Category: Tech

Putting the ILM into FILM

“Gang of Outsiders”, Part 1 of Light & Magic on Disney+, is a fascinating delight to watch. The trailer is a bit over-hyped, as the history of a bunch of obsessed young guys finding each other and working their butts off to take on an impossible technical challenge doesn’t need “Don’t Stop Believing” for emphasis.

Much of the Spring, 1978 issue of Cinefantastique magazine was devoted to Star Wars. If it wasn’t the first coverage of Industrial Light & Magic, then it was certainly the most extensive at that time. I’ve scanned a few pages from the issue.

Cinefantastique, Spring 1978, page 12
Cinefantastique, Spring 1978, page 13

One tidbit in the Disney+ documentary is something that I apparently knew from Cinefantastique, but had forgotten long ago. Richard Edlund created the original Pignose guitar amp. Still in business today, I remember seeing ads for the Pignose in Rolling Stone.

https://pignoseamps.com/

The costumes in Star Wars weren’t the responsibility of ILM, but this is the funniest picture in the magazine. Greedo’s trans secret is out!

Cinefantastique, Spring 1978, page 69

I’m looking forward to watching the rest of the series, although I expect my interest might start to taper off once they’re deeply into the digital era and everything turns orange and teal. *Blech!*

An early use of computers in film was the EditDroid, another Lucas technical initiative. I don’t know yet if the system gets mentioned later in the series. Built around programmable LaserDisc players, EditDroid was intended to take the drudgery out film editing.

Swiping the Sunday Funnies

The updated Washington Post application adds a nifty feature to its comics page. You can swipe back to see the previous six days of strips, as I demonstrate on my Kindle Fire HD 10 tablet.

With the end of my Boston Globe home delivery subscription — along with digital access — just two days away, I will be relying more on the tablet for news. In addition to the Post, I have started subscribing to the Kindle edition of The New York Times. For $20/month there are no ads and, thankfully, no comments. I can read it on the HD 10, but I’m finding the format easier to navigate with the Kindle Paperwhite.

More Gear Spotting

Ever see The Big Bang Theory S9:E19? That’s the episode with Sheldon’s Fortress of Shame.

https://youtu.be/uGAuGzvv6xM?t=98

There are three items in there that I have and still use.

The Canon Pixma isn’t needed for much printing anymore, but it continues to be very active as my scanner. The Panasonic DVD player does duty as my single-disc CD player in the living room, to complement my Sony 300-disc CD changer.

Jukebox Joy

Even the Compaq Presario PC, purchased on 10/25/2001, the day Windows XP was released, has an occasional use. Someone recently handed me a 3.5″ diskette and said they need the files on it transferred to a USB stick.

Gear Spotting

Did I ever point out the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) LA120 dot-matrix keyboard printers in Superman: The Movie? No? Well, they’re in there. If it was a sponsored product placement, the target market was quite narrow.

I don’t have Apple TV+, so I’m not watching Severance. On Thursday, Colbert had praise for the series.

Colbert thinks so highly of Severance that he has made this parody video. I may not be familiar with the series, but I recognize the non-Apple hardware in it.

That sure looks like John Turturro is sitting at a Data General (DG) Dasher D2 terminal. It’s same vintage as the DEC LA-120.

The headphones are Sennheiser HD 414’s from 50 years ago. They were very light and had clear sound, but you had to hold them tightly against your ears to hear any bass.

The turntable that Colbert plays in the video is a recent model. The Pro-Ject Classic EVO.

Speaking of DEC and DG, they were given something of a nod in the December, 1983 issue of Playboy. I was classmates with the Playmate of the Month’s big sister Susan, who was exquisitely beautiful.

Also making an appearance in that issue were Massachusetts-made Allison Three and Nine loudspeakers. By the end of ’83 I had owned my Three’s for four years. The Pioneer LD-1100 LaserDisc player was the model up from my LD-660.

Better Call Dell

Watching Monday’s penultimate episode of Better Call Saul, I thought, “Hey… is that a Dell Ultrasharp 1708FP?”

“It doesn’t look big enough to be a 1908FP…”

“… well, maybe it does. Either way.”

I have two Ultrasharp 1708FP monitors.

The timeline of the TV series places that scene circa 2010, so the attention to period detail is spot-on. A noteworthy point is that back then not all computer monitors were suitable for medical imaging use. The 1708FP was, and my dentist’s office has one in every exam room.

When the Ultrasharp 1708FP was being discontinued, I bought mine in a 2-for-1 deal from Dell Direct. As long as these things continue to be reliable and they stay bright enough, I’ll keep using them.

Sorry for the spoiler, but I have to say that Rhea Seehorn outdid herself yet again. Kim Wexler leaving her old life behind was exactly the point, and her portrayal in the “Waterworks” episode is a completely different person than the character everybody knows. If Rhea doesn’t win the Emmy this year, then it will truly be a case of voter fraud.