Welcome to one of the best recording studios in the world - What do you imagine when you think of a recording studio? A small, soundproof room with ratty carpet and a dilapidated mixing booth? Try this place on for size. Started by George Martin, the producer of the Beatles, AIR Studios has three absolutely world-class recording areas in its facility. Click the photo on the linked page to browse their stunning gallery of pictures.
After weeks of physical chemistry, biochemistry, and cell biology, I finally took Friday off to play some piano; it was physically cathartic to produce some creative work. In addition to the usual stress of trying to cram so much information into my head, I find the lack of creative outlets in my classes stifling. Spontaneously, unexpectedly, I find my hand drawing things, as if the urge to create inside of me refuses to be held back any longer. I end up sketching crappy trees.
Weight lifting can be monotonous … but there are always those moments of sparkling dialogue.
Guy 2: So, what did you do Sunday night?
Guy 1: Yeah, I ended up watching 8 Below.
Guy 3: Hey - that snowboarding movie, right?
G1: Umm … no. But there is a lot of snow involved. It’s about sled dogs.
G2: Oh oh - that’s that movie with Cuba Gooding, Jr. in it!
G1: Uhh … no. Cuba Gooding Jr?! What? It stars that worthless actor …
G3: Oh yeah, yeah -
G2: Paul Walker!
G1: Yeah, Paul Walker.
G3: “You’re not double clutching like a good little boy …”
G2: Wait a second. What were you doing watching 8 Below?
G1: It was actually pretty good.
G3: Are you gay?
G1: No. And now I want a husky.
There has never been a pirate, or for that matter a human being, like this in any other movie.
— Roger Ebert, about Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean
Knightley’s performance is so light and yet fierce that she makes the story almost realistic; this is not a well-mannered “Masterpiece Theatre” but a film where strong-willed young people enter life with their minds at war with their hearts.
— Roger Ebert, on Pride and Prejudice
Over the Hedge has a scene in it that made me cry tears of laughter. I was absolutely in stitches during it. Thing is, my favorite scene is not my usual physical comedy (of which the movie is chock full of brilliant set-ups and take-downs), but a brilliant twist on an idea. I’ve already told Matt, Steve, John, Erin, and Dan what this scene is … and I fear I may have ruined its impact in doing so. SO, here we go … if you (1) forgot which scene I said was my favorite or (2) never heard which scene it was in the first place, and (3) have seen the movie … do try and guess which scene I am talking about. I’ll be sure to leave a comment about it after more of you have had the chance to see the movie. And see the movie you will. I rather mistakenly said “if you do not see the movie, I will take you and pay for you to see it.” Some threat.
10 Things I Hate About Commandments - The classic movie remixed into a trailer for a comedy.
The Emperor finds out about Death Star mishap - Thank you stop-motion geekery.
More photorealistic’ness - This is more stylized than that picture in the link I just posted a few weeks ago … but seriously, computer generated animation is looking better everyday.
A Prarie Home Companion - The movie had it’s Twin Cities premiere here tonight complete with horse drawn carriages, a parade, a screening at the Fitzgerald Theater, and a party at the Landmark Center.
Welcome to the first post of 2006. So many things have happened to me in this year, that I’ll toss them out in random order, maybe they’ll be funny, and maybe you’ll get bored. Who knows. First, Nils is in Norway - he’s overseas along with many people I know (for example: Emily, Emily, others). He called the experience “once in a lifetime” complete with backpacking Europe later in his 7 month stay, and total immersal in Norwegian culture and general Norwegianess. This type of horizon and world-view-expanding activity strikes me as extremely desirable for the complete college experience. While I am unable to partake at this point in my existence and for the forseeable future, I plan at some point to do some real traveling. It would break my routine-building tendencies, show me things I’ve never seen before, and make me a more interesting life-experiency type father. “Let me tell you what the Cathedrals of France look like at sunset” is generally more interesting than “let me tell you about the Saint Paul skyline at sunset” but not necessarily as practical as “if you use the correct attachment on the wrench, removing the oil filter doesn’t have to be that difficult.”
C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles of Narnia, never wanted his books turned into movies. Who can blame him? Was the cinematic technology really present any time other than now to bring his world to life? (I don’t know the answer to that, but the rhetorical question sounded cool, and asking questions sure is easier than answering them). Anyhow. Having read the Chronicles of Narnia twice, once as a rather young lad, the descriptive word “beloved” certainly rings true to my ears. Let me back up a few paces and describe to you how I ended up seeing the movie The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Hollywood’s commentary on current events is doomed to be packaged into a format that will sell tickets, avoid details required to truly make points, and a feeling of detachment due to the time required to make a movie. Nevertheless, if a standard could exist by which films could model their political statements, Syriana would be a good start. Certainly, I will have to see it again when it comes out on video to fully understand (or at least make a better attempt at fully understanding) what is going on in the movie’s plot.
I watched this movie twice. I liked it. I am a man. These statements may seem mutually exclusive, but I’ll let you in on something: the movie is very real. True, it’s built to fly off shelves into the houses of tween and teen girls, and it tells many girl stories in the same way Love Actually tells many love stories … but the story-telling is surprisingly not kitschy. In a movie like this, you would expect lame declarations of love, weak plot sketches, poor acting … but there is a distinct absence of all of these problems.
I generally like the movies Ben Stiller is in. He can be over the top as in Zoolander, but when he needs to be (as in Meet the Parents) he’s believably funny. He mixes those two together in this mostly-hit but sometime major-miss movie about dodgeball. It’s a good movie for any gathering of people under 25 … and it would be much more classic if they dropped the sexual orientation humor around the chracter Kate. Seriously … they could have pulled all that, put in a couple more funny jokes (it’s obvious they had the writers to do so), and improved the staying power of the movie tremendously.
This movie takes wickedly stylized film making and a perfect soundtrack and uses it as an extraordinary backdrop for a plot featuring extrapolated technology, kung-fu, and a look at a future of our world. The sum is much more than the parts. This movie could have been terrible - different directors, different actors, attempting to make it more “pop” and less gritty … there are so many wrong turns that are so frequently taken with futuristic movies of this type. This movie avoids these problems: how, I do not know.
Pride and Prejudice reviews well - Surprise. Looks like a very very good movie.
I loved the off-beat sense of humor in this movie, which definitely indicates it is true to the book. Though, there is a definite sense of the movie attempting to cram in all of the events in the book into a movie that just can’t accomodate it. Not having read the book, I still got the sense that there were undercurrents of humor that were shoehorned in to appease those that had read the book, but which fell flat when deflated in an attempt to fit them in.
Sometimes you follow a movie for years, eagerly anticipating its arrival, following the development of something you surely know will be wonderful. I certainly did that for Lord of the Rings, I first heard of its production by New Line when I saw a little sticker in Barnes and Nobles in 2001. I kept my ear to the ground for a long time, watching the development, hoping the movie would do justice to its book. It did. This review, however, is not of that movie. Nay. It is of a movie whose development I would have eagerly followed had I known about it: Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were Rabbit.
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