little time.
Alright, about my day. It sucked. I'm moving on a bit. Prepare for phones, flash games, consoles hacked and modded into portables and much, much more...
Wii would like to call.
Alright, I'm referencing a pop-culture marketing piece in regards to a new phone using similar technology. Does that constitute a pun? I've asked some experts, I hope they get back to me soon.
While we wait, feel free to take a look at this article on CNET.UK. It's about a new phone coming out that will use motion sensing similar to the way that the Wii controllers work. The idea is that the you shake the phone to move about menus, play games and get things done, I guess.
I imagine that if you're shaking the thing you're supposed to be looking at, it would be hard to orientate yourself, and / or that you might get yourself one hell of a case of motion sickness. I also hope that you don't need to shake it just to make a phone call, because it's hard enough dialing in the car already, I don't need to add to the frustration.
Call of Duty 4 Confirmed!
As several people I know can attest, I'm very much against the proliferation of World War II games. It's been pointed it that it's the largest theater, with the most deaths (of all modern wars combined), and also the most well known of all wars. However, I'm content at leaving the past there, in the past.
It seems that the folks over at Activision have finally taken the advice I've never given them and are running with it. The new Call of Duty will, in fact, take place in a modern theater. It's going to take place in a Middle Eastern conflict, where you'll be up against 'terrorists'. I enjoy that. Terrorists. They are bad, and come from 'Dark Arabia'. Of course, there's still a lot of unconfirmed rumors.
I'm all for it. I enjoyed the original Call of Duty very much. I was even ok with it's sequel, which touted many improvements. The various spin offs of the first and second had me a little jilted, and when the third iteration of the same game came out, I was long since done with it. Now, if they are going to run a modern version, I might actually come back to the series.
However, there's a HUGE problem. One that's called out loudly by some guy I'd never heard of, but his opinions were somewhat akin to mine on the issue, so I figure that it's pointing out.
The problem: it's apparently called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. There's really nothing wrong with that name, except that it's about creative as just calling it "shooty game" or something equally inane. There's also the fact that there's this little game called Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, you maybe possibly have heard of it. It seems phenomenally stupid to release a product of such similarity and then tack on a name that's neatly interchangeable in every way.
I guess my point is that they expect me to purchase their game based on their abilities. When they have hardly the creativity to even name their product, it doesn't instill much faith in me that they could handle the more involved tasks, such as level design.
In news with more mystique...
According to Kotaku, Blizzard has announced that they will announce a new title. I love that, as well. They are announcing the announcement. Good for them.
But, wait. There's a bit more too it. You see, there have been rumors of late regarding the development of a new Star Craft, something dubbed Star Craft 2.
So, if that's the case, could this announcement be the announcement of said product?
Their official response was:
So, they are announcing a new product. And they are making a new Star Craft. Dammit... connect the dots for me!
Of course, I'm sure that Blizzard is enjoying every moment of this. They seem to have an unquenchable thirst for community buzz about their products.
Well played, sirs. Well played. (If you don't find out on your own, I will likely tell you the score on or around May 19th)
Sony beheads a goat as a marketing tool.
No, I'm not kidding. I've been saying for years that Sony is the evil incarnate, but they've gone and proved it finally.
It seems they beheaded a goat at an event for the UK launch of God of War 2. On top of that, they then invited attendees to feast on it's warm entrails.
I can't think of anyway of ending this blurb other than... OMGWTFBBQSAUCE!
Benjamin J. Heckman
This guy is unbelievable. I've read articles by him and about him for years, and a random /. article lead me back to his page.
He's genius at hacking and modding game consoles.
The Xbox 360 Laptop.
The NES Micro
And a plethora of Atari, Playstation One, PS2 and other consoles modded into laptops and handhelds.
I can't possibly show you all the cool shit he's done, just check it out yourself.
Vista vs. OS X
Alright, I've seen a lot of creative articles... but CNET.uk has done another.
This one's pretty funny though... Shakespearean.
The Last Stand
Another in the long list of time wasters. The Last Stand is Zombie blastin' good fun!
Temporal Mechanics
In one of my last posts, I mentioned Temporal Mechanics... I just wanted to reiterate that you should read the Wiki article... it's got a lot of interesting thoughts and theories. It kept me up quite a while last night, while I was supposed to be doing other shit.
Well, I think that about does it for today...
Feel free to come back anytime, I'll be here.
Alright, about my day. It sucked. I'm moving on a bit. Prepare for phones, flash games, consoles hacked and modded into portables and much, much more...
Wii would like to call.
Alright, I'm referencing a pop-culture marketing piece in regards to a new phone using similar technology. Does that constitute a pun? I've asked some experts, I hope they get back to me soon.
While we wait, feel free to take a look at this article on CNET.UK. It's about a new phone coming out that will use motion sensing similar to the way that the Wii controllers work. The idea is that the you shake the phone to move about menus, play games and get things done, I guess.
I imagine that if you're shaking the thing you're supposed to be looking at, it would be hard to orientate yourself, and / or that you might get yourself one hell of a case of motion sickness. I also hope that you don't need to shake it just to make a phone call, because it's hard enough dialing in the car already, I don't need to add to the frustration.
Call of Duty 4 Confirmed!
As several people I know can attest, I'm very much against the proliferation of World War II games. It's been pointed it that it's the largest theater, with the most deaths (of all modern wars combined), and also the most well known of all wars. However, I'm content at leaving the past there, in the past.
It seems that the folks over at Activision have finally taken the advice I've never given them and are running with it. The new Call of Duty will, in fact, take place in a modern theater. It's going to take place in a Middle Eastern conflict, where you'll be up against 'terrorists'. I enjoy that. Terrorists. They are bad, and come from 'Dark Arabia'. Of course, there's still a lot of unconfirmed rumors.
I'm all for it. I enjoyed the original Call of Duty very much. I was even ok with it's sequel, which touted many improvements. The various spin offs of the first and second had me a little jilted, and when the third iteration of the same game came out, I was long since done with it. Now, if they are going to run a modern version, I might actually come back to the series.
However, there's a HUGE problem. One that's called out loudly by some guy I'd never heard of, but his opinions were somewhat akin to mine on the issue, so I figure that it's pointing out.
The problem: it's apparently called Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. There's really nothing wrong with that name, except that it's about creative as just calling it "shooty game" or something equally inane. There's also the fact that there's this little game called Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, you maybe possibly have heard of it. It seems phenomenally stupid to release a product of such similarity and then tack on a name that's neatly interchangeable in every way.
I guess my point is that they expect me to purchase their game based on their abilities. When they have hardly the creativity to even name their product, it doesn't instill much faith in me that they could handle the more involved tasks, such as level design.
In news with more mystique...
According to Kotaku, Blizzard has announced that they will announce a new title. I love that, as well. They are announcing the announcement. Good for them.
But, wait. There's a bit more too it. You see, there have been rumors of late regarding the development of a new Star Craft, something dubbed Star Craft 2.
So, if that's the case, could this announcement be the announcement of said product?
Their official response was:
We do intend to announce a new product at the Worldwide Invitational next month in Korea, and we appreciate the enthusiasm and interest in getting an advance look at what that will be, but players will have to wait until May 19th to find out more. Also, we have a very strong connection with the characters and settings of StarCraft, and we do plan to revisit that universe at some point in the future, but we don't have anything new to announce in that regard at present.
So, they are announcing a new product. And they are making a new Star Craft. Dammit... connect the dots for me!
Of course, I'm sure that Blizzard is enjoying every moment of this. They seem to have an unquenchable thirst for community buzz about their products.
Well played, sirs. Well played. (If you don't find out on your own, I will likely tell you the score on or around May 19th)
Sony beheads a goat as a marketing tool.
No, I'm not kidding. I've been saying for years that Sony is the evil incarnate, but they've gone and proved it finally.
It seems they beheaded a goat at an event for the UK launch of God of War 2. On top of that, they then invited attendees to feast on it's warm entrails.
I can't think of anyway of ending this blurb other than... OMGWTFBBQSAUCE!
Benjamin J. Heckman
This guy is unbelievable. I've read articles by him and about him for years, and a random /. article lead me back to his page.
He's genius at hacking and modding game consoles.
The Xbox 360 Laptop.
The NES Micro
And a plethora of Atari, Playstation One, PS2 and other consoles modded into laptops and handhelds.
I can't possibly show you all the cool shit he's done, just check it out yourself.
Vista vs. OS X
Alright, I've seen a lot of creative articles... but CNET.uk has done another.
This one's pretty funny though... Shakespearean.
The Last Stand
Another in the long list of time wasters. The Last Stand is Zombie blastin' good fun!
Temporal Mechanics
In one of my last posts, I mentioned Temporal Mechanics... I just wanted to reiterate that you should read the Wiki article... it's got a lot of interesting thoughts and theories. It kept me up quite a while last night, while I was supposed to be doing other shit.
Well, I think that about does it for today...
Feel free to come back anytime, I'll be here.
Nothing much to report...
Nothing much to report.
This is my third post today, but there's actually a few things to talk about. There'll be some recapping of the day and some follow-up to a previous post. Then I have to get to bed, I have to be up in about five and a half hours.
Monty Oum : The Follow-up
In one of my last posts, I showed Monty Oum's new Haloid video, what I forgot to do was mention his deviantArt page. It's filled with some interesting stuff, not that I'm huge into the CG stuff, but his CG blended photos are a sight to behold. Of course, if you want to know more, you can just Google it.
Déjà Vu
I'll have to write a full review of this, but Mike and I watched this tonight. I love a good movie about temporal mechanics... but this one is just plain dumb. Mike said it best with, "it's like showing the audience the end of the movie at the beginning and saying "this is how it ends", and then trying to convince them that it ends differently an hour later."
Alright, that was loosely quoted, but you get the idea.
The PS3 HD Eye Toy + Eye of Judgment
Alright, the original eye toy was stupid. I tried to see it's value, but like so many other gimmicks, it just fell flat. This new one looks just as gimmicky looking, but with some impressive stuff behind it. According to the Kotaku write-up that Tycho of Penny Arcade directed me to read (he commands, I obey), It's high definition, runs 120 frames per second, and has 4 noise canceling mics. Seriously, they make it sound like it will be more high-end then the XL2 Mike and I are trying to procure for our film. I assume it won't come with the same price tag.
Now, all of that is to tell you about the game (you can see in the link), which uses the camera. It's a video card game like Magic the Gathering, or Pokemon. It's called Eye of Judgment, and it looks pretty wicked. The likelihood of sucking is pretty high, but it certainly piques my interest.
A quick Firefox tutorial...
I couldn't believe it when I discovered that Mike hadn't added search engines to the quick search bar in Firefox. Both IE7 and Firefox support more then the pre-installed mumbo jumbo, though the library for Firefox stuff is much larger. I'm sure you can see it up there, in the right corner, where you search Google. Click the drop down and choose "Manage search engines". In Firefox it will take you to https://addons.mozilla.org/, IE7 will take you to a similar place. If there's not enough options there, Firefox users can also check out the mycroft project, which has even more options. I roll with the Google, IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube Videos, deviantArt, and Weather.com... but there's TONS of options (again, for Firefox users... for IE7, not so much). There's even some for Blogger.
Next time, maybe I'll talk about FireFox Add-ons (some of them are quite awesome).
And that's all I have for now... peace out interwebs. We'll see you tomorrow, maybe.
This is my third post today, but there's actually a few things to talk about. There'll be some recapping of the day and some follow-up to a previous post. Then I have to get to bed, I have to be up in about five and a half hours.
Monty Oum : The Follow-up
In one of my last posts, I showed Monty Oum's new Haloid video, what I forgot to do was mention his deviantArt page. It's filled with some interesting stuff, not that I'm huge into the CG stuff, but his CG blended photos are a sight to behold. Of course, if you want to know more, you can just Google it.
Déjà Vu
I'll have to write a full review of this, but Mike and I watched this tonight. I love a good movie about temporal mechanics... but this one is just plain dumb. Mike said it best with, "it's like showing the audience the end of the movie at the beginning and saying "this is how it ends", and then trying to convince them that it ends differently an hour later."
Alright, that was loosely quoted, but you get the idea.
The PS3 HD Eye Toy + Eye of Judgment
Alright, the original eye toy was stupid. I tried to see it's value, but like so many other gimmicks, it just fell flat. This new one looks just as gimmicky looking, but with some impressive stuff behind it. According to the Kotaku write-up that Tycho of Penny Arcade directed me to read (he commands, I obey), It's high definition, runs 120 frames per second, and has 4 noise canceling mics. Seriously, they make it sound like it will be more high-end then the XL2 Mike and I are trying to procure for our film. I assume it won't come with the same price tag.
Now, all of that is to tell you about the game (you can see in the link), which uses the camera. It's a video card game like Magic the Gathering, or Pokemon. It's called Eye of Judgment, and it looks pretty wicked. The likelihood of sucking is pretty high, but it certainly piques my interest.
A quick Firefox tutorial...
I couldn't believe it when I discovered that Mike hadn't added search engines to the quick search bar in Firefox. Both IE7 and Firefox support more then the pre-installed mumbo jumbo, though the library for Firefox stuff is much larger. I'm sure you can see it up there, in the right corner, where you search Google. Click the drop down and choose "Manage search engines". In Firefox it will take you to https://addons.mozilla.org/, IE7 will take you to a similar place. If there's not enough options there, Firefox users can also check out the mycroft project, which has even more options. I roll with the Google, IMDB, Wikipedia, YouTube Videos, deviantArt, and Weather.com... but there's TONS of options (again, for Firefox users... for IE7, not so much). There's even some for Blogger.
Next time, maybe I'll talk about FireFox Add-ons (some of them are quite awesome).
And that's all I have for now... peace out interwebs. We'll see you tomorrow, maybe.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Some reflection...
Last year, I was at the State Fair with my girls, and I decided I wanted to get a picture of the 3 of us standing in front of the entrance to the Midway. I handed my camera to a passerby, asking him to take the photo. Being that I'm very protective of my Camera, I got real close and said, "Don't even think about taking off with this, I'll run you down and fuck you up so bad that as the cops are taking you away, you'll be mumbling about a monster that moves like a leopard and strikes like a bear."
As he ran away crying to his mother, I reflected on how parents need to do a better job of preparing their kids for the world.
I was studying my bottle of Pantene Pro-V Shampoo in the shower not too long ago. I noticed that it says "For up to 85% shinier hair.*" The conditioner bottle featured the exact same tag line.
This got me curious, so I looked at the back of the bottle and found that the asterisk referred to their comparison between Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner and Pantene Shampoo. Their website seems to reinforce the same marketing schema, but doesn't give me the answers I need.
That didn't help much, I wanted to know how they measured this, what it meant. So, I asked my good friend, Dr. Harland Thompson PhD, of Harvard Medical University.
He had this to say in his email reply:
Very illuminating indeed. I have the feeling that the Pantene information control machine may have gotten to him. I'll have to find a new source for my medical information.
As he ran away crying to his mother, I reflected on how parents need to do a better job of preparing their kids for the world.
I was studying my bottle of Pantene Pro-V Shampoo in the shower not too long ago. I noticed that it says "For up to 85% shinier hair.*" The conditioner bottle featured the exact same tag line.
This got me curious, so I looked at the back of the bottle and found that the asterisk referred to their comparison between Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner and Pantene Shampoo. Their website seems to reinforce the same marketing schema, but doesn't give me the answers I need.
That didn't help much, I wanted to know how they measured this, what it meant. So, I asked my good friend, Dr. Harland Thompson PhD, of Harvard Medical University.
He had this to say in his email reply:
Mr. Kirschbaum -
Please stop emailing me, I'm not sure who you are or what you're after, but I can't give you the answers.
I'm not sure how they "Measure Shinierness" as you put it, you might want to ask Pantene. Also, I can't tell you anything about how they get the creme into Cadbury Creme Eggs, I would guess that it's injected, but that has nothing to do with my field. I do not know, nor could I guess from the photo, what your rash is. And finally, I would appreciate it if you would stop mailing me stool samples labeled as "Shit you might find interesting". I've finally learned to stop opening them, so please don't send them anymore.
In closing, who the hell are you, and how did you get my contact information.
Very illuminating indeed. I have the feeling that the Pantene information control machine may have gotten to him. I'll have to find a new source for my medical information.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
One more thing...
I wanted to mention a couple other things, a supplement to the previous post, if you will.
The Black Donnellys
I don't generally watch NBC unless it's to see a show I like, and don't get me wrong, there are a couple. But, even when I am watching NBC, I pay little attention to the commercials. It's by sheer luck that I found out that The Black Donnellys has become a web only show. You can check it out on NBC's Black Donnellys site.
I really love the show, so I'm glad I can still watch it, but I wish they would have been a bit more vocal about changing its venue. Seriously, advertising the show and ending it with "Mondays at 9pm (8 CST), only on NBC.com" flashed on screen for half a second isn't enough notice for me. 3 episodes have gone by with me awaiting their return.
The Onion News Network
I mentioned this before, but, The Onion News Network has launched, and it's pretty funny. Keep an eye on the news ticker at the bottom, it's almost funnier than the bits.
That's it 'til next time.
The Black Donnellys
I don't generally watch NBC unless it's to see a show I like, and don't get me wrong, there are a couple. But, even when I am watching NBC, I pay little attention to the commercials. It's by sheer luck that I found out that The Black Donnellys has become a web only show. You can check it out on NBC's Black Donnellys site.
I really love the show, so I'm glad I can still watch it, but I wish they would have been a bit more vocal about changing its venue. Seriously, advertising the show and ending it with "Mondays at 9pm (8 CST), only on NBC.com" flashed on screen for half a second isn't enough notice for me. 3 episodes have gone by with me awaiting their return.
The Onion News Network
I mentioned this before, but, The Onion News Network has launched, and it's pretty funny. Keep an eye on the news ticker at the bottom, it's almost funnier than the bits.
That's it 'til next time.
It begins...
Today will be a journey!
No, I'm serious, this will be an epic journey. You're best bet is to make yourself a sammich, crack open a coke and settle in. We'll be heading all over the internet, so, get your browsers ready and away we go.
The right way to eBay.
I'd like you to take a look at tryork5fip's eBay profile, most notably, take a peek at the feedback he's left for others.
Remote Control Pillows
I really don't know what to say about these things, they are the most amazingly spectacular devices ever invented. I've seen pillow speakers, which are ok, but these have to be the best possible pillow modification ever. Honestly, the idea of controlling your television with your pillows is just brilliant.
Doki Doki Majo Saiban
Alright, so I don't have a Nintendo DS, but I think that if I ever get one, the first game I'm going to pick up is this Witch Toucher Simulation. It looks as though it's probably the equivalent of ultra-soft core porn. According to this article on Kotaku:
The idea is that you're goal is to touch other middle schoolers to find out if their witches. There's lot's of screen shots of dual screen anime girls in short skirts, so, check 'em out.
Todd Goldman is an Art Thief?
Damn straight he is, but don't take my word for it, check out this massive article, with side by side evidence.
The whole sordid affair was brought to my attention by a recent blog post Tycho made at Penny Arcade. Since then, there's been about 6 million posts from every corner of the interwebs, including the great Something Awful Forums, from whence the first link comes.
Anyway, click the link and behold the obvious evidence that Todd Goldman is a sack of shit who apparently isn't good enough to come up with his own shit. Hey, I'm not either Todd, but at least I don't try and pretend.
Tank Chair
Alright, when I first saw TankChair.com, I thought maybe it was awesome... I couldn't wait to get into a car wreck, I needed to become a paraplegic. Of course, that quickly faded, and I saw it for what it really was, a chance for those that are differently abled to do just a few more of those things they couldn't normally do.
I mean, yeah, it's hardcore, and yeah, it looks like you could easily mount a gattling gun on the back and lay siege to your town, but, you could also go camping in remote sites, and trudge through the snow.
Good for them.
Final Destination 1-3, eat your heart out!
Watch this. Rube Goldberg is like a hero to me. Zie Germans have done him justice.
Le Grand Content
In the vein of xkcd.com, I present you with some charts and things about life.
Haloid
Much like every video game nerd, Monty Oum loves CGI lesbians, Halo, and Metroid. It was quite amazing then to watch his newest video, Haloid. It's pretty seamless. Enjoy.
Coming soon, Star Trek shields.
With my inane love of Sci-Fi and all things Star Trek, the only thing that tends to interest me more is seeing Star Trek like advances in technology. Such as this, British scientists have developed 'Deflector Shields' to help protect astronauts from radiation.
That's not all, but it's enough for now...
See you later now.
No, I'm serious, this will be an epic journey. You're best bet is to make yourself a sammich, crack open a coke and settle in. We'll be heading all over the internet, so, get your browsers ready and away we go.
The right way to eBay.
I'd like you to take a look at tryork5fip's eBay profile, most notably, take a peek at the feedback he's left for others.
Remote Control Pillows
I really don't know what to say about these things, they are the most amazingly spectacular devices ever invented. I've seen pillow speakers, which are ok, but these have to be the best possible pillow modification ever. Honestly, the idea of controlling your television with your pillows is just brilliant.
Doki Doki Majo Saiban
Alright, so I don't have a Nintendo DS, but I think that if I ever get one, the first game I'm going to pick up is this Witch Toucher Simulation. It looks as though it's probably the equivalent of ultra-soft core porn. According to this article on Kotaku:
Story: Previously, there were a few witches in the world. Current day. People don't know it, but the number of witches have grown. So God has chosen two mischievous middle school students, Akuji and Tenshi ("Angel") Ruru, to search for witches. Using the touch pen, players engage in a witch hunt adventure.
The idea is that you're goal is to touch other middle schoolers to find out if their witches. There's lot's of screen shots of dual screen anime girls in short skirts, so, check 'em out.
Todd Goldman is an Art Thief?
Damn straight he is, but don't take my word for it, check out this massive article, with side by side evidence.
The whole sordid affair was brought to my attention by a recent blog post Tycho made at Penny Arcade. Since then, there's been about 6 million posts from every corner of the interwebs, including the great Something Awful Forums, from whence the first link comes.
Anyway, click the link and behold the obvious evidence that Todd Goldman is a sack of shit who apparently isn't good enough to come up with his own shit. Hey, I'm not either Todd, but at least I don't try and pretend.
Tank Chair
Alright, when I first saw TankChair.com, I thought maybe it was awesome... I couldn't wait to get into a car wreck, I needed to become a paraplegic. Of course, that quickly faded, and I saw it for what it really was, a chance for those that are differently abled to do just a few more of those things they couldn't normally do.
I mean, yeah, it's hardcore, and yeah, it looks like you could easily mount a gattling gun on the back and lay siege to your town, but, you could also go camping in remote sites, and trudge through the snow.
Good for them.
Final Destination 1-3, eat your heart out!
Watch this. Rube Goldberg is like a hero to me. Zie Germans have done him justice.
Le Grand Content
In the vein of xkcd.com, I present you with some charts and things about life.
Haloid
Much like every video game nerd, Monty Oum loves CGI lesbians, Halo, and Metroid. It was quite amazing then to watch his newest video, Haloid. It's pretty seamless. Enjoy.
Coming soon, Star Trek shields.
With my inane love of Sci-Fi and all things Star Trek, the only thing that tends to interest me more is seeing Star Trek like advances in technology. Such as this, British scientists have developed 'Deflector Shields' to help protect astronauts from radiation.
That's not all, but it's enough for now...
See you later now.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Time is on my side.
Blog Changes and the new Ink Production Diary.
My Blog...
You might notice that I've made my posts collapsible. I didn't feel like I had a choice, when you can count the time it takes to scroll to the bottom of a page in minutes, not seconds, you have a lot of content. In an effort to help curtail this, and try and make this thing as readable as possible, I did what needed to be done.
This one won't be too long, just a bit about this blog, and the new blog I'm working with Mike on (http://ten30onestudios.blogspot.com)...
There's a few things that I have been neglecting to do, for example, I have been meaning to sit down for a few minutes and throw a real banner at the top. But so far, I haven't bothered. Some time ago, I broke the footer so that my footer stuff shows up incorrectly on the sidebar, I need to fix that. My sidebar still bears the lowercase transform that I decided I wasn't into anymore, yet I haven't taken the time to fix it.
Bottom line is that I need to clean house. I will hopefully be getting to it soon. Also, I'm planning on going back through the over 100 posts that already exist and adding the collapsible post options, as well as adding labels to all the posts. That is going to take a while, so don't expect it to be done over night.
Now, this isn't limited to this blog, I've also been having trouble keeping up on deviantArt as well.
The new ten30one.studios Ink production diary.
Mike and I have set up a new blog, the Ink Production Diary is your new source for up-to-date information on our upcoming film, Ink. Both Mike and I will be posting everything from our current doings to how we got to where we are. Hopefully, by the time we're done, it'll make a good handbook for aspiring writer/directors on how to successfully make a movie on a minimal budget (in this case, roughly $0).
and because I like you... a Nazi Mech Battle!
Someone posted this and I thought it was brilliant. The voice acting is awful, but when I voiced that concern, someone found this quote:
So, hopefully this will mean that they'll redo the voice acting with the music score.
That does it for now, catch you on the flip. And no, I haven't forgotten about the movie reviews I'm behind on.
My Blog...
You might notice that I've made my posts collapsible. I didn't feel like I had a choice, when you can count the time it takes to scroll to the bottom of a page in minutes, not seconds, you have a lot of content. In an effort to help curtail this, and try and make this thing as readable as possible, I did what needed to be done.
This one won't be too long, just a bit about this blog, and the new blog I'm working with Mike on (http://ten30onestudios.blogspot.com)...
There's a few things that I have been neglecting to do, for example, I have been meaning to sit down for a few minutes and throw a real banner at the top. But so far, I haven't bothered. Some time ago, I broke the footer so that my footer stuff shows up incorrectly on the sidebar, I need to fix that. My sidebar still bears the lowercase transform that I decided I wasn't into anymore, yet I haven't taken the time to fix it.
Bottom line is that I need to clean house. I will hopefully be getting to it soon. Also, I'm planning on going back through the over 100 posts that already exist and adding the collapsible post options, as well as adding labels to all the posts. That is going to take a while, so don't expect it to be done over night.
Now, this isn't limited to this blog, I've also been having trouble keeping up on deviantArt as well.
The new ten30one.studios Ink production diary.
Mike and I have set up a new blog, the Ink Production Diary is your new source for up-to-date information on our upcoming film, Ink. Both Mike and I will be posting everything from our current doings to how we got to where we are. Hopefully, by the time we're done, it'll make a good handbook for aspiring writer/directors on how to successfully make a movie on a minimal budget (in this case, roughly $0).
and because I like you... a Nazi Mech Battle!
Someone posted this and I thought it was brilliant. The voice acting is awful, but when I voiced that concern, someone found this quote:
Finally, Code Guardian is here!
After almost five years of wait and hard work in my spare time, my last
short movie project is availabe for download in the Movies area or by
clicking the advertise poster above.
Note that this versione doesn't have an original movie score, the music production
it's a bit late on schedule, but I didn't wanted to post-pone furtherly the release
so, here it is.
So, hopefully this will mean that they'll redo the voice acting with the music score.
That does it for now, catch you on the flip. And no, I haven't forgotten about the movie reviews I'm behind on.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
[insert obligitory humorous title here]
[insert obligitory humorous title here]
I really couldn't think of a title... it's sad, actually, because it means my brain has just about stopped working completely. They say that as we grow older, our brains stop growing, the gooey stuff, so often represented by macaroni in a bowl on halloween, it fuses and becomes rigid, our ability to learn tapers off. I think that I've actually hit a point where my brain is just failing altogether.
It's been a while since I've posted, and there's plenty for me to say, but, I'll still be keeping this relatively brief.
What I've been doing...
This is Mike, he's holding a camera, as you can see. He and I went out yesterday to shoot some video. Why did we do this? Well, the primary reason was to find out if we could. That might seem a little silly, so I suppose that a deeper explanation might make more sense.
Mike and I are working on a movie. More accuratley, Mike's got a movie, and I'm with him on it. It's more his thing than mine, to be honest. It's not that I don't have a passion, or a drive to make a film; for me, any creative outlet is a good one. I love the writing process, I love creating images, so, it's only natural to want to be a part of this. What I mean, when I say that it's more Mike's thing than mine, is that I'm putting time and effort into something that Mike wrote and will direct this. I'm not the primary in the project, nor am I even an equal or partner, I'm just along for the ride. I'm ok with that, but clearly, I'm pointing out, therefore it must be on my mind.
With that said, what we are working on is a film called Ink. It's a story that Mike has been working on for a while, quite a while. I'm really proud of him, because he not only finished the screenplay, but he's actually managed to re-write it with improvements, and written in an entire character without destroying the tenor of the story. I'm glad to be a part of it.
So, Saturday we went out and shot some footage, in an attempt to come with a working version of the first scene of the film. The goal was to shoot some footage, and then put it together and see what we missed. We recorded some audio, then took it back and put it into Premiere.
Premiere isn't that big of a deal, not the basic use. But, it was good to find out what we can do with Premiere, as well as Audition and After Effects. So far, Premiere and Audtion have proved easy enough to pick up, both use plenty of elements that I'm very familiar with, however After Effects is a little more indepth. It's not that it's unusual, because I'm relatively familiar with applications like it, such as Flash, but, I'm not familiar with working with video in this way. That's the next step. I haven't gotten that far.
I will say that I made a quick vid that I've uploaded on YouTube (yes, I'm on YouTube now... but of course, that was all about learning too...) it's of Mike and me in the car.
Anyway, that's the story of Saturday. You might notice that my screenshot of Premiere Pro (that's me in the car, aren't I a great actor?) is being run in something OTHER than Windows Vista. Yep, that's right, it's Windows XP. You see, I've finally found something I can't get to run in Vista. When I installed Premiere, it refused to run, telling me that my 'registration' information was incorrect. I actually ran into a similar problem with Photoshop at first, but that was easily fixable, I haven't been able to figure out the problem this time. Of course, I've thought about doing some reasearch, but before too long I figured that instead I would just use XP.
I've failed at Vista... for now.
The Departed
Don't consider this a full review. I just wanted to mention that I finally saw this.... I really enjoyed it, even with the obvious flaw of featuring Leonardo DiCaprio... I hate enjoying his work ... because I want to hate him so much. Either way, I can tell you one thing about this movie... which could mean that you won't need to watch it: EVERYONE GETS SHOT IN THE HEAD! It's creepy. I mean, don't get me wrong, the incredible blood spatters are amazing to behold, but, how the hell is EVERYONE such a crack shot in this movie?
Stranger than Fiction
I'm watching this movie right now... I have to admit that I am absolutely, wholeheartedly, completely and fully in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal. I've never, not even slightly, felt more attracted to a woman than she. Even in Donnie Darko, but sicne The Secretary... everything about her is what I want.
This is really unusal, because normally, I'm really not prone to that sort of thing. It's not that I don't find many screen actors attractive, but, something about her is different... it's strange. Perhaps I should seek help.
*EDIT / FOLLOWUP* I was stunned at the brilliance of this film. I will review it more fully at a later date and time, but, I have to say that it was a phenominal piece of work.
Anyway...
With that creepy little bit of information, I'm just gonna back away slowly and save you the trouble.
NOTE - Can you believe I that I didn't link any articles or information I found interesting? Me neither.
I really couldn't think of a title... it's sad, actually, because it means my brain has just about stopped working completely. They say that as we grow older, our brains stop growing, the gooey stuff, so often represented by macaroni in a bowl on halloween, it fuses and becomes rigid, our ability to learn tapers off. I think that I've actually hit a point where my brain is just failing altogether.
It's been a while since I've posted, and there's plenty for me to say, but, I'll still be keeping this relatively brief.
What I've been doing...
This is Mike, he's holding a camera, as you can see. He and I went out yesterday to shoot some video. Why did we do this? Well, the primary reason was to find out if we could. That might seem a little silly, so I suppose that a deeper explanation might make more sense.Mike and I are working on a movie. More accuratley, Mike's got a movie, and I'm with him on it. It's more his thing than mine, to be honest. It's not that I don't have a passion, or a drive to make a film; for me, any creative outlet is a good one. I love the writing process, I love creating images, so, it's only natural to want to be a part of this. What I mean, when I say that it's more Mike's thing than mine, is that I'm putting time and effort into something that Mike wrote and will direct this. I'm not the primary in the project, nor am I even an equal or partner, I'm just along for the ride. I'm ok with that, but clearly, I'm pointing out, therefore it must be on my mind.
With that said, what we are working on is a film called Ink. It's a story that Mike has been working on for a while, quite a while. I'm really proud of him, because he not only finished the screenplay, but he's actually managed to re-write it with improvements, and written in an entire character without destroying the tenor of the story. I'm glad to be a part of it.
So, Saturday we went out and shot some footage, in an attempt to come with a working version of the first scene of the film. The goal was to shoot some footage, and then put it together and see what we missed. We recorded some audio, then took it back and put it into Premiere.
Premiere isn't that big of a deal, not the basic use. But, it was good to find out what we can do with Premiere, as well as Audition and After Effects. So far, Premiere and Audtion have proved easy enough to pick up, both use plenty of elements that I'm very familiar with, however After Effects is a little more indepth. It's not that it's unusual, because I'm relatively familiar with applications like it, such as Flash, but, I'm not familiar with working with video in this way. That's the next step. I haven't gotten that far.
I will say that I made a quick vid that I've uploaded on YouTube (yes, I'm on YouTube now... but of course, that was all about learning too...) it's of Mike and me in the car.
Anyway, that's the story of Saturday. You might notice that my screenshot of Premiere Pro (that's me in the car, aren't I a great actor?) is being run in something OTHER than Windows Vista. Yep, that's right, it's Windows XP. You see, I've finally found something I can't get to run in Vista. When I installed Premiere, it refused to run, telling me that my 'registration' information was incorrect. I actually ran into a similar problem with Photoshop at first, but that was easily fixable, I haven't been able to figure out the problem this time. Of course, I've thought about doing some reasearch, but before too long I figured that instead I would just use XP.
I've failed at Vista... for now.
The Departed
Don't consider this a full review. I just wanted to mention that I finally saw this.... I really enjoyed it, even with the obvious flaw of featuring Leonardo DiCaprio... I hate enjoying his work ... because I want to hate him so much. Either way, I can tell you one thing about this movie... which could mean that you won't need to watch it: EVERYONE GETS SHOT IN THE HEAD! It's creepy. I mean, don't get me wrong, the incredible blood spatters are amazing to behold, but, how the hell is EVERYONE such a crack shot in this movie?
Stranger than Fiction
I'm watching this movie right now... I have to admit that I am absolutely, wholeheartedly, completely and fully in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal. I've never, not even slightly, felt more attracted to a woman than she. Even in Donnie Darko, but sicne The Secretary... everything about her is what I want.
This is really unusal, because normally, I'm really not prone to that sort of thing. It's not that I don't find many screen actors attractive, but, something about her is different... it's strange. Perhaps I should seek help.
*EDIT / FOLLOWUP* I was stunned at the brilliance of this film. I will review it more fully at a later date and time, but, I have to say that it was a phenominal piece of work.
Anyway...
With that creepy little bit of information, I'm just gonna back away slowly and save you the trouble.
NOTE - Can you believe I that I didn't link any articles or information I found interesting? Me neither.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
It's as if I've never blogged before.
So, here it is... it's been days since I posted last. I think it best that I just barrel through a few items as I'm also sick as shit right now. 102.3 degree temperature when I woke up this morning.
Also, I'm in process of learning to type Dvorak, which is an interesting experience. Dvorak is the best layout... the best page I've found on Dvorak and it's history is here. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to retrain myself, but I thought I'd give it a try as more and more people are making the change. Who knows, maybe it will become the standard. I think it's funny that it's said that the Qwerty layout was devised to slow typists down to prevent typewriter jams. It's actually meant to slow you down.
Anyway, enough of that... on to some things you care about... maybe.
Peeta
Seriously, this guy does some amazing work.
Russian Man Arrested for International Beer Run
Here's the article.... he went to Japan to get some beer, they arrested him for illegal entry. That's it... but that's enough to make it funny.
The German Army wants YOU!!*
* if you're 4 weeks old...
Transgaming Cedega 6.0
This is pretty cool... Transgaming has released Cedega 6.0. Cedega is a Linux package designed to emulate Microsoft's DirectX. Basically, it let's you play Windows games under Linux. There's a preview here, you can see how it runs.
Crocagator?
I have no idea what this says, but Mike sent it to me and it's got a funny picture.
Fallout 3, closer to reality?
Previously, Interplay had been licensing the Fallout IP to Bethesda, but, now it seems that it's been outright sold. It could be that we're closer to a Fallout 3 than ever before. Also, the Fallout MMO may still become a reality as well.
Maniac Mansion... Speed Run
The Grumpy Gamer posted an interesting read after seeing a YouTube post for a speed run through a game he'd actually worked on. The old point and click games from LucasArts really were the best.
The Interwebs...
An interesting article on Net Neutrality...
Of course, there are some that thing the internet needs to be 'rebooted'.
$250M Human Error
Oops...
Chris Rock tells it like it is... how not to get your ass kicked by the police.
OMG... save us from the Water!
Vista on your Mac
This is not the first time this argument has been made, and it isn't any less stupid now than it was before. The new Vista requires that you install either the Business or Ultimate version in a virtualization environment. This means that you want to run it on your Mac under Parallels or VMware, you have to buy the more expensive versions. Of course, you can just dual boot using boot camp and choose which ever version you want. So, it's really not a punishment for Mac users as they claim...
Of course... go ahead and try to install Mac OS X on PC, virtualized or dual-boot... oh wait, you can't...
The Landloard...
Will Farrell isn't really all that funny... but a little kid swearing like this is amusing.
Worst Movies Ever.
That's it...
for now, hopefully that gets me somewhat caught up. I need to do some reviews, including L4yer Cak3, Penny Dreadful, The Devil's Rejects, and Thr3e (which isn't a prequel to Se7en).
Also, I'm in process of learning to type Dvorak, which is an interesting experience. Dvorak is the best layout... the best page I've found on Dvorak and it's history is here. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to retrain myself, but I thought I'd give it a try as more and more people are making the change. Who knows, maybe it will become the standard. I think it's funny that it's said that the Qwerty layout was devised to slow typists down to prevent typewriter jams. It's actually meant to slow you down.
Anyway, enough of that... on to some things you care about... maybe.
Peeta
Seriously, this guy does some amazing work.
Russian Man Arrested for International Beer Run
Here's the article.... he went to Japan to get some beer, they arrested him for illegal entry. That's it... but that's enough to make it funny.
The German Army wants YOU!!*
* if you're 4 weeks old...
Transgaming Cedega 6.0
This is pretty cool... Transgaming has released Cedega 6.0. Cedega is a Linux package designed to emulate Microsoft's DirectX. Basically, it let's you play Windows games under Linux. There's a preview here, you can see how it runs.
Crocagator?
I have no idea what this says, but Mike sent it to me and it's got a funny picture.
Fallout 3, closer to reality?
Previously, Interplay had been licensing the Fallout IP to Bethesda, but, now it seems that it's been outright sold. It could be that we're closer to a Fallout 3 than ever before. Also, the Fallout MMO may still become a reality as well.
Maniac Mansion... Speed Run
The Grumpy Gamer posted an interesting read after seeing a YouTube post for a speed run through a game he'd actually worked on. The old point and click games from LucasArts really were the best.
The Interwebs...
An interesting article on Net Neutrality...
Of course, there are some that thing the internet needs to be 'rebooted'.
$250M Human Error
Oops...
Chris Rock tells it like it is... how not to get your ass kicked by the police.
OMG... save us from the Water!
Vista on your Mac
This is not the first time this argument has been made, and it isn't any less stupid now than it was before. The new Vista requires that you install either the Business or Ultimate version in a virtualization environment. This means that you want to run it on your Mac under Parallels or VMware, you have to buy the more expensive versions. Of course, you can just dual boot using boot camp and choose which ever version you want. So, it's really not a punishment for Mac users as they claim...
Of course... go ahead and try to install Mac OS X on PC, virtualized or dual-boot... oh wait, you can't...
The Landloard...
Will Farrell isn't really all that funny... but a little kid swearing like this is amusing.
Worst Movies Ever.
That's it...
for now, hopefully that gets me somewhat caught up. I need to do some reviews, including L4yer Cak3, Penny Dreadful, The Devil's Rejects, and Thr3e (which isn't a prequel to Se7en).
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Damn, I'm pissed...
Why?
Because it's 3:30AM, and I just got done writing a decent post about my night... and my damn laptop locked up!
BOOOM
Post gone...
Here's a much shorter version:
An impromptu John Carpenter marathon...
I've got Comcast digital cable, which comes with OnDemand, which is great, though generally not something I find a great deal to watch on. However, they also have an OnDemand channel called FEARnet, which is basically horror OnDemand. Every so often I'll check this out just to see whats there... even though it's usually just awful oldies... and not the good awful.
However, tonight I noticed that John Carpenter had his own menu. I went, expecting, or at least HOPING to find my favorite Carpenter film: The Thing. I was disappointed, but worse than this, none of his classic horror flicks were there, good or bad. There was no The Fog, no Halloween, no Vampires...
However, the 3 movies that were there I ended up watching in this order: Starman (1984), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), and Escape from New York (1981).
All of these are great. Starman reminds me of growing up, I actually watched the movie with my dad when I was a kid. Eyes of Laura Mars (which he wrote, not directed) stars the eternally beautiful Faye Dunaway, and the never young (even at 32 when it came out) Tommy Lee Jones, and it was, for it's time, quite brilliant. Escape from New York is just classic cool, Snake Plisskin is the greatest role Kurt Russell ever played (although Grindhouse's Stuntman Mike does run a close second).
I also found...
...my old 35mm Single Lens Reflex Cameras. (Ok, they were my parents', but they're on my shelf now... so there!) From the early 80's is a classic Canon AV-1, though the lens is a little cloudy (but scratchless), the body is in great shape. It takes and FD or FL, so I might see if I can find one second hand, though the lens that's on there should work for now. I was amazed with the meter actually came to life when I turned it on, the little needle rising like a good little soldier in the viewfinder. I'll pick up another 6v cell for that soon.
The other is a from around 1989, and it's a Pentax P3n. It's actually a great little camera. I don't have the original kit lens, but I do have a fairly decent telephoto. It fired up too, first try, but the lit meter does not want to stay lit. The button battery for this one will be a little harder to find, but if I can, I will see if can track down a couple of used Sigmas for it...
I love new old toys. ;)
Because it's 3:30AM, and I just got done writing a decent post about my night... and my damn laptop locked up!
BOOOM
Post gone...
Here's a much shorter version:
An impromptu John Carpenter marathon...
I've got Comcast digital cable, which comes with OnDemand, which is great, though generally not something I find a great deal to watch on. However, they also have an OnDemand channel called FEARnet, which is basically horror OnDemand. Every so often I'll check this out just to see whats there... even though it's usually just awful oldies... and not the good awful.
However, tonight I noticed that John Carpenter had his own menu. I went, expecting, or at least HOPING to find my favorite Carpenter film: The Thing. I was disappointed, but worse than this, none of his classic horror flicks were there, good or bad. There was no The Fog, no Halloween, no Vampires...
However, the 3 movies that were there I ended up watching in this order: Starman (1984), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), and Escape from New York (1981).
All of these are great. Starman reminds me of growing up, I actually watched the movie with my dad when I was a kid. Eyes of Laura Mars (which he wrote, not directed) stars the eternally beautiful Faye Dunaway, and the never young (even at 32 when it came out) Tommy Lee Jones, and it was, for it's time, quite brilliant. Escape from New York is just classic cool, Snake Plisskin is the greatest role Kurt Russell ever played (although Grindhouse's Stuntman Mike does run a close second).
I also found...
...my old 35mm Single Lens Reflex Cameras. (Ok, they were my parents', but they're on my shelf now... so there!) From the early 80's is a classic Canon AV-1, though the lens is a little cloudy (but scratchless), the body is in great shape. It takes and FD or FL, so I might see if I can find one second hand, though the lens that's on there should work for now. I was amazed with the meter actually came to life when I turned it on, the little needle rising like a good little soldier in the viewfinder. I'll pick up another 6v cell for that soon.
The other is a from around 1989, and it's a Pentax P3n. It's actually a great little camera. I don't have the original kit lens, but I do have a fairly decent telephoto. It fired up too, first try, but the lit meter does not want to stay lit. The button battery for this one will be a little harder to find, but if I can, I will see if can track down a couple of used Sigmas for it...
I love new old toys. ;)
Saturday, April 7, 2007
We soon commemorate the Zombie Jesus
Well, perhaps I read it wrong...
A man, a prophet, is executed, then 3 days later he rises from the dead... and becomes undead.
You know, I haven't really talked much about my religious beliefs here, mostly because they don't generally find a favorable audience. I will be somewhat upfront though. I am not what you'd call a Christian. I believe that there must be a higher power up there, but I don't believe in organized religion, nor to I believe in the name God anymore than I believe in the Native American's Grandfather.
Either way, as religions come around, I will generally refer to them with a jeer, and frequently crack jokes in their direction. You can ignore it, it's just easier than trying to change my mind.
This time of year, it's the commemoration of the creation of the Zombie Jesus, else, it's the Rabbit Jesus, or the Bunny Jesus. I'm sure he was a great guy, I'm just not 100% convinced that he was actually the Son of God, or if he was more just a prophet for the Lord.
Though, it's probably best that I move on. If you believe in it, though, Happy Easter to you.
How I spent my summer vacation...
Or, at least, how I spent last night.
One unnecessarily compounded word: Grindhouse.
Truthfully, the experience was one of the best I've had in a while. The movie was great, and I'll get to that, but the actual going to the theater had a few memorable components as well.
First, my friend Jim went to the midnight showing the previous evening, and had regaled me with tales of wonder, and a packed theater. Assuming that Showplace, where Mike and I planned to see it, is one of the busier theaters on opening night, I figured it would be best to run up and pick up some tickets early. I got there about 2 hours early, and there was one hell of a line, and I looked up at the big board and saw that we were about half an hour from anything showing, and that was Meet the Robinsons. Then, as I got closer to the cashier, a cute piece of jailbait that seemed more interested in her blue Sanyo Katana phone than the customers she was supposed to be helping, I noticed that the small groups in front of me were buying tickets to the same showing of Grindhouse that I was there for. I used my incredible deductive reasoning powers and figured that the showing would be packed.
Oddly, when Mike and I got there, it was not. We arrived at about 7:30 for the 8:10 showing, assuming that it would be hard to find seats. It was not hard, though we did manage to get some great seats.
Now, arriving early, and having been berated by Mike on previous occasions for never buying food and drink at the theater, I figured this time that I would go ahead and get some nachos and a coke. He got his regular Popcorn and Coke. After laughing at the kids working the concession stand, as well as the fact that they abandoned all pretense of give you fresh food by handing me a bag of chips set into a tray with warmed cheese substitute, we made our way to our theater.
We should have expected someone to check our tickets going in, since there was no one standing at the ticket stand when we came in, however, it didn't make it any less inconvenient to approach a door with both hands full of spill-able foodstuffs. The scrawny, acne faced kid said, and I'll admit that it was with an odd conviction, "Tickets!"
Mike says, and he's shuffling food from hand to hand, something to the effect of, "Yeah, this is the most convenient time to check those." I said something similar to the little fucker, and then, as we're walking in through the door, I say, "And while you're at it, could you be scrawnier and nerdier? I'm just not buying it." I said it hoping that I was still within earshot of the little punk, who looked more ridiculous in his "uniform" than most, especially the stupid hats they're made to wear. (If you've ever been to a Kerasotes Theater, you'll know what I mean). I know it's not his fault, not really, but it doesn't make it less funny. Not to me anyway.
So, we get settled into our seats, and we're watching the "quotes" on the big screen while people meander in. Now, I much prefer the constant barrage of trivia, because I can usually answer a lot of it, which somehow gives me a feeling of superiority. But, there wasn't much in the way of Trivia, just random quotes from various actors.
Some highlights of these:
"I've learned that success comes in a prickly package." - Sandra Bullock
Really? If you think you've truly had success, you're sad. If you're just referring to the fact that every movie you've ever been in that gets a decent rating, usually lists you as the caveat. No one likes your acting. Clearly your success has come from some other talent...
"I don't think of myself as hot or talented... I'm just a dork." - Ashley Olson
Really, what's your sister think? No, really, we're dying to know.
"Life's not worth living if there isn't a camera around." - Carmen Electra
Wow. Honesty! This was the most amazing quote...
Denzel Washington had a quote about how nothing is more important than is kids... which just BLEW OUR MINDS! And someone else said something about how ACTING is about getting better with every attempt... which, I mean really... Mike said it best, "That could go for anything, even ditch digging."
Anyway, Mike and I sat and watched these go by for 40 minutes as we waited for the movie start. It was decided that we probably didn't need to arrive so early, as the theater never even approached capacity. Apparently, Meet the Robinsons was more popular even last night than I'd given it credit for.
On another note, Mike had told me the running time for the film was 140 minutes according to where ever he looked it up. That would be 2 hours and 20 minutes, however, even with a few previews that weren't part of the movie, which started fairly promptly at 8:10, we didn't get out of the theater until about 11:15. Unless my maths are broken, that's about 3 hours.
Anyway, it was a good time in and of itself... but now:
Grindhouse
Amazing! Spectacular! Astounding!
Wow!
I went into this thing with high expectations, and it did not disappoint. The greatest component of the whole thing was the attention to the details of the 70's style Grindhouse films. If you saw Kill Bill, you'll recall some of the things that Tarantino did there that harked back to the old days. This time around, there was more of that. The pops and scratches that seemed to last throughout, the skipping and repeating sound... it made to create a very realistic experience.
First, the 'fake' trailers. There were a few from various directors. They were all great. The first was Machette, which happened before the first movie, was hilarious. It had gore, nudity, and a hilarious concept, which is based on Rodriguez's use of Danny Trejo for characters that always have knife based names. The idea is that it's a Mexican federali who poses as a day laborer and gets hired for a hit job. He's double crossed and goes after the people that hired him. It's hilarious, and it's been announced that they will produce it as a direct to DVD film, since they had enough footage just from making the trailer that it only made sense.
The rest of the trailers were in the middle. The one I had been most looking forward to was Werewolf Women in the S.S. by Rob Zombie. The title pretty clearly defined the concept. But, it's a sight to behold. The best part was that after all the dark and gritty shots of naked nazi babes killing people and turning into werewolves, thy then cut to Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu... hilarity at it's finest.
Don't followed this, and it was just funny... I can't even describe it. Edgar Wright, of Shaun of the Dead, directed the trailer, and it basically just says "If you're blah blah blah that house... Don't" and after awhile, the direction is dropped and the word Don't is repeated over and over, until it's flashed as the title of the film.
Eli Roth presents and Eli Roth production of Eli Roth's Thanksgiving. This trailer was apparently actually going to be a movie, until Grindhouse came around and Eli Roth said to his friend, who plays the psychotic pilgrim on a murderous rampage in Massachusetts, "Dude, guess what, we don't have to make the movie, we can just shoot the best parts." It's about Jordan Ladd, a psycho kid who goes to a mental institution after killing his family over his father's murder of his beloved turkey. He comes back to exact his revenge... It's wrong, on so many levels.
Now, on to the films themselves. Planet Terror is Rodriguez's entry, and while I expected to like Tarantino's entry more, I think I preferred this one. It was just so awful, which is what you'd expect. I throughout almost the entire thing, as the horrible quick cuts and terrible dialog let loose on a story that seems to wander around so much over the multitude of characters.
Deathproof, on the other hand seems more like two 30 minute movies that are just tacked together. Following one group that gets killed by Stunt Man Mike, who uses his death proof stunt car to exact some sort of strange murderous plot against girls he's taken a fancy too. In the second half of the film, we lose Mike for a while and follow another group for while and learn of their lives, when Mike comes back, he learns that he's messed with the wrong ladies. The stunts are just plain fun to watch.
The whole of the this results in a great block of movie joy. I can't imagine not seeing this in the theater. It's just good clean wholesome fun! Theres guns, blood, guts, gore, nudity, campy and silly dialog, poorly written story.
These guys have really hit on a concept that has long been needed. Recalling the classic movies of days gone past. Days when people went to the theater to see a movie, not because of the 3 billion dollar budget, but because it was filled with blood and guts, thrills and chills.
I can't wait for the sequel.
To find out more, check out the wikipedia article.
The Baby Hatch
Apparently, Japan needs to place to stick their babies. According to a couple articles that I read, they are about to get just that.
The concept is that it's a cradle where people can anonymously dump babies, and it's based on something that's apparently been in use in Germany for awhile called the BabyKlappe. I've heard a lot of people saying bad things about it, but here in the U.S., most states have laws that allow people to dump their babies almost anywhere, from Police and Fire Stations, to hospitals. It certainly beats the dumpster behind Red Lobster.
Of course, there's always the BabySmasher.
Unlocking Game Content.
In an article on GameStooge.com, a guy shows a new level of video game stupidity rarely seen these days.
What is he lobbying for? Laziness.
His complaint is that he's tired of buying games and having to work to unlock the conent of the game. His main target? Guitar Hero, which requires you to work your way through songs to unlock more songs. Apparently, he thinks that his $60 should allow him to play whatever song he wants.
He even makes an asinine comment about the "illegal" claims on the package of songs you can play... because you can't just play them, you have to unlock them. He's not saying that the songs aren't there, but that the box should say you have to unlock the songs.
It's the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while from a game nerd. I'm sorry you don't like it, all this having to work to get a reward. What a silly idea, using a formula that has worked in video games for decades. Maybe I should call Nintendo about a refund since Super Mario Bros. required me to unlock worlds, and didn't just let me start a game from where I want. We could probably get a nice class action lawsuit going, since I recall seeing screen shots of levels on the box that I couldn't get to right away.
It's a game, you're supposed to play it. Moron.
Tired of Tiny URLS?
Me too.. try HugeURL.com!
Here it is in action, when we take http://fyrephlie.blogspot.com/ and hugefy it!
http://www.hugeurl.com/?OGQ5YTk1NzU0ZmNlNjUzNDM3ZWEwMjlhYzBkYzIzOGIm
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Maddox tackles another great subject...
On thebestpageintheuniverse.net, Maddox is pretty hilarious. Now he's tackling the age old Mac vs. PC... hilarity ensues.
Cracked.com does something funny...
Kind of. I don't know, they have posted a list of the "5 Most Annoying Banner Ads on the Internet" that is pretty funny. At the same time, though, they seem to be a lot of the same things that they are complaining about...
I don't know, check it out, it's worth a chuckle or two.
300... the PG Version
The new trolls under the bridge?
CNN.com is running a story about the poor sex offenders from Florida's Miami-Dade county. There they have some of the most stringent Sex Offender laws on the books, they require that they live no less than 2,500 feet from Schools, Parks and any place where children congregate. The problem: that's nearly half a mile, and that means that there's hardly anywhere they can live.
The tone of the article is one of sympathy toward men who have become homeless or are living in terrible places, like under bridges where there's no running water, electricity, and likely cable hook-ups.
FUCK THEM! They are rapists and child molesters! These dumb mother fuckers should have thought about the consequences of what they were doing. I don't feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for them, and I can't believe that any does!
They talk of a guy's sorrow in losing his apartment. Too bad! The man is a convicted sex offender. He's not a Jew being oppressed by Hitler, he's not an African American who's not allow to sit at the same lunch counter. He's a sex offender! He doesn't get to vote, and in Miami-Dade County, he doesn't get his pick of wherever he wants to live.
Apple's iRack
Sometimes MADtv can still be funny...
A man, a prophet, is executed, then 3 days later he rises from the dead... and becomes undead.
You know, I haven't really talked much about my religious beliefs here, mostly because they don't generally find a favorable audience. I will be somewhat upfront though. I am not what you'd call a Christian. I believe that there must be a higher power up there, but I don't believe in organized religion, nor to I believe in the name God anymore than I believe in the Native American's Grandfather.
Either way, as religions come around, I will generally refer to them with a jeer, and frequently crack jokes in their direction. You can ignore it, it's just easier than trying to change my mind.
This time of year, it's the commemoration of the creation of the Zombie Jesus, else, it's the Rabbit Jesus, or the Bunny Jesus. I'm sure he was a great guy, I'm just not 100% convinced that he was actually the Son of God, or if he was more just a prophet for the Lord.
Though, it's probably best that I move on. If you believe in it, though, Happy Easter to you.
How I spent my summer vacation...
Or, at least, how I spent last night.
One unnecessarily compounded word: Grindhouse.
Truthfully, the experience was one of the best I've had in a while. The movie was great, and I'll get to that, but the actual going to the theater had a few memorable components as well.
First, my friend Jim went to the midnight showing the previous evening, and had regaled me with tales of wonder, and a packed theater. Assuming that Showplace, where Mike and I planned to see it, is one of the busier theaters on opening night, I figured it would be best to run up and pick up some tickets early. I got there about 2 hours early, and there was one hell of a line, and I looked up at the big board and saw that we were about half an hour from anything showing, and that was Meet the Robinsons. Then, as I got closer to the cashier, a cute piece of jailbait that seemed more interested in her blue Sanyo Katana phone than the customers she was supposed to be helping, I noticed that the small groups in front of me were buying tickets to the same showing of Grindhouse that I was there for. I used my incredible deductive reasoning powers and figured that the showing would be packed.
Oddly, when Mike and I got there, it was not. We arrived at about 7:30 for the 8:10 showing, assuming that it would be hard to find seats. It was not hard, though we did manage to get some great seats.
Now, arriving early, and having been berated by Mike on previous occasions for never buying food and drink at the theater, I figured this time that I would go ahead and get some nachos and a coke. He got his regular Popcorn and Coke. After laughing at the kids working the concession stand, as well as the fact that they abandoned all pretense of give you fresh food by handing me a bag of chips set into a tray with warmed cheese substitute, we made our way to our theater.
We should have expected someone to check our tickets going in, since there was no one standing at the ticket stand when we came in, however, it didn't make it any less inconvenient to approach a door with both hands full of spill-able foodstuffs. The scrawny, acne faced kid said, and I'll admit that it was with an odd conviction, "Tickets!"
Mike says, and he's shuffling food from hand to hand, something to the effect of, "Yeah, this is the most convenient time to check those." I said something similar to the little fucker, and then, as we're walking in through the door, I say, "And while you're at it, could you be scrawnier and nerdier? I'm just not buying it." I said it hoping that I was still within earshot of the little punk, who looked more ridiculous in his "uniform" than most, especially the stupid hats they're made to wear. (If you've ever been to a Kerasotes Theater, you'll know what I mean). I know it's not his fault, not really, but it doesn't make it less funny. Not to me anyway.
So, we get settled into our seats, and we're watching the "quotes" on the big screen while people meander in. Now, I much prefer the constant barrage of trivia, because I can usually answer a lot of it, which somehow gives me a feeling of superiority. But, there wasn't much in the way of Trivia, just random quotes from various actors.
Some highlights of these:
"I've learned that success comes in a prickly package." - Sandra Bullock
Really? If you think you've truly had success, you're sad. If you're just referring to the fact that every movie you've ever been in that gets a decent rating, usually lists you as the caveat. No one likes your acting. Clearly your success has come from some other talent...
"I don't think of myself as hot or talented... I'm just a dork." - Ashley Olson
Really, what's your sister think? No, really, we're dying to know.
"Life's not worth living if there isn't a camera around." - Carmen Electra
Wow. Honesty! This was the most amazing quote...
Denzel Washington had a quote about how nothing is more important than is kids... which just BLEW OUR MINDS! And someone else said something about how ACTING is about getting better with every attempt... which, I mean really... Mike said it best, "That could go for anything, even ditch digging."
Anyway, Mike and I sat and watched these go by for 40 minutes as we waited for the movie start. It was decided that we probably didn't need to arrive so early, as the theater never even approached capacity. Apparently, Meet the Robinsons was more popular even last night than I'd given it credit for.
On another note, Mike had told me the running time for the film was 140 minutes according to where ever he looked it up. That would be 2 hours and 20 minutes, however, even with a few previews that weren't part of the movie, which started fairly promptly at 8:10, we didn't get out of the theater until about 11:15. Unless my maths are broken, that's about 3 hours.
Anyway, it was a good time in and of itself... but now:
Grindhouse
Amazing! Spectacular! Astounding!
Wow!
I went into this thing with high expectations, and it did not disappoint. The greatest component of the whole thing was the attention to the details of the 70's style Grindhouse films. If you saw Kill Bill, you'll recall some of the things that Tarantino did there that harked back to the old days. This time around, there was more of that. The pops and scratches that seemed to last throughout, the skipping and repeating sound... it made to create a very realistic experience.
First, the 'fake' trailers. There were a few from various directors. They were all great. The first was Machette, which happened before the first movie, was hilarious. It had gore, nudity, and a hilarious concept, which is based on Rodriguez's use of Danny Trejo for characters that always have knife based names. The idea is that it's a Mexican federali who poses as a day laborer and gets hired for a hit job. He's double crossed and goes after the people that hired him. It's hilarious, and it's been announced that they will produce it as a direct to DVD film, since they had enough footage just from making the trailer that it only made sense.
The rest of the trailers were in the middle. The one I had been most looking forward to was Werewolf Women in the S.S. by Rob Zombie. The title pretty clearly defined the concept. But, it's a sight to behold. The best part was that after all the dark and gritty shots of naked nazi babes killing people and turning into werewolves, thy then cut to Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu... hilarity at it's finest.
Don't followed this, and it was just funny... I can't even describe it. Edgar Wright, of Shaun of the Dead, directed the trailer, and it basically just says "If you're blah blah blah that house... Don't" and after awhile, the direction is dropped and the word Don't is repeated over and over, until it's flashed as the title of the film.
Eli Roth presents and Eli Roth production of Eli Roth's Thanksgiving. This trailer was apparently actually going to be a movie, until Grindhouse came around and Eli Roth said to his friend, who plays the psychotic pilgrim on a murderous rampage in Massachusetts, "Dude, guess what, we don't have to make the movie, we can just shoot the best parts." It's about Jordan Ladd, a psycho kid who goes to a mental institution after killing his family over his father's murder of his beloved turkey. He comes back to exact his revenge... It's wrong, on so many levels.
Now, on to the films themselves. Planet Terror is Rodriguez's entry, and while I expected to like Tarantino's entry more, I think I preferred this one. It was just so awful, which is what you'd expect. I throughout almost the entire thing, as the horrible quick cuts and terrible dialog let loose on a story that seems to wander around so much over the multitude of characters.
Deathproof, on the other hand seems more like two 30 minute movies that are just tacked together. Following one group that gets killed by Stunt Man Mike, who uses his death proof stunt car to exact some sort of strange murderous plot against girls he's taken a fancy too. In the second half of the film, we lose Mike for a while and follow another group for while and learn of their lives, when Mike comes back, he learns that he's messed with the wrong ladies. The stunts are just plain fun to watch.
The whole of the this results in a great block of movie joy. I can't imagine not seeing this in the theater. It's just good clean wholesome fun! Theres guns, blood, guts, gore, nudity, campy and silly dialog, poorly written story.
These guys have really hit on a concept that has long been needed. Recalling the classic movies of days gone past. Days when people went to the theater to see a movie, not because of the 3 billion dollar budget, but because it was filled with blood and guts, thrills and chills.
I can't wait for the sequel.
To find out more, check out the wikipedia article.
The Baby Hatch
Apparently, Japan needs to place to stick their babies. According to a couple articles that I read, they are about to get just that.
The concept is that it's a cradle where people can anonymously dump babies, and it's based on something that's apparently been in use in Germany for awhile called the BabyKlappe. I've heard a lot of people saying bad things about it, but here in the U.S., most states have laws that allow people to dump their babies almost anywhere, from Police and Fire Stations, to hospitals. It certainly beats the dumpster behind Red Lobster.
Of course, there's always the BabySmasher.
Unlocking Game Content.
In an article on GameStooge.com, a guy shows a new level of video game stupidity rarely seen these days.
What is he lobbying for? Laziness.
His complaint is that he's tired of buying games and having to work to unlock the conent of the game. His main target? Guitar Hero, which requires you to work your way through songs to unlock more songs. Apparently, he thinks that his $60 should allow him to play whatever song he wants.
He even makes an asinine comment about the "illegal" claims on the package of songs you can play... because you can't just play them, you have to unlock them. He's not saying that the songs aren't there, but that the box should say you have to unlock the songs.
It's the most ridiculous thing I've read in a while from a game nerd. I'm sorry you don't like it, all this having to work to get a reward. What a silly idea, using a formula that has worked in video games for decades. Maybe I should call Nintendo about a refund since Super Mario Bros. required me to unlock worlds, and didn't just let me start a game from where I want. We could probably get a nice class action lawsuit going, since I recall seeing screen shots of levels on the box that I couldn't get to right away.
It's a game, you're supposed to play it. Moron.
Tired of Tiny URLS?
Me too.. try HugeURL.com!
Here it is in action, when we take http://fyrephlie.blogspot.com/ and hugefy it!
http://www.hugeurl.com/?OGQ5YTk1NzU0ZmNlNjUzNDM3ZWEwMjlhYzBkYzIzOGIm
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Maddox tackles another great subject...
On thebestpageintheuniverse.net, Maddox is pretty hilarious. Now he's tackling the age old Mac vs. PC... hilarity ensues.
Cracked.com does something funny...
Kind of. I don't know, they have posted a list of the "5 Most Annoying Banner Ads on the Internet" that is pretty funny. At the same time, though, they seem to be a lot of the same things that they are complaining about...
I don't know, check it out, it's worth a chuckle or two.
300... the PG Version
The new trolls under the bridge?
CNN.com is running a story about the poor sex offenders from Florida's Miami-Dade county. There they have some of the most stringent Sex Offender laws on the books, they require that they live no less than 2,500 feet from Schools, Parks and any place where children congregate. The problem: that's nearly half a mile, and that means that there's hardly anywhere they can live.
The tone of the article is one of sympathy toward men who have become homeless or are living in terrible places, like under bridges where there's no running water, electricity, and likely cable hook-ups.
FUCK THEM! They are rapists and child molesters! These dumb mother fuckers should have thought about the consequences of what they were doing. I don't feel even the slightest bit of sympathy for them, and I can't believe that any does!
They talk of a guy's sorrow in losing his apartment. Too bad! The man is a convicted sex offender. He's not a Jew being oppressed by Hitler, he's not an African American who's not allow to sit at the same lunch counter. He's a sex offender! He doesn't get to vote, and in Miami-Dade County, he doesn't get his pick of wherever he wants to live.
Apple's iRack
Sometimes MADtv can still be funny...
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
It's review time again.
So, a bit of introduction...
So, over the last few days, I've been catching up on some movies. If you haven't noticed, I seem to do it in spurts, and this is certainly no exception.
So, this post will be again dedicated to the review of some of these movies...
Meet the Robinsons
Great film. Another movie where the trailers not only didn't do it any justice, they failed completely to even tell us what the film was about. Turns out, Disney still knows how to churn them out. My only real gripe is that with the advent of CGI, it's all starting to look and feel the same. I remember days gone by where an animated film varied from studio to studio.
The story is about an orphan boy, who abandons hope of being adopted in favor of building a machine that would let him see his Mother out of the depths of his own mind. However, a mysterious, although brutally stupid man from the future who tries to steal his invention so he can pass it off as his own. He's taken by a boy, claiming to be from the future and there to help him, to the future in an attempt to convince him to repair his science fair project, and promptly gets stuck there. That aside, the film is actually great.
The story is pretty amusing, and it's done with Disney's typical humor. I was happy that there was a minimum of toilet humor, which seems to be getting more and more rare these days. My only real gripe is that the writer's made no real attempt at keeping straight the temporal mechanics of a film of this nature. The other gripe is that the story gets to be a little rushed, but, that's to be expected. And, no, I'm not looking for a time travel story int he vein of the great minds behind Star Trek, just something a bit more plausible... but, still, it's a kid movie. And my kids loved it, and that's really what matters, right?
The Last Mimzy
This film didn't exactly broadside my like some I've seen lately. The movie is based on a short story by Lewis Padgett, and I think they did a fantastic job bringing it to life.
The tale is somewhat complex, being a thread woven about the history of the future. A teacher stands before her class, in what appears to be a utopian future, and begins to tell them the history of how their world became as it was. The story follows a scientist desperate to try one last time to save humanity, he sends back what she refers to as the last Mimzy. A box is sent back in time, where it's found by Noah and Emma Wlder, who mistake the items in the box, at first, to be merely toys of some kind. Quickly, however, we discover that these are not merely playthings. The story progresses with the children learning quickly and displaying new and strange abilities, almost like magic. But all of this new found talent is actually leading them on an adventure to save the future of mankind.
The movie is done beautifully. It's filled with skillful cinematography and beautiful special effects. The story is well crafted, though it feels a little clunky at times, and there are moments where you feel that the screenwriter is trying to cram a few points down your throat. The most obvious comes at the beginning where you see screens of all sorts, whether they be on cell phones, televisions, portable video game systems, or what have you. Throughout, as well, there are mentions of pollutants, both cultural and otherwise.
Another thing I have problems with comes from the sheer amount of bizarre Tibetan references, and a call back to Alice Lidell, Lewis Carroll's muse for Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and it's sequel, which feels a bit pointless.
These few things aside, though, the story works well and I, for one, enjoyed it.
Children of Men
When I finished watching this movie, I could only think of one thing to say: Wow! By that I mean I think that it's brilliant.
The concept of the movie is pretty straight forward. It's a post-apocalyptic style sci-fi film, but it's not your average "nuke falls and the world struggles to carry on". Instead, the concept of the world revolves around an almost more terrifying planet: almost simultaneously, the world over, women became infertile, and now, nearly 19 years later, there hasn't been a single child born on the entire planet. The story takes place in Britian, the last country on earth that seems not to have fallen to anarchy. They credit this to their pleasant living to massive deportation and internment of illegal immigrants.Our main character is, as it seems, a regular joe, though one who seems somewhat well connected and a terrible past of some sort. He's approached by his former wife, the mother of their now dead child, and now leader of a terrorist organization known as "the fishies", for help in getting a woman to the coast and out of Britain. He comes through, but, in the ensuing flight from the country, she is killed by anarchists, or so it seems. When it comes to light that the woman they were trying to extricate from the country is actually pregnant, and that the fishies actually staged their leader's death in the hopes that they would keep the girl and her baby as a way to unite the world and bring about peace under the baby as a banner.
Thus begins a flight for freedom to what's known as the Human Project.
Now, this film is beautiful. The cinematography is impeccable, almost like a visual meal for the eyes to take in. As a friend points out to me, there's a remarkably long steady-cam shot that qualifies as amazing.
The acting in the film is great, although at a few points the dialog is a little weak, and the dynamic between the main hero and his former wife is a little hard to interperet. Overall, though, the script is solid and admirably performed.
The most amazing aspect of the entire thing is the detail. The entire world is crafted beautifully into a believable future devoid of children, a sci-fi world that seems more than plausible given the state it's in.
There are stunning changes from the beauty of the cities, to the suburban landscapes pockmarked with pollution belching factories to the run down camps immigrant camps that are literally entire cities that have been converted to dank worlds of despair. Beyond the macro details, however, the micro is even more well drafted, simple things that crop up and stay with you throughout and manage to create something greater than the whole.
I really couldn't say enough good things about it. Sure, there are problems, and trust me, I find them with almost every movie. But, I can say honestly, and with conviction, that this is one of the best movies that I've seen in a very long time.
The Hills Have Eyes
Horror is a genre renowned for it's consistent regurgitation of plot devices. The Hills Have Eyes certainly doesn't break new ground. However, it's a semi-different take on powerful mutant inbred man-beasts is certainly not yet over-used. Rather than hillbillies, we find people mutated when they refused to leave the New Mexico desert during the nuclear tests of the 50's.
The movie revolves around a semi-dysfunctional extended family as they wen their through the desert on the way to sunny cali-for-ni-a. They cross paths with the wrong gas attendant and end up being directed down a 'shortcut' that actually leads to the den of mutants that have lived off those unlucky enough to stumble down their paths for decades.
For the most part the film has all those things that a good horror should. It's filled with plenty of gore, disturbing images, and the constant fear of baby murder. There's the typical fair of ludicrously stupid mistakes, which lead to even more.
In short, it's nothing new, but if you love horror, it's well worth a watch.
Thus concludes the reviews...
But, as a special bonus, I shall give you a great little game called Makos. It's a remarkable little gem that is inline with the great puzzle time wasters of our generation, such as Bejeweled. The major difference being that this revolves around blowing up cute little animal block in the hopes of getting a great score.
Goodnight interwebs... sleep well.
So, over the last few days, I've been catching up on some movies. If you haven't noticed, I seem to do it in spurts, and this is certainly no exception.
So, this post will be again dedicated to the review of some of these movies...
Meet the Robinsons
Great film. Another movie where the trailers not only didn't do it any justice, they failed completely to even tell us what the film was about. Turns out, Disney still knows how to churn them out. My only real gripe is that with the advent of CGI, it's all starting to look and feel the same. I remember days gone by where an animated film varied from studio to studio.
The story is about an orphan boy, who abandons hope of being adopted in favor of building a machine that would let him see his Mother out of the depths of his own mind. However, a mysterious, although brutally stupid man from the future who tries to steal his invention so he can pass it off as his own. He's taken by a boy, claiming to be from the future and there to help him, to the future in an attempt to convince him to repair his science fair project, and promptly gets stuck there. That aside, the film is actually great.
The story is pretty amusing, and it's done with Disney's typical humor. I was happy that there was a minimum of toilet humor, which seems to be getting more and more rare these days. My only real gripe is that the writer's made no real attempt at keeping straight the temporal mechanics of a film of this nature. The other gripe is that the story gets to be a little rushed, but, that's to be expected. And, no, I'm not looking for a time travel story int he vein of the great minds behind Star Trek, just something a bit more plausible... but, still, it's a kid movie. And my kids loved it, and that's really what matters, right?
The Last Mimzy
This film didn't exactly broadside my like some I've seen lately. The movie is based on a short story by Lewis Padgett, and I think they did a fantastic job bringing it to life.
The tale is somewhat complex, being a thread woven about the history of the future. A teacher stands before her class, in what appears to be a utopian future, and begins to tell them the history of how their world became as it was. The story follows a scientist desperate to try one last time to save humanity, he sends back what she refers to as the last Mimzy. A box is sent back in time, where it's found by Noah and Emma Wlder, who mistake the items in the box, at first, to be merely toys of some kind. Quickly, however, we discover that these are not merely playthings. The story progresses with the children learning quickly and displaying new and strange abilities, almost like magic. But all of this new found talent is actually leading them on an adventure to save the future of mankind.
The movie is done beautifully. It's filled with skillful cinematography and beautiful special effects. The story is well crafted, though it feels a little clunky at times, and there are moments where you feel that the screenwriter is trying to cram a few points down your throat. The most obvious comes at the beginning where you see screens of all sorts, whether they be on cell phones, televisions, portable video game systems, or what have you. Throughout, as well, there are mentions of pollutants, both cultural and otherwise.
Another thing I have problems with comes from the sheer amount of bizarre Tibetan references, and a call back to Alice Lidell, Lewis Carroll's muse for Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and it's sequel, which feels a bit pointless.
These few things aside, though, the story works well and I, for one, enjoyed it.
Children of Men
When I finished watching this movie, I could only think of one thing to say: Wow! By that I mean I think that it's brilliant.
The concept of the movie is pretty straight forward. It's a post-apocalyptic style sci-fi film, but it's not your average "nuke falls and the world struggles to carry on". Instead, the concept of the world revolves around an almost more terrifying planet: almost simultaneously, the world over, women became infertile, and now, nearly 19 years later, there hasn't been a single child born on the entire planet. The story takes place in Britian, the last country on earth that seems not to have fallen to anarchy. They credit this to their pleasant living to massive deportation and internment of illegal immigrants.Our main character is, as it seems, a regular joe, though one who seems somewhat well connected and a terrible past of some sort. He's approached by his former wife, the mother of their now dead child, and now leader of a terrorist organization known as "the fishies", for help in getting a woman to the coast and out of Britain. He comes through, but, in the ensuing flight from the country, she is killed by anarchists, or so it seems. When it comes to light that the woman they were trying to extricate from the country is actually pregnant, and that the fishies actually staged their leader's death in the hopes that they would keep the girl and her baby as a way to unite the world and bring about peace under the baby as a banner.
Thus begins a flight for freedom to what's known as the Human Project.
Now, this film is beautiful. The cinematography is impeccable, almost like a visual meal for the eyes to take in. As a friend points out to me, there's a remarkably long steady-cam shot that qualifies as amazing.
The acting in the film is great, although at a few points the dialog is a little weak, and the dynamic between the main hero and his former wife is a little hard to interperet. Overall, though, the script is solid and admirably performed.
The most amazing aspect of the entire thing is the detail. The entire world is crafted beautifully into a believable future devoid of children, a sci-fi world that seems more than plausible given the state it's in.
There are stunning changes from the beauty of the cities, to the suburban landscapes pockmarked with pollution belching factories to the run down camps immigrant camps that are literally entire cities that have been converted to dank worlds of despair. Beyond the macro details, however, the micro is even more well drafted, simple things that crop up and stay with you throughout and manage to create something greater than the whole.
I really couldn't say enough good things about it. Sure, there are problems, and trust me, I find them with almost every movie. But, I can say honestly, and with conviction, that this is one of the best movies that I've seen in a very long time.
The Hills Have Eyes
Horror is a genre renowned for it's consistent regurgitation of plot devices. The Hills Have Eyes certainly doesn't break new ground. However, it's a semi-different take on powerful mutant inbred man-beasts is certainly not yet over-used. Rather than hillbillies, we find people mutated when they refused to leave the New Mexico desert during the nuclear tests of the 50's.
The movie revolves around a semi-dysfunctional extended family as they wen their through the desert on the way to sunny cali-for-ni-a. They cross paths with the wrong gas attendant and end up being directed down a 'shortcut' that actually leads to the den of mutants that have lived off those unlucky enough to stumble down their paths for decades.
For the most part the film has all those things that a good horror should. It's filled with plenty of gore, disturbing images, and the constant fear of baby murder. There's the typical fair of ludicrously stupid mistakes, which lead to even more.
In short, it's nothing new, but if you love horror, it's well worth a watch.
Thus concludes the reviews...
But, as a special bonus, I shall give you a great little game called Makos. It's a remarkable little gem that is inline with the great puzzle time wasters of our generation, such as Bejeweled. The major difference being that this revolves around blowing up cute little animal block in the hopes of getting a great score.
Goodnight interwebs... sleep well.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Another day...
Another several hours wasted...
Seriously... this has got to stop! Another friend picked up Supreme Commander yesterday, and he and I played a couple games tonight. Fun on a massive scaled, but damn, it's just life sucking!
Anyway... I've got a few things to talk about, and I need to get to bed soon, let's see what we can do in the time allotted...
Google TiSP: Free WiFi!
Alright, in a rare, but beautiful (yearly) move by Google, they've posted this hilarious bit of joy on their website. Ahh... April Fools, could there be a better day to visit Google.com? I think not.
It's a farce of joy. I recommend that you go there, and click the 'Get Started with Google TiSP" button.
Once you've laughed at that for a while, check out their "FAQ".
And, as if all that isn't funny enough, you'd do well to view their press release.
N.Y. Politicians Discover Video Games
Seriously, after less than 48 hours of public release, New York politicians are upset about the GTA4 Trailer.
It's discussed here. What's funny is that they are taking offense to the game taking place in the video game's depiction of the happiest place on earth, New York City.
I guess they never played Grand Theft Auto 3.
Siberian Throat Singing....
Just check this out.
It's apparently more common than you'd think there. If you listen, there's a point where there seems to be a sound like a flute which carries under the whole thing. Someone has suggested, and I think they are correct, that this is the result of Heterodyning, which is the generation of new frequencies by mixing two or more signals together. It's the most likely explanation anyway.
Whatever the reason, it's pretty neat to listen to.
HA HA RIAA
Now, I hate the RIAA and their quickening process of filing lawsuits against everyone on the planet. Recently, they picked another fight wherein they weren't up to the task.
They filed suit against a couple of individuals, and immediately their lawyer went Chuck Norris on their asses.
This is the letter that was sent by one Merl Ledford III, esq.
It's hilarious, and easy enough to read. Basically, the guy tears apart the suit that was filed against his clients, noting the RIAA's poor tactics, and historical failures. He points out their inability to file the suit in the correct venue, and offers that if the case is dropped, the RIAA will only have to pay a small amount of damages for ever filing the suit in the first place.
Here's how it opens:
The headers of the letter include:
Incorrect Venue and Emotional Distress
Selling a Settlement and the AOL Subpoena
Independent Factual Investigation and Probable Cause to Sue: Background
Independent Factual Investigation and Probable Cause to Sue: Lack of Probable Cause
Settlement Option
Procedural Issues
Concluding Remarks and
Honestly, it's hilarious the lengths to which Mr. Medford goes to "help" the Plaintiffs attorneys.
Clearly, his work was well received, because almost immediately, they filed for the voluntary dismissal of the suit.
I love watching these guys crumble at the drop of a hat. It's pathetic.
Flash Joys
I love these games... this one is called Orbox B, it's a lot of fun, I'm as far as level 19, though, even with the walkthrough, I got pretty stuck on 13.
Go ahead, through a chunk of your life away.
Seriously... this has got to stop! Another friend picked up Supreme Commander yesterday, and he and I played a couple games tonight. Fun on a massive scaled, but damn, it's just life sucking!
Anyway... I've got a few things to talk about, and I need to get to bed soon, let's see what we can do in the time allotted...
Google TiSP: Free WiFi!
Alright, in a rare, but beautiful (yearly) move by Google, they've posted this hilarious bit of joy on their website. Ahh... April Fools, could there be a better day to visit Google.com? I think not.
It's a farce of joy. I recommend that you go there, and click the 'Get Started with Google TiSP" button.
Once you've laughed at that for a while, check out their "FAQ".
And, as if all that isn't funny enough, you'd do well to view their press release.
N.Y. Politicians Discover Video Games
Seriously, after less than 48 hours of public release, New York politicians are upset about the GTA4 Trailer.
It's discussed here. What's funny is that they are taking offense to the game taking place in the video game's depiction of the happiest place on earth, New York City.
I guess they never played Grand Theft Auto 3.
Siberian Throat Singing....
Just check this out.
It's apparently more common than you'd think there. If you listen, there's a point where there seems to be a sound like a flute which carries under the whole thing. Someone has suggested, and I think they are correct, that this is the result of Heterodyning, which is the generation of new frequencies by mixing two or more signals together. It's the most likely explanation anyway.
Whatever the reason, it's pretty neat to listen to.
HA HA RIAA
Now, I hate the RIAA and their quickening process of filing lawsuits against everyone on the planet. Recently, they picked another fight wherein they weren't up to the task.
They filed suit against a couple of individuals, and immediately their lawyer went Chuck Norris on their asses.
This is the letter that was sent by one Merl Ledford III, esq.
It's hilarious, and easy enough to read. Basically, the guy tears apart the suit that was filed against his clients, noting the RIAA's poor tactics, and historical failures. He points out their inability to file the suit in the correct venue, and offers that if the case is dropped, the RIAA will only have to pay a small amount of damages for ever filing the suit in the first place.
Here's how it opens:
Dear Mr. Kerr
Thank you for your letter of March 23, 2007 received in my office today. I did not receive a copy of the letter by PDF although that method of delivery was shown on the letter.
The headers of the letter include:
Incorrect Venue and Emotional Distress
Selling a Settlement and the AOL Subpoena
Independent Factual Investigation and Probable Cause to Sue: Background
Independent Factual Investigation and Probable Cause to Sue: Lack of Probable Cause
Settlement Option
Procedural Issues
Concluding Remarks and
Honestly, it's hilarious the lengths to which Mr. Medford goes to "help" the Plaintiffs attorneys.
Clearly, his work was well received, because almost immediately, they filed for the voluntary dismissal of the suit.
I love watching these guys crumble at the drop of a hat. It's pathetic.
Flash Joys
I love these games... this one is called Orbox B, it's a lot of fun, I'm as far as level 19, though, even with the walkthrough, I got pretty stuck on 13.
Go ahead, through a chunk of your life away.
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