Travel to New York on a $100.00 a day

Well because this blog is about everything and anything I think is cool I wanted to talk a little about Infinite Solutions. What the heck is Infinite Solutions? Well damn if I know. But basically it's another video blog (or vlog for the ultra hip) of incredibly odd and off beat how to videos. Offering tips on everything from traveling to NYC on $100.00 a day to quickly defogging your goggles while skiing.

So why am I writing about this? Because none of the tips actually work. In fact most of the videos are made up. But the videos are so damn funny because of the straight forward and totally dead pan delivery at first you can't tell if it's a joke or not.

Take for instance his suggestion that on Thursday's in New York City your free to bring a hand gun to the top of the Empire State Building for target practice. He notes that you should be careful to only fire at targets and not at pedestrians. He does this while shooting a hand gun at giant targets Photo-shopped onto buildings laid out across the Manhattan sky line.

Anyhow, if your looking for a good laugh I urgh you to check it out.

http://www.marksinfinitesolutions.com/

Sky Captain .. and the world of tomorrow

It's been a a week or so since I last wrote, but I was off, enjoying my Spring Break. Anyhow, I'm back to work now, and I wanted to talk about a movie I've seen a few times that still surprises me doesn't have more of a following. Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow. This movie was released in 2004 and the story behind the film is almost as interesting as the movie itself.

A first time film maker by the name of Kerry Conran made a six minute short using his Mac and a blue screen. According to IMDB the process took him nearly four years complete what was essentially the opening six minutes of the film. He then showed the film to numerous people before a big time Hollywood producer saw it and got involved helping to finance the movie as well as get A-List stars like Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie to star.

The movie draws very heavily from old black and white movies, 50's sci-fi comic books and even experimental Post modernism flicks like Metropolis. It's visually stunning, mixing cg backgrounds and live action actors together. I guess this is why I love this movie so much is because in some ways it draws a lot on some of the same influences I do. Comics, sci-fiction and old movies.

Anyhow, as far as 3D movies goes, I feel this movie is often over looked. Not only in terms of story but also in terms of the 3D animation. If you don't believe me I challenge you to see for your self.

Martian Attack?!?

Okay so I'm sure a lot of people remember the film "Mars Attacks". This was a big sci-fi/comedy that came out about 10 years ago. Somehow I don't think it was a big hit despite that fact that it had an all-star cast and was directed by Tim Burton.

I loved this film and I often think about it because of the 50's era style and tone of the movie. In some ways it's like another Tim Burton film "Ed Wood" because it's meant to be a tribute to bad movies, but it's also trying to be a big budget Hollywood action/sci-fi movie which is where it sort of fails.

Anyhow, my favorite part of the movie without question are the UFOS. As a kid flying sauces scared the heck out of me, but I still think they are cool. I hope if there is life on other planets that aliens fly down and visit us in UFOS that look like these.

Metal Gear Solid 4

So since I started this blog because I'm taking a 3D Animation class, I wanted to talk about something that got me interested in 3D-- video games. Yes like millions of young men and woman I love video games. I guess it goes back to childhood for me, but now I'm in my 30's and when I'm looking for a way to relax and have a bit of fun I instantly turn to my XBOX 360. Now I'm not what you call a hard core gamer, but I do own at least three different game consoles and I've lost count of how many games I actually own.

One of my favorite games of all time is Metal Gear Solid. I won't even attempt to go into why this game rules, enough people have done that already. But I did want to talk a little about this trailer for the new game coming this year. MGS4 is the long awaited sequel and picks up in the future. This trailer debut sometime last year and blew me instantly away.

I loved the look and style of the game. The gritty realism mixed with the sci-fi tactical stuff is very cool. A couple of things I noticed about this trailer where the muted colors and smoke effects, both make it seem very authentic to me. Plus I like the way sound is used here especially in the first person views.

You suck ... at Photoshop

My first love has always been comedy. So when I see something that's interesting as well as hilarious I have two reactions. The first is I want everyone I know to watch it. And the second is total jealously.

Anyhow, this week while I was trying to figure out how to modify an image I stole off the web, when I discovered a new video tutorial series called "You Sucked at Photoshop". As soon as I read the title I knew I had found what I was looking for because, I do suck at Photoshop.

Lesson 1





Lesson 2



I believe there are about 7 or 8 of them all together. Just cruise over to YouTube and search for, "You Suck at Photoshop".