3.28.2009

The Haunting in Connecticut

Going into this movie, I knew that it was going to be a big hype-fest. Lots of quick cuts, scary music, cliche character setup, and the fact that it's 'based on true events' makes is that much more enticing because it connects with you in a way that most horror flicks don't. That said...I thought this was a little (I stress 'a little') better than I walked into the theater thinking it was going to be.

The story itself didn't very interesting other than just random things jumping out and scaring you, and it sort of setting up the end half of the movie. The character development was actually quite fun. Mostly because (and I watched this thinking about it being a 'real' story) the first half of the movie the scary s**t only happens to the one kid, and you just pass it all off as hallucinatory side effects of the drugs he's taking (he has cancer...no spoiler there). But then once they've got you connected to this family, and you just think this kid is crazy...that's when it gets off the hook.

Overall. Good setup, good character development, the music was okay, and the editing seemed a little slow for certain parts, or tried to be too quick for certain scenes where there's nothing jumping out at you, but I thought it was an intriguing story, and even before the end credits roll, they inform you of the current state of the haunted house, which is neat.

now here's a movie poster from the movie, and it turns out that stuff spewing from his mouth is actually ectoplasmic vomit.

3.20.2009

Blizzard’s Battlenet 2.0 is Upon Us

Blizzard just updated their Battle.net webpage and it will allow users to merge their World of Warcraft accounts to the Battle.net. This will be the beginning of what they plan to do where they will merge all Blizzard products under one roof.

read more | digg story

3.17.2009

Liam Neeson kills everyone in Europe!

Just got home a while ago from going out and [not] partying on st. patty's day. I did start my evening at a bar/pub though. Hung out with peeps and had some free h'ordeuvres (chicken fingers, meatballs, and really awesome crisps). After watching some of my friends have 'Irish Car Bombs' which looked like it would make me instantly go into anaphylactic shock...or just make me throw up, I headed out to the movie theaters and went to see 'Taken' with my friend Amber.

She mentioned afterward how short the movie was. I really didn't notice, maybe cause I was too caught up in Liam Neeson karate chopping people in the neck and pistol whipping his way through Europe to get his daughter back. The story was a great idea, and although it's a completely serious movie, you kinda have to laugh at parts cause they're so ridiculous (I know I did). Though on a more serious note, I really hope I don't get kidnapped, drugged up, and sold into male a prostitution ring when we're on tour in Europe.

The ending was a nice happy family friendly ending, though I really would have hoped for some cheesy crazy phone call, his family's care exploding, or Neeson randomly karate chopping the guy next to him in the neck for no apparent reason other than to end on an awesome karate-neck-chopping note, maybe even freeze frame the shot as he hits the dude in the neck, and roll credits over that.

...I lost my train of thought in this blog thinking about Liam Neeson karate chopping fools...and reading other peoples blogs and twitters.

So, have fun this St. Patty's day, and don't get too drunk and fall off the planet...or into a gutter, or off the planet into an interplanetary gutter which is actually a metaphor for your life and then you're picked up by aliens that think your Charles Bronson and you're made to act out parts in movies that you weren't actually in, but if you told that to the aliens they would most likely kill you, or at worst, anal probe you, which wouldn't be that bad if you really think about it. It could be quite cleansing. What if they probe your anus just cause they want a clean subject to test on, so what they're actually doing is giving you a space enema, and you'll feel clean and free after the procedure.





....wow...sorry. anyway, yay!

3.16.2009

WTF SciFi Channel?

Apparently the famed SciFi channel has realized that they don't actually like their 'geeks and space aliens' crowd that frequents the channel. They're going to be changing the stations name from 'SciFi' which is short for 'Science Fiction' they thought it'd be 'cooler' to rename the channel to 'Syfy'...which sounds stupid. Unfortunately I've heard that some people that are not in the know (idiots) pronounce the name of the channel 'Skiffi' and that was probably one of the reasons for the change, a rather idiot reason, but a reason none-the-less. Anyway, I don't actually watch television anymore, so I could care less. Any of my viewing takes place online, or if I do end up watching any programming, it's at a friends house, or one of the many movie channels.

Long story short, the name change is stupid, mostly because the main reason is to widen their appeal to the 'cooler' people as apposed to their more dedicated 'geek and space alien' crowd. Don't come crying back to your real fans when no one cares that you Americanized the word along the lines of "Dunkin' Donuts".

3.14.2009

Watch the Theater

New link up to the left. Got the blog up for my upcoming web series 'Community Theater' which is in the writing process right now. Hoping to shoot end of summer, and release the first episode by fall. Stay tuned. My previous post has the pilot/test episode of it, and you can find more detailed info about that at the theater blog here. Enjoy!

3.13.2009

YouTube Alive!

Posted my 2nd ever youtube video. It's called 'Community Theater' and it's a project I did with my sister a while back. I just had a script lying about that I fixed up and we filmed and edited it all in a matter of 2 days. I'm re-writing the script a bit, and hopefully we'll be setting up to shoot this soon. We're gonna re-do the entire first part (the parts in the video) higher quality, and with a little longer time to fine tune it.



You can find my youtube channel linked in the left hand column of links on this page. I only have one other youtube video, and it's of me while on tour with Rosetta in NY setting up my drums.

3.11.2009

Audio Soundscapes

Just uploaded two audio files I've been working on. I helped out a friend with projects for his audio class, and these soundscapes are what we came up with. The first is a zombie attack, where I get eaten, and the second is a star wars soundscape. Both were really fun to make, and will probably have some more.
Zombie Attack | Star Wars

Watchmen - and why I liked it.

...because it's awesome. Done.





Only kidding. Now, I read the 'graphic novel' and I understand hardcore comic book...*cough* graphic novel fans of watchmen how once again, Hollywood has destroyed a story, characters, and an overall idea of something we love, but C'MON! I mean, the book aside, that movie was still really kickass. I do have to say, that I agree with friends of mine that said the music in parts was badly chosen, and placed (that version of hallelujah during the sex scene? wtf man. All awesomeness and boobies aside, that sex scene had really no part in that movie other than the men in the audience getting a boob shot, and excessive humping action...anyway 'all along the watchtowers' awesome song, but it went on for far too long..there were others, but I'm not gonna rant.) Those problems aside, the acting was kickass, the action was -packed, and the special effects (I thought Rorschach's face looked especially sweet, though his voice did have that stupid 'I'm Christian Bale, and I'm Batman' sound to it).....I lost my train of thought, mostly cause I'm Playing WoW, listening to Huey Lewis & the News, and writing this blog at the same time...and drinking lovely Sunkist orange soda :)

...anyway, long story short, I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you. Good Night.

/dance

3.05.2009

main site update

To accompany my new blog design, I've updated my websites design. lafingputz.com. It has the same design as my blog at the moment, but as time progresses I'll update it, make it snazzier and such. I'll be posting my projects, be they video, audio, or photographic. So check it out, have fun, and...yay!

New Design! yay!

Got my own template up here and rawkin' hard! Pretty excited. Had this design for a while, and I've used it on numerous projects, and for clients, but never edited it for a blog or anything. Had more javascript and crazy menus and such setup, but seemed a bit much for blogger, so I shaved down a lot of the bells and whistles for something super-simplistic for this blog. Hope you like it.

Not much of an update, just working, playing, writing. I have a story I'm writing in the works. Going to start storyboards soon for the first episode. It's gonna be an internet series I hope. We'll see how it transpires. Hopefully I'll have a website setup, or even just a place where I can store the images from it, or the story for people to read. Whatever, mostly wanted to put in a new post to commemorate my new design update, so happy day!

As for my regular website (http://www.lafingputz.com) I'll probably implement a more 'bells and whistles' design since it's supposed to show off my skills and projects anyway. So check out my site, my blog, my FACE! :D and have fun.

ooh ooh...I have two new songs I finished recording, and I'm searching for a vocalist to write lyrics and a melody to them. Preferably female, because for some reason I'm not keen on dudes singing my stuff, dunno. I'll have them posted somewhere soon.

I also finished my second awesomeness sound-scape with a friend of mine. First one was a zombie attack, where I get bitten by a zombie, we crashed trash-cans, skid cars down my street, and recorded it ALL. Made for one awesome chaotic zombie attack sound-scape. This time we did a Star Wars sound-scape. This was really fun. Got to work with Stormtrooper sounds, blasters, lightsabers. I was happy and excited, and the finished project came out really great. I'll have that posted with links soon, for the sound-scapes and the two songs.

ta-ta.

3.01.2009

My problem with big stages, and the fact that I suck.

Just got home from a show in Ithaca, NY. We were incredibly late, and when we showed up, quite possibly the worst band I've ever heard (well...not true, I've heard worse) was playing. It was a drum-bass duo. Anyway...it was like, not hipster city, but it was extremely not anything cool. I counted about 7 mo hawks though, circle pits galore, and tons of girls, that had to be college freshman from the area, but looked like they were twelve.

On to the performance...

They had a huge stage, with drum riser. Earlier I was looking on the wall of posters they had there. I guess it was there 'claim to fame' wall with all the big time acts they've had play there. Warrant had played there. That was the only name I recognized on their wall, though I didn't really look for very long, cause I had to chuckle a bit and walk away when I saw a ridiculous band photo from some dudes named "Chocolate Fudge." Standing there looking' like they're all that, when they just look like 80's douches.

The room was too big, the stage was too high, the sound was too crap, the monitors had nothing in them, so I couldn't actually follow anything Matt or Dave were doing. I ended up skipping an entire phrase in our first song (we played 'Red in Tooth & Claw'), but that's not really cause of the sound, but because some douche bag with long blond hair and a douchey bandanna kept trying to reach up the stage and unplug Matt's pedal board. Matt then kicked him in the face. When he failed at that, he moved to the side of the stage, and attempted to unplug his guitar amps. Matt then kicked him in the face again. When the kid tried the pedal board again, I saw Matt move to the front of the stage, and the kid tried to trip him by grabbing his legs. Matt bent down to say something to him, which I later found out it was "I will kick you in the face again if you don't stop." or something like that.

...Anyway, long story short, the people that stayed for us to play (cause we played last, and we all now how that goes) had fun and bought stuff. We played horribly, but I kicked the s**t outta my drums, so I was in a good mood. Gotta get the vent system in the van checked out...because on cold drives, the windows actually frost up with ice on the inside, crazy, and I think the transmission is about to fall out of the bottom of the van, but that's just a hunch.

g'night.