JERICHO: THE PROMISE FULFILLED makes Chris run out of verbiage to describe its awesomeness!!!

Some things in life are just too wonderful for words to do justice. But I'll give it my best shot...

Take, f'rinstance, Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled, a 28-minute long film – done in stop-motion animation with LEGO bricks – about the fall of Jericho from the Book of Joshua in the Bible.

I first wrote about this movie a few weeks ago. And also about Anthony and Jessica Rondina: the brother/sister pair who have earned widespread praise and official acclaim for their work on the film. Well, after I posted that I got a really nice e-mail from Jessica Rondina letting me know that they would be hosting a free public screening of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled at StoneBridge Church, their home church, on the evening of July 31st.

Now, some people might think it's a bit crazy to drive two hours one-way just to see a short film starring little yellow LEGO minifigs. But this kind of thing cries out to me like the irresistible lure of the fabled Sirens. So on Friday afternoon I got in the car and set out to see, as I called it when asking if I was at the right place, "the little LEGO movie".

I spent the two hours driving back trying to think up enough adjectives to describe what I had just witnessed. And after watching the DVD of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled three more times over the weekend, I still can't produce adequate hyperbole to convey my delight about this film!

But first, a little setup about what went down that night. I was quickly greeted by director Anthony Rondina, who showed me the display of some of the sets and "actors"...

Mark and Wendy Rondina - the producers of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled and the co-producers of Anthony and Jessica (i.e. their parents) - went all-out to create a true cinematic experience for us, even getting a movie theater-style popcorn machine!

A little after 7 p.m. the show began, with the pastor of StoneBridge Church introducing the Rondina family. Wendy Rondina then briefly discussed how Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled has been making the rounds at film festivals.

Wendy Rondina also talked about how Christian filmmaking is starting to really come into its own, with many people now beginning to realize the talents that they have been given in this powerful medium. And I fully agree with her. In fact, in many ways the film we were about to see epitomizes something I've been saying for years on this blog and elsewhere: that the technology has finally become such that anyone can make an excellent film. The opportunity is definitely there. We just need to make the most of it with what God has given us.

And then the film started...

Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled is an unparalleled achievement not just in Christian filmmaking, but for the art of stop-motion animation. I have seen many LEGO-rendered films over the years but if any one of them has approached the technical complexity, the sheer ambition and all-out comedic genius of Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled, my mind is drawing a blank. This was very much a labor of love on the part of the Rondinas and their colleagues at Gideon Production Group and it's only too obvious that they poured, if I might paraphrase from Mark 12:30, all their soul and all their mind and all their strength into this film. Its production took a year and a half: a testimony to the dedication and passion of the people who made it.

Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled is about the epic conquest of Jericho by the Hebrews following their four decades of wandering in the wilderness. Two things that I feel compelled to note about this film from the getgo. The first is the insane amount of research that Jessica Rondina did in writing the script. Like stuff about Rahab which isn't necessarily in the Bible itself, but is still ancient Jewish tradition. The second thing is that Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled never takes itself too seriously! It is a film all too aware of its nature of being done in LEGO, and that leads to some very clever visual gags inspired by the properties of LEGO bricks (but I ain't spillin' the beans, you'll just have to see for yourself :-). Between that and how Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled pays homage to such pop culture icons as The Matrix and Cops, this might be the most offbeat and fun example of Christian filmmaking that I've yet seen. Indeed: the thought crossed my mind more than once during the screening that if they keep this up, Anthony and Jessica and their crew might well become Christian movies' answer to Monty Python!

For its writing and comedic creativity alone, Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled would shine. But in terms of technical production, the film is utterly mind-blowing: a glorious orchestra of stop-motion, in-camera practical effects and cutting-edge computer imaging. Every frame of the film was stop-motion animated by hand, with no looping involved at all. So far as I know from watching the "behind the scenes" feature there is only one effect that was done in real time (watch for the water cooler). The battle scenes are of a scale and complexity that would make Cecil B. DeMille cringe with despair, but that didn't stop these North Carolina kids from pulling off shots guaranteed to drop jaws all over the place. The ultimate downfall of Jericho should be meticulously studied in film schools, it is that amazing. And then there is the Jordan River: easily the most beautiful stop-motion rendering of moving water that I have had the pleasure of seeing.

So, was Jericho: The Promise Fulfilled worth driving two hours to see? You bet it was! And I sincerely hope and pray that as many people as possible will be able to watch and appreciate this wonderful film. At the present time your best bet is to catch it at a film festival or a similar screening. Keep an eye on the Gideon Production Group's website for any that are scheduled.

And y'all also keep an eye on Anthony and Jessica Rondina and Gideon Production Group. This is a team of family and friends that has been gifted with an unbelievable amount of talent, and I have no doubt that God is going to continue to bless their hard work and enthusiasm.

Read More

Ohio town's traffic cameras send out 10,000 tickets in 1 month

If you can help it, I'd consider the town of Heath, Ohio to be a place to steer well clear of. That personal assessment comes after word that it's newly-installed traffic-enforcement cameras have sent out more than 10,000 tickets after just four weeks of operation. With the tickets being $100, after camera provider Redflex gets its cut that's $83,000 that the city government would put into its coffers.

As you can imagine (and you can see it in the comments of the above-linked article) quite a number of folks are honked-off about this. I would be too. Traffic cameras, be they for speed or at stop-light intersections, are not about enforcing laws for sake of safety. They are, first and foremost, a "revenue enhancing" scheme.

And these cameras are inherently not constitutional. We are supposed to have the right to face our accuser in a court of law, regardless of how small the offense.

How does one do that when the accuser is a robot?

Read More

Want to launch your own satellite into orbit?

For $8,000 you can purchase the TubeSat Personal Satellite from Interorbital Systems. Then you outfit your satellite however you like, and send it back to Interorbital Systems where it will be scheduled for orbital insertion aboard a NEPTUNE 30 vehicle (set to begin launch next year). Your satellite and 31 others will be hurled into an orbit 192 miles above the surface of the Earth, where it will function for a few weeks before safely re-entering the atmosphere and burning up. I'm thinking this might be a groovy thing for schools to look at: imagine the students of a science class beaming with pride as a satellite they designed is flying overhead and sending back telemetry!

Here's the page at Interorbital Systems' website for their TubeSat kit where you can order a satellite of your very own. And they even take PayPal!

Read More

About Barack Obama and his birth certificate...

I confess: this hasn't been the biggest thing on my radar screen for the past several months. There've been more pressing matters that have demanded my attention, and that's shown up in the relative dearth of politically-oriented posts on my blog lately.

And besides: Barack Obama has to be a natural-born citizen of the United States to have even thought about running for President, right?

Right?

Here's what finally caught my notice and began raising red flags in my mind about the issue: that Obama has not only not produced evidence that he was born in Hawaii and thus is a born citizen of the United States - as required to be eligible to be President - but that he adamantly refuses to provide it.

And I don't think that we should be taking the word of any "official" in government that such a thing truly exists. We must be able to see it for ourselves. Journalists should be allowed to examine the original document. It needs to be posted on the Internet (specifically the White House website) as a high-res Adobe Acrobat file.

It's not like there should be any nefarious or incriminating information on a birth certificate. It's already well established that Barack Obama was born. We just need to know where.

I'm not saying that I'm aligning with one side or another on this issue. I am saying though, that in regards to eligibility per the Constitution this matter obligates nothing short of absolute transparency.

That should be insisted upon regardless of who is President or running for the office.

Read More

Building does somersault during demolition attempt

From Turkey comes this awesome footage of a flour factory, built in 1928, being imploded. Or it was supposed to implode anyway. Instead the support on one side of the base was destroyed, causing the entire building to tumble over "like a toy house".

Watch it below folks. This simply must be seen to be believed...

Look on the bright side: those wacky Turks have brought a whole new unprecedented scale to the old game of dominoes! :-P

Read More

Toyota's running robot

Check this out: Toyota's new robot that briskly runs at 7 kilometers an hour:

The biggest problem so far is that it can only run on level terrain. Give it a little time though, and these 'bots will be jogging all over the place.

Read More

The Constitutional Calamity of Cash for Clunkers

It's awfully hard to disagree with the observation of car salesman Rob Bojaryn: "If they can't administer a program like this, I'd be a little concerned about my health insurance."

President Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" program has proven to be a disaster after just six days. Under the program a person can trade in an older/less fuel-efficient vehicle for as much as $4,500 credit toward a newer car. The money allocated for this thing has already been burned up and now Congress is allocating an addition $2 BILLION for it.

I have a question:

Where in the Constitution of the United States is there found authorization for the federal government to be in the used car business?

And then, why is our tax money being used to help someone else buy a new car? I've bought cars before, and I've never approached the government for any financial assistance toward some new wheels. Can't see how it should be any different for anyone else.

Read More

Startup sets sight on piston-powered nuclear fusion

General Fusion, a new company based out of Burnaby, British Columbia in Canada, has raised almost $14 million in funding to research what is being called an ambitious effort to create viable nuclear fusion. General Fusion believes it can engineer a reactor that uses 220 pneumatic pistons to generate acoustical waves that will be aimed at a plasma target, which will theoretically create a burst of fusion energy. Experts in the field believe that General Fusion might stand a chance of succeeding with their wild design, where countless others over the decades have failed.

Looks interesting. It also looks like the "Fat Man" nuclear bomb had Henry Ford engineered it :-P

Read More

7-year old boy doesn't want to go to church, heists car instead

A seven-year old lad in Plain City, Utah decided that it was too hot to go to church earlier this week.

So the kid sped off on a joyride in his dad's car.

911 calls soon flooded the Weber County Sheriff's Office about the pint-sized motorist. A dash-mounted video camera caught the following footage of the boy, who came to a stop and then dashed off (perhaps to find his mommy)...

Hey, that kid is driving better at 7 than I ever was at 16 :-P

Read More

Rough-cut final scene of THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Flicking through channels this evening and happened upon There Will Be Blood. I watched this movie for the first time last month and personally I think it's one of the finest movies in many years. And right now I'm DVRing it in high-def. Boo-yah!

Anyway, when I first wrote about it my good friend Lee Shelton let me know that there was a rough version of There Will Be Blood's brutal ending floating around on YouTube. Here it is...

And by the way, CONGRATULATIONS to Lee and his wife on the new addition to their family: baby Olivia, who they adopted in China! Here's wishing them all the best :-)

Read More

A "beer summit"?!

So in a little more than a hundred years we have gone from President Theodore Roosevelt negotiating peace between the Russians and the Japanese, to now President Barack Obama inviting Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Sgt. James Crowley to the White House to drink some beer.

(Read my original thoughts last week about this whole inane situation.)

If this is what it now means to be President of the United States, then perhaps Jimmy Carter didn't fully employ the assets available to him. He should have turned his brother Billy Carter loose onto the international stage... and we could have had world peace within a few short months!

Can anyone honestly imagine Ronald Reagan or Harry Truman doing something like this? Not as President, anyway. The office carries with it a kind of dignified weight that, unfortunately, I'm not seeing honored very much at all lately. Then again, this sort of thing has been building/devolving for years anyway, so I guess it's only a natural progression.

Read More

Coloring for blue M&Ms found to heal spinal injuries

In what has to be one of the more bizarre bits of medical news we've heard lately, the blue dye used to give blue M&Ms their color has been found to help mend severe spinal injuries.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York discovered that when tested on laboratory rats, Brilliant Blue G blocks the action of a chemical that causes more damage to neural tissue around an already injured area. Rats with damaged spines who received injections of BBG eventually regained the ability to walk, while those that did not receive the BBG treatment never recovered. The one side effect found so far: injections of BBG causes the skin to temporarily turn bright blue.

Research is still being conducted, but it's thought that human trials with BBG may begin within the next few years.

(I wonder if Brilliant Blue G can counteract all those effects of Yellow 5 in Mountain Dew that my old roomie used to tell me about...)

Read More

Department of Homeland Security halts Monsterpocalypse strategy guide publication! "Radical ideas" espoused by board game a terrorist threat?!

Folks, please understand something: this is NOT a joke! That was my first thought when I read about this situation late last week. And then over the weekend I played Monsterpocalypse for the very first time (and very much enjoyed it) at HyperMind and this was the #1 topic of discussion among the faithful players meeting there.

So then I contacted the good people at Privateer Press, the producers of Monsterpocalypse, and received confirmation: the Department of Homeland Security has delayed the publication of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide due to "national security concerns".

Throughout the day I have made attempts to contact the Department of Homeland Security, by both phone and e-mail. As of this writing no one in any official (or unofficial for that matter) capacity with the United States government has gotten back with me about why a collectible miniatures game focusing on giant monsters, aliens and robots wrecking havoc on tiny plastic cities is supposed to be a threat to national security.

But look! Press release!

Bellevue WA July 21, 2009—Privateer Press reports that the release of the Monsterpocalypse Series 3: All Your Base Strategy Guide for the Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game will be delayed due to national security concerns.

Homeland Security pulled the shipment for an intensive examination last week when it arrived in the United States. While no comment was made to the nature of the investigation, several crew members within Privateer Press believe the government became concerned over some of the more radical ideals espoused by several factions within the Monsterpocalypse game.

Privateer Press Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson said of the investigation, "Privateer Press would like to extend its complete support to the men and women who defend our national security on a daily basis. However, I am confident that the investigation's outcome will reaffirm the rights of free speech and protest of the radical environmental group Green Fury at the perceived devastation man is having on our planet as well as the freedom of people to practice religion without governmental oversight—even those religions which may very well bring forth the minions of the ancient Lords of Cthul."

For more information and updates on this and other Monsterpocalypse news visit www.monsterpocalypse.com.

About the Monsterpocalypse Collectible Miniatures Game

The collectible miniatures game (CMG) Monsterpocalypse brings the giant-monster genre—a pop culture favorite—to the tabletop in the form of a fast-paced, action-packed game. Designed by Matt Wilson, the award-winning creator of WARMACHINE and HORDES, Monsterpocalypse leverages the critically acclaimed abilities of Privateer Press as a leading miniatures manufacturer to enter a new category of product with a property that appeals to a worldwide fan base of all ages. Players can visit www.monsterpocalypse.com for game previews and updates.


About Privateer Press, Inc.

Privateer Press, Inc. is a privately held producer of entertainment and hobby brands based in the Seattle area. Its products include the newly released Monsterpocalypse collectible miniatures game, the award-winning WARMACHINE and HORDES hobby miniatures games, the award-winning Iron Kingdoms property, Bodger Games, the full-color No Quarter Magazine, and the Formula P3 hobby line. To learn more about Privateer Press, visit www.privateerpress.com or contact the president, Sherry Yeary, at (425) 643-5900 or sherry@privateerpress.com.

July 21, 2009

Incidentally, something very similar was reported a month ago happening to comic book artist/writer Mark Sable, whose new graphic novel series Unthinkable deals with possible terrorist scenarios that begin coming true.

But so far as Monsterpocalypse goes: I suppose that this might well mark the very first time, ever, that the U.S. government has made an official position against giant dinosaurs, Martian invaders, and Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the realm of normal space and time.

Sleep soundly, folks! Whether it be protecting us from Taliban terrorists or Green Fury activists, the Department of Homeland Security is on the job!

I just wish that I could be anything but a nervous wreck. I mean, after making this video for HyperMind's entry for the Monsterpocapalooza event...

...does this mean that I'm now suspected by Homeland Security of colluding with "terrists" and using weapons of mass destruction?!?

In a different time and a saner age, that might be pretty funny. But when tiny plastic toys are considered a legitimate enough danger to American sovereignty as to warrant spending time and money stopping the publication of a game manual, something is seriously off-kilter in this country.

Read More

PLEASE think of the children!!!

A great pic found by fellow blogger Ben Hwang...

Read More

Review of WATCHMEN Director's Cut

A week ago Watchmen arrived on DVD and Blu-ray. You have a choice between getting the original theatrical edition (when the movie debuted back in March) or you can opt for the Director's Cut. There's also another version coming out later this fall that incorporates the "Tales of the Black Freighter" animated material into the movie itself. I'll most certainly be buying that when it comes out ('cuz I'm such a Watchmen nut)...

...but if you're wondering which version to get now, the Director's Cut stands as the definitive adaptation of the Watchmen graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Don't get me wrong: I loved Watchmen when it came out in theaters (read my original review here). But having watched the Director's Cut three times now, I cannot help but believe that had the studio execs let Zack Snyder release his original vision from the getgo, that Watchmen would have performed substantially better at the box office.

As a huge fan of the book, I had to applaud all the new additions that the Director's Cut brings to the Watchmen film. The flashback sequences, apart from Sally's, are each greatly extended. Jon's memory of the Comedian during the Vietnam War particularly stands out: I love the shot of the helicopter as it flies past Jon, with Eddie hanging on from the outside and opening fire on the Vietcong... and then landing and roasting one poor schmuck with a flamethrower (after igniting it with his cigar, how cool is that?). Rorschach gets much more dialogue - most of the new stuff being lifted straight from the book - and action. I don't recall the scene where he retrieves his equipment and his "face" as being in the theatrical version, but it's in the Director's Cut. The scene where Dr. Long is trying to talk with Rorschach in prison also has more to it. We see Jon teleport everyone out of the studio following the disastrous television interview. In his flashback on Mars we see Jon inscribing the hydrogen atom symbol on his forehead, and we also find out how the United States government determined that Jon was on Mars (via satellite telescope) when the theatrical edition never bothered to explain that.

But by far the biggest and most welcome - if also the most heartbreaking - new thing that Watchmen Director's Cut brings to the table is the death of Hollis Mason at the hands of the Knot-tops. Most of the scene is done from Hollis's point of view, as we see him fighting the costumed bad guys from his younger days as the original Nite Owl... and then the film juxtaposes the villains of that more innocent time with the unrestrained depravity of the modern day street gangs. All while the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana plays during the scene. That was a tragic but appropriate detail, if you've read the Under the Hood excerpts from the Watchmen graphic novel. It's not long after that when we see Dan, as the second Nite Owl, hear the news of Hollis's death while he and Rorschach are at the tavern and then vent his rage on an innocent Knot-top. Both scenes are brutal to an extreme that has never been witnessed in a comic book-inspired film before (incidentally, there's also far more gore during the assassination attempt on Adrian, and during Rorschach's killing of the child murderer).

To sum up: Watchmen Director's Cut feels like the complete and defining vision of Watchmen. There's a refinement and exposition here that was missing from the theatrical run, and I found myself "buying" the world of this alternative 1985 far more easily than I did when I first saw the movie in March. The film doesn't feel overwhelmingly lengthened, in fact I thought the new material made the time watching the movie go by even smoother. I'll give Watchmen Director's Cut a very high recommendation for your DVD or Blu-ray collection.

Read More

National Novel Writing Month (like I need something ELSE to do...)

Inspired by my good friend Jenna St. Hilaire, I am taking part in this year's National Novel Writing Month.

So what the heck is National Novel Writing Month?

Between this coming November 1st and midnight on the night of November 30th, each participant will try to crank out a 50,000 word, 175-page novel from scratch. You can read more about it here.

As Jenna puts it, "...I smell challenge--the sort of challenge I cannot resist." So it is with me. And this is gonna be tough to do, not the least of which is because my life seems constantly besieged by all manner of general craziness (self-employed, more than occasional crises, trying to do what some will say is too much creative project already, community theatre, etc.).

But the biggest reason why I'm going to take a stab at "NaNoWriMo" is because I think this is going to be very therapeutic and cathartic for me as a writer.

It's like this: try though I have, writing fiction is very hard for me. I can write a fictional screenplay quite easily. But a long narrative novel? That is something that I have never been able to do. So I'm thinking that if compelled (by my own volition) to write a novel within the narrow span of one month, that it might break that stranglehold/bottleneck on my authoring skills. And maybe even free my mind and spirit to write more fiction.

It's gonna be hard. But in the end, I think it will be worth it.

So far as ideas for a novel go: I've had a few already since last night. There's one in particular that I'm inclined to go with at the moment, but we'll see what percolates in the ol' gray matter between now and October 31st.

Read More

KONG: KING OF SKULL ISLAND to become a real movie!

Variety is reporting today that Spirit Pictures is setting out to adapt Kong: King of Skull Island as a feature film. The plan is to use motion-capture technology like what Robert Zemeckis used to make The Polar Express and Beowulf (i.e. very life-like computer modeling and animation).

The thought of that kind of filmmaking applied to Kong: King of Skull Island is enough to get me totally jazzed about this project...

Kong: King of Skull Island was a lavishly illustrated 2004 novel by Joe DeVito and Brad Strickland. It serves as a sequel to the original 1933 movie King Kong (it even received the blessing from the family of King Kong creator Merian C. Cooper) as well as being a "prequel" of sorts in that it lays out the tale of what Skull Island was like before Carl Denham and the crew of the Venture arrived. I reviewed the book way back in late 2005 and had nothing but good to say about it. In fact, I recently wound up re-reading it and was just as overwhelmed by Kong: King of Skull Island as I had been the first time.

Trust me folks: if done right, this could be a seriously terrific movie. One that I would gladly pay to see several times at the theater (and even multiple times in IMAX). In the meantime, I'll be keeping an enthusiastic eye on this as it develops.

Read More