Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
The Flame of Carthage...
The allegorical symbolism of this act was to create a precise point of origin to the rivalry between Rome and Carthage justifying the war which would eventually destroy the Carthaginians. I like to believe that Dido was possibly the earliest of feminist, being a self appointed leader of an Empire that nearly eclipsed the Mediterranean -- and the concept of that outraged the misogynistic Romans of old. In the words of the Roman poet Virgil, "Women are like the wind, always changing!" So its not hard to surmise their distain of women venturing out of the status quo and cultural norms.
Thousands of years later, Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, set himself on fire in protest of the corrupt government ruling the his country. The outrage over this act sparked a revolution that toppled the Tunisian regime, then Egypt, and now probably Libya. Time will tell if this brings a new wave of democracy to all of North Africa and peace and prosperity to well deserving people. Perhaps there is some irony of self-immolation (one mythical, and one very much factual) bringing about some great geographic and cultural change? I'm in no way trying to belittle their struggle, this is all quite serious business. Just an observation. By the way, Tunisia used to have an ancient name in the Latin Tongue: Carthage.
Monday, October 4, 2010
24 Hour Comics Day
Alright here be my 24 Hour Comic, written by Alejandro Komai and illustrated by me. The goal was to do a 24 page comic, (that is come up with a story, lay it out, and draw) within a single 24 hour sitting without sleep or creature comforts. This turned into a crazy stream on consciousness exercise and devolved into madness near the middle when I was lacking in sleep...
View full Comic here: "Days End"
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Battleship Potemkin
"Battleship Potemkin" or "…so you thought Avatar had a subtle agenda?" was probably one of the worst films from the silent era I've seen. Usually that would not be saying much, considering how new the medium was back in 1926 and how crude many films were from that era. You usually have to put the film in context and accept it for its flaws looking through the spy glass of history. Battleship Potemkin deserves no such pardon. This is a terribly flawed movie. It is racist, classist, and promotes violence to further a jaded political message -- this all under the guise of being a ground breaking cinematic achievement in film. Like Avatar it should be held in the same contempt. Alright, I hate wasting effort talking about this film, because I feel discussing it only helps empower it... but I got nothing better to do at the office today so WHY NOT?
Battleship Potemkin, is a dramatized and completely inaccurate retelling of the 1905 mutiny on board the Russian Battleship "Potemkin." It was made in 1925 as a propaganda piece to bolster up the new Bolshevik Regime controlling Russia. For the life of me I could not tell you who the main character. The film maker intended this film to be more of an "experiment" in "montage" film making by juxtaposing the plight of the poor next to the splendor of the elite. This causes the film to feel all over the place, with no concise narrative. About the only thing we can gather is, the crew of the Battleship are tired of eating maggoty bread, and demand better rations from the officers. The Officers tell them not to complain otherwise they will be hanged. This causes the crew to mutiny, and throw the Officers overboard taking the ship for themselves. Again, I have no clue who the protagonist is because the film does not focus on a particular individual. Is the "Crew," as a collective unit the main character? That would seem very Communist.
No, this film then switches to the port where the Potemkin is anchored. It focuses on a new group of people who, somehow, know the crew has taken over the Potemkin and now sympathize with their plight (did they have short wave radios in 1905)?
The film gets very racist by focusing on a "trouble making Jew" who is trying to rally people to the cause of Potemkin. The "Trouble Making Jew" is then juxtaposed next to "a Greedy Capitalist" who shows up in his top hat and fine pressed suit telling everyone to be "good obedient poor people" or something? First off, why are "Jews" cliched in such a way? Either the usurpers of power? Or the ones who happen to cause revolutions? If this film was made today it would be hounded out of Hollywood for its racist undertones. I Guess communism unlike fascism ended up on the "right side of history?" Right? Right…
"Hes like totally evil don't you get it?"
So anyways the Potemkin in still anchored in the harbor, planning their next move because now they are all murders for throwing their officers overboard. Again it switches back to Odessa, where everyone is gather to show their support for the Potemkin, and their murdering ways. Even through they are essentially standing around doing nothing the Tsar's Troops decides to show and execute them all. This section, is the sequence everyone seems to cite when they talk about this film. It is paid "homage" to in the "Untouchables." Essentially it is a horrible montage of people being massacred as the Guard march in perfect line formation, executing unarmed civilians. First off, what humanity do we live, where a horrible act of brutality is held up as a piece of cinematic history? I will give it this much, the sequence, shot a wide angle, cutting away periodically while people are being shot, does very much visually display who the bad guys are and who the good guys are. That said in the context of the film, this sequence is probably as significant as the "Big Ol' Na'vi Home Tree" being knocked down by those evil-old humans!
Some how the crew on board the Potemkin find out about the massacre (short wave radio again?) and they react by firing the ships cannons on the Odessa Opera House. Because you know, if you really want to get back at the evil Capitalist Regime you gotta blow up their strategically placed Opera House. So the Potemkin pulls up anchor and tries to make its escape, but two ships have been dispatched to stop it. They reach the rendezvous point, where the two battleships have been ordered to fire upon the Potemkin if it should try to flee. But for what ever reason the Battleships don't fire on the Potemkin and its able to make its escape as the text cards scream, "Brotherhood! Freedom!" Why didn't the ships fire on the Potemkin? Did they have mutinies on board as well? Who knows. This film was created to serve a message: world wide revolution, by any means. Perhaps this film is only a propaganda film and should not been read into so deeply? I personally don't feel like giving it such a pardon. This film fails as a film before anything else. To Avatar's credit you knew who the Protagonist was, you knew who the Antagonist was, and the conflict, however simplistic was clear and straightforward. This film is an utter nightmare and should only be cited in educational venues of what "not to do."
Saturday, September 11, 2010
September, Nine Years Later...
I can safely say, my experiences on the morning of 9/11 don't even register slightly in significance compared to those who live on the East Coast, Washington D.C. or New York City. However looking back some nine years later I figured I'd reflect on my memories of that day -- so far isolated those tragic events, here in California.
My parents had recently decided to relocate from Laguna Beach to a community in North County. The new house they had purchased was being renovated so in the meantime we were temporarily living in an apartment till construction was complete. I had recently been enrolled in a new High School so I was still getting adjusted to my new surroundings as the events of this month unfolded. I was half asleep when I heard the phone ring in the living room. My mom picked up the phone, it was my grandma. I didn't think much of it, I was just trying to squeeze in the last few minutes of sleep before school. Suddenly I heard my mom shout, "They bombed what?!"
My grandma, a grand old lady born in the 1920's couldn't even comprehend the idea of someone hijacking a plane and crashing it into a building, so she automatically thought it was bombing. I jumped out of bed and ran into the front room. Before the screen turned on my mom told me they had "Bombed the World Trade Center." As cold as this may sound, the first thing that went through my head was, "Again?" I still had vivid memories of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. The screen lit up and the first thing I saw was an image of the Pentagon on fire. By this point the Pentagon had already been hit. I though it was only the WTC? My stomach sank. Eventually the live feed switched to a view of the the Trade Center which were both on fire at this point. The recycled images of the plane hitting the south tower were pretty terrifying.
Of course the first thing that comes out of my mouth is, "Do I have to go to school today?" My mother's response, "Of, course." Its great to know my mom would still send me to school if for all we knew it, the world was ending. We were listing to the radio the entire car ride to my school. The radio host, announced the the collapse of towers. I arrived at school. The T.V. Monitor in our class room was still playing news feeds of the disaster. I could tell the teacher wanted to keep watching, but quickly switched it off, trying to get on with class. It was a Wood Working Construction class. Everyone was very silent the entire class. My CT Partner was especially quiet, as he had found out the day prior that his parents were divorcing. Great Timing?
By noon, every plane in the country had been grounded. Our High School was on the flight path for landings at LAX so we very noticeably realized the lack of 747s in the sky for the next couple of days. I went to an all boys Catholic High School, so we had school wide prayer service at the end of lunch. During the course of the day I would constantly get updates on the situation at the beginning of each class with teachers switching on the television for a few minutes at the beginning of each class before returning to their "duty" of educating the youth. After school had let out I was rushed to my grandmothers house where all the relatives had gather with their eyes glued on the big screen T.V. We learned about the plane crash in Pennsylvania, and the chaos consuming the Federal Government. I don't think we even knew where the President was at that point?
Before September, the only significance "2001" had for me was the same date as "2001 A Space Odyssey." I think the Sci-Fi channel was even promoting their line up with the tagline of, "2001: The Year of Sci-Fi." I can only imagine what my grandmother thought, having lived through Pearl Harbor and lost a brother in the War that Followed. Probably uncertain if this was the beginning of another Great War that would consume our time? Nine years later, after completing High School, College and a nasty two years in the "industry" I can only look back and envy the simple time before 2000 when me and my friends never concerned ourselves with politics, war and doomsday scenarios. I think the most serious point of conflict between any of us was whether Charizard was better than Bulbasaur? Probably the disappointing part of growing up...
My parents had recently decided to relocate from Laguna Beach to a community in North County. The new house they had purchased was being renovated so in the meantime we were temporarily living in an apartment till construction was complete. I had recently been enrolled in a new High School so I was still getting adjusted to my new surroundings as the events of this month unfolded. I was half asleep when I heard the phone ring in the living room. My mom picked up the phone, it was my grandma. I didn't think much of it, I was just trying to squeeze in the last few minutes of sleep before school. Suddenly I heard my mom shout, "They bombed what?!"
My grandma, a grand old lady born in the 1920's couldn't even comprehend the idea of someone hijacking a plane and crashing it into a building, so she automatically thought it was bombing. I jumped out of bed and ran into the front room. Before the screen turned on my mom told me they had "Bombed the World Trade Center." As cold as this may sound, the first thing that went through my head was, "Again?" I still had vivid memories of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings. The screen lit up and the first thing I saw was an image of the Pentagon on fire. By this point the Pentagon had already been hit. I though it was only the WTC? My stomach sank. Eventually the live feed switched to a view of the the Trade Center which were both on fire at this point. The recycled images of the plane hitting the south tower were pretty terrifying.
Of course the first thing that comes out of my mouth is, "Do I have to go to school today?" My mother's response, "Of, course." Its great to know my mom would still send me to school if for all we knew it, the world was ending. We were listing to the radio the entire car ride to my school. The radio host, announced the the collapse of towers. I arrived at school. The T.V. Monitor in our class room was still playing news feeds of the disaster. I could tell the teacher wanted to keep watching, but quickly switched it off, trying to get on with class. It was a Wood Working Construction class. Everyone was very silent the entire class. My CT Partner was especially quiet, as he had found out the day prior that his parents were divorcing. Great Timing?
By noon, every plane in the country had been grounded. Our High School was on the flight path for landings at LAX so we very noticeably realized the lack of 747s in the sky for the next couple of days. I went to an all boys Catholic High School, so we had school wide prayer service at the end of lunch. During the course of the day I would constantly get updates on the situation at the beginning of each class with teachers switching on the television for a few minutes at the beginning of each class before returning to their "duty" of educating the youth. After school had let out I was rushed to my grandmothers house where all the relatives had gather with their eyes glued on the big screen T.V. We learned about the plane crash in Pennsylvania, and the chaos consuming the Federal Government. I don't think we even knew where the President was at that point?
Before September, the only significance "2001" had for me was the same date as "2001 A Space Odyssey." I think the Sci-Fi channel was even promoting their line up with the tagline of, "2001: The Year of Sci-Fi." I can only imagine what my grandmother thought, having lived through Pearl Harbor and lost a brother in the War that Followed. Probably uncertain if this was the beginning of another Great War that would consume our time? Nine years later, after completing High School, College and a nasty two years in the "industry" I can only look back and envy the simple time before 2000 when me and my friends never concerned ourselves with politics, war and doomsday scenarios. I think the most serious point of conflict between any of us was whether Charizard was better than Bulbasaur? Probably the disappointing part of growing up...
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Break Time!
Hit rock bottom, now finally bouncing back. I've decided to take a break from the internet and all it's various drama for a bit. Temporarily disabled my Facebook, AIM and Twitter so as not to be distracted. Feel like I need to be more focused on work. Not sure when I'll get back into the mix, but hopefully I'll remain active and actually "blog" a bit more. Planning to add new comics SOON to my comic blog (REALLY this time). Other than that not much else to say. Just gonna keep on keeping on.... god I'm starting to sound like a depressing country song...
P.S. OY! Look! New design template! AWESOME INC!
P.S. OY! Look! New design template! AWESOME INC!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
ALIVE AGAIN
Hey look...
...is alive again! Hurray for my name sake. So now it is December. Once again I'm looking for employment. But in the meantime I have lots of personal project work to keep me busy. OH HELL, I also just got a PS3! I have a piles of games waiting to be beaten by yours truly, with DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (was there a Dragon Age: Proper?) and MODERN WARFARE 2, sitting at the bottom of the pile -- lying in wait ready to eat up my life. Lemme see... lots of GREAT movies have come out and like a bunch of horrible ones are soon to be released *cough*Avatar*cough*
If you haven't already, PLEASE go and see the FANTASTIC MR. FOX. It is such a great movie. I suggest seeing it before the PRINCESS AND THE FROG, not because one is better than the other but because the JOY of seeing 2-D again might dwindle in comparison to the amazing that is Wes Anderson directing an Animated Movie. Hmm, I what else? Well, I'm going back east for New Years. That's right, the havoc that is the annual Pasadena Rose Parade has driven me to flee to the opposite coast! Take that turtle neck yuppies! Hope to have fun over there, in the land where seasons actually exist. Well not much else to say at the moment, will report in hopefully before the new year is borne!
...is alive again! Hurray for my name sake. So now it is December. Once again I'm looking for employment. But in the meantime I have lots of personal project work to keep me busy. OH HELL, I also just got a PS3! I have a piles of games waiting to be beaten by yours truly, with DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (was there a Dragon Age: Proper?) and MODERN WARFARE 2, sitting at the bottom of the pile -- lying in wait ready to eat up my life. Lemme see... lots of GREAT movies have come out and like a bunch of horrible ones are soon to be released *cough*Avatar*cough*
If you haven't already, PLEASE go and see the FANTASTIC MR. FOX. It is such a great movie. I suggest seeing it before the PRINCESS AND THE FROG, not because one is better than the other but because the JOY of seeing 2-D again might dwindle in comparison to the amazing that is Wes Anderson directing an Animated Movie. Hmm, I what else? Well, I'm going back east for New Years. That's right, the havoc that is the annual Pasadena Rose Parade has driven me to flee to the opposite coast! Take that turtle neck yuppies! Hope to have fun over there, in the land where seasons actually exist. Well not much else to say at the moment, will report in hopefully before the new year is borne!
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