Podcast 4 - Supplemental (Perth's local talent!)

Hey everyone, for those of you who missed SupaNova, here's some of the of the local developers we mentioned in passing. It's barely scratching the surface!

• Andy Hawkins of DrewFX, a small game apps dev. He's made Surf Prodigy and a rather nifty Space Invaders clone crossed with pinball called Turbo Flick Demon GPU. It was really heartening seeing his stand building up a small community of players!
• Brad Power is a member of Rockethands, a fantastic little indy dev, with some seriously awe inspiring talent, both artistic and technical! They're responsible for Rocket Fuse, Space Crash and Halogen.

If you are into the local game development scene, or want to "get into making games", then I can't recommend letsmakegames.org highly enough. They're a highly active little community of game developers who live for making indy games. Another group is the Perth Independent Game Makers' Initative (PIGMI), which is another highly active forum concerned with developing local game culture and industry. Check 'em out!

Podcast 4, 29th June

Tanya Beeson, Lindsay Fleay and Phil Jeng Kane talk aout the recent Perth Supanova, review the Cintiq 24 inch and report on the WAnimate BRAVE screening. 22minutes of animation podcast goodness.


00:00-00:40 - Intro


01.00-06:22 – Supanova Wrap


11:37-14:30 - Review: Cintiq 24"


11:45-17:45 - Brave Screening


17:45-20:50 - Events


20:50-21:26 – Outro

Podcast 3 - Supplemental - Tron Uprising, WAnimate, Prometheus

Here is the Character intro to Tron Uprising - I'm up to Episode 3 And I'm enjoying it

Additionally I caught up and saw Prometheus last night. Perhaps because my expectations were lowered I kind of liked it, even though it does degenerate, into a schlock horror gorefest for a bit in the middle. The tension is awesome, I give it a 6 out of 10

The WAnimate WACOM show and tell is not going to happen, sorry for the false report, however catch up with WAnimate and WACOM this week at Supanova. WAnimate will be hiding out at the WCIT Booth.

Podcast 3 Supplemental - Prometheus, Ray Bradbury, Para Norman

Hey there, animation fans. Some follow ups to Podcast number three!

• Para Norman: new stop motion film coming from the makers of the excellent Coraline. You can read about their interesting way of using 3D printing to make their puppets here. 
• Ray Bradbury: the sad passing of an American literary legend. You can begin your journey into the Bradbury world from his official site, his connection with movies and television, and the old 1950's EC comics 
• Prometheus: 6/5 for the visuals, 2/5 for the gonzo story. Such a missed opportunity. Given the nature of the location and the strong sense of antiquity, the possibilities of the main character, Dr Shaw, and her beliefs being slowly challenged by the alien temple could have been a cracker. Not to mention the relationship between the android David and the human crew, and the changing power relationships as people realize what the Engineers represent.
  
  Imagine that as Prometheus: a dark and stormy planet, an expedition, far from home and picking through an ancient civilisation, evidence of our origins, and then, as the long nights pass, the storms come and go, and the tension slowly ratches up (like the 50's Thing, thawing out in its block of ice), as more and more evidence is uncovered, more secret chambers unearthed, more truths and story is fleshed out... the terrifying secret of the Engineers and their black goo... man, it really could have build up to something and hit us between the eyes, Exorcist style.
  
  But no. It astounds me that its written and put together like a routine bit of 21st franchise telly: you know the sort - lots of running around, silly plot twists and turns, written in episodes for far too many ads, inane action and dialogue, piling on the MacGuffins and gimmicks as a substitute for character development and substance... all designed to distract people channel hopping or remembering they haven't texted anyone for more than 30 seconds.
  
  I can't help it, but Prometheus for me should have been a 21st century update of Quatermass and the Pit - a surprisingly good bit of 1950's British telly concerning archaeological digs that reveal ancient aliens. It builds up suspense in a wonderfully old fashioned sort of way and there's also Quatermass 2: a surreptitious alien invasion that involves, of all things, a nasty black goo and terraforming. It was one of the breakout templates for British sci-fi, especially for things like the Hammer horror films and the early Doctor Who's. Chase them up.
  
  
  
  Anyway. For anyone curious about that old scallywag, Erich von Däniken, you can roll your eyes at his Chariot of the Gods. There was even a movie version (I recall seeing it as a kid, surrounded by a theatre full of guffawing teens) Apart from the patronising assumption that "primitive" peoples are basically incapable of their own development, it can't be denied that he exposed a lot of hitherto unpublicised ancient civilisations into the public realm.

Podcast 2 - Supplemental (Men In Black 3 Review)

In addition to the Men In Black 3 review in podcast form, I have posted a longer written form over at AccessReel, the Western Australian movie site I also write for.  Cheers.

Podcast 2 - Supplemental (Full Throttle, Diablo 3)

Below is the Full Intro to Full Throttle. Enjoy.



Additionally, there are the Combined Diablo 3 Trailers.

Podcast 2 - Supplemental (Annecy 50)

Here's the follow up to some of our news posts for Lightbox  Podcast #2:

Annecy 50 -  One of the world's most prestigous animation festivals, held in Annecy, France. Started in 1960 and still going strong, although its not that well known here in Australia.

• Annecy 50 Festival teaser:

• Annecy 50's interview with Aardman's Peter Lord; aw, how can you not love the guy? He nails exactly what animation is all about!

• Ridley Scott's Prometheus opens on Thursday, June 7th in Australia. With another of those tantalising and provocative little viral videos. Watch out though, they're starting to produce spoilerific TV spots in the States!

• Seems like Ridley's going back to his sci-fi roots with a vengenance. http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/blade-runner-scribe-hampton-fancher-returning-for-ridley-scott-directed-sequel/

• And for you Diablo III fans who feel, like Tanya, that Diablo III wasn't quite up to snuff - try Torchlight. Or its sequel, Torchlight 2, soon to be released.

[edit: added tags!]