Archive for: May 4, 2009

Normally, fan films are just that: amateur affairs whose acting, effects and plot make you pine for the originals. Not so in this case: "The Hunt for Gollum" is a 40-minute professional work that, based on the first ten minutes, is definitely worth your time. It debuted Sunday night.

Why did I only watch the first ten minutes? Because I'm saving the rest for later, when my wife and I can watch over dinner. I don't want to spoil it.

First selling point: the cinematography, which is as epic as the original. And no, these are not blue screens. Someone scouted these locations. Second selling point: the production values. Sure, there's a bit of cheesy CGI, but overall the effects are very well done, including the orcs. Third selling point: the actors. The actor who plays Gandalf doesn't quite have the mannerisms of Ian McKellen, but the similarity is nevertheless striking.


Director Chris Bouchard told NPR that he put two years into the work.

The problem: the obvious one. Yes, this is fan faction, and because it pulls from New Line's depiction of The Lord of the Rings, it's questionable whether or not the studio will work to have it pulled. I wouldn't; I'd include it on the inevitable boxed set. But you may have to act fast.

EDIT 10:01 PM: Well, I still haven't watched it, if only because the wife forced me to watch a movie that 's overdue to the one-night video kiosk down the road. But we will!

One other note: the creators of the film are going to ...

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Trent Reznor, the leader of the band Nine Inch Nails is pretty upset that Apple has rejected the latest version of his iPhone app. And rightfully so, the reason for the rejection once again points to Apple’s inconsistencies when it comes to the App Store approval process. While we pointed that out yesterday , Reznor pulls no punches in pointing it out today, in the NIN’s forums . Here’s what Reznor had to say (warning, it gets pretty graphic): Now, “The Downward Spiral” the album is not available anywhere in the iPhone app. The song “The Downward Spiral” I believe is in a podcast that can be streamed to the app. Thanks Apple for the clear description of the problem - as in, what do you want us to change to get past your stupid fucking standards? And while we’re at it, I’ll voice the same issue I had with Wal-Mart years ago, which is a matter of consistency and hypocrisy. Wal-Mart went on a rampage years ago insisting all music they carry be censored of all profanity and “clean” versions be made for them to carry. Bands (including Nirvana) tripped over themselves editing out words, changing album art, etc to meet Wal-Mart’s standards of decency - because Wal-Mart sells a lot of records. NIN refused, and you’ll notice a pretty empty NIN section at any Wal-Mart. My reasoning was this: I can understand if you want the moral posturing of not having any “indecent” material for sale - but you could literally turn around 180 degrees from where the NIN record would be and purchase the film “Scarface” completely uncensored, or buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto where you can be rewarded for beating up prostitutes. How does that make sense? You can buy The Downward Fucking ...

As promised, I went to go visit the Google goats today — you know, the goats that were brought in to replace lawnmowers in Google’s ever-expanding quest to go more green. I was told the goats would be in the big field at the corner Rengstorff & Amphitheater (on Google’s campus in Mountain View), and sure enough, I found a few hundred of them there. Apparently, the area was previously covered in 4-foot tall brush, but within a few days, the goats had eaten it down to basically nothing (as you can see in the videos and images below). These goats, which were being picked up today and transported to their next gig (at Morgan Hill), will do this field-clearing once a year for Google, the herder on site told me. He was a bit concerned for the goats because a few of them got sick due to people feeding them flowers (which, apparently, are poisonous to them), he told me. PETA, would no doubt be concerned about the lack of shelter for when it was raining, and the electric fence that encircled the goats. But all in all, it looks like the goats did the job they were brought in for, and were very efficient in doing so. Now, the question of if it cost Google more in both money and fuel to have the goats shipped over to the site versus what it would have been to pay some people to mow the lawn, is a different question. But hey, nevermind that, cute friendly goats! Check out some pictures below and two videos below that. The Qik video has some more substance, but is much longer and is pretty hard to hear at points due to the wind. Crunch Network : CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new ...

(Credit: Heyzap) H1N1 worries got you down? Maybe stabbing flying green infected pigs with a giant needle will provide some comic relief. That’s your task in the Web-based game Swinefighter , one of a growing number of casual games that capitalize on current events. In this case, you play as …

Go here to read the rest:
Swine flu game infects Web

As a four-year-old, Brian Backus became captivated by the children stories told by Dr. Seuss, a neighbor of Backus’s aunt. According to Backus, Dr.Seuss’s tales inspired him to join the world of cartoon storytelling years later as a producer at Disney Interactive. Now, Backus is launching Kidlandia, web destination where parents and kids can create personalized cartoon fantasyland maps named for the people and places that tell a child’s personal story. Kidlandia lets parents and kids create maps of a fantasy land, where the child is King or Queen of their own eponymous fantasy kingdom such as “Leenatopia” or “Michaelland.” You can insert family members or friends names into the map, so other areas of the land incorporate family members’ names. The map also features whimsical characters from horned Uniquills and scowling Grumps to long-trunked Yuhoos on the map. Once created online, parents can order prints of the map for the child, which range from $40 for a small sized scroll to $180 for a larger sized, high quality, framed print of the map. Parents can order the maps to be printed on scrolls, that are easy for the child to carry around, or on canvas that is stretched over a frame to be hung. Backus says that Kidlandia is driven by what he calls the “Disney Strategy,” which focuses on getting parents and kids emotionally involved with characters and a story line and then merchandising products about the characters and stories to kids who want to integrate the tales into their everyday lives. In Kidlandia’s case, each map tells the child’s own fantasy story, a personalized family story. Backus plans to add additional merchandise to market, including stuffed animals and puzzles. Backus says that there is tremendous revenue potential in fantasy games and toys for children and is ...

Last year, I covered the landmark SEC decision to recognize corporate blogs and potentially other forms of Social Media as a recognized form of meeting public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) – in some cases. It was a significant validation of a widely recognized medium for sharing information between publicly-traded companies and stakeholders. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun, among many others, successfully lobbied over the years for official recognition of blogs and the SEC finally took notice. The real question is, did other public companies and their communications and Investor Relations teams take notice? Just under a year later, all was quiet on the social IR front until recently.  But questions are swirling.  While PR, marketing, advertising, branding, HR, and customer service are rapidly adopting participatory communication channels such as Twitter and Facebook, IR has (wisely) observed the landscape to ascertain the risks and opportunities present within the new SEC guidelines. It’s time to bring this discussion into the spotlight again in order to connect IR, PR, and legal in the dialogue that will prompt new policy and regulation to better serve investors, customers, and influencers. Recently, I hosted a discussion on this very topic at the NewComm Forum in San Francisco. I assembled an expert panel that included those active in covering and defining the world of corporate disclosure in the era of the social web, including: Richard Brewer-Hay of Ebay, Bryan Rhoads of Intel, Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher and ZDNet, and David Gelles of Financial Times. The experiences and lessons shared in this discussion brought to light the real world internal concerns, challenges, and possibilities for integrating blogs, Twitter, and other social networks into the portfolio of disclosure tools. In reality, social media is reshaping disclosure and the practice of investor relations. As ...

It’s been another week dominated by cellphones here at SlashGear, with our exclusive review of the HTC Touch Diamond2 plus plenty of news from the rival Android smartphone camp.  The HTC Magic launched on Vodafone Spain, but we were more interested in the Samsung I7500 , a super-skinny slice of 5-megapixel Android loveliness.  Check out the live demo video here . Meanwhile, Motorola’s Calgary was tipped to be the company’s first Android device - and Verizon Wireless’ first, to boot - which made up for the manufacturer canning two other upcoming handsets.  Samsung’s Omnia HD i8910 was reviewed , and managed to whet our appetite for the rumored Omnia Pro complete with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.  If that wasn’t enough, leaks from the Palm camp tipped the upcoming Eos , a candybar-format replacement to the aging Centro.  Remember, you can keep up with all the latest Android and Palm news at Android Community and My Pre , respectively. Apple have made their usual rumor round this week, with word that the company have been negotiating with Verizon for an exclusive cellphone.  Hot speculation tips it as an LTE iPhone, though there’s also talk of an “iPhone Lite” and a UMPC-rivaling Apple Media Pad .  Just to keep us on the very edges of our seats, a fan mockup of the latter managed to make us forget the name and manufacturer of every Windows UMPC on the market from the past two years. Acer’s Aspire One nettop hit review benches , and proved a mixed bag.  The NVIDIA Ion 1080p-capable GPU is every bit as impressive as we were warned to expect, but it’s let down by the single-core Intel Atom CPU they’ve paired it up with.  Not everyone is disappointed with Atom, however: this stunning Filofax MID concept is ...