MADMEN - Me in 2D

If your not watching it already why not MADMEN yourself in preparation for a 2 season boxset marathon.

You can get the DVD boxsets from amazon.co.uk -

MADMEN Season 1 only £9.98 - Mad Men - Complete Season 1 [DVD] [2007]
MADMEN Season 2 only £17.88- Mad Men - Complete Season 2 [DVD] [2008]

You don't need an ad man to tell you it's a good deal.

Season 3 should be hitting UK screens early next year.

DEADLINE - Stop Motion Film by Bang-Yao Liu

Deadline is Bang-Yao Liu's senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. The idea is that every time he is busy, he felt he was not fighting with his work, but the post-it notes and deadlines he was facing.

This is exactly the reason why I don't make lists or use post-it notes for anything other than doodling on.




Credits -
Directed by Bang-yao Liu
Music by Röyksopp (http://royksopp.com)
Sound design by Shaun Burdick

Now check out the making of film -

Amazing Data Visualizations

Take a trip over to Webdesigner Depot to check out their recently posted 50 Great Examples of Data Visualization.

I've already seen and used TwittEarth, but Tag Galaxy and Twingly Screensaver look pretty interesting.

Go direct to the page - Data Visualizations.

TO BOLDLY GO....

Star Trek (2009) acknowledges the past but sends us off to explore brave new worlds and new civilizations. With the right balance of reverence to what came before and the desire to make these characters live and breathe for a new audience, it takes all that once was and creates something new and, to quote a certain engineer, exciting.

What really makes the film work is it’s cast, who take these fan favourites and breathe new life into them. Stand out performances for me are Karl Urban as ‘Bones’ McCoy, he is everything that made me incredible fond of the character, the humanity, humour and pathos is there in spades. Zachary Quinto as Spock must be a clone of Leonard Nimoy as he is Spock in everyway. The surprise performance for me was Chris Pine who had the most difficult task of filling Kirk’s boots, and he does. Chris Pine is our Kirk just younger and with a different face, he has managed to bring not just the original performance but the idea of who the character is into a driving focal point for the film. If we did not believe in this Kirk it wouldn’t work, but we believe, oh yes we believe.

In much the same way as all the great stories have been retold over the years, Robin Hood, King Arthur, Sherlock Holmes, James Bond among others, Star Trek has now joined that elite club of characters and stories that can and will live forever. This film demonstrates that however much we love the original and its cast, it’s the universe that they live in and the stories that can be created that has us coming back time and again.

Special mention must also go to Michael Giacchino who has created a score that has stuck in my head, and does for this film what the John Williams scores did for Star Wars. Talking of the score it’s also good to know The Beastie Boys still kick ass in the 23rd Century.

Star Trek is back, and I recommend you see it.

If this gives you a desire to check out the original series, the newly remastered DVD’s are available for amazon.com – get them here – Star Trek - The Original Series - Series 1 - Complete - Remastered [DVD] [1966]


Credits –

Directed by
J.J. Abrams

Written by
Roberto Orci
Alex Kurtzman

Based on
Television series “Star Trek” created by
Gene Roddenberry

Cast
Chris Pine… James T. Kirk
Zachary Quinto… Spock
Leonard Nimoy… Spock Prime
Eric Bana… Nero
Bruce Greenwood…Capt. Christopher Pike
Karl Urban…Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy
Zoe Saldana…Nyota Uhura
Simon Pegg…Scotty
John Cho…Hikaru Sulu
Anton Yelchin…Pavel Chekov
Ben Cross…Sarek
Winona Ryder…Amanda Grayson
Chris Hemsworth…George Kirk
Jennifer Morrison…Winona Kirk

Original Music by
Michael Giacchino

WINDOSiLL

Available now from vectorpark.com is WINDOSiLL.

This is a simply beautiful flash game and I recommend you download it now.

I also recommend you check out feedthehead when you visit vectorpark.com.

Let me know what you think of WINDOSiLL as I'm going to buy the full version based on this demo.

TREK YOURSELF

It's Star Trek Wednesday - here's a little something to blow away those midweek blues!

It's me.....

...as a Star Fleet Captain -

...as a Vulcan Science Officer -

...as a Romulan -

Now as long as your not traumatised to much by that, go Trek Yourself.

NEW HARRY POTTER TRAILER

This film is looking good - I can't wait to see it all. So here ya go...

STAR TREK

The Real Mad Men!

Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame is the star in this exclusive video over at funnyordie.com.

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm from Jon Hamm

Seems like even Lex can have a bad day - Jon Hamm hams it up as Superman's nemesis (sorry but I couldn't resist).

Credits:
Starring: Jon Hamm
Featuring: Johanna Parker
DP: Christian Sprenger
Written and Directed by: Eric Appel

Clutter Magazine Yoka Competition Round 4

The 4th round of the Clutter Magazine Yoka competition is open, so get yourself over there now and vote for your favourite design in this weeks selection. You have until next Thursday to cast your vote.

There are 3 more rounds to go with new rounds going live on Thursday nights.

VOTE NOW!

Go Wild!

A new poster for Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are has just been released.


Click on image to view larger version.

That October release date can't come soon enough - I'm very excited about this film.

Earth Hour 2009 - Are Your Lights Out?

Tonight at 8.30pm hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn their lights off for one hour to show global leaders that they want strong action to tackle climate change. Will you be one of them?

Check out WWF's Earth Hour and Earth Hour.

Clutter Magazine Yoka Competition

The Yoka Competition is back! After a longer than anticipated hiatus its time for those public votes!! Up right now is the 2nd of 7 Rounds of Yoka Voting so head on over to those kind people at Clutter Magazine and pick your favourite!

VOTE NOW!

Moomins and the Midsummer Madness (2008)

I was lucky enough to see this new Moomin film as part of the Flatpack festival at The Electric Cinema in Birmingham this weekend.

An all new Finnish, Polish and Austrian co-production released originally in 2008, this film is a faithful recreation of the fondly remembered TV series screened on British television in the mid 80s.

The story follows the adventures of Moomin family as they survive volcanic eruptions, tidal waves and being incarcerated for vandalism. But whatever happens the whole family and their friends make it to the premier of the Moomin family’s masterpiece “The Lion’s Brides”.

Beautifully animated, this film will take younger viewers on a magical journey, and older viewers back to their youth. The American translation and narration is not a patch on Richard Murdoch version but other than that this is highly recommend to Moomin fans old and new.

Check out the films website in Finnish at Muumi ja Vaarallinen Juhannus

Also check out – Flatpack Festival and The Moomins Website

If your not in possession of the original film on DVD get it now – The Moomins [DVD] [1977]

TV Schedules - What are they good for? Absolutely Nothing!

Happened to be channel surfing last night and stumbled across a promo for the new series of Dirty Sexy Money. Episode Two! How the heck did I manage to miss episode one?

This is becoming something of a trend with TV channels, returning shows just sneak back on to our screens with little or no promotion across channels, it recently happened with both Smallville and 30 Rock, where they returned with little announcement on any of the parent channels. Are shows just promoted on the channel they appear now? As I'm certainly not watching E4 or FiveUSA for other shows how do I know that 30 Rock is returning? TV guides are no help as they are mostly full of celebrity gossip and what is happening in the soaps. And who is the soap catch ups for? Surely soap fans watch the show enough to know whats going on without needing weekly catch ups in their TV guides! There are omnibus editions on all the time for heavens sake, which other TV shows get that - omnibus indeed.

If anyone knows how to keep abreast of when shows return to UK screens please let me know as I sure as hell do not want to miss the new series of Californication.

Any before anyone mentions it, don't get me started on catch up TV or TV on demand - that way leads darkness, pure darkness.

Mark Kermode is no Jonathan Ross

I totally disagrees with Mark Kermode's opinion of Watchmen as seen on the Culture Show Uncut, since when is he an outspoken supporter of the comic book art form like Jonathan Ross. Christopher Nolan is no genius either, so why be so hard on Zack Snyder just because he (Kermode) didn't like 300. And to justify that dislike with a comment like 'they looked like rejects from the Village People' is no great critique.

Let me continue, Christopher Nolan's Batman films have been okay but could also be accused of style over substance, just as Kermode accuses Snyder. Just look at the badly cut final fight in Begins, how can you tell what the hell is going on there, it's all flashy editing. Now don't get me wrong Memento is an amazingly complex and satisfying film but can the same be said of Insomnia, which is not better than the original in my opinion.

Watchmen is a complicated film and is miles ahead of any of the previous Alan Moore comic adaptations, but to try and critique a film based on how you imagine someone else's version may have turned out is insane. Greengrass and Gilliam are amazing directors and that is not in question but would their version of this story been better than the one we have been given? What was the script like, what was the look and design work going to be like? Sorry Mister Kermode your opinion just doesn't cut the mustard with this dyed in the wool comic book geek, I loved the original 12 part comic book and I really enjoyed this adaptation not some imagined one that exists only in my over inflated self important head.

Watching the Watchmen

After over 20 years and several aborted attempts to film it, the unfilmable comic book phenomenon Watchmen finally makes it to the screen. And what a film it turned out to be.

Capturing the essence of a 12 issue comic story was never going to be easy, especially one written by a talent as great as Alan Moore, but Zack Snyder and his crew have achieved what many people thought impossible. This film delivers a complex, adult story that retains the core themes of the original material, whilst adapting it to a162 minute motion picture. The visual style of the comic created by Dave Gibbons is apparent in every scene, with some shots almost exact duplicates of the original comic panel. The colour palette of the film also reflects John Higgins original (or more actually his recently recoloured version) of the comic. What has changed from the source material has been changed to benefit the film and those 162 minutes fly past. Dave Gibbons receives a sole credit as co-creator and it is unfortunate that Alan Moore did not want his name to appear on this film as it is his world and the characters he created with Dave that helps makes this such an mature and well crafted work.

The film retains the 1980’s setting of the comic, its dark, fearful, nuclear shadowed essence and opens in an alternative 1985, with the murder of the Comedian, part of the original Minutemen heroes and now a Watchman. What follows is an amazing title sequence that retells the history of this universe to a Bob Dylan soundtrack. We then follow the Watchman Rorschach as he sets out to uncover a plot to kill superheroes or Masks, as they are referred to. His investigation leads him to warn his fellow heroes, including the god-like Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias and his old partner Nite Owl, that someone is killing off heroes. As his investigation progresses, Rorschach begins to uncover a disturbing conspiracy that could lead to catastrophic events in the future.

The cast performances are superb throughout, the highlight being Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach as he brings the complex nature of this character to life and unlike a certain Dark Knight, gives the character a voice that contains all the hurt and pain he has had to endure in his life. Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Comedian, also deserves credit for his portrayal of this pivotal character.

This film took me back to those days back in 1986 when I first read this series, where the threat of nuclear Armageddon was a reality and how this complex year long story showed me that comics could be as valuable and intelligent as any other art form. The film is the best adaptation of Watchmen it could ever hope to be and I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a complex, adult story well told – the comic book movie has finally come of age.

cast & credits
Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman – Billy Crudup
Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias – Matthew Goode
Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre – Carla Gugino
Laurie Jupiter/Silk Spectre II – Malin Akerman
Rorschach – Jackie Earle Haley
Edward Blake/Comedian – Jeffery Dean Morgan
Dan Dreiberg/Nite Owl – Patrick Wilson
Moloch the Mystic – Matt Frewer
with John McLaughlin Gary Houston

Warner Bros. and Paramount present a film directed by Zack Snyder.
Written by David Hayter and Alex Tse, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Running time: 162 minutes. Rated 18

My Pocket Emo

Something else to fill my pages as I'm to depressed to write anything new.

The Which Lolcat Are You? Test Results

Your Score: Lion Warning Cat

51% Affectionate, 57% Excitable, 26% Hungry

You are the good Samaritan of the lolcat world. Protecting others from danger by shouting observations and guidance in cases of imminent threat, you believe in the well-being of everyone.



To see all possible results, checka dis.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Headphones R.I.P?

My faithful pair of headphones fell apart this weekend, so I had to go and purchase a new pair. This was not as easy as I had expected. The choice was limited and only a few stores had headphones in my rather limited price range. Eventually I managed to get some from HMV. But all this faffing around got me thinking. Does anyone actually buy headphones these days? And more importantly does anyone still use them?

Sure you see people wandering around with their ears full of plastic, but these are probably iPod users and they can only listen to their music by using headphones. But the more recent trend is to use your mobile phone to store your music and even though you get headphones in the box, everyone I come across who has music on their phone uses the rather poor inbuilt speaker to play it. OK, so I travel on public transport a lot and this is mostly where several people compete to play their music loudest – but come on, why can’t they use headphones. And another thing, why is it always music I’ve never heard before that’s being played.


I think its’ time the Government or some Health agency stepped in and set up a free headphone helpline for these poor individuals who are suffering from a tinny speaker addiction. Perhaps with a little help we can cure this affliction and make the personal music player, whether it’s a MP3 player or a mobile, personal again. Until then I think I’ll load up my phone with some obscure Karlheinz Stockhausen to play on the bus, whilst listening to the music I want to hear through my new pair of headphones.