Who is Paul Greengrass? He is the director of two films as different as excellent: the brutally real “Bloody Sunday” and the more popular “The Bourne Supremacy”. Our target today will be the second title I’ve mentioned, perhaps the best action film (in my opinion) since “Die Hard”.

Action movies usually have a bad press, due to the dreadful quality (it´s true) of some of these products. Many of them attempt on the audience’s intelligence: We are fed up of watching bad guys killing lots of people with great precision, only to become true idiots when it´s about killing the hero. “The Bourne Supremacy” fortunately respects our capacity of thinking.

When Greengrass was hired to take up again the character of CIA agent Jason Bourne, after the great reception obtained by “The Bourne Identity”, he found himself with some questions to Read the rest of this article »

This past Saturday I took the bus to Montreal, Quebec for the 4th annual BASSOON DAY. I got a chance to try out different bocals and instruments, as well as shop for bassoon accessories including everything from mandrels and awesome reed cases to bassoon pliers and several different types of cane. The day also included a free master class with Laurent Lefèvre (principal bassoonist of the Paris Opera) and the “Bassoon Extravaganza” concert which included the ensemble comprised of the bassoonists in attendance. I even got to have lunch with 8 other bassoonists! I have to say that the highlight of the day was trying out the mini bassoon (I would like one for my future children, please)!

This article has been contributed by Stephanie Briana Unverricht. Stephanie is currently studying music performance (Bassoon) at the University of Ottawa in Canada, and she´s also our editorial advisor, who proofreads the articles and corrects every mistake and typo with endless patience.

The smoke and the Truth

When the lights went on a sepulchral silence filled the room. I thought that most of the audience had found it difficult to digest this wonderful but complex film, not suitable for the general public (better for journalists and such), shot in a glorious black and white as the story it tells is one of those stories which can only be recalled in black and white. Some of the audience ran away most likely to smoke as soon they could, since in “Good night, and good luck”, people smoke lots and with such class, especially the main character, Edward R. Munrow (David Strathairn). The smoke itself is actually another character, so good that it would have Read the rest of this article »

Hello everybody. This morning I was listening to the radio and heared the tune “Don’t cry for me Argentina”. Then I asked myself a question: Why do some people use the term “rock opera” when talking about some affected musicals created by Weber, Rice and company? Is it logical? I don´t think so.

In case you don´t agree with me, let’s bring up the first works of this genre. The Who’s “Tommy” represents the opening title of this rock style music, and it was followed by distinguished albums (“The Wall”, for example). “Cats” is not rock, but a mixture of pop and soft rock.

I have been searching for some current equivalent to those previous extraordinary conceptual rock pieces. It has to Read the rest of this article »

http://www.henrylim.org/Harpsichord.html

With the exception of the wire strings, this instrument is entirely constructed out of LEGO parts(…) approximate 150 lbs. weight, and an estimated 100,000 LEGO piece count (…) It’s taken two years of theorizing, designing, collecting parts, building, testing, and rebuilding.

I first knew of the Lego Harsichord after an article in make magazine, and have been wanting to write about it since then. From my point of view, this project stands on its own not only because of the sheer amount of lego blocks used, but because Henry Lim has overcome the very specific problems that arise when designing and building a music instrument, plus the added challenge of making every single part of it out of Lego (well, obviously not the strings), departing with no previous knowledge on the field!

It is true that, if you Read the rest of this article »

I hate fighting games. My first contact with them was the Street Fighter 2 coin-op, and already then I thought it was a ridiculous game. That´s strange, because I could finish the first Double Dragon without blinking, but there was no chemistry. It was a game without power-ups, where in order to get the control dynamics you had to Read the rest of this article »

Probably there are as many types of humour as there are people. Our sense of humour is like a fingerprint: it identifies us and represents us socially; it singles us out. We can think of it as a collage of circumstances that we try to match with our personal values. Due to this fact, we tend to remember comical situations and gags that fit us somehow. It’s almost an aesthetic matter (intangible, but aesthetic).

Today I would like to show you some pieces of my particular collage. This will be a movie scenes collage, featuring five –in my opinion- memorable moments. Read the rest of this article »

http://www.glest.org/

Since rc3 and rc4 were released very close to each other, I´ll include here both versions´ features:

rc3:

- Final icons for the new units (you will not be able to see that until the data rc3 is uploaded, which should be soon).

- Shared vision for allies: This has a very nice side effect, CPU controlled factions will support each other, this will not always happen though, only when they have enough soldiers on their bases.

- Now you can play in every start location even with 2 or 3 factions in 4 player maps.

- Improved results screen, now it has a score and the team of each faction.

rc4:

This version includes increased projectile accuracy, ranged units now hit moving slow or close enemy units.

Don´t forget to share your thoughts on Glest in the Forum

http://www.oscar.com/

“Brokeback Mountain” (8 nominations) is the hot favourite to the Oscars, which will be handed out tomorrow. There´s a high level of competition this year, with the magnificent “Crash” as the outsider and “Munich” by the always great Spielberg. George Clooney, willing to shake off cliches, has caught three nominations: best director and script for “Good night, and good luck”, and best supporting actor for “Syriana”. I would like the cowboys (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) to win because of their sober and felt performances, but the same may happen to them that happened to Thelma and Louise (Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis), since the competition is big. Another wish: that “The corpse bride” wins the Oscar for best animation film. To me, it is one of this year´s big movies.

Today we are going to finish this two-chapter series about Spaghetti Western. We will review the “punch” of this genre by means of some titles that shape it.

Let´s begin with my favourite film in the genre: Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” (obvious choice). Leone had already shot the “Dollars trilogy” (the previous three films), although this is the movie in which he reaches the greatest refinement and technical perfection. Without leaving the peculiar characteristics of these kind of films, Leone obtains his most personal movie, tinged with a slower narrative tempo than previous ones. Read the rest of this article »

So far I have dedicated many hours to create a good fistful of tools to develop 3D multimedia applications in real time, that is: video games. After erecting structures for Finite State Machines, scripts, messages and (soon soon) triggers, I decided to merge the whole thing into a single concept, and try to bring out errors, bugs, etc. I thought it would be quick and easy to make “a small game”. I was wrong. Read the rest of this article »

When we talk about Mike Oldfield, what is the first phrase that reminds us of him? Maybe “Tubular Bells”? -Is there anyone who disagrees? Well, maybe the people who remember “Moonlight Shadow” … just kidding!-. Beyond the prolongation of the “Tubular” phenomenon (I’ve just lost count of the revisions of the classic piece), Mike Oldfield is a peculiar artist. Admired with devotion or fiercely criticized (especially in recent times), Mr. Oldfield has an enviable trajectory.

We can establish three different stages in Mike Olfield´s work. It´s very remarkable that most of his fans don’t like all the stages. They are fans of some of them. And this is my case. Read the rest of this article »

What is a “vile genre”? I’ve heard this term from some cinema reviewers in recent days, referred to those kinds of movies which “pervert” the traditional rules of a classic genre (for example, the Spaguetti-western is a filmic perversion of classic American western movies). The “vile genre” is characterized by the rupture of the usual canons in direction, production design, etc., emphasizing a more direct treatment of the situations and roles. In other words, these are movies which don´t need a second interpretation to be understood.

Some imaginative filmmakers (Tarantino, Raimi, among others) have an excellent knowledge of this kind of cinema, often called “B” or “Z” series. Just take a look at “Kill Bill” and you’ll Read the rest of this article »

http://www.pistolwimp.com/media/40930/

My favourite superhero is Spiderman. I love robots. I make compositions out of weird sounds. If I had the chance (and knew the language), I would move to Japan without hesitation. I was born in 1978.

With these facts in mind, I´m sure that you will understand why I almost cried with joy when I discovered the video linked above.

Arigatou gozaimasu, Mari Kanasawa!

Oh Women, that beautiful 50% of the population which handle more than 50% of the small consumer´s money! Let´s go over a few quick facts related to girls and interactive computing:

1. A sane woman will never enter a Micro, Game, Microplay -or whatever they are called. Have you payed attention to those places? They are full of nerds, have enormous cardboard figures of a half naked Lara Croft on display -or worse: featuring a six-feet-high Mario!… If they were searching for ways to repel girls, they really Read the rest of this article »