April 11, 2008 Andy

The Friday Matinee

Given that this week has started with the digital version of the Oscar nominations (known as the WebbyAwards and no, we haven’t been nominated for any but then neither have any of our competiitors), we thought to theme this week’s offering appropriately (including Jolly Trolley, as it is our turn this week).

And to get you in the mood for Jolly Trolly, what better way than to start with a few film-related websites. More than four, but I got a tad carried away…

Enjoy

A

IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/)
THE site for movie fans; the Internet Movie Database. The site, which is run by film hobbyists, try to catalog every pertinent detail about a movie, from who was in it, to who made it, to trivia about it, to filming locations, and even where you can find reviews and fan sites on the web. It really is a fantastic repository of info, if you ever need to use it.

LOVE FiLM (http://www.lovefilm.com/welcome/home.html)
A name that makes BlockBuster shiver. Lovefilm is a leading European home entertainment company which lets you rent DVDs for a ridiculously low price with no time limit on how long you keep them for. To put it into context, the monthly fee is £3.99. The charge for a Blockbuster film for 2 nights rental (New Releases) is £3.75. You do the maths. Plus, Lovefilm currently has the largest movie download catalogue in Europe. If you’re a movie buff, its a no brainer really.

Movie Mistakes (http://www.moviemistakes.com/)
Ah. THAT old favourite. There is nothing more that people like to do than to bring others down to size: ever seen the bit on Star Wars IV when the stormtrooper runs into the door? Or the bit where you can see the car in Lord of the Rings? No? Am I the only geek in Hodes who looks for such things? Apparently so…

DVD Easter Eggs (http://www.dvdeastereggs.com/)
An
Easter Egg isn’t just for Easter. It is also a term used to describe hidden features in code. For example, in old version of Excel, there was a hidden flight simulator game, which could be accessed when you entered in the correct sequence of numbers and letters. Bright sparks often hide special features in DVDs as well. An now you can find them too, thanks to this site. If you can be bothered, that is…

Cool Movie Quotes (http://www.geocities.com/pookiebear6/moviequotes.html)
We’ve all done it. Watched a film and tried to look cool by reeling off a quote. Well I have anyway. So here is a site to help you. Heaps of quote from popular films including When Harry Met Sally, The African Theme and Dead Poets Society. No Dirty Dancing though.. In a recent book (They Came to the end), the Creative Director even tries to go 24 hours talking only in quotes from Godfather films. Try THAT for size..

Dude Studios (http://www.dudestudios.com/)
A few years ago, Dude Studios launched an animated four-minute version of StarWars (Star Dudes), which spread like wildfire around the net. To see what the fuss is about, click on the cartoons link. I know that Andy is a Star Wars fan, and the RMLT were a tad surprised that I cite Yoda as an example of great leadership, so hopefully you’ll appreciate the humour. BTW, it might be better to try this one at home so as not to cause any issues on our servers.

The Oracle of Bacon (http://oracleofbacon.org/advanced.html)
Ever played seven steps to Kevin Bacon? In a re-hash of Milgram’s classic experiment of the sixties, some bright spark realised that Kevin Bacon was a common link to a huge number of actors. It’s all a bit silly really, but harmless. Anyhow, some bored students at the University of Virginia decided to buld a tool that cross-refered to the IMDB to do this automatically. It takes a while to work. Actually, I can’t get it to work, but the Guardian promises that it does. Try and find anyone with a number higher than three.

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