Now, this is not something you see everyday. This guy used a 140 sq foot room to build a kick-ass diorama of the infamous Battle of Hoth campaign from “Empire Strikes Back”. What is most impressive is how he captures the action with the smart use of “smoke” and “explosions”. The second video reveals some of the (not so magic) tricks involved in creating these displays. It’ll take your breath away because IMO, it looks as someone just pressed a pause button freezing a real explosion!
I’ve come to realize that portrayal of food, or..actual eating scenes in movies are rarely seen unless they are of an important part of the plot. Well, I think there’s a good reason for this, eating civilized while speaking is not easy, and I am sure this is not taught in acting school. You simply cannot risk wasting takes due to actor(s) spraying food particles on either the camera or each other. But despite the difficulties of filming such eating/dining scenes, I see lots of movies where actors do indeed perform in such a natural way where eating food in a scene looks so easy. If I was to decide, I would’ve given Oscar nominations for well executed eating scenes.
Ocassionally we see a few eating/dining scenes in movies that simply blow one away. They are in every respect just as impressive as any complex action- and special effects shot. Here I present my top 5 eating/dining scenes of all times:
1) Hans Landa eating Strudel in “Inglorious Basterds”
Whipped cream is mandatory.
What more should I say..this scene is basically built around Christopher Waltz’ character Hans Landa eating Strudel, and boy, he eats that pastry with such perfection and technical skill that I almost drooled on my lap when I saw this scene at the cinema. This scene pleases me so much that I wish they sold Strudels here, such that I could eat WHILE watching this very scene. Mmm..a Strudel is best served with either vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, custard or vanilla sauce.
2) Hans Landa drinking milk in “Inglorious Basterds”
The thing is, I want to have a glass of MILK when I watch this scene even though I am not thirsty. Now, fetch me a cow.
3) Cypher eating steak in “The Matrix”
Again, the steak in this scene represents an important part of the plot. And when Joe Pantoliano chews that steak, I know that “The Matrix” was worth watching.
4) Bruce Wayne eating soup in Batman (1989)
In this scene, Bruce Wayne is on a date with Vicki Vale. While sitting on this ridiculous long table, they eat some sort of soup. While I am not a particular big fan of soups, this scene really makes me wish I was a bigger fan.
5) Deckard eating noodles in “Blade Runner”
Anything with Harrison Ford is worth watching. Even though the actual eating is not a major part of this scene, it still is fascinating. It’s just a pity that we never see Deckard eat those four pieces of sushi.
Now I managed to make myself hungry..well done.
Well, the year of 2012 is now beyond us. The world did certainly not go under (I did my preparations though by going to the cinema and watch the Hobbit, just to have it get over with, and just in case human kind was not to survive another day.)
Now lets see, 2012 has been a great year. I seem to recall having all the See-Threepio parts fully gold chromed, which was a great personal achievement indeed. However, there are plenty of work left to do to make it fully wearable, and in such a condition where it is comfortable enough to walk at least 5 meters without having to stop and cry rest because of pain and pinching in strange places. There are also a few parts that I am thinking of improving and changing. First of all,
The year of 2012 is also the year where I have left the school table and embarked a journey toward full adulthood. I have now started working full time at a well-respectable engineering firm (not programming binary load lifters though), and now fills my spare time doing adultery things, such as dressing up in costumes exploring book shops and going to restaurants.
For 2013, here are my New Year’s ReSolutions:
1) Finish See-Threepio, attend Legoland (Star Wars weekends in Billund Denmark in June), and Celebration in Essen Germany.
2) Exercise, exercise. One can’t simply risk not to fit into the suit once it’s all finished!
3) Work more efficiently, get more spare-time to do adultery things such as exploring (comic) book stores, travelling and restaurants.
4) Finish See-Threepio. Replacing the deformed ABS helmet with a more flexible resin helmet (this is already bought, just need to trim it, prime it and find a way of chroming it). Replacing ABS shoe shells with rubber shoes (the rubber shoes are also bought, just need a way of chroming these as well). Replace the uncomfortable fiberglass shorts with the ABS version.
5) Finish See-Threepio.
Well, being obsessed by props, spaceships, fighters and vehicles from the Star Wars universe, it always bugged me to see things like this:
Gingerbread AT-AT (Imperial Walker), off-proportions.
I like the posture, the hanging Luke Skywalker figure, the snowy environment etc. But what is a bit disappointing with this gingerbread AT-AT is the proportions between the legs, head and main body. After scouting through the great internet, I could not find a single ‘screen-accurate’ gingerbread AT-AT with the same proportions and look of ‘the real deal’; the original ILM studio model that is (which was used for the stop-motion/effects photography in ESB).
Master Replica’s rendering of the AT-AT.
With the use of this blueprint, some artistic freedom (some model parts had to be greatly simplified), I made the following paper-mock up using Pepakura. This gave me an approximate idea of the size and complexity which was to become the final gingerbread AT-AT.
Paper/Cardboard mock-up model of the AT-AT.
Using the same patterns for the paper/cardboard mock-up model, parts of the AT-AT was cut out in gingerbread dough and baked. Final assembly was done using caramellized sugar (which by the way hurts like **** if you get it on your skin, so please be careful if you are to attempt anything similar), and icing made by egg whites and powdered sugar. The main body is very sturdy and pretty light-weight, and the whole gingerbread ended up being surprisingly balanced, with most of the weight situated below knee/ankle level. My belief was that the armor would withstand quite a lot of blast hits from the nearby cooking area, before it would collapse.
“That armor’s too strong for blasters”, Luke Skywalker said during the Battle of Hoth in ESB. He was right, indeed. But nothing would prepare it for what was awaiting next.
Final version of the gingerbread AT-AT. Ready for decoration. Please note that an ordinary LEGO figure should be in proportion with the gingerbread AT-AT.
The plan was to finalize the AT-AT by decorating it with white icing stripes, similar to the details as on the original ILM studio model.
“Let’s let this thing cool off for a few days I thought”, and the beast was left in the kitchen.
A few days later, a terrible sight met me in the kitchen.
A gruesome scene of melted and twisted gingerbread armor parts met me in the kitchen.
It could be rebel sabotage, or the result of a cat’s curiousity (or an attack provoked by its territorial instincts). There were no traces of tow cables nor blaster marks on the collapsed machine, and I don’t seem to remember owning a cat either. By carefully investigation and close analysis of the damaged parts, I noticed that all the major parts had some twist and bend on them close to the area of fracture. And when using my fingers to test the structural integrity of a few samples of damaged armor parts, it was evident that they had become soft.
The conclusion form the investigation commitee was as follows: The AT-AT was not a victim to rebel sabotage or any physical attack. It is logical to assume that large and sometimes rapid changes in temperature and humidity in the kitchen area weakened the bearing structure (main four legs) of the AT-AT. As the gingerbread was crisp and quite dry right after assembly, it was left to absorb humidity in the air while standing the the kitchen area. When the parts got soft, they deformed. As the main four legs was designed to take mostly axial forces, they reached their critical strength when they were twisted and bent, and thus reached a certain ‘yield’ point before final fracture. The only non-damaged parts were the head and main body. How the main body survived an assumed fall from the legs in standing position down to the kitchen table is still a mystery. But at least it shows that its main armor was indeed too strong for blasters. Luke was right.
I tried to reassembled the puzzle and restore the beast back to its original glory, but it seemed that all major parts were to soft to even bear their own weight. Now the parts are left in the kitchen for scavengers and Jawas…because they’re too soft for eating.
Let me tell you about something. There is this guy who works in the cantina at the engineering office. I swear, he is just as tall as Peter Mayhew, exactly the same build and height. He even walks like him. I see this guy almost everyday, and each time I can’t stop imagining him inside a Wookiee suit. He would have made the best Chewbacca, no kidding. Sometimes I just want to talk to him and befriend him, but I am not sure at the moment whether I dare to take this step.
Yesterday, I ended up on the same bus as him on my way home from work (this was purely a coincidence, I promise!), I ended up giving him strange looks from where I stood. I hope I am not giving him the wrong signals, as I am definitely not trying to hit him up!
I can’t stop being that creepy stalker.
Because I just can’t get enough of all the Disney-Lucasfilm-jokes!
(Hail the CGI-R2-D2 @1:15)
