animation

0360 – Nova Seed (2016)

Nova Seed

NOVA SEED is a 2016  sci-fi fantasy adventure 2D animation.   a solo effort by  Nick DiLiberto, the film is the product of four years’ work and is comprised of 60,000 hand-drawn frames.  It is DiLiberto’s directorial debut feature.

Nova SEED is an action-packed, post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi adventure that follows a lion-man (a Neo-Animal Combatant or NAC) who must save the NOVA Seed, a mystic force of nature in the form of a girl, from Dr. Mindskull, an evil half-man bent on remaking the world in his image.

Nova SEED is written by Nick DiLiberto (who worked in the animation department for Asura’s Wrath, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, Mass Effect) and Joe DiLiberto, and executive produced by Ricardo Curtis , Adele DiLiberto, John DiLiberto, Nick DiLiberto and Wes Lui . Music by Canadian musician, Stephen Verrall.

DiLiberto said, “I grew up with 2D animated shows like He-Man and Thunder Cats and I wanted to be a part of that, but as an adult I was disappointed that everything I saw and worked on was so slick and manufactured. I wanted to make something that made me feel like I did when I was a kid, and I was tired of waiting for Disney or DreamWorks to make it for me. So, I made it myself.” (read more)

About Gorgon Pictures: Gorgon Pictures Inc. is an Independent animation studio located in Fukuoka, Japan, established by Canadian filmmaker Nick DiLiberto, which is dedicated to creating fully 2D hand drawn animated films. With its first feature film NOVA SEED (2016), an award-winning Sci-fi adventure, Gorgon Pictures has become an inspiration to artists and filmmakers around the world and continues to push the envelope in its approach and techniques to the medium.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5569618/

animation

237 – My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002)

my beautiful girl mari

My Beautiful Girl, Mari (Hangul: 마리이야기; RR: Mariiyagi; lit. “The Story of Mari”) is a 2002 South Korean animated film. It follows the story of a young boy during summer vacation and ascends into flights of surrealistic fantasy, which may or may not be dream sequences.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0302758/

documentary, movies

176 – Kon-Tiki expedition

spacetime coordinates: 1947 journey by raft across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands

Kon-Tiki (1950  documentary)

Kon-Tiki is a Norwegian-Swedish documentary film about the Kon-Tiki expedition led by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in 1947.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042650/

Kon-Tiki (2012 film)

Kon-Tiki is a 2012 historical drama film directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg about the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition. The film was mainly shot on the island of Malta. The role of Thor Heyerdahl is played by Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen. The film is an international co-production between Norway, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. It was the highest-grossing film of 2012 in Norway and the country’s most expensive production to date

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Historical accuracy

While much of the story is historically accurate, screenwriter Petter Skavlan and director Joachim Rønning both felt the need to make the story more exciting for their two-hour feature film. The fictionalized elements have been criticized; as film critic Andrew Barker commented, “It’s frustratingly ironic that Kon-Tiki’s most outrageously fantastical sequences are completely verifiable, and its most predictable, workaday conflicts are completely made up.”

kon-tiki 1

The film focuses on Heyerdahl’s theory that Polynesia was first populated with humans from Peru, but it ignores the Norwegian’s more ethnocentric speculations that the original Kon-Tiki voyage was undertaken by a race of tall white bearded people with red hair. Heyerdahl conjectured that Amerindian civilizations like the Aztecs and the Incas only arose with the help of advanced technical knowledge brought by early European voyagers, and that these white people were eventually driven out of Peru and fled westward on rafts.

kon-tiki 2

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The portrayal of the raft’s second-in-command, Herman Watzinger, proved controversial in Norway. Colleagues and relatives say Watzinger in the film is unlike the real-life Watzinger, physically or in his actions. Actor Baasmo Christiansen acknowledged the physical differences with a smile. “Watzinger was tall, dark, and Norwegian Youth Champion in the 100 meter. He was everything I’m not.” In the film, Watzinger disobeys Heyerdahl’s direct order and throws a harpoon at a whale shark under the boat, but it was actually Erik Hesselberg who harpooned the whale shark, with the crew cheering him on. The film’s Watzinger, worried about the hemp ropes’ ability to hold the balsa logs together for the entire voyage, tearfully begs Heyerdahl at sea to add steel cables Watzinger smuggled aboard but Heyerdahl’s book contains no such scene and Watzinger’s daughter has stated it never happened: “My father was a stout and confident man, and he never thought that way about the balsa logs and the ropes.” Thor Heyerdahl, Jr., who worked with Watzinger, concurred in the criticism of the film’s portrayal of Watzinger.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613750/

movies

0111 – Season of the Witch (2011)

spacetime coordinates:  Villach in the year 1235 // 14th-century Holy Roman Empire// Styria // Wormwood forest

season_of_the_witch__2011__poster_by_a_jaded_smithy-d9w35mfSeason of the Witch is a 2011 American fantasy adventure film directed by Dominic Sena. starring Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Claire Foy. The film draws inspiration from the 1957 film The Seventh Seal.

In the 14th century, Teutonic Knights Behmen von Bleibruck (Cage) and Felson (Perlman) are engaged on a crusade, taking part in several different battles throughout the 1330’s (1332 Gulf of Edremit, 1334 Siege of Tripoli, 1337 Imbros & 1339 Artah) and eventually in the Smyrniote crusades. After witnessing the massacre of civilians during the 1344 capture of Smyrna, the two knights desert the Order and the crusade and return to Austria.

season_of_the_witch


Wormwood, the name of the forest where blood is shed, is also the name of a destructive entity in the Bible. This entity, a star whose name also translates as Bitterness, appears to cause widespread illness. According to Revelation 8:10-11, “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water–the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”


‘Season of the Witch’ Trailer HD


imdb

games, movies

087 – The Founder (2016)

spacetime coordinates: 1954 Arlington Heights, Illinois > San Bernardino, California

the founder poster

The Founder is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by John Lee Hancock and written by Robert Siegel. The film stars Michael Keaton as businessman Ray Kroc, and portrays the story of his creation of the McDonald’s fast food chain. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch co-star as McDonald’s founders Richard and Maurice McDonald.

imdb

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McDonald’s Video Game

games

060 – Majesty Gold Edition (2002 game)

Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim is a real-time strategy video game developed by Cyberlore Studios, and published by MicroProse for Windows in March 2000. MacPlay released a Mac OS port in December 2000. Infogrames released the expansion pack Majesty: The Northern Expansion for Windows in March 2001, and Majesty Gold Edition, a compilation for Windows bundling Majesty and The Northern Expansion, in January 2002. Linux Game Publishing released a Linux port of Majesty Gold Edition in April 2003. (wikipedia)

The High Definition edition of Majesty Gold contains main game, the Northern Expansion Pack as well as 2 new quests and several other graphics and gameplay updates. Majesty is a Real-time strategy game with indirect control – your heroes have a will of their own! Your rule is not absolute, as you face subjects that are independent, stubborn – and greedy. They will need a great deal of persuasion (ok, gold) before they carry out your wishes…

steam


http://www.majestyquest.com/