A new look

I know, this page does look quite unprofessional. I do appreciate good web design and I know how it can make or break a site, so a new look is coming soon hopefully. And maybe even a new name as that gamer is now in the dust?

Of course I should really be getting back to my last essay, an essay on the sound design of Joss Whedon's film Serenity believe it or not. The film that takes place after the television show Firefly. I haven't talked about Firefly on this blog before but all you need to know is that you need to watch it. It's only one season so go hire it, buy it, just make sure you watch it! Tell me what you think.

On that note, I know I'm quite insignificant in the blogosphere, I'm not pretending that this site is extremely popular. But if you took the time to stop by, please leave a comment or a suggestion. Don't forget to digg the reviews. I want to make this blog as awesome as possible for you guys.

cloverfield

So... Cloverfield, that mysterious movie no one knew much about. I saw it. And it was friggin' awesome.

There was actually quite a lot of stuff on the Internet focused on promoting Cloverfield, but it was so obscure I didn't find out about it until I had already seen the movie! Honestly, I get really into this wider media stuff, participating outside of a film. There was a 1-18-08.com site showing an assortment of interesting photos where you can flick them around the screen like some sort of Microsoft Surface software. If you click your mouse and draw a circle, they will turn over and there are some messages on the backs of them. PR also created fake myspace pages for the six main characters dating back to July last year! But the characters haven't logged on since 18/1/08. You really should have seen the movie before this date to get the full effect! There's some interesting references inside Cloverfield to a fictional Japanese drink called Slusho which makes you very happy when you drink it. J.J. Abrams also shows off Slusho in his other work, Alias. Even though he isn't related to the Heroes team, here's an assortment of pictures of the crew enjoying their Slushos! Kristen Bell who plays Elle actually sips from a Slusho bottle in one of the episodes in season two! Thanks to cloverfieldclues for helping me find this stuff out.


So the movie, I won't spoil anything you probably don't know already, but it is a monster movie. And it does wreak havoc upon New York. And the way it is filmed is as mentionable as anything, like the Blair Witch it is filmed with a handheld camera but thanks to J.J. Abrams spectacular budget, is much higher quality video and audio!

And something I found interesting, if you look at the reviews, people over 30 seem to find it annoyingly dizzy, like my father and his friend did. Under 30's seem to be really drawn into the experience, such as I. What it really feels like to me is a intense first person shooter, more like Half-Life, without the interactivity though. So I'm pretty used to the camera pointing every which where, just don't do it in my 3rd person games, thank-you very much!

the golden compass

The new movie for the first book 'Northern Lights' of His Dark Materials Trilogy is coming to NZ cinemas on boxing day! I can't wait! It stars Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter, Daniel Craig as Lord Asriel, Eva Green as Serafina Pekkala, and Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra (she actually looks like my idea of Lyra).

And now I'm reading 'Northern Lights' aka 'The Golden Compass'. The last time I read it, was 7 years ago! I've been thinking about how people remember books lately. It's really much harder to remember a book than say a film or a game because you are remembering visual images that were created in your mind. Food for thought, there must be a book about it somewhere...

Another pointless thought crossed my mind about time traveling. If time travel could one day be invented in the future, why haven't we seen any time travelers? Wouldn't they travel back to this present day? So does that prove time travel is impossible, or do the time travelers stay hidden to prevent anything from affecting their present time?

rant: 'The Golden Compass' is a boring title really, released only in America, Pullman should have kept the original title. But actually now that I think about it... I guess it matches up with the other two novels, 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'.

The trailer below gives me goosebumps each time I see it!



extended trailer

U23D

If you haven't heard the news yet, a 3D film of the South American leg of U2's Vertigo tour has just been finished. "U2 3D is the first live-action film to be shot, edited, and shown entirely in 3-D". Recently premiered at the hugely popular Cannes film festival. U2 even performed a couple songs, 'Vertigo' and 'Where the Streets Have No Name" right on the red carpet!

Now comes another problem with living in beautiful, isolated New Zealand; we get stuff so much later than everyone else! Where it be technology, television, or movies, kiwis are always left behind. So I have no idea if U23D will even get released here! Plus in the entire country of New Zealand there is only one IMAX theater, located in Auckland. So I guess if they do bring it here, there's gonna be another trip to Auckland. I'll probably fly this time. I couldn't stand another grueling train journey by myself!