I was watching the news this morning and saw the images of Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) being officially opened with fireworks and everything. It mostly struck me because my future brother in law is working for the company involved with the construction of this massive design (828m !!!). Googling the building told me there is a competitor in the race for ‘the tallest building’ which most likely would set a world record to be held for quite a while. The Nakheel Tower (Al Burj) has currently been put on hold because of financial troubles but when built it would reach a height of >1000m, the exact height depending on the source.

These buildings always remind me of the numerous illustrations of the biblical ‘Tower of Babel‘ legend where people try to ‘reach the clouds’ but are stopped by the god(s) because their tower symbolizes humanity’s vanity. Doesn’t seem to be much of a problem here, although the financial crisis stopping Nakheel Tower of being built might be a godly poker hand?

PS: The official website is worth a visit, too. Although I’ve tried to visit this morning and their server seemed to be down.

I went to see Avatar before yesterday and was very pleasantly surprised. It being called Pocahontas 2 put me off in the beginning but somehow this (ending up to be true) has had little effect on my appreciation. The visuals are so overwhelming and the landscapes being spit out on the screen don’t cease to baffle every second of the 120 minutes. The 3D version was sold out before we could get our hands on some tickets so we had to settle for the second biggest screen at the theater. But boy, would this have been even more dazzling and maybe even worth going back for a second time.

This movie can compete with 2012 which I saw a few weeks ago. Here as well the graphics were amazing with a story line worth lesss than nothing. I mean, people being enthusiastic about some old-timers found in the belly of the plane they fly above a world falling to pieces? Or the romantic scenes in that same plane where two lovebirds look each other in the eyes while America is burning? Hello, can we prioritize? And how many times can you be lucky enough to escape near death whereas all other humans die at the first blow? The dialogues in this movie were absurdly unconvincing whereas the visuals were on the other end of the spectrum of awesomeness. Emmerich should have made the brave choice to cut out the rotten actors from this movie and stick to natural disasters. Hey, I might even do some editing myself and upgrade the value of the DVD by 200% by just cutting out every scene that humans saying anything more than ‘heeeeelp’ or ‘aaaaaaah’.

Back to Avatar, the story line can be summed up in a few words (I won’t bore you) but isn’t nearly as bad as in 2012. Zoe Saldana plays very convincingly the role of Neytiri with expressions and gestures which are atypical for Hollywood’s ‘uncivilized woman’. I was wondering how happy people are that all ‘indigenous’ roles are played by blacks and speak with a distinguishable African accent. I’m sure some will feel offended by this?

BTW, there is an interesting discussion going on about the Papyrus font used for the movie’s poster and subtitles at ISO50.

I came across these great prints at Graphic-Exchange and love the fact this is black & white. Often clients underestimate the cost of large format color printing. In that case A1 colorless prints are a good alternative. Martino & Jaña Design really got it right with this poster set. The painted typography makes it all come alive without the need for any color. Great balance between the first impression which gives enough info without getting up close and the detailed wording flowing throughout the poster which provides all extra info. Upon viewing this poster you just got to believe this festival will be nothing less than magnificent.