Hey folks! Just wanted to wish you all a happy Holidays! It's been a crazy year for me personally and I'm super glad you were all here to share it with. Next year is shaping up to be an exciting one for Sing Along Pictures which I'm super pumped about - we'll have some news to share with you in the new year!
So a happy holidays to you all and a huge thank you for an amazing 2012! See you in 2013!
From the site: "11:57pm Dec 21st, NYC – Come together and sing John Lennon’s IMAGINE while Yoko Ono’s film IMAGINE PEACE plays on billboards in Times Square"
"Ono’s work, IMAGINE PEACE, is this December’s Times Square Moment, a presentation of the Times Square Advertising Coalition (TSAC) and Times Square Arts. Ono’s IMAGINE PEACE is featured nightly from 11:57 pm to midnight every night through December 30, and is a collaboration with the Art Production Fund.
IMAGINE PEACE is Yoko Ono’s worldwide initiative of anti-violence. In the film, “Imagine Peace” is written in 24 languages set over the tranquil imagery of a blue-sky background. The piece has been transformed into a multi-channel work specifically for the Times Square Moment, and spreads the message of peace across Times Square’s monumental screens simultaneously, filling the Crossroads of the World with 24 languages of the world."
Man, Yoko Ono never ceases to deliver. Making Times Square into a gallery to spread a message of peace in 24 languages?! An incredible moment for New York, the U.S., and beyond. The message of peace is incredibly important and that's especially true these days. Attend if you can. This is a historical moment for art and, to me, for people throughout the world. Peace is obviously becoming a priority among the people.
For more info and to see her other work head over to her site HERE
Have you guys seen 13 Assassins yet? If not, sharpen your samurai swords (don't do that, it's illegal) and get that flick. No need to waste your hard earned dough on petty renting (renting isn't petty), my dear readers. Just buy it and send me your eternal gratitude for recommending it to you. (no need for that).
Written by Kaneo Ikegami and Daisuke Tengan and directed Takashi Miike, the film tells the tale of a group of assassins group together on a mission to kill this evil lord who's about to gain additional power.
I don't want to write a review here but I do want to mention a couple things. For one, it's beautiful. BEAUTIFUL. You get a real sense of what Japan was like at the time (or at least from what I gather living a hundred years later across a giant ocean). The lighting alone is stuning, rich environments... for me, some films like this become very stylized and at the cost of bringing you into the film. But 13 Assassins creates a real feeling world for you to get sucked into. Now, Takashi Miike (at least overseas) is sometimes known for very stylized but very violent, unrelenting work. If you're okay with that (which I certainly can be) you should check out his other stuff as well. But with 13, you see a lot of restraint as he focuses the dark parts to only key places in the film. The result are a film that's both striking visually and emotionally.
13 Assassins has a lot of action but also gives you a peek at the societal structure at that time and the actor's performances are incredible. On the surface the film is about a mission to kill an evil man, but underneath you get a story about duty, honor and the choices we make in life. Also, I argue, the single greatest decapitation scene ever captured on film.
Check out the trailer...
There's a lot of samurai films out there but, in my opinion, this one makes the short sword. See that awesome samurai reference, I just did? Clever right? Instead of short list? Right folks?
Damon Bard is one of my favorite sculptors in entertainment these days. Here's just a couple great ones from the Kung-Fu Panda films. For those of you who might not know, as part of the process for creating an animated film, sculptures can be created based on a designer's sketches. This helps everyone see the design in 3 dimensions and gives the cg modelers and/or animators a valuable reference when doing their work. If you want to see a lot more of Damon's work (and you want to), head over to his site HERE
Since we released Sing Along's first project OMO, as mentioned before, we had some questions about the product. Some of the questions concerned the absence of any Digital Rights Management on our work. And what is DRM anyway? Well I wrote a little piece over at the Sing Along blog addressing the question and our current position on the use of DRM.
Skateboarding, for years, consumed every aspect of my life.
My friends and I would skate during lunch breaks at school, I'd weirdly romantically carve my girlfriend's initials into my grip tape, shovel snow to clear a spot to skate in the winters, I even had a small mat I'd take outside at night to practice on in the street so the clack of the wheels and board wouldn't echo throughout my neighborhood. We had gone from curbs to stairs cases, ledges to handrails. We weren't practicing for a competition, we just loved it. When we started, it was right before Skateboarding began to transform into what it is today so we came into it feeling like we discovered this cool secret club. It was amazing.
I skated forever and dreamed about turning pro until one day I realized I had to make a choice - take the time to get better at skateboarding or take the time to get better at drawing. Art was always my first love so that's what I chose, but at the time it was a really difficult choice. There was a ton of great memories tied up in skateboarding, the friends I made, the fear and then thrill of landing that one trick, the feeling of freedom... and even years later I still catch myself scouting out good skate spots.
Anyway! Rodney Mullen was/is a huge inspiration to skateboarders around the world and he was recently featured on TED. Skateboarder or not, worth a watch.
Alright folks, I'm back! Sorry for the quiet spell - had a bit of of break there accidentally... well a break from blogging not from other stuff like writing collaboration agreements. Something you want to eat chips while doing. But I'm caught up and ready to go I keep telling myself. I also may have spent a large amount of time watching Paranorman this weekend. Also in this new watch shop I discovered in this mall I'd never been to before. Both. Amazing.
We had an amazing first week of Omo release! A huge thank you to everyone for all the support, kind words, and shares. It's been super nice to put something out there and get such a great response so thanks so much! Please stay tuned, we have a lot more things on the way.
We had some questions about why we chose a digital format as opposed to print. I talked about it briefly HERE but kind of focused more on it on a new post this week HERE. If any of you kind folks have other questions, feel free to hit me up in the comments section.
Alright take care and bring me your eyeballs this week as I will be back to a more regular posting schedule. Also, I'm making an elixir...*
~D
*I know what I said but please don't bring me any actual eyeballs.
