The incoherent bloggings of a die-hard Star Wars fan.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Madonna - Material Girl
At the onset of Episode III's release next year, Star Wars hype is back on the rise for the final time.
First off, we now know the title to the final chapter of the Star Wars saga: Revenge of the Sith. Ever since the backlash of fans 3 years ago upon learning that the title of Episode II was Attack of the Clones, we've all learned to accept and appreciate that George Lucas titles his episodes as an homage to old sci-fi movie serials (I mean come ON... The Empire Strikes Back? What kind of title is that?). Personally, I love this new title for that very same reason. It's also interesting to note how it parallels with the chronological final chapter of the saga, and die-hard fans will see the reference it makes to the early working title. "Jedi don't seek revenge..." Heh heh. And check out the new logo, done in retro Return of the Jedi style.
And onto other Star Wars news. George Lucas is once again fucking with the original trilogy. That's right, a special edition of the special edition, referred to as the "ultimate edition." Highly rumored until recently confirmed at the Star Wars Spectacular at Comic-Con, George Lucas, who's made a reputation to be an utter perfectionist, will release his true "definitive vision" of his Star Wars trilogy when it comes to DVD this September. And I'm not talking about a couple special effect touch-ups, I'm talking about some major changes here.
Some Star Wars fans already hate him for messing with the trilogy for the Special Edition release (Greedo shoots first?!! WHY?!!). Here's a partial list of additional changes that have already been made (most have already been confirmed):
*All opening crawls have been redone digitally
*All lightsaber effects have been redone digitally
*Clouds have been added to the binary sunset
*Cantina aliens now blink
*The Special Edition Jabba the Hutt has been replaced by the Episode I CGI Jabba
*Death Star doors opening/closing have been smoothed out
*Death Star corridor matte paintings have been replaced digitally
*The dianoga is now partially CGI
*The English words on the Death Star's tractor beam controls will be changed to Aurebesh
*Space shots of R2-D2 have been restored
*Stop-motion shots of tauntauns have been smoothed out
*Boba Fett and the stormtroopers have been redubbed by Temuera Morrison
*Clive Revill's Emperor Palpatine has been replaced by Ian McDiarmid, as well as changes in the dialogue
*Matte lines around the rancor have been removed and blurred
*Sebastian Shaw's eyes have been recolored to match Hayden's and his eyebrows have been removed
*Naboo has been added to the Special Edition galactic celebration sequence
*The Jedi Temple has been added to the shot of Coruscant
*Sebastian Shaw's ghost has been digitally replaced by Hayden Christensen
And that's not all. Far more changes continue to lie in rumor, including the highly rumored newly filmed shots of Alderaan and the Galactic Senate inserted into A New Hope.
*sigh* IMHO, George Lucas is well past his prime. Someone should tie him up and keep him from ever again touching the movies that made him famous. Granted, some of these changes (pretty much just the visual effects ones) are good ideas, and judging from the leaked screenshots I've seen, they look great. But I'm skeptical whether or not such drastic changes are necessary. At least the digital transfer looks sweet. Check it out:
Holy motherfrigg'n crap. Comic-Con rocked hardcore to the max, and then some. I mean, you have no idea. Meeting and talking to so many fellow geeks and celebrities, people who share your passions, seeing so many amazingly cool things... I was in heaven for an entire weekend. I took well over 300 photos (thanks to the wonderful assistance of my best friend Timmy and his Powerbook's memory space). Here are a few. :)
San Diego Comic-Con International 2004
Wednesday, July 21 - "Preview Night"
Preview night, the night they leave the entire colossal exhibition hall open for Comic-Con antendees with weekend passes so that we get first dibs on everything. Jen, Kristal, Chris, and I arrived at our motel and got our passes sometime around 4PM and waited in the long line before the doors were opened at 5. We thought it was crowded then... oh no. Come Saturday, every square foot of the exhibition hall was crawling with people.
The third annual Star Wars Comic-Con exclusive silver edition figure was a sandtrooper this year. Last year's figure was a Boba Fett, and I had that signed by Daniel Logan and Jeremy Bulloch, but no one particularly played the sandtrooper, so I left mine unsigned.
Last year's Comic-Con took place amid the hype of the upcoming Return of the King, so they started the tradition of the Pavilion, a collection of related booths into a giant spiffy entire section of the exhibition hall. Last year's Lord of the Rings Pavilion was a huge success. This year's Star Wars Pavilion was frigg'n breathtaking. Giant panels of images from all six Star Wars films, an enormous digital projection screen, playable demos of upcoming LucasArts titles, huge models of X-wings and TIE fighters hanging overhead, larger-than-life statues of Boba Fett and Yoda and more, life-size Lego Darth Vader and R2-D2 as well as spanning Lego dioramas, Tsuneo Sanda art and Hasbro figure exhibits, Star Wars celebrity autograph signings, and most notably, a full-size X-wing starfighter smack dab in the middle of Hall D.
Some of the Star Wars celebrities were already present for autograph signings on preview night. I got to meet, shake hands, and get autographs from Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and Ray Park (Darth Maul), who's such a totally nice guy with an awesome Scottish accent and seemed to love interacting with the fans.
Thursday, July 22
Thursday's schedule of panels didn't have anything particularly interesting or Star Wars-related, so I spent most of the day perusing the exhibition hall and the Star Wars Pavilion. I met and took pictures with Scott Kurtz (creator of PvP), Jake Lloyd (young Anakin Skywalker), and Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett).
None of the others were much of Star Wars fans, so despite how cool all the Star Wars stuff was, I felt kinda lonely looking at it all without Mike or Tim. Jen fortunately joined me that evening for the totally kick-ass 3rd annual Star Wars Fan Film Awards ceremony.
And I'm not just saying that just because it's Star Wars; Jen loved it too. All the nominees this year were absolutely hilarious, especially the film that won "Best Comedy," Recruitment, a mock Stormtrooper recruitment video. We also got to see the special edition of the internet sensation "Star Wars Gangsta Rap" with all-new animation. And thank the maker... the geniuses behind George Lucas in Love won this year's coveted "Pioneer" award.
Friday, July 23 - "Star Wars Day"
Every Comic-Con Friday is "Star Wars Day," back-to-back Star Wars panel events. I met Jan Duursema, the beautiful and talented artist of the Clone Wars comic books, and she gave me her complimentary chocolate, which is so awesome you have no idea. And out of the 150+ Star Wars fans who participated the Star Wars trivia contest, guess who won 2nd place? Yep. Me. :)
Warner Bros. held their Batman Begins and Constantine panel in Hall H, where 6,500 seats were filled. Unfortunately as the new Batman film is currently being filmed, we didn't get to see any footage, but Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan filmed a video for Comic-Con, talking about the film. Then they showed 18 minutes from Constantine, which looks really cool, and Keanu Reeves came out and had a Q&A session (he hardly had anything interesting to say, lol). I left early to go get Mike Mignola's (creator of Hellboy) autograph.
New Line's Blade: Trinity, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and Return of the King extended DVD panel was even cooler. Among the people who came to speak at the panel: Jessica Biel, Ryan Reynolds, John Cho, Kal Penn, Billy Boyd, and David Wenham. And yes, we got to see some of the extended ROTK (a whopping 50 minutes will be added to the cut), as well as some stuff that won't be on the DVD.
Saturday, July 24
Saturday was the day of the highly anticipated "Star Wars Spectacular" presentation by Steve Sansweet of Lucasfilm relations and Rick McCallum, producer of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. How highly anticipated? I got there 2 hours early, and there were already well over a thousand people in line. But I wasn't alone! Tim, Caroline, and Mike drove down from their homes to join me at what was quite obviously the highlight of my weekend in San Diego. Any form of recording including photography was prohibited, so here's what happened at the presentation:
Steve Sansweet announced the upcoming release of the Ewoks and Droids animated series as well as the Ewok live-action movies on DVD. We then got to see some of the never-before-seen documentary footage from the upcoming trilogy DVD release, as well as extra details about the DVD's. Surprise guest Carrie Fisher came out on stage and talked to the fans. Sansweet showcased Comic-Con exclusive trailers for upcoming LucasArts games as well as the rerelease of THX-1138. The Episode III art department displayed conceptual artwork for the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Rick McCallum arrived and showed us footage of Hayden Christensen being outfitted with the Darth Vader costume. Then by complete surprise, out came Hayden Christensen, and then followed a Q&A session. I actually went up and asked Hayden about his future plans, and he talked about his next project. And last but definitely not least, also by complete surprise and followed by the screaming and cheering of 6,500 fans, Steve Sansweet revealed the title of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Upon later visiting the Star Wars Pavilion, I met Carrie Fisher and got her autograph.
Oh and I got Stan Lee's autograph too. But dude. Star Wars. *melts*
Being the night of the 30th annual Comic-Con Masquerade, there were tons of fans in costume everywhere.
Sunday, July 25 - "Kids Day"
Today was "Kids Day" at Comic-Con, so there wasn't much to see regarding panels. I met and got autographs from Irvin Kershner (director of The Empire Strikes Back), Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian), and author Kevin J. Anderson. Michael Madsen kept cancelling his autograph sessions throughout the weekend, but he finally made it today. He signed my Reservoir Dogs DVD and did his cool guy pose for the camera.
Madsen is such a kick-ass actor, and I told him that. To this he replied, "I wish you were a movie producer." Heh heh.
Ah... what a weekend.
San Diego Comic-Con International 2005! Who's coming? :)
San Diego Comic-Con International... TOMORROW!!! That's right. In fact, I'm leaving for San Diego in less than an hour and panicking because I can only find the first book of the Jedi Academy trilogy as the other two have gone missing. Sigh... I'll have Kevin J. Anderson sign 'em next year I guess. He's always at Comic-Con. I think he lives there, hehe.
And it's not just Kevin J. who'll be there. Oh no. The guest list is enormous, and signing autographs will be Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Billy Dee Williams of Star Wars, Michael Madsen of Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, Dean Haglund, Laurie Holden, and Brian Thompson of The X-Files, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monahan, and David Wenham of Lord of the Rings, Stan Lee, Mike Mignola, Guillermo del Toro, and Matt Groening. Other celebrities attending: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Keanu Reeves, Djimon Hounsou, Jude Law, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Eliza Dushku, John Cho, Kal Penn, Trey Parker, Matt Stone... I haven't the time to go on.
There are so many things to see all weekend, and you can never expect what to see. Two Comic-Cons ago, an exclusive X2 trailer was shown. At last year's Comic-Con, fans were taken by complete surprise when they got to see the completed "Doc Ock killing the doctors" scene of Spider-Man 2.
And last but definitely not least will be Steve Sansweet's "Star Wars Spectacular" presentation this Saturday. Sansweet's Comic-Con Star Wars presentations never fail to amaze, as last year, a special video tour of the set of Episode III was compiled by George Lucas himself just for Comic-Con antendees, as well as a first look into Cartoon Network's Clone Wars series. This year, they promise some big surprises and special guests.
And that's not the end of it! The Masquerade, the Fan Film Awards, the exhibition hall, the bijillions of panels... I'm giddy with excitement!
See you all next week! :)
Artwork by Steven L. Cloud, creator of Boy on a Stick and Slither, updated every Monday and Friday (and yes, he'll be at Comic-Con too!):
The fires made their way into Santa Clarita a couple days ago. Jennie and I tried to get a good shot of the giant smoke plume, and that night, Karl and I stopped by the 14 freeway at night to take pictures of the flames themselves. The blurry long-exposures don't do it justice; seeing the hillside up close and ablaze was scary. We could only get a few shots before CHP shooed us away.
My training period at the arcades is over, so yesterday was my first full shift I had to open Arcade 1 alone. It didn't help that some idiot had locked the side door (which is supposed to be left open) and left me stranded for half an hour, but otherwise the day went smoothly. Ronald joined me sometime around 2PM, around peak hours.
It's amazing how often little kids will try to see if a nickel will work with the token-only arcade games. Once they discover that they've thoroughly jammed the machine, they run off, only to make the coin jam worse as more and more people put in tokens. By the time we get called over to release the jam from the inside, so many coins fall into the coin release that we can't get the door open. Blarg.
Lastly, one of my "Engrish" photos finally made the cut today after waiting half a year. Took them long enough! Check it out here. If they put up any more of the several dozen pictures I sent them, I'll let you know.
Work was a bit tiring yesterday. I had to close Arcade 1, which is the hardest to close out of the three Magic arcades, but granted I had help because I'm still training. I was working with Matt again. Working at either Arcade 1 or Mining Town takes a little weight off your shoulders as there are no supervisors there and you basically work alone. So instead of cleaning up after the doors closed at 10, Matt and I closed before then, giving us almost an hour to challenge each other to DDR. He's really damn good though; I could hardly compare.
You think you've seen people who are really good at DDR, you ain't seen nothing. Working at the arcades, I see people who are sooo good at DDR it doesn't seem humanly possible. Literally.
And on a different note, check this out! This year's Emmy Award nominees were announced today, and Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars micro-series on Cartoon Network has been nominated in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More)." Kick-ASS.
The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards presentation telecast from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium airs September 19 (coincidentally two days before the Star Wars Trilogy DVD release date). Star Wars: Clone Wars' third and final season airs March 21, 2005.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Star Wars: Clone Wars is better than the prequels.
I finally got around to watching True Romance, which Kristal lent me a while ago. I have to say, I was pretty impressed. This movie is like some twisted mix of Pretty Woman, Bonnie and Clyde, and Scarface. I don't really like Christian Slater nor Patricia Arquette, but they had such a chemistry in this movie. And there were so many likeable characters, so it didn't hurt to have such an all-star cast (Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Gandolfini to name a few). Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken had minor roles but they were so amazing. And Brad Pitt's couple of scenes... classic. Hans Zimmer's score wasn't bad either. What with all the references to Sonny Chiba kung fu films, it was pretty easy to tell it was written by none other than Quentin Tarantino.
So now I've seen every completed movie that Tarantino has either directed and/or predominantly written. That leaves out the incomplete My Best Friend's Birthday, the partially-written Four Rooms and From Dusk Till Dawn trilogy, and the bijillion movies he's only starred in. I rank them from favorite to least favorite:
Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Jackie Brown, Natural Born Killers
Looking forward to Inglorious Bastards, coming out next year, and Kill Bill Vol. 3, coming out in roughly 15 years. :)
Think I'm joking? I'm serious! He said he would, but not until he makes some other movies first.
Artwork by Scott Kurtz, creator of the hilarious PvP (and he'll be at Comic-Con! 9 days left! w00t!), updated daily:
I finally cut my hair. The last time I cut it was back in October, which would probably be the longest I've gone without a haircut, save for my infant months. Yeah, it was longer than I've ever had it, roughly over 6 inches, and you could no longer see my ears or the back of my neck. Last time I had my hair cut short, but now I'm gonna keep it long, so I had the back and sides cut and a bit off the top. It feels a lot lighter, not to mention weird. Now maybe Samantha will stop bugging me about it, lol.
Yesterday was my first day of work at the Cleveland Coin arcades at Magic. It's not exactly the most fun of jobs, but it's pretty easy and time passes quickly. I only had a half-shift of four hours, but it never felt long. The rules of the job are incredibly strict and you're trusted with giant sums of cash as well as a key worth over two grand, but despite the pressure you get the hang of it. Sure, standing for hours on end without being allowed to sit, cleaning up other people's trash, and worst of all dealing with some of the most stupid customers on the planet is tedious, but hey, for $7.50 an hour (while all the actual Six Flags employees are slaving away out in the hot sun for minimum wage) I'll do it. A couple of familiar faces work there. Ronald Choi and Matt What's-his-face who joined AcDec for a couple weeks a couple years back work there as well.
A while back I said I'd upload a gallery of artwork I've done this past year, but I've decided to just upload the occasional art piece I like, one by one. Here's one of the first projects I did, which I uploaded to my deviantART webpage a few weeks ago: a two-point perspective, 12"x24", charcoal on drawing paper.
If you know me, you know I love movies. And if you know me well, you know I always check Rotten Tomatoes before seeing a new movie. Rotten Tomatoes combines the reviews of hundreds of movie critics nationwide to give a movie a percent rating, and I find that almost every single time I agree with the rating. They also rate games, celebrities and directors (based on the ratings of movies they've starred in or directed), and more.
I've been reading some of the critics' reviews for movies that sucked, and what they say can be pretty amusing. Take for example this review of the horrendous mess that is Garfield, which has a rating of 14%:
"I get bored reading a 'Garfield' strip, and it only takes 10 seconds. Imagine the effect of watching a movie that is just as dull, but 480 times as long."
-- Eric D. Snider, ERICDSNIDER.COM
And here's a review of Gigli, which has a rating of 7%:
"Imagine a movie made up entirely of Deleted Scenes..."
-- Collin Souter, EFILMCRITIC.COM
Lastly, here's a review of Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, which has a remarkable 0% out of 98 reviews, the worst-rated movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes:
"You'll have more fun setting fire to yourself in the parking lot. You'll be more entertained getting hit by a bus."
-- Rob Vaux, FLIPSIDE MOVIE EMPORIUM
Yesterday was our country's 228th birthday. Well technically that's not true since we really won our independence at the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, but if you want to base the history of our nation on technicalities, then Ohio is the 47th state in the Union. It's true!
Anyways, yesterday evening we all went to Chris' 4th of July barbecue thingy, which was pretty cool. I hadn't seen Jen Roberts in forever, the food was good and the fireworks were neat, and Chris' brother seriously owned all of us in Halo. Got a little crazy towards the end, but I won't--er, can't--talk about that here. I'd also like to add that I totally own Jeremy in chess. Once the game was over, I had only lost two pawns, heh heh.
Finally had my job interview with Cleveland Coin at Magic Mountain after it had been postponed week after week. It went quite well. I got the job, and I start working this Saturday. My boss Dave wasn't too happy to hear that I was going to be gone for the weekend of Comic-Con, so I was sure he wouldn't accept me once he learned I was leaving for a week in Maui, but I guess I was wrong. Cool. :)
