HE'S COMING BACK

5 DAYS AND COUNTING

NEW STUFF

HE'S COMING BACK:

11 DAYS AND COUNTING

SCHOOL'S OUT FOREVER!!

Three years, and it went by soo quickly.

I can't even begin to tell you how fun these past three year were, I met so many great and talented people during my time in the Seneca Animation Program. I learned so much from them, how to get an idea across, staging, acting principles, drawing skills, how to use a software like maya (Frankie that especially means you).........the list goes on. Everyone in this picture, and even those who weren't featured mean so much to me, you've all changed my life and made me a better animator. I find it hard to believe that I'll forget you guys, when you spend hours like 8am-midnight 7 days a week for three years with people it's kinda hard to forget them. One day I hope we all meet again and maybe even become colleagues in the workforce.

Thanks to all and best of luck in the future!

HE'S COMING BACK

18 DAYS AND COUNTING

HE'S COMING BACK

24 DAYS AND COUNTING

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE

This was a painting I did for my pops for Christmas and I'm now finally posting it. I am the first to admit that I am not the most skilled painter, thats why all the members of the band are done in pencil crayon, a tool I'm more comfortable in. All the rest is done in paint. I really like this piece, I rarley do things like this so I'm very pleased at how it came out.

DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND.....MORE DRAWINGS!

HE'S COMING BACK

32 DAYS AND COUNTING

TMNT

Finally a title I can pronounce, too bad the film sucked.

When I first got a glimpse of the teaser for TMNT last year, I couldn't find enough people to show, and now it's finally here. Now before I go one lets rewind about 17 years, I was three when the teenage mutant ninja turtles bug bit me. That was when the turtles were bigger than Jesus. They had a hit cartoon series and 3 movies out that at that age were on the same bar as Citizen Kane. I am now 20 and I still consider myself to be a kid, just with a beard, so I was very excited to watch a new turtles film, but nothing would prepare me for this.

CRAP! that was the general word that traveled through the packed theatre that opening night at 10:05 pm. The theatre was so packed with people my age, all there to rekindle their childhood memories, all were disappointed at what we were seeing. I thought after turtles part II when they started line dancing with Vanilla Ice, it couldn't get any worse, but alas I am again proven wrong. I don't think kids would have even enjoyed this crap.

The story sounded like it was written by the producers dog, Some ancient warrior bullshit and some stupid aligning of the stars crap story mixed in with a hokey brotherly feud with the turtles. AGGG!!! Why oh why don't people know how to tell stories anymore. The turtles story would have been good, I love when directors put emotional burdens on top of the hero's shoulders, it brings drama which is always good. But it was ruined by cheesy jokes, dialogue that sounded worse than a old dubbed Japanese movie, and horrible kid punk songs that sounded worse than Simple Plan, actually I think some of it was Simple Plan songs

((shudder)).

The voice acting was also terrible, the one that stood out the most was Splinter. His voice sounded like they recorded an old Japanese man right in the morning before he brushed his teeth, every line sounded like he was asleep or about to die. The turtles were OK, they all sounded the same as always, Mikey kinda got on my nerves, he got over the top sometimes. April O' Neil was voiced by Sarah Michelle Geller who added nothing to the character, she wasn't even a reporter in this film. You could almost hear Sarah Michelle Geller counting her money over the voice track. Another money grab was Patrick Stewart as the somewhat villain of this story, he must have been high reading those lame lines, oh ya i forgot $$$

The animation, finally a part that hits a lil' close to home for me, this was the only thing that saved this film. The animation wasn't bad, unless the characters weren't fighting. The fight scenes were kick ass, the turtles finally fought like they should, like in the comics, But some of the dialogue was out of sync and the animation was a bit floaty. The lighting was very nice, great job during the rain scenes, it actually looked really nice. But that couldn't save this sinking ship.

Overall this film was a big let down, coming off of 300 I thought this was gonna be a great lead into the summer wave of films, but I guess we hit a lil' speed bump, or a speed shell in this case.

I give the TMNT,

1 outta 5 pizza loving turtles

May God have mercy on us all!

Smallville: Promise

Well it's been on hiatus for a month but it's finally here, new Smallville episodes. HOOOORAY!!!
We start back with the climatic Luthor-Lang wedding, and brother this was no doubt one the best episodes of the series. Bold claim eh? Well I explain...

This season began with "Zod", another one of my favourite episodes, but the season kinda had it's ups and downs, but when it hit a high, it was HIGH boy. Promise was a great episode for so many reasons, for one it had a great story, Clark's arch enemy Lex Luthor marrying the love of his life Lana Lang. Already that's a pretty engaging storyline, but the director Rick Rosenthal, a Smallville director regular, took it to a whole new level. The story took place all in one day, but shown through three different perspectives Clark's, Lex's and Lana's. It was so different from what a Smallville episode usual is. This put me in mind of past episodes like "Crusade" and "Reckoning" where the episodes were shot differently than the usual Smallville fare. The episode was also beautifully shot, every episode of Smallville is, but this one had such great camera angles, lighting and the settings were just so perfect.

The script penned by Smallville veterans Brain Peterson and Kelly Souders was just terrific. The dialogue was great, which is good, because sometimes the dialogue in a Smallville episode sounds like it was written by George Lucas. The big event of this episode wasn't just the i do's, it was the reveal of Clark's secret to Lana. Six years in the making and finally Lana found out about Clark's secret. The cool thing is that fans always imagined Lana finding out by Clark telling her, but she actually found out by spying on Clark and seeing him use his powers. The other cool thing was after seeing this she was about to leave Lex hanging at the altar, but Lionel put a stop to it and said that "if she didn't marry Lex he would kill Clark". So Lana regretably married Lex, and Clark now thinks Lex pressured her to marry him. The other thing were the dream sequences, Lex's was the coolest, seeing his babies ultra-sound and revealing that it was some sort of monster. Could that mean that Lex and Lana's baby isn't human? We'll soon find out.

The actors were their finest this whole season, Kristen Kreuk was so good as Lana. Lana has become a hated character because of her wining and constant sadness, but this episode her character was very well done. I actually felt bad for her situation, rather than wish her scenes would go by faster. Lex was as evil as ever in this episode. In one scene he meets with Lana's doctor in the crypt underneath the wedding chapel, the doctor tells Lex that he is going to tell Lana the truth about her baby unless Lex gives him 2 million dollars...blah...blah...the same old black mail thing right? Wrong. Lex starts wailing on the guy, beating him to a bloody pulp until hes dead, and then hides the remains in the crypt's coffin. A really great Lex moment. Clark was also great, I love seeing Superman, the strongest man to ever live, at his weakest. I feel really bad for him. Lionel has once again to be a mystery, he began this season on Clark's side and now is threatening his life, I must say I am glad to see the old asshole Lionel back, but I'm curious to see his intentions.

This season began really strong with episodes like Zod, but kinda cooled off by doing too much episodes with the Green Arrow, he was cool but he kinda overshadowed Clark a bit. But since January this season has been pumping out some of the best episodes of the entire season. Who would have thought Smallville would still be doing great episodes in its sixth season.

Go Smallville WOOO!!!

5/5

300

Well it was just a little over a year ago when I first heard about 300, this was the time when the only synopsis for the film was "coming 2007". And now it was just released three days ago, and actually just made a cool $70 mill at the box office. Could March be on the way of becoming the new May? whatever that's a whole other topic, lets get on with this.

Right off the bat 300 was a great movie. Not flawless, but a great movie nonetheless. The acting was strong, it was visually pleasing and the characters were really cool. As a man who loves Greek mythology I was pleasantly surprised at the way director Zack Snyder blended this historic tale with the world of mythology. Now it wasn't like they added in centaurs or Medusa or anything, all though that would be cool, it was incorperated in to the film. The Persians, described as "immortals" were portrayed as these beasts, and even one of the characters was a hunchback type character.

One thing I couldn't get over was the colour in that film. You now that magic hour that comes around 4:30-5pm when the sky is Orange-yellow, OK now imagine pouring that over a whole film. It may sound weird, but that colour flatters this film so much, the red robes the Spartans wear stand out so much that you cant keep your eyes off them, which is a clever plot device. The effects were very cool, the CG rhino and elephant were really cool, but if they were on film for one more frame they would have bridged the way of looking too computer-ish, but Snyder I guess new this, a quality that many of today's filmmakers don't share.

The slow-moes, ok the slow-moes are an acquired taste. Personally I don't always like slow-moes, mainly cause no one knows how to pull them off, but this film really pulled it off. I think Snyder knew the right amount to put in especially when he would shake it up from going from slow motion to really fast motion to slow again, really felt kinda cool. Now this could be a problem for some, but I say it was cool, and it's my blog. So it's cool.

Now onto the part that can be argued, the story. Now the story is more of a heroic tale rather than a story. This isn't Gladiator or Spartacus, this a simple story with one reason, 300 FUCKIN' Spartans fight thousands of FUCKIN' Persians. That's it. Snyder did do some character archs with the King Leonidas and his fellow soldiers but characters like the Persian king Xerxes, were more like flesh comic book characters, but in this film that's ok, because he was well executed. Xerxes had such power and command you knew from the beginning that he was in charge. That's all you need.

Tyler Bates did a wonderful score. Unlike Hans Zimmer or James Newton Howard, that usually get attached to these kind of films, Bates' score was very powerful, the battle sequences were so intense and thematic I thought Metallica was gonna appear outta nowhere and start rockin out. Bates also slowed down during the more slower scenes, like with Leonidas and his Queen. Very cool score, look out for Tyler Bates, he's about to get very popular very quickly. So is director Zack Snyder, other than 300 Snyder was responsible for bringing back Dawn of the Dead to screens back in 2004. I think this is a better film, but its still not a bad body of work. He's slated to bring Alan Moore's Watchman to the big screen, hopefully he'll bring to justice to the genius of Alan Moore to the screen, cause The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was GARBAGE!. Ok V for Vendetta was a good example of a Alan Moore comic brought to screen ...."do one like that Zack."

Overall I give this film a 5 outta 5. I really enjoyed it, I consider this the kick off to the summer glut of films, even thought its March. I was heavily entertained, I applauded at many parts, and I went to bed that night sayin', 10 bucks well spent.

5 outta 5

OSCAR 2007

What the hell went on with the Oscars last night?

Is it me or did the Oscars feel very weird last night, every long-shot won last night. It was almost like the Oscars theme was, lets make every winner a surpirse. I bet no one this year could have imagined The Departed winning Best Picture. Happy Feet beating Cars for Best Animated Feature, even though its not animated? Alan Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine. And Pan's Labyrinth losing Best Foreign Film.

They had some good choices though, finally giving Martin Scorsese his Best Director Oscar, I wouldn't say The Departed was his best film, or the film he should win the Oscar for, but I'm glad he finally got one for all of his great films he's made.

Either the Oscar judges were on some serious crack last night, or this year they didn't want the real winners to win, they just wanted to create a sense of surprise.

Pan's Labyrinth

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago, and havent found the time to review it, but I found some spare time today and felt this needed to be said. THIS FILM ROCKS! I don't even feel like calling it a film does it justice, it's truly a work of art.

Writer/Director Guillmero Del Toro (Hellboy, The Devil's Backbone) did a fantastic job in creating one of the greatest hybrid films ever. World War II and Fairy Tales. It may seem like a weird concept, but the two worlds are weaved so seamlessly. The story follows Ofelia, a little girl whos is brought to a new home by her pregnant mother. This new home is owned by Captian Vidal, a strict and mean army captian who is marrying Ophelia's mother, mainly for his child she's bearing. When Ophelia arrives to the house, she wanders of into the backyard where she finds a secret labyrinth. In it is a mysterious Pan or (Fauno in Spanish), brilliantly designed and executed if I might add. The faun tells Ophelia that she is a princess of a lost city, and the only way to return to it is to complete three tasks. Ophelia must now complete these tasks while not letting captian Vidal in on what shes doing.

The film is beautifully shot, Del Toro really wisks you into this world and makes you believe it actually exsists. The design of some of the fantasy characters are just stunning, as an artist I really enjoyed the fantastic element the designs had. I also liked the fact that Del Toro didn't feel the need to use too much CGI. The film uses very little of it actually, a lot of the effects were done but make up and puppetering, an art form in itself that has suffered a rapid decline since the recent accomplishments in computer animation. Another interesting thing is that the entire film is in Spanish, with english subtitles. But after about ten minutes, you forget about it, your just so wrapped up in the story.

The acting was amazing. Ivana Baquero who plays Ophelia did an great job for a child actor. Usually you get flat performances out of them, but she kept the film alive and carried it. Doug Jones who played Pan or (Faun in Spanish) did a great job with his manerisms, he really felt like a wise old grandfatherly type figure, who happened to be a faun. Sergi Lopez did a magnificant job portraying Captain Vidal, a villian that you just hated but also enjoyed to watch on screen. I should probably mention the supporting cast also did a great job. Overall a great job on acting all across the board.

All in all the film was spectacular, I havent seen a film in a while that I can immediatley put as one of my favourites of all-time right after seeing it since The Incredibles, in 2004. I recommend it to everyone. It is rated R, and it is kinda gory in some scenes so I wouldnt recommend it for kids under 11 or 12, but defenetly a treat for adults. It takes you back to when you were a child and you found beauty and wonder in everything, whether it be a positive or negative situation.

5 out 5!

New Stuff

Posiden, God of the Sea

2006 A YEAR IN REVIEW

Well another year is over, and its time again for me to list my most memorable moments of 2006. Yes, 2006 had its moments of both happiness and sadness.

2006 was the year when us at the Animation Arts Center (AAC) said goodbye to our lightables and cubicles, and enbarked on our journey into the world of computer animation. It was terrifying, I won't lie, but we stuck it through the whole semester without jumping off the fourth floor of tel building. Especially me. I feel as I enter second and FINAL semester, I am a little more confident with myself, even if my animation looks like a monkey just mashed the keyboard.

2006 was the year of celebrity stupidity. Yes, stupidity was the in thing this year. From Mel Gibson's Jew-bashing rants to Michael Richards N-word fiasco, Hollywood really showed its class. How could anyone forget Britney's underwear incident, or non underwear incident. Smooth Brit real smooth. Or when Danny Devito showed up drunk on the view, Actually I have more respect for him for that, bad example. And of course Paris Hilton, I just Fuckin hate Paris Hilton so I dont care what she did she still a moron. All in all this year truly was the year hollywood put its foot in its mouth.

2006 also brought the deaths of some of hollwood's best. Peter Boyle, who was well known for portraying the monster in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" and of course portraying Frank Barone on CBS's hit "Everybody Loves Raymond": died on Decenber 13, "(my birthday -eeek) Also another true hollywood legend and a pioneer in animation, Joseph Barbera. He was reasponsible for such tv hits as "The Flintstones" and "The Jetsons", and if anyone needed me to tell you that shame on you. On Christmas Day, James Brown, the godfather of soul died, I bet now you finally "feel good". Last night former president Gerald Ford died, now Im not an American but I give respect to a man that ended the Vietnam war. And finally Kevin Federline's debut Cd, poor lil' guy, never had a chance. May they all rest in peace

2006 was also the year of the glut of animation. 15, count em', 15 animated movies hit the silver screen this year, topping last year's record of...3. As an animator in training, and lover of everything animation, I must say only a handful of the animated films in that list were actually watchable. "Cars" and "Monster House" were the best out of the glut. But I must give noteable mentions to films like "Open Season", "Happy Feet" (havent seen it yet but heard its very good) and "Curious George" (for keeping 2d alive) This year proved to the hollywood morons that just because animation is hot now dosent mean you gotta overload the market with rushed crap like "Flushed away", "Doogal". If they keep shoving crap out the public wont respond and animation with fall into another spiraling black hole. But they never listen. Why do I smell another "Black Cauldron "coming?

2006 also was the year of the gameshow. First the money show. "Deal or no Deal", the hit on NBC has become so huge that so many crappy game shows are coming out of the woodwork just to try and be like it. "1 VS 100", "Identity", and that one with William Shatner that was cancelled so fast I cant remember the name. Second, America is back in love with dancing for some reason. "So you think you can Dance?", "America's got Talent" and "Dancing with the Stars" are all big hits and pretty much all about dancing. Oh I feel another "who wants to be a Millionare?" fiasco upon us.

2006 was also the year of band members saying "fuck it" and going solo. Gwen Stafani took a break from "No Doubt" and released two "GREAT" albums. Fergie saw that and said "fuck it" and went solo from "Black Eyed Peas" and released her also "GREAT" solo album. So did the lead singer of "The Pussycat Dolls", I dont know her name, but shes hot, thats all I can tell you. Also Chris Cornell of "Audioslave" went solo for a while and recorded the 'crappy' title track for the new 007 movie. Noel Gallager of 'Oasis' also went on a solo tour this year. Hey, when your bands holding you down, shed that baby and fly solo, hey it worked for Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys.

All in all 2006 wasn't a bad year, it also wasn't the most memorable year. Who knows what 2007 holds for us. Possibilites, just possibilties.

Score: Y2K 0 HUMANS 6

Top Movies of 2006

Superman Returns

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Pan's Labyrinth

Cars

Monster House

Casino Royale

Borat

Stranger than Fiction

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

The Prestige

Accepted

X-men : The Last Stand

Top Shows of 2006

Heroes (NBC)

Smallville (The CW)

Entourage (HBO)

The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)

Rome (HBO)

South Park (Comedy Central)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)

The Hour (CBC)

Top Albums of 2006

Monkey Business - Black Eyed Peas

Blach Holes and Revelations - Muse
Love, Angel, Music, Baby - Gwen Stefani
Love - The Beatles
Back to the Basics - Christina Aguilera
Future sex/Love sounds - Justin Timberlake
Dutchess - Fergie
Playing the Angel - Depeche Mode
St.Elsewhere - Gnarls Barkley
Set Yourself on Fire - Stars

Confessions on a Dacefloor - Madonna