With just three days to go before Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour streams on Disney Plus, Swifties who didn’t grab tickets or make it to an IMAX – and Swifties who did but want even more of their idol – are getting ready to enjoy one of the best concert movies ever made.
But what to do in the days before it premiers on Disney Plus? The good news is that there are plenty more great live shows available to stream, from unusually intimate performances to Swift-scale stadium spectaculars. Here are three amazing live performances you can stream while you wait for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Featuring all 16 tracks from Billie Eilish’s brilliant Happier Than Ever album, this concert show was filmed at the Hollywood Bowl and mixes live performance and animation to superb effect. It gets you closer to Billie Eilish than you’ll ever manage at an arena or stadium or ‘enormodome’, and the orchestral backing on songs such as Everybody Dies will give your goosebumps’ goosebumps.
If you’re an Eilish fan but don’t have Disney Plus, The World’s A Little Blurry features some spectacular live performances too, which you can stream on Apple TV Plus.
BTS: Permission To Dance on Stage
Another LA concert, this time featuring the globe-straddling pop phenomenon BTS and a very, very delighted crowd. And no wonder: the band’s touring plans hit a Covid-shaped roadblock that resulted in the cancellation of their Map of the Soul Tour, which meant that for a few years most fans would only be able to see the band live in pay-per-view online. The Permission To Dance On Stage dates were their first live in person shows since 2019, and we think you’ll agree the show was well worth the wait: this is a joyful pop experience filmed in the same SoFi stadium as the Eras Tour movie. We’re not going to even think about comparing them because we know how serious stans of both Swift and BTS can be.
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
Are we cheating by including this as a concert movie? Maybe, but if you’re excited about the Eras Tour and you haven’t already streamed this then you’re missing out on a superb Swift session. Folklore is one of Taylor Swift’s best albums, and this documentary features the whole album performed in an even more intimate and stripped-down format. If you can get through the very beautiful versions of Seven or Invisible String without crying you’re doing better than your writer.
While I know first-hand how awesome the digital world of technology is – if I didn’t love it then I’d be in the wrong profession – I’m also the first to admit it can all get a little overwhelming.
Back in January, I offered my personal board game recommendations to help you fend off the New Year blues without turning on a screen, and this month I want to do the same for three trading card games (TCGs) that I love – and that don’t require any tech for you to enjoy them.
More importantly, they’ve all just had new releases on March 8. So if you’re reading this when it gets published, your friendly local game store might be running events where you can check these games out in a beginner-friendly environment.
Card games are my go-to way to get away from tech, and I’ve found that they’ve been a really useful tool for meeting new people so I can combat the rise in loneliness brought about in the post-pandemic era we find ourselves in. I hope they can help you too.
So, with that all in mind, here are my low-fi, low-tech recommendations for March 2023.
Magic The Gathering x Fallout
Rather than gaming on a PS5 or one of the best gaming laptops, why not bring the game to the kitchen table with one of the new Fallout Commander Decks for Magic The Gathering. Of the three TCGs on this list, Magic is by far my favorite, and Commander is one of the best ways to play the game.
Ideally played with four players (though games with more or fewer players are allowed), each person has a 100-card deck – one stack of 99 and a 100th ‘Commander’ that sits separately from the rest and can be cast at any time during your turn. By playing a mixture of lands and spells, your goal is to bring your opponent’s life totals from 40 to zero (you can also win if their deck runs out of cards or you achieve a special win condition based on the cards you play) before you’re eliminated.
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Ivan Krivenko)
Because of its multiplayer format, I find Commander is more casual and a lot more social than other card games. It’s easier to chat during matches, and sometimes you’ll need to work together with other players rather than against them to stop whoever is ahead from stomping you both.
What makes these Fallout decks special is that they feature exclusive new game pieces and reprints of iconic cards from the game’s 30-year-long history that show characters, themes, and items from the Fallout video game series – which is soon to be a TV show on Prime Video.
There are four to choose from: ‘Scrappy Survivors’ headed up by Fallout 4’s loyal canine companion Dogmeat, ‘Hail Caeser’ for all of you who love to play the villain, ‘Science!’ if you’re fascinated by Fallout’s Nuclear science, or ‘Mutant Menace’ if you’re interested in irradiated monsters and hazards that have been left in wake of the ‘Great War.’
(Image credit: Bethesda)
If you’ve never played Magic before, picking up one of these decks is an excellent place to start. Not only does it take all the hassle out of designing your deck – a challenge for newer players – but while I’ve yet to use one of these specific decks myself, I’ve seen plenty of preconstructed Commander decks like these win games straight out of the box.
You can also bling out your new deck with exclusive-Fallout Collector Boosters which offer exclusive reprints and artwork not found in the decks. Though the disadvantage is you don’t know what you’re getting, and one pack can be pricey – so you might be better off buying the exact card you want from your local game store or online (I use eBay and Cardmarket).
Lorcana: Into the Inklands
If you prefer Disney to Fallout or are a little newer to TCGs and frightened by the complexity of the game, then you might want to try Lorcana instead – a game that brings the best Disney films to life in cardboard form.
The game shares a lot of similarities with Magic, chiefly that you have a resource – Ink in your Inkwell – that you use to summon iconic Disney characters, play items, and use special powers. But it has several advantages that I think make it way more approachable for people who aren’t super familiar with card games – while still being a blast for veterans like myself.
The first is that the new Into the Inklands set is only the game’s third expansion. While it does add an exciting new card type – Locations that your characters can visit, and that offer benefits for as long as you have them in play – the card pool is still very easy to wrap your head around.
(Image credit: Future)
Also, the recognizability of the Disney characters puts their abilities into context.
The Titans in Hercules are all about destroying Greece and Olympus, so it makes sense that they like to mess with Locations in Lorcana; there are famously 99 Dalmatian puppies (with mum and dad Perdita and Pongo making 101) so it makes sense that you can have 99 of them in your deck instead of the usual limit of four; and the Mousketeers are all about protecting Princess Minnie in the film, so, of course, they’d be Bodyguards who protect your other characters.
Lastly, Lorcana has simplified a few rules you might know from Magic. Rather than special cards you use for Ink, you can play most cards face down in your Inkwell to build up your resources – making deckbuilding way simpler. Plus, opponents can’t play cards on your turn, so you generally only have to worry about what’s on the table in front of you, especially hidden info that can disrupt your strategy for each turn.
(Image credit: Ravensburger / Disney)
If you’re looking to try the game out, a draft or sealed event at your local game store is an excellent way to start. Everyone only plays with the cards they open at the event so you don’t have to fret about someone stomping you with a deck they’ve dropped hundreds on.
Alternatively, a couple of starter decks can be a fun way to learn with a friend. They aren’t the most competitive, but they are well-balanced against each other and show off most of the core mechanics.
Star Wars: Unlimited
Lastly, if you feel three set releases are still too many then why not try Star Wars Unlimited? It has just launched its first-ever set. So if you go and play you’ll be just as much of a noob as anyone else there.
This also means this is the game I’m least familiar with – I’ve only played it once or twice – but so far it seems to be a blast.
It combines a few ideas already seen in this list – the familiarity of characters and locations, cards as your resource (here called Resources), and the Commander (here called a Leader, who’s paired with a Base of your choice) from Magic The Gathering. But there’s also a lot of freedom that satisfies the Unlimited name.
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(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
If Luke Skywalker is your Leader, you’re incentivized to play Heroism and Vigilance cards – aspects that fit his on-screen personality. But if you want to throw the odd Villainy or Aggression card in, you can embrace the Dark Side – albeit at a cost of more resources.
Because it’s so new, your local store will likely be running lots of beginner-friendly events. I’ve found store staff are generally very happy to help TCG newcomers get to grips with any of the options on this list (as well as others like Pokemon, Flesh and Blood, and One Piece), and they should be especially ready to aid you and others with this completely new release.
There’s also a Starter Kit on sale that comes with two decks and a bunch of handy cardboard and paper accessories so you and a friend can get up to speed on the new Star Wars Unlimited experience in your own time.
It’s been almost 120 years since the first cartoon animation, Émile Cohl’s Fantasmagorie, was made, and the contemporary art form has come a long way since then.
That’s especially true for the last 50 years of animation, which has seen illustrators and animators alike embrace a plethora of new hardware and software tools, including some of the best drawing tablets.
One such artist who witnessed this season of change is Aaron Blaise, former Disney animator whose résumé includes classics from Disney’s “Renaissance” era, such as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan and Aladdin – he even directed Brother Bear. In a TechRadar interview, Blaise shared his experience and his views of what’s next in the industry now that tools like Procreate Dreams are making animation much more accessible.
Every corner we turn only leads to another
While Blaise is best known for his over 35-year career as an animator, writer and director, he started out wanting to be an illustrator: “I wanted to work for National Geographic [but] when I found out that they freelanced all their work I thought, ‘Okay, I gotta find another path’.”
Luckily for Blaise (and the many fans of his work), Disney was looking for artists and illustrators who they could teach to animate rather than experienced animators.
He says: “Around 1988, I got an internship, became an animator and just fell in love with the whole art form. Lucky for me, I came into the industry at a very good time when we had this new renaissance of content being produced by Disney, and I was on the ground floor for that.”
Blaise witnessed much of the transition from pen-and-paper animation to digital during his time at Disney: “Throughout the 90s, I was able to work on films like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas and Mulan, and I directed Brother Bear. What was cool about that time is that we were still doing things the old way – animating on paper and shooting everything on camera.”
This period, referred to as the Disney Renaissance era, followed the success of 1989’s The Little Mermaid, (which so happens to be my all-time favorite movie) – but Blaise says that not a lot changed in terms of animation following the movie’s success. “The only thing that really changed after The Little Mermaid was that we started to digitally color everything, but basically everything else was the same.”
A whole new perspective on things
Instead, what Blaise saw over the 20-or-so years that followed was a progressive digital transition that’s now culminating in a much more accessible and intuitive animation landscape.
At first, Blaise wasn’t exactly on board with transitioning from physical media to digital. “I was really scared of it, and I resisted it for as long as possible.”
“I had a boss named Max Howard who ran our studio in Florida. We were working on Beauty and the Beast and he goes, ’you know, Aaron, in about 10 years, you’re going to be doing all these drawings on a computer screen,’ and I was thinking of big fat TVs. I just couldn’t picture it.”
It was only when Blaise was directing and writing a computer generated (CG) film that he realized it was time to move across to digital, he explains. So, he asked Disney for “the biggest Wacom Cintiq available and Photoshop”, which arrived in his office by the next morning, and so it was.
“That was the beginning of my journey. I started learning Photoshop, and then over the years as new software has come out, I’ve kind of jumped on them. Once the ice was broken, it was a lot easier for me.”
New friends and new places to see
Since moving on from Disney in 2007, Blaise has launched his own educational business, CreatureArtTeacher, where he offers lessons and tutorials to a new generation of animators, including using more accessible software such as Procreate Dreams. He also runs a YouTube channel called The Art of Aaron Blaise where he shares tips and new projects.
“Procreate Dreams could not have come out at a better time. I think the use of CG animation is wonderful; it’s a great tool that allowed a lot of animated filmmakers who didn’t draw to get into the field and create their visions. But I think that the industry has steered away from hand-drawn animation long enough; there’s a big hunger for it now.”
The fact that the app is so financially accessible is key to the future of hand-drawn animation, he says: “We’re gonna see a surge – and I’m already seeing it across YouTube and Tiktok – this wave of new pieces of animation being done in Dreams.”
To keep the tradition of hand-drawn animation alive, Blaise will also often live stream his work process, and to his surprise will frequently see questions from his viewers about even the most basic animation practices like flipping through the pages to see the movement of his work. “Back in the 90s, everybody kind of knew how animation was done, even if you weren’t an animator, but that’s kind of lost now and it surprises me.”
However, Blaise is excited by how software like Procreate Dreams mimics some of the original animation process – enough so that he can animate digitally just like he used to with pen and paper.
Certainly, that’s the hope. The scope of artistic expression possible in hand-drawn animation is vast, vaster even than it was 30 years ago, and I for one can’t wait to see what the next generation of animators and illustrators come out with.
While CG is still the medium of choice for many of the largest animation studios like Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks, traditional 2D animation still holds the hearts of many, including myself.
However, be it financial pressures, tighter deadlines, or viewers’ preference for the more glossy, finished feel of CG animation, there’s not a lot of mainstream 2D animation these days. Aaron Blaise, a former Disney animator, writer, director, and all-round animation legend, thinks that could be about to change, thanks to more accessible software like Procreate Dreams.
“I think Procreate Dreams could not have come out at a better time,” says Blaise. “The use of CG animation is wonderful; it’s a great tool that allowed a lot of animated filmmakers who didn’t draw to get into the field and create their visions. But I think that the industry has steered away from hand-drawn animation long enough – there’s a big hunger for it now.”
In an interview with TechRadar, Blaise discussed why he’s adopting new and more accessible software for his animation education business and even some of his future works, including a feature-length film.
(Image credit: Aaron Blaise)
Paint with all the colors of the wind
Blaise left Disney in 2007 after having worked on titles like Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Aladdin – he also directed Brother Bear. He wanted to continue making films, but on a smaller scale, and his greatest ambition was to transform his over 35-year career into education.
More recently, a key component of that ambition has been Procreate Dreams. Blaise’s business, CreatureArtTeacher, even offers Procreate Dreams-specific workshops. “So many people ask me what software to use, and it’s a no-brainer. If you’ve got an iPad? No-brainer.”
In the run-up to Procreate Dreams’ release, Blaise spent 12 weeks working on a short animation using the software. “One of the biggest compliments and most consistent comments that I got on YouTube was, ‘This reminds me of the old Disney-style animation that I grew up on,’ which was always followed up with, ‘I wish there was more of this.’
“That really gets me excited for the young artists who want to come in, start drawing, and do it the way we used to do it.”
Adding to Blaise’s Procreate Dreams enthusiasm in light of this renewed hunger for 2D animation is its very approachable price – just $19.99 / £19.99 / AU$29.99. “There is no other software out there that does what Procreate Dreams does for the price point, and that to me is probably the biggest selling point,” he says. “We’re just gonna see this surge – and I’m already seeing it across YouTube and TikTok – this wave of new pieces of animation being done in Dreams.”
As a very amateur animator myself, I’ve also been pretty blown away by the Procreate Dreams experience. It’s remarkably robust and powerful but also incredibly flexible and easy to use – aspects Blaise sees huge potential in for newer animators.
Even for a seasoned pro like Blaise, though, Procreate Dreams is plenty powerful, too: “That penguin short I drew – that was before the software was even finished. I did it when a lot of the features weren’t even there yet, but Dreams was still strong enough that I could create all the backgrounds and the animation in about 12 weeks, which is huge for a full piece of animation like that.”
In fact, Blaise sees Dreams as so capable he might just make his next feature-length animation using it. “We’re talking about trying to do feature-length material using Dreams, and we’re really excited about that. We just have to figure out the pipeline.”
One jump ahead of the slowpokes
One of Blaise’s favorite things about Procreate Dreams is how easily it can replicate the experience of traditional, frame-by-frame animation on paper. “With young artists nowadays that is such a nostalgic mystery to them.
“The way I approach animation, even when I’m drawing digitally, is still a very old-school, traditional way as if I’m animating on paper, which Dreams allows me to do,” says Blaise, “I don’t use Lasso Tools and things like that, because I treat it like it’s paper.”
There’s one standout feature Blaise wishes he could have used earlier in his career; Performance mode. “The Performance mode is awesome. You can take a piece of animation, move it around the screen, record that movement, and then you’re done. That saves such an incredible amount of time.”
In fact, Blaise said Dreams’ biggest flaw has more to do with hardware – he’d love to see it on a larger slate: “Apple, if you’re reading this – make a bigger iPad.”
Still, he says, Procreate Deams has done a great job at allowing you to use that space economically, letting you easily switch between editing directly on the timeline and drawing in flipbook mode. ”I don’t know of any other software that does that. They’re really thinking about the artist and the ease of animation.”
(Image credit: Aaron Blaise)
Adventure in the great wide somewhere
For Blaise, the Dreams experience isn’t just exciting in its potential to bring in new animators; having the freedom to move with his artwork is even changing his own lifestyle as an artist.
At the Lightbox art conference in Pasadena, California, last year, fellow artist James Gurney arranged for a few peers, including Blaise, to gather one morning and complete landscape or cityscape paintings of downtown Pasadena. They also added giant creatures into the paintings as a fun illustration exercise.
Blaise, typically confined to his studio space and full setup for animation, was able to partake in a way he’d never be able to without Procreate Dreams. “Just having that portability and being able to animate anywhere, that’s pretty cool. I love that it’s ready to go when the inspiration hits you or if you want to go somewhere and you can’t be in the studio.”
It’s a freedom Blaise sees as central to the future and success of Procreate Dreams, and that freedom extends to the artistic flair of the individual using it. “It doesn’t have to be Disney style; that’s the thing I get excited about. There are so many new fresh ideas coming into the animation world; styles and ways of expression that we’ve never seen before that Dreams is going to allow people to do.”
All that’s left, Blaise says, is to try: “Just get in there and start animating and drawing, learning the basics; the bouncing ball, the stretch and squish exercises, the timing, all of that. Being able to do shots like that in Dreams is incredibly easy.”
“One of the things I love about apps like Procreate and Procreate Dreams is that they are so robust, there are 100 different ways that you can do any one thing. It just depends on what your workflow is, and how you come at it.”
Whether you’re an experienced artist like Blaise or an absolute amateur like myself, Procreate Dreams is one of the most accessible animation apps available, from its low price to the fact its hardware is a general-use tablet and not the pricey purpose-built best drawing tablets.
Disney has announced that it will be making an investment of $1.5 billion in Epic Games, the company behind the popular Fortnite game and Disney will acquire a stake in Epic Games.
The investment will also see a new collaborative partnership between the tywo companies and they will work together to develop new games and also new entertainment, you can see more details below.
“Our exciting new relationship with Epic Games will bring together Disney’s beloved brands and franchises with the hugely popular Fortnite in a transformational new games and entertainment universe,” said Robert A. Iger, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. “This marks Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games and offers significant opportunities for growth and expansion. We can’t wait for fans to experience the Disney stories and worlds they love in groundbreaking new ways.”
“Disney was one of the first companies to believe in the potential of bringing their worlds together with ours in Fortnite, and they use Unreal Engine across their portfolio,” said Tim Sweeney, CEO and Founder, Epic Games. “Now we’re collaborating on something entirely new to build a persistent, open and interoperable ecosystem that will bring together the Disney and Fortnite communities.”
You can see more details about the new partnership between Disney and Epic Games over at the Disney website at the link below, it will be interesting to see what new games and content are released with this new partnership.
Source The Walt Disney Company
Filed Under: Technology News, Top News
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