Ninja vs Penguin

Penguin June 29th, 2008

Dali is at the MoMA.

The show tracks the traffic of images, themes and ideas between Dalí’s films, both realized and not, and his more static efforts, including paintings, drawings, letters, illustrated notes, scenarios and other ephemera.
[...]
Dalí grasped that film’s capacities — for depicting irrationality in action; for dissolving, continually mutating images; and for an intensely real unreality — were all ready-made for his sensibility and his desire to reach a mass audience.
[...]
“Destino,” the sprightly animated short of love and loss that Dalí worked on energetically for Walt Disney in 1946 [runs continuously].

- NYTimes

The show runs through Sept 15 at the MoMA.

-Penguin

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Tags: Art, Exhibits, Film, MoMA, NYT, Salvador Dali

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Penguin June 27th, 2008

Paul McCarthy’s “Central Symmetrical Rotation Movement: Three Installations, Two Films” at the Whitney:

The show focuses on a core strand of McCarthy’s work: the use of architecture to create perceptual disorientation in the viewer through spinning mirrors, rotating walls, projections, and altered space.

the show of about 22 works dating from 1966 to the present includes three major sculptures, two early short films and assorted drawings, photographs and videos.

Two basic motifs connect the various pieces: the room and rotational movement, or spinning.
[...]
“Spinning Camera, Walking, Mike Cram Walking” that Mr. McCarthy made by rotating a camera on a tripod in a mostly empty room. The view goes round and round, alternating bright windows and dark walls and occasionally giving a glimpse of a man walking in circles in the room.

“Mad House”… consists of a large steel-framed wooden box mounted on a powerful motor. A door in the box reveals a room with a padded seat inside. (There are also three square windows.) When turned on, the room rotates at high speed while inside the chair rotates too, though not necessarily in the same direction or at the same velocity.

[In] “Couple”,… Mr. McCarthy set the focus on his camera at two feet and then roamed around a room with it, creating a blurry, aimless tour. Two naked people, a man and a woman, appear intermittently.

In “Spinning Room,”… [f]our video cameras rotate on a gleaming high-tech machine within a square, walk-in enclosure made of rear-projection screens. Images recorded by the cameras pass through computers and then to projectors stationed outside the enclosure. The projectors direct streaming video pictures of people inside onto the screens.

- NYTimes

The show runs through Oct 12 at the Whitney.

In July, the Whitney will open “Paul McCarthy: Film List”:

McCarthy began making films as a student in the 1960s, and his current exhibition on the Whitney’s third floor includes two rare 16mm films screening for the first time in decades. In conjunction with his exhibition, McCarthy has curated a film program that brings together works by, among others, Stan VanDerBeek, Francis Picabia, Walt Disney, Kurt Kren, Yves Klein, and Bruce Conner.

This portion runs from July 11 through Sept 28.

-Penguin

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Tags: Exhibits, Installations, NYT, Paul McCarthy, Whitney

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Penguin June 26th, 2008

MoMA’s celebrating with Zeitgeist: The Films of Our Time, running from June 27 through July 23.

To celebrate [Russo and Gerstman's] ongoing success, MoMA presents a selection of works by critical figures in the company’s history and catalog—from artists they embraced at early stages of their film careers, including Bruce Weber, Todd Haynes, Deepa Mehta, François Ozon, Olivier Assayas, and Guy Maddin, to established masters like Agnes Varda, Yvonne Rainer, Derek Jarman, and Jacques Demy. This monthlong series includes several introductions and post-screening Q&A sessions with some of the filmmakers, along with appearances by Gerstman and Russo.

-Penguin

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Tags: Art, Exhibits, Film, MoMA, Zeitgeist

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Ninja June 18th, 2008

Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, and Eugene Levy are joining the cast of the CG anime movie Astro Boy.

Coming from Imagi Animation Studios in 2009, Astro Boy is based on the iconic character created by the father of anime, Osamu Tezuka. David Bowers (Flushed Away) directs this new full CG-animated motion picture.

Originating as a manga in 1952, the Astro Boy animated television series was first aired in 1963 in Japan and subsequently found great acclaim and success around the world. In the US, it quickly became a top syndicated children’s show.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving man’s expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experience betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

Via Animated News

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Tags: Astro Boy, Bill Nighy, David Bowers, Donald Sutherland, Eugene Levy, Freddie Highmore, Imagi Animation Studios, Nathan Lane, Nicolas Cage, Osamu Tezuka

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Penguin June 11th, 2008

Total Running time: 43:12

Invasion: The Battle for earth is a huge mashup of some of the greatest (and not so great) films of our time.

Movies used: Independence Day, Star Wars, Deep Impact, Star Trek, Contact, War of the Worlds (1953 + 2005), ET, Apollo 13, Transformers, Signs, Battlestar Galactica, Terminator 2 + 3, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Abyss, AI, Armageddon, Day After Tomorrow, Goldeneye, Mars Attacks, Outbreak, Superman 2, Superman returns, V: The Mini Series, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Ship Troopers, Alien, Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, The Last Starfighter, The Matrix, Planet of the Apes (2001), Serenity, Tron, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Even though it said that the final (Episode 6) would be released in April, it still isn’t up yet. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

-Penguin

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Tags: Editing, Mashup, Movies, Star Wars, Videos

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Penguin June 4th, 2008

Rating: 1.5/4 stars

Egon & Donci is a free for download CG animated movie. It’s about a an amateur astronomer, Egon and his pet cat, who discover a “map” to Earth.

The animation is pretty good. There are some nice shots and good use of the medium. The scenes in space are beautiful, full of color and atmosphere. Unfortunately, that’s really all that’s good about it.

There are so many times where the film feels like a really long tech demo. The camera flies around a little too much. The plot is mainly just a vehicle to show off the environments and animation. It takes too long to start and by the time any tension or drama comes in, you’re kind of bored.

To download it for free, you have to sit through a short ad before the link is served.

One thing I really have to give to the filmmakers is their willingness to put almost everything online for download. I haven’t had a chance to go through it, but they made all the sound effects they used in the film online. There are also texture maps and cloud sequences.

-Penguin

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Tags: 1.5 stars, Animation, CG, Downloads, Free

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Ninja May 20th, 2008

The animated documentary film, “Waltz with Bashir” premiered at Cannes film festival on May 15, 2008.

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images…

Director: Ari Fulman
Art Direction: David Polanski
Animation: Yoni Goodman
Art + concept sketches: Michael Faust, Asaf Hanuka, Tomer Hanuka, Ya’ara Buchman

Via Tropical Toxic

Related link
+ Waltz with Bashir official site

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Tags: Annimation, Ari Fulman, Asaf Hanuka, Cannes, David Polanski, Documentaries, Michael Faust, Tomer Hanuka, Waltz with Bashir, Ya'ara Buchman, Yoni Goodman

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Ninja May 11th, 2008

For Mother’s Day, the Alamo Drafthouse is showing Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Alamo South Lamar. To commemorate the event, Diana Sudyka has produced this limited silkscreen print. This print measures 19 inches x 25 inches and is printed with metallic ink. It is going for $30 USD. You can get your’s here.

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Ninja May 7th, 2008

The smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies brings back fond memories of when I was a child and would bake with my mum. It’s funny, because I feel so safe and loved whenever I get a whiff of it. And even just writing about it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Now imagine if regular sensory experiences bring back memories of government secrets. As a Sensory Archiver, Andy Lipman uses his photographic memory to store these secrets, which can be retrieved by associated physical stimuli. For example, the sound of frying oil contains the results of illegal clinical drug trials in Southeast Asia, and Britain’s nuclear launch codes taste like economy pork sausages. But the memory that Andy wants to hold onto is the one that keeps slipping away—the memory of his love.

This British short film, And I Refuse To Forget, was directed and written by Nuru Rimington-Mkali. His short was entered in Filmaka and won! Now, Rimington-Mkali is working on making this into a feature-length movie.

Via Wired

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Tags: And I Refuse To Forget, Filmaka, Nuru Rimington-Mkali, Trailers

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Penguin April 15th, 2008

io9 reports that Steven Spielberg will direct Ghost in the Shell based on a script by Jamie Moss. io9 seems to think that Spielberg will do a bad job. But we’ve seen that he’s capable of gritty. Just look at Minority Report. And if nothing else, Spielberg is a great director and a great story teller. I have full confidence in him.

Thanks to Ray for the link.

Update: Steven Spielberg is NOT attached to direct. The director was only instrumental in helping Dreamworks acquire the rights to produce the 3D live action movie.

” ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is one of my favorite stories,” Spielberg said. “It’s a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks.”
…
Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce and brought the project to the studio.

-Variety

-Penguin

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Tags: Anime, Ghost in the Shell, Jamie Moss, Steven Spielberg

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