THE DARK KNIGHT: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, from Warner Bros. Pictures, will feature four sequences filmed with IMAX® cameras. This marks the first time ever that a major feature film has been even partially shot using IMAX cameras, marking a revolutionary integration of the two film formats.
30 Years of Star Wars Holiday Cards from Lucasfilm
starwars.com is taking a look back at the last 30 years of Lucasfilm's holiday company cards and pulling out those examples which include a Star Wars theme.It seems like a great pair of ornaments could be made based on the image above.
This is probably the last podcast with Noah and I for this year...
If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, be sure to listen to the SkyMall Selection at the beginning.Episode 22.m4a (55:57)
Then it's on to the Year in Review: iPhone, Vista, Nintendo Wii, unprotected music... What's the verdict at the end of 2007?
The Lamest of the Year are revealed and neither will surprise you if you listened to just two previous episodes. Also, the Picks of the Year. Do you really want this description to give it all away?
To the casual viewer, Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter hail from vastly different realities. Whereas Harry's is a hidden Earth community in which the Renaissance never ended and magical creatures abound, Luke's story is set in a galaxy far, far away, filled with spaceships, aliens and other trappings traditional to science fiction.I noticed quite a few similarities between the most recent Harry Potter film (now available on DVD!) and The Empire Strikes Back (excuse me, Episode V). Great films each.
A keen eye, however, will notice a surprising number of similarities between the mythos, in terms of theme, plot, characterization and even nomenclature.
The extremely-detailed Star Wars Unleashed collection from Hasbro shows compelling characters of the saga at their most electrifying moments.
But what about the unsung heroes of the saga -- the bartenders, the clumsy power droids, the fruit stand vendors and librarians -- where are their Unleashed tributes?
Actor John C. Reilly will blur the lines between reality and Hollywood fantasy when he takes his alter-ego, mythical rock icon Dewey Cox, out on the road this month.Don't bother clicking the Buy Tickets links, as it appears that all seven concerts are already sold out.
In a star turn worthy of fake British heavy metal superstars Spinal Tap, Reilly will perform live in seven cities over the next few weeks as his movie character Cox, as featured in the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced comedy "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."
This episode is a bit later than planned, but I think it was worth the wait. We are continuing to make small improvements based on feedback and our own expectations.
After an extended break, Eddie takes over the Mexico Moment and presides over the return of the SkyMall Selection.Episode 21.m4a (55:15)
Then it's off to the big topics: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Amazon's new electronic book device, Kindle. GarageBand and Adobe are nominated to the Lame List. And Vector Magic and Mad Men are commended as Picks of the Week.
The truly burning questions are asked: Should James Patterson paperbacks be duty free? Was the Mac Plus attractive or ugly? Is a Roomba necessary or just cool? Is Adobe more famous as a software company or a building material?
With the introduction of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and its spiffy new automated backup feature, Time Machine, external hard drives are even more important than ever. And SimpleTech has an attractive line in the SimpleDrive, ranging in capacity from 250GB to 1000GB (1 terabyte!).
Instead of opening with Enchanted on Nov. 21, the new 2D Goofy short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, How to Hook Up your Home Theater, will make its theatrical debut with National Treasure: Book of Secrets on Dec. 21.It's disappointing this didn't screen with Enchanted for a number of reasons. First, it seems a much better fit. I imagine the children I saw it with would've enjoyed it more than the audience for National Treasure 2 might, especially if the latter is as long as I think it'll be. Second, Enchanted performed spectacularly at the box office during the Thanksgiving weekend. And if Disney is as passionate about bringing back animated shorts as they say they are, that was a big opportunity missed.
A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious, and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music, and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.
Finally, John was fed up, and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot, and the parrot got angrier and even ruder. John, in desperation, threw up his hands, grabbed the bird, and put him in the freezer.
For a few minutes, the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer.
The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said to John, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."
John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. Just as he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"
Happy Thanksgiving!
Postmortem: Freeverse's Marathon 2: Durandal
In the golden days of the mid-90’s, there was only one word worth speaking about games on the Macintosh, and it was "Marathon". Practically everyone who worked extensively with Macs or in an environment with a good number of them on a network knew and loved the game -- a category which includes most Freeverse personnel. When we landed it, we were excited not just for the chance to revisit an old favorite, and not just to port it, but for the chance to truly bring it into the modern era.How sad is it that this may be the most compelling reason for me to want an XBox 360?
American fans are also unlucky because the new album has not been made available for sale here yet. Fortunately, they were selling copies at the show (which were also signed by the duo!). Unfortunately, all of them were sold within 5-10 minutes of the doors opening. If a record label doesn't want to sell the album in the U.S. due to the cost of pressing CDs, at least make it available on the iTunes Store. Sheesh.
As with their previous S.F. show, they rocked. Hard. Even though they're considered a pop group, they rock harder than any American pop stars (and shame most of them). Yet they also played their 'cartoon hits,' like the Teen Titans and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi themes (which both also rock live). The two took occasional breaks to talk with the audience using English they'd written out on little steno pads; asking if we'd seen their photo in the current GAP campaign and noting how much warmer it was here than in the last two venues (Vancouver and Seattle). The show was a little short for my tastes (only one song in the encore?), especially considering they didn't play a few of my favorites ("Your Love Is A Drug," "Friends Forever," "That's The Way It Is") but they did play a number of songs from Splurge, released last year. But a surprising treat was a blistering cover of Green Day's "Basket Case," with certain song character's genders changed from 'she' to 'he.'
Hopefully they'll be back in the area before another three years goes by. And hopefully I can get a copy of their new album before then.
Joel Hodgson has spent the past decade behind-the-scenes developing a variety of entertainment projects, but he will soon be returning to the silhouetted spotlight when he and the original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 debut an all-new video project, Cinematic Titanic. In preparation for this new venture, Hodgson visited the offices of Lucasfilm, and StarWars.com was granted an exclusive interview.If you're like me, and remember MST3K with fondness, you'll find this Q&A very interesting. And why isn't Comedy Central or Sci-Fi airing reruns?
Although I uploaded the photos the day after I got back, I just now had the chance to write captions for most of them. Unfortunately, there were quite a few things I didn't get pictures of, such as kayaking, the Día de los Muertos political/musical performance, Santo Coyote restaurant, the boutique hotel and the podcast room. It was a great four days. Gracias, Noah & Megan!
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After living down here for nearly five years, I've felt my first California earthquake.
5.6 Earthquake Hits Northern California
A magnitude-5.6 earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday night.I felt it in Stockton for, oh, about 30-60 seconds. But it seemed like a few minutes at the time.
The moderate temblor struck shortly after 8 p.m., about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Residents reported feeling the quake, which lasted about a minute, as far east as Sacramento and as far north as Sonoma.
Twenty years after its original release, The Joshua Tree has been remastered for release in a series of special formats. As well as a fourteen track bonus-CD of b-sides and rarities, the 2007 release features a live concert DVD from Paris in 1987, liner notes from band and producers and previously unseen photos in a limited edition booklet.I'm too new of a U2 fan to remember this album's original release. But its songs are undiminished and the album is worth the special treatment. This remastered anniversary release will have to tide me over until they release a new album (2008?) and then I can look forward to the remastered Achtung Baby! in 2011.
A new Wallace and Gromit short film is now in the works (think "The Wrong Trousers and "A Close Shave"). Visit www.wallaceandgromit.com to watch a video interview of Nick Park talking about the new film. Plus, you can enter a contest to win 2 tickets to the premiere.
You probably missed this interesting comment because it was posted on Oct. 10 to an entry dated July 7 (thus long gone from the main page)
I am one of 200 volunteers who appeared in the winning Springfield Vermont video. After we helped our local Chamber of Commerce win the contest, they turned their backs on us. We should have been the first in town to be invited to view the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie but instead we were kept off the invitation list so the more elite members of the community could all be invited instead. And then not even a word of thanks or mention of us in the public ceremony outside the theater. Read more and view our famous winning video now at our new website: The Simpsons Springfield Vermont
Create and send a personalized message from Optimus Prime by visiting
optimus.transformersmovie.com
And by 'from Optimus Prime,' that means it is spoken by Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime. Yes, it's all to promote sales of the Transformers DVD (and HD-DVD) but it's pretty darn fun. Here, listen...
We had a very enjoyable evening last night on San Francisco's Nob Hill. Yeah, it was expensive, what with the $40 for parking, but it was worth it to not park 10 blocks away and walk uphill there and back. And though our seats were only a few rows from the back, we were probably only 50 feet away from the front of the stage. So it was a very intimate, classy venue.
She opened the show with "No More I Love You's," which is not a favorite of mine and, frankly, from her least interesting album. But I recognize it was a pretty big hit for her. I still hear it occasionally in malls and such. Thankfully, it was the only song from that album she performed that night.
She followed it with a few more hits from past albums ("Little Bird," "Walking on Broken Glass," "Pavement Cracks"). Hmmm, four songs into the concert and nothing from the newest album, Songs of Mass Destruction? Maybe the biggest surprise of the show was that she only performed three songs from her just-released effort ("Dark Road," "Smithereens," "Sing"). With most artists, listening to less of their newest work is preferable, but her new album is quite good.
Competing for biggest surprise of the show was how many Eurythmics songs she performed ("Here Comes The Rain Again," "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves," "There Must Be An Angel," "Thorn in My Side," "Sweet Dreams"). A welcome surprise. Clips from the old videos (which I was largely unfamiliar with) played in slow motion on a large screen in the back.
That video screen was also used to play a short movie about her trip to Africa two years ago and the efforts she is involved with now to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to children. (For more information, visit annielennoxsing.com) That type of thing can be preachy and uncomfortable, but the mission can't be disputed and the audience was supportive. Despite that, she was largely unable to get the crowd to sing along with "Sing" directly following that. Bono makes this stuff look easier than it is.
The highlight of the show for me was hearing my favorites from her original solo effort, Diva, such as "Why" and "Cold." It only took me 15 years.
