Movies
TWO GENTLEMEN OF LEBOWSKI
by Brian Baldwin on Feb.03, 2010, under Movies, youtube
Great god in heaven, this video is the end all, be all for any Big Lebowski fans out there! I’m more impressed by the writing than the acting, but either way this video is one of a kind.
EDIT: I shouldn’t have to do this (because everyone should have seen this movie 10 times by now and know the original scene by heart), but JUST incase anyone reading this post HASN’T seen The Big Lebowski, here’s the original scene from which the above video is based.
Mike Tyson is fascinating
by Brian Baldwin on May.20, 2009, under Movies, sports, youtube
We’re talking about one of the most famous professional athletes of all time! Forget boxing, this guy was bigger than his sport the day he stepped into the ring. He’s had video games, actress wives, more money that Bill Gates, and somehow lost it all… AND HE’S STILL FAMOUS! The guy was convicted of RAPE, and he’s STILL FAMOUS!!
James Toback even recently produced and edited an award winning documentary on Mike! And we’re not just talking the frickin “Albuquerque City Fest”, it won at CANNES!
Say what you want about him, but the guy is a true warrior. And I’m not talking in the sense of like when a football player is being interviewed after a big win and is all, *breathing hard into the mic* “it’s a war out there! We were all soldiers and fought through the muck for this win!” I’m talking in the sense that if this guy was on his own in wilderness, he’s have the bears working for him gathering salmon and berries while squirrels cool him with thatch fans. Well done Mike, this one’s to you!
MK12 History of America
by Brian Baldwin on Apr.15, 2009, under 3D, Movies, design, motion graphics, music
Virtually everyone in the post production/motion graphics industry had heard of MK12, and virtually every one in the real world (green pill) has seen their work. Opening title sequence for James Bond: Quantum of Solace, that was them.
A few years back when I was working at Nike I was turned on to a short film they did called, “MK12’s, History of America”. At the time I was more into it for entertainment value, but after I got more and more involved with motion graphics and 3D etc., I really gained an appreciation for their work. Their mixture of live action and motion graphics really compliment each other! “History of America” is pretty much a clinic on how to execute a ridiculously complicated short ‘film’ perfectly. The video is a little long, but trust me it’s worth it!
photographer showcase
by Brian Baldwin on Mar.15, 2009, under Movies, Uncategorized, art, photography
Kind of like with the animated shorts post, from time to time I’m going to showcase photographers who catch my eye.
Often times when a new photo style catches on, I buy into it for a while but eventually chalk it up to trend. That however is not the case with HDR photos! Once the tutorials started hitting the the web, a lot of attempts to pull off the style fell flat (including my own). It’s for that specific reason that good HDR photos are even more impressive to me.
Great times were had by all during the good ‘ole days back in the Hood, especially with my great friend Sean Stiegemeier. For an entire summer we’d ride our bikes down the hill to McDonald’s for a quarter pounder value meal, then back up to his house for an afternoon of playing Beavis and Butt-head on his computer. It was during these summers that we both developed individually unique passions for film and photo. Even though we were only in middle school, we still made legitimate attempts at making our own indy films.
Our first pass at motion picture fame was a short called “Tag Ripper-Offers”. The story was simple, our underground mattress tag-ripping ring was being surveilled by the Fed’s and was on the brink of getting clipped.
The second film we tackled was called “Bicycle Bounty Hunters”. A movie that was deeply inspired by our devotion to a little known 80’s movie called RAD. If you can imagine a mixture of RAD and the tv shows Taxi and Dog the Bounty Hunter, you’ve got our film!
Our run of McD’s and indy films was cut short when Sean moved to Park City Utah when we were 14, but we still stayed in touch and promised to eventually work together.
Fast-forwarding to today, we’ve both been successful in our own fields and still keep the collaboration alive by helping each other out with various things that are in the others wheel house. Most recently I’ve helped him with some motion graphic elements, and he’s been super generous me using his photography for my website background (one of them).
All that said, Sean’s an EXTREMELY talented photographer/director of photography with a very fruitful career ahead of him. Check out some of his photography HERE, and keep the inspiration alive!
Light meets music meets video
by Brian Baldwin on Mar.10, 2009, under Movies, art, design, motion graphics, music, performance, stop motion, technology
I’ve really got to hand it to these guys. they made light-sensitive audio that can not only change the volume but the pitch as well. Above that, the audio drives the video screens which act as volume displays! Ridiculous. This is the ultimate fusion of performance and art.
The video is a little long and takes a while to get into the good stuff, but wait it out. It’s worth it!
Rock-N-Rolla
by Brian Baldwin on Mar.06, 2009, under Movies, motion graphics
A few days ago I was eating lunch with my buddy Cam when we decided that I’d go over to his house tonight to play some Wii and watch a movie. At the time I was feeling great and said, “ok why not..?” Well yesterday I woke up with a sore throat and a headache (and today wasn’t faring any better), so I didn’t quite know how I was going to break it to him that I might just come home and take care of myself instead of going over and having beers. Queue todays lunch conversation. Everything is going swell, the table is set to tell him, and then he asks wide-eyed, “So you still coming over tonight?!” I didn’t really have the guts to say ‘no’, so I chickened out and said, “I dunno man, we’ll see how I feel.” *Blank stare beaming back at me* Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwkward…. So I buckled and said that I’d come over regardless (not till he mentioned that he’d been planning his week around it).
After a bomb taco dinner prepped by Cam’s fiance, we wrangled over a few games in the Wii Sports lineup. I can’t say that I’m crazy about the tennis game, but bowling and golf are BOMB! I feel like I could buy a Wii, and exclusively play either of those two games and feel like I got my moneys worth. It’s almost as if a few drunk MIT students were imagineering a superdigi drinking game, only to realize they’d developed the most involved gaming console to date. So after getting blown out at tennis, and scoring a 190 at bowling, we decided to mix a few cockatoos and watch the movie Rock N Rolla.
I’ll admit, I was a little skeptical of Guy Richie’s mojo after the mega-bomb Swept Away and the much-too-introspective Revolver, but I’m a super fan so I thought I’d give it a chance… Damn, that movie is SIIIIIIIIICK *Diggles voice*!!!!!!! If you can imagine taking the crafty villains and punchy storytelling of Snatch, and mix it with Pulp Fiction’s attention to dialogue, you’ve got Rock N Rolla. I highly recommend seeing it to anyone who A) has seen Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, and wants a third installment. Or B) anyone who’s looking for a beginning to end thriller and can put up with only understanding about 3 out of every 4 words.