a series of tubes

Adventures with Bruno, my 79 year old coworker

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:30:00 -0500

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

North Korea has revalued its currency by a factor of 100

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:59:25 -0500

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.

I'm going to be in Iowa on Friday.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:19:31 -0500

Anyone know any points of interest near Cedar Rapids?

What’s the deal with popcorn ceilings? As apartments in...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:01:00 -0500

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.

Last week, Roy Street Coffee and Tea, located at the corners of...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:12:00 -0500

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

"What has gone on in Dubai is not so much the natural evolution of a city into one that needed these..."

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:59:00 -0500

“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

danirrational: millertime83: tanya77: dailyhuff: (via) I...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:57:00 -0500

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.

tanya77: dailyhuff: (via) I can’t believe this is the first...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:43:00 -0500

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.

"Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this..."

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:09:48 -0500

“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”

I didn’t think this was real when I saw the commercial on...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:31:47 -0500

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

starwarsuncut: Star Wars: Uncut on NPR. Thanks to David...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:48:04 -0500

starwarsuncut:

Star Wars: Uncut on NPR. Thanks to David Nogueras for putting this piece together.

Can’t wait to see it all together. Here’s my segment.

I think I enjoy the Bob Dylan Christmas Polka.

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:10:00 -0500

I think I enjoy the Bob Dylan Christmas Polka.

Congratulations Everyone! Nobody died at Walmart on Black Friday this year.

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:07:00 -0500

via Business Insider

peterespinal: Next time someone hires me for some freelance...

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:42:24 -0500

peterespinal:

Next time someone hires me for some freelance video work I’m going to email them this video before they get the chance to gyp me (again).

Excellent

If Sonic The Hedgehog can do it, why can’t a car?

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:36:06 -0500

If Sonic The Hedgehog can do it, why can’t a car?

tanya77: atencio: San Francisco 1905 This is my new favorite...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:42:41 -0500

tanya77:

atencio:

San Francisco 1905

This is my new favorite youtube video. A long, unedited shot of from a camera mounted on a streetcar traveling down Market street in San Francisco in 1905. It’s one of the clearest examples of urban life from that time period that I’ve ever seen. I’m amazed at how busy and bustling the street is, an assortment of cars, horse-drawn carts, vendors, other streetcars, and people everywhere, nearly all of them dressed in full suits. The video is set to Air’s La Femme D’Argent from the Moon Safari album, which gives the video a dreamlike quality.

Thank you to whomever shot this. I hope I shoot something that other people are looking at in 104 years later.

Very surreal…

Wow, people sure didn’t use crosswalks back then!

What a strange, strange place. The employees and costumers at...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:17:00 -0500

What a strange, strange place. The employees and costumers at this hotdog joint engage in an all out free-for-all berating eat other with racial slurs and any other insults they can think of. But they all seem to somehow enjoy it.

Nothing like a good Top Ten list: Kim Jong-Il‘s top ten craziest...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:17:00 -0500

Nothing like a good Top Ten list:

Kim Jong-Il‘s top ten craziest moments

Some highlights:

North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il has banned the World Cup from being broadcast in his country unless they win.
In 2004, a former chef for Kim revealed that the North Korean leader employs staff to make sure that the grains of his rice served to him are absolutely uniform in size and colour.
His official biography claims that his birth was foretold by a swallow and led to the appearance of a double rainbow along with the emergence of a new star in space.
Hacked off by the lack of film-makers in his native land, in 1978 Kim arranged for two South Korean directors to be kidnapped from Hong Kong and brought to him. They tried to escape but eventually relented, making a string of movies for him including the cult Godzilla rip-off Pulgasari.

via mirror.co.uk

Chicken Techno I don’t think I should have watched this...

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:54:00 -0500

Chicken Techno

I don’t think I should have watched this right before going to sleep.

"Who is Miley Cyrus, and what does he do?"

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 22:18:13 -0500

“Who is Miley Cyrus, and what does he do?”

- I know this isn’t a Bruno quote… But I wish it was.

(via brian2000)