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Friday, July 4th, 2008
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10:12 am - JESSE HELMS IS DEAD
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12:49 am - NIAGARA'S FURY
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| Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
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12:43 am - WII FITNESS
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| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
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10:17 pm - WANTED
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11:11 am - UNTIL DEPORTATION DO US PART
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| Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
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12:24 pm - THE WRECKING CREW
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 This Thursday night at the Cinefamily theater on Fairfax, they're showing a great new documentary called The Wrecking Crew, produced by my friend Jon Leonoudakis.
The Wrecking Crew were a group of studio musicians in LA in the 60s who played on literally hundreds of hits, for groups like Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Rivers... and were even Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. The amount of work that they were involved in was tremendous, and for the most part, unrecognized until now. Watch the trailer and take a listen to hit after hit after hit that they were responsible for... it's astonishing.
Tickets for the screening are available online (and be warned, it may sell out quickly -- the downtown LA premiere last weekend had over 2000 people show up). It's the last screening in L.A. for awhile, and it's going be quite an affair, with DJ's spinning Wrecking Crew records, go-go dancers, and Q&A with director Denny Tedesco.
If you want to know more, check out the film's website.
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(16 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, June 30th, 2008
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10:34 pm - WALL*E REDUX
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 I saw WALL*E again tonight, this time with ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fidgetcub in tow.
I sort of want to rescind the last paragraph of my otherwise-glowing review last week. I certainly liked the film a whole lot the first time -- but I really loved it the second time.
I have to admit, I just noticed more this time around -- not only visually, but emotionally as well. There were so many subtleties that made the two storylines -- robot and human -- affect each other with a really profound resonance that, honestly, I hadn't noticed the first time around. In fact, the very points I held in question became the most powerful.
Don't settle for your programming. We are all meant for more.
This is why Pixar films are so amazing. They're worth seeing more than once, and get richer and more satisfying every time you see them.
I left the theater with a bigger smile and a bigger lump in my throat.
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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11:59 am - DISNEY CHINA REDUX
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| Sunday, June 29th, 2008
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1:40 pm - "KUNGALOOSH" NO MORE?!?
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 Holy crap, my absolute favorite thing in all of Walt Disney World in Orlando -- the quirky Adventurer's Club -- is scheduled to close!
I discovered its charms on my first trip to WDW in 1989. It's sort of a cross between the Magic Castle and one of those old 1980s-style Bananna Republic stores (back when they were nerd-cool and safari-themed, and had old-timey prop radios playing 1930s jazz). It's an eccentric, loving parody of stuffy British explorer's clubs, using improv actors and an eclectic environment filled with artifacts (some that come alive) to create a night-club atmosphere like you've never experienced before. Each room of the club has a different theme -- the library, the mask room, the trophy room, the bar, etc. -- and live "shows" circulate through each room of the club in a seamless evening from 1937 as if it's "open house" on New Year's Eve, and every guest is a prospective club member.
What's most amazing about the Club is that it's one of the few places in WDW where the experience is ephemeral and changes for each guest -- there's an overall story intent, yes, but the cast is live, and even the magical stuff that happens (masks on the walls that talk, pipe organs that play themselves, etc.) are performed and not "canned". This isn't the Tiki Room, with robotic birds that do the exact same thing every show -- this is a real, immersive environment that is a little bit different every time you go. It's truly one-of-a-kind.
You can read more about the club and its permanent cast of characters at this detailed FAQ, and on Wikipedia.
Put simply, it's easily the single most creative attraction in all of Walt Disney World, and a particular kind of live, engaging entertainment that I truly believe is like NOTHING ELSE ON THE PLANET. Seriously, I *never* miss going when I'm in Orlando, and I can't fathom that it might soon be gone. If you've been before, you probably agree with me. If you've never seen it, then you won't want to miss it. Thankfully, some ardent fans have set up an online petition, so please sign it and spread the word.
(via BoingBoing)
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(18 comments | comment on this)
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| Friday, June 27th, 2008
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9:32 am - CANCELLED
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| Thursday, June 26th, 2008
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11:27 pm - SAM PHILLIPS @ LARGO
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djmrswhite and I went to Largo to see Sam Phillips tonight, and she was freaking amazing.
She played most of the songs off her new record, a few from her older ones, and also did a great cover of "Underwear" by the Magnetic Fields.
I love her albums, but this was my first time seeing her live, and her smokey voice and sly, knowing delivery grabbed me even moreso in person. Her songs (especially the recent ones) are like the musical equivalent of a Guy Maddin film -- beautiful melodies rendered in haunting tones, all a bit faraway and old-timey, all a bit spooky and wistful.
She was backed up by an amazing band, most notably drummer Jay Bellerose (who pounded like a madman on a kludged-together, vintage kit of mish-mashed percussion) and The Section Quartet strings, who also opened the show with their own quirky set of string-quartet rock covers (Time Is Running Out by Muse, Such Great Heights by The Postal Service, Paranoid Android by Radiohead, etc.)... really, really great stuff.
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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8:08 am - GEORGIE
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It seems I may have an extra ticket to George Michael for the Friday night show in Anaheim, $36... anyone want it?
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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8:06 am - MACBOOK PRO 4 SALE
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Before I resort to Craigslist or Ebay, anybody out there on my friends list interested in buying a nearly new MacBook Pro? I bought it in October 2007 and had planned to use it as my main work computer when I was freelancing, but now that I have a full-time gig, they bought me a new one and I don't need this one anymore.
- 17" Glossy Screen
- 2.4GHz Intel Core Duo
- 4GB RAM
- 250GB HD
- OSX Tiger
- Still under Apple 1-Year Warranty I protected it with a Speck hard case and Marware the whole time I used it, so it's literally as good as new, not a scratch on it. I even kept the box. :)
I'll probably list it online next week at $2300. obo -- if anyone is interested, please contact me directly at davecobb at mac dot com.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, June 25th, 2008
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5:57 pm - TRAVEL! TRAVEL! TRAVEL!
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Unexpectedly, I have a ton of travel coming up in July and August.
July 10 - 13, I'll be in Orlando for a research trip.
July 13 - 16, I'll be in Vancouver for another research trip.
July 19 - 20, I might be in San Jose for CA Extreme, but I'm not sure about that one yet.
July 23 - 25, I'll be at Comic-Con in San Diego; work is only paying for a hotel through Friday, but I might stay the weekend.
July 29 - August 3, I'm in Paris for a business presentation.
August 12 - 19, I'm in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for a research trip -- sorry in advance for missing your wedding, cpratt & danlmarmot :(
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(32 comments | comment on this)
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1:26 am - WALL*E
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 I saw Wall*E tonight, and there's a whole lot to like about it.
The movie is yet another technological tour-de-force for Pixar. It's staggeringly beautiful to look at, combining pristine, intricate futurism with gorgeous, painstakingly detailed vistas of melancholic Earthbound decay. Pixar's animators have created a robot cast full of personality and life and wonder. The story reveals its sweetest, most poignant side when it focuses on Wall*E's loneliness, and his aw-shucks romance with the sleek, shiny Eve.
There's very little dialogue (since there are only a few human characters to actually speak anyway) -- so it's a story told in soft sounds, slight gestures, and profound subtleties. It's a risky concept that's a treat to watch Pixar dig into, like they're cashing in all their previous success chips and trying something that verges on the experimental.
There are wonderful allegories about the power of human contact -- that holding hands can be the best thing in the universe.
Surrounding all these great things is a much larger storyline (which I won't spoil). This larger context is a sophisticated, somewhat challenging fable of sorts, but it ultimately fell a bit flat for me. It's hard to describe why, you'll have to see it and draw your own conclusions -- but suffice it to say, I found it to be a bit of a hard sell, emotionally. When it's focused on the smaller story of the two robots, however, it's extremely satisfying.
In short, it's a movie with a lot of big ideas and a big heart, and it's well worth seeing.
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(23 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, June 22nd, 2008
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10:35 am - WEDDING CAKE (DONUT)
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10:05 am - 10:02 AM
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| Saturday, June 21st, 2008
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1:02 pm - NIAGARA'S FURY
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 An attraction I worked on a few years ago is opening this weekend in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
It's called Niagara's Fury, and although the website makes it sound like a some sort of ride (stupid marketing folks), it's actually a cgi animated preshow film (with cute talking animals!) followed by a massive 360-degree "circlevision" movie, mixing computer animation and live action, enhanced with lots of in-your-face, environmental special effects like wind, snow, water, fog, and movement -- with a breathtaking 360-degree flight over the falls for its dramatic finale. Through it all, the intent was to tell the geological story of the creation of the falls in a fun, experiential, highly immersive way.
I worked on it about two years ago, both as a concept design director and as a script writer for all the show media (I even asked zombietruckstop to contribute by punching it up with a few funny lines, but I haven't seen if any of them made it in). The films were produced by my very talented friends at Blur Studios, and the show technology and special effects were designed and produced by Technifex.
It had a riduclously small budget, but it was a fun and challenging concept, and involved a lot of extremely talented folks. I have no idea how it came out, since my job was finished once it went into actual production, and I haven't seen any of it in progress. Unfortunately, I don't have any travel plans taking me to the region anytime soon, so if any LJ peeps happen to see it, please me know how it turned out.
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(12 comments | comment on this)
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11:55 am - DAVE, DENNIS & KEVIN
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| Friday, June 20th, 2008
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7:31 pm - HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY
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Thanks to my beloved and thoughtful 
Jason 
