Laurelin writes: Viggo and Buckethead’s new CD, Intelligence Failure, is now available for purchase at Perceval Press: This seventh full-length musical collaboration between Buckethead and Viggo Mortensen also includes contributions from Travis Dickerson, Henry Mortensen, Walter Mortensen, and Brigit. INTELLIGENCE FAILURE is a musical ode to the dream of preserving loving, civilized society in trying, often cruel times. Rising above the deceit and greed that have plagued and eventually conquered all the world’s empires, there have always been brave individuals and isolated groups that have stubbornly refused to surrender their belief in humanity. This collection is dedicated to them. Combining variations on traditional melodies with original compositions and improvisation, as on previous Buckethead/Viggo recordings, this C.D. also draws from freely available statements by public figures to tell a part of the story of our time. Sometimes humorous, sometimes heartbreaking, INTELLIGENCE FAILURE is never anything less than fully-committed to an honest examination of where we are, and to expressing hope for where we might go. [More]
Month: September 2005
Clara Iaccarino writes: Fixing me in her bluey green gaze, it seems Miranda Otto has a few questions of her own. As make-up artist Tira straightens her auburn locks, Otto moves deftly from baby banter to research for her new role. She mentions her obsession with baby clothes, then all of a sudden she pauses. “So, have you ever had to interview anyone you were morally opposed to?” she asks. [More]
From the cloistered world of Oxford they created two of the best-loved fantasy realms in English literature which themselves inspired blockbuster movies. CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien were the closest of friends, one struggling to make his fantasy world of Middle Earth a literary reality, the other trying to convince friends his first book about Narnia deserved to be published. But new research has revealed that their friendship was riven by the most bitter and personal of rows on everything from literature to religion and even their choice of spouse. The fascinating revelations about their real relationship have been made by film-maker Norman Stone while researching a new drama-documentary on the life of Lewis. Stone, who made the award-winning movie about Lewis, Shadowlands, talked to mutual friends of the literary pair as well as examining documents in minute detail. [More]
Weta Productions, a sister company of Lord of the Rings and King Kong special effects shop Weta Digital, has spent several hundred thousand dollars setting up its own IT infrastructure to create animated TV series Jane and the Dragon. Though not on the scale of Weta Digital’s infrastructure of more than 1000 IBM blade servers, Weta Productions has also turned to IBM for its hardware. It has bought 50 blade servers, each configured with two 3GHz Intel processors and 2 gigabytes of memory, 50 IBM workstations and four terabytes of high-speed disk storage, also supplied by IBM. [More]
Celebriel reports that the Ian Brodie’s new book, Cameras in Narnia, is now available for pre-order at his website & Amazon.com. (Ian is director of the New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum in Wanaka.) The site notes “Ian Brodie has been on set and on location throughout its production, and has documented the making of the film from behind the cameras, with interviews with the director and key crew members. Using this movie as a specific example, he explains in layman’s terms the magical process of turning a much-loved classic of children’s literature into a blockbuster movie.”
The book’s release date is November 10, 2005, so it should arrive in plenty of time to read before the film’s opening in December. The advantage of ordering direct from Ian’s website is that all copies will be personally autographed! Lord of the Rings fans will be familiar with Ian’s outstanding Lord of the Rings Location Guide, essential for New Zealand visitors to Rings locations. This looks like a terrific followup. [Pre-Order ‘Cameras in Narnia’ on Amazon.com today!]
Take a look at a few images of Viggo Mortensen at the premiere of ‘A History of Violence’ in Los Angeles. The movie opens in limited cities today, and then wide next week. Take a look! [More]