Archive for July, 2006

David Lanham: Vector Illustration

Monday, July 31st, 2006

Lanham creates these kooky illustrations as well as icons, themes and wallpapers. The website is really nice as well.

I love how the blob is transparent and you can see the eaten people floating around.

[gallery]

BiroArt: Great Art, Bad Puns

Monday, July 31st, 2006

This guy posts these great pencil drawings all the time. They are mostly bad puns, like the Night Mare here. Ugh.

[gallery]

Hollywood’s Creative Bankruptcy

Monday, July 31st, 2006

Anyone who watches movies at all should’ve noticed by now that for the most part, Hollywood has completely run out of original ideas. The upcoming release slate, which is like a tidal wave of needless sequels, pointless remakes and horrendous movies based on old TV shows should be proof enough, but sometimes I see something that just really makes me see red.

STEP UP.jpg

This last week I saw a commercial on TV (which is no better than Hollywood, but at least you’ve got more options to kill your brain with) for an upcoming dance movie called Step Up. Is that not the best name for a dance movie ever? I mean come on, it works on so many levels. You have “Step up” meaning “rise to the occasion” or “do your very best” but dance moves are also called “steps”.

Holy Crap! Do you see what they did there? How clever is that?

Not very clever at all really, and in case you missed the sarcasm, I think someone, somewhere, should be beaten within an inch of their life for letting this movie see the light of day.

“Why?” you may ask. “Because of the crappy name?” you may wonder.
“No!” I would retort “because this whole movie has been done already less than 5 years ago.”

Does anybody remember a little movie that came out a while back called Save the Last Dance? It starred Julia Stiles, Sean Patrick Thomas, and some other people whose names are sadly not important enough to be listed here.

Here’s the basic synopsis:

Upper middle-class white girl with a future as a ballet dancer, loses her mother and her will to dance. Upon moving to live with her Father, she goes to a mostly all black school and hooks up with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks who teaches her about hip-hop and urban dancing and renews her interest in dancing and her desire to be a professional dancer.

So then we have Step Up which stars pretty much no one and which can be summarized thusly:

Wrong side of the tracks bad-boy is forced to do community service at an arts school and hooks up with a ballet teacher when she recognizes his street dancing skills. The vaguely ethnic-looking beauty proceeds to teach him ballet so they can be partners in her senior showcase. Life changing stuff ensues.

hollywood sucks.jpg

Now let me set the record straight. Save the Last Dance is far from an original movie, I mean, the whole “opposites attract and teach each other about life” thing has been done just shy of a million times. BUT….Step Up looks like a screenwriter somewhere said “Hey, lets do a movie like Save the Last Dance, and just change all the major plot points around to be the exact opposite?” At which point, apparently a studio somewhere said, “Hey now, this is good stuff, the 12-18 year old movie-going female demographic will eat this up, maybe they’ll all come see it multiple times like the did with Titanic and we can have a huge hit on our hands”

Note to readers, the paragraph above is purely supposition on my part, but if you’ve been watching movies very long you’ll probably believe it’s entirely possible.

So in closing, if you go see this movie, I pity you….because you’re (how to say this politely) less than smart, and people like you are why Hollywood doesn’t even have to try anymore.

Dammit, Reese. You’ve gone too far.

Monday, July 31st, 2006

Has anyone noticed the gimmicky crap that Reese’s has been whipping up lately? I personally consider a Reese’s Cup to be the pinnacle of chocolatey goodness. There is nothing you could add to a Reese’s that could possibly make it any better. But these money-hungry bastards are pumping any sweet substance they can in those things to try and spark up some sales. Currently they have produced: Double Chocolate, Inside Out, White Chocolate, Caramel, and Marshmallow. What’s next? Maple syrup? Molasses? Or maybe go in a more salty direction with some mustard, or hummus?

Any other ideas? Feel free to comment.

[Read Candy Blog Review]

Detained

Friday, July 28th, 2006

As a zombie lover (non-sexual), I was thrilled to find this short film about a kid in detention during a zombie outbreak. The film is now available for download so check it out. Pretty large though, almost 70Mb. Very nice, very creepy.

[detainedthemovie.com]

Pleix Videos ~ “Birds”

Friday, July 28th, 2006

I “stumbled” upon this video titled “Birds” and couldn’t resist to post it. I’m not going to say much about it, because I don’t want to take anything away from the pure brilliance of it. It’s different, creative, strangely hypnotizing, and if you love dogs you’re in for a treat.

“Pleix is a virtual community of digital artists based in Paris. Some of us are 3D artists, some others are musicians or graphic designers. This website is the perfect place to share our latest creations.”
(pleix.com)

[watch video]

Guillermo Del Toro: Pan’s Labyrinth

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

I unabashedly love the films of Guillermo Del Toro (more of a friendly-nod-acquaintance with Mimic really, but I digress) and when I started seeing some imagery from his new film, Pan’s Labyrinth, I’ll admit that I got excited.

Check out the image below.  It’s the teaser poster for the movie that was released exclusively at the San Diego Comic Con last week.

This poster combines two of my favorite things:  artwork by Mike Mignola (you should know who he is) and the announcement of a release date for the new Del Toro film.   This new flick is considered a “counter-point*” to his previous Spanish-language film “The Devil’s Backbone“, which if you haven’t seen, you should, as it’s one of the best ghost stories of all time.

Click on the poster to check out the new trailer.  There are still some unfinished effects in it, but you get a good idea of what you’re in for. 

*like a sequel but with different actors and a totally different plot

 [sources = chud.com & deltorofilms.com]

WARNING: Warning Labels the Easy Way

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

Have you ever wanted to make a warning label for something but just didn’t feel like sitting down and creating one? Well, me too, so I was ecstatic to find The Warning Label Generator.

Basically, you go to the site, pick from an assortment of basic label designs, then pick out your warning icon (Godzilla in my example below) and type in your warning text. It’s fun….and you know you want to try it.

Click on the pic below to go to the site.

warninglabel.jpg

YouYesYou.net: Illustrations of Jason Sho Green

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

Not only are Green’s drawings surreal and quirky, he often attaches an insightful message to them as well. This guy’s style earn’s 1,463 righteous points from me. That is no easy task.

He also has some nice paintings… mostly on wood.

[www.youyesyou.net]

Wan Zafran: The Idiot Behind the Iron Mask

Thursday, July 27th, 2006

Personal blogs tend to bore me for the most part, but Wan Zafran’s musings on everyday life crack me up. For instance, Zafran describes a super gross burger he had:

“Of course it tastes good. Of course I’ve never tasted anything like it before. But the more bites I took, the worse I felt. I could feel the oil in my throat; the thickness of it. Pure, unadulterated cholestrol. And my mind could never undo the fact that The Burger of Death is the equivalent of a heart-attack. (Hence, the name.)”

If you are in the mood for some smart and funny content, it is more than worth checking out this guy.

[wanzafran.com]

Plastic Operator: “Folder” Video

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

This video by Pete Circuitt is just damned unbelievable. Two words: Raining Underpants. Enough said.

[watch video]

Eric Feng: Fevolution

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

It’s not often that I come across an artist whose style is radically different from everyone else out there. Sure, I find artists that I like all the time, and I’m constantly finding new favorites, but sometimes an artist just blows you away with the originality of their style. The pics I’ve posted here don’t do Eric Feng’s artwork justice, as you’ll see when you click the link below and get to see his works at full size.

Awesome stuff.

FERIC.jpg

[ Feric Studios ]

The Microscope Imaging Station

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

There are some really nice time lapse videos of mitosis and development on this site. Really interesting stuff.

“The Microscope Imaging Station facility produces high-resolution images and time-lapse movies using research-grade microscopes. This gallery contains a range of images and movies that illustrate the diversity of what can be seen with light microscopes.” (exploratorium.edu)

Zenvironments.com: Art/Design of Zach Johnsen

Tuesday, July 25th, 2006

Just go see his site. Really great stuff.

[zenvironments.com]

“Herbivore Signs” from Leon Reid (Darius Jones)

Monday, July 24th, 2006


Street artists have a way of turning the mundane into something beautiful and interesting. Very cool.

[source= WoosterCollective.com]