Busy Weekend

Very busy last week and through the weekend. First, here's the next episode of Atomic Boy:

So last week was full of deadline production work, which is good. I also had a SCA scroll deadline, which we (my wife and I do scrolls together) almost missed. Fortunately through careful scheduling and lots of left-overs and delivery food we managed to get the scroll done, and delivered on time. Which is very good, scene we've had to push a bit to get scroll assignments and not missing a deadline at this point is important. Also, I requested this scroll, as it's for a local fighter who I am a big fan of.
Saturday was a SCA event, melee practice for war. Overall it went well, but I'm a little concerned that there seems to be a division in the kingdom that people aren't traveling across. But, perhaps that's something that's fixable if I can get my act together and win the Crown Tournament in October.




Sunday was a lot of fun. My parents came down, they actually came down Saturday but I was at the SCA event most of the day. For more on what they did on Saturday see my wife's blog. Sunday we went to a B-Mets game, AA farm team for the Mets. It was Superhero Day and Kids Eat Free Day. The superheroes turned out to be park employees dressed up. It was really funny to watch the Flash and Captain America running camera during the game (special note for me: the B-Mets use basically the same camera I have for their on the field shooting). I think my son really enjoyed the game, chasing superheroes between pitches probably helped. But tonight at dinner he spontaneously commented on the game, "Remember we went to the baseball game with Nana and Papa? That was fun." Maybe we'll try and get another game in this season.

Well this weekend is a holiday and should be slightly more busy, so perhaps I might be another two weeks before more Atomic Boy.

Super Movie Series

Posting problems put me off deadline, so it's not really Monday anymore.
But here is the first of the next series. Hopefully this will get me focused back on production.

It was a good weekend. Got to see the Hulk for Father's Day. We also had and SCA event this weekend. Great fighting and some other interesting drama, but even that may end up turning out for the best. Finally, my wife and I made an award scroll for the event. It's nice to get to do some non-video art. I suspect my wife will post more about the scroll on her blog, but I wanted to post the picture:

There is no charge for Awsomeness . . .

Is there anything better than sitting in a nice cool movie theater on a hot summer afternoon?
I say there is not.
My son and I went to see Kung Fu Panda. The movie was fantastic. It had a great message, which was made even better by the subtlety with which it was delivered. The playfulness of the characters and comic timing of the movie made for a magical combination. It was also nice to see a kids movie where the hero is able to win on his own rather than finish an honorable second behind a friend (Cars, Surfs Up).
Rating: 4 out of 5
On a side note, I sit through the credits to the end of the movie, at every movie I go to. And what's be great is that my son will sit with me and watch the credits (or dance in the case of Speed Racer). Well, we got an unexpected bonus scene at the end of Kung Fu Panda. My son was very excited about this, "We got more movie" was his comment when he realized we were then only two in the theater who stayed for the credits.

Well, that's it for now. Plans are to see Hulk on Sunday and have the next movie series posted by the end of the day Monday.

Summer Movies

Back from a brief trip to Vermont. I went to a science center with my son. There were a TON of kids there, I'm guessing it was a mandated state-wide field trip day. But we managed to move around and get some time at most of the stations. Apparently there is a similar museum about an hour from where we live, which we may try and get to at least once this summer.
Here is a movie of my son playing at the Vermont science center.

So, I'm about ready to start another series of movies with my son. I've got a noir mystery sort of scripted, but I'm going to need some actors besides just my son for it to work. So, maybe I'll collect footage for that and edit / post it later this summer and do a quick series with just him for now. Also, I've been looking at some on-line video contests that could be some fun. But with those I usually need voting help. Get ready for mass e-mails. I was going to start with a Ben & Jerry's Birthday Video contest, but they state in their rules that no one under 18 can appear in the video. And since my idea involves my son, and he's still a bit under 18, I think we'll skip this one.

Movies I've seen recently (over due):
Iron Man: Another addition to good superhero movies being produced. It's not as good as Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, but it is close to the level of the first Sam Rami Spiderman (which get bonus points for re-establishing the superhero movie as a viable franchise.) Iron Man works due to an excellent selection of enemy that works for the non-comic fan (Mandrin would have been a disaster). It also only updates what needs to be changed to work as a current story (IED in Iraq rather than a landmine in Vietnam, for example). The humor and playfulness was fantastic as was the feel that the armored characters were really there not a CGI paste in (see Ang Lee's Hulk). However, I think the movie spent too much time on the build process and not quite enough with villain development. The War Monger seemed to be there just so that there could be a fight at the finale of the movie. On a serious note, movies don't all have to be 2 1/2 hours long for me to feel like I got my money's worth.
rating: 3.5 out of 5

Speed Racer: Okay three things. 1, there was enough racing from my son (good). But, 2: there was too much monkey for both of us. Seriously the three year old was unimpressed with the monkey sidekick. 3: Too much close-ups. I know this is because of pressure to make movies more accessible and enjoyable on smaller screen (phone, ipod, ect) distribution. It's just disappointing to see what I assume is studio pressure effect artistic decisions in film making in a way that detracts from the overall quality of the film. For Speed Racer, there was the potential for a good movie there, the Wachowskis just didn't quite get it to the screen.
rating: 2 out of 5

King of Kong: Documentary about the world record high score on Donkey Kong. I remember making my dad get me past boards on the Atari 2600 version of Donkey Kong so that I could play the later levels. This is a fantastic documentary. There is a wonderful story arc, characters emerge develop and evolve. There are heroes and villains. As someone who as a hobby that falls outside of the normal range of leisure activities, I found a lot to identify with in this movie.
rating: 4.5 out of 5

Finally, on my leisure activites. I'm helping to train an army for Pennsic. For those of you who don't know what the large scale stuff we do looks like. Here's a link to Blackstone Raids, a much smaller event at the end of April. If I remember correctly there were 180 fighters on the field that day, about 80 on one side and 100 on the other. Pennsic will have numbers closer to 400 on a side.

Finally, here's another movie of my son. Doing a sword fighting drill he made up:

Hopefully I'll have a new movie up Monday.

Back to Blogging

A month with no blogging. So, lets update:

SCA. I feel like the Buffalo Bills of AEthelmearc. Crown tournament is every 6 months. If you win you sit as Prince and Princess for 4 months and then as King and Queens for 6 months. Over the last two years, or the last 4 tournaments we've (my wife and I) finished second 3 times. Here are the finals from this year:
Spring 2008 finals
Pennsic is 12 weeks away. Time to focus training on that.

Production. Without the deadline of the puppy movies, I haven't done any work on personal projects. I have been getting work, which is good. But it's time to get back to some personal stuff. So, let's say I'll start another series with my son in June, and get my short film ready for festivals by June.

Movies. We went and saw Iron Man as a family for Mother's Day. And I'd say we all enjoyed the movie. The next few months look like they'll see more of my son and I going to the theater to see movies. So far he's been very good about sitting through the movie with minimal fidgeting. We're seeing Speed Racer on Thursday, I'm hoping for lots of racing scenes. That seems to be what my son is expecting. And with a 2hr and 15min run time, racing and action will be important to keeping him interested. Though Iron Man was almost that long, and Water Horse was too. And he got through those, so I suspect we'll be okay.

Well, I'll try and get back in the habit of posting again.

Double Movie ( Driving my Puppy )

First, previous episodes of Puppy Rescue:
episode 1
episode 2
episode 3

Now the next (last) chapter of Puppy Rescue.

Next week I'll start another series of movies with my son in them. So, if you have an idea for what we should do next, or even just a genre to suggest, you've got until Thursday to influence the next series.

Things are crazy here, so I'll try and post tomorrow about everything that's going on. But at th etop of the excitment list is my son's new electric car. I'll talk more about getting it later, or link to my wife's blog if she beats me to it. But for now, here's a movie of him driving. I used our digital camera to take it. I really like the way it has an old 8mm feel to it, especially how the lens flare gives it the look of scratched film.

More later . . .

Travel and Plague

Behind on blogging, and personal projects due to spending a weekend traveling and then bringing back a sick family. Not me though, just everyone else. As a result production was delaying again on the Puppy movies, cast was sick and crew was busy taking care of them.

Trip was great. Got to see a ton of people that I usually only get to see once a year, so it is always a treat to get in an extra visit.

Off topic: I found out today that MMA is not legal in New York. I find that somewhat disappointing, because I think the sport is a money train and that local events, promotion and associate TV could be lucrative.

Movies I've seen since I posted last: Kung Phooey! , I Robot, Rize, Invincible.

Kung Phooey! Was pretty funny, but I was warned that the dubbed version is no good, so stick with the subtitles on this one. If you enjoy classic Hong Kong cinema I think you'll also enjoy this movie, I well put together satire that doesn't stoop to parody. 3 out of 5.

I Robot. Good movie. A little predictable for the most part, but a very unexpected reveal at the end. However, it falls kind of short of the Isaac Asimov stories that it is based on. I'm not complaining about character or plot changes, but a loss of the central theme and message of the material. 2.5 out of 5.

Rize. Documentary about Krumpping. (spelling question: 1 or 2 p's in that word?) Krump is a style of dance, let's say urban or originating in the African American neighborhoods of LA and Oakland. However I would say the style has gone mainstream, as it was one of the styles on FOX's So You Think You Can Dance last season. The documentary was very well put together and featured profiles of people who live in a very dangerous place and choose it put their passion into dance rather than violence. The story was very powerful in a chicken soup for the soul with a edge of depressing realism sort of way. There was one sequence that I was somewhat unhappy with where a visual comparison was drawn between Krump and primitive African dance. With no context for the comparison I felt it was a bit too risky to leave it so open to the audience to interpret what the film was trying to say. But, still 4 out of 5.

Invincible. The standard fell good, based on a true story, sports movie. It was put together well, but other than the a-list cast, it wasn't anything that rose above movie of the week. It was entertaining and while I could get in the effort that was put into making the film stock match the look of movies from the 70's, and the energy of the football scenes, I think that if the ensemble cast was paired down and we were given a little more about the hardships the city of Philadelphia was going through. I'll say 2 out of 5.

Okay. Final chapter of the Puppy Movies should post Monday. But I'll post before then, I think I have a funny story, for later.