You kill the devil and you go free.

I had something to blog about the other day, but no time to blog. Now I have a little time and can't remember what it was. There was a catchy title as well.

Anyway, what can I say today. This is all going to be a bit random due to the unpredictableness of my internet connection so I'm just going to write things as they come to me. Just watched Mongol tonight. I was a little disappointed. I can see they were trying to round the character of Genghis Kahn out and show a side not explored, however this was told over a 2 hour running time that did drag a little, especially as he didn't become Genghis until a caption title at the end of the film. I know nothing of Genghis Kahn's life, other than he helped Bill and Ted pass history, but it seems that this film tries to neatly tell some kind of origin story, as if conquering he know world is then acceptable.

Brother Tim visited this weekend which was cool as he's off to Camp America again next weekend. We had what turned into a strange day on Sunday. Visited Brighton Pier, which was nice, then with little else planned took the mini train to the Marina. Having never been there before, and told that it was like Waterworld, I was expecting big things. It then turns out it is like Waterworld, if that film was set next to an Asda on a car park. The day was then salvaged when we came across a bank holiday market with bizarre attractions. One in particular featured a man, with demonic facial hair, presents three dancing girls, dressed in Ice Cream inspired clothing dancing in front of an Ice Cream van, in which they took solace. As I said, bizarre. We then went on to watch a Punch and Judy show. This was cool for reasons I cannot go into yet. I haven't seen a Punch and Judy show since I was a kid, but have recently become interested in the original play, in which Punch kills a lot of people and escapes any kid of punishment. I was quite happy to see he still killed the policeman and the doctor, turned his child into sausages (only to reverse the process) and end up killing the devil, after which he was rewarded and all previous crimes forgotten. I was a bit strange to here a crowd of kids screaming "It's the Devil" but Punch and Judy does bring out the weirdness.

On Monday, Ten Dead Men was release on Region 2 DVD. I'm just going ot pass you over to Brother Chris' blog who has more info on this >>>>>>>

Finally, because I can't remember what my original point was, I've recently become obsessed with Scott Pilgrim. I had no idea what this was and heard that Edgar Wright of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz fame was directing the live action film., but what exactly was this comic. So I bought the first volume of the manga sized, black and white comic book. And it's cool. I'm just going to link to the main website here rather than go into to much detail but it's well worth checking out. The problem is Vol 2 seems to be really scarce but It will be mine, oh yes. It will be mine.

Oh shit, yeah, I finished Jimmy Fight. It needs a second run through before I pass it over to Brother Chris but its all there. In the end I kind of got more into it but now I've freed up some time for my next project, my CV. A process I never look forward to but is required if I hope to continue living.

That's all for now.

3D rabbits scare the crap out of me.

Brother Chris has gone off to Cannes to schmooz with the best of them, and I find myself still having to write Jimmy Fight. This is my own doing really. I said I'd do it, and it is experience. I am even getting into it its just I'm finding myself writing something that my heart truly isn't into. However, if in a bizarro world future I somehow have to write professionally, this is the kind of thing that would happen. The writers of Wolverine didn't start writing Wolverine in an attempt to make it themselves (at least I guess not). It was a job, handed to them. So, my own personal projects and ideas have gone on the back burner temporarily and I've written away.

So I'm just past half way, and it's pretty ok-ish. It needs a couple more drafts, especially as its a new deal for me and took me a while to get into it so it starts off pretty run of the mill. But it does get better. I hope to get it finished by the end of May then Brother Chris can take a pass at it.

The problem I have in this kind of work is I'm forever thinking up ideas, and when time is limited to one project at a time I get a pretty long back log and things start to drop off. We recently attended the Paper Bag night as part of the Brighton Fringe festival and I've got the urge to get back to animating once again. Now this is a time consumer. This hopefully will happen, I've even got an idea for the short, but at the moment, Jimmy Fight leads the way, then its back to the treatment stage for and idea that's so crazy it just might happen. That is all I'm ever going to say on the subject as if you heard the premise you'd realise at this stage it will never get made. So revisiting animation must wait. Which is also annoying because fuelling my new love was a visit to see Coraline in 3D at the weekend. This was a great experience. I 've always liked the idea of 3d films. I remember seeing It came from Outer space when I was younger (not its original release mind you) and jumping out of my seat when a rabbit leaped off screen. Not out of screen, just exit stage left. These days though, as good as it is, it just seems to go hand in hand with the CG animated films or kids films, and most of those I don't really care about. But Coraline, WOW.

The designs are great, the music is great and the workmanship is beyond great. What I like about seeing this in 3D is the fact that rather than the usual of a man waving a stick in your face, the 3D is more subtle. As with The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3d, is makes you feel as though you're on the worktop watching the models move. I'm not sure how I'll react to the film in 2D, but it is a definite must see.

Coraline - They Might Be Giants



I got a new PC too. That happened since last time. Haven't really had time to test its limits, but I'm sure its better than my previous machine which slowly began to shut down, then locked me out mid formatting, then recovered and became semi-useful. But I forked out the cash and got a brand spanking new machine as the old would definitely not handle anymore animatia or editing.

Until next time.

Q: Are We Not Men?

To those who don't know the answer, shame on you, but to put you out of your misery, A:WE Are DEVO.

Yes, brother Chris and I saw DEVO last night and it was amazing. I've been a fan of Devo from first hearing them on the Amiga game, Neuromancer based on the William Gibson novel. Now this was a digitized verson of the song Some Things Never Change, but then Dad played us the album Q: Are we not men. A: We are DEVO, and new fans were born.

So here we are say 15 or so years later and finally we get to see them live. Despite the obvious older age the band are in now they still had quite a lot of energy, and could tell they still enjoyed playing the songs. It was a special one off gig where they played the whole of their first album mentioned above. Which no the one hand was a rare and enjoyable experience, however this was at the cost of some other favourites. There was no Whip It, or Beautiful World, or Somethings Never Change, (but I really wasn't expecting that one) but still a really great night.



To give a rough location as to where we were standing we were basically in the second row of people in front of where Mark Mothersbaugh is on the second pompom dance. He was so close I could see the electro-punk excitement in his eyes.



So, in a good de-evolution move, we go to the support band, Robots in Disguise. Now I can't quite work out if I liked them. At first they were a littel annoying, acting as though a) Everyone knew who they were, and B) everyone had paid to see them. Now from what I can gather they have a following. That's all I'm going to say as I do't really follow music these days. Anyway, in listeneing to recordings they seem to be more electronic thatn they were on stage, which is a little disappointing as the music was alright. However, the electronic versions all sound a little flat. Anyway, here's a music video for you to enjoy.



At the moment I've broken my PC so updates of any kind are limited at the moment. Hopefully I'll get it sorted, or a brand new machine to continue on.

Spies everywhere.

Ok, just a quick post now but I thought I'd best point this out. Its gone on for far too long that there is a villain hidden within the Mr. Men world. I noticed this the other day at work. No for some reason this person has yet to fully establish himself within the Mr. Men as he once did in our world. Maybe this is due to the strict nature of witness protection and all that changing of identities. Ok, I've built this up far too much, but, just for a minute, look at Mr. Fussy...

Take a long hard look. Does he remind you of anyone. Anyone really evil. Anyone who happened to dictate a lot. Anyone who... Ok it's Hitler isn't it. Mr Fussy is really Hitler.

So the Mr. Men had better watch out. Before long he'll be trying to take over the whole Mr. Men world. And who'll stop him. Who knows. We can but wait.