Adelaide Online Learning, Social Media And Search Engine Marketing! » Other

James Cameron Releases Avatar 3D 7 Years Too Late

admin — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:31:26 +0000

James Cameron Releases Avatar 3D 7 Years Too Late

: Image By tsmall Flickr

James Cameron Releases Avatar 3D 7 Years Too Late

Do you remember back in the day when Adelaide used to have an IMAX cinema? It was kind of nice but it cost like $26, you only had 3 movies to choose from and they were all documentaries? I remember back in 1998 when I went to see Deep Sea 3D at the IMAX cinema on Rundle Street, it was a bit of a novelty, you would put on your 3D glasses and every once in a while a sea creature would seem to pop out from the screen and almost jump at you… but was it worth $26? Maybe, maybe not. Would I go back to see it again? Probably not. Did I go back to see another movie? No.

I remember at the time thinking, yeah this is ok but I really wish someone would actually make some good IMAX movies that we could all watch. Now, in 2009, finally a movie has been released that may satisfy that itch and with all of the buzz I couldn’t help but round up some friends to go check it out, the only problem was… Adelaide no longer has an IMAX cinema! James Cameron released Avatar 3D 7 years too late because the Adelaide IMAX cinema closed in 2002, so we ended up having to go see Avatar 3D on a normal cinema screen (but still in 3D).

Now, I do realise that there have been quite a few movies that have been released for the IMAX but nothing that I would consider noteworthy and keep in mind that I’m no movie or tech buff either, I might go to the cinema like once every six months or something like that and usually I just wait until it’s released on DVD or even on television but I do love a good story and Avatar 3D has been touted as the beginning of a new age of 3D cinema so it was something not to be missed.

So anyways, here is my review of Avatar 3D thanks to a little prompting from @ambermatson.

The Special Effects Should Support The Story

Watching Avatar 3D you get a sense that this movie was made for 3D not just something that was re-made for a 3D screen as an after thought. The characters and scenery leap out at you, a golf ball seems to hit it’s mark just before it smacks you in the face and bullets fly at you in such a way that you can’t help but feel the impact. The special effects alone make Avatar 3D a must see movie of the year, however I thought the special effects were a bit gimmicky and whilst at first it seemed planned and deliberate, towards the end of the movie you don’t even really notice it anymore. I would have liked to have seen the 3D special effects play a more key role in the actual story line itself perhaps incorporated into the scene where Jake Sully (main character) conquers the toruk (kind of like a dragon) or used to emphasise the presence of Eywa (kind of like “the Force” ala Star Wars). Overall a pretty cool sneak preview of what’s possible with 3D special effects but with a bit more thought it could have been integrated more tightly with the story line. Whilst watching Avatar 3D I couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to see a movie like Saving Private Ryan in the same format.

The Story Needs A Reversal

I’ve heard people describe Avatar 3D as being similar to “Dances With Wolves” but in outer space. Personally I don’t mind the whole loss and redemption story line but with the popularity of movies like the Sixth Sense, Fight Club and even more recently Terminator Salvation the audience has come to expect a shocking or unexpected reveal at the end, where you find out that not everything is what you thought it was. Avatar 3D really lacks that “Luke, I am your father!” moment. As I was watching Avatar 3D I couldn’t help thinking – what is unobtanium and why is it so valuable? In the opening scenes we are introduced to this thing called unobtanium which is supposed to be worth $20 million per kilogram but we have no idea about what it does or why it’s so important. Firstly with inflation, $20 million in 2154 would be worth like $100 in 2009 but anyways the value of the unobtanium sets the scene for why everyone is behaving the way they are. I would have liked to have seen some demonstrations of what the unobtanium can do – is it a source of energy that can power the whole city of New York for a whole year? Can it be used to cure any illness? Is it a drug that promises to get you high like cocaine but without any side affects? Perhaps the Kelutrel (huge tree which is also the home of the Na’vi people, the Na’vi are a race of people who live on the planet Pandora) is the source of unobtanium – kind of like a Goose that lays golden eggs, the greed of the humans leads them to destroy the tree only to realise that it was actually the tree that was producing the unobtanium – the thing that they want more of in the first place?

The Characters Need More Charisma

Even though the technology for the making of the Star Wars prequels is far superior to the originals we are always reminded of how much better the originals were because of the fact that the original characters just had a lot more charisma.

Darth Vadder wasn’t just an evil dude, he was the baddest mofo in the galaxy, he could use the force to crush your vital organs and kill you just with his nasty nasty thoughts and he had a death star that could destroy an entire planet, his moto was “Screw up and I will kill you!” Sure Colonel Miles Quaritch could talk tough and bench press heavy weights but there wasn’t very much for us to hate about him. Maybe he’s angry because he lost a close friend or family member during previous encounters with the Na’vi? Maybe he wasn’t breast fed enough as a child? Maybe they could have been keeping a few Na’vi in their lab to experiment on and torture. The more we hate the bad guy the more awesome the good guy becomes.

Han Solo was a lovable rogue who always said the most inappropriate things and brought comedy to the most dire of situations. Remember the Millennium Falcon and how it would always malfunction and stall as they tried to go into warp speed and it would stall more and more as the situation got worse and worse? Avatar 3D didn’t’ have a Han Solo or a Millenium Falcon, even though it was implied that the Avatar Capsules (the things that they would sit inside which allowed them to take control of their Avatar bodies) were technically imperfect you never actually saw them malfunction, they always worked perfectly and were never used as a way to increase the suspense and drama within a particular scene.

Yoda always had something profound to say and he would always say it in Yoda-Speak “Size matters not… Look at me. Judge me by size, do you?” Great characters always have great catch phrases and we remember them for a long time whether it be “I’ll be back” or “… Bond, James Bond” we all know what movie it is that we are referencing, Avatar lacks that, I can’t remember any specific phrases from Avatar that really hit home for me.

The Future Of Cinema

With all of the money that these movies are generating from computer games, merchandise and other related licensing deals I can’t help but wonder why there is so much fuss over the issue of movie piracy. A good movie can be the spark for a new cult or subculture or franchise in which case a movie is like an advertisement that recruits people into that franchise who will spend good money on anything and everything that is related to that movie. Did I think that Avatar 3D was the best movie of all time? No. Would I go to see it again? Maybe. Would I go to see another 3D movie that is similar to Avatar in future? Yes. Would I wear an Avatar inspired costume to a halloween party? Hell yes! With Avatar 3D you can really start to see the potential of 3D and IMAX and with the expected flood of 3D and IMAX movies likely to hit the silver screen, maybe now is the time for Adelaide to have an IMAX cinema once more?

Go see Avatar 3D if you like science fiction and want to get a sneak speak into where the cinema industry is headed but don’t be expecting a surprise ending or characters that you can mimic and add to your repetroire of comic impersonations because there won’t be any!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: 3d Glasses, 3d Image, 3d Screen, Avatar, Avatar 3D Movie, Buff, Buzz, Cinema Screen, Deep Sea 3d, Documentaries, Few Movies, Flickr, Giovanni Ribisi, Imax 3d, Imax Cinema, Imax Movies, James Cameron, Jon Landau, Michelle Rodriguez, New Age, Rundle Street, Sam Worthington, Sea Creature, Sigourney Weaver, Six Months, Special Effects, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldana

James Cameron Releases Avatar 3D 7 Years Too Late

What’s Your Comic Style? Take The Test Now!

admin — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:57:15 +0000

What’s Your Comic Style? Take The Test Now!

This short test will help you determine what is your preferred style of comedy, check it out now!

If you plan to come, be sure to get there early, last week’s show sold out by 7.15pm!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: adelaide comedy, adelaide comedy club, adelaide comedy festival, adelaide stand up comedy, comedy, comedy cellar adelaide, comedy cellars adelaide, comedy in adelaide, comedy shows adelaide, Comic Style, Early Show, Preferred Style, Width 600 Height 500

What’s Your Comic Style? Take The Test Now!

Nerd Or Ninja?

admin — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 10:08:42 +0000

Nerd Or Ninja?

Which of these dudes is a nerd and which is a ninja? Some day your life may depend upon it!

If you plan to come, be sure to get there early, last week’s show sold out by 7.15pm!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: adelaide comedy, adelaide comedy club, adelaide comedy festival, adelaide stand up comedy, comedy cellar adelaide, comedy cellars adelaide, comedy in adelaide, comedy shows adelaide, Dudes, Nerd, ninja, Width 600 Height 500

Nerd Or Ninja?

How Aussie Are You?

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:36:41 +0000

How Aussie Are You?

How Aussie are you? Take the quiz and find out!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: australia day, australia day celebrations

How Aussie Are You?

The New M.B.A.

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:39:36 +0000

The New M.B.A.

Image By 天曉得。 Flickr

The New M.B.A.

Quasimodo, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, wanted to take a vacation.

He needed a replacement bell ringer but the only one who showed up at the top of the bell tower was a man without any hands.

“How can you expect to ring those heavy bells?” Asked Quasimodo.

“Easy” said the armless man “watch!” He ran full force at the bells smashing into them with his head and the bells swung back and forth.

“I don’t believe it” said Quasimodo “how long can you keep that up?”

“No problem” said the man “I’ll do it again, watch!”

And once more he ran full tilt into the bells, except that the bells were swinging out as he got there.

He missed the bells and fell twenty stories to his death.

Quasimodo painfully rushed down the winding stairs.

When he got to the street, a crowd had gathered around the smashed body.

A policeman asked “Does anybody know him?”

“I don’t know who he is” answered the Hunchback “but his face rings a bell.”

Learning To Let Go

I’ve studied management at University, worked in several management roles and also run my own business but I’ve always had the challenge of letting go of responsibility fearing that if I get someone to do something that they may not do a good enough job or that it may end up costing me too much money, so I’ve resisted for a long time but recently I’ve realised that in order to really make progress personally and professionally I need to figure out how to delegate and outsource properly.

So recently I’ve started reading Timothy Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Work Week”. The 4-Hour Work Week introduces us to the concept of M.B.A. – Management By Absence, creating a business that we can step away from and remove oursleves out of, at least, the day to day operations. Another concept that Timothy introduces is the idea that most people don’t necessarily want to be millionaires but what they do want is the millionaire lifestyle – someone who earns $200,000 per year but has to work 80 hours per week is not necessarily better off than someone who makes $20,000 per year but only works a few hours a week, what really matters most is quality of life.

Some Common Issues And Their Possible Solutions

A scorpion asks a frog for help crossing a river.

Intimidated by the scorpion’s prominent stinger, the frog objects.

“Don’t be scared” the scorpion says “if something happens to you, I’ll drown.”

Moved by this logic, the frog puts the scorpion on his back and wades into the river.

Half way across, the scorpion stings the frog.

The dying frog croaks “How could you… You know you’ll drown?”

“It’s my nature” grasps the sinking scorpion.

Issue 1: Don’t base strategy on trying to change people – I’ve been involved in a few projects over the years where the key to success was based on changing the way in which people behave and the result has always been bad, you should never try to change people but instead figure out a way to work with and compliment their current work practices. The most successful technologies are the ones that are automated and work with you instead of making you change the way in which you behave.

Solution 1: Recruit superstars, people who already have the motivation and willingness to take action. Don’t rely solely on a resume because there are many people who can put together a great resume and who come across well during an interview but are not actually any good at doing the work. Give the applicants a task to do at the very beginning of the interview process. There will be four types of people – those who don’t do the task, those who complain, those who do the task poorly and those who do the task well – hire the ones who do the task well.

“To effectively communicate, we must realise that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” – Anthony Robbins.

Issue 2: The majority of communication problems occur due to a difference in opinion, people only see what they want to see, so you can’t trust that someone else will look at an issue in the same way that you do. Everyone brings their own experience and history to a situation and that may differ greatly from yours.

Solution 2: Don’t just send someone a task and ask them to confirm whether or not they will do it or understand but instead ask them for a summary of the task that way you will know exactly what their perspective is, by summarising the task they are telling you exactly what they understand the task is about.

“Parkison’s Law: Work expands so as to fill the time available for it’s completion.”

Issue 3: If you give people lots of time to do something they will likely slack off and wait until the very last minute to do it. Give people too much to do and they get overwhelmed, give people too little to do and they slack off. Trying to keep people motivated and productive can be quite difficult.

Solution 3: Implement 3 day deadlines, even if you have a project that is going to take 100 days to complete be sure to break it up into managable chunks. A 3 day deadline will keep them busy but not overwhelmed.

Hire People Who Are Better Than You Are

“Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it… Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine.” – David Ogilvy.

The next day another man showed up, also without hands.

“That was my brother you saw yesterday” he said to Quasimodo.

“I’m better than he was.”

Again he rang the bells with his face but on the second attempt he also missed and fell to his death.

“Who’s this guy?” Asked the policeman.

“I don’t know” said Quasimodo “but he’s a dead ringer for his brother.”

Things won’t always go well but if you get started now in 5-10 years you will wake up and be surrounded by people who are competent, motivated and like minded. If you don’t then you will always be struggling to cope with your workload and working much harder than you really should be!

Timothy Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Work Week” is a very interesting and practical book with lots of examples and resources to help you put these principles into practice, if you’re looking to take things to the next level and have a business that works for you instead of a business that you have to work for then I strongly recommended that you check it out!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: the 4 hour work week, the 4 hour work week ebook, the 4 hour working week, timothy ferriss, timothy ferriss 4 hour, timothy ferriss book, timothy ferriss scam

The New M.B.A.

Happy New Year From @locspoc

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:20:42 +0000

Happy New Year From @locspoc

Here is your New Year eCard from @locspoc, check it out now!

Share and Enjoy:

Technorati Tags: happy new year, happy new year card, happy new year cards, happy new year greeting, happy new year greetings, happy new year music, happy new years, new year happy

Happy New Year From @locspoc

Review Of Alex Williamson Live ‘Adelaide Comedy’ At PJ O’Brians

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:24:40 +0000

Review Of Alex Williamson Live ‘Adelaide Comedy’ At PJ O’Brians

Hello

Well, I’ve decided to apply to become a Fringe Reviewer for the Adelaide Comedy Pod Cast, the basic requirements for this task are:

1. To be able to write reviews that go for around 1 minute.

2. To be tech enough to record them at a decent quality.

3. To be able to email them as an mp3 to AdelComPod.

4. To do that a minimum of 3 times a week during the Fringe.

If you are interested in applying to become a reviewer also then you can find more details here…

So anyways, I put together a sample that you can check out here… (Please open the article to see the flash file or player.)

“Hey guys, this is Loc and I’m doing a review of Alex Williamson Live ‘Adelaide Comedy’ At PJ O’Brians. What I like about Alex is that he comes across as a very natural, down to earth and likeable Aussie bloke. He knows how to use self deprecating humour, gets a fairly consistent stream of laughs (about two laughs per minute) and he does a good job of engaging the audience.

Alex is a young comedian from a country town in South Australia, he’s been performing stand up comedy in Adelaide since 2007 and was a state finalist in Triple J’s 2009 “Raw Comedy” competition.

He has posted quite a lot of videos on his YouTube channel which you can find by doing a search for “shooterwilliamson” and he plans to launch a website and also a one man show in the not too distant future.

So if you are the type of person who likes laid back Aussie style humour in a story telling format and don’t mind a few naughty sex shop references, then I really recommend that you go check him out!”

The review is based on this YouTube video clip:

Let me know what you think of it!

Share and Enjoy: