Visions of Light
Visions of Light (★★★★★): Fantastic interviews with legendary cinematographers about classic and contemporary cameramen and films. {Apparently unavailable to purchase, but you can watch it on Netflix.}
Mystery Train
Mystery Train (★★★★★): A film about a place of dreams called Memphis. Beautifully shot, beautifully paced. Just beautiful. {Buy the Blu-ray on Amazon and never regret it.}
On the literary horizon is an extraordinary book entitled “Waits/Corbijn – Photographs 1977-2010” featuring an array of beautiful artistic images of Tom Waits taken by the renowned photographer Anton Corbijn. Tom Waits and Anton Corbijn are a perfect artist – artist match. Their 30-year collaboration now yields this book of portraits by Corbijn plus more than 50 pages filled up with images/writing by Waits himself.
Yeah. I went there. Read a novel based in the Halo universe. On my iPhone.
It’s what you’d expect of a hastily written book based on a video game. That didn’t make it unentertaining. It was quite entertaining actually, owing to the merits of Halo’s rich universe. But it is unfulfilling.
Synopsis: battle, training, battle, training, battle, battle, brief ruminations, battle, battle… and so on. More an explanation than an exploration of the origins of Master Chief and the Halo universe, The Fall of Reach builds a framework but doesn’t go much further.
★★★ - I liked it, but hey, I’m a Halo fan. Bias applicable here.
All About the PlayStation 1’s Design:
That explains how the controller got its look, but not how the buttons got their rather unique names. “That was also pretty tough,” Goto revealed. “Other game companies at the time assigned alphabet letters or colors to the buttons. We wanted something simple to remember, which is why we went with icons or symbols, and I came up with the triangle-circle-X-square combination immediately afterward. I gave each symbol a meaning and a color. The triangle refers to viewpoint; I had it represent one’s head or direction and made it green. Square refers to a piece of paper; I had it represent menus or documents and made it pink. The circle and X represent ‘yes’ or ‘no’ decision-making and I made them red and blue respectively. People thought those colors were mixed up, and I had to reinforce to management that that’s what I wanted.”
Hardware design is one area where Sony has always been the one to take a stand and make something iconic. The Playstation is a prime example.
My roomate just might have a heart attack.
NES Hard Drive Super Mario BrosDuck Hunt 1TB by 8BitMemory
YES.
WANT.
Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca (1940): (★★★★★): Dazzling and troubled, much like Joan Fontaine’s character in the film, Rebecca is filled with beauty and nightmares. {Not linking to the DVD on Amazon this time because it’s not the Criterion Collection version—I’m a Criterion loyalist. Didn’t know if you could tell.}
Man in the Iron Mask
Man in the Iron Mask (★★★): Caught it on TV a while back, and much as I tried to watch something else, I had to stay with it to the end. A great cast, a charming film. {Buy the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on Amazon}
If ever there were a case for the importance of good urban planning that includes mass transit, this is it: a 62-mile traffic standstill on a road leading to Beijing is now in its ninth day, with individual drivers caught in it for as long as three days.
via Chinese Traffic Jam Extends 60 Miles and Nine Days | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (★★): A handful of good moments in an otherwise completely terrible movie. Were it not for the strength of the Wolverine character and Hugh Jackman’s portrayal of him, this would be a one-star affair.
The Wolfman
The Wolfman (★★★): A fun, jump-scare ride. Predictable, but not entirely generic, The Wolfman is a solid werewolf movie. {Buy the unrated Director’s Cut on Blu-ray on Amazon}
Monsters, Inc.
Monsters, Inc. (★★★★★): The enterprise of scares will never be as profitable as the enterprise of laughter. This film is a testament to that. {Buy the 4-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on Amazon}
