Month: February 2009

Blink-o-vision

I know television marketers talk about “capturing eyeballs,” but this is ridiculous:

They say the constant miniaturisation of technology will lead to TV sets being shrunk to the size of contact lenses and powered by body heat.Channels could be changed by voice commands or a wave of the hand, says a report on the future of home entertainment.

Ian Pearson, a ‘futurologist’ who advises companies on new technologies, said of the TV contact lens: ‘You will just pop it into your eye in the morning and take it out at the end of the day.’

Digital tattoos, meanwhile, will pick up on the emotions portrayed by actors in TV shows and create impulses allowing us to feel the same emotions.

Via TV Squad, with whom I agree this sounds like an exceptionally bad idea. Why not just induce hallucinations the old-fashioned way? (Via Gerry Canavan.)

Thursday various

  • Andy Richter comes full circle, re-joining Conan O’Brien on The Tonight Show. Anything that keeps him from starring in another Olsen Twins movie, I guess.
  • The Middleman has been canceled. This has been a long time coming, and not really a surprise, but I’m still bummed out by the news. One of the things I did instead of watching the train wrech/best show ever that was last Sunday’s Oscar ceremony was finally watch the last episode of The Middleman. And it was as delightful and silly and smart as all the (all too few) others.

  • What I do want to know is: when’s The Middleman Paley Center tribute? Heaven knows they’re honoring shows that have been on the air even less.

  • Meanwhile, though, Torchwood returns, albeit with a short miniseries and not until this summer. It looks quite good, though, from the trailer. I recently re-watched Season 2 and was pleased to discover that by and large it actually was as good as I remember — not just when compared to the pretty dire first season, but genuinely good science fiction all on its own.
  • While I’d personally like to see the Joker not return in the inevitable Dark Knight sequel — in that universe, who could replace Ledger’s iconic performance? — I think it’s just plain silly to think the character, which didn’t originate with him, should be retired. [via]
  • And finally, how did I miss this Goat detained over armed robbery story? [via]

“You probably think this world is a dream come true…but you’re wrong”

So Coraline was very nice and beautifully animated. The film uses 3D very well — this is apparently your last weekend to see it in that format; next week, a 3D Jonas Brothers movie will be inflicted on the world — but as a whole, that’s not a technology that’s much improved since its invention. It’s a little like saying someone uses semaphore very well. I’m sure there are things you could do with semaphore, even better than with the other options, but there’s a reason nobody uses it anymore.

While watching, I sometimes wished I could pay less attention to the techniques and more to just enjoying the story. I think, then, that I might have preferred the non-3D version, whatever depth and effect it might lend Henry Selick’s movie.

That said, Coralineis quite delightful and delightfully dark. Judging from the crowd of mostly youngsters (and their parents) my friend and I saw it with, it’s not for every child. Just like Neil Gaiman’s original book, it may be too scary for some. But I think A.O. Scott said it best:

There are many scenes and images in “Coraline” that are likely to scare children. This is not a warning but rather a recommendation, since the cultivation of fright can be one of the great pleasures of youthful moviegoing. As long as it doesn’t go too far toward violence or mortal dread, a film that elicits a tingle of unease or a tremor of spookiness can be a tonic to sensibilities dulled by wholesome, anodyne, school-approved entertainments.

Memery

It’s the meme that’s sweeping the internet this second!

  1. Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
  2. Go to Random quotations or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
  3. Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
  4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.
  5. Post it.

No one is “tagged” or obligated to post their own. I just thought it was amusing.