Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Sunday, March 14th, 2021

Broton, the Middle Management Zygon!

by Warren

Years ago I told fellow RFSian Steven Schapansky about my idea for Broton: Middle Management Zygon, the tale of a harried executive and the nightmare company he works for, in action dolly form. Years later I’ve finally put together first episde, which you can watch below!

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2021

New nonsense!

by Warren

It’s been a while (and a pandemic) since I’ve posted much of anything on here. I figured I might as well show some of the short and silly things I’ve been doing in the past year. These are from most to least recent, I think.

First up, here’s the adventures of Tony & Steve: Time Jerks, two belligerent universe-hopping versions of Tony Stark and Steve Rodgers as they wreak havoc across the time-space continuum…

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Friday, July 31st, 2015

The trouble with Star Trek

by Warren

kirk-khan-shoutStar Trek is sick, and the cure for what ails it isn’t another bombastic brofest.

Allow me to explain. Though I’m best known as a Doctor Who nerd, my first introduction to science fiction in a visual medium was Star Trek. As a six-year old in the mid-70s I was intrigued by the colorful costumes and derring-do of the original series, and I never really lost that interest until the series started hitting the dirt around the mid-point of Voyager.

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Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

Vancouver Comic Jam!

by Warren

Rather than stare at my computer on a Saturday night, as per usual, I made my way out to Main St last weekend and took part in the Vancouver Comic Jam, which is a cool sit-down involving drawing a panel of a one page comic and passing it on to the rest of the group to finish. As you might imagine, the results can be odd, funny or both. Check out this month’s drawings and see if you can pick out my infantile doodlings!

Sunday, May 24th, 2015

Hacked!

by Warren

Had some weird stuff happen with the blog. Hackers tossing spam into the world, apparently by hiding in the theme of the site. So I had to change the theme around to hopefully flush their vile scripts into hell, hence the (temporary?) new look.

 

Sunday, December 7th, 2014

What I’ve been up to – December 2014

by Warren

I have been a bad, bad blogger and have not updated this site in quite some time. There are reasons for that, from mundane things like work, life and more work, to interesting projects that have demanded all my attention. These projects are as follows!

I wrote a story called “Crowsnest Past” for Seasons of War, the unofficial War Doctor anthology due out early next year. It’s got a “young” War Doctor, rural Canada, homicidal robopeople and shotgunning of beer. What more do you want? How about many more stories by incredibly talented writers, all of them devoting their time to a good cause. A big shout out to writer and gentleman Declan May, who has ably shepherded the anthology into its present state and deserves buckets of praise for his tireless work.

The cause in question is the Cauldwell Children, which helps out families of autistic children as well as the kids themselves. The anthology has to date raised over 3,00o pounds, and all of it goes to the charity.

I also wrote a story that appears in Dark Tales from Elder Regions: New York, an anthology of ghoulish and ghastly horror tales set in NYC. My story, “The None Percent,” tackles the thorny problem of what an ultra-wealthy Wall Street magnate does with himself once he’s shuffled off this mortal coil, and all that’s left is his coal-black soul. You can pick up Dark Tales from Elder Regions up now from Amazon or directly from Myth Ink Books.

What else? Well, work continues on Bookshelf Doctors and Master Control, my ode to days gone by in the televisual trade (which is also hosted on the Bookshelf Doctors site). And I have a few more irons in the fire, which I will discuss when they go from “warming up” to “oww, that’s scorching.”

Friday, August 29th, 2014

Otaku no Video!

by Warren

Confession time: I was an anime fan in the early 90s. Back then it was tough to find anime, and watching the stuff was difficult, with 4th generation fansubbed VHS tapes regarded as a major find. Anime was a predominantly male (and Asian) hobby at the time, something that has massively shifted over the last two decades.

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Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

The Bookshelf Doctors Gotham deserves

by Warren

And here it is.

Batman and 3!

Batman and 3!

Friday, November 15th, 2013

Visual effects we still can’t get right

by Warren

For all the razzle-dazzle of current CGI, there are still a few areas where we’re left wanting. New York Metro details four things movies still can’t convincingly pull off.

My own additions to this list would include some creature effects, as only top end digital beasties like Gollum or…well, Gollum seem to be utterly convincing. Creature animation has always been the toughest part of VFX animation and that won’t change no matter how many petaflops you throw at the problem. Andy Serkis is the reason Gollum works..or at least he’s a component of the hard work everyone puts in to make you forget Gollum isn’t there.

But even when effects are utterly convincing, as they are in Man of Steel or Avatar, you still check out a little bit. It’s all just so “big” that you brain slides into apathy. Alien jungle? Check. Entire city collapsing? Meh. You don’t want to, or at least I don’t, but you care a little bit less about the goings-on because it’s all stunningly common-place.

I think it might also have something to do with the overriding subject. Gravity has two characters and a very simple goal; survive. It also employs stunning effects that you don’t question, because you care more about the characters than you do about pixels flying around. It’s a very thin tightrope, and to maintain that tension the effects have to be both invisible and impeccable, but Gravity pulls it off. Minus an Alfonso Cuaron at the helm, the likelihood of that combination declines sharply.

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Things you should listen to on the internets

by Warren

It’s been a while since I’ve run through my list of podcasts I listen to (and, less often nowadays, watch) so here’s a compilation of some of the newest and greatest:

Canadaland: Jesse Brown’s new thing takes aim at the Canadian media. About time somebody did.
Nerdist Writer’s Panel: The Nerdist network’s flagship podcast with Chris Hardwick can be pretty hit and miss. When he has a good guest, it’s gold, but sometimes it’s just kind of meh. Not so with the Nerdist Writer’s Panel, which is almost always chock full of interesting conversations with writiers of tv, film and comic books.
Inkstuds: Speaking of comic books, this local offering is a cornucopia of great interviews with comic book creators from the strictly indie end of the spectrum. Definitely worth a listen.
Cinema Sewer Podcast: Robin Bougie is a local filth merchant and the publisher of Cinema Sewer, a zine that celebrates the best in sleaze. He’s just started a podcast covering the same material, and it’s remarkably polished.
That Post Show: Kanen Flowers is an indie filmmaker out of Portland, Oregon. The show has a cast of regulars and can get very technical, which depending on your familiarity with the tools being discussed, but if you’re into post-production it’s well worth a listen.

All these audio entertainments cost you only your time, so go check them out.

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