Belated Birthday Bonanza

So John told me to go and buy myself something I wanted for my birthday since I was between a few things I wanted. I couldn't tell him exactly what I wanted and kept waffling, so he gave me carte blanche. I never actually bought myself anything. A Bose iPod docking station? A cassette to MP3 digital component? Those are only two among many, yet I still never could decide.

Finally though I spurged on my music collection. I didn't expect to, but there were a few CDs I've never been able to find on eBay before so I couldn't resist the bid to win. I did make out with some of the ones I really wanted, though not all. The original Ta mara and the Seen CD went for 170 dollars. I have it on vinyl, so I wasn't about to shell out that much. The ones I did get are pictured below. All-in-all got some rare jewels that I've never owned or had to replace after the shattered-window-in-San-Antonio-CDs-stolen incident.

An Unexpected Surprise

So, I was floored today when I checked my grades for our mid-term project in Sequential Art and Visual Narrative. My teacher is picky and by picky I mean a perfectionist. I adore this guy truth be known. He was my 3D Modeling teacher and he pushed me hard in that class, but in a good way. A way that really helped me. Well this class hasn't been any change. He still nickels and dimes me to death with particulars an makes me work for my grade. I was dreading how much he was going to dock me on my mid-term storyboard project when, at logging in, I found he had given me a perfect score. That wasn't the exciting part though. Here's what he said:

Phred: Here's how the Week 5 Assignment was graded: Two parts to the assignment, 65 points each. First of all, Dang... These are just super, Phred. Just from a cursory look at them, they meet the required elements, but...

Storyboards: First of all, I look at whether the shot list and the storyboards are consistent. Yours are. Second, I looked at the sketches to evaluate whether they convey the action of the shot. Perfect... No problems. Third, I look at whether your boards include an additional area per illustration for a bit of descriptive detail on what is going on in the shot. You do this, and the needed information is there and neatly typed. GREAT. Fourth, I consider the design of the boards-- are they neatly drawn, sequentially numbered, and well labeled? In a word, AWESOME. They are so well drawn. This is exactly what you need in a storyboard, and I will be using yours (If you don't mind) as examples for this assignment in the course shell. NICE WORK!

Your boards are the best in the class. Your art is detailed and rich. Great work as always, Phred. You continue to set the bar in whatever class I have you in. -Mr. C


So, wow. I was blown away that they're going to use my stoyboards as the project example for the future classes in the program. I really never expected that.

Dance Effect

Anyone who's played Mass Effect will appreciate this video.

IGN Mass Effect Video

It's A Good Day

So late last night (early this morning) as I drifted off I watched as the highlights of the Grammy awards were discussed on some news channel. Myshe and I had watched the Reader's Digest condensed version of the show last night after it recorded (Damn Tina you go!) and I was very happy to see Amy Winehouse win three awards. However, it wasn't until today that Myshe e-mailed me letting me know she won a total of five. Yay! All the loony music broads are making decent music recently. I was glad to see too that Prince won another Grammy for Male R&B Vocal Performance. That's like three years in a row now I think.

Not only did Myshe send word of Prince's win and Amy's sweep, but she sent this as well:

From: Myshe
Subject: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
_____________________________________

Suck it Statesman

Great News

Awwwwww Yeah Baby! By Crom, It's Awn

Age of Conan

February 10th. A short, but sweet technical beta. In like Flynn baby!

OMGWTFBBQ! w311 t34r ur 50u1 4p4r7!!1

So I've waited.

And waited.

And waited still.

But never did it look like I'd actually see my all-time favorite author's best book series make it to film.

Until now.

I can't say how I very nearly peed my seat while at the computer. Interested in monitoring the progress on my next anticipated Clive Barker movie fix "Midnight Meat Train" (Trailer embedded at bottom) and the production on more movies from some of my favorite barker stories "Pig Blood Blues", "Dread", and "Age of Desire" I ran across this fantastic and jaw-dropping tidbit that somewhoe flew under my radar. At last, a series of films made from my absolute favorite series of Clive's that even starts with the correct story. Hallelujah!

Book of Blood

"Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red."

Midnight Meat Train Trailer

So, assessing my life today as I bummed around the house, did school work and generally nothing else except age, I found this little quiz. I guess it's good.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.6
Mind:	6.2
Body:	5.5
Spirit:	7
Friends/Family:	7.1
Love:	9.1
Finance:	6.3
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

P Is For Prince (And What I Just Did In My Pants)

Bless Jeff ,my best TokenManSexToyGuyMacPimp, for his e-mail with this Prince article. You absolutely made my day. Sexolocation. Oh my lawd I'm going to pee.

Prince: I do not have the keyboard functionality to make your symbol.

Yeah..So...Monster. Okay.

Well, we went opening day, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down and blog about it.

I anticipated and awaited eagerly the possibility of a good, fulfilling, monster catastrophe film. I've said it before ("Unearthed" entry...yech) I love monster movies. Cloverfield had the potential of sating that little area of my soul that needs monster goodness. However, it merely teased it.

The combination "Blair Witch Project"/"Godzilla" allusion is an easy one that's floating around everywhere. I, however, think it falls short in its description. In all honesty, to draw a comparison I'd have to go with: "Final Blair Godzilla Project X: Always Remember to Never Forget."

It really seemd to me like Blair Witch meets Godzilla and they sit down to play Final Fantasy X on 9/11. You, of course have your obvious BWP and Godzilla similarities in camera use and giant monster from the ocean, but it goes further than that. The feeling easily conjures images and emotions from September 11th, but really, is that intentional? Lots of critics scream it is and that riding on the emotional impact of such a situation is tacky. I don't really think it's all that intentional. And really, there are more than a handful of people I'd love to see get gobbled up by a monster in New York, but can we please destroy some other damn city? Hollywood is far too New York-centric.

Now the monster. Yeah. Anyone who's played the first bit of Final Fantasy X knows that, more than likely, so did someone that worked on this movie. It's pretty sad how very similar the two are with its litte cast-off creatures and look. I really wanted something fresh. What I got was something I'd already played through in a video game a few years back.

The speical effects seemed well done. Really well done. However, I can't be a very accurate critic of them since I never got a very good look at anything. This is where the home video camera thing enhanced the special effects by not letting us see them for too long, but detracted from it for me because I wanted to see them clearly.

And let me tell you this. If they ever anounce the brand name of the camera used in the movie I'm buying one because that is one nasty-ass sturdy camera. I'll never have to buy one again since it's apparently capable of enduring nuclear onslaught.

All this being said, it isn't a bad movie. It was decent monster fluff that was exciting for an hour or so. Overall I felt like I watched a well-done action segment from a larger movie, but haven't seen the rest of it yet. Hence the reason none of us will be at all shocked when a sequel or prequel comes out telling about how the creature originated.

Phred Phun Phactor: 5 out of 10

In my opinion, for a far more satisfying, though smaller scale movie of similar story, watch:

The Host

Even Klingons Cry Over This

So much for a game we'd been waiting for for so long.

Star Trek Online

Absolutely disgusted.