Quentin Dupieux Burns Rubber, Baby!

The contest is at a end for a signed poster by Olly Moss for Rubber signed by the director at midnight, no foolin. I'll be posting some of the art and the winner shortly.

I like to remind everyone you can see Rubber in theaters April 1st. Locally at the

Nuarte
11272 Santa Monica Boulevard, just west of the 405 Freeway
West Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 281-8223

Special Appearance at the Nuart Theatre (Los Angeles, CA):

Actress Roxane Mesquida will appear In Person Friday, April 1 for a Q&A after the 7:30pm show and to introduce the 9:45pm show. She will also appear Saturday, April 2 for a Q&A after the 7:30pm show and to introduce the 9:45pm show. One week engagement.


On the topic of Rubber, I was lucky enough to chat shortly with the director Quentin Dupieux a few weeks ago.

He discussed a number of topics when the press met with him about his new movie. What I can tell you in just meeting with him is he's French, friendly and has a beard. That and he's a total kid at heart. Now I've already gone over the questions he's usually asked here, but Quentin went into the topic of using the just a 5D camera and not using a big crew.
"... as a filmmaker you just have to deal with tons of ideas most of them are bad you always looking for a good idea i don't know why we picked it up, i just felt it was worth filming." "You know I shoot, with my son, a tire in the yard ... and we watched it in the theater and it was exciting like a movie.
"I've always been filming and shooting with Rubber,.. the camera is mine and I can shoot and nobodies watching a screen and I'm the only one watching.
"When you pay a ticket to watch a movie, or when you click to play a online movie, even when you still it online , the movie has to be good looking"

I asked about the new poster slight controversy, " he had to say, "Honestly, when someone work on everything else and they want to bring there touch, honestly they did a great job on the first poster by Olly Moss, it's genius, suddenly the best poster for this movie." Did you just tweet that you didn't like it or did you tell them first?" I asked. "They knew, it was insulting to me, it's not my movie, they painted the girl. If you look they just painted a random Brunette, it's not the girl in the movie, it'd not the tire. It's not even the same design! It's like, yeah, just put in a tire, it's fine. I got pissed off. I know why the did that, it's funny in a way." I then asked if he was pissed at this early and that's why he left AFI Fest premiere of his movie early. He just told me no, that the poster he didn't like wasn't made, yet. He didn't leave early angry. He said he was simply scared to do it. Strange as the audience loved it.

Someone else asked about the casting of Robert, (the tire). Strangely, enough it was difficult as their is copyright laws in place for all the tires on the market with their different designs. So they had to change trade the tread design. He said a car tire had to be the tire. Why? He answered, "No , reason."

I think my favorite thing Quentin had to say was, " I know this sounds stupid, like childish, but I don't want to be a professional...and being a professional disgust me, like, yeah I'm a director, yeah do this, do that, that's disgusting I don't wan to do that. I'm just a kid and I'm just having fun with a camera"

Geeky Links: 'Fascinating' is a word I use for the unexpected.

Star Trek Bathrobes
$49.99 on ThinkGeek.com








Felicia
$287.99 from Slideshow Collectibles



































Critical Hit LED D20 Die

$9.99 on ThinkGeek.com










Doctor Who Tardis Talking Money Bank
$38.86 on Amazon


Harry Potter Infrared Battling Wands
$22.99 on ThinkGeek.com

David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy

David Smith: Cubes and Anarchy

Resnick Pavilion
April 3, 2011–July 24, 2011

more info

Modern, uses of metal, and a strange way of looking at the world await you at LACMA at this exhibit. Lose yourself and some art.

Other than the show another new item has been added to the LACMA, the Image Bank. Instead of trying to hoard art like other museums and galleries, LACMA is giving public access to a huge amount of thier pieces in high resolution.

Look at the LACMA collection

LACMA

Los Angeles County Museum of Art • 12-8 M/T/Th • Closed Wednesday • 12-9 F • 11-8 S/S
5905 Wilshire Blvd • Los Angeles California 90036 •

That Clown Seems Different

KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE
(Chiodo Brothers in person!)
 
Friday, April 1st | 11:59pm
Tickets - $10

After playing pranks, see some depravity with friends the well known video store classic Killer Klowns from Outer Space!  Did I mention the clowns want to eat us?


more info

Wonder Woman in Hollywood

Wonder Woman filming is taking place around LA . I snagged this little video after the Insomniac Community Day just happening a little down the street ended. Sorry, not to get it, but Wonder Woman was jumping in place to warm up and it was nice. The costume could tone down the colors and lose the pants, but we might get further into that in another post.

This Weeks What To Do

 Super & Orgasm, Inc.

Laemmle's Sunset 5 8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046

Super

A new funny dark superhero comedy

SUPER director James Gunn will participate in a Doug Benson-moderated Q&A after the 7:40 screening and introduce the 10:15 screening at the Sunset 5 on Friday, April 1. 


Orgasm Inc.

Orgasm Inc. tells about the sex product industry for women getting off

ORGASM-featured sexpert Kim Airs will participate in Q&A’s after the prime evening screenings Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2 at the Sunset 5.

Dodgers Back in Blue

Head to a overpriced baseball game if you can afford it.

First Fridays at the Natural History Museum

Tour and Discussion (5:30 pm - 7:30 pm)

Tour (5:30 pm, 6:00 pm, 6:30 pm): What laid this Egg? with Kimball Garrett (Collection Manager, Ornithology) and Jim Dines (Collections Manager, Mammology)

What on Earth? is the first exhibit featured in our historic Haaga Family Rotunda. Each architectural case presents enigmatic and visually arresting specimens from NHM's collection. Their stories unfold in a playful series of questions and answers--that often ends with a final "And what do you think?” Each First Friday tour focuses on a single case, as you will learn, in science there are always more questions.

Discussion (6:30 pm): "Planet Microbe: How the Smallest Organisms Created Our World and Are Now Saving It"

Taking a night off from his USC lab, Dr. Steven Finkel will talk about roles of microbes in three ways: how microbes set the stage for life on Earth; the current roles of microbes in our ecosystem; and their practical applications now and in the future. Put it this way: if bacteria didn't "eat" DNA, we'd be up to our elbows in it, and now we're using microbes in power production and environmental clean-ups. Size doesn't matter, it turns out!

Performances (8:00 pm - 10:00 pm)

Performances in the Diorama Hall - The Pinker Tones and Ceci Bastida

 

Heavy Metal Film Fest

March 31, 2011 at 7pm to April 3, 2011 at 10pm
 Downtown Independent
251 S Main St.
Los Angeles



Rock out this weekend the most hardcore way you can. A bunch of movies and activities for the Heavy Metal fan.














The Contemporary Figurative Modification Five Man Group Show 

 Creepy toys to put on your desk and freak out your loved ones.


April 2nd 2011 7pm-11pm opening reception


Toy Art Gallery

737 Seward St #1
Los Angeles, CA 90038

2011 Cherry Blossom Festival Southern California

April 2-3

Little Tokyo

Come out to little Tokyo for the 2011 Cherry Blossom Festival. A J-Pop stage and you know cosplayers will be hanging out. They"ll have different music and cultural acts going on around the Little Tokyo area.  The pie- eating contest on Sunday looks like fun. Booths selling cute little items, too.




Fight For Relief

Sunday, April 3
Registration: 11AM-12:45PM
Tournaments Begin: 1PM

University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine – Irvine, CA 92697/92612
Room name is Pacific Ballroom A and Pacific Ballroom B.


Fight For Relief is a day of charity fighting game tournaments intended to raise funds for Japan relief efforts due to the earthquake and resulting tsunami that devastated the nation on March 11. It consists of two fighting game tournaments that will both be broadcast via a unified justin.tv stream, which will also accept online donations from viewers like you.

Heartbeat Japan

So White and Nerdy

 The UCB Theater is having some nerdy shows in April worth checking out.

 UCB Theater 5919 Franklin Ave Hollywood, CA 90028 (323) 908-8702

SO I LIKE SUPERMAN: A One-Nerd Show

8:00 pm — $5 Wednesday April 27, 2011

A gay nerd jokes about Superman, with Superman Returns creation that likelihood seemed inevitable.


In 1938, at the height of the great depression, the world was introduced to the greatest hero of all time.
In 1982, at the height of Mary Hartney's post-partum depression, that character was introduced to the biggest, gayest nerd of all time.

In So I Like Superman, writer/performer/comic book nerd Michael Hartney tells the secret origin of his lifelong obsession with the Man of Steel, oddly mirroring the plot of Superman: The Movie.
You will believe a nerd can believe a man can fly.

Tournament of Nerds!

 

 Midnight — $5 Saturday April 16, 2011

 Nerds debating stuff usually isn't funny. Comedian nerds debating stuff, now that's entertainment.

 Have you ever wondered who would win in a fight, Superman or Gandolf? Are you a fan of Comic books, Sci Fi, Horror, and Fantasy? Do you like to see nerds engage in passionate debate? Then come to the "Tournament of Nerds!" Nerds square off in heated debate to decide which heroes would win in a fight, as they battle to get through a March Madness type bracket... ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE!!!

Hosted by Hal Rudnick & Justin Donaldson

Dungeons & Dragons & Improv

 

 11:00 pm — $5 Tuesday April 19, 2011

 D&D comedy time. Will Gilgax turn over in his grave?

 You enter a darkened room. It's muggy, and a crowd of hoodlums laughs uproariously as they sip ale from their flagons. A covey of jesters prances around for the crowd's amusement. But lo! This isn't some mud-floored tavern in a far flung realm, it's the UCB Theater! If you've always been curious about Dungeons & Dragons but don't know an orc from a goblin, come sate yourself with a night of fantasy themed improv instead!

Monster Tale Review: Little Girls Takes Traveling to Worlds Filled With Monsters Quite Well

Monsters Tale is one of those games you don't want to put down for DS and will keep playing non-stop for hours. Monsters Tale has a old school premise that makes for a nice story. Ellie, out young heroine is lost in another world, a world filled with monsters. She befriends a young monster name Chomp who becomes her ally. The only way home is to battle five evil kid kings with their own monsters.

Let's get into game play you control Ellie and Chomp at the same time ans it's quite easy. Chomps sort of like your superpowers with the left and right bumpers at the top of the screen. Don't sell Ellie short she can blow you away with different fighting moves and a blaster that get more powerful throughout the game. You fight monsters of all kinds as you go through different worlds. Defeat a monster get money and maybe get a cookie or something else they dropped. These items go to the bottom screen where chomp can eat them and get more powerful and evolve and get new powers. It very reminiscent of Henry Hatsworth for DS and it should be as it's from the same creator. He should change it up for he's next game or he"ll be considered a one trick pony on top and bottom screen games for ds. The bottom screen items can also affect game play. A toy that's played with Chomp, like a toy car will sputter of the lower screen to the top damaging enemies. Two types of enemies that I've encountered so far can travel to the bottom screen to attack, too.

Getting more into chomps powers, this where the game shines. Chomp can shoot lasers, water bombs, become a bomb, become and anvil. Become gigantic and punch enemies across the screen. He can lick enemies and eat them, summon force fields and more.You can also pull off some great combos that set of multipliers for attacking with attacks that work well together. Ellie is part of this combo as you can attack with her different attacks while your using chomp.

Style wise the game looks great, clearly time was taken to make some fun designs for levels. There's minor little things that tell you the games been polished. Tiny seagulls in the background move away in one section, while giant monstrous eyes follow you in a dungeon level. Chomp's animation for attacks are nice to watch. He has many different attack to try on array of enemies.

The games  problem, or it might be me is that you have to switch Chomp's evolution manually for it to evolve to another form you want. You don't have to manage Chomp that much, but if you want all the powers, then your going to have to play with his other monster forms. You have to enter a sub-system to set what your monster can become. You however can just play with the same type of monster if you like and keeping powering it up and slowly work towards whatever monster is next in line.  Another annoyance is you have to level up with the monster your on even if you don't like it to earn your new power from the new monster form.

Food and items you get greatly effects how long it takes to evolve into your next form. The sub-system tells you what to get and it does kind of become a hassle. I like that there's so much choice, but I'd like it be easier to get powers and less getting the correct item to feed your monster to get it evolve. Some evolution are worth it, some aren't. One evolution had the same tongue grab move as another and it was a waste of time.

However, if you more easy going you can just not care and level up the form you like and slowly evolve to other types. If you've chosen a form you like, playing the game is still fun. I found it great creating force fields ans shooting energy balls out of my head as chomp.

One of the best title out for DS right now including all the 3DS title which are just rehashes of old stuff . It'll be remembered as one of the best titles that came out for DS that's for sure. It's not over short either you'll be playing it for a while.  Buy it or rent it from gamefly. It's going to take a bit to finish it so I'd just buy it.


Monster Tale Only 28.99 on Amazon

Majesco provided the reviewer with a copy of the game for review purposes.. Writer was at 49% when game was reviewed.

Anime's Tomorrow

Mayo and anime together?As I casually stroll through a 99 cent store,  I see special collections that went for thirty or fifty bucks. Now they're nothing more, but a cheap DVD to give to some unlucky kid, whose Aunt or Uncle doesn't really love them and heads to the 99 cent store before visiting them in the hospital or for their birthday.

Anime has become a normal part of the media we ingest with you tube and whatever terrible Hollywood movie is out ( I initially wrote Battle:LA here, but this comes out when Sucker Punch is considered as awful as rape).  The anime series I saw at the store aren't that spectacular, and I know the market's been going down hill for a while, but it's still strange to see cheap mayo next to anime box sets. Maybe, down hill is too strong more like it's just becoming a normal section in a store.

Anime companies got smart and started releasing cheaper packs that contained whole or two seasons, between sixty-five and twenty-five dollars. Funimation probably doing the best with special "save" money releases with no extras. It use to be  $25-$30 bucks per DVD a few years ago and you got 3 episodes, anime companies were crazy to think it would stay that way. Some companies were still doing it a year ago and some titles are still extremely high in price.

It's just strange, to see any highly priced anime not is some collectors edition. Anime companies will tell you they charge so much, due to the high cost of licensing and dubbing, but that seems a bit odd since the cost of actually making the anime is gone.

Look at the ADV film boxes below. The companies gone now and they use to own Evangelion! Other companies have been bought and renamed like Geneon and Funimation. Geneon is now Geneon Universal and Funimation is part of a much larger company called Navarrae Corporation.

*Just a side not, about anime distributors in North America .  Funimation has some of the biggest titles. Geneon Universal ( this is funny they use to be pioneer entertainment, which first brought us Tenchi Muyo), Viz Media (Warner Home Video handles distribution) , Bandai Entertainment , Aniplex (Subsidiary of Sony). Manga Entertainment is still around and is subsidiary of Starz, I'm unsure if there active anymore. Other smaller companies are Anime Network & Anime Works, Section 23 and Nozomi Inc, which seems tight with Right Stuf- a major mispelled online seller of anime.. If you want to get technical you include Sony and Disney for some movies and Mizazaki releases. Also Anime Network is just online and through digital services, no blu-ray or dvd releases. They are dubbing, High School of The Dead, so they must be making some profit to afford that.

I hope the anime distributors learned their lesson, not to release little content at such a high cost to the consumer. I wonder what happened to all the money and why big companies like ADV went bust. I know the market fell, but did it fall so fast they couldn't move with it or were the simply bad at business Did they just think the market wouldn't ever fall?

Anime has become more reasonably priced. Some of the companies need to realize a price point is going to be forty dollars. Titles that cost more will fail.  Just skewing Amazon right now you can see only full season dvds for animes anymore, the episode packs are dead.

 
* Another side not when ADV (a big anime disrubutor and licensee) was around they were about to release Sgt. Frog. That title has now moved on to Funimation.

From where we were to where we are Anime has changed with the market. Anime might simply become part of animation on remaining store shelves.

Check out this article from Los Angeles Magazine circa 2000 it's quite funny to see how far anime has become as a normal part of the media we consume now. It's funny that it was so small and on the fringes of networks. Like late nights on Adult Swim. Now some off it's cheap enough to make and tie-in into cards, video games and toys that it'll never go away.

I guess the next step beyond Blu-ray will be the pricing model to just download the episodes which already exists, if you think about it discs of any sort might not exist at all. Collectors editions, might just be a promo item that gets shipped to you or theme to display with your content. Cost is what matters overall in this article, what will anime cost in the future? Will corporations just import it faster or will major Japanese anime  companies just make divisions for America like Pokemon did and boot anime distributors to the curb like For Kids Ent. was? That is unknown, but right now we have a huge market of new titles that get picked up with more coming out. It's just sucks there isn't a way for them to easily get imported and distributed legally as fast as they come out.

10-Doh heading to Comic-Con

Looks like the vinyl toy based on a NES cartridge is headed to comic-con. Squid Kids Ink is allowing entries till this Thursday for anyone wanting to submit there own take to the figure.

Here's my post on the first show at Designer Con 2010

Here's Squid Kids Ink's gallery
of every figure.

 

Here's Andrew Wilson's version.

Cartoon Networks Future and Problemz

Superjail is back this April 2nd and the animation still looks good even though it's switched to Titmouse Inc. It looks to be another sick and totally, f-uped season.

 Problem Solverz is a problem

How f-uped is Problem Solverz? It was made for Adult Swim, but Adult Swim passed on it. If thats and indication of how bad it is, just think about how above Adult Swim has Superjail Season 2. It's worse than Superjail and there putting it on for kids. My only guess is the people who are leaving Cartoon Network are leaving it to look as bad as possible for the new people. The networks getting a new head, so people are on the way out.

The concept sounds funny enough, a team the solves idiotic problems, but I've never seen a uglier art style since Xavier: Renegade Angel. I love the writing, but this is probably one of the ugliest cartoons ever. Not, ugly gross, just piss poor ,cheap and worthless. The former Cartoon Network execs bought this for eleven episodes to fail. Parents are not going to be happy with the look of the show.

It disgusts me.


Aside from that as much as I like Adult Swim, putting out strange funny and new content, they have some major failings. Animes are on too late, they seem not share when new episodes are coming out or generally don't care that much . They might have to show them because Cartoon Network or a more powerful part of the corporation is forcing them, too.

It's sad, because they don't give anime credit for being apart of them for so long. Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell. So many other great titles. It's utterly strange because they god damned co-produced the anime Big O for it's final season. The animes help establish Adult Swim of bringing in new and interesting content that many people might never see. It was my generations MTV. Now it's becoming a former shell of itself just like MTV. The internet will be tomorrow's MTV and really already is, but damn Adult Swim could still try and bring some animation thats fresh or give new animators a chance to makes something sick, but funny.

-Live- action? It's a cartoon channel at night. Produce cartoons, not comedies from comedians that know each other.

-King of the Hill? Really, every freaken night? Who cares. Your a part of Viacom, why not just show Beavis and Butt-Head? Why not show old liquid, television.

Insomniac Community Day Tomorrow

 Insomniac Community Day is almost upon us. A free event, that only asks you RSVP on Facebook. Yes, it's free. The schedule of events has been posted, check out what's happening below. It looks to be fun and if I am 8-bit is involved stick around for a free t-shirt perhaps.

	Tuesday, March 29 · 3:30pm - 8:30pm
Location	Egyptian Theatre 6712 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, CA

3:30 - Open Doors

Main Theatre (all times approx and subject to change)

4:00 - Welcome

4:05 - R3 Haven Town Defense Demo and Gameplay Q&A.

4:45 - Ratchet & Clank Retrospective Full Moon Show Podcast

5:30 - A Message from Insomniac North Carolina + All 4 One Seaside Demo + Q&A w/ special guests

6:15 - TBD Art Demo & Q&A

6:45 - R3 Special Demo, Q&A + Special Announcement 

7:30 - Adam Sessler One on One w/ Ted Price. Followed by Q&A.

8:15 - Raffle 

Gameplay Theatre (Play games on a big screen!)

3:30-4:45 - Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

4:45-6:45 - Resistance 3

6:45-8:15 - Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One

Lobby: (Ratchet & Clank: A4O, R3 Campaign Haven, R3 Prison Multiplayer)

All games playable from 3:30-8:30pm.

8:30 - Doors Close

You May Have Missed: Poster Peepshow: The Art of the Pin Up

I do believe I informed of this show on the site back in February. I mean how could I not, but in case you missed it, here's some of my favorites and a link to Nucleus' online gallery.

 These two are heavily Japanese inspired. Those gloves are straight out of Evangelion and worn by Asuka above in Pin Up Girls 1.0: American Cherry. The Sukeban Hunters piece also by Rockin' Jelly Bean is making fun of Japan's over the top horror movie industry.

 Breakfast at Tiffany's anyone? This piece seems like a old Audrey Hepburn poster. It's titled Manhattan Heat by Glen Orbik

Giggity by Marcelo Daldoce just makes me laugh. Giggity, indeed.

Jim Silke drew a nice Space Cop or what I like to call Wonder Woman.

Nucleus
210 East Main St, Alhambra CA 91801

Adventure Time ...Wow, that's a big Jake

I wonder if they can shift this stuff over for Nucleus Adventure Time Exhibit April 16th. Still no idea what's gonna be there.

 

This was for Cartoon Network Upfront. Where Cartoon Network shows off it's stuff to advertisers. Up above is a giant inflatable Jake and that's the creator of all things Adventure Time Pen Ward.

Check out today's new episode "Go With Me" where Finn get advice from Marceline on how to pick up Princess Bubblegum, let the sitcom antics commence!

I also like this Fake Human from Susan Strong. Is Susan a fish person or a real human?