Monday, July 28, 2008

What?

I was reading Politico.com today (about McCain's new stance on attacking Obama's character since he can't gain any ground on him in any other way) and saw the following conversation:

Kathie Steigerwald, a Dearborn, Michigan businesswoman who said she voted for Hillary Clinton but now plans to support McCain, offered an especially succinct recital of a narrative on which other interviewees offered numerous variations:

"I feel John McCain is a true American and I want to support a true American," she said.

But isn't Obama a "true American?" she was asked.

"I don't know," she said after a measured pause. "I question it."

Why?

"I don't know—maybe because of his name?"

Really?? So this is how we are going to vote for the president now? Based on his name? I understand if you don't like a candidate because of his political positions, but can we be a little more knowledgeable than this? (This could lead me into a whole rant about why people believe spending time in a prison camp makes you a better candidate for president. Not attacking McCain here, he suffered horrible things while there, but this line of thought makes no sense to me.) It's no wonder our country is in the mess it is. It's time to pull our collective head out of the sand and take a hard look at what is really happening around he world. Like I've said before, I don't care who an individual votes for. Just make sure you know why.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Not Too Terrible Yet.

I know it's a little lame to post two movie clips consecutively, but that's how I roll. As posted below the clip, this isn't actually footage from the film. But if the tone is the same I am excited for this. The story is the suits at WB felt the cut Spike Jonze made was too scary for kids so they sent him on his way to re shoot almost the entire film. This pushed the whole production back to an unknown date.



"This was a very early test with the sole purpose of just getting some footage to Ben our vfx (visual effects) supervisor to see if our vfx plan for the faces would work. The clip doesn't look or feel anything like the movie, the Wild Thing suit is a very early cringy prototype, and the boy is a friend of ours Griffin who we had used in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs video we shot a few weeks before. We love him, but he is not in the actually film...Oh and that is not a wolf suit, its a lamb suit we bought on the internet. Talk to you later..." - Spike Jonze

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Who watches the Watchmen?

I must admit that I have and unabashed love for the film 300. The graphic novel was good, but Zach Snyder took a great idea and made one of the funnest (is that a word?) and most visually exciting movies I have seen in a long time. His next effort is Watchmen, based on a graphic novel of the same name. Now before you just dismiss this as another comic book movie, realize this book is included on the Time magazine Top 100 Novels list. This puts it in the company of novels such as 1984, Lord of the Flies, and Animal Farm. The reason I bring any of this up, is the trailer has just been released and looks outstanding:



I love the minimal dialogue, and the Smashing Pumpkins track is perfect (though I doubt you will hear anything like it in the final cut). Since you learn nothing of the plot of the film from this, lets see what the all might wikipedia has to offer:

Watchmen is set in 1985, in an alternate history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (the Doomsday Clock is at five minutes to midnight). It tells the story of a group of past and present superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. Watchmen depicts superheroes as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings, and who—with one notable exception—lack anything recognizable as super powers. Watchmen's deconstruction of the conventional superhero archetype, combined with its innovative adaptation of cinematic techniques and heavy use of symbolism, multi-layered dialogue, and metafiction, has influenced both comics and film.

Can't wait.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Open for business.

Wow it's been a long time since I posted anything. But there is good reason for it. for the 2.5 people who actually read this, and are interested, I finally have a beta version of my website up and running. I have had a site for some time, but recently I decided to start from scratch and build something a little better. Thus I have spent nearly every moment of my life for the last 3 weeks trying to put this thing together. It's not at the point I want it yet (I already have some cosmetic changes in mind), but at least it's in workable condition. Click on the playing card in the left column to visit, or click here. If you have time, I would love any feedback about what works for you and what doesn't.