Vet inte vad jag ska skriva. Har börjat fota i Raw. Ska gå ut på onsdag (ABC), och ja, jag går i skolan på torsdag. Funderar över vilka två filmer jag ska se på Stockholms filmfestival, ensam. Har köpt min Regina Spektor-biljett nu, 700kr. Tänker därmed inte handla förrän det är julklappsdags. Har börjat lösa DN:s suduki och korsord igen, känns som om det är sommar på något konstigt sätt trots att allt är dött, det är konstant +7 grader celsius och jag har väldigt mycket att göra. Vill sova i hundra år. Önskar att jag levde i en Pixar-film. Försöker lösa Rubriks kub på mindre än tre minuter. De två sistmämnda, och för övrigt mitt finaste skrivbordsunderlägg på datorn…:

Livet är så mycket svårare än vers-refräng-vers-refräng-stick-refräng-refräng. Åh, vad jag önskar att jag levde på 70-talet. Då hade jag säkert önskat precis tvärtom.

►PINK FLOYD – Shine On You Carazy Diamond, Parts 1-7
►SUPERTRAMP – School

RGB/Jenny

Per i pagani che non hanno ancora visto questo capolavoro, prego rimediare.

Check out some Italian research going into a garbage robot. This thing is actually out on the streets:

Watch out WALL-E.

‘Trash robots are being seriously considered as a viable alternative to huge, inefficient garbage trucks that often can’t fit down narrow Italian streets’ (Gajitz).

Unrelated to this project I also saw a concept for garbage powered streetlights:

‘Doubling as a trash bin, the lamppost then uses the methane, a byproduct of trash, as a fuel to power the lamps’ (I New Idea).

]]> http://withakenliten.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/garbage/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:20:13 +0000 WithaK http://withakenliten.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/garbage/

Check out some Italian research going into a garbage robot. This thing is actually out on the streets:

Watch out WALL-E.

‘Trash robots are being seriously considered as a viable alternative to huge, inefficient garbage trucks that often can’t fit down narrow Italian streets’ (Gajitz).

Unrelated to this project I also saw a concept for garbage powered streetlights:

‘Doubling as a trash bin, the lamppost then uses the methane, a byproduct of trash, as a fuel to power the lamps’ (I New Idea).

]]> http://withakinternational.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/garbage/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:20:11 +0000 WithaK http://withakinternational.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/garbage/

Check out some Italian research going into a garbage robot. This thing is actually out on the streets:

Watch out WALL-E.

‘Trash robots are being seriously considered as a viable alternative to huge, inefficient garbage trucks that often can’t fit down narrow Italian streets’ (Gajitz).

Unrelated to this project I also saw a concept for garbage powered streetlights:

‘Doubling as a trash bin, the lamppost then uses the methane, a byproduct of trash, as a fuel to power the lamps’ (I New Idea).

]]> http://blakemp.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/2-in-1-showcase-episode-146-disney-goes-boom/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:21:37 +0000 blakemp http://blakemp.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/2-in-1-showcase-episode-146-disney-goes-boom/

Blake flies solo this week with an in-depth look at the Boom! Kids line of comics featuring the Disney, Pixar, and Muppet characters. Blake looks at each of the series that has been released to date, gives his thoughts on the best and the weakest, and offers a few suggestions for the future of the line. In the picks, check out the Showcase Presents Ambush Bug graphic novel, and the Assault on New Olympus Prologue one-shot! Contact us with comments, suggestions, or anything else at Showcase@comixtreme.com!

2 in 1 Showcase Episode 146: Disney Goes Boom!
Inside This Episode:

A mucha honra, siempre he sido un Nerd, quizás es porque leí desde muy chico, quizás porque siempre quise dejar de ser pobre, o simplemente como Ozzymandias porque quise.

"Quizás Yo decidí ser inteligente, más que otra cosa..."

El hecho es que, yo como buen sotorpe he estado pegado a la computadora desde el 1991 a la fecha, y fuera de 2 o 3 tareas que hice en la facultad, nunca usé la computadora como herramienta de estudio o aprendizaje.

Sí capturé las tareas en el word y las adorné con imágenes del internet, pero el trabajo de investigación y resumen la hacía a la antigüita y así sabía que cosas era importante poner y cuales no.

En mis tiempos de estudiante sólo había dos formas de pasar un examen, estudiar muy bien o hacer un muy buen y diminuto “acordeón”.

¿A qué viene esta vanagloria?

Ahhh, estaba yo felizmente Stalkeando a unas morritas ham ñam ñam del TEC pedorro de aquí, en el facebook, y veo con indignación que una clase “importante” como es el Plan Emprendedor, se pasa simplemente por la “Exposición” con la que van vestidos a poner las 6 diapositivas de Power Point, hartamente adornadas con una animación para cada línea de texto e imagen. Y fue ahí donde dije “Hazme el Chingado Favor”

Premisa Actual, enseñar cualquier pendejada, pero con la computadora.

Ya hace tiempo había visto que los niveles de las universidades de mi pueblo de popó a lo mucho eran mediocres, una vez escuché a una Güerca de la UAC (eso sí muy encamable) decir “Es que esa pregunta no venía en la guía pa’l examen”, ahora resulta que cuando viene un examen el instructor les da una guía de por ejemplo 50 preguntas y les dice “de ahí voy a tomar 10 preguntas para el examen”, y lo único que hacen es machetearse las 50 respuestas con la certeza de que eso va a venir en el examen.

Y si es el caso de que la Materia es Historia de México, y el examen es de “La Revolución Mexicana” y en el examen les preguntan qué día comenzó la Revolución Mexicana, pero esa pregunta es tan estupidamente obvia que no necesita ir en la “Guía” y por tanto no se la machetean, no la van a poder contestar!!!.

Y entonces ahora en el nivel de Licenciatura los catedráticos lo único que hacen es, pedir a los alumnos que expongan clase y dependiendo la clase es la calificación, y por tanto solamente con ir de traje y llevar una laptop y una presentación pedorra de powerpoint ya la tienen pasada, ¿Y qué aprendieron?, ¿A hacer un nudo para la corbata?, ¿A ponerle un MP3 a cada diapositiva?.

Me recuerda cuando en mis tiempos, se exponía con Rota folios y se apoyaba con algún dibujo en un cartoncillo, y después fue cayendo al grado de que lo único que hacían los alumnos era escribir en el rota folio todo el tema tal cual venía en el libro, pegarlo en el pizarrón, y girar la cabeza y comenzar a leer, lo que ya ni siquiera pudieron aprender, ni por lo menos resumir.

La dinámica de pasar al frente a leer, se utiliza en la primaria, pero en las prepas a los alumnos no les queda de otra que leer, sirve que lo nuevo no empuja algo viejo.

Y ahora veo como los trabajos los sacan de internet o de la Encarta (prrrttt) tal cual, copiados y pegados tan descaradamente que hasta la publicidad de mercadolibre va impresa.

De seguir esto así, ¿en qué terminará?, si ya hay muchas carreras en “Universidades Virtuales” donde con plataformas como el blackboard haces los exámenes desde tu casa y con el google abierto en otra ventana, o con el messenger estarte pasando las respuestas de otro “compañero”.

Sí, mi trabajo y lo que como, viene por parte de la tecnología y su penetración en la cultura y sociedad, pero creo que hay cosas que deben hacerse a la vieja escuela, y la verdad creo que al menos en nuestras generaciones las cosas eran difíciles y por eso tenían su merito hacerlas, como cuando ibas a la papelería a buscar una estampita y por le menos tenías que subrayarla para saber lo que ibas a copiar a tu libreta y al transcribirlo a fuerzas se te pegaba algo.

A la vieja escuela, nada de computadoras, nada de hojas ni rota folios, nada de trajes, ni laptops prestadas, sólo su preparación y exposición. Bien hecho.

Pero ese es mi punto de vista, yo seguiré stalkeando a las chiquitas mamacitas que están en las universidades y en las prepas, y me seguiré indignando al ver como las materias se degradan en ponerse un traje o una falda y llevar una laptop prestada y rentar un video proyector para “apantallar”, pero eso no desmerecerá que estén bien buenas y encamables.

♪ Por mujeres como tú, hay stalkers como yo ♫

He Dicho.

Here we go, sources to artists and designers can be found on my page of links

This is just a bunch of stuff not by me – just for you to mindlessly browse through and get inspired.

“The Adhesive Duck Deficiency”

November 16th, 2009

I’ve not been remiss in noticing that the Sheldon/Penny shipping community has taken an interest in these reviews, and I want to make sure they know that I always appreciate the comments. And, because I’ve been following along with the group, alarm bells went off when this week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory separated Sheldon and Penny from the rest of the group. In some ways, the episode’s opening scenes actually played out like fan fiction, and we were reminded that, as usual, this sort of pairing is when the show is at its best (even if I feel as if the show will never, ever, take this relationship to anything beyond a tenuous mutual tolerance).

However, unfortunately for this episode, something about the storyline never quite lived up to its full potential, and more problematically the other half of the episode was the epitome of half-baked (yeah, I went there). While the Sheldon and Penny storyline was enjoyable in the way that Sheldon stories always are, and Jim Parsons is as hilarious as ever, it lacked (until the end) the heart of their more enjoyable plots. And since the show’s two most interesting characters in terms of creating different dynamics were on their own, this left the rest of the guys to fend for themselves.

And while Sheldon and Penny might be a good combination for the show’s comic potential, nothing can give me back the time spent on the other half of this episode.

By the time Sheldon and Penny got to the end of their storyline, the heart was there: “Soft Kitty” tends to bring out the best in these two to begin with, and playing into the legacy of their past interactions (like when Sheldon was sick and the “Soft Kitty” story was first originated) is a good way to tie everything together, and the scene was legitimately very funny. However, the storyline as a whole felt like a number of scenes that either went too broad (like Sheldon touching her in an inappropriate place while she was naked) or felt laboured (I don’t see why Sheldon wouldn’t have been able to call a taxi considering they had all of the time to wait for it while she was slowly getting dressed, making it just an excuse to put Sheldon behind the wheel). While there’s a lot of comic potential in this pairing, the show didn’t really stretch its boundaries at all when it came to their interactions. I thought the scene in the Hospital waiting room had some fun lines, but to be honest there was something disturbing about Sheldon being so quick to diagnose Penny with various disorders considering the eccentricity of his own behaviour.

There’s a point where Sheldon’s lack of social awareness is fun and clever, like when he writes the cause of the fall as “a lack of adhesive ducks.” There are other moments, though, where he’s legitimately offensive and mean to her, and while I understand that this is part of the character (judging Penny as overly emotional pretty much at all times) I don’t find it particularly humorous. I’m not suggesting that the two need to get along like gangbusters, but there’s something somewhat artificial about the fact that they can only tolerate one another when one of them is deathly ill or hopped up on painkillers. It’s like the running gag with Raj being unable to speak without alcohol: it was a funny gag once, but over time it becomes a hindrance to telling any new stories, as all interactions default to the same basic mode when certain characters are involved. If this was the first time we had seen a Penny/Sheldon story like this, I would have probably enjoyed it more, but it fell into a pattern that sort of took me out of it.

It was still leagues better than the subplot, however, which has is Leonard, Raj and Howard all getting high in the desert waiting for the Leonid Meteor Shower to start (it’s actually starting tonight, hence the storyline). The problem with this storyline is that these three characters together have no actual context of interaction: this was literally just Leonard, Raj and Howard getting stoned, with no underlying character theme or even some sort of hidden motivation. With other characters, these three can on occasion be quite funny, but individually and without anything to work with they’re pretty lifeless. I thought Raj’s bunny empire was moderately clever at points, but the incent storyline from Howard was downright bizarre, especially when they chose it as the main joke of the coda – I wasn’t aware that sleeping with your cousin was laugh out loud hilarious.

I thought that Galecki, Nayyar and Hedberg all did an admirable job with absolutely no material (all had some fun performance beats even if the lines were terrible), but the problem was that it never bothered to actually do anything with the fact that they were high. None of the characters had to interact with someone in a tense situation, no one had to operate some kind of machinery, and as a result there was no comic tension. It was literally like an improv skit about people being high in the desert, first beginning with some light hallucinations before extending into some deep thinking before eventually reverting to the munchies. While I complain about Sheldon and Penny’s storyline being rote in the sense that the show has tread on the same solid ground before, this was the show using the same gags that have been omnipresent in any depiction of being stoned on the face of the planet, and for the show to rely on them almost exclusively with characters who brought very little original to the table was a zero sum game.

It doesn’t help that I just watched “Chokin and Tokin’,” the episode of Freaks and Geeks which most directly deals with what marijuana can do to you. In that case, the character chooses to take marijuana, and is forced to babysit while under the influence and thus creating some sense of tension within her life. The fact that this was done with cookies makes it a terrible TV trope to begin with, but the fact that all of them got high, leaving no one to react to the fact that they were in fact tripping, made this a fundamental failure of a storyline.

I know that I usually argue that Sheldon and Penny should be paired more option, but this (like “The Vegas Renormalization” before it) suffers as an episode overall because of what’s left behind when those two characters separate from the pack.

Cultural Observations

• Jim Parsons again did get to knock one scene out of the park: his comforting of Penny was honestly terrifying to watch, to the point where I don’t know if I can even go watch it again with cringe-laughing myself to death. Just really creepy and wonderful, and I just wish he’d get an episode full of those moments to submit for the Emmys.
• I thought I was over the “Knock Knock Knock Penny” bit, but I will admit that Penny’s interruption of his attempt to perform the ritual at her bathroom door was quite fun.
• I usually complain about scenes where the rest of the group celebrates Sheldon being absent, so I was a little bit frustrated to see the writers have Sheldon justify such behaviour by admitting that he wants nothing to do with human companionship either. It simplifies their relationship to a dangerous point for me, but it was at least funny so that’s something at least.
• I think Sheldon’s lowest moment in this episode was his racist comments to the Sian Palace, and in fact the whole conversation was problematic: Sheldon’s smart enough to do his own math, and while asking for a quarter of an appetizer selection is anal asking for half of two orders of something is downright ignorant and totally inconsistent.
• I hope Penny’s reading of Wall-E was just the drugs talking, because Wall-E was about 500% more personable than Sheldon from the moment we met him in that movie.

Action Figures Previews Transforming Wall-E

Product Features

As we become more and more passionate about the environment, perhapse the most important thing is to instill those same priorities in children and the most exciting and fun way to do that is to share the love of movies.

Indeed, what better way to educate a child to be respectfull towards the world that surrounds him than through cartoons with loveable characters and an interesting story.

Wall-E (2008) and Happy Feet (2006) are examples of environmental movies for children that were both popular and provoked debate amongst the public.

One the one hand, picture the planet without people, without plants, without life of any sort, save a small sized trash compacting robot and a whole lot of trash. This is opening scene of Pixar’s Wall-E (2008).

The story of a little robot that manages to make it to outer space, find love and at the same time the means to save our dying Earth – all in a hard day’s work.

While what’s left of the humanity have turned into robots or rather slugs, orbiting space indefinitely because the earth is inhabitable.

Carried in floating chairs so they don’t have to walk, doing nothing but drink food from a cup and stare at the tv screen they are permanently attached to.

On the other hand, animated drama/comedy Happy Feet depicts the life of free penguins in the Antarctica versus being trapped in a marine park exhibit.

Although director George Miller insists the story didn’t start off as an environmental message, he said: “In Australia, we’re very, very aware of the ozone hole and Antarctica is literally the canary in the coal mine for this stuff. So it sort of had to go in that direction.”

With a final taking of approximatively $198 million in the United States alone, about eight times the figure for the much-discussed Al Gore documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” environmentalists said “Happy Feet” provided a rare chance to spread their messages on global warming, overfishing, and the dangers of oil spills to an audience that doesn’t usually follow public policy.

“The generation that will be seeing this movie, the children, will be the ones facing the critical issues when the big problems are going to happen – possible global fish extinction in 40 to 50 years” for many species, said Matt Rand, director of the marine fish campaign at National Environmental Trust, a Washington-based advocacy group.

With takings of $224 millions in the USA only, Wall- E was an even bigger box-office hit. The movie became a real player in the environmental discussion.

Thanks to it children were interested by what was going on and started asking questions about how we should prevent the apocalyptical vision of the Earth we see in the animated movie. At the end Wall-E became a real learning tool, disguised as a fun, simple love story.

Svetlana Loschatova, mother of 9 year old Yvan said: “After walking out of the movie theater my 9 year old who obviously totally enjoyed the movie said: that was made to teach humans a lesson. I of course pushed him a little further and he explained, we can’t keep being mean to the Earth.”

So let’s hope that there are more environmental friendly movies for kids to come!

For some unknown reasons, I had this adrenalin rush over the weekends for couching out on movies that I watched like, six of them! Goshz, I couldn’t believe it myself man!

So, in no particular order of merit or whatsoever, here are they!

1. Wanted (2008)
2. Paranormal Activity (2009)
3. Surrogates (2009)
4. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
5. Wall-E (2008)
6. I Love You, Man (2009)

Pretty recent movies, except The Day After Tomorrow, which I thought I’d like to watch again. And if you ask me, I probably would give a big thumb-up to Wanted and I Love You, Man. A bit of a disappointment for both Wall-E and Paranormal Activity though, and I’m glad I didn’t waste my time at the theater for them. Hahaha…! =P

Wanted, starring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman & Angelina Jolie

I Love You, Man, starring Paul Rudd, Jason Segel & Rashida Jones

未来、人間が地球を捨てて宇宙で生活している間に地球を奇麗に掃除するために作られた、ウォーリーというロボットのお話です。なんてことない映画ですが、まあ結構面白かったです。動作のユーモアさ、人間の所作をロボットが巧く真似している様などが良かった。それから、宇宙で生活している人間がもはや立ち上がることもしなくなって、まったく脚がで歩けなくなっているのにギョッとしました。わたしも気をつけなきゃ。

I’m not one to get excited about Pixar’s movies.  Which is strange, because I’ve seen them all and I loved each and every one.  Such was the case with Pixar’s newest release Up.  Al that being said, I have to say that UP might have been my favorite movie to come from Pixar yet.

When I was offered the chance to review the Blu-Ray release of Up I jumped at the chance.  Not only was the movie great, Pixar’s DVD releases are unrivaled as far as DVD releases go.  The Blu-Ray edition of UP includes 4-discs.  The first two disc include the movie and TONS of extras that really are worth something.  The second two discs are the DVD copy of the movie and the digital copy respectively.

Of course this movie looks and sounds great on Blu-Ray as you would expect.  It was all the extras that were included that really blew me away.  So often the extras included on a DVD are never worth watching.  This isn’t the case here.  The two shorts included, “Doug’s Special Mission” and “Partly Cloudy” were both good enough to pay for.  Doug was one of my favorite characters from UP, so it was really nice to see the short film with him as the star.

Another one of my favorites are the eight new documentary shorts that go into the creation of the movie.  Each one deals with a different character or aspect of the film.  Great stuff that really allows you to see behind the scenes at Pixar and exactly what goes into their movie making process.  I know a lot of people want a new Pixar movie every year, but when you see just how much goes into the making of these movies, it’s suprising that they release a film as often as they do.

If you are fan of animation or Pixar, Up is a must own.

Here are some fun facts about Up, for your reading pleaseure:

Fun Facts

• During the production of Up, the Animation Department produced an average of 4 seconds of animation a week.

• Paradise Falls is based on the world-famous Angel Falls in Venezuela. Up’s version is 1.8 miles tall or 9,700 ft., which is almost three times higher than Angel falls which stands at 3212 ft.

• To walk from the location where Carl and Russell first arrive on the tepui to the top of Paradise Falls would require a 14.5 mile trek. It’s about 6.75 miles across to the nearest tepui when they look out across the landscape.

• Pixar had a group of live ostriches come to the studio for reference for Kevin. The ostriches belonged to veterinarian Dr. James Stewart. The Art Department took a field trip to his farm where he also kept zebras.

• There are 10,297 balloons lifting Carl’s house.

• Pixar consulted with an architect to learn about home foundations to make the lift off of Carl’s house more believable.

• All of the crowd dogs were actually a single dog based on Beta, tweaked around in shape and groom to look like a pack of 50.

• The Spirit of Adventure is a dirigible, a rigid airship, and not a blimp, which has no rigid frame. It is much larger than any dirigible ever built.

• The Spirit of Adventure is 3,061 ft. long, which is 3.8 times longer than the Hindenburg.

• The knots connecting Russell’s rope between the garden hose and his backpack on the tether are real usable knots.  There is a rolling hitch used to secure the rope to the garden hose, and three-half-hitches connecting the rope to the carabineer on his backpack. Both of these knots would have been something that Russell learned as a Wilderness Explorer.

The #1 Animated Film of the Year!
From the Creators of Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc.
Comes the Hilarious and Unforgettable Adventure

Disney•Pixar’s
Up

Coming to Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def and DVD with Disneyfile Digital Copy on
November 10, 2009

Burbank, California, August 10, 2009 — An exhilarating, hilarious and heartfelt animated
adventure comes home when Disney•Pixar’s Up arrives on Blu-ray™ Hi-Def and DVD on
November 10, 2009 from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.  Blending inspired
whimsy with powerful emotion, the hugely successful feature film is an artistic and
entertaining tour de force for the entire family. Up is available in a four-disc Blu-ray
Combo Pack, and a two-disc DVD, which both include DisneyFile, a digital copy of the
movie that can be viewed on an array of electronic devices, as well as enough bonus
features that keep the fun coming.

Academy Award®-nominee Pete Docter (2008, Best Original Screenplay, WALL•E; 2001,
Best Animated Feature Film, Monsters, Inc.) directs one of the funniest fantasy-
adventures of all time featuring a gifted voice cast that includes Ed Asner (Elf),
Christopher Plummer (Inside Man), Up co-director and writer Bob Peterson (Monsters,
Inc.), Delroy Lindo (This Christmas) and John Ratzenberger (who has lent his voice to
every Disney•Pixar feature film).

Up is the tenth in an unprecedented streak of critical and box office triumphs for
Disney•Pixar that includes four Academy Award® winners for Best Animated Feature—
WALL•E (2008), Ratatouille (2007), The Incredibles (2004) and Finding Nemo (2003)—
as well as Cars, Monsters, Inc., Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life and Toy Story. Up joined each
of its predecessors in ranking #1 at the box office on its opening weekend.

BONUS FEATURES FOR UP
• Commentary by director Pete Docter and co-director Bob Peterson.
• Dug’s Special Mission – An all new original short film that follows the
misadventures of Dug as he attempts to complete his “special mission.” The
short is directed by Up Story Supervisor, Ronnie Del Carmen.
• The Many Endings of Muntz – Many ideas were hatched about how to dispose
of the film’s arch villain, Muntz, and now viewers can see the many alternate
endings proposed during story development.
• Partly Cloudy –The hilarious short film that preceded screenings of Up.
Everyone knows that the stork delivers babies, but where do the storks get the
babies? The answer lies up in the stratosphere where the cloud Gus is a master
at creating “dangerous” babies, which prove to be more than a handful for his
loval delivery stork Peck. Directed by Pixar story artist, animator and voice actor
Peter Sohn.
• Adventure is Out There – This action-packed documentary tells the story of the
filmmakers’ own trek to the tepuis mountains of South America to research the
design and story of the film.

And, only on Blu-ray Hi-Def, hours of features, and behind-the scenes bonus features,
including:
• Cine-Explore – A visual montage of concept art, clips and documentary
coverage that illustrates the directors’ commentary.
• Geriatric Hero – A character study of Carl, from research to realization including
art and design, rigging, animation and story. It focuses on the issues of aging,
“simplexity”, shape-language and compelling character arcs.
• Canine Companions – For anyone who ever wondered where CG puppies
come from, an introduction to the design, behavior and language of dogs.
• Russell: Wilderness Explorer – A character study of Russell from inspiration
and design to finding the character arc and authentic voice for this wilderness
ranger.
• Our Giant Flightless Friend, Kevin – Find out how avian research and
development at Pixar helped bring a mythical, 13-foot tall iridescent bird to life.

• Homemakers of Pixar – Carl and Ellie’s house is an important “character” in the
film. Fans follow the development of the house from story to art to its ultimate
realization in the computer.
• Balloons and Flight – Carl’s house and Muntz’s dirigible presented the
filmmakers with two different problems—how could they make a physical
impossibility possible? And, in the case of the dirigible, how would they unearth a
fallen giant and let it soar?
• Composing for Characters – Composer Michael Giacchino returns to score his
third Disney•Pixar feature film. See how the Up filmmakers collaborated with
Giacchino to create the memorable score and compelling musical themes.
• Married Life – The original story concept that became the powerful “Married Life”
scene, showing Carl and Ellie’s love story.
• Global Guardian Badge Game – Players try to locate countries, states and
capitals around the globe in a multi-layered BD-Exclusive geography game
enhanced by BD-Live.

Synopsis:
Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on
one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy. Up follows the
uplifting tale of 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his
lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and
flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest
nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year-old Wilderness
Explorer named Russell. Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some
strange, exotic and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly
imaginative adventure.

Up has a suggested retail price of $39.99 SRP (US) or $44.99 SRP (Canada) for the 2-
Disc DVD, and $45.99 SRP (US) or $52.99 SRP (Canada) for the 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo
pack.  A 1-Disc DVD is also available at SRP $29.99 (US), $35.99 (Canada)

STREET DATE: 11/10
Direct prebook: 9/1
Distributor prebook: 9/15
Pricing: 2-Disc DVD:  $39.99, 4-Disc Combo: $45.99
Feature run time: 96 minutes
Rated: PG
Bonus Materials Not Rated in US
Technical specifications may only apply to feature.
Aspect ratio: DVD: Widescreen 16×9
Sound: SD: 5.1 Dolby Digital, BD: Dolby Digital EX 1080P
Languages: English, Canadian French, Spanish

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, a recognized leader in the home
entertainment industry, is the marketing, sales and distribution company for Walt Disney,
Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax and Buena Vista product, which includes
DVD, Blu-ray Disc™ and electronic distribution. Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment is a division of The Walt Disney Studios.

Lego is so fun because I can pretend that they are living-thing. Sometimes me and Ali put our baby dolls and name the place ‘Lego Land‘ because there is a lot of Lego.

Ali also made WALL-E.

Ali's Lego WALL-E

Some of the animals and people are:

1. Sira
2. Petrete
3. Radish
4. Elly
5. Mycola
6. Ginger
7. Apple Pie
8. Troy Traise
9. Ella
10. Onam
11. Papa Ginger
12. Aak
13. Diego
14. Vrence
15. Mike
16. Peter James
17. Fiorin
18. Florina
19. Deorex
20. Mank

I love playing Lego very, very much!

Dans un récent Top 50 des films d’animation concocté par TimeOut, Terry Gilliam nous gratifiait de quelques commentaires sur ses films animés préférés ou, au contraire, ceux qu’il a détesté. Morceaux choisis :

- Toy Story : “C’est du génie. Il y a un plan qui me sidère encore aujourd’hui, quand Buzz L’éclair prend conscience qu’il est un jouet. Il est assis sur cette valise, la caméra recule et il n’est plus qu’une toute petite figurine. Cela fait partie de mes 10 films préférés. Point.” 

- Le voyage de Chihiro : “Le Voyage de Chihiro est incroyable. Ce que j’aime c’est que les japonais perçoivent le monde d’une façon qui m’échappe. Cela me fascine.”

- Les triplettes de Belleville : “Seuls des français pouvaient le faire. La fantaisie de ce film est unique !”

- South Park, Le Film : “Ce sont mes enfants ! Je ne pensais pas qu’il pourrait en faire 90 minutes mais bien sûr ils l’ont fait et c’est simplement brilliant !”

 - Wall-E : “C’est un film stupéfiant. Ces scènes sur la planète Terre désertées sont magnifiques. Le discours social est intelligent et tape en plein dans le mille.”

- Le seigneur des anneaux (1978) : “J’ai détesté. Le réalisateur (Ralph Bakshi) semble toujours être plus ambitieux que ses moyens. Et le résultat, à mon goût, était horrible.”

Mais pourquoi donc Terry Gilliam se permet-il de parler autant d’animation ? Tout simplement parce que l’américain des Monty Pythons a commencé sa carrière en tant qu’animateur. Et avant même de confectionner les génériques mythiques des Pythons, il a réalisé des courts-métrages déjantés qu’on vous laisse le soin de découvrir…

Storytime, 1968

Miracle of flight, 1974

A strange trend has emerged in animated films of the last year or so. It’s a change that begs the question- who is the target audience for these films?

I just got back from watching UP, by far the most colourful film of the year in my eyes. It was very pretty. I like balloons. However, even after being told so much about the more adult plot points, I was still pretty floored by it’s bluntness. There were plenty of huge red faces looming up around me, and it was an emotion I just wasn’t expecting to feel. I mean, there’s a flying house, a talking dog and a slightly unhinged bird who looked like roadrunner gone mad with some paint, and then the motives behind it all are surprisingly dark compared to many films.

It’s not like Pixar haven’t been headed in this direction for quite some time. Last year’s Wall-E had an eerie silence to it, and characters that were completely at odds to the ‘cute and cuddly’ clownfish and blue monsters we’d seen before. It was almost as if PIXAR had stopped trying to appeal to the next generation of toddlers with their wisecracking critters and stuck to the people who grew up with Toy Story. It’s hard to imagine UP as anything else but an internal realisation of this.

And PIXAR don’t seem to be the only ones seemingly attempting to raise the intellectual levels of animation. Wez Anderson’s homely ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ didn’t seem to even try and focus on the Kids, with brilliantly crafted dialogue and wit that would likely soar over any open mouthed children, leaving them to gawp at the sheer amount of orange in that film. Seriously autumnal!

Cider Bandits

Da wir jetzt schon Mitte November haben und ich zu nichts komme, handele ich die zahlreichen Oktoberfilme jetzt mal knapp ab. Einmal Kino und einige DVDs gab es:

Carriers

Memento

Cloverfield

Wall-E

Elizabethtown

Carriers @ UFA Palast Stuttgart

Ausgangssituation bei Carriers: Ein Virus hat große Teile der Menschheit ausgerottet, nur wenige Überlebende kämpfen um ihr leben. Einer Gruppe von Überlebenden folgt man in Carriers. Diese besteht aus einem Liebespaar, dem Bruder der männlichen Hälfte aus diesem und einer Freundin. Zusammen wollen sie die Küste erreichen, um dort in Ruhe die Ruhe zu Ende erleben zu können. In einer Struktur mit Elementen aus Roadmovie und Episodenfilm entspinnt sich eine nette Schocker-bisschen-Psychohorror-Geschichte mit guten Momenten, den erwarteten Problemen  à la “helfen wir dem kleinen, infizierten Mädchen?”, “was wenn sich einer von uns infiziert?” und so weiter. Reiht sich gut in das Genre ein, wird nicht langweilig, ohne dabei etwas besonderes zu sein und bekommt

7/10 Punkte

Memento @ DVD

Was machst du, wenn du dich an jemandem per Mord rächen willst, aber kein Kurzzeitgedächtnis hast? Du schreibst dir alles auf, machst Fotos und so weiter. So macht das auch der Hauptcharakter hier, er hat ein ausgeklügeltes System aus Zetteln, Fotos, Tatoos und dem unbedingten Willen nach Vergeltung aufgebaut, um sein Ziel zu erreichen. Dabei gibt es dann noch ein paar mysteriöse Personen, von denen man nie so recht weiß, was sie denn wollen: helfen oder schaden?

Memento ist etwas anstrengend zu schauen, das liegt an der unkonventionellen Erzählstruktur: Das Geschehen wird rückwärts erzählt. Nichts für nebenbei also. Wer dran bleibt, wird aber mit einer interessanten Geschichte und einem Nolan’schen Übertwist zum Ende belohnt. Und diese Belohnung ist es echt wert!

9/10

Cloverfield @ DVD

Cloverfield war für mich sehr erfrischend. Keine RomCom, keine Endzeitaction, kein Polizeithriller. Ein Monsterfilm! So richtig mit Stadtzerstörung und allem! Ui, der Kopf der Freiheitsstatue fliegt in den Häuserblock! Das alles gefilmt aus der Sicht einer wackeligen Handkamera aus der Sicht eines etwas wackeligen Trottels. Recht nette Charaktere, deren Hintergrundgeschichte sie noch sympathischer erscheinen lässt. Beklemmende Atmosphäre = klasse Atmosphäre. Hints zu den Hintergründen der Katastrophe im Film. Alles das ist toll, und dann noch dieses Monster! Geiler Film, die ersten zwanzig Minuten könnten eher langweilen, danach werden aber wohl nur Steine ungerührt auf dem Stuhl sitzen, äh liegen bleiben.

9/10

Wall-E

Ein Pixar-Film, entsprechend hohe Erwartungen hatte ich an Wall-E.  Ich könnte hier ewig schwärmen, aber mal nur so viel:

Allein die Anfangssequenz, die ohne Dialoge auskommt, ist grandios, als Eva, Roboter Nummer 2, auftaucht wird es nur noch besser. Alles ist zuckersüß, also nichts für die “Zeichentrick, Pixar und so ist scheiße”-Leute. Die Musik von Michael Giacchino ist genial. Grandiose satirische Kritik an den faulen, bequemlichen Säcken unserer Gesellschaft. Tausend Kleinigkeiten und Details, die alles abrunden.

Leider ist die Story an sich meiner Meinung nach nicht ganz auf dem Niveau von Ratatouille oder Oben, aber die Optik und allgemeine Stimmung bringt Wall-E noch auf das Niveau von Ratatouille, und das sind

9/10 Punkte

Elizabethtown

Eine der romantischen Komödien die ich mag: Verrückte Nebencharaktere, liebenswerte Hauptdarsteller, am Ende geht alles ein wenig over the top. Orlando Bloom’s Charakter versaut sein erstes eigenes Schuhdesign, wird gefeuert und muss seinen Vater in seiner Heimatstadt beerdigen. Im “geht’s aber gut”. Im Flugzeug lernt er die Frohnatur Kirsten Dunst kennen, und los geht’s. Wirklich verrückte Situationen, ein ewiges Telefongespräch mit Sonennaufgangstreff, Lnyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird im Regen und ein Raodtrip zum Glück mit der roten Kappe haben mich voll überzeugt. Schöner Film, und Orlando Bloom ist hier sooo toll! Gott ich hör mich an wie ein Mädchen…mh…okay: Kirsten Dunst sieht gut aus mit dem roten Käppchen, Jungs

8/10

Sorry for not posting for ages. Very busy, my sister’s back in Glasgow and we’re trying to sort our lives out – it’s not easy, really it’s tough, just trying to remain positive but I’m trying hard and so’s Kirst. It’s like we have this goal which once we achieve, all the hard work and anguish will be worth it but we’ve got nothing set in stone yet. I suppose it’s our real first test, a real go at adulthood where we have to employ all of our experience and skills and resources, what little we have, into acheiving this goal. On the one side there’s so much against us but on the other we’ve got positivity, friends and family (and rats) - so go team!

Anyway, aside from all that, it’s the usual diet of the cinema and reading. Just finished reading Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert, his sequel to the epic Dune. If you haven’t read the original then you’ve almost certainly encountered it in some form as it’s been routinely plundered for sci-fi movies, books and video games since it’s inception. The most noticeable being Star Wars and recently James Cameron’s Avatar (check out the trailer here) has borrowed heavily. Like Dune, his film is set on an exotic other planet which contains an extremely precious resource and the only think in the way are the native inhabitants who are otherworldly and primal. It also appears to feature some incredible technology another feature of Dune. If you haven’t read it and you enjoy sci-fi, it’s an absolute must – deep as the outer reaches of space yet remains sheer unadulterated entertainment.

Regarding the sequel, well, it’s pretty good but unlike the first novel which is completely standalone, this continues much like a soap opera. It’s a bit like a TV spin-off of a great movie. All the characters are there but it no longer inspires. So if you do read Dune, don’t feel you have to read the sequels. I will of course because i can’t leave a good thing alone.

Cinemawise, the last thing I saw was Jeniffer’s Body which I saw on Saturday with my friends Joanna and Stuart. There’s no denying this was a quality movie, funny, scary, beautifully produced and clever. The only gripe is that it’s more suitable for teenagers, fine if you’re a teen – and the audience was full of them, I actually felt old, they were all baying for Megan Fox and yeah, she is a fox but come on! A gaggle of girls behind me kept squealing and declaring undying love everytime she apeared onscreen and some guy cheered (which was actually quite funny and the cinema erupted in giggles) during the infamously gratuitous girl on girl snog scene  - but ultimately it was insubstantial. It’s also by the director of ‘Juno’ and although it’s MUCH flashier, it’s not as engaging. I suppose that’s why I would recommend Let the Right One In first for school-based monster shenanigans.

Gratuitous? Moi?

Earlier last month I saw Zombieland which was fabulous pop-corn munching entertainment with a fantastic cameo – have I mentioned that already?. I also caught Up in 3D – which I’m not convinced by, it’s a novelty - which was very good but I don’t know, it was too safe – Wall-E was far more interesting in my opinion.

Not caught any shows but despite a niggling cold, i’m still cycling to and from work despite the dropping temperatures. Tip for annoying aggressive drivers who beep at you for occupying a lane and not squeezing into the kerb to let them pass so they can get to the traffic lights first: when they angrily beep their horn at you, first of all resist falling of the bike in shock, simply raise your hand and wave as if they were merely being human and beeping a friendly hello. This is guaranteed to piss them off.

This morning I was listening to 6music at work and the DJ, Shaun Kevagny, asked for details of things we believed when we were children with no evidence so I emailed them and told them how I believed (and convinced my sister also) that electric bar heaters were fueled with lava which poured into the electric tube from the back – where it was stored obviously – when you switched it on and they read it out on air.

PS Happy Birthday Gran!

The new WALL-E comic has surprise buttsecks:

He is obviously drunk. But that is no excuse.

L’eccezione conferma la regola. Qualche volta l’eccezione è davvero importante.