"Juno I like dis film..."

God that sucked balls but you work with what your brain cells give you...and mine have been giving me a lot of stuff that sucks balls lately. Thank god for "Juno". My wife and I made it out on a much needed date night and since we'd managed to pawn both our midgets off to a friend under the guise of a "sleep-over" we didn't have to make the choice of either dinner or a movie. Anyway, I am so glad we didn't have to choose because dinner was fabulous (the undone button of my jeans can attest to that) and Juno is my favorite movie of the new year and I'm pretty sure it's gonna be pretty damn tough to knock it off it's high horse for a while. Plus, as Juno, Ellen Page has solidified her status as one of my current movie faves in addition to her turns in both "Hard Candy" and as Kitty Pryde in X-Men 3. She is definitely too cool for school. And you don't have to believe me...my wife liked it too and except for a brief laps in judgment when she said "yes" she's got a good head on her shoulders about these kinds of things.

AM Fall 2007 Student Showcase...

I'm taking a break from mentoring at AM this quarter...first break in a couple years. It's good to see this and remember why I love being a part of it all in the first place.

Movie "Recrap"...

Been catching up on some flicks...some were ok...most were pure shite.

Here's the rundown:

crap

crap

crap...but with boobies and a "Bobbitt" for good measure


not crap...until the last 15 minutes. then mildly crap-esque.


definitely crap-free...unless you hate fun

Meet the Demo...

Andrew says he'll buy a beer for whoever can guess what he's saying under the beep...oh, and Jamaal rocks the block.

ZeroPunctuation!!!

Funniest reviews...makes me feel like my daughter's "baby alive" doll...I want to giggle and pee myself.

In Loving Memory...

Joe Riley died yesterday. For those of us lucky enough, blessed enough to have known him, worked with him, talked to him about all things nerdy, stupid and fun...Joe was a great person. Joe was one of those people you're always happy to see, always make time to talk to. One of the most talented artists I've ever known.

menooshea.blogspot.com

We miss you Joe.

No Mo...

In case any of you were wondering (and I know some of you are) there is no motion capture of any kind in TF2 (the game or the videos.) It's all hand crafted keyframe goodness.

Meet the Engineer!!!

...watch it, live it, love it. You're my hero Andrew Burke....you are the wind beneath my wings.

Meet the Soldier!!!

This is the newest class short for the TF2 crew. I love this one...Aaron Halifax is my hero. And for those that are curious....yes, there will be more. :D

Purdy thangs to look at...

Every time I go to Sarah's site I'm always amazed at how great her work is...plus I like flying bunnies...now if I could just get one that has a missile launcher.

Fjorg ahead!!!

Siggraph 2007 once again had the thrill of competative animation with the "FJORG!!!"...I added the caps and exclamation points because it was pretty damn cool. From the Siggraph site...

"SIGGRAPH 2007 officials, along with DreamWorks Animation, HP, and AMD, announced the winners of the world's first international FJORG! Competition - an "iron animator" event in which 16 competing teams from around the world had 32 hours to create the most impressive character-driven animation of at least 15 seconds in length adhering to at least one of two themes and using at least one of 16 sound bites. Based on storytelling, animation talent, use of resources, creativity, and technical skills, the judges selected Team Mocap from Bowling Green State University for their animation "Switch" as the first place winners. The team consists of Jim Levasseur, Tomas Jech, and W. Jacob Gardner. Picture This, a team from Miami International University of Art & Design came in second place and Impulse, from The Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg, won third place."

...take a sec and look through these...there's some really fun stuff and some, er, really interesting stuff. But even the "interesting" stuff is cool considering all the constraints involved.


Can't wait till next year.

"Your Number's Up...."

Not to long ago I finished reading Stephen King's book "Cell". That would have been the end of that except that's it's been a while since I've finished a book that wasn't either about animation/writing/film making or some kind of non-fiction ( I loves me some Sarah Vowel).

T.M.I. ALERT....

Most of my reading takes place in the brief time I'm either in the bathroom or before I fall asleep.

...end T.M.I. Alert

Anyway, so finding a book that held my attention long enough to set time aside to finish it was nice. Then I realized that none of my other blogging pals have posted book reviews...most just give their oppinions in the form of a single "witty" image (yeah, I'm calling you out Burkey Pants)...the closest other friends have gotten is to actually write and publish a book (so, yeah...a little envious of the talents of one Deanna Molinaro)...and others have had their artwork and stories published on some high falutin' compilation ( thanks for adding to my inferiority complex Sarah)...But I digress, despite all of these wonderful things that they have done I've yet to see a single book review (and if someone points me to a link of one that I've missed I will immediately close my eyes, stick my fingers in my ears and scream over and over "I'm not listening, I'm not listening.)

That being said, I've taken it upon myself to post my feedback on "Cell"by Stephen King....


I liked it and the ending didn't suck.


Cheers

"Return of the Digital Dead"

Why?....why, why, why???? Why do you do this to us Mr Zemeckis? Do you not like animators?...actors?...the general viewing public? Huh? You almost had me thinking their might be hope for "performance crapture" with the damn near brilliant Monster House...so why go back to the land of Polar Depress. Seems that's just what Mr Zemechis has done with his latest offering, Beowulf. Personally I think Zack Snyder's approach with 300 would have been perfect for this. Don't give me the corpse of Anthony Hopkins spouting stiff dialog...give me the real thing spouting stiff dialog. Take all that time, money and effort and surround your world class actors with a believable world to tell a compelling story in. Ultimately it feels like the failings of a flawed and untrusting director. Not secure enough to commit to anything but wanting control over everything. Yeah, this technique gives him control over everything in the scene...to find that "sweet spot" we're told...I've yet to see that "sweet spot" in either Polar Express or any of this footage for Beowulf. And this isn't me knocking the process as a whole...like I said before, I LOVE Monster House. It's a shame that more exploration into stylizing his world and characters wasn't put into this project because this could have had tons of potential...tons. And on a side note...why the hell would I want to see a dead eyed Angelina Jolie when i can rent a handfull of films that show the real her.....naked.

Live Free or....

Die semi-hard...just this side of needing viagra. Loved Bruce Willis...hell, even the"Mac Guy" was ok...but this was about as generic a summer action film as it gets. Anyway, Timothy Olyphant better not screw up Hitman.

tubed on the intermetsss...

Yeah, everyone else and their mom is posting this but, hey, funny is funny.

and besides, I likes me some prairie dogs.

Please oh please oh please.....pt 2

Like I said in the prior post, the first images I saw for The Incredibles had me excited from the start. There was something different and unique. It was as close as Pixar had ever really come to something dark.....except for the opening 5 minutes of Nemo. Sweet Moses Malone, that opening made Bambi's mom taking a bullet look like something from a Precious Moments catalog. Anyway, The Incredibles was filled with aspects of that darkness, that "bad things can happen to good people and even good kids." There was real conflict between Helen and Bob. To me, it felt like Pixar was shooting for something different. Not all moody and brooding, but honest and accessible.

That potential looks like it might be there again with Wall-E. I have no idea if it is going to be dark or brooding or have marital arguments over the kids but from some of the rumors flying around it definitely sounds like Pixar is going for different and potentially ballsy. I hope this works out. I really want to be excited over the release of an animated film again. Between Wall-E and Horton Hears a Who, 2008 might be a very exciting year.

*see trailer HERE

Please oh please oh please.....

I'm intentionally avoiding everything I can about Ratataouille. The trailers look pretty unimpressive....but I thought the same about Monsters, Nemo and The Incre....ok, bull, I loved the Incredibles from the first moment I laid eyes on Bob Parr's round, spandex covered belly. But Nemo and Monsters were way iffy starting out. With both of those films I was soooo happy to go in not expecting perfection but getting it (or a close damn approximation of it) up on the screen anyway (I still love you Luxo.) I'm hoping that happens again with Rat.

Ok, off the crunch and on a roll....

Once again, I'm getting crap for not posting enough...even though I'm pretty sure there's still only like, maybe, four people who read this thing. Anyway, I should be able to get back to posting something worth reading now. I've got a couple folks I want you guys to meet...and if they're willing to answer my list-o-dumbass questions...I should have something up soon.

Cheers!

Wild Life Abounds...

So the dogs were outside freaking out and I'm all like "what the...?" and the dogs are all like "bark, bark, bark"...and I'm all ticked because they know I don't speak dog that well, especially when they're talking all fast 'en stuff. Right about then the rest of the family bum rushes me to explain that the dogs were getting gang signs flashed at them by a passing deer...which is strange since deer don't really have the appendages for proper gang signage. Anyway, we have deer in them there hills. I love it here.

And the cool award goes to....

This is Kathy...she's a friend of mine who happens to be the most kickass HR person in the history of both HR and persons....oh, and she's cooooooooooooool.

luvs ya Kathy