Archive for June, 2007
Blade Runner turns 25
Twenty-five years ago, the Ridley Scott film Blade Runner became an instant science fiction classic. Set in a sodden, squalid Los Angeles of 2019, the neo-noir masterpiece influenced a generation of filmmakers and video-game designers. Scott’s cyberpunk gem almost instantly became the most important film in the canon of movies people like me love.
Admittedly, I’m still such a fan that I watch it at least once every few months.
In Blade Runner’s dystopian near future, replicants [genetically engineered humanoids] do the hard work on off-world colonies. After a bloody mutiny the androids are forbidden from coming to Earth. So when six rogue replicants return home, they must be “retired” [hunted down and killed] and Ford’s Deckard, once a top replicant hunter, or “blade runner,” is pulled out of his own retirement to do the job.
Watching it even now showcases Scott’s genius for creating stunning effects with simple technology.
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YouTube and You [sharing ad $$$]
![thinfilms brandon YouTube and You [sharing ad $$$]](http://mondoglobo.net/images/brandon.jpg)
YouTube will share ad revenue with 20-year-old Brandon Fletcher. Thus the stage is set for a flood of copycat bum-rushers who will no doubt lay siege to the YouTube/Googleplex armed with nothing but their media and their Gen-Y audacity.
“The deal is basically sharing ad money,†Brandon says. “They place banners on my video pages and we split the revenue.†(Though he adds that he “can’t give specifics on the splits.â€Â)
Yeeeup, you can say it : go ‘head = Gen Y sure as hell ain’t Gen X. These kids have mortgages, adult lives and a strong sense of entitlement at 20 – but at least they’re getting paid for their “ideas”.
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Score one for the People
A case that attracted nationwide attention has ended with the dropping of a felony wiretapping charge against a Carlisle, PA man who recorded a police officer during a traffic stop.
Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed said his decision will affect not only Brian Kelly, 18, but also will establish a policy for other police departments.
“When police are audio and video-recording traffic stops with notice to the subjects, similar actions by citizens, even if done in secret, will not result in criminal charges,” Freed said yesterday. “I intend to communicate this decision to all police agencies within the county so that officers on the street are better-prepared to handle a similar situation should it arise again.”
Freed’s decision came a week after the story caused a storm of criticism over Kelly’s May 24 arrest by a Carlisle police officer on the wiretapping charge, which carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison upon conviction.
What a relief : they can watch us but we can watch them, too. Good to hear “fair” is still somewhat fair.
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More jobs for robots
As if the debate over immigration and guest worker programs wasn’t complicated enough, now a couple of robots are rolling into the middle of it.
Vision Robotics, a San Diego company, is working on a pair of robots that would trundle through orchards plucking oranges, apples or other fruit from the trees. In a few years, troops of these machines could perform the tedious and labor-intensive task of fruit picking that currently employs thousands of migrant workers each season.
Of course, i wonder what will happen to our poor migrant labor when they’re stripped of the shitty jobs they come back to season after season…
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Paternoster
what in the world is a Paternoster?
welp, it is what the first elevators were called:
it’s also another name for a prayer.
Together, these meanings are the foundation of the film we made this past weekend.
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48 Hour Film Project
This past weekend some pals and I made our first film for the 48 Hour Film Project here in Minneapolis where a whopping 85 teams competed!
Here’s how it works:
Last Friday evening at 7pm each of the 85 teams drew a genre out of a hat, along with a character, prop and line of dialog. Then, the clock starts ticking as each team has 48 hours to script, storyboard, shoot, edit, et al a film between 4 and 7 minutes long before turning it in on Sunday at 7pm.
My team, GOAL!FiLMS, drew the genre : DRAMA
The other elements are as follows:
character : Jason or Jill Meyers [who happens to be a veterinarian]
prop : portable music player
line of dialog : “They will get them if we let them.â€Â
Paternoster opens on the big screen this Thursday at the Riverview Theater at 9pm.
The teams’ films are running all week with two showings each on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and next Monday nights.
If you’d like to watch the film, click here.
Meanwhile, may the film gods continue to smile on you!
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Flatland
This is one of my favorite books of all time!
Edwin Abbott wrote the story in 1884 and it stands as a great epic to this day.
I first read it while living in Chapel Hill and recently discovered it on YouTube recreated as a somewhat crude animation:
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