Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Jo Jo in the Stars - Short of the Week #16

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Jo_in_the_Stars

The Pirates of Dark Water - Intro of the Week #16

Watch the episodes here - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheDML&view=videos&start=40

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Dark_Water

Androus' Pirates of Dark Water website - the best PoDW place there is!!

Actually, I've already talked about the show a bit, way back when I started my blog :)

And now something greatly outdated, written back in 2001, it was the 10th anniversary of the show and I wrote a tribute article for the "Fantasy Factor" magazine :)

Има някои неща, които всеки от нас иска да вземе със себе си от миналото. Неща ,като комиксите от списание “ДЪГА”, бозата и бутер-баничките в стола или играта на “Cadillacs and Dinosaurus” в някой задимен гараж след училище. Едно от тези неща за мен винаги ще си остане тясната видеотека на село, пълна с лошоозвучени филми, от която с братовчед ми взимахме касети и гледахме през дъждовните следобеди. Повечето от тези филми вече не се намират. Филми като “Eуоките: Битка за Ендор” , “Котаракът Феликс в друго измерение” и “Мишоци-Рокери от Марс”.

Сред касетите по прашните рафтове беше и заглавие, което може би много от вас също си спомнят -“Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” ( или както бе преведено “Пиратите от Тъмния Пролив”). На 25 февруари тази година (2001, LOL) поредицата навърши 10 години, хубав случай да си спомним за нея.

ТЪМНАТА ВОДА ПОГЛЪЩА ИЗВЪНЗЕМНИЯ СВЯТ НА МЕР. САМО РЕН, МЛАД ПРИНЦ, МОЖЕ ДА Я СПРЕ - КАТО НАМЕРИ ТРИНАЙСЕТТЕ ИЗГУБЕНИ СЪКРОВИЩА НА РУЛ. НА НЕГОВА СТРАНА Е МАЛКОНАДЕЖДНИЯТ, НО ЛОЯЛЕН ЕКИПАЖ ОТ СТРАННИЦИ. СРЕЩУ НЕГО Е ЗЛИЯТ ПИРАТ ЛОРД БЛОТ, КОЙТО НЕ БИ СЕ СПРЯЛ ПРЕД НИЩО, ЗА ДА СИ ПРИСВОИ СЪКРОВИЩАТА. ТОВА Е БУРНО ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЕ С ПИРАТИТЕ ОТ ТЪМНАТА ВОДА!*
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ *Б.А. Оригиналният текст е “THE ALIEN WORLD OF MER IS BEING DEVOURED BY DARK WATER. ONLY REN, A YOUNG PRINCE, CAN STOP IT – BY FINDING THE LOST THIRTEEN TREASURES OF RUL. AT HIS SIDE IS AN UNLIKELY, BUT LOYAL CREW OF MISFITS. AT HIS BACK, THE EVIL PIRATE LORD BLOTH, WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GET THE TREASURES FOR HIMSELF. IT’S HIGH ADVENTURE WITH THE PIRATES OF DARK WATER! “.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Така започват епизодите на прекрасната анимационна поредица на Hanna-Barbera (след закупуването на компанията, правата вече са на новия собственик – Warner Bros). Още в самото начало сериите се радват на небивал интерес от всякаква публика. Действието се развива на огромната планета Мер, свят необятен и покрит с океани, населяван както от хора, така и от фантастичнии раси и същества. Мер е невероятна кръстоска на оригинално фентъзи с пиратска епопея. Светът е разгърнат и обрисуван мащабно, давайки на зрителя усещане за правдоподобност, което може да се сравни дори с това на “Междузвездни Войни” или Толкиновата земя. Такива мащабни фантастични светове в анимацията до този момент са характерни най-вече за японската манга (така де, АНИМЕ!), въпреки че се срещат, макар и доста по-рядко, сред американските и френските продукции (като пример мога да посоча “Огън и Лед”, ”Легендата за Орин: Преследвач между звездите”, ”Флаш Гордън” или сериите на Transformers, които отново са дело на Hanna-Barbera). Светът на “Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” постепенно се откъсва от епохата на магията, въпреки че тя все още заема значителна част от бита, развива се корабплаването и корабостроенето, типични са причудливите “оръжия-животни”.

Историята накратко - Рен отрасва във фар на брега на морето, отгледан от Джена. Една нощ той забелязва старец, чиято лодка е люшката от бурята и скоро се разбива в скалите. Рен се втурва да помогне. А старецът се оказва не друг, а собственият му баща - Праймъс, кралят на легендарното, но изгубено кралство Октопон. В сетния си час Праймъс дава на сина си напътствия за откриването на магически медальон-компас. Старецът издъхва и вълните го отнасят, преди още младият Рен да осъзнае какво се случва. Джена споделя истината с Рен - той е принцът на Октопон, който трябва да намери 13те съкровища на Рул, за да върне славата на кралството си и да спре загадъчната Тъмна Вода, която поглъща всичко по пътя си, обричайки света на гибел. Почти веднага Рен е отвлечен от Нидлър, симпатичен крилат мутант, и скоро се запознава отблизо с виновника за участта на баща му - лорда на пиратите Блот, който дълги години е държал Праймъс в плен, искайки да заграби съкровищата на Рул. Рен се измъква от Водовъртеж, гигантския галеон на пирата, сприятелявайки се с Нидлър. След куп премеждия принцът се сдобива с компаса - единственият ключ към откриването на скритите артефакти. Към екипажа му се присъединяват самоувереният Айоз и хитрата Тула - и двамата пирати. Започва търсенето на съкровищата, а заедно с него и приключенията на Пиратите от Тъмната Вода.
И така 22 епизода…

Поредицата така и не бива завършена – Рен открива едва 8 от 13-те съкровища, а зрителят никога не вижда как Октопон възвръща славата си. Първите 13 епизода излизат през 1991. Следват по още 4 през 1992 и 1993. Уви, на видео излизат само 4 от епизодите, а като цяло всички биват излъчени по телевизията разделени на по 5 серии всеки. Дали за десетия си рожден ден поредицата няма да получи своя следващ сезон? Да се надяваме! (Е, не стана, така че освен да чакаме покрай 20-годишнината някой да се сети?)

“Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” добива широка популярност. Още през 1991 Marvel Comics пускат серията “Pirates Of The Dark Water”, а Наsbro се заемат с играчките (така наречените на запад action figures). Излиза и видеоигра за SEGA. (има и игра за SNES, известно време след като писах статията ги намерих из нета и изпратих ROM-овете на Androus заедно с подходящите емулатори, хостнати са на сайта и можете да си ги дръпнете от там и да поджиткате :))

А когато става въпрос за такъв необикновен и изпълнен с приключения свят как да не се появи и ролева игра? И тя се появява - за основа й служи небезизвестната система “Advanced Dungeons&Dragons”. Всичко необходимо, за да играете, можете да откриете на адрес: www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/pirates/index.html

Но безспорно най-добрият сайт, на който съм попадал е www.ecomancer.net/podw/index.html. (Това е стария адрес на сайта на Androus) Сайтът е направен от фенове на сериала и наистина си заслужава да се види. Тук можете да намерите както новини, така и историята на всеки един епизод. Има също така и красиви уолпейпъри и иконки, извадки от комиксите, откъси, музика и говор от филмите, както и обширна галерия с рисунки на фенове и художници.

Какво друго ни остава да кажем, освен ЧЕСТИТ ЮБИЛЕЙ НА ПИРАТИТЕ И ПОПЪТЕН ВЯТЪР!

Poster of the Week #16 + Art #5

I suddenly realized that my Art rubric has been greatly neglected... I realize that all the stuff I post, like comics, posters, shorts, animation and so on IS art, but this rubric was meant for VISUAL stuff, STILL images, like graphics and paintings and concept thingies... The idea was to tell a few words about some artist in each issue. So...

Eric Tan - the guy responsible for the neat retro poster campaigns for Pixar's "The Incredibles", "Ratatouile" and "Wall-E" :) You can check out his artwork at - http://erictanart.blogspot.com/

And one of his latest creations is a Beastie Boys poster, inspired by the "Intergalactic" video :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Movies #24 - Star Trek

I got an invitation for the Bulgarian (pre)premiere of the new Star Trek and I saw it on April 27. MY feelings are mixed. I didn't expect a masterpiece, and I wasn't all hyped and stuff, but still I was expecting something a bit better. It is an OK movie, but I feel that Star Trek and its fans deserve more.

The movie starts with a kick. Some huge and really advanced Romulan ship ncounters a federation ship. The Romilan captain Nero is searching for Spock, but nobody has ever heard of him, and the Romulans lose their temper right away and kill the captain. The new captain is Kirk Sr. who takes control over the Federation vehicle and sacrificing both the ship and his life rams himself into the Romulans, saving the lives of thousands of people, including his wife and newborn son - James Tiberius Kirk. Kirk the father flying towards his certain but
heroic death while listening to his wife giving birth to his son, now this was some epic drama.

We see James T. Kirk racing down a country road in a stolen retro car, listening to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" while being chased by some flying traffic cop, which was a cool scene, though completely irrelevant for the story.

We see young Spock teased and picked on in Vulcan school (I didn't know the vulcans have bullies at school as well) and having troubles because of having a human mother.

Then as expected Kirk has grown into a rebellious teen/young adult, and he is trying to use his charm on Uhura at a bar, in the process finds himself in a fight with four Federation cadets, and after being badly beaten is recruited by his father's old friend Captain Christopher Pike.

Little by little we see all the rest of the familiar crew - Dr. McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty and so on, and I admit that it's really fun to see them while they take their first steps towards the final frontier.

And from this point on the movie is quite predictable, there are no serious plot twists (but there are a number of plot holes). It took them some time to (re)introduce the characters and the whole thing feels like a pilot for new TV series (but really expencive though).

Comes out that the Romulans are some pissed off miners from the future who are after Spock who didn't save their planet from annihilation. After seeing the end of their world they came back in time to get their hands on Spock, planning to destroy Vulcan and make him watch. Spock on the other hand came back in time hoping to make things right somehow. But the Romulans came like 25 years before Spock and when hey didn't find him it all ended with the death of Kirk's father.

Now the Romulans are here again, 25 years later, back in tie with a vengeance, creating a black whole that engulfs Vulcan among with Syler's... pardon me, Spock's mother. Captain Christopher Pike is captured, they want him to give them some security codes so they can do to Earth the same they did to Vulcan, and it is up to Spock and Kirk to stop them. I mean... it is up to Spock, Kirk and Spock to stop them.

The old Spock from the future is here now, helping Kirk to become a captain of the Enterprise, telling Scotty the beaming formula he is supposed to discover himself some years later, and telling the young Spock that he is actually Spock too...

And guess what? All this creates an alternative universe. That's the excuse they came up with for the reboot.

All in all, it is a good way to waste two hours, but it is nothing memorable. The main flaw is the unnecessary use of shaky camera and unstable frames. I know they use it all the time nowadays and we see it in like every action movie, but still it is not an excuse. I guess this is the way they want to create pace and make it more dynamic, but actually when you walk out of the cinema I wouldn't be surprised if you have a headache. The constant twitches are really annoying, and they were used even in simple dialog scenes. I really can't understand why they shake the camera so much and in some scenes it just made absolutely no sense. I mean, come on, you spent millions of dollars on sets and CGI, give me some static shot, stand still for a while and let us enjoy the view! Otherwise we have to wait for the DVD and push the Pause button, hoping that the creature or the spaceship will be on focus and we will be able to see some more details.

Speaking of CGI for millions of dollars... Man, they created black wholes engulfing planets and giant alien monsters chasing Kirk through a snowy wasteland, but they didn't add steam coming out of their mouths. When it's cold and you breathe there is usually steam coming out of your mouth I wonder why there wasn't any while Kirk and Spock were in an ice cave... It's not the only movie where they make this mistake, but it's really annoying when you notice it and makes the whole snowy set look fake.

Another thing I didn't like is that they reinvented the warp and the beam special effects and I like the classic version better and I think the old thing was working perfectly fine. I can't understand what's the point, it's like changing the lightsaber sound effect in Star Wars!

But let's point out some good things as well - fan service! The short skirt uniforms, Uhura is hot (Spock, you lucky bastard!), and there is a green-skinned Orion slave girl! Well, it's not like a blue Twilek babe, but after all it's only Star Trek ;)

The best is that Leonard Nimoy is Spock again and the ending of the movie pays homage to the original series and they finally play a motif from the Star Trek theme. I have absolutely no idea why they didn't use it throughout the whole movie, the old Star Trek soundtracks have brilliant themes and I think they should have used them more if you ask me.

I give it 6.5/10. It's your average sci-fi summer movie with a so-so directing, too simple story and nothing really remarkable as special effects. It doesn't meet my expectations, even if they weren't super-high. I'm curious what will be the global reception of the movie after the world release and if the Trekkies will enjoy it more than I did or just the opposite.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Books #4

А ето поледната придобивка преди Sci-Fi Art...

COMICS, COMIX & GRAPHIC NOVELS. HB, “Phaidon“

Цена: 55.00лв.

Издателство: PHAIDON
Година: 2008
Език: английски
Страници: 238
ISBN: 9780714839936
ID код: 22413993

Заглавието може да намерите и в книжарници "Книгомания":
- Park Mall Стара Загора

Описание
Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels is the first fully documented study to explore the graphic qualities of the comic book, and the development of the genre into a sophisticated and culturally revealing popular art form. The book traces the history of the comic from early cartoon-like woodcuts through to the graphic strips of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Organized thematically it explores the various genres of the comic book, including humour, adventure, girls' comics, underground and alternative. The careers of the creators of the best-known characters -- from Superman and Tintin to Tank Girl -- are revealed, as are the stories behind the much-loved comics such as The Beano and The Incredible Hulk.

Много ценно четиво, обхващащо доста добре историята на комиксите от тяхното зараждане до ден днешен. Ако някой също иска да прежали 55 лева и да се сдобие с енциклопедията ето линкче за поръчка: http://www.knigomania.bg/product_info.php?products_id=869865

А ето и следващото заглавие на което съм хвърлил око - "Comic Art Now": http://www.knigomania.bg/product_info.php?products_id=868305

Conan The Adventurer - Intro of the Week #15 + Animation #29

Since this week I seem to be dealing mostly with Robert E. Howard and Conan stuff...

I watched the classic animated series on our national TV something like 13 years ago, but they bought them as usual from CFI (Canal France International) and they were translated from French. Here is the French version of the Intro, which I enjoy more (probably pout of nostalgia, and because the translated lyrics were quite tragic and added atmosphere to the story about his parents turned into stones and so on), but the rest of the world seems to hate:

Watch all the episodes on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BleeeK79&view=videos&start=160

Hollywood is on a roll with Robert E. Howard - Poster of the Week #15 + Animation #27 + Movies #23

After last week's "Solomon Kane" I decided to go on with another character from Robert E. Howard's universe, the she-devil with a sword, Red Sonja. There are several teaser posters out there, but so far this one is my favourite. 15 years after Brigitte Nielsen, Rose McGowan is about to step into Red Sonja's shoes... or should we say bra?

And if you wanna spoil yourself, you can read the plot outline here

Besides, the long anticipated and delayede animated feature "Conan: Red Nails" is scheduled to premiere in December, hopefully it will be worth waiting for! I'm always eager to get some more mature oriented animated story, especially when we're talking one of my favourite characters here. Ron Pearlman will provide Conan's voice and Mark Hamill, as usual, the bad guy Tolkemec. Visit the official website http://www.conanrednails.com/ for concept art, wallpapers and other eye-candy stuff.

And if you still can't get enough of Robert E. Howar's characters on screen, Hancock's director, Peter Berg will be responsible for the adaptation of Bran Mak Morn (and a DUNE remake by the way! both) scheduled for 2010.

by the way, Bran Mak Morn has absolutely nothing to do with our "Bran" project, which i s a sci-fi story intertwined with an ancient Celtic legend - www.futureblaze.com

Short of the Week #15

I saw "The Cat Came Back" some years ago, it was featured on a compilation of award-winning animated shorts called "The World's Greatest Animation". I've seen it like a dozen of times and I still find it hilarious :)

Books #3

Ето нещо, което пристигна днес и още дълго време няма да мога да му се нарадвам :)

Паричките не са му малко, но си заслужават!

http://www.knigomania.bg/product_info.php?products_id=898895

SCI-FI ART: A Graphic History. (Steve Holland, Alex Summersby), “Ilex“
[Steve Holland, Alex Summersby] - [Ilex]

Author: Steve Holland, Alex Summersby

Price: 45.00лв.

Publisher: Ilex
Year: 2009
Language: английски
Pages: 192
ISBN: 9781905814398
ID code: 21514398

You can find this title in "Knigomania" bookstores:
- Левски 28
- Orange
- Mall of Sofia

Item description
'Takes on Banister Fletcher on his own ground and beats him hollow with a combination of lucid, well informed text and pictures ...the images make browsing a pleasure ...if I were teaching a survey course of architectural history, I would choose this as the course book' - Art Quarterly . Updated and improved for the new edition, this is a core student text with course adoptions around the world. This book comprises both a detailed survey of Western architecture, including Pre-Columbian America, and an introduction to architecture from the Middle East, India, Russia, China, and Japan. This text encourages readers to examine the pragmatic, innovative, and aesthetic attributes of buildings. Artistic, economic, environmental, political, social and technological contexts are discussed.

Инфо на официалния сайт на издателството: http://www.ilex-press.com/product/?pid=22297

Инфо в Амазон: http://www.amazon.com/Sci-Fi-Art-Graphic-Steve-Holland/dp/0061684899

(btw това е ъпдейтнато издание с нови попълнения)

Animation #27 & 28

I got my hands on a copy of Paul Grimault's brilliant and quite rare animated film Le Roi et l'oiseau (The King and the Mockingbird), based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. The only two dub versions available as far as I know - the original French audio track, and the Japanese dub released by Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki points the film as one of his major influences and inspirations. The movie has been over three decades in the making and today it is regarded as one of the masterpieces in animation. I also found English subtitles, which is great since I don't speak French...

And guess what? I found it also on YouTube! Watch the English subbed French here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=subbedfilms&view=videos

The same user uploaded Kirikou and the Sorceress (French: Kirikou et la sorcière) - an award-winning 1998 French-Belgian animated feature film written and directed by Michel Ocelot. A sequel, Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (Kirikou et les bêtes sauvages) was released in 2005. Ocelot's latest film is Azur et Asmar, and I posted a trailer to it some time ago.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Фестивал на Северното Кино

На 23 април започва фестивалът на северното кино "Северно сияние". В рамките на 8 дена в Дом на киното и Евросинема ще бъдат представени филми от Дания, Швеция, Норвегия, Финландия, Естония и Литва.

Повече за програмата на събитието вижте на http://www.shiningfestival.org

ОТКРИВАНЕ
23 април (четвъртък)
Дом на киното
19 ч. - "Есенна топка", Естония, реж. Вейко Юнпуу

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Честит Великден!

Христос Воскресе! Весел празник и...

Внимавайте с яйцата!

Friday, April 17, 2009

"Дисни" изложба на Улрих Шрьодер!

По случай 18-ия рожден ден на списание МИКИ МАУС издателство ЕГМОНТ БЪЛГАРИЯ
има удоволствието да ви покани на изложбата „Светът на ДИСНИ”
в галерия СРЕДЕЦ, бул. „Александър Стамболийски” 17.

Мики Маус, Доналд Дък, Чичо Скрудж, Гуфи – това са само част от героите,
които ще ви посрещнат в галерията между 23 април и 3 май. Изложбата включва
близо 100 оригинални експоната с любимите герои, нарисувани от художника Улрих Шрьодер, който в продължение на 20 години твори за ДИСНИ като илюстратор на книги и списания. Рисунките изненадват с разнообразието си – от черно-бели скици,
през илюстрации в работна фаза до завършени корици.

На 23 и 24 април самият Улрих ще пренесе работното си ателие в галерията.
На тези дати художникът ще посвети цялото си внимание на своите гости – ще отговори
на въпросите им, ще покаже как да накарат Доналд да се появи под молива върху белия лист.

ЕГМОНТ БЪЛГАРИЯ и Улрих Шрьодер ви очакват!

Още инфо: http://www.egmontbulgaria.com/infozone/events.htm

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Some Facebook waste of time...

Which Jedi Knight Are You?
Obi-Wan Kenobi

You are the faithful padawan of Qui-Gon Jinn and a brilliant General of the Clone Wars. Wise decisions place you at high chances for appropiate positions, and you have the honor of training the so called, "chosen one" Anakin Skywalker in the arts of the Jedi.

Which Movie Badass are you?

Indiana Jones

You are the ultimate archaeologist. You are brilliant and you know how to handle a whip. You're the teacher everybody wants (even though its part time). You can throw a punch and you know how to pick up chicks. YOU ARE A BADASS!

Which Giant Movie Monster Are You?

King Kong

You are King Kong -- the Eighth Wonder of the World! Revered and feared by Skull Island native worshippers and depression-era New Yorkers alike, you are a gentle giant equally capable of fiercely fighting off giant prehistoric pterodactyls and U.S. Navy Curtiss Helldivers alike to protect the one you love!
Which is the movie that you live in?
I'm Legend
you are a genius guy,you hate being alone for along time so you build your own dreams and try to live with,you are very helpful and you want to make all around you be happy...history will remember you

United We Stand!

Амин!!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Short of the Week #14

Juranessic - one of the trailers shown during the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in june 2002. It has been directed by 5 studients of the GOBELINS animation school: In-Ah RÖDIGER, Simon Pierre ANDRIVEAU, Yann AVENATI, Hervé BARBEREAU and Louis CLICHY.

Meitantei Holmes - Intro of the Week #14 + Animation #26

Last week it was "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century", this week I give you the classic antropomorphic anime verion, "Meitantei Holmes", aka Sherlock Hound :) Great series with lovable characters, detailed animation and great stories. There is even a slight steampunk feel to it. Six out of 26 episodes were directed by Miyazaki himself.

Watch fansubs online here
More info: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/holmes/
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Hound

Poster of the Week #14

Concept poster for the upcoming movie (to be released October 2009) based on Robert E. Howard's characer Solomon Kane, it looks a lot better than the photo poster of the movie (which heavily reminds of Van Helsing).

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Kane_(film)

Quotes #26

"Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have fucked with? That's me."

Walkt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood, "Gran Torino")

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Честит Празник!

Честит Празник!

Честит Имен Ден на родния ми брат ми Здравко :)

И Честит Имен Ден на другия ми брат, Цеко (Цветелин!) Цял живот да си заобиколен все от най-красивите цветя, брате! Голям харе...ъъъ...букет да си направиш :)

Честито и на Цветомира от стария клас, на Цветомира от стария курс, честито и на моето другарче Теменуга :)

Всичките да сте ми живи и здрави, и Силата да бъде с Вас винаги!

Записки по българския преход...

Нашия (моя и на Цеко) работодател, Евгений Тодоров, когото на галено наричаме "шефе", наскоро издаде книга, наречена "Записки по българския преход", с подзаглавие "този скапан начин на живот". Като "скапан начин на живот" се визира именно оцеляването, това дето от както се помня все хората около мене се мъчат да свържат двата края.

Не му правя реклама или нещо, нямаше да пиша, ако нещо не ми беше харесало в книгата. И по принцип винаги съм избягвал да пиша разни по-така, социални или политически неща, особено в тоя блог, не поради липсата на някаква позиция, а просто не му е тука мястото. Но сега след няколко десетки страници от тая книга просто ми се ще да споделя това-онова и да кажа няколко думи за изданието.

Не съм я и дочел още... В интерес на истината съм в самото начало, но не ми остава много време за четене в последно време, че все някой нещо иска да пишем за пустия университет с разните му там редовни и факултативни дисциплини... (че даже и последните така по-дълги неща на моя си блог са всъщност домашни, които съм писал и съм си пуснал и в интернет, "Myself as a reader" и "Decide your destiny" и двете бяха първоначално за писмените упражнения на Кацарска...)

Отклонявам се, обаче...

Та, книгата на шефа е нещо поне за мене уникално, не съм чувал за друга такава. Може и да има, но едва ли в България.

Той самия си направи блог и започна да пише в него спомени за прехода, едно време което аз смътно си спомням, и тогава съм бил прекалено малък за да разбирам за какво става дума. Както Цеко се шегуваше, когато излезе книгата "Яааа, шефа си е принтирал блога!"

На пръв поглет беше ми интересно оформлението на книгата - всяка статия, или пост ако щете, е с датата и дори часа на публикуването й в нета, отдолу с броя прочитания и коментари... Както и няколко от коментарите, подбрани да останат в книгата. После осъзнах, че не оформлението, а съдържанието е нещото, което прави книгата така оригинална. Така нареченият принтиран блог е доста интересна идея. Поради няколко причини. Честно казано зачитал съм се в някои от статиите от блога ( http://www.zaprehoda.blog.bg/ ), но едва ли някога бих седнал систематично да го изчета целия. Вярвам, че и при доста други читатели би било същото. Най-малкото поради липсата на навика да го проверяваш редовно, и поради липсата на време да изчиташ и коментираш всичко, което излиза, а след това пък евентуално да следиш и да отговаряш и на коментарите след твоя. Отделно че, обичам да чета от монитора книги и разкази, ако имам избор винаги бих предпочел хартията (пък било то и да ми струва някой лев, за разлика от онлайн версията). Второто е, че коментарите след статиите допълват съдържанието по един начин, който аз до сега не съм срещал в друга книга. Разказана е някаква случка, а след това някой анонимен читател скрит зад nickname пиша "ааа, по това време аз бях еди къде си и се случи еди какво си, спомням си това, беше така и така"

Въпреки (или може би именно заради това), че ежедневно монтирам новини, не се интересувам особено от политика и не са ми наясно всичките машинации и далавери, които се въртят из различните институции и етажи на властта. Видял съм обаче доволно много неща, доста от които по една или друга причина са останали извън ефира. Станали са достояние на репортерите, операторите и на нас монтажистите, но по една или друга причина са останали скрити за зрителя. Или с други думи, знам си че политиката (или поне родната такава) е, както би казал Цеко, "пълна смрад". Не съм сигурен дали всички са маскари, или просто маскарите са прекалено много и задушават всякакви зачатъци на съвест и идеология у единиците, които евентуално биха си свършили работата. Факт е обаче, че до такава степен съм се отвратил от всичко това, че за мене думата "политик" звучи обидно и се е превърнала в синоним на "крадец","предател" и "безсрамник".

И понеже съм млад и зелен и не разбирам кой знае какво, интересно ми е да прочета спомените на един човек, който е видял доста повече от мене. С Цеко си купихме книгата и шефа се зарадва и ни благодари за интереса (нищо, че някой от екипа не пропусна да се обади, че уж сме се натягали и подмазвали). Не знаех дали ще ми хареса или не, но си казах - най-малкото ще ми остане спомен от един човек, който ми е дал работа и хляб, точно в кофти времето когато съм почнал да нагазвам и да осъзнавам че морето не е до колене.

А книгата ми харесва. Чета си я с интерес и осъзнавам, че аз и Цеко сме следващото поколение, че сега нещата които ние виждаме и чуваме от нашата си перспектива и гледна точка след време ще са точно едни такива мемоари, и се чудя дали пък на тия след нас изобщо ще им пука и дали ще се трогнат да обърнат някакво внимание. Дали ниеще оставим нещо и дали ще променим нещо... Ще видим.

А ако някой се поинтересува от книгата ето линк: http://books.janet45.com/books/495

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Myself as a reader

*check the footnotes for a greater experience while reading my essay ;)

A bit more than a year ago. Room 60 of the PWSZ Dormitory in Wloclawek, Poland. My room!

It’s small but cozy. Streaks of morning sunlight sneak between the curtains pulled over the windows, colouring the room in warm pastel tones. Fresh cool breeze is whiffling through the slightly opened door of the balcony. On the drawler near the bed there’s an unwashed bowl with dark spots from the chocolate cereal and milk I had for breakfast. Next to it is the Star Wars mug I got some weeks ago at the Empik store – with Chewbacca and Tarful on the outside and some fresh orange juice on the inside…

Aaah! A perfect Idyll!

I’m on my bed, comfortably covered with soft black cotton with printed Angelina Jolie/Lara Croft on it – the kind of warmth that just doesn’t let you go out of the bed even when you’re already wide awake.

From where I sit I can see my “Sweeny Todd” and “National Treasure 2” posters, but on the walls around me there are also “Beowulf”, “Invasion” and “Terminator 3” plus plenty of cut-outs from the cinema booklets I used to collect at Multikino.

I guess that there was some of the typical dorm noise coming from down the corridor and maybe a lawnmower rattle outside at the yard. But I couldn’t hear any of this. I was all inside the book. In my hands I was holding Wilhelm Hauf’s “Fairy Tales”.

(It was one of the three books I took with me from Bulgaria when I left. The other two were the complete edition of Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451”). You’re never too old for fairy tales, especially when it comes to Wilhelm Hauf. It’s not your usual kid-friendly-bedtime-stories-with-talking-animals-and-faity-godmothers kind of thing. These are not the tales that will put you to sleep. These are the tales that will keep you awake, hiding under your blanket, afraid to cross the darkness and go to the toilet! The kind of tales that will make you ask for more terrific adventures night after night, no matter how scared you got with the previous one. The kind of tales you just gotta love!

Wilhelm Hauf died way too young, he was just 25 when fever took him away, but he defeated death with the stories he left behind - exotic adventures in faraway Orient take turns with dark Gothic chillers, blazing deserts and stormy seas, glamorous castles and lurid dungeons…

My first encounter with Wilhelm Hauf was back in the days before school, when I could hardly read, but I had plenty of audio cassettes with taped audio dramas. “Little Mook” was bright and funny, “Caliph Stork” was mysterious and enchanting, “The Ghost Ship” I wasn’t allowed to play, because my sister was terrified to death by it, and “Dwarf Long-Nose” still gives me the creeps!

Back in those days I also got on board of “Espanola”, set sail for the Treasure Island and spent much of the trip hiding from the pirates under the table… I mean in the cargo hold. Way before I read the book itself I had seen the Russian animated version, “Остров Сокоровищ” (1988) which as goofy as it is, is preserved in my memory as wild cartoon adventure and my very first touch to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic. I was so into it, that I asked my aunt to make me one of those “triangle pirate hats with a skull and crossed bones on it”, and I used a backgammon chip as the black spot. When I got the book itself, they made me like 10 copies of the page with the map, and I was so damn proud that I own a real genuine pirate treasure map!

“The Treasure Island” influenced me a great deal along with the first books I read at primary and secondary school. Gianni Rodari’s “The Cake in the Sky” was the very first big book I read completely on my own, followed immediately by “Gip in the Television” and I think “Fairy Tales Over the Phone” – all three books in one cover, I borrowed them from my first grade class teacher, Mrs. Dusheva (I can’t possibly thank her enough!). Another one of my favourites was Eno Raud’s Estonian cult classic “Muff, Halfshoe and Mossybeard” (my own rough translation of “Маншон, Полуобувка и Мъхеста брада”). I greatly enjoyed Erich Kestner and I simply fell in love with every single Astrid Lindgren book I could get my hands on (by the way they published her biography last year and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone, for fans especially it’s a must).

Some may regard my taste as “childish books with huge font, a lot of pictures and no more than 200 pages”, but I think that the most important things in life are the simple things.

In secondary school I just hated my literature teachers, who were so fascinated with the so called Bulgarian classics and forced us to read crap like Elin Pelin’s “Angelinka” – I still can’t believe that the same guy who wrote the glorious “Yan Bibiyan” also came up with this slobberblob (Hey, I just coined a brand new word! It must be some Roald Dahl influence on me! It sounds like “BFG” language. I think that a Slobberblob is something gruesomely terrible and oversantimental in a very unpleasant way). The highly overrated “Under the Yoke” was kinda OK, it was action-packed and patriotically-charged and everything, but come on – kill all the good guys after some 500 pages!! I felt so cheated that I read the full version and not some of the short “demos” some of my schoolmates used. Come on, give me a break, what is this? Kill the heroes and push this book to 5th graders?! Damn you!

In high-school it was even worse – we started with some absolutely loathsome bullshit piece of writing by our highly acclaimed Nikolay Haitov – “Dervish’s Seed”. What the f**k!! What kind of sick education system we have, to put this hardcore Balkan redneck porn in 8th grade textbook!?! Well I don’t know about the girls, but at this age we boys were more interested in wrestling and video-games than in losing virginity, and this twisted mind-f**k about kidnapping girls, first wedding night, broken noses and blood on the sheets left me scarred for life and almost made me turn asexual!

During these years I had the feeling that there is no room for individual thought in literature classes, I hated the boring stuff they wanted us to read, and I hated even more the critical writings in the text book that were trying to put you in the path beaten by the generations before and impose their way of thinking on you. Nobody paid any attention to Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. Nobody cared about Arthur Conan Doyle or Jack London. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror, western, adventure – these topics were taboo in the literature classes. My interests were disregarded, so I felt as an underdog and in return I disregarded Balzac and Hugo, like they weren’t already repulsing enough with all that tragedy, social injustice and misery all over their pages.

Unfortunately in the University things turned out to be quite similar and instead of “Frankenstein”, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, “War of the Worlds” or Orwell’s eye-openers “1984” and “Animal Farm” we spent weeks and weeks on tons of pages of Victorian drama crap and dealt with misunderstood fruitcakes who spent their lives writing poetry in the attic room and hiding it under the bed so their relatives can find it after their die at the age of 30 just because they never went out, not to mention suicidal feminist lesbian bitches, snobbish gay opium addicts and stuck-up incest-oriented aristocrats and their friends who go drown themselves, so they can be called “lake poets”. Thanks, but if that’s your profound intellectual classic cannon literature, just leave me to my pulp fiction and comic books!

I will read the things you don’t want to teach. Books are a riot!

Rebel against reality!

---------------------------------------------
* Check out the Bonus features for a greater experience while reading my essay:

Welcome to my lair – a video documentary on my room in Poland - http://nsg1138.blogspot.com/2008/05/welcome-to-lair.html

Wookies rule! – a photo of my Star Wars mugs I got in Poland - http://nsg1138.blogspot.com/2008/05/my-buddy-sways-got-new-mug-well-well.html

Wilhelm Hauf at the Gutenberg Project - http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Wilhelm+Hauff

Wilhelm Hauf tales in English - http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/mcdonnell/hauff/hauff.html

The complete Russian “Treasure Island” cartoon on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hallhunt&view=videos

Essay soundtrack:

Guido and Maurizio De Angelis – “Trinity Stand Tall” (from “Trinity Is Still My Name” OST) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR3Tokd_6qY

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

The Web #24

Shadowboro's Channel! Great YouTube user with tons of retro cartoons, complete series, classified as playlists :)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Shadowboro&view=playlists

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century - Intro of the Week #13 + Animation #25

One of my favourites - "Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century" - sci-fi/cyberpunk/noir/detective cartoon :)

Watch episodes here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kaytori

Short of the Week #13

"Pyrats" is an animated short film made by 5 french students from the animation school "Gobelins l'école de l'image" in Paris ,FRANCE.
It was made as an opening short done for the Annecy 2006 international animation festival.
The movie was completed in 7 months (including screenplay, storyboard and designs).
The technique is basically 2D traditionnal animation with some scenes helped by 3D and flash.

Poster of the Week #13

Just look at it - it just smells like old school classic :)

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Music #30 + Movies #22

I just remembered this song and wanted to hear it again...

In Time
Mark Collie

I can hear what you're thinkin'
All your doubts and fears
And if you look in my eyes in time you'll find,
The reason I'm here

And in time all things shall pass away
In time you may come back someday.
To live once more
Or die once more
But in time your time will be no more

You know your days are numbered
Count 'em one by one
Like notches in the handle of an outlaw's gun
You can outrun the devil if you try
But you will never outrun the hands of time

In time there'll surely come a day
In time all things shall pass away
In time you may come back some say
To live once more
Or die once more
But in time your time will be no more

I can hear what you're thinkin'

It's from the soundtrack of the "The Punisher" (2004), which I still consider the best Marvel movie up to date, along with the first "X-men". The new "Punisher: War Zone" was so over-the-top (and over-rated!) that it felt like "Sin City" in colour and I hated it, but anyway - the Jonathan Hensleigh adaptation is just great.

I fell in love with this movie from the very beginning - the black background, the falling white cartridges, the titles and the main theme by Carlo Sillioto.

It has a great spaghetti western feeling. On second thought - I actually fell in love when I saw the trailer - "They killed my family... They thought they killed me... But they were wrong. DEAD WRONG! (kaboom!) This is not vengeance... not vengeance! It's PUNISHMENT!" I guess you can describe this movie as Mad Max plus Sergio Leone plus classic 80s action movie. It has all the classic motives - broken family, ruined life, inner demons, friendship, a girl in danger trying to help, revenge... It has all the classic elements also - spectacular killings, duels, arrows (Rambo homage), explosions, stone cold lines, even the armored car (Mad Max homage)! Not a single CGI shot, all good oldfasioned stunts and real explosions. The script is great, the directing is neat, the score adds to the atmosphere, Tom Jane is excellent... The result is something really worth watching! You can easily identify with the characters, you understand them... I hated John Travolta's character so much that I was thinking "Oh, they have to come up with a really nasty death for this bastard!" - and hell yeah! He kills his wife and best friend for nothing, both his sons are dead, he's beaten up, shot, put on fire, chained to a moving car and blasted! I mean - how cool is that? The movie reminds me of the good old days when the studios didn't care much about ratings and weren't afraid of rate 15 or 18.