Shatner and Nimoy at their... ahem... best!

Florence Foster Jenkins: The Glory of the Human Voice

Words cannot describe what you are about to hear...

I just found out that an artist I knew from my art school days, Sanjay Patel, just published a 200-page illustrated book! In the same vein as Nina Paley's Sita Sings the Blues, it is his own interpretation of the Ramajana. I won't pretend I knew him well, he only attended CIA for one semester before he went back to Cal Arts. Sanjay did animation for The Simpsons and went on to work on pretty much all the Pixar films since Bug's Life. He took a year off to work on this project, all built in Adobe Illustrator. All I can think is "so much vector art... so many layers..." and he redid it four times until it was right!

It's been a long time since I've posted, well, anything! I've been seduced by that sexier mistress that is Facebook. But here is a sampling of the Oscar contenders this year for my favorite category, Best Animated Short.

The front runner is clearly the latest Wallace and Gromit short, A Matter of Loaf and Death. As big a fan as I am of W&G, I am rooting for one of the smaller, creator-driven films to win this year.

The Lady and the Reaper

A humorous, but cautionary tale of when the right to die with dignity is sometimes thwarted by doctors who perhaps think more of themselves than their patients.

French Roast

An everyday occurrence; a great bits of character animation.

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty

Granny's just a wee bit bitter!

The Cat Piano

Wonderful hand-drawn look; pays homage to film noir, beat poetry and 60's character animation.

Logorama, the ultimate use of product-placement in a movie, or a commentary on the pervasiveness of branding in our culture and film. (updated 3/7/10)

CBS and ABC movie nights

Liam posted about HBO specials. Well, my memory was the iconic twirling CBS 'special' logo from their movie nights, and, of course, the ABC movie nights as well. Seeing that logo meant staying up late watching an "adult" movie like 'Star Wars' or 'Superman' on national TV for the first time.

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was the last film project that Heath Ledger worked on. Still a work in progress. Director Terry Gilliam was forced to recast the roll mid-shoot, so three other actors, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell each make appearances to complete the project. Evidently the story was surreal enough to begin with that the change in appearance of the title character will be accepted by the audience. Any Terry Gilliam film promises to be entertaining or at least intriguing, but it will be fascinating to see this film.

Beautiful People - Dye Laughing

It's rare these days to discover a show that is laugh-out-loud funny. Simon Doonan, now a decorator living in New York, remembers his early teenage years in Reading, England. In this clip, Simon's mother takes him to see her deceased hairdresser at the funeral home so he can experience what it's like to see a dead person.

RIP David Carradine

Terminator Rebooted

Okay, so I was a bit skeptical that McG of all directors was the one to restart the Terminator franchise. But if I had any doubts about this film, this short clip sold me...



And here is an extended trailer from G4.

Angels and Demons

For those of you who are excited to see Angels and Demons, I would avoid reading the paper or browsing on the web. Not particularly interested in seeing the movie, I broke my usual rule of reading a few reviews and have been quite entertained.

The pope has died. Even as the Vatican is in the process of selecting a new pope, a group of ancient scientists, the Illuminati, kidnap the four top candidates and threaten to kill one each hour. They also steal an antimatter bomb from the supercollider in Sweden and plan to blow up the entire Vatican. "Rather than call the police..." – a phrase that I read in every review – they fly 3,000 miles to the U.S. to recruit Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), the very guy that threatened to destroy Christianity in the DaVinci Code by uncovering the secrets of Opus Dei. Makes sense (sic). As reviewed on Ain't it Cool, "Angels and Demons is like Batman and Robin, except that Batman is played by Tom Hanks." Ouch.

NPR review. Bob Mondello

Aint it Cool review. Massawyrm

Roger Ebert.

So the lesson here, folks, is if four of your cardinals are kidnapped and an antimatter device is about to go off somewhere in the city, call the police. Or a superhero. Guess I'll go see Star Trek a second time. Oh wait, I was planning on doing that anyway!

Announcements about career goals

According to Wray Herbert of Newsweek, a new study suggests that making public announcements/declarations about your career goals (or any goals, for that matter) can actually create a hinderance to accomplishing them. Making a statement that you are a good lawyer, for example, gives you the inflated opinion that you are better than you are, and don't need to work as hard... "a legend in your own mind." 

I think this is very true. I myself made that mistake in high school/college about going into animation and working for Disney. Although I worked very hard, I think having that vision in my head distracted me from being in the hear-and-now and taking full advantage of opportunities to learn new things about other disciplines. Also, when I fell short of my career goals, a lot of people were disappointed in me; a few even called me a failure, even though I have since gone on to be quite successful in the graphics field. 

You can read the article on Newsweek's site here.

Grilled Cheese

NPR has an article on the popularity of the grilled cheese sandwich. Includes recipes. Read/listen here.

The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet

Yesterday, Diane Rehm had writer Rief Larson talking about his new book The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. This is a highly original story about a 12-year old boy who happens to draw maps. Without revealing his age, he submits his maps to the Smithsonian and he is invited to present his maps for an exhibition. The book chronicles his adventures as runs away from home and travels cross country by train to Washington, D.C. The book has been formatted with wider margins to make room for some of T.S.'s doodlings of maps. The book's web site itself is worth a visit. Built in Flash, it has all sorts of interactivity that appeals to kids and adults – levers, pullies and gears. Worth checking out.

On a side note, Liam has mentioned receiving "messages" ...and hearing Mr. Larson and Diane Rehm talk about being persistent pursuing your dreams and ambitions gets me to thinking... makes me wonder about my book and other creative pursuits that I've let slide over the years. Is it time to start up something again or pursue something new?

Star Trek

Spoiler alert! I reveal some plot points and opinions that you may want to read after seeing the film.

J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost and Alias has gone out of his way to sell this as a "reboot" of Star Trek. Having grown up on Star Trek, and also a fan of Lost, I was pumped to see this movie. A word of warning, though: the film does divert strongly from the Star Trek canon. Niro, a Romulan captain from the future, comes back to the past to destroy the Federation to avenge the destruction of Romulus (which is destroyed by a natural phenomenon). His interference in the space-time continuum creates an alternative timeline, it is explained in the film. Meaning that the Star Trek that we have watched growing up is still there, just in another reality... So any differences between this film and the ten previous films and five television series is okay. Just watch the movie and enjoy it. Gotcha. Message received.

Actually, I really enjoyed this film. Kirk (Chris Pine) is still a womanizing daredevil; Spock (Zachary Quinto) still cooly logical; Chekov (Anton Yelchin) still can't say words that start with the letter 'v.' Casting for this film is excellent. Incredible action. All the characters in the ensemble get a moment to shine in this film. And some great humor as well.

Overall, art direction for this film is well done, but inconsistent. The new look of the Enterprise itself is great. The sleek, form-fitting uniforms, the communicators and phasers all harken back to the look of the original series. The bridge, hallways and medical all maintain the traditional look. The unfortunate exception is engineering, which looks like they shot it in warehouse at a chemical factory – where are the rounded slopes of the exterior hull and the matter/antimatter chamber? (Okay, geek moment over.)

While there are some issues with this film ( the whole alternate reality thing is a real cop-out on the writers' part), I really enjoyed this movie. One worth seeing again!

Live long and prosper.

X-men Origins: Wolverine

X-Men Origins: Wolverine fills in the backstory of X-men's most popular mutant, Logan (aka, Wolverine). Logan and his brother Sabertooth grew up on the run since the early 1800s. Both have the mutant powers of healing, strength and an extended lifespan – participating in all of America's major conflicts from the Civil War to Vietnam. They are eventually recruited into a secret team of mutants who perform covert ops. Logan drops out when ordered to kill civilians, and eventually settles down in a secluded lumber town with his true love. His former boss, William Stryker, tries to bring him back into the fold, but Logan refuses until his lover is killed by Sabertooth. Logan vows revenge, and agrees to having adamantium fused with his skeleton, making him near impervious. Logan chooses his codename: Wolverine. He quickly realizes he's been duped, that Sabertooth killed Logan's girlfriend on Stryker's orders. Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Stryker is collecting and studying more mutants, and has been using that knowledge to create a secret weapon. Can Wolverine stop him in time?

Wolverine does an excellent job staying true to the "future history" of the X-men trilogy, with great little cameos, including Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier. This film is smart, fun and keeps moving right to the end.

O For Tuna

Cleveland Tourism Video

We Got Time and Closed Zone

As found on Cartoon Brew...

Susan Boyle rocks the world

Susan Boyle has rocked the world on Britain's Got Talent. Here is a dowdy middle-aged woman who claims she wants to be the next Eileene Paige. The results are extraordinary. Even Simon is speechless. You can view the entire clip here on YouTube.