where ideas go to die
I’m sure you guys probably noticed the product links to Amazon in the vast majority of my posts. Now they allow their Associates to have their own dedicated store. Witness now the power of
Whooptie-frickin’-doo, right? (To date, I’ve earned a grand total of 95 cents by being an Amazon Associate. Whatever– I’m just sharin’ the love.)
Forget Roger Ebert’s TV persona for a moment. He comes off in these two fine books as a simple movie buff who writes well. This collection of essays is unpretentious and straightforward. This is not Ebert saying “These are the greatest movies of all time”, it’s Ebert saying “Here are some really fine movies– check ‘em out.” I’m really fond of this book and its predecessor. I anticipate that, like volume one, it will cause me to add several entries to my Netflix que.
The Great Movies II
Roger Ebert
**** (out of five)
I hadn’t read Dune since I was twelve or thirteen years old and I recently picked it up again for research purposes. I loved the book as a kid and now, as an adult, I can see that it deserves its illustrious reputation; it’s an amazing achievement in Science Fiction. The main character Paul’s story is mythic in the same way that Luke Skywalker’s is. Both Herbert and Lucas had the good sense to draw on traditional modes of storytelling to bring us into their remarkable universes. If I had a complaint about the book it would be that it is too short. Herbert seems to be rushing toward his climax and I sometimes found myself wanting additional detail or a moment of quiet pathos. That’s a minor complaint however. Dune is still a highwater mark for this type of fiction and my hat’s off to be sure.
Dune
Frank Herbert
****1/2 (out of five)
I’m afraid this review will be a virtual carbon copy of my Season 9 review: M*A*S*H was still a good show in its tenth season, but the it was certainly not at the height of its powers. In amongst the mostly routine episodes, there are still some gems. “Where there’s a Will, there’s a War” and “Sons and Bowlers” both have some fine moments. The one character who really stands out this set is Father Mulcahy; he has several defining scenes and his character is fleshed-out nicely.
Sure, this set isn’t my favorite, but I would still rather watch these shows than half of the new crap that’s on TV today.
M*A*S*H Season Ten
*** (out of five)
Here’s something I should have posted a while ago. Let me set the scene: I was still working in a low-level Hollywood job when I found out I was to become a father. For that reason (and for reasons of simple personal satisfaction) I decided it would be prudent to begin working on my animation reel again. When I first began this site, I was pushing toward a new demo and I became distracted by an Assistant Editing gig (see What’s Wrong with this Picture? for part one of the saga). I began working on the reel again when I knew for a fact that I was going to need a more lucrative income than Hollyweird could offer. I worked on the version you see linked here for a while and then I was offered the job I’m in now.
Man, me and animation have a strange relationship.
Some of what you’ll see hasn’t changed since the first iteration. Some of it’s been polished. Some of it’s completely new. The most blatant new inclusion is the logo animations. I think this was my way of covering all of my bases. Bear in mind too that this is still very much a work in progress. What you’re seeing is the current version I had when the job offer came in. I haven’t touched it since.
Notice that I haven’t reviewed my own work this time as a I did in “What’s Wrong?” part one. Sorry; not in the mood.
For some reason I decided to consolidate all of my blogging into one place recently. I took all of the entries from my old Blogger blog and folded them into this, the official Crabapple Cove site. In doing this I noticed that I have a little over two years of blogging now under one roof. The merge was difficult and time-consuming, but it allows me to pass the savings on to you the loyal CaC reader. –If you find that you just can’t get enough of my innane ramblings, now you can go back as far as August of 2004 where my reign of tedium truly began! (And, of course, I’ll be deleting the link to the Blogger blog because, well, duh, it doesn’t exist anymore).
Observation #1:
I wasn’t a father when I began this blog. Kind of weird to think about really (at least for me). I’m sure you noticed there hasn’t been much in the way of updates regarding my twin boys. One of the little fellows has had a few complications and I’ve been keeping mum until his situation resolves itself. His prognosis is excellent so my wife and I are pretty optimisitc. We’re all going to be stressed out and tired in the short run, but it oughta be all good in the long.
Observation #2:
Anyone who’s a glutton for punishment and has read everything here from the beginning may have noticed that I had planned to do two things in my spare time. First, I threatened to do a live action short film. Second, I spent a lot of time talking about getting back into the animation field. Now that I’m gainfully employed (in a field which is neither film nor animation) it seems much more likely to me that I will eventually combine the two disciplines and create an animated short film. I have a copy of SoftImage XSI. Now all I need is some free time. (Yeah, that’ll happen.) (Oh, yeah, I also mentioned the fact that I want to do a comic strip. I still wanna do that too.)
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