Autumn,Meet Winter

Autumn,Meet Winter (Explored:459 on Dec 8, 2007)
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

"Sweeney Todd" Opening Credits

Love opening credits! Love Burton!Cant wait for the movie!

WDCC: "Devilish Diva"

2007's Villains Series Release. Ursula from "The Little Mermaid".This is my first piece from the amazing animator/sculptor Ruben Procopio. I must say, seeing this piece in person is so much better than pictures.He has a very bold style of sculpting.The piece almost seems monolithic with awesome feel of mass, weight and fat.
The moment itself is gr8, and comes with very detailed vanity with a real mirror.

The Empire State Building Celebrates A Decade Of "The Lion King On Broadway"

In celebration of the ten-year milestone, one New York City landmark will honor another! This weekend, the Empire State Building will be illuminated in honor of THE LION KING. This marks the first time that the famous tower has saluted a Broadway show. Over the next 12 months, many other exciting events will take place in New York City to celebrate THE LION KING's second triumphant decade on Broadway.

Ten years ago, THE LION KING roared onto Broadway and changed the theatre world forever. The landmark musical has been seen by 45 million guests in 63 cities across 11 countries and has received over 70 awards. The Broadway cast recording has sold over a million copies in North America. The show continues to be one of Broadway's most popular productions, thrilling audiences eight times a week in the heart of Times Square.

In Theatres:"Bee Movie"(Review)

Barry the bee, suddenly decides to sue the human race for stealing their honey.Why?? Just cause he CAN! Not cause the bees are dying, or unemployed or suffering in any way. Maybe it would help if had a strong motive for doing so, other than the fact he had nothing better to do!?
And yes..in this movie Bees CAN sue humans! I know its cartoon and all, but i could believe a rat wanting to be chef, but i could not buy into this bee suing humans business.
Jerry Seinfeld(Barry the bee) and Rene Renée Zellweger's(human florist)character don't really have too much of a chemistry either.A very under developed relationship.And how many animated movies have John Goodman and Patrick Warburton been in, in the last decade? Anyone counting?Can we shake things up a bit?!?
The whole movie just seems to be a platform from which Jerry Seinfeld can keep doing his comedy routine at 3244 words per minute.
The animation is ok.The designs are far more appealing than resent Dreamworks movies.
Though again i don't get the reason why Dreamwork's animated worlds have to be SO humanized.
Why do bees need hairdos?glasses?ties?cars and stairs to move around (though they do kinda try and justify this last issue, but didn't work for me)?
Remy(Pixar's Rataouille) never wore sewer boots,Nemo(Pixar's Finding Nemo) & his dad used the EAC ocean currents to transport and NOT an EAC Walkway belt or escalator!!
I just wish Dreamworks would respect the integrity of the world they try to create to make it more believable.
The movie wasn't bad, but just ok.Yet another forgettable animated movie!I laughed a few times.Thats about it.The plot is pretty thin and silly and extremely in-consequential.

"Where You're The Fairest Of Them All":Dream Portrait Series by Annie Leibovitz

I just learned about this series, and was blown away buy the production quality and the mood of the pics!Some really good casting too!
This is the latest edition to the other 5 pics from Disney Dream Portrait Series by acclaimed photographer,Annie Leibovitz!
It casts a gorgeous Rachel Weisz as "Snow White".

"Heima" Trailer

Sigur Ros,One of my fav bands ever. Been a fan for 5 years now. Saw them in concert at Massey Hall last year!
They r insanely good Live.Infact,could not listen to the CDs after for a while!Just could not compare to the live performances.
They have a documentary coming out next month , about their music/tour with awesome performances from the tour too.
And i just found out that the documentary is directed by Dean DeBlois, Co-Director of "Lilo & Stitch" and fellow Sheridan graduate! Exciting!

Pic Of The Day:"Empty Curves"

Empty Curves
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

Trying to look for more shapes in my compositions now a days.

Disney+Yashraj= "Roadside Romeo"

A few months back, Disney announced they partnering with major Bollywood production house,Yashraj films to produce Original Indian animated features under the Disney brand.Thus tapping into the LARGE untapped market of Indian animation catering to more Indian sensibilities!
"Roadside Romeo"the first production has the big bollywood voices and directed by child star turned writer/director, Jugal Hansraj.
A first look is up , and i must say..i was surprised.The animation isn't bad, though the facial animation leaves a lot to be desired, but the production standards seem miles ahead of the current state of Indian animated features (Hanuman etc)

Pic Of The Day:"Steps"

Steps
Originally uploaded by the_anim8r

Taken at Hampi, INDIA. Its actually a water tank from a few hundred years back! cool stuff!

Pic Of The Day:"Fall Wall"

Fall Wall, originally uploaded by the_anim8r.

Since am taking more pics now days more than anything else.Thought i'd share one a day here!
This i took at Mont Tremblant.

WDCC: "An Irresistible Lure"

My sculpture buying has gone down...hence the lack of updates on that front.
But the good part is, thanks to my procrastination, i got to take pics of this one with the new SLR! So much fun!:-)
On with the piece. This is another super cool piece from Peter Pan(2 this year).This one is by Tim Brcukner.
When this was announced, I was taken aback by the choice of scene to translate to sculpture! But only after i really studied the scene, i saw it was oozing with character and story.

I like the fact that there is so much happening here.Each character has his own state of mind and emotion and they all are captured so beautifully!
This is just when Hook has captured Tiger Lilly in hopes to get her to reveal Pan's whereabouts.
Hook is confident,thinking he now has Pan, unaware of his nemesis following him(Croc).
Tiger Lilly, proud as ever, determined to not break or be intimidated.
Mr.Smee (my fav)...caught in the middle of this cold war...trying to mind his own business.
And last but not the least, the Croc,ever watchful, lurches on..cant wait to get Hook between his jaws!
A spectacular piece with tons of story telling!

Joined "JPG" Magazine!

One submits pics...people see/vote...if people like it...it even gets published!
Unfortunately most of my good pics are taken from older Sony point & shoot cam...and those pics arnt large enough to submit! :-(
But now that i have my new Canon Rebel XTi DSLR, i can actually put in stuff!
So i thought...why not?
Oh well..here are a few that i entered in under the 3 themes they had.If u like...vote!
Thnx

TV :"Pushing Daisies"

Happened to stumble upon this new show on TV.And i have to confess, i thoroughly enjoyed it!
Visually and aurally,it evokes a very Tim Burton /Danny Elfman kinda mood.The narrative style is very "James And The Giant Peach" meets "Amelie".
And the stories themselves are "Six Feet Under" meets a Who Dunnit? with comedy and caricature sprinkled all over it.
The show's about the adventures of a gifted pie-maker ,Ned who can bring dead people to life but not without consequences.
The show is directed by Barry Sonnenfeld & has a nice cast of relative newbies,including Kristin Chenowith from the Broadway hit musical "Wicked".

As u can tell it's an uncanny mix of ingredients that go on to bake this very very Fresh and Special Pie.(Excuse the analogy here but Pies are a central motif on the show):-)

Its fresh and a joy to watch.Its only 3 episodes old, so i suggest you catch up and get hooked on. You wont regret it!

If u in Canada u can see it online for free here:
http://broadband.ctv.ca/primetime/

Why Commercials Before Movies Is Worse Than Piracy

Found this on Digg:
"I estimate the movie industry owes me $480 for uncompensated ad watching time out of the $456 million they made off pre-movie commercials. The principle for piracy and time theft is the same. Taking an asset (a movie, or your time) without providing the due compensation for taking that asset. So where do we start the class action lawsuit?"

read more | digg story

Beleive It Or Not!

"WALL-E" Teaser Poster

My favorite Pixar Teaser poster yet!

TIFF'07: "Nocturna" (Film Review)

FINALLY saw this movie today at its North American Premiere at the Toronto Int.Film Festival! Long time in the making i guess...Amazing designs, very imaginative...was refreshing to see a 2D movie on the big screen after so long! The story was not to...(read more)o bad either, maybe a bit slow..but did not mind too much!
The highlight has to be the designs. Thumbs up!:-)

First Look:"The Little Mermaid" On Broadway

First couple of pics from the try outs being held at Denver before the show is ready and moves to Broadway on November.
Looks promising! Can't wait!:)

Happy 60th!

2 awesome videos of the Indian National anthem.The first being instrumental and the second, vocal.Both featuring some of India's legendary artists/musicians/composers/vocalists...form different states, castes, generations and musical genres!

But whats a great video without AR Rehman providing some cheeezz to go along with the great musical arrangements. The slow-mo shot of him over the rocks with his keyboard makes me wanna gag...

...but i love the nostalgia and the spirit both the videos capture! I miss home:-(
Happy Independence Day! :-)