Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Wired into Me: 2009 Movie Guide
Happy New Year everyone!
Monday, December 29, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
South Park making long-awaited Blu-ray debut in March - Engadget HD
Monday, December 22, 2008
Ode to Antiheroes
Dexter--The first two seasons of Dexter were incredible. Where shows like The Shield and The Sopranos had antiheroes who also had a warmer side when it came to family, Dexter the serial killer didn't really have a warmer side, and yet you still somehow always rooted for him. The first two seasons of Dexter played incredibly well, with intricate season-long story arcs that had insanely intense climaxes. Season 3 didn't live up to that standard, though. I still love the show, but the series-long arc was so implausible and the show fell into my biggest pet peeve in dramatic television--often the characters had to do something out of character in order to move the plot forward. That drives me crazy! Still, some of the moments shared between series star Michael C. Hall and Jimmy Smits were insanely great. So, overall a series well worth watching and a season that was good but not as good as its predecessors.
The Shield--The final season of this landmark show did not disappoint. The main protagonist is such an amazing antihero. Every season, heck almost every show, included some impossibly desperate situation for its dirty cop protagonist Vic Mackey (played brilliantly by Michael Chiklis), and yet he always managed to leverage his way out of the jam he and his team were in. In the final season, does the tangle of lies and deceptions finally catch up with Mackey and his crew? I won't give any spoilers, but this show did not disappoint. The last five minutes was perfectly played out, incredibly with barely any spoken dialog from Chiklis. David Chase could have taken some script notes from Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield) when drafting the final season of the Sopranos. Those last three Shield episodes were amongst the most intensely suspenseful that I have ever witnessed from a TV series.
Next on my antihero playlist-- Weeds. I have never watched an episode, but I'm itching to start. As a fan of Chiklis, I'm also wondering if I should look into catching him with hair in The Commish. Either or both of those series will take a while to watch especially with Lost starting next month, so don't go looking for my impressions anytime soon.
I have seen 101 of these films
(X) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
() Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
() Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
() Neverending Story
(X) Blazing Saddles
(X) Airplane
Total: 6
(x) The Princess Bride
() Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
() Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
(X) White Noise
(X) White Oleander
() Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
() The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far:12
(x) Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
() American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 14
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
() Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 18
() Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(X) Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
() 13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
Total so far: 21
(X) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
() Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
(X) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
() KING KONG
Total so far: 26
() A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
() Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(X) The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
() Flubber
Total so far: 29
() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From Hell
() Hellboy
() Secret Window
() I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 31
(X) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
(x) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
() Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 35
(X) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
(X) Lone Star
() Bedazzled
(X) Predator I
(X) Predator II
() The Fog
() Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Ttal so far: 43
(X) Independence Day
(x) Cujo
(X) A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(X) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 51
() Best Bet
() How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She's All That
() Calendar Girls
(X) Sideways
(X) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(X) Big Trouble in Little China
(X) The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 59
(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(X) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(X) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
() Freaky Friday – ORGINAL VERSION
() Reign of Fire
() The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 69
(X) Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street – ORGINAL VERSION, BLACK AND WHITE
() Old School
(x) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 72
(X) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 78
() Baseketball
() Hostel
(X) Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
() Elf
(X) Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 77
() The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(X) Shaun Of the Dead
() Willard
Total so far: 81
() High Tension
() Club Dread
(X) Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
() Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(X) 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
(X) Waterworld
Total so far: 85
(X) Kill Bill vol 1
(X) Kill Bill vol 2
()Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes – ORIGINAL VERSION
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
(X) Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total so far: 88
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 94
(x) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix Reloaded
(X) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total so far: 101
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Best Scene Ever from The Shield
Monday, December 15, 2008
Technologizer: Apple Patentmania & Frenemies
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
TiVo's Netflix HD is Live?
Vid of Week 2008-12-08: Prop 8
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Animation the Most Competitive Oscar Category?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
HD Streaming Matures in 2009
Monday, December 1, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
BC Will Stop Offering New Students E-Mail Accounts
Article from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
My New Favorite Thing
And then I remembered--Traffic.com offers traffic reports via text message. Just text your city code (PHL for Philadelphia in my case) to 87232, and back comes an instant report within seconds. Awesome!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
RIP Crichton
Monday, November 3, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Google Maps shows you where to Vote
Google--giving you even fewer excuses not to vote!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Vid of Week 2008-10-20: Ad for Google's iPhone Killer
I think that Google has a long way to go to outsell the iPhone, but this is a great looking first step. Love the keyboard! Now if I could only get one and not use T-Mobile.....
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
New Apple Notebooks Expected
Monday, October 13, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Vid of Week 2008-10-06: Amazing Fan-Created Light Saber Duel
Sunday, October 5, 2008
LG Blu Ray/Netflix Player
Friday, October 3, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Burn After Reading Impressions
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Fringe or Mainstream?
What I love about Lost (and loved about Alias) is the deep mythology of the show. Each episode has a story arc, each season has a story arc, and the entire run of the show has a story arc. Not so with Fringe. After the first episode I already more or less know how the pieces will fall together in the end. The second episode played more like a procedural crime show like CSI or Law and Order than The X-Files or Lost, except with second rate characters, plots, and writing. It was formulaic and not engaging at all. Why should I care about an episode where at any point the borderline insane 'fringe scientist' can invent some ultra advanced method to, say, allow one person to read anothers mind, or enable them to recreate the last images they ever saw? It means that no crime is unsolvable. ZZZZ
So far I have endured two episodes. The third aired last night and sits waiting on my TiVo. Because it is JJ, I will give it one more shot. After that, on to bigger and better things. If I change my mind, I will post a follow-up.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Get Out and Vote!
Goodbye HBO
Incidentally, many of the links to the defunct shows are to the complete DVD sets for sale on Amazon, some newly released. Christmas/Chanukkah is coming up!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
LG BD300 Blu Ray/Netflix Player Status
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Vid of Week 2008-09-15: The International Trailer
Clive Owen and Naomi Watts in a thriller? I can't wait....
Friday, September 12, 2008
LG BD300 Blu Ray Netflix Player is Released! Whoops!
Pandora versus Genius versus... Zune?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Pandora versus Genius
Genius will allow you to select a song from your library and do two things--create a playlist of similar songs and suggest new songs to purchase from the store. Pandora does not have access to your music library, but it does allow you to include multiple artists/songs in your stations to refine the selections that it makes for you.
So how smart is Genius? I selected the Zero 7 song "In the Waiting Line" which, if you are not familiar, is a very mellow electronica tune with a sultry female vocalist. Genius' suggested a playlist from my library that included Tone Loc's "Wild Thing", Fatboy Slim's "Wonderful Night", and Eric Prydz "Call on Me," all of which, while heavy on electronic instrumentals, are decidedly not mellow and none feature female vocalists. Genius did suggest some Bjork songs, but none of those were mellow either! At this point, Genius didn't seem that smart. On the other hand, it was limited to the contents of my iTunes library, which (as you can surmise by the tracks that I just listed) is not all that expansive. *** note to readers--please forget the songs that I just listed and do not use them against me in any way. I admit that my music library is lame. I was trying to illustrate a point.*** Anyway, even if I had a huge collection, it would pale in comparison to the songs that Pandora and iTunes have in their libraries.
A fairer comparison between Genius and Pandora would be to compare their suggestions based on their expansive libraries, not my piddling one. So I selected the same Zero 7 song "In the Waiting Line" to seed a Pandora station and to get iTunes Store recommendations.
Genius suggested 15 songs that I should buy from the iTunes Store, including "Lebanese Blonde" from Thievery Corporation, "Glory Box" from Portishead, "Teardrop" from Massive Attack, and "Such Great Heights" from Iron and Wine. Strangely, Genius also suggested another song called "Such Great Heights" from The Postal Service. The first few recommendations were spot on, but then the closeness of the styles of the songs declined considerably.
Pandora played for me "Don't Panic" by Coldplay, "I Know" by G Spliff, "Dirty Laundry" by Bitter:Sweet, "Final Home" by DJ Crush, and "My Friend" by Groove Armada. All of these tracks match the style of the Zero 7 tune pretty closely. Also, instead of just 15 songs, this Pandora "station" will play indefinitely and adjust itself on how I rate the songs that have been played and other artists/albums I add to the station.
In case you are not familiar with any or all of these songs, essentially the quality of the recommendations between Pandora and iTunes Genius are close, but personally I preferred the Pandora selections. Genius having two songs with the same title where one isn't a cover of the other is suspect to me. And actually, neither song was such a great match to the song that seeded the recommendation to begin with.
Overall, I think that Genius is cool to create interesting (albeit sometimes strange) playlists, and it has the benefit of being embedded on the newest iPods, but I'll keep Pandora, thank you very much. I encourage you to try the same test yourself!
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Scientific American Podcast
I love the quote, "Change your leaders, not your light bulbs."
Posted using ShareThis
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
The Brothers Bloom
Impressions on Yesterday's Apple Event
Well, Wired was wrong about an iTunes subscription service. Kevin Rose was shockingly accurate, down to a mockup of the new iTunes 8.0 user interface and Genius feature. Though I like the new Genius feature in iTunes, I don't really care about it on my iPod as long as I can save my iTunes-generated playlists to my iPod which I can do with my existing iPod. I myself was holding out for an iPod Touch with more capacity and GPS, which did not come about. The "funnest iPod ever" iPod Touch 2G just doesn't grab me enough to compel me to give up my iPod Classic. If my iPod dies, I'll go out and buy one of these. Otherwise, maybe next time.
I was excited by the addition of HD content to the iTunes Store. May make an Apple TV more interesting in the future...
Does anyone else think that Apple should scale back these ultra-hyped events in the future? There's only so many times Steve Jobs can trot out on stage to tout marginal updates before it starts to get stale, right? Right? Am I right people? Hello?
Monday, September 8, 2008
Apple Surprise Coming Tomorrow. Wired Says...
Vid of Week 2008-09-08: Comedy Duo
Thursday, September 4, 2008
TiVo Resurgence
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Story of Google Chrome
The Baddest Baldies
Monday, September 1, 2008
Vid of Week 2008-09-01: Origin of Darth Maul
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Fantastic Contraption
Monday, August 25, 2008
EW Action 25
Vid of Week 2008-08-25: The Blackberry Helmet
A recent survey in Great Britain found that one in 10 Britons had suffered some kind of injury from walking into something while they "texted. Unless Brits are a lot klutzier than the rest of us, millions of Americans are probably getting injured the same way.
(thanks to Erik Steele of the Bangor Daily News for the quote and The Forrester Blog for alerting me to the article and the video)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
EWs Best Sci Fi of the Last 25 Years
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Top 100 Undiscovered Web Sites - Apps and Services - Reviews by PC Magazine
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
I'm Not Video Crazy
Monday, August 18, 2008
Vid of Week 2008-08-18: Minority Report Technology Today, For Cheap!
Friday, August 15, 2008
FeedFlix.com
Thursday, August 14, 2008
I'm Burning, Yearning, for Burn After Reading
Monday, August 11, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Broadband Caps & Internet Video At Odds (duh?)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Latest on Amazon vs. iTunes
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
CertifiedMail is Marketing BS
What is it about CertifiedEmail that upsets you so much? The way it makes it impossible for a sender to spoof identity? Or maybe you are upset that there finally accountability for senders who blast messages to inboxes uncontrollably? Consider for a moment that Goodmail is probably the most exclusive email program going today, and its users have to adhere to extremely low complaint thresholds. So while marketers and others are sharing some of their email-generated profits with the ISPs (read: offsetting the high costs of email infrastructure that YOU the recipient pay for), Goodmail is making the internet a much better place.
Rather than carry on a conversation in the comments section, I thought that I'd post my response as a new blog post.
I reject the assumptions in the commentors' question. Giving the practice a pretty name like Goodmail or CertifiedMail doesn't make it good, and who is doing the certifying anyway? Along the same vein, "Adhering to low compliant thresholds" is a meaningless statement. Goodmail may not allow deposed princes from Uganda looking to tranfer millions into your bank account through their system, but the email that they traffick in is still unwanted. Across the board people don't generally take the time flagging email as spam, so high "compliance" whatever that means is just a load of PR spin. I also take issue with your statement "offsetting the high costs of email infrastructure that YOU the recipient pay for". There are plenty of free email providers that don't use services like Goodmail. Rhetoric is cheap. There should be other ways developed to prevent email spoofing and inbox blasting.
So despite the fact that I reject your assumptions, I will still try to answer your direct question. However, read the articles hyperlinked in my last post on the topic, they articulate it better than I. Here's the short version: there are two things about Goodmail and its ilk that I don't like:
- Assuming that all Spam is bad, ISPs are complicit in filling my inbox with unwanted content. Yahoo, AOL etc tell me that they provide SPAM filters, yet they selectively disable them for certain parties.
- If you believe that spam is a legitimate form of marketing (I do not), allowing some paying customers to have access to my inbox over and above other is a blatant violation of net neutrality. SPAM should have the same barriers to access for all purveyors. Should a legitimate small business owner not be able to send out a catalog over postal mail because they can't pay the fees that LL Bean pays?
If I could ask one serious question of anyone who was defending pay-per-email, or sitting on the fence about it, this would be it: Suppose you sent an extremely urgent e-mail to your doctor or your lawyer, who for the sake of argument you're not able to reach by phone. The recipient's ISP owner happens to see the message before the user retrieves it, and realizes how urgently you need to get it through. So he moves it to the recipient's "spam" folder, and then calls you up and says: pay me $1,000 to move it to the recipient's inbox, or they'll never see it.Read the full article for the rest of his argument.
Bottom line. Spam sucks and I wish we didn't have to deal with it. But getting rid of most of it at the expense of net neutrality or legitimate email being blocked or delays is simply unacceptable.
Sorry if I babbled a bit here. I feel pretty passionately about this, and I wrote this off the cuff while trying to get back to my day job.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Stephen King's N
Friday, August 1, 2008
July Was CG Month!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
LG & Netflix Get it Right?
Film Podcast Reviews Summary
So here is a summary of all of my film podcast reviews. Listed below are the podcasts and my original ratings. Plus I calculated two fields:
- Weighted was derived from the fact that the content is more important to me than the production. The formula here was (3*Content+Production)/10. The list is sorted by this column, as this weighted score best reflects what I cared about. Your results may vary.
- Time weighted was derived from the fact that my time is valuable. In many cases I'd rather listen to a halfway decent podcast that is 5 minutes long than a pretty good one that is 120 minutes long. The formula here is not as scientific—Weighted score/Length*100. This isn't as accurate a measure so I didn't sort by it, but it can be used as a rough guide. The five minute podcasts Left Field Cinema and Film Gang scored inordinately high even though they weren't my favorite podcasts. So, use that information how you choose.
FPR # |
| Length (min) | Production | Content | Weighted | Time Weighted |
XIII | 30 | 10 | 10 | 10.0 | 33.3 | |
VI | 5 | 8 | 9 | 8.8 | 175.0 | |
X | 30 | 8 | 9 | 8.8 | 29.2 | |
I | 60 | 7 | 9 | 8.5 | 14.2 | |
XII | 30 | 4 | 9 | 7.8 | 25.8 | |
VIII | 5 | 6 | 8 | 7.5 | 150.0 | |
II | 60 | 10 | 6 | 7.0 | 11.7 | |
V | 60 | 4 | 7 | 6.3 | 10.4 | |
IV | 60 | 6 | 6 | 6.0 | 10.0 | |
IX | 60 | 6 | 6 | 6.0 | 10.0 | |
XI | 60 | 4 | 6 | 5.5 | 9.2 | |
VII | 75 | 6 | 5 | 5.3 | 7.0 | |
III | 60 | 2 | 4 | 3.5 | 5.8 |
So did I leave out your favorite podcast? Let me know, I'd be happy to listen to more, though my ipod is now filled to the brim with everything I have discovered in the process of listening to all of these productions.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Excitement Over E-Ink
Film Podcast Review XIII: The Treatment
I debated with myself whether I should include The Treatment in this series of film podcast reviews. Perhaps it is unfair to compare the mostly amateur productions to a professionally produced radio program with A-List guests. I chose to include it simply because it is competing for space on my iPod "Film Podcasts" playlist. Plus, I have already included podcasts from NPR already, so excluding it wouldn't be fair. I think that the real reason that I hesitated was because The Treatment was just so much better than everything else that I have heard so far.
This podcast is a home run. Mitchell is a brilliant interviewer--these programs come across as a conversation with the guests rather than a Q&A. Rather than the typical "so how did you get Brad Pitt to agree to do this film?"--he really dives deeply into the guests' inspirations, thematic tendencies, motivations, and of course their films. I was riveted from minute 1 of the first podcast I heard and stayed in my car to hear the end rather than wait for my next drive to hear the rest. Since then I have listened to several more back to back with always the same result. Mitchell is obviously highly intelligent and knowledgeable about film. That makes him good. What makes him great is that he is a master of the art of an interview. He is soft-spoken, but not boring. He is smart, but doesn't feel the need to show you how smart he is. He clearly sets his guests at ease and let's them take center stage. Brilliant.
Plus, at under 30 minutes, I was never bored. The perfect podcast. A++ Go get this one.
Content 10/10
Production 10/10
What a perfect way to wrap up my film podcast reviews! Look for a summary in the next couple of days!
Update on Dad
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
IMDB Exposes a Listless AFI
Devolution of the Fight Scene
Goodmail is Badmail
Monday, July 28, 2008
Best TV of The Summer
is not where you'd expect it. Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog comes from Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Serenity/Firefly. It is a superhero musical comedy that stars Nathan Fillion (a longtime Whedon collaborator) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother). All of that is compelling enough, but what is even more compelling is that the show is not on any of the major networks or cable, it is on iTunes. Not only is Dr. Horrible an awesome show that you should run out and download, it may revolutionize content distribution. I have watched all three acts twice each already, I can't wait for the sequel, and will buy the DVD the day that it comes out. Trust me, you will enjoy it. Plus, by downloading it, you too can be at the forefront of history!
Too Much Spam?
"...Yahoo is participating in the system and Comcast, Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner Cable have agreed to participate, although not all of them have activated the service. This represents at least two-thirds of e-mail traffic in the United States. Microsoft and Google are the big hold outs."I recommend changing your email provider from the offending companies ASAP.
Read the full article
Hey Excel Nerds!
Hilarious.
more graph humor and song chart memes
more graph humor and song chart memes
Vid of Week 2008 -07-28: Star Wars Shortened
This was my favorite video of the ones mentioned in the Wired article that I wrote about last week.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Film Podcast Review XII: Filmically Perfect
On their website, they state
Many years ago, J. Todd Anderson (filmmaker, storyboard artist and bon-vivant) and Geo. Willeman (film archivist, writer, producer, and actor-of-sorts) came up with their Rules for The Perfect Movie. Four simple but defining rules. Thus was born Their List of Perfect Movies!Although I would not have thought of this before listening to the podcast, one thing that struck me as obvious as soon as I started to listen was that these co-hosts were older. Not old, per se, but I realized that almost everything that I listened to up to this point was hosted by 20 or 30-somethings with little life experience under their belt. From their voices to their insightful thoughts about the films that they are discussing, it was clear that Filmically Perfect had more to offer than their inexperienced cohorts on other film-based podcasts. Only as the podcast went on did I realize that Anderson and Willeman are actually experienced cinematic professionals. Some of the insights that they share on the production of the films that they discuss are amazing! Dakota, incidentally, plays more of the facilitator role in this production, but she does offer some interesting insights as well.
I should say that the 'old' comment does not imply that these guys are boring. Though their podcasts does on very rare occasion stray into the SNL-parody of NPR territory of hosts on thorazine, they are humorous people, though their humor tends to be on the goofy side and rely often on the use of puns.
My only real problem with this podcast was the production quality. The sound levels on each of the hosts vary widely. With Willeman calling in(?) the sound quality on his voice is noticeably worse than for the other two. On a couple of occasions, the other two (in the studio?) interrupt him and he doesn't realize it and continues along, drowned out by the others. The other side effect of the practice of calling in was that the sound levels varied widely. I listened to several episodes of this podcast at my desk, in my car, and in a grocery store. I had to vary the volume levels widely from middle range to pegged at the top, even within the same episode at the same location. It was very strange, and especially because this is a professional radio production!
Still, if you can stand the sound issues, this one is a winner.
Content: 9/10
Production 4/10
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Almost Lost a Lost Letter
ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCHOctagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma's Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008."My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country," said Mr. Van Eeghen. "As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us."The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.comThe Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.comTHIS IS AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE:
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Monday, July 21, 2008
Best Star Wars Parodies
The Wired article is called Best Star Wars Remakes, but it is more like a list of parodies/love notes paying homage to Star Wars. My all time favorite 'Hardware Wars' (pictured) is on the list, and I look forward to watching the ones that I haven't seen.