This isn’t really a tech blog, but PicLens has to be the coolest browser plug-in I’ve ever seen. And it doesn’t just work with Firefox (which you should be using, btw).
It creates a 3D environment for viewing a bunch of photos at a glance, so if you search Google for photos or you visit Flickr a lot, it allows you to more easily view your results by flying around all of the images. It also supports Youtube searches and plays the videos right in PicLens.
Hard to explain in a blog, you just have to see it to believe it.
And by that, I mean her lingerie! Okay, not really. Dawn Westlake is our long-time collaborator. She has compiled all of her award-winning short films into one DVD for sale on Filmbaby.
The Moser Brothers have worked on all of the films but one, her first one, before she met us and found out what she’d been missing! We have since edited and/or photographed all of the films and we directed The Pawn, which Dawn wrote and produced.
You can see the trailer for the DVD and buy it at Filmbaby.
Eric Hester is our good friend and an extremely talented film and TV composer. He has scored several of our projects, including the feature film Lost Mission. We first met Eric when he did the score for our short film The Fountain. He went on to score (the uncompleted) Reflection and the short film Waiting, which aired last year on MTV’s Logo network.
Included in the compilation are 6 tracks from Moser Brothers films: 3 from The Fountain and 3 from Waiting. Plus a whole lot more, including Bruce’s Theme, which is the sample that brought Eric to our attention in the first place.
You can here samples and buy the CD at CD Baby, or at the iTunes Music Store (link launches iTunes).
My favorite new sitcom. Two hapless musicians from New Zealand try to make it big in NYC. A little bit Wes Anderson and a little bit Ricky Gervais, it’s smart, and instead of substituting weirdness for humor, it’s actually funny! Each episode also features fantasy musical interludes by the two musicians. What more could you ask for?
A terrific study by filmmaker Steve Anderson on the origins and cultural impact of the word “Fuck.” A whole host of comedians, celebrities and pundits share their thoughts, intercut with film clips and animation that perfectly illustrate the highs and lows of the history of the word.
Here’s the trailer (Warning: they say the word “fuck” in it):
A good friend of mine just went through cancer treatment. He thought he was covered. The insurance company found a supposed omission on his insurance application and denied him coverage after the fact, sticking him with a bill for over $200,000.
In Sicko, you’ll meet some of the people whose job it is to find these details and deny claims based on the flimsiest of excuses. That is their job. There are thousands upon thousands of such stories, from all walks of life, all races, and at every income level, only a fraction of which are documented in this film.
Despite paying over $300 a month in insurance, my family and I still have to pay hundreds of dollars in hospital bills any time our 16 month old daughter needs care, like when she had a 103 degree temperate a few months ago or when she needs shots or blood drawn.
We have a broken health care system in this country, run by profit-driven insurance and drug companies whose goal is to maximize profits by denying care. We are the wealthiest nation in the world, but we are ranked 37th in health care for our citizens, we have a higher infant mortality rate than Cambodia, and we live shorter lives than any other industrialized nation despite paying TWICE as much money per citizen for health care.
Luckily the tide seems to be turning. This movie won’t be enough to push it over the top, but we as citizens must demand change. We must make our voices louder than the insurance and drug companies who have four lobbiests for every Congressman in the federal government.
On Wednesday night, we get to go to our first world premiere of a major motion picture, the Chris Cain directed September Dawn. It’s a terrific film, featuring Jon Voight and Terence Stamp, with some very powerful scenes, particularly of the massacre itself.
September Dawn is produced by our friend, and the director of Firedog, Scott Duthie. The film is essentially a love story, set during the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, in which 120 men, women, and children settlers were murdered by native Americans and Mormons. Needless to say, the film is already generating controversy.
You can view the trailer at the official site here.
September Dawn opens June 22, 2007, so please go see it if it’s playing in your area.
Our friend and colleague Katharine Leis is selling a great new product called the Planet Bag. The basic idea is that you use one of these cloth bags instead of paper or (especially) plastic at the supermarket. In NYC alone, if one person used just one less plastic bag per trip to the grocery store, the city would use 5 million fewer pounds of waste every year. Also, plastic bags are made using petroleum, which is not only bad for the environment but might one day get us bogged down in some kind of senseless war in a region known for its oil supplies.
The bags are very affordable and durable. So get yours soon at www.theplanetbag.com and help save the world one plastic bag at a time.
There is now no doubt about it. Heroes is the best show on television, and last Monday night was the best hour on television this season. Every act ended in a great cliffhanger, every moment built upon the last, questions were answered (are you watching, Lost), others were raised, characters went from heroes to villains to heroes. There is simply nothing else like it.
If you haven’t seen the show, then go immediately to iTunes to download them or find some way to catch up on what you’ve missed. And then watch the rest of the season. You won’t be sorry!
There is a scene in the film, during the Crossword championships at the Stamford Marriot (where we stayed during the Director’s View Film Festival, by the way) in which three of the top four contestants discover that one of their colleagues had not been scored enough points in one of the rounds. This put that player in first place, ahead of those who discovered the error.
I think that about sums up this movie and the people in it. They are smart, funny, and competitive but honest and fair. The documentary is more entertaining than a documentary about crossword puzzles has a right to be. Less of a roller coaster ride than Spellbound, I still recommend it, particularly for fans of crossword puzzles like my grandfather and late grandmother.
We have since edited and/or photographed all of the films and we directed The Pawn, which Dawn wrote and produced.
