Empowered by the Powermac Animation Camp

My little ball of pure energy wanted to try something new this summer. Boldly coming out of his ultra physical swim camp and football camp comfort zones, Kenji has asked me to get him into Powermac's Animation Summer Workshop. Did a feel a bit daunted? Of course, I did. Animation would mean he'd be on his seat for 2 hours a day. And Kenji does not do on-his-seat-for-2-hours-a-day too well.

Well, leave it up to Powermac to prove me wrong!

Powermac's 3-day Workshops covered Programming, Digital Design, Music, and even Junior IT Training. Tools the new generation can definitely use and enjoy. The Animation Workshop gave kids complete hands-on creation with 3 of their top animation programs: Toon Boom, Pencil, and Flash. Each session meant your kid comes home with a freshly made animation which he made all by himself. Insta-Fulfilment For-The-Win!

The set-up was pretty serious, office-like, which made me worry at first.

But with their own top-of-the-line laptops…

User-friendly yet fantabulous programs…

And über helpful teachers…

The whole three days were just as fun as they were enriching.

Check out a couple of first-time animator's stuff from my boy. :)

Graduation Day came with a snazzy certificate.

And this even snazzier wooden flash drive filled with the collection of your kids' works.

Make sure to keep up to speed with Powermac's remaining summer workshops and other future kiddie activities. I mean, we will.

FROZEN: Plot Twist Extraordinaire!

SPOILER! SPOILER! SPOILER!
You have been warned...

What is that one thing we loved about Disney's Frozen? PLOT TWISTS!
I mean, like always, you walk into a Disney movie with your kids thinking, "Oh, this is gonna be a love story... princess meets prince... they fall in love... evil appears... prince saves the day... kissy-poo... yadda-yadda... happily ever after." It's the time-tested, child-loved, money-making formula and Disney isn't about to break that!
Or so we thought.

With Frozen, all manner of rule-breaking was made to give families a spanking new taste of kiddie movie awesomeness!

First off, we knew Princess Anna had to have a love of her life (because that's just how it's supposed to be!). So Disney went on misleading us into believing it was...

PRINCE HANS. The first person to ever fill the void in this innocent yet love-struck girl's heart. It was a whirlwind romance. Yet we didn't question it.

But then there's also... KRISTOFF. Ice entrepreneur, mountain man, deer impersonator, and troll friend. He had googley eyes on Anna the whole mountain trip. It even warranted a lavish song number!

And... OLAF.
"Some people are worth melting for..." --this tear-jerker of a line made us all think Olaf, the naive snowman, might just have a shot at a love affair with Anna. Then we took a step back, shook our heads, and said... "Naaah..."

Who would've thought that LOVE doesn't have to be the usual 'guy meets girl' kind of love. Love can be SIBLING LOVE! And that totally blew us away! Boy, you had us there, Disney!
It totally sent a good message to our children, too. About loving each other because someday, they won't have anyone else but each other. A movie with a sincerely fresh and relevant message. Fabulous.

Another genius twist was naming the real bad guy in the movie.

Was it QUEEN ELSA? Uber powerful, snow-wielding freak of nature.

Was it the DUKE OF WESTLETON? A trader made mad with greed, power, and thugs.

Was it PRINCE HANS? 13th son of... OK, HANG ON! The number 13 is the most obvious clue in this riddle. 13! Bad luck! Duh. He's the bad dude! Geez.

But seriously, my boys were all, like, "WHOA!" the whole time in the theatre. In this day and age when nothing seems to surprise kids anymore, Frozen shattered our comfort zones with impeccable storytelling and pacing.

There's only one way to deliver the coolest plot twists in animation. Mittens down, it's FROZEN.
If you haven't seen it, do so. If this post ruined it all for you, sorry though. :P

Cloudy with a Chance of Fun Time Part 2

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
This movie is nearly perfect. Nearly because the film was never really cloudy and not once did I see a single meatball. Which kinda tells you that Sony Pictures Animation didn't really count on having a part 2 to its successful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatrballs part 1 --which, by the way, was indeed cloudy and did feature meatballs.
Had this been foreseen, director Cody Cameron could have demanded for a series title that was less specific, say, Food Trip or Appetite Adventure or A Movie Done in Good Taste. Haha!
I digress, don't I?

Other than that very minor nitpicking, CWACOM2 is a supreme blast! A delectable eye candy of colorful food preps, colorful backdrops, colorful characters, and the most colorful plot twist in cartoon history. This time around, the food... IS ALIVE.
Now does that freak you out or what!

Each fruit, veggie, and meat produce are designed to represent certain animals, thus, making them Foodimals. The visual display of each edible beast (edibeast?) is spectacular. And their names are in puns! Being a punster myself, this gave me great joy. There are shrimpanzees, tacodiles, cheese spiders ---fun, fun, fun!

The story continues from where CWACOM1 left off. With Flint Lockwood and the gang facing yet another adventure in Food Science. Taking the helm of evil is Flint's childhood hero, Chester V. --Food Bar business magnate, yoga enthusiast, and conniving a-wipe who sought to crush Flint's dream to uplift his own. Sounds like any insecure boss you know? Hmm?

The kids will love this film for 4 reasons:
1. The food-animal hybrids are really awesome!
2. The jokes and puns are just everywhere. My kids went on a laugh-a-minute trip!
3. Like its predecessor, it's an animated science fiction film --what's not to like about that?
4. It tells kids that anyone can invent anything that can change the world. If your kids are as crazy as mine, they'll go glassy-eyed and gravitate to that philosophy. Believe you me.

Oh, and another one!
5. It inspires children to respect their food or it'll bite them in the butt! Now that's a message loaded with parenting win, if you ask me.

Looking to spend a fun-filled family night? Watch Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2! Just make sure to roll out the non-talking popcorn, ok?

DigiBoy's Handiwork

I should've uploaded this two months ago but conversion was a killer!

Anyhoo, last summer, Miro figured Digital Arts was his calling.  2 summers ago, it was Robotics.  He gets a different calling every summer.  But all are skewed towards creating something out of nothing.  He likes that kind of power. :P

Junior Digital Arts at First Academy was right up his alley, it would seem.  He had a complete blast! 

He learned Photoshop and made me this lovely Mother's Day card.

And, he learned Vector drawing, manipulation, and animation to come up with this compilation of short movies.

Something I doubt I'll ever get to do in this lifetime.

So it looks like we're coming back to First Academy of Computer Arts next summer  They have other interesting workshops lined up for him, like 3D Modeling, Digital Manga Comics, and Junior Digital Photography.

That is... if he doesn't get another totally different calling.... say, I don't know... wood carving?