glitterfish.com

Thank Louis Vuitton for all the super busy patterns showing up everywhere these days. The new layout is sort of the web 2.0 look plus that.

DVGuru points to this very interesting comparison of Hi-def DVD stills vs plain old DVD. Unlike the transition from VHS to DVD, most people tend to believe that Hi-def DVD does not offer a dramatic quality improvement. However, these stills from the Fellowship of the Ring show a rather striking difference.

I still don’t want to pay 25 dollars for a Hi-def DVD. There also isn’t an added incentive like the special features that DVD brought to the table. However, the argument that Hi-def DVDs aren’t that much better quality than standard DVD’s is probably untrue.

This clip remixes the OK GO treadmill video using legos. I guess I’m a sucker for click bait…

Not only did director Mreel777 animate only half the song, but each frame is up for too long creating a jerky and amateurish stop motion effect. Worse of all is there are noticeably out of focus shots peppered throughout the entire thing. All in all its a pretty terrible effort by director Mreel777 who is going to have to be a little less lazy if he wants to compete with Youtube Lego autuer, TazziToz. Watch his remix of the first Ok Go video, “A Million Ways:”

Clearly TazziToz has a superior sense of production design. Additionally, the camera work, while still lacking, is miles above Mreel777’s.

However, by far my favorite Youtube Lego remix is this Star Wars video by Vidmaster55 and his (former) friend. Vidmaster55 has actually done a couple of lego stop motions. Apparently, he works without the benefit of editing software. He builds a slide show out of still photographs and then shoots his computer monitor to create the video. I’m going to repost the video description of “Lego Star Wars: “Supposed” Final Duel” in its entirety. Its a fascinating case study of how creative differences can shatter friendships and get in the way of the work:

WHY THIS VIDEO SUCKS Oh my God!! This video sucks. Ok here’s the deal, I was over my (former) friend’s house and he well, insited on making a lego video. I mean he’s heard about my lego productions, (With every film I get better.) and he thinks that you can just snap a couple lego pictures make the slideshow, film it, insert a couple of sound fx and post it here. Well, its not that easy, and plus, if you want to have good audio you have to time the slideshow film, write a script, and discise your voice so it doesn’t sound like some “13 year old star wars nerd.” The whole Prosses takes about three to four weeks. My supposedly straight A student friend was like “Naaa we can do it in two hours or less.” TWO HOURS OR LESS?! what are you crazy!? I even explained to him how the procedure works. But no you can do it in two hours. Also to make the vid more interesting you should add music. My friend and I tried that. But he thought that you didn’t have to include it into your script that because of his “Brain Power” we didn’t need one. The film was suppose to be sort of serious like you know in star wars ep. III, but this dude thinks everything is funny, everything should be a comedy. Well sure enough he classifed the vid as comedy and when he did all the voices, you couldn’t even tell it was star wars. Now let me ask you a question. Do stormtroopes cry like little girls? Of cours not. But my know it all (former) friend thinks they do. So when we tried to film it and we didn’t succeed I ask him if we want to try a script. He said “What’s the point.” Now I’m really pissed off. He thinks, “Oh its no big deal, its not hard.” This kid, I’m telling you…. UGH!! And you know, now that I think of it, it did only take two hours. Since we ditched the script, killed the music and didn’t even care if it had good graphics. Then once we ran the slideshow on his P.C., the whole thing had that like thing going up and down the screen, so it didn’t even look right. (his computer didn’t have a flat pannel monitor so it mad the screen do that funky line thing) So obviously he isn’t my friend anymore. Ya see I’m not his friend just because he didn’t care about the hard work that it takes to make a lego video, but also he was being… well here I’ll tell you. At school he is always talking to me and being annoiying. So one day (the day of the halloween dance at school) I tell him to stop it and I’m not his friend. So of coarse he goes and starts to cry and wimper. Then during the dance he goes up to his mom (his mom works at the school) and says “Edward won’t be my friend.” So his mom come s up to me, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DANCE and embarreses me and says “YOU BE EDDIE’S FRIEND!!!” (We both have the same name…kinda freaky) So I say no and walk away from him and his mom. Now of course Eddie thinks everything is okay and walks over to me an is like “Hey dude!” And the rest of the dance was hell. Finally like almost two months later we aren’t friends. And according to him and his control freak mom I don’t exist! THANK YOU GOD!!! I gon’t have to deal with him and his [SENSORED] Mom!! THE END

Everybody knows Gondry is a genius. Check out this viral video where he proves it by solving a rubiks cube…with his feet.

Its pretty obvious that the footage has been reversed. Sort of a fun idea but, dare I say it, Gondry should step aside and let the youngsters handle the viral videos.

Jonny invited me to the Sundance Director’s Mixer. It was sort of awkward explaining to people my limited role in Jonny’s film but I couldn’t really turn down free beer schmoozing at the DGA Theater…

There was a bunch of cool people to talk to including festival programmer Trevor Groth and some of the other filmmakers. I’m stoked for the festival; however, in a related note I asked my boss today if he had any advice about the festival. He said “Sundance is awful. It’s overcrowded, expensive, and full of poseurs.”

We shall see.

The first picks of this years award season are trickling in. Its a year with no clear cut winners; critics seem to be defaulting to partisan favorites:

I find it sort of suspect that the Boston Society of Film Critics favorite is, guess what, The Departed. The film won four awards including best picture, director, supporting actor and screenplay. Also shocking is United 93’s win for best picture from both the DC Area Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle.

I’ve been telling people for weeks that Sacha Baron Cohen had award traction but nobody believed me! I’m stoked that Sacha tied with Forest for the Los Angeles Critics best actor spot. I love it when left field mavericks upset establishments. All my friends thought I was nuts but I voted for the Arizona ballot initiative that would have entered every voter into a one million dollar lottery as means of increasing turnout. Partially I voted like that because its hilarious, but I also did it because there’s lots of merit in compelling out of the box ideas.

Actually these films are all in my top 5 best films of the year. Personally, I think 2006 was one of the best years for movies in a long time.

Jonny Pulley, who directed the She’s Your Sister video, has been accepted into the Sundance Fllm Festival.

Media Arts BFA alumnus (2006) Jonathan Pulley has been selected to screen his senior thesis film MOVE ME in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program. MOVE ME, produced in the Department of Media Arts BFA program, was written and directed by Pulley, produced by Media Arts alumnus (2006) Miguel Jimenez, and crewed by Media Arts students.

MOVE ME tells the tale of Graham, who over the course of his last evening with his dad, must find a way to say goodbye before his relationship with his father slips away completely.

Jon Pulley, Jonny’s father, plays Graham’s Dad. Congratulations to Jonny (director), Miguel (producer), and Jason (DP). I’m part of the “crewed by media arts students” bit. If your going to Park City let me know. Glitterfish and its many associates will be attending.

I saw a this weeks secret Beck show at the Echo. It was one of those “omg I saw x-rockstar at this intimate venue and now I can die” things. Celeste was there:

Then Jonny overheard a guy talking to his friend’s girlfriend. He said, “The Postal Service is like, emotion, and Death Cab is like, rock.” It was hipster hell in there. Maybe I’m too judgmental or maybe I read glitterfish too much, but when Beck sang, “One by one I’ll knock you out,” I was convinced he was talking to the young hipsters in the audience. And I cheered.

You can never read enough Glitterfish.com.

Last year I saw the stage version of Disney’s Mary Poppins in London. The show was pretty lame but it did have this really weird trip out sequence where all these creepy toys come to life and terrorize the children. I haven’t actually ever seen the original Mary Poppins but it seems the story works best as horror.

Scary Mary is right up there with Shining and Brokeback to the Future. The Technicolor quality of the film footage and the iconic image of Mary floating through the air are particularly hilarious against the scary music; however, its Mary’s Exorcist style 360 degree head spin that really sells it.

There is an awesome quote in this AP story regarding music snobs:

In America, rock authenticity is a really important thing, whereas in Britain, there aren’t so many hang-ups like ‘Is it cool to like this?’

I totally agree; however, it’s a shame that the article is written about the The Scissor Sisters. No matter what 2.5 million Brits have to say, they suck.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat profiled Jonny and I for a grads trying to make it in Hollywood story.

Read the article.