Rouge One (Spoiler Alert)

Julz Lynn Skateboarding Star Wars Carrie Fisher Tribute
Julz Lynn Skateboarding Star Wars Carrie Fisher Tribute

This image was created on the Day Carrie Fisher best known as Princess Leia from Star Wars died. I found myself with a little extra time this day and so I contacted a few skaters to see if any were interested in making a skateboarding picture. Once I learned of Carrie Fisher’s death I send a second communication to the skaters asking them to bring something Star Wars related to the shoot (if they cared to). Julz ended up being the last photograph of the day and when she showed up to the skatepark I was amazed at how much she had done. Now I must interject that I was amazed at how much thought and time Julz put into her Star Wars concept but I was not surprised, because Julz gives 200% to everything she is called to do.

If you have not seen Rouge One read no further. I have a few thoughts after seeing Rouge One last night with my family. I was amazed at the Forest Gump components of the film. When I began tinkering with 3d animation back in very late 1980’s I wondered if films would someday be made without any physical actors? Rouge One was yet another Star Wars film that used CGI characters. Where I was a little disappointed was with the fact that the quality of the cgi didn’t seem to improve much since the day of Forest Gump. The characters looked sort of low rez and like Forest Gump didn’t seem to be looking directly into the eyes of the other live characters they were sharing the scene with.

The other thing that bothered me about Rouge One was that it was the least Star Wars feeling film I have seen to date. It instead looked and had the rythm of any other film i might see  in 2016.  Star Wars used to have a a very special unique feel about it. It is possible I feel this way because just saw The Force Awakens a year ago?

 

Would I watch Rouge One again and recommend it to friends? The answer is yes. Although it seemed to lack some of that Star Wars mojo, it had enough to keep me intersted. And it had my kids asking about episode 4, so it even ignited some interest in the movie that started it all way back when.

Evernote verses Mac Notes

It looked so easy, I remember watching the Evernote video about how you could collect all of this information and do things like write term papers. I have been using Evernote for many years and even tried the term paper thing. It wasn’t as easy as they make it look. Eventually Evernote became a thing I would use if I was out of notebook paper in a class or if I needed to write down a shopping list. So when Evernote announced they are only allowing free usage via two devices I decided to look around at other options. For me Evernote is not worth the price they are asking for usage. So my first attempt at replacing Evernote is going to be with the note system built into my Mac OS and or IOS or whatever they are calling it these days.

8mm transfer

This is an old home movie from around 1976. There were no smart phones back then, but there were plenty of disaster films such as Towering Inferno or Earthquake. So if you got a hold of your older sisters camera you might of made a film like this.

Ken Weatherwax aka Pugsley from the Adams Family

I remember being on the Full House Set with John Stamos , at this time the T.V. show taped at the Sony Studios lot. John and I walked out of the soundstage and a very tall gentleman said “hey John” and John responded with “Hey Pugs”. John turned to me and said “do you know who that was?” I said “no” he said “Pugsley” I laughed it off and he said “no really that was Pugsly.” That was the first and last time I had seen Ken Weatherwax, the actor who portrayed Pugsley on the Adams Family.