Time travel is in vogue right now. The subject ebbs and flows in
pop-culture, but right now the Venn Diagram of popular and nerdy sits
with time travel comfortably nestled in the middle. Consider the recent
and rapid rise in popularity of the BBC's Doctor Who
in American TV culture. Sure America is a few years late in joining
the party with the space and time hopping time lord and his companions,
but Netflix and the growing geekery have seen fit to go so far as to put
Matt Smith's bowtied mug on the cover of Entertainment Weekly!
And on the big screen, Rian Johnson's time-travel action film Looper
is scoring positive reviews and continuing Joseph Gordon-Levitt's year
of success. Now, I don't want to say too much, because I don't want to
give anything away. I went into the movie knowing only the vaguest
premise, having forced myself only to see the teaser trailer,
and enjoyed it much more having avoided spoilers. Basically: JGL
works for the mob, whacking targets sent back in time from a future
where time travel exists. This already works for a compelling premise,
but the real kicker comes in when JGL's future self is sent back for
execution. And the real kick-ass comes in when JGL's future self is
Bruce Willis. Seriously. It's awesome. But don't look it up. Just go
see it. Today. Tomorrow. Yesterday. Whenever.
Looper's release has prompted a flurry of sites cataloging
time-travel rules, time-travel movie moments, and top time-travel
stories. But: So many of these sites contain subtle Looper spoilers, so
I don't want to link to them. (Sorry, Wall Street Journal's "Four
Rules of Time-Travel," you get no love from me.) Thankfully, a few
pages exist sans-Looper, so we'll include those. (Other movies will be
spoiled. But they're old. After five years, no forgiveness needs to be
granted for spoilers. And beyond fifty years, things that are
"spoilers" should enter common knowledge.*)
Discovery put together a
nice tidy list of Top 22 Time Travel Movies with vague descriptions and background information. Better, albeit more spoilery, though, is TotalFilm's list of the 50 Greatest Time Travel Movie Moments.
Some of them are questionable. (Did George Bailey really time
travel?) Some are surprising. (Love that Muppet Christmas Carol made
the cut!) One is... Dali.
And, for all the Back to the Future references, one is mysteriously
absent. It's like the list makers said, "Roads? Where we're going we
don't need to mention the fact that where they're going they don't need roads!" It's your list, TotalFilm! Something has got to be done about your list!
That's all for today. Be sure to thank the management... It's Boss's Day!
From the Desk of the Morning Reporter: A guided tour of the Internet.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Google In Slumberland
Following a brief vacation and a week of intense and focused panel work,
the Report returns. (Though as one reader rightfully pointed out,
"Report" is a generous term for something with such scheduling
irregularity. But it's too late to rename it now!) Hopefully we'll be
back to regularly scheduled programming for a while now, especially
given the promise of Halloween report tricks and treats...
And speaking of treats, have you been to Google today, dear readers? The doodle team has really outdone themselves this time, creating a brilliant tribute to celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay Of course, I don't expect Mr. McCay's name comes up in conversation often. Today is likely the first time a lot of people have even heard of him, as his Wikipedia page and YouTube videos get soaring hits thanks to Google. But it doesn't take much digging to find that Google has just about perfectly captured the style and substance of McCay's most famous creation, "Little Nemo In Slumberland."
Little Nemo, first published 107 years ago today, was a weekly comic strip printed in the New York Herald for six years and the New York American for three. Where comic strip today carries the connotation of a three or four panel quick set-up and punchline, McCay's weekly strip existed on a much grander scale. In 10 to 15 colorful panels, the pajama-clad Nemo would continue on his dream-quest to meet the Princess, daughter of King Morpheus. Each strip would begin with Nemo going to bed, and his bed would often serve as a means of conveyance in the dream world. Inevitably, each strip would end in the same manner, with Nemo being woken up and falling out of bed, often at an inopportune, cliff-hanger moment.
The brilliant colors, sprawling panels, walking bed, and total whimsy are all captured in the Google doodle, but Google is not the first to animate Nemo. McCay himself created an animated version of his character in 1911, inspired to animation by one of his children's flipbooks. The adaptation that I know, the one that introduced me to Little Nemo in the first place, was the 1992 film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, with a screenplay helmed by Christopher Columbus, now famous for directing the first two Harry Potter films.
Hopefully Google's doodle will inspire the webworld to seek out McCay's original work, available in a complete collection on Amazon. (Though it's apparently out of print and mega-expensive now. I say now because I own a copy that I snagged for like twenty bucks in a discount bin at a Barnes and Noble a while back.) Even more hopefully, this will trigger the interest of comics artists to create Sunday strips that capture the imagination like McCay's did.
Non-comic strip fans have reason to celebrate the day, as they can kick it up a notch to wish a happy birthday to Emeril Lagasse. Bam!
And speaking of treats, have you been to Google today, dear readers? The doodle team has really outdone themselves this time, creating a brilliant tribute to celebrated cartoonist Winsor McCay Of course, I don't expect Mr. McCay's name comes up in conversation often. Today is likely the first time a lot of people have even heard of him, as his Wikipedia page and YouTube videos get soaring hits thanks to Google. But it doesn't take much digging to find that Google has just about perfectly captured the style and substance of McCay's most famous creation, "Little Nemo In Slumberland."
Little Nemo, first published 107 years ago today, was a weekly comic strip printed in the New York Herald for six years and the New York American for three. Where comic strip today carries the connotation of a three or four panel quick set-up and punchline, McCay's weekly strip existed on a much grander scale. In 10 to 15 colorful panels, the pajama-clad Nemo would continue on his dream-quest to meet the Princess, daughter of King Morpheus. Each strip would begin with Nemo going to bed, and his bed would often serve as a means of conveyance in the dream world. Inevitably, each strip would end in the same manner, with Nemo being woken up and falling out of bed, often at an inopportune, cliff-hanger moment.
The brilliant colors, sprawling panels, walking bed, and total whimsy are all captured in the Google doodle, but Google is not the first to animate Nemo. McCay himself created an animated version of his character in 1911, inspired to animation by one of his children's flipbooks. The adaptation that I know, the one that introduced me to Little Nemo in the first place, was the 1992 film Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, with a screenplay helmed by Christopher Columbus, now famous for directing the first two Harry Potter films.
Hopefully Google's doodle will inspire the webworld to seek out McCay's original work, available in a complete collection on Amazon. (Though it's apparently out of print and mega-expensive now. I say now because I own a copy that I snagged for like twenty bucks in a discount bin at a Barnes and Noble a while back.) Even more hopefully, this will trigger the interest of comics artists to create Sunday strips that capture the imagination like McCay's did.
Non-comic strip fans have reason to celebrate the day, as they can kick it up a notch to wish a happy birthday to Emeril Lagasse. Bam!
Monday, September 24, 2012
Punctuation Day. Period.
After this weekend, autumn is officially upon us (it began on Saturday),
so prepare for lots of Fall-related Reports. Decorative Gourd's are
already popping-up in grocery stores, so it can only be a matter of
time...
But first, a disgruntled and impatient reader sent me an e-mail earlier this morning alerting me that today is National Punctuation Day. This reader had some choice uses for punctuation marks, which I won't repeat here for the sake of decency. But (and I'm sure this won't be good for keeping his ego at a reasonable level) he has influenced the Report for the day. I am, after all, a Technical Editor by trade. My missing Punctuation Day would be like an elf not celebrating Christmas.
To celebrate this glorious grammarian day, here are some useful and comical pointers on punctuation use. First up, some classics from The Oatmeal on "How To Use an Apostrophe" and "How To Use a Semicolon." The grammar lessons of middle school would have been so much more interesting with these examples. These, of course, are two mysterious pieces of punctuation that are often the subject of question, self-doubt, and second guessing. Another piece of punctuation, used in the last sentence, is a subject of much debate: The Oxford Comma (also known as the serial comma).
The Oxford Comma, most famous for its title role in a Vampire Weekend song, is a contentious piece of punctuation. In fact, the first question of my interview for my current position asked how I felt about the Oxford Comma. If it is unclear by my consistent use of it in the Report, I'm for it, just as the sandwich club is for frilly toothpicks. Others are opposed. The New York Times, for instance, doesn't use them. Some argue that maintaining use of the Oxford Comma is simply being a slave to historic grammatical convention, just like the type-writer imposed two spaces after a period that is not relevant in a computer-font world. This, as NPR's blogger Linda Holmes observes, is not the case. As you can see from this comic, the Oxford Comma is fundamentally important in reducing ambiguity. Please embrace it. Or respond with a compelling argument for the opposition.
Along with celebrating the Oxford Comma and other pieces of punctuation, there are numerous options for birthday celebrations of note. Readers could...
But first, a disgruntled and impatient reader sent me an e-mail earlier this morning alerting me that today is National Punctuation Day. This reader had some choice uses for punctuation marks, which I won't repeat here for the sake of decency. But (and I'm sure this won't be good for keeping his ego at a reasonable level) he has influenced the Report for the day. I am, after all, a Technical Editor by trade. My missing Punctuation Day would be like an elf not celebrating Christmas.
To celebrate this glorious grammarian day, here are some useful and comical pointers on punctuation use. First up, some classics from The Oatmeal on "How To Use an Apostrophe" and "How To Use a Semicolon." The grammar lessons of middle school would have been so much more interesting with these examples. These, of course, are two mysterious pieces of punctuation that are often the subject of question, self-doubt, and second guessing. Another piece of punctuation, used in the last sentence, is a subject of much debate: The Oxford Comma (also known as the serial comma).
The Oxford Comma, most famous for its title role in a Vampire Weekend song, is a contentious piece of punctuation. In fact, the first question of my interview for my current position asked how I felt about the Oxford Comma. If it is unclear by my consistent use of it in the Report, I'm for it, just as the sandwich club is for frilly toothpicks. Others are opposed. The New York Times, for instance, doesn't use them. Some argue that maintaining use of the Oxford Comma is simply being a slave to historic grammatical convention, just like the type-writer imposed two spaces after a period that is not relevant in a computer-font world. This, as NPR's blogger Linda Holmes observes, is not the case. As you can see from this comic, the Oxford Comma is fundamentally important in reducing ambiguity. Please embrace it. Or respond with a compelling argument for the opposition.
Along with celebrating the Oxford Comma and other pieces of punctuation, there are numerous options for birthday celebrations of note. Readers could...
- Have a Coke and a Smile for Mean Joe Greene;
- Play the music and light the lights for Jim Henson; or
- Believe in the green light for F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Travel By Balloon!
Originally, I had planned for today to involve a movie poster follow-up
to yesterday's book cover bonanza. However, webcomic xkcd intervened
with a piece of elaborate brilliance that has detoured the original
plans. xkcd's most recent entry
initially appears to simply be one of the comic's more sad, reflective
pieces, presenting a big, sad, wonderful world. It's only when you
follow the piece's title and mouse-over suggestion that you get a sense
for how big the world that the balloonist refers to really is. The
comic is some sort of TARDIS/House of Leaves madness, featuring a panel
bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Much bigger. Estimated
to be 14 feet bigger.
And while I encourage you to click and drag your way around the world
at the original site, I acknowledge that we all have things to
accomplish today. So, consider saving time with this zoomable version of the piece. Or, if you really want to see what's cool, but really don't want to click around, Mashable has put together a slideshow of the comic's highlights.
The pop-culture references are great, particularly the Pokemon and
Oregon Trail shoutouts. My favorite parts, though, are the whale and
the tire swing.
Not all balloons are ideal for travel, though. Some are dangerous and demonic. Presented without further comment, Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film Billy's Balloon.
Spend some time today considering all the different sounds that result when two "o's" are next to each other. It's Moon Bloodgood's birthday!
I wonder where I'll float next...
Not all balloons are ideal for travel, though. Some are dangerous and demonic. Presented without further comment, Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film Billy's Balloon.
Spend some time today considering all the different sounds that result when two "o's" are next to each other. It's Moon Bloodgood's birthday!
I wonder where I'll float next...
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By Its Cover
Ahoy, and happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!
In today's Report we venture away from the aww-inspiring world of cute animals to tackle more literary concerns. Don't worry, though, we're not going to get too deep into books here. In fact, we won't go any further than the cover.
First up, an entertaining post on a blog run for and by parents (not sure how I ended up there...) features a slideshow in which a mother shares book covers with her six-year-old daughter. The six-year-old then offers her summary of the contents that the book must contain based on the cover and title. Some of the quotes read true to the contents in a vague and poetic way. Gatsby is, indeed, "good and evil and he's trying to get rid of the ghosts." "It doesn't really have a story" rings true for Catcher. Others miss the mark entirely. But how awesome would a prospecting Jane Eyre be? And "a blob of purple that lives in [a] house"? Please don't read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to your "kiddies." I'm also hoping the mother in question corrected her daughter's comment, "I would not read a book about just a tree."
It should come as no surprise to readers that book covers hold such an influence on opinion. If they didn't, where would we get our overused cliché? Perhaps no one knows this quite as well as cover designer (and novelist) Chip Kidd, seen here giving a humorous TED talk about book cover design. Kidd is yet another name you may not recognize whose work you definitely know. (Covers for Jurassic Park, The Road, 1Q84...) And yet he actually downplays the cliché, having said: "I'm very much against the idea that the cover will sell the book. Marketing departments of publishing houses tend to latch onto this concept and they can't let go. But it's about whether the book itself really connects with the public, and the cover is only a small part of that." And in a world of online book buying and tiny-covered e-books, he may be onto something. But I still love my McSweeney's editions of books for the brilliant visual and tactile design of the physical books themselves.
Along with talking like pirates, we wish a happy birthday to Jimmy Fallon today. No doubt whatever song we sing to wish him a happy birthday will be parodied by him shortly thereafter.
In today's Report we venture away from the aww-inspiring world of cute animals to tackle more literary concerns. Don't worry, though, we're not going to get too deep into books here. In fact, we won't go any further than the cover.
First up, an entertaining post on a blog run for and by parents (not sure how I ended up there...) features a slideshow in which a mother shares book covers with her six-year-old daughter. The six-year-old then offers her summary of the contents that the book must contain based on the cover and title. Some of the quotes read true to the contents in a vague and poetic way. Gatsby is, indeed, "good and evil and he's trying to get rid of the ghosts." "It doesn't really have a story" rings true for Catcher. Others miss the mark entirely. But how awesome would a prospecting Jane Eyre be? And "a blob of purple that lives in [a] house"? Please don't read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to your "kiddies." I'm also hoping the mother in question corrected her daughter's comment, "I would not read a book about just a tree."
It should come as no surprise to readers that book covers hold such an influence on opinion. If they didn't, where would we get our overused cliché? Perhaps no one knows this quite as well as cover designer (and novelist) Chip Kidd, seen here giving a humorous TED talk about book cover design. Kidd is yet another name you may not recognize whose work you definitely know. (Covers for Jurassic Park, The Road, 1Q84...) And yet he actually downplays the cliché, having said: "I'm very much against the idea that the cover will sell the book. Marketing departments of publishing houses tend to latch onto this concept and they can't let go. But it's about whether the book itself really connects with the public, and the cover is only a small part of that." And in a world of online book buying and tiny-covered e-books, he may be onto something. But I still love my McSweeney's editions of books for the brilliant visual and tactile design of the physical books themselves.
Along with talking like pirates, we wish a happy birthday to Jimmy Fallon today. No doubt whatever song we sing to wish him a happy birthday will be parodied by him shortly thereafter.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
A Return to A(www)nimals
So, the report's been back for a week now, and largely in its morning
time slot, too, for those of you time-stamp-checkers out there. But the
Report 2.0 (MacKenzie
McHale stands by as I write this) has been notably devoid of a
traditional Report fixture. Specifically, there have been no cute
animals! Let's correct this now.
First
up, while we've technically harkened in the beginning of Fall, the
weather, at least here in DC, is still just perfect for lounging out in
the sun. And these 20 animals
know how to lounge. From ferret to chapeau-ed guinea pigs, there's a
whole lot of adorable going on here. I'm not too keen on Rowlf being
listed, as he is technically a muppet and not an animal. Much as I know
he must smell, the ferret in 10 is my favorite, although look how smiley
that corgi is!
And if that's not enough (and we've been gone for a while, so it's not), BuzzFeed has also put together this incredible compendium of cute.
And they've made it into a test to see how far you can get without
squealing. I must admit, I didn't actually squeal. I don't know that
I'm capable of making such a noise. Though it was somewhere around 12
or 15 that I took a deep intake of breath and felt my heart warm. A dog
sleeping in food?! That would be great served up with the cup of ducks
in 22. And I'll be hard pressed to remember that all the chocolate in
my house would kill him if 36 shows up at my door on Halloween.
And
to wrap things up for the day... A wonderful blend of adorable animal
and human interest. Last Friday we talked about the Internet's ability
to educate, not just serve as a place for time wasting. Today, let's
also consider just a single example of the social outreach angle of the
Internet. A whole world wide web of dog treats was available for Bingo's Lick It List.
And certainly a bitter reader could argue that there are more worthy
causes than Bingo, and I would be foolish not to agree with them. But
to Cole, whose life Bingo has saved many times, I don't think that is
the case. And without the Internet, I don't believe that the Bingo Hein
Fund would have taken off. If we can spread charity as we spread
knowledge, that's damn good.
Closing with the animal theme, throw your lion monarch brother off a cliff and then declare to his son, "I KILLED MUFASA," it's Jeremy Irons' birthday! That's right, classically trained, Academy Award winning actor with an incredible range of live-action roles, I'm calling you out for being an animated lion.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
ReKindling the Readership
I mentioned and linked at length yesterday to Michael Chabon's work,
which I have just spent the summer reading. I am proud to own copies of
all his books, many of them signed by the author, whom I have met twice
and will see several more times on his book tour this fall for Telegraph Avenue, but whom I am not stalking,
contrary to what some people may say. Of course, I read all of these
books in their physical form, rather than on a Kindle or iPad (which I
do not own, but would be open to receiving as a gift). A special
preview of Telegraph Avenue, however, nearly led me to purchase the book in that format, as a special edition of the book exists with accompanying audio tracks,
images, videos, and so on. However, thanks to the thoughtful gift of a
friend, I do not have to make this decision, and a beautiful copy of
the book is sitting all shiny nearby as I write this. Which is good,
because now when Chabon signs it later this month, I don't have to worry
about rendering it useless. (Seriously, GoogleImages? Nothing for
this? Has no one's toddler written on their Kindle screen?)
But it got me thinking... When is a book no longer a book? I recently discussed the flexibility of novels with a friend, wondering if there was a difference anymore between a collection of interwoven short stories and a novel. Faulkner's Go Down, Moses seems to straddle the line. But I don't just mean novels, I mean books in general. When we can click and watch a movie, listen to a song, hear a sample from the audiobook... Are we still experiencing books? It's an interesting transition, from the written page to the written retina-display touch-screen with special interactive features.
Even more interesting, though, are the two transitions from e-book to print that I found today. The first is a print-on-demand art book, which collects 56 images of broken kindle screens and reproduces them in print. While certainly cheaper than purchasing and breaking 56 original Kindles, I'm confused as to why anyone would buy this. It calls to mind the title of another print book sitting on my couch right now... But Is It Art? Perhaps the knowing smile and partial face of Agatha Christie knows the answer to that mystery...
More impressive, I think, is the project that aims to explain the modern e-book to a member of the analog past. It's the 19th-Century Kindle for Charles Dickens! Normally, I would be opposed to someone gutting a book, but this is so freaking cool. And it created a bunch more little books to make up for taking apart old ones. Though I have to imagine those little ones are abridged.
As an exciting piece of news today, the trailer for this November's film Lincoln premieres later today. While this is not the movie I'm most looking forward to this Fall (Looper and Cloud Atlas and The Master are fighting for top billing there), I'm intrigued by the trailer, if only to see the great double-named Daniel Day-Lewis transform into another amazing role. You can't see the preview until 7:00 tonight, but there is some leaked footage of Day-Lewis here. Okay... Maybe not. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Mr. Method-Actor spent months of preparation actually installed in Disney's Hall of Presidents, replacing the existing audio-animatronic.
Wikipedia tells me it's International Chocolate Day. Act accordingly.
But it got me thinking... When is a book no longer a book? I recently discussed the flexibility of novels with a friend, wondering if there was a difference anymore between a collection of interwoven short stories and a novel. Faulkner's Go Down, Moses seems to straddle the line. But I don't just mean novels, I mean books in general. When we can click and watch a movie, listen to a song, hear a sample from the audiobook... Are we still experiencing books? It's an interesting transition, from the written page to the written retina-display touch-screen with special interactive features.
Even more interesting, though, are the two transitions from e-book to print that I found today. The first is a print-on-demand art book, which collects 56 images of broken kindle screens and reproduces them in print. While certainly cheaper than purchasing and breaking 56 original Kindles, I'm confused as to why anyone would buy this. It calls to mind the title of another print book sitting on my couch right now... But Is It Art? Perhaps the knowing smile and partial face of Agatha Christie knows the answer to that mystery...
More impressive, I think, is the project that aims to explain the modern e-book to a member of the analog past. It's the 19th-Century Kindle for Charles Dickens! Normally, I would be opposed to someone gutting a book, but this is so freaking cool. And it created a bunch more little books to make up for taking apart old ones. Though I have to imagine those little ones are abridged.
As an exciting piece of news today, the trailer for this November's film Lincoln premieres later today. While this is not the movie I'm most looking forward to this Fall (Looper and Cloud Atlas and The Master are fighting for top billing there), I'm intrigued by the trailer, if only to see the great double-named Daniel Day-Lewis transform into another amazing role. You can't see the preview until 7:00 tonight, but there is some leaked footage of Day-Lewis here. Okay... Maybe not. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Mr. Method-Actor spent months of preparation actually installed in Disney's Hall of Presidents, replacing the existing audio-animatronic.
Wikipedia tells me it's International Chocolate Day. Act accordingly.
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