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January 23rd, 2008
I'm trying something new here; a little video podcasting from Sundance after my 8:30 a.m. screening of "American Teen," a documentary about a year in the life of four kids at an Indiana high school and easily the best movie I've seen here yet. Bear with me while I work the kinks out of the presentation; next time I won't point the camera into the sun and I'll try to avoid close-ups of the chin that ate Pittsburgh.
Speaking of that city, I subsequently caught "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," an adaptation of Michael Chabon's first novel by adapter/director Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Dodgeball"). Since Chabon's literary voice -- wordy, scintillating, outrageously entertaining -- is the chief asset of his writing, I'm hard-pressed to understand what filming his work, and thereby stripping out that literary voice, can bring to the table. And it's true that this "Mysteries" is in many ways a too-familiar coming-of-age saga, redolent of everything from "The Graduate" to "Garden State." In fact, Peter Sarsgaard shows up in this one too, as a charismatic, ambisexual rebel-boy who lures hero Jon Foster into an emotional three-way with Sienna Miller. If this were "Jules & Jim," Sarsgaard would have the Jeanne Moreau role.
Still, it's quite watchable, and a mobster supplot involving Nick Nolte as Foster's kingpin dad is a hoot -- Nolte's doing Tony Soprano without any of the neuroses. This makes two Chabon adaptations to have made it to the big screen, and "Wonder Boys" is still the better one by a good fraction. I eagerly await "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," due (supposedly) in 2009.
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January 23rd, 2008
Okay okay, enough already. We’ve known about the Psyop “buyout” now for almost two weeks, but we didn’t report it because it’s industry news and not a spot for Zune or something. After tons of email inquiring about it, I’ve decided to refer readers to the definitive response from Psyop’s CEO, Justin Booth-Clibborn.
In addition to explaining that the deal isn’t really a buyout in the traditional sense, Booth-Clibborn explains that “day-to-day running remains in the hands of the people who are running Psyop right now. My role will change a little bit, obviously being the CEO of a public company brings with it some responsibilities that I haven’t faced up to now, but I’ll be very much involved in what I do now, the public running of the company.”
Please read the full interview before predicting the end of the world. Thanks to Booth-Clibborn and Creativity Online for providing such a lucid account of the arrangement.
Post from: Motionographer
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January 23rd, 2008
Demi Moore posed for the cover of V Magazine's Spring Preview 2008. I'm confused by these covers. And not just by the photoshopping. I thought this magazine was about people with vaginas. Maybe the editors confused Demi with Ashton Kutcher. It happens. He definitely has a V. In fact, I hear it's a W. I don't really know what that means, but I bet it explains why Bruce Willis stops over a lot.
Photos: Splash News
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January 23rd, 2008
The video of Amy Winehouse smoking crack that The Sun released on Monday may lead to legal troubles for the singer. Apparently the video was filmed right before Amy attended the hearing for her husband Blake on Friday. The AP reports:
Police will look at the video before deciding whether any charges should be brought against Winehouse, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.
I wonder if they’ll find anything illegal on the tape like, oh, I dunno, Amy Winehouse smoking crack! Then she suggests her cat should pack up and leave. I mean, that has to be illegal. Cats can’t drive. Except for mine. He’s pretty good at it. I leave him in the car while I get hammered at the local tavern because I’m a hero. Then Fluffy drives me home or at least attempts to. He mostly just meows at the steering wheel while I lie on the floor and work the gas with my face. But it’s cool; I make him wear a seatbelt.
NOTE: For those of you curious about Amy's appearance, these photos were taken last night. She changed her hair color over the weekend. Apparently blonde hair is too crazy for Amy Winehouse.
Photos: Bauer-Griffin
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January 23rd, 2008
Britney Spears' lawyers scheduled an emergency hearing today to allow Britney to have therapeutic visitation with her children. Britney initially showed up at the courthouse then bolted before the hearing began. This probably didn't help her case because, in a quick decision, her request was denied. TMZ reports:
Sources told TMZ Brit wanted visitation restored in a "therapeutic setting" -- meaning under the treatment of medical professionals -- but that wasn't gonna happen, especially since she never showed to make a plea. The Court noted Brit's absence.
On a related note Mark Vincent Kaplan made the following remarks to People about Britney's deposition:
We are going over things that are very, very gut-wrenching. Just to revisit them even in your own mind would not be pleasurable. It's not something anyone would enjoy," he says."
I'll assume, no doubt accurately, that Britney's deposition consisted of her repeating over and over again the catchphrase for Fig Newtons in her new English accent: "It's not a cookie, mother. It's fruit and cake." I actually can't stop saying it right now. It's not a cookie, mother. Sweet Moses! Excuse me while I pay a homeless man to kick me in the eye with his hobo boot. If my next post seems to heavily involve tin cans, the bastard stole my keys and left me for dead. Call the police. I don't want him eating the last Toaster Strudel. I've got ten icing packets stored in my pillowcase; I cannot stress how important that is.*
*Very.
Photos: INFdaily.com
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January 23rd, 2008
I don’t often get tingles from the work posted here, but this new short film directed by Phillip Van had my entire body covered in goosebumps.
“And She Stares Longingly At What She Has Lost” is one part of a five-part exquisite corpse project launched by Little Minx partnered with RSA Films. In addition to Van, four other directors—Chris Nelson, Malik Hassan Sayeed, Josh Miller, and Laurent Briet—responded to the last line of text of the previous director’s script.
Using a script as the creative baton is an interesting approach to creating an exquisite corpse. The result is a set of high-end short films that share an ephemeral thread—a conceptual rather than visual commonality.
As always, Method nailed the visuals and brought Van’s ideas to life in exquisite detail. The balance between fantasy and hyper-reality is one of the things that makes this piece tick. Each image is so charged with symbolic and emotional content.
Some technical bits from the release:
“Phillip had this idea of a man made out of water, someone who is not quite there,” says Caudron, Lead 2D VFX Artist on the project. “It was essential that he be a palpable presence, but also that he seem otherworldly. It was quite a challenge to appropriately balance the real and surreal worlds.”
To nail down a realistic image, the animation team scanned the real life actor into a 3D model, which gave them the man’s complete geometry with which to work:
“The 3D model was a huge help,” says Caudron. “We were able to apply all our lighting and water effects in a series of layers. The character ended up being very layer-heavy, but it sped things up considerably.”
In creating the gnarled and twisted forest that represents the hardships of life, Boyd was reticent at first, but quickly enthused by the challenge:
“Forest scenes are notoriously difficult to render, due to all the detail,” he explains. “We got so into this project, however, that we started looking for new ways to work and new things to learn. Almost everything was shot against bluescreen, with just a few plants and shrubs around the set, so it was up to us to create the forest. To render the entire thing, I used a system called ‘delayed reads.’ With the geometry of one 3D tree, we were able to have the system procedurally create unique trees at render time. While 3D trees are typically so dense in information that you can’t have more than one open at a time, we were able to render out 100 or so each time. It was tremendously helpful.”
Full credits
Post from: Motionographer
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January 23rd, 2008
Aspiring screenwriter and reader-of-the-blog Terry came out to walk the picket line this morning. A recent Notre Dame grad, he’s doing SAT tutoring as a day job. My friend Amy does the same thing in New York, and it strikes me as a nearly ideal way for a writer to put ramen in the cupboard. It’s decent enough that you won’t hate doing it, but not so rewarding that you’ll forget to write.
Beyond Terry’s visit, it was a completely unremarkable three hours. Angry Cadillac Woman scraped the curb as she raced through, but there was no one remotely in her vicinity. My new theory is that she’s actually just angry at the asphalt, and determined to do it damage through vehicular abuse.
WGA Board Member David Goodman stopped by to visit. No real news — there’s a press blackout. But it was announced yesterday that the WGA will not be picketing the Grammys, which is helpful for me, because I’m actually going this year. The last time was fun.
Other topics of conversation: Lucy Liu, India, the Smart car, casting, pilot cutbacks, how nice Notre Dame’s campus is, Malawi, and the “old people school bus” which comes at 8:10 every day.
Tomorrow, same time, same place.
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January 23rd, 2008
Police found a rolled up $20 bill with "narcotic residue" on it in the apartment where Heath Ledger was found dead yesterday, according to CBS News:
Sources add they also found several drug packets containing an unknown substance. CBS 2 has learned these items were all listed on the official police report from the scene.
To be clear, it's still unknown whether these items belonged to Ledger or whether he even actually ingested them.
The drugs could turn out not to be Heath Ledger's. From what I hear they're probably his. No one will know for 10 days until a more thorough autopsy is complete. But it gives eerie resonance to Jack Nicholson's cryptic remark last night of "I warned him."
UPDATE: The NYPD is saying there was no visible residue on the rolled-up $20 bill, according to the AP.
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January 23rd, 2008
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January 23rd, 2008
Jack Nicholson walked out of the Wolseley Restaurant in London last night when paparazzi informed him of the death of Heath Ledger. They told him it was a drug overdose which prompted Jack to say “That’s awful. I warned him.” Then somebody shoved a Joker photo in his face for him to sign. Who could pull off such incredible levels of douche-ness? I mean besides Ashton Kutcher, Criss Angel (Were necklaces found at the scene?), Carson Daly, Adnan Ghalib, Andy Dick, my ex-girlfriend (She thought Clooney was a good Batman. How could we stay together after that?), Sam Lufti, Dick Cheney, Ryan Seacrest, the real Joker (I know you’re out there!), Billy Bush from Access Hollywood, Jimmy Fallon…. Anyone I’m leaving out?
Photos: Bauer-Griffin, Pacific Coast News
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