So... I Am Going to Disney World

I'm going to Disney World with a friend and his family until the 3rd or 4th of July so if nothing gets posted between now and then, you know why. Hopefully I won't have to go a whole week without my faithful internets though. That would be bad. I'd go into withdrawal. I'd sweat profusely. I'd... uhh.. not be happy?

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Impressions [Possible Spoilers]

I hated this movie. The dialogue was mostly for entertainment, the plot was held together by paperclips and chewing gum, and the cinematography was dizzying. Yes, dizzying. I actually found it necessary to close my eyes at one point because the spinning camera was giving me a headache.

Sure, Revenge of the Fallen had more robots than the first film, but it eventually felt like they were just being used to move the audience along without putting any real depth behind them. The majority of the transformers, especially the Auto-bots, didn't really seem like characters this time around. They were just... there.

Also, this has to have been the longest two and a half hour film ever. I thought it would never end, regardless of the fact that the events hopped from place to place without any sense of coherency. Not to mention the fact that the ending felt like one big "oh, I guess we'll finish things now" moment. Seriously, the ending was laid out exactly like this: have bad guy be defeated in all of 3 minutes, have Megatron promise us another movie, show a bunch of the humans with no dialogue, spin around Sam and Mikaela for the 1000th time, show Sam looking off into the distance on one of the jet carriers, have Optimus step into view and say something cool, end. Two and a half hours of fluff and everything is wrapped up nicely in under ten minutes.

The only good things I can really say about this film are that the CG still looked great, there was a little less teen drama, and Optimus Prime was still a main character. Other than that? Not a thing.

I am awarding Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen two stars out of five for being more interesting than the first film (which wasn't hard) but for still lacking depth and coherency. It really isn't hard to see that this film was made solely to make money and if, and probably when, another film comes out I will definitely have to think about seeing it in theaters. At least in its opening week. Poorly played yet again, Michael Bay.

Ponyo Trailer

"[Ponyo] centers on a 5-year-old boy named Sosuke and his relationship with a goldfish princess named Ponyo who longs to become human."

Miyazaki meets "The Little Mermaid." I am glad that Ponyo is going to be released in theaters, but I would much rather see a subtitled version. The American actors attatched to to the English dubbing seem somewhat interesting though. Namely, Cate Blanchett and Liam Neeson. Others... not so interesting. Frankie Jonas and Noah Cyrus? Bleh.

Imagining Defeat Project

This is a video I edited for the third assignment in my video production class last semester. Done completely in Final Cut Pro. I apologize in advance for the pixelation. We didn't know that the film we were using was messed up until we had it in the studio ready to edit. Our professor wouldn't let us review the footage on the camera because he was paranoid about time-code breaks.

You might consider it a bit more "artsy" than the other video I posted, but I am really happy with the way it came out. Oh, and so was the teacher (though he kind of expected the text to be in french as well).

**A youtube link for all of you non-facebookers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BeX4AKhjw

Our First Look At Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland

So before I say anything else, I must make something perfectly clear. I am completely biased towards this film. Firstly, because the animated Alice in Wonderland released by Disney back in 1951 is my favorite Disney film, and secondly because I absolutely hate Tim Burton. I will be seeing the film of course, that isn't the issue, but it will probably be difficult looking past Tim Burton's usual painfully overstated gloomy-yet-odd-yet-cheerful style.

The movie is apparently due for release in March of 2010 and will, you probably guessed this earlier, be using the relatively new (and already overused) Real D 3D. Hit the link at the bottom of this post for a full article by slashfilm.com and more photos.

*NOTE: Does anyone else think that Johnny Depp looks like Elijah Wood in the first picture?

First Photos: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland - What Do You Think?

My Personalized ID

This was done for me by a friend as payback for a favor. Honestly, though, I feel like I owe her now. I plan on using it as my deviantArt id because the one I have now is kind of lame. I came up with the concept myself and she put it into colors and amazingness. Enjoy!

The imagery comes from a lot of my previous writings and photos. Recognize the blue balloon?

My Web Portfolio

www.jleeart.bravehost.com

So I created a web portfolio, using html and css (via notepad because I am awesome like that), last semester for my design for the internet course and I have finally uploaded it to a web host. Try not to bog it down please because I only get minimum bandwidth a month because it's free. Oh, and sorry about the banners too... also a result of me being cheap. I may buy a domain name one of these days though.

Also, note that it is not my complete body of published work. For that, you would have to go to my deviantArt page. You may want to start your own account while you're there too. I don't know, I'm just saying.

Album of the Moment #2: The Hazards of Love

So I have been meaning to do this for months now, but every time I plan on doing so something else comes up. It's especially sad that such a thing kept happening because The Decemberists are without a doubt my favorite band ever and I even bought the album just to support them (if you know me then you also know why that is a big deal).

The Hazards of Love is the band's fifth album (and second under the Capitol Records label) and is probably their most successful one to date. I say probably because although it has not yet sold as many copies as at least one other album, it did debut at #14 and managed to sell 19,210 copies in its first week. The album was also #1 on iTunes during that time.

Now, the fun part. What makes the Hazards of Love such an interesting album, aside from the great lyrics, rhythms, and all that jazz, is that it centers around a love story that is played out across the album with recurring characters. The band's lead singer, Colin Meloy, is joined by Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond), Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) to spin a tale of love, pregnancy, jealousy, betrayal, and murder.

"The Hazards of Love centers around a love story, similar to the use of recurring stories in The Crane Wife: a woman named Margaret (voiced by Stark) falls in love with a shape-shifting forest dweller (voiced by Meloy). A jealous forest queen (voiced by Worden) and an ensemble of recurring characters bring conflict to the album's story arc." -Wikipedia

So yes, The Hazards of Love is a seventeen-track, 58:36-minute, adventure of sound and narrative. The band has been on the road promoting the album with their "A Short Fazed Hovel Tour" since the beginning of the year and it came to my area earlier in June but I was forced to miss it because I wasn't really interested in going to a concert by myself. I went to their concert when they were promoting their last album, The Crane Wife, back in 2006 and I caught a part of their concert (illegally from across the street) when they performed outdoors with The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 2007 so it isn't like I haven't seen them before (and with their current popularity I am sure they will be back soon).

I am planning to do a full album run-through as the summer goes on that will attempt to sum up the entire album song by song and hopefully lay out the entire story. So, if you don't have the album, and don't have the internet essentially because you couldn't possibly miss this is, then I suggest you give it a listen! Do it! Do it nao!!

Stepping Outside

Acrostic: "A poem or series of lines in which certain letters, usually the first in each line, form a name, motto, or message when read in sequence."

This is the third entry of my Acrostic Adventure series. How can you just go home with so much still on your mind? Have you ever wanted to pass by your usual exit? Become lost for a little while?


Stepping Outside

Lingering bits of familiarity and
Order quickly begin to fade away;
Specters on a lonely road
That just can't seem to find substance.

Anxiety builds itself up in their stead like a subtle
Numbing of the senses.
Dangerous thoughts in the face of a formidable new world.

Abandon logic and reason and take some time to
Look closely at your new surroundings.
Open your mind to these fantastic
New places and unfamiliar ideas.
Everyone needs a few new experiences from time to time.


Copyright © 2009 Jarred Lee

Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin: Katamari Damacy

"Sometimes life isn't funny."


Wow, Anthony can be such a downer sometimes... I hate it when games have an overarching message that takes all the fun out of playing them. They're just supposed to be games! Sheesh...

Up Impressions

So I have to admit, when I saw the first teaser for Up late last year I was wildly skeptical. And after I saw the first trailer, I was even more skeptical. I just couldn't help but wonder how Pixar was going to keep me entertained with a grumpy old man in a flying house for an hour and a half. Now I know they could do it, I mean they are Pixar, but it just seemed like a bit of a stretch even for them. With that in mind, the fact that I really enjoyed this film is very surprising to me.

Up has a great cast of characters and was considerably funnier than Pixar's last two films, even though it has a few unbelievably sad moments. Another plus for the film was that it made use of the new Disney Digital 3D system and looked truly amazing while doing so. The message the film conveys is also much more substantial than the past few films, though perhaps not so deep, because I honestly can't think of anything more true than "you are never too old to have new adventures."

I am awarding Up four and a half stars out of five for being funny and good looking, but lacking a bit in depth. I would have liked to see a few more characters as well. Anyway, Up is a fantastic 3D adventure that you definitely shouldn't miss out on.

Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer HD!

I am so excited about this movie! The crazy thing is that they actually got someone that sounds exactly like the late Jim Varney (who was known for his starring role in the Ernest movies) to do the voice for Slinky. The actor who voiced Wheezy the penguin passed away as well, so I have no clue what will happen there. Anyways, still excited!

E3 2009

So for all of you crazy people who don't use the internet (I guess you couldn't be one of them if you are reading this), E3 2009 is in full blast! Head over to kotaku.com for all the news you'll need to know and then check out gametrailers.com for all of the videos you'll need to see. When all the dust settles I will follow up with a summary of all the big news and game announcements from each of the big 3, respectively. Well, respectively excluding the 360. Yeah, I'm biased.

Stress, Pills, and MMOs

"A few pills can really help with stress headaches... but I think this guy took one too many.

*Edited entirely by *cough*Windows Movie Maker*cough hack cough*"


A video I made with a friend of mine. Why did we make it? Because we're amazing, of course. Oh, and because we wanted to. Enjoy!

P.S. Make sure to watch the whole thing. Hehehe...

**Youtube versions for all of you non-Facebookers:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Tz_4u2p1U

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T-LxRibo9c

New Moon Trailer

Normally, I wouldn't let something like this scar the face of my precious blog, but I just had to make an exception. I don't think I've ever enjoyed hating a series so much. I'm serious. I love the fact that I get to hate this movie. It's one of those things that come around every so often that you feel privileged to dislike. Like, I love how Bella's role has seemingly degenerated to a series of mumbles and odd facial gestures. And I love how Edward's only purpose is apparently to whine and contradict himself. Oh, and now it's "The Twilight Saga" all of a sudden? Damn popularity milking.

Honestly, I need to find a forum or something for other Twilight-haters. I honestly think I could spend hours making fun of the first movie... and this one looks just as "promising." I hope they reveal more special vampire powers. Maybe the mother vampire or whatever will reveal that she has the power of flight... or heat vision!

[06.01.09, 1:08 am] I love xkcd... and I think the creator of it can read my mind. Go here!