Freyburg

When I first saw the video features on the iPhone 3GS, I was at best mildly interested. I already have a Flip Cam, and with a year or more left on my iPhone 3G contract, I wasn’t about to go out and score a new phone. But Hand Held Hollywood almost makes me want to go out and get a 3GS, just to pull off what these guys are doing. The blog posts periodic updates about all the different apps available for the iPhone to make the lives of filmmakers easier, and it not only looks great but is pretty damn informative about some of the great production tools available via the iPhone.

In fact, this blog makes me want to dig out the Flip Cam and start doing some quick and dirty Freyburg-centric content soon, given enough time. Maybe our upcoming trip to Japan and China will be fodder for some vlogging.

Charlie Brooker, best known for the brilliant Screenwipe series on UK television, is also a scowling mendicant within the pages of the Guardian. Uusually he comments on the media, but this week’s column focuses on the zealotry of Mac users (he hates them) and the idiocy of MIcrosoft’s upcoming Windows 7 “launch parties”. Brooker not only admits that he’s a glutton for punishment by continuing to use Windows, but that any company that comes up with ridiculous infomercials starring Z-grade actors to promote their operating system is to be both mocked and feared. Whether you’re a PC user or a Mac fanatic, this is an entertaining read.

This week’s Miniscope saw an appearance by Chris Boucher, best known not only for his scripts for Robots of Death, The Face of Evil and Image of the Fendahl, but also for writing for Blake’s 7 (acting as script editor for the show from 1978 to 1981) and Star Cops and….his segment consisted of six minutes. The remaining time was filled with the trademarked digressionary banter known and tolerated by RFS fandom, ranging from a list of Gallifrey 2010’s many exciting panels to the strange character known as “Itchy Spider-man.”

Because movies tell stories, and 3D is at best a sideshow, according to Cory Doctorow in his latest Guardian column. I’m inclined to agree. 3D is touted as cinema’s saviour, bringing audiences back to the theatre and away from video games and home theatres….but without a story to back it up, which is usually best told in regular 2D, you aren’t going to see people sticking around. James Cameron’s Avatar and other upcoming films may prove me wrong, but I doubt it.

Simply put, it’s a lot smarter than American news outlets, and comes close to rivalling the BBC World Service in quality. I’ve personally found that I’m getting more and more of my news from Al Jazeera English, particularly their iPhone app, which lets me watch a live stream of the channel from anywhere I’d like, as well as using Livestation on my PC.

But don’t take my word for it, read Robert D. Kaplan’s article in the Atlantic. Kaplan not only points out that Al Jazeera English has the hustle for scoops that other international news gatherers seem to lack, they’re also a unique window into the attitudes of the developing world’s emerging middle class.