I haven't submitted anything here in a long, LOOOOONG time, for which I am regretful; I am working on a few ideas I hope to put to paper soon. In the meantime, I conquered unemployment and re-discovered the wonders of full-time employment (not in a design field sadly, but I'll take a paycheck over a career at this point in time).

Anyway, I invested a couple weekends in a new project, once again writing a visual love letter to the great Drew Struzan (meanwhile proving I'll still never be him):


Avatar by ~shokxone-studios on deviantART

Welcome back, Mr. Cameron. We missed ya.

All right, go ahead and make your jokes. "Dances With Wolves in space", right? "Ooh, it's Pocahontas with dinosaurs. Whoopee." Yeah, it's a story you've heard before; the outsider familiarizes himself with a strange new culture, and ultimately joins its people when it's threatened by his own kind. I have no response to that other than a big fat so the hell what? News flash: Dances With Wolves did not originate the concept. In fact, y'know what? F*CK Dances With Wolves, that movie bored the shit out of me. The Last Samurai told that story better anyhow. Hell, Outlander was more entertaining than any version of Beowulf I can remember. The fact alone that a story's been told before doesn't make the retelling any less worthy, as it's the execution that makes or breaks it.

Obviously the defining feature of this retelling are the visuals, which are aces every step of the way. While the Na'vi body movements aren't always convincing, the facial expressions are incredible, to the point of looking far more like extensive makeup than motion-capture CGI. The rub is that the souls of the actors shine through the shiny CGI and really give the characters substance. The environment is absolutely convincing; Cameron now has me believing there's a planet with floating mountains somewhere in the universe. The creature design, from the winged Banshees to the tiny glowing tree spores, are a wonder to behold, and provide a supporting cast just as involving as any of the humans or Na'vi.

There are times when I really disliked Sam Worthington's Jake Sully for the decisions he made, but enjoyed his journey from a bumbling impostor to full-fledged tribal member; Worthington gives Sully a quiet anxiety that builds as the situation gets worse and he gets more intimately involved. Zoe Saldana's Neytiri may be your typical hot-to-trot warrior babe in a so-thin-it's-likely-to-malfunction wardrobe, but........okay, I don't have an end to that sentence, but punchline is I liked her a lot. While normally the female lead is intrigued with the outsider regardless of her clan's standing, Neytiri is united with them in her initial disgust with Jake, and it's during moments where Saldana's unmistakable smile appears that I got to enjoy her more and more. Stephen Lang lets Col. Quaritch's badass scars do most of the acting, but he makes a credible enough villain; not quite matching the crazed menace of Michael Biehn's Lt. Coffey in The Abyss (the bar to reach for as for as Cameron baddies go...human ones, anyway), but you root for his ass to die pretty easily. Sigourney Weaver's Dr. Augustine is a likeable hardass, the Jane Goodall of Na'vi cultural studies; her avatar strangely resembles her the most closely, especially in the shape of the nose, which I thought was odd at first, but in fact helped make the effect flesh itself out more. Giovanni Ribisi plays a great corporate slimeball, the man whose job it is to scoff at everything the natives hold dear.

So aside from the amazing visuals - and they are amazing...I saw this in 3D, and it thankfully has a minimum of those obvious pointing-objects-at-the-camera shots - what did I enjoy about Avatar? Well, I won't lie, the visuals are the major drawing point; the film has kind of an uphill battle to convince folks it's worth anything beyond that, but I think that's because of the dismissive "Dances With Smurf-Cats" attitudes I mentioned earlier, and also because the film's message will be oversimplified into "HUMANS ARE EVIL!!!", and that's not what the movie is saying. We're not evil; we're just enormous dickbags who collectively have no regard for opposing cultures or viewpoints, and historically speaking, we really can't say that's inaccurate.

There was many a time I forgot about the 3D and the CGI and just got swept up in the story; in Jake's experiences learning the Na'vi customs, language, and rituals, in Augustine's clash with Ribisi the slimeball, in Neytiri's utter anguish as her home is torn apart once Jake confesses his motives. The movie also retreads the old argument of nature vs. technology, and spirituality vs. cynicism, but actually shows it in a slightly new light. When Augustine explains the relationship between the planet and its flora and fauna, she's almost arguing the existence of God through science (which is refreshing to hear when everyone else is in one camp or the other, refusing to see the other point of view when really they're looking at the same damn thing); as a result, Avatar comes to feel like a sci-fi analogue of Princess Mononoke. And you just want to punch Ribisi when he chuckles and replies, "They're just trees."

There are faults, of course; for a 162-minute movie, certain points feel glanced over, and characters seem to find solutions like they're just plucked out of the air. Jake's recruitment to the Pandora mission is covered in only the first few minutes of the movie, when I'd have liked to learn more about him and the brother whose place on the mission he's taken. As well, he acclimates to his avatar body in about a single scene, when but a few shots of him re-training himself to walk and move might have lent it credibility. Finally, at a point in which Jake must gain the trust of the Na'vi when they should have no reason to, he figures out how to get them to listen with such speed that all that was missing was the actual light bulb going off over his head; on the one hand, it was a rather genius move on his part, but after folks spending half the movie joking about how dumb he can be, is it more surprising or unrealistic that he accomplishes what he does?

The greatest compliment I can pay Avatar, a project reportedly 15 years in the making, is that it brought James Cameron back into filmmaking after a interminable 12-year hiatus. I said before a retold story is made or broken by its execution. Avatar makes it. Big time.

I've recently been swimming through Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I've just finished Book III: The Waste Lands. I've also given fanboy thought to the sort-of upcoming film adaptation, which is apparently being spearheaded by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. And if anyone knows about mysteries that unravel thread by thread over the course of years, it's good ol' J.J., so this ought to be interesting.

I love movie artwork, especially the work of the great Drew Struzan, and it's with him in mind I created this:


The Dark Tower by ~shokxone-studios on deviantART

This was painted entirely in Photoshop. It took about a week to finish, and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

WARNING! Long-winded, nonsensical rant ahead.

Dear NBC,

Thank you for at long last tipping your hand and revealing to the world that talent shows are rigged.

This, and only this, explains how Kevin Skinner just won America's Got Talent.

I will give Mr. Skinner all the credit in the world; his audition performance was pretty good. Not great, good. Unfortunately, all the passion and emotion he was praised for in his audition dissolved in subsequent performances. I'd even go as far as saying they got worse each stage of the competition. His rendition of "You Are Always On My Mind" was flat and lifeless, and the less said about his version of "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" the better.

Any other season, any other contestant, this would have gotten the guy a sound tongue-lashing from Piers (whose characteristic douchebaggery would in this case be justified) and voted off the show. Yet week in and week out Skinner was praised by the judges as an "instant star" and a "front-runner".

And tonight, standing side-by-side with Barbara Padilla, a more interesting personality to say nothing of her superior singing ability, his mediocrity was rewarded with one million dollars and a Las Vegas show.

I can understand the reasoning: Kevin Skinner is a good ol' boy whose home situation made for a great rags-to-riches story; a classic coming to fruition of the American Dream. And this in itself wouldn't be so bad if it was backed up by his actual talent, which is just plain sorely lacking.

So allow me to recap: you passed up a photogenic opera singer, the reincarnation of Barry White, a raunchy senior citizen stand-up act, and a batsh*t insane mile-a-minute drum act, for a chicken catcher with an okay voice at best who sings like he's not even trying and sounds it too.

The only reason I keep watching NBC at this point is Conan O'Brien.

And Chuck.

And Law & Order.

And SVU.

...

...Ah, f*ck it.

DeviantArt is currently holding a contest to design a creature inspired by the movie "9" - which awesomely enough comes out on my mom's birthday, as as she's into that sort of stuff, I'm taking her to see it as a gift - but anyway...The cool part is, finalists will be selected by the film's director Shane Acker.

Contest details are here. Here's my entry:


9 - Luxo the Destroyer by ~shokxone-studios on deviantART

I attended a preview screening of the film Thursday night. We had free passes and they were giving out movie posters on the way in, so already we were off to a good start. Add to that the audience was full of adults who #&%!ING KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE IN A MOVIE THEATER, and we're in for a fun time at the movies. Then the movie is so good the audience breaks into applause at the end credits; now that's a trip to the cinema, folks.

"District 9" strikes one of those great balances of brains and spectacle that we don't get nearly as often as we should. D9 not only presents a startlingly bleak "what if" scenario of first contact, but provides enough slam-bang visuals to put many a major blockbuster to shame.

The movie is presented at first in a mockumentary style, then dips into a straight narrative, and hops back and forth a few times as events play out. This is the style I hope the eventual "World War Z" film would take, and after seeing it put to such amazing use here, I'd recommend handing the project to Neill Blomkamp and co. Along with newsreel and documentary footage, the action has something of a Paul Greengrass feel while inserting some stylish action shots, including a "gunbarrel POV" steadicam effect that I grew quite fond of.

The action is centered on Wikus (Sharlto Copley), an agent of the MNU assigned to handle the relocation of the residents of District 9, nicknamed "prawns" by the human race (and rightfully so, as they look like distant relatives of Zoidberg). Wikus starts out as a smiling bureaucrat, happily joining in on the humiliation and oppression of the alien refugees. His turnaround starts as he's exposed to a strange chemical that turns him into an enemy of the state, forcing him back to D9 for help. The film is cast entirely with unknowns, making everything that transpires all the easier to accept, as you're focusing on the story rather than the actors, although I bet Copley will be hard-pressed to stay anonymous if this movie makes the big bucks I hope it will. He handles the character with a certain slimy charm and goofiness as the film begins, turning slowly but surely into a believable reluctant hero, while remaining imperfect person; he's first driven by company loyalty, then by selfishness to cure his new-found "condition", resulting in some realistically bad decisions on his part. Only at the very end does he become a truly noble character, and it's here the film slips precariously into cliche and sap, but with all the fireworks going off at the story's climax, you're likely to forgive a misstep or two.

Effects-wise the film also shines. The prawns' CGI is highly-detailed and surprisingly emotive; you never quite get the sense they're really there, but certainly that there's a living on-screen presence, especially in scenes in which no humans are involved. Also of note are the alien weapons, including a hulking cyber-suit that plays a central part in a thunderous shootout. Imagine an upgraded version of Ripley's power loader from "Aliens" and you'll have a good sense of the sh*t this thing tears up.

The aliens' hand weapons are of importance to the film's subplot, in which government researchers and black market dealers (led by a super-creepy guy in a wheelchair with ambitions of consuming the aliens' power through consumption) collect and test the machinery, though they can only be activated by prawn DNA. Once we see this stuff in action, the film earns its R rating faster than Donald Trump earns your annual salary. There are few greater joys in cinema than a theater full of people reacting in unison to something sick happening on screen, and such was the case as human bodies were literally turned to greasy red smears on the ground and walls.

I love watching stuff blow up, and I love movies that can make me think; if I can get the two hand-in-hand, all the better. "District 9" reminded me a great deal of "Children of Men" in its themes and filmmaking style, and in my humble opinion can happily take a place next to it on the list of great 21st-century sci-fi flicks.

P.S. Dear Hollywood: Let Jackson and Blomkamp make "Halo" already.

"Paper Heart", starring Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera, comes out in limited release on August 7. DeviantArt is holding a contest catering to a hobby near and dear to me; designing movie posters, in this case, expressing "What does love mean to me?" 15 hours later, and one hell of a workout for the pen tablet later:


Paper Heart by ~shokxone-studios on deviantART

Contest details here, for anyone who also roams DA.

Probably should have expected the "stuffed animal" theme to be popular for the PreLoved challenge. But I did try to do a slightly different take by incorporating the wearer of the shirt.

Thanks for your support!

Hey folks,

In between shirt designs, one of my hobbies is designing fake movie posters. I've made posters for stuff like The Dark Tower, Halo, 1984, and recently for the upcoming 23rd James Bond movie, which I titled "Risico" after one of Ian Fleming's short stories.

Brandon Brown, a Bond enthusiast and operator of "License to Blog", saw the poster and asked me some questions about my artistic background and my familiarity with 007:

What drove you to create the “Risico” poster?
The knowledge of the inevitable near-future production of Bond 23… I tried to carry on the visual tradition set by the low-key poster campaigns for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, complete with the 007 logo overladen with the title text.

THE WHOLE INTERVIEW IS HERE. Enjoy!

I'd recently posted a string of comments on critiques and scoring designs, including a link to my present critique (always making sure to make valid comments, of course). I had seen others do this and was under the impression it was common practice, done in the interest of preventing one's critique from getting buried without feedback.

A Threadless member sent me a message today saying this was irritating, and that it might only get people to "vote me down". And thinking on the matter, I can easily see their point (though strangely, I hadn't done this to any of their submissions).

So if I've done this to your critique or submission and it's annoyed you, I sincerely apologize.