Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" Extended Cut comes out today on Blu-Ray, which is basically as cool as watching a TINY IMAX movie in your house. And the extended cut has a few scenes that would have made the movie an "R" in theaters and actually make the story even darker and cooler. Check it out if you can! If you didn't know, this film played a huge part in my life over the last 2 years as I got to create a ton of art for it. Today rules.
One year ago, a little animated web series I created for Warner Bros Television got released after 3 years of dreaming about it and producing it. This was, and still is, one of the best learning experiences of my career. Happy 1-Year Birthday, Animated CHADAM!
With over 100 concept scribbles, 1200 storyboards, an entire history of Vulture, a script twice as long as the final version, ups, downs, tears, stress, and smiles, I hope to someday be able to share more of the experience with you, and more of Chadam's world. But for now, Here are a handful of some never-before-seen concept and photos from the production. Enjoy.
Now that my mouth seems to be semi-behaving (aside from continuing to demand milkshakes and pie amongst threats of a relapse), let's try this again, but this time, let's even throw another one into the tour-mix party along with SLC & DENVER: PORTLAND!
So yes, please see the below schedule for the NEW signing dates, along with an extra little present that I am offering to you guys for being patient with me during my recovery:
ALEX PARDEE'S "AWFUL/RESILIENT" BOOK SIGNING & APPEARANCE SCHEDULE:
Thursday July 7th, PORTLAND, OR. At TheZEROFRIENDS x Upper Playground Pop-Up shop 6Pm - 9PM *First 50 People to attend this signing will receive a FREE 7" x 5" exclusive signed limited print (See below) "ZEROFRIENDS" Pop Up Shop @ Upper Playground 23 NW 5th Avenue Portland, OR 97209
Friday July 8th, SALT LAKE CITY, UT At BLONDE GRIZZLY 4PM - 7PM *First 50 People to attend this signing will receive a FREE 7" x 5" exclusive signed limited print (See below) "BLONDE GRIZZLY" 15 E 400 S Salt Lake City, Utah
Saturday July 9th, DENVER, CO At BLACK BOOK GALLERY 4 PM - 7PM *First 50 People to attend this signing will receive a FREE 7" x 5" exclusive signed limited print (See below) "BLACK BOOK GALLERY" 555 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO
Now, as a special gift to everyone for being understanding and patient with us for rescheduling, here is a pic of the signed mini print that will be given away FREE to the first 50 people at each of the 3 events. I may or may not have learned my lesson, but you should heed this advice:
Dear Sony, Sucker Punch Productions, and the entire inFAMOUS 2 creative team,
My name is Alex Pardee. My father and I both had Atari joysticks practically fused to our hands since I was 4 years old. Luckily, I was able to surgically remove said joystick after a few years and repeatedly replace it with a NES controller, then a Genesis one, and so forth. There may have even been a Dreamcast controller with a microphone used to control a retarded fish at one point, too. When I was 6 years old I created a concept for a horror/action video game based on the schoolyard game of "Tetherball", which revolved around demonic creatures infesting an elementary school that could only be defeated by a boy who stands next to his tetherball pole and hits the monsters with his chained up ball. I have no idea how that wold have been considered innovative, even in 1982, but nonetheless I submitted it to Activision (because they had the best box art) and patiently awaited the development and release of my Tetherball game. I think I went to Sears every weekend to ask about it. Activision must have gone out of business or something because my game never came out. But, whatever. I was never too depressed about it. I just kept playing video games. Even the stupid ones like "GUMSHOE" where you shot a detective in the face and that somehow made him bounce through the air to solve mysteries and eat balloons.
The more I played video games, the more I wanted to develop them. But as fate would have it, I grew introverted in middle school and eventually fell into the secret life of a starving artist, which I continue to pursue (and passionately love) to this very day.
Flash forward to what seems like a hundred years later. I am currently very ill. Though I am finally healing as of today, for the past 23 days I have been nearly bedridden due to some complications and infections contracted after multiple oral surgeries. As someone who lives alone, has never broken a bone, rarely gets sick, and passionately works 16 hours a day, I was devastated at the simple fact that I could do little more than sink into my couch and let the pain guide my groans. My girlfriend has been with me off and on via Skype so that has worked worked wonders, and my friends have come by a couple times a day to shove milkshakes in my face and make sure I didn't explode from the pain. But mostly, I have been alone. And regardless of the amount of painkillers I devour, the pressure, the pain, and the acidic mustard taste of infection has been so prominent that I can do little more than dwell on it every second. I couldn't draw. I couldn't work on my computer. I couldn't even answer emails without growing nauseated.
Now, sickness aside, I still passionately love video games, but due to my general work schedule, I rarely get a chance to fully indulge myself in the experience of starting and completing a game. I tend to use video games as small hour-long personal reward sessions, knowing damn well that I'm paying 60 dollars for (usually) only one hour of escape. But for that one hour, after weeks of hard work, the "dollar-per-minute" price-tag is worth it. However, if a game is good enough in that one hour to take my mind off of work and stress, I may stick with it a little longer. But that's rare.
So during the first few days on my couch as I sat, silently and cluelessly hoping my body was fighting something I could feel but couldn't see, and once I was able to actually focus on my television without feeling like I was piggyback-riding an alaskan fisherman in a thunderstorm, I decided to reward myself with 60 minutes of a video game. That video game was inFAMOUS 2.
5 minutes passed. I felt dizzy. Sick to my stomach. "Hmm. A fast-paced, loud, spinning video game probably isn't going to help," I thought to myself. Then 30 minutes passed. The disgusting taste in my mouth seemed to have gone away for a few minutes. 60 minutes passed. 90 minutes passed. 3 hours passed. More antibiotics. More painkillers. 6 hours passed. 8 hours passed. Those initial 8 hours of unknowingly focusing 100% on inFAMOUS 2 were the beginning of my new escape. During a time in my life where all I could do was simply WAIT for my body to heal, I had discovered something that allowed my brain to escape and forget about the pain.
Am I being a bit overdramatic? Perhaps, but not much. inFAMOUS 2, as a video game, is a rare gem amongst a field of nicely painted clunky rocks (like the disappointing wreck of a game that Shadows Of The Damned is), and because of that, I thank every person who wrote so much as one line of code in the game for saving me from going insane, as those 8 hours turned into a total of close to 45 pain-forgetting hours of escapism. When I first sat down to write this I did a bunch of research about the game and was going to attempt to sound like a real and informative reviewer, but the reality of it is that none of the technicalities matter. After 5 minutes, my television came to life and I was able to seamlessly transition into the role of Cole McGrath and feel like a hero. Or, rather, in my case, I got to feel like an asshole that loved jumping 19 stories down and power-bombing street performers into mush for no reason. Pushing my pain to the side, inFAMOUS 2 took me on an adventure that spanned a devastated, flooded New Marais, 30-story skyscrapers, Louisiana swamps, huge battleships, suspension bridges, cemeteries, ghettos, and even Ice-Castles; an evolution of super-powers, games-within-the game that included CSI-like investigations, flight simulators, on-rail shooters, watching television, x-raying humans, controlling an army of monsters, killing protesters, throwing cars, playing skee-ball, flirting with a Voodoo queen and even riding on the shoulders of 100-foot tall electrified black man.
The environment is lush, beautiful, varied, and ballsy. The animation both in-game as well as the cinematics is subtle, but perfect. The voice-acting is convincing. The combat system is fun. And thanks to the concept designs of Massive Black and The Aaron Sims company, the creatures and characters are some of the biggest and best outside of Gears Of War, God Of War & Bioshock.
So as sappy as this is, and even though I'm practically a hundred years old, Infamous 2 not only helped me forget about my pain, but also made me want to make a video game again . Even if it's a stupid one. Does anyone even still PLAY tetherball?
Anyway, Thank you Sucker Punch , and thank you Sony. From the bottom of my inspired heart.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
I'm finally starting to show signs of healing after 2 weeks of frustration.
The only thing I watched while sick = the only thing I drew while sick. Happy Fathers Day.
ATTENTION DENVER & SALT LAKE CITY: Due to continued health complications, my DENVER & SLC appearances have been CANCELED and are going to be RE-SCHEDULED for sometime very soon. I extremely apologize for the inconvenience and I hope to see you when we re-schedule. Stay tuned, and thank you.
Hello there, A majority of my wits and snarky attempts at crude humor have been stripped away by my dentist who may or may not actually be a personified demon, so I will keep this short. First it was Las Vegas. And though I am still mentally recovering from getting levitated by David Copperfield and gaining a new DJ friend to add to my list of Zerofriends, I'm hopping in my Sweet Pickles Bus and my extremely intimate "Awful/Resilient" Book-signing tour is taking both DENVER & SALT LAKE CITY by tiny storm THIS WEEKEND!
DENVER on Friday ( June 17th) evening, and Salt Lake City on Saturday (June 18th) afternoon.
Here is all of the detailed info, and remember, my "Awful/Resilient" book will be available to purchase at both signings but you don't have to purchase the book to come say hi. Already have the book? Bring it down, i'll chickenscratch in it. Have other books of mine that would be WAY prettier with a blue sharpie scribble that covers up the artwork? Bring 'em down. I'm even open to signing babies, loafs of bread, shields, and burritos.
FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 6PM - 9PM At "BLACK BOOK GALLERY" 555 Santa Fe Drive Denver, CO
At this special event, my "Awful/Resilient" book comes packaged with an exclusive limited edition 10" x 8" signed giclee print (See below) and will be sold together for $43.00. If you already have the book, the print will be available to buy exclusively at the gallery for $17.50. For more info you can check out Black Book Gallery's website.
The print that will be available at BLACK BOOK GALLERY:
SATURDAY, JUNE 18, 4PM - 7PM at "BLONDE GRIZZLY" 15 E 400 S Salt Lake City, Utah
Blonde Grizzly is the best gallery & boutique in Salt Lake City so if you haven't checked it out before, now is a better time than ever. They also are an official retailer of Zerofriends merch so they will also have a ton of my shirts and prints for sale as well. Hope to see your beautiful, non-spitting-in-my-face faces there!
Also, if you haven't checked out ourZEROFRIENDS ONLINE STORE in a while, we RE-STOCKED on a few items, including the "Backpack" Tee, "Father Killer" Tee and a brand new HOODIE!
Thanks to everyone who came out to my KidRobot x Cosmopolitan Grand Opening & Book release/live-painting event this weekend. I've never got so many food-presents and hugs in my life. It was pretty awesome. Here's some great photos from Emily Korach, Hew Burney & the magical Homer Liwag
And of course it wouldn't be a Vegas adventure if I didn't make a couple of new best friends…. Seriously...
