color photos, before there was color film
Thanks to reader Ali, he brought this to my attention today via email. A collection of photography on Boston.Com of photographs taken in the early 1900s using a special camera that took three black and white photos in rapid succession with red, green and blue filters so they could be recombined later into color images.
The photographer was Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii.
Quite beautiful.
an epic vampire movie with a splash of controversy
Let the Right One In is an epic vampire movie. Without a doubt the best vampire movie I have ever seen, ever.
I saw the trailer for it about a year and half a go in a movie theater, but never found the opportunity to see in on the big screen. I ordered the DVD the day it was released from Amazon, only to cancel the order a few minutes later after reading this story. It was devastating to me that the DVD distributor had mucked up the subtitles translation.
Last night, with cautious optimism, I ordered the movie from Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service. I kept a keen eye on the subtitles during one of the key scenes that I read about in the article I link to above. And there it was, the proper translation.
The movie is flawless. After seeing this, I’m not sure that I’m going to continue on with the True Blood circus which is spiraling down into laughable absurdity.
Find a dark night and watch this movie. Have any movie accouterments, red wine and cheese plate etc, on hand before you press play. You won’t want to leave the screen for anything.
that’s the return of the jedi I would love to see
Producer Gary Kurtz talks about Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back and his departure from Lucasfilm over creative disagreements over Return of the Jedi.
“We had an outline and George changed everything in it,” Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”
The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it.
I saw The Empire Strikes Back over a dozen times when I was fifteen. It is my favorite of all the Star Wars movies. Later, I caught a glimpse of the Revenge of the Jedi poster and I was thrilled. It looked like Revenge was going to continue with the darker tone that was present in the second movie. Then the posters changed to Return of the Jedi, and I thought “uh oh”.
“Uh oh” was right. Made for marketing Ewoks, blech. The version of the film that Kurtz discusses in the LA Time article sounds stunning. I wish I could have seen it.
Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Awesome.
Photographer unknown. If you recognize this as your image, get in touch with me.
LinkedIn’s “holier than thou” response, complete with fist.
I’m regular user of LinkedIn’s paid service and I login in and out of the site a few times a day. Lately they’ve implemented a captcha test for each login. (A captcha one of the those annoying Dali-esque images of an obscure word that you have decipher and then type into a field in order to continue on with whatever it is you’re doing.) It has made logging into LinkedIn annoying. So I sent a little note to support. Did I mention that I pay 250.00 a year for the service?
Here is the entire exchange:
Original Contact:
Member Comment: Lou Lesko 08/08/2010 09:29 PM
Hey there,Just want to register a minor complaint about the login captcha. It’s really getting annoying to have go through that every time login.
Thanks
Lou Lesko—
LinkedIn Customer Support Message
Subject: The login captcha
Hi Lou,Thank you for sharing your comments on how we can make LinkedIn better. Feedback from members like you provides us with many insights that identify the needs of our customers. I sent your message to our research and development team for review and consideration in future developments.
Although every idea cannot be individually responded to or implemented, please know that we do monitor suggestions quite closely for recurring themes. I would like to invite you to follow us on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/linkedin ) or subscribe to the LinkedIn Blog ( http://blog.linkedin.com ) to receive the latest notifications on site improvements. Both options are great ways to stay informed about new releases and exciting work going on behind the scenes here at LinkedIn.
Thank you for using LinkedIn. Have a great day!
Jennifer
LinkedIn Customer Support
Without a doubt one of the nicest kiss-our-ass-we-already-have-your-money notes I’ve ever received. It definitely feels like a fisting to me. But, at least they had the decency to send a girl to do the deed.
Here’s my response to Jennifer.
Dear Jennifer,
Thank you for your obviously well thought out and considerate response. You have taken disingenuousness to such an extraordinary level that you’ve managed to make my Hollywood agent look positively papal.
Speaking of the Vatican, is the Pontiff on LinkedIn or is he hung up at the login page trying to discern if your captcha images are some sort digital manifestations of the Shroud of Turin? Could be a boon for LinkedIn depending on how that goes. I understand that @pope has like 1.116 billion followers. A 140 character sermon about LinkedIn and you’ll be kicking Facebook’s fanny in no time.
Well, this whole interaction has been a slice of heaven, but I simply must run. However, I’d like to leave you knowing that your Communications degree has paid off in spades, and you should consider donating thirty pieces of silver to the university that graduated you. I’ve sent the transcript of our email exchange to my entertainment lawyer and my agent. After this experience I can see that they come off as far too real, and providing them with your response will give them a solid model to draw from.
All the best,
Lou Lesko
Update: I logged in today and the hideous captcha has been removed. At least LinkedIn seems to be listening to complaints.
My weekend at Defcon
I’m walking with Nico through the hallways of the convention area of the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. There is a distinct old school feeling at the Riviera that reminds one of the days when Las Vegas was run by the family. Walking swiftly Nico tells me that we might see security expert Chris Paget get arrested during his presentation.
“Arrested?”