Monday, November 29, 2010

Game of Thrones Trailer!

HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin's 'A Song of Ice and Fire' novels has been given a trailer! The fantasy tv series, starring Sean Bean, Lena Heady, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, Jason Momoa, Emilia Clarke, Aiden Gillen and Mark Addy, will air in Spring 2011. In the meantime, feast your eyes with this quite too short trailer:


(Sources: Entertainment Weekly, HBO Official Site, TV Squad, Wikipedia, YouTube)
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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Un p'tit tour au salon

Mercredi dernier (11/17) je suis allé faire un petit tour au Salon du Livre de Montreal. Je n'ai parlé à personne que je connaissais. Au kiosque d'Alire, il y avait bien Louise et Jean mais ils étaient occupé à discuter avec quelqu'un. Lors d'un second passage j'y ai aussi vu Jean-Jacques, également prit dans une conversation. Je n'ai vu ni Pascale, qui devait probablement arriver plus tard dans la semaine, ni Francine, qui n'avait de séances de signatures que le samedi. Chez Prologue (?), j'ai aussi entrevue Michèle Laframboise qui signait des livres et parlait à un des directeurs de Médiapaul. C'est tout. J'ai aussi croisé quelques célébrités sans importance (pour moi).

J'ai fait un tour rapide comme j'ai toujours eu l'habitude de le faire, quadrillant le salon dans tout ses sens (cardo et decumanus, respectivement les axes nord-sud et est-ouest des cités romaines). Heureusement, le premier jour à l'heure du souper, il y a moins de monde et on peut se déplacer plus aisément. Il ne m'a donc fallut qu'une heure et demi, alors qu'auparavant je restais deux ou trois heures. Il y a tellement de livres maintenant que ça ne vaut plus vraiment la peine de regarder systématiquement chaque kiosque avec attention. Les découvertes se font par chance, au hasard d'où se pose le regard. C'est ce que j'appelle du lèche-vitrine karmique. Mais je n'ai pas vu grand chose d'excitant.
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Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/11/24)

Still catching up on my bloging with more news from the past couple of weeks:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Health, home & garden
Humour
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Paradise Kiss live-action movie!

The superb manga series by Ai Yazawa, already adapted into anime by Madhouse in 2005, is now getting a live-action movie adaptation. Produced by Fox International and starring Keiko Kitagawa (Yukari), Osamu Mukai (George), Aya Ōmasa (Miwako), and Kento Kaku (Arashi), the movie will be released in Japan in May 2011. Here's the パラダイス・キス teaser to prove it (Cool! It really looks like the manga/anime; I can't wait to see more!):


(Sources: ANN, Japanator, Wikipedia, YouTube)
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Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/11/14)

I've been quite busy in the last few weeks, so let me catch up a little on the news that caught my eyes:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Health, home & garden
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Humour me

This picture is, somehow, quite disturbing...

If you have no idea what this is about, well...

...consider yourself among the lucky ones !
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/10/27)

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Health, home & garden
Humour
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Apps & blogue niouse

Je suis tombé cette semaine sur quelques actualités technologiques qui, je crois, mérite bien d'être mentionées à part de ma revue de presse hebdomadaire habituelle:

Comme je l'ai déjà dit, la télévision sur internet a beaucoup d'avenir et la destination de choix pour la télé francophone au Québec est sans doute TouTV.ca. Malheureusement pour moi, TouTV.ca utilise la technologie d'Adobe Flash pour diffuser ses émissions sur le web et je ne peux donc pas les visioner avec mon iPad. Bonne nouvelle: un récent article nous apprend que Tou.tv lancera en décembre des applications iPad et iPhone! Enfin!

Je lis beaucoup d'actualités sur mon iPad. On peut lire l'information directement sur les sites internet des grands quotidiens, mais de plus en plus ceux-ci produisent des applications pour iPhone et iPad afin de présenter les articles (ou, dans la plupart des cas, une sélection d'articles) dans un format qui se lit plus aisément. Un des quotidiens que je lis le plus fréquemment est La Presse (ou “Cyberpresse” pour sa version électronique). Jusqu'à récemment j'utilisais l'application pour iPhone (sur le iPad on double les pixels pour visioner plein écran, mais l'image est moins précise et la présentation plutôt simple) mais il existe depuis quelques semaines une version de l'application pour iPad qui rend la lecture des articles beaucoup plus agréable de par sa superbe présentation. Bravo!

Ça bouge beaucoup chez Apple ces temps-ci. Lors d'une conférence de presse (“Back to the Mac”) tenue le 20 octobre dernier, Apple a dévoilé la mise à jour annuelle de la suite de logiciels iLife (dont j'attend impatiemment la livraison) et a donné un bref aperçu de son prochain système d'opération pour le Mac (OS X 10.7): Lion (attendu pour l'été prochain). On y a également lancé la nouvelle version du portable ultra-léger et rapide (flash-drive oblige!) MacBook Air. De plus, deux autres mise à jour de système d'opération sont attendu pour bientôt: une version améliorée de “Snow Leopard” (Mac OS X 10.6.5, attendue imminament) et iOS 4.2 (qui devrait amener des tas d'amélioration pour l'iPad, dont la fonction multitâche, et qu'on attend en novembre).

Finalement, je ne pouvais pas manquer de mentioner, en cette chaude journée d'Octobre (le mercure atteint les 18'C !!) que mon blogue a maintenant accueillit plus de 10,000 visiteurs! Ces derniers mois, la moyenne de visites quotidienne a presque doublée (à 28). C'est bien mais c'est encore très peu. En un peu plus de cinq ans je n'ai d'ailleurs écrit que trois-cent-quarante-six entrées (dont près de la moitié cette année seulement)... On fait ce qu'on peut (je pourrais faire des entrées plus courtes et plus nombreuses... écouter moins de télé, etc., mais le travail me laisse encore trop vidé de mon énergie).

Je me rattrape néanmoins peu à peu sur mes projets d'articles. Les prochaines entrées à venir seront sans doute les commentaires sur le “hands-on” du iPad, mes apps favorites, les films japonais du FFM, et sur plusieurs lectures (plus ou moins) récentes. De nombreux imprévus causeront certainement des retards et il ne faut pas oublier que je dois mettre (plus) de temps sur mon ménage et mon déménagement! (J'essai de ne pas trop y penser, pcq c'est trop déprimant!). En terminant, je ne peux que (une fois de plus) demander à mes quelques lecteurs de (svp) laisser des commentaires! (histoire de ne pas avoir l'impression de parler dans le vide...)

Allez hop!, passons maintenant à la revue de presse. Les actualités d'intérêts sont nombreuses cette semaine...
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Commentaires festifs

J'ai été tellement occupé ces derniers mois que je n'ai pas encore eu le temps de finaliser mes commentaires sur les films japonais du Festival des Films du Monde 2010. Si tout se passe comme d'habitude je les terminerai et mettrai en ligne probablement à temps pour le festival de l'an prochain!

En attendant, je vous propose de lire les commentaires de Claude R. Blouin, un éminent spécialiste québécois du cinéma japonais (voir sa biographie sur L'Île, ses chroniques sur le portail régional de Lanaudière et je recommande son “Petit guide de l’autodidacte vorace en culture japonaise”).

M. Blouin est un collaborateur régulier au magazine allemand Shomingeki, une publication en ligne qui offre des commentaires et des notes sur le cinéma de la vie quotidienne (au Japon, “Shomingeki“ designe un genre de cinéma dramatique pour le peuple (la classe moyenne), sur la vie de tous les jours). Il y a récemment publié son appréciation des films japonais offert tant au Festival des Films du Monde qu'au Festival du Nouveau Cinéma:
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Monday, October 25, 2010

A world of illusion

Someone on Facebook recently linked to a video that exposes the fact there are much more special effects shots in most TV series than we would normally expect. It makes sense: as the cost of CGI goes down it becomes simpler and cheaper to simply shoot a scene in front of a green screen rather than go on location. We cannot believe what our eyes are seeing anymore. See the marvel of computer graphics:


Also, a lot of fuss was made recently about the nude scene Jessica Alba had in the movie Machete. The reason? It was another movie magics “fake”. See for yourself.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Sony Reader hands-on

This summer I commented on the Bookeen Cybook Opus ebook reader. The public libraries network where I work was lending eBook readers to some members of the staff in order to get feedback on the idea of using and lending such readers to patrons. In September, a colleague had let me borrowed for a week another reader he had received for evaluation. I could finally have the eagerly awaited hands-on experience with the Sony Reader.
Click to continue reading >>
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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Crying in awe

I was just checking my blog entry “The Cosmos is singing” and it led me to watch more similar videos. Not only they make a clever use of Auto-Tune, but they're also designed to “bring scientific knowledge and philosophy to the public, in a novel way, through the medium of music”. And it brings all sorts of strange emotions in me. To see more videos check the Symphony of Science website.

Here's “The Poetry of Reality”:

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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/10/17)

Personal update: What a marvelous week I had. First, my set-up to watch video crashed with my network drives, so I've lost a terabyte of data (hopefully eventually recoverable) and I had to replace my old Apple TV with a brand new Mac Mini. Then I am handcuffed and searched by police as the result of a miserable technological failure. On top of that I've worked six days for three weeks in a row, ending with a seven-day stretch, so a couple of days rest will be more than welcome. All this just to prove that nothing will keep me from reading the news:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Health, home & garden
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Saturday, October 16, 2010

Mini is super

AirPort delays

Up to recently I was using an old Apple TV to watch my videos on my big HDTV (a 40-inch Sony Bravia Series S LCD). To store and feed the videos to the media box, I also needed a network hard-drive (a Vantec's NexStar Dual Bay Hard Drive Dock [NST-D200SU] with two terabyte-HDs plugged to an Apple's AirPort Extreme). Unfortunately, this setting always kept the HD spinning which eventually lead to drive failure. Deeming the setting unstable (and definitely unsafe for the drives) I decided to replace the Apple TV and therefore spent some time analyzing which devices would be the best candidates for replacement. The obvious choice is the new Apple TV 2: it is one of the cheapest options, but unfortunately has all the problems of the original Apple TV (a rather unflexible device that needs to be hacked to offer interesting functionality) and has been primarily designed for streaming specific content (mostly iTunes' movies, YouTube, NetFlix). Of course, there are plenty of media streaming devices out there (like the Popcorn Hour, the Roku, or the Boxee Box just to name a few) with each their advantages and problems. I had been pondering the dilemma for a while and finally concluded that the best and most flexible option (although the most expensive) was to use the latest Mac-Mini model.

Mini Me

The Mac-Mini (mid-2010 model) is a full-fledge computer that pack the same power as my iMac (the Mid-2007 model, which has a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 GB of RAM and 320 GB of HD) but in a much smaller box (it's about the same size of the old Apple TV). Therefore it could not only serves as a backup computer but also can easily play any type of video files (through Quicktime, Front Row, XBMC or Boxee) or even stream video from the internet. The greatest improvement on previous Mac-Mini models is that this one has an HDMI output which, like for the Apple TV, provide the best quality picture (1080p or 1920 x 1200). This is important in regard to the fact that the new Apple TV 2 offers only 720p. I can even watch Dvds since it also has a 8x slot-loading SuperDrive. As a bonus it also has a SD card slot, plenty of connectivity (a FireWire 800 port, four USB 2.0 ports, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet) and can easily be upgraded, if needed, with more memory! In conclusion: it is so much more than what I had with the Apple TV.


Streaming is the dream

I am glad that I was able to quickly replaced my old Apple TV so I was not deprived for too long of the ability to watch downloaded videos. And I am even happier to have replaced it with a media player that is much better and more powerful. Now I can watch hi-definition videos (those heavy mkv files) without getting a jumpy picture or out of sync sound. I can browse the internet and enjoy all the advantage of iTunes from my couch. But I have also discovered something new.

I had heard of streaming sites like Hulu before, but never bothered to check it because it is not available in Canada. I've heard of several equivalent Canadian sites, but I don't like to watch TV on my computer (it's only a twenty-inch screen and the seat is really uncomfortable) and most of those sites don't work on my iPad because they are flash-based. I tried Crunchyroll or Netflix on the iPad but you get tired easily on a ten-inch screen (although some apps, like Netflix, work with the out-video cable) and it can still be a little slow or jerky sometimes. However I was really astonished by the ability of the Mac-Mini to stream video to my HDTV.

I am convinced that web TV is really the future of television and sometimes wonder why I still bother to pay for cable. You already can stream lots of video on demand and even live TV. Here's a few sites that I've found interesting:

More streaming anime links:

Live Tv links:
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Monday, October 11, 2010

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Alignement Karmique?

Des fois on expérimente dans la vie des événements qui, quand on y repense par la suite, semblaient présager ce que l'avenir nous réservait. Je ne saurais dire si cela est le résultat de quelque extraordinaire coïncidence ou d'une sorte d'étrange alignement karmique, mais cela m'est arrivé à quelques reprises. Par exemple, je me souviens avoir vu, à la fin de l'été 2001, un reportage sur la situation en Afghanistan, puis, quelques jours plus tard à une conférence de presse du Festival des Films du Monde, j'ai vu un groupe de femmes afghanes faire un éclat pour attirer l'attention sur leur situation sous les talibans. Une semaine plus tard, deux avions de ligne percutaient les tours du World Trade Center, menant ultimement à la guerre en Afghanistan... La conjoncture de ces événements dans ma vie me donna une sinistre impression.

Et bien hier j'ai de nouveau expérimenté cette étrange conjoncture...
Click to continue reading >>
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Saturday, October 09, 2010

Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/10/09)

Personal update: I worked another 6-day week and this time it was more tiring because I had to get up earlier several days in a row (therefore sleeping less). No time to do anything but read the news... And for that it was a good week:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Monday, October 04, 2010

Tony Curtis (1925-2010)

To pay tribute to Tony Curtis, who died last week, I am re-posting this video of the press conference he did at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2008 to talk about the documentary “The Jill and Tony Curtis Story.”

Tony Curtis from clodjee on Vimeo. (Also available on Blip.tv).

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Saturday, October 02, 2010

Revue de Presse / Press Review (2010/10/02)

Personal update: It's been cold and rainy lately. I'm still tired and busy. I must say that I have accepted replacements in so many libraries that I've been working six days this week (and it will be the case for the next two weeks). I feel like an idiot. After that I should work a normal week for a while, just to take the time to rest (and dedicate myself to my others important projects). Meanwhile, I have accumulated many interesting news stories that I would like to share:

Anime & Manga related, Japan, Popular Culture
Apple & iPad news
Books, Digital Edition & Library
Economy, Environment & International Politics/News
Health, home & garden
Media, Culture & Society
Montreal & Local/National Politics/News
Sciences & History
Technology, Gadgets & Internet

See also the “Suggested Links (Shared Items)” in the column on the right side
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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Time Jam streamed by Crunchyroll

I've been working for a while now on an article about the animated version of Valerian and Laureline (it's taking a long time because I am quite busy and it's a 40-episode series; also I am writing it in french, but will probably include a synopsis of the article in english whenever I post it online) so I was quite pleased when I read on Anime News Network that Crunchyroll was streaming it.

Based on the famous graphic novel written by Jean-Claude Mezieres and Pierre Christin, Time Jam: Valerian and Laureline is an animation co-produced by the French publisher Dargaud and the Japanese studio Satelight. All premium anime and all-access Crunchyroll members will have access to the entire 40 episodes immediately, while only the first five episodes will be available to free users now with the subsequent five episodes rolling out henceforth. Unfortunately, due to licensing limitations, the series is available only to the U.S. audience. If you are located in the right region, episodes can be accessed from Crunchyroll.com, tv.com, the free iPad and iPhone application, the Boxee application and affiliate partners.

More information can be found in the full press release and on www.crunchyroll.com/valerian. You can also find a previous blog entry with the series' trailer.
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Sherlock

As many of the interesting TV shows I've watched over the years were produced in the UK (The Avengers, The Champions, Desperate Romantics, Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I Claudius, Lark Rise to Candleford, Life on Mars, Merlin, Murder Rooms, Primeval, Red Dwarf, Robin Hood, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, Sherlock Holmes (with Jeremy Brett), Space: 1999, Thunderbirds, Torchwood, UFO, Upstairs Downstairs, just to name a few), I have developped a special appreciation for British series (and I'll definitely write an article on that subject when I have the time). So, when I heard that the BBC was planning a modern adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, I was already intrigued. When I realized that it would be co-created by Steven Moffat (who's now the lead writer for Doctor Who), I was really interested and determined to check on this new series.

Simply titled “Sherlock”, the series is a piece of very clever writing. The first episode, titled "Study in Pink", is probably the best. It is obviously based on the original story "A study in scarlet". The character of Watson is introduced in a manner that is superbly similar to the original: he is a recently discharged soldier back from a tour in Afghanistan where he injured his leg (although Sherlock diagnosed his limping as psychosomatic). In the original, Sherlock also deducts lots of information on Watson family background by looking at his pocket watch. Here, he does the same by looking at his cellphone! In the first episode the parallel between the clever adaptation and the original story is more easily drawn. In the subsequent episodes (titled "The Blind Banker" and "The Great Game", respectively inspired by “The dancing men” and “The Bruce-Partington plans” amongst others) the story is increasingly complex and the parallel less obvious. Unfortunately, this complexity and the fast pace of the storytelling make the series a little too hard to follow for the people who prefer more simple and quiet stories. It really gets worse with the third episode, as if they wanted to cram too many elements in the 90-minute broadcast show.

Despite the fact that Holmes uses the latest of technology to solve crimes, the modern adaptation is, in many aspects, more respectful of the spirit of the character than Guy Ritchie's recent movie. It is exactly the same type of adventures as written by Doyle, but played in fast forward for the attention-deficit plagued video-game generation. In his crazy way, Sherlock (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) almost feels and speaks like The Doctor in “Doctor Who” (no wonder there considering Moffat's involvement). There's quite some good acting in that part. And, having watched the entire Granada Television series, I can certainly say the adaptation is brilliant in its every details: Watson writing a blog, Holmes using nicotine patches instead of smoking and shooting heroin, etc.

My main disappointment was that only three episodes were broadcasted on the BBC in late July and August 2010 (they are due to air on PBS in the USA from October 24th 2010). There will be a new series in Fall next years, but unfortunately it will be again only three 90-minute episodes.

Another disappointment is that Moriarty is way too present in the story. I guess the general public perception of Holmes stories is probably at fault here: since Moriarty is Holmes archenemy, people imagine he must occupy a large place in the original stories whereas he appears only in a few episodes. Interestingly, the modern adaptation ends in a way quite similar as in the first Sherlock Holmes book: rather than letting his enemy go, Sherlock doesn't hesitate to die with him. In the original story, he jumps (or falls) into a waterfall with Moriarty. In the modern version, it is suggested that he will blow a bomb to kill Moriarty as well as himself (and Watson). Will he really die? We'll see in the second season, I guess.

A clever and intellectually challenging tv drama. It is quite promising. I can't wait for more. It is already available on DVD in the UK and the North American release will be in November. It would also be a good occasion to read (or re-read or read about) the original stories.

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