Happy Day!

Best. News. EVER.

Peter Jackson is officially producing The Hobbit and an untitled sequel based on stories and information from The History of Middle-earth series.

My co-workers just got to see me freak out in a big way over this. Those of you who know me understand just how important Lord of the Rings is to me; the books are among the first my father read to me, and the films happened at the exact right time in my life.

So this is, to say the least, exciting.

Here's to hoping that PJ also decides to direct...

2010 can't come fast enough...

While we're on the topic; back in 2000, before any of us knew what we were in for, New Line released an Internet-only trailer for the entire Lord of the Rings series. It started as a making-of featurette, with Jackson and others talking about the process, some b-roll of the filmmakers at work, and then a bunch of (semi-)finished shots. All of it scored to X-Ray Dog's "Gothic Power."

I fooled my computer into downloading this trailer (as QuickTime had it set to not allow this), and must've watched it a hundred times.

And then my computer died. And it was lost.

So... does anyone out there know where I can find this thing? Did you save it too? is it hidden on a disc or a DVD somewhere?

Because I wants it, and they stoles it from me!

My Work

A couple of pieces I've onlined have gone up on the internet.

Yay!

Check out the list below to see how I make meaningful contributions to a healthy society.

Charlie Wilson's War “The Real Charlie”

Go to the "Video" section, and click on "Real Charlie." I knew nothing about him, so I thought it was an interesting piece.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets “Locations Around the World”

Rotten Tomatoes has this as "Exclusive Featurette," with a couple of viewing options. I recommend the "High Resolution" Quicktime. Sadly, we did this piece in HD, but they only have it at SD size. Oh well.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets “MySpace”

A collection of lo-res pieces that are a little less formal; plus, the "Locations" piece pops up again.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets “The President's Book”

This is in really low quality, which is, again, a shame since we did it in HD, but it's still there. Funny note: Fandango has mis-spelled the title as "Presidents." Which make sense, but doesn't match the card in the piece.

Trajan

This is the kind of thing I notice, too. This cracked me up.

Other overused fonts: Copperplate (sorry, Dad, but since Universal Studios uses it, it seems like every other film tries it out) and Bank Gothic (Transformers, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and the ubiquitous "24" are all guilty, among many others).




[c/o Daring Fireball]

Yup

'Nuff said.

This is why I am so unenthusiastic about these services, and much happier with a blog; I am obligated to all of my readers equally, no matter how (or if!) I know them.

High Wire

The following video is pretty damn incredible.



For me, the long take of him "walking" along the wires, with a second worker coming into frame behind him, is one of the most beautiful and mesmerizing images I've seen in a while.

Here's a gauntlet for someone: shoot an HD series on human beings doing their jobs. Not just exotic and weird stuff, but maybe things we don't usually see. Cooks in a kitchen, people making penicillin, the guys who run snow-blowers on ski slopes... this piece isn't quite as majestic as I would want it to be, but I sure as hell want to watch more.


[c/o Kottke.]

Star Trek: The Tour

Star Trek: The Tour opens in Long Beach in January.

Who's with me?

Because I am so there.

YouTube x3

Because work is all about receiving, viewing, and passing along humorous internet videos.



This one's courtesy of Jeremey Foley, who can't stop watching it. The humor comes on slowly; like The Big Lebowski and fine wine, it gets better with age. Once you anticipate what's coming, and laugh at the reporter as she herself laughs, it gets pretty good.

I do feel bad for the kid; what he's said, even in the context he has, is not that different from a lot of things kids say. But he ends up on YouTube, and suddenly a million people are laughing at him.

You know what? When I was a kid, I misunderstood a reporter asking me questions on the news... so I started talking about a local recycling initiative instead of an infamous murder case.

Shit happens, I guess. And that is still funny.



This one comes from Adam; he, Jamie, Belinda, and I have been mulling this one over for a day or two. Jamie has already put up a blog post about it, and then a response post to the original.

I am so five minutes ago.

This is, on examination, quite clearly staged. The kid starts screaming and moving in a way obviously designed to attract the dog's, ah, affections, and the camera-person is expecting this, and intentionally not rushing to the child's aid. But I like to think that this is a recreation, for the benefit of the camera, of a prior event, a candid moment where all parties found themselves in this shocking (and hilarious) circumstance, which, at its conclusion, left all involved thinking "I wished we had that on tape!"

Well, now you do.

Jamie also makes the excellent point that, regardless of the human intentions on display, that dog is dead serious.



Lastly, here's my favorite strike video yet. If you don't know what strike I'm talking about... you don't live in LA. So good for you.

This week is when a lot of normal viewers are going to start noticing the Writer's Strike. This is pretty much the last week of new scripted entertainment until... well, who knows when. Half of the shows out there start are already showing repeats, and the late night shows have been out of production for over a month.

This video does a good job of positing what would happen if more media formats ran out of content with the striking WGA...

And isn't David Cross great?

OS X Dock Stacks

I came across this video showing the behavior of Stacks in the Dock back in beta versions of Mac OS X Leopard.

The salient difference, for those of you saying "That's the same as my stacks now," is that the stacks are in the application portion of the dock. Not consigned to the Document/Trash/Windows side of the dock, but useful as a true application launcher.

I think this looks pretty cool; the ability to name (and rename) stacks, as well as live-reorder them, seems pretty damn awesome too.

Maybe in an update? 10.5.3 or something?

Unreal

[WARNING: I found this story to be pretty disturbing... it isn't violent or offensive, but unsettling on a very basic level.]

A man in Indonesia cut himself as a teenager.

And, before long, he started growing warts, which kept growing...

Into roots. Or, more accurately, root-like growths.

This gets to me. This mans body turned into... something else, something alien. This is the exact same body anxiety movies like Alien play at: that your body is turned into a host for another organism, eating at your humanity.

This stuck in my mind for days; particularly when he shows off his hands in the video.

But, if you're interested, the video is the only way to get a real sense of what these growths are.

With a week's worth of distance, I find this scientifically fascinating; that HPV could run so rampant belongs on House, and the final result is right out of The X-Files. But I am still deeply unsettled... I hope that, someday, doctors are able to remove and restrain this man's unnatural warts, so he can use his fingers again.

And I hope I never get warts like that.

Good luck, brother.

Flash Drive Testimonial

Yesterday, I sent my USB flash drive through the wash, nestled comfortably in my pants pocket.

Doh!

Imagine my surprise and pleasure, then, to discover that it still works perfectly.

If ever there was a better recommendation that this, I don't know it.

So, everyone, if you're in need of a USB flash drive, I heartily recommend the Cruzer Titanium — I have the 2 gig variety.

Go Cruzer!, originally uploaded by Hutson H.

It's A Mystery

Tracy has told me about this before, but I came across an article today about the Racetrack Playa rocks. Short story is these very large rocks seem to slide around the playa, leaving long trails behind them... but no one has ever see seen them move, so no one knows how it happens.

Awesome. I want to go there.

And the good news is... it looks like I will!

When Tracy's parents come out for their (now) yearly LA trip, instead of heading down to Joshua Tree State Park, there's been talk of heading to Death Valley. Where Racetrack Playa is.

And I will make Tracy take us here. With my camera.

A similar place (in the opposite direction) that I want to check out: The Bonneville Salt Flats. Many of you may have seen them as "Davy Jones' Locker" in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End this past summer.

Tracy is right; geology is cool.

Web 2.0 On The Menu

This is a pretty funny story.

Any other ideas? Google Salad, Almond-Crusted Mahalo, with a Triple-Layered MySpace Tiramisu for dessert?

None of that rolls off the tongue nearly as well as "Stir-fried Wikipedia."