May 11, 2008

Interactive Graph of American Spending


Click on image to see it in action.

When Ambition Meets Faith

There Will Be Blood,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic masterpiece, arrives belching fire and brimstone and damnation to Hell. Set against the backdrop of the Southern California oil boom of the late-19th and early-20th centuries, it tells a story of greed and envy of biblical proportions — reverberating with Old Testament sound and fury and New Testament evangelicalism — which Mr. Anderson has mined from Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil!” There is no God but money in this oil-rich desert and his messenger is Daniel Plainview, a petroleum speculator played by a monstrous and shattering Daniel Day-Lewis.

Plainview is coarse and animalistic, sentimental in matters of love and ruthless in matters of avarice. Mr. Anderson opens his story in 1898, closer to Norris’s novel than Sinclair’s, which begins in the years leading up to World War I. And the film’s opener is a stunner — spooky and strange, blanketed in shadows and nearly wordless. Inside a deep, dark hole, a man pickaxes the hard-packed soil it shows the main character; Plainview.


Over the next two and a half mesmerizing hours Plainview will strike oil, then strike it rich and transform a bootstrapper’s dream into a terrifying prophecy about the coming American century. It’s a century he plunges into slicked in oil, dabbed with blood and accompanied by H. W. (eventually played by the newcomer Dillon Freasier), the child who enters his life in 1902 after he makes his first strike and seems to have burbled from the ground like the liquid itself. The brief scenes of Plainview’s first tender, awkward moments with H. W. will haunt the story. In one of the most quietly lovely images in a film of boisterous beauty, he gazes at the tiny, pale toddler, chucking him under the chin as they sit on a train very much alone.


“There Will Be Blood” involves a tangle of relationships, mainly intersecting sets of fathers and sons and pairs of brothers. But it is Plainview’s intense, needful bond with H. W. that raises the stakes and gives enormous emotional force to this expansively imagined period story with its pictorial and historical sweep, its raging fires, geysers of oil and inevitable blood. (Rarely has a film’s title seemed so ominous.) By the time H. W. is about 10, he has become a kind of partner to his father, at once a child and a sober little man with a jacket and neatly combed hair who dutifully stands by Plainview’s side as quiet as his conscience.


A large swath of the story takes place in 1911, by which point Plainview has become a successful oilman with his own fast-growing company. Flanked by the watchful H. W., he storms through California, sniffing out prospects and trying to persuade frenzied men and women to lease their land for drilling. (H. W. gives Plainview his human mask: “I’m a family man,” he proclaims to prospective leasers.) One day a gangling, unsmiling young man, Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), arrives with news that oil is seeping out of the ground at his family’s ranch. The stranger sells this information to Plainview, who promptly sets off with H. W. to a stretch of California desert where oil puddles the ground among the cactus, scrub and human misery.


Not long afterward oil is gushing out of that desert. The eruption rattles both the earth and the local population, whom Plainview soothes with promises. Poor, isolated, thirsting for water (they don’t have enough even to grow wheat), the dazed inhabitants gaze at the oilman like hungry baby birds. (Their barren town is oddly named Little Boston.) He promises schools, roads and water, delivering his sermon with a carefully enunciated, sepulchral voice that Mr. Day-Lewis seems to have largely borrowed from the director John Huston. Plainview is preaching a new gospel, though one soon challenged by another salesman, Paul Sunday’s Holy Roller brother, Eli (also Mr. Dano). A charismatic preacher looking to build a new church, Eli slithers into the story, one more snake in the desert.


Mr. Anderson has always worn his influences openly, cribbing from Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman among others (he helped the ailing Altman with his final film, “A Prairie Home Companion”), but rarely has his movie love been as organically integrated into his work as it is here. Movie history weighs on every filmmaker, informs every cut, camera angle and movement. “There Will Be Blood” is very much a personal endeavor for Mr. Anderson; it feels like an act of possession. Yet it is also directly engaged with our cinematically constructed history, specifically with films — “Greed” and “Chinatown,” but also “Citizen Kane” — that have dismantled the mythologies of American success and, in doing so, replaced one utopian ideal for another, namely that of the movies themselves.


This is Mr. Anderson’s fifth feature and it proves a breakthrough for him as a filmmaker. Although there are more differences than similarities between it and the Sinclair book, the novel has provided him with something he has lacked in the past, a great theme. It may also help explain the new film’s narrative coherence. His first feature, “Sydney” (also known as “Hard Eight”), showed Mr. Anderson to be an intuitively gifted filmmaker, someone who was born to make images with a camera. His subsequent features — “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia” and “Punch-Drunk Love” — have ambition and flair, though to increasingly diminished ends. Elliptical, self-conscious, at times multithreaded, they contain passages of clarity and brilliance. But in their escalating stylization you feel the burdens of virtuosity, originality, independence.


“There Will Be Blood” exhibits much the same qualities as Mr. Anderson’s previous work — every shot seems exactly right — but its narrative form is more classical and less weighted down by the pressures of self-aware auteurism. It flows smoothly, linearly, building momentum and unbearable tension. Mr. Day-Lewis’s outsize performance, with its footnote references to Huston and strange, contorted Kabuki-like grimaces, occasionally breaks the skin of the film’s surface like a dangerous undertow. The actor seems to have invaded Plainview’s every atom, filling an otherwise empty vessel with so much rage and purpose you wait for him to blow. It’s a thrilling performance, among the greatest I’ve seen, purposefully alienating and brilliantly located at the juncture between cinematic realism and theatrical spectacle.


This tension between realism and spectacle runs like a fissure through the film and invests it with tremendous unease. You are constantly being pulled away from and toward the charismatic Plainview, whose pursuit of oil reads like a chapter from America's grand narrative of discovery and conquest. His 1911 strike puts the contradictions of this story into graphic, visual terms. Mr. Anderson initially thrusts you close to the awesome power of the geyser, which soon bursts into flames, then pulls back for a longer view, his sensuously fluid camera keeping pace with Plainview and his men as they race about trying to contain what they’ve unleashed. But the monster has been uncorked. The black billowing smoke pours into the sky, and there it will stay.


It's safe to say I loved this movie! If your a lover of films, you'll enjoy this incredible display of acting and film making. With a story of and for our times, “There Will Be Blood” can certainly be viewed through the smeary window that looks onto the larger world. It’s timeless and topical, general and specific, abstract and as plain as the name of its fiery oilman. It’s an origin story of sorts, and the film is above all a consummate work of art, one that transcends the historically fraught context of its making, and its pleasures are unapologetically aesthetic. It reveals, excites, disturbs, provokes, but the window it opens is to human consciousness itself.

Winter Trees

Sometimes a simple object shown in a different light can completely change its meaning. Bulgarian designer Svilen Dimchevski, 27, created a fantastic series of photos and meanings based on a simple orange peel. You can read more about Svilen on his portfolio site dimchevski.com. You can read more about his winter trees project here.

All images copyright © Svilen Dimchevski








By: Sasha Pave from divinecaroline.com

Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do




For anyone who doesn't know yet, I'm going to be a father this September. Even though this was planned, I got instinctively nervous at first, the thought of taking care of another life beyond that of my two cats terrified me.

But then after some research and book-reading I've come to terms with the inevitable, and have gotten excited over the concept of training my own little soldier to go out and animate some scenes for me at the low cost of an ice cream cone or a movie. Above is a neat little clip I found, it made me excited about the prospect of dismantling an appliance with my future son or daughter.

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talks about our new wave of overprotected kids—and spells out five (and really, he’s got six) dangerous things you should let your kids do. Allowing kids the freedom to explore, he says, will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.

This talk comes from TED University 2007, a pre-conference program where TEDsters share ideas.

To sum up, let children:
  1. Play with fire

  2. Own a pocket knife

  3. Throw a spear

  4. Deconstruct appliances

  5. Drive a car

Tech Demo for the powerful graphics/interactive animation engine present in the new 'The Force Unleashed' and 'Indiana Jones' games

Big Boobs Encourage Recycling

Superman vs Captain Marvel = Ultimate Destruction

May 10, 2008

The pedal-powered 1986 Buick Regal's maiden voyage!


Fortunately the 'Flintstone car' driver got his traffic ticket dismissed.

Picture of the Day

Superman vs Darkseid

Marvel Studios Announces Schedule up to 2011

thor-ironman-marvel.jpgThe Incredible Hulk - June 13, 2008
Iron Man 2 - April 30, 2010
Thor - June 4, 2010
The First Avenger: Captain America - May 6, 2011
The Avengers - July 2011
Ant-Man - Writer/director engaged

Courtesy of iwatchstuff.com

Harven Dent with What One Might Almost Call a 'Second Face'

dark-knight-final-trailer.jpg

What is supposedly concept art of Aaaron Eckhart as Batman villain Two-Face has started showing up around the cyber-world last night, and Jax and Dan (individually) were nice enough to send it here. I've hidden it under the cut for those who want a surprise or with sensitive stomachs. It looks something like a disgusting cross between Tim Sale's gruesome depiction in Long Halloween and a horribly charred anatomical musculature model. Strangely, it looks almost nothing like Tommy Lee Jones with some pink latex turning half of his face into a Dr. Seuss villain.
dark-knight-two-face-art.jpg(Gross.)

Via iwatchstuff

MTV Movie Awards Nominees Announced

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
· Ellen Page- Juno
· Keira Knightley - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
· Katherine Heigl - Knocked Up
· Amy Adams- Enchanted
· Jessica Biel- I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

BEST VILLAIN
· Johnny Depp- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
· Denzel Washington- American Gangster
· Angelina Jolie- Beowulf
· Topher Grace- Spider-Man 3
· Javier Bardem- No Country For Old Men

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
· Johnny Depp- Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
· Adam Sandler- I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
· Jonah Hill- Superbad
· Seth Rogen- Knocked Up
· Amy Adams- Enchanted

BEST FIGHT
· Matt Damon vs. Joey Ansah- The Bourne Ultimatum
· Tobey Maguire vs. James Franco- Spider-Man 3
· Hayden Christensen vs. Jamie Bell- Jumper
· Sean Faris vs. Cam Gigandet- Never Back Down
· Chris Tucker & Jackie Chan vs. Sun Ming Ming- Rush Hour 3
· Alien vs. Predator- Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem

BEST KISS
· Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer- Disturbia
· Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey- Enchanted
· Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Leung- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
· Ellen Page and Michael Cera- Juno
· Briana Evigan and Robert Hoffman- Step Up 2 The Streets

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
· Zac Efron- Hairspray
· Seth Rogen- Knocked Up
· Jonah Hill- Superbad
· Michael Cera- Superbad
· Chris Brown- This Christmas
· Nikki Blonsky- Hairspray
· Megan Fox- Transformers
· Christopher Mintz-Plasse- Superbad

BEST SUMMER MOVIE SO FAR
· Iron Man
· Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
· Sex and the City: The Movie
· Speed Racer
· The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Check out Mohamed's Flash/Pivot Animations - Made this year (at age 15)





Please Google, Take Me to Mars

May 08, 2008

The Art of Jeff Knott

Ann-Margret knows a real man when she sees it

The Electric Company - Spidey vs. The Blue Beetle

Sales of 'Grand Theft Auto IV' video game top $500 million in 1st week

"Grand Theft Auto IV" raked in more than $500 million (€324.04 million) in its first week in stores, selling more than 6 million units worldwide, the video game's publisher said Wednesday.

The highly anticipated title from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. has received stellar ratings along with criticism for its violent content. The game follows Eastern European immigrant-turned-gangster Niko Bellic on crime missions around a fictional Liberty City.

The title sold about 3.6 million units on April 29, its opening day, bringing in roughly $310 million (€200.91 million). This is $10 million (€6.48 million) more than what Microsoft Corp.'s "Halo 3," another blockbuster game, took in during its first week last fall.

The game has also lifted sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, the two consoles for which it is available.

Without giving numbers, Microsoft said Xbox 360 sales jumped 54 percent in the week following the title's launch, compared with the prior week, and more than 2.3 million people played it on its Xbox Live online service.

"Retailers say roughly four out of every 10 Xbox 360 consoles sold also included the sale of a copy of 'Grand Theft Auto IV,'" said Aaron Greenberg, director of product management at Xbox 360 and Xbox Live.

Sony spokeswoman Laura Bakken said the company's 10 largest retailers have "all seen a pretty substantial lift" in PS3 sales, but she did not give specifics.

The game is generating controversy as previous versions have.

Take-Two sued the Chicago Transit Authority on Monday after the organization removed ads for the game because of its "Mature" rating, which means it is not suitable for people under 17. The game also caught the ire of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which seeks an adults-only rating because it lets players drive after imbibing in virtual liquor.

Previous versions of the game generated controversy over hidden sex scenes, sharp criticism from Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton and a 2006 lawsuit that blames the game for three New Mexico murders committed by a 14-year-old.

An analyst with Wedbush Morgan, Michael Pachter, said he expects the game to sell 12 million copies by the end of 2008. Previous versions of Grand Theft Auto have sold more than 70 million copies worldwide.

New York-based Take-Two is the subject of a $2 billion (€1.3 billion) hostile buyout from larger rival Electronic Arts Inc., whose offer Take-Two has repeatedly rebuffed as too low.

Take-Two's shares were recently trading at $26.39, which is above EA's tender offer of $25.74 (€16.68) per share; the offer expires May 16. Unless EA is willing to offer more, it seems "increasingly possible" the acquisition attempt could unravel, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey said in a note to investors.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Via AOL.COM