Its the middle of June, which brings the second entry of The Cineastes. I didn’t participate but I urge others to read the other members’ entries which can be found at the link below. This month’s film was hosted by Josh Wiebe of Octopus Cinema who picked The Gambler (Karel Reisz, 1974).
Next month is hosted by me, so expect some nifty thoughts on Big Trouble In Little China
Saw this amazing video via Puke Skywalker the other day and since I’m lazy today, I’ll quote the original article from WFMU:
At the time, Cage was teaching Experimental Composition at New York City’s New School. Eight years beyond 4:33, he was (as our smoking MC informs us) the most controversial figure in the musical world at that time. His first performance on national television was originally scored to include five radios, but a union dispute on the CBS set prevented any of the radios from being plugged in to the wall. Cage gleefully smacks and tosses the radios instead of turning them on and off. While treating Cage as something of a freak, the show also treats him fairly reverentially, cancelling the regular game show format to allow Cage the chance to perform his entire piece (via WFMU).
Assassin’s Creed was definitely a flawed game. It had clumsy gameplay mechanics, most of which were simply not utilized to its fullness. The whole premise was extremely unique but simply lacked a strong structure to hold it together. Regardless, it was an exciting gameplay experience that could be described as Prince of Persia meets GTA. This was backed by a compelling narrative that abruptly ended on a cliffhanger. Thus, it is great news that a sequel is in the works.
Sadly the trailer doesn’t show any gameplay, rather cinematic material but does reveal that it does indeed continue the events of the previous game. The main difference being, a shift from 12th century Holy Land to 15th century Renaissance Italy. The hidden blade still seems to be the prominent weapon but the trailer also reveals the presence of firearms which could dramatically shift the combat dynamics.
Of equal note, is the trailer for the sequel to Left 4 Dead. A great fps by any means and easily one of the better in recent history for online play. What was so great about it was its simple premise and the low learning curve it had compared to many others of the genre. Its a great multiplayer shooter that anyone could easily pick up and play along to.
Like the former trailer mentioned, this one lacks gameplay as well but does reveal that not much has changed. Feature-wise, it seems its pretty similar with the only glaring difference being a shift in locale to the American South. Also, at least according to the wiki, it seems this one will possibly flesh out more of a narrative and backstory which the first seemed to lack.
Both trailers are embedded after the break…
via Twitch, comes the trailer for Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s Nymph. Based on Ratanaruang’s name alone, this comes at great interest. Last Life in the Universe was easily one of the more significant films to come out of Thailand in recent history as well as in the trend of pan-Asian productions.
This trailer on the other hand, seems less then stellar. It seems to be of the generic horror-esque with quick cuts matched with an accelerating but slow bass-y drumbeat. Shaky cam also seems to be abundant, so much so that even the captions themselves are….shaky. Overall, the trailer seems to market it as another cliche horror flick which I imagine isn’t the case.
Not all is bad though, the visuals and cinematography are definitely impressive. Ratanaruang teams up once again with Charnkit Chamnivikaipong who seems almost on par with the likes of Doyle here.
Trailer embedded after the break:
Kaki King makes an appearance on TED with her rather innovative slap and fret tapping technique.
VV Brown makes an appearance on the Black Cab Sessions with a performance of her single, “Shark in the Water”. Although a great single by any means, I actually prefer this acoustic live rendition over her somewhat overproduced album version, which if anything, seems to draw attention away from her vocal talent.
Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater’s Tony-sweeping musical Spring Awakening is getting a Korean production in July. It will star Kim Mu-yeol, Cho Jung-seok, and Kim Yu-young in lead roles and subsequently will have the majority of its lyrics sung in Korean. Needless to say, I have no idea who any of them are but if the rehearsal videos are any indicator, they seem to have been extremely well cast.
An official site has been up for awhile which has two montage reels, one of which shows a glimpse into rehearsals and the newly translated Korean scripting. More importantly, there is a full video rehearsal of “Totally F*ucked” with both leads exhibiting some strong vocal and stage presence. The choreography is relatively unchanged from the original Broadway production but its definitely refreshing to see a completely new cast doing a rendition out of costume.
There is also a plethora of other full rehearsal videos of many of the musical’s number on Naver Video…but the load speeds are annoyingly slow. For those patient enough to check them out, I highly suggest you do. Otherwise, at least give a listen to “Totally F*ucked” over on the official site which suffers no load problems.
Links & Videos embedded after the break:
via Twitch. Surrogates is an upcoming sci-fi film based upon the graphic novel of the same name. The premise revolves around a society that has fallen into the common practice of using “surrogate” bodies in place of their own. This allows individuals to live out their lives without ever leaving the safety of their own homes. Ultimately it leads to more hedonistic attitudes on life where the fear of death or repercussion of personal choices is somewhat dampened. For example, the chance of death is lessened since the surrogate body is the one out in the real world prone to accidents. And in the case death occurs, you simply get a new surrogate.
Its an interesting concept and draws a close parallel to the way in which people today seemingly can lead a “Second Life” on the internet through both the large networks/services available, as well as the veil of anonymity the net allows. Robert Venditti the writer of the original graphic novel had this to say:
It dawned on me that if you were somehow able to create a persona and send it out into the real world—where it could go to work for you, and run your errands, and so on—then you would never have to go back to being yourself. (via Graphic Novel Reporter)”
Overall its quite intriguing. The way in which the surrogates seemingly give people a sense of security is similar to how an avatar works in any online community or even an MMO like World of Warcraft. In the case of a game, death simply means a restart. And in the case of a forum for example, one can easily throw away one identity and replace it with a new distinct one.
The film stars Bruce Willis and is being directed by Jonathan Mostow who helmed U-571 and Breakdown. The trailer in HD can be viewed after the break:
