Gnumoon's Stuff

Let the Wild Rumpus Start!

When I heard there was to be a live-action Where the Wild Things Are movie, I was kind of pissed off. Fine, Hollywood. Between this and the Transformers movie and the "hipping up" of Strawberry Shortcake, go ahead and exploit my childhood some more. But then ... I saw the trailer. And I teared up. Seriously. I almost cried (and I don't even really like the Arcade Fire, but that song is perfect).

Here it is if you haven't seen it yet.



I grabbed one of the production stills, and made a quick photoshop with my little Wild Thing, too:
And yes, she does have a wolf suit. And yes, she often makes mischief of one kind and another.

The Wall: Redux

Today I installed Lightroom 2, which I've been procrastinating on for a while, and am of course kicking myself that I didn't do it sooner. It is such a huge leap from LR1 - it's smoother and more intuitive and has addressed (most of) my concerns.
The biggest plus I can see so far is that you don't have to take an image out of LR and toss it into Photoshop to easily edit small areas. The presets tab is still a too all over the place for my taste, but it's completely possible that this is user error and I just haven't figured out how to efficiently harness it yet. (OK, my money is on the latter)
Here's the photo from this morning, run through LR2, using no presets, just the developing tools and my new best friend (sorry Leah), the adjustment brush (shortcut: K). {Aside: Leah, I know your best friend is the pen tool. Don't even try to look me in the eye and lie about it, either.}
You can click on the image for a bigger version if you want a closer look at the cool LR toys.

The Wall

I watched Stardust last night (inspired by the Neil Gaiman Daily Show appearance, I suppose. Was I feeling Gaimey?). I loved it, and thought of a shot I took in Ireland of a wall that looked like a portal to another, somehow even greener Ireland. A more Gaiman-esque Ireland, perhaps.

Neil Gaiman on The Colbert Report

Neil Gaiman on Colbert.
Come for The Graveyard Book, stay for the Tom Bombadil hate.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Neil Gaiman

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Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

A new blog, aquarium photos, and of course, zombies. *Updated with intergalactic spider movies*

I'd like to introduce you guys to a favorite new blog of mine, Food-Furious. It is a joint venture between my brother and my cousin out in Portland, Oregon, and is amusing because of 1.the photos, 2. the descriptions and 3. the fact that my brother has a food blog, yet does not know how to cook anything more complicated than Lucky Charms. In my opinion, they set the bar really, really high with the sushi project. I'm interested to see how they can possibly top themselves.
Bon appetite!

*****

We have returned home and are semi-recovered from the long haul of football to basketball, or as it is sometimes called around here, The Six Months of Hell. (That is what I sometimes call it, I should clarify that point.) Baseball season is up next, but that is hardly even work for the husband - it's his favorite thing in the world. If it isn't stressing him, it isn't stressing me.

Other points of interest from around the league -
- We went to the aquarium in Chattanooga and had a great time. Here are a few shots I pulled out of the stacks:
Pooks loved the sharks, but was terrified of the butterfly garden.


Mom and Pooks enjoy the serenity of the ocean tank through a fishbowl window.

I love the jellyfish. I could watch them all day long. If I lived near an aquarium I'd buy a membership just so I could go there on my lunch hour and sit in the dark, transfixed and stoned by their aimless, gorgeous, dangerous floating.

Pooks liked them too, but not as much as she liked the sharks and turtles.

There was also an octopus, and it was one of the coolest damn things I have ever seen in my life. The room was fully dark, though, and my lens couldn't even focus on him. I apologize for the horrible quality of these images, but I have to include them. He was just amazing. He was also big. For scale, I included a (terrible) shot of a kid standing beside the tank. (Yes, I was using a fisheye lens. Yes, I overused it. Sue me. Where can you abuse a fisheye lens if not at an aquarium?)
   

So there is our trip to the aquarium. Because I'm me, there is also a gallery with hundreds of shots from the weekend, but I'll not subject anyone to that!
I have shots of Pooks gleefully petting sturgeon and stingray, shark and (faux) penguin. A good time was had by all (except, of course, the Incident with the Fluttery-Winged Monster Bugs of Death)

- Pooks is speaking in full (mostly hilarious) sentences these days. She'll run get in her red rocking chair and declare, "I sit. I rock. I read-ee tha book."

- Her hair is out of control, especially in the mornings. I have a water sprayer bottle intended for large houseplants that I spritz her down with each morning to try to grapple with the nest. I have varying degrees of success with this method.

- It's been a really good week at work. I have gotten several new projects that make me feel needed and good at what I do, which is something I crave. When I don't have much to do I tend to feel very superfluous and it gets tedious for me to just sit there. So yay for work!

- I have to get a skin cancer screen done tomorrow. Ick.
Please oh please, random doctor I've never met, let me strip down naked so you can inspect ever square inch of me and scrutinize each bump and discoloration. I bet my Bullfrog sunblock and whistle lanyard that they find at least one thing that looks "suspicious" and needs to be looked at further - so I have to go back in for another consult and they can hit me up for another co-pay.

A friend complained that all I ever talk about on here is my kid and that I used to talk about "fun nerd stuff." I responded that I actually don't talk on here much at all lately, and that at least a kid update is an update. Sheeyit, I can't talk about Terminator and Watchmen all the time. I'm not a 12-year old boy! But I'm here to please, so here is an update that is nerdish and has nothing whatsoever to do with my spawn:

I wish people would stop bitching and being offended about Resident Evil 5 being racist. It's set in Africa. People who live in Africa tend to be dark-skinned. If you're looking for something race-related in the series to be offended about, how about all those pasty-ass naked Caucasian zombies in RE2? They were all flabby and had no muscle tone, plus they were trying to eat you. Eww.
As far as RE5 goes, I'm more offended they aren't releasing it for the Wii. Why don't I get to shoot zombies? I want to shoot zombies, but I'm not buying a whole new system just to do so.
RE4 was a great game on the Wii and it sold over a million copies, you'd think that would be enough to justify transposing 5 over to the platform.

{EDITED TO ADD} Whoa whoa whooaaa!
Hold up a sec ... here's some nerd news for you, Mr. Don't Talk about Your Kid Because you Used to be So Funny... this is relevant to our interests.
Appears that Hollywood proper is going to take a crack at everyone's favorite coming-of-age-novel about an interplanetary arachnid who uses her nefarious psychic powers to lure children into a sewer and then feast on their fear and flesh! I may have just given a bit of a spoiler there, sorry.

You want another spoiler, a storyline that was conveniently left out of the other adaptation? After apparently slaying the creature, the kiddies have an orgy in the slimy dank sewer. That's right. They all hit it with good ol Beverly to seal the pact.
I read that book in 5th grade or so, and besides the death, dismemberment, and general feeling of unease I recalled later about it, I remembered that scene the most.  And not in a good way, in a "Was it totally necessary to do it* in the shit-filled tunnel to make the oath? Couldn't they just have pinky-sweared to come back if some further extermination was needed?"
But perhaps it was necessary - once when I was 11 or so I did a so-we'll-be-best-friends-forever "spit on palm and then shake hands" type swear, and you know what? I haven't talked to that girl in ages.
I guess saliva doesn't form as strong a bond as other bodily fluids.

* - I also read the book when I was really too young to quite understand just exactly what "doing it" entailed besides the purely "science textbook" definition. Stephen King as sex ed: that's how every parent hopes their child learns about the psychopomp birds and killer bees.

Tournament Notes, Friday

We're in Chattanooga right now for the basketball tournament. I've been shooting and editing and corralling the wild one (that is Pooks, not DJ). And eating. Yeesh, when we came to this thing in our younger days, the focus was on drinking, but it had shifted over the past few years to food. Case in point: instead of going out partying tonight, KBG and I ate dinner, went to the hot tub, and then instead of calling it a night like we should have, went to Ben & Jerry's.
(Note: I'm appalled to learn just how unhealthy the vanilla fudge chunk stuff is. It said NO SUGAR! If I'd known how many calories were in there, I would have gotten the Phish Food I wanted in the first place.)

The hotel is nice, and there is a jacuzzi in our room. Note I said "In our room," not "in the bathroom." It's right in the middle of everything, I suppose for romantic getaway weekends and such. Well, the hell with that. It's much bigger than the pack -n- play we'd brought for Pookie to sleep in, so we lined it with padding and blankets and made a little toddler nest. Then today after we went to the pool I filled it up with water and she had her own little personal sized-pool, complete with bubbles. I had no idea how versatile having a giant bathtub in one's primary living space could be. (Also, that ice bucket they provide to chill your champagne? Yeah, it works great to rinse shampoo out of a kid's hair)

The days of using it as a bed are numbered, because she's figured out how to use the faucets and is really big into hand-washing these days. There's a rude 3am awakening for you.

A few notes on the tournament thus far: we won our game today, so that means we play tomorrow (and kind of justifies the long drive), and it means that I am shooting with a lot of other photographers. All of whom are male and, as far as I can tell, complete tools. I don't know who the guy today was shooting for, but he was about a 9 on  "douchebag attitude-slinging photographers" scale. He had 2 Mark IIIs ($7000 each, for those of you keeping score at home), and yet somehow couldn't manage to scrounge up 99 cents to buy a bottle of Suave at Dollar General for his greasy-ass hair. This guy looked at me as I sat down, glanced down at my gear, and rolled his eyes. (For all you non-photogs out there, my equipment isn't the greatest in the world, but is decidedly standard, and not embarrassing. For further clarification, I'm talking about cameras, not boobs.)

Most photographers have a certain degree of arrogant standoffishness about them because, as with any art form, there is quite a bit of subjectivity. But there is also much technical prowess involved, and when the art snobs and the tech snobs are the same people, it's can turn into the perfect storm of douchebaggery. He (or occasionally she) with the most bluster must be the best of the best, right?
I largely ignore them. Perhaps I come across as being aloof myself, but I just don't particularly want to get involved, ever, in the sports shooter gear-shots-why-I'm awesomer-than-you pissing-contests.
I'll also just throw in that it's my theory that the more, faster, bigger gear a photographer has, the less, slower, smaller gear a photographer has. And for that one guy who brought the 400mm f/2.8 (also $7000) to the basketball game today, sorry dude. I'd feel sorrier for your personal shortcomings if you weren't such a turd.  

*Note: we played  a team today that fans of the team I shoot for HATE. I also generally dislike them, because their fans are rude and nasty. This includes their band - a piccolo-playing marcher once slung the C-word at me - who the hell taunts a photographer? Really? Anyway, I was sitting in front of their band today, fearing the worst.
But most of their taunts were good-natured ("Kick his ass, Seabass!"), and at one point a ball came flying at me with remendous speed and I managed to deflect it before I was struck point-blank. They cheered for me and asked if I wanted to join the team.
Then later, they played Thriller and The Hand That Feeds. Many points to them.

Terminator 4 and a question of Aliens

I admit, I rolled my eyes when I heard there was going to be a fourth installment to the Terminator series. But then I heard Christian Bale was involved, and then I saw the first trailer, and thought, "maybe?"

And then tonight they released the new trailer for it, and I'm just completely on-board. Here it is, along with some great stills. My only problem so far is Kate Connor. (ah gad, that makes them "John and Kate," ick (see post 2 below))
Mrs. Connor is the only human in the resistance who isn't covered with dirt and crap. Her hair is lustrous and stunning! She is aglow and dewy with the joy of pregnancy! They had time while fighting robots to not only get married, but consummate said marriage and then have a nice shower. Give me a break. She'd look like hell just like the rest of them.
Also, I'm assuming that Sarah has been killed off in this installment, but wouldn't that mother-in-law drama make for an interesting side story? (She and Kyle didn't get a nice wedding, nooo, all they got was a coupla hours in a roadside no-tel mo-tel.)
Aw hell, Kate is played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who for some reason always gets a pass with me. So carry on. (Full disclosure: I liked The Village. So there.)

Other movies I'm excited to see this season (that I will inevitably not get to see due to some conflict with a babysitter or a sporting event of some kind) include Watchmen, Wolverine, and Angels & Demons (The last fourth of that book is utter shite, but I'll go for the Ewan McGregor goodness).

Buuut, all this trailer-watching got me thinking. If they can resurrect Terminator after such a godawful, piss-poor third effort, why can't they conceivably do the same thing with the Aliens franchise? (This Terminator movie even has its own Bishop. Awww)
I know Hollywood is out of ideas, they're remaking The Neverending Story, fer Pete's sake. So studio exec types: listen up to my thoughts on this.

Go back to when the series was still the rockinest thing going, which was right at the end of Aliens in the mid-80s. Ripley, Hicks and Newt are frozen, heading for home. That was where they went so wrong, bringing in a director (David Fincher of Seven)to helm the third installment who had a social commentary to push. Look dude, we don't want your agenda or your "original creative storyline."
You come in here and you kill off the best characters before the movie even starts? The characters Ripley fought so hard to save, and then you plunk her down in the middle of some penal colony with a bunch of bald rapists? Piss off. Alien 3 is the Rocky 5 of the series.
The only cool scene in the whole movie is the end, when Ripley does that beautiful back-dive into the molten lead and embraces the xenomorph baby as it pops out of her chest.

OK, so have that last scene play, and then have Ripley wake up from a horrible nightmare (she has a history of this knowwhattimean). She is older and seemingly safe and sound, but still plagued by these recurring nightmares. She is married to Kyle Reese Dwayne Hicks, Newt has grown up and has a family of her own, and all is well. Weyland-Yutani, the Monsanto of space, is still holding the cosmos in their greedy grip, but Ellen has decided to let it go. Perhaps she and Hiram Coffey Dwayne have moved to France and own a vineyard or some such thing. Besides the nightmares, it's a nice little quaint life.

But then The Company starts doing experiments with the aliens, and bring them to the labs ON EARTH. OH NOES! DUN DUN DUN. {It opens up some great "Planet of the Apes"-esque "It was on earth!" possibilities for scenes. Tastefully done, of course. Aliens cruising up the Eiffel tower might look a bit cheesy. I'm imagining the alien in a beret and a stripey boatneck shirt. Perhaps half a poodle sticking out of its mouths too.}

Anyway, so our happy couple are home, enjoying a glass of fine bordeaux and some afternoon sunlight, when a car comes up their drive, a cloud of dust billowing up behind it. The car is driving too fast, and it screeches to a halt in front of their maison. Out steps (slow panning up shot here, to reveal the face last), is Bishop. OHHHH YEAH. Ellen and James Curran Dwayne exchange a horrified, knowing look ...

Come on, this movie would be awesome and it would kick all kinds of ass. I'm sure Weaver would be in for it, and you can't tell me that Michael Biehn wouldn't jump at the chance to reprise his role. If Newt didn't want to be in a movie, she'd be easily replaced for her few scenes, and surely Lance Henricksen would be jacked up to do this and put Pumpkinhead: Resurrection on the backburner for a year or so. Hell, cast Winona Ryder in it too, since her whole contribution to the series just got nuked from orbit.*

Hollywood, listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. I personally devoted myself to becoming a screenwriter for TWO SEMESTERS of college. That's like eight whole MONTHS. I went to some workshops and everything. One of the writers from Strictly Ballroom even categorized my work as "promising." You hear that? Promising. All I'm really doing here is fulfilling my destiny. Now all you have to do is listen.

* - Alien: Resurrection gets a lot of shit unfairly. It was a solid effort, entertaining and keeping with the plotline that was handed down. Ripley uses her sinew and pulse-rifle to great effect, we get to see her once again be maternal (and how!), and there has rarely been a more disturbing scene in a movie than when she walks into the "I think I'm a clone now" room.
And the scene where the 2 adolescent aliens kill the other one for the acid blood is great - it's exactly how those interstellar farkers would do it.

** - For the love of Paul Reiser, do not get me started on the AvP series.