a series of tubes

2 December 09

Comments

Adventures with Bruno, my 79 year old coworker

Bruno: "Is that a riding skirt? Because it's riding right up you."

1 December 09

Comments

North Korea has revalued its currency by a factor of 100

In an alleged bid to curb inflation and suppress its growing black market, North Korea implemented a currency revaluation on Monday, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency.

The exchange rate between old and new currencies is 100 to 1, with the old denomination of 1,000 won notes being replaced by 10 won notes.

The North Korean government wanted to discover and question any citizens who have amassed wealth.

“The government will be able to retrieve banknotes that people have stashed in their own coffers,” he said. “There will be less cash circulating in the market and more government control of the people,”he added. - telegraph.co.uk

Wow, thats got to suck for the people that live there… But then again living in North Korea probably can’t get any worse.

Posted: 7:19 PM

Comments | 1 note

I'm going to be in Iowa on Friday.

Anyone know any points of interest near Cedar Rapids?

Posted: 1:01 AM

Comments | 3 notes

What’s the deal with popcorn ceilings? As apartments in Hoboken go, mine is pretty modern, as it is not over 100 years old and instead hails from the fabulous 1990s. Therefore it has the byproduct of the 90s known as popcorn ceilings. We replaced the ceilings in the living room and kitchen with traditional sheetrock when we renovated last year, but all of the bedrooms still have the popcorn ceilings.

So my question is: what were people thinking in 1997? Why did they think popcorn ceilings were a good idea? They look stupid. And don’t even get me started on track lighting.

Posted: 12:12 AM

Comments | 1 note

Last week, Roy Street Coffee and Tea, located at the corners of Roy Street and Broadway in Seattle, opened. This is another one of those stealth Starbucks – Starbucks stores without the Starbucks name over the front door – the coffee giant has been opening in its hometown and in London as of late. Like the other shops of this new vintage, this one is appointed with antique-style furniture, retro lighting, and a distressed looking table top salvaged from an old ship.

Brand avoidance and the plight of Starbucks.

blogs.reuters.com

30 November 09

Comments

“ What has gone on in Dubai is not so much the natural evolution of a city into one that needed these supertall skyscrapers, but rather the emirate playing a real life version of SimCity with the money cheat turned on.

— http://secondpagemedia.com/blog/?p=335

Posted: 5:57 PM

Comments | 17 notes

danirrational:

millertime83:

tanya77:

dailyhuff:

(via)

I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve seen this. Fede Alvarez allegedly made this amazing, scary short film for about $300 and has already gotten Sam Raimi’s backing to make a full-blown movie based on the film.

You just have to watch if you haven’t seen it already. You need not know Spanish. Scary is the coin of the realm here.

Yeah, “District 9” that shit.

The “East Hastings” song really makes the video… I find it very hard to believe that this was made for only $300, though. I’m calling shenanigans. Someone forgot a few zeros somewhere.

Don’t get me wrong, the FX & camera work is top notch here, but a few things:

Brad, I disagree with you about the music. That friggin’ 28 Days Later song is so overused it makes me cringe every time I hear it.

The original poster kept using the word “scary” but this doesn’t strike me as scary at all… just a well done version of a Bruckheimer style action sequence.

The $300 budget is misleading: Sure, he probably only spent that much during the actual shooting, but we’re not including the cost of his HD camera, his effects compositing software, etc. Normal film productions will include that in the budget, so it was definitely more than $300.

There’s a British zombie movie called Colin reportedly made for $70 USD that’s making the rounds (I may try to see it next weekend in LA), and the whole budget hub-bub surrounding it annoys me. Did he shoot it on a stolen camera, edit on a stolen Mac with a stolen version of Final Cut? That last one is actually probably a yes, but the others?

Don’t compare this to District 9. While this is an admirable display of special FX and camera skills, its in no way a short film with a story. I don’t see any “story” here whatsoever. Can this director develop this into any kind of story beyond “big robots attack a city?” I suppose he doesn’t need much more story nowadays (see also: Transformers), but Neil Blomkamp’s short film Alive in Joburg was both a great example of his technical skill as well as an intriguing premise that expanded into a great feature. I would like to think that Sam Raimi would rather reward someone telling a great story than someone who’s super handy with compositing software.

I wish I knew how to use compositing software.

OK, somewhat bitter no budget filmmaker criticisms over.

Valid points. Especially your final bullet point. So do I.. . I really need to learn After Effects better.

I agree that the 28 Days Later song is overused to the point of becoming cheesy, just as Lux Aeterna from Requiem for a Dream has become. But I think without such a dramatic score as that, this video would have been just as lame as Transformers 2 (minus the Potempkin reference).

The first time I saw the movie “One Hour Photo” it was a screener copy so it used “Lux Aeterna” for the big climatic scene. The scene was very powerful with that song. But the actual theatrical release used a much less rememberable budget score that totally changed the feeling of that scene, and the ending of the movie.

I don’t think I’ve ever reblogged myself before.

29 November 09

Comments | 17 notes

tanya77:

dailyhuff:

(via)

I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve seen this. Fede Alvarez allegedly made this amazing, scary short film for about $300 and has already gotten Sam Raimi’s backing to make a full-blown movie based on the film.

You just have to watch if you haven’t seen it already. You need not know Spanish. Scary is the coin of the realm here.

Yeah, “District 9” that shit.

The “East Hastings” song really makes the video… I find it very hard to believe that this was made for only $300, though. I’m calling shenanigans. Someone forgot a few zeros somewhere.

Posted: 1:09 AM

Comments | 1 note

“ Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World War II era.

—

Time

“In large part, we have ourselves to blame. If you look at the underlying causes of some of the most troubling developments of the decade, you can see some striking common denominators.

Neglect
Greed
Self-interest
Deferral of responsibility”

28 November 09

Comments

I didn’t think this was real when I saw the commercial on TV, so I had to look it up online. Turns out it is…

“A&E is in production on Steven Seagal: Lawman, a new Real-Life series that will chronicle martial arts expert and international film star Steven Seagal’s extraordinary life in law enforcement.

Seagal’s movies have grossed more than $2 billion worldwide… But it turns out that Steven Seagal isn’t just an action hero in the movies. For almost 20 years, Seagal has been working as a fully-commissioned deputy with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office in Louisiana. In fact, in addition to going out on patrol, Seagal is an expert marksman who has worked with their SWAT team and has instructed Jefferson Parish officers in firearms and hand-to-hand combat.”

via A&E