Ethereality News & Weblog

February 25, 2010

Top Ten Ways to Be A Better Artist

Filed under: Art & CG, Film/TV/Animation, Music, My Life/Musings, News, Site News, Video Games, Writing — Rob @ 9:31 pm

NEWS:
I always get a lot of questions when I post photos of my music studio, so I finally added a page showing the design plans and construction photos of my studio, with explanations of why I made the choices I made.

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My Top Ten Ways to Be A Better Artist article has been published in the February 2010 issue of ImagineFX magazine. This was originally a more detailed version I posted at cgtalk, and ImagineFX contacted me and asked me if they could publish it. I had to edit the original down to fit their layout, so if you want to some of the missing details, read the original version.

It was quite a pleasure working with them this time around (they interviewed in their premiere issue, and I also did a paining tutorial for them as well. The editors were very understanding in my adamant request to be involved in the editorial process and have final say in the exact wording. I’m very adamant about this matter because in the past, I’ve had publications that tried to paraphrase me or shorten what I said in order to fit into their layout, resulting in technical mistakes, incorrect emphasis, incorrect context, or alteration of the tone for the worse. I vowed at some point to never be put through that again, so my currently condition in being interviewed or published is to be granted full participation in the final editing process. This might make me sound like a control freak, but that’s not really the case. I simply do no like being misrepresented, that’s all.

(EDIT: my previous mention of the mistakes was a misunderstanding. The scan someone sent me for some reason is not the same as what I just received in the mail from Future Publishing. I don’t know how someone got a hold of the pre-publication edit, but anyway, I’m very happy that the final edit is exactly as I had worked out with the editors.)

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I recently did a Q&A session with Peter Lucky, and I thought some of his questions were quite interesting–different from the typical questions I get when I do interviews, so I decided to post them here.

Q: I’ve looked over a great deal of your website, including your really long bio. Reading it noticed how honest you are about yourself with other people. Not many are willing to do that, does this translate outside the internet in your everyday life?

A: Pretty much. I’ve always been a pretty candid person, and I don’t know why some of us are really withdrawn while some of us are really open. Perhaps it’s personality, or perhaps it’s outlook in life and also individual values. I believe in constantly striving to become a better person and redeeming past mistakes, so I see myself as a “work-in-progress,” which means I always have the chance to change anything I don’t like about myself, and also redeem myself. This leads me to never having to feel ashamed or overtly embarrassed about anything, because I know I can always improve and learn and change. I also believe that past mistakes are very important factors in our growth, because they are valuable lessons. I think sharing those lessons is a great way to give back to the world so others can maybe gain something from my mistakes, or at least feel like they are not alone in their struggles.

Q: I’ve seen the stunning amount of totally different careers you’ve done over the years, very few people will take the risks you do and prefer to stay with one thing most – if not all their lives. Were there any career decisions you made which you regret?

A: In some ways, I wish I had concentrated on music or film/writing, since they are the most potent to me emotionally, but because art was easier for me to find a job in, I stuck with art jobs even if they weren’t as emotionally involving to me. If I could go back in time, I’d have forced my parents into letting me take piano/music lessons and raised completely hell until they agreed. It’s the biggest regret of my life.

Q: You’ve said you’re a pretty optimistic person, what kept you going through the dark times you’ve had in your life?

A: I remind myself that I’m not terminally ill, am not living on the street, am not living in a country that’s constantly at war, was not born into some remote village in a very poor country with constant famine and disease…etc. Compared to many, I’m incredibly lucky. I also tell myself that tomorrow is a different day, and you can never tell what’s going to happen because life is full of surprises. Another thing I tell myself is that I’ve gone through very dark periods in the past, yet I survived them, and every single one of them felt like there would be no end to the suffering. They all eventually passed, and I’m stronger and better for having being tested, so this current dark period is no different. I’ll survive it and then sometime in the future I’ll be able to look back and think, “Yep, I survived that one as well.”

Q: You say everything you do is self-taught. This is something I relate to completely, most of what i’ve learned in creative pursuits are from my own initiative, research, experimenting, and mistakes. Even being in college now, I still learn most and best on my own. Having dropped out of college and not attending an arts school, did that ever put you at a disadvantage for employment? In the digital world, there have been endless debates about self-taught vs secondary education. From your experiences how has being self-taught affected you during job interviews? Have you ever been treated differently because of it?

A: Almost never. It’s all about your portfolio, resume, experience, and how you interact with people. In fact, most people are highly impressed that I’m self-taught. The only time I ever came across something different was this one art director who told me she preferred candidates that has a degree because it shows they can stick with something long-term until they achieved their goal. When I interview candidates as an art director, I don’t care about their education either, unless it was something unusual, like they never even finished high school. That’s when I get a bit concerned.

Q: Moving onto lighter questions, you’ve mentioned your passion for gaming. I’m very passionate for gaming as well, what would be some of your favourite games?

A: Check the “About Me” and “goodies” sections of my site–I have a page called “Influences” that lists everything I love (movies, music, games, artists…etc).

Q: Games are becoming more like high-budget films at a break-neck pace. Do you think this is a good direction for the video game industry?

A: Yes and no. The visceral impact is impressive and can really make your jaws drop, but there’s also less experimentation and innovation because every product has to turn a AAA level profit. With that said, I’m sort of guilty of buying into the big-budget AAA titles and don’t pay nearly as much attention to indie games as I should. This is mostly because my time is precious so I try to only play games that are highly regarded and has made a splash in the industry, so unless an indie game has garnered that kind of attention, I usually stick to the big AAA titles.

Q: Working with Sony Pictures Spider-Man 3 and Surfs Up hopefully would have been an incredible (and presumably well paying) experience. Could you describe how that experience was for you?

A: It was very stressful since half-way through the projects they raised my fee to double, but giving me only a fraction of the time to finish them. At first I had 3 or more days to do each piece, but once they doubled my fee I was only given a day per piece, so I wasn’t sleeping much at all. But it really pushed me to be resourceful and clever and choose my battles carefully when executing the pieces. It’s to date the most challenging gigs I’ve had because the caliber of the work had to be top-notch Hollywood level, but done very quickly.

Q: Soon you’ll begin teaching on CG Society (unless classes start as soon as your full) and I imagine this will be a very exciting learning experience for both you and your students. When you’re finished, do you expect to continue doing this workshop – or offer something completely different?

A: I will repeat the workshop for as long as there’s popular demand. It would be a shame if the workshop only ran once, after I’ve spent well over a year working hard on it. As far as tackling other subjects or focus, it’s all up in the air. For now, I’ll have to make sure this workshop does everything I designed it to do, and I’ll find out after its first run. Also, as creative people, we often go through cycles of learning, assessing, practicing…etc. After working on the workshop for so long, I’m totally ready to start my next cycle, which is to produce a lot of new works and take my own works to the next level.


Q: I saw your house and studio, both were absolutely stunning and being the tech enthusiast I am – the studio is my favourite part. Right now my studio consists of a small bedroom. To me having a studio like yours would really make me think of how far I’d come to be able to even have something like this. What does having your studio make you think?

A: It was also a dream-come-true for me to finally be able to design a studio from the ground up and construct it myself to my own ideals. But even then, compromises were made, since we’re not exactly rich. I wish it could be just a bit bigger so I can have a bit more room to work with–such as maybe putting in an acoustic piano or an additional drum kit. I also wish I’d have the room/budget to do a full-blown room-in-a-room construction so that all structural noises would be eliminated (such as some guy upstairs stomping around or hammering away at something). Acoustically, I’m quite happy with the acoustic treatment, but computer noise is still a problem and I’m working towards a solution right now (building a custom isolation cabinet). But even with the compromises, it’s my little piece of heaven–I spend all of my time in the studio. While we may never be totally satisfied and there’s always that premium piece of gear we want, the truth is, at some point in your studio’s evolution, you’ll hit a point where you pretty much have everything you need to create anything you can imagine, and whatever other gear lust you have are only luxuries, not necessities. That’s where I am now–I’m not missing anything, but I still have gear lust and want to upgrade certain pieces of gear. Knowing this is a calming feeling–that it’s no longer about you missing the gear you need to achieve a particular effect–it’s now all about how creative you can get.

Q: When it comes to software, what would be the most challenging one you’ve learned? Would you like to share your experiences with it?

A: I would say that in general, 3D software are by far the hardest to work with and are the most technical. Music, photography, writing, video, 2D…etc all have complex software too, but they are by nature not nearly as technical. That is perhaps the one thing that really turns me off about 3D–the highly technical nature of it all. Very often I feel like the ROI (Return On Investment) with 3D is not worth it for me personally. The same time and energy spent in music, drawing/painting, photography, shooting video…etc will yield me more creative fulfillment and fun, not to mention less frustrations and technical hurdles to jump over.

Q: You say you enjoy watching films on DVD with your wife, do you watch any television shows as well? Currently airing or on DVD.

A: The “Influences” page on my site lists them.

Q: Is there anything out there in the way of technology or software that you wish would be invented?

A: I fantasize about this all the time. Hand-held medical scanner that can detect any disease and its location, and then treat it ASAP. Completely reliable data storage/backup solution that’s also practical and cost-effective (maybe solid-state drives when they come down in price). Much more advanced and intuitive sample/physical modeling hybrid solutions for realistic musical instrument emulations. Cameras with far superior high ISO and auto-focus performance that’s as quick and dynamic as the human eye, so you’d never fudge a shot again. The perfect headphone that can easily rival the most expensive reference studio monitor speakers, including authentic and visceral sub-bass reproduction. Teleportation devices so we don’t have to fly/drive long distance ever again. The list goes on and on and on.

WEBLOG:
I finally finished Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 a while ago. My opinion of it hasn’t changed–it’s still a big Michael Bay-esque roller coaster ride with relentless and over-the-top action, and it’s a lot of fun without a lot of subtlety or substance. The credit roll with the museum set pieces were a big surprise, and I thought it was one of the most clever and interesting credit roll ideas I’ve ever experienced–right up there with Portal’s adorable and hilarious ending song.

I’m not sure which game I’ll focus on finishing next. I did start on Dragon Age: Origins, but so far it’s not as compelling as I had hoped–at least not in the way that Knights of the Old Republic or Mass Effect were.

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I’m currently looking to get one of the room correction products on the market (IK Multimedia ARC System, KRK Ergo, JBL MSC1, Samson D-1500, dbx Drive Rack PX…etc). Even though my studio is fully treated acoustically, it still isn’t perfect, and the room correction products will be the icing on the cake. I would never use one of these products to act as substitute or replacement for proper acoustic treatment, but as that extra icing on the cake, I think these products can be quite helpful. Once I decide on which one and have done the measurements and corrections, I’ll report back on how it went.

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I recently purchased two software that I really love. One is the Isone Pro, and the other is the J River Media Center 14. Isone Pro is a plugin that makes your headphones sound like you’re listening to speakers in a room, thus eliminating listening fatigue that’s caused by the drastic stereo imaging inherent in headphones (that uncomfortabler “in your head” sound, which is the most dramatic when there are instruments panned hard right and hard left). Isone Pro allows you to set the distance of the virtual speakers, the size of your head and ears, and type of speaker cabinets used. I’ve tried other similar crossfeed plugins and they don’t come anywhere close to how natural the Isone Pro sounds. Redline Monitor is one such plugin, and it costs three times more than Isone Pro (which only costs $27), and it doesn’t really work all that better than the free Headphone plugin that comes with Media Center 14. None of the other crossfeed plugins actually sound like the sound is coming from speakers in front of you, and Isone Pro is the only one I’ve heard that does it. I’m assuming hardware units like the SPL Phonitor probably does something similar, but hardware units like that cost well over a grand. $27 vs. a grand. You do the math.

Media Center 14 is by far one of the very best media librarian/player on the market. It allows extensive customizing, is very robust and feature-rich, and now has native VST hosting, which was the main reason I finally upgraded from Media Jukebox (the free version of Media Center) to a paid license. Now that Media Center can host VST’s (and you can freely change the order of the activated plugins), one of my favorite things in the world is to listen to music late at night in Media Center while studying spectrum analyzers (Voxengo SPAN, Stillwell Audio Schope, Nugen Visualizer…etc), with the Isone Pro engaged, and play around with EQ’s (Voxengo GlissEQ, Fabfilter Pro-Q, Blue Cat’s Parametric EQ, EasyQ…etc). It helps me understand how some of my favorite songs were mixed and mastered, and in turn will help me improve in my audio production skills.

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Quickie movie/TV reviews:

The Sopranos (season two~six) – I finally finished watching the entire series, and although I enjoyed some aspects of the show, I have to say that I feel it’s a bit overrated. While I appreciate the fact it broke new ground when it came out, I don’t really think it deserves the kind of rabid praise like “best TV show in the history of television.” For me personally, it’s important that a story contains some kind of transcendence, where the character(s) actually overcome some kind of obstacle and we see a metamorphosis happening–something is changed, and from that change comes a profound revelation of some kind, or at the very least an emotional catharsis. It doesn’t even have to have closure, but it must be cathartic, and intellectually we must have gained some valuable insight or understanding. With The Sopranos, we don’t really get any of that, or at least not the amount or intensity I had hoped for. In Goodfellas, we got a powerful and sobering closure when Henry looked into the camera and started speaking to us, the audience). In The Godfather, there was poetic and emotional catharsis–that operatic and visceral experience. In The Sopranos, we got a fucking anti-climatic riddle at the end that just wasn’t very satisfying (at least not in the way that we expected the ending to six long seasons to be). I have read all the different interpretations of the series finale, and whether the black silent screen meant it’s Tony getting whacked, or the audience getting whacked (no longer privileged to peek into their lives), it makes no difference–it just wasn’t emotionally satisfying. I so wished that someone in the show could’ve gotten out of that bleak world of violence and misery-maybe just packed up and drove away from it all to begin a new life, but no one did. Perhaps that was the message–that once you’re in that life, there’s no getting out, no transcendence, no redemption, no metamorphosis–just a dead end spiritually, physically, and emotionally.

In season 3, when the mash-up of Every Breath You Take and Peter Gunn played in the episode where the feds were tailing the Sopranos, I grinned like the Cheshire Cat. That was pretty damn clever.

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Fantastic Mr. Fox – I was surprised by how well Anderson’s sense of rhythm for dialogue worked in perfect symphony with stop-motion animation. It was by far one of the most interesting and entertaining animated films I have seen in a long time, and I loved the fact that the film didn’t feel like it was aimed at children in any way. Often animated films aimed at adults can be a bit drab or pretentious, and this one really got the balance right in my opinion. Oh yeah, and no irritating and smug references to pop culture–thank God.

February 1, 2010

It’s live! Becoming A Better Artist – Critical knowledge and techniques for today’s artists

Filed under: Art & CG, Computers & Gadgets, Film/TV/Animation, My Life/Musings, News — Rob @ 11:49 am

NEWS:
My workshop Becoming A Better Artist – Critical knowledge and techniques for today’s artists is now open for enrollment. After more than a year’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears, it’s finally ready to go live. Space is limited (only 35 students will be accepted), so definitely act fast. The course will start on March 8th and will last eight weeks. Whether it will repeat in the future will depend on popular demand, so if you don’t get in the first time, definitely let CGSociety.org know that you want to see it repeated. If you want even more details about the workshop or want to ask question, get yourself over to this announcement thread.

The first run of the workshop is going to be very interesting, as I’ll find out if it’s possible to teach so much content in just eight weeks. I hope the students will be a real pleasure to teach–passionate aspiring artists who are hungry for knowledge, craves guidance, motivated, and hopefully smart and talented as well.

WEBLOG:
My Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM display monitor have been acting up in the last few months–it would turn itself off repeatedly, refuse to respond to the power on/off button in the front, jump around in brightness/contrast levels, and other weirdness. It acts up sporadically so it’s totally unpredictable and hard to reproduce the problems. I took it to the local Samsung service center in Fuzhou and they said they couldn’t find anything wrong with it, but when I brought it home it’s still got the same problems. I know it’s not because of my video card or computer since everything’s normal when I use my SyncMaster 244T instead. I’ve only used the 2493HM for about a year, and since the problems usually don’t last (turning the power switch on the back on and off usually takes care of it, but sometimes even that doesn’t work), it’s not like I have full justification to just go out and buy a new display monitor. I almost wish it would just kick the bucket so I could be rid of it.

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Elena was telling me the other day that she’s sick and tired of seeing useless people posting petty and pointless emo rants online in blogs, forums, social networking sites…etc–she called it “polluting the internet with negative vibe.” These people don’t seem to contribute to our civilization in any tangible way, and only adds misery, chaos, and negativity to our virtual world. Why not actually contribute something useful or meaningful to the world? Post a recipe. Offer some useful advice. Share interesting knowledge. Help others. Hell, even writing user reviews of products you have used is contributing to greater good of our civilization. Do something–anything, that makes this world a better place while you’re online, instead of only dumping personal baggage into our virtual space.

Related to her little rant, I had a similar one myself. I was talking to her about David Duchovny’s character (Hank Moody) in Californication and how he’s not nearly as likable as Fox Mulder in The X-Files. While both characters are very intelligent, talented, and witty, the difference is that Mulder is passionate, motivated, and strives to be a noble person, while Moody is mostly a jerk that takes pride in being an asshole. I could never relate to people like that–those who enjoy hurting others or putting them in uncomfortable situations for their own amusement. I know we all have the potential to act like real douchebags, but the difference lies in how much of an effort we make to keep that ugly side shoved far down in the basement of our psyche and how hard we try to do the right thing whenever we can. Taking pride in being a jerk is the last thing I’d ever want to see in myself or those around me.

I personally believe that people who are intelligent, talented, accomplished, driven…etc have the obligation to strive to be role models–to set an example for others to follow. If the most capable of us don’t try to be the best the human race has to offer, then perhaps they don’t deserve the gifts bestowed upon them in the first place. Unfortunately, many of the elite use their gifts for evil and selfish gains, carving a path of destroyed lives as they ruthlessly march forward in their quest to satisfy their greed, or they’re simply too narcissistic to care beyond admiring their own greatness. I guess the question that we all should ask ourselves is this–if we find ourselves in the world of superhero comic books, will we choose to be a supervillain or a superhero? But life is not that simple, is it? Even if we pick a side and try to live according to our convictions, we will be tested when life throws us a curve ball. For example, if you find a wallet stuffed with cash and you’re in need of money, would you give the money back or would you keep it? How about if you accidentally run someone over while driving and you’re pretty sure of two things: 1) The person is dead 2) No one saw you–would you drive away or would you turn yourself in? Even if we think we know how we’ll behave while contemplating such questions in a calm, detached manner, we could very well do the exact opposite when actually facing these decisions under stress.

When when it comes to everyday life, we’re not faced with these very difficult decisions, so at the very least, we could try to be kind to one another instead of behaving like jerks. But apparently, even that is too much to ask of some people.

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Quickie movie reviews:

The Road – I loved the book–it’s now one of my favorite books of all time, and when I found out it was being made into a movie, I had high hopes. I knew instinctively that the gravity of the source material will only attract cerebral and serious filmmakers–the kind that could do the book justice. In other words, the book is safe from shallow directors like Michael Bay, because it doesn’t have enough explosions car chases.

The film remained mostly faithful to the spirit of the book, and whatever deviations didn’t detract from that spirit, except maybe the ending. While the ending is essentially the same, because the difference in the characters involved in the ending makes it feel like the film tried to appeal to the lowest common denominator–the kind of audience that demands Hollywood happy endings. I think that’s the one thing the film did wrong–it shouldn’t have tacked on that extra coat of sugar at the end–it almost felt like the kind of rampant sentimentality that Steven Spielberg used to sprinkle throughout his films, until he finally grew out of his Peter Pan phase. The ending aside, I think the film is a worthy adaptation of the book.

Avatar – I’m one of those people who has heard of Avatar’s development as far back as the late 90’s, and have been waiting for it for all these years. I finally got to see it a few hours ago with Elena, and we watched it in 3D.

I think as a commercial blockbuster made for the mainstream audience, it’s got a very good balance of heart, action, visual spectacle, and a conscience. It’s very obviously dumbed down a bit so that it can reach the widest audience. I think Cameron learned from Titanic that a simpler story is what will be understood by more people, and in turn make the most profit as well. I think Cameron is certainly capable of writing characters that are more complex and morally ambiguous, but whether he wants to take that route with very expensive blockbuster films is a different issue altogether. Maybe a small indie film could afford to be very complex, but in today’s cinematic climate, I think the days of expensive blockbuster having the same complexity as sophisticate arthouse films are long gone. I can’t remember the last big-budget blockbuster that had a really complex story with moral ambiguity.

I thought the CG characters were expressive, and served their purpose very well, but any talk about conquering the Uncanny Valley is irrelevant because they are stylized fictional creatures, so they don’t count as human CG characters. In most cases, they looked like an interesting blend of stylized realism, but they are definitely not to be mistaken for total photorealism–at least not to me. I doubt they were meant to be in the first place, since the whole world of Pandora has an ethereal and stylistic vibe to it.

During some scene transitions I had the distinct feeling that some scenes were cut for the theatrical release, and we’ll definitely see them on the DVD.

A lot of people talk about the white man’s guilt and also how it always takes a white hero to save an inferior native race (Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Black Rain…etc), and I think perhaps it’s just a template that resonates with typical American audience the most. If the main character wasn’t white, would the discussion have taken place?

A side note about the movie-going experience:
The last time I went to the movie theater to watch a movie in China was almost 9 years ago when Fellowship of the Ring showed in China, and I swore then I’d never watch a movie in China ever again because the experience was just horrible. People treating the theater like it’s their living room–they’d talk loudly, answer their cellphones non-stop, and the sound of food wrappers crinkled from the first minute to the last. This time, the theater was newer and more modern, but the quality of the audience remained the same. The guy to my right answered his phone SIX TIMES during the movie, and his kid kept on talking and asking questions loudly. The women to my wife’s left also kept on talking and answering their phones and she had to tell everybody to shut up three times during the film. I know this kind of stuff happens in most countries, but in China it’s extra bad. But then again, I haven’t exactly watched movies in theaters in a bunch of different countries, so maybe some countries are even worse.

Drag Me to Hell – Sam Raimi’s return to the campy horror comedy genre, and I think as a director who’s helmed big Hollywood blockbusters and serious dramas since his Evil Dead days, he is now much better at knowing when to use restraint and when to get down and get crazy. I think some of the more campy scenes stick out a bit since they only really happen during the scenes with scares and the rest of the “normal” scenes don’t really contain any traces of that campy vibe–resulting in a somewhat schizophrenic feel. Overall it’s a lot of fun though. Alison Lohman is an interesting looking actress. I remember she was really adorable as Nick Cage’s daughter in Matchstick Men, and she’s one of those really petite girls that just on the verge of being too tiny, but that’s part of her charm–that cute waif look.

The Royal Tenenbaums – Although this one has the trademark Wes Anderson mixture of wry comedy and heartfelt drama, it wasn’t as interesting as his other films I’ve seen. The relationship between some of the characters were underdeveloped, and the focus seemed to wander a bit.

Final Destination 4 – Elena and I have seen all the Final Destination films, and while the story is always the same, the fun is in the creative ways each character gets offed. I don’t know how many more of these movies they can make before people stopped watching them though. Unless they come up with a new twist to the franchise, this may be the end of the road.

Time Traveler’s Wife - While it may not make logical sense if you want to get scientific about the plot, the film is endearing because of it’s warmth, and I think Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams really sold those characters. It’s definitely a movie for romantics, and I think if you allow yourself the suspension of disbelief, you’ll be won over by its charm.

Surrogate - A fairly interesting sci-fi premise about humans and their artificial surrogate bodies, but the plot itself squandered the potentials the premise had, being too simplistic and lacking an additional layer of subtext or complexity. The moral ground it takes is also shaky at best–one of those arrogant and illogical human fallacies that places mankind’s sick fascination with existentialist crisis before pragmatism and reason. If in my life time this technology becomes popular and available, you bet your ass I’ll gladly indulge in it.

The Lovely Bones – I was very disappointed by this film. The entire paranormal/after life aspect of the story felt unnecessary and overly self-indulgent. It did not add anything significant or profound, neither did it express any meaning worthy of its inclusion. If anything, a simple murder mystery would’ve been much more effective than the meandering mess it is.

The Perfect Getaway - A pretty entertaining thriller, although I guessed the plot twist pretty early on in the film. This is one of the things I hate about being a writer–you can see the tricks other writers use from a mile away, and it takes away the joy from being an unsuspecting audience. If a film’s writing is halfway decent, then it’ll have to make sense, and in order to make sense there are very limited number of suspects in every thriller, because only bad writers would jump the shark and pin the murders on characters that barely had any screen time and completely irrelevant. Once you figure out the formula, you can pretty much guess the possible plot twist of every single thriller you watch, unless the writer is wickedly talented and clever–so much so that he could even surprise other writers. So in a way, my being able to guess the plot twist of this film shouldn’t count against the film, because in all honesty, it’s one of the more refreshing thrillers of late.

Jennifer’s Body - I can’t decide if the slightly campy tone made the film more endearing or detracted from it. Megan Fox is definitely easy on the eyes, but I couldn’t help but kept thinking that the character she plays seems so much like how the media portrays her personality in real life. Maybe they cast her because she’s known to be a bitch? I think the film pulled too many punches and was way too tame to make its mark in the world of horror cinema. It should’ve had a much darker tone and been far more violent to make a strong impression.

2012 - A compelling premise with eye-popping special effects, but completely drenched in sappy Hollywood sentimentality–to the point of being idiotic. While I’m not an advocate of cold-blooded pragmatism, I also think that unchecked sentimentality which would put the survival of an entire species at danger is just moronic. Too often Hollywood writers err on the side of excessive sentimentality, and I think there just has to be a better balance in these types of movies.

Carriers – It was entertaining enough, but a bit too safe and predictable. I think when it comes to thrillers, today’s audience expects thrilling surprises and plot twists, and this film doesn’t really have any.

My personal beef is that I can’t stand watching irresponsible and idiotic characters in movies, especially if they are the leads. I avoid morons like that in real life. yet I have to spend an hour and a half glued to the every move of the same ilk of dickheads? The older brother, Brian, is exactly the kind of asshole idiot that I can’t stand in real life–people who are completely incapable of self-control or understand that any kind of horsing around is the perfect ingredient for accidents or disasters. It’s idiots like him that causes accidents–doing stupid shit like “Look! No hands!” while driving or riding a motorcycle or sitting on some railing 20 floors high. Assholes like that think everything is a joke and it’s funny to create dangerous situations just for a laugh. I hope jerks like that get themselves maimed every time they pull stunts like that so they finally learn to cut that shit out for the rest of their lives.

White Out - The story itself wasn’t bad, but the execution was thoughtless and clumsy, displaying many of the problems that film buffs often complain about–things that are so easy to address if the people in charge had the mental capacity for it. It’s not even the really big things, but smaller things like ridiculously glamorous makeup on the female lead so that she looks like she’s about to pose for a high fashion magazine, or being exposed to extremely cold temperature during a furious blizzard for a very long time without wearing any protection for the face, but looking totally normal after the fact, or the female lead kept turning around to check the door behind her for possible attacker, while standing there waiting for sheets of fax to print out, but never thought of to simply turning the fuck around and face the door while waiting, or the embarrassingly gratuitous shots of her undressing and sticking her ass directly into the camera right at the beginning of the movie. That should have been a clear enough sign that it’ll be a pretty mindless movie made by people with less than stellar taste (not that I have any problems with T&A–it’s all about context and choosing an appropriate creative tone for any given project, and the people behind this film didn’t understand that).

January 13, 2010

Turned thirty-seven, and 2010 Resolutions

Filed under: Film/TV/Animation, Music, My Life/Musings, Video Games — Rob @ 2:17 pm

WEBLOG:
My blog is finally back online. It was down during the holidays and tech support was on vacation, so it took until now to get it running again. Better late than never, eh?

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I turned 37 on the last day of 2009, and it feels a bit surreal since I still feel like a big kid in many ways, but at the same time, I noticed that in the last few years, I seem to have finally acquired a little bit of the mature wisdom that someone my age should have by now. Funny though when I look back, I’ve felt like this in the past too, but always ended up doing some stupid shit that proved I still had much to learn and improve on. Perhaps a few years from now I’d look back and think the same. These days I feel more at peace and less anxious about most things, and I pick my battles more carefully instead of banging my head against the wall when it comes to things I can’t change. Right now I really appreciate not having to be in the rat race and can live according to my own pace and do what’s important to me everyday. I have the most amazing wife a man could ever ask for–supportive, loving, gentle, humorous, appreciative, devoted, wise, and very easy on the eyes. Over seven years of marriage and eight years of knowing each other, I can count on one hand how many times we’ve actually argued–it’s like this amazing coincidence that we are so compatible. The way Elena treats me would put 90% of all the wives in the world to shame. In the first few years I would be embarrassed by the way she spoiled me, but now I totally love it and appreciates every little thing she does. Based on the way she tells me how much she appreciates me every day, I’m probably not doing too bad either. I’m sure when she tell me “You’re the best husband in the world,” it must carry some inking of the truth. Or maybe my Kitty Cat is just weird like that.

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I remember when I was younger, I never felt excited about a new year, and I was in fact a total Scrooge about all the festivities. Ho Hum, another year of the same crap–whatever. But it seems like ever since I met Elena, I actually looked forward to a new year and the new challenges. I started to actually make new year resolutions and for the most part, have done quite well in meeting the challenges I set out for myself each year. For 2010, my new year’s resolutions are:

1) Get the workshop out there and really help aspiring artists who are passionate and want to learn. Give them the kind of learning experience that I wish I could’ve had as a young pup.

2) Make some killer Zendrum videos for youtube and really show off the capabilities of this wonderful instrument.

3) Make lots of music. 2010 should be a year where I finally get to dedicate a lot of time to music. I hope nothing unexpected will come up and mess with that. I’ve been wanting this for so many years and I’m now so close.

4) Go into production on my long-term multimedia novel project. I’m not sure if I’ll be in the right mindset for it when the time comes, since I might be too immersed in music to want to do anything else. We’ll see.

5) Go vacationing in Japan with Elena and have a great time. I’m actually not as excited about it as I should be since I’m looking forward to living and breathing music with no other distractions (except teaching the workshop), but she’s been talking about going to Japan for a while now, and we’re not getting any younger.

6) Find a pair of full-size and IEM headphones that can hold their own against my Klein + Hummel O300D studio monitors in terms of resolution, neutral frequency response, detail, and musicality–hopefully without costing me an arm and a leg. I’m pretty happy with my Sennheiser HD650 and Westone 3, but they could be better. I know I’m after something that might be physically impossible for headphones to achieve, but I gotta try cuz I’m a PITA like that.

7) Finally upgrade the living room entertainment system sound system to something better. Still not sure if I want to go 5.1 surround or just a good 2.1 setup. I only play games in the studio and I already have a surround setup for that, and surround sound for movies never really felt like something important to us, so maybe just a 2.1 system.

(Links to past years’ resolutions in this forum post).

I’m hopeful that this year will be a good one. As long as there aren’t any unexpected developments that will get in my way, it should be one of the most fruitful years I’ve had in a long time in terms of personal fulfillment.

…

I got the Icon iKEY recently, and it’s pretty disappointing. I was so sure that it would be better than the Korg NanoKEY, but it wasn’t. The key action is terrible–inconsistent and lacking reliable dynamics (it’s either too hard or too soft–impossible to hit light to medium velocities with any degree of reliability), and the pitch and modulation ribbons can lose tracking or behave erratically. This is what it looks like:

Icon iKEY

I thought the iKEY would be great for traveling without a big hunk of a normal 25-key MIDI controller keyboard, but at this point, it appears no manufacturer has gotten the mini-sized keyboard controller right. The Korg NanoKEY’s lack of smooth pitch and modulation control and awkward key layout (black keys flush with white keys, and top half of white keys are cut off) makes it only really usable for triggering percussion sounds, as it cannot be used to play chords that mingles the black and white keys equally, nor could it control pitch and modulation beyond simple on and off positions. The only other mini-sized keyboard controller I know is the Icon iKEY, and it’s not any better (though it’s problems are in other areas). I suppose the Korg microKORG and microKONTROL would be other options, but they are definitely far more expensive, not to mention the overall size isn’t any smaller than normal 25-key controllers (though you do get 3 octaves instead of two). I hope another company will design a mini-key controller that fixes all the problems with the NanoKEY and iKEY. If that happens, I don’t even mind paying double the price.

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I’m almost done with the single player campaign of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and while I really enjoy it, I have to say Infinity Ward’s formula of an amusement park ride on a rail still remains a lot of flash without a whole lot of substance. It’s like the Michael Bay of video games–a never-ending bombardment of larger-than-life moments, one after another, until everything just blurs together. Jumping around between different characters also never feels like you are truly immersed in a story, and that’s the thing I like the least about the CoD games. I play single player campaigns to experience a story that has continuity, and the CoD games avoids maintaining a lasting perspective altogether, and simply just have you go through separate missions that don’t have much to do with each other besides fighting on the same side of the conflict. I guess you have to enjoy the CoD games for what they are and not expect more. I don’t play much multiplayer these days since my internet connection sucks, so even though Modern Warfare games are known for their excellent multiplayer experience, they don’t really matter that much to me.

I’ve started playing Dragon Age: Origins, and it feels like the classic Bioware RPG’s. The problem is, I have never really enjoyed those D&D themed RPG’s all that much in the past. To date, I have never finished any of them–not a single one. I don’t know if it’s because the premises don’t grab me or if it’s something else. The RPG’s I do enjoy and go on to finish tend to be the sci-fi ones (Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic). Now that I think about it, it seems every single one of my favorite games of all time are sci-fi themed, and even the only one that has fantasy elements (The Longest Journey) had a 50/50 split of sci-fi and fantasy. I wonder why that is. Not that I dislike fantasy–I read novels and watch films in that genre, and I have written my share of fantasy stories. Maybe subconsciously I prefer logic (or the illusion of logic) over something that’s completely contrived and has no reliable governing rules. I seem to also prefer sub-genres of fantasy (horror, paranormal, surrealism) more than the typical high fantasy stuff. Maybe it’s because high fantasy tends to veer into the dorky geek territory and the whole dragons and medieval setting is just one big tired cliché at this point.

…

Quickie film/TV reviews:

How to Sleep Better (BBC) – I have problems with sleep sometimes (two to three times a week), so I watched this show to see if it had any answers, and according to questions the show asked, I seem to be doing well (I don’t nod off during the day no matter how boring or mundane the activity might be, or where I might be). I expected the show to just reiterate all the stuff I already knew about sleep–all the common facts, but it actually had a lot of new information I had never seen elsewhere–ones like how your DNA could determine whether you’re a morning person or a night person. According to my answers to their question, I’m a total, complete night owl–nocturnal to the bone. No wonder I have always had trouble with waking up early, and I always hated going to bed at night since I feel the most alive at night. I highly recommend you try and find this show online if you have sleep problems.

Synth Brittania (BBC) – As much as I like synth pop and synthesizers, the show was a bit of a bore, because all it did was focus on the early synth pop bands instead of actually getting into the details of the synthesizers or how exactly they were used back then. It’s a show aimed at the average person who’s not a musician, so it’s pretty basic. What was interesting was to hear the members of those early synth pop bands talk about the scene back then and how they felt about their competitions. It was too bad the show only concentrated on the UK scene (and even then I don’t know why they left out The Art of Noise, Japan, and other groups that was part of the scene)–I would’ve much preferred a show that covered the entire world, so other pioneering synth artists like Yellow Magic Orchestra, Tangerine Dream, Kitaro, Yello…etc would be included.

The Sopranos (season one) – I had watched season one years ago, but never moved onto season two, and recently I decided to finally watch the whole series. I watched season one again in order to ease into season two without feeling lost, and while I enjoyed season one, I have to say that television has moved on since then. Even though today’s excellent shows are only possible because The Sopranos paved the way by revolutionizing television, they are in general just as good if not better than The Sopranos. If I had been on the bandwagon years ago, I may feel differently, as TV shows back then weren’t as good as they are today. I remember my first time watching the first season of The Sopranos really blew me away, but this time around, after having watched a number of excellent shows in the last few years, the impact of The Sopranos is not as strong. I will still make my way through the whole series though, if simply for the fact that it’s still one of the best television shows ever made, and was the catalyst that changed the landscape of American television forever.

The Hangover – It was quite entertaining, and although it was pretty much mindless fun, it wasn’t nearly as low-brow or cheap as I had feared (especially when these types of comedies usually end up that way). It was a great move to start with the aftermath and then retrace their steps to find out just how crazy they were, and the most brilliant part was you never actually really see what went down, and you don’t even mind.

Zombieland – As a zombie fiend, I so looked forward to this one, and it let me down. The film’s first third was promising, but by the time they got to Bill Murray’s house, it just became idiotic. Once they reached the amusement park, the film dropped whatever IQ points it had left and just dove off the deep end. I guess some people’s talent only lasts a third of a screenplay and had to fill the remaining two-thirds with crap.

The Air I Breath – I can’t remember the last film I saw that was this laughably pretentious and irrelevant. Don’t actors first read the screenplays before they agree to take a role anymore–especially the talented and smart ones? All that effort to tie all the characters’ subplots together but without any purpose–it’s like a bad student film experimenting with storytelling but had no real story to tell, and no profound message to express.

The Dark Knight – I had seen this once before on an airplane, and I wanted to give it another try in a proper setting (my living room), and I liked it much better the second time around. The first time I felt it tried to cram too much into the film and the editing felt too hurried (trying to cut down to reasonable screen time), but this time it felt fine to me, and the emotional impact was much stronger than the first time. I could also hear the score much more clearly this time around, and I think Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard did an excellent job on the score. It felt very modern, but not clichéd, and the blend of electronic and orchestral was totally seamless. It also had a very strong identity unlike any other film score I’ve heard (which is a very rare thing these days, especially for a blockbuster).

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – I thought the first film was pretty good, and this one was not quite as good, but not bad either. I find that in general, I’m just not much of a fan of fantasy films aimed at the younger audience, because I think fantasy at its best is when it’s very dark and sinister, evading our senses and shattering our expectations in ways that only mature-themed stories could. Children’s fantasy tend to be very tame and not nearly as compelling.

Better Luck Tomorrow I was disappointed by this film. I saw absolutely no point why the cast had to be all Asian, since nothing about the film was about being Asian except the most superficial and already widely known stereotypes. My personal feeling is that if you’re going to use an all-Asian cast, then you better have something interesting and insightful to say about Asian Americans, otherwise, it just looks like a pointless gimmick. If anything I liked Justin Lin’s big commercial film The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift much more. It at least had a strong identity and was far more entertaining.

December 23, 2009

I’m the destroyer of electrical appliances

Filed under: Books, Computers & Gadgets, Film/TV/Animation, Music, My Life/Musings, Video Games — Rob @ 6:09 pm

WEBLOG:
It’s been a pleasure using Camtasia Studio to record and edit the videos for my upcoming workshop. It’s got just enough features to be useful, and does not allow very deep editing, which is fine because for video tutorials and demonstrations, too many features will just make it harder to use. I’ve searched around for other commercial and freeware alternatives just to see what’s out there, but none can match the features or the intuitive design of Camtasia Studio.

While making the videos, it struck me how often I see people making videos for tutorials or demonstrations that really should not be in the video format, and should instead be simple text and images. I know some people prefer watching videos to reading, but to me, the only time videos should be made is if the instruction/demonstration must be captured by video in order to be understood clearly (such as demonstrating drawing/painting technique, or how to play a musical instrument). I guess as a society we’ve become too lazy, and prefer to have information spoon-fed to us. Well, not me, and that’s why I will not make unnecessary videos for my workshop–only contents that really should be in the video format.

…

Amazon.com now operates in China, and Elena just bought a whole box of books–mostly on philosophers and classic literature–all western books translated into simplified Chinese. Books in China cost a lot less than in the States, so she’s getting a great deal on those nice hardback books. I have a hard time reading simplified Chinese since it’s quite different from traditional Chinese, so I usually don’t venture into her book collection, except for those printed in traditional Chinese (published in Taiwan or Hong Kong). She can’t read my books since her English is not good enough, and the few Chinese books I have she’s already read them by now. Maybe I should force myself to get more used to reading simplified Chinese so I can raid her collection (we have about six large bookshelves in our home, and her books take up one shelf while mine take up five shelves).

Elena’s books are more on the academic, lifestyle, and fiction side, covering philosophy, history, science, the arts, classic literature, modern fiction, health, gardening, cooking, travel, beauty, and learning English. My collection is more on the creative side, covering fine art, illustration, graphic novels, music, fiction (classic literature, modern fiction, sci-fi/fantasy/horror/mystery), photography, film, architecture, interior design, instructional books on various creative endeavors (drawing/painting, anatomy/figure, sequential art, animation, 3D, screenwriting, fiction writing and editing, music theory, music composition and orchestration, recording/mixing/mastering, drums/percussion, guitar, bass, piano/keyboard, harmonica, voice, synthesis, music sheets/scores, film scoring, photography and lighting). My non-fiction books are mostly on war history/special forces, science, psychology and social issues.

The sad thing about China is that most people we know around us don’t read and don’t keep books at home. The average person in China seems to feel that once a person is no longer in school, reading is unnecessary, and buying books is a waste of money and a waste of space. When acquaintances come over, they usually think it’s very odd that we have so many books. Not that there aren’t book lovers here–just that they are a tiny minority compared to the States, where we have large bookstores everywhere and most people have a book collection of some sort at home. It’s ironic that one of the countries with the oldest cultures on the planet is now one of the least cultured. (But this is only in China–Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore…etc are very different).

…

I’ve been using the Victor SU-DH1 Dolby Headphone device for a while now, and I have to say, although I was skeptical at first, after getting used to its unique interpretation of surround sound as two-channel stereo via headphones, I feel it really does work very well for gaming. You have to take a little bit of time to learn its sonic signature for the simulation of rear speakers, and once you do, you can reliably tell when something is behind you. I think it makes sense that we should be able to simulate true surround sound with just two channels–after all, human beings only have two ears, right? So if the digital processing can replicate the sonic signature of how a pair of rear speakers sound to our ears, then why can’t we hear true surround with just a pair of headphones and two channels?

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One of the worst things about living in China is that your neighbors are always doing construction all year long, and probably for your entire life. You might get lucky if the building/house you live in has no new neighbors moving in or no one is selling their home for a long stretch of time, but as soon as there is, you’ll have to live with construction noises. There is no law governing this problem like there is in the States, where you’d have to get approval of your local government and neighbors before doing any kind of construction. In China, “reconstructing” a home when buying old or new is extremely common because labor is cheap, and most people like to feel they are “renewing” an older home or changing what they don’t like about the real estate development company’s design of interior structure. I don’t even know why real estate development companies even bother with constructing the interior of their buildings anyway, since 90% of the buyers will just knock it all down and reconstruct according to their own preference anyway (and of course, the fact there’s no law governing this is part of the problem. If there were strict laws about it, then we’d see a lot less frivolous reconstruction of building interior).

The side-effect of this rampant problem is I have to wear earplugs in the morning in order to get enough sleep (the constructions start at 8:00AM), and I can’t do any serious recording or mixing or monitoring from 8:00AM to noon, and from 2:00pm to 6:30pm. It’s absolutely ridiculous that there is not law governing this problem, because it’s actually possible you could be listening to construction noises for your entire life when living in China. For example, you buy a unit in a newly constructed apartment building, and your neighbors don’t all just move in at once–they slowly trickle in over the years. Let’s say there are 12 floors in the building, and four units per floor–that’s 48 units of neighbors. Typically, 90% of them will want to redo the interior construction to their own preference, and each reconstruction can take anywhere from two to six months or more (some people run out of money and rest for a stretch of time before continuing). So let’s say four months is the average construction time for each unit, at Approximately 43 units, you’re looking at about 14 years of construction time. Even though in reality, they won’t all trickle in precisely one after another and would very likely trickle in by waves, this isn’t any comfort because that’s just your building–the surrounding buildings also have 43 units that will be doing construction throughout the years, and some of them will be selling their units during those years. When Chinese people buy a used home, they almost always tear down the interior to reconstruct. So, adding up hundreds of units in all the buildings within earshot of yours, you could very possibly be living among construction noise for all of your life, until you die or go insane. I don’t know why this isn’t talked about as much as it should be, but it’s one of the worst things about living in China.

…

Since I mentioned earplugs, I want to share some information here about them. I have been using the disposal foams for a while now, but they aren’t meant to be reused for a long time, so they lose their effectiveness after a while. I started to shop around for reusable ones, but apparently their noise reduction capabilities pale next to the disposable foam ones. I thought I had found the ultimate solution when I saw the SilentEar, especially when the store selling them hyped them up so much. After ordering them and trying them out (I got the sample package which contains all three sizes), I was disappointed that they did not match the performance of the disposable foam ones. I had some free ones from an airline and also a brand called Flents I got at Safeway, and they both were much more effective. I emailed Earplugstore and they told me some people have ear canals that aren’t as round in shape so the seal is not ideal using the reusable pre-molded earplugs. I was told to stick with the disposable foams since they conform to unique ear canal shapes much better, and offer the best noise reduction performance anyway. I don’t mind the foam ones too much, except it’s a bit annoying that you have to roll them up first before inserting, and you have to hold them in place until they have fully expanded–not exactly convenient when one’s barely awake and trying to go back to sleep.

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One of my Samson C-Control monitor controllers kicked the bucket recently, and I decided to replace it with the cheaper Behringer Mini Mon800 Monitor Matrix Mixer. I’m not one of those people who automatically assume that all cheap gears are inherently bad, especially when some well-known cheap gears have proven to be every bit as reliable as their high-end counterparts, and often even sounding as good–this includes even some Behringer products. While the Mini Mon800 is definitely cheap plastic, so far the signal’s been clean with no sign of degradation. I use it to patch in gear I rarely use, so I almost never turn it on anyway, but it’s one of those things where if I needed to patch something in, it’s super-convenient.

…

I’ve had my TC Electronic Konnekt Live firewire audio interface for a few months now, but I ever had a chance to really put the mic preamps on it through their paces. Since I’ve been recording videos for my upcoming workshop, I’ve compared the Konnekt Live’s mic pre’s to the Line 6 Toneport UX2’s, and there’s just no contest–the Konnekt Live’s preamps are definitely better–less noise when maxed out, better clarity, and a cleaner sound overall (and at double the price, the Konnekt Live better kick the Tonport UX2’s ass). I’ve been recording the sound with the Shure SM7A, and being one of the harder to drive dynamic mics out there, the UX2 could barely supply enough juice to get a decent signal (turning the preamp all the way up generates too much noise), and the Konnekt Live’s much quieter maxed out setting makes it possible to drive the SM7A’s with a low enough level of noise I could actually live with. I do like Podfarm’s mic pre models though, so perhaps I’ll use konnekt Live’s mic pre, route the audio to the Toneport’s line inputs, and then through Podfarm’s mic pre models. I’ll try that one of these days and report back on whether it worked.

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I have managed to destroy two Fantom external hard drives this year–one was a 2TB model that got fried when I plugged it into a USB hub (which wasn’t my fault, and I’d send it back for repairs except shipping from China back to the States is not worth it), and the other one was a 1TB model that I accidentally pulled off my desk and crashed onto the hard wood floor. The 2TB model’s USB interface shouldn’t have gotten fried from plugging into a USB hub, and wonder if it’s the hub that’s the problem. The drives in the casing are fine, so I plugged them into a Kingwin EZ-Dock 2 (so convenient–I love that thing), and they still work fine. The drives in the 1TB model are both completely dead, as both are making loud and strange noises when I try to power them up for testing. I even tried the freezer trick but it didn’t work (although I know the trick works because it’s worked before on a dead laptop drive). I have a few spare 200GB drives, so I thought maybe I should get a multi-drive external enclosure for them and turn them into a 1TB drive, but considering the cost of such an external enclosure, I might as well buy a new external 1TB drive (or internal drive and an external enclosure). Thinking back, the amount of money I’ve spent on hard drives in the last 10 years is just mind-boggling (I’d estimate about $5,000), and I look forward to the day when massive storage has become smaller in physical size, tough and durable, extremely reliable, with very long lifespan, and cheap. We’ve got the price down at this point for hard disk drives, and now we just need to get the capacity of solid state drives up and the price down.

…

I finally finished playing Bioshock. I had first played it up to the Arcadia level a couple of years ago, and then gave up on it when it just didn’t compel to me go any further. Recently I decided to give it another shot, and restarted it all the way from the beginning. Now that I have finished it, its clear to me why I didn’t bother finishing it the first time around–I’ll get back to this later. First, what I liked about the game:

-Original and interesting premise
-Great atmosphere
-Fun gameplay
-Took the System Shock 2 mechanics and made it more accessible to a wider audience

Now, what I didn’t like about the game:

-The facial animation was horrible on the Little Sisters. This was especially glaring when you are taken to where they lived. There wasn’t even any eye blink animation! The characters just stared vacantly in front of them like soulless puppets. Considering how far game animation has come, this is unacceptable, especially when we’re supposed to emotionally connect with the little sisters.

-The skin shaders were terrible. Everyone’s skin looked like shiny plastic, and looked nothing like flesh. This is also unacceptable by today’s standards.

-The ending was too rushed and the pacing of the editing was terrible. This was especially annoying at the very end of the final cinematic–it cuts off abruptly and jumps right back to the start screen, jolting you out of the narrative clumsily. Why couldn’t then have faded out the final shot to black slowly, and then roll the credits? Why such a clumsy jolt? Also, they should have elaborated more on what happens to Tenenbaum, and what’s to become of Rapture and its insane population. It doesn’t matter what they plan to do for the sequel–they should have given some explanation or least convey some form of closure.

-There should have been more motivation designed into the first third of the game, so that we actually want to continue on. I stopped playing the game the first time because I saw no reason to continue. I didn’t care what happened to Atlas, because I didn’t know him, and he sure the hell didn’t seem like he cared about me. I had no reason to continue because it felt like I was doing the same thing over and over–killing the Big Daddies and dealing with Little Sisters, while fending off a bunch of insane splicers. There was no sense of the gravity of the situation and what my stake was in it all–I wasn’t even under the impression that I had to somehow escape from that insane place. I think they could’ve maybe woven some sane survivors who weren’t spliced up into the premise so that you meet some sympathetic and likable characters that you can actually relate to and care about. Maybe they’re barricaded somewhere and you go and try to help them escape Rapture, and you have to try to protect them from all the splicers. They could’ve also moved the part about becoming a Big Daddy and protecting the Little Sisters to much earilier, because that actually had real emotional resonance–to protect these little girls from the crazy splicers. When they got killed, I actually felt really bad. To make it even more emotionally involving, they could’ve injected more individuality into the Little Sisters–for example, when you meet them at their living quarters, Tenenbaum could introduce you to them one by one, telling you their names and tell some stories about them, and throughout the game earlier, the Little Sisters could also display distinctly different personalities so they seemed a lot more real. For example, one could be really shy, one could be really feisty, one could be bubbly and enthusiastic, one could be very witty…etc.

My general feeling about Bioshock is that it’s a great premise but the creator/writer did not do enough to make sure the actual game narrative lived up to the potential the premise provided. For all the talk about how games should be more emotional, I don’t think the creator/writer (Kevin Levine) did enough to push the medium in that direction–or maybe he tried but simply didn’t have it in him to do any better. Or, maybe what makes him tick is simply different from what makes me tick.

…

Quickie film/TV reviews:

Friday Night Lights (Season Two & three) - I enjoyed season two and three almost as much as the first season, except that I the writers could’ve indulged in a bit of a John Hughes moment with Landry and Tyra, where Landry gets to bask in the glory of scoring one of the hottest girls in the entire school. I mean, let’s face it–guys who look like Landry would never get a girl like Tyra in real life, and it should have been a huge deal at Dillon High. Julie’s juvenile rebellious streak got a bit tiresome each time she butted heads with her mom, and it felt a bit out of character since she was portrayed as an intelligent and mature teenager in the first season. I liked the Smash storyline much more this time around since he finally did some maturing after facing defeat. It was nice to see Tim turning into a reliable guy too, especially when in real life, guys like that typically don’t really start to mature until they are much older. I have a feeling season four will be starting a lot of new storylines and introduce new characters to replace the ones that have graduated and moved on.

Prison Break (season four + The Final Break) - Season might be a bit better than season three, but still not nearly as good as the first two seasons. This is because the series was supposed to end in two seasons, and anything that came after was only because of popular demand. I think the creators should have refused to continue the series and instead pitched something new to the studio.

Entourage (season six) - I don’t think I could ever get tired of this show. It’s just such a feel-good show, with fast pacing, lighthearted fun, hot women, likable guys, and a hilarious parody of the entertainment industry. The fact that it’s also just half hour long also keeps the energy going so there’s never a dull moment.

Inglourious Basterds - The plot felt a bit too simple and doesn’t sell the excitement of the premise as well as it should, while the ending was anti-climatic as well. It’s almost as if Tarantino wrote the screenplay up to the point where the fire had started, and then ran of ideas. Up to that point the film was fairly enjoyable, although some scenes were more drawn out than necessary, and the plot progression felt too compartmentalized (breaking up the film into chapters didn’t help that either). There could’ve been multiple ways to make the ending a lot more exciting, but what we got was predictable and vanilla, which is odd coming from Tarantino. I always said that Pulp Fiction was a fluke, and with every single film he’s done since, I’ve remained correct, and that makes me sad. Being a huge fan of Pulp Fiction, I would love to see Tarantino pull off that magic again.

Moon – One of the best sci-fi films I’ve seen in a long time, and I might even say one of the best sci-fi films ever made. A cerebral and quiet sci-fi film with a philosophical core like Moon is such a rare gem in today’s world of entertainment, where the audience seems to be getting progressively more shallow and with shortening attention span. We need more films like this instead moronic films from Michael Bay and his clones.

Paranormal Activity - Some moments are genuinely scary, but it drags on a little in the middle. Part of me wanted to see the paranormal aspect escalate to another level, but when I really think about it, they made the right choice to not take things too far (for example, very concrete and visceral visual effects), as keeping everything vague worked for the vibe of the film, and that vagueness also matches what most of us have experienced when we thought something weird was going on in our homes. I do think the last day in the film was a bit idiotic though, since any rational and sane person would’ve dragged the girlfriend out of the house regardless of the pleading, and stayed with family or friends. But then again, it would’ve dragged more people into the mess, maybe even end up killing more people.

Annie Hall - I finally watched Annie Hall after hearing about it all these years. I actually have seen plenty of Woody Allen films in the past and enjoyed them all (some more than others), but for some reason I never got around to watching his most famous film. Now that I did, I could see why it was a big deal back then, and the influence it’s had on later films. I can’t say that I really liked it though, since I think Woody Allen has perfected that formula in later films, and when compared, Annie Hall is not as polished in terms of pacing and structure as his later films (which makes sense, as he had learned and improved more as a filmmaker later).

Planet B-Boy - I’m not really a fan of hip-hop (though I do listen to the more intelligent and socio-political rap sometimes), but I’ve always been fascinated by Battle of the Year. There’s something very intriguing about a bunch of street dancers coming together to compete as teams and representing their countries. It’s a very grassroots kind of a vibe, blown up onto the international stage, and many of these dancers come from extreme poverty in small cities and villages that we know nothing about. I also love the fact that it completely destroys any preconceived notions about race and culture. When you see Asians often dominating the competition, it just blows away all the Asian stereotypes.

Terminator: Salvation – Although for an action film, it was entertaining enough, I was disappointed by how the the writers portrayed John Connors as an adult. I always felt that John as an adult should still have that mischievous sense of humor, but he was totally one-dimensional in the film. I was also disappointed by the portrayal of the younger Kyle Reese as well–it did not feel like him at all. I wonder if the writers really understood those characters and what made them appealing in the first two films. They should never have continued the franchise without James Cameron.

17 Again - Careless writing with inconsistent focus and lots of missed opportunities. If the screenplay had gone through a few drafts of scrutiny, the film have ended up a lot better. But let’s face it–films like these are your standard Hollywood disposable entertainment–they were never meant to be great.

The Other Boleyn Girl - A decent period drama that is a bit too neatly packaged to have the impact it should have. Natalie Portman acts circles around Scarlett Johanson, and it’s a bad idea to have them compete on the screen because they’re not even in the same league in terms of talent.

Thirst – I was told this film is really good, especially if I loved Let the Right One In. I don’t know what other people are smoking, but this film was a big disappointment. It lacked a focused intent and meandered aimlessly, with a plot structure that felt random and arbitrary. The tone was also schizophrenic, going from wacky comedy to macabre drama. I don’t mind mixing genres or have a wide range of tones in a film, but it has to work and it has to still feel cohesive, and Thirst did not feel cohesive. This film is nowhere near as good as Let the Right One In.

Grace Is Gone – I liked the two daughters a lot more than the dad (played by John Cusack), and while I like Cusack in general, I thought this was the wrong role for him. The older daughter (played by Shelan O’Keefe) really stole the show for me–she was radiant, natural, and had the kind of “old soul” vibe that precocious children and teenagers exude.

Up – I always look forward to every Pixar film, confident in their track record of producing artistically and technically superior animated works. While I did enjoy Up (especially the first ten minutes), it was surprisingly very simple–in fact the simplest Pixar film thus far. I wish it had more character development and plot twists, but overall it’s still an enjoyable film.

Coraline – I found the film a bit random and lacking a solid emotional center. The theme is easily recognized–that one should appreciate one’s own life instead of being unsatisfied, but many of the details don’t really help support the theme and felt like gimmicks that don’t actually contribute to the overall story, thus end up lacking a satisfying emotional payoff.

Maria Full of Grace – A good film that perhaps could’ve been stronger if the direction was a bit more dynamic. Maybe it’s a good thing that it’s such a simply film, especially when today’s films tend to heavy on style instead of substance.

[REC] – I watched Quarantine, not too long ago, which is a shot-by-shot American remake of [REC]. Now that I have seen both films, I have things I prefer in each version. Overall, I think Quarantine benefits from taking an already good film and remaking it shot-by-shot, and because it’s supposed to be as close to the original as possible, there are very few differences in story, plot progression, or characters. Being the remake, the filmmakers have the benefit of distance and objectivity, and they’re able to improve upon the original–mainly more character development, more legible cinematography (without losing the intensity), and some additional scares not in the original. What I can’t figure out is why they changed the secret revealed at the end of the film to a scientific explanation instead of the super natural one of the original (big mistake IMO). Super natural will always be scarier because it’s not something we could understand, control, or fight against, and it’s much more mysterious, which amps up the scary factor. Also, I prefer the original’s version of Angela more, since she wasn’t as hysterical once everything goes to hell. The original’s actress, Manuela Velasco, played Angela to be a bit tougher, and only really started falling apart at the very end, which is totally understandable, because I think 99% of the population would fall apart under those conditions. Velasco is also much easier on the eyes (I always found Jennifer Carpenter to be quite strange looking, and in Dexter, when she was referred to by other characters as being “hot,” I had such a violent case of cognitive dissonance that my mind was reeling from the jolt), but Angela gets covered up in blood and bruises in most of the film anyway. The remake’s longer intro brought us closer to the main characters, which made us care a bit more about them, and it was also nice to actually see the guy behind the camera in the remake. If I had to pick one as my preferred version, it would be a really tough call. At gunpoint, I’d probably say Quarantine, since it’s overall more engrossing due to better character development and more scares.

November 25, 2009

Upcoming workshop details

Filed under: Art & CG, Computers & Gadgets, Film/TV/Animation, Music, My Life/Musings, News, Video Games — Rob @ 4:18 pm

NEWS:
I have posted the current details of my upcoming art workshop here. I’m still a few weeks from finishing the video portion of the workshop, but it’s finally getting very close.

WEBLOG:
One of my Samson C-Control monitor controllers started acting strange recently. It would have this awful surge/spike and the entire unit would buzz like it’s overloading with power, and the volume meter hits full red and stays there. The damn thing blew out a subwoofer in my setup and fried the right side of my Sennheiser HD555 headphones. As much as that sucked, situations like these always have a silver lining–time to buy new toys.

I had to replace the HD555 since it’s my only really comfy open-can headphones, and I never wear closed-back headphones anymore unless I’m tracking vocals or acoustic instruments. Having gotten so used to the open-back design, it’s hard to go back to closed since I won’t be able to hear the phone ring or Elena calling me. Also, closed cans never use comfortable earcup materials like velour–only leather/pleather, which can get sweaty. So off to shopping I went.

I dug around head-fi.org and headphone.com–places I usually go to research headphones, and after about a week of agonizing over choices, I went for the Sennheiser HD600, since I already knew its sound when I tested the HD555 against it years ago. After listening to the HD600 for a couple of days, I decided to exchange it for the HD650 instead. The HD600 sounds so similar to the HD555 that the only real discernible differences were the physical design and slightly less rolled-back treble–not really enough of an improvement to justify the price tag. I also decided that the bass didn’t extend deep enough to match my Klein + Hummel O 300D reference monitors. It’s unfair to expect a pair of headphones to match a high-end pair of reference monitors in the first place, but I wanted to be able to get close enough so that when I take off the headphones and listen to the monitors, the difference would be minor enough to be negligible.

After returning the HD600, the HD650 arrived a few days later, and it sounds very similar to the HD600, except for the slightly deeper bass extension. The physical changes are all for the better–no fake marble finish (what the hell was Sennheiser thinking? Fake marble?) much sturdier cables, and better 1/4″ to 1/8″ adapter design. Comfort level is roughly the same, although I do prefer the weaker clamp of the HD555’s earcups over the tighter clamps of the HD600/650 (although still quite comfortable). I also prefer HD555’s cable placement–just one cable on the left side, so I can pull off the whole thing with just one hand if need to). While the bass does extend deeper on the HD650, it still does not reproduce the really deep thump at the level that the K+H’s do. What’s interesting is that my Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones do go down that deep and do reproduce those chest pounding thumps with the same solidarity and authority (though in the head, not in the chest), which is amazing considering the M50 only costs around $150 retail, while the HD650 costs around $350. Of course, the HD650 does have qualities that the M50 don’t have, such as a much more dimensional soundstage, a lush and involving sound, and more comfortable to wear. While the M50’s bass is amazing–punchy and accurate, its overall sound is more clinical (though this is a good thing if you are trying to do audio work with them), with a smaller soundstage, and the pleather earcups can get sweaty after a while. If I could somehow combine the comfort and lush sound of the Sennheiser HD5XX and 6XX series with the punchy and substantial bass (though accurate and never bloated or muddy) of the M50, I’d be extremely happy.

Here’s a frequency range graph showing how those headphones compare:
frequency range graph
(If you want to learn how to interpret the graphs, you should read the explanation at HeadRoom’s website.)

As you can see, the M50’s bass response is anywhere from +5 ~10db more than the other headphones, and that explains why it reproduces those solid thumps that others can’t.

BTW, this is my current collection of headphones:
headphones
(From left to right: Pioneer SE-DJ5000, Sennheiser HD650, Audio-Technica ATH-M50, Westone 3, Equation RP-21, Sennheiser HD555, Denon AH-D950. Missing from the photo are the Shure E4C and Sennheiser HD600–I no longer have them.)

For those of you who are not headphone geeks, you probably wonder why anyone would need so many headphones. It’s actually pretty simple–allow me to break it down:

Leisure listening – This is what I wear when it’s late at night and I don’t want to bother anyone. It has to be very comfortable and sound very pleasant and involving, because this what I wear when I’m enjoying myself with music, a movie, or playing video games. It cannot be fatiguing to listen to (for example many headphones are too shrill in the treble and very fatiguing after a while). The HD555 used to be my leisure headphones, but it broke, so I replaced it the HD600, which I found to be lacking in bass and exchanged it for the HD650. The 650’s bass is still not ideal (missing the really solid oomph that the M50 reproduces beautifully), but it’s close enough and very comfortable. That beat up Denon used to be my “everything headphone” from my starving artist days, and went through a lot with me. It finally fell apart on me a few years ago, but I will always remember it fondly. It’s a closed-back design and not the most comfortable due to the drivers touching the ears and the pleather earcups. I only use open-back designs now for leisure listening as they’re usually more comfortable and I can hear thing around me still.

Tracking – For tracking (recording with microphones of vocals or instruments), headphones have to be sealed so the sound does not leak into the mic. I always wear open-back headphones for leisure so I can still hear the phone ring or someone talking to me, but they are not sealed and will leak into the mic, so my leisure headhphones cannot be used for tracking. This means I need headphones specifically for tracking–enter the M50 and the RP-21. I have two tracking headphones because sometimes I’ll jam or record with another musician, and we’d both need tracking headphones. If I’m doing any kind of critical mixing or mastering, I do it on my Klein + Hummel O 300D reference monitors, as it’s the most accurate and neutral sound reproduction device I own. I might get things in the ball park with headphones if I happen to be working late at night, but I would never finalize a mix on a pair of headphones (I used to when I was poor and couldn’t afford high-end reference monitors, and now when I listen to those old mixes, they mostly suck).

Portable – The small Westone 3 is my traveling in-ear headphones. They seal out all the noise like airplane, train, loud people…etc so I can enjoy music while on the road. The Westone 3 replaces the Shure E4C after it got fried by a malfunctioning airline adapter.

The SE-DJ5000 was a gift from Reid, a musican friend of mine back when I worked at Guitar Center in San Francisco about ten years ago. I’ve been trying to find that guy for a while now–he’s one of the nicest dudes I’ve ever met. I use the SE-DJ5000 for my Clavia Ddrum 4 drum kit.

And that’s how one person ends up with so many headphones. If I had money to burn, I’d probably get more for leisure listening–just to have different sonic flavors for fun.

…

There is a bass detail/articulation test that I do on all my headphones and speakers, and out of all my headphones, only the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and the Pioneer SE-DJ5000 (which only retails for about $99) passed the test–but only barely, while all my other headphones failed (Sennheiser HD555/600/650, Denon AH-D650, Equation RP-21, Westone 3). If you want to test your headphones and speakers, you can do the test. First, grab the track here.
(This was a bad mix from years ago. and because it has problems, it’s the perfect candidate for the test. I intend to remix the track someday.)

Now, this is how you do the test:

-As the track’s intro starts to fade in, you’ll hear the two consecutive bass notes (G) that plays twice and then repeat 4 times before the notes change to a higher note (C), also repeating the same way.

-Once the drum track kicks in (0:31), you should be able to hear that the bass notes do not change–they are playing the same notes and same rhythm as in the intro, but it’ll be difficult to make out the notes because it’s simply badly mixed (I should have used a different bass sound, or EQ’d the bass so its pitch identity is more prominent).

-Now comes the test part. You should notice VERY clearly that when the C bass notes play with the drum track, you pretty much can’t tell that they are playing at all–they are almost totally masked by the kick drum. It should be VERY obvious that the G bass notes can be heard/felt, even if it’s hard to identify the pitch identity, you can obviously hear the “body” of those G bass notes very easily–like a low frequency bloom/boom that companies the kick drum, and when the C bass notes play, that bloom/boom disappears, with only the kick drum audible. The difference is quite stark when listening with the K+H, but barely distinguishable on less capable consumer speakers or headphones. On less capable devices, the bass notes and the kick drum just blends together in a muddy blob with no definition that separates the bass notes from the kick drum.

Keep in mind that the test isn’t whether you can detect the difference, but whether the difference is very dramatic. Whether a headphones has extended bass response has no bearing on the test, since the test is not about the quantity of bass, but quality and detail of the bass. When I listen with the K+H O 300D’s, the difference surprised the hell out of me–it was so starkly different that I couldn’t believe how I didn’t hear it for years with inferior equipment. The HD555/600/650, Denon AH-D650, and Equation RP-21 barely registered that difference. The M-50 and SE-DJ5000 catches the difference, but it’s not nearly as dramatic as with the K+H. The Westone 3 pretty much fails altogether at it.

Also, you do not need to have a lossless file to hear the difference. The mp3 is perfectly fine for this test, because I have done the test with both the original WAV and the mp3 and they both worked the same for the test. In fact, in a double blind ABX test using my trusty Klein + Hummel O 300D’s, I could barely tell the difference between the two files, so it really makes no difference to the test. If you really must have the lossless file, you can find it in this thread I posted about the test:
Link to thread on Head-Fi.org.

…

Related to the recent headphone purchase is this nifty little Victor SU-DH1 Dolby Headphone device I got:
victor-su-dh1
(There’s an almost identical JVC version that only takes batteries and can’t take a power adapter.)

What the device does is take surround sound signal and process them so that you can hear an emulation of surround sound even on your headphones. It’s not perfect like the real deal, but when it’s late at night and you want surround sound without bothering other people, it does the job well enough that you appreciate the difference it makes. The unit is so tiny (about the size of a slim cigarette case–smaller than the photo) because it’s made for portable listening with laptops and mp3 players. I mainly got it because I usually play games at night and our neighbors upstairs goes to sleep around then. I also got tired of getting surprised while playing Bioshock, because I couldn’t tell if an enemy was coming at me from some corner in front of me or behind me. So far I think it makes a difference but I’ll have to play with it more to really draw a conclusion on whether the device saves my ass noticeably during gaming or not.

…

I recently did a little research into exactly how Elena listens to music differently from the way I do, and the result is very similar to what I have observed from the past with other people who are neither musicians nor very passionate about music. I had her rate a big collection of songs over a long period of time (months), and then I would ask her questions about her ratings. Like many people who aren’t musicians or aren’t very passionate music, she enjoys music mostly in two ways:

1) The music itself is very pleasant–melodic, uplifting, relaxing, ethereal, or fun–all positive feelings evoked by the music.

2) The lyrics resonate with her emotionally, so that she identifies with the emotions depicted in the song. In some cases, if she can’t understand the language of the lyrics, she could feel the emotions projected by the singer. This emotional appeal is mostly limited to uplifting or sad/moody songs, and does not include aggression, anger, humor…etc.

If a piece of music does not fit those two profiles, then she will not enjoy the music as much–be it harder music with aggression and anger, or instrumental pieces that aren’t uplifting or beautifully melodic, or non-relaxing/uplifting jazz, or funky music that’s meant to groove but contains no emotions…etc.

Of the genres she tends to rate highly are trip-hop, dream pop, ballads, and mainstream pop, soft rock, soft jazz, middle-eastern (she likes the mysterious and exotic sound of the ethnic percussion and vocals)…etc. No harder rock, metal, industrial, prog rock, and no classical or orchestral unless it’s soft and relaxing.

Having identified her exact taste, it makes me wonder why some people naturally prefer more “difficult” music like prog rock or avant-garde, listening for impressive musicianship and compositional skills, while others couldn’t care less about those qualities. I know some people who aren’t musicians but are passionate about music, and they also care about those qualities. Is this the line that separates intellectuals from the average folk? Does this have anything to do with personality?

…

I’m about halfway through Bioshock now, and I’m glad I decided to give it another chance (a couple of years ago I played up to Arcadia and stopped). I’m pretty sure I’m going to finish it this time. So far I can’t say that it’ll take a spot in my favorite games of all time, because it lacks the emotional core or a plot progression that resonates with me, but it’s certainly a very good game.

…

Quickie movie/TV reviews:

Prison Break (Season Three) – Elena and I both really enjoyed the first two seasons of Prison Break, and we thought it ended on a perfect note. When I heard they were extending the show due to popular demand, I was sure the quality would drop significantly, and I was right. The third season was terrible, jumping the shark all over the place, and some of the problems had nothing to do with the writer’s strike at the time, because you don’t have to be a writer to catch these mistakes. For example, they played up Mahone’s drug addiction throughout the season, but when the big day nears, his withdraw symptoms just disappeared and was never brought up again–in fact we’re watching season four now and it’s never mentioned again, period. No explanation–nothing. Then in the scene when they were at the buoy waiting for the boat to pick them up and the kid slipped underwater like he’s passing out. How the hell does that happen when all he was doing was grabbing onto the side railing of the buoy? Other scenes like them rolling out from under the vehicles during the escape with all those guards around and bright spot lights, and the many scenes when someone had a weapon and every opportunity to make a move but did nothing…etc. Overall it was just like a ghost of its former self, and I wish they never extended the series. But since Sarah is back in season four, I just had to watch it (I think she’s very elegant, with those big doe eyes that could melt an icecap), so we’re now making our way through season four.

Crossing Over – While the political and moral stance of the film is convoluted, it’s nice to see a film actually try to tackle the subject of illegal immigration. I think this film resonates more deeply with those who had gone through the naturalization ceremony, or have struggled to get a green card. I wonder how many of the film critics who gave this this film a scathing review were naturalized and how many were born American?

He’s Just Not That Into You – A pretty decent romantic comedy. I’m noticing that Jennifer Connelly has been playing the “hyper critical, stuffy, and too serious” type more than once in the recent years. Is this what casting directors see in her? I kind of miss the old Jen, when she still had some fat on her and still played characters that weren’t so drab.

Hush A pretty good horror/thriller, although it still had scenes where the character acted in incomprehensibly stupid ways that are always a letdown in horror films. Why can’t we see more horror films where the protagonists are really smart and really cool under pressure? Is it because the audience won’t be able to identify with such a person and prefer to identify with the idiots who panic easily?

Franklyn - I force myself to sit through the first thirty minutes before I ejected the DVD. I knew exactly what the films was trying to do even without watching the rest of the film (and my guess was later confirmed by a quick search for the rest of the plot online), and the execution was so pretentious that I just couldn’t watch any more of it. This is a good case of someone having an interesting and original idea, but lacks the ability to execute the idea properly. The imaginary fantasy world–be it the visual design or the premise, just felt so arbitrary and meaningless. I doubt I would ever try to force myself to watch the rest of the film.

Election 2 - The sequel was about the same as the first film in terms of quality and entertainment. The scenes with rampant corruption of the government officials in China made Elena and I chuckle–they were so true that they might as well have been scenes from a documentary.

The Return - A mediocre thriller with predictable plot, tired premise. I suppose some would watch it just for Sarah Michelle Geller, but she was kind of a bore in the film as well.

Painted Veil - Another predictable film, but these period epic romances always are, aren’t they? There’s always some kind of political unrest happening in some third-world country, and the main characters are always white heroes that has traveled far to foreign lands to fix the mistakes of the uncivilized barbarians. If it’s not Africa, then it’s Asia or some other place. The film itself was decent, and Ed Norton was actually not half bad as a romantic lead (a role that I’ve never seen him in), though his character was not the traditional romantic lead that we see so much of–that handsome rogue with a heart of gold. I can see why they cased Norton, since he pulls off the serious and quiet type very well.

Ink Heart – I don’t see why lackluster fantasy works like this gets adapted for the big screen instead of far better fantasy books.

Rendition - A good political thriller with a strong moral stance, but without ever being preachy or sentimental.

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