Monthly Archives:

March 2014

Some Useful and Interesting Things (Sunday Edition)

Posted on March 30, 2014

For at least a few weeks there I was putting up lists of things I found useful and/or interesting from around the Internets. I would like to get back to doing that. So, in that spirit, here I am with a new list of, you guessed it, useful and interesting things.

Of course, these may only be useful and/or interesting to me. Fortunately, I pay the bills around here, so you’ll just have to take your chances.

Here goes:

• Too much paper clutter in your home or office? Geek Day has the solution.

• Microsoft Office has finally come to the iPad. Who cares, you say? Well, I tend to agree, but what do I know?

• Facebook paid a cool $2 Billion for the Oculus Rift VR goggles and the companuy that created them? But what about the Kickstarter backers who helped make the product a reality in the first place?

• A tale of two pencils. Will the “real” Blackwing 602 please stand up?

• Speaking of pencils. What’s the big deal about vintage ones anyway?

• The new HTC One (M8) looks cool but I don’t think it will replace my iPhone 5s.

• Check out Stanley Kubrick’s annotated copy of Stephen King’s The Shining. Cool.

• As I’m a man and an Altoids fan, here’s 22 Manly Ways to Reuse an Altoids Tin.

• Can the right tools help you write better? I don’t know, I’m just trying to write good … I mean well. Crap.

Finally, here’s the trailer for Michael Bay’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I am not a devout devotee of the original TMNT, so this new version really doesn’t offend me on that level as it seems to have done to others. I’m just not sure it looks like a very good movie. Oh well.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCjsWpM9zFU?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

And heck, while we’re on the subject of movies, here’s the trailer for the next movie from The Wachowskis called Jupiter Ascending. See, her name is Jupiter and she’s, well, ascending … or something. I see what you did there Andy and Lana.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1hW3bWIuDA?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

‘Jodorowsky’s Dune’ Tells It Like It Pretty Much Is

Posted on March 29, 2014

As some of you may know, I worked in Hollywood for a bit. I’m not famous or anything, but I did spend quite a bit of time doing what they call “Production.” Briefly, that’s the nuts and bolts, day to day part of the filmmaking (or TV or commercials) process where you pull all the elements (lights, cameras, locations, vehicles, crew, etc., etc.) together and then push, drag, bribe, cajole, beg, borrow or steal and finally get the whole thing kicking and screaming into the light.

It’s an extremely rewarding experience helping bring something that only exists on paper to life on the big or small screen. It’s also a huge amount of work (I’m talking 15-hour days, seven days a week sometimes) and, on many occasions, a monumental pain in the ass.

The truth is in showbiz sometimes shit just doesn’t go right and often a person in my (former) position is one of the few people who can fix whatever the problems are and get the whole thing working again. But sometimes things just can’t be fixed and you have to cut your losses and move on. Sadly, that happens more often then it should.

That brings me to the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune. In case you’re not familiar, someone tried to make a movie version of Frank Herbert’s novel Dune before we ended up with the one David Lynch (or Alan Smithee depending on the version) ended up making.

That person was cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsk. And this documentary is the story of a monumental failure that ended up changing modern sci-fi movies forever. I have no trouble believing almost (if not) all of what the movie says happened, happened. Hollywood is a crazy bitch sometimes.

Check out the trailer below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WWu1kclNDA?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

Happy (Soon to Be) 50th ‘Star Trek’

Posted on March 26, 2014

As my friend and The Flickcast podcast co-host Joe Dilworth pointed out recently, it was supposedly about 50 years ago (on or about March 11) that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first put pen to paper (or fingers to typewriter) and wrote a proposal for a new sci-fi TV series.

His first words? “Star Trek is . . .”

Since that day his creation has spawned several TV series, a bunch of movies, action figures, models, conventions and whole generations of adults of all ages all over the world who dreamed of boldly going where no one has gone before. Those words, and the resulting TV series, had power . . . Power to entertain, to inform, to spark debate and highlight the important social and political issues of the time. Plus, the show was just plain fun.

I’m sure we’ll start to see all sorts of tributes and honors for this amazing and groundbreaking TV series, and the phenomenon it became, as the actual 50th anniversary of the original series, which first aired in 1966, hits in 2016. Until then, let me put in my two cents now and say “Thank You” to Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek for the countless hours of fun and entertainment.

‘Star Wars’ Visual Effects

Posted on March 15, 2014

I find this shit fascinating. Also, I really think the “old school” method looks better than a lot of the the CG being done these days. Models look more 3D because they are 3D in real space, not created in a computer.

Of course, I also still often write with a pen or pencil on actual paper, so what do I know? Well, something at least. I know what I like.

Anyway, check out this great video and learn all about stop motion, blue screen and more of the tricks of the trade that helped make Star Wars, Empire and Return of the Jedi the classic movies they are.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIlYk7KQe-s?rel=0&w=560&h=315]