Shrink Wrap
also known as guork.com

Wall-E

Wall-E was finally released in Portugal. What a beautiful masterpiece, it’s perfect in almost ¹ every aspect: Storytelling, Cinematically, Humor and Technically. Full of subtle (and not-so-subtle) jokes and references, like for instance: 2001 A Space Odyssey, Aliens, ET, Fawlty Towers, Apple and more. I’m sure that if I see it again I will catch more delicious references.

The best movie of the year.

¹ Let me explain the “almost” word, it’s not negative in any way, it’s the other way around actually: The wizards at Pixar even emulated the behavior/imperfections of 35mm anamorphic lenses (barrel distortion, depth of field…) to get that 60’s or 70’s scifi movie look. Again: Brilliant.

Sound Bits

I like pretty things. When I needed speakers for my Power Mac, I kept postponing the purchase because I didn’t like what was available inside my defined price range. I was about to buy the JBL Creatures II before I stumbled on those gorgeous JBL Spot: They’re not very powerful, but have very good sound quality, they do their job very well.

That brings me to what I was wanting to talk about: Headphones. Bought several pretty ones and none were satisfying, some too heavy, some had mediocre sound quality, until I had enough of spending money in pretty headphones and bought the Koss Porta Pro. The sound is SO GOOD! Loud and clear, they are also very comfortable. I recommend them to anybody who wants good headphones at a reasonable price. You only get similar sound quality on headphones with a $250+ price point.

They’re so good, that I don’t really care that they’re hideous. :)

Links

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - For iPhone, pretty impressive despite the low framerate.

iPhone OS 2 Changes - by Shawn Blanc. And a little addendum.

Wii MotionPlus - 1:1 Movements for the Wii. Wow.

Global Rich List - How rich are you?

Angus MacLane of Pixar - Interview to read after seeing the movie. Damn, can’t wait to see this movie…

Conversation with Michael B. Johnson of Pixar - Another interview on hold.

Watchmen Trailer - I’ve been wanting to read the book for several months. Have to go to the comic shop. Fast!

Lego Factory - Gizmodo went to a Lego Factory. Amazing stuff. Best toy ever.

Traboules

Traboules are passages inside old buildings, between parallel streets, made to easy the transport of silk and other goods. We can find them on the old Lyon and Croix Rousse. They are quite dungeon-like and sometimes creepy, with a small interior yard where you can see the sky. These are mostly private areas, but most are open (just push the door to enter), you have to know them though, because they look like normal house doors from the street…

Traboules are, allegedly, one of the reason that occupying Nazis couldn’t take complete control of Lyon during World War II, you could, in fact, easily hide a small army in there.

Links

Under the Hood: The iPhone’s Gaming Mettle - About the iPhone’s hardware. Interesting.

Drobo - The Drobo just got alot better, now with Firewire 400 and 800 support.

10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits - Very nice advices.

Amazing Ball Girl Catch - Truly amazing!

The Shawshank Redemption

Just saw this movie, one in my long list of movies-i-missed-and-must-watch-before-dying. The movie has a very good reputation (#2 in IMDB’s Top 250). Does it deserve it? Yeah, I guess. Maybe not that high, but it is an excellent movie.

Links

The Amazing Shit Box - Awesome site design. Crazy Product. Love It.

Hello, WALL•E: Pixar Reaches for the Stars - Bookmarked, but not read. Not until I see the movie.

Puzzle Farter - The name says it all.

Diablo III - Blizzard announced Diablo III, not quite as dark as the previous opus, but very nice looking game. Productivity killer, I say…