Flotsam and Jetsam

All sorts of shiny things to share with you all today!

First off, would you like me to draw a unique piece of formalwear for you in honor of the 2011 Academy Awards? I'm extending the drawing through tomorrow, so if you haven't left your comment yet, go ahead and so NOW! http://elenatintil.blogspot.com/2011/02/red-carpet-you-could-win.html

Secondly... the last three polls are going up now! So vote vote vote for BEST ACTOR, BEST ACTRESS and... *drumroll please* BEST PICTURE.

Next... I'd like to mention a little TV show called Firefly. Ever heard of it? Best show ever to be prematurely canceled. Possibly best TV show ever. Anyhow, there are some waves going out over the internet to seriously get this back on the air (or the internet, at least). Lead Actor Nathan Fillion (you may know him from the show "Castle") mentioned that if he won the Calafornia lottery and got $300 million the first thing he'd do is buy up the rights and bring back the show himself. Of course, the Firefly fans (Browncoats!) took this pretty seriously and are starting up what is turning into an extrodinary effort to bring back the show... check it out and maybe help make TV history! (Also, join the 45,000 and growing crowd over on facebook!)

Then -- X-Men Fans --- interesting interview today from James McAvoy! Check it out here.

I am heading out for some warm Spring Break Vacation Weather this weekend! I'll still post all sorts of goodies (and don't forget -- tons of Oscar coverage on Sunday!), but you may find a few pictures of beautiful ocean views tossed in. That's okay. You can be jealous.

Finally, the name of this post is a partial homage to Joss Whedon's run on the Astonishing X-Men, which I consider some of the finest writing in the entire X-Men canon (Not that I've read everything, but... yeah). So if you're interested in checking out the comic 'verse, I suggest picking up "Astonishing X-Men Volume 2" and checking it out.

X-Men... new thoughts

A new article popped up today with some interesting new information regarding X-Men first class. This evokes some new thoughts that I thought I'd share with all of you...

I'll be quoting bits and pieces of the article here, but the full thing can be read on the Geek Files here.

January Jones (Emma Frost) says:

"We're almost done. The fact we've had to push the wrap date but they haven't moved the release date is really interesting to me. I guess they must know what they're doing. I have a lot of faith in Matthew [Vaughn] as a director and an editor; I think his movies are great. And I think they've been cutting as we've been going. We should be fine."

While the time crunch has me worried, I do have to give credit to Matthew Vaughn. His adaptation of "Stardust" -- while not accurate to the book -- was incredible and is one of my favorite fantasy movies ever. If he can make "First Class" as good as he made "Stardust" then I think I will count myself satisfied.

Jones says there is plenty for fans to feel optimistic about, telling Omelette: "I think they should look forward to the story, the script was really amazing and really intelligent, and I think the group of actors that he got involved in this movie speaks for itself. I think if the script wasn't good and if they didn't trust Matthew Vaughn's vision for the movie that James McAvoy, Kevin Bacon, Michael Fassbender and everyone else involved wouldn't have signed up, so I think they should be excited about it."

This... well... I've heard this about movies before. Just because a well-known star signs up for a film doesn't mean it's going to be good (Yes, "Clash of the Titans" I'm looking at you). However I will admit that James McAvoy does have a fairly good track record of project choosing, sooooo...

Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-movies and is a producer on First Class (as well as conceiving the story), explains: "I really, really like [Lucas Till as] Havok, who we're bringing in [to the continuity] at a sort of a different time relative to the comic book lore. It's an extremely cool character. What's great, too, about all of these characters is that they haven't honed their abilities yet. Havok is a danger to himself and everyone around him. That's where this movie is at - the recruiting of these mutants and bringing them together."

Speaking to the LA Times' Hero Complex blog, Singer confirms: "Yes, the timeline is different. It wouldn't physically fit for him to be the brother of Cyclops. We take some liberties on that."

So... there it is, folks. What we've all been wondering. Havok isn't going to be Scott's younger brother. Or his brother at all. This isn't the hugest surprise at this point, as some fans have already speculated as much, even going so far as to suggest that Havok may be Scott's father or uncle (their powers are too similar to disregard ANY family relationship). But it's still a let-down, and leaves a lot of questions such as what will this mean for ever seeing Scott and Emma Frost as a couple on screen?

And hinting at ideas to continue the First Class saga in sequels, he adds: "I don't want to give away certain interrelations, but let's just say there are some things that do adhere to the comic books and do so in a way the fans will get a kick out of. And those things can, perhaps, move forward into the future.

Well this is intriguing...

"That's one reason we wanted to call the film First Class even though it isn't the First Class in the comics. You couldn't really tell that story without going even earlier and explaining how they got there and how it came to be. I liked the title, so we kept it, but this is a prelude in a way that will eventually lead to the [scenarios] that fit in more clearly with the First Class comics and situations."

So BASICALLY what you're saying is... if we give you our money to see this film, you'll give us the films we REALLY want to see? ;)

Singer goes on to say: "We have younger versions of Mystique and Beast, so I'm very excited about them and what they bring to the film. Jennifer Lawrence's work [as Mystique] and Nicholas Hoult's portrayal of Beast - these are characters that we've seen in the earlier films, but then these are very different portrayals and you have to bring a lot of attention to those.

Not gonna lie. I am SO excited to see younger and hopefully more accurate versions of Mystique and Beast.

But fans needn't fret about the comics being ignored. January Jones previously admitted studying the depictions and backstory of her character, James McAvoy already told us he has looked at images of Professor Xavier and strikes the same hand-on-temple psychic pose we see in the books, and Michael Fassbender now adds that he has done his homework on the Magneto of the comics.

Okay, THIS bit is just plain awesome. THANK YOU.

Then Michael Fassbender (Magneto) magnifies the coolness by sharing his knowledge:

"Obviously, what was happening in the concentration camps and then he escaped from there with Magda, fell in love with her, then their child got burned and he ended up killing the whole town and she's like 'Whoa, this is too heavy for me, I gotta leave.' So the love of his life left him."

But we won't be witnessing all of that on the big screen, he says: "We see the stuff that's happening in the concentration camp, but you don't see that relationship (with Magda). I've just held that for my own personal use (in developing) the character, so when we meet him at the beginning of this film, he's definitely a lone wolf.

If only, if only we could see Wanda and Pietro enter into this... Oh well. It's still cool.

He concludes: "There are so many X-Men fans out there. Hopefully, they're going to be happy. They didn't seem to be happy with the last two instalments so hopefully this will please them again."

THIS. Yes. Win. Our unhappiness has not been ignored. They know what they have to win back. Encouraging... yes?

Blue Tailcoat - Part 1

So I've got another sewing project to share! I've been commissioned to create a period tailcoat based on the pattern below -- but with quite a few alterations!A look at my workspace... l-r, the pile of cut patterns, on the table is my printed correspondance with details regarding changes, and then the computer is out for easy checking on the pictures in other e-mails, and finally is my wacom tablet for making a sketch of the project.
The materials. The navy is a wool blend, the cream is a lining, and the buttons are... well, obviously buttons!
Below is a VERY rough sketch I did showing the changes I'm going to be making to the pattern. It's not perfect -- the number of buttons are off and it's missing the cuffs on the sleeves, but you can get a general idea of the color coordination.

Birthday celebrations -- when Dr. Who meets X-Men, and more!

I celebrated a birthday this weekend. After much consideration, I decided to make the theme "celebrating the inner geek" because this year I've totally come to embrace that side of myself. And also because I was dying to make a TARDIS cake. (points below)I also requested that all of my friends come as characters from something geeky. I have the coolest friends who definitely understand that dressing up is for more than just kids! Anyhow, I went as Rogue, and one of my friends came as Charlie from LOST. We decided we ought to take an action pose...
My sister came as Pixie of the X-Men! She looked just like her!

We also had Amy Pond (Dr. Who), Claire Littleton (Lost -- and she showed up with a baby doll for Aaron!), Deadpool (Marvel), Claudia Donovan (Warehouse 13), Miles (Lost), and Rose Tyler (Dr. Who). It was a blast! Especially when we played Mafia in character...

It just goes to show that you can grow up, get a job, take on all kinds of responsibilities, but you're never too old to have fun. So thank you, friends, for celebrating inner geekiness and imagination with me. :)

The Power of Cinematography

When the first film was made, cinematography was very simple. They set up a camera at one end of the room and acted out the entire scene in one wide shot. In short, it wasn't much more than a filmed play and the cinematography reflected this.

A few years down the road D.W. Griffith's released his "Birth of a Nation" and suddenly the camera became an active player in the story. Close-ups, and shots of objects came into play, drastically changing the way the story was told.

In fact, Griffiths declared at the time that film would allow us to see history objectively, as we'd be able to "watch" it ourselves and make our own judgement. And yet the very opposite was really true. Film showed us a biased view of history -- whatever the filmmaker wanted to show, and the camera was an important piece of that.

Because cinematography is far from objective. It shows us what we are meant to feel by what it focuses on. Is it a wide shot, showing the hero as a tiny speck against the background? In a break-up scene, does the camera focus on the pain of the person doing the breaking up, or the reaction of the listener? (look how your sympathy changes depending on the angle choice!). Is the camera placed high, giving the characters a feeling of smallness and insignificance? Or is the camera positioned low, making a character appear powerful or menacing?

Is the camera tilted, giving the world a feeling of being off? In "The Third Man" nearly every angle is some sort of tilt, highlighting the theme of the story which is that something is not quite right, something is missing.

What about the steadiness of the camera? Is it smooth and romantic, flowing gracefully between actors as in the 2005 "Pride and Prejudice"? Or is it hand-held and gritty, giving almost a documentary, realist feeling as in Joss Whedon's "Firefly"?

I would have to say that my all time favorite cinematography can be found in the 2005 P&P. It's graceful, lyrical, poetic, romantic. Every shot is chosen carefully to convey a very specific meaning. It's like a series of paintings, yet never looses it's sense of realism that makes the story so incredibly personal.

So let's celebrate the wonder of cinematography! I just put up the poll for "Best Cinematography" at this year's Academy Awards. Hurry up and get your vote in before it closes!

Thoughts about Worrying

Do you ever worry?

No, wait, that's probably a dumb question. I've never met someone who didn't worry at some time or another. So let me rephrase.

Do you ever spend what seems an excessive amount of time worrying?

I sure do. I worry about a lot of things. Money, relationships, projects to complete, people in trouble, past mistakes... there's always something to fret about. Which in my case is really kind of weird because I don't consider myself the sort of person who sits around and broods about things. I mean, I do, but it's not natural for me. I'd far rather look at life with joy and excitement than with worry.

I've been reading Jesus's Sermon on the Mount this week and wow, what a fantastic passage of Scripture that is. In fact, it's probably one of my absolute favorites. It's just full of so many important things for daily living. They're clearly stated, and somehow I find them so encouraging to read. (Why is that? Why does reading them make me so happy? Feel so safe?)

Yesterday I was reading Jesus's words on anxiety. The whole passage is wonderful, but I'm just going to quote the very last verse here.

"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:34

That doesn't mean that we can always just stop worrying. Worrying is both a habit and often both a symptom and cause of depression and it can be a lifelong battle to defeat.

But what I find encouraging is that Jesus says we really don't have to worry. I think sometimes we maybe feel that if we don't worry and think about what could go wrong in the future, we're somehow being careless and irresponsible. And while being prepared is good, there is such a thing as overdoing it, and I think that is what Jesus is talking about here. Do what you can do, then leave it rest, because over thinking it is only going to make you sick (and certainly not, as Jesus points out in earlier passages, add a single day to your life!).

The Red Carpet -- You could Win...

I love watching the Red Carpet arrivals at the Oscars. I mean, I'm a designer so of course I love seeing the pretty dresses. Also, the Oscars tend to be a bit more classy and modest than the other award shows so there are less cringe moments.

Here at www.elenatintil.blogspot.com we are going to have our own red carpet event! On the afternoon of the 27th (OSCAR DAY!) I will do a post including my own "formal dress" which I'll be designing, as well as whatever YOU chose to wear! All you have to do is find or draw or take a picture of what you plan to wear and send it to me at theshadowofthebear [at] ymail [dot] com by February 26th! Only restrictions are that it can't be provocative and I'll need a name of some sort to include with it! And this isn't by any means limited to girls, guys are welcome to submit their snazzy attire too!

Not a designer, but want something original? Well I've got a special treat for you! One lucky person who comments on this post is going to get chosen (by random drawing) to receive a custom sketch of the formal wear of their dreams! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before the 22nd and you could win!

Want an extra chance to win? Post a link to this post on your facebook or blog and then comment again to let me know you did so! I'll enter your name in the drawing again for every reference you make!

Finally, all of this got posted today because... *drumroll please* I just put up the poll for Best Costume Design! So head over to the right sidebar and vote!