New Babbage Travelogue revisited

In 2012 from August to November I took pictures of the various New Babbage sims to document their current state. While some buildings in New Babbage have remained the same since its inception, they are few and far between. Change is a constant.

At the end of last year I thought I'd try for something a little different to try and increase my familiarity with filming in SL and with video editing.

The editing took a little longer than expected but it's now done. So here is the New Babbage Travelogue for 2013 in kinescopic format.



Sadly I missed a few buildings before the snow arrived but I may do a shorter version of snow in New Babbage as a follow up now this one is done.

I think I need to get myself one of those Space Navigator mouses though.

Colossal AVs

I didn't get much of a chance to visit Fantasy Faire so most of what I saw came via other people's blogs. My friend Emilly posted this picture on her entry which really blew me away.


https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/O-hRrSJZN8JaO0EPZqrj6dMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite

The AV was made by Ceri Quixote using the Mesh system. She'll be releasing a slightly downsized version of the AV next month.

Better yet, there's even video of her to give you a better idea of the scale:


I'm looking forward to seeing what can be done with the Colossus sized AVs. Giant Killer Robots anyone?

Seraph City Machinima

For a while now I've been watching the fantastic videos put together by Loki, Chaffro, Victor or Zoe.

After asking lots of questions and reading various WIKIs and finally getting my hands on some decent editing software (Windows Crash Maker? No Thanks).

I finally decided it was time to attempt a short film. No plot as such, just a showcase of images. Who, one day I may get around to doing a short film.

But here it is, a promo for Seraph City



And if you've never visited the sim, you should. Drop by the Seraph Club and say hi :-)

Downton Abbey

Thanks to a little tip off from Miss Cornelia, the Duchess of Teslace, I've been made aware of a TV miniseries called Downton Abbey.

Written by Julian Fellowes who seems to make a speciality of Edwardian drama, having written the screenplay for Gosford Park as well as portraying people such as Winston Churchill and George IV during his acting, again brings the lives of the aristocracy vs. their servants into scrutiny.

The Earl of Grantham, his wife, three daughters and a multitude of servants currently live in Downton Abbey. The first episode opens with news that the Earl's cousin, the Heir Presumptive, and his son are both among those lost aboard the Titanic. It turns out that under the inheritance entailment that whoever becomes the new Earl will also inherit the entirety of the Estate. The miniseries follows the twists and turns of the family up until the start of World War 1.

English inheritance law has been the subject of drama before, most notably in Dickens' Bleak House. Viewing numbers for the ITV production were impressive to the point where it has been confirmed a second series will go into production. However executives at PBS, who have bought American screening rights, are a little concerned that the detailed plot might be too much for their audience and plan to cut 2 hours out of the 8 hours of the series. Rebecca Eaton, an executive producer for the PBS network admits that American audiences demand a 'different speed' to their shows. And because they're taking an axe to it PBS also believes its audiences will need an American to outline the key themes of the show so Laura Linney is going to give an introduction to the series.

I'm surprised they haven't added subtitles to help poor American audiences cope with the Northern accents of the servants.

Frankly I would urge potential American viewers to contact PBS letting them know that despite a seemingly endless supply of "reality" shows you do not have the IQ of a goldfish and would prefer to see the series in its entirety.

Lest We Forget

I still cry like a baby when I hear this version.

Sucker Punch Teaser

Take all the movie tropes that geeks love: martial arts, war movies, giant robots, mech suits, hot girls, dragons, Zeppelins, and throw in a little burlesque for good measure. Blend.



No idea what the plot is beyond 5 girls being institutionalised by their wicked stepfathers, but holy crap I want to see it!

The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec

Luc Besson, the man responsible for The Fifth Element, joins the bandwagon with a movie based on a comic book series.

Finally there's a trailer out with English subtitles.



Looks spectacular!!

The Fictional Influences for the character of Edward Pearse

Jumping on the meme bandwagon I've added some information about the fictional influences behind Edward Pearse. While Edward is not a full RP character there are elements about him that were influenced but other ideas. He didn't turn out to be quite the rogue that he was intended to be, but then there's still scope to change that :-)

Name. His name came from The Great Train Robbery. A novel and movie full of the dealings of ne'er do wells in Victorian London.


A little bit of malice from Doctor Who's The Master. Admittedly the Derek Jacobi mad scientist wasn't around when Edward started but the idea has crept in.


A healthy dose of Phileas Fogg from The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. The visual in this series were great even if the stories were usually pretty lame.


And there's been some discussion recently about what sort of voice you imagine your AV to have. While Edward is a Scotsman he's not Billy Connolly (or David Tennant for that matter.) I imagine his voice as something more like another Scot - Ian Richardson.

The Evolution of Technology

German company Saturn goes through a somewhat interesting view of the evolution of technology. Why is this important? Because of the STEAM POWERED TYRANNOSAURUS REX!



Thanks to Cory at Voyages Extraordinaires

The Brooklyn Tunnel

Excerpt from the Curious Expeditions blog:

Walt Whitman once wrote a column for the Brooklyn Standard called “Brooklyniana.” In an 1861 column, “A passage of Solemnity and Darkness,” Whitman wrote of “the old tunnel, that used to lie there underground, a passage of Acheron like solmnity and darkness, now all closed and filled up, and soon to be utterly forgotten, with all its reminiscences…”

The Atlantic Avenue tunnel was built in 1844, by Cornelius Vanderbilt, but by the 1850s political manoeuvring had declared trains in Brooklyn a nuisance and the tunnel was scheduled to be closed. A $130,000 contract (remember this is 1850 dollars) was awarded to a dodgy character who signed off that the tunnel had been filled and sealed. Turns out he didn't quite tell the truth.

In 1981, after nearly 2 years of persistent research, Bob Diamond descended a manhole and was able to confirm the tunnel did indeed still exist today. The tunnel isn't fully opened but they're making a documentary about what might be on the other side of the second half of the tunnel wall.

Read the full blog post entitled A Diamond Below which includes pictures.

Happy Hallowe'en

From your favourite dropbear.

Early London film

Footage recovered from Australia's National Film and Sound Archive shows scenes of 1904 London. Shot by early film-maker Charles Urban it was presented to Australian audiences as a travelogue for those who had never visited the "mother country" or who had emigrated previously.

The full 12 minute film was featured as part of the current London Film Festival.

More news stories related here and here.

*Hat tip to Mr. Dagger for the original notice.

RL Flying wing

Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy managed to cross the English Channel on his home-made jetwing today.

I read this article yesterday that gave some background to his machine.

Today he made the successful crossing.

More details here too.

Just awesome!

Caledon the Musical!

Another quality product from the people at Caledon Studios.

And possibly the first time the Guvnah has had a change of outfit since Christmas :-)

City of Ember

I stumbled across this movie trailer this evening. It is apparently based on the first book of the Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau. I had not even heard of the books, much less read them, before seeing the trailer so I have no idea whether it is a good bad or indifferent adaptation of the story.

It does however, look to be an interesting movie. Visually interesting and a story that could work well. Let's hope it has a little more substance than the Golden Compass movie.

New footage of Metropolis

While browsing the net this evening I stumbled across an interesting little tid-bit of news.

It seems that a 16mm reduction negative of the original cut of the 1927 classic film Metropolis has been rediscovered in Argentina. This is not just a couple of extra scenes. The existing cut of Metropolis runs at 90 minutes. The 1990s restored version runs at 80.

This version runs at 210 minutes. That's 2 hours more footage than has previously been thought to exist.

It's apparently badly scratched and will take a huge amount of time and effort to restore it but I think it will be worth the effort. Even today Metropolis is visually stunning and voices a social commentary we still haven't resolved.

More information here

The Great Race

In 1908 an automobile race was run from New York to Paris. A centenary anniversary was due to be held at the end of this month until China revoked the travel permits due to the Tibet demonstrations.

However what I'm going to discuss here is the kinoscope that was loosely inspired by the original race: Blake Edward's The Great Race.

Now, it's cheesy as hell and it's characters are about a stereotypical as they come.


The hero in white


The moustachioed villain in black


The plucky heroine and suffragette

Is it steampunk? Well not as such. Certainly the concept of steampunk didn't exist in 1965 when it was made. But Professor Fate fits the mad scientist role to a T. His inventions include:


Submarines


Bicycle Blimps


Rocket cars


Sonic Torpedos


And of course the Hannibal 8

The movie not only plays the foils of hero versus villain, but there's some lovely set pieces in here as well. The drivers travel through the town of Boracho (which is Spanish for "drunk") and have the classic bar room brawl. My favourite though it the lovely "homage" to Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda.


This time the country is called Carpania, where the Crown Prince Hapnik is the spitting image of Professor Fate.


There is of course a local villain, complete with goatee, who is after the throne


Whom our hero must duel.

There's a little something for everyone in film: comedy, music, dancing, fights, car chases, an explosion or two, possibly the largest pie fight ever filmed, faithful assistants, double crosses and some great music from Henry Mancini.

And the best thing of all?


Natalie Wood in her underwear, covered in custard and cream!

It's one of my favourites and one I can enjoy watching again and again.

Tea rap

This wonderful little ditty was spotted on Brass Goggles.



Brilliant!

Der Rote Baron

Last year I posted about an effect reel for an upcoming German film of The Red Baron.

Well it seems it has finally been released in Germany and there's now an English language trailer up on the official website.

Looking forward to seeing it.

The Airship Destroyer aka Battle in the Clouds (1909)

And special thanks must go to Tas at Yours in a White Wine Sauce! for the heads up about The Airship Destroyer being online and available for download.

It's of interest to both early film and historical flight enthusiasts.

To watch the film or download it, point your browser here. The file is .mpg format.