Wedding Gift

Its been a long time since I did an animation for the Internet, mainly because this year it was all about film making. Luckily I was able to make one very special piece by the end of the year.




This animation is very very special as it is a gift for my friend's Ben and Junie as they are getting married today. Ben asked me if I can do an animation to be played at his wedding and I very gladly accepted. I was very excited to do this piece as I always wanted to do a visual storytelling, which I have been studying and research the past semester. Heck I even did a 7000 word report on it! The recent inspiration for this animation was obviously Wall-E. So this work was the element that brings full circle.




I want to say that I'm so happy for them and I wish their marriage to be of most faithful and happiest. And I'm so honored for my animation to be part of their wedding as much I'm part of their lives. So it gives me great privilege to show you my wedding animation.

I hope you enjoy this animation as much as I enjoyed making this.

Music:
"Angel" by Jack Johnson
From The Album "Sleep Through The Static"

My Top Ten: Favorite Aussie Movies

Being a guy who lives in Australia most of my life, we Aussies have a fair share of good films. There are some things in Australia that makes us unique from the rest of the world like VBs, Footy, meat pies, vegemites, even though I don't like those kinds of stuff. Thing is most of great Hollywood actors nowadays are Aussies. Even Health Ledger who f*ckin played the Joker in The Dark Knight is an Aussie! Now that is something to be proud of as an Australian. Now Australia has brought to the world their first epic feature in a long while, promptly titled Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann. He directed such films as Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rogue, which I still stand as being an awful movie to watch. All style and no substance. And basically that is what I thought of when I watched the trailer to his newest film. While its suitable as a love letter to the country, it still hasn't convinced me as being a truly great film.

Not to say I don't like Aussie films, I f*ckin do! In fact, some of the best films I have even in my life are Aussies. So that said, as my love letter to the country, here are my monthly top ten of my favorite Aussie films...

10.
BABE



For a talking animal film, it was very enjoyable when I saw this at a young age and it remains a children's classic. The animals were trained very well to able to perform greatly. There are some moments that were cute and funny and others were tend to be dark. Whatever may be, its a fun film that children and adults can enjoy.

9.
TWO HANDS



While the plot was questionable when it comes to the supernatural element, it could pass off as a nice Australian version of a Guy Ritchie gangster film. There are many funny moments in the film and the characters were interesting to look at. This film is also Health Ledger's breakout film and at that time, Health haven't tap in his extraordinary talent that you have seen later on. First time I have seen this, I would never expect this kid to become the Joker in The Dark Knight.

8.
CHOPPER



The semi-autobiographical film of famed Aussie criminal, Mark "Chopper" Read was kind of interesting, but it was the performance of Eric Bana as the title character all worth it. Eric Bana proved to be a versatile actor in this film when during the time he was known to be as a stand up comedian. There are many scenes that makes you cringe and the direction is spot on.

7.

PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT



Eventually I would have to see this film sooner or later and it turns out to be a good film to watch. This film became a huge impact on homosexual and cross-dressing culture on the country that is slowly willing to accept at that time. Especially in the Outback who is kind of oblivious to them. It is also an impact as well a good story of a homosexual man and his reality of having a son from his bisexual wife. And hey, big applause to the guys who has the balls to play as gay men. And these guys all have badass roles in their resumes: Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith of The Matrix), Terence Stamp (General Zod of Superman I and II) and Guy Pearce (Leonard Shelby of Memento).

6.
WOLF CREEK



This is one freaky and scary Aussie film! This is something that has the Australian Outback as your worst nightmare. It kind of spark of controversy as the film was inspired by an event about the disappearance of a British backpacker in the Aussie Outback. The horror and violence in this film is nearly on par of other torture movies like Hostel, but its back up with a engaging story and a very creep Outback ranger. How scary to be stalk by this guy who knows their entire empty land like the back of his hands?

5.
THE CASTLE



The first time I saw this movie, I didn't like it because I was young and really don't understand most of the Australian culture. After many times, it began to grow on me and became a pleasant thing to watch. I came to view this film as an outsider and observe the culture of a typical white Australian family from the family bbq to their holiday trip.

4.
KENNY



Honestly I thought this would be a film with literally so many toilet humor. But it turns out to be a funny and pleasantly dramatic portrayal of a man, working in the lowest of job hierarchy. Despite his position in society, Kenny still remains optimistic and considers his job very important to the community. The nice thing about this movie is that its an underdog story that you'll get to see a toilet man actually partaking in opportunities rarely given to anyone of his status: taking care of his son, going to the US for a toilet convention and finding love.

3.
THE GODDESS OF 1967



This movie is like if Wong Kar-wai directed an Australian film. Directed actually by a Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law, the film has many elements and style like an New Wave Cinema film, stylized with many bright colors, artistic and unconventional editing and camera-work and little and cryptic dialogue. The story goes that a Japanese man travels to Australia to buy a prized car and ends up going on a road journey across the Outback with a blind girl. The film may sound out there, but the film does bring many subtlety and emotion enough for you to appreciate it.

2.
CROCODILE DUNDEE



Every Australian, including me who doesn't considers himself as an actual Australian, loves this movie so much. Dundee embodies the typical Outback ranger, symbolizing Australia to the whole world. And it is so fun to see a fish-out-of-water situation that places a laid-back simple outdoors man into the modern, tech-savvy city of New York. There are so many iconic moments from the movie, but everyone knows about the "Thats not a knife, thats a knife". The character of Dundee is such full of life and wits, that you just can't help but love him.

1.
MAD MAX 2

To be fair, only one entry from the Mad Max Series goes into the list, because all three movies are freakin awesome! And that entry goes to my most favorite of the series. While Mad Max and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome are so great to watch, Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior sets the perfect formula in narrative, characters, action and design while retaining a good balance from Hollywood's support. The first Mad Max was independent and was unknown to Hollywood and Beyond Thunderdome obviously had too much help from Hollywood. Mad Max 2 had a great story where Max stumbles upon and protects a group of settlers and their oil refinery from a group of punk-clad chained bikers led by Lord Humungous. He's not the only evil character that wears a hockey mask over his face. Mel Gibson was awesome as Max. His character was fully developed greatly and all of the characters are intriguing and interesting to have care for, the costumes and set designs are wicked and the final car chase scene near the end is one of the best car chases I have seen ever. If you haven't seen this, this is one Aussie movie you should see.

That is my top ten list! What are your favorites?

Finally Read Watchmen

I have never been such a huge geek. If I was, I would have read Alan Moore's most celebrated graphic novel, Watchmen a long long time ago. As much as I'm a huge movie geek, I'm not a big comic book geek and some comic book and graphic novel series were introduced through film adaptations like Sin City and 300. Thus I heard a lot of claims and recommendation everywhere, calling a graphic novel called Watchmen, the greatest graphic novel to be ever made. With all the fuss that every nerds around the world talking about both the novel and the movie adaptation directed by Zack Synder, I finally decided to find the novel Watchman in any way possible. I downloaded the novel (illegally) off the Internet in top quality PDF form and I started reading it right away.



It was pretty good.

The novel totally met my expectation as a complex and deep read. The very interesting element of the novel is that it explored the main character's history as a crime-fighter and their progressive view upon the world and society. Each character sees the world in a different light whether its rotten, flawed or doomed and has their own approach to the dilemma if the world is too late from being saved. History plays an important part in the narrative of the plot as the story consist of flashbacks and world events influenced by the league of superheroes and crime-fighters. The 1950s portrays the glory years of superheroes as they are viewed more like a celebrity icon while superheroism and vigilantes are considered banned in the 1980s and shows the superhero mythology after their glory days. Each of the characters are shown in their position in society after their days as superheroes with Rorschach kind of taking the lead in the plot narrative as an outcast.



For those who haven't read Watchmen (and I recommend that you do), I'll give you a little synopsis of the novel. The novel is set in an alternate timeline in the 1980s where Richard Nixon is still president and "superheroes" existed. The Comedian, superhero-turned-military operative and former member of the Minutemen, was found murdered as he was thrown out of the window of his apartment and Rorschach, blot-face detective and another former member, becomes the only one obsessed in finding the murderer. He soon starts reuniting and even questioning the members of the Minutemen such as Nite Owl and Dr. Manhattan and as he comes close in finding the suspect, he falls into a deadly and dangerous plot that could cost millions of innocent lives. It is not a simple "superhero reunion" story that leads the character into saving the day. The novel questions the status of human lives and history and whatever these characters are doing the right thing for mankind. These characters are trying to be more human than being superheroes and think for humanity than themselves.



To sum up my review, I was glad to finally read the novel and I see why many people love this so much. This is a very intelligent and complex story and study on human society. It is a mix of both fantastical and philosophical elements and it leaves you really pondering whether mankind have indeed improved or not. I have to say that Sin City is still my most favorite graphic novel. Its not that Watchmen is bad. Its not and its a damn good read. Its my preference. I love the whole world created by Frank Miller and the whole stylish and glorified violent film-noir and detective feel in the novel. I also love the characters in Sin City more than in Watchmen. They are just more memorable and badass for me. I mean, I still can't forget Marv, he is really is a badass! And say all you want about how Frank Miller thinks of women in his novels, but I love the women in Sin City. Powerful, forceful and beautiful. Plus the movie is still the best graphic novel adaptation around. Still Watchmen is damn good and I would even rank either second or third on best graphic novel list.



Probably the best thing I got from reading Watchmen is my newfound admiration and respect to Alan Moore. I now see Alan Moore as one of the most intelligent writers I know and have more respect than Frank Miller now. Hey I still love Frank Miller and I still think he's one cool cat, but his involvement in the movie adaptation of The Spirit is just..... eehh. Alan Moore has his own ideals in the comic book and the comic book industry and has a ugly history with Hollywood. I can see why he is pissed about Hollywood as they have taken three of his finest and well-praised works (From Hell, V for Vendetta and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and adapted them into mediocre and disastrous. V for Vendetta was actually good (in my opinion) and From Hell was ok, but League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen was just bad! Now his most prized and precious work ever is now treated for a movie adaptation, to be released next year. From the looks of it, I can say it looks alright, but I'm not sure. Only time will tell if its gonna be a good film.

The EGames Expo (Kinda like E3, but a lot smaller)

Well after such excruciating, yet interesting time writing my 7000 word exegesis at the end of my semester, it was appropriate for me to now have fun. And what better way to satisfy my inner geek than to attend the E-Games Expo and play so many new video games non-stop.

People may be wondering what is E-Games. Australia doesn't get a lot of good stuff like America. I mean what do we get? Meat pies, footy and VBs? Those are shit! America has Hollywood, basketball, Disneyworld and E3! When you go to E3, you're there to get a taste for brand-new upcoming games from all three video games consoles. E3 is so freakin huge. You can say that E-Games is the Australian equivalent of E3, except its 3 times smaller, not a lot of new games and not so much fancy. But hey, its cheap!

Plus I had a chance to try out new games I've been wanting to try for a long time. And the main idea of attending the E-Games Expo is not to be a video game critic, but to have fun and de-stressed from my last semester of my Masters. So I'm gonna give my first impressions on the new and upcoming games I played at E-Games.

Little Big Planet
I LOVE this game! Its exactly what gaming is about. Near-limitless creativity, unique design, very fun humor and a very expansive world. You can possibly do and make anything in this game. It may look like a simple platformer game, but the wonderful character customization, engaging gameplay and universal multiplayer design makes this game a must-buy!


Resistance 2
I don't mind shooter games and this is one of the good shooter franchise around. The story is better and the bosses are big and huge, but its the same as Resistance 1.

Gears of War 2
Same goes for this. Just the same as Gears of War 1, the story progress further and brand new levels.

Prince of Persia
I'm so glad with the changes in the new series of Prince of Persia. I like the new acrobatic system, the more dream-like design and the epic story. One thing I find cheap is that you can't actually die and reset the level. Whenever you accidentally fall off the ledge or about to be stabbed by the enemy, Elika will be there to save you and the game will still continue, removing the whole competitive flow out of it.



Resident Evil 5 (BETA)
I played the demo and there are some quirks that needed to be fixed. For example, the enemy A.I is not too good as at times, the infected seem to be just doing nothing whenever you're close to them, making them not to intimidated. Other than that, the game looks pretty awesome.

Mirror's Edge (BETA)
Very dizzying and confusing at first, but once you get a hang of the controls and viewpoint, its a very different gaming experience.

Call of Duty: World at War
Disappointing as the last Call of Duty was the one of the best shooters I ever played and this game took a step backward literally. Not that its a bad game. Its still good, but not as great as Call of Duty 4.

Wii Music
...Gay!


There are plenty of other games I played over that either old or slightly new. That said, it was a two-day event for me and I really enjoyed it. Especially having an awesome time playing Little Big Planet!

The highlight of the expo...... Winning an awesome Little Big Planet T-Shirt! I never knew I could get an awesome T-Shirt with Sackboy on it! I was so completely awestruck by what happened!



Geez.. people were jealous of me :P

Pixar's Next Movie, UP

I have been following Pixar ever since I was a child and it was a big milestone when they made WALL-E, a huge challenge for them to tell a story in the field of "silent movies". This idea of making a movie about a Charlie-Chaplin robot was very new and it delivered in any form of poetry, beauty and magic. There is really something about Pixar that you can't put your hands on. They already have a reputation in giving people wonderful and imaginative stories and it seems they haven't run out on that magic they possess. Surely any animation studio like Dreamworks can give audience what they want, Pixar can give the audience something different.

Already when I finished watching the new trailer for the new Pixar film "UP", I can sense another grand adventure brewing. How could you not be excited on taking a ride on a two-storey house carried by millions of helium-fueled balloons into the sky? That is the basic premise of this new film. Along for the ride is a grouchy old man named Carl and a boy scout, Russell who are traveling to a lost world, meet unexpected villains and confront terrifying creatures within the heart of the dark jungles. Now I'm sold right there. I'm still marvel by the beauty of WALL-E and now Pixar gave me something to look forward to next year.

Go and check out the trailer!

Change For The Better

Starting to feel patriotic now...



This is just a quick sketch with my Wacom and this illustrates how I felt on that day. Even though I'm living here in Australia, I was born in the US, which makes me American. And right now for a long time, I feel proud to be one.

This election was very important, not just for USA, but for the entire world. Through the past years, we and America have been threading on muddy waters and we needed to do something about it. Americans are now smart enough to realize that they need to change. To actually take risk and endure what is up ahead. That they cannot rely on the same old ideas. Obama is the one they need. I'm so excited that Obama is now the new and the first Black President in US history, how symbolic is that?!

I would like to thank anyone who have supported Obama at the start of the race. For those who supported the opposition, don't feel bad. McCain isn't bad, in fact he's really good as he actually protested against Bush. Its just bad timing. The Republicans already had a bad name to itself, economy has gone bad and McCain is just too old. Plus Palin kinda didn't look convincing.

Who woulda thunk? We would have a black president someday. I'm Asian and this means alot to me. What I have witnessed is something revolutionary, a start of something new. Something that we have been hoping for a long time. And I hope he does a heck of a job!

Fun trivia: Barrack Obama was born in Hawaii, I was born in Hawaii!!! How awesome is that?!