The Trailer for STAR WARS UNCUT
I think that this trailer for the fan-powered Star Wars Uncut project is supposed to make me feel all warm and tingly, but it just doesn’t. The idea, it appears, is to claim a scene from Star Wars: A New Hope (the original film) and to recreate it any way you see fit. If I’m understanding correctly, the “best” versions of each scene will then be stitched together into a final cut.
Maybe I’m just being a grumpy-pants this afternoon, but I’m not sure what makes this so cool. Anyone want to set me straight?
Christopher Walken Shouldn’t Come in #4 at Anything
Spike Jonze’s brilliant video for Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” (the one with Christopher Walken) comes in at only #4 on Antville.org’s list of the 101 Best Music Videos of the Decade, which instantly discredits the list in my eyes, but whatever. I guess The White Stripes and Jay-Z and Bats For Lashes (whoever the hell they are) have got some talent, too.
But, come on: How do you deny Christopher Walken the #1 spot? I mean, sure, the track could have used some more cowbell, but… but…
Rest in Peace, Geocities
I’ve written about the death of Geocities previously, but I thought it only fitting that I post again about the late, great Web-hosting service on this day, its final day of existence. Tweets about the service are lighting up the Twittersphere, and I’m feeling all kinds of nostalgic—what I wouldn’t give to see the original version of SunsetStrip/6908, which is unfortunately not included in the Internet Wayback Machine—so, why not? Here’s my final Geocities page, as I left it in 1999.
First Photo of the Apple Slate!!!
Does the fabled Apple tablet finally have a name? According to TUAW, a New York Times editor referred to the “impending Apple Slate” in an off-the-record chat. It sounds like an Applesque name to us, and we liked it so much that we decided to mock-up what we think it’ll look like (see above).
TUAW had something else interesting waiting for us in our Google Reader this morning, too. They brought news that Amazon’s Kindle software is coming to the Mac. They tempered this news with a concluding sentence that read, “we can’t forget that if Apple delivers a tablet computer it could put Amazon into direct competition with Apple,” but I’m doubtful Apple would get into the ebook market themselves when they could just partner with Amazon and be done with it. Comics, maybe. But not books. They partner with people—Google for maps, for instance—when they need to, and I see that as the path this time around.
In other Apple news, Apple is apparently going to spend $4 million on Chicago subway station renovations. This comes to us from AppleInsider, who also claim that Jobs & Co. have “earned the right of first refusal to name the public transit stop.”
How long until we have an iCity to go with our iPods, our iMacs, and our iLives?
Comics Coming to iTunes and More
Comic books might be coming to iTunes in time for the fabled Apple Tablet’s release, according to articles from TUAW and MacNN, and this is one development that would get me to pick up an Apple Tablet for sure. If this thing was a big iPod, an “essentials"-type portable computer, and an e-book/e-comics reader all rolled into one—man, that would be something. I understand Cali Lewis’s frustration with the recent offerings from Cupertino, but I think we may all be treated to something massive and awesome come next year. That’s just a hunch. This Apple Tablet is, I think, going to change the game as much as the iPhone did.
In other comics news, Joe Quesada is saying that the Captain America movie is “very unexpected, the kind of movie it is” and that it will set up a future Avengers flick in “a fantastic way.” So, that’s exciting. But, for me, even more exciting than that is watching Jim Lee draw while he shoots the shit with Stan Lee. I’ve embedded that video above, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I’m a sucker for fly-on-the-wall videos of creators doing what they do, and I wish more of my favorites would do stuff like this. There’s a section in Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It where he talks about the different social media platforms available to us, and I think a lot of artists and writers could get huge mileage out of things like YouTube and Ustream (as Gary suggests).
Nine Inch Nails on the FRINGE
I haven’t been avoiding the television series Fringe on purpose—that, my friends, would be stupid—but I’ve just never gotten around to watching an episode. That, dear reader, may be about to change. You see, I’m a huge Nine Inch Nails fan, and I’ll check out pretty much anything related to the band at least once. And now, according to Entertainment Weekly, NIN’s Trent Reznor has contributed an alternate version of the song “Zero Sum” to the Powers That Be at Fringe for the low, low cost of absolutely zilch. That’s right, Reznor re-recorded the vocals to the song (to make them Fringe-specific) and handed over the completed track for free. “No, no, I just want to have fun and be part of something cool,” was apparently the response that Trent gave when he was offered payment.
Very cool.
Also cool: this trailer for a fan-made DVD of NIN’s performance from Webster Hall earlier this year. NIN fanatics will remember this as the show that featured the first-ever live performance of the album The Downward Spiral in its entirety. And this DVD, the result of a relaxed camera policy instituted for the final string of shows, has apparently been so well-received by the people inside the NIN camp that it’s brought Trent Reznor out of Twitter retirement. His retweet of Rob Sheridan’s announcement of the trailer was only his second tweet since the middle of July (when he gave up the service due to constant harassment by trolls).
Just when you think you’re favorite band is done making news for the foreseeable future (NIN is done touring, possibly forever, and Reznor just got married), a day like this come around. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Bacon Jam!
If you know Geek Force Five, you know that we loves bacon, and if you don’t know GF5 and our love of bacon, just do a search over there in the nifty search box and experience the awesome.
So, what’s the latest bacon-related food product we have in store for you? Why, it’s Bacon Jam of course. And what exactly is bacon jam? It’s bacon you can spread, silly-pants. According to the vendor’s Website:
[They] take a big bunch of really really good bacon, and render it down...add a bunch of spices..onions, etc..and let it simmer for about 6 hours…give it a quick puree, and blast chill it…and you have bacon jam..
This wonderful discovery comes to us courtesy of Geekologie and Top Cultured. Thank you, friends. Thank you.
Charles Bukowski was a Mac
Here’s something I found interesting as both a writer and a geek. It comes to us from that curator of the awesomest awesome-sauce on the Web, Jason Kottke.
Basically, the deal is that Charles Bukowski (who I’ll admit I know very little about, other than the fact that a Peanuts strip by him would be hilarious) became a Mac user in his old age. At roundabout 70 years old, his wife bought him a Macintosh IIsi, and he apparently loved the thing. “There is something about seeing your words on a screen before you that makes you send the word with a better bite,” he wrote. “I know a computer can’t make a writer but I think it makes a writer better.”
And, apparently, his love of technology didn’t end there.
In a letter to John Martin, his Black Sparrow publisher, Bukowski mentioned the availability of a technology (the Internet) that would allow him to send poems instantly. The speed and ease of new technologies amazed, excited, and inspired him. When he first got a fax machine, Bukowski immediately wrote Martin a fax poem… Bukowski’s open-mindedness in old age is refreshing, when you consider all the aging writers who fall back and rely on the familiar, be it in technologies of writing or actual writing style.
Nifty, says I.
Geek Force FiveCast 243: Windows 7
In which ECC geeks out about the news that Windows 7 has become more popular than Harry Potter.
