October 2009
35 posts
WatchThe title “Drunk Ewoks Ruin Today Show Segment” sounds like a lame online video, even if it’s real. But it’s real, and it’s spectacular. (via /Film)
*Skip ahead to about two minutes in, and try to ponder how any of this is happening.
Wow. Change.
David Brooks bring great news about education reform under the Obama administration:
These changes mean that states are raising their caps on the number of charter schools. When charters got going, there was a “let a thousand flowers bloom” mentality that sometimes led to bad schools. Now reformers know more about how to build charters and the research is showing solid results. Caroline Hoxby of...
"Look At The Birdie"
I was sitting in a bar one night, talking rather loudly about a person I hated — and a man with a beard sat down beside me, and he said amiably, “Why don’t you have him killed?” “I’ve thought of it,” I said. “Don’t think I haven’t.”
So begins a never-before-published short story by Kurt Vonnegut in yesterday’s LA Times. ...
James Cameron Is Just As Crazy As You Thought (And...
Via The New Yorker:Vulture:
James Cameron signs all correspondence “Jim out.”
James Cameron has a piece of shrapnel in his arm from Terminator 2 that never came out.
On the set of Titanic, a disgruntled worker spiked the crew’s chowder dinner with PCP. James Cameron “had the presence of mind to stick his finger down his throat, and was one of the few who didn’t spend the...
Watch“We Were Once A Fairytale” - dir. Spike Jonze, starring Kanye West
Either Kanye really does become a spoiled rich white college kid while drunk and Jonze can’t get enough of felt dolls, or this is one of the funniest parodies of the “short film” (particularly the music at the end) ever. Probably a bit of both.
Ellipsis (n.)
Taken to its logical stylistic conclusion, an episode of Mad Men could consist solely of medium wide shots of people doing everyday tasks and then wide shots of them stopping and looking forlorn. Sunday’s episode was more elliptical in its editing than usual, taking out large chunks of the chronology, cutting what the characters should talk about — Betty’s weightless nature...
WatchAs a workflow geek, this behind-the-scenes look at Fantastic Mr. Fox’s animation process offers an interesting window into how Wes Anderson directed the film, whether in studio or (it seems more often than not) in another country. More than that, though, it offers the always fascinating opportunity to watch stop-motion come together, from the surprising largeness of the puppets and sets to...
Toilet Humor
I want an NSF grant to find what percentage of men would choose the short urinal over the tall urinal.
James Cameron's AVATAR: Which of these is not like...
-What’s the budget? “Yes,” replied Landau. -The film will be shown in 2.35:1 on 2-D screens to seem more epic, in 1.85:1 on 3-D screens to seem more immersive, and 1.43:1 on IMAX screens. -That font is not technically Papyrus.
(via Cinematical)