The Ironman movie rocks! Thinking about board games again
May 8, 2008 in BOARD GAMES, COMIC BOOKS, Copyright Protections, MOVIES, SUPERHEROES, THE SIMPSONS NEWS
THE SIMPSONS NEWS
Went down to the studio last Thursday to pick up a few things and the place was dead. My director (who was still there trying to finish the show) said it felt like a library in there. It was dark and quite. Very weird. There are a few people, besides my director still working there. In fact there is one more show that barely got started last Monday. That lucky crew of about eight people, still have work, as well as the retake crew.
MOVIES
OH MY GOSH! I saw the Ironman movie this weekend it totally ROCKED! I was blown away by how much fun I had watching that movie. That’s how superhero movies should be made! It was dramatic where it needed to be, and funny where it needed to be, without being cheesy or making fun of itself, but most importantly, it was REALLY COOL where it needed to be. I loved it. It’s now one of the top three superhero movies on my list of great superhero movies, which originally only had two, Batman Begins and Spider-man 2 (all other superhero movies are merely okay or just downright stink). I want to see it again but I guess I’m just going to have to wait for the DVD. I was definitely geeking out watching that movie. This was one of the few times that the movie was as cool as the trailer made it out to be.
For the last month or so I’ve been reading some of the new New Avengers and Mighty Avengers trade paper backs. They’re really cool and I recommend them. I’ll put the ones I’ve read at the bottom of this paragraph. Ironman is in those comics and I started becoming familiar with the character. I really like him. I’ve found I don’t like the older versions of him. I like him more now. I like how crazy high tech he is. In the older comics he just seem like he’s a guy in skin tight looking armor and it doesn’t come across as if he’s wearing any hardware, which I find kinda dull. I much rather see him look a little more like a machine. In the comics, I also like that fact that he’s a bit of hacker and he’s constantly online and accessing info as he fights. I guess he’s a tech head’s superhero fantasy.
By the way, make sure you stick around until the end of the closing credits for a special surprise. Also, keep your eyes out for Tony Stark (Ironman) in The Incredible Hulk movie because he’s going to make a cameo.
That reminds me, they showed the new trailers for The Incredible Hulk and Batman the Dark Knight during the Ironman movie. The more I see about the Hulk movie, the more excited I get. As far at the Batman movie is concerned, I’m still not sure if I’ll like it or not. Gotta wait and see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSH3xtygvbAFor more information on the next Ironman Movie and and other Marvel superhero movies coming out, I recommend this link that my friend e-mailed me a few days ago:
COMIC BOOKS
After the movie, I went to the comic book store near my house. I can’t be spending any money (made an exception for Ironman) but I didn’t have to. It was FREE COMIC BOOK DAY here in the U.S.. Stores all over give out special free comics on that day to promote comics. All the comic book companies are in on it so, it’s really cool to just go to a store and get free comics.
The store I went to, made a big event out of it and had guys dressed as storm troopers walking around as well as a guy dressed up like Darth Vader. They were giving out free Starwars miniatures. I kinda missed out on them because I didn’t see them. In fact, I didn’t see a few free things and I lost my chance at getting some really cool little miniatures.
Anyway, what I did pick up was pretty cool, but by far, the highlight was getting a free Ironman HeroClix figure. The HeroClix game has always looked interesting to me and I’ve always wanted to buy some just to see what they are like but I haven’t wanted to spend the money. Well, I got a figure for free that day and it was just icing on the cake because it was when I was still high from watching the movie. I was sooooo happy. I want to play HeroClix now, so I could play with Ironman.
BOARD GAMES
Since I’m out of job and I’m worring a little about money again, my thoughts have started to go back to board games to take my mind off things. Ironically, this is the worst time to be thinking about them since I can’t buy any new ones, but since I have quite a few, I can just play with the games I’ve got.
Still, I like to at least read about games I don’t have. The games that I’ve been looking into recently have been mostly miniatures games. Like: Warmachine, World of WarCraft Miniatures Game, HeroClix, and Mechwarrior: Dark Age. They all look very interesting to me. I don’t have any miniatures games, except maybe Dreamblade, but that one plays very different than the games I’ve mentioned above. I may or may not get into playing any of these games. We’ll see. They tend to be expensive to get into. Especially Warmachine, since that game requires you to glue together and paint your miniatures. They sure look cool though.
I’m also looking into getting (when I can afford it) the A Game of Thrones card game and the A Game of Thrones board game. Apparently the card game, which is now a collectible card game, will no longer be collectible which means that, if you want to play the game, you just need to buy one box and you’ll get ALL the cards in the entire game. This sounds great to me. This has never been done before, as far I know but Fantasy Flight Games is going to do it. The Game of Thrones games are based on the Song of Ice and Fire series of books by George R. R. Martin (or as my friend Damon calls him: George R. R. R. R. R. R. Martin). I’m a big fan of the series and the games seem to live up to the quality of the books. I’ll write about why these books are great some other time.
In any case, I just thought I’d write about some of the games that look interesting to me.
COPYRIGHT PROTECTIONS
Got another e-mail about the Orphan Works bill and what we could do about it. Here it is:
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Take Action: Don’t Let Congress Orphan Our Work
We’ve set up an online site for visual artists to e-mail their Senators and Representatives with one click.
This site is open to professional artists, photographers and any member of the image-making public.
We’ve provided sample letters from individuals representing different sectors of the visual arts.
If you’re opposed to the Orphan Works act, this site is yours to use.
For international artists and our colleagues overseas, we’ve provided a special link, with a sample letter and instructions as to whom to write.
2 minutes is all it takes to write Congress and protect your copyright:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
Please forward this message to every artist you know.
If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.
Highly recommend you do this.
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Simpsons show interships, Dresden books, Trailers, Birthdays, Working on weekends
January 18, 2008 in ANSWERING COMMENTS, BOOKS, FAMILY, MOVIES, THE SIMPSONS NEWS
THE SIMPSONS NEWS
More twelve hour days. I’m really getting burned out. It’s getting difficult to stay focused. I’ve run out of podcasts to listen to and that isn’t helping.
Usually I listen to six to sixteen podcasts a day depending on the their length but since I’ve been working more hours I’ve been listening to around eight to twenty four podcasts a day. The podcasts I listen to just don’t update fast enough to keep up with the amount of hours I listen. I’ve started putting in TV dvds and listening to them as I work. I did this with 30 Rock recently. I hadn’t seen it before, I thought it was a pretty clever show.
Anyway, hope I can keep this up. They’re having me work Saturday and Sunday this weekend. Sheesh!
FAMILY
Friday was Eduardo’s birthday. He’s my daughter’s Godfather (Compadre, in spanish). He celebrated it on Sunday. It was a nice party. He had all his family over and it really looked like he was enjoying himself an awful lot.
After the party had gone on a while, Eduardo took out Ticket to Ride: Europe. He only managed to explain the rules before people had to leave so the game didn’t even get past the first two turns. He then thought that it would be easier to play a game of Texas Hold ’em. Mostly because he wouldn’t have to explain the rules. I’d brought Modern Art the card game by Reiner Knizia and I managed to convince everyone who stayed to try it out. I personally find this game feels a bit like Texas Hold ’em without being like poker at all. Here’s the Board Game Geek description of the game:
There where six people wanting to play but it’s a five player game so I sat out of the game and just played banker (which I did a lousy job at since I’m terrible at math). The game was played by Eduardo, Eduardo’s brother, his brother’s wife, my wife Alesha, and Eduardo’s daughter Carolinita. I think everyone had a good time. The game has you making really tough decisions through out the game. I’m not sure everyone understood all the rules but I think that game was played as good as it could have been. It didn’t help that we were playing on a really, really windy night, outside, with very little light. Eduardo played the game the way I did the first time I played it. He went all out on the auctions he really wanted the “paintings” in. Eduardo’s brother and his wife were playing the game really well. I was really impressed by the smart decisions they were making. I think one of them would have won if it wasn’t for the fact that Eduardo ended up spending all his money on an auction late in the game which gave Carolinita a ton of money since she was the one auctioning off the “paintings”. I think, I did something similar the first time I played. The game ended shortly after that and Carolinita ended up winning by a lot of money. She was very, very happy about that. Eduardo came in dead last, poor guy.
We then played Texas Hold ’em. Which I like playing, although I find it gets repetitive if you play for too long. I thought I’d be cool and see if I could guess what cards people had by looking at their faces and not even look at my cards. I’d play the game on just “tells” alone (I saw it in a movie once). I lost all my chips. We left a little after that. Not because I lost but because someone reminded me that it was Sunday and I had work the next day. Otherwise I would have stuck around and cried a little more. I had a good time though.
Happy Birthday Eduardo.
MOVIES
Here’s a few trailers that have caught my eye in the last few months.
Batman Dark Knight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jqq4j52Fb4
Still not sure if it will be as good or better than Batman Begins but it looks interesting.
Iron man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA&feature=player_embedded#t=61
I just liked the shot were you see Iron man out running the jets. Too cool. I never read Iron man comics but I’ve read comics with Iron man in them and I think the idea of the character is great. As a kid he never really appealed to me but for some reason he appeals to me quite a bit now.
Prince Caspian :
I don’t know. I didn’t really like the book this movie is based on, all that much (I also didn’t like The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe book either) but this movie might be good. I didn’t much like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie. I thought it came off as emotionally flat in places that it should not have been. So far I’ve only read four Narnia books and the only ones I’ve liked have been skipped as movies. They are: The Magician’s Nephew, and A Horse and his Boy. Personally I think they should have made The Magician’s Nephew the first movie.
I’ve read they’re making a Justice League Movie also but now it’s on hold. Read about it by clicking HERE.
BOOKS
A month or so ago I finished reading Storm Front, a Harry Dresden book by Jim Butcher, and I really liked it. Since the book I have is an anthology of four novels in one, I began reading the next one right after I was done with the first. I don’t think I’ll be able to get through it anytime soon though. It’s longer and I haven’t gotten back to it in a while. At the moment I’m in the mood for something a little different. Then I’ll get back to it. I like the Dresden stories a lot and I think Jim Butcher’s writing style is just really fun. The wacky situations Harry Dresden gets himself in are just great. I highly recommend these books.
ANSWERING COMMENTS
Alex wrote:
Hi Alex,
First I’d like to thank you for the compliments. I really appreciate them. I must say, that the way a lot the things happened to me really felt like pure dumb luck or, since I’m Catholic, they where a bit Providential (and even then, on hindsight, it seems it wasn’t just for my sake these things happened to me. More on that some other time perhaps). If I was to try to do the same thing today, I would not be able to. The studio no longer has an internship for up and coming artists and I’m afraid that it never had one for writers. Most of the new artist that have gotten hired lately have done so through the presentation of a portfolio and then turning in and passing the Layout test they received afterwards. Some artists have worked their way from being receptionists to artists. They did this by befriending artists and learning how to do the work and then taking the Layout test and passing it. So that’s almost like the internship route I took except I wasn’t getting paid for my internship and the person who took this route took five years to make it as an artist.
I’m afraid the writing processes might be a bit trickier to get into. First of all the writers don’t work at the studio I work in. They work at the Fox Studio Lot. Second, I don’t think there’s an easy way to just get hired as a writer on the show except by recommendation (in fact, I think that’s the way it is on all TV shows). That means you not only need to be a really good writer but you also need to have the right connections. I’ve heard it’s very difficult to pull off, but it’s doable.
I spoke to a friend of mine at work, who is trying to get into sitcom writing (not on The Simpsons) and he gave me a rundown of all the things he’s learned so far after reading a lot about it and talking to a lot of writers and producers. You may already know this stuff, but perhaps there are others who don’t. Here’s some helpful tips he’s learned:
Tape six episodes of TV shows that you like that are currently on the air and study them. Pay close attention to their story structure (take notes on any conventions, variants on conventions or structural innovations), show formulas, humor, etc…
Get actual scripts for these shows. (On e-bay or Script Shack) Study the writing style, make a list of the type of humor in the show (example: Ironic humor, slapstick…etc.) Note what type of gags are used the most and how the show is structured to pay them off. Label each joke. Invent names for them if necessary.
Write a spec script for a show that is CURRENTLY ON THE AIR but not on the show that you want to write for. For example, if you want to write for The Simpsons, write a Family Guy spec script. Why? Because producers and writers will be much harsher on someone writing in a universe they know well than one they don’t. They will pay more attention to the writing on a spec script written for a different show than the mistakes you made writing in their’s. (This is also true for artists. It’s not a good idea to put Simpsons characters in your portfolio when trying to get a job on the Simpsons).
Get an agent. Studios will not read you script without one.
It’s possible you already own these books but I’ll put them here anyway. My friend recommends these books:
The Comic toolbox, by John Vorhaus
Writing Television Sitcoms by Evan Smith
Comedy Writing Secrets by Mel Helitzer, Mark Shatz
My friend also told me that there is some sort of writers workshop program at Warner Brothers. It’s a program that is very much under the radar and as of the time of this writing it’s the off season for it. Besides there is also a writer’s strike so that also doesn’t help. You might look into it though. It’s possible to get a script writing assistant job from it.
When I worked on the Simpsons Movie, I worked at the Fox Studio Lot for about three months and I saw the Simpsons writers once in a while. I would also see Matt Groening almost at a daily basis because his office was near the place I was working and in order to go to the bathroom I passed by his office. One or two writers ventured into our work place out of curiosity just to see how we did things. They where real modest and very friendly. From the stories I’ve gotten from some directors, I heard they went through as much hell as we did in the movie, if not more. I gathered from things that they said when they came by that there was a definite hierarchy within the writers. Some were part of the “A team” and some the “B team”. Of course, I may very well have misunderstood because I’ve also heard (perhaps from the movie commentary) that there was a group that was having more fun than another group because one group was under the pressure of making the movie story work while the other group sat around having fun coming up with gags and laughing all the time. It’s possible that the “gag group” thought the “story group” was having more fun because they got the “important” job while they sat around feeling like second class citizens. Not having been part of the writing processes, I could only speculate from what I saw and over heard so take this with a grain of salt.
Well Alex, I hope this is in someway helpful.
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