Atari and the suits in the record industry

My friend Chris O’Donnell linked to a wonderful online history of the Atari company, makers of the first wildly-popular home video games. It tells of how Nolan Bushnell, Silicon Valley legend and founder of Atari, sold the company to Warner Communications and then regretted the move when he was forced out. Warner went on to squeeze billions of dollars out of Atari but also squeezed the creativity out of it too, chiefly by not giving game developers a cut of their creations’ huge profits.
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Lighting Raiders


While I was learning how to stuff video onto our new iPod I practiced with my Raiders Of The Lost Ark DVD. After repeatedly watching the opening sequence, I noticed something I hadn’t appreciated before in the 27 years (!) the film has been out: the lighting is outstanding! In the opening scene, Indiana Jones goes from deep into the jungle and into the dark tomb, then gets chased out by the boulder and races to the river to escape. There are so many scenes here with challenging lighting yet every one is perfect. The lighting practically tells the story itself.

Raiders cinematographer Douglas Slocombe is said to have never used a light meter on the Raiders set. How is it this man never won an Oscar?

Perfect Circle

This is one of my all-time favorite R.E.M. songs.

Perfect Circle
R.E.M.
(Youtube video)

Put your hair back, we get to leave
Eleven gallows on your sleeve
Shallow figure, winner’s paid
Eleven shadows way out of place
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
Standing too soon, shoulders high in the room
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N&O shrinks staff yet again

Last weekend I couldn’t help but notice the Lowe’s sales circular which normally arrives in the Sunday paper came instead by First Class mail. I don’t know if Lowe’s wanted to put it in the hands of its customers earlier to take advantage of the Labor Day weekend or if Lowe’s simply didn’t find the News and Observer up to the task. Either way, that’s revenue the N&O would’ve banked but didn’t.

Decisions like Lowe’s don’t bode well for the N&O, as yesterday the beleaguered paper announced more buyout packages in an effort to reduce staff (I was going to say “headcount,” but they’re people, dammit). I wonder if McClatchy’s 2006 decision to buy Knight Ridder seems so prudent in the face of today’s economy.

Shrinking product or no, I still enjoy my morning paper and I hope things settle down there soon.

Indy disses Raleigh yet again

I was all into the Independent Weekly’s look at Raleigh when I came to this story by Vernon Coleman, called Seeing the city through a conventioneer’s eyes: Wanderlust in Raleigh. Its the same old tired story of Durhamites looking down their noses at Raleigh. Coleman spends an afternoon wandering around downtown, asks advice from some homeless people, and assumes that since he is totally clueless that there’s nothing going on here. Moron.

Just when I think the Indy is finally on the Raleigh bandwagon they trot out tripe like this. I never thought I’d say I miss the Spectator.

Hanna

I had a dream last weekend about wanting a generator. I’m a geek, though, so wanting a generator is a year-round thing for me. Still, I don’t normally dream of one. And last night I had a dream about charging a armful of rechargeable batteries.

I suppose I’m wary of Tropical Storm Hanna. And Ike’s (or Josephine’s) follow-up act could really be devastating if Hanna hits and loosens the soil considerably. Any trees that might withstand Hanna would be pushovers for Ike or Josephine.

Keep an eye on the weather, y’all. It doesn’t look like this will be a dry hurricane season around here.

Warranty calls continue

When will they ever learn?

We got another call tonight from the warranty scam artists, this time using the phone number 702-520-9150 as their fake Caller ID. Once the nice gentleman got on the line I bum-rushed him.

“Can I have the make and model of your vehicle?” asked “Mike.”

“How can you live with yourself?” I interrupted.

“Excuse me?”

“How can you live with yourself, working for such a sleazy company?”

Click! The next thing I heard was hold music, which turned to silence a moment later. I realized I was keeping a trunk busy on the company’s phone system, so I left my phone on hold for another 30 minutes, padding their long distance bill just for fun.

I might get even nastier the next time they call. Or better yet, I’ll try out some digits when I’m alone on the trunk. Maybe I can figure out how to make outgoing calls, or find my way to their voicemail system.