I was talking about this earlier in the week...about how the straight-to-DVD-animated film market is booming. Well, the next in the series being pumped out by DC Comics and Warner Brothers is coming out on February 26, and it's the most anticipated one of the lot.
Justice League: The New Frontier is based on the multiple-award winning, best-selling comic book mini-series of the same name. Written and drawn by Darwyn Cooke (who actually got his start in the industry as a storyboard artist on Batman: The Animated Series), The New Frontier is a re-imagining of the origins of the Justice League, set in the 1950s, and designed to reflect the policies and political spectrum in the world at that time. I read the book about a month ago...it's really good.
And it's been turned into a straight-to-DVD animated movie! And, in a new twist for these straight-to-DVD movies, it'll be available in both a single-disc, movie-only version and a 2-disc super-special edition!
For bonus materials, you get:
Super Heroes United!: The Complete Justice League History - a documentary about the premiere superhero team in the DC universe, the Justice League.
- A running commentary with the directors and animators
- A running commentary with the film's co-writer, and writer of the original story, Darwyn Cooke.
Sneak Preview of Batman: Gotham Knight - The next straight-to-DVD animated film is, well, Batman meets The Animatrix. A group of Japanese animators have had their way with Batman to produce this heavily anime-influenced Batman film. It comes out in the summer, and is meant to fill in the gap between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.
That's all on the single-disc, movie-only version. If you go for the 2-disc special edition, you get all this sweet stuff on disc 2:
The Legion of Doom: The Pathology of the Super Villain - a comprehensive documentary on the history and development of super villains.
Comic Book Commentary: Homage to the New Frontier - A featurette all about the original comic, featuring Darwyn Cooke.
Bruce Timm's Favourite Episodes of Justice League Unlimited - Batman: The Animated Series/Superman: The Animated Series/Batman Beyond/Justice League/Justice League Unlimited creator and Justice League: New Frontier co-director Bruce Timm give you his three favourite episodes of Justice League Unlimited: Dark Heart, To Another Shore, and Task Force X.
This is going to be a sweet movie...if it's as half as good as the book!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Your Vancouver Olympic Mascots!
One of the days that all of Canada has been awaiting for has finally arrived. They've announced the mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics!
We've come a long way from when the organizers of the 1972 Munich games thought that adopting a weiner dog as the mascot would be cute. The Olympic mascots now form the crux of the Olympic marketing campaign towards children. But you know, when I think of the Olympic mascots, I can't help but think of the Snowlets, the owls who were mascots for the 1998 Nagano Games. When I was at the Olympic museum in Nagano, they had the mascot costume on display. And I actually saw this one kid reach over the velvet ropes and punch the mascots.
The process to choose the mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics took 14 months, in which they took proposals from design houses the world over. Finally, they chose a little Vancouver design studio called Meomi Design. It was long rumored that the mascot would be an innukshuk, riffing on the games' logo. That's not what it turned out to be, but it's still something that draws on First Nations folklore. The three mascots and their sidekick were unveiled today in a lavish ceremony in Vancouver, in front of 800 schoolchildren
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the mascots for the the 2010 Winter Olympics!
The First Nations of the west coast tell tales of orcas that could assume the form of a bear when on land. And from that, we get Miga. Miga is a "sea bear," part killer whale, part bear...she's an orca in the ocean and a bear on land. Friendly, boisterous, and outgoing, her favourite winter sport is snowboarding.
Quachi is a sasquatch...a bigfoot...that mythical ape that roams the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Quachi is the shy, quiet type...after all, he spends most of his days hiding in the woods. His favourite winter sport is hockey, and he dreams of being the world's greatest goalie.
Said one co-worker today, "Why does as a sasquatch need boots and earmuffs?" My reply, "Because his feet and ears are cold."
If you're going to split hairs, then Sumi here is actually the mascot for the Paralympic Games, happening a few weeks after the Winter Olympics. But, since Vancouver is elevating the Paralympic Games to the same level as the Olympics, Sumi is getting equal treatment. Drawing from the transformation myths rampant in Native folklore, Sumi "wears the hat of the orca, flies on the wings of the Thunderbird, and runs on the legs of a black bear." She likes to ski.
And this li'l guy is Mukmuk. He's not an official Olympic mascot...but rather, he's their sidekick. He'll be popping up along side the mascots from time to time. The only real animal in the bunch, he's a Vancouver Island Marmot.
The kids seem to be taken with them...Miga is a front-runner for the kids favourites. And, of course, they're not without their complaints...some are already complaining that they look too much like Pokemon, and that they require too much exposition. Either way, they're going to be with us for the next three years, and then on display for all your punching needs in a museum.
Here's the official website of the mascots
And, in an interesting footnote, today, the City of Calgary officially retired Hidy and Howdy, the mascots for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Heidi and Howdy have adorned the "Welcome to Calgary" signs for the past 20 years, and Calgary has decided to retire those signs and replace them with something newer.
Here's the complete article in the Calgary Herald
Olympic Mascot Fast Facts
- The first Olympic mascot was Waldi the Dashund, mascot for the 1972 Munich games. the first unofficial mascot was Schuss, a cartoon skier, and mascot for the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games.
- The first mascot to be a full part of the games and heavily merchandised was Misha the Bear, mascot for the 1980 Moscow Games. Misha was an intergral part of the opening and closing ceremonies, and even had his own cartoon.
- The 1988 Calgary Olympics was the first Olympics to have more than one mascot: Hidy and Howdy, twin polar bears in cowboy outfits.
- The record for the most mascots is next year's 2008 Beijing Games. They've got 5 mascots.
- It's generally agreed the most unpopular mascot was Izzy, mascot for the 1996 Atlanta Games. Izzy was an abstract creation, and as such, his design was constantly being re-designed. There was a roller coaster named after him at the Busch Gardens theme park, but the name was changed before 1996 was done. However, Izzy did star in his own video game and animated special!
- The 2000 Sydney games' mascots were actually upstaged by an unofficial mascot. An Australian sketch comedy show created their own mascot for the 2000 games, called "Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat." Fatso grew more popular than the official mascots...there's a statue of Fatso in Sydney's official Olympic memorial park, but no mention of the real mascots.
- Despite what that Simpson episode said, the mascot for the 1976 Montreal Games was a beaver, not a vampire.
We've come a long way from when the organizers of the 1972 Munich games thought that adopting a weiner dog as the mascot would be cute. The Olympic mascots now form the crux of the Olympic marketing campaign towards children. But you know, when I think of the Olympic mascots, I can't help but think of the Snowlets, the owls who were mascots for the 1998 Nagano Games. When I was at the Olympic museum in Nagano, they had the mascot costume on display. And I actually saw this one kid reach over the velvet ropes and punch the mascots.
The process to choose the mascots for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics took 14 months, in which they took proposals from design houses the world over. Finally, they chose a little Vancouver design studio called Meomi Design. It was long rumored that the mascot would be an innukshuk, riffing on the games' logo. That's not what it turned out to be, but it's still something that draws on First Nations folklore. The three mascots and their sidekick were unveiled today in a lavish ceremony in Vancouver, in front of 800 schoolchildren
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you the mascots for the the 2010 Winter Olympics!
The First Nations of the west coast tell tales of orcas that could assume the form of a bear when on land. And from that, we get Miga. Miga is a "sea bear," part killer whale, part bear...she's an orca in the ocean and a bear on land. Friendly, boisterous, and outgoing, her favourite winter sport is snowboarding.
Quachi is a sasquatch...a bigfoot...that mythical ape that roams the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Quachi is the shy, quiet type...after all, he spends most of his days hiding in the woods. His favourite winter sport is hockey, and he dreams of being the world's greatest goalie.
Said one co-worker today, "Why does as a sasquatch need boots and earmuffs?" My reply, "Because his feet and ears are cold."
If you're going to split hairs, then Sumi here is actually the mascot for the Paralympic Games, happening a few weeks after the Winter Olympics. But, since Vancouver is elevating the Paralympic Games to the same level as the Olympics, Sumi is getting equal treatment. Drawing from the transformation myths rampant in Native folklore, Sumi "wears the hat of the orca, flies on the wings of the Thunderbird, and runs on the legs of a black bear." She likes to ski.
And this li'l guy is Mukmuk. He's not an official Olympic mascot...but rather, he's their sidekick. He'll be popping up along side the mascots from time to time. The only real animal in the bunch, he's a Vancouver Island Marmot.
The kids seem to be taken with them...Miga is a front-runner for the kids favourites. And, of course, they're not without their complaints...some are already complaining that they look too much like Pokemon, and that they require too much exposition. Either way, they're going to be with us for the next three years, and then on display for all your punching needs in a museum.
Here's the official website of the mascots
And, in an interesting footnote, today, the City of Calgary officially retired Hidy and Howdy, the mascots for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Heidi and Howdy have adorned the "Welcome to Calgary" signs for the past 20 years, and Calgary has decided to retire those signs and replace them with something newer.
Here's the complete article in the Calgary Herald
- The first Olympic mascot was Waldi the Dashund, mascot for the 1972 Munich games. the first unofficial mascot was Schuss, a cartoon skier, and mascot for the 1968 Grenoble Winter Games.
- The first mascot to be a full part of the games and heavily merchandised was Misha the Bear, mascot for the 1980 Moscow Games. Misha was an intergral part of the opening and closing ceremonies, and even had his own cartoon.
- The 1988 Calgary Olympics was the first Olympics to have more than one mascot: Hidy and Howdy, twin polar bears in cowboy outfits.
- The record for the most mascots is next year's 2008 Beijing Games. They've got 5 mascots.
- It's generally agreed the most unpopular mascot was Izzy, mascot for the 1996 Atlanta Games. Izzy was an abstract creation, and as such, his design was constantly being re-designed. There was a roller coaster named after him at the Busch Gardens theme park, but the name was changed before 1996 was done. However, Izzy did star in his own video game and animated special!
- The 2000 Sydney games' mascots were actually upstaged by an unofficial mascot. An Australian sketch comedy show created their own mascot for the 2000 games, called "Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat." Fatso grew more popular than the official mascots...there's a statue of Fatso in Sydney's official Olympic memorial park, but no mention of the real mascots.
- Despite what that Simpson episode said, the mascot for the 1976 Montreal Games was a beaver, not a vampire.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Futurama Returns!
Perhaps the most anticipated stragiht-to-DVD animated movie of all time comes out today.
as I've blogged before, with the home theatre market having exploded the way it has, the straight-to-DVD animated film market has boomed as well. What's also boomed is how brilliant TV shows that have been canceled before their time get released in a "complete series" boxed set. If there was only some way to marry the two....
That marriage happens today, with the long-awaited return of Futurama with the straight-to-DVD movie Futurama: Bender's Big Score.
The plot concerns the Earth being under seige by aliens using the most henious weapon of all: Internet spam. These aliens also use their spam to brainwash Bender, and send him through time, looting all of history.
The entire creative team behind the series re-united to bring us this film. We also get the return of the entire cast, such as Billy West as Fry, John diMaggio as Bender, and voice acting LEGEND Frank Welker as Nibbler. Celebrity guest voices include Al Gore as himself, Coolio reprising his role as Kwanzabot, and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, as the Chaunukah Zombie.
For bonus materials, you get a running commentary with the cast and crew, deleted scenes, the Futurama short film A Terifying Message from Al Gore (which was actually a trailer for An Inconvenient Truth), and a complete 22-minute episode of the most popular sitcom in the Futurama universe, Everyone Loves Hypnotoad.
For those who don't remember, Futurama is being brought back in a series of 4 straight-to-DVD movies. The second one, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, is due out in the spring. The grand scheme is to then take these 4 movies, chop them up into 16 episodes, and then show it on TV as the long-awaited season 5.
But it's a better world, for Futurama is back. Now if we can just convince them to make Kevin Smith's animated Clerks movie....
as I've blogged before, with the home theatre market having exploded the way it has, the straight-to-DVD animated film market has boomed as well. What's also boomed is how brilliant TV shows that have been canceled before their time get released in a "complete series" boxed set. If there was only some way to marry the two....
That marriage happens today, with the long-awaited return of Futurama with the straight-to-DVD movie Futurama: Bender's Big Score.
The plot concerns the Earth being under seige by aliens using the most henious weapon of all: Internet spam. These aliens also use their spam to brainwash Bender, and send him through time, looting all of history.
The entire creative team behind the series re-united to bring us this film. We also get the return of the entire cast, such as Billy West as Fry, John diMaggio as Bender, and voice acting LEGEND Frank Welker as Nibbler. Celebrity guest voices include Al Gore as himself, Coolio reprising his role as Kwanzabot, and Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, as the Chaunukah Zombie.
For bonus materials, you get a running commentary with the cast and crew, deleted scenes, the Futurama short film A Terifying Message from Al Gore (which was actually a trailer for An Inconvenient Truth), and a complete 22-minute episode of the most popular sitcom in the Futurama universe, Everyone Loves Hypnotoad.
For those who don't remember, Futurama is being brought back in a series of 4 straight-to-DVD movies. The second one, Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs, is due out in the spring. The grand scheme is to then take these 4 movies, chop them up into 16 episodes, and then show it on TV as the long-awaited season 5.
But it's a better world, for Futurama is back. Now if we can just convince them to make Kevin Smith's animated Clerks movie....
Sunday, November 25, 2007
New Movie Review: Beowulf
I'm back from my day in Edmonton! I've completed Phase I of my Christmas shopping. Phase I is generally a recon mission...I do a lot of window shopping, and just start getting general ideas as to what to get people. And, I usually come back with a couple of presents for myself.
Bought myself a couple of CDs...I'm actually quite surprised, I've been buying myself a lot of CDs lately. But I find I don't know what to do with a new CD. Back in the day, when I was still doing Chaos in Print and indulging in a lot of creative writing, I'd generally come home, drop the new CD in the stereo, sit down at the computer, and write until my fingers bled. But now that I don't write anymore, when do I listen to music?
I relived a little bit of those old days tonight. While in Edmonton, I went to see Beowulf, and I've got a review up over at my website. Long story short: if you're going to go see Beowulf, do what I did. Pay the extra money and see it in IMAX 3D. That's probably the best way to see it.
Anyway, go read my review!
Bought myself a couple of CDs...I'm actually quite surprised, I've been buying myself a lot of CDs lately. But I find I don't know what to do with a new CD. Back in the day, when I was still doing Chaos in Print and indulging in a lot of creative writing, I'd generally come home, drop the new CD in the stereo, sit down at the computer, and write until my fingers bled. But now that I don't write anymore, when do I listen to music?
I relived a little bit of those old days tonight. While in Edmonton, I went to see Beowulf, and I've got a review up over at my website. Long story short: if you're going to go see Beowulf, do what I did. Pay the extra money and see it in IMAX 3D. That's probably the best way to see it.
Anyway, go read my review!
Latest Targ's Up!
Here it is, folks! This week's episode of The Targ, in which I announce the winner of my first contest!
I also rant about Shrek and A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me.
So check out Episode 74: Christmas is Around the Corner!
Listen to it!
I also rant about Shrek and A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me.
So check out Episode 74: Christmas is Around the Corner!
Listen to it!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Buy Nothing Day
Some day, I really do enjoy getting up at 4AM for my job. It's -10 in Athabasca, you can see all the furnace exhaust rising from all the buildings...it all has a faint orange glow because of the street lights. And the sky is so clear you can see the full moon reflected in the ice on the river.
It's all very pretty, and I had to share that with the world.
But anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that today is Buy Nothing Day. Buy Nothing Day was the pet cause of a lot of people I went to university with (especially the editors of the Dagligtale, who gave it lots and lots of coverage), and as I make the move from "young and cynical" to "old and bitter," I don't celebrate it anymore, but I take the moment to acknowledge that today's the day.
It was started by the anti-consumer watchdog Adbusters, as a way to protest our consumerist society. It's quite easy to do. Just buy nothing today. Stay at home, read a book, call a friend, whatever. Just don't buy anything.
You'll also notice that today is Black Friday...this is the day that all the American retailers start their Christmas sales and it's the busiest shopping day of the year in the USA. That's no coincidence...Buy Nothing Day was chosen specifically to fall on Black Friday as the perfect day to protest consumerism.
Of course, it's had its fair share of controversy. Most major American networks refuse to run Buy Nothing Day ads. Back in 2001, when 9/11 was still on people's minds and folks were encouraged to buy as much stuff as possible to show the terrorists that everything was fine and the American economy would not be shaken, Buy Nothing Day was deemed un-patriotic. Some even went as far to go, "Well, then, I buy even MORE stuff on Buy Nothing Day! Screw you, Buy Nothing Day!"
What I really like is how people are starting to stage demonstrations on Buy Nothing Day to spread the word. I like this one where you get around 10 of your friends, you each grab a shopping cart, and you roam the aisles of a department with empty carts, forming a shopping cart train and just going around and around and around.... back when I worked at Extra Foods, I used to come up with plans like that, just to get back at and inconvenience annoying customers.
I think my favourite one, though, has to be this. You go to a department store and buy as much stuff as possible...max out your credit card with all kinds of merchandise. You're probably thinking, "WTF? This is Buy Nothing Day! WTF?" but let me finish. Once you've made your purchase in the several thousands of dollars, you take all your packages, promptly walk over to the customer service desk, and immediatly return it all. And you spend your whole day going back and forth between the cash registers and the customer service desk...returning everything as soon as you buy it. Apparently, the customer service folks start getting really, really, really pissed off with you around the third time.
And some retailers are starting to jump on board...there's a few small, indepedent stores who've declared today to be "Sell Nothing Day," and they close up shop and give all their employees the day off. I'm always in favour of more days off.
So to all my friends who are buying nothing today, I applaud you for your social conscience. If your taking part in one of those demonstrations, I ask that you do so safely and peacefully. And if you're like me, who's not celebrating directly but will probably wind up buying nothing because you've just got no reason to head out to the store today, then I thank you for your accidental recognition.
It's all very pretty, and I had to share that with the world.
But anyway, I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that today is Buy Nothing Day. Buy Nothing Day was the pet cause of a lot of people I went to university with (especially the editors of the Dagligtale, who gave it lots and lots of coverage), and as I make the move from "young and cynical" to "old and bitter," I don't celebrate it anymore, but I take the moment to acknowledge that today's the day.
It was started by the anti-consumer watchdog Adbusters, as a way to protest our consumerist society. It's quite easy to do. Just buy nothing today. Stay at home, read a book, call a friend, whatever. Just don't buy anything.
You'll also notice that today is Black Friday...this is the day that all the American retailers start their Christmas sales and it's the busiest shopping day of the year in the USA. That's no coincidence...Buy Nothing Day was chosen specifically to fall on Black Friday as the perfect day to protest consumerism.
Of course, it's had its fair share of controversy. Most major American networks refuse to run Buy Nothing Day ads. Back in 2001, when 9/11 was still on people's minds and folks were encouraged to buy as much stuff as possible to show the terrorists that everything was fine and the American economy would not be shaken, Buy Nothing Day was deemed un-patriotic. Some even went as far to go, "Well, then, I buy even MORE stuff on Buy Nothing Day! Screw you, Buy Nothing Day!"
What I really like is how people are starting to stage demonstrations on Buy Nothing Day to spread the word. I like this one where you get around 10 of your friends, you each grab a shopping cart, and you roam the aisles of a department with empty carts, forming a shopping cart train and just going around and around and around.... back when I worked at Extra Foods, I used to come up with plans like that, just to get back at and inconvenience annoying customers.
I think my favourite one, though, has to be this. You go to a department store and buy as much stuff as possible...max out your credit card with all kinds of merchandise. You're probably thinking, "WTF? This is Buy Nothing Day! WTF?" but let me finish. Once you've made your purchase in the several thousands of dollars, you take all your packages, promptly walk over to the customer service desk, and immediatly return it all. And you spend your whole day going back and forth between the cash registers and the customer service desk...returning everything as soon as you buy it. Apparently, the customer service folks start getting really, really, really pissed off with you around the third time.
And some retailers are starting to jump on board...there's a few small, indepedent stores who've declared today to be "Sell Nothing Day," and they close up shop and give all their employees the day off. I'm always in favour of more days off.
So to all my friends who are buying nothing today, I applaud you for your social conscience. If your taking part in one of those demonstrations, I ask that you do so safely and peacefully. And if you're like me, who's not celebrating directly but will probably wind up buying nothing because you've just got no reason to head out to the store today, then I thank you for your accidental recognition.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Must Be Thursday
It's Thanksgiving in the USA today. Even though I'm Canadian, I still have fond memories of celebrating an American Thanksgiving in Japan.
I never realized how much emotional attachment Americans put into their Thanksgiving until I was in Japan, and working alongside two Americans. When Thanskgiving rolled around, they were almost crippled by homesickness. They were wandering the halls of the school, always on the verge of tears. One almost lost it when he admitted that his turkey dinner was a turkey sandwich at Starbuck's. Then they turned to me and said, "Well, they've got Thanksgiving in Canada, right Mark? How come you're not sad today?" And that's when I told them that Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving at the start of October, and that I went through my homesickness a month and a half ago, and then they started feeling even worse because they ignored me when I was going what they were going through. It was just a bad day at work.
So if you've got an American friend, and he or she is feeling a little down today, I ask that you take them down to the local sandwich shop, buy them a turkey sandwich, and follow the old addage, "If you can't be with the ones you love, then love the ones you're with."
And if you're a non-Canadian with a Canadian friend, I hope you remember this story when they're feeling all down and despondent at the start of October.
It's that time of year again! I'm getting deluged with e-mail requests for a copy of A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me.
Remember this great ol' Christmas special? Two teenagers and their talking mouse friend solve the mystery of a missing department store Santa (played by the legendary actor Dick Van Patten). It was a blend of animation and live-action, with the mouse being animated. It got heavy airplay on Edmonton's ITV in the late-80s/early-90s, because it was filmed in Edmonton.
But anyway, a few years back, I created a catalogue of all the holiday specials I taped off TV, and posted the catalogue to my website. A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me is on that catalogue, and every year around this time, I get a half-a-dozen e-mails requesting a copy.
I'm hoping to get a new computer early next year sometime. My new machine has to have a video capture card, so I can rip that thing off of VHS and sell bootleg DVDs on eBay. There's got to be some money in that.
The Husky here in Athabasca just added a vending machine that rents DVDs. I want to rent a DVD from it, just so I can say, "Yo yo yo! I rented this DVD from a vending machine!"
Wanna know how it handles late fees? Like this. You pay for it by swiping your credit card...no coins, bills, or debit at this machine. And if the DVD's not back in 24 hours, you get billed for it! You buy it! I tempted to do that, too, just so I can say, "Yo yo yo! I bought this DVD from a vending machine!"
This isn't a new idea...I remember Safeway having a vending machine that rented video tapes in the late-1980s. I wonder how many people back them were going, "Yo yo yo! I rented this video from a vending machine!"
When I was in Japan, I was in the change room at this swimming pool one time, and in the change room was a vending machine that sold clean underwear. I still regret not buying underwear from that machine...I'd be parading around to this very day..."Yo yo yo! I bought this underwear from a vending machine!"
I love vending machines.
And today's random bit of movie trivia....
Steven Spielberg, who produces the Shrek films through his company Dreamworks Animation, had been trying to get a Shrek movie off the ground for a long time.
The earliest recorded attempt was in 1991. Spielberg was talking to Don Bluth, with which Spielberg had made An American Tale and The Land Before Time, about doing Shrek as a traditional animated film. Back then, Spielberg was picturing Bill Murray as the voice of Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey.
Plans were abadoned when Spielberg went on record as saying that Bluth's An American Tale 2: Fivel Goes West was inferior to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Their professional relationship soured after that.
I never realized how much emotional attachment Americans put into their Thanksgiving until I was in Japan, and working alongside two Americans. When Thanskgiving rolled around, they were almost crippled by homesickness. They were wandering the halls of the school, always on the verge of tears. One almost lost it when he admitted that his turkey dinner was a turkey sandwich at Starbuck's. Then they turned to me and said, "Well, they've got Thanksgiving in Canada, right Mark? How come you're not sad today?" And that's when I told them that Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving at the start of October, and that I went through my homesickness a month and a half ago, and then they started feeling even worse because they ignored me when I was going what they were going through. It was just a bad day at work.
So if you've got an American friend, and he or she is feeling a little down today, I ask that you take them down to the local sandwich shop, buy them a turkey sandwich, and follow the old addage, "If you can't be with the ones you love, then love the ones you're with."
And if you're a non-Canadian with a Canadian friend, I hope you remember this story when they're feeling all down and despondent at the start of October.
It's that time of year again! I'm getting deluged with e-mail requests for a copy of A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me.
Remember this great ol' Christmas special? Two teenagers and their talking mouse friend solve the mystery of a missing department store Santa (played by the legendary actor Dick Van Patten). It was a blend of animation and live-action, with the mouse being animated. It got heavy airplay on Edmonton's ITV in the late-80s/early-90s, because it was filmed in Edmonton.
But anyway, a few years back, I created a catalogue of all the holiday specials I taped off TV, and posted the catalogue to my website. A Mouse, A Mystery, and Me is on that catalogue, and every year around this time, I get a half-a-dozen e-mails requesting a copy.
I'm hoping to get a new computer early next year sometime. My new machine has to have a video capture card, so I can rip that thing off of VHS and sell bootleg DVDs on eBay. There's got to be some money in that.
The Husky here in Athabasca just added a vending machine that rents DVDs. I want to rent a DVD from it, just so I can say, "Yo yo yo! I rented this DVD from a vending machine!"
Wanna know how it handles late fees? Like this. You pay for it by swiping your credit card...no coins, bills, or debit at this machine. And if the DVD's not back in 24 hours, you get billed for it! You buy it! I tempted to do that, too, just so I can say, "Yo yo yo! I bought this DVD from a vending machine!"
This isn't a new idea...I remember Safeway having a vending machine that rented video tapes in the late-1980s. I wonder how many people back them were going, "Yo yo yo! I rented this video from a vending machine!"
When I was in Japan, I was in the change room at this swimming pool one time, and in the change room was a vending machine that sold clean underwear. I still regret not buying underwear from that machine...I'd be parading around to this very day..."Yo yo yo! I bought this underwear from a vending machine!"
I love vending machines.
And today's random bit of movie trivia....
Steven Spielberg, who produces the Shrek films through his company Dreamworks Animation, had been trying to get a Shrek movie off the ground for a long time.
The earliest recorded attempt was in 1991. Spielberg was talking to Don Bluth, with which Spielberg had made An American Tale and The Land Before Time, about doing Shrek as a traditional animated film. Back then, Spielberg was picturing Bill Murray as the voice of Shrek and Steve Martin as Donkey.
Plans were abadoned when Spielberg went on record as saying that Bluth's An American Tale 2: Fivel Goes West was inferior to Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Their professional relationship soured after that.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The First GI Joe Actor is....
We have our first cast member for the upcoming, live-action movie version of GI Joe!
Are you ready? Here it is....
Sienna Miller is the Baroness!
And for those who couldn't come with me on 07/07/07 to see Transformers, I hope you clear your schedule for August 7, 2009. That's been locked in as the official realease date for GI Joe.
Filming begins in February.
Monday, November 19, 2007
The Last About Money for Medals
Just saw this on the 6 o'clock news...currently, the highest paying country is Spain. Spain awards their gold medalists $360,000.
The Countries That Already Pay for Medals
Here we go. This was starting to bug me, so I did some quick online research.
During the Torino Winter Olympics a year and a half ago, Italy was paying their athletes $150,000 for a gold medal. The Czech Republic was paying $42,000 for the gold, the USA and Japan paid $25,000, Switzerland paid $15,500 and Australia pays $7500.
Know where I found this information? This CTV news article from the 2006 Torino Olympics, in which the Tories went on record as saying they would never do it.
In another article I found, China pays $19,000 for a gold medal. But that article was dated 2004, and the subject was whether China would jack it up for the 2004 Athens Olympics, so that number may have changed.
During the Torino Winter Olympics a year and a half ago, Italy was paying their athletes $150,000 for a gold medal. The Czech Republic was paying $42,000 for the gold, the USA and Japan paid $25,000, Switzerland paid $15,500 and Australia pays $7500.
Know where I found this information? This CTV news article from the 2006 Torino Olympics, in which the Tories went on record as saying they would never do it.
In another article I found, China pays $19,000 for a gold medal. But that article was dated 2004, and the subject was whether China would jack it up for the 2004 Athens Olympics, so that number may have changed.
Money for Medals
This news just came down the wire, and I felt like sharing it with the world, not just Athabasca.
The Canadian Olympic Committee just announced that they'll start paying Canada's Olympic atheletes for the medals they win.
A Canadian athelete will score $20,000 for winning the gold, $15,000 for taking the silver, and $10,000 for the bronze. The COC says they're doing this to compensate high performance atheletes for the financial burdens they face while in training.
It should be noted that Olympic atheletes getting a cash bonus for bringing home medals is actually quite common...the USA has been doing it since 1984 (they get $25,000 for a gold medal), and many other nations around the world have been doing it (and I can't find a list right now). Many have been lobbying for the Canadian Olympic Committee to do it for quite some time now.
But the question is, will this equal more medals? We'll find out soon enough. The COC will start paying the cash bonuses at the Beijing Olympics next year.
The Canadian Olympic Committee just announced that they'll start paying Canada's Olympic atheletes for the medals they win.
A Canadian athelete will score $20,000 for winning the gold, $15,000 for taking the silver, and $10,000 for the bronze. The COC says they're doing this to compensate high performance atheletes for the financial burdens they face while in training.
It should be noted that Olympic atheletes getting a cash bonus for bringing home medals is actually quite common...the USA has been doing it since 1984 (they get $25,000 for a gold medal), and many other nations around the world have been doing it (and I can't find a list right now). Many have been lobbying for the Canadian Olympic Committee to do it for quite some time now.
But the question is, will this equal more medals? We'll find out soon enough. The COC will start paying the cash bonuses at the Beijing Olympics next year.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Animated Film Catch-Up: Happy Feet
Time to finish up my weekend of animated films by watching and reviewing last year's winner for Best Animated Film at the Oscars!
Happy Feet
Animation Studio: Animal Logic
Directed by George Miller; co-directed by Warren Coleman and Judy Morris
Starring the voices of Elijah Wood, EG Daily, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams, Hugo Weaving, and Anthony LaPaglia.
Backstory: I almost went to see this when it was in theatres last year. It got so many good reviews, and then when it picked up the nomination for Best Animated Film, that I was very, very tempted to go see it. I can't remember why I chose not to. But when it did win the Oscar, I knew I had to make time for it someday. Had a good pedigree, too. This was George Miller's first animated film...he gave us the Mad Max films in the 80s, and his last big hit was the family film Babe, which are all good movies. And damn it, I just love Robin Williams as a voice actor. That dude made Aladdin! So, it was finally time to see if it was Oscar worthy.
Plot: So, here's the deal. Penguins find their true love through their song. So if you're a penguin, and you can't sing, you pretty much doomed to a life alone. And that seems to be the case of young Mumble. However, Mumble can do something else musical. He can dance up a storm! But dancing is frowned upon in penguin society. And eventually, Mumble and his unnatural ways are being blamed for the poor fishing that's about to doom penguin society. And so, Mumble decides to go on a perilous quest to find out the real reason why the oceans are devoid of fish.
What I Like: Now, THIS is how you use pop songs to fill a soundtrack. Each one fills a purpose, serving as one of the character's inner desires. It's almost like Moulin Rouge with penguins. There's some spectacular animation going on, and the plot takes a few unexpected twists that I won't go into here, in case you haven't seen it yet and this might convince you.
What I Didn't Like: Not much. The plot was a tad formulaic. And it was a little blunt with its message...dare I say, preachy.
Final Verdict: Surprisingly good. Definitely worth checking out.
3 Nibs.
And that's it! I'm done playing my animated film catch-up. Unless there's one you think I missed, then let me know!
Happy Feet
Animation Studio: Animal Logic
Directed by George Miller; co-directed by Warren Coleman and Judy Morris
Starring the voices of Elijah Wood, EG Daily, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brittany Murphy, Robin Williams, Hugo Weaving, and Anthony LaPaglia.
Backstory: I almost went to see this when it was in theatres last year. It got so many good reviews, and then when it picked up the nomination for Best Animated Film, that I was very, very tempted to go see it. I can't remember why I chose not to. But when it did win the Oscar, I knew I had to make time for it someday. Had a good pedigree, too. This was George Miller's first animated film...he gave us the Mad Max films in the 80s, and his last big hit was the family film Babe, which are all good movies. And damn it, I just love Robin Williams as a voice actor. That dude made Aladdin! So, it was finally time to see if it was Oscar worthy.
Plot: So, here's the deal. Penguins find their true love through their song. So if you're a penguin, and you can't sing, you pretty much doomed to a life alone. And that seems to be the case of young Mumble. However, Mumble can do something else musical. He can dance up a storm! But dancing is frowned upon in penguin society. And eventually, Mumble and his unnatural ways are being blamed for the poor fishing that's about to doom penguin society. And so, Mumble decides to go on a perilous quest to find out the real reason why the oceans are devoid of fish.
What I Like: Now, THIS is how you use pop songs to fill a soundtrack. Each one fills a purpose, serving as one of the character's inner desires. It's almost like Moulin Rouge with penguins. There's some spectacular animation going on, and the plot takes a few unexpected twists that I won't go into here, in case you haven't seen it yet and this might convince you.
What I Didn't Like: Not much. The plot was a tad formulaic. And it was a little blunt with its message...dare I say, preachy.
Final Verdict: Surprisingly good. Definitely worth checking out.
3 Nibs.
And that's it! I'm done playing my animated film catch-up. Unless there's one you think I missed, then let me know!
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
Animated Movie Catch-Up: Over the Hedge
Just two more films to go in my weekend! Well, one more, after this review....
Over the Hedge
Animation studio: Dreamworks Animation
Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring the voices of Bruce Wills, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Hayden Church, Allison Janey, Eugene Levy, Cathriine O'Hara, and Avril Lavigne.
Backstory: It may have been Pixar who invented the computer animated film, but I think we can blame DreamWorks for developing and refining the formula. We've got our heroes, some new guy comes along with outlandish promises for his own self-serving needs, they all fall for it, and everyone gets in trouble. New guy realizes that if he was just honest with his new friends, whom his come to love, naturally, things would have solved themselves. He reforms, they get out of the jam and everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, and all the characters are talking animals voiced by celebrities doing little more than playing themselves, and the jokes are little more than fart gags and pop culture references. That about sum it up? Good. Then why was I drawn to Over the Hedge? Well, it got some good reviews last year and some said it turned that formula on its head, so I thought it was worth checking out.
Plot: So, RJ the raccoon swipes some food from Vincent the Bear. Vincent is all pissed off about this, and gives RJ one week to recover all the food. RJ does this by conning a bunch of animals led by Vern the Turtle into invading a new suburban housing development. And what follows is some biting social commentary on urbanization and shrinking woodland habitat. Nah, I'm just messing with you. What happense are some fart gags and pop culture references and RJ learns that if he was just honest with his new friends he wouldn't have gotten in a bigger mess than when he started.
What I Liked: It's actually really funny in some parts. A lot of really good gags.
What I Didn't Like: It follows the animated film formula pretty closely.
Final Verdict: One of DreamWorks's better efforts.
3 Nibs
Over the Hedge
Animation studio: Dreamworks Animation
Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick
Starring the voices of Bruce Wills, Gary Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte, Thomas Hayden Church, Allison Janey, Eugene Levy, Cathriine O'Hara, and Avril Lavigne.
Backstory: It may have been Pixar who invented the computer animated film, but I think we can blame DreamWorks for developing and refining the formula. We've got our heroes, some new guy comes along with outlandish promises for his own self-serving needs, they all fall for it, and everyone gets in trouble. New guy realizes that if he was just honest with his new friends, whom his come to love, naturally, things would have solved themselves. He reforms, they get out of the jam and everyone lives happily ever after. Oh, and all the characters are talking animals voiced by celebrities doing little more than playing themselves, and the jokes are little more than fart gags and pop culture references. That about sum it up? Good. Then why was I drawn to Over the Hedge? Well, it got some good reviews last year and some said it turned that formula on its head, so I thought it was worth checking out.
Plot: So, RJ the raccoon swipes some food from Vincent the Bear. Vincent is all pissed off about this, and gives RJ one week to recover all the food. RJ does this by conning a bunch of animals led by Vern the Turtle into invading a new suburban housing development. And what follows is some biting social commentary on urbanization and shrinking woodland habitat. Nah, I'm just messing with you. What happense are some fart gags and pop culture references and RJ learns that if he was just honest with his new friends he wouldn't have gotten in a bigger mess than when he started.
What I Liked: It's actually really funny in some parts. A lot of really good gags.
What I Didn't Like: It follows the animated film formula pretty closely.
Final Verdict: One of DreamWorks's better efforts.
3 Nibs
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
Latest Targ's Up!
Wow, I've been planning this day for months, and now that it's here, I hardly know what to do.
In this week's episode of The Targ...well, the episode title describes it all.
Episode 73: My First Contest
Here's what you've got to do. Listen to this week's show. In the show, I announce a special code word. What you do is e-mail me that code word at mark@chaosinabox.com, and I'll throw your name into the draw. And, in next week's show, I do the draw.
What's the big prize? Well, why don't you listen to this week's show and find out!
Listen to it here!
In this week's episode of The Targ...well, the episode title describes it all.
Episode 73: My First Contest
Here's what you've got to do. Listen to this week's show. In the show, I announce a special code word. What you do is e-mail me that code word at mark@chaosinabox.com, and I'll throw your name into the draw. And, in next week's show, I do the draw.
What's the big prize? Well, why don't you listen to this week's show and find out!
Listen to it here!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Animted Film Catch-Up: Shrek the Third
I guess I chose a bad weekend to do animated film catch-up as, after having lived in this place for a year and a half, the landlord chooses this weekend to finally re-wire the bathroom. Oh, well. At least with his flipping of breakers, he didn't shut down the TV. But today, it was....
Shrek the Third
Animation Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Directed by Chris Miller; Co-directed by Raman Hui
Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Julie Andrews, Cheri Oteri, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, and Amy Sedaris.
The Backstory: Please allow me to repeat myself. I like the first Shrek. Really, I do. But I wish people would stop selling it as what it isn't. It's not a satire of fairy tales...it's a sarcastic, self-referential fairy tale. And it never needed a sequel. But yet, it spawned Shrek 2, which I still think is the most god-awful animated film ever rendered. But still, I couldn't help but slow down for the train wreck that would be a third Shrek film.
Plot: Still bitter about his defeat at the end of #2, Prince Charming decides to stage a coup by rallying all the fairy tale villains together and overthrowing the kingdom of Far, Far Away. Meanwhile, the king of Far, Far Away passes away, and the throne is left to Shrek and Fiona. Shrek, not really wanting to be a king, goes off on a quest to get the only other heir to the throne, King Arthur...but he prefers Artie. So, while Shrek is gone, Charming stages his coup, and then Fiona and all the fairy tale princesses have to band together and liberate the kingdom. Oh, and Fiona is pregnant and, by mentoring Artie in the ways of being a king, Shrek gets over his insecurities about fatherhood.
What I Liked: The fact that every princess is voiced by a Saturday Night Live cast member. In fact, the whole subplot with the princesses deciding that they weren't going to wait around to be rescued anymore. That's gotta be the best subplot in the film. And I still like Mike Myers. And there's a great scene where the Gingerbread Man's life flashes before his eyes.
What I Didn't Like: OK, we get the joke by now. The plot is just like the first one and the second one.
Final Verdict: Better than number 2, but still short on laughs.
2.5 Nibs
And don't forget, there's still a lot more Shrek on the way! The Christmas special, Shrek the Halls, airs on November 28. The fourth film, already christened Shrek Goes Fourth, comes out in 2010. The fifth film is scheduled for 2013, and the Puss in Boots solo film is still in the works.
Shrek the Third
Animation Studio: DreamWorks Animation
Directed by Chris Miller; Co-directed by Raman Hui
Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett, Justin Timberlake, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Julie Andrews, Cheri Oteri, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, and Amy Sedaris.
The Backstory: Please allow me to repeat myself. I like the first Shrek. Really, I do. But I wish people would stop selling it as what it isn't. It's not a satire of fairy tales...it's a sarcastic, self-referential fairy tale. And it never needed a sequel. But yet, it spawned Shrek 2, which I still think is the most god-awful animated film ever rendered. But still, I couldn't help but slow down for the train wreck that would be a third Shrek film.
Plot: Still bitter about his defeat at the end of #2, Prince Charming decides to stage a coup by rallying all the fairy tale villains together and overthrowing the kingdom of Far, Far Away. Meanwhile, the king of Far, Far Away passes away, and the throne is left to Shrek and Fiona. Shrek, not really wanting to be a king, goes off on a quest to get the only other heir to the throne, King Arthur...but he prefers Artie. So, while Shrek is gone, Charming stages his coup, and then Fiona and all the fairy tale princesses have to band together and liberate the kingdom. Oh, and Fiona is pregnant and, by mentoring Artie in the ways of being a king, Shrek gets over his insecurities about fatherhood.
What I Liked: The fact that every princess is voiced by a Saturday Night Live cast member. In fact, the whole subplot with the princesses deciding that they weren't going to wait around to be rescued anymore. That's gotta be the best subplot in the film. And I still like Mike Myers. And there's a great scene where the Gingerbread Man's life flashes before his eyes.
What I Didn't Like: OK, we get the joke by now. The plot is just like the first one and the second one.
Final Verdict: Better than number 2, but still short on laughs.
2.5 Nibs
And don't forget, there's still a lot more Shrek on the way! The Christmas special, Shrek the Halls, airs on November 28. The fourth film, already christened Shrek Goes Fourth, comes out in 2010. The fifth film is scheduled for 2013, and the Puss in Boots solo film is still in the works.
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
Friday, November 16, 2007
Animated Movie Catch-Up: Surf's Up
In case you're curious, I had a lovely dinner. Fried up some pyrogies with a little bit of sausage...I love it when I have light weeks with little events to cover. I can actually cook myself descent meals!
Anywho, after supper, it was back to my stack of animated films.
Surf's Up
Animation House: Sony Pictures Animation
Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
Starring the voices of Shia LeBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, and Diedrich Bader.
The Backstory: So, a few years back, the special effects house known as Sony Imageworks made a cute little animated short film called The Chubbchubbs. It was a big enough hit that Sony decided to get into the animated film game. Their formed their own animation house, called Sony Pictures Animation. But, in actuality, it's the special effects house Sony Imageworks that does the actual animation. Anyway, they released their first animated film, Open Season, about a year ago, and it looked freakin' horrible. Their second film, Surf's Up, got better reviews, so I thought I would use it to check out the new kids on the block.
The Plot: We follow the adventures of Cody Maverick, a young penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica. When he was a kid, Cody met the world's greatest surfing penguin Big Z, and ever since, has been aspiring to be a surfer. Finally, he gets his chance, and he's off to the Big Z Memorial tournament. His first day...doesn't go so well. And then, in the woods, he happens to find Big Z, who faked his death, and now Big Z mentors Cody in the ways of how winning isn't everything.
What I Liked: What gives this film its unique voice is the fact that they do it as a documentary, so the characters occasionally talk directly into the camera and converse with off-screen film crews. That was an interesting way to go. The animation is truly spectacular, some of the best non-Pixar stuff going. And there's a few clever gags that made me laugh out loud.
What I Didn't Like: Very, very, very formulaic plot.
Final Verdict: An enjoyable waste of time, but so far, the leader for this weekend is Meet the Robinsons.
2.5 Nibs
And now, we'll take a break and resume in the morning.
Anywho, after supper, it was back to my stack of animated films.
Surf's Up
Animation House: Sony Pictures Animation
Directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck
Starring the voices of Shia LeBeouf, Jeff Bridges, Zooey Deschanel, Jon Heder, James Woods, and Diedrich Bader.
The Backstory: So, a few years back, the special effects house known as Sony Imageworks made a cute little animated short film called The Chubbchubbs. It was a big enough hit that Sony decided to get into the animated film game. Their formed their own animation house, called Sony Pictures Animation. But, in actuality, it's the special effects house Sony Imageworks that does the actual animation. Anyway, they released their first animated film, Open Season, about a year ago, and it looked freakin' horrible. Their second film, Surf's Up, got better reviews, so I thought I would use it to check out the new kids on the block.
The Plot: We follow the adventures of Cody Maverick, a young penguin from Shiverpool, Antarctica. When he was a kid, Cody met the world's greatest surfing penguin Big Z, and ever since, has been aspiring to be a surfer. Finally, he gets his chance, and he's off to the Big Z Memorial tournament. His first day...doesn't go so well. And then, in the woods, he happens to find Big Z, who faked his death, and now Big Z mentors Cody in the ways of how winning isn't everything.
What I Liked: What gives this film its unique voice is the fact that they do it as a documentary, so the characters occasionally talk directly into the camera and converse with off-screen film crews. That was an interesting way to go. The animation is truly spectacular, some of the best non-Pixar stuff going. And there's a few clever gags that made me laugh out loud.
What I Didn't Like: Very, very, very formulaic plot.
Final Verdict: An enjoyable waste of time, but so far, the leader for this weekend is Meet the Robinsons.
2.5 Nibs
And now, we'll take a break and resume in the morning.
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
Animated Film Catch-Up: Meet the Robinsons
OK, let's try this again.
I love animated film. There was once a time when I would rush down to the theatre and see every animated film that came out. I remember I started doing it about 10 years ago. Oh, I'll never forget sweet Erin Collette, who declared me the coolest man she knew cuz I went to see The Little Mermaid. But I digress.
I stopped doing it a few years back mainly because all animated films these days seem to be little more than talking animals making fart jokes. In fact, I still remember the exact film I saw that made me go, "That's it! Every animated film is not worth seeing anymore!" That film was Shrek 2.
So what I do now is, every year and a half or so, I play "animated film catch-up." I'll go down to the video store, rent every animated film that piqued my interest, and spend a weekend catching up. And I figured it was time to do that again.
Here, on this Friday afternoon, I went to the video store, rented my movies, and I've got my weekend planned. And I'm going to spend this weekend watching and reviewing! I just finished the first one, so let's get to it. I started things off with....
Meet the Robinsons
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson
Animation house: Walt Disney Studios
Starring the voices of Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Angela Basset, Tom Kenny, Laurie Metcalf, Nicole Sullivan, Wesley Singerman, Steven J. Anderson and Harland Williams
The backstory: So here's the deal. When the great Disney/Pixar merger happened a couple years back, people thought it would be the end of Pixar. People thought Pixar would start pumping out bland, listless animated films like Disney had been pumping out. But then, people looked at the fine print. As part of this merger, most of the Pixar management would be taking over Disney animation. It was more like Pixar was taking over Disney. But, would Pixar's soul be transferred over? Would Disney start pumping out films that make me feel something, like just about every Pixar film does? Meet the Robinsons was the first one made under the Pixar management regime, so it was time to find out.
Plot: Little Lewis has it rough. He's an orphan, and thanks to his quirky sensibilities, he's a tad un-adoptable. Since Lewis is a brilliant inventor, he decides to invent a machine that will extract his buried memories, and use these to track down his birth family. But then, when Lewis goes to try out his invention at the science fair, it's sabotaged by a mysterious Bowler Hat Guy, and his robotic Bowler Hat. Just when Lewis is about to give up, he meets Wilbur Robinson, who zaps him to the future. There, Lewis meets Wilbur's family, and works to undo the machinations of the Bowler Hat Guy and get back to his own time. Just what exactly is Lewis's connection to the Robinson family and the Bowler Hat Guy? Will he ever get his memory extractor working? Or, now that he has a time machine, will he just go back in time and meet his birth parents?
What I Liked: Danny Elfman does another spectacular score. The revelation of who the Bowler Hat Guy is. How Lewis finally undoes the evil plot. The poorly-dubbed kung fu fight in the middle. "Well, I've got little arms, and I don't think this plan was completely thought out, Master." And the fact that there's so few celebrity voices in the cast.
What I Didn't Like: The Robinson family is far too big and far too quirky for my tastes. Seriously, they could have cut out the aunts and uncles and we would have been fine.
Final Verdict: This film doesn't quite have that Pixar soul yet, but it's the first non-Pixar film that's come painfully close. This could be the harbinger of better things.
3 Nibs
And thus starts my weekend! We'll have another one after supper!
I love animated film. There was once a time when I would rush down to the theatre and see every animated film that came out. I remember I started doing it about 10 years ago. Oh, I'll never forget sweet Erin Collette, who declared me the coolest man she knew cuz I went to see The Little Mermaid. But I digress.
I stopped doing it a few years back mainly because all animated films these days seem to be little more than talking animals making fart jokes. In fact, I still remember the exact film I saw that made me go, "That's it! Every animated film is not worth seeing anymore!" That film was Shrek 2.
So what I do now is, every year and a half or so, I play "animated film catch-up." I'll go down to the video store, rent every animated film that piqued my interest, and spend a weekend catching up. And I figured it was time to do that again.
Here, on this Friday afternoon, I went to the video store, rented my movies, and I've got my weekend planned. And I'm going to spend this weekend watching and reviewing! I just finished the first one, so let's get to it. I started things off with....
Meet the Robinsons
Directed by Stephen J. Anderson
Animation house: Walt Disney Studios
Starring the voices of Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Angela Basset, Tom Kenny, Laurie Metcalf, Nicole Sullivan, Wesley Singerman, Steven J. Anderson and Harland Williams
The backstory: So here's the deal. When the great Disney/Pixar merger happened a couple years back, people thought it would be the end of Pixar. People thought Pixar would start pumping out bland, listless animated films like Disney had been pumping out. But then, people looked at the fine print. As part of this merger, most of the Pixar management would be taking over Disney animation. It was more like Pixar was taking over Disney. But, would Pixar's soul be transferred over? Would Disney start pumping out films that make me feel something, like just about every Pixar film does? Meet the Robinsons was the first one made under the Pixar management regime, so it was time to find out.
Plot: Little Lewis has it rough. He's an orphan, and thanks to his quirky sensibilities, he's a tad un-adoptable. Since Lewis is a brilliant inventor, he decides to invent a machine that will extract his buried memories, and use these to track down his birth family. But then, when Lewis goes to try out his invention at the science fair, it's sabotaged by a mysterious Bowler Hat Guy, and his robotic Bowler Hat. Just when Lewis is about to give up, he meets Wilbur Robinson, who zaps him to the future. There, Lewis meets Wilbur's family, and works to undo the machinations of the Bowler Hat Guy and get back to his own time. Just what exactly is Lewis's connection to the Robinson family and the Bowler Hat Guy? Will he ever get his memory extractor working? Or, now that he has a time machine, will he just go back in time and meet his birth parents?
What I Liked: Danny Elfman does another spectacular score. The revelation of who the Bowler Hat Guy is. How Lewis finally undoes the evil plot. The poorly-dubbed kung fu fight in the middle. "Well, I've got little arms, and I don't think this plan was completely thought out, Master." And the fact that there's so few celebrity voices in the cast.
What I Didn't Like: The Robinson family is far too big and far too quirky for my tastes. Seriously, they could have cut out the aunts and uncles and we would have been fine.
Final Verdict: This film doesn't quite have that Pixar soul yet, but it's the first non-Pixar film that's come painfully close. This could be the harbinger of better things.
3 Nibs
And thus starts my weekend! We'll have another one after supper!
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
The Latest on my Favourite Filmmakers
Wow, no blog entries for a week? I must have a life or something....
Anyway, some big announcements in movie news this week. Firstly, one of the most anticipated announcements for us Kevin Smith geeks...Smith has finally revealed who'll be playing Zack and Miri in his next film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Zack will be played by Seth Rogan. Rogan, of course, one of the rising young stars of comedy, having starred in The 40-Year Old Virgin, this past summer's Knocked Up, and the forthcoming Star Wars homage Fanboys. Smith has been an admirer of Rogan's for some time now...in fact, when I saw Smith in Edmonton a year and a half ago, Smith made it quite public that he wanted to work with Rogan some day.
Meanwhile, Miri will be played by on-the-verge-of-superstardom Elizabeth Banks. Banks was also in The 40-Year Old Virgin as the hot bookstore clerk who had a memorable scene in a bathtub. She's currently on screen as a hot elf in Fred Claus. But to my fellow geeks, she will always be remembered as a scene-stealingly cute Betty Brant in the Spider-Man films.
Of course, the role of Miri already has some infamy about it...Smith has made it quite public that he originally wrote the role for Rosario Dawson. Dawson had to turn down Smith, having already committed to another film. The tabloids tried to make it out like there was a huge tiff between Smith and Dawson, but Smith just shrugged and went, "that's just the way this business is."
For those who don't remember, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is about two lifelong (platonic) friends from high school who decide that the best way to get out of debt is to make a porn movie, starring themselves. But, of course, along the way, they really fall in love with each other and hilarity ensues.
Smith starts filming in January for a release around this time next year.
Meanwhile, my other favourite filmmaker, Tim Burton, has also announced his next few projects.
First up, Burton is hopping on the performance capture bandwagon, and will be giving us a performance capture version of Alice in Wonderland.
when that's done, Burton is going to give us another stop-motion animated epic. Burton's next film is going to be stop-motion animated remake of his 1984 short film, Frankenweenie. For those who've never seen Frankenweenie, it's really cool. It's a parody of Frankenstein. But in this version, Victor Frankenstein is a 12-year old boy, and his monstrous creation is his cute little, recently deceased puppy dog. It's available as a bonus feature on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD.
Burton's latest film, a movie version of the musical Sweeney Todd, comes out Christmas day.
Anyway, some big announcements in movie news this week. Firstly, one of the most anticipated announcements for us Kevin Smith geeks...Smith has finally revealed who'll be playing Zack and Miri in his next film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Zack will be played by Seth Rogan. Rogan, of course, one of the rising young stars of comedy, having starred in The 40-Year Old Virgin, this past summer's Knocked Up, and the forthcoming Star Wars homage Fanboys. Smith has been an admirer of Rogan's for some time now...in fact, when I saw Smith in Edmonton a year and a half ago, Smith made it quite public that he wanted to work with Rogan some day.
Meanwhile, Miri will be played by on-the-verge-of-superstardom Elizabeth Banks. Banks was also in The 40-Year Old Virgin as the hot bookstore clerk who had a memorable scene in a bathtub. She's currently on screen as a hot elf in Fred Claus. But to my fellow geeks, she will always be remembered as a scene-stealingly cute Betty Brant in the Spider-Man films.
Of course, the role of Miri already has some infamy about it...Smith has made it quite public that he originally wrote the role for Rosario Dawson. Dawson had to turn down Smith, having already committed to another film. The tabloids tried to make it out like there was a huge tiff between Smith and Dawson, but Smith just shrugged and went, "that's just the way this business is."
For those who don't remember, Zack and Miri Make a Porno is about two lifelong (platonic) friends from high school who decide that the best way to get out of debt is to make a porn movie, starring themselves. But, of course, along the way, they really fall in love with each other and hilarity ensues.
Smith starts filming in January for a release around this time next year.
Meanwhile, my other favourite filmmaker, Tim Burton, has also announced his next few projects.
First up, Burton is hopping on the performance capture bandwagon, and will be giving us a performance capture version of Alice in Wonderland.
when that's done, Burton is going to give us another stop-motion animated epic. Burton's next film is going to be stop-motion animated remake of his 1984 short film, Frankenweenie. For those who've never seen Frankenweenie, it's really cool. It's a parody of Frankenstein. But in this version, Victor Frankenstein is a 12-year old boy, and his monstrous creation is his cute little, recently deceased puppy dog. It's available as a bonus feature on the Nightmare Before Christmas DVD.
Burton's latest film, a movie version of the musical Sweeney Todd, comes out Christmas day.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Latest Targ's Up!
Gotta run out right away to cover Athabasca's Rememberance Day ceremonies, but I had just enough time to get this week's episode of The Targ up!
This week, it's Episode 72: The Third Weird Al Show. I got my latest batch of Weird Al CDs, so I play some of my favourite forgotten parodies. And, I give you the Best Animated Film short list.
But, most important, I set up my first ever contest, which'll be running in next week's show!
So, what are you waiting for? Go give it a listen!
This week, it's Episode 72: The Third Weird Al Show. I got my latest batch of Weird Al CDs, so I play some of my favourite forgotten parodies. And, I give you the Best Animated Film short list.
But, most important, I set up my first ever contest, which'll be running in next week's show!
So, what are you waiting for? Go give it a listen!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Saturday Night's Alright for Blogging
It was Comedy Night in Athabasca last night. The town rec department brought in some top-notch stand-up comics. And, I witnessed, the best unexpected reaction to a stand-up comic ever.
The comic was ripping on the restaurant chain Moxie's....
Stand-up>> Is there a Moxie's here in Athabasca?
And the crowd burst into uproarious laughter.
Biggest laugh the guy got all night.
He was quite visibly stunned.
And I have to highlight this, because I don't think I'll be able to go, and I really want to.
On Monday, November 26, the Scotiabank Theatre in West Edmonton Mall (the theatre formerly known as Silver City), will be having a one-time showing of the Beatles' second movie, Help!
This is, of course, because Help! has been all beautifully digitally restored and re-released on DVD, so why not celebrate by putting it back in theatres for one night only?
But yeah. i would so dearly love to go, but I have to be at work at 5AM the next morning, and I probably wouldn't get home until 11.
but it would be so cool to go...
The comic was ripping on the restaurant chain Moxie's....
Stand-up>> Is there a Moxie's here in Athabasca?
And the crowd burst into uproarious laughter.
Biggest laugh the guy got all night.
He was quite visibly stunned.
And I have to highlight this, because I don't think I'll be able to go, and I really want to.
On Monday, November 26, the Scotiabank Theatre in West Edmonton Mall (the theatre formerly known as Silver City), will be having a one-time showing of the Beatles' second movie, Help!
This is, of course, because Help! has been all beautifully digitally restored and re-released on DVD, so why not celebrate by putting it back in theatres for one night only?
But yeah. i would so dearly love to go, but I have to be at work at 5AM the next morning, and I probably wouldn't get home until 11.
but it would be so cool to go...
Friday, November 09, 2007
The Oscar Animation Short List/Family Guy on DVD/Star Trek News
So, today, the short list for the Best Animated Film Oscar was announced. It's kind of weird with the Best Animated Film Oscar...because of how it's set up and all that, first they have to decide what actually qualifies as an animated film, resulting in the short list. This short list will then be widdled down to three nominations when Oscar nominations are announced in January.
Anyway, here's what the Academy had qualified as an animated film, and is therefore eligible for the Best Animated Film Oscar.
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
Bee Movie
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres
Beowulf
Meet the Robinsons
Persepolis
The Simpsons Movie
Tekkonkinkreet
TMNT
People are still kind of stunned that Beowulf made the list. As you already know, Beowulf was done with performance capture, and the Academy tightened the rules this year to exclude performance caputre. Even Beowulf director Robert Zemeckis said that, to call performance capture "animation" is a great disservice to animators.
So now, what's going to make the short list? My money is one Ratatouille, because Pixar is an Oscar darling, Persepolis, cuz it already won top prizes at Cannes, and...well, I think it'd be really cool if The Simpsons Movie got a nod.
My DVD sites are reporting that the Family Guy/Star Wars spoof is getting its own individual special edition DVD!
Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest comes out on January 15. For bonus mateerials, you get deleted scenes, interviews with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and No Introduction Needed George Lucas, animatics, a few running commentaries, a trailer for their forthcoming Empire Strikes Back spoof (which has the working title Something Something Something Dark Side), and a 3D fight scene! The pack will include 3D glasses so you can watch it. Not only that, but it'll be coming in a special gift pack with a T-shirt and trading cards.
And, filming is underway on the new Star Trek film and, try as I might, still not getting excited about it.
For those who care, the latest development is that Winona Ryder is playing Amanda Grayson! Amanda, as you may remember, is Spock's human mother.
It's still on target for a Christmas Day 2008 release.
Anyway, here's what the Academy had qualified as an animated film, and is therefore eligible for the Best Animated Film Oscar.
Ratatouille
Shrek the Third
Bee Movie
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theatres
Beowulf
Meet the Robinsons
Persepolis
The Simpsons Movie
Tekkonkinkreet
TMNT
People are still kind of stunned that Beowulf made the list. As you already know, Beowulf was done with performance capture, and the Academy tightened the rules this year to exclude performance caputre. Even Beowulf director Robert Zemeckis said that, to call performance capture "animation" is a great disservice to animators.
So now, what's going to make the short list? My money is one Ratatouille, because Pixar is an Oscar darling, Persepolis, cuz it already won top prizes at Cannes, and...well, I think it'd be really cool if The Simpsons Movie got a nod.
My DVD sites are reporting that the Family Guy/Star Wars spoof is getting its own individual special edition DVD!
Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest comes out on January 15. For bonus mateerials, you get deleted scenes, interviews with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane and No Introduction Needed George Lucas, animatics, a few running commentaries, a trailer for their forthcoming Empire Strikes Back spoof (which has the working title Something Something Something Dark Side), and a 3D fight scene! The pack will include 3D glasses so you can watch it. Not only that, but it'll be coming in a special gift pack with a T-shirt and trading cards.
And, filming is underway on the new Star Trek film and, try as I might, still not getting excited about it.
For those who care, the latest development is that Winona Ryder is playing Amanda Grayson! Amanda, as you may remember, is Spock's human mother.
It's still on target for a Christmas Day 2008 release.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Really Important News
New York Fries is expanding into hamburger restaurants. New York Fries calls their burger places "the South St. Burger Co." For the time being, they've only got 4 locations in Toronto and area.
The A&W tuba jingle is officially known as "Ba-Dum Ba-Dum" and it's credited to recording artist "Major Ursa." In reality, "Major Ursa" is Vancouver session musician Sharman King.
And here's the latest on the new Star Trek film. And yes, I still just can't get excited about it.
Well-known Canadian character actor Bruce Greenwood has just joined the cast as Captain Christopher Pike. He's had such notable roles as Ashley Judd's sleazy husband in Double Jeopardy and JFK in Thirteen Days. He'll be playing the president of the USA in the upcoming holiday blockbuster National Treasure 2.
For those who don't give a rat's ass about Star Trek continuity, Christopher Pike was the captain of the Enterprise BEFORE Captain Kirk took command.
The A&W tuba jingle is officially known as "Ba-Dum Ba-Dum" and it's credited to recording artist "Major Ursa." In reality, "Major Ursa" is Vancouver session musician Sharman King.
And here's the latest on the new Star Trek film. And yes, I still just can't get excited about it.
Well-known Canadian character actor Bruce Greenwood has just joined the cast as Captain Christopher Pike. He's had such notable roles as Ashley Judd's sleazy husband in Double Jeopardy and JFK in Thirteen Days. He'll be playing the president of the USA in the upcoming holiday blockbuster National Treasure 2.
For those who don't give a rat's ass about Star Trek continuity, Christopher Pike was the captain of the Enterprise BEFORE Captain Kirk took command.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
10 Years of an Online Presence
Holy crap. I’ve been screwing around, trying to generate an online presence for 10 years now. 10 freakin’ years. It was on a cold November night in 1997 that I was lamenting to my best friend as to how I wanted a website, and before I could say, “What are you doing?” he went and signed me up for an Angelfire page. And that’s my glorious website began.
It was all so simple in those days. Everything was getting a website, so I thought my silly little radio show, Chaos in a Box, should get one as well. And once my best friend showed me how to go about it, I did. It’s amazing how much of my online presence is tied to my best friend…pretty much every big advancement or paradigm shift that I go through has been at his urging.
In fact, I was talking to him the other day, as this 10th anniversary approached. I asked him, “If we had Facebook and MySpace and all that 10 years ago, you think we actually would have gone through with teaching ourselves HTML and all that, or would we have just signed up to one of these free services like everyone else?” He begrudgingly agreed that we probably would have just gone with the free services.
But now, as I realized my oh-so-precious online presence is 10 years old, I thought I would take a moment to acknowledge all the major steps I’ve taken to get here, to this blog, podcast, and Facebook page.
November 1997: Chaos on the Net Goes Live
So, there I was, attending school at Augustana University. My best friend happened to be the editor of the school paper, so, like most nights at university, we were hanging out in the newspaper office, talking about life, the universe, and everything. Talk eventually turned to my radio show, and my desire to have a website to promote it. He pointed me to this free service he’d just discovered called Angelfire, and before I knew it, he had signed me up.
With his help over the new few weeks, I learned the rudiments of HTML, and made for a very basic website. Since my radio show was Chaos in a Box, and my opinion column in the newspaper was Chaos in Print, I christened this new endeavour Chaos on the Net. I plugged the show, I had little top 10 lists and everything, and I also had the bright idea to use it as an archive for past editions of Chaos in Print. I was quite proud.
Summer 1998: I Start Doing Movie Reviews
Summer of 1998 was a bad summer. I couldn’t find a summer job, it made me all depressed, and I started pissing my money away by going to see such classics as Armageddon, Godzilla, and The X-Files Movie. In order to give some sense of purpose to my summer existence, I started reviewing these movies, and posting reviews to my website…something I’ve continued to this very day.
July 1999: Chaos in Print: Online Edition Begins
So, there I was, all graduated from university. With no radio show and no opinion column in the school paper, I began growing desperate for some form of creative outlet. That’s when I remembered that I had this website I wasn’t using anymore. In a flash of brilliance, I decide to use the website as my creative outlet. And I would do this by resurrecting my opinion column. I called it Chaos in Print: Online Edition. My first one went online on July 5, 1999.
For the next seven years, once I week, I sat down and wrote a 2-page essay detailing the state of my life. I grew rather upset when people started referring to Chaos in Print: Online Edition as a blog. I mean, blogs are spur of the moment comments, jotted down in five minutes. But Chaos in Print…that was writing! I would spend hours writing the perfect two pages! How dare you dismiss it as a blog! But looking back at it…yeah, it was blog. In fact, it was the worst kind of blog, nothing by whining and complaining about the deepest, most intimate parts of my life.
My best friend, who was a devoted reader and kind of chronicled my growth as a writer, last sat down and talked about it around two years ago. I asked him what he thought of it, and he said, “I kept waiting for it to become something, but it never really did. Probably the closest it came were the ones from Japan.” And as I’ve told people, when I was in Japan, writing them was the easiest. When you’re immersed in another culture, suddenly going down to the corner store to get a jug of milk is an adventure.
Chaos in Print came to an unceremonious end in April of 2006, when I got my job in Athabasca. I put it on temporary hiatus until I settled into my new place, but here we are now, a year and a half later, and the hiatus seems to have become permanent. Besides, most of my free time is spent on the podcast now, and as my best friend said, if that’s where my true creative passion lies, then that’s where I should spend my time.
Spring 2000: Chaos on the Net becomes Chaos in a Box
As my best friend said one day, “Chaos in a Box is a cool name. That’s what you should start calling your website.” And so it was.
September 2002: Chaos in a Box finally becomes Chaos in a Box.com
I had been toying with registering my URL, chaosinabox.com, for quite some time. Finally sick of me going, “Should I or shouldn’t I?” my best friend goes ahead and registers it for me. Since I’m not used to people being nice to me and buying me presents, I thank him by getting all pissed off and refusing to speak to him for two weeks. I’ve apologized by now, and I really, really like having my URL. As another friend pointed out, “Chaos in a Box.com is a much better idea than Pets.com”
April 2003: I Begin the Blog, Midnight Ramblings
So while I was immersed in another culture, I experienced one of the worst possible horrors. My laptop broke down. It went into low power mode one day…and just wouldn’t turn back on. I tried valiantly to get it fixed, but no one in Japan would attempt to fix it. And besides, since I was heading back home to Canada in June, I decided to tough it out and just wait until I got home.
But in the meantime, I wanted some way to maintain my online presence. I wanted to do something that would be quick and easy to maintain…something where I could just jot something down in 5 minutes at the Internet café…like a blog.
Most of my friends had embraced Blogger by now and started up their own blogs, so I started doing the same. I went to the Internet café, went to Blogger, and signed up for an account. And thus, I had a blog. I called this blog Midnight Ramblings, after a series of Chaos in Print articles that always struck me as being very blog-like.
And here we are now, almost five years later,and Midnight Ramblings is as strong as ever. In some ways, it’s replaced Chaos in Print. Although it’s become much more tame.
March 2006: Bye, bye, Angelfire
Finally sick of all the pop-ups and banner ads that Angelfire was forcing on my site, I take my Ralphbucks and finally get some proper server space. Of course, I had an ulterior motive. I needed more server space than what Angelfire could give me for free because I wanted to….
April 2006: I Start U62: The Targ
My instructors at NAIT are a really cool bunch. There I was, out of school for almost a year, still scrimping and begging for my first job in radio. And they would frequently let me sneak into NAIT after hours to use a production studio to beef up my demo tape and/or just goof around with the equipment. Finally, one evening, my old production teacher looked at me and said, “Hey, Mark, you’re really good with computers and you’ve got that website and all. Why don’t you start a podcast?” I liked it.
I started doing some research as to what I would need to start my podcast. I got my decent server space, I went down to Edmonton’s very famous Axe Music and got a nifty little microphone for my PC. My production teacher recommended a program called Audacity for recording stuff on my home computer. And, my parents had just started getting high speed Internet at home. Everything was set!
I used NAIT’s production studios one last time to produce my intro and my extro. I looked around at how radio stations are named. The formula for naming a radio station is (frequency number) (one word that sums up your attitude). For a frequency, I chose U62, which was “Weird Al” Yankovic’s TV station in UHF, and for a single word that sums up my attitude, I chose The Targ, which is a Klingon warthog. On April of 2006, I uploaded the first episode of U62: The Targ, which I called Episode 0: My New Mop.
As I write this, I just hit episode number 70, and I’m still having a blast.
May 2007: I Join Facebook
The first I heard of Facebook was on CTV NewsNet in March. There was a big kafuffle in Ottawa because the federal government had just banned federal employees from using it. Immediately, I dismissed it as a fad…the new MySpace. But then, I experienced the persistence of my co-workers. “Aww, man, Facebook is so cool! You’ve got to try it, Mark! Everyone’s on Facebok!”
So, on one warm May evening, I was at home, half-watching TV and half-screwing around online. For the heck of it, I finally went to this Facebook, and signed on.
And that’s where I tend to spend most of my online screwing around now. I finally got a digital camera in August, and Facebook is where I stick all of my photos. I started a Facebook group for U62: The Targ, which currently boasts 25 devoted listeners. I set it up so I could import my blog, meaning whatever I write in Midnight Ramblings, my Facebook friends immediately get a copy of.
However, I am one of the multitudes that thinks Facebook has gotten out of hand…deviated from its original purpose. I’m not too crazy about getting half-a-dozen invitations to silly applications that serve no purpose. Even my co-workers who convinced me to get on it lament that it’s deviated from its original purpose.
I’ve been told that Facebook defines what Marshal McLuhan originally meant when he coined the term “Global Village.” Just like a real village, everyone is all up in your business and gossips about what you’re doing.
November 2007: Who Knows What the Future May Bring?
And now, here we are in the present day. All this onlining is still nothing more than goofing around…a fun hobby. But as others have been lamenting, look at all the flotsam that’s online. These tubes are getting clogged with all kinds of abandoned MySpace pages and defunct Geocities sites. If there’s one thing I’ve struggled to do over the past 10 years, that’s keep it all organized and updated.
And like a lot of things I do online, I just don't know how to end this.
It was all so simple in those days. Everything was getting a website, so I thought my silly little radio show, Chaos in a Box, should get one as well. And once my best friend showed me how to go about it, I did. It’s amazing how much of my online presence is tied to my best friend…pretty much every big advancement or paradigm shift that I go through has been at his urging.
In fact, I was talking to him the other day, as this 10th anniversary approached. I asked him, “If we had Facebook and MySpace and all that 10 years ago, you think we actually would have gone through with teaching ourselves HTML and all that, or would we have just signed up to one of these free services like everyone else?” He begrudgingly agreed that we probably would have just gone with the free services.
But now, as I realized my oh-so-precious online presence is 10 years old, I thought I would take a moment to acknowledge all the major steps I’ve taken to get here, to this blog, podcast, and Facebook page.
November 1997: Chaos on the Net Goes Live
So, there I was, attending school at Augustana University. My best friend happened to be the editor of the school paper, so, like most nights at university, we were hanging out in the newspaper office, talking about life, the universe, and everything. Talk eventually turned to my radio show, and my desire to have a website to promote it. He pointed me to this free service he’d just discovered called Angelfire, and before I knew it, he had signed me up.
With his help over the new few weeks, I learned the rudiments of HTML, and made for a very basic website. Since my radio show was Chaos in a Box, and my opinion column in the newspaper was Chaos in Print, I christened this new endeavour Chaos on the Net. I plugged the show, I had little top 10 lists and everything, and I also had the bright idea to use it as an archive for past editions of Chaos in Print. I was quite proud.
Summer 1998: I Start Doing Movie Reviews
Summer of 1998 was a bad summer. I couldn’t find a summer job, it made me all depressed, and I started pissing my money away by going to see such classics as Armageddon, Godzilla, and The X-Files Movie. In order to give some sense of purpose to my summer existence, I started reviewing these movies, and posting reviews to my website…something I’ve continued to this very day.
July 1999: Chaos in Print: Online Edition Begins
So, there I was, all graduated from university. With no radio show and no opinion column in the school paper, I began growing desperate for some form of creative outlet. That’s when I remembered that I had this website I wasn’t using anymore. In a flash of brilliance, I decide to use the website as my creative outlet. And I would do this by resurrecting my opinion column. I called it Chaos in Print: Online Edition. My first one went online on July 5, 1999.
For the next seven years, once I week, I sat down and wrote a 2-page essay detailing the state of my life. I grew rather upset when people started referring to Chaos in Print: Online Edition as a blog. I mean, blogs are spur of the moment comments, jotted down in five minutes. But Chaos in Print…that was writing! I would spend hours writing the perfect two pages! How dare you dismiss it as a blog! But looking back at it…yeah, it was blog. In fact, it was the worst kind of blog, nothing by whining and complaining about the deepest, most intimate parts of my life.
My best friend, who was a devoted reader and kind of chronicled my growth as a writer, last sat down and talked about it around two years ago. I asked him what he thought of it, and he said, “I kept waiting for it to become something, but it never really did. Probably the closest it came were the ones from Japan.” And as I’ve told people, when I was in Japan, writing them was the easiest. When you’re immersed in another culture, suddenly going down to the corner store to get a jug of milk is an adventure.
Chaos in Print came to an unceremonious end in April of 2006, when I got my job in Athabasca. I put it on temporary hiatus until I settled into my new place, but here we are now, a year and a half later, and the hiatus seems to have become permanent. Besides, most of my free time is spent on the podcast now, and as my best friend said, if that’s where my true creative passion lies, then that’s where I should spend my time.
Spring 2000: Chaos on the Net becomes Chaos in a Box
As my best friend said one day, “Chaos in a Box is a cool name. That’s what you should start calling your website.” And so it was.
September 2002: Chaos in a Box finally becomes Chaos in a Box.com
I had been toying with registering my URL, chaosinabox.com, for quite some time. Finally sick of me going, “Should I or shouldn’t I?” my best friend goes ahead and registers it for me. Since I’m not used to people being nice to me and buying me presents, I thank him by getting all pissed off and refusing to speak to him for two weeks. I’ve apologized by now, and I really, really like having my URL. As another friend pointed out, “Chaos in a Box.com is a much better idea than Pets.com”
April 2003: I Begin the Blog, Midnight Ramblings
So while I was immersed in another culture, I experienced one of the worst possible horrors. My laptop broke down. It went into low power mode one day…and just wouldn’t turn back on. I tried valiantly to get it fixed, but no one in Japan would attempt to fix it. And besides, since I was heading back home to Canada in June, I decided to tough it out and just wait until I got home.
But in the meantime, I wanted some way to maintain my online presence. I wanted to do something that would be quick and easy to maintain…something where I could just jot something down in 5 minutes at the Internet café…like a blog.
Most of my friends had embraced Blogger by now and started up their own blogs, so I started doing the same. I went to the Internet café, went to Blogger, and signed up for an account. And thus, I had a blog. I called this blog Midnight Ramblings, after a series of Chaos in Print articles that always struck me as being very blog-like.
And here we are now, almost five years later,and Midnight Ramblings is as strong as ever. In some ways, it’s replaced Chaos in Print. Although it’s become much more tame.
March 2006: Bye, bye, Angelfire
Finally sick of all the pop-ups and banner ads that Angelfire was forcing on my site, I take my Ralphbucks and finally get some proper server space. Of course, I had an ulterior motive. I needed more server space than what Angelfire could give me for free because I wanted to….
April 2006: I Start U62: The Targ
My instructors at NAIT are a really cool bunch. There I was, out of school for almost a year, still scrimping and begging for my first job in radio. And they would frequently let me sneak into NAIT after hours to use a production studio to beef up my demo tape and/or just goof around with the equipment. Finally, one evening, my old production teacher looked at me and said, “Hey, Mark, you’re really good with computers and you’ve got that website and all. Why don’t you start a podcast?” I liked it.
I started doing some research as to what I would need to start my podcast. I got my decent server space, I went down to Edmonton’s very famous Axe Music and got a nifty little microphone for my PC. My production teacher recommended a program called Audacity for recording stuff on my home computer. And, my parents had just started getting high speed Internet at home. Everything was set!
I used NAIT’s production studios one last time to produce my intro and my extro. I looked around at how radio stations are named. The formula for naming a radio station is (frequency number) (one word that sums up your attitude). For a frequency, I chose U62, which was “Weird Al” Yankovic’s TV station in UHF, and for a single word that sums up my attitude, I chose The Targ, which is a Klingon warthog. On April of 2006, I uploaded the first episode of U62: The Targ, which I called Episode 0: My New Mop.
As I write this, I just hit episode number 70, and I’m still having a blast.
May 2007: I Join Facebook
The first I heard of Facebook was on CTV NewsNet in March. There was a big kafuffle in Ottawa because the federal government had just banned federal employees from using it. Immediately, I dismissed it as a fad…the new MySpace. But then, I experienced the persistence of my co-workers. “Aww, man, Facebook is so cool! You’ve got to try it, Mark! Everyone’s on Facebok!”
So, on one warm May evening, I was at home, half-watching TV and half-screwing around online. For the heck of it, I finally went to this Facebook, and signed on.
And that’s where I tend to spend most of my online screwing around now. I finally got a digital camera in August, and Facebook is where I stick all of my photos. I started a Facebook group for U62: The Targ, which currently boasts 25 devoted listeners. I set it up so I could import my blog, meaning whatever I write in Midnight Ramblings, my Facebook friends immediately get a copy of.
However, I am one of the multitudes that thinks Facebook has gotten out of hand…deviated from its original purpose. I’m not too crazy about getting half-a-dozen invitations to silly applications that serve no purpose. Even my co-workers who convinced me to get on it lament that it’s deviated from its original purpose.
I’ve been told that Facebook defines what Marshal McLuhan originally meant when he coined the term “Global Village.” Just like a real village, everyone is all up in your business and gossips about what you’re doing.
November 2007: Who Knows What the Future May Bring?
And now, here we are in the present day. All this onlining is still nothing more than goofing around…a fun hobby. But as others have been lamenting, look at all the flotsam that’s online. These tubes are getting clogged with all kinds of abandoned MySpace pages and defunct Geocities sites. If there’s one thing I’ve struggled to do over the past 10 years, that’s keep it all organized and updated.
And like a lot of things I do online, I just don't know how to end this.
Monday, November 05, 2007
New DVD Day!
I know, I know, new DVD day is actually tomorrow, but there are so many good DVDs coming out tomorrow that I just can't wait to tell you about them! As always, if Athabasca were home to a DVD emporium, this is what I'd be blowing my paycheque on tomorrow. Tomorrow being Tuesday, November 6.
Ratatouille - One of my favourite filmmakers, Brad Bird, who gave the world my favourite film, The Iron Giant, gave us his latest animated opus this summer. Ratatouille still stands as the best-reviewed film of 2007, and it's easy to see why. This Disney/Pixar classic tells the rather charming tale of a rat who wants to be a gourmet chef. Sadly, Disney/Pixar DVDs aren't as fully loaded as they once were...for bonus features, all you get are a couple of cut scenes, a featurette about the research they did on food for the film, the animated short film Lifted that ran in theatres before the film, and the new, made just for the DVD animated short film, Your Friend the Rat. It's also available on Blu-Ray, for those who have made the Great Upgrade. The Blu-Ray version also has a picture-in-picture running commentary.
The Pixar Short Film Collection, Volume 1 - Ah, Pixar. Not only did they invent the animated feature film, they've also been hard at work resurrecting the medium of the animated short film. Pixar started pumping out animated shorts as little more than test footage for their animation software. Then, they started winning Oscars and, starting with Geri's Game in front of A Bug's Life, they started sticking them in front of their films. And then, starting with Mike's New Car on the Monsters Inc. DVD, they started producing short films for their DVDs! Pixar head John Lasseter has said that animated short films are now a useful tool for training new animators. But I digress. On this DVD, all 13 of Pixar's animated shorts are now on 1 DVD! All of these have already been released on previous Pixar DVDs, except for two. For bonus material, you get a couple of segments that Pixar produced for Sesame Street, some old Pixar animation tests (think of them as 10-second long short films), and a brand-new, 20 minute documentary on Pixar's shorts. As one of my DVD sites pointed out, if you already own all of Pixar's movies on DVD, then you might want to wait until this one is in the discount bin before picking it up. And I think that's what I'll do. Also available on Blu-Ray, for those who have made the Great Upgrade.
Help!: 2-disc Special Edition - The Beatles' second film doesn't get as much love as A Hard Day's Night or Yellow Submarine, which kind of explains why it took so long to get a special edition. Described by John Lennon as a "campy James Bond film," Help! follows the Beatles as they battle an evil cult around the world. This cult has designs on sacrificing Ringo. For bonus material, you get a new documentary about the making of the film, a new documentary featuring the cast and crew reminiscing, a recently re-discovered, long-lost deleted scene, the trailers, the original radio spots, a new introduction from director Richard Lester, and a new analysis by legendary director Martin Scorsese.
Sicko - Ah, Michael Moore. When I was but a lad in high school, first discovering politics and how the world works, there was you show, TV Nation, showing my now-open-eyes the workings of the world. However, I do miss the Michael Moore who made TV Nation. That Michael Moore used gentle humor to make his points...the Michael Moore who makes documentaries now is a bit of an over-dramatic, left-wing loon. But I'll still be renting Sicko, Moore's latest documentary. In this one, Moore turns his critical eye on the American health care system. This one even turned off folks in the Moore-friendly nations of England and Canada, for presenting the health care systems of those countries in an excessively rosy light. (For example, he walks into a Toronto emergency room on a Wednesday afternoon, is told the wait time is under a half-hour, and he tells the audience this is typical of all Canadian hospitals.) For DVD bonus material, you get a ton of deleted scenes and a Nightwatchmen music video.
Lots of great DVDs. Get renting!
Ratatouille - One of my favourite filmmakers, Brad Bird, who gave the world my favourite film, The Iron Giant, gave us his latest animated opus this summer. Ratatouille still stands as the best-reviewed film of 2007, and it's easy to see why. This Disney/Pixar classic tells the rather charming tale of a rat who wants to be a gourmet chef. Sadly, Disney/Pixar DVDs aren't as fully loaded as they once were...for bonus features, all you get are a couple of cut scenes, a featurette about the research they did on food for the film, the animated short film Lifted that ran in theatres before the film, and the new, made just for the DVD animated short film, Your Friend the Rat. It's also available on Blu-Ray, for those who have made the Great Upgrade. The Blu-Ray version also has a picture-in-picture running commentary.
The Pixar Short Film Collection, Volume 1 - Ah, Pixar. Not only did they invent the animated feature film, they've also been hard at work resurrecting the medium of the animated short film. Pixar started pumping out animated shorts as little more than test footage for their animation software. Then, they started winning Oscars and, starting with Geri's Game in front of A Bug's Life, they started sticking them in front of their films. And then, starting with Mike's New Car on the Monsters Inc. DVD, they started producing short films for their DVDs! Pixar head John Lasseter has said that animated short films are now a useful tool for training new animators. But I digress. On this DVD, all 13 of Pixar's animated shorts are now on 1 DVD! All of these have already been released on previous Pixar DVDs, except for two. For bonus material, you get a couple of segments that Pixar produced for Sesame Street, some old Pixar animation tests (think of them as 10-second long short films), and a brand-new, 20 minute documentary on Pixar's shorts. As one of my DVD sites pointed out, if you already own all of Pixar's movies on DVD, then you might want to wait until this one is in the discount bin before picking it up. And I think that's what I'll do. Also available on Blu-Ray, for those who have made the Great Upgrade.
Help!: 2-disc Special Edition - The Beatles' second film doesn't get as much love as A Hard Day's Night or Yellow Submarine, which kind of explains why it took so long to get a special edition. Described by John Lennon as a "campy James Bond film," Help! follows the Beatles as they battle an evil cult around the world. This cult has designs on sacrificing Ringo. For bonus material, you get a new documentary about the making of the film, a new documentary featuring the cast and crew reminiscing, a recently re-discovered, long-lost deleted scene, the trailers, the original radio spots, a new introduction from director Richard Lester, and a new analysis by legendary director Martin Scorsese.
Sicko - Ah, Michael Moore. When I was but a lad in high school, first discovering politics and how the world works, there was you show, TV Nation, showing my now-open-eyes the workings of the world. However, I do miss the Michael Moore who made TV Nation. That Michael Moore used gentle humor to make his points...the Michael Moore who makes documentaries now is a bit of an over-dramatic, left-wing loon. But I'll still be renting Sicko, Moore's latest documentary. In this one, Moore turns his critical eye on the American health care system. This one even turned off folks in the Moore-friendly nations of England and Canada, for presenting the health care systems of those countries in an excessively rosy light. (For example, he walks into a Toronto emergency room on a Wednesday afternoon, is told the wait time is under a half-hour, and he tells the audience this is typical of all Canadian hospitals.) For DVD bonus material, you get a ton of deleted scenes and a Nightwatchmen music video.
Lots of great DVDs. Get renting!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Latest Targ's Up!
This week's episode of U62: The Targ is up!
Today, I'm bringing you Episode 71: Get Off That Couch! I obsess over free DVDs, tell you why Robot Chicken is one of the funniest shows on TV, and try to play some animated movie catch up.
Well, I wanted to play animated movie catch up, but as I pointed out in yesterday's blog entry, the video store didn't have all the animated movies I was seeking out. But of course, I had to record the podcast first.
Anyway, it's still an entertaining show.
Listen to it!
and I'm also thinking that it's finally time to have The Targ's first contest. I've been toying with doing this all summer, I think I've finally figured out how to do it. And I'm going to do it in two weeks.
So, tune in to the podcast in two weeks to take part in my first contest!
Today, I'm bringing you Episode 71: Get Off That Couch! I obsess over free DVDs, tell you why Robot Chicken is one of the funniest shows on TV, and try to play some animated movie catch up.
Well, I wanted to play animated movie catch up, but as I pointed out in yesterday's blog entry, the video store didn't have all the animated movies I was seeking out. But of course, I had to record the podcast first.
Anyway, it's still an entertaining show.
Listen to it!
and I'm also thinking that it's finally time to have The Targ's first contest. I've been toying with doing this all summer, I think I've finally figured out how to do it. And I'm going to do it in two weeks.
So, tune in to the podcast in two weeks to take part in my first contest!
Saturday, November 03, 2007
The Line Must Be Drawn Here
So, I pulled a classic out of my personal library, cuz I couldn't get my animated films.
Had to go onto YouTube right away and find the teaser, cuz I always thought it had a pretty kick-ass teaser.
Had to go onto YouTube right away and find the teaser, cuz I always thought it had a pretty kick-ass teaser.
Animated Film Catch-Up On Hold
There was once I time when I would run out to see the latest animated film as soon as it hit theatres. But now, with a new animated film churned out every month, and just about all of them about talking animals making fart jokes, I fail to see the point anymore. Now, about every year and a half or so, I do an "animated movie catch-up," where I just go out and rent the ones that got better-than-average reviews, and watch them all in one marathon sitting.
That was my plan for this weekend. But when I finally got around to heading up to Athabasca's video rental store to rent them today, most of the ones I wanted were out. Oh, Athabasca. Only two video rental stores...and only one of them rents DVDs.
Anywho, I guess it's good that the ones I wanted were out. I also want to stick Shrek the Third on that list, and it doesn't come out until the 13th. I know, I've already derided Shrek the Third pretty heavily...I just want to slow down for the train wreck.
In case you're curious, these are the animated films that I think are finally worth my time.
Happy Feet - Last year's winner of the Best Animated Film Oscar. I want to see if it truly is Oscar worthy. The reviews were surprisingly good.
Meet the Robinsons - Disney's animated epic, which was released back in the spring. As you may know, when Disney and Pixar merged, a lot of the Pixar management actually became managers in the Disney animation department. They said that they were going to start running Disney more like Pixar. Meet the Robinsons is the first film made under this Pixar management regime. I want to see if its "Pixar-ish."
Surf's Up - So, Sony Studios thought they wanted to get in on this animated movie biz, and formed their own computer animation studio called, simply, Sony Animation. Surf's Up is Sony Animation's second film (the first one was Open Season) and everyone says that Surf's Up is the better of the two. I just want to see what the new kids on the block are up to.
Over the Hedge - DreamWorks big animated blockbuster from last year. Got above average reviews for DreamWorks.
That was my plan for this weekend. But when I finally got around to heading up to Athabasca's video rental store to rent them today, most of the ones I wanted were out. Oh, Athabasca. Only two video rental stores...and only one of them rents DVDs.
Anywho, I guess it's good that the ones I wanted were out. I also want to stick Shrek the Third on that list, and it doesn't come out until the 13th. I know, I've already derided Shrek the Third pretty heavily...I just want to slow down for the train wreck.
In case you're curious, these are the animated films that I think are finally worth my time.
Happy Feet - Last year's winner of the Best Animated Film Oscar. I want to see if it truly is Oscar worthy. The reviews were surprisingly good.
Meet the Robinsons - Disney's animated epic, which was released back in the spring. As you may know, when Disney and Pixar merged, a lot of the Pixar management actually became managers in the Disney animation department. They said that they were going to start running Disney more like Pixar. Meet the Robinsons is the first film made under this Pixar management regime. I want to see if its "Pixar-ish."
Surf's Up - So, Sony Studios thought they wanted to get in on this animated movie biz, and formed their own computer animation studio called, simply, Sony Animation. Surf's Up is Sony Animation's second film (the first one was Open Season) and everyone says that Surf's Up is the better of the two. I just want to see what the new kids on the block are up to.
Over the Hedge - DreamWorks big animated blockbuster from last year. Got above average reviews for DreamWorks.
Labels:
Animated Film Catch-Up,
Movie Reviews,
Movie stuff
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