Happy almost birthday to me! I just picked up a 1st edition copy of The Stanley Kubrick Archives, an incredible book by Taschen. It is the definitive study of the director, compiled by Alison Castle and his wife Christiane. The notable feature of the first printing is an actual strip of 12 frames from a 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey from Kubrick's personal archives. What you see to the right is my 1/2 a second of 2001 — part of the Jupiter and beyond the infinite sequence — 2:05:33 into the movie. Below are some photos I took after I did some (literally) heavy reading about The Shining...


The Cover. This book weighs 13 pounds and is 11x17 inches in size.


Part 1 is wonderful enlargements of his films, sourced from archival prints. The quality is incredible, and some frames fill an entire page. There is no text at all through this entire section - the films speak for themselves.


Another shot from Part 1.


Colour-coded tabs so you can easily navigate the book.


Part 2 goes in depth into each film with production notes, storyboards, behind the scenes photos and reviews.


Part 2 detail for 2001: A Space Odyssey.

This book will take me a long time to dig through. Worth every penny of the purchase price, especially with the little 1/2 second piece of one of my all-time favourite films.

And now a song from one of my all-time favourite soundtracks...

Theme from A Clockwork Orange (Beethoviana) by Wendy Carlos

Alice is a film that really stuck in my mind. TVOntario (I believe) would play this film late at night from time to time in the early nineties. It just popped into my head again this past weekend. Mixing stop-motion animation and live action, there is some exceptional imagery -- both artistic and somewhat disturbing. This is a dark take of Alice in Wonderland, but true to Carroll's story and text.

The film is by Jan Svankmajer, a Czech animator who is truly a master of understanding realistic, natural motion. You'll notice touches like a character stopping to pick an individual bit of lint, hair or something from an object they are examining; the White Rabbit getting dressed and spending time to make sure his gloves are on well by putting his index finger between digits and then folding his hands together. Despite the obvious bizarre visuals, the characters are well put together and this makes the film compelling.

Some screengrabs from the DVD:

Alice, the only actor in the film

The stuffed and mounted White Rabbit

Alice is the narrator as well, so every time another character speaks, her lips come on the screen to declare, for instance, "said the March Hare"

 

The Caterpillar. Yes, it is a sock.

The Mad Hatter. Man does he want a clean cup!

 

The DVD is fairly unremarkable, but includes the original english dub I remember (note: this is the only audio track). It also includes a later short film by Svankmajer, "Darkness Light Darkness". I highly recommend Alice!

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As an aside, today was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The song below should let you know what you missed.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me) (Listen here, ya scallywag!)

PS - I travelled back in time to make this blog entry. Cool, eh?

My iPod spends a decent amount of time plugged into my laptop. Wouldn't it be cool if you could use it as a iTunes remote? All the buttons are there afterall - the clickwheel could even control the playback volume.

Actually, now that I think of it, the iPod could be a pretty decent input device in general. It would make a good scrub wheel for Final Cut or Flash development, or for scrolling large documents (and paging through them too).

Hey Apple, add this to your next firmware update will ya?

Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown

I visited my parents today, so I also thought it would be good to visit my first car, which currently lives in their garage.

It's a 1974 Deluxe Standard Beetle ("Deluxe" refers to the rear window defroster) that we purchased shockingly 9 years ago. Even though I only drive it once every 4-6 months or so at this point, it always starts on the second try and toodles along quite well. I've maintained the engine myself and it's a generally reliable car... now. When I first bought it, it seemed to need new parts every few days and notoriously stalled and required the kindness of strangers to push start it from time to time. This hasn't happened for years... but it happened today.

My Dad and I took the old bug out to pick up some lunch. Enjoyed seeing some kids stop dead in their tracks to watch us drive past and got to a plaza nearby without incident. After we got the food and came out, the car wouldn't start. No click. Nothing.

What to do? Push start.

My Dad got out, so I could work the clutch and he started pushing. After a couple of tries I popped the clutch and had the car running. Unfortunately, at precisely the same time, my Dad pulled a tendon in his leg. Possibly unrelated, but man do I feel guilty. My old car has been sent to its room to think about what it's done.

On my way home, I took nothing but back roads. While gliding along a deserted stretch of road near Bradford, going slightly faster than the posted limit, I was listening to the following song. Made for a lovely Sunday afternoon drive.

Glad by Traffic

As Jim pointed out in his comments on my blog about Vaughan Mills, I did leave out some detail.

I drove all the way up there to look for this:



That bizarre thing is a speakerphone. Well, it makes any phone into a speakerphone. Its chrome lips move synchronized to the voice of the person you're talking to. We were recently at another mall and discovered this discontinued product for sale for a whopping $4.88. Jim, asking "is that seriously $4.88?!" ended up purchasing the last one in the store. Later on, we hooked it up to a set of headphones and an iPod and it lip synched an amazing (and possibly funniest ever) rendition of Hot in Herre.

Anyway, after seeing that I decided that for $4.88, it was worth seeking out more of these things. Struck out at one mall, but it was suggested that I try Vaughan Mills. The store up there had 2 of them, so now I have 2 of them.

BTW: There is a funny write-up of the lip talkers at Gizmodo.

Hot in Herre by Nelly

Thanks.

(seriously though, if anyone knows where one might purchase a Herman Miller / Eames Sofa Compact in the Greater Toronto Area, please email me!)

Took a drive up to the new(ish) Vaughan Mills shopping centre north of Toronto this past weekend. That is one big mall. One lap of the place (without entering stores) takes about an hour.

While I was there, I thought I would do a little bit of clothes shopping. Something I generally loathe doing, but Labour Day sales were on... so what the hell. I bought some cargo pants and a couple of t-shirts at Old Navy without incident. The stuff is cheap and cheaply made there, and is a known brand in my wardrobe now - so I can just grab something and know it will fit. On my way out of the mall, I stopped in at H&M. I really like the clothes they sell, and have bought a corduroy jacket there in the past. Never considered pants... and good thing too. I found a pair of cords in my size (and only $29) and decided to try them on. I couldn't get them over my ass! Now, granted I've gained weight in the last year, but I am still a 33x34 pant size. The pants did have a slim cut, but I've never encountered this before. I'm very disappointed. I suppose I will have to regain my waiflike / near hospitalization figure to wear H&M trousers.

You knew I was going to include this as song of the day...

Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot

PS - anyone notice this song is being used (with revised lyrics - "I like backpacks and I cannot lie") for a Target back to school ad? Strange.