Avatar teaser trailer: still some weak blancmange
Can someone tell me what this warning wank is about? Because I seem to have missed it, and I'm betting that there's some serious obnoxiousness being perpetuated by all sides involved.
Avatar live action teaser trailer:
...
One minute and forty seconds of...not that impressive stuff:
We get That Guy doing the ponderous voice over, a tiny bit of airbending (wow, Aang can blow out candles with Airbending, ooooh, impressive!), but the only watchable thing in this trailer is the ending shot of the Fire Nation navy fleet steaming across the water and putting on a massive pyrotechnic display. Although why they're wasting Firebending on an Air Nomad temple before they can actually get to Aang given that he's like a thousand feet off the ground is a mystery that only the producers and Shyamalan know. The sad thing? The sad thing is that this film is probably going to have some beautiful visual elements in it that are totally wasted.
No absolute disrespect meant to Noah Ringer, but the way he's moving in this clip? Maybe it's because he's a karate kid, but his movements seem more choppy than Aang's graceful Baguazhang-based Airbending. Noah!Aang's cloak is also red, and as someone who has actually watched Avatar, I'm wondering where all the saffron, golds, and browns are.
But the most glaring problem? EVERYONE IS STILL WHITE. (The first person to 1) coo over this trailer and talk about how awesome the film is going to be and 2) ignore the cast whitewashing is going to get their virtual dentition cracked with my virtual fist. If you want to ignore the problematic casting of this film, go do it on your own journal.)
The only version of the final fight between Firelord Ozai and Aang that isn't set to Linkin Park or the Smashing Pumpkins or Metallica was uploaded by a gracious and wise person in India:
This still makes my jaw drop - it was that well done. I'm going to bet that this fight doesn't even make it to the film. And again? This final confrontation is one of the best things that I have ever seen in animation - the lack of music (land sakes, you can hear them breathing! A taste of realism!), the palpable sense of danger (I thought for sure that Ozai was going to die), the choreography, Aang finally going batshit Avatar on Ozai's ass, everything.
Oh, from Rich Johnston's new site Bleeding Cool, it appears that Grant Morrison is writing a book about superheroes. This? I will happily read, because when Morrison goes meta about the mythology of superheroes and deconstructs their meaning, I am all ears and eyes.
Also from Bleeding Cool is an interesting piece by Warren Ellis that visualizes an alternate Earth time-line where Jack Kirby designed the future - this snippet I found particularly, um, brilliant:
This altered timewave surfs me to late 2008, where Douglas Rushkoff, having now taken boxing lessons and been blooded in streetfights, beats the shit out of two muggers on a Brooklyn street corner and writes about the experience in his next book LIFE INC., a long and involved consideration of the social contract and the pleasing efficacy of stamping on someone’s balls. On his wall is a picture of Jack Kirby in a fine suit with an expensive and most importantly elegant cigar in his hand, a cigar like a Fifties rocketship, lounging like (in place of) Raymond Loewy against a gleaming car with tailfins and a Willy Ley prow. That’s medal-encrusted Captain Raymond Loewy of the Armée de l’Air, the French industrial designer who moved to America and made the future for them. He designed cars, trains, boats, fridges, the classic Coke can, the Lucky Strike package and the interior of the fucking Skylab.
Absolutely worth a read, but then I happen to be a HUGE fan of Jack Kirby and am therefore biased.
Another great piece from JibJab - BARACK OBAMA HAS COME TO SAVE THE DAY:
He's Barack Obama - JibJab.com
Uploaded by JibJab. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.
Pics from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland that I'm sure you've all seen by now:
Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen:
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm sorry, but it's hard for me to get excited about this film in any way whatsoever. More pics here, however, for those interested. I find Anne Hathway's White Queen the creepiest of all - why is it that two blonde characters in the film (Alice and the White Queen) are portrayed as normal and attractive, why everyone else is mutilated by CGI?
Wait, wait, I'm not quite done.
Via Pink Tentacle, pristine and high quality photos and footage of the giant scale Gundam that was erected in Tokyo in honor of the 30th anniversary of the franchise:
If you look closely, you can see how authentic it is, right down to the brand names:
Video of its construction with yet more details:
...Wow. Dude, that thing is HUGE.
Why can't we do awesome things like this? Japan: sci-fi wonderland.
Avatar live action teaser trailer:
...
One minute and forty seconds of...not that impressive stuff:
Click to viewWe get That Guy doing the ponderous voice over, a tiny bit of airbending (wow, Aang can blow out candles with Airbending, ooooh, impressive!), but the only watchable thing in this trailer is the ending shot of the Fire Nation navy fleet steaming across the water and putting on a massive pyrotechnic display. Although why they're wasting Firebending on an Air Nomad temple before they can actually get to Aang given that he's like a thousand feet off the ground is a mystery that only the producers and Shyamalan know. The sad thing? The sad thing is that this film is probably going to have some beautiful visual elements in it that are totally wasted.
No absolute disrespect meant to Noah Ringer, but the way he's moving in this clip? Maybe it's because he's a karate kid, but his movements seem more choppy than Aang's graceful Baguazhang-based Airbending. Noah!Aang's cloak is also red, and as someone who has actually watched Avatar, I'm wondering where all the saffron, golds, and browns are.
But the most glaring problem? EVERYONE IS STILL WHITE. (The first person to 1) coo over this trailer and talk about how awesome the film is going to be and 2) ignore the cast whitewashing is going to get their virtual dentition cracked with my virtual fist. If you want to ignore the problematic casting of this film, go do it on your own journal.)
The only version of the final fight between Firelord Ozai and Aang that isn't set to Linkin Park or the Smashing Pumpkins or Metallica was uploaded by a gracious and wise person in India:
This still makes my jaw drop - it was that well done. I'm going to bet that this fight doesn't even make it to the film. And again? This final confrontation is one of the best things that I have ever seen in animation - the lack of music (land sakes, you can hear them breathing! A taste of realism!), the palpable sense of danger (I thought for sure that Ozai was going to die), the choreography, Aang finally going batshit Avatar on Ozai's ass, everything.
Oh, from Rich Johnston's new site Bleeding Cool, it appears that Grant Morrison is writing a book about superheroes. This? I will happily read, because when Morrison goes meta about the mythology of superheroes and deconstructs their meaning, I am all ears and eyes.
Also from Bleeding Cool is an interesting piece by Warren Ellis that visualizes an alternate Earth time-line where Jack Kirby designed the future - this snippet I found particularly, um, brilliant:
This altered timewave surfs me to late 2008, where Douglas Rushkoff, having now taken boxing lessons and been blooded in streetfights, beats the shit out of two muggers on a Brooklyn street corner and writes about the experience in his next book LIFE INC., a long and involved consideration of the social contract and the pleasing efficacy of stamping on someone’s balls. On his wall is a picture of Jack Kirby in a fine suit with an expensive and most importantly elegant cigar in his hand, a cigar like a Fifties rocketship, lounging like (in place of) Raymond Loewy against a gleaming car with tailfins and a Willy Ley prow. That’s medal-encrusted Captain Raymond Loewy of the Armée de l’Air, the French industrial designer who moved to America and made the future for them. He designed cars, trains, boats, fridges, the classic Coke can, the Lucky Strike package and the interior of the fucking Skylab.
Absolutely worth a read, but then I happen to be a HUGE fan of Jack Kirby and am therefore biased.
Another great piece from JibJab - BARACK OBAMA HAS COME TO SAVE THE DAY:
He's Barack Obama - JibJab.com
Uploaded by JibJab. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.
Pics from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland that I'm sure you've all seen by now:
Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen:
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'm sorry, but it's hard for me to get excited about this film in any way whatsoever. More pics here, however, for those interested. I find Anne Hathway's White Queen the creepiest of all - why is it that two blonde characters in the film (Alice and the White Queen) are portrayed as normal and attractive, why everyone else is mutilated by CGI?
Wait, wait, I'm not quite done.
Via Pink Tentacle, pristine and high quality photos and footage of the giant scale Gundam that was erected in Tokyo in honor of the 30th anniversary of the franchise:
If you look closely, you can see how authentic it is, right down to the brand names:
Video of its construction with yet more details:
...Wow. Dude, that thing is HUGE.
Why can't we do awesome things like this? Japan: sci-fi wonderland.