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It's that time of the year again -- Melbourne is hosting its annual film festival dedicated to all forms of animation. Last year had a strong showing of Stop Motion films produced locally and from around the world, so I'm looking forward to some good stop-mo and plenty of other interesting types of animation.
Opening night had some interesting speeches and a great collection of festival highlights, including "The Spine".
Tonight, I saw the best of SIGGRAPH and a collection of short digital animations...I thought the latter were generally better than the highly variable quality of the former collection.
I'd already seen one or two of them online and a quick search reveals that a number are on YouTube...my favourites tonight were:
* "E.T.A" -- loaded with references and good set-up for a the climactic joke.
* The Horrors: "She is the New Thing" -- more of a music video than short film but worthy of inclusion for its great artwork.
* "Penguins" -- very clever send-up of wildlife doco; seamless CGI/effects; this was made as a 90 second ad for a BBC online service.
* "Monsieur Cok" -- beautifully imaged story of why you don't want to downsize the wrong people in a bomb-factory. (Was screened in both collections.)
* "This Way Up" -- stylishly done and devilishly clever slapstick that gets you laughing at the dead / a funeral.
* "Our Wonderful Nature" -- kung-fu water shrews, believe it! The credits give special thanks to Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Chuck Norris. I think it owes a lot to Hong Kong action martial-arts choreographer, Yuen Woo-ping.
* "Ten / Dix" -- a man seeks psychiatric help for his phobia of paving stones. It's not so funny when you see it from his point of view. Cutting-edge (pardon the pun) digital effects done with the assistance of The Mill, who made those innovative Sony Bravia ads, and effects for recent "James Bond" films and the new "Doctor Who", and others.
Given that most short films are released on YouTube once they hit the festival circuit, why would you want to pay to catch them at the ACMI? Rather than seeing things in glooorious Pixelovision *cough*, you get the big screen experience with state-of-the-art digital projectors and surround sound. :) Plus, in some way, it shows support for small/indie film-makers.
And, you get to bump into Geoffrey Rush crouched outside in the gloom and having the life sucked out of him (it surely looks like it ain't the other way 'round) by a rain-soaked cigarette-butt. ;)
Official website: http://www.miaf.net/
MIAF runs from Monday 22 June to Sunday 28 June 2009.
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Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” (March 2010?) looks appropriately atmospheric, lush, surreal and creepy.
Preview pics show that he's deftly blended live-action characters/scenery with CGI and stop-motion animation.
According to IMDB it stars Burton's usual standbys, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Titular character is played by Australian, Mia Wasikowska. As a bonus, there's also Alan Rickman, Christopher Lee and Noah Taylor. As if that's not twisting your arm, the Cheshire Cat is played by the uomo universale, Stephen Fry. :)
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Comments: Read 15 or Add Your Own.
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
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Kronos Quartet last night in Melbourne were brilliant.
This was at the new Melbourne Recital Centre (in good company, wedged between the NGV and VCA). The Elizabeth Murdoch Hall is so new, it's infused with a lovely fresh-cut timber smell from its machined pine laminate interior. Architecturally beautiful and designed to be sonically ideal for music recitals, it's a venue I hope to return to much more in future.
The Kronos Quartet played music composed by artists around world from places such as Sweden, Serbia, Poland, Ramallah and Iraq. Thew worked-in some sampled singing and effects and played some percussion and a Gusle.
These performances were bookended by works from Australian composers:
Thirwell's opening piece was a quirky collection of effects that ebbed and flowed. The range of drama/intensity and little, whimsical tweaks set the scene for the night.
Jim Rose's "Music for 4 Fences" was stunning. The Australian landscape is cross-crossed with five-strand wire fences (the top one being barbed wire and the other four high-tensile wire). Working with this as a starting point, four fences were built on metal frames, and each "string" amped with an electric guitar piezo mic. From the opening plucked note that resonated around the hall, the audience knew we were in for something special. One by one, members of the quartet joined-in, bowing, plucking, scraping and hitting the wires with Bass bows (sometimes one in each hand, sometimes with one hand on the wire to damp its vibrations / change its resonant wavelength). [They have photos of this on Facebook, and their main page on Facebook contains their recordings of music by Sigur Rós, NIN, Tom Waits, Clint Mansell, and more.]
During the applause they invited designer/composer Jim Rose onto the stage to take a bow.
A few minutes later, they returned to the stage for an encore. In an act of what I jokingly see as Ultimate Fan Service, the Kronos Quartet gave a tingles-down-the-spine rendition of "Flugufrelsarinn" by Sigur Rós.
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Angels and Demons
To save you the grief of paying $18 to watch this new Ron Howard klunker, here's the gist of things...
Tom Hanks reprises his stilted character from "The Da Vinci Fad Code". This time, instead of the preternaturally cute Audrey Tatu, the brunette sidekick is a physicist (you know she's a scientist because she races around in a white lab-coat) from CERN -- where they use the Large Hadron Collider to make antimatter *cough* in such quantities that it can be used to power cities *cough* or as a bomb *cough* if it falls into the wrong hands. Which would be Quite A Bad Thing™.
Enter the Illuminati, a mysterious pro-science/anti-Catholic organisation that's been skulkin' in the shadows since the middle-ages and waiting for the right time to illuminate the citizens of Rome. Time hasn't been kind to the Illuminati -- these days, they're down to one Vatican insider and a sharp-shooting nutter with a penchant for mutilation and puzzles relating to the direction in which statues point. It's never explained quite why the Illuminati were itching for centuries to get their hands on an antimatter bomb when any other type of bomb would have done the trick. They shoulda invited Guy Fawkes to be part of their club.
Tom Hanks diligently follows the MacGuffin-quest, swaggering into the centre of screen just in time for the delivery of one bloodstained clue after another. There's car-chases through Rome and Vatican City, accompanied by overbearing music to remind you that it's a tense and dramaitic film. This music is Hans Zimmer's usual bombast and, at times, threatens to be more over-the-top than his soundtrack for "Pirates of the Carribean" and have you yearning for that film's undead simian.
This all takes roughly two hours. Then there's the suBtle twist ending...which they proceed to belabour for an additional 20 minutes.
Star Trek
This film is unashamedly sci-fi, yet has more palpable, believable science than "Angels and Demons". It's got epic amounts of spaaace, space-ships that go zoom, space-ships that go boom, and Jim Kirk getting into the fisticuffs like he hasn't since the original series in the '60s.
The new cast is superb as the younger counterparts to familiar characters. The plot has a few holes in it, but you just don't care because it's all rollicking, good fun. The action, adventure and sly humour satisfies regular moviegoers, while it's peppered with enough in-references to entertain rabid Trek fans. While the last few Star Trek films were like sub-par TV episodes that had been stretched-out to movie-length and then enlarged to full the big screen, this one is different; it felt at home on the IMAX screen. If there's a sequel to this $150 million blockbuster, I hope they stretch that budget to buy the DOP a tripod of a kit of flare-free lenses/filters.
They all die horribly in the end. Oops, no they don't. Go and see this film.
Can't wait for Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus
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"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 140 characters."
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I adore XKCD and read Wondermark often...so today's Wondermark, drawn by XKCD's Randall Monroe, is a magical convergence of many fine things and manages to get it just right. :->
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Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
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Here's a few links to stuff I've found over the past few days which, IMHO, rock:
Bionic Dolphins
Oh, my! :->
Datamancer's Art Deco keyboard.
Shiny and streamlined! :)
Darwinism as Religion?
I enoy watching Conrad's video-blog posts. They're always thought-provoking, philosophical ambles that he's researched, thought-through and presented with a hint of humour.
This is an interesting one, since I'm firmly on the side of science and can't stand it when dogmatic thinkers degrade it with the accusation of it being "just another religion".
In short: science might not have all he answers, but at least it can be grown-up enough to admit when it's wrong. Like when Darwin got some details wrong. You throw-out those bits and use the newer evidence to help construct an improved theory.
At its heart, I think science is about the continual search for knowledge; meanwhile, faith is founded on irrational belief.
National Geographic Daily Dozen
A pick of the best National Geographic photos, updated each day. Or, you can brows their archives.
Some amazingly beautiful pictures there.
Carousel, directed by Adam Berg is a nifty piece of special-effects work (pseudo-bullet-time and loads of mostly-invisible post-production). The making-of is interesting, too. That's a lot of digital effects for an ad for a TV. It's great that it tells a big story in such a compact space/time and the structure loops back on itself.
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Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
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Fans of XKCD rejoice: there's a book on the way.
This article also wages into the pros and cons of traditional dead-tree books, how they're sold, etc.
When Pixels Find New Life on Real Paper
Tesla unveils its all-electric, seven-seat sedan
It's not a sports-car like the Tesla Roadster, more of a high-end family car. It's half the price of the sports-car and has a pretty impressive design / specs...as seen on the Tesla website: Tesla Model S.
My First Dictionary
So wrong and so funny. :)
Modern Web Design
Sad but true. :-P
Have you noticed how many cinemas in Australia are finally jumping on the digital projector bandwagon?
Besides saving a bundle on storage and distribution of reels of film, they can project movies in 3D. More and more blockbusters are being made in 3D. I'm looking forward to seeing "Coraline" in 3D. :)
Here's an interesting (and somewhat technical) write-up of how it's done: Art of Digital 3D Stereoscopic Film.
Its also interesting to see in the article that they're using a pair of Red Cameras ganged together to film stereoscopic images.
Cassini's continued mission
Here's 24 amazing photos of Saturn and surrounds...the article explains:
NASA's Cassini spacecraft is now a nearly a year into its extended mission, called Cassini Equinox (after its initial 4-year mission ended in June, 2008). The spacecraft continues to operate in good health, returning amazing images of Saturn, its ring system and moons, and providing new information and science on a regular basis. [via ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) blackgrrr]
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
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A few days ago, taiba asked "Bad news for Aussie Authors?" and pointed to this article: S.O.S. - Australian authors in peril.
It explains the background to a recent move that will undermine the publishing industry in Australia.
My sumamry:
The Productivity Commission is recommending that Australia opens the floodgates to cheap imports of books so big-name retailers can skirt around paying our authors their due royalties.
They did this at the advice of a group calling themself the "Coalition for Cheaper Books"...who turn-out to be Dymocks, Woolworths, Coles, K Mart, Big W and Target.
These chains/franchises claim it will lower the cost of books, but I can't see them passing-on the savings to customers. If anything, it'll be used to tighten their grip on the market and squeeze-out the small and independent bookshops I love.
Before long, this move will also trash the Australian publishing industry.
And, at the bottom of the pile is the Australian writer, who's already paid a pittance as it is, having their income/royalties slashed.
I'm all for redefining our copyright laws and loosening-up things to benefit the end-user. But, I'm after positive change, and if that's not on offer then I'd like to maintain things rather than take a big step backwards. And this is one such case, since what they're talking about is about a select few twisting copyright laws to benefit themselves at the expense of the creators and local jobs.
What can you do about it?
Kick-up a fuss before it's too late.
Let the Productivity Commission know you support the Australian book industry and Australian authors, illustrators and editors,and want to maintain full Australian territorial copyright for books.
According to patchworkkid, that deadline is noon tomorrow (Friday).
Read more info and sign the petition: http://www.ausbooks.com.au/petition.php
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Sewing machine hoax hits S Arabia
[via William Gibson]
Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000 (£33,500).
The Singer sewing machines are said to contain traces of red mercury, a substance that may not exist.
But it is widely thought that it can be used to find treasure, ward off evil spirits or even make nuclear bombs.
It's such a nutty hoax and I love it that it's spreading like wildfire. Gotta feel sorry for those who had their tools-of-the-trade stolen, though.
At their heart, I reckon the best hoaxes rely on the susceptibility of the greedy, rich and gullible.
 This collection of photos of Zoo babies from around the world is really beautiful, and you feel better simply for seeing them and learning a bit about some of them...yet it's distressing that so many of them, such as the Ocelot (pictured), are on the Endangered list.
10 Incredible Old Computer Ads
[via blackgrrr]
I'm impressed that Isaac Asimov was shilling for the TRS-80.
And that only three years later, they'd jumped to the 8086 architecture and were being touted as the best by none other than Bill Gates (with huge glasses and a v-neck jumper to demonstrate his cred).
Apart from that, not a lot has changed in computer ads...I think these days, the colours are brighter, the sexism more overt and some of the few technical details have been replaced with oblique psychological hooks.
Heavy Metal Band Names
I found it an interesting way to categorise/organise band names. It's easy to get into some metal music / bands (the more mainstream ones?) even if I'm not seriously into the genre.
The chart names bands everyone's heard of like Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Faith No More (they're heavy metal?), Sepultura, Motörhead and erm, Spinal Tap. :)
And then there's some stand-out oddities -- bands with names such as Angel Queef, Satan's Akward Gropings and (my favourite) Wiccan Guidance Counselor (led, no doubt, by a sensible North Londoner who goes by the name of Nigel, wears skivvies, drives a Volvo, and can sit you down with a nice cup of tea and give you a good talking-to).
I also like that there's a diverse section for bands with umlauts in their name, those with double-umlauts, and a sure-to-be defied claim that triple-umlauts are physically impossible. Clearly, there's an unexplored niche of heavy metal bands named after Ikea furniture. \m/
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A while back, I mentioned the upcoming film, "Moon" by Duncan Jones and linked to a collection of officially released clips.
YouTube now has a full trailer.
Also worth noting that the soundtrack is by Clint Mansell (of Pop Will Eat Itself) who also did the music for "Pi", "Requiem for a Dream" and "The Fountain" among others.
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Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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Here's a couple of quick and reasonably spoiler-free reviews of films I've seen in the past couple of days...
Mary and Max
Australian-made stop-motion animation, written and directed by Adam Elliot. He won an Oscar for "Harvey Krumpet", and this film is in a similar vein.
It's a rather strange film. Excellent animation, and you can see enough fingerprints to know that they did it all "old school"...there's no CGI, no blue-screening, no bits churned-out by machines (The upcoming "Coraline" has all three in spades and looks perhaps a little too slick as a result).
I thought "Mary and Max" is a brilliant piece of character writing. It's bound to polarise the audience, so if you didn't like the characters in "Harvey Krumpet" then you won't like this film.
Worth seeing for its artistry and collection of freakish characters that remind you in parts of you or your family or that odd guy down the road. :)
And, although it's animated, it's not a kid's film...characters have "issues" and it gets pretty dark/unpleasant about three quarters the way through. Unlike a Pixar flick, there's not much of a "children's" layer to the film, though I suppose a younger audience would appreciate the visuals, gags and bits of slapstick...the "adult" layer is to the fore. Some parts drag a little bit because they rely on the narrator too much, and that makes the pacing feel a little bit off. But, by the end, it redeems itself as it gets to its slightly predictable but effective and surprisingly heart-wrenching conclusion.
The Boat that Rocked
A Richard Curtis film (writer/director) with his usual feel-good formula and a huge ensemble cast.
Set in the late 1960s on a Pirate Radio Station in the North Sea that transmits the new Rock'n'Roll that all the kids can't get enough of. All I remember of Pirate Radio was from "The Goodies". ;)
It's got a bit of that "Carry On" atmosphere about it and self-consciously pokes fun at the establishment/morality-police of the time, all in the name of a bit of fun. It's too long, but even then, it's an excuse to goof-around and play some good music. Standout actors are the snooty Kenneth Branagh and absolutely sublime Bill Nighy.
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 Fixed antique my camera. It had a pin-prick hole in the leather bellows that would have created an image-destroying light-leak. Used some flexible glue and kidskin (shaved thin to be super-soft/bendy), both the type designed to last for bookbinding. The patch is inside and then covered-up with the silk lining, so it's invisible unless you know exactly where to look and it doesn't affect the workings of the bellows.
( Larger photo and more info )
For those interested in technical details, the camera is a Gundlach Korona I.
I'm using Ilford FP4 4x5 ISO 125 B&W film. The "4x5" part refers to the size of each negative in inches -- huge when you consider that most film these days is 35mm.
Hopefully the rain will ease-up over the weekend since I'm planning to take a few shots on Monday. Overcast is helpful; rain not! Also going to take the Nikon D300 and a handful of lenses...it'll make for a good comparison and I'm not giving-up on digital photography any time soon. ;)
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This is a simple and ingenious virus-test for Conficker, the latest epidemic that's been causing havoc over the past few days.
It works by attempting to show pictures from sites that are completely blocked by the virus if it's infected your system.
Eye-chart and full explanation here: http://eyechart.sie.isc.org/
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Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
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For immediate release.
Tokyo, Japan. April 1, 2009.
Nikon today announced the imminent release of the Nikon LX100. Boasting a 4x5 inch CMOS sensor with 80.6 megapixels, this camera can capture up to 4 frames per second full-frame RAW (30FPS cropped, "Live" VGA/PAL/NTSC), with sensitivity ranging from ISO 50 to 102,400 (204,800 "Extended").
It's a bold move that many will see as a step back in time, though Nikon insists it is a technological leap forward. A Nikon rep was quoted as saying: "With these advances, you can expect unprecedented clarity, low noise, excellence in low-light conditions and the scintillating sharpness for which Nikkor lenses are renowned." Fans of the original Nippon Kogaku medium format format gear will be disappointed by the lack of compatibility. "This was a trade-off when deciding to construct with magnesium and carbon-fiber over the traditional mahogany. This development marks a new era in Nikon and will ensure its supremacy for decades to come." When quizzed by waiting media whether the Nikon LX100 would be compatible with the range of DX or LX lenses, he paused and responded, "No. But it holds up to six CF memory cards, which may be configured in RAID 0, 1 or 5 modes for redundancy and speed."
A range of new LX format lenses will be announced Q1 2010. They are tipped to utilize the new Nikon L-mount and include a slew of familiar Nikon technology such as VR, IF, ED, N and OMG. Responding to recent criticism over the retail price of the D3x, Nikon has priced this release "Aggressively, to meet needs of professional photographers." It weighs-in at a mere 19,999 (US$). The Nikon LX100 is touted as being ideal for weddings, fashion, landscapes and pictures of cats on the Internet with grammatically incorrect captions.
No comment has been issued by Canon as yet over a competing product or possible trademark infringement with the Canon LX-100 Camcorder.
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cheerful.
Warholish.
Highly Amused.
angry.
sad.
