It’s been a while since I posted anything LEGO related, but after seeing this mechanized imaginarium, I just had to share. Bear in mind that the following video clip is entirely automated with LEGO Mindstorm pieces, so its not only a triumph of imagination, but a wonder of robotics as well!
Everything is perfect down to the details in the curtain and stage construction, to the movement of the waves. It also reminds me of the theater scene in Terry Gilliam’s Munchausen, as well as the little bits he’s teased of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. You readers have seen this teaser, right? This film looks like a real treasure — the perfect antedote to all the splosions of summer. I can’t wait!
Since she pointed to it in the comments already, I don’t think Mollie would mind me posting, so here you are — the first (to my knowledge) cinematic trailer for Return to Labyrinth! What a great collection of clips. I think you captured the feel of the manga spot on. If Lady Gaga plays Moppet, though, that kind of spoils the big scene in volume 4 where Moppet saves the day through the power of wearing pants. Oh well. No adaptation is perfect. Nice work!
Frequent commenter and talented artist Aiijuin has had her work featured here before, but this time she’s really outdone herself with a new video that picks up the story of Return to Labyrinth right where volume 2 leaves off. How closely does her take adhere to the actual volume 3? Well, you’ll have to wait a month or two more for that, but regardless, her story stands on its own very well, with great bits of humor and most significantly, a reunion of Sarah and Jareth that I’m sure many of you will enjoy. Thanks, Aiijuin!
Saw Coraline today — what an amazing film! Director Henry Selick and team did an incredible job adapting Gaiman’s book — a glisterbox of awe and wonder, scares and laughs. The jumping mice, the wuss puss cat, the oddball neighbors and especially Coraline herself… they’re all animated with such loving detail. I can’t recommend it enough.
Then I left the theater, looking for a place to deposit my 3D glasses, and the theater attendant says, “just throw them in the trash.” Really? For reals? These thick, easily reusable glasses (that came sealed sealed in a plastic baggy) were intended for one-time use? Suddenly, my perfect matinee movie had a dark tint to it.
As movie studios and theaters scramble for new ways to bring people into the theater to compete with DVDs and dowloads, 3D is in the beginning of a major comeback. Up until now it’s been something of a novelty with only about 1,000 screens using it. That’s going to tick upwards in a big way as Pixar, Dreamworks, James Cameron, Tim Burton and the Jonas Brothers make the jump to 3D. Toy Story‘s being rereleased in 3D, so might be Star Wars. Cool right? Not if each of those tickets equals a pair of disposable glasses!
A Pixar movie is guaranteed to sell upwards of 20 million tickets. Even if just a quarter of those are 3D, that’s millions of pairs of plastic glasses just for the novelty of 3D. Sure, Coraline convinced me that 3D can be used artfully for more than the in-your-face effects of the past efforts I’ve seen, but I cannot in good conscience justify that extra waste for the effect. Maybe the throw-away mandate was just for my theater. Can anyone else testify to having a theater collect used glasses? Is the only way to deal with a hygiene-obsessed culture’s needs to deliver millions of pairs of disposable glasses on what now looks to be a monthly basis? If 3D with disposable glasses is here to stay, I hope people will take it upon themselves to keep the glasses and take them with them to future shows, forgoing that factory-sealed pair. Free or not, we’re all paying for it.
Some of you weren’t so impressed with Jareth’s last heir apparent. Maybe he was too blond for you? Too lich-like? Well, perhaps this French confection will better please your fantasy singer palate! He’s like an amalgam of every costumed role Alan Cumming has ever played.
And be sure to check out Monsieur Soren’s website for bare-chested, green pantalooned elf erotica. He also shows a talent for rhyming in two languages… about a certain “secret fold.”
Hollywood loves fantasy — movies about beautiful princesses, ghoulish monsters and super-powered heroes are never in short supply. So why is it that fantasy, a genre that should stir our imagination, give us nightmares or make us think, are so often the shallowest films around? This year looks to be chock full of shock and awe films of the fantastic (here’s a pretty thorough roundup courtesy of i09.com), but awe and wonder? That precious feeling looks to be very rare indeed. Hollywood, take note! Here are five tips for making fantasy films that don’t just entertain, but inspire. Read more…
The year is 1988. The place –Santa Maragarita, California. The time—recess. Paperback in hand, I set forth on a quest of discovery. My destination—Krynn! In the village of Solace, beneath the branches of a Vallenwood tree, I met my companions: Tanis, Half-Elven, the Majure brothers Raistlin and Caramon, wily Tasselhoff Burfoof, Goldmoon the Barbarian Priestess, and many many more. Our fellowship would take us to many fantastic places across the continent of Ansalon, but alas, it was a journey bound by the limits of imagination. I could not hear the grumblings of Flint Fireforge, nor feel the mustache of Sturm Brightblade with my pre-teen fingers. At least not with any earthly senses.
Meanwhile, a continent away in the forests of Brazil, a young man had a dream. If he could not himself travel to Krynn himself, he would bring Krynn and its questing heroes to our world! Three movie trailers did he and his friends forge!
This first trailer introduces us to the cast of characters:
Every so often I troll youtube for Labyrinth clips, and today I found this lovely pencil animation and original comic book stills piece by Aiijuin. The Jareth and Sarah dancing scene looks absolutely beautiful! And the creator gives a shout out to the Return to Labyrinth manga at the end, which is incredibly humbling and encouraging. Thanks for sharing your work with us, Aiijuin!
It’s been a while since I shared any behind-the-scenes Return to Labyrinth writing dirt, so it’s high time I change that. Let’s talk about music, okay? After all, the music is one of the reasons why Labyrinth is such an enduring film. From the moment the Labyrinth manga series was just a seed of an idea, I knew that music would have to play a pivotal role. In Volume 1, I chickened out and left music to a merely instrumental role (which in a graphic novel means a few musical notes in the background). In volume 2, movie soundtrack lyrics pop up in two key scenes (one comic, one dramatic), and the Wiseman spouts classic rock wisdom. It isn’t until volume 3 that I took the plunge and dared put lyrics in Jareth’s mouth. It could be the best thing in the series, or the the thing that puts me on the outs with Labyrinth fans once and for all. Fingers crossed it’s more of the former.
My first pass on writing a Jareth song were decidedly silly. Those lyrics actually found their way into the “Goblin King’s Revenge” story, so most readers here have probably alread seen them. The song is decidedly broadway/Disney Musical in structure, which works in the context of the silly story it’s in now, but wouldn’t work for the decidely darker chapter that the final song appears in.
The final song, which you’ll have to wait until May to read, I’m afraid, is much more informed by Bowie (at least it is in my head). This is a song sung by the Jareth of “Within You,” only with longing that has crossed into resentment. It’s called “Shadows of a Dream” (which has nothing to do with this blog), and I hope you’ll like it in spite of the doujinshi-esque name. I wish I had the skills to set the lyrics to music. Maybe next year, some enterprising reader will do just that!
Volume 4 will have at least one musical number, this one inspired not by the Jareth/Sarah relationship, but by the nonsense logic of Lewis Carrol and M.C. Escher. It’s the manga equivalent of “Chilly Down.” I haven’t gotten farther than a few random notes, but hopefully I’ll figure out how to pull it together over the holidays. Of course, the lyrics are only half the challenge — somehow Chris will have to draw a chapter inspired by this:
So, I’d heard of this Krampus guy before — you know, the naughty fellow to St. Nick’s nice? I just never realized that the horned one was such a…thing. In some alpine towns, young folks get super competitive making elaborate Krampus costumes, then run around tormenting little kids with branches — they even have parades! It’s like the Nightmare before Christmas reimagined by Fangoria. And ladies, let’s not forget Perchten.
This sure beats the Christmas parades I remember from growing up. Of course, the parades of my youth were horiffic in a whole different way. One year, my mom basically forced my sister and I to sell mistletoe to strangers at the parade, and when we didn’t sell it all, she dropped us off in front of a grocery store on the weekend before christmas and had us sell it there. For a less than merry introvert, it was a pretty awful job, especially considering that the only thing that mistletoe is good for is making people kiss (or poisoning babies), which is pretty gross when you’re a ten-year-old boy. The only good thing about the whole mistletoe fiasco was watching my stepdad blow the parasitic plant out of treetops with a shotgun. When you’re a ten-year-old boy, using shotguns as a labor-saving device — pretty cool. Not Krampus cool, but cool enough.
