Would You Like to Microsize That for 39¢?


    The above image is a microscopic view of St Pauli Girl beer, taken from a site called Microscopy. (It was the Martin Sargent’s “Site of the Nite” for Tech TV on April 28, but I only learned about it today.)
    Researchers at Florida State University have taken “photomicrographs” of various objects and elements. As it turns out, they’ve documented many foods; so, for our purposes here, we can arrange these into the various courses of an informal meal.
    For starters, why not a cocktail or two? Then we can dig into our burger and fries with some vegetables on the side.
    For our beverages we have beer or wine — or perhaps you’d prefer a soft drink.
    Then, for dessert, there’s ice cream.
    Not only is that very filling, it’s also quite colorful.
    By the way, they’ve compiled a much more detailed list of beers from around the world. And you can also peruse their full list of photo galleries.
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Let Bartlet Be Bartlet

    A couple weeks ago I first heard the rumblings that Warner Bros had complaints with the budget overruns on The West Wing. And now the worst has happened. According to several news sources, it was announced today that Aaron Sorkin, the show’s creator and writer, is leaving the show, alongside producer/director Thomas Schlamme. The series will continue to be produced by John Wells, who also oversees ER and Third Watch.
    As a long time fan of the show, this can’t be anything but terrible news. Aaron Sorkin was such a pivotal force behind the show that his leaving will definitely hurt it. Of course, John Wells can continue to put the show together, and will do so ably; but it was Sorkin who was the series’s distinctive voice. It’s easy to spot those few episodes Sorkin did not write, with their forced humor and fake fast-talking and clichéd situations. Sorkin’s episodes had a spark to them — wry, intelligent, lively, with lines that practically danced and soared — that not only stood head and shoulders above those lesser attempts but also made other dramas pale as well.
    And to think Warners let that get away.
    I can imagine the show continuing, I can imagine me watching it, but I doubt it will be as good — and it certainly will not be the same. And that, my fellow Americans, is already a terrible lamentable shame.
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Prop or Wings?

    That age-old question — Prop or Wings? — looks like it might finally be answered for DVD owners. Some wonderfully encouraging news concerning the A Matter of Life & Death (aka Stairway to Heaven [1946]), a classic produced by The Archers and starring David Niven and Kim Hunter, was posted yesterday at The Digital Bits:
It took two years to get access to original source material at the British Film Institute, but restoration on this title is now complete and a high definition transfer has been done. The film has been added to Columbia’s schedule for release. It is still a minimum of four months away, though, as Columbia adheres to a policy of only making specific information available for titles it expects to release within three to four months.
    A remastered print of this wonderful movie was exhibited several years ago, in 1995; presented by Martin Scorsese. A home video release seemed inevitable — preferably via the Criterion Collection, who’d done such an excellent job with Powell/Pressburger\’s The Red Shoes and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. So it’s exciting news to hear that a DVD might finally be released. (I actually bought the PAL DVD just because I got tired of waiting [before I even had a PAL converter]. The Carlton disc has brief extras, but it certainly looks better than my ancient VHS archive [taped off Canadian TV] and it’s a pleasure to see the movie again anyway.)
    Steve Crook is the webmaster of an excellent Powell/Pressburger site (they being the men who founded The Archers and together made AMOLAD and many other beautiful and groundbreaking films). By remarkable coincidence, he recently informed us that there is talk of a remake! I’m sure what surprises me more: that someone thinks there’s money to be made in remaking a movie that not enough people have heard of to begin with, or, that they believe such a perfect movie can be improved upon. Nevertheless, this was the e-mail Mr Crook received, two days ago:
Hi, my name is Roy Lee. I was the producer of the U.S. remake of THE RING. I am wondering if you have any information on how I can obtain the remake rights for Matter of Life and Death. Do you know who owns them?
Thanks,
Roy Lee
Since it appears Roy Lee‘s only credit is a remake of Japanese movie, I really think he needs to work on an original idea before he starts tampering with one of my favorites.
    (Images to follow, as soon as I remember how to get my Sony DVD drive to play a PAL disc…)
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Fairies

    It’s too much of a cliché to write “Best. Site. Ever.” So I’ll simply say that this site is hypnotic.
    I just can’t look away!   Behold the Fairy Dance*
    * Sorry. I only recently viewed this page with audio. I didn’t know it had that annoyingly sped-up song in the background.
    Does Roger Miller’s estate know his music is being treated so crudely? Since, as I’m sure you already know, the song is called “Whistle-Stop” and was featured in Disney’s animated Robin Hood (1973).
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Dead Again

    In the great tradition of Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, a group of Michigan youths have once again banded to put together a homemade horror movie. Having kidded myself that I might one day make a movie, this kind of stuff has always fired my imagination. The film, Dead/Undead, got a nice write-up in today’s Detroit Free Press, and it’s showing tonight at Royal Oak’s Main Art Theatre.
    You can read more about the movie at deadundead.com and about the filmmakers’ next projects at Devonshire Studios. Several MP3s of the movie’s effectively creepy soundtrack are also available at the official site.

From the Detroit Free Press

Posted in Links, Movies, News | 1 Comment

Today in Food (2003/04/29)

    They used to call it a Big Mac Attack. It seems nothing will be keep people from going to McDonald’s, as evidenced by these two news stories. First there’s this man, who wanted McDonald’s so bad he didn’t bother putting on pants and was arrested for indecent exposure. Or this three-year-old who would not take “No” for an answer and left his house to go walking to a McDonald’s. (A passing motorist, Chester Pryor, stopped to help the boy across the street. “The boy didn’t know his address or his parents’ names,̶ the article reads. “He just kept leading Pryor down the sidewalk. ‘When we got to McDonald’s, he said, “We made it, we made it,”’ Pryor said.$#8221; Kind of touching, in a way.)
    And dang it, now I made myself hungry!
    P.S. Here’s today’s expression of the day. Hats off to K-Rock.com for referring to Fark users as “The Great Unlaid”.

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Bloggadocio

    Over the last couple weeks I’ve been working on a couple other blogs, and during that time I’ve become more and more dissatisfied with the SFG server. I\’s hard to miss the grunts and groans when it tries to load a page, or the popping sound in its knees when you make it get up and fetch a new page, or the huffing and puffing when you try and open up an archives list.
    The old server is too set in its ways to change its diet. But I was able to perform some liposuction on it last night and today. Yes, I know that’s a temporary and cosmetic change. Yes, I know that a lifestyle change is more desirable. But at least I figured out a way to get my DVD Reviews page to load up quickly now. Check it out. The thing flies now.
    By the way, I also followed the tutorial at BluezFire.org and created a Photoblog. Now I’ve got one, just like everybody else. It basically hosts the same photos as shown at the bottom of this page, but soon I’ll be adding more. (And that blog loads up faster too.)
    There. See? Now, don’t say I never did anything for you.
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Purging the Cache

    I’m full of pork-fried rice and unable to concentrate on a new entry. So why not post several? For starters, how about Battle of the Debbies, as two Debbies submit competing pork-fried rice recipes (now that I’ve mentioned it).
From Debbie’s Kitchen.com
Debbie’s Corner.com
And, what the heck, here’s a pork-fried rice recipe from Judy Ann, just to be fair.
    Since I got those recipes from search engines, here’s a nice explanation on why search engines suck (courtesy of Catch.com).
    And, to wrap things up, here’s a photo of bunny, which I took Friday morning…
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And It Was Good

    I have decided today is Fried Chicken Day. So here are some hyperlinks in honor of the day:
KFC – man, I loves the Crispy Strips
(and the KFC Nutritional Guide – fairly pointless under the circumstances)
Popeye’s Chicken – no it does not taste like spinach
Church’s Chicken – now within the White Castle, the mark of quality
KFC Cruelty – KFC’s cruelty and abuse of unfortunately tasty animals
God Made Fried Chicken – a blog which wins a mention because of its cool domain name
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Thank God It Wasn’t Toby Keith

    I guess there’s an upside to blacklisting.
    You get to see the Dixie Chicks naked…
    I’m unsure about the logic behind it, but this is their response to the backlash and boycott (as shown on next week’s Entertainment Weekly). It doesn’t look like a very sensible way to quell a controversy (that is, if they want to). But I’m not complaining.

From EW.com
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