Ahh, the Oscars ! Who watched?  for those who missed it, you didn't miss a whole lot. There was an interesting Cirque de Soleil bit, an honest, emotional moment for Octavia Spencer, Meryl  Streep had another win, and Billy Crystal was moderately funny.

Here's a little post Oscar funny: Check out Mike Myers' Oscar Etiquette skit with Kevin Kline., it's pretty good:

and the deleted scenes youtube vid is just as good. I included it below.

  In case you were wondering, here are the Nominees and winners for this years Oscars (2012):

Best Picture:

The Artist                            WINNER!     
The Descendants
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Pa ris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse


Actor in a leading role:

Demián Bichir
A Better Life

George Clooney
The Descendants

Jean Dujardin                        WINNER!
The Art ist

Gary Oldman
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt
Moneyball


Actor in a supporting role:
 
Kenneth Branagh
My Week with Marilyn

Jonah Hill
Moneyball

Nick Nolte
Warrior

Christopher Plummer      WINNER!
Beginners

Max von Sydow
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close


Actress in a leading role:

 Glenn Close
Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis
The Help

Rooney Mara
The Girl with the Dragon Tatt oo

Meryl Streep           WINNER!
The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams
My Week with Marilyn


Actress in a supporting role:


 Bérénice Bejo
The Art ist

Jessica Chastain
The Help

Melissa McCarthy
Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer
Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer       WINNER!
The Help


Directing:
 
The Artist 
Michel Hazanavicius         WINNER!

The Descendants
Alexander Payne

Hugo
Martin Scorsese

Midnight in Pa ris
Woody Allen

The Tree of Life
Terrence Malick


-Josh

Yesterday, I was able to get together with Korey Jennings, a friend of mine over some beers. While we enjoyed some ale at the Garrison, a local pub, I got to talk to him about his recent dabbling in the realm of creativity, namely, with rage comics.

Not too long ago he had described himself as not being very creative. Yet here he is now, making posts to Facebook on the things he makes. 

Korey tells me that he has had ideas about what things are funny – but how do you make something of it? The answer in this case is a readily accessible rage comic building program that gave him the means to get what was floating around on the inside - out. The beauty was that this program was conveniently placed in a location where Korey regularly went to take a look at the rage comics of others. So not only was creating facilitated by this program, but it allowed him to get his ideas out in a format that was already well received and sought out. Taken a step further, the website where the program was found served as a forum where he could submit his work and have his stuff be reviewed. Talk about all these factors encouraging creativity!

Keep your eyes open for things that can help you create. Suspend your own belief about how creative you are and try something out – like rage comics – or uncooked pancake mix…

See Korey’s rage comics below. You’ll know what I’m talking about.

- Josh

I gotta say, I wasn't looking forward to Borderlands 2 until now.

I bought and played the original Borderlands when it came out. It was an excellent game to play with a friend. Forget all this move to online multiplayer, there ain't nothing like sitting down with a good friend and starting up a game that can turn the day into a gaming marathon. Thing was though, the experience got stale after a while. It was because of the in game environment, the lack of diversity. There is only so much of the same type desert landscapes I can take.

Thankfully, it looks like Borderlands 2 put in some different landscapes and it's expanded in more than just that area! Check out the Launch trailer for more.  

It kept the split screen! Excellent. The trailer looks great. I'm willing to wager gamers are already planning on taking some time off this September! What do you think?

- Josh

In case you missed it, 20th Century Fox decided to drop a nice little “V” day gift for us on Tuesday. It was in the form of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire hunter” international Trailer. Sure, we got a taste with a trailer and behind-the-scenes look before it, but this one really shows Lincoln’s disdain for blood suckers. It looks really good. Take a peek.

Was that Abe? Carving up vampires whilst walking atop a train? Did you see his Axe skills? He pretty much levelled a tree in one crushing blow... I think it’s safe to say that I wanna see this.

-Josh

Because I’m hopeful and love horror movies, I thought I’d share the new trailer for “Intruders” starring Clive Owen and Clarice Van Houten. It’s directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo who also Directed “28 weeks later”, which was a decent watch overall and had a pretty awesome beginning.

So here’s a trailer with more than a little “which one’s seeing things? The girl? Or the father?” coupled with unrelenting tense music. Take a look:

“There was no one there John”, “So you think I’m crazy do you?” Those are the tell tale signs that either the father or the daughter is in fact hollow face. Maybe we’ll be in for some cool visuals at least. Kind of like Kirsten Stewart in “The Messenger”. Overall mediocre to bad movie but had some pretty sweet visuals. Like that thing on the ceiling. What the hec was that!? Sooo good.

- Josh

Recently I had the honour of interviewing a good friend, Kevin Boudreau. Besides being the main editor for this website, he is also a blog contributor and someone I bounce ideas off of. An avid reader just about all his life, he has taken to dedicating more time to thinking about and delving into creative writing within the last 5 years. He has been especially active in creating after having agreed to work with me in a project we have talked about for some time. 

 
So beyond offering his valuable time to this site`s expansion and evolution, he has also surrendered time for me to pick his brain on a few ideas and challenges many creators think about and struggle with.

 
Josh: You`ve said that you haven`t really gotten into writing before about five years ago; what was the spark that got you started?

Kevin: I don`t know, I think I always wanted to; it was always in the back of my mind. When you are a reader like I am and are constantly reading you can`t help but think: I have this idea, I wonder how it would work? But honestly it`s after talking to you, getting to know you a little more, reading some of your stuff that I thought: maybe I should try this.

Josh: How come you haven`t really written anything before those five years?

Kevin: I never really took the time. It was in the back of my mind. It was like: someday I`ll try it.

Josh: Too, you and I have talked about this in the past. Thoughts like: This isn`t good enough, or no one is going to get this can be a barrier to people getting what`s inside of them out.

Kevin: The people who are really creative and really touch people are the ones that don`t let that stop them.

Josh: And to be fair, there are those who create things that we might not find appealing but still manage to get their stuff out there, to get published. How important is that to you that you touch someone with your work?

Kevin: I`m afraid that nobody will get it, that no one will get anything out of it. Somebody will do what I do, read the first page and put it aside.

Josh: But you`re writing now, How do you push past some of these concerns? These obstacles?

Kevin: I think the main thing with me is that I don`t think anyone will read my writing. It`s just something to do that`s inside of me... that I want to do.

Thinking that I want to do this for me is part of it. It`s thinking that nobody will ever see it, it`s just for me.

Josh: What`s creativity? Is it a kind of synthesis of ideas, of all these things around you?

Kevin: You see something, you read something, it’s got to have an effect on you, of course it gets you thinking about this or that, how could this have turned out, how would you have done it differently. I think that’s really the basis of creativity.

I don`t think it`s a conscious effort by someone to copy something. It`s just like life: Every decision you make is based on your experience. When you're being creative, it`s based on your creative experience.

Josh: You and I are working on a project. We decided to commit to working on a story together for a year. I do a chapter one month; you do a chapter the next. It`s a twist on the creative process. We had some brief talks about the story line, but decided to leave the rest up to our imaginations as we go along. How`d you find finishing your chapter?

Kevin: I had a couple of ways I wanted to go with it. Basically, it wrote itself, I had a couple ideas about things I wanted to happen, but the details just kinda came out as I typed.

Josh: One sitting? A couple of sittings?

Kevin: Two sittings. My Chapter accidentally got erased. The first thing I wrote (the part that was erased), I really liked it, the second time, it didn`t sound the same, I guess I felt a little discouraged. I put it aside. I came back to it; I read it, said ok this is good and went from there.

Josh: So the second time, different frame of mind, That`s what the motivator was. Now, we`re thinking that we might post our project on the website in the upcoming months. It will be something to look out for.

I want to hear about your experience reading. When did you start really reading for fun? How much do you read now?

Kevin: I can remember when I was a kid, so young, the first thing It seemed I could do was read. I never stopped.

These days I read a book every couple of weeks.

Josh: What keeps you coming back to searching out the next good book? What keeps you reading?

Kevin: A lot of it has to do with the writing. It`s gotta be well written, have good characters, have a good storyline.

Josh: We were talking about putting a book aside if it doesn`t catch your interest. If an experience with an author is bad, then you are less likely to pick up another one of their books. Accurate?

Kevin: When you try anything and have a bad experience with it, you’re not going to go back to that. Right? You don`t want that disappointment again, I mean to me, reading is so much enjoyment, I don’t want it to be a chore, I don`t want to have to think about it too much, I just want to enjoy it.

Josh: Time is precious. Any realizations about writing you want to share?

Kevin: Thinking about some of the stuff I want to write, I realise, the biggest obstacle I have is myself, just to get myself started.

I`d like to thank Kevin for his honest and insightful interview. Writers and creators alike have many of the same thoughts. The very standards we apply to consuming the creative works of others can sometimes be the standards that stem our own creative ventures. But when it comes down to something you want to do – something inside of you, sometimes it`s just a matter of time before it comes out. Why not now?

-Josh

That’s right; The Dark Opera Marquee is now home to over 100 posts! Topics range from posts on movie trailers to articles like “5 reasons why you should own a Mannequin” to “Tips on Goal Setting”.

Help us celebrate by spreading the word that the Marquee section has grown up and filled out! Take some time to skim our earlier posts for little gems you might have missed. In case you haven’t noticed, the site has been bulking up in other domains as well, with some great new content on the way.

Thanks for sticking with us! And here’s to 100 more!

- Josh

Everybody seems to love the Bourne Trilogy with Matt Damon. So why not go ahead and adapt the fourth novel in the Bourne series to film? Add some Jeremy Renner, mix in some new actors with old and here’s what you get as a teaser. Take a look.

Sure, it’s not too much to go on. Gotta love the set up though, where Bourne was only the tip of the iceberg. Hec, the original movie trilogy could only be the tip of the iceberg with possible Bourne Betrayal, Bourne sanction, Bourne deception, Bourne objective and Bourne Dominion adaptations. A meatier trailer might give us a better idea of what the new direction has in store. 

-Josh

Horror's been everywhere. It's been in the suburbs, in the city, in the sewers, the swamps, mountains, caves, and even on boats. Yes, it's been in the air. But has it been there enough? How else can horror at high altitudes surprise and frighten?

Enter movie: "7500"  as another entry into high flying horror and this one's directed by Takashi Shimizu of "The Grudge" fame.... And it's got Amy Smart from Butterfly effect. Take a look.

Not crazy about the "Leaving, on a jet plane" rendition. Too, there isn't a whole lot to get excited about. At the very least it doesn't show anything that is outright disappointing... so maybe it might be good.

- Josh

The Dark Opera Marquee serves as a place to celebrate creativity. But there is much more to the Dark Opera website than its Marquee.

The tabs above will take you to various other sections of the website – some darker than others.

Be sure to scour every inch of the “Creative Works” section from The Dark Opera’s online Novel: 29 Digit Lock, to the haunting short stories.

This just in, Short Story: “Rotting Colossus”

If you'd like to cross dark domains to a beach where a beast lies beached and broken. Click on through to “Creative Works”, “Short Stories” and prepare for your assault on that dark colossus that lies in wait.