Spike & Mike's Animation Festival

For all of you fans of animation, this week the Rio Theatre is hosting Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. Commonly known as the Kings of Tasteless Toons, Spike & Mike are famous for being the world's greatest promoters of adult animation art. Some of the past contributors to the festival include Tim Burton, Eric Fogel (creator of Celebrity Deathmatch) and Kenn Navarro (Happy Tree Friends). Also, the now super famous Beavis and Butthead cartoon was "discovered" at Spike & Mike's festival!

I went to the festival last Saturday and I must confess that it was quite a different experience to be in a theatre surrounded by a crowd of adult animation fans. For instance, there were constant shouts and loud comments. The crowd was unforgiving to the animations that they didn't like, and like strict judges, they would loudly dismiss or laugh at any faux pas in the stories. But regardless of what each animation was about, the loud clapping and whistling between clips made it clear that this crowd was alive and thirsty for high quality animation! The festival ends this weekend, so don't miss it!

These were my favorite animations:


"Animal Instincts" by Cameron Edser (clay animation rules!)


"Yellow Sticky Notes" by Jeff Chiba Stearns (from the Vancouver Film School!)



"2 minute itch" by Eric Favala (I laughed so hard my stomach hurt)



The famous "Lapsus" Juan Pablo Zaramella


"Frog" by Christopher Conforti (got a full minute of applause)


"2 in the AM PM" by J G Quintel (a true acid trip!)


"Dr. Tran's Quiet Log Time" by Breehn Burns & Jason Johnson (Spike & Mike called it "one of the coolest films in years!")


This one is more like a music video, but still hilarious:



And last but not least, this was Spike's favorite animation:

The incredible "Ghost of Stephen Foster" by Raymond S. Persi (so retro!)

Shame

"It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways - all orchestrated by the United States government." 

Binyam Mohamed, freed Guantanamo detainee.

Slumdog Millioncrap

Tonight will probably serve as confirmation that the Oscars are not (and never have been) a measure of good cinema. According to most predictions, Slumdog Millionaire will win best picture and many of its other 10 nominations. I simply don't understand. To me, Slumdog Millionaire was not worth the 8 dollars I paid to see it. Yes, it's about the life of a slumdog that becomes a millionaire. Wow, never heard of anything like it. And yes, the plot moves through a series of constant flashbacks of the kid's life. Wow, how original. Then there's a good brother and a bad brother. Wow, such intrigue. And then, believe it or not, they both fight for a girl and in the end, the good brother gets the girl! Unbelievable.

Now, if we forget this painful and cliché ridden plot for a second, what do we have left? Spectacular actors? Hell no! (unless you're into soap opera style fakeness) A groundbreaking message? Pleeease. Good laughs? Yeah, maybe that scene when the kid jumps into a pile of feces was fun...and maybe one or two of the scenes had interesting lighting. But is the Academy really going to give this mediocre film the Oscar for Best Picture?? If the Oscars were really about recognizing good cinema, Milk would be the top choice of the night.

Needless to say, I agree completely with the more serious criticism by Chei Amlani.

--------------------------- update Feb 23 -------------------------------

I really don't understand how Slumdog won best film yesterday. I guess Hollywood was hit hard by the "Exotic" factor and the Academy was hypnotized by the saturated colors, like kids in a candy shop. 

Anyway, my friends Miriam and Juan Pablo shared a couple of excellent reviews, one by Anthony Lane, the other by David Denby.

Y luego está este graaan post de Uno y Uno Son Demasiados.

David Byrne in Van!!

I'm simply speechless. This seldom happens to me... but I can't even begin to describe the magic of David Byrne's show last night at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. And given that David Byrne needs no explanation or introduction from your blogger, I'm not even going to try.

Suffice it to say that David Byrne managed to get a Vancouver audience out of their seats!! The first six or seven songs were mainly from the new album and from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which kept the audience sitting down at their most polite. But then, after this delicious appetizer, he suddenly reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out "Once in a Lifetime" followed by "What a Day That Was"...what an entrée! Then, when our mouths were asking for dessert, David Byrne gave us a tasty "Take Me to The River" followed by the finest rendition ever of "Burning Down the House". He finished with the beautiful new "Everything That Happens Will Happen Today", followed by a good seven minutes of handbreaking applause.

As a sidenote, David Byrne's posse included not only incredibly talented musicians (Redray Frazier, Jenni Muldaur, Kaissa, Forro in the Dark), but also a trio of dancers that kept the visuals interesting.

For another opinion (and a photo and a video) see BunkleLife.

Or read the more thorough review by Ken Eisner.

Contrail

Hipsters, bike fans, riders, lend me your ears! How would you like to not just ride your single speeds, but leave a mark while doing it? And I'm not talking about leaving a mark in a metaphorical sense (like riding for cancer or something of the sort). I'm talking about literally leaving a trail of chalk when you ride your bike on the streets of downtown Vancouver!

If you're a little intrigued/excited, take a look at Contrail.











(And yes, it's environmentally friendly and no animals were hurt during the production of the chalk)

This weekend in Van

If you are not one of the fortunate few that will be going to David Byrne tonight, don't jump off the Burrard Bridge.

Tonight, Steve Aoki is playing at Celebrities. But if you don't feel like going to a club, tonight is the opening night of Spike & Mike Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation at the Rio Theatre on Broadway and Commercial.

And tomorrow night, 6S Marketing is hosting a light show/block party called Illuminate Yaletown.

Enjoy!

A Capella!

Tonight is the David Byrne and Brian Eno concert, which made me feel very musical this morning, which made me go online on a long music search, which eventually led me to this:

The Carleton Singing Knights

The Daft Punk song is magic...but my favorite is by far the Gorillaz cover. Enjoy!

City of Others

I'm planning to launch a website to showcase some of my recent photographic work. Therefore, I've been researching ways to display the photographs on the website and create a layout that is exciting for my viewers. By mere coincidence, I bought a pair of jeans from an L.A. brand called City of Others and followed the instructions on the tag, which led me directly to this amazing photo display! (I wonder how many hundreds of hours of programming it took to create it)

---------------------------- update Feb 21 -----------------------------

That amazing photo viewing application is called TiltViewer and you can download it for free.

Human Rights

Ahhh the marvelous world of animation...

Monopoly!

This is the post where you learn about Mike Daisey.

As part of the Push Festival volunteer staff, I had the opportunity to see the monologue "Monopoly!". Any description I might give you of this show would be insufficient to correctly transmit the show's magic, its thought provoking message, and Mike's energy. I confess that before the show, I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of sitting through a 90 minute monologue...but it only took the performer a few seconds to turn my skepticism into awe.

Mike Daisey delivers his monologue with such strength that you literally put off blinking for the entire show. "Monopoly!" navigates perfectly through different true stories of corporate abuse, weaving bits of Daisey's personal life into a plot that suddenly becomes everyone's daily confrontation with rapacious private interests. From a strong commentary on big box store suburbia to an enlightening critique of the intellectual property system, "Monopoly!" serves as an urgent call against the abuses of unchecked corporate power.

I don't remember excatly when it happened, but somewhere between the stories of I suddenly felt a lump of coal in my throat. If you simply read the story of Nicola Tesla, or read how Parker Brothers bought the rights to Monopoly from its true inventor, you probably won't feel a thing. But after hearing Mike Daisey tell you the story and seeing how he develops the characters and turns their lives into passionate accounts of injustice, it is impossible not to feel a hole in your chest. And if you already have even a slightly negative opinion of Wal Mart, this show's poetic message might turn you into a full time activist.

Needless to say, if you have the chance, go see a show by Mike Daisey.

Here is the description of "Monopoly!" on the show's website:

In this devastating monologue about monopoly and its discontents, Mike Daisey explores the warped genius of inventor Nikola Tesla and his war with Thomas Edison over electricity—alternating current versus direct current—a battle that etched itself into the streets of New York City itself. This thread loops and whorls around Microsoft’s historic antitrust lawsuit, the secret history of the board game Monopoly, and ultimately the story of Daisey’s hometown and its one remaining retailer: Wal-Mart. As subversive as it is hilarious, Monopoly! illuminates the issues we confront under corporate rule, and explores the choices and struggles individuals face living in a system that recognizes only profit and loss.

Live From a Bush of Ghosts

Ahhhh the beauty of fresh, innovative and significant theatre! Yesterday I had the privilege of attending Live From a Bush of Ghosts, a superb show presented by Theatre Conspiracy. The set ressembles a live DJ set with a dance floor, where the only actress plays an array of intimately tied stories about technology, while two DJ's and a video artist create virtual worlds for her characters. The stories are frighening and contemporary, and the actress uses impressive body language to haunt the spectators' imagination. I particularly enjoyed a part about a stock broker who is fatally tied to her cellphone and begins to breakdown as the market literally crashes all around her.

The show was especially significant to me because the music is inspired by David Byrne and Brian Eno (and I'm going to their concert in a few days!), and the initial part about a Third World electronic trash dump echoed last Thursday's talk by Edward Burtynsky's (his images of these dumps are the most frighteningly beautiful examples of our daily complicity in the Earth's destruction).

This show is playing at Studio 16 (1555 W. 7th Av), at 7pm tonight and 4pm tomorrow (Sunday). Don't miss this!!!

Here is the description on their site:

Spirits arise from the toxic smoke of First World electronic trash dumped in the developing world. A boy lured by an internet predator, a suicidal stockbroker, a heavy metal televangelist — these are a few of the ghosts haunting a woman who melts down computer components to retrieve precious metals for pennies a day.

With music inspired by Brian Eno and David Byrne’s seminal recording My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Theatre Conspiracy delves into the fallout of digital culture. Electronic band No Luck Club performs along with live video mixes by Candelario Andrade as dancer/actor Tara Cheyenne Friedenberg creates multiple roles to conjure a ghostworld that is a physical, visual, sonic feast for the senses.

For activists

And walking around the city today after an inspiring talk by Edward Burtynsky, I saw this inscription on a wall:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead


Feliz Cumpleaños, Andrés!

Guitar Hero

Like many kids of my generation, I used to be a video game addict. From Mario Bros. to Contra, to Final Fantasy, and Grand Theft Auto, my addiction touched every genre and console. However, for various reasons, I stopped gaming about 4 years ago. This means that I felt completely untouched by the wave of Guitar Hero madness that has swept over the world...until now.

Last Thursday, I volunteered to give a guitar lesson to inner city kids in an East side elementary school in Vancouver. I spent about two days preparing for the lesson, thinking of simple chord progressions to teach to the kids, or easy riffs to keep them entertained. Memories of my first guitar lessons flashed through my mind and I thought about teaching them an easy Beatles song to get them excited about learning a full song in a single class ("Obla di obla da" was obviously the first choice). But one thing I never thought about was studying the songs in the game "Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock"!

As I walked into the class and introduced myself to the kids (fifth graders), I tried to begin a conversation about their taste in music. A teacher has to find some common cultural referents, so I tried namedropping some bands...to no avail. The kids stared back at me as if I were speaking in tongues! I namedropped some more, even began to play the intro of Wish You Were Here...but the result was the same. I stopped and realized that I was staring down into a deep and authentic generational gap.

And then a hand shot up in the air. It was a twelve year old with an awesome mohawk that made me and my knit scarf look like a Backstreet Boy. He looked at me in the eyes and delivered the magic words: "dude, don't you know any song from the new Guitar Hero??" Ha! Suddenly the whole class was talking of the songs, and of the levels, and if Slash was the hardest to beat, or if Jimmy Hendrix was faster. I was taken by surprise...shocked. It suddenly dawned on me that the musical tastes of a whole new generation are being shaped by the playlists in Guitar Hero! Elementary kids everywhere are connecting with long foregone music legends through the colored buttons of their plastic guitars. This, more than anything, more than its record breaking sales, is the true success of the game.

And, of course, as the lesson proceeded, I did NOT mention the Beatles song.

Become Pollock!

This is probably the most ingenious website I've seen in 2009. (it's also a marvelous time waster for these times of high unemployment!)

JacksonPollock.org


note to self: I should hold a screenshot competition here to attract viewers.

Her Morning Elegance

Gracias a Uno y uno son demasiados por esta maravilla de video. Me acabas de abir el bote de las ideas para mis intentos de animaciones....

Mi abuela Josefina

Hoy me levanté triste.
El calendario de mi celular me despertó con un noticia importante:
Hoy es el cumpleaños de mi abuela Josefina.

Mi abuela murió hace exactamente un año y tres dias.
Unos dias antes de cumplir 90 años.
Murió planeando su gran fiesta.

Recuerdo esa horrible madrugada del 30 de enero.
Me despertó la voz triste de mi papá en el teléfono.
Mi mamá no podía hablar. Colgué y me fui a la aeropuerto.

Me acuerdo de la escena en el mostrador de Mexicana.
"Mi vuelo era la próxima semana...pero necesito salir hoy"
Se nos adelantó la festejada.

...

Hoy publicaron la fecha de mi graduación,
Estoy triste porque cuando veo los 4 boletos para invitados
No puedo dejar de pensar en mi invitada de honor.