Monday 31 January 2011

6. Scott Pilgrim


31 is the current age of Bryan Lee O'Malley, creator of the Scott Pilgrim series, incidentally his birthday is two days after mine (albeit a different year obviously).

Sunday 30 January 2011

5. Finn


30 years old - the age that Pendleton Ward (creator of Adventure Time) will turn in 2012.

Saturday 29 January 2011

4. Hellboy


29 January 1845 – "The Raven" is published in the New York Evening Mirror, the first publication with the name of the author, Edgar Allan Poe.

(Apologies: I looked for a very long time to find a fact that I could link with the number 29 and Hellboy but to no avail, and trust me when I say I hunted for some pretty tenuous links towards the end, so this Poe fact will have to do this time.)

Friday 28 January 2011

3. Jayne Cobb


28 minutes - the length of the "Here's How It Was: The Making of Firefly" featurette on the Firefly: The Complete Series boxset.

Thursday 27 January 2011

2. Woody


27 animators worked on the first Toy Story, using 400 computer models to animate the characters. Woody was the most complex as he required 723 motion controls, including 212 for his face and 58 for his mouth.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

1. The Doctor


26 January 1984: broadcast of first episode of Frontios. The TARDIS materialises at the end of time, where Norma has a very 1984 haircut and the ground swallows people and things up - including the TARDIS.

Twenty-Five

On February 19th I will turn 25 and so a week ago I thought that I should do something in the twenty five days leading up to and including my birthday this year. I considered making a comic but that would have required a bit more planning and since I'd forgotten until this morning about the initial idea I figured it will be easier to do something simpler, so envisaged a Partridge in a Pear Tree deal (1 thing one day, increasing amount up to 25) but then in the shower I came up with… Twenty Five Heroes with Hats!

I've got ten listed in my sketchbook so far and plan on doing something special with them all once I'm finished, and if I don't find twenty five we'll broaden the spectrum to include masks which opens it up to a vast array of superheroes.

Monday 3 January 2011

A Resolution of Films

I'm not normally one to make resolutions, even less so to write them down for people to bring up again in the future, but this year I turn 25 and thought that I should have some sort of goals to aim towards.

I would class myself as a film geek, perhaps even a nerd or sorts, however there are gaping holes in my film watching life which are not good at all, causing shame and open-mouthed shock at the lack of classic/older films I'm missing out on.

Fortunately I can cross off the original Star Wars trilogy straight away, something which until a couple of years ago I'd never seen altogether, apparently it has something of a cult following...

Anyway, to get the ball rolling, this is just a few of the films/directors of whom I wish to become better acquainted with in 2011:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Reservoir Dogs
Trainspotting
The Evil Dead

Alfred Hitchcock
Hayao Miyazaki

I'll update with my progress and add to the list should I see more that I have to include and I'm open to suggestions, old classics, forgotten animations, modern wonders - and I'll tell you if I've seen them or not.

Looking back on 2010's films one of the best experiences for me was Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, in addition to great performances, music and humour it started things off with a fantastic opening sequence dissected at the link by director Edgar Wright along with other graphic elements and animation used throughout the film.

Honourable mentions go to Inception and Toy Story 3, I don't think any explanation's needed there.