"Do or do not..."
November 15 - 9:16pm

One of the more amusing things that happened at Celebration III was when Chad and I found ourselves in the manky cafeteria at the convention center chilling with many members of the Star Wars art department. Ian McCaig and Eric Tiemens in particular were wonderfully generous with their time, and just sat and sketched and generally were all arty and stuff. I laughed at Ian's skill, talking about how it's sometimes surreal that I consider myself a "designer", yet I can't really draw, per se. Ian (consumate Californian that he his) admonished me for this defeatest attitude. I argued it wasn't false modesty, I can't play professional footbal or climb mountains either. I'm sure with a bunch of training I could be taught to draw with general competance, but I'm certainly no technician when it comes to picking up a pen. I'd like to think I can occasionally put things together in a pleasing way, but I have no claims of being an "artist" in the traditional (read: Renaissance) way.

Part of that meeting resulted in Chad picking up a giant Wacom tablet, where I know he's been doing some sketching. I've been meaning to do the same in order to play around with digital painting (i've got an old, small, crappy tablet that's in need of replacement to be sure).

It is thus all the more remarkable when I see something like THIS. I've watched it three times, it's simply mesmerizing. It's like my favourite kind of magic trick, the one where I know how they do it, but don't know how they do it (see Penn and Teller for obvious example).

Hell, I don't even know how they did the mocap to flash... It's certainly cool nonetheless...

"28 years in the making..."
November 6 - 7:45pm

The key to a vanity blog is to keep em guessing when you're going to post. Or, at least, that's what I've convinced myself.

First of all, I finally found a dvd profiler-like site for my beloved Laserdiscs. Now to find a similar site for CDs.

Meanwhile, Bill Hunt from the -fabulous- Digitalbits asked me how last evening's marathon screening of all six SW films went. My unedited blather went something like this:

>How did you find the experience of all six in a row?

Was very interesting actually. First of all, it really does demonstrate how remarkably poor the Ep 1 DVD looks. I'm one of the fools that shelled out a couple hundred dollars for the Japanese LD back when it looked like an impossibility that the DVDs would be released before all six were complete. In some ways, despite its lack of anamorphic presentation, the LD has a nicer sound and pic quality.

Still, that not really the question at hand, is it?

The flow from Episodes one through three are as seamless as you'd expect, and the jump to four does of course take some getting used to. There's a certain shattering of psychic bonds when you clue in that Vader's actually not that bad a guy, that he's basically being whupped either by the Emperor or Tarkin, belittled by the generals in charge of the rest of the empire, forced to send petty messages to construction crews on the Death Star, etc. In other words, it actually -diminishes- Vader by letting us see what was always there, namely, that he's just a thug for a bunch of politicians and army folk, hardly the baddest black-clad dude in the galaxy. It is thus all the more remarkable when this hired goon turns on his boss in Empire by suggesting to Luke that they should get rid of the Emperor and rule "as father and son", this cog in the wheel looking for some long-lost redemption of his former glory.

In the end, it does actually work pretty well the way Lucas wants it to - there's far more dissonance between Eps 4-6 then there is flowing from 1-3 through the others (brother/sister kissing dynamic, stories told "from a certain point of view"). Equally importantly, by sticking Episode 3 in the mix it does open up for those who weren't watching closely a number of key moments in the earlier prequel films, from not-so-subtle hints by Palpatine to surprisingly complex political machinations to bring him ultimately to power. The manipulation of Padme in Episode one, for example, is far more clear upon viewing as part of the cycle, and the amusement in choosing Jar Jar to literally vote in the eventual Emperor is a stroke of delicious irony. Peeling apart the whole Syfo Dias/Dooku/Tyranus/Palpatine/Sidious thing is on one level inconsequential to the plot (you can certainly enjoy the flick by just knowing that "something" is going on), and the other hand quite a sophisticated political intrigue for a film of this nature.

Jumping from this high political drama to the droids wandering the wastes of Tatooine makes you feel that you've left the center of goings on and been swept into the backwaters of a grander story. In times of war it's not easy to keep your droids looking fresh, and seeing threepio and artoo dinged up in that famous hallway was a nice visual cue to just what they've been through in the last twenty years. The same can be said of Vader's suit in Ep 4, scuffed up and burnished from the hands-on fighting he's been engaging in. Padmé's daughter is as feisty and fearless as her mother, while Anakin's son is as whiny and clueless as his dad.

There's a line in one of the making-of docs where Ewan's being fitted for Obi-Wan, and they're colouring his hair grey. He comments that it's been just a few years since the last film, but, as he says, "it's obviously been a hell of a few years." The "used universe" of Eps 4-6 works remarkably when showing the films in sequence by showing the "decrepitude" that has fallen upon the galaxy in times of war. The contrast between the visual style of the Star Wars and the rest of space-cinema has been softened by hundreds of imitators (contrast Space 1999 or Logan's Run to Serenity or Alien). By placing the original films in context, you are then re-emphasizing the aesthetic decision to show the crumbly nature of the Empire-run galaxy, you can more readily see where you have come from to get to this point.

There was a certain satisfaction felt getting past the first three films to see the iconic image of actual stormtroopers, guys in suits, swarming all over the Blockade Runner. When I was a kid I was fascinated by the one trooper that bends down to check on his comrade - wait, these aren't just mindless guys in white plastic, these might be -people-. Seen in order, we know, of course, they're mindless clones who just slaughtered all the Jedi at the behest of the Emperor. I'm guessing that makes it easier to accept for some.

Spending time in the Sandcrawler, watching threepio and R2 bounce up and down, seeing the shadows of the Jawas bouncing off the low ceilings of that dinged up, bluescreen-free set shows something that has been lost in the grandeur of the prequels, simple compositions that can tell the whole tale (although, to be fair, elements such as the confessional-like scenes with Yoda and Anakin in Sith with the slotted windows are beautifully cinematic). The balletic opening of Sith doesn't overpower the end of Jedi, but it does make the destruction of the first death star in Four seem a little bit more low-key. The transition to puppet Yoda in Empire takes a moment to get used to, but then you are transported by the gorgeous (on-set) photography, that green-frog guy in the middle of the blue swamp with red fill lighting. The confrontation between Vader and Luke in Empire is even more remarkable for its theatrical quality - a simple venue for an iconic duel, far from the wreathing lava of Mustafar. Finally, the last duel between Luke and Vader, the choir humming along, the Emperor being a right prick, and two guys swinging axes at each other with deep blue backlighting. No amount of saber calisthenics outdoes this image, unfortunately.

Once I got to Jedi I found Ian McDiarmid absolutely unrecognizable as the Emperor. Granted his face would have been thinner back then, but the performance is so over the top, so wretched that it's hard to mentally bridge that to the smiling, genial old man that thinks we'll watch the career of young Anakin "with great interest". I know awards mean little, and this is just one fan-boys opinion, but the guy puts in an absolutely stunning performance in Ep III, rising well above the film's stodgy dialogue and over-the-top set pieces. The shining moment of the film is a guy sitting on a chair telling a story, seducing a young man into becoming a dark apprentice. If there's one thing that stands out when watching the whole epic unfold its that this guy is one hell of an actor. I've never noticed just how great he is at milking the over-the-top performance at the end of six, spitting out lines like "pathetic band" and the "unfortunate" fate of his rebel friends. It's just great bad-guy stuff, and, while I always thought it was fun and silly, I certainly underappreciated the craft of the guy under that grey stretchy mask and the black slug.

Finally, the question of what order to show the films to the uninitiated. Lucas wants us to watch them in order, to see the rise, fall, and rise of Aanakin over the course of these six films. Another option (proposed by my girlfriend) is to watch 4 and 5, skip over to 1-3, and then have 6 be the climax of the series. This way you have the stark beginning, the surprise introduction of Yoda and "I'm your father" intact, and the backstory to contextualize the end of six played out through the three prequels.

Perhaps being boring, I'd show the films the way they were released. I'm not sure that any of the revelations of Eps 1-3 are softened by seeing them "after the fact" as it were. The story of Anakin is filled in by the prequels, but I don't think it needs to come before we see Vader on the deck of that rebel ship, choking poor Captain Antilles. The shock of the scene in Empire with the scarred back of the head ("My God! It's a guy inside that thing!") is worth seeing Empire before Sith alone. As for Jedi, the argument for leaving Vader's redemption to the end is certainly a good one, and it would be fun to jump back to see the kids romp around after the parents have had their fun in the prequels. Still, there's enough of a flow through from Empire to Jedi that it just feels right to show them in release order.

Sith ends with the twin sunsets on Tatoine and the hope instilled in a young child placed with his adoptive father. Seeing those twin suns some twenty minutes later in the next film took away some of the majesty of both the ending of Sith and the beginning of A New Hope. Episode three can carry itself as the ending of the prequels, with the musical themes beautifully setting the scene for each person as they land on their respective planets to hide away in wait for a better time. Episode six, with its fireworks and grand display, plays well as the end of the "holy trilogy". Episode III, despite Lucas' protestations to the contrary, does a far better job at ending the Saga. In the end it doesn't really matter, these are fun, escapist films with a bunch of cool action sequences, some wooden dialogue (fitting for the genre, but wooden nonetheless), and pretensions to great mythmaking. Still, I was reminded going to bed after the marathon last night of the scene in Rein of Fire where they're telling tales to the children of dark knights vs. light knights, clashing swords together, the dark knight clad in a black mast obscuring his breathing. Star Wars is a grand tale of knights in armour, princesses in distress, old wizards and cool vehicles. And that, in whatever order you see them in, is more than enough.

"Alt-Ctrl-Del..."
July 27 - 1:10am

Just saw Crash this eve, and I gotta say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nice when a film with great buzz actually lives up to the hype. Hell, I think I liked it even more than I was expecting, all good.

Meanwhile, I'm working away on, well, work stuff with NasaTV on in a background window. There's a bunch of silence as not much goes on, punctuated by a soothing female voice talking about altitude and stuff like that. Just a moment ago, there was a talk about uploading the days duty sheets to the onboard computer for printing. First of all, they couldn't include the summary because of limitations of upload bandwidth. Secondly, the details can't be printed right away because the Windows 2000 machine that received the info is on a different network setup than the Windows 98 machine that has the printer.

Tonight, some hundreds of miles straight up, some bastard is troubleshooting windows networking to get a printer to liase with an ad-hoc network. This, for obvious reasons, makes the whole thing seem much more down to earth. Forget that the laptops are hundreds if not thousands of times more powerful than the 70s-era computers that launch the damn thing, it's nice to see that the little human things (like the decision to not upgrade an OS on a multi-billion dollar ship) continue to shine through.

"Nobody fucks with da Jesus..."
July 2 - 11:39pm

Well, cat is growing mightilly, fought much travel madness to get to and from NYC, had an excellent b-day, blah blah.

However, the most post worthy thing I've seen in a long time is THIS. How the HELL have I not heard of this before? Gadzooks, that's almost worth a flight down there... Gotta love the costume contest photos. Awesome, simply awesome.

"There is another..."
June 11 - 5:19pm

"1998-2005..."
June 3 - 1:38pm

"Long remembered..."
May 19- 10:11am

A million blog pages fill with tales of Jedi and Sith, Frankenstein motifs and the slaughter of the young. For me there was brief sleep, then off to see it three more times. It must become second nature, must become entirely familiar before it can be properly set amongst its fellow flicks. It has ended in a way that on first breath of dawn seems so utterly perfect given what has been setup for the last six years, perfect with its flaws, its missteps, its beauty, its power.

I have seen the lava, and I never in my (splintered) mind's eye pictured it to go down quite like that. And that, in the end, is what makes it so damn fun.

"Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia..."
May 10- 6:16am

So, I'm lying about the time of post, but THIS is pretty major. Hell, I might need to change most of my passwords. Thanks to one young Adam Brown for the tip! A scholar, that one...

"Gonna need a bigger boat..."
May 8- 1:12am

Ok, so my cat is down to 3kg, clearly nearing some sort of 14th or 15th life by anyones count, he's sneezing, barely eating... but, well, I came home to this:

Seems young Annikin has found himself a new ship. Oh, and he looks evil. EEEEVILLLL....

Saw Blair, Kelly, Connell, Deborah and even young Dash at the patriarch's 70th birthday party. Was lovely as always to be at casa Smith, and, as the house is sold, perhaps for the last time at that location. I've firmly decided that we should just move Ottawa closer to humanity, say, just outside Whitby. Hell, replace Whitby. Who needs Whitby anyway? Damn Whitby...

"Sugarloafin'..."
May 4- 3:57pm

I wanted to give a shout out in this blogosphere to a good mensch, one known ubiquitously as "Steve...you know, Bex's boyfriend Steve". He's got a blog HERE that I decided to check up on, cuz, well, he said at a party last week that he visited here. I've been unfair of late simply referring to him as Steve-in-relation-to-Bex, cuz, well, that's just a shitty thing to do. Besides, I bought tix for SW for that lot. That's got to count for something.

Plus, Steve said nice things about Andy. Now, Andy's one of the nicest people I've ever met. I mean, I'm actively trying to foil the universe into ceasing to exist just so he'd be out of a job and would be forced to stay in Canada. Or something like that, I can't remember. Steve also, unfortunately, attributed "Green Eyed Lady" to the Guess Who. Foolish. Still, I hereby extend to this nascent Floyd fan an invitation to explore the joy that is the DSOTM SACD in 5.1 hi rez. It's smokin'. Now, where's The Wall and WYWH like we were promised? Let alone, say, Final Cut... or Animals! Hell, I'd even take Saucerful done up right, but instead we live in the land of the 64kb/sec iPOD download shite. Fuckers. Once again the jocks (or at least joggers) are ruining my geekdom. Feh.

But I digress... Steve, you are hereby the man of the hour. Now, change that damn Shawshank pic so it's not stretched. A peeve of mine, I say...

And now, as promised, another monkey shot below. Personally, I find the pink towel/shirt/decorative thigh warmer the most distubing, er, "part"...

"Oh, you want GEEKY?!"
May 3- 11:05pm

I have just successfully uploaded Bone Daddy music to my cell phone. Next? Jaws theme, natch.

"I'd say about twenty tickets. Some on the surface, some on the towers."
April 28- 11:01pm

Clearly, THIS should have been yesterday's headline. I mean, I was going with the "punch a ticket" motif, but, well, woke up with this epiphany. So, pretend I've attached it to the below.

"Punch it...!"
April 27- 9:16pm

Midnight, the 19th. Digital projection at screen number four, Colossus, Toronto.

This image has not been altered in any way, save for a slight reduction in size:

OOOOhhhh baby.....

"Days that will be long remembered..."
April 26- 12:29pm

SW Celebration.... a beautiful mess. I think I'm still too tired even two days later to fully digest what went down. From the first 4 hour lineup to the last Steak and Shake meal, it was certainly something I'm unikely to ever forget.

A very nice rundown of a personal highlight is located HERE. They say some nice things about me. They're good people.

Matt has obviously reflected nicely upon the event, and there's a bunch of video footage that's likely to be fun. I've yet to fully unpack, but have spent much the day trying to track down confirmation about digital screening schedules. It's coming to an end, just in a more grueling way than I ever thought.

Oh, and there will be a couple TV shows. Forget what I said about the end thing.

Meanwhile, my cat went back in for some hot IV injections... Think good thoughts.

"15 out of 5..."
March 29 - 3:52pm

Ok, so it may be cheating for me to take it, but EW's got a silly quiz. There are three sets of five questions. Hardest one? Which came first, Splinter of a Mind's Eye or the Marvel comics adaptation.

Hard core nerdyness? The first question is incorrect - despite apocryphal stories to the contrary, Mark does NOT shout "Carrie" after exiting the X-Wing, but "Heeeey!"

For the record, 0 out of 5 gets you Jar Jar.

Meanwhile, today I learned that Boss Nass is coming back.

Binksssssssss....

"Block-aid runner..."
March 23 - 5:07pm

Today is the final, large scale, blow-out toy day for Star Wars for me. With money I don't have, I purchased all but one of the EP III wave from Lego. Having given up the completist ghost for Hasbro figs, this is my final poison, my final completionist task.

I was especially lucky, as Zeller's has screwed up royally this time, selling the sets early with the BOGO (buy one, get one at 50% off) sale intact. That's a lot of savings. That's a lot of sets.

Sure, there's still the Death Star, and the Y-Wing UCS... But for sheer en masse appeal, this is the parallel to '99, where I blew a tonne of grad school money on a similar haul, that time including some $600 in action figs that are worth certainly a heck of a lot less now.

I'm of to Jay's for what I think is his last game night in Toronto. Off to Vancouver, he is. Sad, really. But happy too. Damn ambivalence.

All this spending is meant to cloud over my TWO FUCKING HOUR CONVERSATION with our friends at Airmiles. The continuation of the JetsGo fallout continues. Things are getting dark.

So, rather than going postal, I avoided much work, and went shopping. Healthy? Hardly. Cathartic? Well, yeah.

Matt, you shoulda been there...

"He's baaaaaaaack...!"
March 10 - 10:07am

Ok, now I'm getting excited.

The trailer's on tonight, playing with, of all things, the OC. Ug.

HOWEVER. The insider suppliment just launched with the photo on the right, a NEW PROBOT FOR A NEW GENERATION. Baby. He may not even probe. He may not even be a he. But, dammit, it's probot's relative, or I'll be damned.

Under him there's another nice, dome-headed droid that I name "Huggy". I can't wait for the stuffed version from Gund.

"Lost...?"
March 2 - 10:10pm

4 8 15 16 23 42

4+8+15+16+23=66
4+2=6
666

yeah, baby....

"Knife the Mac..."
March 2 - 11:54am

Ah, a blog that has devolved into links. Still, THIS is pretty excellent.

"Manky see, manky do..."
February 20 - 11:54pm

And now, for your viewing pleasure, a woman breastfeeding a monkey:

>>To ARCHIVE