We went to the movies yesterday. Into The Spider-Verse was an amazing and spectacular effort in movie making. It has a well-sculpted story which juggles a lot of characters, giving each character (and not just any of the Spider-Men) a chance to shine. Also, the main characters are given a lot of set-up with entwining storylines which has big emotional payoffs. Some of the emotional payoffs also hit close to home. Although there have been many good animated comic book movies in the last three decades (Mask of the Phantasm is still a classic to me) this is the first one to integrate many physical idiosyncrasies of the comic book medium. Ang Lee’s live action Hulk featured comic book panels on screen, but it only served a simple purpose, i.e. show multiple viewpoints simultaneously. Into The Spider-Verse has comic book panels (with comic books in them), onomatopoeic text, thought panels, […]
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Bookmarks for Orphans
Last weekend, Irfan’s aunt Cik Emma was involved with some community activity with her friends at Pulau Pinang. They performed voluntary community service to the residents of Rumah Seri Cahaya, an orphanage at Batu Maung. She asked if I could contribute some art for some bookmarks that she was going to give the children there. I used my ink pens and yellow marker to whip these up quickly: Hope the orphans put them to good use. (Probably mulch by now, though.)
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Six Years Old Today
It’s September 21st again and once more it’s time for Irfan’s birthday. Wearing his Iron Man t-shirt a gift from Ayah Cik, he greeted the arrival of his cousin Aiman (as well as Aiman’s parents) with whom he immediately shared his cache of toys. Aiman was overwhelmed by the amount of Hot Wheels collected by Irfan over the years, which Ain had recently kept in a single plastic container. While the kids were playing at (and making a mess of) the living room, Ain was busy in the kitchen producing food, food and more food. Above: Atok and Opah Irfan weren’t able to come (’cause I wrecked their car) but, they’ve prepared in advance with this awesome Spider-Man birthday card. Above: Aiman claps his hand – mostly because of other people prompting him by clapping their hands. Above: Nasi ayam Chinese-style a recipe taught to Ain by Opah Irfan is […]
Continue readingVillain-o-rama – A Spider-Man 3 Review
[[image:dualityspidey01.jpg:The black costume:center:0]] As previously reported, we caught Spider-Man 3 at Digi IMAX theatre on opening night. But first a non-spoilery rundown of the movie based on early press releases and trailers. Peter will be asking MJ to marry him, but before that there are a few small problem. First, of course, is continuing the tale across the last two movies is Harry Osborn’s desire for revenge against Spider-Man for his father Norman Osborn’s (a.k.a. the Green Goblin) death. Then there’s Eddie Brock, a rival photographer who will stoop to nasty methods to frame Spider-Man for a position as the Daily Bugle’s staff photographer. His character starts out as a nice guy but a series of unfortunate circumstances slowly strip away the guise and finally reveal himself for what he truly is. In the midst of it, Flint Marko an escaped convict on the run who unwittingly finds himself in […]
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Irfan Webs An IMAX Theatre
It’s May 1st. Some might say it’s Labor Dabor Day. Others would say it’s the first day of the general release of Spider-Man 3, beginning 2007’s run of monumental summer movies which will eventually bring us At Worlds End, Shrek the Third, Order of the Phoenix, Rise of the Silver Surfer and Transformers. We just got back from Sitiawan after spending 3 days with Irfan’s grandparents there (and having the sotong celup tepung as well). Irfan made a new friend in the form of Opah Irfan’s friend’s grandson – one Amir from Melaka who was also on vacation in Sitiawan. Today, we got home, grabbed Ain’s two aunts and headed right for Berjaya Times Square where we would be watching the IMAX presentation of Spider-Man 3. There was another reason for the excursion to Berjaya Times Square, and that was Irfan’s Cik Su’s birthday. Labour Day for her is literally […]
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Irfan Goes To Kindergarten
Today was Irfan’s first day at school. He was awakened an hour earlier than usual and was thrust under a shower much to his displeasure. But after a warm bottle of milk, he was all psyched up at the notion of going to school and meeting new friends. Among the shadows in the back, Irfan’s dad was hoping he’d learn about how to handle the darker side of humanity, such as jealousy, vengeance, rage and other disagreeable traits stemming from fear and the inability to deal with one’s emotions. And certainly a bunch of 4-6 year olds will teach him how to deal with those. Yes, they will. But getting back to getting ready for school, Irfan really loved his socks and shoes. He couldn’t wait to get into them and fly out the door. Here is Irfan showing off his new uniform and his Spider-Man backpack which I bought […]
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Peter, Again
Some time last August, I drew Peter with Painter Classic. Here he is once again, this time with the new armored costume Tony came up with for him while MJ and he works as a New Avenger. It has bulletproof armour, enhanced computer-display visors and those extra pincer limbs not shown in the illustration below. I like the design, though because Tony came up with colour scheme, the outfit is red and yellow. Kinda looks a bit like Shiro‘s costume.
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A Spider-Man Portrait
I saw Spider-Man 2 again today. The movie version of the Spidey costume is quite rich and detailed in texture, yet true to its comic-book origins… As before I wondered how a student / freelance photographer, making barely enough as it is, is able to afford to come up with the costume. Did he sew it himself, or did he make a custom order from someone. In which case, how did he hide his identity from the costumer. Anyways, it caught my attention again enough for me to try to recreate some of its texture in a piece using Painter.
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