Interesting links for July 20th through July 27th:
Melancholia – I didn't say she stole my money. A sentence with 7 meanings.
Comic Con Live Blog: CHUCK Panel – Great write up of the panel of Chuck at Comic Con. I loved how Season 2 ended, and I think Chuck might be one of the most under-appreciated shows at the moment.
Ridiculous Life Lessons From New Girl Games – Ugh, list of the "girl" games coming out this year, and most of them are horrible; they're all about fashion, modeling, makeup, boys, etc. Why do game developers think these are the only type of games girls would be interested in?
Raizo (Rain) is one of the world’s deadliest assassins, having been kidnapped as a child and raised by the Ozunu Clan, believed by the world to be a myth. When Raizo’s friend is executed by the clan, Raizo flees into hiding. He later reemerges, seeking revenge. Meanwhile, Mika Coretti (Naomie Harris) is a Europol agent who investigates money linked to political murders and finds that it is linked to the Ozunu Clan. She defies her superior, Ryan Maslow (Ben Miles), and retrieves secret agency files to find out more. The clan, finding out about the investigation, attempts to assassinate her, but she is rescued by Raizo. Hiding in Europe, Raizo and Mika must find a way to take down the Ozunu Clan.
Sounds a bit average, right? It’s not exactly an original story. But take a look at the trailer:
I think it looks wicked! I’m loving the martial arts sequences we get to see, which I’ve kind of missed from a lot of the big action movies recently. Give me smooth choreographed fight scenes over big explosions every day! (Although the occasional big explosion can be fun too).
I’ve never been much of a make-up wearer, but this year I’ve been slowly getting into it. I got a couple of Dior eye products from my sister for Christmas, and I love the quality you get from those. Even if they’re more expensive, it’s a much better experience than say a £5 eye pencil from your local drugstore.
I stumbled on this Fall 2009 collection from Dior, called Jazz Club, inspired by the 1920’s/1930’s. The collection presents deep smokey colours, and I’m especially digging the eye palettes:
Don’t you just love the casing? This palette is called Smokey Eye, and features six Dior eye products: 4 eyeshadows, a brow-shaping powder, and a cream-to-powder eyeliner. I love these colours; it’s similar to what I’m using now, but maybe different enough to justify getting it. Here’s a closer look at the colours:
There’s also an alternate version, exclusive to Nordstrom. I’m not sure about its availability in the UK; I haven’t seen anything mentioned about it. It features more purpley and greyer colours than the one above:
To see more of the collection (including the lipsticks and nail polishes), check out this blog post from Temptalia. If you’re based in the US, both of the above palettes are available on the Nordstrom site.
I’ve been avidly following all the coverage from Comic Con; with attendees Twittering and live blogging, it almost feels like you’re there yourself (nah, not really: no sweaty people, no waiting in queues, but then again no seeing really cool features and the celebrities up close). At last year’s Comic Con the great surprise was a very early teaser of the at-that-time-not-even-announced sequel to Tron. This year we get some more VFX concept footage, showing a bit more of the actual world.
After a couple of temporary names like Tron2, Tron 2.0, Tr2N, it’s now finally be revealed to be called Tron Legacy. I won’t say anything more, just watch the footage first (there’s also a high def version available on the site Flynn Lives, which I’d highly recommend seeing):
Yep, if you hadn’t come across it yet, Jeff Bridges returns as Kevin Flynn! I think this trailer looks awesome; it’s been ages ago that I last saw the first movie, but I just love the visual style, and it looks like this could be a worthy follow-up.
Curious Fact of the Day: Tron was disqualified from the Academy Awards nominations for best visual effects, because using computers was deemed “cheating”.
Ever since I heard about Tim Burton re-doing the Alice In Wonderland story, I’ve been following the developments with great interest. The casting seems prefect: virtual unknown Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen. Add to that Burton’s dark visuals and you’ve got a match made in heaven.
Cool! I love the vibe they’ve got going on; it reminds me a lot of Labyrinth, a highly magical fantastical world, but slanting towards the dark and the disturbing. I’m not too sure about the effects so far, but this is only a teaser trailer (plus not even a high res one), so I’m expecting that will get better the nearer the film approaches. I only hope that the movie isn’t focusing too much on the Mad Hatter (unlike this trailer); this movie is about Alice, and while Johnny Depp is a great actor, I hope his character doesn’t take the limelight away from Alice. I think that shouldn’t be a problem though; I’m guessing they’re just banking on his character for this teaser to get people hyped up. (And that’s working)
Yesterday evening a trailer of Alice in Wonderland was released accidently, and I managed to watch it before it got taken down. It looks amazing! Anyhow, sometime later this afternoon the trailer will be officially released, so keep an eye on this blog if you want to catch that. For now, here are the trailers that were released in the past week.
Whiteout: Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) is a lone U.S. Marshal assigned to Antarctica whose investigation of the continent’s first murder draws her into a shocking mystery. Now, with only three days until winter, Carrie must solve the crime before Antarctica is plunged into darkness and she is stranded with the killer. Release Date: September 2009 (UK, US)
I Love You, Phillip Morris: When Steve Russell turns to cons and fraud to allow him to change his lifestyle, his subsequent stay in the state penitentiary results in his meeting the love of his life, a sensitive fellow inmate named Phillip Morris. Release Date: February 2010 (US)
Triangle: The story revolves around the passengers of a yachting trip in the Atlantic Ocean who, when struck by mysterious weather conditions, jump to another ship only to experience greater havoc on the open seas. Release Date: October 2009 (UK)
Bright Star: A romantic drama based on the secret 3-year romance between 19th century poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, outspoken student of high fashion, which was cut short by Keats’ untimely death at age 25. Release Date: November 2009 (UK)
Surviving Crooked Lake: A summertime canoe trip turns into a nightmare for four 14-year-old girls. Release Date: 24 July 2009 (US)
Mystery Team: At age seven, Oakdale’s Mystery Team was a band of kid detectives dedicated to solving child-sized mysteries (like who put their finger in the pie, and who stole the tricycle), and the town loved them for it. Now they’re eighteen years old, about to graduate from high school, yet they’re still storming the playground to bust little kids, and the town of Oakdale is sick to death of it. When a little girl sees their sign advertising “Mysteries Solved, Ten Cents,” she asks the gang to find out who killed her parents. The Team embarks on a mystery that takes them deep into a violent conspiracy that sees their lives threatened, their friendship strained and tests their claim that they’re “real detectives.” Release Date: unknown
Living in London, you sometimes come across the weirdest/prettiest/surreal campaigns. At the moment, if you’ll stroll down the Southbank, you’ll come across red with white polka dotted trees. I didn’t really know what it was for until I saw this ad:
So it’s for an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery called ‘Walking In My Mind’. The idea of the exhibition is to explore the inner workings of the artist’s imagination through immersive, large-scale installation art. Ten international artists transform the Hayward Gallery’s indoor galleries and outdoor sculpture terraces into a series of gigantic sculptural environments, each of which represents an individual mindscape. Interior worlds of emotions, thoughts, memories and dreams collide with exterior reality, blurring the boundaries between inner and outer space.
It does sound pretty interesting, so I might have to make my way to the museum one of these weeks. Tickets are £9, but there’s a 2 for 1 voucher on the website (so only £4.50!). Anybody want to join me?
