I'll Have Two Burritos, Please

This past Saturday we had an office summer party at one of my bosses and friend Steve-O's ranch out in the beautiful country, a hop, skip, and a jump from...nowhere. Peaceful as you can imagine. You could probably see the Leonids each year no problem at all. Well, the weather started out nice and cloudy, suppressing the 100 degree sun, giving us some relief, which allowed me to get some minor sun and tan the otherwise pastyfacedwhiteness of my person.

We ate tons of state of the art brisket that Steve perfected just for the occassion in a huge smoker. Forget Uncle Dan's [or insert local well known BBQ establishment here], this stuff is it. Haul out the heavy duty plates, I'm loading the meat up. And don't forget all the requisite fixin's - sausage, jalapeño sausage, macaroni salad, beans. Remind me to get my cholesterol checked out sometime. After eating all that good stuff, the balance between my LDL and HDL probably tipped somewhere in the red.

We also played horseshoes (which my boss dominated in), volleyball (I wasn't too shabby), and my favorite for some odd reason, ping pong, and then I figured out that a go-cart doesn't have reverse. So much for playing all those countless hours of Mario Kart back in college. Power sliding! That was cool though, racing around in the closed dirt track. I need to get me one when Rancho Chino opens one day for bidness.

We got to see goats, and a pair of mini-donkeys that the family inherited from the previous owner. Never seen one before in my life, pretty cool! One one of them yawned, and I was about to expect Eddie Murphy's voice to start spouting of the creature, the animation from Shrek is so accurate relating to the facial movements of a donkey. They were the cutest little things, too bad they made asses of themselves.

* For non Spanish speakers, 'burrito' means little donkey in Spanish. (Burro is a regular donkey). Yes everytime you go to TacoB, you order a Mini Donkey Supreme with Pico de Gallo. Yum. 7 Layer Donkey. OK I'll stop.

More Than Meets The Eye

Courtesy of galactichunter.com

Geek alert: I just found out that Steven Spielberg is producing the live action Transformers movie (to be directed by Michael Bay) and that he is a huge fan, and hoping to make sequels too. Check out the new website http://www.transformerslive.com/ and watch a personal message from the director of directors.

Growing up, everyday after school I watched Transformers and I owned so many of the toys back in the day. I was one of those who could tell you every one of the names of the Autobots and Deceptions and all the storylines. Ah good times. The geek in me is just elated at all this news about a live-action CG movie, I just can't put it in words. It's ineffable. SAT word for you kiddos. Technology has finally caught up enough to be able to make it work. First Lord of the Rings, and now this.

To tie you over til the movie comes up in 2007, here are some links to a few cool animations I've seen on the net done by some CG artists that are nothing short of breathtaking:

Transformin' VW Bug
http://home.comcast.net/~themichaelsmith2/VWHiRes.mpg

Break dancin' Soundwave
http://students.washington.edu/colin2/breakformers/Video_player_06.html

Nissan Commercial
http://www.manchawaredesign.com/nissan/movies/nissan_commercial_medium.mov

Transforming Nike shoe. Air Max, transform!
http://www.nike.com/nikelab/video/airmaxq_marshall.jhtml

Fan-made movie trailer featuring a CGI Bumblebee
http://www.returntozero.org/thesis_cine.mov

Mazda animation
http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/NA_Autoshow/transform_big.html

Singapore Army secret weapon!
http://www.transmariners.com/tvc.html

Optimus Prime for Sale!
http://www.galactica.tv/transformers/

Starsream Student Demo Reel
http://student.vfs.com/~3d43yanni/demo.htm

Transforming Copier
http://omind.free.fr/stock/aa_30s.avi

Transforming Copier, Censored
http://omind.free.fr/stock/aa_15s.avi

Dancing Citroen Part 2
http://www.themoog.f2s.com/2CV.wmv

And the creme de la creme of animations, the Dancing Citroen C4
http://www.theembassyvfx.com/citroen.html

Extra one for you:
Man builds a life-size robot out of a Mini Cooper. I kid you not. Incredible, check out the different videos on the following page.
http://www.r50rd.co.uk/research/internal/v2i/engin/

Spoiler-Free Movie Review: The Island (2005)

"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip..." No, I'm not talking about Gillian's island, but The Island, the latest Michael Bay directed entry for the summer movie season, poised to be a definite sure fire blockbuster. For those viewers expecting just another lazily written, hollow summer action movie in the vein of Bad Boys or Armageddon, then you will be either sorely disappointed or pleasantly surprised. A highly entertaining thrill-ride backed by a surprisingly intelligent script, The Island is a thinking man's Michael Bay movie.

I'd never thought I'd hear myself say this. I thoroughly enjoyed this Michael Bay flick and it wasn't just because of his ability to blow things up. And that's no lie. I enjoyed The Rock. Bad Boys and it's sequel. Armageddon was alright. Pearl Harbor, well there were the action scenes. Common knowledge dictates that Michael Bay (with frequent cohort mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer) productions often jettison a decent script for elaborate action scenes, and that's been a criticism that's always stayed with him, with some truth in it I might add. Hopefully, that'll change in the near future.

Fortunately, that future is now. The Island contains a compelling story with an air of mystery that is well written, well executed, and above all, well acted. With a star-studded cast as Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Michael Clark Duncan, it'd be hard to go wrong and that doesn't happen here. McGregor and Johansson are capable as the leads, and they convey their desperation very well as fugitives on the run from a grand conspiracy. McGregor, as Lincoln-Six-Echo, channels Jack Bauer to a T as our protanonists are being chased all over futuristic cityscapes after discovering a horrific secret within their seemingly perfect Utopian community. Johansson, as Jordan-Two-Delta, is an actress I'm not familiar with, as I haven't seen any of her other movies. Look out Hollywood, here's a major star in the making, if not already.

And then there are the explosions. Yes, it wouldn't be a Michael Bay movie without the requisite grand action set pieces involving freeways, car chases, huge Mack trucks, helicopters, cars being chased by helicopters on a freeway, with big things being thrown off huge Mack trucks, you know the drill, but this time set in a futuristic cityscape, though resembling more like the near future than that of Blade Runner or Fifth Element. Not quite Neo-Tokyo yet either. And since this is the future, there are a veritable array of unfamiliar looking vehicles that have the privilege of being demolished every which way, in true Bay style, the very epitome of cinematic excess. But this all fits within the frame of the story, which is why this is cool.

Credited to an Alex Kurtzman, the screenplay takes a much debated scientific subject and asks all the ethical questions without being too technobabbly and non-accessible to the non-geeks of the audience, who are just there for a thrill ride. Possible comparison would be to Spielberg's Minority Report. It certainly does feels like a Philip Dick story. Kurtzman is also credited as being a writer on Alias, which in and of itself is a well-scripted series, and has written the screenplay for the upcoming Antonio Banderas starrer, Legend of Zorro and will write the screenplay for the next Mission Impossible movie with Tom Cruise, to be helmed by non other than the creator of Alias, J.J. Abrams.

It's also been announced that Michael Bay will direct, with Kurtzman writing, the first live action Transformers movie based on the old cartoon series about vehicles that transform into robots, waging an ancient war. A fanboy's dream, it certainly looks like the movie will be in good hands from hearing that Bay is the director, but judging by the quality of writing I just witnessed in The Island, my hopes are doubly bolstered. Kudos to Michael Bay for making a movie that is high octane in action, without being overly violent, highly intelligent without being pedantic, and even highly family friendly, with nary an objectionable content. This could be a winning formula.

Chino-Seven-Kappa out

Scotty Beams Himself Up One Last Time

James Doohan, who played the legendary Chief Engineer of the original Starship Enterprise died of pneumonia this morning in his home in Redmond, Washington at the age of 85. In recent years he's lessened his public appearances as he announced he had Alzheimer's. A Canadian, he survived the invasion of D-Day as a young soldier, as an adult survived attacks from Klingons and various and sundry enemies on Star Trek and has become a household name with his catch phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty".

I'll always remember growing up watching Trek, revelling in its camp and geekness. It's made me the proud geek that I am today. I also learned that if you multiplied your time estimates for a project by 4, you'll always be known as the Miracle Worker, as Scotty was. Thank you Trek, thank you Scotty.

I'll always remember you. A moment of silence please.