You know how excited I am for this movie … getting good early reviews, too. Wired has an interesting interview with the director today, here’s an excerpt:

Is director Zack Snyder the next Bryan Singer? Will he become the new go-to guy for megabudget comic book adaptations?

Warner Bros. is so excited about 300, Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s Greek-history-as-superhero tale, that they handed him the keys to Alan Moore’s Watchmen, another sacred text for comics fans. 300 opens nationally March 9; Watchmen is scheduled for a 2008 release.

Snyder, a commercial director whose debut feature Dawn of the Dead was a surprise hit in 2004, filmed the ultraviolent 300 on a Montreal sound stage. After recording real actors doing fake battle, he added heavily manipulated digital backdrops. Like Robert Rodriguez with Sin City, Snyder went to enormous lengths to precisely match Miller’s eerie landscapes.

300 re-imagines the true story of a small band of Spartan soldiers led by King Leonidas (played by Gerard Butler). The Spartans held off an enormous army of Persians that was commanded by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and bent on conquering Greece.

JG

Here’s a few highlights from today’s adventures:

• Made a late night/early morning run to Super K-Mart. 24 hours, everything you could ever want/need, all for low prices. Not quite as classy as Wal-Mart, which is an interesting statement.
• Ate at Einstein Bagels for the first time. Everything Omelet ruled.
• Shot video inside the hotel room most of the morning, hilarious stuff.
• Had a mini-fridge delivered. For one scene, as well as a place to keep the root beer icy cold.
• Shot one scene outside in the 6 degree weather. Short-lived excitement.
• Shot a scene in the parking garage, also way too cold.
• Enjoyed a little jacuzzi, and filmed a scene while we were there. Warmed up.
• Had lunch at PF Chang’s. Delicious.
• Connected with Kurt, Katie, Allison and Matt who all got into town tonight.
• Enjoyed some local Italian food. Pretty solid.
• Saw Andy, Natalie, Nadim and the rest of the SYM gang who also just landed and were getting ready to crash.
• Called everyone back home in California to check in. All is well.
• Taking care of some quick emails, working on the budget, looking at the rough cut of the video and scripting tomorrow’s shooting.

Fun!

JG

SVCC just launched ChristmasAtSaddleback.com this week – a website designed for church members to tell their friens about. My favorite part is the 8 free Christmas music downloads. Grab them now to get in the holiday mood!

The Christmas season includes a lot of seeking — seeking the perfect gift, the right party outfit, or new ways to stretch your budget. The first Christmas was filled with seeking too. A man sought a place for his young fianc

Heather sent me this link to Encarta where you can read about getting a video game education. Now THAT’S a career … here’s a clip:

Attention Xbox junkies: You might be able to justify spending hours perfecting your gaming techniques instead of pitching in with the household chores. You might even say you’re just doing your job. At least that’s the case for the many professionals in the high-scoring gaming industry. According to the NPD Group, a New York-based market research firm, video game retail sales reached $9.9 billion in 2004, roughly $0.5 billion more than the movie industry took in during the same year. As a result, increased demand for talented game designers has prompted colleges and universities to add game design majors and coursework to their curricula.

“Video game development is not a one-man project anymore,” says Mark Baldwin, who has taught game design development at Westwood College Online [an MSN Encarta advertiser] and the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona. “Now there are huge teams, and all the implications of that,” he says, likening game production to the filmmaking industry (“the budgets are similar”). In fact, a glance at a typical game’s credits shows that dozens of people are involved in conceiving, creating, producing, and delivering a finished game to the market.

“The game industry is a sexy industry, the same way the movie industry is sexy,” Baldwin says. “Because of that, there are a huge number of people trying to get in. You have to do everything you can to compete.”

JG

Spent a great Friday as a family day down in Sea World San Diego (remember the story getting annual passes?). Plenty of great memories an pictures, here’s some of the highlights/lowlights of the day:

• My oldest son’s first rollercoaster – he just crossed 42″ this week
• My youngest son getting scared out of his mind in the polar bear cave
• Road trip with the family
• Water fights
• The underwhelming new Shamu show
• 2 cookies with ice cream in the middle
• The Fuji photo spot
• Doing it all on a strict $20 budget

JG

As youth workers, let’s never get this busy. From The Onion:

Citing crucial budget meetings, the rollout of a seasonal ad blitz, and several can’t-miss golf games, Hewlett–Packard Director Of Regional Marketing Randall Fulmer has tentatively re-slated his wife’s birthday next Tuesday for early or late October. “Nancy–just too much on plate to give you an hour in re: your DOB anytime in the next 60 to 90 days,” Fulmer’s assistant wrote in an email to Mrs. Fulmer Monday. “Suggest we try to squeeze it in between late-Sept. conference and mid-Oct. reorganizational period. Thoughts?”

Although Fulmer would not reveal the exact content of his wife’s reply, he reportedly instructed his assistant to set aside time in early August to accommodate his wife’s disappointment.

JG

Watched Superman Returns this week in Palm Springs with a gaggle of friends. Pretty solid flick, appreciated some of the nods to the classic films and it definitely takes off on it’s own as well. The short version? Solid, I give it an A.

Some observations:

• This is a movie about Superman, yet it spins out almost like the journey of Lois Lane.
• The airplane crash has some of the best effects I’ve ever seen. This is why the budget crossed 200M. Love it! I would see it again just for this sequence.
• You REALLY get a sense of Superman’s super-human strength. From the airplane to the gatling gun to the finale, we REALLY see how strong he is. Modern-day effects are in full force here.
• The trailers didn’t give it all away! There’s a few surprises I won’t spoil all of them here.
• The movie plays a bit slow, would have love to have seen another action sequence in there and/or some edits to get it to the 2-hour mark. There’s some really quiet scenes that could be considered poingnant or boring.
• Casting an unknown as Superman was great. Brandon is pretty good, though a bit wooden in the first couple of scenes I thought.
• Only a few times did the special effects drop below absolutely amazing.
• Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was great, though I did want to see a stronger ending with his character. Did anyone else feel let down at all?
• Did you notice there’s 2 small pieces of Kryptonite left on earth? The small shard in the doctor’s office, and the blade that Lois tosses into the ocean. The camera is very intentional about these two pieces, which could be artistic, or sequel-promising. Wait a minute, isn’t there a big chunk in space, and isn’t there tons of it still at the bottom of the ocean? And how come kryptonite affects him so much in one scene, and not in any other. Hold on, OK, OK … I think I’m thinking about this too much.
• I want to see this in IMAX 3-D, too! Did you hear that whole “when Clark takes off his glasses, put yours on” deal? LOVE it.
• Does Routh sound exactly like Tom Cruise or is it just me?
• Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane was good. The press seems to be identifying her as the weak point, but she was just fine in my opinion.

Enjoyed Cars, avoiding Click, and bring on Pirates 2. This is a good summer.

JG