Splinter: Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki, but something much worse comes for you. For when you die, it will be …without honor. from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, 1990
Category: Film
TRON Costume Rebooted: “I roll for the users!”
A couple of years ago, I put together a TRON costume for $60 that I was pretty proud of. I decided to enhance it for 2022, which happens to be the 40th anniversary of the original TRON movie. The most visible addition to this rebooted costume was an LED visor that definitely turned a lot…
Filipino Swing Dancing from the 50s!
I don’t know anything about this clip other than it’s from a 1957 Filipino movie called Kalyehera. There’s a lot to unpack in this scene: The music feels very Elvis Presley inspired A lot of the dancing is “groove around then throw an airstep” which I suppose was probably what people were expecting to see…
The Doughnuts (1963)
I think this must be where my fascination with bakeries started. We were forced to watch this short film The Doughnuts (1963) many times in grade school. The plot is so dumb, but the shots of the machine just churning out doughnut after doughnut just fascinated me. Upon review, those doughnuts look terrible.
A Message to Me from Chewbacca!
So I woke up yesterday to a video message in my in-box from Joonas Suotamo, the Finnish actor who for the past five Star Wars films has been playing the iconic character Chewbacca! This was a very special thank you message from my good friend Barry Joseph. Sadly, Barry’s father recently passed away, and I…
Short Script: “Rising Stars”
I wrote this for a new course I’m designing. I kind of want to shoot this for real now. Rising Stars SCENE 1: Evening, interior, a casual cafe Two middle aged women are sharing a meal together. KATY: It’s so good to see you, Jo, it’s been too long! JO: I know, I’m sorry. We’ve…
Pro-climber Tommy Caldwell on Big Goals
At the end of the remarkable rock climbing film The Dawn Wall, pro-climber Tommy Caldwell, described what it was like planning his legendary free climb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan (my rough paraphrase): “For ten years I mapped out what I hoped was a climbable route up the Dawn Wall, never really sure…
360 Video of Alex Honnold Free Soloing El Cap
I’m so excited to see the documentary Free Solo in a couple of weeks, the story of how legendary climber Alex Honnold ascended Yosemite’s El Capitan with no rope, no harness, just his chalk bag and balls of steel. In the meanwhile, this 360 video showing a bit of Alex free soloing El Cap will…
“Everything Remains Raw”: An Unfinished Video Essay on the Black Roots of Urban Dance
Finally got around to watching all of "Everything Remains Raw" Moncell Durden's ambitious documentary on the Black roots of urban dance. Like the title, the film is very raw and unfinished, at times painfully so. There are parts of the work that have issues with. It diminishes the important role of Latinx dancers and culture…
Lazy Cosplay: Gaff from Blade Runner
I went to see the new film "Blade Runner 2049" at the Alamo Drafthouse last weekend. Although I knew no one else would, I wanted to dress up as one of the characters from the original "Blade Runner." But who to be? So many iconic roles: Deckard, Roy Batty, Pris, Sebastian. But when it came…