March 2007 Archives (24 posts)
The use of X in The Departed
Movie critic, Rene Rodriguez has a series of screen captures from The Departed that are really interesting. They show how Scorsese used the letter X in various scenes to foreshadow death. Apparently Howard Hawks used this quite a bit in Scarface (1932).
If you haven’t seen The Departed (2006) then rent it on DVD. Great film. Thelma Schoonmaker’s editing had me watching several scenes again and again.
Posted in Movies at 10:53 AM | Comments (1)
Power Strip Management
If you’re office workstation is anything like mine you have a large power strip (power bar) under your desk. From time to time you might find yourself on all fours unplugging a printer so that you can plug in a scanner or an external Firewire drive or a MiniDV camera and so on.
How many times have you looked at the mess of cables below your desk and wondered where each of them go? You probably need ID Pilot Wire Identification Labels to organize the clutter. They’re only available at The Spoon Sisters. I think they’re a great idea.
Posted in Technology at 9:54 AM | Comments (0)
Toronto Screen Shots
James McNally of consolationchamps.com and I are writing for Toronto Screen Shots — a blog that covers the film industry from Toronto.
Both of us attend the Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Doc Soup, and James gets down to SXSW each year. I guess one of us will have to pick up the slack and start attending Sundance.
I’ll continue to post about film-related information on BOMBIPPY but you can get twice as much film information on Toronto Screen Shots.
Posted in Movies at 5:13 PM | Comments (0)
Apple iPod Hi-Fi
My brother Drew recently purchased an Apple iPod Hi-Fi. Below is his review of the product.
The iPod Hi-Fi is pretty impressive. I’m not sure if you’ve seen one up close but it’s about the size of a small toolbox, pretty heavy and similar to a Bose system in that the only real buttons on it are for volume.
The remote control is pretty cool… it’s slightly smaller than the actual iPod Nano and it lets you adjust the volume, skip or fast forward tracks and pause. One neat thing is that there’s a Speaker option added to the iPod’s main menu when you put it in the dock, letting you boost the bass (or minimize it). It’s just a little more accessible than going to the iPod’s EQ menu via the Settings selection.
Interestingly, the dock adapter for the Nano that came in the box didn’t seem to work. There are about 8 or 9 different adapters but the Nano one won’t let me put the player in the dock because it seems a little off centre. I went online to check this out and read feedback from a couple other people who had the same problem. I ended up having to use the adapter that came in the Nano box and it works fine.
The sound on this thing is awesome. Amazing bass and really loud.
One thing that Future Shop screwed me on was not including the $20 iTunes card that was supposed to be part of the deal. Guess I’ll have to follow up with them on it.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the purchase.
Posted in Apple and Home Theatre and Music at 11:04 AM | Comments (1)
The Bridge will be on the Documentary Channel
A few of you have asked when The Bridge (2006) is going to be in theatres or on DVD.
From April 6-8, The Bridge will air on The Documentary Channel in Canada at 8 pm ET. If you were looking for a reason to add this channel to your cable or satellite subscription then this is it.
The Bridge was one of the best films I screened at Doc Soup in the last year. Don’t miss it.
Posted in Movies at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)
Hacking John McCain
I’m guessing that the web developers who created the John McCain MySpace page are out of a job.
They borrowed Mike Davidson’s MySpace template without giving him credit AND they were linking to images on his server (which meant Davidson was paying for bandwidth used on the McCain site).
The funny part is that Mike Davidson pulled a prank and changed the image that the McCain site was linking to. The image read:
Dear supporters,
Today I announce that I have reversed my decision and come out in full support of gay marriage… particularly marriage between passionate females.
John
You can see what the site looked like before the McCain web developers caught on and changed their code by visiting Hacking John McCain.
Posted in Web Development at 4:01 PM | Comments (0)
Junebug (2005)
Junebug (2005) is brilliant! An instant favourite. How did I miss such a perfect film?
Director Phil Morrison has created an incredible piece of art with writer Angus MacLachlan. Everything from the dialogue, casting, cinematography, music and direction is so carefully put together and magically real. You can’t help but believe in the characters and the story that unfolds before you.
Junebug requires a certain amount of patience from the viewer. Some of the shots might be unusually long and ‘artsy’ for some audiences but it sets a tone for certain scenes. At times the dialog is sparse but the acting speaks volumes.
The story is fairly simple but the characters are complex and very interesting. Newlyweds, Madeleine and George live in Chicago. They take a road trip to North Carolina so that Madeleine can meet George’s family and hopefully sign up an eccentric painter to Madeleine’s art gallery.
The artist is in North Carolina is like a character right out of the Civil War. The film is worth watching just to hear his accent. George’s family are an interesting bunch. I don’t want to give too much away because I think the less you know the more you’ll like the film. If you want a plot summary then check out IMDB.
I really wish there was a director commentary for this film because it raises a lot of questions and I’d love to know some of the intended meanings behind certain shots and some of the dialogue.
This is a film that I’ll be adding to my DVD library so that I can watch it again and again. It’s that good and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 7:28 PM | Comments (3)
Clark, the Canadian Hockey Goalie
Clark, the Canadian Hockey Goalie is a pretty funny short film by George Plamondon. Have a look and listen to Clark explain what a “hoser” is. Thanks to Manny for the link.
Posted in Movies at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)
TMNT (2007)
If you’re over the age of 10 you might not know that TMNT stands for Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles. If you’re under the age of 10 you might not know that TMNT was the top weekend flick with $25.45 million in ticket sales.
I found myself sitting in the a theatre with my 7-year-old son Daniel, waiting for TMNT (2006)to start. Like most 7-year-olds he has a fascination with ninja turtles. I don’t. All I could think about were the really bad, one star reviews I had read about TMNT.
By the time the credits rolled, I was relieved. The movie wasn’t that bad. It’s basically a 3D version of the TV show but with really good production value. The animation by Imagi Entertainment is impressive and gave me something to admire while the turtles ate pizza and bickered.
The animation and the rendering doesn’t live up to Pixar standards but so what. A 7-year-old kid isn’t going to notice or care about how realistic the fabrics are rendered or if the inverse-kinematics in the character animation is incredibly realistic.
It made me wonder who Pixar is really making their incredible films for. Why not crank out a bunch of mediocre movies like everyone else? Why raise the 3D bar with every film? The kids won’t care or really notice so long as the story is solid. Will they?
I tried to get Daniel to write a review but he thought that would be too boring. So I asked him what he thought about the film. “It was good” was the only response I could get at first. I asked him what he hated about the film and he responded with, “the long talking parts.” Hmm, okay.
I asked which movie he thought was better, Superman Returns or TMNT. I was sure he would pick Superman Returns but he quickly replied with, “TMNT. It had way more action.” My shoulders slumped forward and my chin collapsed into my chest. When I recovered, Daniel asked me if we could get the TMNT video game for PS2.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 10:47 AM | Comments (3)
Some of my Hot Docs picks
Next month is Hot Docs — Canadian international documentary film festival in Toronto. I’m going to be seeing 10 films next month. Here are a few of the films I’ve picked.
This was my first pick. It’s described as “a film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture.” It screened at the the South by Southwest Film Festival earlier this month and generated quite a buzz. If you’re a graphic designer then get yourself to Hot Docs to see this film.
The tagline for this film is “Michael Moore doesn’t like documentaries. That’s why he doesn’t make them.” This doc takes a critical look at Moore’s filmmaking and examines how he went from filmmaker to politicial icon in the US.
Forever
This is a film I’m dying to see. It’s about the Parisian cemetery Père-Lachaise — a place I wanted to visit when I was in Paris two years ago. Many people go there to visit the grave site of a family members, or some of the famous people that are buried there. Others go for the peaceful serenity or to find inspiration.
I went to Cimetière du Montparnasse a couple of years ago and wondered around for a few hours taking photos. After I watch Forever, I know I’m going to want to visit Père-Lachaise.
Other films on my list to see at Hot Docs are Ghosts of Abu Grahib, The Big Sellout, Strange Culture, Let’s All Hate Toronto, The Devil Came on Horseback, and Yoga Inc.
Posted in Movies at 9:41 AM | Comments (2)
A Very British Gangster not at Hot Docs
A Very British Gangster is one of the documentary films I picked for Hot Docs next month in Toronto. I went down to the festival box office and found out that A Very British Gangster has been cancelled.
There was no mention on the Hot Docs website that the film was cancelled or why it was cancelled. I contacted Dare Films in London to find out why the film won’t be shown in Canada (it was shown at SXSW in Austin last week).
Unfortunately there are some copyright issues that are still being resolved and will prevent Hot Docs from screening it next month. What a drag. A Very British Gangster looks like a great film from investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre. I’ll have to look for it on DVD or hope that the film gets a theatrical release in North America.
Posted in Movies at 9:24 AM | Comments (0)
Waterfalls in Hamilton
Last Friday we had 4 cm of snow overnight. On Saturday the temperature began to rise and I thought this would be a good opportunity to get out and shoot in the Hamilton area. I grabbed the 7-year-old, bribed him with some Captain Underpants books at Chapters and headed for Steel Town.
I only had time for two locations — Waterdown Falls and Chedoke Falls. Some of the photos from this trip are now on BOMBIPPY PHOTOS.
To get to Chedoke Falls you have to hop a fence and slide down a very steep, 70 foot slope. Not easy to do when when the slope is covered in ice and you’re trying to make sure your 7-year-old tumbles down into a tree or the rocks below.
The gorge at Chedoke Falls is spectacular. Because it is difficult to get to, you won’t have to worry about hikers, tourists, or other photographers getting in the way. Great location.
I found this location in a book called Waterfalls of Ontario. It’s a fabulous resource with great directions and photos by George Fischer. I’ll be using this book a lot in the coming months to explore some of the other waterfalls in the Golden Horseshoe.
Posted in Photography at 11:55 AM | Comments (1)
Gene Simmons needs your makeup
Gene Simmons of KISS just had a facelift and it isn’t pretty. You’ve been warned.
Posted in Humour at 1:26 AM | Comments (2)
SCENE
Okay, it’s time for some useful information. If you love going to the movies and have an account with Scotiabank, then joining SCENE should be a no-brainer for you. I just joined and it was pretty painless.
SCENE is a movie reward program from Scotiabank and Cineplex Entertainment. Follow these steps to get started.
- Sign up for a SCENE membership card at scene.ca
- Go to any Scotiabank branch and exchange your ScotiaCard for a SCENE ScotiaCard
- Logon to scene.ca and click on link accounts to link your SCENE ScotiaCard with your SCENE membership
You’re done and now you’ll have enough points for two movie tickets for joining. You accumulate point by making purchases with your debit card. I figure that I can’t lose and it will be nice to get something back from the bank other than outrageous service fees.
Posted in Movies at 4:22 PM | Comments (1)
Smoking sections
Having a smoking section in a restaurant is like having a peeing section in a pool.
Posted in Observations at 4:43 PM | Comments (4)
How long do birds live?
And now for something completely random.
I was reading a story about the population explosion of Canada Geese. They’ve nearly doubled since 1992. Geese don’t have many predators in urban areas and can live for up to 24 years.
To combat the population explosion of Canada Geese in the Detroit area, people are suggesting that they be allowed to hunt the birds and send them to soup kitchens and shelters. The only problem is that the meat is quite greasy, more so than duck. I’d be shocked if the grease was worse than what you’d get from a double cheeseburger at McDonalds.
So how long do you think a small bird like a Robin or a Sparrow lives? The average is only 2 years! Only about 25 per cent make it past the first year.
Okay enough with the useless Cliff Claven trivia. I was curious and now you have some impressive information for your 7-year-old.
Posted in Observations at 2:19 PM | Comments (1)
Daylight Savings
This daylight savings thing just isn’t working out for me so I’m not going to participate this year. Why did it have to come early? My schedule is out of whack now.
Instead of going to bed at 1:30 AM, I’m falling into bed at 2:30 AM then waking up at 8:30 AM. By the time I stop off for a coffee or visit Future Shop (Casino Royale, 2-disc DVD, $19.99, today only) it’s 10 AM before I reach the office.
Look a the time now. 10:48 AM. Half the day is gone. I’m wasting time blogging.
Posted in Personal at 10:39 AM | Comments (1)
Apple to add H.264 video encoding/decoding chips to all Macs?
Robert X. Cringely posted “The Great Apple Video Encoder Attack of 2007: Cupertino plans to add H.264 hardware support to its entire line” on his weekly column at I, Cringely. If the rumour is true then we’ll see H.264 video encoding/decoding chips in all new Macs before the end of the year. Looks like I’ll have to wait a little longer before switching to a MacBook Pro.
With Apple TV shipping in the next couple of weeks H.264 support in new Macs seems to make a lot of sense. Apple wants to make it fast and easy use video on Apple TV.
H.264 support will make my life a little easier when it comes to compressing video for Livebait.tv. In the future, it will probably take longer to upload a clip to the web server than it takes to compress it. Now, that would be sweet.
Posted in Apple at 2:39 PM | Comments (2)
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
This month’s screening at Hot Docs was Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006) directed by Stanley Nelson. It’s been almost 30 years since preacher Jim Jones and his followers drank the Kool-Aid. In 1978, more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple participated in mass suicide (Jones shot himself in the head).
The interviews reveal some bizarre stories about Jones’ character — drug abuse, homosexuality, alcohol, rape, and paranoia. I wished that Stanley Nelson explored the dark sunglasses. Why didn’t anyone question a preacher that hides behind his shades and looks like Elvis?
The film traces the history of Jim Jones explaining that he was from a very poor family in Indiana. His father was an alcoholic that didn’t work which made Jones an outcast. This is part of the reason that he easily identified with, and embraced the black community. He understood what it was like to be invisible in the 50s and 60s. The racism in the US really bothered him and was part of the reason he felt the need to create Jonestown in the jungles of Guyana.
The film raises a lot of questions and I hope that the DVD answers some of these when it is released on April 10, 2007. 
Films are rated from 1 to 4 stars.
Posted in Movie Reviews at 9:48 PM | Comments (0)
Serverskine
You’re a web developer and you have a bunch of clients that have FTP accounts, hosting accounts, domain name accounts and more. How do you keep track of them all? You can write it down, use an Excel spreadsheet, a Filemaker Pro database or you can keep it really simple and use Serverskine.
Serverskine is completely free thanks to the nice people at Sentinel Design Group and it runs only on OS X.
Posted in OS X Software at 1:53 PM | Comments (1)
Come to my seminar!
No it’s not a Tom Vu seminar. Apple has a free, 47 minute video seminar/tutorial on Creating a Rich Media Podcast with Final Cut Pro.
I just watched the whole thing and learned a lot more than I expected. Final Cut Pro is a lot like Photoshop in that there are many shortcuts and many different ways of performing the same task. If you’re creating video projects or doing your own video podcast then you’ll find this online seminar to be invaluable.
Posted in Apple at 1:40 PM | Comments (0)
The Night Listener (2006)
On Friday night I was watching the original version of D.O.A. (1950) when the step-daughter and the boyfriend walked in with a copy of The Night Listener (2006). For some reason they really wanted me to watch it. They said it had great reviews on the DVD case. it starred Robin Williams and Toni Collette, blah, blah, blah.
Being a snob when it comes to movies I said I would have to check Metacritic.com to see how it rated — 51/100. Ouch! Some critics loved it.
The Night Listener is intriguing, thought-provoking and harrowing by turns, with fine central and supporting performances and a richly satisfying feel.
The New York Post hated the film.
This Sundance dud is a turgid gay soap opera with a limp twist, showcasing Robin Williams at his maudlin worst.
The only way for me to decide was to see what Roger Ebert had to say. I like his reviews and taste in films. After a quick search I found that he gave The Night Listener three stars, two thumbs way up and called it “an atmospheric Hitchcockian thriller”. I was game.
Robin Williams plays a radio show host that starts a telephone friendship with one of his listeners, a 14-year-old boy (Rory Culkin). It turns out that this kid just wrote an autobiography that details years of sexual abuse from his parents and neighbours. As the movie drags on you start to ask yourself where the story is going. More questions are raised than answered. What is the point of Williams friendship with Culkin? Why does he want to find him so badly?
This is a terrible film. I should have taken the advice from some posters on the IMDB message board that described the film as a “lame”, “horrible movie” which was “a waste of 2 hours!”
Roger, you really let me down on this one.
Posted in DVD Reviews at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
Helvetica
The documentary film Helvetica will be getting its Canadian premiere in Toronto at Hot Docs (April 19-29). It’s at the top of my list of films to see at this year’s festival.
I’ve been hearing bits an pieces about the film on various design sites for the last year. I just watched a short clip of the film on Veer.com that features Erik Spiekermann. It looks very promising and should be inspiring to anyone who is a designer that works with type.
Posted in Design and Movies and Web Design at 2:32 PM | Comments (1)
Page 123
I’ve been tagged for a book meme by David.
1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open page 123, go down to the fifth sentence.
3. Post the text of the next three sentences on your blog.
I was encouraged and got even bolder. What if I then added a short story printed on a few pages of art paper? What if the images were printed with generous borders in the photographic paper that didn’ t need mat board?
4. Name the book and the author.
Letting Go of the Camera by Brooks Jenson
5. Tag three people.
Lissa, Paul, Shiz
Posted in Blogs at 2:16 PM | Comments (1)
