Monday, December 22, 2008

BOLT by jaiskizzy

the gist: bolt is the dog superstar of a tv show, the success of which is built upon the fact that the dog believes everything is real. bolt's person is a girl named penny and he is highly devoted to protecting her. when he is accidentally shipped to new york following an episode cliffhanger of penny being kidnapped by their arch-nemesis dr. calico, the green-eyed man, bolt travels across the states to save her, picking up a sardonic alley cat named mittens and his number one hamster-in-ball fan named rhino along the way. can disney make a great cgi movie without using pixar powers?

well, looks like they can, folks. not all cgi films are rendered equal. many have tried to top the home of luxo jr. the jumping lamp, but most have failed (shark tale, robots, the shrek sequels), only cashing in on the darn kids who'd throw tantrums just watch them. the throne still belongs to pixar but disney was able to deliver a 3d animated film almost at par with their sibling company's brainchildren. almost because, it has quality and great story, the characters are cute and memorable, but it's a traditional disney yarn for the family just woven in glorious cgi. it's exactly what you would expect from a disney movie. not that it's a bad thing per se, i like most of disney's stuff, it just doesn't break the old mold. the moment you enter a screening of a cookie-cutter disney flick, you know that there'll be tearjerking and heartstring pulling, that everything's safe for kids to see and that it's gonna end happy no matter how dire the situation would get. so, yeah, no old yeller ending here.

i really liked the character designs. im always for uniqueness. they're pretty simple--white dog, black cat, furry hamster--and yet they bear no resemblance to anything done before. i dont know, but i just found it cute the first time rhino releases himself from his plastic ball. my favorite though were the pigeons with various accents. they oughta have a spinoff movie. anyways, also, the singularity of the characters owes partly to the voice talents, i guess. john travolta as the voice of the heroic hound was glove. also, i've always been fond of the way the animators incorporate the celebrities voice actors' features to the their animated counterparts and in this case, bolt had john travolta's mouth. cant say the similar to the cat and the hamster because i have no freakin idea who voiced them. mittens kinda sounded like zoeey deschanel but older. whoever did rhino did great in capturing the orgasmic glee of a fan thrust into a once-in-a-lifetime dream adventure.

this film reminds me a lot of an old tv movie entitled c.h.o.m.p.s., about a robot dog (anyone else seen that?!). always liked it when the guy opens up the dog to check the stuff inside. anyways, like a lot of the good stuff from days of long ago, it should never be raped(remade). just watch bolt. and its sure-as-pups eventual sequel.


the good: story, characters
the bad: predictability
the ugly: that penny was voice by bucktooth cyrus
the verdict: 8 sicilian pigeons


dr. calicot, the green-minded man.

Monday, December 15, 2008

kicking it again

i was listening to some music on one of my burns when i heard the mp3 song lifted from a classic flash animation which i have embedded below. i first saw it and downloaded through dial-up internet about 10 years ago. man, i am old.


*might not play properly on slow connections...

Thursday, December 11, 2008

hi, blood.

you know you are surrounded by idiots when:

you're working your buttcheeks off in order to leave on time and then your coworker messes around with the router because the connection on her side is slow and then the device falls to the floor and everyone's internet is gone and you stand up from your seat and exit the room because you're knot-pissed that they'll obviously turn to you once again when avoidable shit like that happens and after spending a long time outside, you come back to find them standing around and the connection's still busted. idiots, i tell you. people who'd drink the kool-aid no question. they're everywhere and i have more than my allocated share.


anyways, same day this happened, i headed straight to ayala after shift. i wasnt actually planning to buy what i did eventually buy. merely i was there to check its current price out. i hopped from shop to shop and happened upon this normal-looking dude with a normal, non-sales talky attitude. he spoke the same way a friend would talk to you about shit and stuff, unlike the others i passed through because they sounded like bored robots with their annoying rehearsed lines and weird you're-not-gonna-buy-anyway demeanor (i think probably it was because i looked worldwide angry). this guy, however, had the nice buddy approach. with the lowest package-wise pricetag in the area, i was sold. so, a couple of long-queued atm machines later, a wad of paper pesos migrated from my wallet to his hand, and in turn, he endowed my mitts with this electronic encasement of ecstasy:




blood.

my personal goddess and i have played need for speed: undercover against each other through ad hoc and i have had her dust for breakfast, lunch and dinner so far. no surprise since im still using my pathetic 1 hearsepower two-bit starting car and still learning the ropes of psp gaming (it isnt quite the same with a ps2). pretty soon, blood will be kicking that cute little pink butt off the curb.


p.s. will somebody please stop giving atm cards to idiots?
p.p.s. i love you, love. let's do that thing that we did the other day again some other day.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

cgi jai

thanks to my girlfriend who spent enough time and effort to make a nigh-exact digital replica of my ugly mug. the one thing wrong with these renderings is...


...i don't do this in front of a mirror like that. i never spend more than 3 seconds in front of a mirror and that is only to see if my hair is messy the way i like it.