Maketh with the boring-th

This makes me worry for Sydney. Our city is too caught up in faddishness rather than creativity, and safety rather than aesthetic risk to do this well. Witness the rise of leggings, spreading like a black lycra rash across the thighs of Sydney's women... The design of bars is the same. Sydney spent a decade stripping pubs back to generic stainless steel.

[...]

"For too long Melbourne was known as Australia's second city, but it has finally emerged from Sydney's shadow to become the cultural - or perhaps countercultural - centre of the Antipodes." Cop that, Sydney.

[...]

There was a time when I thought being a wanker was the worst thing possible. I have changed my mind. When we criticise wankers, we encourage conformity, safety and boredom.

-- Lisa Pyror If the Clothes Maketh the city, Sydney is still a pinstriped suit.

I feel validated.

memo to self.

if you ever make a buddy show (tv or movie) call the characters gen and eric.

Seeing the director’s point of view

The names of [television[ scriptwriters – Dennis Potter, Jimmy McGovern, Russell T. Davies – may come easily, but what of the directors? People such as Anthony Minghella and Paul Greengrass may spring to mind but they, like Ken Loach and Mike Leigh before them, achieved much of their fame after leaving TV to make films for the big screen. Those directors who choose or are chosen to work in TV traditionally have had to accept that they will not be as lauded, and definitely will not be as well paid, as their big-screen counterparts.

[...]

Asked if, similarly, the importance of the director in the TV world is generally understated, he replies: “Yes. All the time.”

-- Seeing the Director's Point of View

Lightweight, if mildly interesting article on the role of directors in television.

Framing feedback

When my boss got to the weakness section of the review he had already won me over with his insight, so I listened attentively. He told me that I needed to be more discreet when I want to disagree with him. And he gave me examples of ways that I had disagreed with him over the past year, and ways that I could have done it without publicly undermining him. He also explained to me how to make sure that people don’t do that to me, their manager, now that they have seen me do it to my manager. In ways like this, my boss let me know that he really wanted me to succeed, and he was going to help me to make sure it happened.

-- from How to Give a Good Performance Review at Penelope Trunk's Blow

Its a great article overall... but the notion of (re)framing negative feedback so its intention is to show "how to succeed" rather than showing "how you failed" really struck me. I've been using it every since and can't wait to try it on some actors. Seriously. As a director, your job isn't to point out mistakes to actors, its to lead them to success.

Editing is bad for you

When I taught editing a few years ago I sometimes saw the bodies of students change. Their minds and skill sets expanded — but their bodies did, too. And it isn’t just happening to students. Too often, the job just isn’t good for you.

-- The Editing Room and the Waistline

Oh yes. I'm with Walter Murch: stand up desks are fantastic.

I used one throughout the 5 months I was on Hp5. I'm now upstairs in the light, but I'm sitting down. Now, I feel worse at the end of every day than I did before. One unspoken advantage of stand up desks is that everyone talks to you face-to-face at an even level. I love it.

gosh i really am an ubernerd

Besides providing you with the sheer thrill of being a Jedi badass, Jedi Outcast manages to take you to a bunch of great Star Wars locales. Some are familiar like Yavin and Bespin, others are unique to the game but still feel like Star Wars. The voice acting is solid and the plot is good by admittedly low FPS standards.

That's an extract from an article on STAR WARS GAMES that I wrote nearly 3 years ago. I did pages 3 and 4. I am jack's lack of editing.

Wow. Is there anything more ubernerdy than writing an article on retro star wars gaming on the mac?

I shouldn't admit that in public, right?

(The funny thing is that I actually think Star Wars is far more interesting as a gaming environment than as a story telling one. Evidently, George Lucas did too -- which is why he gave us the oh-god-what-a-waste prequels and godawful action set pieces. In the wake of Battlestar Galactica, the Star Wars TV series is just going to be dull, uninspired and cowardly in comparison).