This looks like a pretty great version of a story I’m already familiar with thanks to a play I was in during college. It’s a cast full of greats, and it looks like it could be one of the best roles Sean Penn has ever had. It’s interesting, however, that the trailer plays down the tragic end to this story.
I’m continually fascinated by the process of book cover designs and redesigns. I actually follow several blogs that focus on nothing but the subject of new book cover designs, often comparing hardback to paperback and US to UK or international versions. It’s really interesting how books are sold in completely different ways in different countries. Re-released versions are also alternately fascinating and disappointing, depending on the thinking behind the updated version. Here’s a good example:
On the left is an earlier cover for The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. The cover on the right is for a version re-released this year to coincide with Stephenson’s upcoming book, Anathem. For some reason all of Stephenson’s books (except for the Baroque Cycle) are being re-released with covers that match the style of Anathem: a shadowy figure, lit from behind and walking or running through a doorway at the end of a long hall or large space.
It’s kind of bizarre, especially since the new cover makes The Diamond Age look more like a Jason Bourne book than a post-cyberpunk / steampunk / fantasy novel about a girl and the virtual world that exists in her diary. The old cover may be a bit dated and “of its time”, but I think it does a much better job of communicating what the book is actually about, with its juxtaposition of rusty gears and amorphous 3D imagery.
If you’re interested in checking out a few good blogs focusing on book cover designs, here’s my reading list:
The Book Design Review
Book Covers
…by Henry Sene Yee Design
Book Covers Anonymous
Caustic Cover Critic
Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice.
the Idea Shower » » Read it Later - Firefox Extension BETA
This Firefox extension allows you to save pages of interest to read later. It eliminates cluttering of bookmarks with sites that are merely of a one-time interest. A commenter below (Chris) summed it up very well: “It’s a ’staging area’ for bookmarks.”
Many scriptable applications offer enough AppleScript support for the types of tasks that you would want to automate the most. However, at times, you may find yourself needing to script an application with limited AppleScript support, and that one task you really need to automate just is not accessible through scripting. Or, worse yet, the application you want to automate is not scriptable at all!
AppleScript: Graphic User Interface (GUI) Scripting
While creating scripting workflows, you may occasionally need to control applications that either do not have AppleScript support or are only partially scriptable. Mac OS X includes built-in support for the control of the computer's graphic user interface via AppleScript.
10 Promising Web Platforms - ReadWriteWeb
In this post we review 10 promising developer platforms for the Web. We're not talking about the obvious ones either, like Facebook, iPhone, OpenSocial or even Twitter. Those have been covered extensively already. The list below features some of our favorite 'lesser known' web developer platforms. There are bound to be other excellent developer platforms not noted below, so as always please use the comments here to point out your own favorites.
These are my links for August 14th through August 21st:
The Culinary Sherpas… | The Root Beer Float To End All Floats
Maple Miso Bacon Ice Cream Bourbon Root Beer Floats
Inspired by David Lebovitz’s Candied Bacon Ice Cream recipe
You can make any flavor of ice cream you wish with the basic process of this recipe, just substitute the maple, miso, and bacon with your flavor of choice.
XMail 3.7 has been released ! - jBlog
XMail is a free osax for Mac OS X (10.4.x for both PPC and Intel) allowing you to send mails from AppleScript without having to use a third party application.
Team Fortress 2: Meet the Sandvich on Steam
He was a good lunch who played by the rules, until the rules robbed him of everything he ever loved. Now he's lettuce, tomato, cheese, bread, and a mysterious slice of meat, marching down your throat and straight to hell. He'll satisfy your hunger. FOR REVENGE!
It's hard to gauge Woody Allen's impact on American comedy and culture, because it's vast and still ongoing. Even setting aside his comedy albums, his writings for The New Yorker and other publications, his jazz band, and his appearances as an actor in other people's work, there's still his filmography as a writer, director, and often star, stretching to more than 40 features.
Interview: Whit Stillman on “Metropolitan” | Film News | Film | IFC.com
Stillman, who's all but disappeared from the film scene since 1998's "Last Days of Disco," is working on a bevy of new projects. In fact, it was after a busy day in New York that Stillman took the time to reflect on his first film, one that didn't get a distribution deal "until Vincent Canby laughed," and spoke to me about his time abroad working on screenplays and how to get hold of the elusive "Last Days of Disco" DVD.
