Bad Pain, Good Movie

So, once again I have been bed-ridden with bad neck and head pain. I have had an MRI scan done on it and will get to discuss the results with my doctor tomorrow. So, what does one do while in this situation? Take some paracetamol and watch something to take your mind off it and what better to watch then one of my all time favourite movies.

If there was one movie I would recommend to anyone to watch, it would be The Dark Crystal. The movie just shows you don't need fancy CGI effects to make a great fantasy movie. It also shows you can indeed make good movies without having a single human character involved. The story is the usual good vs evil with a prophecy thrown in, yet it works so well because the world itself makes it work. In fact, the world of The Dark Crystal is full of mystery, a land of various colour and various creatures and the plants and animals have such weird designs. It's such a strange world and I absolutely love it.

 

 So want a statue of this seen. Love the quote too:

Jen: Wings? I don't have wings!

Kira: Of course not. You're a boy.

What surprises me the most is that for a land of such creativity, that little was done to (on a marketing point of view) take advantage of it. Very few books expanded on this universe and even the prequel/sequel (I keep getting conflicting stories of which one it was) movie keeps failing to ever get done. I do know of two recent prequel books, so I'll probably try to get a copy of them.

Still, highly recommend you go watch this movie. Go. Do it NOW!!

Test Voicing

This spot dedicated to various test recordings in practicing voice work.

NC: Disney Afternoon Response

Nostalgia Critic: Disney Afternoon

 (Watch this before reading below)

I know this one is somewhat late, but this is one of those things where you watch it and you just have to give your own opinion on each one. As such, I just can't help myself and so throw myself out there on this.

Adventures of the Gummi Bears

I tend to agree here, as I do enjoy the Gummi Bears. Not much extra to add to what he said.

Duck Tales
Simply put, I'm not a fan of the show. Didn't think much of the theme song, nor most of the characters. If anything, I don't get why it wasn't about Scrooge and Donald on adventures as they did do this quite regularly, particularly in their comics (Scrooge's quest for treasure and to prepare Donald to take over once he's gone). While I don't think there is anything wrong with the show, I just feel that it didn't click for me.

Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers
What can I say, I'm a Chip and Dale nut. Loved the show and everything about it.

Tale Spin
I can honestly say that I don't remember much from this show, but I did watch it when it was on. It was alright and I can't really add much more to what was said.

Darkwing Duck
Again, this is another show that was enjoyable to watch, with a hundred and one entrance sayings and a bunch of great characters. The return of Launchpad as a side-kick was a brilliant idea, as the character is so lovable, yet I feel that would be destroyed as a main character. Gosalyn was also one of the most enjoyable of child characters too.

Goof Troop
I sadly have to agree for the most part. See, I loved the idea, but agree that the whole 'kwel' factor didn't gel well with me. In fact, I was more interested in the interactions between Goofy and Pete then the other characters. I understand what they were trying to achieve, but Goofy was already popular so the whole 'embarrassing parent' thing didn't always work. While the show was fine, I think the Goofy Movie did a better job with the character of Max.

Bonkers
Oh boy, where do I start. Let's see......I like it, but I don't. Some episodes were enjoyable, others just dragged out. I can't really comment much on this, since I watched this because mostly there was nothing but crap on the other channels. I must admit, the whole 'Rodger Rabbit' thing never occurred to me, I guess it was mostly because of the style of animation (or perhaps I was just clueless).

Gargoyles
I'm going to cop some crap for this, but I just thought the show was alright. Don't get me wrong, the show was indeed different and brilliant, but it was the continuation of story that caused me problems. See, most cartoons of that time had stories on an episode by episode basis with only a faint trace of continuation to them, where as with Gargoyles, if you missed a few episode it was difficult to fully understand what was going on. Miss too many and you end up having no clue as to what was happening. Very enjoyable, if you watch a bunch of episodes in a row.

Note: Out of all of these shows, I felt this one should have already been made into a live-action movie. It has the style, characters and story to pull this off.

Aladdin
First off, Dan Castellaneta did a great job as the Genie, even if the script was bad (though I must admit, he does sound so much like his Earthworm Jim voice and all I can think of is Genie yelling 'EAT DIRT! Everyone in the vicinity!' and laughing madly). I must also agree with the assessment of the main characters. Even though I don't mind Iago, but do agree with the assessment of Aladdin. Also thought Mirage was the best villain on the show too.

Am a little surprised that The Little Mermaid wasn't in this list.

Timon & Pumbaa
Show was alright, though I must admit that the first few episodes were more funny then the latter.

The Snookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show
Never heard of it.........NEXT.

Actually........I really like Eek! the Cat.

Quack Pack
While the show did try to turn Daisy Duck into a more 'modern women' (can anyone tell me if they succeeded cause I don't remember), but I do agree with NC on this one.

The Mighty Ducks - The Animated Series
While I agreed with NC on the last one, I will disagree with him on this one. I actually liked this show (well, with the exception of Duke, since I felt this guy was so out of place somehow). Yes, the villains were great and I did enjoy the characters of Nosedive and Mallory from the ducks. I do admit it was kinda stupid (but so was most cartoons at that time), but I still enjoyed it.


With that said, I love these kind of episodes as they really get you nostalgic and talking about such things (also, Lewis at the end as the grandma was brilliant). If there is one thing I will say about all this, is that I wish they'd bring these shows back onto television. I mean, Disney owns two pay t.v. channels and the only show from the classics is the one Doug didn't talk about (The Little Mermaid is on Disney Junior last time I checked). We don't even get full releases here in Australia (they only have the first three Chip n Dale RR DVD's here and have never released the final three) so it'd be nice to see some decent cartoons back as opposed to the same rehashed dribble that's on now.

Still, I enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

Mini Sound Booth

So, not really happy with my voice recordings so far and as such, I've been looking at ways to help with the filtering of sound and noise. A lot of the equipment is very expensive, so finding a cheaper alternative is the better option.

Then I came across this video and so I've decided to give it a shot. Given that it is American, there is a price difference. Still, it was possible to get most of this for around $50 AU, though only the egg crate style was available (though it does look somewhat similar to that of acoustic foam, which is used for sound recording and is $50 AU just for a 50cm x 50cm square).

It has been build and am waiting for it to dry before giving it a test shot later tonight when everything's quiet (as I do live right near a school).

 Of course, there are a few loose ends and the edges are poorly done, but that can easily be fixed via a trip to the local hardware store. Can't wait to test this out.

Update: 26/03/14: This thing actually works fairly well. I have notice the difference in quality thanks to this little project and while it is a shame that it's taken so long to get my recordings done in time, I'm glad that this project worked out at least.

Army Of Darkness

Warning: Spoilers

Going back and looking into various classics brought me to Killer Tomatoes and for the most part it was enjoyable, so it'd be no surprise that I would take up a few suggestions. The Evil Dead classics were said to be very good with only one problem, I'm not good at watching horror movies, particularly with the supernatural involved. Indeed, the first two Evil Dead movies were are little hard for me to watch at times. That said, they are good, though what really got me was the third one, Army of Darkness.

What sets Army of Darkness apart from it's predecessors is the reduction of horror in exchange for comedy. Now for many the thought of this would cause a great deal of upset, but for me this movie is just a continuation of the evolution of the Ash Williams character. In the first he was a simple person thrown into a nightmare, while in the second he tries his best to come to terms with the madness. So by this point he's just going along with the madness in order just to get what he wants, to go home. I feel that in this movie the character of Ash is more badass then most current movie action heroes. Indeed, his sometimes badass/ sometimes idiot just makes this character even more lovable. This is also the movie which contains some of the most memorable quotes.

I'm so glad I watched Army of Darkness and I highly recommend you track it down and watch it. As for the first two movies? If you like horror (or just desperate to see the back story) then you may enjoy it, so check them out too.

Hurricanum Project On The Move

It's been over a year since I got the Celestial Hurricanum and it has been a big on again, off again project. I've often wondered why this was the case and the answer came to me recently. It's the base structure which is slowing me down, not the little bit's like I thought. On the positive side, the base is nearly done:

Once I finish the two sides interior parts, I will finally be able to glue all base parts on. With that done I can finally focus on all the little parts and perhaps I can feel real progress on this blasted project.

Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL - Fiona Nash Sketch