soupablog

An Invitation to View: Laser Wars I & II

Thirty years ago this summer, a cinematic tour-de-force hit the big screen. The year was 1979 and the country's science fiction psyche was sandwiched in the liminal space between the first and second Star Wars releases. America needed more. And we gave them Laser Wars.

In the back yard / backlot of our childhood home in San Antonio, my brother Mark and I grabbed my grandfather's Bell & Howell Super8mm movie camera, wrote a script, cast neighborhood friends, created paper-plate flying saucers, and tin-foil constellations. We had just turned 10 years old, and we were ready for the fame and fortune a space movie would bring our way.

Thirty years later, the film – and its unforgettable 1980 sequel, Laser Wars II — have been unearthed, digitized, color-balanced, and readied for its world release, here on Soupablog.com.

Highlights include:

• Several scenes in which my mother turned the movie camera 90º sideways, believing she could achieve a 'portrait' orientation.
• Visible laser "blasts" made by pin-pricking the actual processed move film.
• A 1970's-era Simon™ game and headphone used as a torture device.
• Two dramatic death scenes featuring … me!
• Wet/dry shop-vac used for R2-D2-esque droids (plus many other Star-Warsian homages)

Interestingly, one of the supporting cast members went on to a full time career as a documentary filmmaker.

two videos i directed from 12 years ago

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
— Oscar Wilde.

Ah the '90s: In honor of chris' wedding, here's a music video and a companion interview video i filmed of his band Love Coma twelve years ago — disclaimer, 12 years ago I was in my mid-20's, the technology of doing your own video production on a Mac was in relative infancy (with this many transitions and funky after-effects, you had to render your work over a weekend using a standard 1996 desktop Mac) and come back in on Monday morning to verify what you thought you had done); rendering, filming, editing, computer animation (yep, I did that too), and cro-magnon post production. i think i blogged this elsewhere once, but after the first day of filming the video we found out the female dancer in the video was a ... em .... you know, female dancer.

Young and naïve was I.

Interesting note for locals: In the interview, about 3 minutes in, you can see the shell of the old Alamo Cement plant in the video, prior to its becoming Quarry Market. 

Communiqué Journal - Advent 2005

Announcing .... the rebirth of Communiqué: An Online Literary & Arts Journal. In ancient Rome, the adventus was a celebration honoring an anniversary: the date of the emperor’s rise to power. The Church later adopted the term Advent to mark the arrival of a different kind of Emperor – the Son of God in human form. It’s a season for honoring the past and sharing hope for the future. We could think of no time more appropriate to announce the rebirth of Communiqué Journal

When we published our first issue in 1998, Communiqué was one of the first of its kind. Eight years later, sites devoted to the intersection of faith, culture, and the arts permeate the web. The fact that there has been a proliferation of like-minded publications is a blessing. Beginning in the spring, Communiqué will be back with new offerings, published three times annually.

We celebrate the past.
For this, our Advent issue, we have searched our archives and identified eight of most compelling pieces we’ve featured in the past, including poetry by Luci Shaw, a short story by Greg Garrett, and the Byzantine iconography of John Snogren.

We live in the present.
We are pleased to feature a new essay by Troy Bronsink. "The Advent Community and the Emergence of God's Dreams for Creation" looks at four lectionary texts through an emergent theological perspective. We also stumbled across the poem "I Ache For That Long Lost Light" quite by accident. The verses were penned by Communiqué friend Louis Hemmings — a Dubliner who deals in rare and used theological books. His verses, nested in the signature file of a recent email, caught our eye. He granted us permission to share the poem with our readers this season.

We look hopefully to the future.
With this announcement, we joyfully await fresh submissions for next year’s issues. We continue to seek original stories, poems, essays, reviews, and art that explore, question, re-imagine, examine and celebrate aspects of culture and Christian conviction. The deadline for submissions for the spring issue is February 15.

Paul Soupiset, co-managing editor

http://communiquejournal.org

saturnine cinema

i decided not to do a review except to say that it was a dark movie with pretty good SPFX and mediocre dialogue, but you already knew that. and it helped tie up loose ends. and i really like ewan's Obi Wan.

...Use your fork, Luke....

that's right: i'm leaving work, grabbing a relaxing dinner out, alone (which i enjoy doing immensely), meeting Cliff K for a coffee and conversation, then on to the Quarry Theater, tickets in hand, to see the midnight rollout of Anakin Skywalker's denouement with some close friends. A little cinema divina, perhaps. I'll be looking for redemption, transcendence, and a wookie army. yes, virginia, I'll be bleary-eyed in the AM. But no critical meetings are planned.

How's yer taun-taun?

turning up the heat / roof on fire

Saw MM's Fahrenheit 911 last night. I recommend seeing it alone, as you are more free to wince, cry, laugh, groan, and generally react. Strong points, weak points. I can't add anything new to the discourse. I appreciate the film's connecting of the bin Laden and Bush family dots a little better. This fall's election should be a battle of the lesser of 2 weevils.

This George Orwell quote (1984) was a poignant way to end the film:

"[In accordance with the principles of double-think] it does not matter if the war is not real. For when it is, victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, but it is meant to be continuous.

The essential fact of modern warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour. The hierarchy of society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance.

In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects, and its object is not victory over Eurasia, or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact."