Interesting note about the story George Lucas wanted to use for the fourth Indiana Jones movie:
The film’s producer had his idea firmly rejected by actor Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg as the three men struggled to reach an agreement for around 10 years…
‘Star Wars’ director Lucas had commissioned Jeb Stuart - who wrote the script for ‘Die Hard’ - to write his version, which saw Indy go up against Russian agents and had a climatic battle scene between the US army and alien flying saucers.
Ford added: “It takes time to get Steven, George and me on the same page. George is very stubborn with his ideas.” [link]
The script is online and is actually a very entertaining read. I was a little skeptical about introducing aliens/ufo’s into the Indiana Jones universe (forced genre mashup?), but the way the mystery is framed and the aliens’ motives are revealed, added with the crazy action sequences (boat chases, car chases, plane chases, Indy surviving an atom bomb test, chases with aliens, etc.) and one-liners for miles, make the screenplay Indiana Jones worthy.
05/16/08 by mark in
story.
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A shipment of my new album came this afternoon, and I’m really psyched with how it turned out. I used Oasis Disc Manufacturing for the duplication and printing, opting for digipak with the plastic trays made from 100% post-consumer materials.
Based on their professionalism, great communication, and quality of the final product I highly recommend Oasis. They were happy to answer any questions throughout the process and they alerted me to any potential problems with the files I provided. I’ll post info on how you can get physical copies, if you’re interested, as soon as possible.
05/12/08 by mark in
design, music.
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Some experts predict a significant rise in the death toll in Burma, possibly up to 1.5 million people from the 100,000 estimated already dead in the aftermath of the cyclone if clean water and sanitation is not provided soon. The Burmese government has frustrated many attempts at foreign aid, even politicizing what little foreign aid has been allowed in: “government officials were seen handing it out from boxes on which the names of prominent generals had been written.”
In light of this natural disaster and the humanitarian crisis caused by the lack of a coordinated government response, it’s hard not to draw direct parallels to what happened in New Orleans (and what is still happening) in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina almost three years ago. I just finished watching parts one and two of Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke, a monumental four-part film that documents the collapse of a city and the mind-boggling failure of our federal government to help people in need. If you haven’t already seen this documentary, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Most people think that it was Katrina that brough about the devastation to New Orleans. But it was a breaching of the levees that put 80 percent of the city under water. It was not the hurricane…If you go New Orleans, only one-fourth of the population is there. So hopefully, this documentary will bring this fiasco, this travesty, back to the attention of the American people. —Spike Lee
05/11/08 by mark in
politics.
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Chronotron is a surprisingly clever puzzle, that uses time (or more specifically your actions in time) as a gameplay device. The game’s creator describes the game:
It’s about a robot that goes back in time for some reason. (His best friend is a talking pie!) Use your time machine to interact with past versions of yourself in this puzzle/platformer!
Despite the annoying music and Flash graphics, the use of interaction with “past versions of yourself” to solve puzzles is really tricky, and can even cause time paradoxes. I’ve never seen a casual game’s puzzles built off of a time dynamic like this. It’s so simple, clever, and innovative that I wonder why it hasn’t been done more before.
05/08/08 by mark in
games.
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I’m very excited for this: my self-titled album is now available on iTunes. You can preview and buy individual tracks, or purchase the whole Day Might Same album now. More info here.
04/30/08 by mark in
music.
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I’m selling the limited edition air force 1s I picked up a few years ago. At the time, I was working at R/GA on the Nike Basketball account, and I attended an “invite only” party at the Niketown store in Manhattan. DJs spun Nike hip-hop records and sneakerheads lined up around the block for hours in the cold for the chance to purchase a pair of the limited edition Lebron James Chamber of Fear “Temptation” in white with pink patent leather, only available that night in NYC.
I paid $100 for the shoes and collectors were literally throwing $250-$300 in my face to try to buy them off of me on the spot as soon as I walked away from the cashier. I held on to them, not as a collector (they’re actually pretty ugly), but as an investment because when there’s a strong consumer subculture built around collecting limited product lines, the value of these things tends to increase over time. Well, after a few years of them sitting in my closet I figured it is about time to put them up for sale. If you’re interested, check out the auction page.
04/29/08 by mark in
consumerism.
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I recently updated my portfolio to include a few design projects from the past four years. The portfolio utilizes jQuery for an expanding navigational menu and a persistent nav state across pages.
04/24/08 by mark in
design.
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NPR’s Soundcheck had a segment on the music of the democratic campaigns, dubbed the “Soundcheck Smackdown: Clinton vs. Obama.” Of all the aspects of the campaign, I can’t think of a less important issue to focus on besides who’s wearing American flag lapel pins. But the segment was redeemed by a discussion of Obama’s use of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” track:
As Obama and his wife, Michelle, strolled triumphantly into his victory party in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 3, Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” was blaring. In it, Jay raps, “I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one.”
Some listeners took it as a not-so-sly reference to Hillary. [link]
Honestly, I’m surprised the Obama campaign sunk to that level.
04/22/08 by mark in
music, politics.
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