iGot iPhone

at least the tshirt ;)
Plenty of those around!

Cheap flights!

No idea what this should be categorized as, sky surfing or kite diving? Spectacular nevertheless. Don't try this at home kids!

I am legend : currently in the (Image)works

The last man on earth (played by Will Smith) is not alone...

Imageworks is creating some stunning imagery for this spectacular movie.

check out the trailer on:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/iamlegend/large.html

and find all details about the movie on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/

Kitesurfing 101 : what NOT to do...

A display of utter stupidity and hybris. No one should try kite surfing without proper instruction. From what these guys display they haven't heard of the basics of kitesurfing, let alone mastered them. Hot launching a kite in 60 Miles Per Hour winds is suicidal.

Pixar unveils latest project

'Up' scheduled for 2009

By BEN FRITZ

Disney-owned toon studio Pixar will release 'Up,' about a 70-year-old man who fights beasts and villains, in 2009.

Pixar is going a little older in 2009 than its typical demo.

The Disney-owned toon studio's release that year will be "Up," about a 70-year-old man who teams with a wilderness ranger to fight beasts and villains.

"Monsters, Inc." director Pete Docter is helming.

Pixar vet Bob Peterson is writing the script and will co-direct.

Monday's announcement fills in the remaining gap in the animation powerhouse's sked through 2010. After this month's "Ratatouille," it will release "Wall*E" next summer and "Toy Story 3" in summer 2010.

Its sibling Disney Animation Studios, also overseen by Mouse House toon toppers Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, is set to release "American Dog" next year and in 2009 "Frog Princess," its first hand-drawn pic since 2004.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117966684.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Stop it! Please!

This is a plea to stop watching, reading and listening to any so called 'news' about the lightheaded hotel heiress which name I will not say out loud.
The news, which isn't really nothing more than a meaningless series of faits divers. Since 6 o'clock this morning at at least 4 helicopters have continiously been hovering over the Hollywood Hills. Waking up thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people.

Apparently the subject of their quest for 'news' is PH's release from LA county jail. To be honest, I don't care what they are after. They should NOT be allowed at all to hover over the city at all.

Anyways, the only way to make them go away is to stop paying the least of attention to news about meaningless creatures like the above mentioned.

If you need some diversion, look in your close neighbourhood, I am sure there are some testosteron and oestrogen fueled teens around you. Most likely they are on tighter budgets than P, which makes them far more creative and interesting in their acts to draw attention.

PARIS IS BORING AS HELL!

Surf's Up : A Major Ocean Picture

Surf's Up : A Major Ocean Picture
Originally uploaded by _esse

I will let the picture speak for itself...

This weekend everyone who is in the credits get's to invite up to 6 guests to see the movie at Imageworks. We invited Kurt, Nele, Matisse and Margot to accomagnie us to the Sunday 10 am screening. In the afternoon we have our last kite surf lesson with Alex.

As of friday June 8 it opens accros the United States.

Surf's Up is in town

...and everyone will know about it!

Surf's Up
Originally uploaded by _esse

The heat is on, or in this particular case, we might say the tide is high. A giant marketing campagign for Surf's Up is rolling over the city. Banners on public transportation, posters in busstops, billboards along every major boulevard and highway, banners towed by airplanes over California's coastline and some giant prints on landmark buildings throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area create awareness in every living souls mind. The flick premieres June 8th in the US.

We have been taking some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/sets/72157600284895513/

More to come...

Sky Typing

We were in Long Beach taking our first kite surf lesson when all of a sudden this appeared in the sky.

Sky Typing
Originally uploaded by _esse.

A great new way to get your message out: take it to the sky. Fly a number of planes in parallel to each other and emit vapor puffs in a dot matrix pattern.
These puffs are regulated by an onboard computer that controls the sequencing of the vapor to form the letters in the sky.
Simple, yet sofisticated!

A few more pictues:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/497563155/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/497561341/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/497560277/

www.skytypers.com

Spiderman 3 breaks all boxoffice records

Domestic - 151,116,516 million $
International - 231 million $

a total of Worldwide - 382 million total.

Numbers that stick. A lot of happy faces at Sony :)

Joshua Tree + road to Grand Canyon (roadtrip day 4)

Pictures of last summers roadtrip day 4 online. Joshua Tree + road to Grand Canyon.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/sets/72157600172366327/

New Surf's Up trailer availabe on Apple Quicktime trailers

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/surfsup/trailer_high.html

Seaworld pictures online

Pictures of our visit to Seaworld on day 3 of our roadtrip last summer are online. As always served on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/esse/sets/72157600054463794/

Yves Rossy - the real Swiss Batman

"Always have a plan B ready"

http://www.jet-man.com/actuel_eng.html

Surf's Up : new trailer in HD premieres on Movie Phone

Movie Phone http://movies.aol.com/movie/surfs-up/20497/main has premiered the new trailer. It will also be available in a lot of other channels (and at higher res) soon.

Surf's Up : site update

The official website for the movie has been updated with lots cool new stuff. Try the lava tube game!

http://www.surfsup.com/

'Surf's Up' rides a penguin wave

Article in USAToday:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-03-05-surfs-up_N.htm#none

First there were marching penguins, then they sang and danced. In June, they will surf.

After Happy Feet's Oscar win for best animated feature and 2005's smash documentary March of the Penguins, does the world really need another penguin movie?

Yes, say the people behind Surf's Up, an animated comedy due June 8 that explores the world of competitive surfing, penguin-style.

"It's clear to us that people love penguins," says Surf's Up producer Chris Jenkins.

Jeff Bridges, the voice of Big Z, a reclusive washed-up surf champ, sees definite potential: "Maybe the penguin wave is still cresting."

So, are penguins officially the new dogs?

"Yes, I have one at home, as a matter of fact," Jenkins jokes. But seriously, "people love penguins, and I'm not worried about what's come before."

Surf's Up riffs on the Christopher Guest-style of mock documentary. It may be the Spinal Tap of penguin cinema.

"People are ready for the idea of fusing animation with reality programming and improvisational performances," Jenkins says.

Some of the most memorable animated performances — think Robin Williams in Aladdin — were improvised, and Surf's Up hopes to continue that wave.

Shia LaBeouf is the voice of teenage penguin Cody Maverick, a passionate surfer entering his first competition. A camera crew is following him and filming his experiences as he meets a wacky crew of surf nuts along the way: Chicken Joe (Jon Heder), surf promoter Reggie Belafonte (James Woods) and lifeguard Lani (Zooey Deschanel). Cody is all about winning until he meets Big Z and realizes a winner doesn't necessarily get the top prize.

Bridges, who channels a bit of The Dude from The Big Lebowski, relished the improv: "You do it as it's written, then you just jam."

Plus, "I've been surfing since I was in high school, and they captured a great mixture of the real and idealized feeling of what it's like."

more than $100 million in support for Surf's Up!

Tie-ins: Surf's Up, And So Is Sony's Penguin Romp

Studio's second computer animated flick gets $100M-plus in support.

February 26, 2007
By Becky Ebenkamp

Riding the CGI wave, Sony Pictures Animation is gearing up about a dozen partners in its promotional pipeline for its sophomore effort, Surf's Up.

McDonald's, Old Navy, ConAgra Foods, Baskin-Robbins, Sea World and others are on board for an effort that will see more than $100 million in media spending to hype the film, which opens June 8 and follows the studio's maiden CGI, Open Season.

In its first deal with Sony after the end of its exclusive 10-year promotional partnership with Disney, McD's will give Surf's Up a heads-up with TV advertising, in-store signage and, of course, Happy Meal premiums. As the global QSR partner, Surf's Up will be promoted at 32,000 McDonald's locations in 119 countries.

Many partners will play off surf lingo in their executions. Baskin-Robbins will invite consumers to "Catch the Wave to Big Prizes" in two TV spots for a sweepstakes (prizes TBD) and a Surf's Up Splish Splash sherbet that resembles a blue and white wave. A B-R mobile tour also will screen the movie's scenes.

Aside from the obvious tie to family brands (McDonald's) and penguin pros (Sea World, which is branding its San Diego park's penguin exhibit with the film this summer), Sony sought hot and/or cold positioned partners to play into Surf's Up's range of weather locations: The film begins in arctic Shiverpool and washes up at the Polynesian Pen Gu Island. For instance, first-timer Kold To Go Bags will tap the Shiverpool imagery and characters on its insulated thermal bags used for transporting such grocery items as ice cream. "We're able to use the water and temperature and environment thematically in our partnerships," said Mary Goss Robino, svp-global marketing partnerships for Sony's Columbia TriStar Marketing. "Some partners played off the surf thematic, but we saw [additional] opportunities."

Many partnerships are new for Sony, and align with the studio's strategy of serving up nonplundered product categories, such as Wonder Bread for last summer's Talladega Nights.

"When this film came up, we thought this was adequately quirky for us—Old Navy is sort of a quirky brand in terms of personality," said Kristin Petersen, vp-brand exposure and promotions at Gap Inc. Old Navy will promote its Surf's Up relationship in shops, online and circulars, and also is a licensee (T-shirts and flip-flops for boys, girls and toddlers). Promotionally, it's the kitschy value chain's first partnership with a major studio flick.

Surf's Up, which chronicles how penguins invented the sport of surfing, has a mockumentary narrative in ode to such surfing docs as Riding Giants and Step Into Liquid, and diverse animation styles, such as faux grainy, B&W newsreel footage of seminal surfers "hanging six." Shia LaBeouf voices up-and-coming surfer Cody Maverick, the central character. Jon Heder, Zooey Deschanel and Jeff Bridges (as burnout beachcomber The Geek, roughly based on The Big Lebowski's "The Dude") round out the talent.

ConAgra is getting behind the wave with three of its brands—Act II popcorn, Crunch 'n Munch and Kid Cuisine—to get more shelf space and create retailer interest. Each product line will use movie art on packaging and direct shoppers to a virtual scratch-and-win game that will award 2,000 movie-themed prizes. Kid Cuisine will additionally develop two promotional Surf's Up SKUs of its meals, a mac n cheese featuring Cody and Chicken Joe pasta, and chicken nuggets pressed into seashell shapes. A pudding comes with sprinkles that change the color to sea blue.

"We try to make these meals as interactive as possible," said Lisa McAvoy, associate integrated marketing manager for ConAgra's Kid Cuisine and Marie Callender's frozen foods. "If it's fun and keeps the kids busy, mom is happy." The SKUs hit shelves in May and will be supported with advertising on kids TV, in-pack collector cards, store signage and FSIs.

Candy partner Airheads will launch a New Wave flavor and support it on TV, the Web, in stores, and on and in-pack, while the National Frozen and Refrigerated Assn. will use Surf's Up characters to promote its June Dairy Month at retail.

Grocery chains such as Safeway (1,600 stores) will feature key art on bags and offer free movie tickets with a minimum store purchase. The promo runs through June and July and will be touted at retail, online and via circulars. While that promo has a seasonal window, many partners are expected to follow through to the DVD release.

*Find this article at:*
http://www.brandweek.com/bw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003550016

Catalina Island camping trip pictures online

sunset
Originally uploaded by _esse.

Pictures of our Catalina Islands camping trip in september 2006 are online. Check them out on Flickr

Green laser pens are... awesome (?)

Pretty crazy...