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Salvaging Star Wars
The Star Wars prequels were a catastrophe. These clunky, over-animated films enraged a generation. Thirty-something movie geeks, who had invested love and loyalty in this “far, far away” universe, watched as George Lucas transformed childhood daydreams into a commercialized, overwrought nightmare. Many have attempted to redeem Star Wars since. Some dreamers still defend the prequels…
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Ian Holm as Bilbo through the years
I was thrilled when I learned that Ian Holm would reprise his role as Bilbo for the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. Holm’s quirky, temperamental portrayal in Lord of the Rings was uncannily spot-on.
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Christopher Tolkien on Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth movies.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?
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“Stop rooting for brands.”
The products, ecosystems, and devices we love will only get better if other products, ecosystems, and devices force them to.
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The Princess Bride is a bad movie.
I’m dumbfounded when friends list The Princess Bride among their favorite movies. How did such an awful film earn cult status? Its flaws are glaring: Bad acting. Andre the Giant was not hired for his acting chops. Mandy Patinkin (Inigo) substitutes a funny accent for fine acting. Cary Elwes (Westley) smirks his way through every…
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iPad ergonomics
As the iPad cannibalizes the traditional PC market, more knowledge workers are relying on Apple’s tablet for getting things done. One unfortunate side effect of a tablet-based workstation? Deplorable ergonomics. Most ergonomic guides recommend you mount your monitor at (or just below) eye level. That’s tough to do with iPad docks currently available. On the…
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Retraction: This American Life explains why they regret airing Mike Daisey’s (fictionalized) monologue
There’s one question I wish Ira Glass would’ve asked Mike Daisey
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Instapaper crosses the “tricky line”
My read-later service of choice, Instapaper, recently added a signature feature: multi-page stitching. When activated on articles split into separate pages, Instapaper will now fetch all the content and splice it together for you. Very handy! The addition represents an about-face for Marco Arment, Instapaper’s developer. As he wrote last July, Nearly all of Instapaper’s…
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Retroactive ads.
As commercial breaks become less and less effective (thanks to TiVo), embedded advertising will take over. Films and television are overrun by this covert advertising. In fact, almost any logo or brand mention on modern shows has almost certainly been purchased by a multinational conglomerate and placed according to a strict marketing contract. What’s the…
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Matt Hauger 