06.29.07
Posted in Apple, Media, Tech
at 9 am
I just saw this on Boing Boing where Working Assets is asking for an iPhone boycott because of AT&T’s practices.
I just want to point out that when Apple launched the iTunes Store and got in bed with all of the RIAA labels, it was Apple who changed (so far) EMI, not the other way around. Will AT&T go green, or suddenly become a non-profit? Of course not, but I can’t think of too many companies that would be a better influence, based on their recent history, as Apple.
Permalink
05.05.07
Posted in Media, People, Tech, Web
at 10 pm
I heard that someone got video of Michael at the wrap party for WebVisions at the Greek Cusinia. Please get in contact with me if you do. It will be the highlight of next year’s show!
UPDATE: YES!! Yes yes yes!
Permalink
04.21.07
Posted in Apple, Media, Tech
at 4 pm
I’ve been using Final Cut Studio at work with Motion 2.
It seriously rocks and this new version adds motion tracking: Motion Tracking Demo Movie in Motion 3.
I am salivating! We make displays at Planar and the ability to just drop in an image onto a monitor that’s in a trucking or panning shot would be spectacular!
Permalink
02.25.07
Posted in Media
at 11 am
For my first Oscar office pool I’ve used a statistical method of picking based on nearly abritrary (and lingusitcally dubious) elements of Google’s results for the various nominees. You can see the list that I used below:
Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Director
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Actress
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Kate Winslet, Little Children
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Penélope Cruz, Volver
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
Adapted Screenplay
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93
Art Direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige
Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen
Original Score
Babel
The Good Shepherd
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
Original Song
I Need to Wake Up, An Inconvenient Truth
Our Town, Cars
Listen, Dreamgirls
Love You I Do, Dreamgirls
Patience, Dreamgirls
Makeup
Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth
Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns
Animated Feature Film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Foreign Language Film
After the Wedding
Days of Glory
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
Water
Documentary Feature
Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country
Documentary Short
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands
Live Action Short
Binta and the Great Idea
Helmer & Son
One Too Many
The Saviour
West Bank Story
Animated Short
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts
Permalink
02.17.07
Posted in Media
at 2 am
No no no, you want to see the full length video for “O Valencia” from the Decemberists….
http://pitchforkmedia.com/…
The Portland references in the titles is worth the video alone.
Permalink
01.25.07
Posted in Apple, Media, Tech
at 8 pm
After an aborted Xmas purchase of the RadioShark because ClubMac didn’t cancel the order when they ran out of stock, I ordered one of the new, black, sleek Sharks direct from Griffin and have installed it and have been listening to my favorite station (KNRK). There’s not much to it, 5 pieces to note: 1) The Black Fin is metal and really feels solid, 2) the base is mirror-polished and looks great, 3) the blue lights that show it’s powered on give off that whole ‘we’re so cool we use Blue LEDs in our device, which is a bit over played, 4) a longish permanently affixed USB cord and 5) an antenna-cum-headphone jack seems as simple as I expected. It has a little loop at the end that I’m sure would make it easier to pin to the wall, but we’ll see. Right now it just limply hangs behind the rest of the entertainment center.
(Seven Nation Army, White Stripes on KRNK – Go Timbers!)
Looking around the web, some people have been having huge cows over the interface, but really it’s not that bad. But not having dealt with 1.0, perhaps that’s the difference. It’s not the best UI, in fact I wish it would just fall straight in line with iTunes. (Not because iTunes is the height of UI design, but because it’s the most familiar music player for anyone who likes to listen to MP3s.)
It will be interesting to see how it deals with the DST issue, that does seem like a no-brainer bug that should have been fixed.
I really wish I could set up the RadioShark to be a stream that iTunes could pick up. It would mostly bypass the RS software during live broadcasts, only leaving out the ability to rewind.
(I Feel You, Depeche Mode now.)
I wonder…has anyone used their RS to try and win radio station contests? If there are somewhat predictable times for ‘winner announcements’ or ‘secret word’ broadcasts, then the Shark could be a big boon.
I do hope that support for RDS might come along at some point, which would enable a huge number of really cool applications.
Anyway, as of day 1, I’m quite happy with the purchase (even in spite of the horrible plastic blister packaging), and look forward to many hours of listening.
(Sure Shot, Beastie Boys.)
The Home Entertainment Project: Connecting All Transmissions (HEP:CAT) has almost come to completion. The last bit is an NAS hard drive that can handle gigs and gigs of music and video. Look for an overview article coming out about it some time this summer perhaps.
Permalink
01.21.07
Posted in Media
at 9 pm
An interesting look at the production quality of Mode’s most recent studio album. Alan, where are you…?
Depeche Mode – Playing The Angel – Another victim of the loudness race
The vinyl recording was normalized to maximum peak value. Comparing the two waveforms, it’s abundantly clear how much sound detail was sacrificed (on the CD edition) for the sake of MAXIMUM LOUDNESS. Is that progress?! I did actually listen to the CD and vinyl versions (at matched volume levels) for the sake of comparison, and my personal opinion was that the subtle details on the vinyl edition were indeed more…errr, subtle! Unlike the CD version, which is the musical equivalent of being shouted at.
Permalink
03.26.06
Posted in Media, Tech
at 11 pm
On the review for the Amazon.com: Westinghouse W32701 27″ Widescreen LCD Flat Panel at Amazon:
A 4:3 TV is a 3-4-5 Right Triangle. Divide the Diagonal measurement By 5 then multiply that number by 3 to get the picture hieght, or by 4 to get the width.
A 16:9 TV is a 16-9-18.36 Right Trangle. Divide the Diagonal measurement By 18.36 then multiply that number by 9 to get the picture hieght, or by 16 to get the width.
Rule of Thumb:
17″ Widescreen = 15″ 4:3 Picture Height
23″ Widescreen = 19″ 4:3 Picture Height
27″ Widescreen = 22″ 4:3 Picture Height
30″ Widescreen = 24″ 4:3 Picture Height
33″ Widescreen = 27″ 4:3 Picture Height
44″ Widescreen = 36″ 4:3 Picture Height
See? That’s nice, well written, succinct, right to the point, straight forward, not redundant and non-redudant.
The one piece they forgot to add was that LCDs don’t have the overscan area that CRTs do. That means that the CRTs have an effective screen size that’s an inch or three smaller than the listed size.
So if Amy and i are going to replace our ancient 22″ (circa 1988!) CRT, we could probably get away with a 23″ widescreen. But I think a 26 or 27″ display would be a better bet.
Permalink
03.12.06
Posted in Media
at 9 pm
Dean Stockwell‘s line in the last episode of Season 2 of BattleStar Galactica:
I’m not a fracking Zylon! I’m not…
(Sees fellow identical Cylon in brig)
Oh, well then…
It doesn’t come across well in text, but Stockwell plays it perfectly. Well done Brother Cavell. (Which Cylon model is he?)
Permalink
12.22.05
Posted in Career, Media
at 11 pm
Poynter Online – Writing Tool #13: Show and Tell
On the Ladder of Abstraction:
An old essay by John Updike begins, “We live in an era of gratuitous inventions and negative improvements.” That language is general and abstract, near the top of the ladder. It provokes our thinking, but what concrete evidence leads Updike to his conclusion? The answer is in his second sentence: “Consider the beer can.” To be even more specific, Updike was complaining that the invention of the pop-top ruined the aesthetic experience of drinking beer. “Pop-top” and “beer” are at the bottom of the ladder, “aesthetic experience” at the top.
Permalink