I’m back again with another set of pictures from Disneyland. This month I decided to spend some more time with Disneyland’s sister park, Disney California Adventure. California Adventure is a park that has had a fairly remarkable transformation, yet still has a few areas that still are problematic from both a design and thematic standpoint. … Continue reading Pictures from Disneyland – February 2014
So many of the great effects in Disneyland are based on the idea of a reveal. Turning a corner in almost absolute darkness, hearing screams and a disembodied voice up ahead before you round the turn to see the source of the voice: a ghostly Jolly Roger above a dark archway. Emerging from the inside … Continue reading Reveals in the Haunted Mansion or: How it Took Seeing an Effect Broken to Realize That I Didn’t Like it.
Oh DreamWorks Animation, what will we do with you? It’s clear that you’re trying so hard to reinvent yourselves, to take that genuine affection people have for How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda and recreate it in your other films. In some ways you’re getting REALLY close, but you just can’t stop … Continue reading Movie Review – Mr. Peabody & Sherman
SPOILERS AHEAD. You’ve been warned. We’re back again for the second episode of The Walking Dead Season Two, and in many ways a pattern is beginning to emerge in the story structure of this series and the concurrently running The Wolf Among Us. If you read my recap of the most recent episode of that … Continue reading The Walking Dead: Season Two Recap – “A House Divided”
SPOILERS AHEAD. You’ve been warned. Although I mentioned it in my list of the most interesting games I played in 2013, I haven’t talked much about Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us. Which is a shame because despite a few quibbles the first episode of it was genuinely excellent! It set up an intriguing world … Continue reading The Wolf Among Us Recap – “Smoke and Mirrors”
As you may or may not already be aware, I’m a pretty hardcore theme park nerd. I’m fascinated by the way they combine ideals found in film, theater, and classical arts in order to transport you to a place that exists in three dimensions all around you, the way they can design things from the … Continue reading Pictures from Disneyland – January 2014
I’m not quite sure when exactly it happened, but after spending the first several months complaining about the absence of a truly great movie, somewhere along the way 2013 turned into another stunningly excellent year for film. I have my real top ten list coming in a few days, but right now I wanted to … Continue reading Top 10 Scenes of 2013
2013 was kind of a crazy year for me. I applied for, and was accepted to USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, I started a new position at work, I made an effort to spend more time watching movies, and I prepared to move my entire life to a new location. In all of that, sadly, … Continue reading The 5 Most Interesting Games I Played in 2013
Season One of Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead was the best game I played last year by a fairly large margin. It was gripping, emotional, and challenging in its own right, not to mention the fact that it completely reinvented the concept of a Point-and-Click Adventure game and broke new ground in interactive storytelling. When … Continue reading The Walking Dead: Season Two Recap – “All That Remains”
As of this moment, I really have no idea how I feel about Escape from Tomorrow. So much of the discussion on this film has centered around the audacious and unprecedented nature of the way it was shot – covertly, without authorization at Disneyland and Walt Disney World – and the potential legal ramifications of … Continue reading Movie Review – Escape from Tomorrow
David Daut 