some kind of ranting.

My problems with AVATAR.

2009-12-29T20:14:00.005Z

Avatar's been out for quite some time, and most people have seen it, and most people love it. Let me preface this rant of sorts by saying that despite my issues, I still enjoyed the film immensely. The spectacle was awe inspiring, the acting was rather good and the presentation of it was amazing.

However, spoilers ahoy.

Plot racial text/subtexts

The story irked me in a way most white guilt films do. A person, usually of the white persuasion walks into an indigenous culture, slowly learning, assimilating and loving this culture that he has been sent to investigate, spy, or what have you. Falls in love with one of the natives usually "the fairest of them all" and ends up being "the most awesome one in the land" as Annalee Newitz probably would have said. Being a product of white colonialism from probably before World War two, it's hard for me not to inject my personal feelings about colonialism into this scenario. I found myself groaning and cringing every time Jake Sully conquers what the N'avi consider legendary feats effectively becoming a messianic figure of sorts. I did not want Neytiri to end up with Sully. It bugs me to no end to see the film pandering so obviously in the direction of it's perceived target audience. Yes, I am aware of the counter arguments that have been brought up by other, more intelligent people than me. But even after several days of digesting and analysing the film, I found it hard for me to look past the fact that this outsider, who came from nowhere, is able to integrate himself so completely into this culture in a matter of months. Devindra from the /filmcast mentioned that if Jake Sully wasn't white, the film would have been stronger. I whole heartedly agree, but this sentiment brings with it a new level of questions that I currently don't have the answers for. Is it my fault for not looking past the fact he's white? For example. Would it have been better if the story was told entirely from the N'avi's perspective? Would I have related better to the central character if he weren't white? Would I have related to him better? AM I just being racist towards white people for not wanting them to succeed? One thing is for sure; I wouldn't have these feelings if Jake weren't white. But obviously the movie could care less about my feelings, so I'll move on to a topic less political but equally as aggravating.

Bad Dialogue

Someone tell me I wasn't the only one who winced every time they said "I see you". Fortunately, the word "unobtainium" only surfaced no more than twice throughout the entire film. Ham fisted, explanatory exposition. Long, long scenes of Jake talking into his video log in which he outright tells us what's he's been doing for three months. Norman Spencer/Spelman whatever irritated me to hell and back. 10 years on the film and you're telling me Mr. Cameron sir couldn't have spiced up the dialogue a bit more? All that inner monologuing drove me quite nuts.

Length

Okay, this is a rather catch-22. On one hand, I definitely think it droned on in some parts, yet I was utterly mesmerized by the scenes they set on Pandora. But I just did not care for anything the humans did. Any scene with non-blue people in it I was waiting for the transition, hoping that we see more of the lush, green, and frankly beautiful world that James Cameron dreamt up at the next cut. The quandary here is that in a film told from the perspective of the human meatbags, you have to spend some time with them, in order to set up relationships etc etc. But they were boring as hell. Michelle Rodriguez dies at some point, and I felt NOTHING. So even with 160 mins under its' belt, the film did not made me care for most of the human characters. Sigourney Weaver also dies, but the feeling is underwhelming. At that time, I was left wondering why did I not care about the deaths of two rather major characters in the film. In fact, most of the characters you're introduced to dies in the film, but you'll shrug and go "eh". Or at least, I did. So cut it down, but put in more Pandora? I'll leave it to you Mr. Cameron. I'm ready for a sequel with no humans in it.

So despite my incessant ramblings, I still adore the film. I plan to see it again, but in 2D, just to see if it's just as immersive. Pandora is very well realized. Neytiri is hot, not to mention very well developed. The final 30 minute battle sequence is downright badass, and the message and heart of the film is in the right place. Still, it's annoying to think that this film could have been THE MOST AWESOME FILM OF ALL TIME. Too bad it's not.

Beware my power.....

2009-12-17T03:04:00.000Z

Shit.

2009-12-08T13:27:00.002Z

When you say shit like

Prayer is the most important tool because ppl may refuse our love or reject our message, but they are defenseless against our prayers. So pray n pray 4 others to be saved!

Think about what it is you are REALLY saying. Or maybe you do know, but choose to ignore it. In which case fuck you guys for condemning me to hell.

Tonight.

2009-12-01T00:53:00.003Z

The night sky is cloudless today. Under tonight's bright moon, I see my own shadow. There's Orion in the sky, and I think that's Mars right there, shining its' crimson light, almost obscured by some trees in the distance. It was the first time in a long while that I looked up at night and saw the stars. The glittering of which have inspired so many to write, paint, and sing. It's quite magnificent. I wish I was back home. Then my knees wouldn't tremble, my fingers won't go numb. It wouldn't be so cold. I'd be able to lie on a bed of grass, looking up. Not doing anything, just watching. Trying to make my own constellations, as men in the past have done. Just a little bit of solace, before I resume trying to make what I do interesting again.

I have this lump in my throat

2009-11-28T21:22:00.002Z

I have this lump in my throat.
It sits floating, much like a boat.

I have questions as to why it is there.
But the fruit of this tree, I fear will not bear.

Maybe it's because I'm depressed.
But one could also say it is stress.

Perhaps I don't go out enough.
But why? The weather's so rough.

Perchance it's the cold.
But on this I'm not sold.

I don't think it's cancer.
Or a tumor, it's not stranger.

He says it's mental.
To which I say, be more gentle.

But at the end of the day,
It vanished and went away.

So I'm left pondering,
When it'll return, wandering.

The upstairs shower.

2009-11-23T22:29:00.001Z

I moved into this new place roughly two months ago. So far everything has been great. The rent is cheap, my room is massive, and everyone generally keeps to themselves.

The one beef I have with this place has to do with the shower, located upstairs. It's the only source of comfort when you start smelling and your armpits begin to itch. A good shower can stop wars. It can mend broken marriages, and above all, it helps keep my sanity intact. The shower in this house does a pretty good job of doing just that, except when it doesn't. And here is where my rant begins.

Every so often, while I'm cleaning myself, the hot water will go cold. Suddenly, inexplicably, and without warning. It's like premature ejaculation. Pleasure cut short. Potong stim. Very fucking annoying. I started to time my showers, making a mental note as to when the water chills. Being as bad a timekeeper as I was, I figured it was about 10 minutes or so every time I turn on the hot water. I figured it was some kind of temporal hot water cache that would run out, and needed to be replenished, which it did after a while.

My showers would generally go like this: Turn on hot water, enjoy it for a while, wait til it goes cold, then start using the shampoo and soap. Wait for the water to heat up again, by which the shampoo and soap would be nicely applied on my person, and use the second dose of warm bliss to wash it off.

So it was for a week or so. It made taking showers very, very annoying. Then I started to hear about my flat-mate's experiences with the upstairs shower. She has of course, been bitten by the suddenly cold suddenly hot problem before. But the curious thing was that she seemed to have rare occurrences in which the hot water would not act up. She said it often happened at night, about 9 or 10 o clock.

So I took her suggestion, and took one of my showers during this supposedly magic hour. But it seemed what worked for her would not work for me. Annoyed and confused, I felt like I had only one option left. That was to ask my rather uptight landlord about this.

What he revealed to me was rather telling, and surprising. The gist of it is this.

The hot water problem would only happen if while you were bathing, someone were to use water downstairs.

Still skeptical, I tried taking my showers in the middle of the night, when I was sure everyone was sound asleep.

It was glorious.

The first proper shower I had in weeks! I felt like I had made a major discovery. One for the ages. Or at least, for the rest of my time here. But the I got to thinking.

So my previous hot showers had been disrupted by someone willingly? If it was the landlord downstairs I could understand, since it would be rather pissy of me to ask him to check the shower every time he needed to pee. But what if it was someone living upstairs? The layout of the rooms upstairs is so that you would always know if someone was in the shower or not if you stepped out. This means that if someone upstairs was responsible, it would make them complete jerks.

Sigh.

Now I only take my showers in the middle of the night, which is apparently bad for you. Or something. I get nervous if I take a shower in the day. Having hot water cut off during a shower is about the worst thing that could happen to you during a shower, short of the scene from Psycho I suppose. I try to make sure I'm not disrupting anyone's shower every time I step out to wash my hands by checking upstairs. Not too troublesome for me, but I would never presume such a thing for others. What's left? Well not much, except to endure the fact that I can now only take showers in the middle of the night. Which, now that I think about it, isn't too bad a deal. It gave me renewed appreciation for that marvel that is hot water from the tap, but also made me a little bit more cynical about humanity's future. Hyperbole? Perhaps. But whatever. I'm out.

As bad as the ISA: ACTA turns everyone into pirates, including ISPs and you're mom.

2009-11-04T17:39:00.004Z

I'm late to the bandwagon, but the ACTA discussions have already started. The ACTA is a hugely important act being discussed right now, at this moment, behind closed doors in Seoul, South Korea. Discussions are ongoing and will last the week, I presume. Details have been kept under lock and key, but some of the points have surfaced online.

It's not looking very good.

From Boing Boing:

* That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.

* That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.

From TorrentFreak:

* Similarly, all participating countries have to adopt a ‘notice and takedown’ policy where copyright holders can request ISPs to remove infringing materials, again without having to provide solid evidence or proof that they actually own the copyrights. When ISPs don’t comply with the requests they will be held liable, which means that they will be seen as pirates themselves.

This goes further beyond free music and videos. This affects each and every one of us if it's passed. Anyone "accused" of infringing copyright could have their internet service revoked. Keyword: accused. As in, "however we see fit".

This is as bad as Malaysia's ISA. Spread the word people. The fight continues.

Futher Links:
Slashdot
Michael Geist(who originally reported on this)
ReadWriteWeb

The X3 we will probably never get.

2009-11-03T12:42:00.005Z

Like most geeks, I pretty much hated X3. Mike Dougherty, who worked on X2, Superman Returns, reveals the film we would have got instead of Superman Returns, had Bryan Singer stuck around for a third film.

Listen to it here.

It starts about 22 minutes in, and lasts about 10 minutes, in it, he basically pitched us the movie X3 would have been. And it sounds pretty damn awesome. I won't spoil anything. But this should make you hate Brett Ratner more.

Bryan Singer's future is kind of in murky waters to me. IMDB says he's going to be involved in the remake/re-envisioning of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica movie/TV series thingy.... magicboby... There rumblings that he was going to direct a Superman Returns sequel, which would be all "Wrath of Khan", but that never came to pass. Valkyrie was his last film, and that was pretty much a big heap of disappointment. The other projects he seems to be involved in are "You want me to kill him?" "Capeshooters", and "Freedom Formula".

It's hard not to be sad for Bryan Singer's misguided decision to leave the X-men franchise for Superman. Come back already.

Digital comics with a small iverse app review tucked in somewhere.

2009-11-02T20:03:00.005Z

On a whim, I downloaded the iverse app, mostly because it was free, to see what Comics on my iPod would have looked like. What I discovered got me thinking, and in somewhat organized form, here are my thoughts on digital comics.

Reading comics digitally has never been easy. It hasn't. We have yet to discover the way to design comics so that when presented on a screen, they don't feel like mere imitations of their physical counterparts. News, movies, TV shows we can do. News are soundbites. You don't really need to care how you get it, as long as you get it. Film and TV have been on the small screen for a long time, and while it doesn't compare to projected 35mm, the quality we can sometimes do without.

Comics, however, walk the thin line between interaction and passive reception. You read and turn the page at your own speed. You control how the story moves. Got something you need to clear up? Flip back a few pages, make sure. How you interact with a comic affects how much it will impact you. It's something unique to comics, and it's something the medium excels at exploiting.

On the physical side of things, Watchmen is undoubtedly the Citizen Kane of the graphic novel. Few are the times such a comparison is valid, but this is surely one of them. tThe Citizen Kane-ness of Watchmen however, does not extend to its' digital counterparts. As we stand today, digital comics are clumsy, unintuitive, and hard to read. The best experience viewing digital comics I have had is using FFview for the mac, coupled with my almighty touch pad. Click to turn the page, double-finger scroll to look around. It's not perfect, and doesn't compare to actually flipping the page, but much better than iverse in its' current form.

Some comics, like the 3 or 4 panel strip, make the transition with no hitches. But as we move up the ladder in sequential narrative complexity, things become, naturally more complex.

It's been a rough ride for the digital comic, and as it stands, if you were to put your regular comic or manga on a screen that's smaller than A3; the length of an average issue opened up, there are three major problems to circumvent.

1. Vertical panels. Works on the page, but as we are now, completely unworkable on the screen. Split it up, have your reader turn his iphone vertically, horizontally? Too much fidgeting. Takes you out. Just have the page as it is? Zoom in then? Slightly better, but still jarring due to the zooming in and out.

2. Full page panels. Assuming the copy is a big enough point size, this isn't too much of a problem. Your screen is not going to be able to display this the way it was meant to, so you'll have to scroll your way down a single panel. Imagine reading a full page panel with a magnifying glass tied to your eyes. Heaven forbid, your point size is a tad small, and you have numerous massive word balloons. The way iverse has done it, as far as I can tell, is to make three copies of the same panel, slice off the top and bottom so they fit on your screen, and have you read the copy while you scroll through three same identical panels. It distracts to no end. And let's not even mention double page spreads.

3. The act of turning a page. Nothing is more exciting then flipping the page of a book with your own hands to discover a shocking twist on the next page. It is something unique to the physical media, and pressing down on a piece of plastic does not in any way replicate the power that the simple act of page turning provides. There needs to be some way in which our intervention will lead to some form of discovery. That amount intervention cannot be too light, nor too much. Turning the page sits squarely in the middle on a scale of one to ten, one being too little effort and ten being too much. The internet has yet to provide us with an answer.

If we are to make comics work for the screen, they have to be designed for them. Taking regular print comics and slapping them on to you glorious LCD monitor will just hurt the story. The big two won't change because that's the way corporations are run. I'm not saying print comics should die. I in fact love them to death and I don't think they're going away for a long, long time. There have been several examples of digital comics done well. Most of them can be found on Scott McClouds' site. Renowned author and comic creator. I provide the best example in my opinion, utilizing flash to make clicking as powerful as page turning. The man has come up with several more ideas, open ended stories, vertically scrolling panels that fit on your screen, etc. None of them are worthy of comparison to Citizen Kane yet.

Digital is the future. Manic distribution channels, cost effective, crazy accessibility. We just need to move in the right direction for it to happen. Start designing comics that work for both print and digital for a start. Avoid the usual trappings print comics fall into when presented digitally. And think. Experiment. Let's get out of the panel for a second. It will take time, and a lot of trial and error. But with enough vigilance, we'll get there eventually.

When we do discover the holy grail of digital comics, which would be a format that is seamless, immersive, and powerful, the next step would be successfully monetizing it, but that would be a rant for another day.

Zombies, lesbians, and the legion of superheroes in this week's comics.

2009-11-01T01:19:00.004Z

Every so often you get a week like this. Good stuff rammed down your throat, barely leaving enough room for air to ventilate. No mistake, this was a stellar week.

So.
The lone Marvel book I remember this week. The conclusion to Johnathan Hickman's "solve everything" story arc, and an epic start to what must be a great run by the creator of Nightly News and Pax Romana. Much has been said about this arc, which was, for many, a return to form for the FF. I wouldn't know, I had never read any Fantastic Four. It doesn't take away form the fact that this book is fun as hell. Hickman has pretty much proven his chops with his previous works for me. Dale Eaglesham's art annoyed me at the beginning. I'm one of those young whippersnappers who's used to seeing Reed Richards lanky and thin, instead of beefy and big. The character designs are fresh and exciting, just the execution of it bummed me out. Still, it remains wildly imaginative, permeated with BIG BIG ideas but never forgetting the fantastic family values. It's pretty much what I wanted a comic book to be. This team is going to do great things. If anyone can make the Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben live up to their namesake, it's these guys.

It's no coindence that Smallville's best episode last season was written by Geoff Johns. It's one of the most referenced stories in pop culture. I can't think of anyone who doesn't know it. Yet this reinvention of Superman's origin story is never dull. I know nothing about Kal-el's dalliances with the Legion. I always thought they were lame. Just couldn't get myself excited for characters named "Lightning Lad" or "Saturn Girl". Earlier this year, Geoff Johns proved me wrong with his Legion episode of Smallville. Here he does it again. The man is a serial offender. I suspect his JSA episode of smallville next year will continue what he has done to me. Getting me interested in characters and books I did not care for. Sometimes, it's fair to hate someone this fucking good.
Also, Gary Frank is nailing it.
Another origin book! I hadn't realized we had so many this week. What's left to say? Everything good about Detective comics has been said to death. I feel like I'm beating a horse that's half way decomposed. But if you really need an in depth review(something I'm NOT going to provide this time of night) go here.
Ah blackest night. Even though I don't quite remember what happened in this issue, I still like you. Like a good dream I woke up from; can't remember what it was about specifically, only that it was extremely enjoyable. Is that praise or slander? There was a big scene at the end, and alot of character moments for guys I'm not familiar with. The Atom especially gets quite a bit of panel time here. Nevertheless, it's all very very good. Will be watching how this goes with a very, very keen eye. Also, fuck tie-ins.

Thousands protest Global Warming.

2009-10-23T22:58:00.001+01:00

so... this week's comics.

2009-10-23T22:49:00.002+01:00

Knowing absolutely nothing about the dudes who worked on this, I picked this up on a whim, and boy was I surprised. Twisting, turning, rife with pop culture references and deftly illustrated, this one of the more original series I have had the pleasure of discovering. It begins with an oceanographer lost in what appears to be not the north Indian sea looking for poisonous fish of some sort. From there, we get conspiracy, dismemberment of faces, dick millionaires, great monochromatic art, wit-sharp dialogue and of course, cowboy, ninja, and viking.

It's a ride unlike any other. And like any great ride, it doesn't always seem to make sense, but by the end of it, everything clicks into place with a glorious cliffhanger that brings the issue full circle. My only gripe with it was that they misspelled "Kuala Lumpur" for some reason, and that took me out of the story, being Malaysian and all.

Still, boatloads of fun.

I like Joss Whedon. I like this. Not that the two are tangentially related. I like Fabio Moon more than I like Joss. At least here I do. Which is still pretty awesome. Banter. Hyper. Off course. Left field.Vikings(not really). Mystical intergalactic bodyguards. Battle of the bands. You know this thing is crammed with ideas. Imagination. For a measly 26 pages it's got loads. Plus you get sketches, backup material. DVD extras. The only thing is. This thing WAS free. I think it still is. hmmm. Well. If you haven't ever read this. The opportunity's perfect. Snatch this up. Light on character, but full of wacky. Refreshing breather from everything else. Let loose and go. It's a fun time.

Ugh.

Anything remotely related to Ben Reily gives me the shivers. In a bad way. Just let this end. Die, inconsequential arc! Let us never speak of the Clone saga ever again unless we're in the ultimate universe.

MOUSEHUNT

2009-10-23T00:18:00.001+01:00

you evil evil facebook app.

Because I binge write.

2009-10-22T21:58:00.002+01:00

Though the word binge here is used very lightly. I find that when it comes to blogging, I can go weeks without writing. I donot know why, but once I get the urge to write, I feel like I should be making for lost time, so I write two, three posts a day for a day or two. Then it's back to silence. Why is this weird phenomenon manifesting itself? It's not like the silence helps inspiration for topics or whatever. But then again, when have I ever been topical? Some people have gaming blogs, others have music blogs, some blogs are funny and interesting, others are dull as fuck. Hell, there's even a blog for cats who look like Hitler.(really) I don't binge drink, or chocolate, or anything else, at least not in recent memory I haven't. But when it comes to blogging, it's not even intentional. Just a pattern I've been noticing lately. Who knows when the next post will be. You all can look forward to it. (all two of you)

Justice for all; Mesrine

2009-10-22T16:33:00.002+01:00

I just finished replaying the second Phoenix Wright game. All the while I was trying to figure out why I like the series so much. Because as i play through, I realize it has a lot of elements I've grown to dislike lately. The declarative nature of the dialogue, for one, the fact that you are almost always never on the same page as Phoenix, or all the macguffins invented especially for the sake of plot. Foreign teddy-bear-shaped puzzles or handmade unique silk hats for instance. These things, in my head at least, seem like easy solutions to complex narrative problems. Somehow, even with all the flaws, the charm never wears off. The plot twists keep piling up, and the characters are constantly endearing. It succeeds not only despite, but because of these flaws I feel. The imagination never lets up, and curveballs are constantly thrown your way. The Ace attorney series has forged itself a place in my heart that no form of entertainment comes close to replicate. I await the next game with bated breath.

I also watched the first part of the Mesrine flick last week. I found it popcorny enjoyable despite the historical subject matter. It's a character study and an action flick balanced very very nicely. Vincent Cassell is genius and infinitely watchable in it. They say it's possible to see two different characters in him while he's on screen. And you know what? That shit is bang on. I will be watching part 2 soon, and cannot wait to be charmed again by France's most famous bank robber.

Today, 2 videos from TED.com: Kindness and Mafia.

2009-10-08T00:38:00.004+01:00

Johnathan Zittrain talks about the inherent kindness and trust on which so much of the web is built on.

The fall of the Berlin wall and subsequent collapse of communism is often seen as a great blessing to those who were in the Eastern European Bloc. Mischa Glenny shows us the underside and more shadowy aftereffects of the fall. Specifically, how capitalism's dominance affected of organized crime, which has grown leaps and bounds in the last 20 years.

If your reading this from facebook, you can't see the vids. Below this paragraph, click the link that says link to original post or whatever.

Intelliegtualizing cinema?

2009-09-16T23:38:00.003+01:00

Don't intellectualize films too much is what my friend said to me today. Sometimes a film doesn't speak to you. It's alright. Happens all the time. There's no need to overthink it. Sometimes what it is is what it is. Sure, you can analyze every single detail and come up with allegories or metaphors to almost everything. Anything can be a symbol. What's stopping you from enjoying the film as it is? This need for everything to make sense drive me nuts sometimes.

We saw Nagisa Oshima's 太陽の墓場. (the Sun Burial, Tomb of the sun) I didn't really get it. Admittedly, I did fall asleep halfway through for about 5 mins. But I still pretty much got the plot, but I didn't get what it's REALLY about. Which is a problem for me. It's not that I can't turn my brain off to enjoy something. It's a problem of expectations and context. This film was made about 40 years ago, so immediately the context you might need to fully appreciate the film is gone if you're not well versed in the histories and cultural significances of the era. 2ndly, my first Oshima film was Realm of the senses. Which made a huge impact on me, and not just because of the final scene either. I saw it as a meditation on the destructive nature of pleasure. Cautionary really. Hugely successful in my opinion. So when I saw this through to the end(mostly) I was rather really quite disappointed with myself for not "getting it". It's a frustrating experience. Knowing that YES! He does have something to say but why the fuck am I not getting it? And because it's been selected for preservation in Japan I only have to assume a whole bunch of other people got it as well.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't love the film, but it's not really that bad, some really striking images and a great setting kept me captivated.

I'm just rather distressed. Whenever I find something I don't understand, I look it up on wikipedia. Like most people. But conveniently enough this film does not have a wiki page.

So what? Is it really meaningful in ways I can't understand or is it just a bunch of pretty crap. Well, I'm not pompous enough to say the latter, so that will have to do for now.

love film print campaign

2009-09-15T23:34:00.000+01:00

Among other things.

2009-09-15T18:00:00.003+01:00

District 9: awesome. go see it.
Thames festival: awesome, great evening.
Script: 22ish pages done. Let's go.
Book: 2nd campaign revision in the progress. Yes.
Blog: really really not daily anymore.
Notebooks: 2 almost filled up. Giving me the illusion of progress.
Lovefilm: you suck why can't your dvds play on my laptop.
Laptop: You're awesome but why your dvd drive suck so hard.
Apple: Thanks for not announcing a new ipod touch. Sally's heart breaks easily.
Weather: Oh fuck off.

Comic.

2009-09-06T19:16:00.004+01:00

yonks ago, I was working on this short story that was supposed to be a comic. It was supposed to be about this girl called Mina who got possessed by an extra-dimensional pawn. Suspected for murders she didn't commit, she resolved to find out about the nature of these incidents that were following her around and in the course of her investigations uncover the truth that lies behind our world. I planned it to be about 120 pages at the time. I finished about 22 pages, the first chapter basically before shelving it indefinitely.

Now the story has returned but now it's 60 pages and barely resembles what I've written before except that the main character is a girl. We'll see how this one goes. First 10 pages are due tonight, and then everything else will follow. the idea is to finish the script by this weekend. And that's that.

LoveFilm.

2009-09-05T15:45:00.003+01:00

LoveFilm is the European equivalent of netflix to a tee. They're so similiar it's not even funny. We've been working on this product for quite some time.

The Lovefilm free trial offers you 14 days service from Lovefilm. In the interest of my portfolio I have signed up for it. On my List:

Back to the future
In the loop
Die hard
Die hard 4.0
religulous
Nick and Norah's infinite Playlist
The Damned United
Doubt
Godfather pt2
Torchwood series 1-3
Silent Running
Solaris
Sunshine

A hefty list with some "OMG I can't believe you haven't seen that" entries, bearing in mind that I've never seen any film on that list. Or at least, not that I remember. Isn't it swell.

Now all I have to do is figure out how to sell it and cancel the free trial before they bill my frakking ass.

I smell a Scam: 911 ads.

2009-09-03T13:59:00.010+01:00

WWF: Tsunami killed (n) 911 only (n-whatever)

Disgusted? I know a lot of Americans are. Or at least American blogs and ad trade rags. I can't really bring myself to care. But I'll bitch about it. Such a deluge of sameness makes me want to crawl up in my bed and wish they don't exist. Let's have a run through.MTV: as if the channel wasn't bad enough.

Some kind of radio station: I don't get this one. Whose eyes wasn't glued to the telly when the planes hit? It's doubtful people said "quick! turn on the radio" when it hit. ugh. Moving on.
some woodland charity: everyday is 911 for nature. Getting bored yet?
Copy enlarged.
Hey, who doesn't love photo-hunt? Oh, that's right, families of the 911 victims. Especially if the image is one of said tragedy.
Anti smoking: 911 killed bla bla tobacco killed bla bla + a gajillion.

Same idea, different brands, generally pretty good Art Direction. The smell of scam from miles away. If I'm doing this every week I might die of repulsiveness.

sure. go ahead. see if i care.

2009-09-04T00:02:00.001+01:00

I have to be ready for tomorrow's crit anyway.

on marvel's aquisition by disney.

2009-09-02T21:19:00.004+01:00

2 words, one equation.
Pixar + Runaways.

Scrap the live action.
Make it happen.
NOW.

Crit tomorrow. Ramble now.

2009-09-02T01:06:00.004+01:00

If life has thought me anything it's that I should say less and do more. I find that the more I talk the less I want to do, because talking seemed like doing, and the illusion persists, therefore hampering productivity.

Opinionate(not a word but should be) only when asked about, and express oneself more freely. I think the freer you are allowed to be who you are the happier you are. Society often hopes to undermine this. By it's nature society can not hope to inspire happiness in it's members. I don't think. But suffering makes us human, and it's what makes gleefulness all the more precious.

But I digress. There's this crit with this non-smoking vegetarian senior art director tomorrow at Euro RSCG London. I'm having vibes that she will not take kindly to our book. I hope my fears remain unfounded. For what it's worth, we'll approach it like water approaches a stone. How does one be reasonable and not feel doubtful about one's work anyway? My worst fear is being seen as an arrogant douche. Maybe that's my problem.