Embracing a Harder R?

I know, I know. You all must hate me by now! I'm sorry, the blog isn't dead. I haven't abandoned it. Life has just taken an interesting turn for me the past couple of weeks, but I'm doing just fine for the first time in a long time, even if things don't end up exactly as I'd like. To compensate, I thought I'd show you guys my new haircut. I've never been to a place where they actually shampoo your hair and everything! Anyway, on to the real stuff: the MPAA's fight to not look like total slobs. It's no secret that they're despised for their ratings system among film buffs and geeks like me, especially once you see the first NC-17 movie that blows you away. Now, they're seriously considering splitting up the R-rating into a "soft" R and a "hard" R. I know it sounds stupid, but I think it'd be better than giving movies an NC-17 rating because it's merely an extra admonition. It holds no extra weight in enforcement. In all honesty, an NC-17 rating nearly guarantees that you're not going to make back your production budget. If they think this middle rating would mean less movies get NC-17, then I say we definitely push forward with that. And hey, while you're at it, why not make your methodology for assigning these ratings less nonsensical and more open? If they don't stop being so irresponsible then I'm sure that they'll face government intervention.

For those of you who don't know, the JPEG image format is a lossless form of compression that drastically reduces the size of a picture by way of a neat algorithm, but not every bit is guaranteed to be correct. Hence, Microsoft is leaning towards an HD Photo format that supposedly has a better algorithm and can accommodate both lossless and lossy compression. It sounds all good and well, but the adoption of a new format is a huge undertaking. Not only that, but it had better be damn good if we're going to make it a new standard. Not to be pessimistic about it, but this is an issue that has been an issue for a very long time now because JPEG is so meh. Microsoft definitely has the resources to do it right, I just hope that they do.

While I'm on imaging, check out these tips on taking good black and white photos. I've always been fascinated with how taking pictures in black and white makes things look cooler. Just look at this picture to the right that I took of my cousin's son. Why does that shot work in black and white? Just an interesting puzzle to me, I guess. I don't think my camera can shoot in RAW though. I'm a bit too poor to get a DSLR (yeah, the EOS is pretty hot).

Any nerd who wants a solid chuckle should definitely go here and check out some programming theorems. Despite them being stupid, they really made me laugh out loud. Only the most intense nerds can appreciate such intricacies as the 3-beer UI test.

Guess what, biatches?! 300 DOMINATED the box office!!! For the first time in God knows how long, Americans actually used their brain and saw a movie that doesn't both suck and blow at the same time. I'm actually going to go see it myself in a few hours, and am very excited about it. Obviously, I'll come back with a full review. Somehow, Wild Hogs managed an impressive cling to #2, while Zodiac somehow slip to #5. But oh well, at least Zach Snyder prevailed for geeks everywhere!

Yahoo Movies has the trailer for a movie called Slow Burn that I thought looked pretty cool, but I'll probably remain skeptical about it for good measure. Yeah it has Ray Liotta (I think he's way underrated) and Mekhi Pfiffer, but something about the way the plot is explained rubs me as almost contrived. I don't know, I think it could still be good.

If you want to see a really gory trailer instead, head over to the trailer for the low budget zombie flick, The Mad. I like that it doesn't take itself too seriously, but I'd only see it if the whole movie was a definitive kind of satire on zombie movies because of how ridiculous the plotline is.

AICN has a minor spoiler about the costume for The Dark Knight, and I don't even think it's a spoiler. It's so insignificant, I'll tell you: the suit is going to change. *gasp* It's going to look more like it should look. Big surprise. I look forward to seeing actual shots of it.

It looks like Toy Story 3 is slated for a 2010 release date! That's right, as in 3 years. Kind of a long time to make a movie, but as long as they do it right I don't mind. I'm sure no one else will. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks will be back, and the writer of Little Miss Sunshine (Michael Arndt) is handling the script. I definitely have high hopes for this one.

Lastly, Quentin Tarantino wrote a really neat article about why he makes movies and how it's important to break all the rules. Of course, it's easy to break the rules when you're freaking Quentin Tarantino. He definitely comes off as a bit arrogant, which isn't uncommon when you hear him speak, but it's still an awesome read and a must-see for anyone considering being a director.

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Contribution :: Donation


2. Ryan :: Stiles


3. Minimal :: Investment ;)


4. Cleansed :: Clean


5. Centered :: Life


6. Arrow :: Head


7. Beyond :: the Sea


8. Execute :: Death


9. Intuition :: Jewel


10. Apology :: Sorry

Oh, I almost forgot to say that I ended up getting another offer last week from a neat company called Xythos. It was definitely the saddest rejection I had to make because they sound like a real neat company and being at a small company for the summer would've been fun. But still, I just couldn't pass up Amazon in the end.