miniclublog

End of Spring Semester

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 04:48:00 +0000

Phew.

Summer is here, and classes are over. It was a very busy semester but definitely very fun. It was stressful at times for myself and those around me, but trans design has very tight deadline for very specific reasons. I am sad to say that I will need to retake trans 2 in the fall. Even so I am happy. I'm happy to have progressed even further in my skill set, although it's not quite enough to express myself in trans 3 adequately. I am happy to see that my professors are taking a personal interest in my skill development (very rare at the Academy). I am happy that they (and I) have every confidence in my eventual success as a designer, but more importantly I am ecstatic to still be pursuing my passion and my dream, thanks to the support of all those around me.

I am not taking any summer classes at the request of Habibi and my family. I am however taking the opportunity to sketch like a madman and get a part time gig at the local art suppliers. It may be summer, but I am not resting. Lots more to do to get ready for fall :).

-Yours

the following are a few examples of the work from the 2nd half of the semester:

(The Buick Interiors Panel is for a Car Design News competition.)

Homework Highlights week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:15:00 +0000

Here I have provided the highlights of the homework for week 3 of the Trans design class. I have left out week 2 because it wasn't received well. These works are the summary of our progress with speed forms, and an investigation into our favourate designer. In my case I chose Patrick Le Quement, and his most famous car, the Mégane II.

Trans drawing

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 08:04:00 +0000

These are the quick exercises from the transportation drawing course. We were told to sketch a bunch of different vehicle types over our lunch break, and if they looked like existing products they would be discounted. In this class we get no points for normal.

Week 1 Homework Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:41:00 +0000

Into week 2 of the semester, and already very busy. In a similar fashion to last semester I'm going to be providing short posts with homework example updates, either car sketchings or pics of the developing design process we are learning in transportation design 2.

The project brief this semester is a midsegment AUDI for India, 2035

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 09:25:00 +0000

2010 has come to a close and so has fall semester at the Academy. It was a busy time and it will only get busier from here but the more of the designee type work they make us do they more I love it. There is just so much to this discipline to admire. The goal is simple, start with a problem and end at a solution. The journey however is crazy and purposeful and very layered. And of course, very full of sketching. I did so much sketching. It was awesome. The only parallel is learning a new language. Just like after a while you begin to think in french or spanish, if u sketch enough hours in the day everyday for weeks on end you start to find yourself thinking on paper through various measured strokes. I'm still horrible at it by any industry standards, but I can't get enough of it and there's only room to improve. Bring on the next semester, should be even more crazy, and even more fun.

I've included some of the highlights of the final weeks; the movie is from the digital imaging 2 course and the pics are from the transportation design course. I don't have any scans yet of the design drawing work but will put those up as soon as I have access to the large bed scanners again.

Other end of the show

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:43:00 +0000

I have returned from the busy, shiny, crazy LA Auto show. And it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

I am having some technical difficulties with my computer and iPhone that prevent me from transferring the couple hundred pictures I took at the show so I just put up my three favorite cars onto flickr directly, along with a completely gratuitous picture of pomegranates on a table at the Infiniti booth.

It was a groovvy experience on every level, from my Moroccan themed hotel to the rooftop after party and the vast interior expanses filled with twinkling lights and cars that were continuously being buffed by hoards of feather dusting experts.

I will describe the adventure in greater detail once the digital logistics have been sorted, and when I don't have acres of homework to catch up on. For now let me say that it was a wonderful opportunity to peak into a world of career car designers that only makes me want to strive harder to belong there.

Fall break Update

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 05:34:00 +0000

A fair portion of the semester is already behind us and in each class we are beginning to tighten in on our final directions. There is still opportunity for use to work on techniques and representation but the end is now firmly in the cross hairs.

In Trans we have locked down our vehicle except for the detail ideations, and have begun the very meticulous process of tape drawing. Given that I have a warped runt of a presentation wall, this makes things difficult but not impossible.

There's more to come shortly, all I have time for now is to link to the album for examples for the past few weeks. Because I have to pack. Because I'M GOING TO THE LA AUTO SHOW TOMORROW. Hurray. I have a real press pass with a hologram and everything. I'll catch you all up after the party. Hopefully I'll stop screaming with girlish glee soon, it would make for awkward meetups when I'm there...

Well into Fall Semester

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:10:00 +0000

Four weeks into the semester and things are moving along. In the Transportation Design class we have already split into groups and been assigned a brand and region for our project. The spaceship-like speed forms above are the result of trying to find a form that represents the brand identity of Volkswagen (our group) in South America in the year 2025. We started out with 'freindly, compact and streamlined' as our design words but have since moved to 'ready, efficient and smooth' so that they can apply better to all manner of vehicles (each team member will be doing a different segment).

Along with our team investigations we have been working on our car sketching skills, proportioning difficult vehicles in side and perspective views. We base our cars on existing vehicle packaging, but create our own volumes. My most common feedback: not desginee enough, and too old fashioned. I am also still working through proportion issues but am making progress.

Below are examples from the computer drafting 2 course that I'm taking as an online class. The first is one of several quick thumbnails that we are supposed to do pretty much constantly when working through an idea. The main purpose of these is to get the idea down in a basic form, and to improve our quick computer sketching abilities. The 2nd picture is from our product in context project, where we take an existing real life shot and insert our own product, using photoshop to sketch the idea as well as integrate it with the surroundings. Unfortunately mine looks very cartooney still and not well integrated. A rework and some more attention to detail lines should help though. The really difficult part was trying to match the water reflection to the sketch.

The semester is progressing well, and keeping me plenty busy. These are just a few snapshots of homeworks (we are up to about 140 sketches per week of various levels of detail), and I have left out the sketches from the design drawing 3 class because we are still just working basic forms like rounded cubes. When things get a bit more lively I'll post more from that class, and more from the other classes in general as the work gets more involved.
More to follow,
Thanks.

Summer Session Web album

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:56:00 +0000

Summer Assignents

Click through the album link above and it'll take you to the highlights of my academic summer.

This was the second ever summer I wasn't able to return home to the mountains and streams of Colorado. My fiancée and myself were much too busy here to be able to go anywhere. She did find the time at the end of the summer to head down to Austin and pick out our venue (information post to come soon) but for my part the summer was all about summer class.

The class I took this summer semester was 3D modeling 1, with Rhino CAD software. It actually worked out pretty well. It was a bit rough at first because as usual I was seemingly the only kid in the class without prior knowledge of the tools and software. I managed to get the hang of it pretty quick though, to the point where the instructor wanted to put my name in the pool for Rhino tutors after only three weeks. Like all the design courses it was difficult but fun, and I know lightyears more about the subject than I did before the start of the course. So I may have been missing the Colorado countryside this summer but it definitely wasn't wasted.

If you've visited this blog before you might have noticed that I changed it up a bit. Some of that comes from my increased knowledge of illustrator (still a bit wonky but improving) but mostly it's because I wanted to distract from the fact that my last post prior to this one was from the beginning of spring semester. Woops. Sorry about that. I am invested in keeping this blog up to date though. I want to keep a record of events and hopefully academic progress and I can assure you that both the quality and quantity of posting on this blog will improve over time. Stay with me, I might yet be witty or interesting. No promises though.

In the meantime please check out the web album, and if you have a blog or know of a blog with groovy (if intermittent) content please let me know.

Back to class

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:23:00 +0000

Febuary first, the pre-groundhog day's celebrations commence and us industrial designers in training head back to class for the spring semester. This will be a very busy semester by all accounts but I'm really excited about being able to take my first dedicated transportation design course, this is when we start the specialization of curriculae.

Today's class went really well I feel, the prof is really groovy and we get to spend the entire semester on one project. That means that we get a lot of time, but he expects a lot from the results. It's a workshop or 3D class which is not really my strongest point but I'm going to try my darndedest to produce results.

Last semester I was a bit anxious for my shop class but now that I have some experience with the array of digit-seperating machines I feel more comfortable and confident about this class.

First day down, plenty more to go.

Farmers' Mercado

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:40:00 +0000

In the down time between semesters I find myself clinging to anything remotely like a schedule. So it is that every Saturday morning, me and @fotographeuse get our reusable bags are skip down the Fillmore to our local farmers' market. It's not as big an operation as the more famous version downtown, but we both prefer it. The prices are more reasonable, the size is easier to work with and the smaller crowds mean it's that much easier to stop and chat with the vendors.

Some days it has a bit more character than others, like when SF is locked in a series of winter rain storms. On days like this the fresh warm chicken tikka and naan tastes that much better, and the produce from our favourite stall is glistening with drops of water.

Here is the web album, I'm trying different web album sites so please be patient.

Intermittent's not the Word...

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 06:11:00 +0000

   A personal story blog isn't very interesting if you don't use it. My last post was ages ago. My new post is now. A lot has happened in the last semester, so much so that it would be very difficult to detail all events in one post. In short, I have completed a summer and a fall semester in my BFA2 program at the Academy of Art University in industrial design with a focus on transportation. I now have a better grasp of how much I don't know about design, and how much more I get to learn. Habibi (@fotographeuse) has joined me out here on the pac hieght, and we are both settling into our small and cozy little flat. As well as the job search, she has a really groovy little cooking blog project she's working on.

   I have also been working on a few different blog projects, including one that tracks the coursework of the classes here. The first post is just to get off the ground, but examples of the progression through various classes in the semester will be up before I return to class on the 1st of February.

   More will follow.

Sunday Netflix Review: 'Burn After Reading'

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:38:00 +0000

Every time I mentioned to somebody that the Netflix movie I was going to watch this week was the latest Coen brothers film the response was always the same: 'Wow. You haven't seen it yet?' They would also mutter something about violence. And right now after having watched the film my initial response is wow. That was a bit violent. And extremely non-sensical in a way that seemed to make sense. It's a bit daft and seems to float from one juncture to the next without a plot but at the same time it's daft in a very circular way. It's a self contained craziness that manages to be entertaining.

There is no doubting the power of the cast. This is very possibly the most star-studded film I have seen that didn't make sense; the obvious exception being 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou'. It says a lot about my taste in movies but I love that almost as fondly as 'The Brave Little Toaster' from my youth. I probably love those two movies for very similar reasons: they both involve an adventure that ends in a circle, and they are both films that leave you entertained and slightly confused at the end of 90 minutes. That is a trait they share with 'Burn After Reading'. I'm not suggesting that this film will become a cult classic along the lines of 'Zissou' or 'Brave Little Toaster' because of a nonsense plot with starpower, but I am saying that the circular absurdity of 'Burn After Reading' is just as comforting and not a little bit entertaining.

Three tail wags and a contented sigh. Good film both entertaining and confounding ina comfortable way.

Degustation Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 07:34:00 +0000

As part of moving to a new city I feel the need to explore. I feel the need to become familiar with this new shiny place. As you may or may not know I have moved out to San Francisco with my parents' blessing to pursue a graduate degree in industrial design. Partly through the stress of packing up and transplanting and also through my own laziness I have not posted any of my regular installments to this blog in about two months. I know it sounds stupid and I'm the only who really cares but I am slowly, very slowly catching up on each item missed. In the meantime I submit to you two loyal readers the latest addition to my overly ambitious blogging, Degustation Friday. With this project I will explore the city through the small eateries that seem to abound here. Places not listed online, that occupy a narrow part of a building and that are the kind of places that you only find by poking around. The places that I intend to visit must be three things: discovered by accident, independent/small run businesses, and most importantly cheap. The last one is hard because it is a bit of a trick to find cheap and not dingy. Since I am going to try and post once in a fortnight it might be a little bit flexible, but I wont be making any reservations, at least without valid exception.

So for today:

Review, 'The Sunrise Deli, Eastern Mediterranean Food'
Apparently it's the best falafel in town. This is was absolutely right place right time; I was walking to pick some texts from a nearby bookstore and I found myself thinking I could really go for a gyro or possibly some taboule. I looked up and like a beacon from a tacky sign shop the Sunrise Deli advertised itself as the answer.

The interior of the restaurant was clean and well lit, a nice environment to stumble into when hungry. The grill and the register where located towards the rear of the establishment and the slight Mediterranean faux-fruit decor beckoned me across the small space. By the time I walked up to the counter to order (after a brief perusal of slightly misspelled overhead menus) my stomach was loud enough to startle the people in line behind me. With a worried look the waitress took my order, no doubt fearing I would demand a whole goat on a bun with a touch of yogurt sauce. I felt like sparing the goat so I got the 'Avocado Falafel' instead. A short wait and few sips of a diet coke later and I had in front of me a very appetizing looking pita.

The falafel/ground lentil and vegetable mixture was quite good. Crisp and fresh and with the yogurt sauce (which had a slightly funny texture) it was a very tasty combination. A layer of sprouts were between the falafel and the generous slice of avocado that topped each half of the pita. Those two slices of avocado are the very reasons why this restaurant gets a very good rating from me. I love avocado. If it weren't for the confusion with my Netflix shipping address I would legally change my name to Avocado Lachance. Part of my obsession with avocado is that I am very particular about the ripeness and the way it's cut. In this case, on top of what was already a tasty falafel, they did it right. The thick lengthwise cuts of a perfectly ripe avocado took this meal from a good lunch to a memory that made me smile throughout the rest of the day. It's just a falafel, but it was a very very good falafel.

I'm not the only person who's fond of this place. Almost immediately after I sat down the small deli filled with a queue that actually went out through the door. Maybe it just looked impressive because it's a small space, but I think this a popular spot for the city.

A very good deli with good selection and wonderful use of avocado.

Blessay Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:20:00 +0000

I have not written any regular updates in a very long while. Sorry. But do not dwell in the past because as of today I am instituting a new weekly blogging tradition: Blessay Tuesday. I have decided to channel my complaints about life the universe and everything into a more structured and constructive use of the interweb. Every tuesday I will write a mini essay about something that concerns/intrigues/interests me. Hopefully my two readers will find it amusing and possibly insightful, but I could use feedback on the content and style if either of you feel up to it. Let's hope it goes well.

This is not an essay or an analysis but I feel that I do owe a bit of an explanation for not writing anything significant for a long time. For the past couple of weeks I have been in Calgary, and while that is not an excuse (they have the interweb, yay for Canada!) there were enough things going on and changes in the routine to make blogging not the most important thing. I did post pictuires from the Calgary Farmers' Market at Habibi's request. And these are a few of the pics form the drive up, me and mum got caught in a nasty blizzard in northern Montana. Calgary is a neat place to be, and being able to walk from the folks' cute little townhouse to the high-street shops and restaurants (and cupcake shops) was a very nice way to spend a week.

Now I am back in Creede. I am returned to the land of isolation with too much time on my hands (my boss at the tavern thought I just buggered off without letting him know, untrue, and so took me off the roster) and the one thing I was counting on to help me pass the week decided it doesn't like me; the HDDVR exploded while I was away, taking with it all the offices and mythbusters I was looking forward too. It's ok, I managed to get the most important episodes on iTunes. Still, it is a bit of a downer. Possibly the worst of it is that at a time when I am nothing but lonely I have to restrain myself from inundating Habibi with phone calls because this is her last week of university. She has so much stuff to do and so much going on it's a wonder she can keep her head on straight (You can do it Habibi!). For now I have a couple lists of things to accomplish since mum thinks the key to sanity up here is keeping busy. I went into town and saw Gwen and Chris today and both of them seem concerned about me sitting up here on the hill. I think we are going to make a point to have dinner tomorrow night. They tell me that it's important to get out of your own head once in a while. In that same vein I might try to plan a few outings for the remainder of the week. Movies in the valley, Pagosa Springs, a drive to the Lake City bakery. I think I can find ways to occupy my time. I also have an old-school xbox game, 'James Bond, from Russia with Love' that I think I can be convinced is a constructive use of time.

Soon I will be in San Francisco with more assignments than time to complete them, and I cannot wait. I am really looking forward to working and learning about the product design world. I'll post more on that as the situation matures. For now it's time for dinner and some iTunes Mythbusters.

Pete

Movie review

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Starfighters.

Not very good. Wouldn't recommend it.

Yay for Netflix Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:32:00 +0000

It's that time again, time to get excited about those little red envelopes and realize that you don't know what's on your queue.

This week the 2 hour time slot is devoted to 'Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Starfighters'. I am excited about it but I hope the actual movie is terrible; they're more funny that way. I tried to explain the premise to Mum but she didn't get it. 5 minutes into the film she asked if the guys at the bottom of the screen were going to be talking the whole time. I said yes and she took Tally and went to go watch Oprah or some such. I guess robot puppets riffing on terrible old sci-fi movies isn't for everybody.

Today was eventful enough though. It was as special as a Friday should be. There was about a foot of snow on the ground when we got up this morning and the dogs were absolutely loving it. Me and the dogs went for a couple of walks today and they just bounced around in the snow. Today was also International Silence Day in recognition of all the verbal hostility shown to sexual minorities over the years. I managed a couple hours in the morning and a trip into town for groceries and the mail using the notepad on my iPhone to explain and communicate. When I got back to the house Mum told me to stop being quiet. Apparently it was making her feel lonely and it felt like I was angry at her. So my day of silence lasted till just before lunch.

For supper we made Mexican food and margaritas and had Gwen come over with Poppy. The three dogs really had a time of it. Tally was really the instigator of all the trouble but all the dogs had a lot of fun. They're all tuckered out now. The margaritas were quiet tasty, and could have come from a restaurant. The Mexican food was also very good. The evening was very enjoyable all around and the weather made a fireplace and margaritas all the more cozy. That being said I am concerned for all the chaos the snow caused in Denver today. I-70 was closed for a stretch of 80 miles! I hope all is settled by tomorrow. For now it's time for a bit more margarita and crappy sci-fi movie.

Saturday Review Bonus

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 05:56:00 +0000

Today is a special day, the movie review is a two for.

This evening me and mum watched 'Yesman' on the Dish payperview. I don't have too much to say about this one other than it was absolutely fantastic. Immemdiately after watching it I placed it on my 'must own' note in the notebook. The characters were all brilliant and perfect. A sort of kookie concept was taken in the hand of some very talented actors and producers and the result was a film that I hope to watch at least once every couple of months.

This film is very very good. The elements are very solid and the actors are all perfectely chosen to portray the simple and conflicted characters, all of which come together in an absolutley fantastic film.

All the people involved were wonderful and the movie really is a good one. Three solid circle wags at least.

Movie Review Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:56:00 +0000

The film up for review this week was 'RocknRolla' and I incorrectly mentioned in the Friday post that Clive Owen featured; it was in fact Gerard Butler. I have to say that I really enjoy his work, possibly even more so than M. Owen. He is really good as the phantom from Llyod-Weber's movie production of 'The Phantom of the Opera'.

The movie was great. I love British humour and London gangster films and this film was a prime example of both. It shares a number of similarities with 'Layercake' but the approach is unique and well done. The editing is really groovy and clever, the two things that all editing should be. There is a bit of violence but that really comes with any film aimed in that direction. The double crossing and intrigue of the plot are all successfully woven in with fair doses of humour. The characters are all very well played if not terribly complicated. Frankly though characters that are too rounded would detract from the film as a whole. In short all the elements of the film would be hard pressed to work in a different genre but as a British gangster film they really get the job done well. It is really quite funny too.

I totally recommend 'RocknRolla' and as a film it recieves three solid circle wags. Very funny, if a bit violent at times but without a doubt a solid movie that I will most certainly keep in the queue.

Netflix Friday!

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:55:00 +0000

Happy Netflix Friday everybody. The movie this week is 'Rockenrolla' which I have not seen but by all accounts is going to be a good one. I like british gangster films and I enjoy Clive Owen's acting talent so I think there is plenty to look foreward to. Today might also include a pay-per-view movie from dishnetwork, 'Yesman'. That film looks pretty funny by the previews, and if that ends up happening this week might be a two for one deal.

This week has been pretty exciting for Creede. Mum arrived late last week and so this week has been mainly about me and Moose adjusting to there being other poeple here. Shorty seems a bit happier to have Tally to pal around with as well. Not to mention he gets a scrambled egg for dinner every so often. I think he likes mum's cooking better. The other big event of this week was of course the trip to Denver to get Chris to the Doctor's. There was an apointment in Colorado Springs in the morning on Thursday and in Denver in the afternoon. We headed out on Wednesday and arrived in the Springs late-ish. We poked around the Springs and found that the old town really is a neat place. There is a neighbourhood of humongous houses north of old town which looks fairly expensive but like a neat place to be. There was also an excellent Mexican restaurant on the high street.

The day after in Denver I dropped Chris off downtown to do his apointment and headed for the Mini dealership to get a service done. They did manage to fix the speaker they broke last time and rotate the tyres but there a few problems. They did not put the clubdoor back together properly and as a result the seat belt does not function correctly. The detailing job left plenty to be desired and while I asked them to balance and rotate the tyres they did not do the balancing. So there is still vibration in the steering wheel. I called them up and the next time I drive the 300+ MILES to my local Mini dealer they told me they can get things sorted. On top of all this Chris needed to get his pacemaker replaced which involves minor surgery. All this happened in Denver, possibly one of the worst cities for anyone needing to move more than 50 feet in a commute. The roads really are layed out terribly, which made getting across town a nightmere. But he got through it and has some new hardware and at the dealership I got the oppurtunity to drive the race-car version of my mini. Holy crap that was fun. an engine that powerful should not be in a car that small. After they released Chris around 6 (and I took an hour to get four miles across Denver) we decided to try and head all the way back to Creede. We made it at around 2 in the morning. That was a long day.

But I'm here now and the Mini looks good form the outside, even if it wont stay that way for long (thank you Colorado dust). Chris is recovering but already I think he feels better with the new pacemaker. It's Netflix (and pay-per-view) Friday and now that me and Moose are both full and happy he's telling me it's time for a nap.

Very delayed Movie Review Post: 'Wilde'

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:45:00 +0000

It's two weeks too late, I apologize.

Moving on, I present my review of the Netflix movie 'Wilde'. My first reaction to this movie is wow, this really is a long film. With a run-time of 2 hours plus, it required a bit of an intermission for a soda and some snacks. But even though it was lengthy it was extremely good. Let me say that again, this film is absolutely wonderful. Stephen Fry is perhaps the perfect person to play Oscar Wilde. He is intelligent, cultured, and incredibly good with words. If Wilde gained fame by being extrememly quick-witted and clever then there really isnt a better candidate than M. Fry.

The characters were all well portrayed and while there is some explicit romantic scenes they're tasteful if a bit cheeky. Even so they are tools within the story of his life to show various attachments and how romantic intrigue can really affect the situation. I do love a good costume drama and the outfits were fantastic. I hope that Oscar Wilde was really like that in real life; I feel better knowing that a character like that really existed and in such wonderful apparel. This film makes me want to read his material all over again and it also makes me wish I was clever in a Wilde kind of way.

It's a shame that I don't have more to say but very simply, this film is excellent. It definately makes my top ten films and I will someday own this film. Way to go M. Fry on a great film about one of the most interesting people in the history of forever. 'Wilde' gets five solid circle wags, without a doubt.

Netflix Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:36:00 +0000

Yay for Netflix Thursday!

I'm on shift for Saturday this week so that means that today is Netflix day and tomorrow I'll post the review. The movie this week is 'Wilde' and by all accounts should be a good one. It stars one @stephenfry and biographies the life of Oscar Wilde. I am a fan of his writing and I am a big fan of Mr Fry so I am looking forward to this one.

Not much is going on news wise up here, big surprise I know. I was scheduled to go up to Denver with Chris this week but the big snow front that has moved in over Colorado has postponed everything till next week. Eight inches were forecast for Denver and something similar was due for Creede. Even now it is white-out conditions but there isn't much sticking to the ground. For now I'm just working on the list, cleaning and organizing the cabin in preparation for the boss's visit. I have managed to get a fair bit done but there is a bit more to do.

A bit of good news is the 'Enterprise' marathon on the Scifi channel. I love that show. It's a shame the loyal trekkies didn't dig it and it only had a short run. It is also worth remembering that the original had a very short run too.

Anyways, there isn't a whole lot to report. 'Wilde' is the movie under review this week and I do have quite high expectations for it. I know that large amounts of snow can cause some problems but for now I am really loving this weather; It's very comfy. I'll probably get a fire going before too long. I'd better finish up, there is a programmed outage for blogger soon. Till later.

Movie Review Saturday: 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 03:17:00 +0000

I've certainly waited long enough, so here are my thoughts of the movie from last night.

I did rather like it. I don't know if youz guyz picked up on my tweets while I was watching the film but it was rather good at conveying the tragedy of love gained and lost through the machinations of all the characters involved. The fact that all dialog was sung was a bit strange, but there were plenty of moments where the music did wonders to express the emotions involved.

In the end it was a film that I liked for what I believe are the right reasons. Also, as a french film from the 60's it was bound to be wrapped in some of the nouvelle vague weirdness. If you can get over the singing of absolutely everything I do recommend it as a good film. On another personal note, the dialog was outstandingly poetic in a way that french really can be.

On a slightly unrelated review, today was spent watching the first few episodes of 'Band of Brothers' on the DVR and I have to say that it is even more fantastic the third time round. I don't imagine that I'll ever get tired of the series and for my money I might make it a point to watch it annually.

In summary, 'Umbrellas' is good if strange and do make a point to see 'Band of Brothers' if you haven't already.

Night. Shorty says 'Paw'.

Happy Netflix Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:13:00 +0000

Hullo to all. Sorry about that last post, I suppose I just got a bit carried away. Didn't even check for typos. On that same vein, why do I type form when I want to put from and vice versa? I's like a very specific from of dyslexia. That one was intentional.

Anyhoo, the time has come again, it is officially Netflix Friday and this week we have a strange but classic piece of French cinema on offer: 'The Umbrella's of Cherbourg '. Now I have to be honest, the dvd has been in the postbox since the middle of last week but between the road trip to see Habibi and the other road trip to help Chris this is the soonest I've been able to get to it. I don't know much about it except that the dialog is sung and that is old. Should be fun. So that is the plan for tonight and as per usual I will bother to burden you all with my thoughts on it tomorrow.

Now I know what you might be thinking, that I don't bother to blog for roughly two weeks except to whinge at the esteemed Mr Michaels (who probably has no part in production of the show anyway) and I expect no one to notice when I just up and resume the normal blogging? I am aware of the disloyalty to my two readers and acknowledge that by now it probably is just the one. What's worse is that I really don't have a proper excuse. So mia culpa, I will do my best to follow The Bakery 's better blogging techniques.

On the news side of things, there really isn't much to report. I was feeling bad about the (increasing) list of things that need accomplishing here at the house and online until I talked to my parents and found out what they and K&D have been up to. Feel like a wuss now. The driveway is now dry dirt, so I can drive my precious MINI into town when I need to, although the steep part is a bit rutted. Hopefully Carl can help me out with that over the weekend. I did have a bit of fun today when I took part in a Q&A on twitter with GM's head of quality control. He didn't like my questions and ended up ignoring me half way though the event. I probably could have been nicer to him but in my biased opinion he spends more time on PR than quality control. But that really is neither here nor there, because today is Netflix Friday. And now, I will make a special drink, digest supper and hopefully be amused an entertained by a French documentary on weather accessories. Probably.

An Open Letter to Lorn Michaels:

noreply@blogger.com (Miniclubmoose) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:03:00 +0000

I wanted to stay off the grid today. I wanted to go a day without constantly checking twitter on the iPhone or reading my subscriptions through Google reader. I wanted to avoid the internet all together today and just rest and try to make my troubled head feel better.

Obviously I was not able to keep that promise to myself, and for one very simple reason: SNL has officially become beyond terrible. I just watched the last episode on the dvr and it was soooo bad that I felt compelled to go online and voice my displeasure. I don't really care if anyone reads this, that show as simply so awful that I am unable to keep it to myself. Hopefully venting here will keep me from being terrible myself to the next person I talk to.

Now I know that I am one of a dwindling group of people who still watch the show (and certainly not one those committed enough to watch it live) but I still do. Although that might change as a result of the last episode. I don't care that Steve Martin is the next host (frankly he sold out with the 'Pink Panther' remakes). After I finish writing this I am going to delete the timer for SNL from the dvr.

The show that was once the tower of improv is most likely at one of it's least-watched stages in history right now, but that is exactly when they should be trying to improve it. Instead they say 'eh' and decide to make up the revenues by making near 50% of the run time devoted to commercials. At one point they went to commercial, showed their backstage clip, introduced another full set of commercials, threw in a clip of the musical guest, and then went through another complete set of commercials. When you're talking about three to four minute commercial sets this really gets rather frustrating. So like any other naive individual I just presumed they were having some technical difficulties. Until they did it again. Even when they had reached the end of the show, as the music started to play for the cast to gather they went to commercial for another FULL set. The problems with commercial advertising was not even limited to outside of the show. They replayed two separate spoof commercials (each of a fair run time) that were debuted over the last couple of weeks. So effectively, in the run time from 10:30 to 12:00 (mountain time), only about 30% of that was original material. Made up of only six skits, one of which was the opening credits (which was a segment filmed in advance), not including the now requisite (and severely unfunny) digital short.

The real trick was the host. Tracy Morgan, a man who made no imprint on the show in 7 years and then went on to sideline in a show that is a parody of him not making an imprint on the show was chosen as the host for this last week. To whom did it seem a good idea to bring back one of the least important people in the show's long history to host? The man has less range than a mango resting on a park bench. All of his characters in the show (and in any SNL show he ever featured) consisted of him tilting his head back and shouting. Contrary to popular belief, louder is not necessarily funnier.

I wonder if there was some intentional irony in the final skit of the show given that this month is the national 'Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' month. The central joke of the skit was an interview of the director of a film titled 'Rocket Dog' and how he made the movie by strapping rockets to (and subsequently killing) a number of dogs (implied) as well as all of his actors. Not funny. Just bad from.

M. Michaels, I'm afraid that this single episode has destroyed any mythos and credibility your show once had in my eyes. I was willing to forgive so much, and I have, over the past two years. Everyone I know has told me to stop watching, that SNL ceased to be funny 25 years ago. I didn't listen. I still tuned in, I still set the dvr. Because of your choices and direction as producer for a single episode, and the extreme lack of talent that is Tracy Morgan I'm afraid you have officially and irrevocably lost one more viewer in a decreasing audience.

Terrible. Absolutely terrible.