Ape

KISS painting on my denim jacket

The other week I did a painting of KISS on the back of my denim jacket. I really like the way it came out and had a lot of fun painting it. I was using acrylics for the first time in a long time (sure I could've used gouache, but I wouldn't be able to wear it out anywhere for fear of it getting wet) so that took a bit of getting used to but now I really wanna do some more! If anyone is reading this and would like a painting done on their denim jacket then please let us know.

Avatar

Okay, so the teaser trailer for James Cameron's new film Avatar hit the internet the other day. This is a motion picture I have been looking forward to for a while. Not only is it James Cameron's first film since that one with the boat, but it's the first film to be shot entirely in 3D. Now, from what I've read, the 3D filming technique Cameron is employing for this film is a more sophisticated affair than one might think. It's more about adding extra depth to scenes and environments than just throwing pies into the audience. From the reviews I have read of people who have seen footage from the picture in the proper environment with the 3D glasses and everything, it does just that. Apparently this approach to film-making is going to revolutionize cinema as we know it, and in the not too distant future every film in our multiplexes will be in three dimensions. So with that in mind, here's the trailer for Avatar:



First (honest) impressions - boy, that is underwhelming. Okay, so this film will be (approximately) two and half hours long and is intended to be viewed in 3D on an IMAX screen. I've been watching two and a half minutes of footage on a five year old iBook G4 with a 14 inch screen. I am not exactly seeing this in the environment it should be seen in. I can't write about how slick and impressive the 3D is 'cause I haven't the foggiest. I can merely comment on content, and that is what I'm not really blown away by.

The planet (named Pandora) which serves as the location for most of the action in the film looks amazing. Really amazing, it's my favourite thing about the trailer I think. It looks like a Roger Dean painting, right down to the floating islands. It's a perfect science fiction setting, so a gold star for Jim Cameron on that. The CGI is really impressive. The creatures, the inhabitants of Pandora are wonderfully realized as are the aforementioned environments they occupy. Sure the alien designs look a touch cartoony, but that doesn't bother me. It's when you see them interacting with real people, or the trailer cuts from a live action scene to an animated scene, that it starts to bother me. I find it really jarring, like two different films almost. It's not uncommon for studios to put out teaser trailers which feature sequences which aren't entirely finished, so there could be more work to be done on this footage. Maybe the effects will get polished up even more so when integrated they don't conflict with the live action scenes? Or maybe the 3D medium itself helps to make the look film more coherent?

I don't want to sound totally negative about the film, because I'm not. Sure I was a little disappointed by the trailer, but it hasn't deterred me from wanting to be at my local IMAX (I really need to figure out where that is) on opening night watching James Cameron's Avatar. Heck, it's only a trailer, a teaser trailer at that! It really hasn't given that much away - I don't know much about the plot and I've heard only one piece of dialogue. Bottom line is, future of cinema or not, the release of this film will be an event. Bring on December!

"Funky"

I've been looking at painted denim jackets a lot lately. Google the phrase "painted denim jackets" and you get this absolute doozy. I'm finding it awfully hard to come up with a brilliantly witty caption for this picture but, to be honest, I'm not sure I need to. I think the word "funky" says it all.

The best video tribute to Lt. Commander Data you will ever see!*

*Guaranteed! If you can find a better one, then please post it here.

I drew that.

R.I.P John Hughes

I still sometimes find it hard to comprehend how Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck, National Lampoon's European Vacation, Weird Science and Home Alone were all written by the same man. John Hughes! How did he do it? I would wager most writers would have to write for years before making a film on par with Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The fact that he not only did that, but then went on to write a plethora of other incredible films may explain why when I was growing up, our VCR would rarely not have a John Hughes videotape inside it. Like most people my age, my first exposure to John Hughes was Home Alone. My father, who was a big fan of the guy, then started to introduce me to his back catalogue, starting with Planes, Trains and Automobiles (which was an edited version recorded off the telly. The amazing scene where Steve Martin goes nuts at the rental car lady - "I want a fucking car right fucking now" - was sadly omitted from this version) and then Uncle Buck. Soon I began to realise that any film which had the name John Hughes in the credits was bound to take a spot on my ever-growing favourite film list. His films are steeped in nostalgia for me. Whenever I watch one of them, wherever I may be, I still feel like I'm a kid again lying on the carpet of our front room watching them on our old TV. So I was pretty upset to hear that John had passed away yesterday. Although he's been absent from writing for a few years now, there was always hope he would make another film. The fact that we will never see another John Hughes picture is a real shame. He will be missed. I don't really know how to end this post well, so I'll take a leaf out of John's book and ask you to just picture me getting up from my desk, walking across a football field and raising my fist in the air as Simple Minds play in the background. I defy anyone to call that a bad ending. Thanks John!

Lester Bangs

Peter

Paul

Gene