Every day, the interwebs is filled with an interminable supply of crap and one cool thing. Like a jet-powered bloodhound, this blog seeks out and posts that one thing. On occasion, nothing interesting is added to the internets. In that case, something old is posted.
Movie Title Stills Collection s a strangely enchanting site by Christian Annyas to archive the title sequences of many, many movies. In his own words, "
I've seen a lot of movies over the years, and to prove I've sat through at least the first ten minutes of them I started making screenshots of the titles. Then my computer crashed and I almost lost them all. To save them for future generations I created this little website."
There you go. PS: The site is very graphics-intensive and requires a fast internet connection.
Dating Montage is an 80's video-dating video on Daily Motion. Amazing.
So many questions & comments! --Did that guy just seriously say, "no hamsters"? --I'm interested in *no* phases of data processing. --Oh Fred.
From Metafilter:
"WTH is a Donna Juanita? My best two minutes of googling come back with this. That seems a very specific dislike if that's what the guy at 2:55 is talking about. posted by mindless progress"
"Whoa, the guy at 2:43 is 25?! 25 going on 42? posted by geoff".
"I do consider myself a 'refined valley dude.' Something about the way he says it.... you can actually hear the quotes. posted by Afroblanco"
"mindless progress: 'WTH is a Donna Juanita?' A female Don Juan, ie. a smooth operator, seductress, a woman out to make a sexual conquest. posted by idiopath"
"Oh, God, what is that word that's the opposite of schadenfreude? The one for the shared shame of seeing someone embarrass themselves? posted by maudlin "
According to reader/friend Justin: "I recommend reading her Star Trek Review, in which she claims Dane Cook inspired the 'Live Long and Prosper' hand gesture..."
Valerie an Valerie:
Facts: I was born in Malibu, California. I was a successful tween model for a few years. In school, I was voted best smile. I took some acting classes before, but the teacher was English and thought he was all that. La-me. My heros are my parents, poor people who work hard or win a lottery and can live the American dream, famous women who struggled and did important things and made a difference. Why the Blog? I grew up being told by my parents and teachers and friends that there was something special about me, that I would go on to do big things. So here I am! I have decided that I want to be a writer because I think I have a unique perspective on things (a young, hip perspective from today’s generation) and can offer intelligent things to be read. I call it Valerie Atherton’s Playground and Intellectual Department! Why? Because sometimes it’ll be silly like playing at a playground and sometimes it’ll make you stop and think about stuff. xo -Val"
That's the tone. Justin goes on: "...I figured it would be obvious to those reading the reviews that this is a joke. Luckily, this is the interwebs and reading the comments to her blogs is just as entertaining as the ignorant article itself."
Food, Inc is a trailer about the eponymous commercial movie. According to Wikipedia, it was "directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner. The film is loosely based on Eric Schlosser's bestselling 2001 non-fiction book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal and The Omnivore's Dilemma written by Michael Pollan."
Seems like your typical lefty documentary. I like the creepy music and totally wan to see it. Shoud I bother?
(PS: Okay okay you caught me: I don't normally post things like this, it's really just a ploy to get someone to see it with me.)
Green Lantern [Fan] Trailer is a fake fan-made trailer for The Green lantern, made and uploaded by Youtube user jaronpitts. This is by far the best-made fan-trailer I've ever seen. Also, the only fan-made trailer I've ever seen.
Jaron explains his work:
"This is my vision for a Green Lantern movie with Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. He won't be Hal for real, but all the more reason for a fan trailer!
Shots I adapted from the following movies, tv shows, and trailers: Planet of the Apes Serenity Trailer Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Stardust Trailer The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring Firefly Dragonball Evolution Trailer Galaxy Quest The Fountain Trailer Superman Returns Trailer The Day the Earth Stood Still Smallville Justice League TAS GI Joe Trailer Contact Star Trek Enterprise Star Wars Episode III The Mutant Chronicles Trailer Iron Man Star Trek Trailer Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe Cutscene The Chronicles of Riddick Kamen Rider Bedtime Stories MIB 2 Escape from Witch Mountain Trailer The Matrix Revolutions The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian White Noise 2
Special Thanks to Mike Afford for a few brief clips from his Fan Trailer including the final logo: http://www.mikeafford.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIyx09...
I would like to give major credit to Andrew Kramer from http://www.videocopilot.net, who (via tutorials) taught me everything I know in After Effects and I would not have been able to do most of this without that. I'm more of an editor than an effects guy, so thanks Andrew!
Zbrush Forum Artists: Gnom, rinals, BladeFlush & Muyu for character model bases (for Tomar-Re & Galius Zed) Logo design by Lepios.
Voice Audio clips from Justice League TAS, The Batman, Battle for Terra Trailer, Justice League: The New Frontier, and The Lord of the Rings.
The music is "Forces of Destiny" and "Freedom Fighters" by Two Steps from Hell. You may recognize "Freedom Fighters" from the the recent "Star Trek" trailer.
This is an independent, non-profit, artistic expression created purely for fun and is in no way connected to, or endorsed by Warner Bros. or DC Comics."
Jeff Skoll: Making movies that make change is a TED talk by entrepreneur and former eBay president Jeff Skoll. Basically, he is the guy who funded An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night and Good Luck, The Kite Runner, Fast Food Nation, and Charlie Wilson's War. First of all, I had no idea someone was actively funding all of these movies I liked and was interested in. On purpose. I mean, on a purpose besides making money... Like consciously orchestrating it. Second of all, it's the eBay guy!? Alright, awesome.
He's on to something. This is a powerful way to change social opinions and debate. I thought this talk was totally going to bore me, and it didn't. Perhaps that sounds like less of an enthusiastic endorsement than I had in mind, but you get the idea. He got a few chuckles out of me.
According to TED,
"His production company, Participant Productions, is what Skoll calls a 'pro-social media company,' making features and documentaries that address social and political issues and drive real change. His film North Country, for example, is credited with influencing the signing of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act. Participant's blockbuster doc, An Inconvenient Truth, is required viewing in classrooms around the world, and has unquestionably changed the debate around climate change. Upcoming for Participant are two films about Afghanistan, and a documentary about Jimmy Carter's controversial 2006-7 book tour."
According to Buzzfeed: "Steven Soderbergh's upcoming film The Girlfriend Experience has been getting a lot of buzz lately, partially because it's the mainstream debut of adult film star Sasha Grey, an attractive lady who is sometimes naked." They're so gentle with their understatements and quasi-euphemisms.
Hulu bills the premise of the movie as: "A high-priced call girl works on solidifying her economic future while her live-in lover seeks success as a personal trainer."
The FABLife explains more about why exactly Sasha is famous:
"On the x-rated screen, she’s known for asking to be punched in the gut while performing fellatio.
To top it off, she’s a total nerd, and named herself in honor of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Grey. Needless to say, we’re all a bit obsessed with her. In fact, her only flaw seems to be that she’s engaged to a photographer named Ian Cinnamon."
This is all a little bit weird, right? I mean, media is pretty saturated with sex, but this is outrigh porn going mainstream. There it is. Handbasket and all.
"Audrey Tatou stars in an upcoming biopic of legendary fashion designer Coco Chanel called Coco Avant Chanel. The French language version of the trailer was released today, but the subtitled American version doesn't come out for a few weeks. So we asked a high school freshman with one and a half semesters of introductory French to translate it for us. Enjoy."
It cuts quickly, but if you've had even a week of French instruction you will find this delightful.
My favorite gems: --You resembled a near woman. --I am have enough of making me the clown! --She you like? --She me pleases.
She me pleases indeed. Enjoy! (From VideoGum and Buzzfeed)
Extract (Teaser Trailer) is the trailer for the upcoming Mike Judge movie, "Extract." Mike did "Office Space" in 1999, which is probably the only good thing he's ever done, other than attend UCSD. I really like both those things, so I'll give this a shot.
According to MTV, "Judge envisions 'Extract' as an evil-twin sequel to 'Office Space,' but now it's the boss who has a bad case of the Mondays. 'He's the owner of a company that makes vanilla extract and orange extract, and that kind of thing. 'Office Space' was sympathetic to the employees, and the bosses and the managers were the a--holes. This one is sympathetic to Jason Bateman's character as the owner, and all the employees are the a--holes. ... It's another workplace comedy.' "
Shia LaBeouf in "No No No NOo" is a Youtube video of that guy from the Transformers movie (Shia LaBeouf) saying No No No No a bunch of times in a row. I had no idea how often he repeated it, until this Youtube video came up as a conversation topic at a party. And there you go, low-brow cocktail party topic for you.
(From Chris S. at the Superbowl Monday party.)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Top 50 movie special effects shots is a list article by Martin Anderson of Den of Geek listing the best special effects of ALL TIME. Well not really.
"CRITERIA FOR THIS LIST: This is not a list of 'iconic' SFX shots, such as the opening shot in Star Wars or the final shot in Back To The Future, etc. There are many fantastic SFX shots in cinema history that are artistically 'awesome' without qualifying here. For the purposes of this list, a shot has to be either a) exceptionally convincing, b) ground-breaking or c) an exemplary execution of an oft-used technique. Only one shot is allowed per film."
No. 1 is a scene from Jurassic Park:
One of the oldest clips from the world of bitmap-textured CGI animation, and - to my mind - simply the most convincing 'impossible thing' ever committed to celluloid by Hollywood. The segue between the withdrawing of Stan Winston's animatronic head and the appearance of the CGI version is effective and seamless, playing both technologies to their strengths. The movement of the musculature in the T-Rex combines with the very prosaic illumination of the car headlights to sell the Rex, and the camera judder combines perfectly with the footfalls of the massive beast. Rain and darkness have sold many a special effect before, and they certainly do no harm here, but the result is pure movie history.
Ninja Video is a website that features streaming TV shows, movies, and more. It's a busy site, and one might have to download some DivX app/Ninja video helper for it to work... But after that it seems to work well. (From my other friend Ed)
Movie Title Stills Collection s a strangely enchanting site by Christian Annyas to archive the title sequences of many, many movies. In his own words, "
