Exploring Stuff That Makes Life Great
StuffWeLike’s Video page has now evolved into an easy to navigate video section. Rather than searching through the Channel Guide for that one hard to find show, there’s a new navigation system to the right of the player that breaks down The Pipeline into several categories. Choose your category and then the show that you want to watch.
It’s much more straight forward to use than ever before!
Being spontaneous in film is not necessarily a bad thing, this is exactly how Mr. Lifeless, the new StuffWeLike.com internet webisode series, was created, born, and started. The idea essentially began with an unexpected police event occurring outside our dorm. David and I were just about ready to shoot a practice test involving the show Yo Gabba Gabba until the practice test instantly began to fail on us. Immediately after, David noticed a helicopter circling around the minor police raid outside, he quickly remarked, “Look! There is a Helicopter! Let’s go shoot that!”
Without any hesitation we both ran outside and began filming. Image after image a story was forming and suddenly we had specific symbols, sounds, and an overall a mysterious character to guide us into an unknown situation that was pure cinematic conflict. This was unpolluted, raw, and untidy guerilla style filmmaking. Mr. Lifeless defies the laws of Hollywood by ignoring the concepts and tools of lighting, booms, and set n’ stone scripts that barricade the ideas of natural filmmaking.
Mr. Lifeless is an ambiguous mystery that will surprise the viewers in the end. Nothing is what it seems, and everything is up for grabs. What will happen next? Who is Mr. Lifeless? Well ladies and gentlemen… take nothing for granted and surely you’ll find out.
-John-Erik Reese
Gamers will know Havok, the Irish company for their stellar physics engine, while movie buffs might know it for providing special effects from movies like The Matrix, Poseidon and so on. Well, word is that Intel has bought Havok. Why, you ask? I have no idea. Maybe they just thought it’s a nice company to buy.
But Havok’s CEO says “The acquisition will help Havok grow into new market segments,” which sounds good! Havok will continue to keep business on as usual, though. In layman’s terms, Havok’s the same – except that it might just get a little, and then a little bigger.
Havok was founded in 1998 and has created the famous Havok Physics Engine, which has been seen in dozens of games since, examples including BioShock, Half-Life 2, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Age of Empires III and many, many more.
[Via PC World]
In 1961, Jean-Luc Godard, a master of French new wave, released A bout de Soufflé (Breathless). A young man named Michel Poiccard (Jean-Paul Belmondo) kills a police officer and then flees away into the city where he meets up with Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg). Michel hides from the police with Patricia, but fate catches up with him as the fire fuels in the fatal but beautiful ending.
This French film has influenced many of today’s greatest filmmakers, artists, and countless other aesthetics. It is a tale dealing with love, youth, and beyond anything a beauty so acutely defined by Godard.
One of the most important elements that should be noted in this film is the simple idea of “all or nothing” and how love falls within this spectrum. This theme is numerously supported by underlying visuals, dialogue, and gestures. Director Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samouraï, L’ Armée des ombres) plays a small role in this film but, what he has to say is immensely powerful. Patricia, the young reporter, asks him a very interesting inquiry,
“What is your greatest Ambition in Life?” Melville responds back with this profound statement, “To become immortal and the die.” This can be interpreted in many different ways. One interpretation would consider that it is simply a contradiction and means nothing. Secondly, it can reflect the idea of choice. To have the power to die willing reflects complete control. On the other hand, to have no control simply means to have absolutely nothing…hence “to have all or nothing.”
Overall, A bout de Soufflé is a beautiful movie that anyone should consider watching. It is a foreign classic that still remains an astonishing movie. While other films will gradually disappear À bout de Souffle will remain as it has already remained throughout these years.
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard, Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger, and Jean-Pierre Melville
Other Related films to consider:
Contempt by Jean-Luc Godard
Bande à part by Jean-Luc Godard
A Woman Is a Woman Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo
Saint Joan starring Jean Seberg
The Mouse that Roared starring Jean Seberg
IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) is the wave of the future. On January 7, 2007 Bill Gates announced how Microsoft will bring Television to Xbox 360 users, not through downloads but through live feeds. The Microsoft TV IPTV Edition is set to be available this holiday season and will give users an alternative route to watching TV.
Imagine being able to throw away your DVR/cable box, not paying for your Cable TV service, and seeing every channel in digital format as well as high-definition. That’s the promise that IPTV brings. While Microsoft isn’t the only company working on IPTV technology, Microsoft is well ahead of the pack because it’s install base for Xbox 360 users is already over 10 million worldwide!
While it isn’t clear how Microsoft will distribute this service, if it’s a free download on the Xbox 360 – why wouldn’t you use it? As a suggestion for Xbox 360 owners who want IPTV, you might want to purchase Xbox 360 Messenger Kit. Isn’t it easier to search for a show by literally typing it in rather than selecting the on screen text?
IPTV is only one part of Microsoft’s overall vision of creating the “Mediaroom.” Microsoft’s Mediaroom will bridge the gap between home computers and the living room Television, expanding upon the current Windows Media Center software.
The only company that’s close to bringing IPTV to the home is Apple. Similar to the Xbox 360, the Apple TV can grab photos and videos. So far though the Apple TV hasn’t been that great of a success. Right now there’s no major advantage to owning the Apple TV simply because it doesn’t do anything outrageously unique.
Rumors have surfaced saying that Apple will release its IPTV product/software sometime in 2008. As with any product, Apple tries to be as innovative as possible. But how can you innovate in a sector that has yet to be widely tested?
Every electronic manufacturer realizes that the future of the technology industry is convergence. Hopefully these software giants know that consumers want their content no matter the platform it was purchased or added onto. The service that’s going to succeed is the service that provides it all, in an easy to use system.
Videos about this beautiful world, where machines serve man without frustration can all be found below:
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Tron, one of the first movie to use digital effects instead of practical effects, and probably the first to do it well. It’s been a cult classic for many years, and a point of inspiration for many game designers and digital effect engineers, yet we’ve never seen a sequel. Well it seems that some development is a brewing with in good ‘le Buena Vista. In recent years there have been attempts at making a sequel to the original movie, a notable one being that CGI studio Pixar was going to make one. Now, however, we have a report from the Hollywood reporter that the Light Cycles, MCP and Tron will be returning to the silver screen.
The report says that the original writer and director, Steven Lisberger, will be producing the movie with a man named Sean Bailey(producer of Matchstick Men). The movie’s writers will be Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, of Lost fame. The director? A relative no name, Joseph Kosinski, who will be directing the 2010 remake of Logan’s Run. There’s no set date or year when we’ll see it, but I doubt it’ll be soon.
Personally, I’d love to see a sequel. The first movie stands up well for a movie about video games before the big Nintendo boom. The movie’s art style blends beautifully with the digital effects they used for the movie. A sequel’s also troubling though with how video games are seen today. The first Tron was a fun, family friendly sci-fi classic, but I fear they might make it a preachy anti-violent game movie, or even worse, a cliche’d video game geek comedy-sci-fi fusion. Hopefully, with the original director and Lost’s writers on the project, we’ll see a sequel that’ll stand up as well as the original… but if they ruin the light cycles the wrath of thousand’s of people’s childhood memories will come crashing down around them.
[Via: Hollywood Reporter]
