More Stills from "Cigarette Breakdown"

I am making the final copy of the DVD, so while I wait for it to be completed, I thought I would post more photos from the shoots. These are stills by Radi Konstantinov.

More Monsters

Still not sure why the images look this way, but here are some of my favorites from the second batch of monsters. The first one I call Ug and Bubb. Next is Octoclobber and finally Evil Teddy. I will soon post a batch of pictures similar to the first one that has all the new ones on it. If you have ideas for new monsters let me know and I'll try to make something for you.

Behind the Scenes of "Cigarette Breakdown"

These are some of the early images from the shoots for my latest movie "Cigarette Breakdown" taken by James and other people on the set. Just a little taste while I put the finishing touches on the DVD.

Stairwells

This is the beginning of a project I am working on featuring images of stairwells.

Cadet Restaurant

What I wouldn't give to eat here....

Monsters!

I have been totally consumed by my movie for a while now, but at this point I will call it "Finished." What that means is that I am done editing for the time being and am trying to convert it onto a dvd without losing quality. In the mean time however I have started a few other projects, one of which is my moster project. I have dedicated myself to making monsters on illustrator, one a day. These are the results from the first batch, so let me know what you think.

Coy

This is my second Illustrator attempt. Still not sure why this image turned out in negative colors. The fish is supposed to be orange and the red portiuon is actually blue. Let me know if you know why this is happening.

Meat Cradle

This is the first image I made with Adobe Illustrator. It is the design for a restaurant that Drew and Corey will be opening called the Meat Cradle. The premise of this restaurant is that all dishes are comprised entirely of meats and topped with meat gravy. No dish has fewer than two meats, for a example a bacon wrapped sausage or a ham covered steak would be normal items. This is my proposition for their logo, a baby in a cradle reaching up towards a mobile of meats. I want to change the mobile and add a cradle and I'm not sure why it came out in these colors since the true colors are reds. Let me know what you think Drew and Corey.

Review of Ultra Violet

Ultra Violet: F

I saw the previews and was blown away by the visual effects of this movie. I took my seat in the theater, barely able to contain my excitement as the previews flew across the screen in a flashy comic book style. I saw the name of the director, Kurt Wimmer, and my heart skipped a beat; this film was written and directed by the same guy who did Equilibrium. Then the movie started. The first five minutes were packed with action and though I had no idea what was going on, I was excited. But the confusion continued and subsequently did not let up for the rest of the film. This movie was the biggest piece of lack luster, unmotivated bunk I have seen in a long time. There was no plot worth paying attention to and the action was so pointless and repetitive that I didn't care about how cool it looked, not to mention that the effects were all recycled from previous films and the fight scene were often so fast and anti-climactic that they weren't even worth including. To add to this list of failures the acting was intolerably bad which was understandable because the dialogue was utter garbage. This trash was forced upon the audience and Wimmer attempts to make it more epic and meaningful with the music, which in turn comes across as cheesy and over dramatic. The only things in this movie worthy of praise in fact were the costumes, sets and some of the ideas, though poorly implemented in the film. This movie should not exist and the fact that it does makes me lose all faith I ever had in Hollywood's ability to discern good from bad. Wimmer, where did you go wrong? This movie is so bad, it makes your earlier film worse by association. Seeing this movie is about as fun as giving yourself a frontal lobotomy and leaves you feeling about as intelligent afterwards.

Oh Snow!

The snow is holding back from completing my film shoot for my IS. So I used this opportunity instead to create a panoramic from my window.

Channeling the Dragon

The Digital Aesthetic

For my Digital Aesthetics class, taught by Professor Havholm (above), we conducted an experiment in which we opened the lecture up to the world by allowing people to listen in and contribute to the discussion via cell phone, AIM, and a note taking software called Peanutgallery. In addition we videotaped the class and I took digital stills. Here are some of my favorites.

Sculpture #2: The Devious Happies

I have been really consumed by all my work, mostly my Senior IS movie shoot, so my post have been few and far between. I have been doing work, though, actually quite a bit. This is the second sculpture from my sculpture class. The requirement this time was to create an object with moving parts using wire. I decided to make multiple objects. These are monsters that are inspired by the work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami. I think of them more as a beginning than a finished piece. Ideally this would be an army of monsters and I would make a playground for them to play on as well. So much I want to do and so little time.

Morphin' Time!

I recently began reviewing software for a website and one of the products I reviewed was a Morph animation creater called MorphBuster. The program is quite simple, but it produces some really cool results. I made an animation of James and myself and posted it on Google Video. Follow the link below to see it.

The Transformation of Joe and James

Safety Net

These are pictures from a sculpture that I installed for a class. I created the piece as part of a project that's goal was to activate space with string. The piece spans three stories and resides in the stairwell of the Ebert Art Center on the COW campus. It is entitled "Saftey Net."

Review of Underworld: Evolution

Underworld: Evolution D

If you go to the movies looking to see generic action movies with convoluted plots, sub par CGI, and action that is so fast and confusing that you have no idea what is going on, then Underworld: Evolution is the movie for you. I had absolutely no clue what was happening for the first third of the movie and that was because there was nothing to understand. This movie was utterly devoid of plot and relied solely on the first movie's development to drive it along. I went to this movie because James said that reviews were amazing. It became immediately evident that this was not the case. Upon returning we realized that those were user reviews and that the movie was panned by every critic. This is a bad movie, but not bad enough that you can enjoy its badness. The awful thing is that the movie took itself seriously while explaining nothing to the audience. I almost left this movie it was so bad, but I stayed hoping for some payoff. Was there one, you ask? Yes. There will be yet another sequel. So mark your calendars and make sure to miss what will hopefully be the final chapter in the Underworld series.

Pool Ballin'

This is Corey Eisenstein and my first attempt at creating an animation. We created it over winter break on Corey's Canon 20D still camera. Follow the link below and enjoy.


Pool Ballin'

Anyone Can Post Now!

So I went through the settings and now anyone who wants to can post. So, I encourage people to comment away and let me know what they think about the things that appear in my Blog.

Review of Syriana

Syriana: A

I'm going to start this film review outright by saying that this is an incredible film that will not be appreciated by everyone. Even though the film features beautiful cinematography, complex narrative, an all star cast and a gripping plot that is both confusing and intoxicating, it will not be enjoyed, or even viewed by half the population, because it deals with the conflict in the Middle East and doesn't support the views of Conservative Republicans. Well if you can look past that and be entertained by a socially and politically charged film that shows the perils and downfalls of a gas-guzzling capitalist economy, then this film can also be for you. I thought this film was poignant and brilliantly done. I left the theater with many thoughts in my head weeks ago and am still churning them over now. Any film that can do that to me is worth a second watch and my recomendation.

Review of King Kong

King Kong: C

Spoilers ahead....

My expectations for this movie were low... and they were barely met. What I was hoping to get from this film was lighthearted entertainment and maybe a couple of cool action sequences. What I got was three hours of gratuitous scenes that should have ended before they started. The first third of the film, and consequently the first hour, was all build up. This is what I think Peter Jackson does best because of his early career in horror flicks. He knows how to build up tension and he does this expertly. This was in fact my favorite part of the film. He concretely and beautifully build the world of the Depression and gives it the feel of an old 1940's film. Then there is a boat ride, which last quadruple the amount of time it should and finally in an unimpressive storm they are washed ashore Skull Island. My second favorite part of the film follows as the crew stumbles on tribesmen who are both creepy and perfectly costumed. It is after this first hour that we finally meet Kong, and the movie begins to go downhill. From here on out it is one over the top, unnecessary scene after another. First there is a fifteen minute Brontosaurus chase which is completely unbelievable. They have a herd of Brotosaurus being chased by tiny raptors who are not satisfied by catching just one, aparently want the whole herd and the humans to eat. Then there's a colossal T-rex vs Kong fight which is about twenty minutes and ridiculous. At one point there is a Tyranasaurus stuck in a slew of vines, unable to move his upper body, but still pushing off a wall in order to try to eat Naomi Watts. I think Peter Jackson gives these dinosaurs too much credit or else just really wanted to use a shit ton of CGI. And then there is the Kong/Naomi Watts love story. Peter Jackson has a knack for making cheesy scene to milk emotion and I feel like he throws then in to piss me off. No one in their right mind would buy into this crap I thought to myself in the theater, but as I was leaving, low and behold a woman in the back of the theater is sobbing her eyes out for poor Naomi who lost her Kong. So what did I get out of this film? I learned that people are stupid and gullible and will buy into any crap and that dinosaurs love to eat white people so much that they will do anything to get them, even if it means they have to die. If you are going to make me sit throught three hours of a film, make sure its all necessary and interesting.