A friend of mine suggested this link to me. It is a pretty nice online exhibition.
www.ashesandsnow.org
I suggest you get some time to spare for your own, turn up the volume and enjoy.
tirsdag, mai 29, 2007
onsdag, mai 23, 2007
Spiderman 3 (film)
Some places this production is referred to the most expensive movie ever other places I have seen it referred as one of the most expensive movies ever. I guess there must be some inconsistency in what the actual production cost is. What we can agree in is that this film is a pretty expensive monster.
Now, does it show?
Not really. While the movie is complete with more beautiful skyscraper action and nice special effects of the villains, there is really not much we haven't seen before. In many ways I prefer it this way as more sfx would just have become overwhelming. But I do think that somewhere on the road way to much cash has been put into this movie.
It is just not worth that much.
Trying to forget about this issue we go back to what we are really interested in:
Is it any good?
While I used to read a lot of superhero cartoons when I was younger, I have never really been a fan of the superhero movies. Very few movie makers are able to capture the original feel of the series as well as giving them fresh blood when transferring them to the big screen.
For people who hasn't read the series this is not such a big problem because they don't know what to expect and therefore often like what they see. I myself are more negative to it, but sometimes they hit the right spot and you have a good superhero movie.
I though Spiderman 1 was a failure - except of course the skyscraper action ;)
In Spiderman 2 they managed to capture what Spiderman is all about. It is actually a parody. Yes a comedy. Not everybody knows this because it is a bit hidden. But Peter Parker is a super hero that mocks a bit with the other. While Superman pretends to be human and Batman is a playboy, Peter Parker is (despite his superpowers) extremely human and fragile. The fact that he is Spiderman is more a nuisance than a wow factor in his life. I think this is what people like about Spiderman and why he becomes some popular. This formula seems also to be working better on the big screen than in the cartoons - which means Spidey was before his time and have just been waiting for his moment to show!
Spiderman 3 follows up from Spiderman 2 and plays on the right issues in the Spiderman universe. This time the storyline is in fact quite complicated. There are several villains and some are even friends? And of course there are problems, with Mary Jane, with his aunt, with money, with work and within himself. The struggle with himself is magnified with the dark suit, which I think was a perfect choice to port from the cartoon as it is the best Spidey story!
To sum it up I think Spiderman 3 is just as good as the second movie, perhaps better because its just more complex without getting the dull moments.
And now, do I need to make a Spiderman evening with all three movies? Aaargh... That will be a lot of web mess....
Now, does it show?
Not really. While the movie is complete with more beautiful skyscraper action and nice special effects of the villains, there is really not much we haven't seen before. In many ways I prefer it this way as more sfx would just have become overwhelming. But I do think that somewhere on the road way to much cash has been put into this movie.
It is just not worth that much.
Trying to forget about this issue we go back to what we are really interested in:
Is it any good?
While I used to read a lot of superhero cartoons when I was younger, I have never really been a fan of the superhero movies. Very few movie makers are able to capture the original feel of the series as well as giving them fresh blood when transferring them to the big screen.
For people who hasn't read the series this is not such a big problem because they don't know what to expect and therefore often like what they see. I myself are more negative to it, but sometimes they hit the right spot and you have a good superhero movie.
I though Spiderman 1 was a failure - except of course the skyscraper action ;)
In Spiderman 2 they managed to capture what Spiderman is all about. It is actually a parody. Yes a comedy. Not everybody knows this because it is a bit hidden. But Peter Parker is a super hero that mocks a bit with the other. While Superman pretends to be human and Batman is a playboy, Peter Parker is (despite his superpowers) extremely human and fragile. The fact that he is Spiderman is more a nuisance than a wow factor in his life. I think this is what people like about Spiderman and why he becomes some popular. This formula seems also to be working better on the big screen than in the cartoons - which means Spidey was before his time and have just been waiting for his moment to show!
Spiderman 3 follows up from Spiderman 2 and plays on the right issues in the Spiderman universe. This time the storyline is in fact quite complicated. There are several villains and some are even friends? And of course there are problems, with Mary Jane, with his aunt, with money, with work and within himself. The struggle with himself is magnified with the dark suit, which I think was a perfect choice to port from the cartoon as it is the best Spidey story!
To sum it up I think Spiderman 3 is just as good as the second movie, perhaps better because its just more complex without getting the dull moments.
And now, do I need to make a Spiderman evening with all three movies? Aaargh... That will be a lot of web mess....
300 (film)
I haven't read the cartoon so I can not say whether it captures this well or not. What I can say is that I do not like the design look. Come on; Snow that looks falser than a 30 dime comedy? The overall design look reminds me of an intro to some PC game or something (limited budget).
Yes I do understand that this design choice is meant to be cartoon like and not realistic. So Ill try to pretend I buy this.
And that works. The movie is basically full of action and not that much story. The narrator voice is excellent and I just feel that they tell what would normally be displayed in "narrator boxes" in a cartoon. The dialogue of the movie is also excellent because most of the time its just hardcore talk and only to small extend is it used to tell the story.
This is very refreshing as the majority of the movies today does the mistake that they have to tell everything in dialogue instead of actually using dialogue to challenge the viewers. It also works because the movie doesn’t really have much story to tell but is actually trying to please us with a few hours of hack and slash.
It totally works. All the way and despite not liking the design I love the movie. Such tough guys just killing whatever comes their way, I like. But it doesn’t necessary mean that you will.
It was an honor to watch this film.
Yes I do understand that this design choice is meant to be cartoon like and not realistic. So Ill try to pretend I buy this.
And that works. The movie is basically full of action and not that much story. The narrator voice is excellent and I just feel that they tell what would normally be displayed in "narrator boxes" in a cartoon. The dialogue of the movie is also excellent because most of the time its just hardcore talk and only to small extend is it used to tell the story.
This is very refreshing as the majority of the movies today does the mistake that they have to tell everything in dialogue instead of actually using dialogue to challenge the viewers. It also works because the movie doesn’t really have much story to tell but is actually trying to please us with a few hours of hack and slash.
It totally works. All the way and despite not liking the design I love the movie. Such tough guys just killing whatever comes their way, I like. But it doesn’t necessary mean that you will.
It was an honor to watch this film.
Spanish Reunion
One of these a few from last years Spanish course got together to eat some Tapas(!) as well as get a status update in how our Spanish is evolving. For myself I have to admit that my Spanish is unfortunately on total hold.
While I really wish to progress I know I have to wait till a little later.... But one day...
The tapas was nice and we had some good fun.
While I really wish to progress I know I have to wait till a little later.... But one day...
The tapas was nice and we had some good fun.
tirsdag, mai 15, 2007
Congratulations to Yoyoyo Acapulco
As a part of The Norwegian Wood festival a few lesser known bands get the chance to send in their demos and the best of these will get a live gig on the Underwood stage during the festival. This has become one of the platform for bands rise up from the unknown into devoted greatness.
To make this a cash cow the jury did choose the 20 best bands where 8 would go further to the festival. To become among the 8 the bands fans had to cash out votes by sending SMSes. Basically the bands with the most and eager fans - that spends the most cash on SMS - wins. All in all quite a cynical way to exploit the fans that just wants to see the band do well.
I want to congratulate my friends Yoyoyo Acapulco and all the fans with the gig on Saturday 16. June this year. And hopefully they will deliver an awesome show! Loads of soap bubbles for everybody.
To make this a cash cow the jury did choose the 20 best bands where 8 would go further to the festival. To become among the 8 the bands fans had to cash out votes by sending SMSes. Basically the bands with the most and eager fans - that spends the most cash on SMS - wins. All in all quite a cynical way to exploit the fans that just wants to see the band do well.
I want to congratulate my friends Yoyoyo Acapulco and all the fans with the gig on Saturday 16. June this year. And hopefully they will deliver an awesome show! Loads of soap bubbles for everybody.
Acopalypto (movie)
This movie received mixed reviews, many complained that Mel Gibson had used to much violence.
I think this is an awesome movie and that the level of violence is quite low. The level of realism is quite high. One should not misunderstand high level realism with unnecessary violence.
I have absolutely now idea what the Mayan used to wear but I have to say all the effects, makeup and clothes are extremely well done. It seems to be totally authentic. In this case "seems to be" is sufficient for me.
The movie does not follow a traditionally story line and neither is it an epic movie. It is more in the special theme genre, and I think the theme this time is the not too unknown: Survival. This keeps the movie on a constant edge. Still Mel Gibson has not gone in the trap of making it a fast pulsating movie but instead he gives the movie air during each thrilling moment - which in turn increases the thrill and the watchers joy.
To say something bad about this movie: It seems that it they are using some kind of high end movie equipment which sometimes when there is to much going on - gives to much realism which in turns seem unnatural. (I saw this in last years Miami Vice as well) - I think maybe this is somewhat correlated to Walt Disneys problem with animations where too realistic movements lead the animations becoming funny. It is not too often this happens tough and most people will probably not even notice it.
All in all: a really enjoyable movie.
I think this is an awesome movie and that the level of violence is quite low. The level of realism is quite high. One should not misunderstand high level realism with unnecessary violence.
I have absolutely now idea what the Mayan used to wear but I have to say all the effects, makeup and clothes are extremely well done. It seems to be totally authentic. In this case "seems to be" is sufficient for me.
The movie does not follow a traditionally story line and neither is it an epic movie. It is more in the special theme genre, and I think the theme this time is the not too unknown: Survival. This keeps the movie on a constant edge. Still Mel Gibson has not gone in the trap of making it a fast pulsating movie but instead he gives the movie air during each thrilling moment - which in turn increases the thrill and the watchers joy.
To say something bad about this movie: It seems that it they are using some kind of high end movie equipment which sometimes when there is to much going on - gives to much realism which in turns seem unnatural. (I saw this in last years Miami Vice as well) - I think maybe this is somewhat correlated to Walt Disneys problem with animations where too realistic movements lead the animations becoming funny. It is not too often this happens tough and most people will probably not even notice it.
All in all: a really enjoyable movie.
Johanne Hildebrant - two first books about Valhalla
One of these days, walking down the alley I decided to look at a book sale and out I came with the first book of Swedish Johanne Hildebrandt first book in her trilogy about Valhalla. A few minutes later (maybe closer to 30 minutes?) I was sitting down at a cafe and reading.
And to my surprise I just couldn't stop. I was hooked before I knew it and days became night and day again and before I knew it - it was all over.
This kind of writing style is not necessary good writing. It’s just about keeping the tension so high at each moment of the book so you just can't put it down. A style perfected by Alister McClean.
Johanne tells the story about the forbidden an intense love between Froeya and Thor. As they are not allowed by their tribes nor the Gods to love each other it is both a sad but still intriguing and beautiful story.
While Johanne portraits these mythic Gods as humans or very human like she is maybe a bit short into giving them typical archetypical faces of envy and power.
What I am trying to say is while she is making really good story and I enjoy it like several others, she fails to go deeper. I am not sure but this could also be the strength as going deeper can easily fail.
Then later in the same alley I went into a different book store and got hold of the second book at a bargain price. Wow that was pure luck!
And I was back at it again. The second book brings the Legend of Valhalla further and this time we follow Idun, the fruit of the secret passion of the first book.
It is obvious the Johanne has become a better writer since last time as in this book the writing is tighter and more thrilling than ever. This could also be because the story line is in all not that complex.
I am looking forward for the third book that concludes this trilogy.
And to my surprise I just couldn't stop. I was hooked before I knew it and days became night and day again and before I knew it - it was all over.
This kind of writing style is not necessary good writing. It’s just about keeping the tension so high at each moment of the book so you just can't put it down. A style perfected by Alister McClean.
Johanne tells the story about the forbidden an intense love between Froeya and Thor. As they are not allowed by their tribes nor the Gods to love each other it is both a sad but still intriguing and beautiful story.
While Johanne portraits these mythic Gods as humans or very human like she is maybe a bit short into giving them typical archetypical faces of envy and power.
What I am trying to say is while she is making really good story and I enjoy it like several others, she fails to go deeper. I am not sure but this could also be the strength as going deeper can easily fail.
Then later in the same alley I went into a different book store and got hold of the second book at a bargain price. Wow that was pure luck!
And I was back at it again. The second book brings the Legend of Valhalla further and this time we follow Idun, the fruit of the secret passion of the first book.
It is obvious the Johanne has become a better writer since last time as in this book the writing is tighter and more thrilling than ever. This could also be because the story line is in all not that complex.
I am looking forward for the third book that concludes this trilogy.
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