It's been too long.

old news, but I haven’t written anything for a few months. Yikes. Anyway, you’d be pleased to know that the DVD (remember DUAL-LAYER format…. 8.7 GB) is all but finished… let’s say around 98% done. Here’s the cover. It will be available soon and you can print it at your local FedEx/Kinko’s or whatever. Also, the DVD will be available for download incredibly soon. Or you could go for mail-order, by sending in an empty 8.7 GB DL Recordable DVD (two of them, if you want the bonus disc, full of more dubs and extras) and *IMPORTANT* shipping fees, so I can return the DVDs (with the dubs on them) to you!

Here’s the DVD Cover as it should look like in its box.

DOWNLOAD THE SUCKER RIGHT HERE… ON THEPIRATEBAY.ORG!

(click for a bigger image)

also, quick question: anyone know Douglas Darien Walker’s physical address?

anyway, here is the FULL 300dpi DVD Cover for you to PRINT OUT! Enjoy! Murry Christamasa!

CLICK THIS!

I do not like them as much as I used to.

Yup, you just keep squeezing all that money out of it.

Seriously. I’ve really had it with Shogakukan Inc. I tried to be friendly, I tried to respect them… but no. A friend of mine, – who, if you’re a Pokémon (or ex-Pokémon) person, will know as Youko from “Show Me Your News” or the “WTF Pokémon” show – just had their Youtube account annihalated due to copyright claim by none other than Shogakukan.

They own the Pokémon TV Show.

As fair as this may seem, my issue with this is the sheer and total neglect that is usually displayed on their side. I’ve never seen any other copyright holder so downright “infringeophobic” as they are. It seems any fraction of a frame you include in a video that’s meant for purely nothing more than celebrating, paying homage to, parodying, or even PROMOTING the show; is instantaneously found, targeted, and murdered.

Lucasfilm Ltd. (yes, Star Wars, Willow, Indy, etc.) has a different view. They allow useage of anything copyrighted from them (see the millions and millions of great Star Wars fanfilms on the internet) unless used for strict marketing purposes.

I have a Youtube account too. On this account I usually add the occasional overdub to various movies and trailers I come accross. I’ve never EVER had an infringement placed on any Lucasfilm-owned video. In the 3 years I was on Youtube… this never happened. However, every time I upload something that contains even the most liberal use of their “precious” Pokémon show, I’ve gotten banned. This happened three times. The first one was quite basically a very lovely music video I cut together using footage from “The First Movie”; of which there are BILLIONS of videos on Youtube.

The second one was this little video.

It’s really not fair. I imagine the Film/TV/Animation Branch of Shogakukan (or perhaps the company as a whole) as a selfish little ol’ rolly man with a very lethal desert eagle just itching to find more “Evil doers” that dare to love his Pokémon more than him.

It’s like “I hold the rights to this, and want you to give me money on what I made for you; but I’ll see to it that NONE of you share the same love, even if its far more selfless than my money-making ways, to it than I do!”

Quit being a whiny little pig-baby and let the fans do what you yourself started them to do, alright? I mean, you guys do good stuff… but why hit people with a mallet for liking it?

I don't know, man. I don't know.

HEY PEOPLE! Well, it seems our LOTR dubs are getting produced much faster than expected. Hopefully this will be a pretty fast dart to the finish line. As you have heard, we will be making a DVD (okay, I will). On it will be bonus materials! Many, many things! Such as the incomplete Rankin/Bass ROTK dubs (starring Tim), and a few behind-the-microphone segments. Maybe even a commentary or two. This will be available for FREE (because it’s pretty illegal to be selling something like this) on bittorrent or mail-in (basically, just send an empty dual-layer DVD and I’ll burn it and send it back). Obviously, for copyright reasons… you have to have the original film (The unadulterated Bakshi LOTR movie)… (whatever).

Brilliance on a Disc

Secondly, does anyone use Tumblr? I have no idea what it is, but a friend of mine uses it and I tried it out. It’s kind of fun to be posting random things I do on it, but its kind of fruitless because there is no comment, AND no one really reads or watches anything I post on there! Plus, all Tumblr does is remind me of that inconveniently large batmobile from the new Batman series. 

Also, here’s a link to this really funky guy called Jakerno. He’s the voice of Bilbo in our dubs, and is a generally cool guy. Yes, this is kind of blatant linking promotion… but what the heck, you might find it entertaining.

In other news, I wish I had more people reading this, because I like writing on it occasionally, but I usually don’t have much to say. Wait, did I just answer my own question?

P.S. I might be uploading all the episodes on BLIP.TV … so incase our youtube account gets killed off, you’ll have them all on there!

Silence those Lambs!

hi guys. I’m internet-impaired for the time being but I managed to hitch a connection somewhere. So I uploaded my review to this movie I watched very recently. Here are my thoughts:

My already low bar for the American film industry’s artistic integrity has just been lowered. How you ask? Because one day I was reading the back of a generally considered classic animated film we all know as “Beauty and the Beast”. It stated that it was the first (and last) flick to be nominated “Best Picture” by the (in this person’s solid opinion) perversely over-bloated Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
As I did a little more research on this event, I came to notice that it lost that award over somecheapy-deapy murder flick called “The Silence Of The Lambs” (as awesome as the title may sound).

Hmm… this must be some amazingly special movie to beat out a very special animated one. Apparently this “Lambs” movie is also considered one of the best films ever made. Directed by prestigiousguy (I’ve never heard of) called Jonathan Demme? Okay, I’ll check it out.
And I did.

Perhaps the best reaction from me with this “amazing” movie was this:
What Kind Of Drugs Are You People On?!

Case in point: The film itself, based on a novel, inspired by real murders (that’s a triple-dosage of deteriorating originality, f.y.i.) felt like nothing more to me than another shock hokey-pokey horror crime movie. Something that always seems to be played on late-night TV over and over. Sorry, did I just offend you by saying this? Sincerest apologies.

I will say that all the main players did a very good job acting this story out. Especially Tony Hopkins. Although, from all the god-like praise and information I have been receiving prior to seeing this flick, “Anthony Hopkins never blinked in the movie” (disappointingly so: he did. Quite a few times.), I was expecting something otherworldly. Something a little less gross, too. (Do people have no shame? I presume there’s a reason it exists, otherwise I wouldn’t be asking that question.)

What an embarrassment. Say what? The film? No, not at all! I meant what an embarrassment to “the brainless masses”, as many socialist dictators like to call them, who really believe this film is something far greater than what it is. It’s a solid film, yes; It’s suspenseful, arguably so. But it had this seeping feeling of a movie where the filmmakers felt so full of themselves, so high-and-mighty, I could swear they said this every day: “We are so awesome that we made all this shocking and crazy stuff! It’s sure to shock and disturb the audience!” ( It didn’t. It merely disgusted; two verydifferent emotions.). In my opinion, this movie was no different from “Saw”, “The Ring”, or even “Friday the 13th”. If not with just a little bit more intelligence; a little bit.

The action scenes were pretty lame too.
What truly disturbed me, however, was that this little piece of shock-schlock won all ‘major’ categories at the 1991 Academy Awards. (That’s Best: Director, Actor, Screenplay, Film, Supporting Actor for all you respectable people that are uninformed by such nonsense. I hypothesize that it probably won best film by letting the camera keep rolling for the last wide-shot throughout all of the end credits. How titillatingly artsy!)

“Beauty and the Beast” was a heartfelt, charming, and universally classic story. Something that can truly last forever and be seen by generation upon generation; each of them seeing it in a different way. Add to that the arduous process of character animation, something our mighty Academy never ceases to overlook. If anything: to bring to life a story with such character definition, and such a tightly-knit narrative, and such a moral core (three feats a live action movie would be lucky to have at least one of)on screen that can relate to both young and old… and that’s only half of it. Your interests and emotions are being swayed by literally pieces of paper, led, and paint;something that requires a triple-dosage of imagination, inspiration, talent, patience, stamina, and fearlessness (please note: fearlessness is different from shamelessness. Duh.).

I’m perplexed that “Beauty and the Beast” was the only animated film to be nominated for “Best Picture”. This should tell you a thing or two about the stuck-up, pompous and slow-learning nature of our wonderful establishment.

A little off-track: Now that the “Best Animated Picture” category has been established, and so few animated movies are even nominated (the biggest two being Disney and DreamWorks flicks… its hilarious seeing something as forgetful as “Kung-Fu Panda” having an Oscar Nomination), its kind of one-sided considering Disney/Pixar (mostly Pixar) keeps winning every year.

As I watched “Silence of the Lambs”, I wondered how amazing it would be had Rorschach of the more-intelligent, older, darker, less-disgusting and more engaging“Watchmen” comic book been around to mercilessly hunt down and (literally) grill our Hannibal Lecter, and “Buffalo Bill” friends. It makes one wonder… why not?

Anyway. Here is something I sketched while watching that silly “Lambs” movie. First of all, the movie would have been a lot better if fruits played it out.

Second, Rorschach should have been in it. Yes, he’s force-feeding Hannibal’s own hand to him and threatening to light him on fire. This happens after Lecter’s head is repeatedly smashed over his lunch (broken porcelain, glass, and all) and shoved against one of the cell bars with bone-rupturing force… oh yeah, and his hand was dismembered with a combination of the dead policeman’s sharp-ended gold-plated badge, and an eating knife. Sorry, I got carried away!

Conclusion: “Silence of the Lambs” is one of those more-intelligent mystery/horror/gross-out movies, but that is not saying a lot. It includes a well-cast bunch of performers, and for the most part, its “okay”-directed. Since I haven’t heard of Jonny Demme before or since, I’m taking he’s a one-shot wonder… kind of like this movie: a wonder it’s so highly regarded…
…And a wonder that I am the definite minority on this.

I was perusing the Internet (as I am doing more often, now that it is summer) and I found this as a part of Hulu’s collection of the Best of Conan.  The guest is Louis CK, and he presents some great social commentary.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/60634/late-night-with-conan-obrien-everythings-amazing-nobodys-happy

Also, I found this wonderful tidbit of information about Microsoft’s response to the Wii.

Also, auto-tune the news!

Vozzie has a better website!

So I am yet to land a temporary job for this summer, and as such I have had lots of spare time.  With nothing else pressing (other than the job search), I decided it was time to reinvent, rebuild, and reorganize my website.

I spent the first two weeks of this summer executing this plan, and now it is all done.  Feel free to visit the new www.DREWVOSBURG.com and check out what I have been up to!

So, I saw Star Trek, and it was a pretty decent movie.  The story was pleasing, although you couldn’t really tell where it was going to end.  Having seen it in a theater, I still think it is a very good movie, but I have a feeling the epic grandeur of the film will have less impact on DVD and BluRay this summer!

I understand that these are all small things, but they are things nonetheless, so here are my irritations with the movie:

1. Lens Flares. I know you are trying to create a visual style, but it got distracting.  I should be listening to the characters’ lines, not counting how many lens flares aren’t coming from actual lights.

2. Dutch Angles. Seriously, the beginning of the scene where Spock is before some counselly thing, the camera rotates 170 degrees on the Z axis!

3. Fonts. The different fonts for everything was distracting and racist.  No, sorry, that was Bond.  Bond sucked this time around.

4. Hoth/Always A Bigger Fish. The scene preceding Captain Kirk and old Spock meeting was absolutely unnecessary.  It felt like the producer said, “This film is beginning to be less effects driven.  People are focusing on the characters instead of the action.  Let’s have a lobster/leopard chase scene!”  And then, as was observed by a friend, the now-classic sci-fi “big-creature-attacked-by-even-more-ridiculously-sized-weirdie” moment.

5. “Rated PG-13 for Quirky Situations.” When Kirk and his trusty Scotsman, Scottie, beam into the Enterprise, Scottie is somehow transported into a big thing of water for the turbine engine.  Setting all “geeky” questions about being transported into the middle of another material, this weird and silly scene adds nothing to the actual movie.  In fact, it felt like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I don’t understand why they felt it was necessary to add this to the film.

Overall, I think the movie was pretty good.  I don’t think it was as good as it was hailed to be originally, but if you’re looking for a decent sci-fi flick, Star Trek has some phenomenal CG and some good action that will keep you awake.

Vozzie

Respondo!

Hi guys. Yes, you may be wondering why the newest video isn’t funny, nor is it a dub. That’s because I know these three guys that make music, and I want to help them out. I want to promote for them. That’s why that video is up. They are Respondents.

Does it have anything to do with me? Yes it does. I directed, edited, lit, and had the pain of directing lead-guitarist Matt Runda (a very opinionated dude, God bless him) to make it. Sorry for the shakyness of the camera but we’re not made out of money, and I can’t afford an awesome steadicam system.

You can listen to some Respondents songs from their EP right here. I hope you like this music video, which I worked fairly hard on. Its far from what I imagined in my head, but circumstances prohibited that to come into fulfillment.

Yeah, I was the one that shot all the footage. I didn’t have any “assistance” (except the very helpful aids that were kind enough to hold lights and reflectors because I was not able to: Caleb, Jake, TJ, Stephanie, Lionel. Thanks!)

Don’t worry, more dubs to come. Don’t worry; I’ll be funny again.

In case you didn’t see it on Youtube; or any other place for that matter: I linked it for you:

Summer Movies!

Hey, guys! I’m going to try to keep this up-to-date with various things. Because Drew, who’s idea this actually was,  has violated and broken the structure

not impressed.

of this blog (one day me, one day Drew), I’ll most likely be the most frequent poster on here. Not like any of you will actually be reading, but its a fun excersize for me anyway.

To start off with; let’s talk about summer blockbusters. To be frightfully fair, that’s the only time I actually go to movie theaters (yeah, a filmmaker such as myself… only going to theaters for the crappy big-budget flick?), It’s true. I have no shame in that.  I find them to be entertaining, and I use them to reassure myself of its crappyness so I can feel a lot better about life: that there still isn’t some super-amazing film that came out yet (don’t even go there, Dark Knight people! Dark Knight was good. I admit. It was the best in a looooong time.).

It’s safe to say that I’m not like you other guys, where I seek life-changing enlightenment from stuff made by a bunch of guys in the film industry (independent or non). I just watch it for entertainment’s sake. I analyze movies, that’s for sure, I see the underpinnings and the themes; but I don’t feel the same way most do. I just take it as it is. I think that’s a good thing, considering if I want to make movies, its better to keep your mind straight and focused then “swept away” in the moment of experiencing a movie. Don’t get me wrong: I see the experience in the movie I watch. I just choose not to comply with it. For me, its healthy and I like it.

Anyway, to the mini-reviews of my SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER experience this year! I just watched two movies (okay, three); and they were: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (only the unfinished workprint version… but I loved watching that version. Loved it.), Star Trek, and Terminator Salvation.

I’m not going to elaborate, because I tend to agree with critics at Rottentomatoes.com. However, I have a problem with their ratings for Star Trek . While the movie was enjoyable, and mildly interesting, it was not ground-breaking nor impressive. Really, It was okay. Cinematography was (yawn) nothing new… same old, teal-ish grading and

Laugh all you want; Abrams is considered a god among many nerds.

late-00s lighting set-ups. Acting was nice. Casting was nice. Except Simon Pegg, as good as he is; He’s Simon Pegg. I like him, but not as Scotty. He is Tim from “Spaced”, Chris from “Hot Fuzz”, Shawn of “Shawn of the Dead”, but he’s not Scotty. I can’t accept this. Anyway no, its not as good as critics give it credit for. Definitely not. Most importantly:

Apparently J.J. Abrams blasts his cameramen with seizure-causing flashes before filming a take; because there is hellaciously annoying camera-movement throughout the entire picture. The camera is a shaky shaky mess! Not to mention the action scenes! Oh, man. That was bad. It’s worse than Batman Begins’.

So anyway: Decent movie. In the “real” universe, this STAR TREK movie scored a decent 70% Fresh on Rottentomatoes. Not the 95% it got in this alternate reality. Much like the one in the movie.

Terminator Salvation was the problem I faced. This whole year, as people were anticipating this movie to come out, we all were in a deep controversy over the film’s quality (omg htis isnt rated R!!!!1111); I didn’t care about the rating as much as I cared about the attached director: McG. For starters, Who calls himself McG? Also, seeing his track record of three lame movies. One of them being a stupid football movie of mediocrity; and the other two being Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2. I was pretty confident that McG would mediocrify this newest Terminator film. Many film-buffs and friends of mine, who are deep-thinking film critics in their own rights, told me to “have hope” in McG’s skills. Thankfully I was right all along, and my routine IMDB pre-rating on Terminator: Salvation was TOTALLY accurate. I predicted a 5 out of 10; and that’s what it is. A very very forgetful and messed up movie. So much potential gone down the toilet. Thanks, McG.

Hugh Jackman discovers a poorly placed water jet in his hot tub.

Watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine was fun. Why? Because I watched it a month in advance. How? Because of the leaked workprint I got from a friend. I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s like a dream come true: I was able to see an unfinished workprint of a blockbuster movie! It was soooo fun! So fun to see unfinished effects, so fun to see crappy sounds, and temp music. The temp music! I recognized every cue and song inside it! It was predominantly the score for “Transformers”, with a little bit of “Blade”, and a little from “300″. It was also interesting to compare it with the final version. The music by Harry Gregs0n-Williams was a knock-off of the temp-music; it was highly mediocre.

Anyway, did you want to know about what I thought about the movie? I twas mediocre. A dumb action movie with really no grit or interesting factors in it. 20th Century Fox said that that was an “early” workprint, that was leaked out; but I knew that not much would change; and it hasn’t.

What’s the verdict? I’ll do it in percentage:

Star Trek: 70% | Terminator Salvation: 30% | X-Men Origins: Wolverine: 40%

So what’s next in the busting of blocks? I think it’s Transformers: This Movie Will Suck, and Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Movie.

I’m betting STAR TREK will be the best of the year, and that’s not saying much. Then again, there is “The Wolf Man” remake in November. But that is also going to be mediocre thanks to Joe Johnston directing. Joe is a great effects designer (he designed the X-Wings and TIE Fighters in the original Star Wars), but his movies were mediocre at best.