Here's some timely last minute encouragement for all those Americans out there who are going to take the first step in a long process towards a better world by voting George Bush out of office in 12 days. Remember, my American neighbours, you are making a choice for all of us, please take care in doing so!
Click here for a beautiful motion graphic film-advert removing the "theory" from the "Blood For Oil" conspiracy theory.
Click here for The World According to Bush, a documentary by the CBC's The Passionate Eye. As far as I am concerned there is no more neighborly act than for us Canadians to encourage an alternate view in our press to the CNN/FOX juggernaut of lies in America.
Click here for the latest from the fine folks at Move On. To quote the rigorous, irrefutable, intelligence of Mr. Blutowski of "Animal House" fame "don't get mad, get even!"
Click here to see a photo of every American service member killed in Iraq and the reasons for their deaths. It is beyond the realsm of my imagination how anyone could look at these photos and not vote Bush out of office knowing what we know now.
Click here for the latest from America's most vocal opponent of the Bush Administration, Michael Moore.
Click here for info on a gripping documentary produced by the BBC here in England that suggests that Al Queda doesn't really exist in the form that it has been "sold" to the west by the U.S. Administration. There is no close knit group, no organization, no links to Iraq, in fact there may not even be an Osama Bin Laden!
Friday, October 22, 2004
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Some Upcoming Film Projects Of Interest
Here are some news clips posted via the Cinefex weekly e-mail newsletter, so they have all got something to do with visual effects production. However, I guess they are interesting to me in their own right, so I thought I would pass them on. I made notes in italics below.
Transformers: IGN Filmforce reports on development of DreamWorks Pictures' live-action feature film based on Hasbro's animé-styled shapeshifting robot toys, and has debunked rumors that filmmaker Robert Zemeckis will be directing the project. Producer Don Murphy is quoted: "We're closing in on a writer and choosing to go with a younger guy who grew up with the mythology, like all of you fans. Should be announced in the coming weeks." The studio is reportedly aiming for a summer 2006 release.
The television animation series called Beast Wars Transformers was my first professional gig as a computer animator at Mainframe Entertainment. It provided me with my first 20 months of pay, and helped to eradicate my humungous student loan! So, overall it was a great start. I have a morbid fascination with what might be achievable in this day and age compared to our ridiculously limited abilities back in 1996. I guess we'll see won't we!
A Very Long Engagement: Aint-it-cool-news.com has posted screen grabs and a streaming video link to a trailer here for this Warner Independent release, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tatou, star of Jeunet's charming Amélie. A Very Long Engagement is an epic romance set against the backdrop of World War I France and, as usual for Jeunet, looks stunning and beautifully surreal. IMDb states Jeunet and Guillame Laurent adapted the screenplay from Un long dimanche de fiançailles, a novel by Sébastien Japrisot. Yves Domenjoud and Olivier Gleyze supervised special effects and Alain Carsoux supervised visual effects at Duboi. The film opens in France on October 27 and is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. on November 26.
I am one a very long list of people who have followed Monsieur Jeunet's work since Delicatessen (1991) blew me away. Of course, Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) was a very big accomplishment in modern French cinema and for many fans captured something of the feeling of Paris. I have often said "if you can not enjoy this film, you will never enjoy the cinema." This film looks absolutely stunning as well. I am intrigued to say the least.
King Conan: Crown of Iron: IGN Filmforce states filmmaker John Milius has secured funding for this long-in-development live-action sword and sorcery epic, Milius' third film based on Robert E. Howard's muscle-bound mythical adventurer. Finances have reportedly come from Turkey, where Milius is scouting locations, and conjectures have resurfaced suggesting that Schwarzenegger may be reprising his loin cloth, which he last wore in Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and Conan the Destroyer in 1984.
Who can deny that they wouldn't love to see Arnie reprise this role. A little known film trivia is that Oliver Stone penned the first Conan script, as a "see, I can do this" project for the studios. Savvy move. Imagine Conan a la Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, and you have some idea of where I am thinking this could go. Ridiculous, but ridiculously good!
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: Variety announced New Line Cinema is continuing to invest in fantasy film fare, purchasing the movie rights to this novel by Susanna Clarke. The story is about two rival magicians in 1800s England -- Norrell, who uses his powers to assist the British Empire in its war against Napoleon; and Strange, who attempts to harness the powers of an ancient Faerie King. New Line is also developing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy; and Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, about a girl whose father has the power to bring literary fantasy characters to life. I have just begun to wade into Mr. Pullman's opus. It will indeed be a contender for the like of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises which will hopefully mean a few hundred jobs a year or so until the production is complete. Still, no idea when it will start. I guess that this news goes in the "eagerly anticipated" camp.
Transformers: IGN Filmforce reports on development of DreamWorks Pictures' live-action feature film based on Hasbro's animé-styled shapeshifting robot toys, and has debunked rumors that filmmaker Robert Zemeckis will be directing the project. Producer Don Murphy is quoted: "We're closing in on a writer and choosing to go with a younger guy who grew up with the mythology, like all of you fans. Should be announced in the coming weeks." The studio is reportedly aiming for a summer 2006 release.
The television animation series called Beast Wars Transformers was my first professional gig as a computer animator at Mainframe Entertainment. It provided me with my first 20 months of pay, and helped to eradicate my humungous student loan! So, overall it was a great start. I have a morbid fascination with what might be achievable in this day and age compared to our ridiculously limited abilities back in 1996. I guess we'll see won't we!
A Very Long Engagement: Aint-it-cool-news.com has posted screen grabs and a streaming video link to a trailer here for this Warner Independent release, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tatou, star of Jeunet's charming Amélie. A Very Long Engagement is an epic romance set against the backdrop of World War I France and, as usual for Jeunet, looks stunning and beautifully surreal. IMDb states Jeunet and Guillame Laurent adapted the screenplay from Un long dimanche de fiançailles, a novel by Sébastien Japrisot. Yves Domenjoud and Olivier Gleyze supervised special effects and Alain Carsoux supervised visual effects at Duboi. The film opens in France on October 27 and is scheduled for limited release in the U.S. on November 26.
I am one a very long list of people who have followed Monsieur Jeunet's work since Delicatessen (1991) blew me away. Of course, Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) was a very big accomplishment in modern French cinema and for many fans captured something of the feeling of Paris. I have often said "if you can not enjoy this film, you will never enjoy the cinema." This film looks absolutely stunning as well. I am intrigued to say the least.
King Conan: Crown of Iron: IGN Filmforce states filmmaker John Milius has secured funding for this long-in-development live-action sword and sorcery epic, Milius' third film based on Robert E. Howard's muscle-bound mythical adventurer. Finances have reportedly come from Turkey, where Milius is scouting locations, and conjectures have resurfaced suggesting that Schwarzenegger may be reprising his loin cloth, which he last wore in Conan the Barbarian in 1982 and Conan the Destroyer in 1984.
Who can deny that they wouldn't love to see Arnie reprise this role. A little known film trivia is that Oliver Stone penned the first Conan script, as a "see, I can do this" project for the studios. Savvy move. Imagine Conan a la Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, and you have some idea of where I am thinking this could go. Ridiculous, but ridiculously good!
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: Variety announced New Line Cinema is continuing to invest in fantasy film fare, purchasing the movie rights to this novel by Susanna Clarke. The story is about two rival magicians in 1800s England -- Norrell, who uses his powers to assist the British Empire in its war against Napoleon; and Strange, who attempts to harness the powers of an ancient Faerie King. New Line is also developing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy; and Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, about a girl whose father has the power to bring literary fantasy characters to life. I have just begun to wade into Mr. Pullman's opus. It will indeed be a contender for the like of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises which will hopefully mean a few hundred jobs a year or so until the production is complete. Still, no idea when it will start. I guess that this news goes in the "eagerly anticipated" camp.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
I have seen the North Atlantic...
...And stared across The English Channel, past the Isle of White, towards France in the distance. I spent the past weekend in the Portsmouth and Bournemouth area in the south of England visiting. On Saturday evening after a half-assed attempt at a working during the day, I trained it down to my friends Lexi and Mark's post-wedding reception. I took a bit longer than I had expected to get down to Portsmouth! I was assured that it was only a quick two hour journey but by the time I arrived it had easily stretched to three. Lexi and Mark had been married some time earlier at a "family only" affair in New York City, and were having a very casual get together for all their friends who are currently in England. It was a fun time, but unfortunately due to the less than optimal train services on a Saturday night in the south of England I could not stay long at the reception because I was due for a rendevouz with old Victoria friends Christina and Jason in Bournemouth. I arrived at the not so unreasonable time of midnight having spent a few more hours total train time getting there. Jason picked me up at the train stop and we had a brief chat before just crashing. Sunday morning we were up early with the arousal of Lucas and Christian, Christina and Jason's sons, who were both full of energy albeit of different sorts given their ages; two and half years for the former, and two and half months for the latter! We spent a lovely day together walking down to a seaside cafe for lunch and back. The weather co-operated, and although it was quite breezy, it was pleasant enough. A funny thing was that on the walk down I instantly realized where some of the neighbourhoods I frequented growing up in Victoria were modeled after. Amazing how similar the layout and feel of Bournemouth is to Oak Bay in Victoria. The day also featured not one, but two rides! On a kiddy train. I haven't had that kind of treatment in quite a while! It was fun! Anyway, it was lovely to get out of the city and into some very fresh salt air for a change. A great thing to see Christina and Jason's family growing rapidly as well!
Friday, October 15, 2004
Ollie Rankin
Just a quick note to say that I have added a link to Ollie Rankin's weird and wonderful world of "art experiments" on the sidebar under Friend's Websites. Ollie and I met in San Francisco while working for the former ESC Entertainment where we shared a wall partition during the creation of visual effects for "The Matrix: Revolutions." Ollie and I ran into each other again here in London while working at The Moving Picture Company, and we are currently laying seige to the city of Jerusalem in the year 1214 (virtually, of course). Ollie's current non-work project is a plethora of products designed to subliminally make us realise a rather obvious fact: The George W. Bush is full of shit! Three cheers for Ollie Rankin!
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Bike Nation
Click here to access Bike Nation, an internet portal promoting "a movement of people and efficient machines churning towards a civilized society." In one way or another my cousins, Brian and Jeremy Cavagnolo, of San Francisco and Berkeley respectively, are at the very least partly responsible, or perhaps crucially responsible for the creation of this portal as a window into their growing community of family and friends who preach a simple moto: If it can be done on a bike, do it on a bike. As a regular bicycle commuter in Vancouver, I have also been a commited member of the two wheeled anti-engine mod squad for quite a while now. There are a lot of reasons I chose to get around on a bike. It is cheap. It is healthy. There is no polution. It is more convienment a lot of the time. It is fun. I adore the thrill of bicycles. And many more. Sure, I own a car, but I try to use it as little as possible. I mostly use it to get my bike somewhere! The point is to try to progress to a more "human scale of living." Whatever you can do towards that, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, so much the better. I encourage you to check out Bike Nation and get into the lore. Yo! Bike Nation Y'all!
Some Friends' Links Added
Recently I added a few links to the side bar that I hope were not missed:
Actually one of my current room-mates Andre "DD" Brizard. We call him French Bob because DD is the French slang for Andre, like Bob for Robert. DD is from the south of France, a little place called Arles, reknowned for its artists chopping off their ears. Thus far, DD's are intact. But, there's no knowing what this crazy composite artist will get up next.
Nigel and I know each other from Radical Entertainment in Vancouver where we worked together on the HULK video game. Nigel was responsible for much of the lovely lighting and superb texture painting in that game. Here's wrestling with "The Wild" at C.O.R.E.F.A. in Toronto right now. Nigel is totally self-taught.
Otherwise known as Jean-Paul "Casanova" Rovela, and my other Frenchie room-mate. J-P is a 3D Lighting Technical Director at The Moving Picture Company like me and showed me the ropes when I first arrived to the studio. Thus, the reason why I can understand what he says in his own "je ne sais quoi?" accent while others are constantly left wondering "was that English, French or what!?"
Matt is a bloke I met more or less straight away after arriving to The Moving Picture Company, and we struggled to together on the Whomping Willow sequence in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As they say in England "there's something of the lad" about ole Matty-boy. He's promised to take me to see some "Footy" before he heads off to seak his fortune in New Zealand. As he is a compositor, he'll putting the final touches on Peter Jackson's King Kong.
Adam was my Visual Effects Supervisor on Alien Versus Predator. Adam and I share a pseudo connection with Spain. We both like living there, for similar reasons, but have both failed miserably to make a living in computer graphics there. Which in turn, is how we ended up at The Moving Picture Company. Oh well, we continue to conspire.
Jay is currently lost in the wilds of the Yukon. No-one knows quite what he's doing up there, but then again, neither does Jay. The son of a former Reform Party MP, he continues to bewilder us with his passion for the off-beat. Oh, yeah, he's heck of an animator too.
Doug and I met working on a little show called Beast Wars Transformers at Mainframe Entertainment circa 1997. Doug is currently trying to break out of the Toronto area animation business on his own. Good luck, dude.
This is Neil's Blog. Neil is a good friend and confidant from my Mainframe days. Neil and I became good friends on a kayak trip in the Broken Group off of Tofino. It had something to do with Neil getting funnier and funnier the more awful honey liquer we consumed around the camp fire. He's had me in stitches ever since. I owe this web log to Neil actually because he was the one who introduced me to the fine art of blogging. He's a leader in the field. If you need an inspiring comic book suggestion, get ahold of Neil. Neil is also a very impressive traveller.
Geoff is another friend who I first met while attending the Vancouver Film School, but it wasn't until I went to work at Radical that Geoff and I (he started on the same day as me) got a chance to brave the computer graphics unknown together. Geoff is the king of the "I have a plug in solution for that" school of computer graphics. He was my "go to guy" on the Hulk cinematics team in terms of adding that little extra to all our shots in the composite to take them up a notch, and in most cases, several notches. I also owe him for all the ripped off software I have ever used.
Actually one of my current room-mates Andre "DD" Brizard. We call him French Bob because DD is the French slang for Andre, like Bob for Robert. DD is from the south of France, a little place called Arles, reknowned for its artists chopping off their ears. Thus far, DD's are intact. But, there's no knowing what this crazy composite artist will get up next.
Nigel and I know each other from Radical Entertainment in Vancouver where we worked together on the HULK video game. Nigel was responsible for much of the lovely lighting and superb texture painting in that game. Here's wrestling with "The Wild" at C.O.R.E.F.A. in Toronto right now. Nigel is totally self-taught.
Otherwise known as Jean-Paul "Casanova" Rovela, and my other Frenchie room-mate. J-P is a 3D Lighting Technical Director at The Moving Picture Company like me and showed me the ropes when I first arrived to the studio. Thus, the reason why I can understand what he says in his own "je ne sais quoi?" accent while others are constantly left wondering "was that English, French or what!?"
Matt is a bloke I met more or less straight away after arriving to The Moving Picture Company, and we struggled to together on the Whomping Willow sequence in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. As they say in England "there's something of the lad" about ole Matty-boy. He's promised to take me to see some "Footy" before he heads off to seak his fortune in New Zealand. As he is a compositor, he'll putting the final touches on Peter Jackson's King Kong.
Adam was my Visual Effects Supervisor on Alien Versus Predator. Adam and I share a pseudo connection with Spain. We both like living there, for similar reasons, but have both failed miserably to make a living in computer graphics there. Which in turn, is how we ended up at The Moving Picture Company. Oh well, we continue to conspire.
Jay is currently lost in the wilds of the Yukon. No-one knows quite what he's doing up there, but then again, neither does Jay. The son of a former Reform Party MP, he continues to bewilder us with his passion for the off-beat. Oh, yeah, he's heck of an animator too.
Doug and I met working on a little show called Beast Wars Transformers at Mainframe Entertainment circa 1997. Doug is currently trying to break out of the Toronto area animation business on his own. Good luck, dude.
This is Neil's Blog. Neil is a good friend and confidant from my Mainframe days. Neil and I became good friends on a kayak trip in the Broken Group off of Tofino. It had something to do with Neil getting funnier and funnier the more awful honey liquer we consumed around the camp fire. He's had me in stitches ever since. I owe this web log to Neil actually because he was the one who introduced me to the fine art of blogging. He's a leader in the field. If you need an inspiring comic book suggestion, get ahold of Neil. Neil is also a very impressive traveller.
Geoff is another friend who I first met while attending the Vancouver Film School, but it wasn't until I went to work at Radical that Geoff and I (he started on the same day as me) got a chance to brave the computer graphics unknown together. Geoff is the king of the "I have a plug in solution for that" school of computer graphics. He was my "go to guy" on the Hulk cinematics team in terms of adding that little extra to all our shots in the composite to take them up a notch, and in most cases, several notches. I also owe him for all the ripped off software I have ever used.
Friday, October 01, 2004
Corporate Cows
TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM:
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell the herd and retire on the income.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-design them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create irritating cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them world-wide at a fantastic profit.
A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
AN ENGLISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 12 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.
You charge others for storing them.
A HINDU CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.
A WELSH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The younger one is rather attractive.
AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
Western suburbs style.... You have 2 stolen bulls but think they are cows.
You die the first time you try and milk them.
AN IRISH CORPORATION
Who cares, The EU Really owns them now and the pub is still serving.
A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You don't know what they are used for as they aren't sheep.
You shag them anyway.
You have two cows.
You sell one and buy a bull.
Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows.
You sell the herd and retire on the income.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-design them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create irritating cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them world-wide at a fantastic profit.
A GERMAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
AN ENGLISH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
Both are mad.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.
You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 12 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION
You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.
You charge others for storing them.
A HINDU CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You worship them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.
A WELSH CORPORATION
You have two cows.
The younger one is rather attractive.
AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION
Western suburbs style.... You have 2 stolen bulls but think they are cows.
You die the first time you try and milk them.
AN IRISH CORPORATION
Who cares, The EU Really owns them now and the pub is still serving.
A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION
You have two cows.
You don't know what they are used for as they aren't sheep.
You shag them anyway.
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