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FlickrBlog describes some of the cool new features that Flickr recently introduced. Clustering allows for a more control over searching through sometimes ambiguous or redundant tags, and Flickr: Explore! allows you to automagically explore “interesting” photos from the last 24 hours.
Leave It To Bush is a hilariously weird video; volumes 2 and 3 are great as well…
Flickr user brevity’s photoset “50 people see…” is pretty cool:
I wrote a program to blend Flickr images which share the same tags. No human is involved in choosing, positioning, or blending the images.
Suggestions are welcome for new tags to try. The best tags imply a certain composition, like “sunset”, although I’ve gotten some interesting results with abstract words too.
eChalk has an amazing page dealing with color perception that demonstrates just how much our perception of color is influenced by surrounding hues. I’ve seen one of these examples before, but the movable masking graphics included on the page really highlight the illusions.
Snopes.com, a definitive source for determining the veracity of “common fallacies, misinformation, old wives’ tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip, and similar items,” has collected some very funny user requests:
Every day our inbox fills with hundreds of questions that range from the routine to the extraordinary, the mundane to the fantastic. While we’re honored that our readers think to turn to us with these head-scratchers, many of their queries are too obscure or complicated for us to answer. Among the more unusual questions that are sent our way, we sometimes find a few seemingly posed with such a sense of urgency that we can’t help but wonder about the circumstances that prompted them — and the results.
Makes you wonder about some of those people…
Last Tuesday’s Doonesbury comic caused some controversy because of the use of the nickname “Turd Blossom” to describe presidential advisor Karl Rove. Funny thing is, this is not a made-up moniker, but is actually one of the nicknames used by W for Rove. I have no problem with it… 😉
When I was offered a copy of The Jerk 25th 26th Anniversary DVD in return for posting a review, I jumped at the chance. For those of you who don’t know, The Jerk is one of my all-time favorite movies, so hearing that a remastered version was being released with some extras was pretty exciting for me.
The main selling point of the new DVD is the fact that the audio and video have been completely restored and remastered in 5.1 surround sound and 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (as opposed to the previous release’s Dolby 2.0 sound and 1.33:1 full screen). Granted, the movie doesn’t really lend itself to the envelopment of a full 5.1 surround sound field, but I could definitely hear a huge improvement in the audio over the earlier DVD release. The video looked a lot better as well, bolstered by the anamorphic widescreen remastering. And of course there’s just no comparing the quantum leap in video and audio quality the DVD format offers over VHS.
I was hoping for more extras than were included, but I suppose movies in 1979 just didn’t plan on releasing supplementary material like more recent movies do. There is a bonus featurette entitled “The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas de Cordova,” which is purportedly an extended version of the cat-juggling scene in the movie. However, it appears to be new footage and is only mildly amusing. The other bonus feature is an extended ukulele lesson for the song “You Belong To Me” (the one that Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin sang on the beach), and it too seems out of place (Who has a ukulele lying around?). Your typical theatrical trailer and production notes round out the extras.
Extras aside, I love the movie, and watching it again over the weekend was a blast. This is classic Steve Martin at his wackiest, and I obviously give it two thumbs up. The DVD is available for purchase here. If you are interested in buying it, please use that link so that they’ll consider sending me more stuff! 🙂
When I was offered a copy of The Jerk 25th 26th Anniversary DVD in return for posting a review, I jumped at the chance. For those of you who don’t know, The Jerk is one of my all-time favorite movies, so hearing that a remastered version was being released with some extras was pretty exciting for me.
The main selling point of the new DVD is the fact that the audio and video have been completely restored and remastered in 5.1 surround sound and 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (as opposed to the previous release’s Dolby 2.0 sound and 1.33:1 full screen). Granted, the movie doesn’t really lend itself to the envelopment of a full 5.1 surround sound field, but I could definitely hear a huge improvement in the audio over the earlier DVD release. The video looked a lot better as well, bolstered by the anamorphic widescreen remastering. And of course there’s just no comparing the quantum leap in video and audio quality the DVD format offers over VHS.
I was hoping for more extras than were included, but I suppose movies in 1979 just didn’t plan on releasing supplementary material like more recent movies do. There is a bonus featurette entitled “The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas de Cordova,” which is purportedly an extended version of the cat-juggling scene in the movie. However, it appears to be new footage and is only mildly amusing. The other bonus feature is an extended ukulele lesson for the song “You Belong To Me” (the one that Bernadette Peters and Steve Martin sang on the beach), and it too seems out of place (Who has a ukulele lying around?). Your typical theatrical trailer and production notes round out the extras.
Extras aside, I love the movie, and watching it again over the weekend was a blast. This is classic Steve Martin at his wackiest, and I obviously give it two thumbs up. The DVD is available for purchase here. If you are interested in buying it, please use that link so that they’ll consider sending me more stuff! 🙂
As most of you know by now, the Space Shuttle Discovery successfully launched yesterday. NASA’s Return To Flight page has regular status updates, including some amazing imagery and video.
TheForce.Net has a bunch of Star Wars fan films available for viewing and download, and I have yet to fully delve into all of what’s there. I can, however, recommend Jedi House, a hilarious satirical combination of Animal House and Star Wars.
