blacksundae

So, it turns out that the AT-ATs in The Empire Strikes Back were inspired by the cargo lifters container cranes in the Port of Oakland. I see those things every day from the BART, and I’ve always thought they look like AT-ATs. And that they look awesome. Makes sense, I guess.

A live picture of a spinning globe had been shown before BBC programmes since the Sixties. When colour came to BBC 1, a curved mirror was added behind the globe, and the effect this produced continued to be seen on screen for over fifteen years. But technology had moved on and time was running out for this mechanical symbol.

A solid state device had generated the symbol on BBC 2 since the end of the Seventies. Subsequently, electronic clocks on both networks had replaced the mechanical clocks. And in early 1984, work began on a project to generate a digital symbol for BBC 1 too.

Read on And here’s its last airing. [via Reddit]

First of all, copyright law. The latest twist in the kerfuffle comes from the makers of Phase II arguing amongst themselves. Marc Zicree, who had directed the Nebula-nominated episode, had issued a statement saying Phase II is a professional production. The scriptwriters were paid, and so were some of the cast and crew. And he says the show has tacit approval from Paramount, which owns the copyright to Star Trek.

But now, Phase II producer James Cawley has retorted that the production is definitely not professional, by any means. Apparently Cawley is worried that if Phase II starts claiming “professional” status (which is a vaguely worded requirement for Nebula inclusion) then Paramount will change its mind about approving of the production. He’d rather face the wrath of a few snippy science fiction writers than Paramount’s hordes of blood-thirsty lawyers.

Read on.

Cutting-edge computer games use different graphics subsystems — so-called 3D graphics engines. Source (used in Half Life 2), Unreal Engine (Unreal Tournament), idTech 4 (Doom 3), CryENGINE2 (Crysis) or Clever’s Paradox engine are well-known among the players and the game industry experts.

It’s time to learn a new 3D game engine name: Microsoft Excel.

It is understood that Excel is an all-round office tool, but probably it is unknown that it has a bunch of features that makes Excel a high-class 3D graphics engine.

In this article I will demonstrate Excel’s arithmetical facilities, the embedded rendering subsystems (there are two of them!) and the revolutionary approach which might just cause a paradigm shift. I hope you will discover that Excel effectively and efficiently incorporates practicality, tons of features, the multi-platform portability and the high performance with the unique and futuristic 3D engine features.

Read on (and see demos). [via MeFi]

How’s this for a hot date? My first day off in weeks and we go to… Macworld. Thank God Brooke is a nerd. She zeroed in quickly on the Nikon and Canon booths. It was sexy. She’s a catch.

Okay, so I’m not a big tech blog with press access, but I still saw some pretty nifty stuff yesterday with my measly exhibit hall pass. Here are some highlights:

• An impressive demonstration of Toonboom Studio 4. Cartoon animation made… not easy, I suppose. But accessible. The interface reminded me of a slimmed down and very specific version of After Effects.
• fluid mask 3. Really amazing keying for still images. Great demo.
• TileStack. These guys set out to design a service that enabled non-coders to create custom, embeddable web apps. They ended up reinventing HyperCard. In addition to creating your own stuff, you can upload old HyperCard stacks so that people can run them through the site! NERDGASM! It’s not open yet, but I pre-registered for an account, and so should you.
• Mac Heist. Spend $49 on $428.65-worth of Mac software. Sound good? 25% of that $49 goes to charity. Fucking A. No brainer.
• Holy shit. This next demonstration made my day: GridIron Software’s Flow. Why bother to explain what makes this software so cool when John Nack has already done it for me. Can’t wait for that public beta to start up.
• Good news: one of the guys at the Ambrosia Software booth really liked my Dinosaur Comics t-shirt (given to me by none other than Non-Shannon). Bad news: There are no new Escape Velocity games in the works.

And… here are some lowlights:

• The jackass working the softpress booth.
  

  [Brooke and Shannon are walking somewhere purposefully]
  SOFTPRESS GUY: Need help with the web? [thrusts flier at them]
  SHANNON: [not clear on question] Uh, no thanks. I do my own web design.
  SOFTPRESS GUY: What do you use?
  SHANNON: I hand code it, generally.
  SOFTPRESS GUY: Well, wouldn’t it be easier if you could… [launches on clumsy and oddly aggressive pitch for his company's WYSIWYG software.]
  SHANNON: [tunes SOFTPRESS GUY out]

• The most common type of exhibitor? Laptop bags, followed closely by skins/cases for iPods and iPhones, a lot of them sporting tacky-ass trendwhore designs. While it’s cool that computer technology has reached that level of casualness, this does nothing to dispel the stereotype of Mac users being a bunch of pseudo-arty hipsters who view their computers as status symbols instead of tools.* It would have been nice to see more open source or shareware represented in the exhibit hall instead of accessory retailers.
• The Macbook Air. I’m just not sold on the thinner is better thing. And no optical drive? No FireWire? What the hell? I’m not in the target audience, I suppose. It is pretty, granted, and very light. I guess I’m just ticked that Apple didn’t announce a big upgrade to the MacBook Pro line so the prices would go down on the previous generation. This is me shaking my fist at them.
• Nobody at the Adobe booth knew when After Effects is going to be patched for Leopard compatibility.

God damn, that was fun! Here’s to hoping I can make it next year. It’s an exciting time to be a geek.

UPDATE: It looks like GridIron Flow won a Best of Show award at Macworld. I guess I wasn’t the only one impressed. Really, do look into it. It’ll also be available for Windows, so don’t let the Mac stuff put you Windoze nerdz off.

*SEE Nomad Cafe in Berkeley

Gizmodo:

When it comes to Dubai and attracting wealthy tourists, the word “restraint” is seldom used. Perhaps that is why it is not surprising that the locals are building a $1 billion theme park that will feature over 100 animatronic dinosaurs of 40 different species. Dubbed “Restless Planet,” the park will attempt to provide an educational experience amid all of the Vegas-style spectacle. This will be done using history themed rides and robots/habitats that represent an accurate portrayal (based on current knowledge) of what life was like millions of years ago.

Hmm… Two Michael Crichton stories in one! What could possibly go wrong?

But then again, most things are sadly lacking in zombies, so let’s not hold that against it. “It,” in this case, being the mind-shattering coolness that is the trailer for Japanese revenge flick The Machine Girl. Warning: features Yakuza, ninjas, hot Japanese school girls, gatling guns and finger food. [via Digg]

…if there really is a veil.

DRAMATIC CHORD

Today I posted a link to MetaFilter about JAXA’s new HD footage of the Moon. In the resulting comment thread, MeFite hattifattener linked to a startling, and illuminating, page regarding the true nature, or lack thereof, of our so-called “Moon.” Startling, startling stuff.

McCLANE
[in Austrian accent]
Come with me if you want to live.

MAC GUY
Dude, you’ve changed.

Live Free or Die Hard, 2007
Dir: Len Wiseman
[rating:2]

First off, a recap. Die Hard was Die Hard in a — well, it was Die Hard. That means it’s one of the greatest action films of all time. Die Hard II: Die Harder was Die Hard in an airport. Die Hard: With a Vengeance was Die Hard in a torrent of Sam Jackson’s obscenities.* Following that pattern, I suppose Live Free or Die Hard would have to be Die Hard in an alternate universe where both John McClane and computer hackers are capable of just about anything.

The “McClane” character here is nothing like the one in previous films, instead being an indestructible throwback to the 80s action heroes that the original film made look cartoonish. Instead of his usual world-weary humor, we have bitter one-liners that are sometimes just crude (or cruel).

We don’t fair much better with the bad guys. I’m fine with the unrealistic depiction of technology here (or maybe I’m just numb to it), but the use of omnipotent computer hackers as the heavies is just lazy writing. We knew the bad guys’ limitations in the previous installments and we knew McClane’s as well. Here, McClane is an unstoppable machine and the hackers have infinite power because everything’s online! This is not so — especially not of a decades-old elevator during a region-wide blackout. Even if this were accurate, the fact that that’s the central conceit of the story drains every last bit of suspense out of the proceedings. Technology is magical here. The hackers pull one impossible thing after another out of their hat, while John “Kevlar” McClane just pounds through henchman after henchman, wincing over his superficial wounds the entire way. Highlight the following line for a spoiler:

After a bunch of this stuff, McClane somehow (magically) stumbles upon the hackers’ hideout and pounds through them too. The end.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh. The movie’s well shot and edited, the action scenes are fun and the stunt work is, for the most part, pleasingly practical. I probably would have enjoyed the hell out of this movie if it weren’t pretending to be a Die Hard film.

*”Zeus. As in father of Apollo? Mt. Olympus? Don’t fuck with me or I’ll shove a lightning bolt up your ass? Zeus! You got a problem with that?”

Transformers, 2007
Dir: Michael Bay
[rating:3.5]

I have one word for this film: “Wheeeee!”

I won’t go into too much detail. We know the “plot.” Giant robots that turn into vehicles. Explosions. Uh… I know I should think of a third item in order to comply with the rule of three, but… I know! Shia LaBeouf! He’s great in this. It’s been said many times before, but LaBeouf is going places.

Anyway, yeah… This movie is big and gloriously dumb. It’s an adaptation of a Saturday morning cartoon/line of toys, and it wears that pedigree on its sleeve. Underneath all of Bay’s trademark camera jiggle, hyperactive editing and patina of “grittiness,” this is the kind of movie where the lead bad guy wakes up from a 100,000 year sleep, immediately roars, “I… AM… MEGATRON!” and proceeds to destroy whatever the hell is within reach. Keep in mind that the name of the giant frozen robot had been firmly established by this point, so he identifies himself in such an overly dramatic fashion because… well, because that’s the sort of thing that overly-dramatic-giant-robot-bad-guys do when they wake up.

Transformers is an odd mix of thrill ride and camp. When a bad-ass Camaro screeches into frame, pops into the air and assembles into a kung fu posing ‘bot before it hits the ground, you “whoop” and pump your fist at how bad ass/ridiculous it is. Then it opens its chrome-plated mouth and you laugh at the cartoon dialogue.

I think this movie shows what Bay is capable of when he’s not being self-important (Pearl Harbor) sadistic (Bad Boys II) or sappy (Armageddon). It’s just giant robots doing what they do best.* It also seems that Spielberg’s involvement had a tempering effect on Bay’s oft incoherent visual style. This is good.

A final note on the visual effects: hells yeah. It’s very easy for animated robots to turn out like clusters of geometrical shapes. The animated characters here sport some great texture work and some genuine heft, the later of which is rare for large CG characters in movies. Other than an ill advised break dancing scene, the Transformers seem physically real. To see what I mean, check out this exclusive clip from the movie.

*Fucking shit up.