Creativity And Play

I think a few of the animation studio big-wigs aught to take note of this video!

SyFy Movie Timeline

Courtesy of danmeth.com

JP Godzilla Vs US Godzilla... In Sydney!

From the film Godzilla: Final Wars (Godzilla's 50th Anniversary project, in which Godzilla travels around the world to fight his old foes plus a new, mysterious monster named Monster X), Sydney plays host to a brief battle between the US Godzilla and the original Japanese Godzilla.

The Can-Aussie Rule Continues

According to The Economist "Cities in Canada and Australia are the most liveable in the world" with each country having 3 cities ranking in the top 10. In the latest report Vancouver ranked #1 and my home city of Melbourne is ranked #3. Seems I've done pretty well so far :)

From Economist.com:

Canadian and Australian cities account for six of the top ten spots in the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest liveability ranking. All of the cities in the top ten scored well over 80.0, the threshold below which difficulties are apparent in day-to-day living. Vancouver is still the world’s most liveable city, with a rating of 98.0; Sydney and Zurich, sharing ninth place, achieved a score less than 2% lower than Vancouver’s. The worst-performing locations are in Africa or Asia, where civil instability and poor infrastructure present significant challenges. The unfolding political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe makes Harare the least desirable city in the survey. Locations within Afghanistan and Iraq are not included.

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s liveability rating quantifies the challenges that might be presented to an individual's lifestyle in 140 cities worldwide. Each city is assigned a score for over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. The categories are compiled and weighted to provide an overall rating of 1–100, where 1 is considered intolerable and 100 ideal.

Paint Dancing

Paint dancing is a phenominon that started in Seattle, spread to other US cities and is now heading to Vancouver. It is exactly what the name suggests, painting while dancing. I am totaly curious about this and would love to give it a shot whenever someone organizes one in Vancouver. Below is a video about the Seattle group.

The Mighties

Here's some cool concept art by Robin Joseph

Half-Life - Escape From City 17

Directed by The Purchase Brothers (David and Ian), Escape From City 17 was filmed guerilla style with no crew. The first two episodes were made on a $500 budget. Here's Part One:



Fucking amazing! Part Two is aparently on the way soon.

Partly Cloudy

I don't know how long this will be UP (hehe, punn intended) but here's Pixar's latest short Partly Cloudy, online at least until Pixar realizes.

My one word review; "Meh"

100 Best Movie Lines in 200 Seconds

Not sure I agree with the chosen lines but it's a fun journey anyway.

Bing

Microsoft has just unleashed their new search engine (which they call a decision engine), built to go head-to-head with Google, called Bing. It's an attractive and very user-friendly engine. It has the simple feel of Google with a clean and updated design. I personally like the way the image and video searches work. Images gives you an almost endless scroll of pics to choose from, each with a rollover enlargement and info. Video searches give you a rollover preview of the results which is neat too. I've decided to make the switch for a while and see how it feels over time. Apparently Google still gives more results to searches but Bing is pretty damn close. Try it out at http://www.bing.com/

The Beatles - Rock Band

Check out this gorgeous trailer for the new Beatles Rock Band (with designs by the Gorillaz dude Robert Valley http://robertvalley.blogspot.com/)



Here's the official website: http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com/

Safety First w/ Johnny Darrell

GOING POSTAL
My buddy Johnny Darrell has some wise words for all you DIY folks out there. Keep 'em comin' Johhny. The world needs it's safety!

Spiral Out: Breaking the Code of Tool's "Lateralus"

It's geeky but I like the thought put into it, accurate or not (Seems like something Maynard James Keenan would do). I already loved the song but now it seems a little cooler.

Dub FX: 'Flow' feat. Woodnote

Dub FX is an Aussie beatbox loop artist living in the UK. This is one of the most amazing beatbox live mixes I've ever heard! Check out his website for CD sales and tour dates etc. http://www.dubfx.net/

Batman 2.0 and the Many Faces of Robin

During the Batman R.I.P. saga a few months ago I did a recap of the various incarnations of Batman over the years. Since the disappearance/death(?) of Bruce Wayne the Battle for the Cowl has been waging in Gotham with the heaviest contenders for the mantle being Nightwing (Dick Grayson/Robin #1), Tim Drake (Robin #3) and Jason Todd (Robin #2/Red Hood/Red Robin).

The final images of the story reveal a mysterious new Batman who is almost certainly Dick Grayson (with a very slight chance of it being Tim Drake, but that's unlikely).

We also get our first glimpse of the new Robin, Damian Wayne.

With this I decided it's time we recap the history of Robin and have a look at who's been wearing the green speedos and elf boots .

Robin #1 - Dick Grayson
After eventually hanging up the Robin costume, Dick went on to become his own vigilante hero Nightwing. After Bruce Wayne died(?) recently he took over the mantle and is currently the new Batman 2.0, and rightly so I say.

Robin #2 - Jason Todd
Jason was a more free spirited and violent Robin and eventually got himself killed by the Joker in the Death in the Family storyline.

In true DC fashion he is resurrected in a bizarre space/time ripple caused by Superman Prime and stumbles his way from the grave to eventually become the troublesome Red Hood and eventually Red Robin. After Batman R.I.P. he crowns himself the new Batman wearing an armoured suit,using guns and killing criminals. After Dick beats the shit out of him he pisses off to become Gotham's new crime lord Black Mask.

Robin #3 - Tim Drake
Tim Drake was the latest Robin up until the Battle for the Cowl story. He retired breifly at his father's request, leaving a gap to be filled by the 4th Robin (below) but returning soon after to continue as Robin. After Bruce's apparent death he briefly donned the Batsuit if only to keep the symbol alive to the Gotham citizens but once Dick officialy became the new Batman, Tim stepped aside to take over the Red Robin role that Jason had previously used.

Robin #4 - Stephanie Brown
Stephanie hit the Gotham scene as a rogue vigilante named Spoiler who pushed to join Batman's team. After Tim retired, Bruce reluctantly brought Stephanie in as the first female Robin. She proved to be uncontrollable and Bruce eventually fired her, offering the role back to Tim. Defiantly she ventured out again as Robin only to be killed in the process. Naturally, however, she manages to return from the grave (apparently her death may have been staged) and continues fighting crime as Spoiler.

Robin #5 - Damian Wayne
After Bruce Wayne's brief love affair with Ra's Al Ghul's daughter Talia, she gives birth to Damian who is raised by Ra's as a member of the Assassin's League. During the recent events Damian battled his way through the Bat team in an attempt to claim his birthright as the new Batman, eventually becoming the latest Robin alongside Grayson's Batman. The new Bat duo is born.

Robin #6 - Carrie Kelly
Carrie becomes the second female Robin in Frank Miller's brilliant story the Dark Knight Returns. As a fan of the original Robins, she makes her own costume and saves the life of the aging Batman (Bruce Wayne) who takes her on as his new Robin. This story is a kind of 'what if' idea and therefore doesn't technically fit into the official storyline of the mythos.

So there you have it, 5 Robins (and a hypothetical 6th) with the current one being Bruce Wayne's son Damian. Whew :)

Yuki 7 Trailer

This is an awesome Flash trailer for a sexy spy action flick called Yuki 7 by Kevin Dart. The 70's film stylization is spectacular.

Korgoth of Barbaria

Hilariously violent fantasy/action/comedy about a big barbarian dude with anger management issues. Twisted , wonderful stuff!

The great cities have risen and fallen. Civilization's grip on mankind has grown weak and arthritic. Dark forces seek to renew forgotten covenents, and primordial beasts reclaim the wilderness. Out of the frozen North, a MAN emerges, a man of a BARBARIC AGE, whose MERCILESS SAVAGERY may be the only key to his SURVIVAL. They call him... KORGOTH!

More Animation Tips

I just found 3 more amazing sites with loads of high-end animation tips & tricks etc. Since I'm fucking sick of doing shitty animation for TV, I have been eating up these sites with actual high-end animation notes that are getting me jazzed to get back into producing real animation and not the crappy pumped out shit TV always demands.

A.R.C. (the Animaiton Resource Centre) run by Ian Lacey who is an animation teacher at the Southbank Institute of Technology in Brisbane Australia.

CarlosBaena.com. Carlos is a Pixar animator who's generously sharing his knowledge to us free on his personal site. He also has some great personal art on there.

Keith Lango's tutorial blog page. Keith is an all-rounder who's been in the game for 15 years doing a variety of features, tv shows and shorts etc.

Awesome! I feel that passion returning thanks to these great finds. I'll keep you posted as I find more.

Booty Babes

I love these sculpts by Spencer Davis. They're super sexy. Me want!





Check out the collection at http://www.bootybabe.com/

Bitey Castle Academy

Adam Philips, another ex Disney colleague (and the guy who personally taught me how to use Flash), is writing a Flash training ebook and posting it on his website with the first 2 chapters free http://www.biteycastle.com/bca/bca.html

Also make sure you check out Adam's amazing animations etc on his main site at http://www.biteycastle.com/

And while I'm at it Adam also has a YouTube channel to view all his films; http://www.youtube.com/user/chluaid