Aronofsky and Boyle Interviews

Fox Searchlight, which has two films on all the shortlists this award season — Slumdog Millionaire, which I've seen twice now and highly recommend, and The Wrestler, which I'm looking forward to seeing after New Year's — had the brilliant idea to have the films' directors (Danny Boyle and Darren Aronofsky, respectively) interview each other in a series of web videos.

To save you all the trouble of searching around for the film blogs with "exclusive" embeds of each video, here are the links to all the available parts, which can be viewed directly on Fox Searchlight's site:

• Full Interview
• Part 1: Directing The Wrestler (topmost video)
• Part 2: TBA
• Part 3: Camera Technology
• Part 4: Directing Style
• Part 5: Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei
• Part 6: The "Millionaire" Game Show Rights
• Part 7: Film Development

Update 2009/01/11: Still waiting for Fox Searchlight to post the two remaining clips. In the meantime, here are some interesting videos on YouTube (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) taken by spectators at a CZW event in Philadelphia where the fight between "The Ram" and Necro Butcher was filmed. (The rematch with The Ayatollah was filmed across two Ring of Honor events.)

The clips really show why Aronofsky chose a cinematographer with a documentary background, as well as the pressures of shooting in such a chaotic environment, without having the safety net of doing many takes.

Update 2009/03/01: I can't find Part 2 on Fox Searchlight's website, but they now have a version where everything is in a single video, so I've added the link to that along with the link to Part 1.

VLC Easter Egg

The Santa hat that my VLC player has been sporting this holiday season was a fun surprise.



I know, I know; I should be using a skin, but VLC is good looking on the inside, and that's really what counts.

Put On Your Tinfoil Hats

Every time it seems like the fantastical visions of the future from Sci-Fi are slipping further away in real life, there's a new development that reels them back in.

As reported across the web, Japanese researchers used fMRI technology to study test subjects' cerebral blood flow while viewing 400 random 10x10-square black-and-white images, to the point where they could reconstruct and display a totally new set of viewed images — the letters of the word "neuron" — using only fMRI data. Scientists are saying that techniques like this may be the first step towards the ability to basically read minds.

So, readers, does news like this amaze you or terrify you?

DSL or Cable Modem Not Working?

If you're getting errors loading web pages, and have already tried restarting your computer, modem, and wireless router, it might be an issue with your internet provider's DNS servers.

For our less tech savvy readers, DNS servers basically translate a domain name like "example.com" to an IP address like "208.77.188.166", which your computer can then use to contact the example.com web server.

You can switch your PC or router to use OpenDNS, for example. (There are instructions on the site for configuring different operating systems or many types of routers.)

I've recently been experiencing what I thought were outages, but it turned out to be flaky DNS servers. I've seen people on Time Warner / Road Runner, Comcast, and Cox complaining about this issue, but had never experienced it personally until the past few weeks. OpenDNS solved the problem, and has been working flawlessly so far.

Another good resource to consult, if you have another means of getting on the web, is the Broadband Reports forums section. There are sections for individual providers and regions, which makes it easy to see if others in your area are having issues, and what, if anything, they did to solve them.

Although I Don't Believe In Coincidences...

A really good music theory explanation of the Joe Satriani v. Coldplay thing. Joe Satriani is and has always been the real deal.



He has a detailed blog post which is a really good read.

Inspirational Montage

(Credit: Matthew Belinkie; via Cinematical)

Jack's Bowl Cut

I saw a billboard for Jack in the Box's Teriyaki Bowls the other day and couldn't help but laugh at the photo and tag line. (The line "curds and whey" [and its delivery] in the commercial cracks me up, too.)

Lucky Penguin

I feel like the penguin in that video is smarter than the humans.

The killer whales may not be so merciful next time, my friends!


Aside: I have seen the future, and it is YouTube in 720p HD! (1, 2, 3).

(I have also seen the past and the present, a.k.a. Vimeo HD.)

Import a Library in iTunes 8

In iTunes 8, there's no longer a File > Import... item in the menu.

If you want to import a library XML file — after re-installing your system, or when moving the library from another computer, for example — you can use the File > Library > Import Playlist... menu item.

It's confusing, since there is a File > Library > Export Library... command, and it's not obvious that you export a "Library" but import it back as a "Playlist".

Billions Gone Wild!

Yes, just another link but wow! I knew about a couple of "big" buildings and a "big" amusement water park over there but never about all of this! Check out Dubai Building Projects

Eat the Head!

Have your birthdays been, well, a bit dull lately? Try being this guy.

Head tracking without a Wii.

Head tracking with a chicken. (+ superz-kyut follow up)

Yao's favorite food.

(first three videos via Waxy)

Midnight Movie News

That's "movie news at midnight", not "news about midnight movies"!

The Good: Jeffrey Tambor hints that the Arrested Development movie might finally be happening!

The Bad: Sir Ridley Scott — director of Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator — will indeed direct the feature-film adaptation of Monopoly. Yes, that Monopoly.

The Ugly: Much to alliesglove's chagrin, Jaden Smith (son of Will) is officially the new (wannabe) Ralph Macchio, in a remake of The Karate Kid ... set in China!?

Next time you have a 6,000 person layoff ...

... just say that you are "aligning your cost model with the global economic climate", like Sun Microsystems.

That will make it sound so much better!

Update: More euphemisms, via Fortune:

American Express — "re-engineering"

Fidelity Investments — "cost improvement"

eBay — "simplification"

Yahoo! — "become more fit"

Nearing the opposite side of the Uncanny Valley

We are getting closer to crossing the Uncanny Valley it seems. Check out this Emily video by Image Metrics. Quantic Dream, a French company, created the video game Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit) and is working on the game Heavy Rain using Image Metrics technology.

In this case curiosity kills the dog

... as well as a bunch of time from your life. Find the game here and the post on kotaku here.

Hunt for Broccoli Cheese October

Highlights from Souplantation's "guest favorites month" menu, from today's coupon circulars ...

October 1-11: Classic Greek Tossed Salad, French Onion Soup, Carrot Raisin Salad, Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers Hot Pasta, Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Chocolate Lava Cake (after 4 p.m.)

October 13-18: Strawberry Fields Tossed Salad, Broccoli Cheese Soup, BBQ Chicken Focaccia, Four Cheese Alfredo Hot Pasta, Wild Rice & Chicken Salad, Shrimp Bisque Soup, Pineapple Upside-down Cake (after 4 p.m.)

October 20-25: Mandarin Spinach Tossed Salad, Classic Creamy Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese Focaccia, Shrimp & Seafood Shells Salad, Albondigas Locas Soup, Roasted Eggplant Marinara Hot Pasta, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cups (after 4 p.m.)

October 27-31: California Cobb Tossed Salad, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Banana Nut Muffins, Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad, Yankee Clipper Clam Chowder, Garden Vegetable with Meatballs Hot Pasta, Warm Apple Cobbler (after 4 p.m.)

I've emphasized a few items of interest. The Strawberry Fields Tossed Salad is one that I pile on to the point of overload. This time, however, it will compete for stomach space with Broccoli Cheese Soup.

The Souplantation to which us Hydrans go most often almost NEVER has this soup — even when the online menu says that it should be there. If they really do offer it this time, I might make a run at alliesglove's "Most Consecutive Days Going to Souplantation" record. If not, there will be some angry glares from me towards the soup that takes its place.

Why would a soup worry about that, you ask? If I'm mad enough, my laser vision might kick in and boil it all away. You think about that before you volunteer to sub in, soups!

Bonus reading: A while back, Monster Munching recommended the chocolate chip cookies.

Ask The Hydra: Mega Man 9

O, blessed heads of The Hydra, I ask thee: what are your thoughts on the newly-released Mega Man 9? (trailer)

Goon City

A simple web page "powered by Google" sort of like Google Maps but instead is a view of an always expanding "fake" city named Goon.

Tap'dNY

Some coworkers/fellow-Hydrans and I were joking one day at lunch about taking the pretentiousness out of bottled water and just marketing a product called "tap water". Then, along came a link to a product called Tap'dNY (blog). I'm not 100% sure that it's a real product, since the site is so thoroughly tongue-in-cheek, but it's close enough to our idea that I'll say they beat us to market. The "Refills Available at Any New York City Tap" line and the custom Sigg bottles are particularly clever.

LHC Live Webcams ;-)

Now that the Large Hadron Collider is finally up and running here are some live webcams running at the site. The USA contributed $500 million to the project.