Home
Archives
RSS Feed 
Glorious People
The Greatness
off on the wrong foot
The Ape Man
Jonathan Potter
Glorious Places
Rational Spirit
Whackademia
Glorious Bands
Heidi Hensley Band
Bryan Redding
Of Mirth and Matter
Rollerphone
Soundtrack Mind
| September 2005 | ||||||
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
Talk about Lost (which sucked). Talk about Veronica Mars (which kicked ass). Hell, talk about The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, if that's your bag, baby. And don't forget, Alias premieres tonight.
Vampire Elf on 09.29.05 @ 09:37 AM EST [link]
It's really quite impossible for me to be even remotely objective about this film. It was an emotionally resonant experience, so much so that I have thought of little else today. I spent a fair amount of time wondering how I could care so much about fake people. I suppose that's the job of storytelling, and Whedon is a master of the tale.
Anyway, I've got to think more about how to review this movie. For the people who've seen some or all of it, I'll just say that so many questions were answered. The stakes were raised unbelievably high. It's epic. I've read a couple of reviews that suggest that it's just a two hour episode. I really don't know how to respond to that, because it suggests a distinct lack of cognitive ability on the part of the reviewer.
For the people who aren't fans, but either enjoy sci-fi, or just want a good story, you'll be fine. Movies that come from a background source always have to find a way to explain that background, and a lot of times it ends up being bad. Whedon made a great choice, by creating a scene that had been talked about before on the show, but never visualized, which provided the fans with something new, while filling the new folks in on the backstory. You'll understand what's going on, you'll get the relationships fairly quickly, and the plot will kick in before you have time to worry about it. And it's FUNNY. Lots of humor, well-timed, and expertly weaved in between the dramatic moments. You may not get everything there is to get out of the film, and some of the events that occur may not mean as much to you personally, but you'll enjoy the show. If you don't, I will personally refund your money say I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy it and then engage you in spirited debate.
A real spolier free review is coming soon. Once a few people have had a chance to see it, I'll make a spoiler entry and we can talk about.
Vampire Elf on 09.28.05 @ 11:30 PM EST [link]
| As it happens, I have been given the opportunity to attend the Atlanta press screening of Serenity on Tuesday. A website I read, as well as one of my readers (word, Sh!), both pointed me towards the Serenity Blogger Bonanza, a fairly unique promotional tool that Universal is doing to build grassroots support for Serenity. I will be seeing the film on Tuesday night, and you'll be reading my review (or slobberfest, whatever) on Wednesday. I've talked about Firefly a lot (obviously), and I'd bet somewhere around 50% of my outlandishly large readership has seen at least one episode. And of course, I've seen them all multiple times. So for the readers who are unfamiliar with the show, my write-up will focus to some degree on how successfully the film makes itself accessible to the non-fan. I know there are at least a couple of sci-fi fans here who are not big Firefly fans. I'll try and explain as best I can, why it would be worth it to go see the film even if you've never seen Firefly. A couple of fudiciary responsibilites are required by the nice people at Universal. First off, the Serenity website can be found at serenitymovie.com. You can find the various trailers and information about the movie there. You've no doubt already noticed the promotional art at the right. Here is a brief synopsis of the film, for the unitiated: "Joss Whedon, the Oscar® - and Emmy - nominated writer/director responsible for the worldwide television phenomena of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE, ANGEL and FIREFLY, now applies his trademark compassion and wit to a small band of galactic outcasts 500 years in the future in his feature film directorial debut, Serenity. The film centers around Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, who now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family –squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal." |  |
That was one hell of an opening scene! Talk about it here - spoilers inside, party people.
Vampire Elf on 09.22.05 @ 09:23 AM EST [link]
Some further interesting discussion on Firefly can be found over at Adam's Blog. If you've seen it, or are interested, go check it out.
Vampire Elf on 09.15.05 @ 01:37 PM EST [link]
As most people who read this blog know, my friends and I have participated in the 48 Hour Film Project for the past couple of years. In a nutshell, the competition requires you to write, shoot, edit, and score a short (up to 8 minute) film in one weekend. We were unable to do it this year, because several of us were in Canada celebrating the nuptials of The Greatness and The Sweetness during the Atlanta 48 Hour weekend. However, last year, the 48 Hour people started an October contest called the National Film Challenge. Same thing as the local city version, but you get your genre, prop, dialogue, and character via email and you compete on a National level. They only allow 250 teams nationwide.
We're one of them this year.
The weekend is October 21-23. The film has to be Fedex'd overnight to them on Monday morning to arrive by Tuesday in order to qualify for competition. Our crew has changed a little, twisted, with some old people and some new people. But it's always a good, if tiring, time, and we end up with a film at the end of it all.
If you've never seen them, our two previous films can be seen here:
http://www.rationalspirit.net/film/index.html
Out of town people who would like to join us are always welcome. There's plenty of room at the Elf Inn. We're going to do that movie-making thing we do. You should come do it with us.
Vampire Elf on 09.13.05 @ 09:42 PM EST [link]
There are two type of people reading this post. One type, the group which includes my wife (not that she reads this blog, but for example's sake), will care so little about this subject that they might actually yawn and fall asleep on the spot. When I mention RAID, they will think of bug spray. The other, a group which will include my computer geek friends, might need to grab a bib. The slobber potential is extremely high.
I'm building a home RAID. And to kick it off, I just bought a Terabyte of hard drive space.
Vampire Elf on 09.04.05 @ 03:23 PM EST [more..]