Level Orange

Every year, the US Library of Congress selects films of importance for its National Film Registry film preservation project. This year, classic films like The Asphalt Jungle, In Cold Blood, Deliverance, Sergeant York, and others from the early 20th century were added to the list, guaranteeing their physical preservation and a place in national history as significant contributions to our national culture. 

Perhaps the most intriguing of the selections, was James Cameron’s The Terminator from 1984. It’s the only film of this year’s selections that still has an active following, including a third sequel due next year and a great (albeit-struggling) TV series airing on broadcast TV. While most sci-fi fans would easily consider the low-budget, visionary flick a classic, it says a lot that the federal government considers it a national treasure worth preserving for all time. I mean, that’s, like, forever.

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With all the deals to be had on Black Friday this past November, I couldn’t help but be tempted to finally jump into the Blu-ray format. Ever since HD DVD fell by the wayside earlier this year, I had been resigned to simply watching movies on DVD as I had been for the past decade. I had placed my bet on a fledgling technology and simply lost out, so in a fit of disappointment, I found that I was fine with kicking it old school for the foreseeable future.

There was the matter of the investment I had already made into HD DVD, including the add-on for my Xbox 360 (which at the time was the cheapest way to get into the format) and a growing collection that stopped at 35 titles. Maybe more importantly, there were the underlying principles behind the rival HD formats and their backers–Toshiba and the HD DVD Consortium versus Sony and the Blu-ray Disc Association. In my mind, these corporate giants were slugging it out for different reasons and ultimately, I think the interests of Hollywood and Silicon Valley won out over that of consumers and end-users.

While that aspect of it all is probably the hardest pill to swallow, I’ve been able to look past it and consider what’s really the heart of the matter–being able to enjoy movies in high definition again. There was simply no other choice for building an “ultimate” collection of movies that didn’t revolve around (or at least involve) Blu-ray.

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Today Disney announced a new high-profile promotion for their Blu-ray titles, marking a big end of year push for new adopters of the high-def format. The price-dropping promotion, which lasts from December 26, 2008 until January 10, 2009, includes some of the studio’s biggest hits like Cars, The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, Ratatouille, Sleeping Beauty: Platinum Edition, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Special Edition and Wall·E.

I know I’ll be looking for some of these, especially The Nightmare Before Christmas and Wall·E, which have apparently been deemed to of the best Blu-ray releases of 2008.

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Design firm Turner Duckworth announced today that its work on the packaging for the latest Metallica album “Death Magnetic” has been nominated for a Grammy award. Yes, a Grammy. For packaging. Turner Duckworth, known for its work with Coca-Cola and Motorola, made some unconventional design choices in the face of traditional music packaging, including the ambiguous/not-so-ambiguous cover image and a rather intrusive die-cut that pays no mind to photos or text in the liner notes.  

I’m not sure what’s more surprising for me; the fact that Metallica is still bothering to put out music or that they turned to a design firm to build and market their “brand” or that there’s even a Grammy award for packaging design. Anyone recall who won last year or the year before that?

According to Variety, Relativity Media is working to get its hands on rights to The Crow license, with plans to bring self-exiled director Stephen Norrington (Blade, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) to reboot the franchise.

Boo that that shit, I say. While I can understand that the death of Brandon Lee was tragic and unfortunate, I honestly think it made The Crow stronger and far more poignant, to the point where I don’t see why anyone would ever want to remake the film. Sure, Lee wasn’t exactly a star like The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger, but just like with Ledger, there’s something to be said for leaving a man’s legacy–the one truly excellent film he made in his career–intact. Don’t let his death be in vain, Hollywood.  How about just putting together another sequel, but this time like you give a damn?

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Can you imagine the magical fields of sweet mystery that must be Michael Jackson’s mind these days? Just when you thought you could identify a celebrity kid toucher, he goes and turns all Hamburglar on us. Beware kids, danger lurks out there. And it brings with it a phat Barney mixtape.

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For years, anyone who wanted solid recommendations on movies usually took the question up with a local video store clerk. I should know. I used to be one.  When you’re around so many movies and hear so many customers’ feedback, it’s easy to know what people really look for in their purchases. These days, as people buy and watch movies online, it becomes a one-way street, making it sometimes difficult to get a real human-based recommendation on what else is out there.

Created by Reel.com founder Stuart Skorman, Clerk Dogs is looking to fit that bill and do it with an unprecedented amount of human input, including hand-picked recommendations by thousands of video store clerks themselves. Even the site’s Mash It tool relies on real connections as suggested by people, not some collaborative, taxonomy-based algorithm. Check out this video of how the service works or just give it a spin and see what you think.

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GET TO WORK.

That’s right. If you have work to do and are super-concerned about getting it done, that’s the only practical piece of advice I can offer.

Lately, I’ve been catching up with sites that claim to offer tips and tricks to stay productive and make your workload a bit easier and less stressful. You know, the kind of stuff that falls into the Getting Things Done mantra (you do know GTD, don’t you?). Sites like Merlin Mann’s 43Folders provide some excellent insights and perspective on what it means to be a responsible, highly-productive worker. Designer types like myself can go to Fuel Your Creativity or Smashing Magazine and find out how to get better at this or easier ways to do that. The tech-savvy can hop over to LifeHacker or TechieBuzz and find all kinds of ways to get the most out of their computers and technology.

These sites offer some really great advice and can be a big help whenever you’re in a pinch, but it seems like everyone’s got tips on how to do stuff. Even when I try to skim my way through a lot of it, I’ve found myself more enthralled by reading about how to be productive than actually being productive.

And so that’s where my three magic words come into play. I still like to find ways to make my computer faster or some nifty Photoshop tutorials as much as the next guy, but as far as getting things done, I come from the school of “Don’t talk about it. Be about it.” So the next time you find yourself being not-so-productive, try not to look to others for ways to do your work. Just get to work. You pansy. You’re welcome.

After Universal Studios decided to put a leash on what DVD rental kiosk vendors can do with their titles, Redbox not only filed suit back in October, but has now stocked over 100,000 copies of Universal’s big upcoming DVD release Wanted.

Even with Universal’s new attempts to regulate how its titles are handled now in effect, Redbox has done its customers a solid and found alternative (albeit costly) ways to stock the DVD on release day. And since Redbox is sticking to its $1/day rental fee, that means they’re doing it on their own dime. How’s that for putting the customer first?

As someone who’s played video games regularly for years, watching this video by photographer Robbie Cooper of young gamers and the emotion on their faces is both amusing and interesting.

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