3D on the wall

What a lonely planet full of endless trash!

Wall-E claims the top spot in US movie chart and rumored to be nominated for the next Oscars

Yeah right, I had to stop my doodling to join them in watching the film.

Now showing (on the laptop—Wall-E)…thanks Sir Romel for the file.

Wall-E you think you’re witty enough to match all the colors in the cube?

K-guys Bryan, Marx with Remi and the napping Sir Jason while watching Wall-E

Wall

8: 47pm. Breaktime scenario: I was sketching some marvel stuff from my laptop, Jay was playing the guitar and humming some rock tunes, Lyndon was munching some cookies while the rest of the K guys—Bryan, Marx, Elson were watching a new 3D film in the PC which was downloaded an hour ago by Sir Romel, Sir Jason and Sir Jeff.

So you get it right. We love breaktime coz’ it refreshes our exhausted mind and tired eyes from the whole day graffiti task of meeting the deadline. I think it’s gonna be next week so our persistence to beat the big “D” is on again. But we’re not machines and taking a break is a good chance to recharge.

Point taken, Blah blah blah… anyway, I was listening to the reaction of the K guys who were watching the downloaded movie in Sir Romel’s PC. I got interested why they are so impressed with “Wall-E”, the latest 3D animated film of Pixar, makers of Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and a lot more mega-hit 3D flicks. Bryan was so impressed how it is done and the innovative storytelling style…yes peeps, no dialogues or spoken scripts just musical score and lots of special effects. It reminds me of Charlie Chaplin done in 21^st century 3D animation, how’s that? Hehe! Bryan was one of our innovative animator who’s not afraid to push his limits to the boundaries. He’s always “out of the box” when doing his part for our projects. No wonder, he rally like the film.

Marx, Tatang and Elson are also thrilled with the film. They enjoyed it so much and couldn’t get enough of it. “Nami software nagamit nila sa Wall-E no”, Tatang quips. “Maano ka dira ya Tang, Pixar na ya nga daan ka ang ila software ya the best kag mahal-mahal,” Marx responded with boast. It’s true, Pixar is the world’s most successful animation studio aside from Walt Disney. In fact, they introduced and created a huge market for 3D animation for decades already.

“May Pilipino gani ginbalita kahapon sa TV nga isa sa nagdesign ka Wall-E”, Sir Jason said. I responded enthusiastically—“Nakita ko ‘to Sir, sa TV Patrol…nami no at least talented gid ya ang mga Pinoy sa animation”. Jay Lord is just in one corner watching closely every scene of the film. This guy is also a great innovator when it comes to our past works. He’s a big 3D fan and has proven his worth side by side with Bryan on The BEQUEST. He admits that the film is somehow one of the best 3D film had seen in a long time.

So, I couldn’t help myself but stop my doodling and jump in the ride of watching Wall-E with rest of the K-guys. Yeah right, it’s pretty brilliant, unique and wacky not to mentioned that it recently knocked some mega-hit films in the US lately including Angelina Jolie’s latest smash film—Wanted. Her charm isn’t enough to sink the Pixar’s funky little robot from the top of the blockbuster chart (even without dialogue and “blah blahs”). Cool and we really enjoyed it so much.

12:00am. Opps…breaktime is up and we need work again. Yeah right, we need to work hard like wall-E who tirelessly cleaned an abandoned earth from endless file of trash. Movie time is up and so our little film trip…

Postscript: you thought we’re done? Nope, we’ve got a synopsis of Wall-E below taken from www.rottentomatoes.com for you to grasp the thought why we love the film and it sticks in our head big time. Enjoy!

“Charming, audacious, and timely, Wall-E's lighthearted magic and stellar visuals testify once again to Pixar's ingenuity”

Wall-E

Synopsis: What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? Academy Award®-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (“The Incredibles,” “Cars,”... What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?

Academy Award®-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo”) and the inventive storytellers and technical geniuses at Pixar Animation Studios (“The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille”) transport moviegoers to a galaxy not so very far away for a new computer-animated cosmic comedy about a determined robot named WALL•E.

After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL•E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL•E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet’s future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL•E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen.

Joining WALL•E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Filled with surprises, action, humor and heart, WALL•E was written and directed by Andrew Stanton, produced by Jim Morris, co-produced by Lindsey Collins and features original and innovative sound design by Academy Award®-winner Ben Burtt (“Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”). The film was released last June 27, 2008.

TOTRP (Top of the Rock Pop)

Hex pick--KC Concepcion’s new song shows more of her creative soul!

Jay the guitarist (during breaktime).

Elson pick---Bamboo band is not just your average Redhorse endorser, they can rock!

Rush pic of Hex and Jay!

Elson pick---Papa Roach, great rock band

Hex pick---Melanie B is hot with her Austin Powers 2 soundtrack

Kuris animators like to lip-synch Tenacious D songs (ask Brynh with his youtube.com stuff)

Jay, are you going to sleep with your guitar?

Marx’s pick--- Tenacious D, insane duo that makes Jack Black crazier

Hex and Kadulom in crazy look

Listen

We hate pop intros. But we love hate songs… literally, we do. It’s not that we hate life and listen to hate songs because these stuff rocks these days. No, we don’t even have illusions of becoming some insane rockstar. Just plain and simple--Music is the soundtrack of our life. It just happens that there’s so much reality to digest and sometimes we don’t intend to get choke on these stuff. Life is good when you’ve got something to listen to and live with the reality of being you, the misunderstood you.

Kuris “cryptic” animators are not just your average amateur artists who happen to “tambay in your kalye” and holler “pre inom anay diri” whenever pals pass by. Believe me, our existence isn’t that much shallow and desperate. Though we may be carefree sometimes and knows how to party hard, we do it artistically---internalize this: “gainom man kami kon kis-a eh, sino manol haw, hehe!”

Forget the previous paragraph I wrote. I know it’s irrelevant. We should talk about music now and music is something we love digging our heart and heads with it… all the time.

So here it is…while sinking our consciousness to catch up with the deadline of the special project this weekend. In between work, we splashed some of our TOP 10 fave songs that rocks our head all the time…and saturate our MP3 players 24/7.

So, listen up people!

ELSON ZEN’s SOUND VAULT--- MP3 freak?

Your Call by Secondhand

Scars by Papa Roach

Guillotine by Urbandub (OPM man ni?)

Missing you by First Lady (basi si Imelda M. ang nagkanta? Lango-lango lang)

Sandali Lang by Silent Sanctuary

Tensionado by Soapdish (abi ko habon nga hamot)

Sana Sinabi by Soapdish (abi ko habon nga labada)

Much Has Been Said by Bamboo (endorser man ni sang Redhorse? hehe)

Broken by Secondhand

Kismet by Silent Sane (never heard ni ya)

RONELO HEX’s MYX MATCH--- future text/luvloud

Impossible by KC Concepcion

Just Dance by Lady Gaga featuring Akon (paaman lang siya?)

Feels Like Tonight by Daughtry (kalbo nga American idol pro baskog)

Feel The Sun by Melanie C (unreleased single, Northernstar)

It Must Have Been Love by KC Concepcion (unreleased pa lang ni sa CD ya)

Potential Breakup Song by Aly and AJ (kapid nga gwapa a)

Release by Timbaland (amo ni ang music sang bag-o namon nga music video!)

Ring My Bell by Enrique Iglesias

Word Up by Melanie B featuring Timbaland (Austin Powers 2 theme)

4 In The Morning by Gwen Stefanie

MARX DARK ROCK LIST—crazy/sexy/cool/rockid

I Got A Girl by Tripping Daisy (rakista ang hilig mo, mayo a!)

Talkshow On Mute by Incubus (Baskog ni nga banda di bla?)

This Side by Nickleback

Hey Now by FM Static (weirdo gid ya mga kanta mo a)

Scars by Papa Roach

Bezzleboss by Tenacious D (gin-lipsing nyo man ni Brynh di bla?)

All That I’ve Got by The Used

Best I Ever Had by Vertical Horizon

Moment of Truth by Second Hand Serenade

Fuck Her Gently by Tenacious D (daw buang ni nga singer no?)

JAY LORD’s SONGHITS---guitarist-wannabe

I Don’t Love U by My Chemical Romance (emo fan ka man no?)

Black Parade by My Chemical Romance

Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance

Cancer by My Chemical Romance

Helena by My Chemical Romance (tani inubos mo na lang bilong nga album,hehe)

Teenagers by My Chemical Romance (ari pa gid ho!)

Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden

Queen Of My Heart by Westlife (baw mahilig ka man sa boyband?)

You and Me by Lifehouse

Kabit by Gagong Rapper (sin-o ni ya man? Hehe)

To be continued….sort of!

Graphic reveries

Kuris animators with Sir Benjie Marasigan (second from the left), ACPI Secretary and a prominent animation instructor in Manila at UP Iloilo last February.

Some of these original Kuris characters take part in an epic animated project—LAPIS: Quest for the Lost Key

“The BEQUEST: Barter of Panay” poster designed by Marx Ydroy Silva

The BEQUEST final poster with the final line up of presenters and major sponsors, digital graphics --Bryan Jandonero, Brynh De Los Reyes and Marx Ydroy Silva

The Kuris peeps are working hard to prove more… and dream better for the future of Ilonggo animation

Work

We got to work, work things out. Though the special project is tough and has been giving us inspiring self-esteem boost, still the call of destiny as Kuris Animators pulls us back to where we used to be.
Yes, we do believe that life is up made of choices. For us, we choose to become what we are now. Whatever regrets and stumble we face along the way, we let it go in the past. We have to move forward and don’t let hesitation pull us back.
I hate lectures. We hate overblown blabbings in this blog. So if we are moving forward, we are doing it without regret.
BEQUEST BEAT
Animahenasyon, Animation Council of the Philippine’s Animation Festival is set to happen on November. Sir Benjie Marasigan, an experienced animation instructor in one of the prestigious animation schools in Manila informed us. In his brief glimpse of The BEQUEST last February when he was invited as a speaker for content development on comics and animation at UP Iloilo, he expressed positive feedback and (I guess, this is true and solid) hailed it big time. He never thought that Ilonggos particularly the Kurisans could make such refine animation even with a tight budget, manpower and time (take note: less than 15-12 amateur animators, not more than 60 days or two months in-the-making animated short film).
We can’t forget his sharp words uttered right in the front of hot-tongue UP students/critics: “Baka kailangan n’yo ng trabaho sabihin nyo lang?” and “kailangan pa bang i-critic to? Eh, ang layo-layo ng improvements sa ipinakita ninyo kanina (referring to the Adventures of TASI, our first project)”. We brought down the house even in the last minute of the conference.
Now, we couldn’t ask more for The BEQUEST even if it didn’t literally made us filthy rich. The enrichment of kind words and inspiration we got from other people or fellow Ilonggos who saw the short film at SM City Cinema 7 last January 25 was enough to keep our dreams moving on. Not all things can be bought by money or job stability. We know we made a good start and a difference to other people who saw Dinagyang in the form of animation, an all-Ilonggo work. Okay, we can’t brag everything coz’ the music we used in the film are taken from foreign artists. But hey, it was a good start and yes, historical in some way (count on GMA Ratsada, The Daily Guardian, RMN AM station for the coverage).
So, we are determined to make The BEQUEST even more appealing and competitive by adding several animated scenes, re-edit the musical scoring into more original sounds created by an Ilonggo music artist (guess who?), and a lot more. I think everybody in the group is okay with the plan… The new and improved version of The BEQUEST would be our entry for Animahenasyon! Nope, we don’t expect to win. We only want to break our limitations and prove that Ilonggos rocks with animation.
LAPIS LOOP
Since our first attempt to create cultural statement with The BEQUEST, our other original story, “LAPIS: Epic of the Lost Key” is next in line. Don’t you know that our first attempt to try our hands with 3D animation was with Lapis? Well, it is really true and thanks to Bryan who convinced me to open up my mind about 3D. After three days of practicing 3D animation with simple software we download in the internet, the promising tandem of Bryan and Jay Lord with my crazy concept of the story spawned the “teaser trailer” of LAPIS (it is still shown at youtube.com). It was unveiled after five days of work last November at Museo Iloilo for the “Kinarton” animation exhibit. Everybody was wondering how does 2D animation trainees learned 3D? Well, we call it persistence and perseverance. Anyway, Lapis is a reflection of our appreciation for Ilonggo culture, history, landmarks and expression of our imaginations that would be given a twist. I mean, real big twist.
Time skip—Present: the title was changed to “LAPIS: Quest for the Lost Key”. We need to change it to fit the project proposal that we made. And we are eventually happy since there is a generous soul and an artist by heart who voluntarily transformed our Lapis storyline into movie screenplay. Though we exchange ideas through email (she’s in Manila and we’re here in Iloilo), she understood how important it is to bring the project to the next level. We believe in her talent to turn our “rough thoughts” and “crazy imaginations” into gold. She’s ten times better writer than me, I guess.
WAFFLE WRAP
Whenever friends and generous sponsors take our dreams up, we realize how lucky we are. They believe we have the guts and the talent while they have the resources to empower us with hope. Yes, we will be working for another project that would make a mark for Ilonggo animators. This time, we will be trying our luck with commercial appeal and boosting a product with our talent in animation. Though the TF isn’t going to be huge, the consolation and inspiration we would get is “trust” from them and a chance to prove ourselves again.
Today, Sir J approved our proposal and we would be signing contracts this week to make the project officially legal. I might text the Kurisans to inform them of the good news and we hope we could wrap up everything before we could start.
Friendship is our investment. It is our key to unlock the door of passion.
Blogging end…Kuris out!

Sumptuous break

It’s time to go home after a whole week of pressure and a sumptuous meal.

Sir Naci enjoys texting before the meal.

“Excuse me, I’ll order Coke,” Marx says while the rest enjoyed chatting with Sir Naci.

Jay and Marx keeping it cool while the meal is not yet served

Kuris guys waiting for a scrumptious lunch with Sir Naci at Pecho Pak. I guess everybody looks excited to savor the meal, hehe!

Sunday

It's Sunday again. The group is extremely exhausted from the pressure they have gone through for the past few days. The newcomers in the special project--Lyndon and me are going through a lot of taught times. I personally told the Kuris guys that I am grateful for their patience and my persistence to master the photoshop. I know that is the basic skill we need to learn just to make it good in our assigned tasks. So when the deadline came by Saturday evening, we knew that we have to do our best so that we can relax the following day. Earlier that day, some project heads made fun of someone's brief being left behind in one corner of the room. Nobody would want to claim it because it would be embarrassing but still at the end of the day someone really claimed it was his brief, hehe. What can we do about it but laugh our heart out. After all, it was fun being part of a project team with various personalities and attitudes.

This morning, we woke up pass 10am. Our project heads will bring our outputs in Manila to submit it for approval from the clients. The rest of us should take a break. But before we left, Sir Naci invited us for his little treat-- a sumptuous lunch at Pecho Pak, a nearby resto outside the school. Well, who would not accept a generous offer from a kind project head and a good fellow. For the past few days since we started joining the project (Sir Naci, Lyndon and me composed the added new team in the project this week), he was so kind to us that he offered to shoulder all our lunch and dinner expenses. Not only that, the rest of the group Marx, Tatang, Bryan, Jay, Elson and Remi (another graphic artist who joined a month earlier) were part of his treat.

We were so amazed how good and kind this teacher to us who taught Math subjects in WVCST by day and spent time making brilliant module with us. I personally admire his optimism and generosity to everybody. In fact, he was a great achiever himself by graduating as Cum Laude and a born student leader during his college years. He reminds me of Sir Kaloy who was also a brilliant teacher, a true motivator and a Cum Laude as well in college. Very honestly, I must say that both of these teachers don’t have air in their heads. Unlike other people whom I knew taking up masteral are so overblown with ego and boastful attitude. I think real witty and talented people don’t have to blow their trumpets and let other people discover what they are truly made of.

Well, going back to the Sir Naci's treat, our day was so perfect that he ordered us two big bowls of fish sinigang, one whole chicken and two litro of Coke. Of course, exhausted and stressed, the Kuris guys along with Remi, we savor a good meal and enjoyed it so much. We talk a lot about life and how each of us deals with it. I love the concept that each of us has their own story to tell. Much to our admiration, Sir Naci has his own interesting story to tell like how he used to love watching movies every weekend when he was in college, his dreams in life and his optimism to wait for the right time to settle down. Lyndon, as usual is very open to us with his life and the hard times he had gone through. But what I like about him is his persistence to take life so easily and never let his misery pull him down. We all need that strength sometimes to get through the bad day.

When the clock strikes 1pm, it's time for us to go home. We all have our own directions to go. The rest of the Kuris guys are heading for Marx house to take a rest. Yes, Lyndon is fond of calling Marx's house as the Kurisan's Big Brother home. When we are there, everything is chaotic but full of funny moments. Promise, we will talk about our old and new Big Brother houses. These places make us Kuris Animators by heart and soul-- the best time we spent together is in our Big Brother houses. For now, we need a break. Monday is another work day and the rest of the week.

Postscript: Kuris Talk will resume in the coming weeks with new interviews from Carmz, Lyndon and Bebs. And guess who will be the first Kuris peep to get featured in "Kuris Art" (it might be Kyle or Marx…dont' know yet). And yes, we will give you updates on our preparation for LAPIS: Quest of the lost key and The BEQUEST extended version soon.