Monday, August 07, 2006

Tech talks


Thanks to Rockin', Shockin', Bloggin' David Pogue for the tip of the amazing free "Ted Talks" lectures.

Oh, and I agree with David: the Jeff Han talk/demo is amazing. I hope an interface like that comes to my computer very soon.

Another one, very important, is Ken Robinson:

"My contention is that creativity is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status."
- Sir Ken Robinson

"If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original."
- Sir Ken Robinson

Sunday, August 06, 2006

The weepy face syndrome



Some TV shows:
Huff
The L Word

Six Feet Under

The OC

... have many things in common: Excellent cinematography, good stories, great actors, a good sense of humor.
And those particular ones have one more thing in common, what I call the-late-season-one-weepy-face-syndrome.
I am not sure what happens, but it might be that the writers/editors feel that they have to Up The Interest so as to make it to a second season of the show. I don't know, but the fact is that those shows late in Season One just seemed to lose their sense of fun, and the comedy which lifted the shows so nicely. Things got weepy and serious, and the characters f***ed up their lives way beyond what was in character, or necessary, they just started making oodles of bad choices.
As a result the shows got boring. What a pity.

Especially since some shows demonstrate it this not necessary. Of course all the great comedy shows. And also The West Wing, Gilmore Girls, and The Sopranos.
The Sopranos, actually, I had a realization about (after watching five seasons!): that it is a comedy! A sometimes dark and certainly subtle comedy, sure, but a comedy none the less. Just one more thing that goes to show that we are not in Kansas anymore, as it were, and that this is the golden age of TV.

"Where The Hell Is Matt?"


It is just a guy doing his little jig ALL OVER the globe, but somehow... somehow it is really cool and funny and touching.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

My next film

People are asking about my next film, and since a lot of stuff has already been leaked on aintitcool.com, I may as well fill in a few blank spots:

1: The rumors are true, Dakota Fanning will play the Innocent Sister.
We'll need state of the art aging technology, since Dakota is 12, and IS is about 33. But Dakota has stated to Celluloid Magazine: "I am confident that first class acting and a big helping of Suspension of Disbelief on the part of the audience will help us over this hurdle."

2: Bono has pledged to do a song for it.
He says he wants it to be a madrigal. Not an obvious choice for a space opera adventure, but we'll make it work.

3: It will be five hours long.
No intermissions. The audience today don't like being pampered. We'll only sell small drinks in the theatre bar.

4: It will be filmed on mini-DVD and Hi-8.
This will provide a nice contrast with the $40M effects budget.

5: Working title: "A Boy and His Dog".
Charles Schulz' estate has sued us, but we don't think they have a case. Harlan Ellison has not commented.

6: Taking a page from the success of Lord of the Rings (which admittedly I did not care for), we will release the DVD in six different versions, spaced out with two months between them.
The Christmas edition will have everybody in santa hats.

7: Neil Gaiman is working on the script.
I have said to him: "Neil, it is a space opera. No faeries, please!" But we'll see how it turns out.

8: Marlon Brando was supposed to play the hero's long dead father, but it turns out (ironically) that Brando himself is dead.
Our computer animation department is working on a digital version of him, but I want him in his later years, and they are having trouble finding enough pixels to render him.

MuzakDogs


An art video I made a while ago:MuzakDogs (4MB)

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

White/Red

I thought by now we could use another snow picture.
(One of those I took in March.)

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Great weather

Today is finally cool and rainy here in North West England. I love it! Big sigh of relief.

I actually got airconditioning installed a couple of months ago here in the Stobblehouse mansion and business headquarters (aka my apartment). Talk about good timing.