Fan Posters No. 3: Repo! The Genetic Opera

Been a while since I last was on here, so I thought I'd throw up something done quickly, in honor of a film I newly hold dear to my heart.

I only just recently got to see Repo! The Genetic Opera for the first time, and must admit I utterly loved it. The look, the costumes, most of all, the music, have just gotten stuck in my head a fair bit lately. I also love the comic-style panels they use during the film (even if their presence is ultimately pointless, exposition that's either mentioned in song, or could have easily been done in dialogue - but where's the fun in that?), and after checking out (lots) of poster art by the insanely awesome Tyler Stout, I felt compelled to knock together a comic-style montage poster in a similar vein, using grabs of the panels from the film itself. Here's the result: a bit patchy, I confess, but it was a quick-and-dirty muck-around as opposed to a serious exercise; someday, if I'm in the mood, I'll redo it properly.

Whether you passionately love it or furiously hate it (and I've seen that these are pretty much the only two schools of thought on the subject), there's no denying that Repo! is one of those different beasts that you don't get very often. I recommend checking it out if you haven't already done so, it's worth it if only for Anthony Stewart Head (Giles from Buffy), and to see Paris Hilton's face fall off.

Fan Posters No. 2: Nolan's DC

In light of the awesome announcements regarding Christopher Nolan's new entries in to the DC film universe, I felt compelled to throw these up. Though I'm not in love with the title The Dark Knight Rises, the film itself is still sitting high on my anticipation list. From a sheer interest point of view, however, I'm slightly more excited to see what Zack Snyder does with Superman - holding breath for Watchmen-style visuals ;D

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* UPDATE: I didn't really like that first Dark Knight Rises teaser much, so took it down for retooling, and had a new idea instead. Below is the result; a huge thanks to Skwonk Stock for the wall stock image. You can find it here.

All done in Photoshop.

Fan Posters No. 1: Mad Max - Fury Road

Okay, so this is the first of my "Fan Posters" series that, hopefully, I'll be pumping out on a regular basis. I love doing fan work, it's a great way to keep the 'ol skills sharp, as well as seeing how well I can do stacked up against the studio-hired design houses.

To kick this series off, I'm throwing up a poster I did a few months back when I first started hearing a lot about the upcoming Mad Max installment, Fury Road. After seeing Tom Hardy knock it out of the park in Inception, I'm confident that he'll be a terrific Max (even if Mel Gibson's well and truly living up to the name nowadays). Fingers crossed that, despite the delay to the start date for filming, Miller's going to get this blasting off soon; I'd hate to think of this falling on its face yet again. Hope y'all like it!

Pretty much everything done in Photoshop.

I Wish I Were At Comic-Con

Angelina! The Avengers! A guy getting stabbed in the eye! (okay, so he was scratched. Still, stabbed sounded soo much cooler.)

Comic-Con, how I wish I could experience thee first-hand. Being trapped in my little pocket of cashless monotony, I've always found the idea of an event that gears Hollywood up like no other- save, of course, the Oscars- to be infinitely appealing. As anyone who's spoken to me for more than five minutes can attest, I'm an utter geek at heart, and the idea of getting close to Messrs. Whedon, Abrams, Kosinski, Smith, et al, is just pant-wettingly good.

As it is, I, like many around this globe of ours, will have to contend myself with RSS feeds, blog posts, and that most delicate of all evils, the Twitter update. I had never had a Twitter account until three days ago. I'm a little ashamed to say that I have one now, largely for following 'Con feeds. I have promised myself no to get too addicted to using it, though the intrigue of getting inside celebrity heads is a powerful lure.

I have tried my damnedest to avoid the lure of the Twitter song, I really have. Largely because I've never felt that I can say anything relevant in 140 characters, but also, the seeming hipness that comes with any new piece of social technology has always left me wary. Dare I become one of the masses who find themselves checking everything said and uttered by their fave stars? By their friends? I'm addicted enough to Facebook for this reason, I don't need to exacerbate the situation.

And yet... Kevin Smith tweets. So does Simon Pegg. So, too, Jon Favreau, Stephen Fry, Penn Jillette... holy crap. I've got a direct line to some of my idols. This can not be a good thing.

I've signed up. And, within ten minutes, I'm following the tweets of 80 people and organisations I admire. I havn't even got to my friends yet. Suddenly, I'm rather interested in what everyone thinks. I couldn't give a damn about getting my own opinion out there (that's what this blog is for), but I can't help but be curious about those around me. And, just like that, I confess myself hooked.

God help me if this becomes addictive.
And this could've all been avoided if only I could get to Comic-Con...

Prime Ministerial Blues

Does anyone else find the Australian Labour Government's knee-jerk kick-out of Kevin Rudd just a little bit wrong? I mean, sure, the guy made mistakes, was a bit of a wally with a diva complex (so they say), and it's cool that we've now got our first female PM, but seriously - two years? And then gone?

I wanna know, what exactly - no, not the obvious stuff, I mean exactly - could he have done so wrong that they just decided, "Yep, sorry Kev ol' mate, but this just ain't workin' out"? Was he spreading rumours about his backbenchers under the table? Secretly trading budgie-smugglers with Tony Abbott? Or, God forbid, trying to run his country?

I'm no hardcore Rudd supporter, and he did do things I didn't agree with. But, hell, he had eleven years of Howard's crap to clean up,  and was starting to make some- not much, but some- headway, and I think that, if nothing else, should at least entitle him to the dignity of a full term. Then you can boot his arse out the door.

Nothing against Julia, she seems pretty smart and capable, even if she'll never get the majority vote. I just feel that it's testament to a system that's failing that, at the first sign of trouble, without any major forethought, our leaders can just be swapped out like a deck of cards or an old car. "Nuh. Don't like this one. Want a new one."

The worst part is, this is what he'll be remembered for. Not the Apology. Not withdrawing our troops from Iraq. But for being the first man in forty-odd years to be stood down before he even got a chance to run the whole gamut. For being replaced by a woman (harsh, true, sexist, absolutely, but I dare history to prove me wrong on that one). And for being dumped on his arse at a time when the one thing we need from those in power is unity. It kind of makes the whole democratic process look like a joke. You vote someone in, you rely on their ability to run the country for you, and someone else decides you chose wrong.

It does make me glad I'm not a registered voter. But only a little.