Ethereality News & Weblog

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.

…

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).

December 23, 2009

I’m the destroyer of electrical appliances

Filed under: Audio & Music,Books,Computers & Gadgets,Film/TV/Animation,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.

…

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.

…

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.

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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,Audio & Music,Computers & Gadgets,Film/TV/Animation,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.

September 26, 2009

Canon VIXIA HF11 AVCHD camcorder

Filed under: Art & CG,Books,Computers & Gadgets,Film/TV/Animation,My Life/Musings,Photography,Video Games,Writing — Rob @ 4:36 pm

Weblog:
Recently when I was making videos about the Zendrum, I realized I really needed a dedicated camcorder instead of using the video recording feature on the Fujifilm F30. We’ve always used our cameras’ video recording feature whenever we needed to record videos, and we’ve always been fine with the inherent limitations. But now that I need to shoot more demanding videos where I need to exercise a lot more control over the shooting process, it was time to bite the bullet and get a camcorder. I did a lot of research and debated about whether to go with standard definition or high-definition, and finally decided that since the entire market is obviously moving towards HD, it would be kind of stubborn to stay in the SD world. I did think about whether I would need to burn DVD’s to share with other people, or the extra space and processing power required to work with HD footage. In the end, I decided that HD would be doable and SD would be taking a step back in technology.

Other than shooting the typical travel and home movies, I will be uploading to Youtube some music-making gear reviews and demonstrations. I might try to shoot some live-action stuff with it too–perhaps a short-film, but it’s unlikely to happen when I’m in China, since I don’t really have an interest in working with local Chinese actors or shooting anything in the Chinese language (unless I happen to write a screenplay that takes place in China).

The HD camcorder I ended up getting was the Canon VIXIA HF11 AVCHD :
Canon HF11

I was surprised by how tiny the thing is. My last memory of consumer camcorders was when they seemed at least two or three times bigger:
tiny Canon HF11

I also got the Canon VL-5 optional light for it:
Canon HF11 with VL-5 optional light

Other accessories I got includes a Sandisk 32GB class 2 and a Toshiba 32GB class 4 SDHC memory cards, a Pisen BP819D battery/charger, and I’ll also be getting a Canon WD-H37C II 37mm Wide Angle Conversion Lens soon, since the wide end of the HF11 is laughably NOT wide.

The VL-5 is 3,000 kelvin degrees halogen light, so it’s warmer than neutral. I think Canon designed it that way because they think the typical ambient lighting used in various places are warm tungsten lights, so the fill light would need to match the ambient light temperature. The small LED light that’s built into the camcorder itself is very cool in temperature, likely deviating from the standard 5,00k even more than the VL-5 (though on the cooler side). The LED light isn’t very bright and casts everything in a cool, bluish hue, so the VL-5 is good purchase if you want a usable fill-light.

After testing it out for a couple of days, I pretty much figured out the optimal settings for most of the shooting situations I’d encounter. The Cine mode gives the best detail in highlights and shadows, but the image is flatter than the other modes. Setting the Image Effects to Vivid will help, but it’s still not as vibrant as I’d like. There also seems to a cap on the ISO when in Cine mode, since the exposure never goes up in Cine mode after reaching a certain threshold, so if a scene is dark, it’ll stay dark instead of automatically going up in exposure or going down in shutter speed. The lack of high-ISO noise like in the other modes also tells me there must be a limit of how high the ISO will go in Cine mode. I have the frame rate set to 50i since the PF25 that’s recommended to use with the Cine mode is way too sluggish.

I’d love to have shelled out the bucks for a professional grade HD camcorder so I can have deeper manual control down to the last detail, but like I said, I have no interest in shooting live-action stuff while I’m in China, so it would’ve been money wasted. For casual use, the HF11 is perfectly fine, if you know how to adapt it to various lighting situations. Luckily I have already accumulated a lot of technical knowledge from photography over the years, and the main foundation knowledge is the same from photography to video. As long as you have a firm grasp of the main concepts behind how aperture, shutter speed, ISO, metering, white balance…etc work together to contribute to the final output, you already know all the most important technical stuff.

One annoying thing about the HF11 is the ImageMixer 3 SE software that comes with it–it refuses to install because the serial number from the HF11 is rejected. I may have to end up paying for another AVCHD capable video editor, but I’d rather not since I already have Adobe Premiere CS3 (though it can’t import AVCHD, unless you play for a third-party solution).

Although I’m still busy working on the course material for the workshop, I’ll try to find some time to remake the Zendrum video with the HF11 and get it up on Youtube.

…

Speaking of the workshop, one thing I’ve noticed is that I tend to spend a lot of time creating content that are rarely, if ever, readily available in the instructional books and DVD’s, or even art school classes. I try to not spend too much time on topics that already have tons of readily available free and commercial resources, since that’s not the point of the workshop. The whole point of the workshop is to teach both essential foundations and also critical advanced knowledge and techniques that’s very hard to learn due to lack of resources, or would require many years of experience and gradual evolution as an artist to grasp. My goals is to make those highly difficult aspects easy to understand, so the students can shave off many years from their struggles.

Some of the topics in the workshop that have very little available resources elsewhere are advanced theories like the complexities and principles of stylization–for example, the anatomy of visual vocabulary, and the way they combine to describes different visual styles–from culturally influenced styles (anime, American comic books), house styles of prolific studios and intellectual properties (well known franchises, animation studios), to personal styles. Stylization is something that even pros often don’t get right, and while it’s often a matter of taste, there are very important universal rules that artists must observe in order to create styles that are effective and appropriate for any given intellectual property. A related topic is the matter of aesthetics, and it’s a topic rarely ever taught in detail in art schools or in commercial “How To” books and videos. In the workshop, I try to help students learn to dissect the mysteries of aesthetic concerns, and also look at examples of how an artist might evolve aesthetically, but not always for the better.

There are so many other things in the workshop spanning all topics (composition, lighting, color, surface polish, stylization, aesthetics…etc) that I purposely designed so the students can learn things that they would not be able to learn from elsewhere–things that are often overlooked, insufficiently explained, or maybe beyond the understanding or insight of other teachers and authors. I’m not saying that as an artist or teacher I know more than others–what I’m saying is that I just happened to have given a lot more thought to all the vital knowledge that are missing from the instructional materials out there. I’m sure some of the artists and teachers out there also know this stuff, but for some reason it just never occurred to them to teach those complex and difficult topics (maybe the fact they are difficult is the main reason).

Anyway, I’m getting closer to finishing the course material–maybe about a couple more months away, and I can’t wait to pass on all those critical knowledge and techniques to the next generation of aspiring artists.

…

Although there’s truth to the advice that you should surround yourself with excellent creative works in order to learn from and be influenced by the best, it’s also true that we often need to experience the polar-opposite to really understand why the masters are so great. The reason why is because often the masters are so skilled that you often cannot figure out why something they did worked so beautifully–there is no trace of the string on the puppet, or any evidence of clumsy tempering. It’s like watching master magicians–you try as hard you could but you can never figure out how the magic is done. But if a bad magician tries to perform the same tricks, as soon as he fumbles, we can see exactly where he failed, and we get a glimpse of the secret to the tricks themselves. That is what happens when we try to learn from inferior creative works, and by becoming familiar with the various telltale signs of inferior works, we gain a deeper understanding of how superior creative works differ. This is the main reason why I force myself to sit through films that I already know are horrible–I need to be well-versed in both excellent and egregious examples to be a more well-rounded creative person. Of course, I don’t purposely go and seek out horrible films–I simply sometimes watch them when they happen to fall on my lap (on TV, friends with bad taste, given to me…etc). Sometimes I would not be able to sit through the whole thing–maybe just the first fifteen to twenty minutes before I eject the DVD out of disgust. Sometimes, a film that is mostly well-made but contains some glaring artistic and technical faults would be the most educational, because you get to witness and compare in the same film what worked and what didn’t.

So, for those of you who turn your noses up at what you consider inferior works of art–take a deep breath, and try and see if you can learn a few things from them. You might be surprised at how much you learn just by trying to analyze all the things that are wrong with bad works of art, and how exactly, down to the last tiny detail, you would’ve done things differently. The most valuable lessons you learn from bad works of art is to never repeat those same mistake in your own creative works.

…

It’s been a while since I got motion-sick from playing a video game, but when I tried to play The Darkness recently, it really messed me up bad. Just seconds into the game and I can already feel it happening. I wish I knew what the exact causes are, and all games would have different settings to help alleviate the problem. Some games allow you to change the Field Of View for that reason, but it’s actually rare that a game has that option available.

I’ve tried a few different games recently but so far none really made me want to continue further, except maybe Assassins Creed, but mostly because it’s got one of the best presentation I’ve seen in a game. Far Cry 2 so far is really disappointing, especially compared to the first game, which is on my list of favorite games of all time. The premise just isn’t very interesting and the storytelling is so unremarkable that you just have no reason to want to go on. Mirror’s Edge was fun at first, but after a while it just feels repetitive, and some of the jumping puzzles are incredibly frustrating. The storytelling also moves forward in a way that’s not very compelling, not to mention the cinematics have some of the worst art direction I’ve ever seen in my life. I wonder how they decided on such an idiotic looking style–one that has nothing to do with the awesome visual style of the game itself. I also tried Grand Theft Auto IV, and as much as I wanted to love it, I just don’t think I’m the type to be able to fall in love with a sandbox styled game. There are just some sensibility issues I can’t agree with. While I had a ton of fun with GTA: Vice City years ago, I never finished that game either because there just wasn’t any motivation in terms of the narrative. I think the sandbox genre needs to figure out a more compelling way to propel the storytelling forward–perhaps usage of scripted events sprinkled within the sandbox environment itself. As it is, it feels more often like stupid mindless fun instead of engaging storytelling.

…

I finished a couple of books recently. Here are some thoughts about them:

Inside Delta Force, by Eric Haney – I’ve heard all the negative opinions about Haney–that he embellished the truth, fabricated events, and made false claims–criticisms that came from his ex-squad mates and commanding officers who read or heard about his book. To make things worse, the TV show he helped co-create and write, The Unit, is a pretty unremarkable show because it contained some ridiculous situations that could never happen in real life (such as the season one finale)–which damages Haney’s reputation even more. So, even before reading the book, I already had some reservations, and I have to say, the book was quite good, with plenty of juicy detail that special forces enthusiasts like myself could chew on–from how they train inside the Kill Houses, how they train to do spy work, to how they take down terrorists in various environments like commercial airlines and trains. In the book, Haney didn’t exhibit any characteristics that you’d associate with the harsh criticism from his ex-squad mates and CO’s. But then again, most intelligent people know how to lie very well and pretend to be someone they’re not. Overall, I enjoyed the book more than I enjoyed Chuck Pfarrer’s Warrior Soul, since it was more detailed in the actual operations and more exciting as well.

Becoming A Synthesizer Wizard, by Simon Cann – I regret getting this book, and it’s not because it’s a bad book, but because I already own two similar books (How to Make a Noise and Cakewalk Synthesizers: From Presets to Power User) by the same author, and this one more or less feels redundant. I even contacted the author and asked him if I should get this book, considering I have his other books, and although he ultimately advised against it, the reasons he gave were never really about redundancy. I suppose from his perspective, the book contains enough unique information, but from my perspective, if you already have books that covers all the different synthesis techniques and how to operate some of the most prolific softsynths on the market, it’s pretty much pointless to get a book that focuses on software modular synthesizers, because you already know enough to be able to figure out any modular synth.

The book itself is good, and if you don’t already own books on synthesis, this would be a good book to get. But when push comes to shove, I would recommend Simon’s other book, How to Make a Noise, over this one, since it’s more in-depth on the stuff that really matter.

…

Quickie movie reviews:

Clean, Shaven - A very poignant and moving film, without ever being sentimental or contrived. It’s an unflinching look at a schizophrenic man trying to find his daughter, and what happens when he finds her. Elena couldn’t watch the film with me because the Chinese subtitles were horribly wrong (sometimes I would translate an entire film for her, dialog by dialog as we watch, but not on that day), so I watched it by myself. I later described the story to her and just listening to me describing the ending brought tears to her eyes.

The Reader – I liked the film, and I enjoyed the multi-layered complexities dealing with personal and cultural guilt. Kate Winslet was excellent in the film–probably her best performance to date.

An American Haunting – The idea behind the story itself isn’t bad (repressed memory shown as supernatural events), but the execution was ineffective. I’ve seen horror films with similar ideas that were much better executed. Avoid this film unless you have nothing else to watch.

Aftershock: Earthquake In New York – This was a made-for-TV film, and it wasn’t great, but pretty good for what it is. If you like Jennifer Garner, then you might watch it just for her.

Traitor - A strong film that’s executed very well, but I wished some of the character relationship developments could’ve been more in-depth, so we get a deeper insight into the inner conflicts of the terrorists-in-training. That would’ve been a different film though, since this one at its core is still an action thriller.

The Strangers – Perfect example of technique over substance. If the screenplay didn’t depict such moronic main characters, the film would’ve been amazing, but since most of the audience has better common sense than both of the main characters, the film falls flat on its face. Instead of being scared, the audience laughs at (or gets angry at) the main characters they’re supposed to identify and empathize with. This is what happens when filmmakers underestimate the audience.

I believe that the audience in general wants to see intelligent, resourceful, and courageous protagonists, instead of idiotic, chicken-shit, fumbling morons. Watching fools get offed because they are too stupid to know any better is not all that entertaining, but watching smart and resourceful protagonists battling it out with the antagonists is very satisfying, and even educational if the protagonists devised solutions and strategies that are plausible and realistic.

Blood Rayne – I couldn’t force myself to watch more than the first twenty minutes before I had to eject the DVD. I often force myself to watch movies that I know are really bad just so I can remind myself what bad films are like, and also to see if I can gain some new insights into all the little and big things that bad filmmakers don’t do right, in order to remind myself to never commit those same mistakes. But sometimes when a film is so bad you just can’t make it all the way through.

The level crassness really has to be seen and heard to be believed–horrible dialog that completely mixed syntax and cadence without any knowledge of how modern and period dialogs differ, ridiculous and laughably dorky costume designs (Michelle Rodriguez’s costume made me laugh hysterically–it was the worst unintentionally bad costume design I’ve ever seen in my life), cringe-worthy acting and directing (it’s Uwe Boll after all), and to top it off, seeing Ben Kingsley embarrass himself by being in that film.

Pride and Glory – A pretty good film about police corruption. Some of the character motivations seem a bit forced, but it’s technically and artistically well-executed, and I thought the ending was satisfying.

The Apocalypse – Avoid this abomination by the Christian production and distribution company called Faith Films. It’s so bad that even the Christian community wants to disown it. I couldn’t finish this one either–it was just too painful.

Flood – A pretty entertaining disaster film overall, but it’s not as gripping as some of the other well-known films in the disaster genre.

Man On Wire – I thought this documentary was overrated. Most of the critics loved it, but I found it to be a bit too stylized for a documentary. Also, the progression of the film was too slow, without enough intrigue to make you want to keep on watching. The film’s climax was also disappointing–no video footage, only a few still photos with narrations. They probably should’ve just had him plan a whole new project and then filmed that instead, so they’d at least be able to film the actual climax.

White Noise: The Light- It’s a little heartbreaking to see Captain Tight Pants (you know who he is if you’re a Browncoat) in this film. He really tried his best, but the writing, directing, and editing were just such clichéd drivel that I wished more than ever that Firefly didn’t get canceled. At least he’d still have some dignity left as an intergalactic petty thief.

August 5, 2009

Faster, Stronger, Higher

Filed under: Audio & Music,Computers & Gadgets,Film/TV/Animation,My Life/Musings — Rob @ 5:04 pm

WEBLOG:
I’ve been making a point to buckle down and force myself to learn/practice all the stuff that most musicians take for granted. I begged for lessons as a kid–more than once, and I was refused every time, so I taught myself how to play and compose and arrange when I was 18. But the problem is, I did it the unconventional way on my own (even though I read books on music theory), and the side-effect is that I’m not very good at sight-reading or playing from sheet music–something I need to address because I think I’m missing out on a big part of being a musician–namely the classical training. Sure, being self-taught gave me a unique perspective and a distinct individual voice, but now I want the classical training too, and I’m going to get it, once again, by teaching myself. I have instructional books, CD’s, and DVD’s on ear training, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, orchestration, training for piano, guitar, durms, bass, harmonica, voice…etc. At age 36, it’s a little depressing to be catching up on things other musicians already learned in school or with private instructors, but I’m confident I’ll only become a stronger composer/musician/songwriter the more I study, learn, and practice.

…

Speaking of becoming better, I was catching up on the latest in the world of Jpop, and I saw that Goto Maki has left UpFront Agency / Hello! Project and signed with Rhythm Zone / Avex Trax. Apparently she wanted to shed the previous idol image and become a worthy musical artist in her own right. She even went to L.A. for additional training, and has started writing the lyrics to some of her own songs, and I predict she’ll start composing some of her own songs in the near future as well. Now at her new label, she’s participating in all the production meetings and actually having a say in her own music, image, and ultimately her own career. It always makes me smile when a record company controlled pop princess breaks away from that corporate control and asserts her own identity and takes control of her own career. Too many do not–they have neither the desire, the ability, nor the courage–they just do what the record company tells the to do. They wear what they’re told, sing what they’re told, dance how they’re told, have no say in how they are presented to the public, and are ultimately puppets on a string. Maybe for some people that’s enough for them–they’ve gotten rich and famous, and they’ve never wanted more than that. But for those who have their own ideas and want to take control of their own destiny, instead of being a money making machine for big record companies, the only way they could be happy is to express themselves in their own ways, on their own terms. This is the difference between someone who one day becomes a real musical artist and someone who snaps and go shave off all her hair.

…

I’ve just done another round of upgrades to my computers, adding six additional 1.5TB hard drives to my setup (for additional sample streaming, storage, backups…etc), and it’s pretty amazing to remember that it wasn’t all that long ago when I was storing data on floppy disks and had boxes and boxes of them, then to CD ROM, DVD ROM (filling up giant binders), and then hard drives only (with backups, of course). As of now, my entire setup has about fifteen terabytes of active hard drives and 4 terabytes for backing up the most important files. I also have about one terabyte’s worth of older drives (five 200GB drives that’s been replaced with higher capacity drives) that I don’t quite know what to do with. I used to use these spare drives for backups, but now that I backup onto two 2TB external drives, I don’t really have any use for those five 200GB drives. I thought about putting them together in a RAID or a multi-drive enclosure, but the extra cost to do that just isn’t worth putting that one terabyte to use.

While adding the new hard drives, I ran out of room in my drive bay, and I had to put them in the 5.25 bay. But since there’s no case fan there, I had to add 5.25 bay fans as well. The additional fans make a lot of noise, but I have my isolation panels for the computers so it’s actually not bad at all.

I’ll be splitting the streaming orchestral libraries by the main four sections onto four separate hard drives, and I’ll stagger the splitting of other orchestral libraries so that strings from different libraries won’t ever be on the same drive, and neither would the brass, woodwinds, percussion…etc. I’ll do the same for the various libraries of guitars, basses, pianos, voices, synths…etc. None of this is going to free up more CPU cycles or use less RAM–all it really does is not work the hard drive so relentlessly when streaming many different instruments at once, and the additional drives also allow me to install more large libraries that I otherwise would’ve run out of room for by now. With about 5.2 terabytes of sample storage, I can pretty much install whatever I want and not have to worry about it for a long time.

I also picked up two more sticks of 2GB RAM (maxing out my motherboard’s limit of 8GB RAM), since I plan on installing a 64-bit OS on the desktop DAW soon. I’m still on the fence about which OS to install since Windows 7 is getting such rave reviews from fellow musicians, but it’s not officially released yet and driver support may not be the best for a while. I’d hate to install Vista 64-bit now just to have to reinstall everything again when Windows 7 is out and the drivers become available. Supposedly if a driver works in Vista it’ll work in Windows 7 since the driver architecture is the same. We’ll see about that. Either way, I definitely need to get in on the 64-bit action. I already have Vista 64-bit on my laptop, but it’s only got 4GB of RAM so not much point there.

…

I got my Zendrum back from repairs, and wouldn’t you know it–a day after I got it back, I accidentally plugged it into one of the 220 current sockets in the studio (our house has two sets for every wall outlet–one for 220 and one for 110) and I blew out the DC adapter. This is a problem in our household since we have appliances from Asia and the U.S., and plugging in the wrong socket is something that happens every once a while. I can think of five or six appliances we’ve destroyed that way. There’s not much we can do about it except to be more vigilant (in other words, stop being such careless dorks). I’ve ordered a new power adapter, and this time I made sure to get the international switch version. They did offer to send me the international power switch version when I first ordered my Zendrum, but for some reason I thought they were asking me to pick between 110 or 220 volts, and I figured since our house in China has both sockets available, but when we’re in the States I don’t want to be lugging around a giant voltage converter box, so I opted for the 110. Now I realize the international version is one that takes both 110 and 220. *palm against forehead*

…

The older I get the more I hate being angry or negative, but whenever I hear about more of of China’s toxic food products, it just pushes me over the edge. The latest is that food vendors selling bubble milk tea will replace the bubbles (usually made with tapioca) with soft plastic so that it’s more chewy. Yeah, you read that right–PLASTIC. Absolutely fucking unbelievable. How the hell does a society sink so low to have such low moral standards? China practices the most disgustingly perverted version of capitalism I’ve ever witnessed in my life, and it’s a joke for it to keep on identifying itself as a communist country.

…

Quickie film reviews:

Decalogue II – I’m a huge fan of Krzysztof Kieślowski‘s Three Colors: Red (if forced at gunpoint to pick my number one favorite film of all time, Red would probably be it), and I’ve heard about his Decalogue films for a while and finally got a hold of them. I’ve had them for a few years now, but I keep holding off on watching all of them, since the Decalogue films are very dense in atmosphere and when my life is already so hectic, I often prefer lighter films. I’m going to work my way through all ten films eventually (originally made for television). The first one I liked, and I wasn’t quite sure if I got the ending of the second one. Did the doctor lie to both the wife and the husband to save a life and a marriage? That’s how I read the ending, and if that’s what the director intended, then it was a fitting ending to a moral dilemma.

Doubt - I quite enjoyed this film, and I especially liked how each of the main characters held on to their convictions and in the end it’s so hard to reach a verdict of who’s right and who’s wrong. And Amy Adams… *sigh* When did she leave heaven and where did she hide her halo and wings?

Vexille - I liked the two Appleseed CG animated feature films, so I gave this a try since it’s mostly the same crew (minus the director, Aramaki Shinji). I was quite disappointed. There were many things wrong with it, but the most glaring were the implausible premise, the one-dimensional characters, the bland lighting in most scenes, and inappropriate music used in some scenes. Even the title of the film is pointless–the main character Vexville carried no weight in the film–she’s just a bystander and did not exhibit any special qualities that warrants titling the film after her. The only things worth watching for were a couple of the action sequences, but even those weren’t as good as the ones in the Appleseed films.

Miss Potter – I enjoyed the film for it’s innocent charm, although in general I feel that biopics are typically not very satisfying, for the simple fact that fiction can be constructed for optimal pacing and dramatic twists, while with biopics you are limited by real life events that may or may not make compelling dramatic pacing. Obviously most biopics are not 100% faithful due to that limitation–the writer would swap events around, add a few things here and there, or leave out entire sections of a person’s life (and they did that in Miss Potter). This is the second time that Renée Zellweger has been chosen over English actresses for an English role, I think she pulled it off just like she did in Bridget Jones’s Diary.

I wonder though, why is it that most non-American actors can pull off really amazingly authentic American accents, while American actors have such a hard time with non-American accents? Is it because the rest of the world is exposed to so much American media that they have a better ear for it, while Americans are more self-centered when it comes to media and thus aren’t as familiar with foreign accents? Other than Renée Zellweger, I could only think of a few other cases where American actors really pulled off authentic English accents (Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma and James Cromwell in The Queen comes to mind).

Shoot ‘em Up - While I understand exactly what the film was trying to do–that mixture of camp and seriousness, I was underwhelmed. I’m surprised that A-list actors would actually sign up for that kind of disposable and crass entertainment. There are plenty of other commercial films with over-the-top action and tongue-in-cheek storytelling that are better written and directed.

Silk – Beautiful cinematography, but the pacing was way too slow and the pay off in the end came too late and too little. Ultimately there just wasn’t enough satisfaction gained from what felt like an aimless story that had one worthy idea that was stretched far too thin.

Pieces of April – A quirky comedy/drama of the indie flavor, and overall I enjoyed it. I thought katie Holmes was miscast as the lead character though, because she’s way too soft and nice and is totally unconvincing as someone whose family has only horrible memories of. They should’ve gone with an actress who’s really edgy but also has a vulnerable side.

The Horse Whisperer – I’ve pretty much liked all of the films Robert Redford has been involved in, and I liked this one. His films always have this sensitive intelligence and maturity, and I think it says a lot about him as a person and as a storyteller. (Little known fact–I’m named after Robert Redford because my mother’s a big fan.) I didn’t know Scarlett Johanson was in the film, and I’ve mentioned before that I really don’t care for her in general except for in Lost In Translation. Johanson was only about fourteen when she acted in The Horse Whisperer, and she was far more endearing and genuine at that age than most of the roles she’s played as an adult. In fact, you can almost trace the beginning of her lackluster performances right up to the point when she became a media darling (probably right after The Girl with the Pearl Earring). I think the problem is that people started casting her in roles that did not suit her just because she was famous.

No Such Thing – A horrible film–one of the worst I’ve ever seen, and the score was unbelievably bad (the writer/director did the music himself). We’re talking about what sounds like meandering improv with General MIDI soundset from a consumer keyboard here–just really unbelievably bad. Why couldn’t he have hired a no-name composer that didn’t charge a lot? Even if there was no budget, he could’ve hired some student composer and the result would’ve been ten times better. This guy Hal Hartley apparently fancies himself as a composer as well as a writer/director because he does the music for all his films, and he really needs to stop and just hire someone that actually knows how to score a film (better yet, he needs to stop making films. I haven’t seen his other films but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re just as bad).

How the hell does Sarah Polley and Helen Mirren end up in such a horrible film? Did they lose bets? Couldn’t they tell it was trash from just reading the screenplay? The film is a pretentious, ridiculous, pointless farce, written and directed by the kind of pseudo intellectual, humorless, talentless hack who for some reason was able to get funding for his abomination. I rarely get this scathing, but to think trash like this gets funding and far more talented people are probably busting their asses waiting tables and flipping burgers while trying to scrape together funding to make their first feature–one that might never get made, just pushes me over the edge. This guy needs to become a producer instead and get funding for far more talented writer/directors.

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