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Pre-Oscar Proof of Concept

March 7th, 2010 by Cinekin · Site Update

:-)

I love it when we’re right.

During tonight’s pre-Oscar interview with Barbara Walters, Sandra Bullock affirmed Matchmaking by Cinekin’s primary tenet on relationships:  (paraphrasing) they work because, at the end of the day, we want the same thing.

Taste Based matching.  It’s where it’s at.

Thanks, Sandra, and good luck tonight!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 11th, 2010 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork, Matchmaking by Cinekin

Happy Valentine's Day from Cinekin.com!

... ... ... ... ... ...Gotcha!!

From all of us at Cinekin.com to all of you:

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!  And if you don’t have someone to share the occasion with, then be sure to find your new paramour on Matchmaking by Cinekin!  Our very own Cupidkin can help you find your perfect match!

Of course, if you’re already enraptured in romantic bliss, check out www.CINEKIN.com to find that perfect movie for your Valentine’s date night at the theater, or for a snuggly time at home.

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Snowball Fight

February 1st, 2010 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork

A snowball fight between cinekin

............thwap!

…as in I desperately want to start one before the snow goes away (fortunately, as Cinekin HQ is in Chicago, that shouldn’t happen until around June).

It has been far too long since I have had a good snowball fight.  In fact, in recent years, I have taken to fantasizing about getting all my various friends together in one forest preserve, choosing sides, and having a snowball war (complete with forts, slings, etc.). Oh well.  For now I content myself with living vicariously through my little cinekin…

Also, I really enjoy drawing the throes of facial trauma. The shockwaves of impact rippling cheek-skin, the lips flapping dully when captured in the instant of impact.

Heheheheh.

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Sadkin

January 25th, 2010 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork

Meet Sadkin.  He's heartbreaking :-(

He's heartbreaking :-(

This image was one of a handful created for our Facebook App (MovieNightsByCinekin).  He’s the default image that’s visible before users rate any movies or invite friends, etc.  He was a fun one to draw, partly because his melancholy expression is radically different from the sunshiny happy faces of the typical Cinekin.  Also, I love playing with perspective and this image employs a fairly radical angular perspective.

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Dadkin (or Transition from 2009 to 2010, Cinekin style!)

January 7th, 2010 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork

Dadkin: now with baseball mitt and tie!

Dadkin: now with baseball mitt and tie!

I was looking back over some older artwork and I found this little guy. I don’t remember what I drew him for and I don’t think I ever colored him. I think I tucked him away and then completely forgot about him.  In the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, here he is, brought back from the archives to both pay homage to 2009 and to welcome a new year in Cinekin style!

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Happy Holidays!!

December 21st, 2009 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork, Matchmaking by Cinekin

Happy Holidays from the Cinekin Team!

Happy Holidays from the Cinekin Team!

From all of us at Cinekin.com, to all of you…have a wonderful holiday and may the new year prove rich, exciting and full of fond memories-to-be!

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s…Cupid?

November 17th, 2009 by Victor · Site Update

I know it’s not Valentine’s Day and we missed Sweetest Day, but I drew up this little guy because I felt it was high time to start visually associating the Cinekin with romance!

Matchmaking by Cinekin has been out for a little while now and I felt that it would be a good idea to start remaking our image (as embodied by our little critters) synonymous with love, romance and infatuation.

…And, we at Cinekin noticed some time ago that our little mascots could easily be adapted to take on Cupid’s guise, the cherub of love himself.  So here he is: Cinekin – Cupid of the Digital Age!!

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Never Mind the Sandra Bullocks

November 10th, 2009 by Mark · Movies

I spent the last few days recovering from an illness, which translates into watching a lot of football and movies. What made it less relaxing than most lazy weekends is that, as part of my job here with Cinekin, I am forced to watch movies I haven’t seen before. If I had my druthers, I’d list watch Goodfellas and Casino over and over again. Now, if I could just watch movies that Cinekin recommended to me, no worries. The dudes who put together the algorithm did a damn fine job on the recommendation engine, and I’m not just saying that because they work in the cubicle next to mine and are much, much bigger than me. I mean it. Of course, am I allowed to take advantage of that and just movies it gives four stars? Nooooo. I have to watch movies that the recommendation engine tell me I’d give one star, or one and a half stars. Why is that? Because, as my boss says, “we have to have you write about the other end of the spectrum, too; the movies that you don’t like are just as important in building your taste profile as the movies you like.” Whatever. All I know is that I had to freakin’ watch “13 Going on 30” and now my soul wants to vomit. Or maybe that’s the the stomach flu. Or maybe it’s the fact that I ended up watching “Ladybugs” soon after. The point is, my boss wants me to suffer, and mostly succeeds.

Sandra Bullock (Wikipedia)As part of my long standing desire to do something both detrimental to my emotional health and socially irrelevant, I had a long standing goal of watching 10 movies starring Sandra Bullock. I finished the twentieth this weekend; combined with the two movies mentioned above, I think the movies I watched have now gotten me out of about one thousand years of purgatory.

Here are the Sandra Bullock movies I’ve seen:

1) Speed
2) Demolition Man
3) Hope Floats (An ex-girlfirend made me. I caused our breakup. That, and her other boyfriend.)
4) 28 Days. (I thought she was in 28 Days Later and got really excited. I turned out to be very wrong.)
5) Speed 2: Speed Harder
6) Miss Congeniality
7) Miss Congeniality 2 (I was drunk)
8 ) Two Weeks Notice (I wish I was drunk)
9) Infamous (It’s about Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood)

and the 10th movie, seen this past weekend:

10) The Prince of Egypt.

It’s animated, but screw you, it counts. I’m working on my “Best SNL movies” post, so if you want reviews of these movies you’re gonna have to clamor for them.

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Autumn!!

November 6th, 2009 by Victor · Cinekin Artwork

Here in Chicago, the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder as we move towards the holiday season. It’s prime time for romance as we look to that someone special to keep us warm and secure. Personally, I love this time of year. I come from tropic country and I have fond memories and associations with winter in the Midwest; I love sleeping under thick covers and horsing around in the snow.

And let’s not forget watching holiday movies with a blanket across your legs, a mug of hot cocoa or cider, and a beau beside you. Stop by Cinekin.com and find someone to share your favorite movies with. And some new favorite movies for the both of you too while you’re at it.

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Where the Wild Things Allegedly Are

November 3rd, 2009 by Mark · Movies

Where the Wild Things Are

I am not going to watch Where the Wild Things Are. I have heard wonderful things about it; I heard that it’s an awesome movie. To me, that is irrelevant. Where the Wild Things Are is one of my favorite children’s books, and I have no desire to see it in another medium.

This no slur on Spike Jonez. This is no respect to the people who, by all indications, worked really hard for over seven years to get the movie made. I simply won’t see it because watching WTWTA: The Movie is like dating an ex-girlfriend’s sister. It’s not that she’s not beautiful, or brilliant, or kind; she very well could be. The problem is that you dated / were in love with her sister, and so any and all attempts to love the new one would fail. There’s too much history with the old flame, see?

It’s like that with WTWTA. The book is wonderful; it is magical in all the ways a childrens book should be. No matter how great the movie is, it is piggy-backing, at least in part, off the book. For a movie to be truly independent of the book, it must outshine mediocre source material. This is stated in the HARRISON RULE OF MOVIE ADAPTATIONS:

All movies based on Tom Clancy novels will exceed the quality of the novels themselves.

This is admittedly due, in part, to the quality of the movies themselves, like Patriot Games or The Hunt for Red October. It is also due to the fact that Tom Clancy writes the worst dialogue this side of fan fiction. Have you read any of his books? It’s like a thousand monkeys typing for a thousand years, except they skimped on the monkeys.

Anyway, due to the butchering of other beloved children’s stories and films by completely unnecessary remakes, I will now erect a new theorem: The SEUSS GREATER RULE OF REMAKES:

Everything you ever loved in your childhood will eventually be ruined by either Mike Myers or Jim Carey.

I’m happy that so many people like WTWTA: The Movie; I’m also happy that I’ll never know firsthand.

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