It’s been a growing (if not re-emerging) trend of looping .gif files on the internet and I’m totally digging it.  One site in particular is https://iwdrm.tumblr.com/ where the pictures are themed around movies and quotes from them and the quality and selections are really, really good.

This one isn’t from a film (I think), but I really like it and will just leave it here as well…

I can’t wait for this movie to come out… Watch Nicholas Cage shoot his daughter with a handgun for comedic affect? Check.

Am also approaching that ‘need to get a haircut’ point. Telling factor is after a shower my hair becomes this almost Beatles like bob cut. But anyways…

A pretty good list of what one man considers The 10 best long tracking shots ever filmed which I can wholeheartedly agree with.

An article and sample of Philip Glass’s new opera can be found here.

A rather bizarre article on a Vietnamese man dug up wife’s corpse ‘so he could hug her’.

For Empire’s 20th anniversary, they’ve gotten a whole slew of actors to recreate some of their more famous roles. It’s pretty neat-o and can be found here.

And then lastly some science articles…

Why we shouldn’t release all we know about the cosmos
A trio of astronomers have warned that, unless we use the information sparingly, we risk squandering a once-in-eternity opportunity. If the whole data set is released at once, as is planned, any new ideas that cosmologists come up with may have to remain untested because they will have no further data to test them with. [full article]

Death of rare giant star sheds light on cosmic past
An enormous explosion observed in 2007 was the death of one of the most massive stars known in the universe, new calculations suggest. Similar blasts may have polluted the early universe with heavy elements, altering its evolution. [full article]

I’d almost forgotten about this story. Along with what he wanted on his tombstone, this is my favourite Alfred Hitchcock story…

‘Well, it was a quite shocking, I must say — there was blood everywhere!’ Alfred Hitchcock began suddenly from the rear of the elevator. We were in the New York St. Regis Hotel, heading down to the lobby. There was as light flush to his cheeks from the several frozen dauquiris he had just drunk in his suite. The elevator had just stopped and three people dressed for the evening had joined us, and immediately Mr. Hitchcock had started to speak, sounding as though he were in midsentence and projecting in that careful and familiar TV tone of his.

He went on, ‘There was as stream of blood coming from his ear and another from his mouth.’ The people had recognized him immediately, but now they seemed purposely to avoid looking at him. He went right on, gazing beatifically ahead of him as the elevator stopped again and another well-dressed couple came aboard: ‘Of course, there was a huge pool of blood on the floor and his clothes were spattered with it — Oh, it was a horrible mess.’

No one on the elevator, it seemed, was breathing. ‘Blood all around! Well, I looked at the poor man and and I said, “Good God, what happened to you?”‘ At that point the elevator doors opened onto the lobby, and Hitchcock said, ‘Do you know what he told me?’ and then paused. After a moment, and quite reluctantly, the other passengers moved out of the elevator and then looked back at the director as we walked away.

After several foggy moments, I asked, ‘Well, what did he say?’ and Hitchcock smiled benevolently, taking my arm, and said, ‘Oh, nothing — that’s just my elevator story.’

– Peter Bogdonavich, Who the Devil Made It, 1997

Finally watched District 9 tonight and it was hella good indeed. Great fun story and kick-ass action, my only problem I kept thinking that the main actor was Spike Jonze. I mean, obviously it wasn’t, but I just couldn’t keep shaking off that thought. But that’s just me. Also loved the many subtle science and sci-fi references. Along with Moon, District 9 is one of the greater sci-fi film to have come out in years. Go 2009 go! And there’s still Avatar to look forward to.

Also set to check out Casablanca on the big screen this weekend and it’s gonna be awesome. Next weekend has also got a screening of The Wizard of Oz and I’m so down for that too.

Ain’t had much else to blog about this week, hence the rather quiet activity around. I keep trying to make use of twitter as an alternative, but its a service I’m not really getting that into at the moment.

Meanwhile I stumbled across this neat little article/entry and linking mostly for the first paragraph, but you can check the rest here.

My whole theory of beautiful language holds that it comes from nameless, groups of people looking for a more expressive way to say something. I’m always thankful to get a note where someone praises a sentence I wrote. But what I really want is the kind of genius that takes “I’m leaving” and turns it into “I’m ghost” and then takes “I’m ghost” and turns it into “I’m Swayze.” Seriously, what kid decided to pull “Ducat” out of obscurity (at least obscurity for us 80s city kids) and use it as easy as bread, or ends, or greenbacks? Who decided that a gun should be called a “heater” and then a “toaster” and then finally a “biscuit”?

Disappeared for a bit there. I’ve been watching a new movie pretty much whenever I’m not working and it’s been great, but leaves little time for other things like blogging as one might notice. Been keeping close to the average set out in the last post though. About 10 movies watched in the last four days. Think I might take a break tonight, but that could change later.

Meanwhile, I’ve started up a twitter account which you might notice on the sidebar. Something of a tester just for September, but so far… meh. Find it fairly redundant to be posting about what I’m doing all the time and haven’t even bothered to use the mobile phone feature cause honestly… who the hell wants to know that I’m at the supermarket or what movie I’m watching or how many cancers I’ve cured in an afternoon? I mean, asides from the obligatory stalker, but they’ve already got this blog. Mind you, if they wanna real time stalk, more power to them… the hell am I saying?

Pretty tired now, so a few links and then yeah, why not? Let’s do one more movie tonight…

The Pixies have announced a one off gig next year and I’m pretty damn keen to get myself a ticket. [full article]

A website that gives recipes on how to transform your fast food takeaways into gourmet looking meals. Definitely worth checking out. A simple favourite is a KFC meal into a chicken corn chowder amongst many others. [https://www.fancyfastfood.com]

Good ol’ New Scientist brings us 13 More Things That Don’t Make Sense.

And finally a featurette for Wes Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of The Fantastic Mr Fox. I can’t wait. Apple HD options can be found here. Else embedded below.

Just a teaser and not much too it, but damn I’m excited. Announced this year, began filming only a month ago, teasers already out and it’ll be released less than a year away. Christopher Nolan is efficient if not brilliant. (He’s totally brilliant).

Still fairly tired from the weekend out so this’ll probably be brief.

Caught the 3D Avatar preview and I gotta say, it was pretty damn awesome. Well worth the hype and I so can’t wait to see it in full at the end of the year.

Also watched Inglourious Basterds and that was most enjoyable for the most of it. Friends definitely liked it more than me, I just wish Mike Myers didn’t have to be in it, or at least wish he had less screen time and a non speaking role.

Other damn fine movies watched this week were Coraline which was gorgeous and wonderfully terrifying, check it out and in 3D if you can. Ip Man was a brilliant martial arts bio-pic, think those kind of films like Walk the Line and Ray, but instead of music, it’s kick-ass baddassery. Also, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People was surprisingly good, but not great… watched some other films as well, but too tired to remember them anymore.

Was hoping to see the first trailer for Christopher Nolan’s new film Inception in front of Inglourious Basterds, but I guess non-US countries or New Zealand at least, doesn’t get that pleasure. Strangely not online yet, but apparently it will in a few days time. Found myself enjoying the simple nothingness of the official website for now.

Right, enough yabbering, gonna check out some of these Real Groovy purchases (still a consumer whore) and then sleep. Night.

Slow day. Trying to configure phone to be able to blog on the go and solve quantum physics equations. Having more success with the quantum physics.

Everyone watched the new Avatar teaser trailer yet? Half the internet already seems to have. Fin’s got some nice screencaps from it on his blog here. There hasn’t been much publicity about the 15 minute 3D previews this weekend which is kinda good, cause I don’t want to risk not getting a ticket so shhhhhh!

Friend Rocky started up a blog this week where he plans to post a photo from around London once per day. He’s already behind, but with his lifestyle sometimes, I’d understand why. [P365 – A Photo A Day]

And then this great article from stuff.co.nz had me gut laugh a bit:

Sting backfires as Aussie police PC hacked
An Australian police boast on TV about breaking up an underground hacker forum has backfired after hackers broke into a police computer system.

Security consultants say police appear to have been using the computer as a honeypot to collect information on members of the forum but the scheme came undone after the officers forgot to set a password. [full article]

Copies of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace and a Criterion of Kurosawa’s The Bad Sleep Well arrived today and that was awesome. If you’re not aware of the awesomeness that is Darkplace (a believable, yet fictitious 80’s horror/drama by the well fictitious Garth Marenghi), then shame on you, or more likely shame on me for not spreading enough word on it.

Woke up with the modem and router completely missing from the house and the kitchen rearranged around and smelling of wet paint. Always hate being severed of a connection to the net. People wonder whether they’d survive living a hundred years ago. I wonder how I’d cope with twenty years ago before the internet boomed as we know it. Meanwhile, I’m still waiting on the asshats who’ve now held my phone hostage for two weeks and still no real garuantee they’ve actually fixed it yet. Heads will soon roll.

Gonna be in Auckland this weekend for a mass screening of Tarantino’s new film Inglorious Basterds and while I’m not holding my breath for it to be awesome, what I do hope to go to and experience awesomeness of is a sneak preview screening of the first 15 minutes from James Cameron’s new film Avatar. For free and in 3D. Further details on the event and session times can be found at https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0908/S00244.htm.