STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING

Ah, what a weekend. The wait was finally over. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride opened and it is far and away the best movie I've seen all year. The animators on this stop-motion animated film have truly perfected the art. Honestly, I knew the work they were doing was going to be great, but I had no idea it would be so flawless. The movement was so good and so convincing that after several minutes I forgot I was watching stop-motion animation. For those of you who are not up on the terms, stop-motion is not the technique you see in today's computer 3d animated movies like Toy Story, and Shrek. We're talking the original King Kong here. Think Jason and the Argonauts or even Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. This movie was made with real models under real lights casting real shadows. The characters are moved and photographed frame by frame, and it takes 24 frames to make one second of film. Ponder that for just a moment.

Of course, it wasn't just the animation that was so impressive. The design of every character, set, and prop was fantastic. Every frame of this film was beautifully composed. I could go on and on about the design, the lighting, the story, the soundtrack etc. but I'll just give it a rest. However, if you haven't already seen this film, stop what you're doing and go directly to your local theater. This is not a movie to wait and rent. It should be seen in the theater right now and purchased on DVD as soon as it is released. This my friends, is the kind of movie we need to be supporting instead of wasting our prescious time and money on over-rated, over-hyped shit like War of the Worlds.

By the way, I came across this video the other day and I'm still a little shaken by it. Check it out if you're not afraid of ghosts.

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DRENCH THE WENCH

I'm back in Washington right now working on another big project for my old employer. Last Saturday I was able to slip away for a day and join some friends at the Renaissance Festival. I've gone to the Renn Fest several different years, and it's always a great time. There are all kinds of things to enjoy, such as shows, games, food, people in crazy costumes and the joust.

I really enjoy all the games, such as archery, and ax throwing, but my favorite game is "Drench the Wench." This is a good old fashioned dunking booth with a woman who insults you and makes you feel three feet tall when you miss the target. Well, this year I got lucky, so to speak. On my very first throw, I nailed it and dropped the wench into the water! That really was a thrill.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

Boy, what a week it has been. I've been glued to CNN day and night. And as the days go by, I keep thinking that if the aftermath of hurricane Katrina was a Hollywood movie, I'd be counting the ceiling tiles in the theater because I'd think the events in the film were just way too unrealistic.

I would argue that if a disaster like this really happened, relief supplies would arrive immediately. Maybe they wouldn't show up all at once, but they'd certainly start arriving right away. I mean, the authorities would have known that the storm was coming and it might be this bad, so I'd just have to call this bad script writing.

If this was a movie, I'd be pointing out that there is no way that a costal city would be built below sea level, and even if it was, there is absolutely no possible way that thousands of people in the United States of America would have to go for days without water. That is simply beyond the realm of possibility.

If this was a movie I'd say that these writers were on crack because in the real world, troops would be deployed even before the rain passed. I'd argue that every helicopter, and rescue vehicle within 1000 miles would be on it's way to the disaster within a day at the most. I'd say that even if it did take five days for relief to arrive (which is a ridiculous thought), there's simply no way that people would be shooting at the rescuers who were trying to save stranded people. I mean come on, there's going to be some looting, but shooting at rescuers? That's way over the top, even for Hollywood.

Too bad this isn't a movie.

Now the reason that I was able to stay glued to the television coverage was because I've been home all week packing. Yes friends, I'm moving... again. I've had a long-term plan to get some formal animation training, and when the recent two big contracts fell through, I realized that suddenly the time was right.

So, in October I'll be moving to Orlando and in January I'll start a one-year animation and visual effects course. I've still got some details to work out, and although my tone may not express it, I'm very, very excited about all this. I'll give more details in the weeks to come. Please forgive me as it's been kind of a bad week for me (in addition to the hurricane) and I'm feeling pretty drained.

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