http://www.vimeo.com/4039576

I am not a big sports fan or anything. But observing human being based on sports event is pretty interesting. This video was created right after the last night’s UNC victory. 931 images were taken to create this timelapse of human crowds at the intersection of Franklin and Columbia street.

I used to live in North Carolina before I moved up here and I didn’t know how many people lived there until now.

wtf?

Aurumania, a Scandnavian bicycle company, took track bike to a whole new level and created a Gold Bike Crystal Edition that every visible surface are plated with 24-carat gold and decorated with more than 600 Swarovski cystals. The price for this intense fixed gear bike is over $108,000 and will delivered to you personally anywhere in the world via white glove service. Impressive, impressive… I wonder what it feels like to do wheelie on this bike. Sometimes, bike can cost more than your car.

A stones throw from our HQ is home to SPIN, a new ping pong social club opening this month; a land where fanatics of the underground sport can sweat out their talent in an aesthetic more common to high end corporate gyms.  They’ve thrown in a shop, bar, private room sponsored by Fred Perry, lounge and a heap of pros to teach and challenge you to play.

They need a new logo!  The winning SPIN New York logo designer will receive $1000, plus a ping pong play date with Susan Sarandon (she looooves ping pong)!

A March 5th midnight show, 3 screens 2 sold out, surrounded by comic book fans from my local comic shop, I saw The Watchmen.  So what did I think of it.  Quite simply I liked it.  It was good.  If I had to pinpoint one problem the movie had was its runtime.  Clocking in at 165 minutes, it is just too short to completely capture the soul of the graphic novel.  It novel is very dense.  An average comic book will take me between 10-15 minutes to read, an issue of The Watchmen (the graphic novel is a collection of the 12 issue mini-series) can take me closer to 20-25 minutes, just because there is so much information, not only in the words but in the art as well.  Of course some things were cut or truncated for the adaptation, which I expected, but there was only so much you could omit.  It is the volume of content combined with the runtime that makes a good portion of the film is rushed, robbing certain scenes of their emotional impact and character development.  However, I will add that the changes made to the big climax of the movie did not lessen the impact of the events and the message of the story, making me very happy.

One place where the movie excels is the acting on the part of Jackie Earle Haley was spot on.  He brought is character of Rorschach to life, and I challenge anyone to read (or re-read) the graphic novel and not have Rorschach sound like he did in the movie.  I know that as I finish up my fourth re-read I have that voice in my head.  Another outstanding performance came from Patrick Wilson’s Dan Dreiberg, Nite Owl II.  When I do read The Watchmen, this is how I picture Dan Dreiberg.  Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan (he actually did act the part, he was replaced in post-production just like Andy Serkis was in the Lord of the Rings movies), was cold, withdrawn and a bit scary, so he also did a good job.  There were some issues with the CGI.  I did read a review in which did confirm one of my thought while watching it, that the mouth movements were sometimes iffy.  Malin Akerman definitely looked the part of Laurie Juspeczyk (she was Laurie Jupiter in the movie, but in the novel she makes it a point to correct people so, so will I), but there were times her performance was stiff.

Sadly, in the end the legendary creator Alan Moore, was probably right, it is “unfilmable”.  However, I do not think it is because of the material in the novel, but that Hollywood won’t give it the time it needs to tell the story.  It needs at least 2 3hour movies, or even better a 12 episode mini-series on HBO or Showtime to come close to being able to tell the story the right way.

I could go into more detail as to where I felt the movie went south or excelled, and I may later on, but I do not want to so until more people have a chance to see it.  What I will say is that in the graphic novel there is a comic within the comic which Zack Snyder has turned into an animated direct to DVD feature called “Tales of the Black Freighter” (out on March 24th), and the reports are that Warner Brothers has Snyder cut down the original runtime of the movie to under 3 hours.  I am hopeful that the eventual extended directors cut (which will include the Black Freighter cut within the movie) will be better than the theatrical release and become the standard (just like the Blade Runner Director’s Cut), but that doesn’t mean you should wait for it.  Go out and see The Watchmen, hell I am even going to see it again, and by all means if you haven’t read the graphic novel, go and read it.

So another booze beverage has hit the shelves; this time a fancy sake called Ty Ku.  Hailing from Japan I can only guess, it’s new promo campaign, “Show us your skin’ asked a bunch of tattoo-heads to send in photographs of their body art.  The prize; star in a new ad campaign starring ‘you’ with a party thrown in your honour at your most loved tattoo parlour.  A tad naff I hear you mutter, but check out this dude -

So yeah, naked dudes that risk a needle going anywhere near their nether regions fascinates me - all the way to the dog tracks.  The judges are a bit suspect - Creative Director of Inked (check), Mario Barth (renowned tattoo artist, winning a gazillion awards - check), but um, Neyo?  Richie Rich? Dhani Makalani Jones?  Oh that last one is an American football player.   I’m all about segueways but really??

The Beeb are so bloody on point.

The No. 1 Detective Agency is Alexander McCall Smith’s novel series set in Botswana, featuring the first lady detective to solve mysteries, everything from infidelity, kidnapping and mistaken identity.  BBC1 adapted the book for a mini series, shooting it last year; threw in songstress Jill Scott to play Precious, Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral) to screenwrite and (the now late) Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) to direct the whole shabang.

America, it’s coming -  HBO March 29th.  Watch the trailer.

This spot conjures up memories of me sitting in my grandparents living room watching cartoons. why they were advertising during cartoons is another story that the coked up media planners of the ’80s will have to answer… all i know is that any training that lets you leave w/ your own set of tools is kinda awesome.

i’ve enjoyed barcelona’s alex trochut’s work for a while now. this image is from an old beautiful/decay cover he did… the new video he just dropped w/ some other killers from europe is serious. just watch it.

Being a pretty avid reader (And loving NYC’s Library service), I’ve always envied the people on the subway I see reading the Amazon Kindle. It’s an awesome device, with eInk, which beautifully and faithfully reproduces printed text. And there’s a growing library of titles appearing on Amazon, for a lot cheaper or equivilent to a paperback.

The problem for me is the device is in the $300 range, which is pretty steep for a bookreader, that doesn’t do much more, with a 16-greyscale shade screen. But an iPod touch, which is roughly around the same price (which I own) can function a million other things, just like it’s big brother the iPhone.

So this is a pretty big deal to me. I’m sure for you too.

Download it!
Clickable iTunes Link