Happy New Year to one and all!

I was just reflecting back on 2010, and I had an epiphany about something. I realized that my two favorite movies of the year, TRON: Legacy and Inception, possibly warrant a new genre of fiction (or at least a sub-genre of sci-fi). They both blend ideas of science-fiction and architecture.

Now, I guess sci-fi movies have always had a strong element of architecture on display, as part of the fun of envsioning new worlds of the future is designing what structures and vehicles will look like. However, I feel that these two recent movies use architecture as an integral element and a major focus of the events that unfold (or in the case of Inception, the city of Paris appears to fold in upon itself). In Inception, one character, Ariadne, is actually an architect of the artificial dream worlds where the action takes place. In TRON: Legacy, Kevin Flynn was the architect of the virtual world where he eventually becomes trapped.

The director of TRON: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski, was a professional architect before turning his skills to filmmakng – first in commecials, and then with TRON: Legacy as his first feature film. You can see in the framing of his shots how the architectual elements play a major role, especially the scenes in Kevin’s iconic mountain sanctuary (which does pay homage to Dave Bowman’s hyper-dimensional experience at the end of 2001). There’s an interesting shot of a zen pool in a space viewed between the windows of Sam’s (guest) bedroom and Quorra’s room within the sanctuary. And another subtle shot of Quorra from below the water of a small pool in the main room of the sanctuary. Many of the “programs” seem to merge themselves into the structures around them when they are not in use, such as the Sirens who outfit Sam Flynn for battle in the Disc games. In general, TRON: Legacy takes place in a world where architecture is fluid and truly defines the space where the action plays out – the architecture is really a character in itself.

In Inception, the architecture of the dream space is used to manipulate the subconsious of individuals, hoping to either unlock their subconsious secrets, or plant new ideas in their minds. The secrets are usually represented by a room containing a safe. The way that the symbolism relating to the dreamer’s mind is embedded in the architecture is fascinating and provides this film with a depth that definitely requires repeated viewing. I love the scenes within the “limbo” level, where Cobb and Mal recreated their previous real-world homes within a vast city of echoing skyscrapers. I often dream of my childhood home, so this scene had much resonance for me. Even some of the key action sequences in the movie involve a unique architectural element, such as the paradox (Penrose) staircase.

So what should we call this new genre, or sub-genre, of science fiction? Architectural Futurism? Well, doesn’t have to be about the future, I guess. Sci-tecture? Archi-fiction? Sci-fi-chitecture? Scichitecture? Hmm, any other ideas?

Kind of makes perfect sense if you watch this scene from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ8pQVDyaLo

He’s developed the spaceship – now he’ll have the iPad with his own custom content ready to go into orbit, too.

All kidding aside, Branson’s PROJECT magazine for iPad turns out to be a rich experience. A very high-end publishing endeavor, aimed at the tech-savvy consumer with a style somewhat in the Wired Magazine vein. It’s a blending of video elements with a print layout and interactive features, structured mainly as a traditional magazine rather than a web page or a videographic interface. Think color, futuristic version of those moving newspapers in Harry Potter.

Something really cool about having Jeff Bridges suddenly spring to life and walk around beyond the large display type of an article cover page, ocean waves crashing on the shore behind him. This IS the future, dammit – for real this time! Only being about 10% snarky here; this really does have a groundbreaking, futuristic feel somehow. It’s not like we haven’t encountered digital video and animated interactive diagrams before, but maybe because it meets our collective design expectations of what an interactive magazine should be, based on all of the science-fiction versions we’ve already seen over the years. Quite fitting that TRON: Legacy would be featured in the premiere issue.

The layout is a pleasure to navigate. You can click on the text in the magazine cover or contents to jump to an article, or just swipe through left or right to browse different articles. Swiping up and down moves within a single article. Photos are often stacked in one window that you can swipe through as a gallery. Some diagrams or photos allow you to fingerpaint over them to reveal another layer, like a sketch of a new Jaguar concept car revealing a photo of the actual car. Also, seemlessly embedded audio and video clips, and even a flythrough of a 3D map of Toyko for a travel article. I really like the way the reader comments for each article are on the “flipside” of the article pages (you click a “registration mark” in the margin to flip the page). Sometimes comments can be annoying after you’ve just read an article and enjoyed it, and then proceed to see it trolled and ripped to shreds in the commentary – but like a train wreck you can’t stop reading them. So hiding the comments for optional viewing is a plus, and also keeps the layout neat and organized.

The PROJECT reader app is free to download from the App Store, then individual issues are in-app purchases. It was $3.00 for the premiere issue, and you can select from US or UK versions. Encountered a little trouble after the installation was complete – had to click on a “Filter” button a couple times and then back on the issue icon before it allowed me to access the content. Runs smoothly otherwise, and had no trouble with crashing out of the app when visiting web links within the issue, as can happen with other apps.

Overall, very impressed with the magazine. Great photography and video. A high-quality magazine with a range of articles from tech to politics, travel to fashion, architecture to food. I was engrossed for at least two hours initially, and still have much to read. Supposedly, the issues are updated throughout the month with new related content, too.

So check out Sir Richard’s new publishing venture. I’m sure it will come in handy as you’re relaxing in the lounge of the Virgin Galactic Spaceport in New Mexico, awaiting your next suborbital flight.

And, as a special bonus, I got to see the latest trailer for Tron Legacy in IMAX 3D!!!!!!!! Really can’t wait for this!!!!!!

Yeah, it rules. Got the 16GB with wifi/3G. My home has become my personal starship, as I carry around my iPad from room to room in total command of my photos, music, email, books, videos, games, everything. It’s pretty much like having pure internet fused directly into your brain. Quite addictive.

Spent the past couple months debating iPhone4 vs. iPad. Made a few trips to the Apple Store in Freehold Mall to compare. I love the high-res “Retina” display on the iPhone4, but I just kept going back to the iPad. Everything I want to do app-wise, such as sketching/painting apps, showing photos/portable portfolio, watching videos, just felt better on the iPad. I’m more old-school with phones, anyway – more of a talker than a texter, and honestly don’t want to get sucked into checking the internet and my email a zillion more times a day like I would if I had a smartphone. With the iPad, I’m not going to take it everywhere, but it does free me up to use my main iMac mostly for my creative work (music recording, illustration, photography, video editing, animation, etc.), than having to turn it on (and all of its various peripherals and drives) just to check something on the internet or my email. Plus I can do more internet/email/site admin/blog tasks from the iPad while just laying around while watching TV or relaxing, than having to sit in front of my main computer all night. It’s helped a lot with cutting down on distraction while working on my various projects, knowing that I can wait until later to catch up on email or read some news articles, instead of taking up valuable time while I’m on my main system. And I love how it is literally instant-on, so it’s always at the ready to write a note, sketch an idea, or capture a voice recording of a new song lyric or melody.

I also didn’t realize how much fun I would have playing games on the iPad. It’s just awesome. Love Pinball HD and Air Hockey Extreme. Also found something called Rhythm Racer that combines a futuristic racetrack, like Wipeout, with a Guitar Hero music concept. Cool.

The iBooks app really looks great, too. Downloaded a couple books and I’m enjoying the reading experience on the iPad a lot.

I have to say, one of my favorite apps is StarWalk. It is just such an incredible app – really drives home how sci-fi-becoming-reality the iPad is. Just hold the iPad in whatever direction you like, and the app shows exactly what celestial objects are in the sky for your location, date and time. And then pinch with your fingers to zoom in, click on any star, galaxy, meteor shower, nebula – whatever – and you can zoom in on it and get information about it. It’s just a beautiful app – really, a mobile planetarium. Blows me away every time I use it.

I’m just getting started learning to use some sketching apps like Brushes and SketchBook Pro – both are great so far, but I need some more practice, and also want to buy the Pogo stylus for iPad so I can be a little more precise with them.

So, overall, I’m really happy with the iPad and find it to be quite a useful and incredibly fun device. If you are looking to not completely replace your main computer, and want something portable, yet more comfortable than a smartphone to enjoy the internet, reading, movies, games and the wide variety of apps… the iPad is it.

Wow. Just saw James Cameron’s Avatar this morning. Now, I’m not one to use profanity much. Even simulated profanity. But that was just effing amazing and mind-blowing. I mean, I can usually pick out CG and bluescreen effects, etc. But this stuff was spot-on. My mind kept thinking that the N’avi were people in costumes/makeup, not animated characters. Such detail. And in 3D IMAX, it just blew my mind. I don’t think anyone in my theater was moving or breathing during the entire 3 hours. Like Jake says in the movie, about his human life becoming the dreamworld, and life with the N’avi was more real, I felt that the world on the movie screen that I was immersed in was more real.

Just, everyone, go drop everything now – Holidays, what Holidays? – and see this movie. Preferably in 3D or IMAX 3D if you can. Forget about “uncanny valleys” and check any of your usual “amateur movie critic” cynicism at the theater entrance. This is the real deal. Fantasy becomes reality. Cameron is no longer just King of the World, he’s like Master of the Universe now.

Okay, okay… let me take a breath and mention one annoyance. The music. While it served the purpose, it just seemed a bit too… familiar. Like “Titanic- The Tribal Mix”. Seemed like I kept hearing the first couple notes of “My Heart Will Go On” theme, and then it would change to something else, or add the “Wrath of Khan” horn motif in there from Star Trek II. I’m more of a John Williams fan, so maybe it’s just me, but, really, it’s a minor detail as the visuals of this totally realized, iconic world just engulf your senses.

I did enjoy the story – though it is also familiar, the whole “white man guilt” thing, military/civilization/machines vs. primitives/environment/peace-loving people, etc. However, the epic scope of the film and the depth of this world and it’s alien culture just enhance and drive home this familiar tale and message in a way you’ve never experienced. Total immersion. Plus the visual homages to Roger Dean’s Yes album art – including floating forest mountains, colorful winged creatures and magnificent rock arches – were a nice touch.

I’ll be seeing this again. Hopefully soon.

Happy Holidays and have a Wonderful New Year!

Just reading this article in the New York Times about how a Taiwanese news organization is using a computer animation company to create 3D-animated “simulations” of current news events. The thing is, they are sort of recreations of the event based on ideas of what may have happened, often based on hearsay and unsubstantiated facts. The company even has actors on staff who do motion capture to create the animated characters. The video of the simulated sequences depicting Tiger Woods getting beaten and chased by his wife are like something out of a Grand Theft Auto videogame. And the one of him dancing in a club while text-messaging one of his mistresses is like The Sims or something. This is really pushing the edge of what The News is to become – more tabloid and entertainment-based. The dramatic music accompanying the animations is so bad it’s hilarious…

As he says in the NY Times article, Keith Olbermann of MSNBC believes that “this will be done by somebody, in this country, within six months.”

Here’s another one – really funny when the narrator changes his voice to be the girl answering her phone “This is Jaimee”:

That’s me in a scene from the making-of documentary on the Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen DVD… I was at Princeton University back when they were filming the movie (check my previous post about it here), so it was cool to see this scene pop up with Shia signing autographs – I knew right away I must be in there somewhere. After hitting the slow-mo and stepping thru on pause, I could see my cap and glasses in the back row there.

If you have the 2-disc special edition DVD, on the main menu, go to “The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen”. Then click on “Domestic Destruction – Production: United States”. The scene starts at 00:06:43.

This past week, after much anticipation, I watched the documentary film Objectified, by Gary Hustwit. His Helvetica (see my previous review) was one of my favorite documentaries ever, so I’d been looking forward to this for some time. It’s just cool to see a well-done film about design. Overall, didn’t enjoy this one as much as Helvetica – probably more due to my background in graphic design, as Objectified is more about industrial design. However, it’s still a great film, and I enjoyed it more upon a second viewing.

The interview with Jonathan Ive, one of the chief industrial designers at Apple (he was the main designer on the iMac, MacBook, iPod, and iPhone), was a highlight. He really explained (and embodied) the obsession to detail that makes Apple a standout in its product design. There are many other great interviews with prominent industrial designers speaking of their design process and philosophies on items as mundane as toothbrushes to as iconic as cars and the first laptop computer.

I think the most effective scenes in the film are the close-ups of objects in use, such as forks and plates, chairs, faucets, alarm clocks, etc. – filmed in such a manner as to focus on the object itself. Just felt somehow like you are observing these everyday objects in such a way as you’re seeing them for the first time. Really well done. Similar to the scenes in Helvetica showing the font in signs and storefronts, but more subtle and probably harder to achieve this effect with objects, searching for the right framing to make it work. I also dug the scene showing the front end of cars, which are sometimes overlooked in the design process – producing some unfortunate “faces”.

As always, Mr. Hustwit’s films have a great soundtrack with some cool electronic/ambient grooves, and Objectified doesn’t disappoint. His movies always get my design juices flowing. Hopefully he will continue with the design theme for the next documentary. What’s next, maybe architecture?

Objectified is available for download on iTunes:
http://www.itunes.com/movies/Objectified

Just completed this new music video for my song “King of Anything”. Once again, I used Final Cut Express 4 to edit the video and create all of the effects and compositing. I went kinda retro on this… my cheesy green screen (a neon green tablecloth from Party City) got a bit roughed up from trying to film my cat on it, and I didn’t feel like heading out to buy a new one, so I used a good old Luma Key to composite video I shot of myself and guitarist Mike Z. against a blank wall. It added sort of a transparency effect that I feel makes the video look kinda old-school, classic rock, you know? I did the same for my “Crashing Down” video. I even added some noise and “Bad TV” effects to make it look more retro. And if you notice certain things start to look a bit shaky… it’s the Earthquake effect. I utilized Earthquake to give elements a shaky film projector feel in King of Anything. Overall, it’s been fun working on these videos – FCE4 is a little quirky sometimes, but for the most part it’s a smooth experience. Especially since I learned to render scenes to video as I work in order to see the effects in final form and to make “real-time playback” smoother.

By the way, does anyone know if a new version of FCE is coming out for Snow Leopard? I haven’t upgraded to SL yet, but I’m planning to soon (actually, I’m ashamed to admit, I’m still on Tiger… I never got around to Leopard and then decided to wait for SL, but still procrastinating. I’m pretty happy with the setup I have so not in any real rush, though some of the SL features look cool and I do want the latest iLife, especially GarageBand. And the speed increase will be nice.).

Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t posted in a long while… been busy with some new projects – my next album (in the final mixing phase, also developing the album art), plus this fun new science fiction parody comics site, stupidfuture, that I’m co-producing with a friend. We’re both drawing the comics, plus posting related commentary about the featured sci-fi references. I’m posting as “Nigel Matrix”, and my friend is “Raven”. (Long story… we used to be a “cyber-grunge-techno-pop” sci-fi concept band/multimedia experiment back in the day. Yeah.)

Please check out stupidfuture for more comics, plus links out to our blog, youtube site, and cafepress store. Enjoy!