Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Yesterday's Post 2.0

Comment Commentary

Shin- Both, actually.

Syk- They don't even do graphic design. They're just happy with clipart, and inserting it into every blank space on the page.

Aleia- November.. Fifth, is it?

Godel- I blame Canada's school system for not pretending that everybody is on the same level of intelligence.

Only in America. :P

Godel- I see.

--

Bah, yesterday's post did not live up to its full potential, because I had ten minutes to write it, so I figure I may as well go over some of that material today, with an hour and a half time limit, so that Pixar doens't feel left out of my blog, which I'm sure the whole world reads.

--

I have always enjoyed Pixar films. In fact, even with my limited knowledge I feel confident in saying that the only good Disney releases in a while have been the Pixar films. They do rather well for several reasons, and for the sake of space-taking-upping I shall rant about them individually for a bit.

The most important aspect to Pixar's movies, I suppose, is the for-all-ages appeal that most of their movies give off. Unlike a lot of Disney films, there are many instances in Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and the rest that people above ten can find good as well. That's not to say that other Disney movies don't have those moments as well- I just happen to think that Pixar does it in a way that makes it particularly appealing..

Which leads to my next aspect, the amount of dedication put into each film. My family has several of the hardcover artbooks from Pixar (my favorite being the one for A Bug's Life), and it's amazing how much research and thought is put into everything. A lot of it isn't very noticeable if just see the movie without really paying attention, but they spend so much time getting the atmosphere just perfect- from the way the light showed through leaves in A Bug's Life to how the particles in the waters of Finding Nemo float about. From an artistic standpoint, I find it inspiring.

They are also, in a way, revolutionary with their ideas. I've talked about this before, with various other films: You can take a relatively simple or cliche storyline and make it an amazing movie if you are clever. It happened with Kill Bill, and it happens with Pixar. Come on, it's movies about talking toys, bugs and fish. We've all seen that before, but Pixar adds a heaping layer of charm and originality which keeps things simple yet enjoyabale.

It bothers me how Dreamworks tends to "copy" Pixar. Their answer to A Bug's Life was Antz, Shrek to Monster's Inc. (I don't really find that a good example, actually), and now, on the coattails of Finding Nemo, comes Shark Tale. Antz lacked the heart and charm of A Bug's Life, and perhaps that is why we don't remember it as fondly.

Shrek, I love, and of course I haven't seen Shark Tales, so forgive me if I'm being ignorant. Feel free to point any of the obvious (yet nonexistent to me) holes out.

--

My mom began taking an Interior Design course at USC with my great aunt and second cousin-in-law yesterday. She complained about waking up so early (twenty minutes after me), and went off after I did, and came back so happy to be back into the "college experience." It's nice for her to have something to keep her occupied, but it's nothing really all that amazing to me- unless she gets a second degree there and becomes an alumni, I don't really care.

Today, however, I decided to look through her big book of class options in the car, just for the hell of it. It was interesting seeing what sort of classes they hold there, along with prices and names of instructors.. There were a few Japanese courses, a Photoshop I class that I could probably teach (not well, necessarily, but I could) along with some other stuff. That got me into thinking about the future and what I might consider majoring in, but that's a rant for another day.

What's my point, you ask? Well, quite honestly, there isn't one. I've really got to go and do my homework, so I'll talk about career options tomorrow.

--

Journalism update: Bah, nothing special. We're beginning groundwork for the second volume of the newsletter (with many people not even done with their work for the first), and I'm probably going to end up doing a Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne review. The only catch to that, however, is that I'll need money to buy the game. Bleh.

And crappy-page-design syndrom has been sweeping the class again this year. They're jamming a thousand pictures into the fashion column, all of the same three or four people. It seems they don't comprehend that pictures that small on the screen are equivalent to very small pictures on the paper.

You can sort of tell which articles I edited and which ones I didn't, heh. If there's one or two tastefully placed pictures and no double negatives in the article, it's mine. If it has 8,000 pictures the size of M&Ms and quintuple-negatives (I exxagerate, sue me), it's not mine. Haha.

Teh SillyCircus Day 44- Washed up? I think not!
Comments (2)