A short film by Jamie Stuart, documenting the blizzard in New York City on December 26, 2010. It’s not often (never?) that you get the world’s most famous movie critic excited about a 3 minute film posted on YouTube but in this case Roger Ebert thinks it’s so good it should win an Oscar:
This film deserves to win the Academy Award for best live-action short subject.
(1) Because of its wonderful quality. (2) Because of its role as homage. It is directly inspired by Dziga Vertov’s 1929 silent classic “Man With a Movie Camera.” (3) Because it represents an almost unbelievable technical proficiency. It was filmed during the New York blizzard of Dec. 26, and Jamie Stuart e-mailed it to me with this time stamp: December 27, 2010 4:18:18 PM CST.You can tell from the cinematography he knew exactly what he was doing and how to do it. He held the Vertov film in memory. Stuart must already been thinking of how he would do the edit and sound. Any professional will tell you the talent exhibited here is extraordinary.
Source: youtube.com
This is a stunning video of New York City, an aerial rediscovery of landmark structures such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. The video was shot using a remote controlled plane and no shortage of piloting skills, courtesy of Austrian born Raphael Pirker (a.k.a. Trappy). Only an RC plane could have produced such dramatic results. It’s hard to imagine even the smallest airplane getting so intimate with Lady Liberty without it either crashing or quickly getting acquainted with a pair of “locked and loaded” US Air Force jets.
Here is an interview with the video’s author.
New York City (via nastycop420)
Source: youtube.com
NYC Map
Fully functional interactive map of New York City rendered in 8-Bit, pixelated glory. Created by Brett Camper.
Virtual Tour of New York City
Very high quality photos of New York City taken by someone floating god-like above it. Just click on the link, you’ll see what I mean.
The Da Vinci Apartment
If Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code were to design his dream apartment, this would be it. At first glance this New York City luxury pad is impressive enough, what with its Central Park views and custom made rare wood furniture.
But concealed within all the pricey decor is a smorgasboard of games,
hidden treasures, encrypted messages and more. Even cooler, the
apartment comes with its own book and soundtrack, all serving the
purpose of solving a series of puzzles of increasing complexity. This
quote from the New York Times Article gives some idea of the madness
involved:
In any case, the finale involved, in part, removing
decorative door knockers from two hallway panels, which fit together to
make a crank, which in turn opened hidden panels in a credenza in the
dining room, which displayed multiple keys and keyholes, which, when
the correct ones were used, yielded drawers containing acrylic letters
and a table-size cloth imprinted with the beginnings of a crossword
puzzle, the answers to which led to one of the rectangular panels
lining the tiny den, which concealed a chamfered magnetic cube, which
could be used to open the 24 remaining panels, revealing, in large
type, the poem written by Mr. Klinsky. (There is other stuff in there,
too, but a more detailed explanation might drive a reader crazy.)
Link: Mystery on Fifth Avenue
Grand Theft Auto IV Review
Grand Theft Auto IV is certainly one of the most anticipated games of 2008 and early impressions don’t disappoint. Video gaming site IGN reviews the newest installment of the Grand Theft Auto franchise and gives it nothing less than a 10 out of 10, a score which they last gave out for a console game in 1999 for Soul Caliber.
From the IGN review:
Grand Theft Auto III was a revolutionary title, one that inspired a whole new generation of 3D action games. Grand Theft Auto IV is just as big a leap forward, though perhaps in subtler ways, and sets a new benchmark for open-world games. Everything in GTA IV works in harmony. The story would be nothing without the city; the city gains realism from the physics engine; the physics compliment the improved AI; the AI would make no sense without the new cover system. And on and on. There is no one major weak aspect.A “10” is not a score we give out very often. In fact, the last time we gave a 10 to a console game was Soul Calibur in 1999. A 10 doesn’t mean a game is perfect — it means a game is pushing boundaries, expanding a genre, and doing many things to a level so far above and beyond its competitors that they overshadows any flaws. Certainly, GTA IV has some issues, the most noticeable being the occasional flaw in the cover system, but there are many more pieces of GTA IV that are better than anything I’ve seen from a game in the past decade. We don’t give 10s often — just to games that merit the score.
Read the full Grand Theft Auto IV review
