Indy 4- I loved it. Lots hated it. I think they’re stupid jaded bastards with no imagination. Frankly they’re missing out. If you saw Indy 4 and loved it, you know what I mean. If you saw it and hated it, you’re the one losing out. So suck it.

Iron Man - It’s good, not great. Not as good as the last Batman, but better than the last Superman… Downy Jr. is perfect for the role. The problem I had was that the set-up in the terrorist lair was too long and kinda stupid (I know it’s comic-logic, but he builds a suit out of a fucking missile in a goddamn cave with a frigging hammer!!!). By the time we get to the standard “discovering new powers” stage, it felt a bit “by the numbers”… as in, too formulaic. The end battle was sweet, but way too short, and somewhat anti-climatic. However, I can safely say it’s sequel worthy (and self-assuredly so) and can only go up from here (who am I kidding, look at Spiderman 3, ugh). Whatever. They’re just fucking setting up an Avengers movie…

The Incredible Hulk - Speaking of Avengers…Hulk!… Like the trailer says, “Just as good as Iron Man”. Not better, not worse- just “as good”. I consider these movies a popcorn-affair, so I try and enjoy them as much as possible without turning on the brain… and thankfully, Hulk didn’t disappoint. It was good. What can I say beyond that? It’s good. Like Iron Man. Good, but a bit numbing. Nice to see comic heroes, but growing a bit tired of seeing the SAME comic book movies coming out with slightly different characters etched on the same formulaic plots. Is it lack of originality, or refusal to upset Canon?

The Happening - Not happening. While some great scenes and images make this movie watchable, only M. Night could direct a scene that makes Marky Mark look like a bad actor. If you haven’t seen it, I’m about to spoil something- it’s plants. They start emitting gases that kill people, like an over-population defense for the Earth. It’s stupid. It’s stupid because he should have just NOT explained it. The movie starts out with the promise of SAYING something (philisophical) and then reveals it’s just plants. BOO. Aside from some cool ideas and concepts it’s a pretty “meh” movie.

10000 BC - Surprisingly pretty decent. They basically took Braveheart back to the Stone Age and threw in some VERY subtle Atlantis/Pyramid lore. Not as good as Braveheart mind you, but still a pretty decent flick that HINTS at interesting concepts behind the fabric of the neolithic adventures. I just wish that maybe the movie had been MORE about the INTERESTING concepts, though I’ll assume that it would have been if not for Studio intervention. Interesting notions: Pyramids built in 10,000 BC using Mammoths as laborers, Atlanteans as the Egyptian gods (tall as fuck old people with bad tempers and mucho wisdom)…

The Strangers - Meh. Bag head people are creepy, but haven’t I seen this movie before?

And whatever, that’s it for today. There you have it, some movies suck, some rock, in the end, it’s just my experience. Feel free to not care.

It’s under the ice of Lesser Antartica, by the way, I’m pretty sure. But I’ll get more into that when it starts formulating into something concrete, but let’s just say that it’ll have to be out by 2012, if you know what I mean. Damn, there’s some interesting ideas floating around out there. Earth Crust Displacement and the Electromagnetic quantum physics 3-d “reality” program… woot, I’m surprised sometimes when people say they can’t come up with ideas. There’s enough juice in ANY funky idea out there to spawn a million movies on.

But thankfully, I also have lots of editing to do to keep my mind off the universal mysteries… and it’s coming along alright. “4th Cousin Make-Over Plus Become Rockstars” is my latest project, with Sean Jordan and Tanya Wilson… the rough cut is clocking in around 20+ minutes, but I intend to break it up into smaller, more manageable 5 minute chunks for the interweb, which like that shit. Think like an editor, I tell myself- BE te editor. But I AM the editor, so WTF is going on, I say. I’m typing. Yeah, I know that, what’s the point. Stop typing down the thoughts from your organic computer brain.

Anyway, I was going to make this a bigger post, but I’m listening to some guy in the background ramble on about using meditation to enter simultaneous time to connect to the universal consciousness and I’ve been ABSORBING so much information lately I feel like I’m clogged up with thoughts. Makes me feel like taking a cosmic shower. Then meditating, then sleeping.

Yeah, that’s a good idea.

The scariest thing I can imagine in this universe,
is a black hole.
You can’t escape the gravity of a black hole,
Not even light gets out.
They consume everything around them,
amassing mass, accumulating matter,
but remaining empty, sightless voids of nothing.
Is nothing even something?
And there are people like black holes,
with voids in their hearts they attempt to fill,
by striving to own everything around them,
until everything becomes as nothing as them.
And they amass and accumulate as much nothing as they can,
growing larger without any regards or regrets,
but stay nothing in their utterly dark hearts,
until their return to void on death.
A star burns for billions of years,
Selflessly giving everything inside it to bring light to the dark,
And life to the lifeless.
And then, after billions of years, it dies.
And since people die too, we’re more alike stars,
Than eternal and menacing black holes.

And it’s too bad, because if people are a reflection of a microcosm of the universe, then there’s probably more black holes out there than suns.

So anyway, here’s some photos from the Matt Good concert.

Amanda took these pictures with her new digital camera. It’s a Nikon something. I don’t do “specs”, at least anymore specific than that.

I want lots of guitars.

I wish the focus worked better when zoomed in on a moving target, damn. I want a giga-camera.

Anyway, you can go here to see the rest of them on my Flickr thing. Hurray while they last, no refunds.

And I did one more sketch comedy video shoot with SJ and Tanya the other week or two back. It’s called “Snakeperson VS Vampire” and it’s a short vignette of scenes where I’m spying on a meeting between the two ruling races on the planet deciding who controls the next few thousand years. It’s funny. Look out for it. Later.

Moving on, we also shot some more of Episode 6 for the yet-to-be-unveiled Saveslot Series. Video Game Themed sketches about the misadventures of the makers of a gaming site called Saveslot. In episode 6, we managed to get “Famous Stu” who won the hosting contest for MLG Canada (Major League Gaming) in a bit-part getting clubbed in the head with a poopsock and stuffed into a duffel bag. Something else to look forward to!

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg that has kept me from blogging. Not to mention I’m about to start doing freelance PAID filmmaking with a pretty neat creative media company on the side, and I’m working out an online distribution deal with a Vancouver company for not only Macbeth 3000, but shorts and sketches as well. Yeah, you heard me. Macbeth 3000. I guess that should be bigger news, but I’m so tired of being like “oh, go see macbeth 3000″ without actually being able to allow people to see it.. so I’m going to hold off on my “big marketing fuss” until the movie is actually on the web and streaming!

Again, look forward to lots of goodies. All 3 of you. And I’m out. See you next month. Ok, I’ll try. Next week?

I’ll be sure to post something when I get back.

Oh my god this is just awesome, I love it. Flying Penis Attacks!!! And who’s doing all these subtitles these days?

Technoviking, Hitler’s 360, now flying Penis…. I love the internet.

I can’t spoil anything, because I wouldn’t have wanted it spoiled myself (though ironically I called or had spoiled most of the major “twists”, but it still surprised me!)… you MUST see this movie! Not only does it recapture the feel and style of the original, it captures a type of filmmaking that has long since been diluted in our modern Hollywood film industry. It accepts the new changes and makes them work for the story, advancing characters in a natural way that doesn’t ever conflict with or make contrived the tons of lovely “nostalgia” inserted all over the film. Everything feels NATURAL and PERFECT, is funny, witty and smart. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting, brilliant direction and brilliance all around!

There’s so many memorable moments and the plot-line isn’t a one-trick pony. Of course, I’m sure some people will be skeptics (the plot/Mcguffin will draw controversy for SURE), but fuck ‘em… this was the movie I’ve been waiting almost my whole life to see… and it delivered on ALL FRONTS!!

YES!!!! I’m SO fucking happy they didn’t fuck it all up. I’m so happy to see this KIND of film hit the screen again…. and man…. man…. YES!!!!
Thank you Spielberg, Lucas and Ford! THANK YOU!

Ok- now go see the fucking movie!

So my friend SJ, who I shot a sketch for last weekend and works at the Silver Snail (a renowned Toronto comic book shop) calls me up while I’m at work today… through his job he scored two tickets to an advance screening of Indiana Jones 4: Crystal Skull TONIGHT, but he’s working tonight and leaving for Halifax tomorrow so he, as they say in France, hooked a brother up (Frere Jacques du la hooke? I speak good frenchlish).

Anyway, just scarfed down a sub and I’ve got… T-minus 10 minutes until I’m off to the theater for the whip-slinging adventure I’ve been waiting to see since I was a wee lad. DAH DAH DAH DAH, DAH DAH DAH… insert thematic musical rhythm.

I’m out! WAHOO!

Last Sunday I had the best shoot of my life. Working with Sean Jordan (the Wordburglar) again and Tanya, Jenn on Make-up, Alex (from Saveslot) on Boom, Jeremy (Sean’s friend) with his HD camera, and Kelci as the third actress. Best shoot ever. Wow, what a day.

SJ, Tanya and Kelci were absolutely brilliant with improv, so a lot of the day consisted of capturing what they were creating on camera and trying not to burst out laughing.

We shot “reality” interview style, with 3 locations- SJ’s apartment (with a greenscreen), a local Church’s practice hall for dancing (for our audition/rehearsal section), and a local bar’s mini stage for the end performance. We shot interviews at SJ’s before cabbing it to the church and filming there quickly for an hour. Then we went back to SJ’s, did our “makeover”, shot another interview and then rushed off to the bar to shoot the final scene and wrap. The cast and crew both just had a great time and enjoyed the day, often spouting about how other sets are miserable times compared to our no-budget romp in the park… WHAT!?!? Who are these Directors that make shitty shooting atmospheres? But thankfully, everyone had fun on the shoot, and that’s what counts at the end of the day in my school of philosophy.

Oh yeah, it’s called “4th Cousin Makeover Plus Become Rock Stars”. I’ll be working on the edit over the next two weeks before sending it off for an audio job with Alex. I’m going to make a “web cut”, “festival cut” and “live cut” for multi-platform amazingness.

But a word to all the directors out there- keep your people happy and relaxed and pro and you’ll have a great time. Don’t fucking stresspot the shit out of the crew. Cast and crew yourself wisely. Plan. Execute. Film.

Out.

Like, cool. Thankfully I read what I wrote and didn’t say anything too non-academic or illegible, crass, dick-ish, belligerent or perverse. Besides, that’s what this blog is for, my stupid ass-slave monkey children ball lickers of an audience. I don’t actually know who reads all this mumbo-jumbo… there’s Nick from the Poke Show, Shawn Silver from BC who never comments but ghosts in the shadow, there’s the spam bots, the people who flew me to Hollywood last summer from Ford, the CIA and Academia. Wow. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine.

Now I’m going to go crack open a bottle of classy champagne (beer), drunk it, and pass out in a puddle of vomit and feces. Academia, you had me at “hello”, but you lost me somewhere between pitchers and cigarettes. What’san Acadome ag’in? *hic*