10 Till 6: Most Read Posts

Sarto in Singapore Post 1 – Clone Wars and Chewing Gum

sartomeister — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:50:41 -0800

The boundless energy and enthusiasm I brought to Singapore Monday morning has dissipated somewhat now this fine Wednesday evening, done in by the heat, humidity and non-stop pace of our media tour. It’s late and still quite hot, a sticky hot that’s like summer in Texas, without the pickup trucks or shotguns. It will take a bit of time to properly synthesize everything, so my coverage here begins with a pictorial spread of the first couple days.

Review: Beauty and the Beast in 3D

sartomeister — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:13:56 -0800

It’s been close to 2 decades since I last saw the original Beauty and the Beast, sitting mesmerized right alongside my then 3 year old daughter Becky. Sitting mesmerized right alongside my now 23 year old daughter as we watched this beautiful new version of the film, I can safely say the ends justify the means and the tremendous amount of work to bring this film to 3D has produced a visually stunning experience.

Nifty Selection of The Pirates! Model Sheets

sartomeister — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:53:42 -0700

We've got a nifty collection of model sheets from Aardman's and Sony's new feature, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, which hits the theatres in the US today.

Movie Review: Megamind

sartomeister — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:48:35 -0700

If you’re looking to spend a couple hours sitting back and having a good time, then get yourself to the theatre this weekend and go see Megamind, DreamWorks’ latest animated feature. When I got to the press screening last Saturday, I put on my 3-D glasses in search of some good old fashioned entertainment and I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed.

Review: Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention DVD

sartomeister — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:32:05 -0700

This compilation is a rather ingenious six-part BBC1 TV series that puts a bit of whimsy and “cool” into the world of science, contraptions and the mankind’s need to tinker.

The Sorry State of Super Bowl Commercials

sartomeister — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:44:01 -0800

I tried, I really did. I watched every single commercial on this year’s Super Bowl telecast. Unfortunately, I’m terribly spoiled by my DVR. I think I’d give up Diet Coke before I’d give up my DVR. Consequently, my tolerance of the sorry state of commercials is quite low. So my assessment of this year’s crop of spots is not particularly kind. Nor coherent. Nor relevant. I was not impressed. There were, however, a few bright spots.

Levy Hits the Bullseye with Directing Animation

sartomeister — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:06:59 -0800

Without good direction, you end up with drek. Problems with sequence timing or the render pipeline can be solved with relative ease – problems of mismanagement are difficult to overcome and usually spell doom. Animation directors aren’t directing animation, they’re directing a group of people who are working in arguably the most time consuming and exacting of creative mediums. David Levy's new book Directing Animation at its heart strives to teach the reader how to keep an animation production crew happy, productive and on task.

Who Knew Nepal Likes Animated Shorts?

sartomeister — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 23:21:22 -0700

As reported on the Republica website, Nepal’s first annual Animation Short Film Festival will be held tomorrow, Friday, October 29 by the Independent Film Society (IFS), in association with Artistic Alliance Nepal (AAN). 18 films from 9 countries will be screened. The event will be held at the Nepal Tourism Board, Exhibition Road. Oxygen tanks must be checked at the door. And in a related story...

New Frankenweenie Trailer Released

sartomeister — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 20:15:14 -0700

A new trailer has been released for Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. Come October 5th, we'll see how Burton's early live action short translates into a stop-motion feature.

Brad Bird's Hilarious Acceptance Speech Video

sartomeister — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:46:49 -0800

If you weren't at Royce Hall for this year's ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards, then you missed something special - Brad Bird's hilarious Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement acceptance speech video. Even if you were there, it's worth a second look. Possibly a third...