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[Via EW-AusielloFiles]
Category Archives: Video
Director Christopher Nolan talks with dream experts in preparation for ‘Inception’
So I just got back from the midnight screening of Inception and I’ve been trying to come up with the best words to describe it. It’s a brilliant, well thought out, and visually impressive film that will surely make you think. It’s better if you go into the film knowing the least amount of plot detail, so I will keep it at that for now. From all of the trailers released you must know that the movie focuses on dreams and dream states. Director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) conducted intensive research during the making of the film so as to make the foundational theories behind it believably sound. The video above is a breif albeit stimulating glimpse into Nolan’s research. Note: There are no spoilers contained in this video, just talk about dreams, REM sleep, and so on. The really good mind-bendy stuff comes in at 3:35. (And no, that is not Sarah Palin contrary to popular belief.)
[Thanks @timmyjoe]
Trailer: The Social Network
When the first teaser for The Social Network hit the web I said this: “I have to say that this teaser is rather bland; it has not piqued my interest in the least to want to see this movie, and that’s what trailers are supposed to do.” Another teaser trailer (look after the break) and standard theatrical trailer later, and I’m sold. The Social Network, from director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin, will chronicle the rise of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Though this trailer contains much of the dialogue we’ve already heard in the two teasers, we finally get to put some faces to the words and everything just seems to work. I really like the way the studio is marketing the flick as a dark(ish) tale of greed and business opportunity that pushes those involved to their limits. And that fantastic rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” is the sweet cherry on top. The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Andrew Garfield, and Rashida Jones and releases on October 1.
[Via TrailerAddict] Continue reading Trailer: The Social Network
Trailer #2: Machete
After releasing an “illegal” trailer back in mid-May, director Robert Rodriquez (and backing studio 20th Century Fox) approved this theatrical trailer for his upcoming bloody, over-the-top revenge fest Machete. Watch as star Danny Trejo cuts his way through enemies with assistence from Cheech Marin, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Jeff Fahey, Don Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, and Rose McGowan. Lindsay Lohan, who was included in the first trailer dressed as a nun, is noticably absent here. Here’s a nice synopsis for you:
Machete is a Mexican ex-Federale with a gift for wielding a blade, who hides out as a day laborer, who is double-crossed by a corrupt state senator. The feature version of the trailer finds Machete (Trejo) a renegade former Mexican Federale, roaming the streets of Texas after a shakedown from drug lord Torrez (Seagal). Reluctantly, Machete takes an offer from spin doctor Benz (Fahey) to assassinate McLaughlin (De Niro) a corrupt Senator. Double crossed and on the run Machete braves the odds with the help of Luz (Rodriguez), a saucy taco slinger, Padre (Marin) his “holy” brother, and April (Lohan) a socialite with a penchant for guns. All while being tracked by Sartana (Alba), a sexy ICE agent with a special interest in the blade slinger.
Machete opens September 3, 2010.
[Via Collider]
Music video: Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) – “Crossfire”
Nine years after forming the alt-rock band The Killers, lead vocalist Brandon Flowers has decided to try it solo. The album is called Flamingo and it’s due out September 14. The first single “Crossfire” was released on June 21. One helleva awesome music video was made for it earlier this month and it’s embedded for your viewing pleasure above. In it Flowers finds himself in many situations where he’s held captive by ninjas. And every time the sexy Charlize Theron is there to rescue him. The music video was shot beautifully (thanks to direction from Nash Edgerton) and the combat choreography is really impressive. And oh yeah, Flowers sounds great. Something tells me he’ll do just fine ridin’ solo. Peek after the break for a quick behind-the-scenes look at the making of the video. Continue reading Music video: Brandon Flowers (of The Killers) — “Crossfire”
Behind the scenes with Mr Hudson
Just last week UK artist Mr Hudson finally dropped his debut solo album Straight No Chaser in the U.S. On his YouTube page Hudson posted a number of behind-the-scenes featurettes that show how much effort he put into making the record. I embedded my favorite video above; it’s a peek at how the killer track “Time” was constructed. The video shows how frustration can be turned into a fine work of art with some hard work and perseverence. Watching Hudson figure out the song’s skeleton on the piano and then peering into the studio to see him listen to a mastered version of it is quite satisfying. Look after the break for the making of “Anyone But Him” and “Everything Is Broken”, with appearences by Kanye West and Kid Cudi, respectively. And if you haven’t downloaded the album yet, get it here.
[Via YouTube] Continue reading Behind the scenes with Mr Hudson
Music video: Bethany Cosentino, Rostam Batmanglij & Kid Cudi – “All Summer”
Converse (yes, the sneaker company) brought together Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend, and rapper Kid Cudi to create a collab track for their “Three Artists, One Song” campaign. The song was released first (download it here), and a fun music video followed (watch above). The song matches our current season pretty well, what with its upbeat tempo and catchy verses. Say, don’t those papercraft heads look mighty familiar?
[Via DatNewCudi]
Robot responds to “beer me” phrase by–you guessed it–fetching you a beer
The hacker boys of Willow Garage put their minds together to make the coolest robot ever–one that can fetch and serve you beer. The PR2 robot responds to a web application called Beer Me. Let’s come up with a situation… It’s the Super Bowl and you and the fellas want a batch of fresh cold beers from the back fridge. You, the host of the party, will hop onto the nearest computer and run the Beer Me web app. In it you can access a pull-down menu and specify the exact type of beer everyone wants. Once the order is set, clicking the Beer Me button will activate the PR2 robot to fetch the beers for you. The robot will navigate your house, identify the fridge, open its door, scan the racks for the beer, grab and place the beers onto a four-holed foam block (that’s located behind the robot’s base navigation laser), close the fridge door, and report back to you with the drinks. (Note: If your type of beer is out of stock, the robot will notify the web app so you know to make a beer run.) Now it’s time for the handoff. The robot uses facial recognition to detect when a face is in close proximity so that beers are not dropped; in fact, PR2 will not let go of its death grip on the bottle until a face is detected. After you take your drink, the robot will whip out a bottle opener; you have the option to take it to open the beer yourself, or the robot can do it for you. Mind blown yet? See it all happen in the “OMG”-inducing video above. I want one.
[Via Engadget; WillowGarage]
Digital eyedropper “slurps” data from computer to computer, computer to speakers (incredible!)
MIT Lab’s Jamie Zigelbaum, Adam Kumpf, Alejandro Vazquez, and Hiroshi Ishii have come up with one of the most brilliant ideas I have ever seen. It’s one of those things you dream about or see in movies and think this will never exist in real life. Well it’s real alright, it’s called Slurp, and it works like this:
Slurp is tangible interface for manipulating abstract digital information as if it were water. Taking the form of an eyedropper, Slurp can extract (slurp up) and inject (squirt out) pointers to digital objects. We have created Slurp to explore the use of physical metaphor, feedback, and affordances in tangible interface design when working with abstract digital media types. Our goal is to privilege spatial relationships between devices and people while providing new physical manipulation techniques for ubiquitous computing environments.
You’ve got to see it to believe it, so go ahead and watch the too brief a demo in the video above. Do you see that?? You can point an eyedropper at your computer screen, suck up specific data (like a folder), and spit it onto another computer. Sure, it works similarly to transferring files to and from a PC with a USB thumb drive, but where’s the fun and magic in that? And here’s something a USB drive can’t do: suck up an MP3 and spit it into a set of speakers and get instant feedback! It also vibrates and displays light to indicate its current state of use. Are you super interested in learning more about Slurp? Look after the break to watch two more videos; one is another short demonstration and the other is ten minute presentation that details the magical eyedropper. Check out the gallery below for a closer look at it.
The Invisible Mouse
Pranav Mistry of MIT Media Lab has invented an invisible mouse he calls “Mouseless.” By combining an infrared (IR) laser beam and an IR camera inside the side of a laptop, software can detect and track your hand movement atop of a flat surface and convert it into on-screen mouse movement, left/right clicks, and pinch/scroll gestures. Want to get a bit more technical?
The laser beam module is modified with a line cap and placed such that it creates a plane of IR laser just above the surface the computer sits on. The user cups their hand, as if a physical mouse was present underneath, and the laser beam lights up the hand which is in contact with the surface. The IR camera detects those bright IR blobs using computer vision. The change in the position and arrangements of these blobs are interpreted as mouse cursor movement and mouse clicks. As the user moves their hand the cursor on screen moves accordingly. When the user taps their index finger, the size of the blob changes and the camera recognizes the intended mouse click.
It’s pretty incredible. The protoype costs a mere $20, so if this technology were to be picked up by a major manufacturer I’m sure it would be a simple addition. See it in action in the video above. And check out some relevant stills in the gallery below.
[Via Gizmodo; YouTube; pranavmistry]
Bina48 is an advanced humanoid robot with OK conversation skills
Meet Bina48. She’s It’s a body-less robot that manages to exhibit some compelling advancements that will surely lead to Judgement Day, but also reassures us that J-Day isn’t coming anytime soon. Bina48 was created by David Hanson of Hanson Robotics and it’s based on a real life person named Bina Rothblatt. Though the robot is pretty adept at answering simple questions (like any chatbot it can scour the Internet for relevant information), what’s most exciting (and rather frightening) is it’s eye movement and facial expressions and reactions. It seemed distracted when the NYT reporter asked it questions, but when the answers did come I was impressed. Watch the robot-human conversation go down in the video above. And let’s all pray to our respective saviors that Moore’s law doesn’t apply to humanoid robotics. Ah crap it does.
BlackBerry pushes out (another) sneak peek at 6
Today BlackBerry posted a new video on YouTube that gives us another glimpse into their latest mobile operating system called BlackBerry 6. New features like social network integration (with Social Feeds that support simultaneous postings on sites like Facebook and Twitter), universal search, an enhanced media interface, and the brand new WebKit-based browser (with pinch/zoom functionality) are teased in the breif video embedded above. It all looks pretty great BlackBerry, but I want to see it in action on a sleek, new Blackberry device. Let’s release this thing already! Oh, and as Engadget points out, it’s worth nothing that the first two sneak peek videos of BB 6 feature a UI that’s make specifically for a full touchscreen device. One wonders how BlackBerry intends to morph the new touch-friendly UI into one that’ll work on a smaller device that sports a physical keyboard–the very form factor that the company is so famous for.
[Via Engadget]