A renegade pirated software store have recently sprouted up at Peninsular Plaza ( just beside Cathay Photo ). Quite a number of software titles, I got meself AfterEffects 5.5, Premier 6, and a sound editing compilation disc. Check it out before it gets busted or warps out.

Animate! - the British animation and film fiesta is here again. They'll also be showing some local animation works from the various polys.

http://www.britishcouncil.org.sg/events/2002/events-julsep2002.htm#british-fw

My my !! that was a well written review of MUSA! It just helped me make up my mind of NOT catching it. lol.

The Korean epic period film Musa was reputed to be the single most expensive domestic release ever made. It had just the right elements for a grand epic - the right settings; hauntingly beautiful expanses of pastel deserts and whirling sandstorms, stellar casts; ie Zhang Ziyi and dashing korean actors. However as the film progressed slowly it soon became clear that the massive budget seemed to have been split entirely on the gorgeously designed costumes worn by the cast, ( which the least to say seemed historically accurate and extremely pretty ), and the extraneous amounts of red dye shipped in for the excessive bloodletting that the camera somehow had an extreme predilection for. Sure, ancient battles were waged with metal against metal, and when the honed blades found raw flesh, bloodshedding inevitable occurs, but once past 20 minutes into the show you've seen it all, yet the camera relentlessly centres on severed limbs and gorged torsos that very much got in the way of decent story telling.


Not that there was much of a story to begin with. The plot stood so weak it could well have faded without trace into the sand dunes of the sets. A group of diplomatic envoys escorted by dozen Koryo warriors from Korea was dispatched to China to clear the misunderstanding when a Ming official was killed in korea, where the ramifications could be catastro...blah blah blah. However the envoys were very quickly decimated mistakenly by either marauding Yuan troops bent on reviving their dynasty or by equally unreasonable Mongolian tribes that had a clear disdain for the Han folks. Inconsequential so far ? Rope in a Han princess in distress saved by the remaining Koryo warriors bent on escorting her to safety and it crashes the already absymal plot. Far removed from her butt kicking moves in CTHD, Zhang barely irritates her assailants with rude stares and harsh language, with zero opportunity for any display of her laudable thespian skills. Coupled with the male Korean lead that maintains a deadpan expression throughout the entire movie ( albeit with a fanciful spear stance that fails completely to awe after 2 repetitions ), the only redeemable acting was by a veteran Koryo archer that mediated internal conflicts with tacit, wise words and took out enemies with his all powerful shooting. I hadn't the foggies idea why Straits Times gave it four stars, to me it didn't deserve any more than 2. This is one Korean movie that will be swept into obscurity as quickly as the countless warriors that lay motionless in the transient sands of the desert.

Welcome back Nahs ! :] Its nice to have you back and writing again. No, you have not been forgotten, we just took it that you had more important things to attend to, but you're always welcome back. These days my blog seemed more of a monologue of sorts other than Gatchaman and rei's post. You postings will bring some life back. :)

Talk about movies ! Here's a breakdown of what's to come ( and not to miss, at least, for me. )

Minority Report
Y tu Mama Tambien
Musa
Men in Black 2

I haven't contributed in ages, have I? It's like the habit of popping by one of the blogs kinda got erased from my systems...must have had hard reboot one time too many.
Well, I'm writing now, first time in months (or more...) in the comforts of my office. Life has been kind to me: I found a great job while many peers are still living off wat meagre savings they have amassed. The hours in this job sounds fanatical almost, but hey I'm really, truely happy.

Yeah I concede working life at a design house sometimes nibble away a good chunk of wat I call my social life. Ashamedly I haven't been fulfulling the part of a friend to many. Not to mention being absent from Vong's fantastic little blog here. It's a haven for my verbal-incontinence *lol*. I hope somebody noticed my disappearance...AND missed me....*wink*... hahaa

I have to confess that my hiatus from writing was far longer than was desired...it's really all rusty now...vocabs floating around in cerebral space waiting to be picked up again.
AND THE MOVIES!!! God help me but I haven't enough time for movies!!! Yes! the peishan that watches a movie she likes for wat, 3 times has actually not been into ANY theatre for the last 2 - 3 weeks. It's scary. This feels almost like getting disconnected to some kinda system that keeps us all nurtured and informed; Some kinda computer core that triggers waves of activites in my work laden brain.

la la la la lee.
I'm afraid I might have overstayed my welcome..hehee...first thing I said after all these while spans several paragraphs of self-centred ramblings!

-back to work. :) cheers.

One of these days I should make it a point to get myself the Godfather series and have a look at them. I have only recently watched Christopher Nolan's Insomnia and found Pacino's performance so natural and subtle I could have easily believed such a character existed in real life : a fundamentally good cop, treading treacherously in the grey areas of right and wrong and realizing there's no easy way out once you placed your foot in. The plot was simple and straight forward though not cliche; and it proves even more so that the main character's performances was riveting enough to keep one's attention on screen at all times. On a side note, it was interesting to read from imdb that Veteran homicide detective Will Dormer's last name is a play on the French and Spanish verb dormir, "to sleep".

Lots of in depth write ups and production notes at the official site : insomnia

Just watched the movie the eye . I must say its quite a commendable effort for a Singapore/HK joint effort although i'm not too sure how much local talent was actually involved in the production. The movie kicked off with some pretty interesting Braille symbols that told us of what was to be expected in the movie ahead, but those hands running behind that fabric effect wasn't too original ( remember the Beast within, or Videodrome ) or scary. I personally though it was sorta sensual ! Ha ! But that's just for me. Mostly I felt the editing and sfx was pretty well done, although as the story progressed it got more and more cliche and sorta languished to a slow and predictable end. However the Malaysia actress had a really laudable performance, with really believable acting.

Gatchaman told me about the lift scene and it really did built up to quite a scare but my mind immediately switched off as that old man's missing face was revealed. Once again i'm convinced that in the face scares just don't work for me, as would sadako climbing out of that tv wouldn't. There is one notable point that I would like to point out though - much of the show's better scares and mood was attributed to its somewhat eerie sfx and music that build up slowly and carried the audience's attention as it flowed and ebbed. Unfortunately, the sfx and music wasn't quite original at all - if you are a fan of Kenji Kawai's music - they were mostly lifted from the Ring soundtrack with its screechy distorted sounds and pounding bassbeats. Take one listen to the Ring soundtrack and you will immediately recognize the unmistakable similarity in the music and sfx. One segment near the end of the show was so strikingly similar I wondered if they credited kenji Kawai for the music.

I was quite sick of looking at my old Akirastudio website so i've finally redesigned the main index pages. What a refreshing sight Nothing spectacular really...just needed a change...

Halcyonwerks

Haha...just posted a picture of my workdesk for fun. As you can see my liking for movies and animation is quite pervasive, as well as admiration for a few artists like Waterhouse, Rodin, etc. Gattaca is one of my favourite movies to date. I'm using the computer with the orange flower wallpaper. Recently my computer broke down because the power supply melted down. I suspect its because the heat built up was unable to escape, trapped by the scanner that I placed on top of the cpu. Its since been moved away and replaced with a cooling fan on top. Hope that works.

Just this evening I was tidying up one of my neglected cabinets when to my pleasant surprise I struck treasure. Its always funny how some very old things kept away for a long time can elicit memories drawn from that period of time. I've always had this foible of collecting movie ticket stubs and what I found predated my existing collection for a good three years. Its akin to an archaelogist finding some significant artifact that predates the existing ones. Hard to describe that feeling. Anyway it was this ticket stub of the closing film for the 9th Singapore Film Festival, held in 1996, titled Memories by the famed animator Otomo Katsuhiro that gave us Akira. It was an excellent film, but the memories associated with it was not least because of that but of a very memorable experience I had just before the show started...


Me and my friend had arrived early at the now defunct Capitol theatre and was making our way up the main entrance, and as we were walking up the steps we suddenly realized a huge group of people beside us also moving into the theatre lobby. With a little curiosity I took a casual glance at that group of people and saw that they were actually herded round this slightly plump, bearded man of about 50 years of age. My friend, ever in a mood for witty remarks, said : "That's gotta be Otomo himself." I laughed out loud, saying that it was a ridiculous thought, for he had better things to do than to come down to Singapore for just a screening of his movie. As we settled down in the theatre just before the show started, a commentator appeared on the stage and announced :"Here today we are indeed honoured to have the creator of the animation, Mr Katsuhiro Otomo, to say a few words..."

I've been getting relatively negative reviews about the movie Dark Water whilst I was in camp. No one seems to appreciate the movie for the very cinematic elements ( set design, camera work, editing and music, sfx ) that contribute to its moody and dark atmosphere. All my campmate's attention were pretty much centered on "only the last part was scary" or "i was only scared when those bumbs appeared on the watertank" and in the worse case, "its a lousy show !". Suddenly I found myself a self appointed defender of the movie as I argued for its worth, as I would argue for a thousand other movies my friends all deem to be bad. Yes, i agree its a horror movie, scares are necessary, but those few scenes are what I would label as "in your face" scares and had the least impact on me.

Which brings me to the debatable point here : Are movies in general, esoteric ? That means to say that they are only intelligible to those who have special knowledge, and in this context those who have a slightly better understanding of film aesthetics. Shouldn't a movie be crafted in such a way that the majority of the audience would be able to appreciate its elements without prior acquired knowledge ? It certainly didn't seem to be the case here. Or perhaps movie audiences here are just so awashed by mainstream hollywood movies that their acquired tastes are conformed to certain treatment, and they quickly reject alternate or different styles of work when they see one ?

I can't help but relate this to the art scene in the early 20th century where the Paris Salon, the most established academy that exhibits and showcases art pieces, judges entry works by a certain predetermined standard and those not conformed to those are labelled as bad or unorthodox, unrefined. It was also here that the Impressionist painters, Cezzance, Renoir and the like bear the full brunt of the criticism by been different and it was not until much later when they recieved full acclaim for the pieces.

I took Gatchaman's advice and had a look at the lighting rig HDRdome, setting up was easy and the lighting was amazing fast considering the promising results it gave. Basically you set up a dome around your desired scene of lighting and the dome simulates light been bounced all around, as would normal diffused lighting. The result was quite simply put, pretty good. I felt was cheating though; I ought to be setting up the lighting myself with numerous omni lights but considering the extended amount of time needed for that many lights to render I think i'll see if I can settle for a compromise of HDR and normal lighting.

The Japanese film Dark Water is of the more satisfying horror films i've seen in a long while, far surpassing its Hollywood counterparts with their cliche, cheap scares consisting of little more than its fair share of blood and gore, incessant loud and in your face special effects. Dark water succeeds with its intensely eerie combination of dank, superbly lit sets and subtle, almost unbearable camera movement that beckons your eye to follow in anticipation. I was most impressed and petrified by its well lit, or rather under lit corridors, those long arches shrouded in a dark, perpetual gloom that seem to lead to a void of indescribable horror. No one is making me walk down one of those corridors. Though in my opinion the scare factor is still below that of the Ring , Dark water have like what my friend Gatchaman has mentioned, an added dimension of emotional depth that carries the film as more than just a simple horror show, plus at the same time a more subtle social lesson in order : neglect your children, and the worst nightmares that may come to bear will surface will terrifying results.

Hi folks. Installed the Yaccs comment tag to make blogging easier.

maybe u can also try to see how it looked with HDRdome lighting. sometimes the lighting & rendering makes a difference. your texturing is pretty realistic to me. just extra ... how come the shadow breaks apart? any part turned off to cast shadow?

Still working on my bot model. Having decided to acheive a considerably realistic look I'm still not happy with the texturing and overall look. I think i've been using too many primitive shapes and they don't have the level of complexity as real surfaces on objects do. I'll have to dive back in and remodel some parts of the bot and so some retexturing. I decided to ignore the reflection of the metals completely at this moment because each frame is taking up more than 10 minutes to render at 800 by 600 and i haven't found an easier way to texture reflections.

i want to get 1 like this too! but better if it s on wheels & can follow my eyes & adjust itself so that the book ll face me all the time haha! but isnt tat like forcing me to read! haha!

Moving on to the props in the animation. This is the mechanical bookstand that will rise up from a vault in the ground with the book titled : "Becoming human. " Bot picks up the book, starts to read, and the story begins...

Announcement :

Akirastudio is now Halcyonwerks

I've been contemplating a revamp of my website for eons now, kicking in phase one for now ( heck, i make it sound like some HDB upgrading project ) The title akirastudio have been with me since the first days of my amateur web publishing days, dating back to my first singnet account when I was still in secondary 4. That's almost seven years ago ! Akira seemed like a most natural choice for a title, given my then euphorical and fervent admiration for the masterpiece. Although my respect for it have never dwindled the least bit, it probably been one most influential animation i'll ever watch, my webpage is no longer just a fanpage, and its only appropriate that the title now take a backseat. Akirastudio will now be housed under Halcyonwerks as an individual section by itself, all to be updated continually.

Go here to see the new index page for Halcyonwerks : http://www.notionwerks/akirastudio/halcyonwerks.htm

As for the new title Halyconwerks, the inspiration came in part with the design I had for Halcyon realms, my weblog. It falls back to the album design works for the ambient electronica group Chicane, which I like immensely. Its music is an enbodiment of speed, emancipation and peace.

hahaha ... lucky for me ... i oready gone thro much meditation before the show, & completely pyscho myself to ve as low expectation as possible ... minimum damage to my fragile & hopeful heart!

George Luca's lost it completely !! Just when I thought things couldn't be any worse than the Phantom Menace...they obviously can. Maybe its because the expectations are so sky high for epII to exceed its progeny...nontheless...i still found the whole show much of a disappointment. Probably THE most disappointing show this year so far.

what a beautiful review to a beautiful film (i can only assumed abt the film though, din see it)! blaue reiter u should be the one writing those reviews in straits times eheheh!

Time and again Korean films have swept me off my feet, engulfing me in megalomania, putting me back in love. The latest addition to the family is the movie "One Fine Spring Day".



I think my emotions are most easily roused, as far as movie watching is concerned. So if a laudable movie that is imbued with all the right qualities of beauty, subtlety and emotiveness comes my way, I will break down like melting ice awashed in sunlight. One Fine Spring Day are all these qualities and more. I saw it at the SIFF, and now as i listen to the music and the visuals, hauntingly beautiful and memorable, I cannot help but express my praise for this movie through this channel.

http://www.springday.co.kr/

This review explains most of the movie expressively -

http://www.subwaycinema.com/frames/archives/nyaff02/finespringday.htm

The rest is watching it.

Texture tests.