Five things of note for the week ending Friday April 27th.
1. Iron Man
This art work (from Mondo) is superb. I like, a lot. Speaking of which…
2. Avengers Assemble!
It’s out this week. I’ve seen it. It’s awesome. You should see it too.
(and yes, of course I’m going to review it – at some point)
3. New Music
Two tracks of note (from the week before in fact, that I didn’t get time to blog this week) are X-Factor reject, Aiden Grimshaw’s first single – ‘Is this love?‘
And this awesome Gonzo 70′s-style remix of Adele vs Liquid Gold – ‘Rollin’ in the Deep‘
No, not a goal line score from their last match up, more an amazing discovery of a whole bunch of cutting room floor footage from Superman IV.
You’ve all seen Superman IV right? If you haven’t you’re not missing out on much; I touched upon it recently as being ‘by far and away the worst of Reeve’s tenure‘ – and I stand by that (it’s still good though).
If you have seen it, then you’ll recognise the chap on the right above as Nuclear Man, the brawn created by Supes’ arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor.
However, on a recent journey around the more geekier corners of the internet, I happened upon an amazing nugget of footage that I never knew existed. Apparently, the Nuclear Man we know and love recognise is actually Nuclear Man V2. Version 1 was originally in the film too, and Superman (as you’ll see very shortly) disposed of him easily – hence Lex Luthor going back around a second time and coming up with v2.
Thing is, v1 was eventually cut (I can’ think why) and we only ever knew of v2.
What the HELL am I talking about?
Watch for yourself -
Just when you thought Superman IV couldn’t get any worse, right?
I’m just… lost for words.
Via iO9, with extra info (and lols) via i-mockery.
Bit by bit, he built himself an awesome cardboard arcade on the front porch of his Dad’s motor repair shop. Some guys on the internet found out and they made this film.
To say I’m a little excited about The Dark Knight Rises would be an understatement. It is the end of the Nolan-universe era and it promises to be… something else.
I’m extremely, extremely lucky to have worked quite close to the film – especially around the 6min prologue released at the back end of last year. Even that was enough to work me up to a frenzy. Tom Hardy, one of my favourite actors, looks absolutely incredible as BANE.
2. Being ill sucks
I was diagnosed with acute sinusitis on Tuesday (having been out of action since last Friday) and the only thing I know about it is that a mate of mine at college used to suffer with it a lot. ‘Sicknote’ we called him, bless. But, if you’re reading this now – Bodger – I apologise. I take it back. This thing is agonisingly painful and OH MY GOD I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.
3. Happy Birthday David
More (read: better) Prometheus goodness. This time in the shape of Michael Fassbender’s take on the now-required Ridley-universe Weyland android.
I love this stuff; Artists Chris McMahon and Thryza Segal like to buy second hand paintings and then just add monsters. Apparently the trick is to match the paint originally used (e.g., acrylic or oil) and try to blend the monsters into the original scene as if they were always there. I’m actually tempted to give it a go myself. via Siany
I hate the word ‘movie‘, but this site, MOVIEBARCODE, (that I found (and have been meaning to blog for) just over a year ago now), I can forgive for the staggeringly gorgeous work it produces.
The premise is simple, but Flowing Data describes it best -
Choice of color in a movie can say a lot about what’s going on in a scene. It sets the mood, changes the tone, indicates a change in point of view, so on and so forth, which is why moviebarcode is so fun to click through. The concept is simple. Take every frame in a movie and compress it into a sliver, and put them next to each other. Voilá. Movie barcode.
Seriously, as a film lover this site is a veritable treasure trove of thematic insight. Plucking a few favourites from the extensivesite index, you can really see how this works both as art and as a window into how directors use shade and colour to help bring their overall vision to life.
If you’re as enamoured as I am with these images then you’ll be pleased to know that prints are available and, if the film you’re looking isn’t available, Mr Reid has published a handy ‘how to’ guide too.
The Experiment: We chucked a photography student out of a plane to see if he could take the perfect fashion photo. We gave him a model, lighting guys, a makeup artist and smoke machines. The only thing we didn’t give him was a camera. We gave him a phone.
It sounds harsh but, I’m not entirely sure what the advert is for.
Yes, it’s for the HTC One, I get that much, but why are they jumping out of the plane? Why is the HTC One being used in this instance? From what I’ve read, it’s to help show off ‘the One’s low-light capabilities’ – if that’s the case, why can’t I see the image and/or video quality that ‘Nick’ shot with the phone in the advert?
The very last second of the ad ends with ‘Watch Nick’s story online’, let’s get online and find that content then shall we?
A Google image search for ‘HTC One free fall fashion shoot‘ only turns up images shot by other cameras that were present on the day; DSLRs etc… keep clicking and eventually, on page 3 of the search, this image shows up via All Things D -
I’m not sure, but I’m thinking that this might be the actual image that our man Nick shot with his HTC One. Not bad, right? Right. But I want the full image; the original, uncrunched image, with EXIF data.
But I can’t find it.
Even the official photo album from the shoot, the one from HTC UK’s very own Facebook page, doesn’t have the full file [instead uploading a frustratingly bad and super-compressed FB-friendly version]. Additionally – and still, according to the ad – Nick was recording video and trying to get the perfect photo at the same time. Guess what? No sign of that footage either.
I’m labouring the point, I know. But if you’re going to make a big deal about a fashion student being given the opportunity to take part in a one-of-a-kind free-fall fashion shoot, then surely you’d make a big deal around the actual content that said fashion student produced. No?
), some great imagery and… well, that’s about it.