Damnit, that hurts...

About a bazillion years ago when I spent quality time with Uncle Sam and my wonderful brothers in green, I had a disagreement with a large piece of equipment. The piece of equipment won (well him and his friend gravity....gravity can be a real sonovabitch.) Since them I'm occasionally reminded of this incident when my back decides to sit back in it's easy chair, drink a beer, give me the finger and take some time off. This time has been a doozy but with the wonders of modern medicine, physical therapy and a wife so freaking awesome she mowed the lawn so I could lay on the couch and whimper (like a small, malnourished chihuahua with a nervous condition and weak bladder) I'm making the slow move towards recovery. I'll let you know how it goes.

Spy's bloggin' my sentry...

Team Fortress 2 has it's own blog. Here's some insight as to why:
"Now that we've settled into regular releases of content, we've found ourselves wanting a better way to talk directly to the TF2 community about the state of the game and some of the reasoning behind the choices we're making...."

Not to much is up yet but there will be as we keep churning out quality, wholesome bloodshed and violence.

**UPDATE**

Duh, guess it would help if I actually gave the link. You can read all the TF2-ish goodness here.

Meet the Sniper

This is the newest in the "Meet the ..." shorts for the TF2 characters. Andrew, Aaron and the rest of the guys that put this one together did an outstanding job. This is probably my favorite but they're all so damn good it's hard to decide. I hope you enjoy this as much as i do.

Ok, ok, ok....

So the other day two of the three people that actually read this thing I call my blog held me down and beat me with a sock full of quarters and interrogated me under harsh lighting until I cracked and told them why I hadn't been posting...ok, by "beat me with a sock full of quarters" I mean "sat next to me at a friend's bbq this weekend" and by "interrogated me" I mean "handed me a beer and said, why don't you post on your damn blog you lazy bastard?"

Either way I got the point. I say two of the people because the third is ordered by law to stay at least 100 yards away at all times (I love you too Andrew, just not "that way".)

So, yeah...I need to get my lazy ass moving. I think I'm just gonna go ahead and give the whole site a overhaul while I'm at it. I hope things are well in your neck of the woods...if you don't happen to live by woods then insert your own appropriate geographic settings.

"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