August 10, 2010
BleepCast, Seph Carissa / texx sound, films, games, retro
2 Comments
The BleepCast inspects covers, remixes and de-makes of our favorite tunes in the last 30 years in this level and asks how everything started, how it evolved and where it all went. This is a broad topic and so there’s no screwing around: This BleepCast hits you massively with 50 minutes of pure nerdsound, spoken and played alike. And the best of all: You’ll love it! I’m happy, Bob!
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The BleepCast inspects covers, remixes and de-makes of our favorite tunes in the last 30 years in this level and asks how everything started, how it evolved and where it all went. This is a broad topic and so there's no screwing around: This BleepCast hits you massively with 50 minutes of pure nerdsound, spoken and played alike. And the best of all: You'll love it! I'm happy, Bob!
June 15, 2010
CGI & Rendering, Compositing, Lectures, Quotes, Reports, Technology, films, on set
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On the second day we all got late to the first lecture and missed “The VFX of Iron Man” and instead enjoyed the breakfast at our value-priced hotel whose every room was kept in shape for the whole place looked like a museum of 1970′s rustic dwelling. Mrs. Zheng apologized for not having boiled eggs and I downed every bit of orange juice that was left on the buffet because I almost died of thirst the night before. Mrs. Zheng didn’t like seeing me drinking eagerly directly out of the jar but left it at a sullen glance this time. Then we drove off to the Haus der Wirtschaft once again.
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On the second day we all got late to the first lecture and missed "The VFX of Iron Man" and instead enjoyed the breakfast at our value-priced hotel whose every room was kept in shape for the whole place looked like a museum of 1970's rustic dwelling. Mrs. Zheng apologized for not having boiled eggs and I downed every bit of orange juice that was left on the buffet because I almost died of thirst the night before. Mrs. Zheng didn't like seeing me drinking eagerly directly out of the jar but left it at a sullen glance this time. Then we drove off to the Haus der Wirtschaft once again.
Post is Prep
My Access Pass, originally uploaded by Phil Strahl.
Still a bit drowsy I planted my ass in the front row of the König-Karl Halle and knew I wouldn't be getting up for a long time, not even for Pixar's Career Gears (they don't need compositors, I got the message last years). So at 11 a.m. "The Role of Visualization in th
May 17, 2010
Animation, CGI & Rendering, Compositing, Lectures, Quotes, Reports, Technology, films, people
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I awoke after a terrible night of too little sleep (thank you, insane entertainment-industry sleep-cycle!) and was greeted suspiciously by Mrs. Zheng, the hotel manager, on my way to the hotel’s breakfast premises where the ongoing conversations ebbed as I entered. Too much eyeliner, I thought. But I had other things on my mind. In fact, I was so excited that I ran a red light on my way to the conference.
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I awoke after a terrible night of too little sleep (thank you, insane entertainment-industry sleep-cycle!) and was greeted suspiciously by Mrs. Zheng, the hotel manager, on my way to the hotel's breakfast premises where the ongoing conversations ebbed as I entered. Too much eyeliner, I thought. But I had other things on my mind. In fact, I was so excited that I ran a red light on my way to the conference.
Haus der Wirtschaft, originally uploaded by Phil Strahl.
I was eager to first see The Foundry's presentations on Mari, their programming approach and a tech demonstration of the recently acquired Katana, I was so excited about last year in Sony's presentation, but had no exact clue what it really was.
Paint that dinosaur!
Once arrived I got me a seat pretty close up front and was ready for their presentations to begin. Jack Greasley, who worked at Weta Digital on King Kong and Avatar and Zoe Lord, Senior Texture Artist on Avat
May 6, 2009
Animation, CGI & Rendering, Compositing, Computing, Lectures, Reports, Technology, films, on set, people
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I woke up early. Too early. My room is located under the stairs to the third floor so it’s needless to say that it’s noisy. The day started off rather cloudy. But it got better along the way. The last two conventions where as sunny as California in any orange-juice commercial so it was okay this year that the weather took leak a break.
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I woke up early. Too early. My room is located under the stairs to the third floor so it's needless to say that it's noisy. The day started off rather cloudy. But it got better along the way. The last two conventions where as sunny as California in any orange-juice commercial so it was okay this year that the weather took leak a break.
Hotel Hottmann, originally uploaded by Phil Strahl.
When roaming the Stuttgart streets again it didn't feel as nice as last year. It was cold, it was foggy and some drunk junk was shouting profanities and bugging people on the Schloßplatz. A sharp turn took me to Starbucks where a friendly caramel macchiato was waiting for me and where I decided today's program amidst men in fancy suits and a flock of girls skipping school.
I was among the first few visitors who showed up at 9:30 to view the introductory selection of short films from the Filmakademie Ludwigsburg featuring Urs, Some
November 19, 2008
Animation, CGI & Rendering, Reports, films, ranting, review
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I have much time on my hands in Berlin now so I’ve been to the movies. I watched two classics in a charming little theater in the Kastanienallee, Delicatessen and Taxi Driver and two current Hollywood blockbusters in the UCI Colosseum multiplex theater, WALL·E and Burn After Reading. I will not talk so much about the films themselves because that has already been done by people way more proficient than me. No, I will focus on my experiences around and inspired by the movies. With no spoilers, as usual.
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I have much time on my hands in Berlin now so I've been to the movies. I watched two classics in a charming little theater in the Kastanienallee, Delicatessen and Taxi Driver and two current Hollywood blockbusters in the UCI Colosseum multiplex theater, WALL·E and Burn After Reading. I will not talk so much about the films themselves because that has already been done by people way more proficient than me. No, I will focus on my experiences around and inspired by the movies. With no spoilers, as usual.
Read the whole story below or jump to a certain flick:
Delicatessen
WALL·E
Burn After Reading
Taxi Driver
Delicatessen
A French indie from 1991 I remember having seen almost ten years ago. I watched it together with Esther and Martina from my class in the cute little Lichtblick Kino in Prenzlauer Berg after an extended chat and update on everything in the Café St. Oberholz.
The theater is so small and lovely that I feel like describing it a little. The first
August 29, 2008
Dear Diary, Reports, films, ranting, review
2 Comments
I just came home from watching “The Dark Knight” in the UCI Colosseum in Berlin and I have to say: What a bunchload of crap! Really? No, of course not! This movie actually seems to me as one of the best super hero movies there can be — with a sophisticated story off the beaten tracks while staying true with the fans. Read on.
Read the rest…
I just came home from watching "The Dark Knight" in the UCI Colosseum in Berlin and I have to say: What a bunchload of crap! Really? No, of course not! This movie actually seems to me as one of the best super hero movies there can be -- with a sophisticated story off the beaten tracks while staying true with the fans. Read on.
Marlboro, Magic and many 'Mercials
It was my first night out watching a flick here in Berlin. I ordered the ticket online and once there I got myself all buzzing on salty popcorn, sugar and caffeine - thanks to the liter of coke which troubled me a little in the final act of the movie: I was ready for a nice evening with a good film.
Before getting into the movie itself I have to rant a little about today's movie theaters and their way with advertisements. When paying for something today, you're not really paying so much for the movie but for keeping the ads out of it. Interestingly this is not so much the case with films: If you download them for free (illegally, fair enoug
June 1, 2008
Compositing, Reports, Technology, filmmaking, films, video
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Another convention report, my apologies! I haven’t thought that I would be on so many (= two) conventions in the field of digital film in such a short span of time. But attending the Digitale Cinematographie convention this Thursday in Munich was something way out of the ordinary because a little dream never dreamed came true: Seeing my work on the grandeur of a real IMAX theater silver screen.
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Another convention report, my apologies! I haven't thought that I would be on so many (= two) conventions in the field of digital film in such a short span of time. But attending the Digitale Cinematographie convention this Thursday in Munich was something way out of the ordinary because a little dream never dreamed came true: Seeing my work on the grandeur of a real IMAX theater silver screen.
Till, originally uploaded by Phil Strahl.
I have to yell out a big thanks to the head of the video department at the FH Salzburg, Till Fuhrmeister right here in the beginning. Thanks to his good connections he managed to squeeze four of my class' video productions into the screening at the Digitale Cinematografie. And it wasn't just a "normal" screening on a standard video beamer in some cheesy seminar room, not it was a HDCAM tape screened onto a huge screen in a former IMAX theater. Impressive!
With Zorica "Zoki" Vilo
Today I was eager for a new Pixar poster. Who would’ve thought that I spent nearly one and half hour talking with the guys and gals from Pixar?