Category: film

Where to invade next
by Kimliatach

‘Where to invade next‘ is great fun, a tremendous film. Clearly I am not the target audience, being neither american nor ignorant about the success of socialist humanitarian policies in Europe. But I sincerely hope it gains a large audience in Moore’s homeland America as if nothing else this film underscores how far behind and seemingly barbaric many American social policies are.  It glosses over all of the latent problems and social problems in the countries Moore visits of course. But there is a very limited length of time given to each and many topics to cover. Michael Moore has clearly aged hard in the past decade, he now has a shuffling gate and the wrinkled and jowly appearance of a bitter old frog. His humour is still fierce and well targeted and there are number of quite poignant moments in this documentary. Highly recommended.

Daily

A working tour of the school. I spent an hour or so each in four different classrooms within the local public today. Hopeful of some random call ins over coming days.

I’m very happy to have another place of employment available to me even though our departure date is creeping up on us.

Creative

Completed the first evolution sketch card in a week or two last night. Thinking I will revisit the castle or do another evolution card tonight.

ValleyEvo22Humanoid DRAFT SKETCH

 

Links & Bio

Super cool junk birds and insects by artist Edouard Martinet, who uses no welds or soldering in his works. via Colossal 1 & 2

martinet-5

martinet-7

 

Simply incredible macro insect photography by Levon Biss in conjunction with the Oxford Museum of Natural History. Also Via Colossal.

LevonBiss_07

If only…

Anyway two of my captive caterpillars are undergoing metamorphosis. A third I found the other day has just today developed some small but unhealthy looking black spots and may be about to undergo some awesome alienesque wasp larvae chest busting.

Reading and Naps
by Kimliatach

Curriculum documents always make such somnambulic reading.

All but L had a lovely siesta and he contented himself with audiovisual entertainment care of ABC3.

Watched the only vaguely offensive ‘Hotel Transylvania‘ with the boys this evening. Not a memorable film, which apparently passed Bechdel but I blinked and missed it amidst the constant casual sexism.

A Good read on the origins of and problems with Neoliberalism. 

 

 

Wed 6th
by Kimliatach

Daily

Straight into ‘Career of Evil‘ and hooked. Disappointed that the supporting female Robin is being put in jeopardy but it was bound to happen again eventually.

Also tried two episodes of season one of ‘Agents of Shield‘ as N was feeling out of the loop on L’s present obsession. Now I had heard that season one was a bit dodgy prior to the big Hydra reveal in ‘Captain America 2‘ but oh my goodness that was bad. I felt embarrassed for everyone involved in its production watching that poorly scripted, terribly choreographed, cliched mess unfold. We being suckers for punishment are going to try jumping ahead and giving it another chance before giving up on the idea completely.

Creative

Another leg for the sawhorses cut this evening and another sketch card close to completed last night. I realise I haven’t been sharing progress her very much, I just not happy enough with sketch level work to put it on public display without finished work accompanying.

Link

This set of photos from Thatcherite Glasgow slums has shown up all over my feed and has a couple of striking pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

Sense 8
by Kimliatach

Sense 8 is clearly a more divisive series outside my own social network. Within which the reception was overwhelmingly positive.

I suppose that is hardly surprising given the very challenging nature of some characters, relationships and sex scenes to heteronormative audiences and the occasional brutal violence. Having now finally gotten around to watching the complete first season. As I only joined N in watching it about half way thorough last year and just this past week went back to catch what I had missed. I can confidently state that it was by far the best TV I watched last year.

There are some simply extraordinary moments in this series, most memorably the two episodes involving births and the two involving shared musical experiences. Episode ten ‘What is Human’ being at the centre of a venn diagram of those two repeated plot points. The Wachowskis filmed actual births for use in the series though it was glaringly obvious in which few cases they did not or were unable to.

vlcsnap-error064

 

There are some moments in this series that far from being easier to watch than on the first viewing, were much much harder the second time around.

 

vlcsnap-error312

The series is not without its flaws, there are some rather contrived circumstances, the motivation of the big baddy is far from clear and the compatibily of the sensate group hasn’t really been pushed. All of these aside I cannot wait for season two and I heartily recommend this to all who haven’t yet watched it.

I was tempted to bring the criminally underrated ‘Cloud Atlas‘ and the very disappointing ‘Jupiter Ascending‘ into this but I’ve left it too late.

I really hope the Wachowskis can maintain momentum and deliver a second season to the same standard. As they have only recently begun filming it will be some time before we can see for ourselves.

Daily

We tried tiring the boys our with ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ before bed tonight. No luck the little one still fought until well after nine thirty. It is now nearly eleven and other than making two cuts with a saw I have created naught today. Glad that I got a draft card done last night.

Big news from Wikileaks today, I wonder if our PM is sweating.

 

 

 

Tuesday 15th
by Kimliatach

Media

Started watching ‘Dirty Wars‘ while painting during nap time today. Infuriating stuff.

Finally got around to starting ‘Mr.Robot‘ last night. Widely recommended to us months ago. Two episodes in and loving on Christian Slater channeling Tyler Durden. Made easier no doubt, by the fact that there was a time when I thought he was one of the coolest men on earth. Looking forward to slamming another few episodes this evening.

I’ve been listening to ‘The Consolations of Philosophy‘ for a couple of hours now. Loving it and find excuses to snatch minutes here and there.

Creative

A pair of sketch drafts completed during nap time, though one was a redo of previously completed sketch. At fourteen of fourty-four as of now. Sharing the two cards I made a couple of weeks ago as I can now be sure they are safely with their recipients. Both are single layer papercut and ink on card.

J-card

Vale-card-2

 

More insects…

Small #moth on my keyboard. Approx 10mm. #macro #insect #lepidoptera

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

And an Amazing gallery of work by Sergey Kolesov. Includes a number of pieces of his I have not seen before.

3 Body
by Kimliatach

Finished ‘Three Body Problem‘ yesterday.

It did get weird. For the longest time I really wasn’t into it. None of the characters were really interesting me and I was really struggling to care, then about a third of the way in things as I say got delightfully strange and I slammed through the rest in short order. I plan to recommend it to a friend with a more hard science background to see what she makes of it. There are some very big and uncomfortable ideas played with and as with anything that starts talking about interdimensionality wrapping my poor monkey brain around it was at times challenging. The storytelling had a different pace than I am used to and by the end at least a couple of the characters were sympathetic and emotionally interesting.

On the subject of interdimensionality Miegakure a 4D computer game is on its way ‘soon’

Creative

I’ve spent the past day taking the draft text and titles of all 44 evolution cards into the printable card template made a few weeks back.  I’ve also begun sketching higher quality thumbnail placeholder art for all 40 incomplete cards in readiness for a draft print run which will be test played at an upcoming board game convention.

#coloring progress. #colouring #colouringin #shauntan

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

Link

‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ the short from before The Good Dinosaur -which we have not yet seen- is adorable. Unfortunately this is the only complete streaming version I was able to find kind of potato quality I’m afraid.

Edit: Found better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrwrKYZ4WwY

 

 

The Big Short and an Awful Job
by Kimliatach

‘The Big Short’ is entertaining, the script is fantastic and the acting is superb.

Christian Bale in particular can emote and adopt mannerisms with amazing attention to detail. In this he plays an ASD doctor of economics. Carell demonstrates his chops in a role not built on punchlines and bring endearing fury to his portrayal. Pitt is old man Pitt and Gosling is a douche but an engaging one.

The topic however, is not ok. If you don’t leave this film furious you weren’t paying attention. No matter how likable they work to make their protagonists the association with the great fuckup that was the GFC tarnishes them all. The seeming inevitability of an encore global financial meltdown within the next decade certainly leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the viewer.

And of course it fails Bechdel pretty spectacularly, all the women in this film are props. Some are and articulate and realised characters but they only converse with men or the camera.

Daily

Spent the day spraying woody weed regrowth on the farm with a backpack spray bottle. The job would be insufferably boring without a good audiobook. With it, it is merely very unpleasant work. The chemical being used is nasty but far from the worst on the market and we are taking appropriate safety precautions. Woody regrowth is a major economic risk to the farm because if the turpentine scrub is able to establish itself grazing ground cover all but disappears and because of land clearing legislation the woody weeds cannot be removed. It is very hot, very dull, backbreaking work made even more tedious by the cleanup which involves rinsing, filling and emptying by spray each backpack three times at the conclusion of work.

I was grateful to have a reason to stop, shower and go tutoring.

Creative

Nothing so far today and I am not long from bead but I have some work to do before then. I did make a fair bit of progress on the background of the castle card last night.

 

 

 

 

Computer Parts
by Kimliatach

Despite a brand new power supply, and two new case fans fitted today, N’s computer is still randomly restarting at odd intervals.

The fury. No logging tool or measure has been able to give us a lock in on what the problem actually is and it is so random and clearly not a function of intensity of use that solving continues to be a process of trial and error.

I also bought a network card as that was the only other suggested problem point when I had it serviced before leaving Brisbane. Noob mistake I bought a PCI network card not a PCI-E (for Express) card. I wasn’t aware they even still made plain PCI so I didn’t even think to look. At least it was only $20. I may buy another but the $10 postage burns when it is only one item. If it is not a network card then by elimination that leaves only the motherboard or the CPU, both of which were very high quality at purchase. With the brand new 240gig SSD I bought in an attempt to save my old laptop installed as the primary OS drive in N’s now, she would effectively be building a new computer as everything is out of warranty.

My 7 port USB hub also arrived yesterday, a purchase made necessary as the new laptop only has 3 ports. Already it has been so useful I should have bought one years ago. However I did encounter an odd issue I’ve had problems with before. Fortunately I know the fix. If you are ever having problems with USB devices not being recognised, particularly after waking from suspended sleep mode, go into device manager find the USB root hub, check properties and uncheck the default setting ‘Allow windows to shut down this device to save power’. Traumatic to find and fix in the first instance years ago, an easy fix now.

Links

I’ve been really getting into film making technique videos this week, having worked my way through most of the exceptional ‘Every frame a painting‘ library. I found another source in my feed today.

Creative

Minimal progress on castle card today. I was on primary care and poor L was having a hard time with his game during F’s nap. Lots of interruptions later, not much progress to show for it. N and I are doing a film night tonight during which I’ll continue working on the castle and surrounds. Approaching inking slowly.

 

 

 

Trumbo
by Kimliatach

Trumbo is emotional, informative, quite witty and ultimately a bit sad. They have crammed a lot of story into the two hour length and it is never given opportunity to drags on.

It is remarkable to think what a profound impact the McCarthy era in American political history still has on American society today. Socialist still being a dirty word to older Americans being the most obvious example. Bryan Cranston is as usual captivating and I think I only had a hint of Mr. White once or twice so I am glad to see him redefining his face as an actor who I have enjoyed watching for many years. Helen Mirren inhabited the role of Hedda Hopper and Louis CK and showed that he can in fact act or at least play some one subtly different from himself. Surprise recognition award goes to Dean O’Gorman  playing Kirk Douglas, who we have just watched two seasons of in ‘The Almighty Johnson’s‘. He is also a dwarf in a set of films I’ll give a proper bollocking to someday. Elle Fanning also deserves notice in her role as Trumbo’s daughter, I was interested to note on her IMDB that she voiced one of the little girls on the English dubbing of one of ‘My Neighbour Totoro’ as a child. The film gets a limited and I feel undeserved pass on Bechdel which is pretty disappointing from a film and cast of such calibre. The film is all about him, and they do as I note above cram a lot in, but that is no excuse for not at least having two female characters having a conversation about something other than a man.

 

Daily

Attended a sad and sunburnt little local market. Consumed overpriced and likely carcinogenic snow cones.

Computer is set up, software is loaded, drivers installed, huge collections of images and documents are transferred, the file system has been organised to my tastes.

I am ready to make art again.

Progress has been made on the castle card I still have hours and hours to go though.

 

castle progress

 


Links

To those of you who suggested going mac… a polite but firm no thanks.

Not that I will going Occulus anyway, Valve & HTC are knocking it out of the park with motion support and actual game design experience. This I cannot wait to try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdbSk7X7oDU

In all likelihood I will end up waiting for the first decently priced AR headset instead.

 

 

 

Post Format Changed
by Kimliatach

Source unkown.

Daily

Risked heatstroke for some garden labour. Preparing to finish off the paving under the washing line and begin laying the second path.

Wiring continues on the chook tractor. One piece at a time. There was a lull as we were struggling to find anyone who would sell us some point of lay hens locally, as it happens today we hear there is the possibility of some available in a fortnight. I have had to replace the wheels I found on the farm and attached, as they were too old and had collapsed under the weight. The new wheels found at the dump presented a engineering challenge as they will require a very different axle. I think I have figured out what to do and it will involve my first ever welding job. I’ll have to get help with that.

Went for a swim, L has improved in leaps and bounds, still cannot swim independently though. I pushed myself and swam 150m breath stroke today, despite significant increase in muscle mass over the last few months, my actual fitness still has a long way to go as that slaughtered me.

Experimenting with splitting my posts up a bit using headings, if they are still feeling jumbled I may start seperating the dailies from the thoughts and reviews.

Creativity

Managed about an hour on the castle card today. I’m struggling to find the right line weights and I will need to redo some of what I have done to match once I get it just so. Working on some neglected and now late cards this evening.

 

Accidental selfy while cleaning lens. Post swim hair.

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

Drowned beetle found at the pool. #macro #coleoptera #insect

A photo posted by @liatach on

 

More drowned #beetle #macro #insect #coleoptera approx. 35mm

A photo posted by @liatach on

Thoughts

Powering though ‘Better Call Saul‘ season one. Likely to finish this evening. A couple of very powerful episodes so far. N and I took many, many years to finish ‘Breaking Bad‘ as N was understandably reluctant to return to the show after season three and again at a later break. We ended up watching the very first episode of ‘Better Call Saul’ directly after the last ‘Breaking Bad’. It was too much and we only returned to it this past week. It has been pretty impressive, so far.

We finished season two of ‘The Almighty Johnson’s‘ last week and to be honest felt that they had kind of written themselves into a corner. Season one was a lot of fun and season two had its moments.It is possible that we will return for season three sometime but honestly it had lost a lot of the charm and humour of the first season and descended into a fantasy soap. When they introduced the Maori gods mid season two I was pretty annoyed that they had chosen to portray their main god as such a dickhead then I recognised that in fairness the whole show was about doing just that with the Norse gods.

Links

While on the topic of NZ media. I came across this hilarious looking film today. From the director of the splendid film ‘Boy‘ which I rate very highly indeed.

That got me onto a bit of a trailer binge. The best of the rest I watched was the new Coen’s