Syd Mead, another artist who just can’t make a bad mark. Found this whilst searching for Tron stuff for the kids. Check out these two puzzles available from his website.
Film
[youtube width=”640″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PifvRiHVSCY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] Judge for yourself and other terrible puns…
[youtube width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT4ciAuKn34&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
I have to listen to this several times a day at the moment, the video makes it even better.
Grabbed from the excellent Retrowave tumblr site, don’t know who did it.
I’m totally in love with the design of the new Tron Uprising cartoon that just premiered on Disney’s XD channel. Starting with a 30 minute pilot last month to set the whole thing up they have eighteen 20 minute episodes in the first season with only Flynn, Tron and Clu remaining from the films and a host of new characters to flesh out the story. The design cues are taken from Tron Legacy and ramped up with Aeon Flux-like proportions on the characters and hyper neon designs.
Looks promising, on set photos released so far have been a mixed bag, an R rating and a thumbs up from creator John Wagner are a good start but a trailer will be more telling. Up against the 1996 Stallone travesty the odds are in its favour but the proof will be in the pudding.
Well, the day came and went, and I chose to see Prometheus in 3D at the IMAX for the full monty. I’d been looking forward to this film more than any other this year and the hype and expectation had already built up to unreasonable levels before it opened. I realised this, had actively tried to avoid reading spoilers, scripts, watching the more recent ‘here’s the film all laid out for you’ trailers and the odd online opinion beforehand but this proved harder as the release date neared. I went in knowing that it couldn’t possibly live up to expectation but hoping that I hadn’t see or heard EVERYTHING about it and that there was still some mystery left. There was, not as much as I hoped, but enough so that there were surprises, a couple of revelations and more questions left unanswered than tied up neatly.
One aspect that virtually everyone who’s seen it is unanimous about is that it looks stunning, the sets, design and landscapes are as beautiful and richly detailed as you’d hope. There are lots of references to H.R. Giger’s classic Alien designs, it’s fleshed out, maybe not so creepy in the harsh light of day, but there is a strong lineage between the film and the original Alien. There are also some lovely designs for some of the interiors of the Prometheus ship although they look vaguely 70’s retro but are then juxtaposed with Minority Report-style touch screens which jarrs. The main failing point is that the characters aren’t particularly loveable, you don’t care about them enough, although Fassbender turns in a great performance as David, the artificial human, you’re never quite sure where his loyalties lie. Charlize Theron‘s character could have been put to much better use I felt and the last third of the film is a bit of a mess with no really satisfying pay off in the final scenes.
Overall it’s good though, I recommend you see it and make up your own mind, it will get people talking, disagreeing most likely, about the whole Alien universe. As far as prequels go and as an attempt to inject some new life into a franchise that’s had diminishing returns since Aliens, it succeeds admirably compared to something like The Phantom Menace or The Thing and I’d hold it above Alien 3, 4 and both AVP films (not hard) by a long way. It’s good but not great, I’d give it a 7 or 8 out of 10 but I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Avengers (I realise how ridiculous this comparison is though). I think it will bear repeat viewing and could be appraised differently once everyone’s calmed down with their reactionary conclusions and maybe given it a second chance. Look at Blade Runner‘s initial critical reception, I’m not suggesting it’s anywhere in that league as it’s not, but opinions differ when expectations are high. The 3D is good but not essential, I imagine it would be just as good without, but a big screen will make you appreciate some of the locations more than a small one.
The Caketrope of BURTON’s Team – Alexandre DUBOSC from Alexandre DUBOSC on Vimeo.
Amazing, thanks to Duncan for the heads up, via i09
Two new takes on an old concept – films as Penguin Book covers – with the, now ubiquitous original Star Wars trilogy and Studio Ghibli films too. The SW ones are available as posters by Studio Concepcion, the SG ones by 84/5 Studio as prints and a postcard set.
[singlepic id=3922 w=640 h=480 float=left] [singlepic id=3919 w=640 h=480 float=left] [singlepic id=3916 w=640 h=480 float=left]
I saw the first episode of this late last night and the design of it blew my mind, it’s SO beautiful and heavily styled. It takes what Tron Legacy did to the look of Tron and then ramps it up again with the character and costume designs. There must have been some fashion designers on the team for this because the double-length legs and the ultra-styled figures look straight out of a catwalk scenario sketchbook. Whilst the first episode is very much a ‘set the scene’ type affair, which borrows liberally from Tron Legacy for its fight and chase scenes, it’s got enough going for it in the looks dept. alone to warrant tuning in again.
[singlepic id=3943 w=640 h=480 float=left] [singlepic id=3934 w=640 h=480 float=left]
Image nicked from Secret Oranges – there’s a Batman one over there too but it’s all about Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman.
Three brilliant tributes to MCA, a ‘Sabotage’ parody by James Winters, a ‘Licensed To Ill’ mural by Aroe, and a US departure lounge sign.
[vimeo width=”640″ height=”370″]http://vimeo.com/42106181[/vimeo]
This is lovely, perfect Sunday afternoon viewing and listening. A compilation of Boards of Canada‘s loops posted on their websites.
Video footage taken from BoC’s 2002 website, by James Tindall.
Saw this last night, REALLY good, go and see it, everything you’d want in a blockbuster superhero film.
3D isn’t essential but doesn’t spoil it, just really well paced character driven action with an unexpected dose of genuinely funny humour.
Also some cracking design on the vehicles, looking forward to the follow up. 10/10 to all involved and I’ve never read an Avengers comic in my life.
Here’s something I did last month in conjunction with Carling Zest, a new drink being promoted this summer. The idea was to take three producers, myself, DJ Yoda and Jaguar Skills, and give everyone sights and sounds of summer to incorporate into a track that had the feeling of summer to it. I called mine ‘Sunspot’, after one of my favourite Vaughn Bodé strips, and used some of my home made phenakistoscopes as elements for the video in conjunction with the footage Carling supplied.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”375″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_8Nx1TmC1o&feature=relmfu[/youtube]
I was left to my own devices and incorporated a lot of my own melodies into the track, using their bee sounds and lots of percussive elements to form the basic beat of the piece. Making a track that evokes a ‘summer’ feeling is a lot harder than making something dark and moody, especially without stepping into cheesy territory but I’m really pleased with the outcome.
During the process I was filmed going through samples in my studio and generally talking about records I thought bought out the summer feeling in me. This quickly degenerated into what seemed like a massive advert for Boards of Canada‘s back catalogue 
with other shouts to the Orb (Little Fluffy Clouds) and The The (This Is The Day). The film crew, who were great fun to work with, shot for a whole day and then crammed it all into 2 minutes, so, if the editing seems a little fragmented here and there, you’ll know why. Big thank you to Ash for getting the shots and Tom for doing a great job on helping me with the last touches on the video edit.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”375″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQFCJtD7S1w&feature=relmfu[/youtube]
Wish they hadn’t put that ice cream bit in Spot the ‘Rave Wars’ 7″s and 3A robots everywhere There’ll be an online competition to remix this track and win tickets to the V festival and other goodies coming up on May 23rd so I’ll post about that when it’s online.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”485″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9tLzLtAj6w&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Having a serious flashback to my youth watching this
[vimeo width=”640″ height=”370″]http://vimeo.com/41214166[/vimeo]
Amazing achievement by the Agents of Change on this mega project for a hotel in London’s Kings X. What you don’t see here is that they painted inside the building too, including murals and canvases that filter inside the hotel and restuarant and flesh out the experience.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”290″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
[youtube width=”640″ height=”280″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byZkbNB3Jw&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]