Chromatophilms

My Barbarian: Mythologic Mass

2006-12-15T07:40:00.000-05:00

My Barbarian is playing at Safari Sam's December 18th at 8pm. So if you are in Hollywood this Sunday, and you want to expand your perception of life on earth, and cross spiritual borders to the soothing sounds of Jefferson's Airplane crashing into Led Zepplin's tour bus outside a playhouse in Middle Earth, then check out the massively fabulous My Barbarian!

When:
8:00 pm Sunday, December 17, 2006
Where:
Safari Sam's
5214 W. Sunset Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90027
(323) 666-7267
How much:
$10.00

My Barbarian Website
My Barbarian @ MySpace

Ugly Betty Golden Globe nominations

2006-12-15T04:41:00.000-05:00

Photo: Ugly-Is-In.com

Ugly Betty received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Musical or Comedy TV Series, and Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy TV Series for America Ferrera. The breakout show was consistently around second in ratings this season, only falling below 12 million once. December has seen a flood of exciting news about the show. Betty took the award for Best New Series at the Family Television Awards earlier this month, as well as four nominations for the Satellite Awards on December 17th. One nomination for Best TV Series, Comedy or Musical, Vanessa Williams for Supporting Actress, Tony Plana for Supporting Actor and America Ferrera for Best Actress in a Series. Rebecca Rominjn is joining the cast in Febuary during sweeps, and Betty's other love interest Henry, played by Christopher Gorham, is slated to return in the second half of season 1, and possibly in Season 2. The next episode entitled "Swag" airs January 4th, 2007.

Golden Globe Nominations @EW
"Swag" Promo

Technorati Profile

New Grindhouse pics

2006-12-15T04:03:00.000-05:00

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly posted five new pictures from Grindhouse. The first three of the car and Kurt Russell are from Quentin's movie "Death Proof," 1/2 of the Grindhouse double-feature. "Planet Terror" being the second. Kurt Russell plays Stuntman Mike, a psychotic stunt man who slashes up beautiful women and runs them down in his hotrod. The other pictures are from Planet Terror, and feature Rose McGowen, Freddy Rodriguez, Marley Shelton and Naveen Andrews. This group of M-16 packing zombie hunters means business.... I would stay out of their way! Grindhouse is scheduled to come out in April 2007.

Pictures @ Entertainment Weekly

Sega revives Alien video game franchise!

2006-12-12T06:01:00.000-05:00

Photo: Sega "Alien 3: The Gun" (1993 Arcade) via Wikipedia

GameDaily Biz reports that Sega is developing two Alien games for release by the end of the decade. One game will be a FPS and the other will be an RPG. Both will feature stories and characters from the films. Sega is currently in talks with Sigourney Weaver and Lance Henriksen about voice acting in the games. Sega's license for the franchise only covers the main Alien storyline in the first four films, not the recent Alien vs Predator movie storyline, which also has a sequel in the works. From the article:

"Our number one goal is to deliver the best Alien game experience ever," said Mike Gallo, senior producer of the Alien games at Sega of America. "That means delivering on the core elements of the Alien franchise - intense horror, intense action, and intense characters."

"There hasn't been a game set in the Alien universe in several years, and no one's had the chance to develop one on next gen consoles and PCs," said Gallo. "We're going to utilize all the technology that's available to us, creating visuals and effects that have previously only been possible in the Alien movies. Even the style of games that we're building is unprecedented - there has never been an Alien RPG."

Links:
Article @ GameDaily Biz

Crackdown creator gets $31 million for Real Time Worlds

2006-12-12T05:11:00.000-05:00

Real Time Worlds, founded by David Jones, creator of GTA and Lemmings, aquired $31 million last week from the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Their first game, called Crackdown, comes out in Febuary of next Year, while APB's (All Points Bulletin) release date is as of yet unknown.

Both games seem to emulate the GTA franchise, but target different markets. Crackdown is a single and co-op player, sci-fi themed free roamer, being published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360. APB is a multi-player, gang based free roamer for the PC and Xbox 360, being published through the popular Korean MMO site Webzen, which hosts other games like MU, Soul of the Ultimate Nation and the upcoming Huxley.

Links:
Article @ GameDaily Biz
Crackdown @ IGN
Crackdown @ Gamespot
A.P.B. (PC) @ IGN
A.P.B. (360) @ IGN
A.P.B. (PC) @ Gamespot
A.P.B. (360) @ Gamespot

Grindhouse

2006-12-10T03:22:00.000-05:00

“Grindhouse” is the newest Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez double-sized adventure into the sleazy and ghastly genre of Grind House Cinema. After a few delays, it is scheduled to come out on April 6, 2007 in the U.S. Grindhouse will be comprised of two movies, and each director, a legend in their own right, will be directing a 60 minute film. In addition, there will be an intermission packed with faux trailers, also directed by the two, and featuring their own grab bag of A-list and cult celebrities alike.

Quentin's film “Death Proof,” is looking like one part slasher film, and one part Death Race 2000 (Death Race 3000 comes out in 2008!) Besides cast members like Kurt Russel, Rosario Dawson, Sydney Tamiia Poitier and others, we know little about the story itself. The only other buzz about it is that Mickey Rourke was originally cast for Kurt Russel's part, but has remained silent about why he is no longer working on the picture.

Robert Rodriguez's film “Planet Terror,” is a blood-spattering zombie movie. This is the film we have seen the most of this far. Speculating about the trailer that was shown on SpikeTV's 2006 Scream Awards, Rose McGowan plays a stripper kidnapped by a black-ops government program that wants to replace a seductive, but agile, female operative's leg with a grenade launching M-16! Planet Terror is also sporting a host of name celebrities like Lost's Naveen Andrews, Black Eyed Pea's Fergie, Six Feet Under's Freddy Rodriguez, star of films like Pleasantville and Sin City- Marley Shelton and more.

In July of this year, Quentin, Robert and the film's female cast spoke about the film in a panel at the San Diego Comic Con. Video clips of the panel are available at Ifilm.com. Then, in October, the girls of Grind house- Rosario Dawson, Rose McGowan and Marley Shelton, all hosted the 2006 Scream Awards on Spike TV. The first trailer for Grind house appeared at the Scream Awards and chaos ensued! Shortly after the trailer leaked onto the Internet, and generated the next phase of excitement from fans, the fake Machete segment put actor Danny Trejo in the spotlight for a change. Trejo, who has a career of over twenty years and 130 roles in t.v. and movies, finally gained a few more points in cult status. Not that he needs it, he was in at least 10 films last year alone, and has a slew of other projects including a few leading roles, producing and documentaries. Not bad for an ex-con!

Since then, the only news has been Black Eyed Peas first lady Fergie joining the cast of Planet Terror, and some buzz for actor Freddy Rodriguez of Six Feet Under and Bobby, also starring in Planet Terror. Entertainment Weekly also released 5 pictures of the film. Assuming Grind House stays on schedule, there should be a torrent of official news and promotions shortly after the new year, and we'll be dissecting every crumb for details so you are the first to know!

Links:
@IMDB
@IGN
@Wikipedia
@JoBlo
Tarantino.info
Q-Tarantino.de
Tarantino, Rodriquez and some cast at San Diego Comic Con July, 2006 (four clips) @ifilm
Grindhouse Trailer from 2006 Scream Awards @ Youtube
Interview with Danny Trejo @ Austin360.com
Grindhouse Images @ Entertainment Weekly

Back From Traveling The Universe!

2006-12-06T03:35:00.000-05:00

After cruising around the galaxies looking for signs of intelligent life, and good parties, I decided to return to Earth. Unfortunately, my interstellar communication device could not penetrate certain radiation clouds and pockets of highly exotic particles, robbing me of the ability to contribute to Chormatophilms!

But no more! I plan to redesign, resume posting and actively list it on other blog sites.

Next up..... GRINDHOUSE! I will be rounding up all the news and multimedia from Grindhouse for one last blood-feast before the New Year.

"Steinbolt"

2006-01-21T21:44:00.000-05:00

"Steinbolt"
Creator: tminus
Music: Squarepusher "Steinbolt"
Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on PS2
Download: Steinbolt [WMV 47.19 MB]
Download: Steinbolt [WMV 9.43 MB]
Cheats: "Armor/Health/Money," "Recruit Gang Members," ARMax- bike colors only. No bike physics mods!

Here is a video of mostly NRG stunts in GTA. I took too long, way too long too make some vids and with some gentle nudging from §ynch I just decided to get something out that is halfway decent. This is only 4 minutes of the 30 or so hours of footage I have so there is more to come. It built up because of capturing problems, which hasn't been completely solved but should be shortly. Thanks to §ynch, GTAD and everyone at GTADomain.

"Cosmic Jellyfish" Photo Of The Cartwheel Galaxy

2006-01-13T19:28:00.000-05:00

Photo: Chandra/GALEX/Hubble/Spitzer

The Cartwheel Galaxy nicknamed "Cosmic Jellyfish" by NS is estimated at 2.5 times the size of the Milky Way. The picture is a multi-wavelength composite image taken from four space telescopes, the Chandra, the GALEX, the Hubble and the Spitzer. Now thats teamwork!

bwo NewScientist.com:

A cosmic jellyfish appears to pulse with light in this multi-wavelength image of the Cartwheel galaxy, compiled from images taken by four space telescopes.

The galaxy probably came by its distinctive shape when a small galaxy – possibly one of the objects at bottom-left of the image – collided with it head-on 100 million years ago. The crash set off ripples in the large galaxy's gas that led to concentric rings of star birth.
read more>

Stardust@home

2006-01-12T18:43:00.000-05:00

Photo: Stardust@home

bwo: Boing-Boing

From Stardust@home:
"In January 2004, the Stardust spacecraft flew through the coma of comet Wild2 and captured thousands of cometary dust grains in special aerogel collectors. Two years later, in January 2006, Stardust will return these dust grains --- the first sample return from a solid solar-system body beyond the Moon --- to Earth. But Stardust carries an equally important payload on the opposite side of the cometary collector: the first samples of contemporary interstellar dust ever collected. As well as being the first mission to return samples from a comet, Stardust is the first sample return mission from the Galaxy. But finding the incredibly tiny interstellar dust impacts in the Stardust Interstellar Dust Collector (SIDC) will be extremely difficult."

I applied but have yet to hear anything back. If I hear something back I plan on logging my work here on Chromatophilms including the application process, testing and the work. It is the chance of a lifetime for me... an artist by design, but a scientist at heart! At best I could be listed in a scientific paper as a co-author. That is "the business!"

Love's Secret Domain

2006-01-10T17:06:00.000-05:00

bwo Grow-A-Brain
Hanan has a nice post up on his blog celebrating the birthday of Albert Hofmann with a link to a Russian L.S.D. video cache (Oleg,Oleg2,Oleg3) featuring LSD pioneers Albert Hofmann and Timothy Leary. Other videos include Terence McKenna, Carl Jung, Lquid Crystal Vision, Ram Dass, "LSD: Trip or Trap (1968)," and Space Ghost feat. Timothy Leary.

Star Wars: Empire At War

2006-01-09T23:54:00.000-05:00

Photo: Lucasarts, Gamespot

The official site for Empire At War has been updated with new images and videos of different features in the game as well as a great new trailer. I recommend the Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Rancor, Sarlaac Pit and Fleets videos. However, none of the space related videos in the Fleets section elude to the control mechanics of space battles. I am assuming it will still function on a horizontal plane like the ground battles instead of in true 3D space like Homeworld. If you are not familiar with Empire At War it is a RTS game for PC set to be released on Febuary 16, 2006. It will be unlike its SW based predecessor SW Battlegrounds. SWEAW will have a 3D camera instead of the traditional isometric view in SW Battlegrounds and will also take place in space and on the ground.

Clerks 2 Teaser!

2006-01-09T17:58:00.000-05:00

Photo: View Askew

I told you Kevin loves us! The teaser is a full two minutes but it is mostly a musical montage set to Anthrax's "Among The Living." To quote Kevin "I give you a whiff of Clerks 2..." and if F-N rocks hard! Also, Clerks 2 is set for August 2006, not Spring 2006 as I reported before. Maybe we'll reach a hundred Train Wreck vids before the movie opens!
Clerks 2 Teaser MOV Large
Clerks 2 Teaser MOV Small
Clerks 2 website

"Earthquake" Train Wreck: The Making Of Clerks 2 Ep.#40

2006-01-09T17:37:00.000-05:00

Photo: View Askew

New Train Wreck video up on the Clerks 2 website. This one features comedian Earthquake on the set for his cameo with Wanda Sykes.
video MOV 23MB

"Mewes Cam" Train Wreck: The Making Of Clerks 2 Episode #39

2006-01-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

They gave Jason a camera so we get to see all the bad business checks (chicks) on the set of Clerks 2. Collect all 39 videos, when you get the 40th... you win! No prizes, just love from Kevin Smith, which is priceless. =) video MOV 37MB video MOV 13MB

"Behind The Curtain" Train Wreck: The Making Of Clerks 2 Episode #38

2006-01-04T01:36:00.000-05:00

New video from Clerks 2 behind the scenes project Train Wreck. This one features the Train Wreck crew and covers their process, their hardware and the future of the series, as well as some sneak preview footage from upcoming episodes. Train Wreck will continue until the movie's premiere this spring so expect at least another thirty videos between now and then.
Clerks 2 video MOV large video MOV small

Jedi Heritage Trailer

2006-01-04T00:34:00.000-05:00

Jedi Heritage Trailer [MOV 17.4MB]

It looks good as far as SWFF is concerned. Jedi Heritage is an Aussie production that premiered December 18th, 2005. Chris Brennen says it will available for download sometime this month. He is creator and producer of the film, and also owns the second largest SW memorabilia collection in AU.

Some Files Down... BE MY HOST!

2006-01-02T23:03:00.000-05:00

All of the Chromedia videos are down except "Darkside." I am currently looking for a permanant host for LMIS. So if you have your own site with space for LMIS videos past and future and you would like to host them let me know. I am currently on a new computer so I am working on my editing process, but a new LMIS featuring three months of sci-footie and a real GTA stunt video are being worked on. Stay tuned.

*-I could repost the LMIS vids and Orientation but Darkside is the only one that has been downloaded enough to warrant it. So, if you want to see them post a comment to this post or email me: chromatophilms at gmail dot com. I can send them one at a time to your email or post them back at savefile. =)

EDIT- Ok, all the Chromedia links on the sidebar work now, but all except for darkside are links to pages where you can download from. The links in my earlier posts do not work, so just use the sidebar.

X-Men 3 and Bloodrayne

2005-12-29T01:43:00.000-05:00

Photo: Marvel/20th Century Fox

X-Men3 Teaser
Yep thats Kelsey Grammer as Beast!? He looks heavy on the makeup and less lifelike but it won't bother me if he is convincing. Also, look for Jubilee, Angel and Colossus!

Bloodrayne Teaser
Bloodrayne Trailer
(Alternate Trailer download + extras)
(Flash Video Player) you'll need this to watch the alternate download link.

GIOVE-A Launches! (Videos)

2005-12-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

Photo: ESA

bwo New Scientist:
"The first test satellite of Europe’s €3.8 billion Galileo navigation system was launched on Wednesday from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The system will rival the US Global Positioning System (GPS) and Russia’s GLONASS system. Galileo is a civilian project and promises the permanent provision of a navigation system – the US and Russia systems are both run by the military and could in theory be turned off at any time.

Wednesday’s launch came after two years of delays. A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying the test GIOVE-A satellite blasted off at 0519 GMT. About nine minutes after lift-off, the launcher's first three stages separated as scheduled.

A few hours later mission control officials announced the probe had been successfully placed in its final orbit 23,000 kilometres (14,000 miles) above the Earth. But the mission will only be declared a success when the satellite's solar panels and transmission systems have been successfully tested...." (Read More)

bwo ESA:
"Launch of GIOVE-A taking place on 28 December 2005 from Baikonur.
GIOVE A is the first of two Galileo In-Orbit Validation Elements which, with its sister spacecraft GIOVE B and their associated ground segment, make up the first stage of the in-orbit validation (IOV) of the Galileo system." (Link)

Videos:
.mov video HiRes
.mov video LoRes
.wmv video HiRes
.wmv video LoRes

ESA earlier update video with project synopsis:
.mov video HiRes
.mov video LoRes
.wmv video HiRes
.wmv video LoRes

My Open Source/ Freeware Top Ten

2005-12-27T01:05:00.000-05:00

Here are some of my favorite Open Source/ Freeware programs:

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1.Mozilla Firefox 1.5 Filename: [Firefox Setup 1.5.exe] [Firefox Setup 1.0.7.exe] Web: http://www.mozilla.com/
License: GPL (Open Source)
The award-winning Web browser is better than ever. Browse the Web with confidence - Firefox protects you from viruses, spyware and pop-ups. Enjoy improvements to performance, ease of use and privacy. It's easy to import your favorites and settings and get started. Download Firefox now and get the most out of the Web.

*T-Note- Firefox is a breath of fresh air. Everything you always wanted to do in IE is available on install with Firefox or by download plugins. My favorite features:
-Tabbed Browsing- Open links in tabs within the same browser window instead of numerous windows.
-Bookmarks- Import your favorites (links) from IE. You can also publish your entire library of bookmarks as a simple html file! Very handy for sending someone all of your favorite links or sending it to your email so you can access them from anywhere.
-Search Bar- Comes equipped with a google search bar but there are over a hundred search bars available for firefox including IMDB and Wikipedia.
-Download Manager- Shows download progress but also keeps all your previous downloads.
-Great Plugins:
*Google Send to Phone- Highlight text on a webpage, click the icon and text it to your phone. Fast and Easy! http://toolbar.google.com/firefox/extensions/sendtophone/
*DictionaryTip(0.9)- extension shows the meaning of the selected word in a tooltip. This extension is ideal for those who doesn't like to switch their window to see the meaning of a word. One can press Ctrl+shift+D after selecting a word (or) double-click on a word to see its meaning in a tooltip. http://www.rjonna.com/ext/dictionarytip.php
*Iget- Iget initiates a direct download of a file given a url.

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2.Open Office 2.0 Filename: [Ooo_2.0.1_Win32Intel_install] Web: http://www.openoffice.org/
License: GPL (Open Source)
OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office, and the vendor-neutral OpenDocument standard from OASIS.
Available in over 45 supported languages with more being constantly added by the community, OpenOffice.org runs stably and natively on Solaris, Linux (including PPC Linux), Windows, Mac OS X (X11), and numerous other platforms. Our porting page lists the platforms (ports) that OpenOffice.org can run on.
Written in C++ and with documented APIs licensed under the LGPL open-source license, OpenOffice.org allows any knowledgeable developer to benefit from the source. And, because the native file format for OpenOffice.org is the vendor-independent OpenDocument open standard, interoperability is easy, making future development and adoption more certain.

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3.GraphCalc Filename: [GraphCalc4.0.1] Web: http://www.graphcalc.com/
License: GPL (Open Source)
When in the course of computing events it becomes apparent that not all calculators are created equal, one must turn no further than to GraphCalc. When the requirements of your computations exceed the capabilities of your four-function figurer, turn to GraphCalc. When you need to see what multiple compound exponential sinusoidal waves look like, turn to GraphCalc. Haven't we all at some point wanted to see what "sin(x)^2-3*ln(tan(x*pi))" looked like, and the Windows calculator just wasn't up to the task?
GraphCalc can be your first, last, and only line of offense against the mathematics that threaten to push you over the brink of insanity. It slices, dices, shreds and purees functions that leave other calculators wondering what hit them.
GraphCalc is an all-in-one solution to everything from everyday arithmetic to statistical analysis, from betas to Booleans, from cubes to calculus, from decimals to derivatives. GraphCalc combines all the features of a professional mathematics package with the simplicity of an easy to learn windows interface. It provides user-friendly help and tutorials to guide you through the easy and fun process of mastering GraphCalc.
GraphCalc is ready to use out of the box. Don't bother reading the documentation. Just start the program and you'll see how easy it is to use.

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4.Blender 2.40 Filename: [blender-2.40-windows.zip] Web: http://www.blender.org/
Blender is open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. Available for all major operating systems under the GNU Public License. It can be used for most video games in creating custom content like character models and for modding. Most popular game model and texture formats are supported or can be found on the web along with tons of free content created by users. License: GPL (Open Source)

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5.Audacity Filename: [audacity-win-1.2.4b.zip] Web: http://www.audacity.sourceforge.net/
License: GPL (Open Source)
Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:
Record live audio.
Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files.
Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together.
Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
And more! See the complete list of features
*T-Note- Unzip [lame-3.96.1.zip] into Audacity's plugin directory for mp3 import/export.

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6.Ghostzilla Filename: [GhostzillaCD-1.0.1-free-v1.zip] Web: http://www.ghostzilla.com/
License: GPL (Open Source)
Ghostzilla is a Web browser like Firefox, but it shows up and disappears instantly, discreetly, blended with your application -- any application -- so the Web pages look like part of it and not like the Web at all. (Read here how.)

What would you use it for?
1.Hide from your boss and coworkers. Not a good idea; you can get fired (the network administrator sees everything you do) or end up wasting lots of time.
2.Survive endless meetings (if you have a laptop; kind of like (1) but a little better).
3.Have a browser instantly available and dismissable within your work application, washed out from ads and unnecessary pictures. This sounds useful -- except it will help you develop that attention deficit disorder. Seriously.

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7.ScreenGrab 1.0 Filename: [scrgrb10.zip] Web: http://no-nonsense-software.com/freeware/
License: Freeware
ScreenGrab is a simple, yet effective screen capture utility for Windows. When running, ScreenGrab responds to preset hotkey combinations, making it easy to make screen captures without having to click on buttons or use the mouse.

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8.Belarc Advisor Filename: [advisor.exe] Web: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html
License: Freeware
The Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes, and displays the results in your Web browser. All of your PC profile information is kept private on your PC and is not sent to any web server.

*T-Note- This program rocks. It creates a webpage in your default browser with a really, really detailed list of your computer's specs, hardware, software etc. Does not require an internet connection.

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9.Bit Torrent Filename: [BitTorrent-4.3.4-Beta.exe] Web: http://www.bittorrent.com/
License: BitTorrent Open Source License
BitTorrent is a free speech tool.
BitTorrent gives you the same freedom to publish previously enjoyed by only a select few with special equipment and lots of money. ("Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one" -- journalist A.J. Liebling.)
BitTorrent is not just a concept, but has an easy-to-use implementation capable of swarming downloads across unreliable networks. BitTorrent has been embraced by numerous publishers to distribute to millions of users.

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10.Neo Audio Filename: [setupneoaudio.exe] Web: http://www.topshareware.com/NeoAudio-download-6068.htm
License: Freeware
NeoAudio is a free program that rips CD audio to WAV, MP3, OGG Vorbis, or WMA directly. NeoAudio also encodes and decodes MP3s, OGGs, WMAs, and more. Remote and local CDDB and ID3v2 file naming is supported during extraction for automatic track naming. Advanced features include multiple/variable bitrate support, multi-drive reading, file compare, jitter correction, support for M3U and PLS playlist files, normalizing and more. With a simple point and click interface, NeoAudio is the perfect audio extraction and conversion solution for beginners and power users alike. NeoAudio also supports multiple language interfaces.

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Links:
http://sourceforge.net/
http://www.mozilla.com/
http://www.graphcalc.com/
http://www.openoffice.org/
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
http://blender.org/
http://www.genesis3d.com/
http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
http://www.ladspa.org/
http://www.ghostzilla.com/
http://no-nonsense-software.com/
http://www.bittorrent.com/

Clerks 2 video #36 "The Good, The Bad and the Man"

2005-12-24T19:10:00.001-05:00

Photo:ViewAskew.com

Kevin has a great short up on his site featuring comments from Quentin Tarintino and Robert Rodriguez after screening Clerks 2. Taking criticism and advice is easy for a job with concrete results, but as an artist making something from the mind without a defined conclusion can be really tough. Of course their comments are very insightful and certainly come from two very experienced masters, and Kevin soaks it up like a pro.

Another recent vid from Clerks 2 is "The Boys Are Back" from filming of the first scene with Jay and Silent Bob.

Triple Deuce

2005-12-02T00:52:00.003-05:00

Here are three sequels I am watching out for in 2006/2007:

Clerks 2: The Passion Of The Clerks

Photo:ViewAskew.com
Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (Jay) made a promise to one another. If Jason stayed sober, Kevin would make a sequel to clerks. They made good on their promise. Filming wrapped in November and it is scheduled for a Spring 2006 release. Most of the cast is back. I am hoping for Randall rants on the new Star Wars trilogy. The Clerks 2 site has 30+ videos from the set! Awesome.
Links:
View Askew
NewsAskew
Clerks 2 website
Kevin's Blog
The Stash

Speaking of Jay and Silent Bob, the Jay and Silent Bob Do Degrassi The Next Generation DVD is out now. From Amazon:
"Snoogans! What are Jay and Silent Bob doing in Canada? Rewind….what are they doing at DEGRASSI! One major perk to being a diretor is that you can live out your fantasies. Kevin Smith's fantasy? To be featured in a three episode arc of Degrassi: The Next Generation! Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (Clerks...nuff said) head north to film their next movie in which their alter egos are forced to go back to high school, called "Jay and Silent Bob Go Canadian, Eh?" And what better high schoool to shoot at that Degrassi Community School? But drama ensues even before the cameras begin to roll! The Director's Cut edition is a MUST WATCH for any fan of Kevin Smith! Bursting with extas: Kevin Smith Exclusive Interview, Commentary by Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes and more, Five Minutes of never before seen footage, Bloopers, Extended/Deleted Scenes, and much, much more"

Harold and Kumar Go To Amsterdam
John Cho and Kal Penn reprise their roles in the sequel to an instant classic stoner movie. My copy is two feet away from me right now! If you remember, White Castle ended with a mention of Amsterdam, which leads me to a question, what is the ultimate munchie food outside the states? Castle Blanco, no? No current word on its status except that it is slated for 2007. Hurry the f%$k up!
*picture from White Castle UK release poster

Speaking of Kal Penn:

Van Wilder II: The Rise of Taj

Hollywood Reporter:
Bauer Martinez Distribution has acquired North American distribution rights to "Van Wilder II: The Rise of Taj." The film, being produced by Tapestry Films, is shooting in Romania. "Wilder II" is the sequel to 2002's "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," which made $21 million at the boxoffice but went on to become a cult hit on DVD. The new film stars Kal Penn, who reprises his role as Taj. In the sequel, Taj heads to England's Oxford University to further his studies while also showing the uptight student body how to have a good time."

Sci-Footie

2005-11-30T02:33:00.000-05:00

Photo:helsinki university of tokyo

Air guitarists’ rock dreams come true
media [AVI 22MB]
video codec
article

Aspiring rock gods can at last create their own guitar solos - without ever having to pick up a real instrument, thanks to a group of Finnish computer science students.

The Virtual Air Guitar project, developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, adds genuine electric guitar sounds to the passionately played air guitar.

Using a computer to monitor the hand movements of a "player", the system adds riffs and licks to match frantic mid-air finger work. By responding instantly to a wide variety of gestures it promises to turn even the least musically gifted air guitarist to a virtual fret board virtuoso.

bwo:
18:02 28 November 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Will Knight

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QTVR of Large Hadron Collider at CERN
Media direct
Media stream
Here is a QTVR photo panorama -- with sound! -- of the Large Hadron Collider ATLAS experiment, currently in construction at CERN (The European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland.

bwo:
Xeni Jardin (BoingBoing)
Will (Wikipedia)

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Secrets of bee flight revealed
media [AVI 5MB]
article
Combining robotic modelling with slow-motion videos of airborne honeybees may have helped researchers explain the curious aerodynamics of bee flight

bwo:
16:57 28 November 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Helen Phillips

Please post any links to current science footage in the comments section.

TEMP DOWN

2005-11-28T16:22:00.000-05:00

All Chromat media but Darkside is temporarily unavailable. The server they are on is down or has deleted them. I am currently uploading them somewhere else so things will be fixed sometime tonight.

*Edit- LMIS Issue 1 is back up:
LMIS Issue 1 (Aug2005) [WMV 9.43MB]
*Edit- LMIS Issue 2 is back up:
LMIS Issue 2 (Sept2005) [WMV 9.43MB]

Second Life vs Entropia Universe

2005-11-27T20:29:00.000-05:00

Photo: New World Notes/Second Life

Photo: Entropia Universe

There has been a revolution in independent massive multi player online video games. These are games that you can't buy in stores and exist primarily on the internet for PC. They exist outside the mainstream commercial video game industry. They do not get mentioned on game sites as much. Ironically, they get mentioned more in big time news outlets like the New York Times and CNN. These games are developed by independent companies, and updated online without ever seeing a store shelf. Most of them are free or require a very low monthly rate to play. Just go to the site, download the game, install and your in.

For this article I am choosing two games with a real cash economy and truck loads of fun: Second Life and Entropia Universe (formally Project Entropia.) Both require a decent computer and internet connection to run properly. At the very least you need DSL, and you can manage with lower memory and a lesser quality video card. It is possible to make real money playing these games! If you are serious about generating revenue, then I recommend spending the cash to max your memory, and get a decent to high-end Geforce or Radeon video card. Normally I would of put this paragraph at the end, but I didn't want anyone getting too excited only to realize that they would not be able to play them with the system they have.

What do you do in your Second Life?

Photo: New World Notes/Second Life

Second Life was created in 2003 by Phillip Rosedale. In 1995 Rosedale developed FreeVue, a low-bit rate video conferencing system for Internet-connected PC's, resulting in the acquisition of his company in early 1996 by Real Networks. For 3 1/2 years, Rosedale served at Real Networks as Vice President and CTO, where he was responsible for the development and launch of Real Video, Real System 5.0, and Real System G2. In 1999 Rosedale returned to San Francisco, joined Accel Partners as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence, and began the basic research that would become the technology behind Linden Labs, his company that runs Second Life (SL.)

SL is a single virtual world, not the same world running in separate games on many servers, but one grid, almost two million players* and player-owned land parcels. It is not like traditional games, where players follow rigid programming, limited to the linear progression outlined by the developers. In SL, players are allowed infinite freedom to create anything they wish, and the best part is that when you create something, you actually own the rights to that digital item. Of course, this only applies to original content, but Linden Labs even encourages free trade of your creations. Unlike people selling their EverQuest character on Ebay for hundreds of dollars illegally, with Second Life you are encouraged to sell your creations for a profit!

SL is not your typical game in terms of game play either. There is no overlying plot that pits player against player, no bad guys enforced on the player by the developers, and no tedious tasks to make the money you need to buy that +5 suit of armor. Instead, these elements are left to the player to create. There are ongoing battles between mafia families and gangs, hundreds of player created games in world like multi player FPS, PVP fighting games, battle sims and just the general strife that comes with nearly 2 million players* trying to co-exist!

Photo: Entropia Universe

Our second game is Entropia Universe. EU was created by MindArk, a diverse technologies company in Gothenburg, Sweden with 70+ employees. Entropia Universe is more of a traditional MMORPG, but with a real cash economy. Free trade is also encouraged by EU, but unlike SL, the players do not own the digital rights to their inventory. However, EU is also a single virtual world called Calypso where players can own land and build on it.

At the moment, there are very limited vehicles in the game. Although the hulks of vehicles scatter the landscape, players only recently are able to construct spaceships to ferry people back and forth to Crystal Station, a space station in the game. The site says that in the near future there will be land vehicles and combat systems for vehicles and spaceships. There are a variety of classes based on how you play, like Hunters, Miners, Crafters and Mindforce users. You can form teams to better hunt the creatures of Calypso and when new land masses are opened in game, pvp land grabs are held for ownership.

Economics 101

Both games have a real cash economy, as well as their own currency exchange. You must have a credit/debit card to play SL, but not necessarily EU, only if you intend to get your PEDs exchanged. An SL basic account is free, and additional basic accounts cost $9.95. EU is completely free to play and you can actually make money without any initial investment, though I recommend depositing $10 to get you started (min. deposit $10, $10.00 U.S. = approx. $95.00 PED,) it will go a long way in helping you get started.

Linden Labs actually has a professional economist to track SL's economy. They determine the value of currency, analyze market trends and regulate the flow of currency into the world. Currency exchange in SL is handled in house through the Lindex Currency Exchange, and through SL Exchange. Both games have open trade so there are many auctions for either. For EU, most of the auctioning is done in game and between players. By providing these avenues, the companies improve their economy by keeping the business in the community as apposed to Ebay etc. Since these games are privately funded their existence, and therefore the security of you investment, is assured unlike other games which eventually get turned lose when the developers and distributors move on to other projects.

As for making money, both games have loads of cash being moved around everyday. In EU, one player purchased an island from MindArk for $20,000 U.S.! Although players gasped at that amount, he assured everyone that he will make exponentially more than that from renting living spaces out to other players. In SL, a famous resident name Anshe Chung, is on her way to having a $1,000,000 year for revenue in 2006! She gets the majority of her income from being a real estate mogul. She buys an island, builds a shopping mall and living quarters and then rents it out, as well as run a few businesses of her own. Other business people make $5,000-$80,000 a year from animations, creatures, fashion, marketing, weapon/vehicle design, clubs etc.

Gameplay

Photo: New World Notes/Second Life

This area, more than any other, is where the two games vary the most. SL has a very non-restricting gameplay. What you do in-world is up to you and there are literally thousands of things to do. From strip clubs (SL has the large adult-only grid and a newly added teen grid, separate from one another,) to in-world mini games, lecture sessions like the well know Future Salon, movie theaters (utilizing SL's streaming/capture video/audio feature introduced in the latest update,) or go build ships/vehicles, customize your avatar or buy an island and build a city! Crafting is all done through an in-world interface usable by the most inexperienced 3D modeler and costs lindens to purchase your creations.

On top of 3D modeling and importing textures, SL's script is fully customizable. So, lets say I design a 30 ft. tall furry monster thing, as one resident did (took him hours to save it!) and I want to design a custom dance move for him. I can write my own scripting to get the exact movement I want. The scripting applies to every aspect of SL and even a player with no prior script experience can learn how to write it with relative ease. There are numerous resources for residents of SL to learn everything they want to know. Oh, I forgot to mention, in Second Life everyone can fly and teleport!

There are no skill systems or stats unless you are playing an in-world game with skills/stats. The world of SL is comprised of many continents and it is HUGE! A group of players decided to walk from the western most edge to the eastern most edge of SL two years ago. This was unusual since everyone can fly and teleport. It took them over 8 hours! 8 HOURS! Whew... after a few hours most of them were wondering exactly why they wanted to do it.... I think so that I can tell people it took them 8 hours when heralding the joys of Second Life!

Photo: Entropia Universe

The gameplay in EU is more like traditional MMORPGs. Most players start out by harvesting Sweat, a substance used for Mindforce powers. Sweat is valuable but getting it is tricky for players with little experience. You have to get within close range of a group of creatures and concentrate for a certain amount of time without moving or being attacked. Once you gather enough Sweat, fruit or dung you can sell it and buy the tools necessary for your craft. Hunting is the profession most players get into at first. Buy some weapons, guns and melee, maybe some armor and head out to kill some scary creatures.

EU allows you to form teams with other players to better facilitate slaughtering creatures. An innovative feature in EU is the mentoring system. As a new player, higher level players will ask if you want a mentor. This means you basically become their apprentice to help them with their more grunt work-like needs and in turn you learn how to play and of course you have some nice backup. You can also chose to go Mining for raw materials needed by crafters but this involves you buying the necessary mining equipment. It is rather challenging to find the right areas to mine as they are not unlimited. Next on the profession tier is Crafting. To craft you need blueprints and raw materials to construct weapons, clothes or spaceships.

The top tier of professions is a Mindforce user. Mind force is the psychic
superpower in the game. This power offers attacks as well as on-the-spot teleportation, healing etc. A Mind Force user needs an implant, Mindforce power chip Mind Essence (a combination of Sweat and Force Nexus, a substance found in the soil of Calypso.) Players can trade anywhere person to person, trade from kiosks or own land for residence, a business, a society base or all three. Teleportation is accessible through specific teleport locations or anywhere by Mindforce users. There are a number or continents and islands in EU. Some are specifically designated for certain things. Like PVP land grab continents or treasure islands.

Ground Control

The controls of either game are radically different. Unfortunately, this is one area where SL lacks and EU excels. The controls in SL are fixed and cannot be customized by the player. Sadly, is doesn't use the Half Life standard of WSAD for movement, Space for jump, Ctrl for crouch and mouse to look and shoot. It doesn't allow you to customize either so that is unfortunate. EU however allows you customize everything but the space bar and even uses mostly the Half Life standard for default. In addition, EU allows you to switch between manual control like all FPSs and point-and-click like Warcraft where you just click on the ground where you want to move to or click what you want to attack and you do that.

If you are not experienced in different games, you may not see the value of this diversity, but I assure it is very attractive. One of the biggest drawbacks of most MMORPGs for me is the point-and-click controls. Manual control allows you to implement real world strategies like distance attacks, taking cover and moves. Where as point-and-click is just a numbers game. Your character walks up to the enemy and starts slashing away. If your chance to hit, weapons and skills are better you win, but I get off on semi-realistic combat, where the smarter opponent takes cover and uses the terrain and distance attacks or a variety of combat moves to outwit and outlast my opponent. To be fair, EU involves much more movement dependent gameplay so it is not as distracting from the SL experience, which is more community and entertainment based.

News Worthy

Photo: New World Notes/Second Life

Second Life is constantly in the news. Either it is a story about the exorbitant amounts of money the residents make, digital property rights, virtual world futurism or just plain surrealism. SL news sites like New World Notes, home of the first embedded virtual world journalist Wagner James Au a.k.a. Hamlet Linden, and The Second Life Herald report absolutely amazing occurrences in SL. One week it is a story about sweatshops in Asia who have their workers playing MMOs to make them cash! Who needs shoes, just stick a kid in front of a computer and have them mine gold in World of Warcraft everyday for 10c a day! This particular story was about a sweatshop worker playing SL and the challenges presented in making money or risking being fired. Its not like WOW where you can just mine gold all the time, in SL it takes real creativity or community help to be successful. A week later the news sites found her working in an SL strip club for decent wages. Sci-fi author Cory Doctrow's new book is being published in SL and RL (real life) simultaneously.

A contest was even held in SL where the participants competed for the design in which the book would be published in-world. It is basically a large book where residents can sit down a read the book from the screen. Some designs even included a bench for your character to sit on and variations in format and page turning.

Linden Labs holds an annual contest for in-world games as well. One such game, Tringo, a hybrid of Tetris and Bingo, was created by an Australian businessman with the game name of Kermit Quick. Tringo was immensely popular and was later sold to a company for development and distribution on the internet for a large, undisclosed amount of money. It is the first game created inside another game and then sold for development. 2006 has seen a host of corporations and musicians set up in Second Life, like Sony and Suzanne Vega. SL has a million other amazing stories to tell but I will let you find them on your own! EU is relatively newer and a bit less flexible so big news stories are not plentiful, though it is gaining attention. One major story was the land purchase costing a player $20,000+ and I am sure there is more to come.

Finish Him!

Photo: Entropia Universe

My article only scratches the surface of these two massive worlds, but it should frame an accurate window into this wonderful niche in the gaming universe. There are many, many free or cheap games out there. I picked these two because of their amazing features, and of course, their real cash economies. Second Life is more of a sociable community based game and probably provides much more opportunities for virtual world entrepreneurs. EU is more like other traditional MMORPGs, and offers a central theme and plot. Check them out, both are free to play. Enjoy!

Second Life Recommended Requirements:
Internet Connection: Cable or DSL
Operating System: Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
OR Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4)
Computer Processor: 800MHz Pentium III or Athlon, or better
Computer Memory: 256MB or better
Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 2, GeForce 4mx, or better
OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better
=Mac Minimum System Requirements:
Internet Connection: Cable or DSL
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or better
Computer Processor: 1 GHz G4 or better
Computer Memory: 512MB or better
Video/Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce 2, GeForce 4mx, or better
OR ATI Radeon 8500, 9250, or better

Entropia Universe Recommended Requirements:
Windows 2000 or Windows XP
Minimum 512 MB RAM (recommended 1024 MB RAM)
Minimum 1 GHz Intel / AMD CPU
Minimum NVIDIA GeForce or ATI Radeon graphics card
NVIDIA driver 8198 or ATI driver 6587
Minimum screen resolution 1024x768 (16 bit or higher)
DirectX compatible sound device
3 GB free hard drive space
DirectX version 9.0c
Broadband Internet connection (ADSL or better)

*"nearly 2 million players"
Second Life players totaled 1,916,100 as of December 11, 2006.

Resources:
Second Life
Type: 3D Virtual World Sim
Cost: Free (first basic; upgradeable by fee)
Game Economy: Real World Cash Economy ($170,000US in transactions daily as of 2006)
Size: Streaming (small install but streams LARGE content)

Entropia Universe
Type: 3D MMORPG
Cost: Free
Game Economy: Real World Cash Economy
Size: 1.5GB + streaming

New World Notes
The Second Life Herald
Entropia Pioneers
OnRPG
MMORPG.com

My Barbarian... MINE!

2005-11-27T03:42:00.000-05:00

Photo:Wendy Lynch/My Barbarian

In the future, our progeny will fiercly edit humanity's DNA until all originality has been wiped from the windshield of the universe. The last surviving pure gene will reside inside a mad scientist with wings and a lava lamp for a heart (just like everyone else.) In what will be the crescendo to a symphony of mediocre advancements, he will extract the gene, ending the last bit of human originality, and simultaneously send it back through time to Frisco in the 60's.
A node of immense power was created and continued to grow for decades inside an orchid. It was closely guarded by a broken mirror until the flower exploded with trillions of spores. The spores quickly gathered up themselves and coalesqued into a musical entity in L.A., one part Jefferson Airplane, two parts Deities & Demigods and one part comet dust from the future, known as My Barbarian! Get their CD at http://mybarbarian.com . The site has a multitude of downloadable media including videos (although you may have codec problems with some videos) and songs from their album Cloven Soft Shoe. Here are the links for Unicorns L.A. and Ryan (Police Psychic):
My Barbarian "Unicorns L.A." [MOV HiRes]
My Barbarian "Unicorns L.A." [MOV LoRes]
My Barbarian "Ryan (Police Psychic)" [MP3]
They have been around for five years and most their most recent media is at least a year old but still wonderful. Love them, email them and tell them you love them.

Orientation - Station 3 - The Swan

2005-11-20T19:12:00.000-05:00

Every 108 minutes...
4 8 15 16 23 42...
The Button is bad...
don't press the button.
Right click and save as:
Orientation - Station 3 - The Swan [WMV 9.43MB]

Last Month In Science Issue 2 (September 2005)

2005-11-19T21:19:00.000-05:00

Here is Issue 2 in the LMIS series. Things are better but this system is still limited. I am holding off on LMIS due to lack of footage, so I will probably just do one end of the year combo issue.
Right click and save target as:
Last Month In Science Issue 2 (September 2005) [WMV LoRes 9.43MB]
Last Month In Science Issue 2 (September 2005) [WMV MedRes 24MB]
LMIS Readme [TXT]

Last Month In Science Issue 1 (August 2005)

2005-11-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

This is the beginning of the LMIS series. One day while listening to Luke Vibert's "Fused Into Music" and watching the "Robot regains it's feet" clip in Issue 1, I just started editing it together to alleviate frustration from another project and LMIS was born. At present I am working on my friend's system which is plagued with problems, so Issue 1 and 2 are not precisely what I wanted but in the interest of getting them out quickly I had to overcome my perfectionist nature to get them out there. If they generate some interest and I get a good system I may go back to re-edit them. My friend §ynch said "it is a great piece of industrial art" and that is my interest in it as well. The LMIS Readme file below contains links and part of the articles for each clip in the video. Enjoy!
Right click and save target as:
Last Month In Science Issue 1 (August 2005) [WMV 9.44MB]
LMIS Issue 1 Readme [TXT]