I thought Inglorious Bastards was good but not great. Sorry guys. I think the honour of Quentin's best work goes to "Kill Bill". Pulp Fiction was very good while Reservoir Dogs - by the time I got to watch it - had been so pumped up, I felt it was overrated.

Django Unchained looks like a return to style similar to Kill Bill and I like it. and what a cast. Take a look here:

Didn't that look good? It may well be the Southern that Tarantino envisioned.

- Josh

This one caught me by surprise. Here's a computer animated movie starring John C. Reilly, and it's about video game characters! And has Bowser, Dr. Robotnik, Zangief, M. Bison and a Clyde from Packman. Seriously, take a look: 

It looks good but pretty tame considering voice acting contributions by Jane Lynch and Sarah Silverman. Also Director Rich Moore put some time in on the racy Drawn Together series! Then again, it's Disney and how would it be to have current childhood video game characters' imagine tarnished by offensive humour! 

This one al' probably be a charming family watch.... which I have mixed feelings about.

-Josh

Being a huge fan of creativity, picking up this book was a no brained. All too often, a lot of other books with "creativity" as a focus come with plenty of suggestions for practice but rarely make reference to the science and research to back it up. This book is the opposite; that is that it has all kinds of examples of Science and research concerning creativity but little in terms of real application.

Sure, you learn about left brain versus right and the role of different brain structures and the complex interactions that contribute to creativity. You learn about different company approaches to boost creativity, about 3M and shakespeare and community. But it doesn't get to the specifics - how research on Broadway translates to practical application to small theater or even that it does.

To be fair, it's about "how creativity works" and not how to apply what you've learned. Because it's lacking that important specificity, you'll get the most out of this book if you have an invested interest and already have some ideas about creativity, then this book becomes important in that it provides good information and has great potential to inspire. If you have the foundation you'll be more apt to make connections, though the book itself can serve as a foundation for you to make your own connections about your life, creative ventures and workplace.

Overall, it's well written, so at the very least it'll be an easy read, but I can't help but think some might say of this book "yes, that's interesting, but so what?"

- Josh

To no one's surprise there will be a release of the collected marvel superhero movies leading up to the Avengers movie.  Here's what Amazon.com is describing will come in the briefcase:

• Marvel’s The Avengers (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray) 
• Captain America: The First Avenger (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray) 
• Thor (Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray) 
• Iron Man 2 (Blu-ray) 
• The Incredible Hulk (Blu-ray) 
• Iron Man (Blu-ray) 
• Bonus Disc - “The Phase One Archives” (Blu-ray) 
• Collectible packaging with exclusive memorabilia from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

In short, this shiny briefcase will include a lot if not all of the movies that Avengers fans will already own... Which kind of sucks. Wait, who am I kidding, die hard Avengers fans will go out and buy this anyways. See, this is just the beginning of the re-releases that Star Wars and Lord of the Rings fans have had to begrudgingly endure for quite some time now (and Lord of the Rings fans should expect again with the Hobbit movie coming up). 

Hopefully this phase one package will house some great extras not available otherwise. Hec, if the price is right, I might have to pick this up.

- Josh

No... So I was walking through Wallmart the other day when I came across "The Haunted Anthology", that contains: 

Insidious (2011)
The Blair witch project (1999)
The last exorcism (2010)
The others (2001)
1408 (2007)

Now that doesn't seem like too bad a collection even though the horror movies are of varying quality (which I would have difficulty calling any of them modern horror classics). What's most nasty in this case is the price (amazon.ca has it listed at 43.49 for DVD and 61.49 on Blu-ray (Taken on June 4th/2012)). All of those movies are old enough that I could throw together the same collection myself scanning the DVD bins of my local second hand store at near half the cost. Blu-ray might be a little harder to come by but I wouldn't say impossible.

Many times I'm all for these convenient collection packages, but in this case I would suggest skipping it and picking these up individually. 

- Josh

The art style helps determines more than the look of a game, it also impacts on the feel. Gamers need only to watch the art direction video for D3 [HERE] to hear them say plainly what direction they were heading in with D3... and the style IS a departure from the look and feel of the first two. The style was not a "painterly" one in D1 and 2.

Now hold on a sec. I didn't say it was a bad thing, just that it was different. I got to see D3 in action, and it is pretty stunning.  Too, a lot of the elements that were at the heart of D3's predecessors are still there. This, while more of a subtle change in comparison, is like the departure in style seen in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. Many skeptics were pleased to find after playing it, that it was still a zelda game, as different as it looked and even garnered a fanbase for toon-link. Still though, it wasn't everyone's cup of tea because style matters. Style is important. Like how say the claymation in "the nightmare before christmas" helped create that atmosphere, that feel that helped make the movie so popular. In a similar but different way, it's how some find the 2D monsters of final fantasy 4 (2 in America/Canada) lose there awesome Amano inspired design in translation to 3D. 

When things are said using an art style or direction, it has a certain look and feel. But when the same  things are said using another art style, the look and feel changes. With that change is an opportunity to explore new dimensions the style provides. New things can be discovered and expanded on.

Taste can be subjective, people will cling to what they know and love, but where there's a visual change in direction, the look and feel of a game changes. Whether we stop to think about it or not.

- Josh 

Ugh, tired of that hard slog through honing your craft? Be it writing, drawing, sowing, whatever... Displeased with results or can't find the time to continue? It happens. Creating isn't always fun and often times it's a lot of work. That's the reality. 

Because sometimes we forget why it is that we started something, try to complete the exercise below. Those reasons for doing can be important motivation. When you're done completing the exercise, keep it in a place where you'll remember where it is. Maybe stick it in a journal, or to a mirror. Hold on to it as a reminder as to why it is you do what you do.

1) The reason I [insert activity here e.g. Write] is because: 

2) list some things that you would like to accomplish with [insert activity here e.g. Drawing]:

3) What would it be like if you could never [insert activity here e.g. Sow] again? If you couldn't accomplish what you set out to?

The answers to the exercise above should give you insight into some of your motivations but also how what you hope to accomplish might not be in line with what the reasons were that you started in the first place. That last question can help you sort out your priorities. 

Creating is wonderful. It's time and energy consuming. Advancing your skill can be tiring if not even painful... But creating is wonderful.

- Josh