3000 Light-Years Wide

I watched FIVE movies this weekend. Okay, closer to 4.5. But still, that's a whole lot of filmography. I probably spent more time on movies/TV shows than I did on video games, which is a very odd occurrence indeed. In order, spaced over three days, I watched: (spoilers below)

Equilibrium - classic movie. I love the concept of the gun kata, and the atmosphere was a wonderful mix of 1984, V for Vendetta, Half-Life 2, and Fahrenheit 451.

Max Payne - A rather mediocre gun play movie. The connection to the game is contained solely in the character's origins. However, I loved the hallucination aspect to the uber drugs. I'm not 100% sold on the art direction, it felt like it was lacking that certain noir comic book feeling.

Ocean's 11 - This would be the original one with Sinatra And Co. Rather disappointing. The ending was quirky and deserves point, but otherwise it was relatively unremarkable. It was slow, action-less, and the music SUCKED. They used and abused that one theme way too much. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if "E-O Eleven" (or whatever the title is supposed to be) was a better song in and of itself. But no, it isn't. The verdict is strongly in favour of the new Eleven versus the old 11.

Hancock - It wasn't too bad, up until about half way through when it's revealed that what's-her-face is super-duper as well. At that point it starts to feel like the film is trying to cover and become too many things. It starts as a sci-fi comedic redemption story, sprinkles in some romantic comedy, briefly mentions some more hard-core sci-fi elements, before dipping into a tad of romantic drama. All of this lathered with a thick layer of inconsistencies.

Kung Fu Panda - The first ~45 seconds were the best. Slick and stylish animation with humorous narration. From there, the standard "believe in yourself" shtick under the guise of traditional Chinese lore with the child-friendly "animals as characters", where all of the supporting cast are 2D faces that talk. It had a few genuinely humorous gags, but relied a little too much on slap-stick for my preference.

The obligatory art:



I'm rather surprised at how well it turned out, and even moreso at the fact it only took me ~30mins to do.

I had an epiphany this last week. I realized that without computers I have zero marketable skill sets. I mean, yeah, some of the graphic design skills might be (but probably aren't) transferable to another, more traditional medium. But that's about it, really. I'm not very good at working with my hands or anything, and I'm not sure that my pathetic excuse for "musical talent" on the sax or ocarina would be of use to anyone anywhere. If all the hard drives in all the world were to miraculously cease to operate, I'm not sure what I'd be left with. That being said, however, I'm not sure what to do with this new found knowledge (or more specifically the lack thereof). If we're all drawn to practice that which we enjoy... I guess some of us could potentially be a lot more... expendable... than others.

How's that for food for thought?
-Cril

PS- "Sparks", a webcomic by Frank (writing and lines) and yours-truly (colours and lettering) has made its debut. We're planning to hit at least one page a week. (And Frank, as I know you're reading this, I'll get page 2 finished off early this week.)

Whenever life get you down, Mrs. Brown
And things seem hard or tough
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft
And you feel that you've had quite enu-hu-hu-huuuuff

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour
That's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way

Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It's 100,000 light-years side-to-side
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light-years thick
But out by us it's just 3000 light-years wide
We're 30,000 light-years from galactic central point
We go round every 200 million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth

Monty Python - Galaxy Song