imnoslacker

Image manipulation with Match Color

2007-07-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Here's another example of experimenting with Photoshop's Match Color technique to apply color palettes from source images to your photographs.

Full tutorial here.

Here's the original image:

More shutterbuggery...

2007-07-12T17:32:00.000-07:00

This week I was interviewed by Julia K of Beyond Robson for her weekly local photographers feature. Needless to say, I was pretty honored to be part of such a great series.

Anyone who knows me probably realizes how much I'm into photography at the moment, and it's always nice to be recognized by others who share my interests. So again, thanks very much to Julia and everyone at Beyond Robson.

You can see the full article here.

Hot Buzzz

2007-07-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Another one of my photos, 'Buzzz', has been featured on this weeks Beyond Robson photo feature page. Thanks guys!

You can see the feature here.

Finally!

2007-07-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to paying for a Flickr Pro account. For $24.95 a year you get unlimited storage, uploads, bandwidth, and sets and permanent archiving of all images.

Considering all the photos I've taken since the beginning of the year, I thought that was a pretty good deal. Finally ALL of my images are displayed on my Flickr page instead of the latest 200. Plus I get to organize them into easy-to-browse sets. Yay!

Check out my new improved Flickr page here.

Three Woody's in one day...

2007-07-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about the apartment building I live in is that people are always leaving used books in the lobby for others to read. A couple of days ago, somebody left behind this great boxed collection of three of Woody Allen's books from the 60's and 70's. Just last week I picked up Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time (I passed on the collection of lesbian erotica).

Even if I don't get around to reading them, I can just leave them lying around the apartment and people will think I'm intellectual or something.

Full circle

2007-07-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

I've never really considered myself a spiritual person, but I do believe that there is some sort of pattern to the apparent chaos of life, some sense that eventually everything comes full circle.

Circles are a recurring motif in director Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain; there are Mayan symbols, tunnels, wedding rings, globes floating in space, closeups of eyes. Characters frequently gaze directly into the camera, the circles of their eyes framing a chaotic thread of color and light.

The story weaves together three parallel stories from the past, present and future. Hugh Jackman plays all three central characters; a conquistador, a scientist and a space traveler, each, in their own way, seeking to discover the secret of eternal life. The Fountain is not a traditional science-fiction film, but uses the genre (much like 2001: A Space Odyssey or Solaris) as a backdrop to a meditation on human existance. Amidst the spectacular photography, backdrops and beautifully organic special effects, it is the heartbreaking performances of Jackman and Rachel Weisz as his eternal love, that really ground the film and bring it that much needed touch of humanity.

The film's ending is, like 2001, open to interpretation. I'm not sure if I completely understood it, but I was satisfied by it. There is a feeling of rebirth, renewal and an acceptance of destiny. Moments can be shared by many lives over many years, much like a needle and thread piercing hundred of pages from the same book. By sharing these moments, we can never be alone.

#9 Dream

2007-06-27T22:26:00.003-07:00

One of the great things about Flickr is discovering the great wealth of talented photographers and artists that Vancouver has to offer. Juliainc of Beyond Robson recently did a feature on #9 dream, a photographer who takes Polaroids to a whole new level. In this day of digital cameras and Photoshop, it's refreshing to see a more 'lo-fi' approach. #9 dream has a great eye for what makes a moment special and his Polaroids have a texture and quality thats dreamlike and timeless.

Check out Julia's feature here.

For more of #9 Dream's photos, check out his Flickr page here.

Note: Juliainc's photography is well worth checking out too. Some wonderful portraits and city scenes. Check out her Flickr page here.

Icky Thumping

2007-06-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

After a day of hail, showers, thunderstorms, cringing and nailbiting, the weather finally came through for The White Stripes on Sunday night. Not a drop of rain during their entire set - thank God!

It was obvious from the get go that we were in for a White Stripes show; a bright red stage, stripy microphone and roadies dressed like cartoon hitmen in black suits and red ties. I was in the eternal beer line up when they finally hit the stage (I mean, really.. one hour for two Strongbows??!!) but, my God, what a glorious sound those two make! Cute little Meg flailing away like a muppet behind the drum kit, and Jack prowling around a demented rooster. It just goes to show that you don't need smoke and ice, costume changes, flying pigs, children's choirs and Moroccan drummers to put on a great show.

I loved their cover of 'Jolene' (thanks Kieran for pointing out that it was originally a Dolly Parton song) - beautifully raw and haunting. And of course 'Seven Nation Army' was amazing to hear live. It's definitely one of the best rock songs to come out over the past few years. That guitar solo feels like it's been around since the beginning of time - and I mean that in a good way.

It's my first time at the Deer Lake Park venue. It's a really great place to see a show, but they really need to figure out how many people to work the beer stands. Half an hour to line up for beer tickets (maximum four) and then another half an hour to line up for the beer (maximum two). I persevered, if only because it didn't seem right to see the show completely sober. That would just be wrong.

My only regret is that I didn't pick up the concert T-shirt featuring a monkey playing a red guitar. Sigh.

Alive and Kicking...

2007-06-23T21:50:00.001-07:00

(Yep, I'm still here!)

Oh my God, has it really been two weeks since I've been on here? Just a quick note to say that yes, I am still alive. Work has been crazy busy over the past couple of weeks, hence my lack of blogging. I will be sure to blog some more in the next week. I've got lots of reviews and photos and stuff worth posting.

Off to The White Stripes at Deer Lake Park tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Here's their awesome new single (with an awesome title too), Icky Thump:

Match Color in Photoshop

2007-06-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

To be honest, when I first heard about the 'Match Color' function in Photoshop, I never really considered the creative possibilities. Simply put, 'Match Color' takes the color values from one image and applies them to another. I recently came across an interesting Photoshop tutorial that uses famous paintings to create color palettes for your photography. By keeping a small archive of favorite paintings (or photography) on your hard drive, you can use them as a valuable resource to add some extra drama or dynamics to your existing photographs.

You can view the full tutorial in detail here.

Here's a couple of quick examples of this technique on one of my photographs:

(Original Image)

Here's the first example, using the color values from a Gustav Klimt painting:

(Color Source Image)

(Resulting Image)

And here's another example using an illustration by Arthur Rackham:

(Color Source Image)

(Resulting Image)

A new logo low

2007-06-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

The new logo for the London 2012 Olympics was recently revealed. I appreciate that the design firm may wanted to do something avant-garde and edgy, but wow - THIS? It looks like an 80's compilation album cover. My favorite reaction is from somebody who said 'It looks like Lisa Simpson performing an unnatural act'.

Apparently, the animated version may be pulled from British TV for fear of inducing epileptic fits. The static version definitely induces nausea as far as I'm concerned.

As if designers didn't have a hard enough time getting people to understand what they're paid for.

You can view the London 2012 site here. Have paramedics standing by.

We have a winner!

2007-06-05T18:32:00.001-07:00

I just found out that my photo In Transit (pictured above) won the latest Beyond Robson photo contest. Pretty nice eh?

First prize is a $100 gift certificate to The Wolf and Hound, an Irish restaurant on Broadway. I look forward to having some bangers and mash and a couple of pints of Guinness to go along with my warm fuzzy feeling.

You can see the Beyond Robson contest results here.

We Like You, We Like You, We Like You

2007-06-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I went to see The Dandy Warhols. I love their albums, but for whatever reason, had never had gotten around to seeing them live before.

First of all I loved frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor's T-shirt (album cover for Sonic Temple by The Cult). So that, in itself, was pretty cool. Sound was a little iffy at first though, and it didn't really help that the idiot behind me kept yelling "SOUND!!" for the first few songs. Other than that, a really good show. I wish that they had showed just a 'little' more enthusiasm and energy - maybe they were just tired or stoned. High point for me was 'Godless'. What a great song.

By the way, is it me, or are these guys kind of like this generation's Lemonheads? Maybe the songs aren't all that similar, but they do share the same kind of slacker-stoner vibe.

A great album cover - an even better T-shirt.

Indy Flick

2007-05-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Raiders 2.0 Crew in 1988

Raiders 2.0 Crew today

I recently found this great story about a group of friends who, back in 1982, decided to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark shot-for-shot with a rented video camera. It cost them $5000 and took them nearly 7 years. The film finally debuted in 1989 and was pretty much forgotten until it resurfaced in 2003 at a alternative film-fest. Since then, they've met Spielberg and have become heroes to movie geeks all over the world.

You can read the whole story here.

Shooting has already begun on the fourth Indiana Jones movie (with a 65 year-old Harrison Ford). I still remember how exciting it was to see the original Raiders back in 1981. My dad took me to see it when my sister and Mum were on vacation in England. He wanted to treat me to a movie, but I wanted to see Superman II instead. Why would I want to see an archeologist fighting nazis, when I could see Superman fighting General Zod? The following week was his choice: Raiders of the Lost Ark. And yeah, Dad was right.

May the road rise with you

2007-05-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

(Click image to view larger)

Here's a collage I created this weekend in Photoshop. I used a combination of photographs that I've taken this year.

Here's the originals:

Are Friends Electric?

2007-05-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

Apparently, at the recent Jarvis concert at The Commodore, he performed Gary Numan's 'Are Friends Electric?' for the encore. I was sorry to have missed the show, if only for hearing his version of that song.

Gary Numan has long been a favorite of mine and 'Are Friends Electric?' is one of my top songs of all time. As far as I'm concerned, Numan was way ahead of his time and extremely underrated. But that's just me.

Here's Gary and the Tubeway Army performing the song on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1979. Surprisingly good quality too.

The Queen

2007-05-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" - Henry IV, Part II

I finally got around to seeing The Queen this weekend, a film that definitely lives up to the hype that surrounds it.

The film could have been simply another stilted, drawn-out biopic, but instead, director Stephen Frears chose to focus on Queen Elizabeth's life in the weeks following the death of Princess Diana. As a result, it made the film a tightly focussed study of the essence of who the Queen is. Credit must also be given for the editing, particularly with the scenes intercut with news footage of the late Princess. It's still tragic to see clips of her in her final interviews. In many ways, she seemed like a ghost of herself before she died.

Helen Mirren's performance is restrained yet impressive. She portrays the Queen as a woman trapped in a dusty time capsule with her family; strong willed, stoic and determined to maintain her dignity at the expense of her emotions. In one scene where Elizabeth encounters a stag on her estate, she finally allows her grief to take over. Mirren is incredible in this scene, going quickly from tears to joy, before finally rearranging her features once more into her public mask.

The royal family is portrayed mostly as "freeloading, emotionally retarded inbreds" (in the words of the film's Sheila Blair), with corgis scampering underfoot. I wouldn't be surprised if some day, a member of the monarchy snuffs it by tripping over a corgi. Prince Philip, in particular, spends much of the film doddering around the estate hunting stags and discussing the temperature of the tea. The portrayals seem somewhat heavy-handed, but, sadly, probably close to the truth.

The relationship between Elizabeth and Tony Blair provides the most dramatic dynamic in the film. His handling of the 'Diana situation' made him extremely popular, but, as the Queen warns him, the time will come when the public will turn against him. It's strange to view this film ten years later on the eve of his resignation. It now seems that his time in office will be best remembered for the handling of the 'Iraq situation'.

Tony Blair's response to Diana's death in August, 1997.

Faithless - Bombs

2007-05-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm surprised that I had not heard of this video before now - 'Bombs' by Faithless. It features some very powerful juxtapositions that bring the horrors of war closer to home. A very simple concept, but very well done.

Granville Island

2007-05-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I enjoyed my first 'official' vacation day of the year. I'm taking a few long weekends here and there, with about a week and a half off at the end of August.

I ended up going to Granville Island Market for the afternoon, and ended up taking a whole heap of photos. So lucky to live in a place where I can hop on a ferry and visit the island so easily. I spent some time checking out the Emily Carr Undergraduate Exhibition, looked in some stores, had a bagel, sat in the sun, but for the most part, looked for photograph opportunities.

You can see more photos here.

Mando Diao

2007-05-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

Considering I'd never really heard them before, I was pretty impressed by Mando Diao at their show at the Plaza last Saturday night. I was actually there to see Pop Levi (the opening act) again, but was glad to get a chance to see Mando Diao too. For a bunch of Swedish guys, they sure know how to channel some good gritty Britty rock. I thought I was in for some Strokes type stuff, but their jangly melodies and harmonizing were much more 60s, more The Animals or even The Beatles. The two main guys even shared the mike like John and Paul used to.

Pop Levi was great again - but I'm still looking forward to seeing him perform a full scale set at a decent venue. He seemed to be a lot more relaxed and 'out there' than when I saw him last. And just like last time, he stretched out the opening number 'Sugar Assault Me Now' to ridiculously epic proportions. He really knows how to wind up a crowd.

By the way, I'm not sure who was responsible, but playing Sigur Ros over footage of a young Michael J. Fox in the film Class of 1984 isn't the best way to pump up a crowd between sets. The film was good trashy fun, but come on - Sigur Ros?

Yellow Dogs and Black Swans

2007-05-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

I like Martin Amis (London Fields is one of my favorites) but, to be honest, have always found reading his books to be a bit of a chore.

I have come to expect a challenging and mostly unpleasant read from Amis, but his latest, Yellow Dog, really crossed the line for me. Reading it, I got a constant sense of him, as an author, sneering 'I dare you to spend time with these characters, and figure out what the hell is going on." There's a rogues gallery of sinister, depraved characters ranging from tabloid journalists, pornographers, hit men, and vengeful ex-wives, in a hopelessly convoluted third rate gangster plot. Imagine watching Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels on shuffle. There's a few borderline sympathetic characters too, but Amis seems to have nothing but contempt for them. Maybe I'm becoming a bit of a softy in my old age, but it's nice to have a little bit of compassion and humanity sometimes.

That said, you can't deny that Amis has an incredible way with words. He has a great eye for the simplest things. For example:

"Xan was too old for fashion, for cuts and styles; but his trousers, now, were alternately flared and drainpiped by the wind."

That's the kind of thing I look for when I read Amis. But why does he have to be so pretentious and nasty?

In the meantime, I'm about halfway through Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, which is the perfect antidote to Yellow Dog. I originally bought for my Dad for Christmas, who lent it to my sister, who in turn lent it to me.

Mitchell is an incredible author - I've read #9 Dream and Cloud Atlas and loved them both. Cloud Atlas in particular, was a great read, weaving together six seemingly unrelated stories (and writing styles) into one novel. It sounds pretentious, but Mitchell managed to pull it off effortlessly, while at the same time, making you care deeply about the characters.

Black Swan Green is a much more straightforward story told from the point-of-view of a thirteen year old boy growing up in England in 1982. I was fourteen in 1982, so, in many ways, I guess I can really relate to this story. I loved the references to playing Millenium Falcon on a swivelling chair and listening to Roxy Music LPs. Mitchell really captures the essence of what its like to be boy at that awkward age - that sudden awareness of what's going on around you and the helplessness of knowing that you can't always control it. Mitchell is great at giving the reader clues about what is going on in the boys surroundings (his parent's marriage in particular), even if the boy himself is oblivious. You find yourself really caring about this character - really wanting him to make the right decisions and to be a good kid.

Bollywood Thriller

2007-05-04T10:25:00.001-07:00

Words fail me. For all my multicultural friends out there:

Happy accidents

2007-05-03T22:35:00.000-07:00

Don't you love it when you take a blurry photo, and it actually turns out pretty cool? I took this earlier this evening on my way home from work.

And yeah, I think it turned out pretty cool. So there.

Facebook

2007-05-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, I joined the strangely addictive 'Facebook' website. If you're already on Facebook, feel free to check out my profile here. Add me to your friends list too, it's easy to feel inadequate when you don't have something like 743 friends.

If you're not already on Facebook, it's basically a social networking site, kind of like a cross between Friendster and MySpace. You can sign up at www.facebook.com.

Portobello West

2007-04-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to browsing around the Portobello West Fashion and Art Market today. It's held at the Rocky Mountaineer Station (near the Home Depot off Terminal Avenue) on the last Sunday of every month 12-7pm.

The market features a great selection of merchandise by various local artists, designers, jewellers, photographers, potters, and other creative types all under one roof. It leans mostly towards women's fashions, but I still found it well worth checking out.

I picked up a couple of things (pictured above): a 60s-ish print fabric panel ($20) and a pretty cool T-shirt (only $10!). In addition, I found myself pretty inspired by the amount of creativity in this city - lots of talented people. I'll definitely visit again.

More info about Portobello West here.

By the way, House of Blues had a booth there too. I also ended up picking up a ticket to the Mando Diao/Pop Levi/The Films concert at The Plaza this Saturday. Should be good!

Evil

2007-04-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

Another one of my photos has been featured on the Beyond Robson site. I noticed this creative bit of vandalism some time ago, and finally got around to capturing it. It's actually a closeup of the 'VII' on the King Edward VII memorial fountain outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Beyond Robson photo feature can be seen here.

Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.

A little nephew/uncle bonding time

2007-04-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

After a really miserable rainy week, we were finally rewarded with a sunny weekend. I had a great few hours yesterday babysitting my nephew Jack. Got in some good quality nephew/uncle bonding time and actually got a picture of him not making a silly face.

Double the pleasure and double the fun

2007-04-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

I went to see Grindhouse this past weekend, which was a bloody great way to spend 3 hours for a movie-geek like me. The film is a double feature of two exploitation style movies (completed with distorted film-damage effects and fake trailers) directed by two other bona-fide movie-geeks, Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. The whole experience was pretty much as it should be - sleazy, gory, trashy and fun. The directors obviously had a blast with the premise and much of it translated to the big screen. If anything, the film confirmed two things to me - Robert Rodriguez is a great action film director and Quentin Tarantino is a great director, period.

Rodriquez' Planet Terror was the first film - a pretty straightforward genre piece about zombies invading a small town. Despite some far superior splattery effects, the film definitely felt like an old fashioned 80s zombie movie. Even the cheesy synthesizer soundtrack felt like something out of Dawn of the Dead or one of John Carpenter's horror flicks. Lots of gross-out scenes too - definitely not for the faint of heart.

Rose McGowan gave a terrifically campy and sweet performance as Cherry Darling, a go-go dancer who loses a leg to a zombie attack. The film also features lots of familiar faces to fans of the genre (anyone else remember Michael Biehn from Aliens and Terminator?) plus an unbilled Bruce Willis as a tough army general.

Tarantino's Death Proof was the second film. Kurt Russell plays a sadistic ex-stuntman serial killer who uses a Cheva Nova as his weapon of choice. It was nice to see Russell playing a badass again; lately many of his performances have been feel-good roles like befuddled fathers or inspirational coaches. I suppose that's what living in Vancouver and being married to Goldie Hawn does to you. With his leathery scarred face and greasy shelf of hair he was perfect for the role and clearly had a lot of fun doing it. There's a great moment where, just before climbing into the driver's seat to pursue some fresh victims, he stops, looks straight at the camera and gives a killer smile.

Tarantino's love for long scenes of dialogue got a little frustrating at times. At some points you felt like saying 'Just get on with it!' Ultimately though, the character-driven scenes worked in the movies favor, setting you up for the action sequences. By the time the shit finally hits the fan, the movie goes full-throttle. The final scenes (and especially exhilarating final frame) were probably the most exciting I've seen for quite some time. Tarantino definitely knows how to wind up an audience.

Special credit must also be given to the directors of the fake movie trailers in the intermission. Rob Zombie tackled a trailer for 'Werewolf Women of the SS' (starring Nicolas Cage as Fu Manchu!). Eli(Hostel) Roth directed a trailer for 'Thanksgiving', a depraved throwback to the slasher films of the 80s where every killer seemed to base his murder spree around a particular holiday or toolbox implement. The funniest though, was probably Edgar (Shawn of the Dead) Wright's trailer for 'Don't'. "If you're thinking of going into that castle... Don't! If you're thinking of going down those stairs... Don't! If you're..." Well you get the idea.

Seems like everyone involved in the film were movie-geeks like me. Thanks guys.

Hail to the Chiefs

2007-04-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

I went to see The Kaiser Chiefs last night at The Commodore and had a really great evening. The first band on were The Little Ones, who were pretty tight, pleasant and poppy, but I kind of forgot them after the evening was done. Second band was The Walkmen, who can best be described as having 'flashes of brilliance' - some songs I thought to myself "Hey these guys are really good!" others I thought "Hey these guys really suck!". Maybe they'd sound better on CD - kind of a Strokes meets Velvet Underground meets Bob Dylan (circa late 60s, early 70s) kind of sound.

The evening pretty much belonged to The Kaiser Chiefs though. They have a very cool sound, much like some of the British bands who fell just outside the realm of punk in the late 70s (eg: XTC, Boomtown Rats, Stranglers) plus a little of the cheekiness of early Blur. I don't know what it is about Britain, but nobody can do boozy singalong anthems like Brit bands. I've had the chorus to "Oh My God" stuck in my head ever since.

Just one black mark against them though; on the back of the concert shirt, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal were listed under their US Tour Dates. We're North American dammit, NOT American.

Public art

2007-04-22T13:25:00.000-07:00

I know it's always been there, but it's only recently that I've started to fully appreciate the amount of great street art there is in Vancouver. I came across this piece by 'cameraman' on Union Street while wandering around on my lunch break.

Incredible news

2007-04-22T13:08:00.000-07:00

It was recently announced that two-time Academy Award nominee Edward Norton is going to play the next Incredible Hulk. Seriously.

MiniVan

2007-04-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick attempt at experimenting with a faux miniature model effect that I recently discovered. It involves using Photoshop and a combination of layer masks, curves and lens blur to create a strong depth of field effect. Didn't turn out too badly, but I think the degree of blur could use some work. I'd be interested to play around with some other other images.

Here's the original photo that I used, taken from the roof of the channel m building:

Here's where I found the tutorial for this technique.

Forms in paper

2007-04-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

Icosahedron II

Richard Sweeney makes incredible sculptures out of sheets of paper. Some are created through a process of cutting, scoring and folding - others by slicing and interlocking a variety of sheets.

You can see more of these incredible forms at his Flickr page here.

A small world after all

2007-04-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Ever feel small and insignificant? Here's a blog from London artist Slinkachu featuring his 'Little People - A Tiny Street Art Project'. He customizes miniature models from a variety of sources such as model sets and architectural dioramas, and arranges them into mini tableaux of everyday life. They're placed discreetly at various locations around London and left behind to fend for themselves.

My favorites include the Gallery set (seen above), plus Office Politics (a businessman beating another with his briefcase outside an office building) and Coke (a guy snorting coke with a massive five pound note in the bathroom).

You can check them out here at www.little-people.blogspot.com.

Wild at heart

2007-04-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

Director David Lynch shares his thoughts on product placement in movies. Come on David, tell us what you really think...

A bright idea

2007-04-15T23:13:00.000-07:00

I love this lamp. Nice innit? You can find more details here.

Found on newstoday.

Children of Men

2007-04-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
-Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)

A few nights ago I saw Children of Men, a very bleak, but powerful 'what-if' film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. It begins in the year 2027, a time when the world is facing a fertility crisis and the world's youngest person has just been assassinated at the age of 18. The wonderfully melancholy Clive Owen plays a former activist who finds himself entrusted to escort a young woman to a mysterious organization known only as the Human Project.

It would be unfair of me to give away much more of the plot than that. What I did love about this film is that you feel like you're thrown into the story with Owen's character and are with him every step of the way. You feel his sense of apathy and numbness at the beginning of the film and you share his sense of confusion and deperation as the story continues. A large part of this is due to how the film is shot; Owen inhabits nearly every frame of the film. There are a couple of masterful documentary type shots that really pull you into the action without being overly showy or slick. One spectacular one-take shot, follows him for nearly ten minutes as he lurches and stumbles through a chaotic battlefield. At one point, as somebody is shot, even the camera lens is spattered with blood.

I also liked how they depicted the London of tomorrow. It depicts this particular future as if technology had peaked at around 2010 and had slowly begun to decline along with mankind. There are a few hints of changes (different car designs, slimmer computers and animated billboards) but the surroundings are painted in shabby blues and browns. There's also an incredible attention to detail - just check out the London 2012 Olympics fleece in the picture above. The imagery borrows a lot from the depressing footage we see of terrorism and warfare everyday, but brings them closer to home. London is filled with detainee prisons similar to the pictures we have seen of Abu Ghraib, and the streets evoke images of cities like Beruit or Iraq.

The bleakness, however, is softened by an underlying tenderness and feeling of hope. I noticed that there were a few points in the movie that reflected the idealism of the sixties and early seventies. Michael Caine shows up as a pot-smoking former activist, and in a flashback photo of his character, he looks remarkly like John Lennon. The soundtrack makes great use of songs such as The Stones 'Ruby Tuesday', Deep Purple's 'Hush' and in one particulary appropriate scene, King Crimson's epic 'Court of the Crimson King'. Other references include a surprise cameo by the Pink Floyd pig from the 'Animals' album cover and memories of a long dead child named Dylan.

As a piece of grafitti says in one scene, 'The future's a thing of the past'.

David Lanham

2007-04-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of great stuff to feast your eyes on at David Lanham's website. He's one of those uber-talented illustrators who is equally adept with both a pencil and a mouse. In addition to his sketches and illustrations, he also creates sculptures, animations and desktop icons. You can see his work at www.dlanham.com.

Found at www.k10k.net.

Stranger Than Fiction

2007-04-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

"There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humor." - George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952)

I saw Stranger Than Fiction the other weekend. You may have seen the ads; it's about Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who suddenly finds his life being narrated by a voice that only he can hear. However, rather than being a one-joke movie, like a Saturday Night Live skit stretched out to feature length, it turned out to be surprisingly thoughtful and touching.

I'm glad that the story wasn't overpowered by the whole "narration schtick", but instead focussed on the main character's attempts to make sense of his life, break routines, and take control of his destiny. Will Ferrell gave a great reined-in performance, making the transition from a blank bewildered slate to a man finding the joy in the smallest things. There's a very sweet scene with him and Maggie Gyllenhaal, when he quietly serenades her with his guitar in an attempt to win her over. Emma Thompson was also great in the film, playing against type as a bitter suicidal author who needs to break some routines of her own.

I think a lot of us are guilty of being creatures of habit; I can't start my day without my usual grande dark roast and blueberry bar. Routines give us the illusion that we are in control of our destiny. It's only when we start making small deviations from our routine that we begin to enjoy life. Lately, as I have begun experimenting more and more with photography, I have started taking alternate routes home from work. I've started to really look at the city I live in with a fresh eye, and as a result, I appreciate it more.

That said, I'll always enjoy the typical comedic obnoxious egomaniac Will Ferrell characters, even if the movies are starting to follow a pretty standard formula. For proof, just check out the Will Ferrell Movie Generator here.

Happy Vaisakhi

2007-04-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

Here's some frames from an animation I recently completed for our upcoming Vaisakhi Parade coverage at channel m. Vaisakhi is a harvest festival celebrating the coming of Spring throughout much of India. It is also a day that Sikhs celebrate the day they acquired their identity.

In the past, we relied fairly heavily on footage of past parades for our graphics. This year, we used more symbols of the spring harvest - flowers, trees, wheat, birds, butterflies, blossoms, etc. The intent was to make the animation celebratory yet traditional.

You can find out more about Vaisakhi here.

For info on channel m's parade coverage, click here.

I love you Alanis

2007-04-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Alanis covers The Black Eyed Peas' 'My Humps'. And in the process, steals my heart.

Triple feature

2007-04-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Another one of my photos (Film Strip 1) was featured again today on the Beyond Robson blog. It was basically just one of those 'wait-and-see' shots, but I was happy with the way the double imagery came out. You can see can see the post along with some other great photos here.

And earlier this week, Beyond Robson used one of my photos (Bird. Watching.) as a header for one of their Morning Brew posts. I'm also quite happy with this one. Crows seem to be everywhere in Vancouver, just sitting there watching. You can see the post here.

And if that wasn't enough, just last week, one of my Burrard Skytrain blossom photos appeared in another great Vancouver blog, Metroblogging Vancouver. By the looks of it, everyone's taking photos of the blossoms lately. It's very hard not to. You can see the photo in the post here.

In any case, thanks for posting my photos guys. And, as always, you can view more of my Flickr photos here.

Photoshopping

2007-04-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

(Click image to view larger)

Put this together in Photoshop this evening. Had the idea already in my head, so it took very little time to put together - maybe 30-40 minutes. Sometimes it's nice to slap something together quickly rather than overthinking it too much. Inspired partially by descriptions of the Raven King in Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell.

I used the following Flickr photos of mine to bring it all together:

April Fools

2007-04-01T10:49:00.000-07:00

In honor of all the fools out there (and apparently, there are a lot of them), click here to see a list of the top April Fool's hoaxes of all time.

One of my favorites:

Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.

Never underestimate the stupidity of the public.

Still creepy after all these years

2007-03-27T11:46:00.000-07:00

You have to hand it to David Lynch. Even when he's filming Public Service Announcements he still manages to creep you out. This is one scary anti-littering commercial.

Spring blossoms

2007-03-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about Vancouver in the Spring is the sudden explosion of blossoming trees lining the streets. At Burrard Skytrain station, the blossoms practically fill the sky.

More photos on my Flickr page.

A musical interlude

2007-03-25T21:55:00.000-07:00

My love of culture isn't only restricted to the visual arts. I like to listen to a nice piece of music now and then. I think you'll find the following song strangely moving:

Baby got Bak

2007-03-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

If you head over to the Bak Magazine website at www.bakdergisi.com you can download a great design oriented magazine filled with nearly 300 pages (and nearly 30mb - be warned!) of creative content. Don't let the hot chick on the front fool you though, this isn't Maxim. This Istanbul based magazine is packed with some wonderful images from some truly creative guest artists in addition to a handful of interviews with the cream of the crop. If you're a creative type, you'll find this both inspiring and humbling. If you're just looking for some eye candy, I'm sure you'll find a lot to nibble on.

The theme of this issue is 'dream'. If you enter their website here, you can also find six past issues to download with the themes 'wrong', 'white', 'old', '2050', 'game' and 'road'. Great stuff to keep on your desktop if you're stuck for inspiration.

One of my favorites in this issue is the work of photographer Patrick Hoelck. He has sleek stylish portraits of everyone from Thom Yorke to Clint Eastwood. And if you can make Thom Yorke look stylish, you've got to be good. You can see more at his website www.patrickhoelck.com.

I also loved the work of Scottish designer/photographer/illustrator Alan Campbell. You can find lots more of his swirly glossy goodness at www.emohoc.co.uk.

Happy clicking!

Goodbye Winter, hello Spring...

2007-03-20T21:28:00.000-07:00

I lucked out again this week with another beautiful afternoon off from work. The last day of Winter went out in a blaze of glory this evening in Vancouver.

More photos on my Flickr page.

Geek mythology

2007-03-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

I went to see 300 this afternoon, and I have to say I pretty much got what I expected to get; lots of action, and some very cool visuals. It would have been nice to get a little more than I bargained for (decent script, good acting) but then, I suppose, that wasn't really what I was looking for.

The story's (loosely, very loosely) based on the legendary last stand by King Leonidas and his army of 300 Spartans against the Persian Army in the 5th century. Gerard Butler is suitably imposing as Leonidas; despite wearing eyeliner, he still looks like he could take on an entire army. Even his pointy beard looks like it could be used as a weapon. And as for his army - holy crap, they've got more 6-packs than a liquor store. I felt like doing 2000 sit-ups as soon as I got home. Well no, not really.

The battle scenes were well done though. They made the warfare in Gladiator and Braveheart look like pillow-fights. The footage repeatedly slowed down to a crawl so that you could see every hack, chop, slice and dice. After a while the violence became almost Monty Pythonesque with the amount of severed limbs and heads flying through the air in slow-mo. Each battle tried to top the previous one; first they fight an army with a hulking axe-wielding bald giant, then one with an armored rhinocerous, then one with giant elephants. Almost like a video game with each level getting more and more difficult.

The film has a great visual style too with washes of sepia tones and slashes of red and gold. The movie is based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller, author/artist of Sin City, Like that movie interpretation, much of the action was shot on blue and green screen, with the locales and effects digitally composited later. In fact, post production took nearly a year to complete.

Though based on Miller's graphic novel, I also thought the movie owed much of it's visual style to the paintings of Caravaggio. There's definitely a similarity to the use of light, shadow and color.

Or maybe I'm just reading WAY too much into this.

'Judith Beheading Holofernes' - Caravaggio 1598-1599

iConcertCal

2007-03-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

(Click on pic to view larger)

If you're an iTunes user and love going to concerts, here's a free plug-in that you might enjoy. iConcertCal searches through your music library and generates a personalized calendar of upcoming concerts in your city. See ya at the Kaiser Chiefs! And maybe Jarvis or Mew or Air or Pop Levi or the Arctic Monkeys...

You can download it here.

Awkward!

2007-03-14T21:40:00.001-07:00

Oh dear...

Grim fairytale

2007-03-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

(Nobody move... I dropped my contacts)

I forgot to mention that I saw Pan's Labyrinth last week on one of my rainy afternoons off (heavily fighting the urge to say 'One ticket for Ghost Rider please').

It's set in 1944 Spain after the civil war. A young girl is sent with her pregnant mother to live with her new step-father, a sadistic army captain. As she copes with her cruel new life, she discovers an old labyrinth in the woods, home to a faun who assigns her three tasks to regain her crown as the princess of a magical kingdom.

I really loved this film, but many may not be prepared for the level of violence, both in the world of fantasy and the world of reality. This definitely isn't Narnia, and there's a lot of cringeworthy bloodletting and torture, mostly at the hands of Capitán Vidal, the ultimate in evil stepfathers.

That said, director Guillermo del Toro, did a wonderful job of weaving the two worlds together. This isn't the typical case of a child using fantasy to escape from the horror that surrounds her. If anything, her fantasy world mirrors her reality, giving her the context to cope with the painful obstacles that she must overcome. It's not just a story about the loss of innocence, it's also about the ability to find beauty and hope in the darkest of places.

Del Toro is a Spanish director who has made some entertaining Hollywood blockbusters (Blade 2 and Hellboy) in addition to some more subtly creepy Spanish speaking films (Cronos and The Devil's Backbone). The fantasy world of Pan's Labyrinth has a some wonderful imagery that blends the fairytale illustrations of Arthur Rackham with the nightmarish style of Francis Bacon.

'Surrounded by Giant Toads' - Arthur Rackham

'Figure With Meat' - Francis Bacon

In the pink

2007-03-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

I really lucked out with my day off yesterday. I usually don't like working on weekends, but since Sunday looked like this,

and Monday looked like this,

...I really couldn't complain.

Today, Vancouver was back to its rainy self, but yesterday, I had a great day. I walked the seawall, took lots of photos (more on my Flickr page), sat outside Starbucks and read my book. And to end it off perfectly, I had a great salmon dinner at my sisters with her new fiancé, drank homemade red wine, ate chocolate cake, watched an episode of '24' and got lots of attention from my nephew Jack.

Big Brother

2007-03-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

Given the recent discussions about installing security cameras in 'areas of civil unrest' such as Granville Street in Vancouver, I thought this was an interesting video. It's a stylishly designed animation reflecting on how we are slowly but surely progressing towards becoming a 'police state'. Already in Britain, the average person can appear up to 300 times a day on various security cameras.

Statistics from Beyond Robson.
Video found via pixelsurgeon.

OldFellas

2007-03-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Apparently Martin Scorsese is wrapping up his new documentary on the Rolling Stones. Since he's already used the title 'Bringing Out the Dead' for his Nicolas Cage film, I figured 'OldFellas' would be a good title for this one. Oddly enough, IMDB lists the cast as being the four Stones, plus Bill Clinton. Maybe they share the same groupies...

At any rate, it should prove to be a pretty interesting film. And I know, I know... I really should go easy on the old guys. Hopefully when I'm that age I'll have the energy to get drunk on rum and fall out of coconut trees.

Haven't we grown?

2007-03-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Speaking of how much Vancouver has changed, the City of Vancouver has a pretty cool page on their website where you can see exactly by how much. You can choose from a variety of panoramic skylines, click a button, and see the transition from 1978 to 2003. Vancouver truly has, in the words of Douglas Coupland, become a city of glass.

You can see the website here.

Fred Herzog

2007-03-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

(Pender Street, Vancouver, 1959. I'm pretty sure this is the same block I work on)

I finally got around to seeing the Fred Herzog exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery today. Having recently spent a lot of time taking photographs around Vancouver, it was fascinating to see snapshots of life in the city from as far back as 50 years ago.

Herzog came to Vancouver in 1953 and has been taking photographs ever since. Many of the photographs were produced on Kodachrome, a color slide film, and the images all have a very distinctive 'warm' look to them.

It's interesting to see how Vancouver has changed over the last fifty years. I still consider Vancouver a very young city, but the exhibition definitely gave me a sense of the community's history and personality. Many may think of Vancouver's multiculturalism as a relatively new thing, but I was struck by the variety of cultures back then, often contained within the same frame.

It was also a bit of a shock to see images of the West End before all of the highrises started to blot out the horizon. Strangely, some images (particularly of Granville Street) seemed almost more cluttered back then with their overlapping neon signs, billboards and posters.

You can view Fred Herzog's website here. There are also more images at the Equinox Gallery website here.

Another senseless tragedy...

2007-03-06T14:52:00.000-08:00

...as the cruel Vancouver rain claims yet another victim.

Music notes

2007-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

As I continue to read the John Peel autobiography, I'm reminded of how many years I've been listening to music and how important it is to me. It's hard to believe how, in my lifetime, we've gone from playing music on something the size of a dinner plate (roughly 10 songs), to something the size of a pack of cards (nearly 20,000 songs).

People rarely listen to albums all the way through any more - we're more likely to listen to songs on shuffle. We miss out on the flow from one song into another that makes some albums so great. Listening to, say, 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band' or 'Dark Side of the Moon', all chopped up and shuffled around defeats the whole purpose and concept of the 'album'. Nowadays, most bands put out CDs with clearly defined broken up songs with gaps in between - they're almost designed to be collections of songs rather than a stand-alone body of work.

First Album

The first album I ever got (rock album that is, 'Dougal and the Blue Cat' doesn't count) was Elvis Presley's Greatest Hits when I was nine years old. It almost seems a cliche to say that Elvis got me interested in rock music, but thats apparently what happened. I remember after he died in 1977, that BBC had a week long marathon of Elvis movies. The one that sticks in my mind the most is his performance of 'Trouble' in King Creole. That Christmas, along with an Evel Knievel stuntbike, I got the greatest hits double album pictured above. For whatever reason, the album labels were in French, so my first memories of Elvis were of him being Le Roi du Rock 'n' Roll.

First Cassette

The first cassette I ever owned was 'Parallel Lines' by Blondie. I think I got this for my birthday in 1979 and it's still one of my favorite albums of all time. I love how 'Hanging on the Telephone' opens the album - a telephone ringing twice, then Debbie Harry belting out 'I'm in the phonebooth, it's the one across the hall / If you don't answer I'll just ring it off the wall'. Then it goes straight into the great 'One Way or Another'. It's probably safe to say that Debbie Harry was my first serious crush. It doesn't get much hotter than Debbie Harry circa 1979, when you're an 11 year old boy.

First CD

My first CD was 'Whiplash Smile' by Billy Idol. Seems a little embarrassing, but at the time I just couldn't get enough of Billy. It's hard to imagine now, that after buying themselves CD players, people had to slowly but surely start buying CDs to replace their albums and cassettes. In any case, this was my first step towards building my CD collection. I remember thinking how cool the opening track 'World's Forgotten Boy' sounded in CD quality - especially those laser gun and pinball effects that Steve Stevens could do with his guitar. And I could listen to an album all the way through with turning it over halfway!

As for today's technology, I have no idea what the first mp3 I ever downloaded was. Kind of sad really.

Pop concert

2007-03-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

Last night I braved the horror that is East Hastings Street on a Saturday night to see the Pop Levi show at the Patricia Hotel. I didn't even realize he was coming until I read an article about him in the Georgia Strait on Thursday. Coincidentally, I had just picked up his new album 'The Return To Form Black Magick Party' on Wednesday.

What a strange place Pat's Pub is to see a live show. On the wall behind the stage is a mural of Hank Williams (looking like Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain), Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger and Willie Nelson (looking like Charles Manson). There's also a conveniently placed pillar smack dab in front of the stage. Other features include two vintage arcade games (Ms Pacman and something else), a smoking room where you can view smokers like monkeys in a glass cage, and a jukebox ('Back in the Saddle Again' by Aerosmith playing when I first arrived).

Excellent show though. He started off with an extended version of his new single 'Sugar Assault Me Now' which was just incredible. His songs are so visual and energetic and he's definitely got the stage presence to back them up. Imagine a cross between Prince and Beck with a little bit of T-Rex. Apparently he used to play bass for Ladytron. I'm sure he'll be back in Vancouver again, hopefully at a venue like Richards on Richards or The Commodore.

I actually ran into him as I was leaving the pub. 'Hey, awesome show' I said. 'Hey, thanks very much man' he said. Pretty insightful eh?

Here's his video for the hand-clapping, foot-stomping 'Sugar Assault Me Now'. Enjoy!

Warning: Contain scenes of tight trousers.

Mystery solved...

2007-03-01T23:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my Dad, I now know who sang the song from the Dutch insurance ad I posted about a month ago. The song is 'Come Wander With Me' by Bonnie Beecher and it was originally performed in an episode of the Twilight Zone (pictured above). It was also featured in the infamous film The Brown Bunny; according to many critics the worst movie ever shown at Cannes.

Some more trivia about Bonnie Beecher:

- Bob Dylan's girlfriend in 1961 when they went to the University of Minnesota

- Inspiration for Dylan's song 'Girl From the North Country'

- Is still married to Wavy ("What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!") Gravy, the MC of all three Woodstock Festivals

- Starred in an episode of Star Trek. For the geeks out there, it was the one where the crew found themselves teleported into the centre of the gunfight at the OK Corral. It's probably safe to assume that she played Kirk's love interest - every woman who appeared on Star Trek played Kirk's love interest.

Anyway, you should probably downl... buy the song for yourself. Very eerie but quite beautiful too.

You can see the ad I'm talking about here.

Things are looking up

2007-02-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

(Ever since she was small, Mel has been looking for Mr. Right.)

I just wanted to mention that the Clarkes are expecting a new addition to their family (and no, I'm not pregnant). This past weekend I found out that my little sister Mel is getting married! Who would have thought that last week I was at the Wolfmother concert with my future brother-in-law? Wolfbrotherinlaw?

As Mum says 'When you know, you know.' Well, we all know that he's a great guy and that Mel's very happy. What can be more important than that?

And as Dad says, (about Mark) 'He must be mad.' Well, that's probably true too, but that's pretty much a prerequisite to being a part of our family.

In any case, congratulations Mel and Mark! I hope you have a very happy life together.

This is the house that Jack built

2007-02-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

(Click on pics to see larger)

Here's some frames from a 24 Season Four promotion I have been working on for channel m this past week. We based it around the 'This is the house that Jack built' nursery rhyme and used a sing-song voiceover with tinkling music in the background.

I used a pop-up storybook style for the graphics, which lent itself to a lot of bouncing and swooping motion for the animations. A lot of work but a lot of fun too.

I even managed to talk them into doing another 10 second version, using the following rhyme:

'Jack be nimble
Jack be quick
Jack get the f--k out of there before the bomb goes off!'

Not sure how I got away with that one.

What popped up on my iPod this week

2007-02-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

The great thing about iPods is that songs that you haven't really listened to in years suddenly pop up and become favorites all over again.

Evidence - Faith No More

My first newly rediscovered favorite song is Evidence by Faith No More (from the King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime album). This is a very film-noir-ish track with some great jazzy guitar and piano and some killer R&B type vocals from Mike Patton. A really beautiful song considering it's about (I think) a murderer being pursued by cops.

Like most Faith No More albums, the songs go all over the place - one moment you're listening to death metal, the next minute you're listening to a gospel choir. It's like listening to an iPod on shuffle.

I'm still undecided as to whether or not I want to see Patton's upcoming Peeping Tom show at the Commodore. The songs just won't be the same without the guest vocalists, but then again, it would be pretty cool to hear Mike Patton sing.

Tusk - Fleetwood Mac

Tusk by Fleetwood Mac (from the album Tusk) also suddenly became one of my favorite songs this week.

It's probably not cool to admit that you like a Fleetwood Mac song, but this is a Fleetwood Mac song that doesn't really sound like any other Fleetwood Mac song. There's strange crowd noises, menacing drums and an insanely catchy marching band riff - all building up to repeated chants of 'Tusk' at the end.

With lyrics like 'Why don't you tell me whats going on?/ Why won't you tell me who's on the phone?' it all lends itself to a fidgety feeling of rising paranoia. Must be all the cocaine they were doing at the time.

And why is it called Tusk?*

*(Update - Just found out that tusk is a slang term for 'penis'. What a tuskhead I am.)

And the Oscar goes to zzzzzz.......

2007-02-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Much as I love movies, I can barely force myself to sit through the Oscars. I usually end up watching it towards the end of the evening in 10 minute chunks while I'm doing something else. It was nice to see Martin Scorsese finally win an Oscar though, even if it was for The Departed. The little dude looked so happy to be finally up there! The Departed was a great entertaining movie, but it was hardly one of Scorsese's best (and a remake). Why not Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas? Or even the underatted Bringing Out the Dead? And what was with Jack Nicholson - is Britney cutting his hair now?

To be honest, how seriously can you take the Oscars anyway? Nicolas Cage is an Academy Award winner, and now he's playing a flaming skeleton riding a motorbike (although I'll probably watch that one when it comes out on DVD).

Wolfmother

2007-02-23T12:01:00.000-08:00

Went to see the insanely entertaining Wolfmother at the PNE Forum last night. I was a little worried at first, since the opening band, quite frankly, sucked and the sound was pretty awful. I needn't have worried though; the sound got a lot better (for the PNE Forum that is) and Wolfmother put on a good old-fashioned, crowd-pleasing rock concert. The guy has an incredible rock god voice, and though you can hear their influences (Led Zep, AC/DC, Deep Purple, etc) peppered all through their songs, they still have a powerful original sound. The show lost a little momentum about three quarters through with a little self indulgent Pink Floydesque wankfest, but it built up quite nicely to a great finale, ending with the great 'Joker and the Thief'.

As their website says, 'The true rebirth of the power trio is upon us.' Whoa.

Because you can never have enough songs about unicorns, here's a cleverly 'defaced' version of White Unicorn. Clearly done by the kind of guy who used to draw penises in his schoolbooks when he was a kid. I like the part where the drummer starts drumming with fish.

Speaking of photos...

2007-02-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

I've decided to abandon my A Shutter Darkly photo blog in favor of uploading my photos to my Flickr page. I'm really addicted to Flickr now - it's a great way of viewing photos and illustrations by others, as well as getting some wonderful feedback. If you're into shutterbuggery (!) this is the site for you.

You can view my Flickr page here.

S is for Sylvia

2007-02-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

One of my photos was featured on the great weekly Beyond Robson photo feature this week. You can see the feature here.

If you're a fan of Vancouver, you should check out the Beyond Robson blog once in a while. Lots of great articles, reviews and photos by people who love this city as much as I do. Visit Beyond Robson here.

Edward Scissorhands

2007-02-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

(Click on pic to see larger)

Here's an illustration I did yesterday of Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands. Like my Kill Bill illustration, I did the outlines and colors in Illustrator and the shading in Photoshop. In all, it took me about two and a half hours.

Edward Scissorhands has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. If you haven't seen it recently, you should really check it out again. Considering that he's covered in makeup and has very few lines of dialogue, Johnny Depp gives an incredibly funny, poignant and heartbreaking performance. I've often thought that Depp would have been right at home in the age of silent movies. Some of his quirkiest characters, like Edward Scissorhands, Willy Wonka and Captain Jack Sparrow, rely on a very physical, almost ballet style of acting, topped off with broad reaction shots and double-takes. Even with the sound turned off, his performances are always interesting to watch. And yes, you're right - for a straight guy, I do think I have a small crush on Johnny Depp.

In any case, here are the source images I used for the illustration:

Lazing on a Sunday afternoon

2007-02-18T18:57:00.000-08:00

All in all, a very relaxing Sunday afternoon. Read a little, drew a little, went for coffee and then took some pictures down at the beach.

Gung Hey Fat Choi!

From the Master of the Macabre to the Margrave of the Marshes

2007-02-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

I finished Stephen King's Cell a couple of days ago. A fairly entertaining read, though it never quite kept the momentum going after the action packed opening. It suffers in comparison to King's other post-apocalyptic novel The Stand; both depict a group of misfit strangers coming together to make sense of a world gone horribly wrong. At the core though, is a rather sweet story about a man's search for his son. King is very good at exploring the father-son relationship (albeit in pretty gruesome circumstances) - just look at The Shining or Cujo or Pet Sematary. For what is basically a 'zombies ruling the world' novel, it ends in a surprisingly intimate way. I've heard that Eli Roth, director of the nastily entertaining Hostel, is making The Cell into a movie. Should be one hell of a gory movie. Yay!

I'm now two chapters into the John Peel autobiography, The Margrave of the Marshes, which I borrowed from my Dad last week. Peel was a DJ on BBC Radio 1 from 1967 until his death in 2004. He helped boost the careers of everyone from T Rex to the Sex Pistols to Pulp to The White Stripes. Since I'm more interested in the 'music' part of his life, I thought I'd find his memories of his earlier life pretty boring. I needn't have worried though - it turns out that he's a really funny and entertaining writer.

'I've always imagined I'd die by driving into the back of a truck while trying to read the name on a cassette, and people would say, 'He would have wanted to go that way.' Well, I want them to know that I wouldn't.'

Sketches

2007-02-18T18:08:00.000-08:00

Some quick character sketches that I've just started for a short (2 minute) Tim Burtonesque animation that I have in mind. The plotline so far is a sad little goth girl getting carried away from a rainy city by her umbrella. Not more than that I'm afraid. It's all in my head, now I just have to start working on it. I'm planning on doing it in After Effects once I have everything figured out.

An inconceivable truth

2007-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

The Chinese government does its part to keep the country green by painting the side of a mountain in south west China. You can read the full story here.

Found on pixelsurgeon.

I wonder if it plays mp3s?

2007-02-13T20:45:00.000-08:00

Here's the new 2010 Olympic three-year countdown clock that was unveiled yesterday at the Vancouver Art Gallery amid protests from community activists.

I can definitely see the point of the protesters, but I am kind of looking forward to having the Olympics in our city. How can we really pass up the chance? Personally, I think people should be protesting the clock itself. It looks like a giant cellphone or some kind of sci-fi bomb. If it starts flashing red, I'm getting the hell out of there.

Ad spaces

2007-02-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

Go here to see some clever examples of ad campaigns incorporating everyday objects from the surrounding environment. It's not in English, but you'll get the drift.

Found on newstoday.

Police report

2007-02-13T18:41:00.000-08:00

Apparently The Police are in town rehearsing for an upcoming world tour - their first since breaking up in 1984. Here's their performance from The Grammy Awards this past Sunday night. Can you believe that Andy Summers is 65 now?

Matisse would be proud

2007-02-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

A rather beautiful dreamlike commercial for, of all things, an insurance company. I wish I knew what the song was - it's very effective.

No CGI was used at all:

'To ensure the 'floating' through the air of the advisors looked as natural as possible, we've put the actors in a harness and we've hoisted them into the air. To do so, we had to make a hole in the umbrella's - so that the cables could go through them and pull them straight up. One of the casting criteria was 'no fear of heights' - as you can imagine. Depending on the shot, we've had one or more actors dangling above Rotterdam.'

From the pod to the cell

2007-02-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

Finished reading JPod today, which I really enjoyed. I like reading Douglas Coupland, because he's so good and so 'local'. In this book, he covers everything from the gaming industry, grow-ops, people smuggling, Hollywood North and condo-development. You can't get more local than that.

The book is about a group of corporate drones working at a gaming company based in Burnaby (a thinly disguised Electronic Arts). In one of the sideplots, they are asked to introduce a kid-friendly turtle character into an already well-into-production extreme skateboarding game. It's just one of the books many examples of how creativity is often stifled by corporate mentality. I think anyone who's worked in a so called 'creative' position can relate to having a 'turtle' thrown into their project at the last minute:

'Life is dull, but it could be worse and it could be better. We accept that a corporation determines our life's routines. It's the trade-off so that we don't have to be chronically unemployed creative types, and we know it. When we were younger, we'd at least make a show of not being fooled and leave copies of Adbusters on our desktops. After a few years it just doesn't matter. You trawl for jokes or amusingly diversionary .wav files. You download music. A new project comes along, then endures a slow-motion smothering at the hands of meetings. All ideas feel stillborn. The air smells like five hundred sheets of paper.

And then it's another day.'

Don't let that quote fool you though - it's also a really funny book.

Anyway, from corporate zombies, to good old-fashioned horror zombies, I started reading Stephen King's Cell ('Your number is up!' and 'There's a reason cell rhymes with hell!' read a couple of the blurbs.) I felt I was due for something mindless and trashy. Plus I've always had a soft spot for zombies - I'll watch any movie with 'dead' in the title.

In it, everyone using a cellphone suddenly receives a signal that transforms them into bloodthirsty maniacs. The first chapter alone is gory, scary and funny - all at the same time. You've got to hand it to King; he never runs out of things to write about. In another few years he'll probably be writing about killer coffee tables or something. Your shins are no longer safe!

Pop Levi

2007-02-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite songs at the moment - Blue Honey by Pop Levi. I've always been a fan of that glammy Roxyziggyrex kind of sound. The video has a very cool "James Bond opening credits" feel too.

A complete write-off

2007-02-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend was a complete write-off. I woke up with the flu yesterday and have spent the entire weekend napping and getting buzzed on Neo Citran. Too bad, since I was planning on seeing Pan's Labyrinth, which is getting great reviews, or catching the photography exhibits currently on at the VAG.

Anyway, hope I'm feeling better tomorrow. I have a huge presentation due on Friday, so can't really afford to take any sick days.

A lot of time on his hands

2007-02-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

Guido Daniele is an incredible body painting artist with a series of hand-paintings depicting various animals and birds. You can see more at his website, www.guidodaniele.com.

Here's another one of an eagle:

Found on ventilate.

Mmmm... Uma

2007-01-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

(click on pic to see larger)

Here's a Kill Bill illustration I did earlier today. I created the outlines and colours in Illustrator and added shading and textures in Photoshop. I'm not sure if I'm happy with it yet - I'll probably play around with the colors and textures some more later. I should also probably fiddle around with the hair textures a bit more.

I guess I've always had a thing for Uma. I remember first seeing her in Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen in the theatre nearly (good God) 20 years ago with my friend Colin. She left quite an impression on both of us. I still can't quite forgive her for crap like Be Cool and My Super Ex-Girlfriend though.

Here's the original source image:

Plus the outlines I created in Illustrator:

Strange days are over

2007-01-28T11:44:00.000-08:00

Amid the hustle and bustle of Starbucks yesterday morning, I finally finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It's a weird feeling when you spend nearly a couple of months with an entire fictitious world and then suddenly have to say goodbye. For Christmas, I received The Ladies of Grace Adieu, a collection of short stories set in the same magical world. At least I'll be able to dip into that now and again when I need a quick fix.

In all, I found the book to be an amazing fairy tale. Clarke's almost Jane Austen-like writing style served the story perfectly; it made the light passages more innocent and the dark passages more eerie and menacing. I loved how all of the various stories threaded together so beautifully at the end.

Now I'm ready to start another Christmas-gift novel by a favorite of mine; jPod by Douglas Coupland. I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it already. Here's the opening passage:

"Oh God. I feel like a refugee from a Douglas Coupland novel."

"That asshole."

"Who does he think he is?"

Watch for paper cuts

2007-01-24T23:38:00.000-08:00

And on the other end of the spectrum, Jen Stark makes amazing paper sculptures using layers upon layers of precisely cut colored paper. More at her website, www.jenstark.com.

Found on allmaple.

Sharpened senses

2007-01-24T23:20:00.000-08:00

Jennifer Maestre makes very cool sculptures out of everyday objects such as pencils, beads and nails. The pencils are my favorites though - I love the textures created by the different colors and the combination of sharpened ends and cross sections. See more at her website, www.jennifermaestre.com

Found on newstoday.

What's the deal...

2007-01-24T23:08:00.000-08:00

...with old men and construction sites? Every time I pass a construction site, there's always an elderly man standing there watching. Just wondering...

Oooh... the colors, the colors

2007-01-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

The perfect antidote to a rainy Monday. Time lapse footage of 106 balloons taking off in the 2006 Reno Balloon Race.

Found on newstoday.

Year of the pig farmer

2007-01-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to ignore the media attention surrounding the Robert Pickton trial at the moment, especially working on the news shift at channel m. It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Pickton was arrested at his Coquitlam farm. I was asked if I was interested to do the courtroom sketches for the first day of the trial, but didn't feel that my sketching abilities were fast enough or good enough. In any case, somebody else from graphics was able to help out, and did an incredible job. By all accounts, the first day ran the gamut from tedious to gruesome. He is on trial for the deaths of 26 women, but has confessed to killing 49.
At any rate, I'm sure a lot of stories are going to unfold during this trial. It's going to be interesting to find out how something like this could go on for so long (nearly 20 years) without the RCMP finding out about it.

Older, but not old

2007-01-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

Having your birthday on New Years Day definitely gives you pause for reflection (and not just asking yourself questions like 'How did I get home last night?' or 'Where did those stains come from?'). A couple of weeks later, I'm allowing myself a moment of self-indulgence; hey, it's my blog, it's supposed to be self-indulgent. Here's a partial list of observations that I have made about rounding the final lap of my dirty thirties.

Grey chest hairs? What the hell?

Some recent purchases: Orthopedic insoles, skin moisturizer, and, just last week, a nose and ear hair trimmer.

I sometimes find myself waking up at 4:00 in the morning for no apparent reason.

I have coworkers who were born in the early 80s. I remember the early 80s.

When I went to high school, text messaging was writing a note on a piece of paper and passing it along several rows of desks.

I often find myself smiling wistfully for no apparent reason.

I've started wearing pajama bottoms.

Sometimes I do crosswords before I go to bed.

I am now one of those guys who stands towards the back at concerts and pretends to mouth the words.

Sometimes I put my back out just by sleeping funny or sneezing.

I used to use Columbia House to order LPs.

I distinctly remember my parents when they were ten years younger than I am now.

If I rent a movie longer than, say, 90 minutes, I have to ask myself 'Shall I take a nap first?'

But all in all, it's not so bad really. After all that soul-searching and identity crisis that comes with your twenties and thirties, I'm definitely more comfortable with the way I am than I used to be. I guess that I've finally grown accustomed to myself and my strange ways.

I'm feeling more creative and satisfied than I have in years and I'm still constantly inspired and recharged by my environment and the people around me. Not a week goes by that I don't watch a movie, hear a new song, or see a piece of art that stops me in my tracks and makes me think 'Wow'. When I was a boy, I loved drawing, writing, reading, taking photos - years later, I'm still doing exactly the same thing. Creativity is a huge part of who I am and, hopefully, it will be for many years to come.

OK, I'm starting to sound a little too 'Dr. Phil' now, so I should probably sign off.

Should've gone for a mullet

2007-01-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

(Jack contemplates a hairy situation)

Couldn't let the day pass without mentioning a very special milestone. Jack's first haircut.

Nice to have you back Jack

2007-01-15T10:54:00.000-08:00

(Jack contemplates a hairy situation)

Watched the 2-hour premiere of 24 Season 6 last night. Gave me a warm fuzzy feeling to see Jack Bauer back doing what he does best; talking on cellphones with his eyes darting around nervously; sneaking around the outsides of buildings holding a gun with two hands; interrogating terrorists with his face two inches from theirs. Already I've chewed the hell out of a couple of my fingernails. And, I think, I've developed a small crush on Chloe.

But now, a few observations:

Did he really shave off that beard in 'real time'?

For a guy kept in a Chinese prison for two years, Jack sure looked like he still had the opportunity to eat well and workout regularly

When will the bad guys learn that if you're going to torture and kill the good guy, what's the point in telling him about your secret plans beforehand? Don't these guys watch James Bond movies?

Did I really just see Jack Bauer bite a man to death? Or is Kiefer just having a Lost Boys flash-back?

Next time I want to get away with riding the Skytrain without a ticket, I'll just tell the attendant that I'm a federal agent.

What's the hell's a nice girl like Chloe doing with a creep like THAT?

A cut above the rest

2007-01-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

Danish artist Peter Callesen creates amazing works of art using some incredible papercutting skills. The skeleton above was done with a single sheet of A4 paper.

While some of his pieces are small and delicate, others are far more grandiose. Here's a castle created with a single sheet of 7.20 x 7.15 metre paper:

You can see some more of his work at his website www.oncotton.co.uk

Found via Marcus Fairs at dezeen.com.

Face value

2007-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Photographer Simon Hoegsberg walked the streets of New York for one month, seven hours a day looking for faces that attracted his attention. He chose ten, took their portraits, and asked them all the same question "What do you think about your face?" You can see the results here.
He also has some other interesting projects at his website www.simonhoegsberg.com.
As for me, I'm not really sure what I think about my face. I don't think it's a bad face really. It can be quite expressive when I need it to be, but I'm pretty good at hiding my emotions too. I've been told that I have nice eyes, although people often ask me why I look so tired. I get my eyes and mouth, I think, from my mother, my nose (complete with nose hairs) and facial expressions from my dad. I've heard that I look like everyone from Thom Yorke to Mr. Bean to Robert Downey Jr. to Jude Law (but that person was pretty drunk). As far as I'm concerned, I think they all look a little like Simon Clarke.
...Oh yeah, and I've also been told that I look like a Russian pianist. Not really sure what she meant by that.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2007-01-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

Another snowy day in Vancouver yesterday. Took some more photos in Stanley Park and added them to my photo blog.

iWannit

2007-01-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Apple introduces the new iPhone. It's an iPod, it's an internet device, and, oh yeah, it's a phone.
Ooooohhhh. Aaaahhhh.

Jack and Freddy

2007-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

A print that I made as a Christmas present to my sister Melanie and nephew Jack, using elements from a Christmas animation I made for channel m.
By the way, I should also say a belated Happy Birthday to my sister who celebrated her birthday three days ago. I can't really say Happy Birthday to David Bowie and forget my own sister's now can I?
"Happy 29th Birthday Mel!"

Many Ziggy Returns

2007-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Quite possibly the second coolest guy on the entire planet has just turned sixty ... and just when I was feeling depressed about turning 39. I suppose that there's hope for us all. Now I just need a supermodel wife.
Happy Birthday David!
Oh and by the way, he's very disappointed that you forgot.

This just made me laugh

2007-01-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

...and now for something completely pointless

2007-01-05T07:30:00.000-08:00

A pointless but entertaining blog filled with nothing but pictures of a man running away from his camera. In his words, "The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can." Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?
The blog is called, oddly enough, Running from Camera.