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July 23, 2006
A few quick reviews...
I've actually seen a decent number of films lately, so I'm hammering out a few quick reviews:
Cars: It was pretty good but far from Pixar's best. Basically, it was a retelling of the film "Doc Hollywood", and that's a good story to use. If you're over 20, though, I think you'll find "Doc Hollywood" told the story better. If you're a kid, not so much.
Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest: It wasn't quite as good as the original, and it suffered from a problem common to the second installment of trilogies. Namely, you go through a whole hell of a lot, but you don't really resolve much because you're mostly setting stuff up for the finale in the third installment. Still, it was a really fun ride.
The Da Vinci Code: Oh dear, it has completely revoked my entire faith in the Bible and the Church. I must now cast aside all my beliefs and go digging through Europe's ruins. Ok, maybe not. The religious backstory was so-so, but I do have to give the storyteller credit. It was gripping. I cared about those characters. I wanted them to succeed, and the ending was of one of my favorite styles. That is, the characters have survived and had a minor victory, but true victory has escaped them, and then... in the final moments of the film, you see that victory is really about to be theirs after all.
National Treasure: Oh, man, what a stinker. Clearly, the film-makers read the Da Vinci Code and said, "We need to film that!" But the rights had already been sold. No problem. Just invent a new mythology, new legends, even swipe a few of the same ones used in Da Vinci. But I didn't care about these people. They were paper cut-outs.
Flightplan: It was more than a little convoluted and improbable, but it was also very gripping. As a parent, I thought it was particularly good.
Papillion: This is one of the classic "great escape" films of all time. I thought it was a little long, but it delivered. Still, it's got nothing on "The Shawshank Redemption".
Hitch: This was a fun little film, and for a trite romantic comedy, it was very well written. The dialogue flowed remarkably well. As a friend put it, "it was written far better than it needed to be."
Rumor Has It: This was something of a sequel to The Graduate. It wasn't all that great, but it was good enough to keep me from fast-forwarding through it.
The Devil Wears Prada: There had lots of good scenery, and the "villian" was so fun that well, I was routing for her more than the protagonist. After failing three clue-checks in a row, the protagonist kind of lost me.
National Lampoons Barely Legal: This was surprisingly funny. I rented it mostly for T&A, but it was the story that really got me. Basic plot: three high school guys decide to make a professional porn film, with professional actors, a "script", sets, the whole thing. I know it sounds stupid, but it had some really great moments, like trying to explain what's happening to the parents that interrupted the shoot, or when the 17-year-old virgin is giving tips (and good tips) to the older, jaded porn producer on just what makes a compelling porn scene. It's good stuff.
Shaun of the Dead: Best Zombie Film of All Time. 'Nuff said.
Aeon Flux (the movie): You know, I never even got into the animated version that much, and I still thought this one sucked. Nice to look at, but it was weak.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: Fucking hilarious. It had a bit of a slow start, but by the time the Smiths were working together, it was a definite ROTFLMAO. The mini-van scene took the cake.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: If you had to watch this without access to a fast-forward button, I pity you.
Wedding Crashers: A lot of fun. Not great cinema, but a lot of fun. Boy meets girl at wedding. Boy fucks girl. Boy is never seen again. Repeat. Then boy falls in love with the Senator's daughter... the Senator's engaged daughter... and did I mention that his best friend just nailed the younger daughter at the eldest daughter's wedding?
View/rent at will. YMMV.
Reviews by Dan | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 20, 2006
Spock, Look... It's Camelot!
In a cross-over that spans continents, centuries, and light-years, the original Star Trek cast sings the Monty Python "Camelot".
Tinfoil Beanie by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
July 18, 2006
Portrait of Despair
I recently ran across a face morph that reminded me so very much of the character Sharon Valerii (a.k.a. "Boomer") from the new Battlestar Galactica. For those of you familiar with the show, this portrait was inspired by her self-doubt and despair from near the end of Season 1.
This is actually a tamer version of an image I am considering someday as part of a series, but my rendering chops aren't quite up to the task yet.
On the plus side, I recently found a hack to let me use 3GB of application memory for my renders rather than the earlier 2GB limit. I'd tried this hack on Poser 5, but it hadn't worked. For Poser 6/SR2, it does, so I'm much happier now. There are a number of projects I've been putting off due to memory constraints that I can now revisit.
Render by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
Israel vs. Syria/Iran
I haven't been saying much about politics lately for various reasons, but I feel the need to say this much. If you haven't paying attention to what's going on between Israel and Hizbollah lately, you should be.
Hizbollah has been lobbing rockets across the Lebanon-Israel border for the last couple of weeks, and Israel had been fighting back hard. The nature of the Israeli aerial bombardment is characteristic of the the kind of work you do prepatory to a ground invasion. Add to the mix that three brigades of reservists have been called up to relieve the front-line border troops, and I'd say the Israeli invasion is imminent.
Is Israel overreacting? I don't think so. This is not about Hizbollah and its rockets. This is a proxy war between Israel and Syria, and ultimately with Iran. Syria and Iran are the principal supporters of Hizbollah, and both of them are desparate to distract the international community from their own problems. The U.N. probe into Syria's role in key assassinations in Lebanon is coming to fruition, and Iran has just been referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions by all five of the veto-wielding members.
I find it a bit too coincidental that Hizbollah would launch a major offensive like this and not be getting its directions from its masters to the north and east. There's also the matter of Hamas stirring trouble in Gaza, and they are also receiving funding from Iran. Israel knows this even better than we do, and they know they are being attacked by Iran.
Add Iran's possible nuclear weapon's program to the mix, and it could turn very messy, very quickly. Given their recent rhetoric of "fiery retribution" and "wiping Israel off the map", I have doubts both about the peaceful nature of their nuclear ambitions as well as any notions that they would restrain themselves. Maybe I'm just being paranoid here, but their words have been far from reassuring.
The greater likelihood, however, is that Israel will strike first. They have been fighting a war of survival for generations now, and they know what that means. I suspect the severity of this campaign against Hizbollah is designed to communicate to Iran that they are serious about this long war. Israel already has nuclear weapons. They certainly have the ability to deliver them as far as Syria and probably as far as Iran. If Iran demonstrates their ability to build a nuclear bomb, I don't doubt for a minute that Israel will strike first.
That's why it is critical for the rest of the world powers to act firmly now, identify the real aggressors (Iran and Syria), and muzzle them with as little bloodshed as possible.
Politics by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
July 14, 2006
Infiltration
Having some fun w/ some SF settings...
It looks dicey, but I'm betting on her.
The hardest part of this image was the lighting. The bright light down the hallway kept bleeding through in places it shouldn't. Some prop wasn't casting the kind of shadows it's supposed to. Plus, I wanted a bright light on her to illuminate her face, but I didn't want that same light illuminating the wall behind her and casting shadows on it. It was still possible to manage in-program, so this doesn't really have any postwork on it, but it was still a challenge.
Render by Dan | Permalink | Comments (0)
July 10, 2006
She Loves Me... She Loves Me Not
A futuristic take on a traditional scene...
This little guy was a freebie over at one of my better model/prop suppliers, and he's just so much fun to play with.
Render by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)
July 06, 2006
Leafing through the personals
I was leaving through the personals and found a new category:
Tinfoil Beanie by Dan | Permalink | Comments (1)