Category: Interesting

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Behind The Scenes Interesting

Douglas Trumbull on Blade Runner

Special effects guru Douglas Trumbull has posted a video on his official site about the visual effects behind the famous opening of Blade Runner (1982).

The first of a three part series, he talks about the “Hades Landscape”, the use of brass miniatures lit from below, the Tyrell Pyramid, how the explosions were created and the connection with Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Zabriskie Point (1970).

It makes for fascinating viewing and some of the craftsmanship that went into this sequence is mind-boggling.

Watch the video by clicking here.

UPDATE: There are other videos on the SFX in Blade Runner here.

> Douglas Trumbull
> Blade Runner at Wikipedia

Categories
Behind The Scenes Interesting

The Sounds of Inception

One of the key features of any film is the sound design, a critical but sometimes overlooked aspect of the production process.

This video from the Soundworks Collection shows how the sounds of Christopher Nolan’s Inception were created, featuring interviews with supervising sound editor and sound designer Richard King, Re-recording Mixer Lora Hirschberg and Re-recording mixer Gary Rizzo.

“Inception” Sound for Film Profile from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Another aspect of the soundscape of Inception was the use of Edith Piaf’s Non, je ne regrette rien.

Originally I thought this might be some kid of reference to Marillon Cotillard (as she played Piaf in a 2006 biopic) but it turns out composer Hans Zimmer and Nolan wanted to use the song as the basis for the whole score.

Zimmer explained the process to the New York Times:

“all the music in the score is subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo of the Edith Piaf track. [It was] always in the script …It was like huge foghorns over a city, and afterward you would maybe figure out that they were related.

I didn’t use the song; I only used one note. [I got] the original master out of the French national archives. And then [found] some crazy scientist in France who would actually go and take that one cell out of the DNA.”

Have a listen here:

> Inception at the IMDb
> Wired article on the sound of Inception

Categories
Interesting

David McCandless at TED

David McCandless recently gave a talk at TED in Oxford, where he discussed the importance of design in navigating the information in our lives.

He is a writer and journalist who also runs the blog Information Is Beautiful, where he frequently posts fascinating data visualisations.

They have included the budget of the BBC, time travel in movies and TV and Wikipedia’s Lamest Edit Wars.

His book is filled with many others and is an absolute must-read.

> Information is Beautiful
> David McCandless on Flickr
> More about TED

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Interesting Viral Video

Blade Runner Revisited >3.6 Gigapixels

This experimental short film by François Vautier is a stunning tribute to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

Made as a unique picture with a resolution of 3.6 gigapixels, it uses 167,819 frames from Blade Runner: The Final Cut.

BLADE RUNNER revisited >3.6 gigapixels from françois vautier on Vimeo.

Vautier describes how he put it together:

1> First Step : The “Picture” of the film
I extracted the 167,819 frames from ‘Blade Runner’ (final cut version,1h51mn52s19i). Then I assembled all these images to obtain one gigantic image of colossal dimensions : a square of approximately 60,000 pixels on one side alone, 3.5 gigapixels (3500 million pixels)

2> Second Step : An Illusion
I placed a virtual camera above this big picture. So what you see is like an illusion, because contrary to appearances there is only one image. It is in fact the relative movement of the virtual camera flying over this massive image which creates the animated film, like a film in front of a projector.

Notice how the whole concept echoes one of the signature scenes from the film where Deckard enhances an image via voice recognition software.

> Blade Runner at Wikipedia
> More videos by François Vautier on Vimeo

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Interesting

John Bailey on shooting Days of Heaven

Terence Malick’s Days of Heaven (1978) is one of the most visually stunning films ever made, a poetic tale of a couple (Richard Gere and Brooke Adams) who migrate to the Texas panhandle in order to work for a farmer (Sam Shepherd) in 1910.

Beautifully shot by Nestor Almendros, it is famous for its cinematopgraphy, especially the way in which it captures the magic hour between dusk and dawn.

In this video cinematographer John Bailey, who served as a camera operator on the film, sheds some light on how Alemendros and Malick managed to give the film its unique look.

> Days of Heaven at the IMDb
> Buy the Region 2 DVD or the Criterion Blu-ray (Region 1 only)

Categories
Interesting Viral Video

Epic Beard Man

Earlier this year a video filmed on a bus in Oakland revealed much about how modern life can be filmed and processed by the public.

When a fight broke out in February aboard a transit bus in Oakland, California, it might not have seemed an especially unusual incident to anyone familiar with public transport in a major city.

What made this this particular one interesting was the way in which the decision to film and upload the footage to the web (itself a modern compulsion) opened up particularly post-modern can of worms including issues of race, violence, the Vietnam war and modern technology.

This ‘Know Your Meme’ video from Rocketboom explains how the footage became a viral phenomenon and how one of the men involved became known as ‘Epic Beard Man’:

The man that threw the punches gave his side of the story here:

The man who got punched gave his version of events to a local radio station here:

As you can see, they don’t quite match up and just provoke further questions about the incident and those involved.

When you take into account the tsunami of comments online about the affair, along with the endless parodies and interpretations, it only becomes harder to get a handle on what went on and what it all means.

There is even a Mortal Kombat version of the fight:

There is a fairly detailed Wikipedia entry titled AC Transit Bus fight but it isn’t exactly conclusive.

When much of contemporary ‘reality television’ consists of carefully constructed narratives, there is a strong case to say that this incident feels more real, as what was a confusing and messy fight gets endlessly reinterpreted through different voices on the web.

> Know Your Meme at Rocketboom
> The AC Transit Bus fight on Wikipedia

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Interesting Viral Video

The Last Exorcism on Chatroulette

Movie marketing via social media sites doesn’t always work but the use of Chatroulette to plug The Last Exorcism was both clever and effective.

Over the last few years Lionsgate have got used to marketing horror films in a savvy way and some, especially the Saw franchise, have proved hugely profitable for the studio.

The Last Exorcism was their most recent US release and part of the concept is that what you are watching is ‘found footage‘, a technique used in previous films such as The Blair Witch Project, REC and Paranormal Activity.

This kills two birds with one stone, as it enhances the realism of the material and helps keep costs down as audiences buy into the idea of the spooky, low quality footage at the heart of the film.

Made for around $2 million and acquired by Lionsgate for under $1 million, this was one to keep the studio accountants happy, even though they would have spent a fair amount giving it a wide release across the US.

Part of the marketing campaign was to freak out users on Chatroulette, a site where people can randomly video chat with strangers, and it proved an inspired way to create buzz.

This edited compilation of the best reactions has so far got over 2.5 million views on YouTube:

Although the film is currently neck and neck with Takers for the number 1 slot this weekend, it will still earn around $21 million this weekend.

The Last Exorcism opens in the UK on Friday 3rd September

> The Last Exorcism at the IMDb

> Chatroulette at Wikipedia

Categories
Amusing Interesting TV

Jerry Stiller visits the Seinfeld house

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Actor Jerry Stiller recently paid a visit to the house that his character in Seinfeld once ‘lived’ in.

Stiller played George Costanza‘s dad Frank on the classic sitcom and the New York Daily News recently took him to the real life location in Queens, New York that was used for exterior shots (interiors were filmed in Hollywood).

The following video shows what happened when Stiller decided to ring the doorbell and meet the current residents of what once doubled as the Costanza house.

> Read the full story at the NYDN
> More on Seinfeld at Wikipedia

Categories
Interesting Lists

The Biggest Box Office Bombs of All Time

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CNBC have compiled a list of the biggest box office disasters in history, which is topped by the ill-fated pirate adventure Cutthroat Island.

Trying to calculate the profit and loss of a particular film can be a slippery exercise, especially when film companies are reluctant to reveal accurate numbers for a variety of reasons.

This list has examined films that lost money relative to the production costs and box office numbers (according to BoxOfficeMojo) and has then adjusted the figures for inflation.

  1. Cutthroat Island (1995): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $146,947,958
  2. The Alamo (2004): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $134,784,016
  3. The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $134,396,524
  4. Sahara (2005): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $133,141,605
  5. The 13th Warrior (1999): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $125,887,312
  6. Town & Country (2001): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $115,352,672
  7. Speed Racer (2008): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $106,054,234
  8. Heaven’s Gate (1980): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $104,542,449
  9. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $99,798,592
  10. Inchon (1982): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $89,870,942
  11. Treasure Planet (2002): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $83,833,389
  12. The Postman (1997): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $83,346,947
  13. Red Planet (2000): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $82,406,208
  14. Soldier (1998): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $78,912,404
  15. Gigli (2003): Net losses adjusted for inflation: $77,961,644

For a more flexible chart, have a look at Wikipedia’s list of box office bombs.

The more spectacular disasters are fairly common knowledge, but the fact that Sahara ended up with a budget of $241 million (?!) is mind-boggling.

> Box office flops at FilmSite
> Fascinating LA Times story filled with eye-popping details on Sahara
> Techdirt story on why ‘Hollywood Accounting’ is losing in the courts

Categories
Interesting Posters

Fake Criterion Covers

Imagine if George Lucas decided to release the original Star Wars trilogy through the Criterion Collection.

The home video company are renowned for their editions of “important classic and contemporary films” and their tasteful covers.

A thread over at MUBi has highlighted a lot of imaginative redesigns of notable films in the ‘Criterion style’, including Star Wars, Die Hard and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This gallery features some of the more notable examples:

> WSJ article on Fake Criterion covers
> Official Criterion site

Categories
Interesting

Ingmar Bergman on The Dick Cavett Show

Back in 1971, Ingmar Bergman appeared on The Dick Cavett Show with actress Bibi Anderson for a lengthy interview.

It was presumably part of the promotion for the US release of The Touch, but it is a fascinating glimpse of the director in a mainstream US setting.

You can also see Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.

> Ingmar Bergman at Wikipedia
> The Touch at the IMDb

Categories
Interesting

Paul Greengrass BAFTA interview at Latitude

Director Paul Greengrass was recently at the Latitude festival where he did a fairly in depth BAFTA interview with Simon Mayo about his career.

They discuss his love of The Battle of Algiers (1966), his time working on World in Action, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence (1999), Bloody Sunday (2002), The Bourne films (2004, 2007), United 93 (2006) and Green Zone (2010).

You can watch it in full here:

> Paul Greengrass at the IMDb
> BAFTA

Categories
Interesting Random TV

John Ford BBC interview from 1968

By the late 1960s John Ford was firmly established as one of the great directors of his era, for films such as Stagecoach (1939), The Searchers (1956) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

The following BBC interview from 1968 is a fascinating snapshot of Ford in his later years (he would die in 1973).

Years of heavy drinking had clearly taken their toll and the opening question sets the tone:

Interviewer: What sort of childhood did you have? Where you interested in movies way back?

Ford: Not really. Not interested in them now, actually.

Also note the heavy smoking, Ford’s belligerent attitude, awkward zooms, random transitions to black and white and the obligatory posh English interviewer.

It is almost a short film itself.

> John Ford at the IMDb
> Essay on John Ford at Senses of Cinema

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Interesting

Terence Malick’s cameo in Badlands

Terence Malick made one of the great debuts in US cinema with Badlands (1973), but the famously reclusive director also had an unexpected cameo in the film.

In the film a teenage girl (Sissy Spacek) goes on the run with a rebellious young man (Martin Sheen) as they embark on a cross-country killing spree.

Whilst filming a scene set in house the couple temporarily take over, Malick realised that the actor he hired to play ‘Caller at Rich Man’s House’ had not turned up.

Malick himself had to play the uncredited role and although he wanted to eventually re-shoot the scene with someone else, Martin Sheen reportedly persuaded him not to.

> Terence Malick at the IMDb
> Senses of Cinema essay on Terence Malick

Categories
Interesting Random

Batman logos in early Christopher Nolan films

Christopher Nolan became an A-List Hollywood director with Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) but his early films contain intriguing images related to the caped crusader.

In his debut film Following (1998), there is a sequence in which two characters (played by Jeremy Theobold and Alex Haw) break into a flat which has a Batman logo on the front door.

When Nolan was shooting this film on a tiny budget of around $6,000 it would have been fanciful to imagine that just a few years later he would be the director entrusted by Warner Bros to reboot the Batman franchise with a budget of $150 million.

It was something noted recently by Theobold in a recent interview with Empire:

…the apartment of my character, ‘The Young Man’, was my flat in Iliffe Street, Walworth. Which is also where the bat was.

Keen-eyed viewers have spotted a Batman logo on the door of the flat. Some call it ironic (incorrectly), others say it’s prescient. Actually, I’d put it up in 1989 when I moved there; there was a film out called Batman that year…

And that was the way we made the film. None of the sets were designed, few were dressed. We made do — or rather, Chris chose places he thought were suitable and would take little arranging.

So far, so coincidental.

But it doesn’t stop there, as a screen grab Nolan’s next film Memento (2000) recently surfaced featuring …a Batman logo:

If you zoom in to the top right of the frame (timed at 0:47:58 on the DVD) you can see the logo for Batman alongside one for Superman.

Here is a close up of the image:

The other twist is that Warner Bros have also entrusted Nolan with producing a new Superman film.

Was it fate? Destiny? A cunning career plan?

It is almost as spooky as that Shining-style picture of ‘Simon Pegg’ at Bobby Kennedy’s funeral.

As someone on the Nolan Fans forum has pointed out:

If only we could find a bat symbol in Insomnia… ;)

Has anyone spotted one?

> Christopher Nolan at the IMDb
> Nolan Fans

[Memento photo via NolanFans]

Categories
Interesting Short Films

35mm by Pascal Monaco

This short animated film by Pascal Monaco is called 35mm and is a 2 minute tour through cinema history.

See if you can guess the 35 films they reference throughout.

35mm from Pascal Monaco on Vimeo.

[Via Buzzfeed]

Categories
Interesting Technology

FFlick

Fflick is a new website which filters and organises what people are saying about films on Twitter.

If you use the popular micro-blogging servce then Fflick lets you see what your followers are saying about certain films, whether it is Roger Ebert, Oprah Winfrey, Jon Favreau or yourself.

In addition it uses the data publicly available on Twitter to help arrange tweets into interesting, positive, negative and interesting links about films that are trending on the site (e.g. Inception, Toy Story 3).

Although it has just launched, it looks promising so far.

> Fflick
> More about Fflick at AppMarket

Categories
Animation Interesting

Inception and Paprika

Inception has been one of the most talked about films of the summer, but something that caught my interest recently was these two YouTube videos pointing out the similarities between Christopher Nolan’s film and the 2006 anime film Paprika.

The latter is the story of a research psychologist who uses a device that allows therapists to enter patients’ dreams.

Nolan himself has admitted the influence of The Matrix, 2001, Heat and Blade Runner, but see if you can detect elements of Inception in this trailer for Paprika:

Now check out this mashup up of both movies.

Although there are clearly differences, did Nolan get his central concept from the Japanese film?

> Inception review
> Paprika at the IMDb

Categories
Images Interesting

Inception Timeline Graphic

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If you saw Inception recently and came out of the film wanting to to clarify some aspects of the plot, then this graphic by dehahs at DeviantART visualises the main mission along with the different characters, dreams and kicks.

I would recommend you skip it for now if you haven’t seen the film, but if you have then it is a good starting point for debating aspects of the puzzles Nolan created.

For a larger image click here.

[Via /Film]

> Inception review
> More about the film at Wikipedia

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Interesting News

The National Archives Movie Podcast

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The National Archives in the UK have produced a podcast which sheds light on the history of British cinema.

Presented by Joseph Pugh, it is a recorded talk that explores some intriguing stories using documents from records in the archive.

Much of the hour long podcast is devoted to the silent era and it uncovers some interesting nuggets such as: the attempts by the Colonial Office to ban D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation; a groundbreaking British cartoon that was financed by the CIA; and the attempts in 1922 to ban a film called Cocaine.

Many of the films discussed are listed on Your Archives, a wiki where people can post more information, which is a commendable attempt to crowd source further research.

> Listen to the podcast
> The National Archives

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Interesting

Robert De Niro Film 4 Interview

Back in early 2007 Film 4 ran an interview with Robert De Niro where he discussed three of his best films: Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

Given his recent choice of roles and the fact that he was press shy for a large chunk of his career, it is interesting to get his perspective on a time when he was arguably the finest actor of his generation.

> Robert De Niro at Wikipedia and the IMDb
> Film 4

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Interesting

François Truffaut On Rossellini and Hitchcock

In this video from the AFI archives, French director François Truffaut talks about how Roberto Rossellini and Alfred Hitchcock influenced his own work.

Categories
Amusing Interesting TV

The Orson Welles Show

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I want you to imagine that Orson Welles once had a TV chatshow in the late 1970s.

Then I want to you to get a little bit more creative and imagine that the guests on this show include Burt Reynolds, The Muppets and Angie Dickinson.

But wait. This actually happened.

This is the intro for an unaired pilot Welles did for a chat show back in 1979.

Note how he talks about the possibilities of television like someone evangelising about the Internet circa 1997.

But the really good stuff is yet to come.

Welles introduces Burt Reynolds (“I like him. I like him very much.”) and for some reason they are wearing matching red shirts and jackets (“simple, lousy coincidence!”).

Also note the unconventional format where they ditch the ‘what are you plugging’ banter and dive straight into questions from the audience, some of which prompt interesting answers.

After that we get some contributions from Fozzie Bear, Kermit the Frog and Sam The Eagle, followed by more pontificating from Welles about the nature of television:

To finish off, Welles indulges in some magic with Angie Dickinson, which may remind viewers of his film F For Fake (1973):

> Find out more about Orson Welles at Wikipedia
> The infamous frozen peas commercial featuring Welles

Categories
Amusing Interesting

Meet Marlon Brando

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This footage of Marlon Brando doing a press junket in 1965 is hilarious.

It took place at Hampshire House in New York and features him talking to a variety of journalists about Morituri, a World War II film which also starred Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin and Trevor Howard.

As the voiceover says at the beginning, the reporters ask predictable questions but he gives few predictable answers.

My guess is that he was was deeply fed up with the process but decided to have a few drinks and enjoy talking about anything but the film.

You can also check out Part 2 and Part 3.

Highlights include:

  • The way he admits open scepticism about the whole business of promoting a Hollywood film.
  • His still-relevant insight into the ‘merchandising aspect’ of the press (just substitute Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor for Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie)
  • The interviewer who cuts to Brando whilst he is eating roast beef and vegetables.
  • The bit where he speaks on the street to a French TV crew – in fluent French – before asking a random woman about Civil Rights.
  • A discussion of a baboon and man’s capacity for violence.
  • A German-speaking contest with another journalist
  • The way he chats up a young female journalist (“How old are you? 21 in March?”) who turned out to be Miss USA the previous year.

[Via Hollywood Elsewhere]

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Interesting

James Cameron talks at D8

Director James Cameron recently sat down with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher at the D8 technology conference and they discussed a variety of topics including: the BP oil spill, the movie release window and re-releasing Titanic in 3D.

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Interesting

People of the Exodus

On his BBC blog director Adam Curtis has posted a fascinating documentary called People of the Exodus.

Made in 1973, it tells the story of a Jewish refugee ship named the Exodus which tried to break the British blockade of Palestine in 1947.

Featuring interviews from both sides, it has many striking parallels with recent events off the coast of Israel: a blockade; soldiers boarding the ship; deaths on board and international outrage.

You can watch the film on Curtis’ blog here.

[Via The Daily MUBI]

> Find out more about the Exodus at Wikipedia
> Adam Curtis at the BBC and IMDb

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Interesting Short Films

David Lynch’s Lady Blue Shanghai

David Lynch recently directed this short film for Dior called Lady Blue Shanghai.

Essentially a long form advert, it stars Marion Cotillard and Gong Tao, features art direction by John Galliano and was written and directed by Lynch.

Here it is, in two parts:

It isn’t the first time Lynch has worked in advertising. Previously he has directed spots for home pregnancy tests, perfume, cars and cigarettes.

However, I don’t think he’ll be doing one for the iPhone any time soon.

> David Lynch’s official site
> David Lynch at the IMDb and Wikipedia

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Interesting News

Write the Future

Nike have released this epic three-minute advert for the World Cup named ‘Write the Future‘, which stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva.

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (21 Grams, Babel), it also features Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and Homer Simpson and will be shown on TV for the first time tonight (May 22nd) during the Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter.

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Interesting

Oliver Stone’s Last Year in Vietnam

Oliver Stone talks about his 1971 student film Last Year in Vietnam.

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Behind The Scenes Interesting

The Making of Dune

Back in 1983 Sean Young filmed the making of David Lynch‘s Dune on a Super 8 camera.

> Find out more about Dune at Wikipedia
> Sean Young at the IMDb

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Interesting

Ken Loach Films on YouTube

Several Ken Loach films are now available to view in their entirety on YouTube, including Kes, Cathy Come Home, Poor Cow, Riff-Raff and Hidden Agenda.

There is also a 45 minute documentary profiling the renowned British director called Carry on Ken.

> Ken Loach at the IMDb
> Listen to our 2007 interview with Ken Loach

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Amusing Interesting

The Duels of Sergio Leone

Someone has done a video ‘Mexican standoff‘ between the various climactic duels in four Sergio Leone films.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly gets my vote.

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Interesting

Walter Murch on Cinema

Veteran editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient) recently gave this fascinating talk about ‘the three fathers of cinema’, with reference to Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustave Flaubert and Thomas Edison.

Murch once had a shrewd observation about the impact of film on audiences:

I believe that one of the secret engines that allows cinema to work, and have the marvelous power over us that it does, is the fact that for thousands of years we have spent eight hours every night in a “cinematic” dream-state, and so are familiar with this version of reality.

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Documentaries Interesting Short Films

Henry Murals

This short documentary Henry Murals about artist Ryan Henry Ward painting a mural for an elementary school in Seattle is both inspiring and uplifting.

> Official site
> More videos by Adam Bale at Vimeo

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Interesting

Al Pacino on 60 Minutes

Al Pacino turns 70 this week and recently sat down for a 60 Minutes interview with Katie Couric where they discussed his life and career, including his upcoming role as Dr. Jack Kevorkian in HBOs You Don’t Know Jack.

CBS also included some extra footage on their website.

There is the story of a night when his car broke down and an old couple were surprised to see him at their house asking for help:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

He also addresses his role in Scarface and the accusation of overacting:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

They also speak about the parts he turned down including Born on the Fourth of July, Kramer vs Kramer and Pretty Woman:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

And he jokes about the process of being interviewed:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

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Directors Interesting

Alfred Hitchcock Cameos

Alfred Hitchcock was famous for the brief cameos he made in his own films and this compilation is a reminder of the fun that can be had looking out for them.

I think my favourite is the one from Lifeboat (1944) but it is also interesting to note what he does in them.

Note that some involve a musical instrument: in Strangers on a Train (1951) he carries a cello; Rear Window (1954) sees him near a piano; and Vertigo (1958) sees him carrying a bugle.

Another motif is that he often walks across the scene from left to right.

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Interesting TV

James Dean and Ronald Reagan in The Dark, Dark Hours

The Atlantic has unearthed some remarkable video of James Dean and Ronald Reagan acting together in a live 1954 TV drama called The Dark, Dark Hours.

John Meroney reports on how the footage was discovered:

No one has seen this episode in the decades since; the kinescope has been locked away, until now.

My friend Wayne Federman, a writer for NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, unearthed the broadcast, condensing it from its original 23 minutes (without commercials) into the six-minute version you see below.

(Federman is planning a retrospective of Reagan’s television career for next year’s Reagan centennial.)

[Link via HE]

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Interesting

John Carpenter on Horror

An interesting video of director John Carpenter discussing horror films, with particular reference to The Thing.

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Interesting

Dr Strangelove at The Barbican

Later this month Stanley Kubrick‘s classic Cold War satire Dr Strangelove will be screening at The Barbican in London on April 27th.

Prior to the screening, Sir Christopher Frayling, Professor Ian Christie and veteran production designer Assheton Gorton (Blow Up, Get Carter) will have a panel discussion about production design and its relationship to contemporary design and architecture.

Kubrick’s film is notable for the iconic production design from Ken Adam who made his mark designing the villain’s lair in Dr No(1962).

That brought him to the attention of Kubrick who then recruited him to design the set for his new ‘Cold War comedy’, about the global chaos that could be unleashed if the wrong person pushed the wrong button.

Adam rightly received huge plaudits for his recreation of the Pentagon’s War Room, which has become one of the iconic sets in film history.

For more details on the event just visit The Barbican’s website here.

> Dr Strangelove on Blu-ray
> Dr Strangelove at the IMDb 
> Event details at The Barbican

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Interesting Technology

Marc Andreessen on Charlie Rose

This interview with Netscape founder and Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen from last year is fascinating.

As the author of the first widely-used web browser (Mosaic), a serial investor (in companies like Digg and Twitter) and a board member in key web companies (Facebook and eBay) he is in a good position to comment on how the web is changing the world in which we live.

A few interesting snippets include:

  • The stupidity of Viacom suing Google
  • The potential of Twitter
  • How he is responsible for both Firefox (which came out of Netscape) and Internet Explorer (which came from Mosaic)
  • Why The New York Times should cancel its print operations as soon as possible
  • Why kids living on their laptops (figuratively speaking) is ‘fantastic’
  • Why Andy Grove of Intel is one of the most important figures in the history of modern tech
  • Google was the first search engine that really worked and once they unlocked ‘the advertising problem‘ it became a ‘magic business’
  • At 42.45 he basically predicts the iPad
  • Why the economic crisis of 2008 didn’t affect Silicon Valley in the same way as the 2001 slump did (although the ongoing recession will have a long term effect)
  • A possible solution to the banking crisis

[Link via Anne Thompson]