dude named tester13 has started experimenting with the GH1 firmware and is making a patching tool available. Nothing I’d risk trying right now, but could eventually fix problems / add features like: pulldown-free 24p, higher bitrate recording, more options for MJPEG recording, maybe even live video out. If it works the GH1 will suddenly be competitive with the Canon VSLRs again.
I have been mulling this shit over ever since it aired. Thank God I’m not a TV critic. I’ve been writing things about it but not posting them, because my opinions of the episode have been a moving target: first I loved it, then a few days later I hated it, and now a couple weeks later I’m somewhere in between.
Lost has always been a show that crossed several genre barriers. I thought the finale resolved Lost the character drama in an excellent fashion. It tied a neat little bow on Lost the thriller. But Lost the mystery – well, the charitable thing to say would be that Lost remains mysterious.
The mystery was there from the beginning, so you have to view the finale as somewhat of a failure. Mysteries are fabulous – they are questions, openings, possibilities, sheer potential. But you have to answer them, and answers are hard. Answers aren’t necessarily great television, as I’m sure the writers discovered. But if you don’t answer them, you’re sailing along with David Lynch and Luis Bunuel n’ tha gang, and take it from a huge fan of both of the above who has a lifetime of arguing the merits of surrealism under his belt: that shit ain’t mainstream entertainment. 9 out of 10 TV fans are NOT going to endorse your product.
Like a wild, drug-addled, ADD lover, Lost made up its own rules and then broke them. You have to respect it for that.
But it also kinda broke your heart a little.
Columbia Journalism Review about the truffle fry NYT takedown of M.I.A. last week. “I must have missed the part where we don’t want rich people to care about others.” (via Twitter Funkaoshi)
Clay Shirky fights the enemies of the innernette
Interesting take on the Star Wars – Adidas – World Cup promo video (which is embedded for your convenience). Essentially Hipster Runoff is not feeling it because it’s a corporate meme and not something grassroots. I can see that, but also: this is better than your typical ad. I like that Lucasfilm is allowing this sort of work. Not sure that ‘celebrate originality’ is a great tagline for a work of extremely parasitic pastiche, though. (HR found via What A Day That Was)
“A game is released that’s so cutting edge, so revolutionary, that people question whether it should be called a “game” at all, opting instead for the futuristic-sounding “interactive electronic experience.” Back in ’83.
(I’m sure you’ve already seen this everywhere.) Not in Canada for launch – will come to us in late July. Question is, will it be on Wind?
the results may surprise and intrigue.
brief and generally on point.
I’d love to hear Iain M. Banks’ top ten.
“It was a hit series about the difficulties of finding an ending to a hit series. Cuselof had a deadline for years, which should have allowed them to pace out their puzzle’s solutions. Instead, we got cheesy temple vamping and a bereavement Holodeck. It became a show about placating, even sedating, fans, convincing them that, in the absence of anything coherent or challenging, love was enough.” Quite a smart analysis, not as negative as that quote makes it sound.
lonelysandwich on the iPad as a new video experience, and the possible future of AppleTV. Reminds me of Lost fan theorizing.
Michael Geist on the new bill.
this is just promo fluff, but nonetheless I’m excited about the potential. “Dawn of the Dead meets The Wire.”
love the pictures. Can’t help but think that someone got a full body amputation.
“a technical decision”
grow food inside in your window with suspended plastic bottles. Pretty neat idea but wouldn’t I eat my whole window in like one meal? (related idea: window pigs)
“The whole point of having friends, as opposed to “friends,” is that you don’t have to relentlessly keep up appearances and strike poses.” Great article. (via Funkaoshi)
Canada’s film/tv industry paper is closing its print operations, and laying off 18 people. There will undoubtedly be a lot more of this in the coming years.
“Network genre shows really took a beating in 2009-10, with 11 programs offered by the network, and just six returning.”