Mini Goodies Post! :D!
I meant to post this stuff several days ago, but I can be selfish with mah goodies sometimes? >_>
Farscape:
FINALLY, WE WERE PROMISED AT DRAGON*CON, AND NOW THEY DELIVER: Farscape: The Complete Series!!! 88 episodes and 15 hours of bonus features on 26 discs...
-Farscape Undressed: The home-video premiere of the rarely seen, long-sought-after behind-the-scenes special
-Three archival documentaries: "In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson," "Making of a Space Opera," and "Season Three: A Look Back with Executive Producer David Kemper"
-Three Inside Farscape featurettes: Villains, Visual Effects, and Save Farscape
-31 audio commentaries
-Deleted scenes, director's cut scenes, and an alternate version of the season 2 premiere
-Behind-the-scenes interviews with the characters, cast, and creative team of Farscape
-Listening in with composer Guy Gross featurettes for 12 episodes
-Original TV promos and more
John Crichton. Astronaut. Flung through a wormhole and lost in a galaxy far from home. He finds himself in the middle of a prison break, surrounded by hostile aliens, soaring through space inside a glorious living space ship called Moya. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers, he allies himself with his unimaginably alien fellow refugees and searches for a way home.
So begins the epic sci-fi classic Farscape. A fusion of live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, prosthetics and CGI, Farscape features mind-boggling alien life forms, dazzling special effects, edge-of-your-seat thrills, irreverent humor and unforgettable characters - all brought to life by the creative minds at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. No wonder it's been called the most imaginative sci-fi series in television history.
Here, in time for the series' tenth anniversary, are all four Farscape seasons, 88 episodes, together for the first time in one epic collection. These are the adventures of Moya's crew - Crichton, Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, warrior Ka D'Argo, azure priestess Zhaan, spritely thief Chiana, Dominar Rigel, Pilot and many others. Like Moya herself, this package contains amazing surprises including hours of bonus materials, making-of featurettes, commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes and much more. Prepare for Starburst!
Soooo excited! However, if you have the Starburst Editions, customers recommend you HOLD ONTO THEM! Some of the special features from those discs did not make it to this new set. There's a rather neat video interview with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Rockne S. O'Bannon included on the amazon webpage, too. They give us a teeeeeeeny bit of information on the webisodes (in production [EEEEE!], and take place right after the comics that are currently coming out), and it ended with possibly the best "Oh, Ben," I have ever heard from Claudia's mouth. :D!
Movies:
IRONMAN 2 TRAILER!!!! Watch it in high-def! This trailer tells you absolutely NOTHING about plot (nooooot a good sign), but you get to see lots of cool special effects! After all, since when do modern movies need a plot? Or a script? Let's see that car go boom again!
Johnny Depp explains how he picked his poison with the Mad Hatter. When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolor portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality. After putting the finishing touches on his painting for “Alice in Wonderland,” Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled. “I was thinking,” the actor said, “‘Oh my God, this one will get me fired!’” BWAAAHAHA. This was an *excellent* article.
Also, whaaaat is this? Johnny Depp is rumored to be in the new Lone Ranger movie? :O! THIS IS EXCITING!
So, last night, which was Wednesday the 23rd, J kidnapped me for drinks and a movie. We ended up getting to see a rather late showing of Avatar 3D, in a pretty sweet theater we had practically to ourselves. The most exciting part of the night (which may be sad), is that I got to see the new Alice in Wonderland trailer in 3D. EEEE. I don't care what the critics say, I am still super excited about this movie. Seeing the trailer in 3D only heightened that excitement.
ANYHOO... Avatar was a decent flick. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. The computer graphics, as promised, were stunning. They built a very real, very believable, very three dimensional world that was plush, colorful, and engaging. The flora was exquisite, the fauna rather predictable, but all around I really bought into the world. The script and plot, however, delivered rather less than the CGI did. I really liked the movie, up until about the point where (WHITE TEXT SPOILER ALERT) Grace was brought to the sacred tree to be healed. After that point, the movie just took a nosedive. Everything was glaringly predictable, the plot quickly became melodramatic, and the acting... I really have no words. The main protagonist, Jake, was about as engaging as a cardboard cutout. He was much easier to watch and get interested in when he was in his Avatar form, and even then I found my attention drifting to more of the supporting cast. The main antagonist might as well have been a caricature of every science fiction bad guy ever created. I did really like the natives: the Na'vi, I believe? But they were an obvious play on American Indians, and not very well executed at that. But that could just be my bias talking, since I grew up with a deep interest in Western American history; really, the Na'vi's story could easily mirror the story of dozens of indigenous races forced from their homes by the greedy groping hand of empire expansion. If James Cameron was attempting to make a point with this movie, he fell rather short of the mark. He did succeed in riling up my preexisting righteous indignation, but didn't do the story he was telling justice. Over-romanticized, over-blown, and over-acted. About the point where (ANOTHER WHITE TEXT SPOILER ALERT) home tree was destroyed, J leaned over and foreknowingly joked, "And then the aliens drive the humans from their world... just like it happened with the Native Americans!" It did feel like a rather insensitive blow to what has really happened in our history -- especially the flight to the sacred tree scenes, which felt just a liiiiittle too much like the Trail of Tears for my comfort -- by over-romanticizing an otherwise horrendous attack on a world we, as viewers, were encouraged to connect with. But, again, that could just be my bias talking.
So, in summation, Avatar: Strong beginning, weak ending. Great graphics, and several really well-done action/suspense scenes, but bad story telling, and a predictable resolution. It's worth seeing in theaters, though. And if you can afford the 3D (Lord almighty, $12 FTL), it definitely adds to the experience. If you're looking for a fun visual experience, it comes with my recommendation; but don't expect academy award winning material going in, especially if you're a writer.
Misc Geekery:
Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2009. Keep checking this page, because every day, for the next 25 days, a new photo will be revealed here from the Hubble Space Telescope, some old and some new. God, some of these are absolutely incredible. Just... blow your mind beautiful. EXHIBIT A: How insane is this picture?! :O!
That's all for now! Time to go batten down the hatches for the great Ice and Wind Storm of 2009. -_-
Farscape:
FINALLY, WE WERE PROMISED AT DRAGON*CON, AND NOW THEY DELIVER: Farscape: The Complete Series!!! 88 episodes and 15 hours of bonus features on 26 discs...
-Farscape Undressed: The home-video premiere of the rarely seen, long-sought-after behind-the-scenes special
-Three archival documentaries: "In the Beginning: A Look Back with Brian Henson," "Making of a Space Opera," and "Season Three: A Look Back with Executive Producer David Kemper"
-Three Inside Farscape featurettes: Villains, Visual Effects, and Save Farscape
-31 audio commentaries
-Deleted scenes, director's cut scenes, and an alternate version of the season 2 premiere
-Behind-the-scenes interviews with the characters, cast, and creative team of Farscape
-Listening in with composer Guy Gross featurettes for 12 episodes
-Original TV promos and more
John Crichton. Astronaut. Flung through a wormhole and lost in a galaxy far from home. He finds himself in the middle of a prison break, surrounded by hostile aliens, soaring through space inside a glorious living space ship called Moya. Hunted by the relentless Peacekeepers, he allies himself with his unimaginably alien fellow refugees and searches for a way home.
So begins the epic sci-fi classic Farscape. A fusion of live action, state-of-the-art puppetry, prosthetics and CGI, Farscape features mind-boggling alien life forms, dazzling special effects, edge-of-your-seat thrills, irreverent humor and unforgettable characters - all brought to life by the creative minds at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. No wonder it's been called the most imaginative sci-fi series in television history.
Here, in time for the series' tenth anniversary, are all four Farscape seasons, 88 episodes, together for the first time in one epic collection. These are the adventures of Moya's crew - Crichton, Peacekeeper Aeryn Sun, warrior Ka D'Argo, azure priestess Zhaan, spritely thief Chiana, Dominar Rigel, Pilot and many others. Like Moya herself, this package contains amazing surprises including hours of bonus materials, making-of featurettes, commentaries, interviews, deleted scenes and much more. Prepare for Starburst!
Soooo excited! However, if you have the Starburst Editions, customers recommend you HOLD ONTO THEM! Some of the special features from those discs did not make it to this new set. There's a rather neat video interview with Ben Browder, Claudia Black, and Rockne S. O'Bannon included on the amazon webpage, too. They give us a teeeeeeeny bit of information on the webisodes (in production [EEEEE!], and take place right after the comics that are currently coming out), and it ended with possibly the best "Oh, Ben," I have ever heard from Claudia's mouth. :D!
Movies:
IRONMAN 2 TRAILER!!!! Watch it in high-def! This trailer tells you absolutely NOTHING about plot (nooooot a good sign), but you get to see lots of cool special effects! After all, since when do modern movies need a plot? Or a script? Let's see that car go boom again!
Johnny Depp explains how he picked his poison with the Mad Hatter. When he takes on a role, Johnny Depp often paints a watercolor portrait of the still-forming character to help find his face and personality. After putting the finishing touches on his painting for “Alice in Wonderland,” Depp looked down at the Mad Hatter staring back at him from the canvas and giggled. “I was thinking,” the actor said, “‘Oh my God, this one will get me fired!’” BWAAAHAHA. This was an *excellent* article.
Also, whaaaat is this? Johnny Depp is rumored to be in the new Lone Ranger movie? :O! THIS IS EXCITING!
So, last night, which was Wednesday the 23rd, J kidnapped me for drinks and a movie. We ended up getting to see a rather late showing of Avatar 3D, in a pretty sweet theater we had practically to ourselves. The most exciting part of the night (which may be sad), is that I got to see the new Alice in Wonderland trailer in 3D. EEEE. I don't care what the critics say, I am still super excited about this movie. Seeing the trailer in 3D only heightened that excitement.
ANYHOO... Avatar was a decent flick. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. The computer graphics, as promised, were stunning. They built a very real, very believable, very three dimensional world that was plush, colorful, and engaging. The flora was exquisite, the fauna rather predictable, but all around I really bought into the world. The script and plot, however, delivered rather less than the CGI did. I really liked the movie, up until about the point where (WHITE TEXT SPOILER ALERT) Grace was brought to the sacred tree to be healed. After that point, the movie just took a nosedive. Everything was glaringly predictable, the plot quickly became melodramatic, and the acting... I really have no words. The main protagonist, Jake, was about as engaging as a cardboard cutout. He was much easier to watch and get interested in when he was in his Avatar form, and even then I found my attention drifting to more of the supporting cast. The main antagonist might as well have been a caricature of every science fiction bad guy ever created. I did really like the natives: the Na'vi, I believe? But they were an obvious play on American Indians, and not very well executed at that. But that could just be my bias talking, since I grew up with a deep interest in Western American history; really, the Na'vi's story could easily mirror the story of dozens of indigenous races forced from their homes by the greedy groping hand of empire expansion. If James Cameron was attempting to make a point with this movie, he fell rather short of the mark. He did succeed in riling up my preexisting righteous indignation, but didn't do the story he was telling justice. Over-romanticized, over-blown, and over-acted. About the point where (ANOTHER WHITE TEXT SPOILER ALERT) home tree was destroyed, J leaned over and foreknowingly joked, "And then the aliens drive the humans from their world... just like it happened with the Native Americans!" It did feel like a rather insensitive blow to what has really happened in our history -- especially the flight to the sacred tree scenes, which felt just a liiiiittle too much like the Trail of Tears for my comfort -- by over-romanticizing an otherwise horrendous attack on a world we, as viewers, were encouraged to connect with. But, again, that could just be my bias talking.
So, in summation, Avatar: Strong beginning, weak ending. Great graphics, and several really well-done action/suspense scenes, but bad story telling, and a predictable resolution. It's worth seeing in theaters, though. And if you can afford the 3D (Lord almighty, $12 FTL), it definitely adds to the experience. If you're looking for a fun visual experience, it comes with my recommendation; but don't expect academy award winning material going in, especially if you're a writer.
Misc Geekery:
Hubble Space Telescope Advent Calendar 2009. Keep checking this page, because every day, for the next 25 days, a new photo will be revealed here from the Hubble Space Telescope, some old and some new. God, some of these are absolutely incredible. Just... blow your mind beautiful. EXHIBIT A: How insane is this picture?! :O!
That's all for now! Time to go batten down the hatches for the great Ice and Wind Storm of 2009. -_-