The-Corbetts.Org

Battlestar fans have been waiting for this direct to DVD release in hopes of getting one more fix of the Battlestar they loved so well. Did it come through? Sure! Depending on what you were hoping for.

BSG is known for several storytelling elements: Action sci-fi battles, human emotional drama, philosophical/social commentary and unraveling mystery. The Plan has a fair dose of all of these, but certainly seems to exist for the latter. Not that it sets up the mystery. The series did that. Producers admitted that despite the claim that the Cylons "have a plan" at the beginning of every episode, they did not pay off that idea as well as they should have in the series. So "The Plan" exists mostly to remedy that.

The movie takes you through some major events of the series, weighing heavily on the first season, and intercuts old footage with new to give you a "behind the scenes" look at the Cylons during major BSG events. A few questions are answered that may have gnawed at hardcore fans (like who Caprica 6 was talking to after Baltar walked away from her outside waaaay back in the mini-series), but the revelations are by no means important for casual BSG viewers. While adding an additional layer to the series, The Plan falls short of the magnificent "Razor" DVD release.

Special effects were equal but no better than the series. A tiny shame for a DVD movie release, but still wonderful if viewed with a TV show in mind. The opening chapter presents another look at the attack on the Colonies, which is very well executed and gives a much stronger idea of the hopelessness humanity faced against the Cylons. They have never appeared more unstoppably destructive.

I didn't hold out hope that "The Plan" would answer the questions that SHOULD have been answered at the end of the series and weren't, but it would have been nice to have a more interesting philosophical theme than "love outlasts death", which ultimately comes across as an ethereal, insubstantial statement in its execution here.

What fans will enjoy is a MUCH deeper look at John Caval, the first model of human looking Cylons. Dean Stockwell does double duty carrying this movie, as the plot focuses on two model 1's and their different internal journey's regarding the Cylon agenda. Although Stockwell was not given exceptional material to work with, he is fascinating to watch.

In the end, this is a BSG story that has little focus on the cast you watched the show for, but has some enjoyable action/sci-fi/effects sequences and adds new layers for your second or maybe third time through the series on DVD. Although it does deal with some philosophical themes, they are not focused enough to come through and be worth discussion afterward unless you're especially looking for a topic over coffee.

Hardly the best BSG, but definitely something fans enjoy seeing and many will want to buy.

Quality: 8.0/10

Veracity: 7.5/10

[Edit: Shortly after writing this post, I removed the "services" page altogether, as well as the "contact" page. I've now shifted my direction completely away from commercial recording, and back towards music. This doesn't mean I'm done recording or I'll sell off my gear, though -- it just means that the Sound Lab is officially a "community project studio". I'm no longer seeking any sort of commercial gain from the place. Though if you've previously booked time to record here, those arrangements are still on.]

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I’ve updated our “services” page with some new info. I’ll copy it here though, so you don’t have to go there, and expound on it a bit:

I have noted on occasion that we humans typically have enough time in life to concentrate on a total of three vocations, before something gets neglected — and two of those are typically gainful employment and sleep. With that in mind, I regret to say that Blacktown Sound Labs will have to scale back our services somewhat, and focus our offerings on what are often-termed “Saturday Sessions” — i.e., you would set up your gear some Saturday, track everything (minus vocals) live, do any necessary overdubs (e.g. vocals), and leave that night with mix in-hand. The resulting recording will not have the same qualities as an individually-tracked session, but often works well for certiain styles of music… and more importantly, it’s all we’ve got time for right now (and for the foreseeable future). Suffice it to say: if you’re looking for an “everything perfect” album-cut, you might want to seek a more established, full-time studio.

This is essentially the direction I’d like to go with the studio… less production, more engineering (and making fun sounds)… more focusing on creating a “community project studio”. I may even at some point shift my emphasis back toward live sound and/or live recordings, as there is less production involved there. It’s a step away from being a commercial studio: turns out I’m not a businessman, despite my apparent endless perseverance and financial savvy (sarcasm).

–s

Although I've seen the Japanese animated flick, "Blood: The Last Vampire", and I remember enjoying it, that's about all I remember. So it obviously didn't make a lasting impression. But when I saw a trailer for the live action re-make of the original movie, I knew I wanted to see it. And I'm glad I did, despite the fact that the live action version will probably be almost equally forgettable to me.

The story centers on a Japanese half-demon(vampire) girl who has been alive for hundreds of years, hunting the vampire that killed her father. In this story, she goes undercover, in service to a secret vampire hunting organization, as a high school student on a US military base in Japan. It seems this was done to bring more Americans into the script, which does help make the film more accessable. Most of the film was written and filmed in English, with subtitles appearing for Japanese language sequences.
Despite this, the movie suffers from the same kind of weak acting normally associated with dubs of anime. Nothing is outrageously bad, but the script and characters (especially the scenes in the school) are 2-dimensional and performed artificially.

The fight scenes are spectacular, however. Lots of wire work and cool slow motion that Matrix and 300 fans will seriously dig. It's been awhile since I watched a movie with martial arts fighting as enjoyable to watch as this was.

On the downside, the action can get a little far-fetched at times, especially in one fight scene near the end, where a character's strength and determination to fight and live results in emotional detachment for the audience, as he appears to lose 3 gallons of blood before showing any signs of fatigue. I was reminded of some of the old classic kung-fu movies where people get stabbed all over and it seems to have little effect on their amazing motor skills. Maybe that's normal for Asian audiences, but it was too odd for me and kept me from genuinely fearing for his life.

There is also some embarrassingly bad CGI in this movie, and it unfortunately occurs most often when representing the biggest, nastiest vampire of the bunch. They switch between a bad rubber costume and what looks like graphics from a video game. The CGI blood in combat sequences wasn't as bothersome to me, but it still looked very fake.

Some CGI near the end looked very good, however. In a final battle, our hero faces off against a being with flowing 15-foot lines of cloth constanting floating around them, which looks really cool.

In a classroom scene near the beginning, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is being analyzed, and the subject of God enters the conversation. The teacher asks a student at one point if they thought God is like an irresponsible parent, abandoning his children. The student changes the subject and we never get to see where that might have gone, but it's clear the writers are playing with some significant themes. Or at least they planned to before cutting the development of those ideas short. There is also a subtle subtext relating to the nature of evil within us, but it isn't given much time in the story.

In the end, this is a cool action flick, briefly marred now and then by some bad CGI, with a few short philosophical moments that are clearly present but undeveloped. If you're looking for some cool fighting eye-candy, check it out. Anything beyond that and I'd recommend passing on this one or paying no more than a buck, as I did.

Quality: 7.5/10

Relevance: 7.0/10

www.spiritblade.net/paeter
www.spiritblade.net/podcast

Recently I decided to get caught up on some TV premieres via Hulu. Three caught my attention:


Flash Forward

An ensemble cast of familiar faces is lead by Joseph Fiennes with moderate effect, but it all feels a bit like we've seen it before... in another ABC show called "Lost". In "Flash Forward" the entire population of the world blacks out and experiences visions of the same day, six months into the future. The blackouts caused accidents all over the world that humanity races to recover from. The visions inspire fear in some and hope in others and everyone is trying to solve the mystery of what happened and why.

The show will possibly take the opportunity to explore spiritual themes like the existence of God or other supernatural beings. The idea of free will and the nature of the future (fixed or "changeable") will also likely be covered and given commentary. The dramatic elements are interesting, but not uniquely compelling. And the repeated "flashforwards" feel too much like classic episodic elements of "Lost" to be anything new. As a sci-fi fan the show is interesting to me and I'd like to try it out some more, as it looks to have some interesting ingredients in its make-up. But with extremely limited time, I just don't think I have time for a show with as few sci-fi/fantasy elements as this show has, which are additionally unoriginally executed.


Stargate Universe

Once again, the sci-fi channel brings us a Stargate spinoff, though this offering may be different from what viewers have come to expect. In many ways, the show is just as ungroundbreaking as it's TV predecessors. Although I loved the Stargate movie and some of the first season of the TV show, it soon became static and plot driven, with little artistry in the way it was shot and straightforward characters who behaved in preditcable ways. "Universe" is my first exposure to the franchise since watching the premiere and two episodes of "Stargate: Atlantis". I was dissappointed to see transporter technology. They even called it "beaming". More and more this franchise seems to have turned into "Star Trek" set in modern times. However, "Stargate Universe" does start borrowing from better sources, in my opinion. The show obviously takes a cue from Battlestar Galactica, using a more hand-held camera style than previous Stargate shows I've seen. It also share's Battlestar's theme of "human survival in space". (Not to mention a long-haired scruffy looking "Doctor" with an accent that everyone needs but no one is sure if they can trust.) In general, the show has a grittier feel than previous Stargate shows, but far from the hard-hitting emotional realism of Battlestar Galactica, which isn't a bad thing unless you're especially in the mood for that kind of experience. Unfortunately, they aim to keep things light through mostly forced, unfunny jokes. Still, "Universe" seems to be giving more attention to character-driven subplots than previous "Stargate" shows. The pilot also contains a plot element in the second half centered on self-sacrifice. I read some online buzz about this from other Christians who thought it represented some "Christian themes" in the story, and though it was interesting, I didn't find it to be exclusively "Christian" as much as I found it "compatible" with the gospel message. If I find the time, I may watch a couple more episodes and consider sticking with it if the quality is maintained or improves.

Heroes

Although last year Heroes got off to a rough start, this season begins with several of the elements that made this series solid to begin with. Finished with the lame "good/bad reversal" plotlines of last year, this season introduces a few interesting new characters without cutting needed development time for the plotlines of the core cast of characters.
Matt Parkman's struggle with the "ghost" of Sylar is unoriginal, but interesting, provided it leads to Sylar's proper return. Speaking of which, I still mourn the loss of Nathan as a character and wish they would bring him back instead of persisting with his "shell". However, if/when they do bring him back, it will very possibly come with an assumptive statement about the nature of the human soul, for good or ill. Worth keeping an eye on.
Regardless of what direction they take with the various mysteries and plotlines this season, Heroes seems to be returning to its more character-driven roots. I can only hope they've learned their lesson and things will continue to improve from here.

www.spiritblade.net/paeter
www.spiritblade.net/podcast

Check out these cool Linux audio articles. I especially enjoyed the in-depth look at Ambisonics in Ardour. Maybe we should start mixing all our recordings in 16-channel surround?

-s