Online Q&A With Malcom Gladwell

Times Online today hosted a live Q&A with best-selling author and journalist, Malcom Gladwell.

Best known for his books, The Tipping Point (2000), Blink (2005), Outliers (2008), and What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (2009), Gladwell has also been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996.

Sleepydog CEO, Toby Moores took the opportunity to ask a few questions on social media, effectiveness vs. efficiency and the self-referential nature of a media-celebrity-political complex.

Visit Times Online to catch up on the conversation.

GUN-play

Jean-Luc Godard memorably remarked that “all you need for a movie is a girl and a gun“, but because we like to put a fresh twist on everything, in Slingers one of our girls is a gun. The relationship that stems from Frank carrying her and not quite understanding her makes for some interesting situations and it’s this odd-couple dynamic that gets one of the biggest grins from people discussing the potential of the show.

Slingers was built around it characters first and foremost. If you like them then you’ll follow them anywhere. Luckily the setting and the technology that forms the backdrop makes for some interesting situations, but as Toby is fond of saying, if you follow Frank into a bar for a quiet drink something is going to happen. He’s just that kind of guy.

But we also spent a great deal of time thinking about current technology and where its heading. We’ll have missed stuff for sure, but every now and again we spot something that either makes us redraft a scene (because the future happens far faster these days) or smile because we know we’re not too far off the mark. Nik recently pushed this article our way via Twitter and you could be looking at one of GUN’s ancestors – right down to the beginnings of her signature green glow:

A lot of modern technology is currently catching up with the science fiction we grew up on, but that’s ok. Slingers is also about style and attitude and that’s something that our mid-Atlantic aesthetic (American scale combined with a British sensibility) has in spades. Thinking about it in that way probably goes a long way to explain the lasting influence of a character like Dredd. Or maybe it’s just his ability to kick ass and arse alike:

Slingers has killer robots too. We’re hoping our budget is as unflappable as Joe Dredd.

Note: You can check out some fan art and read the SFX magazine piece on Slingers here.

AVATAR Review

Slingers writer, Mike Atherton, was lucky enough to attend the world premiere of James Cameron’s AVATAR last week. He published one of the very first reviews of the movie for TWITCH, which we thought we’d share here. Tickets are on sale already… go, go go!

I just got back home from the world premiere of Avatar here in London. It’s safe to keep reading. You are entering a spoiler-free zone.

I wasn’t expecting much. I attended the 15 minute IMAX preview a few months back and out of context what I saw was pretty. Very pretty. The immersive technology was an obvious step up, but the scenes with the marines came across as just weird on the eye and the sequences with all the alien fauna gave me flashbacks to James Mason clambering through mushrooms forests in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But what really had me worried was the story.

There’s a lot of that same worry online. Avatar is often mentioned in the same breath as Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Dances with Wolves, and then there was *that* South Park episode. I arrived this evening to a blue carpet event (I see what they did there) surrounded by press and the stars of the film, actually surprised at the invite to be honest. Because I’ve been very cynical online. I’m not sure if it was oversight on the part of SKY MOVIES HD who invited me or just simple faith in the movie, but it was stressed to me that I should be as honest as possible in the review. So here goes.

All those worries are completely justified. There’s hardly a single moment of truly original story telling up on the screen. The characters are developed exactly as you think they will be and key moments at the climax of the movie are sign posted clearly early on. If you think you’ve already seen James Cameron’s Avatar then there’s a good chance you’re right. And none of that matters.

It’s the combination of story and technology that reeled me in. The visual depth of the 3D technology is not completely immersive on its own, but Cameron understands that. The opening sequence seems timed to let your brain get around the eye candy while the introduction to Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully slowly begins to draw you in. By the time I met Sigourney Weaver the 3D element had settled down and simply felt comfortable. By the time I met the Na’vi I was immersed. And somehow the story had me too.

I’m a story guy so usually I like to be surprised. If I can work out where a movie is going then I get annoyed. But because Avatar’s plot, to me at least, was so familiar I actually began to concentrate on how well Cameron had constructed it. By the time the first simple arrow-head bounced off a gun ship I was enthralled. Because I knew what was coming and that Cameron was going to execute it with a steady eye and confidence not only in the technology, but also in the cast.

I’m a hard guy to please and being a fan of Twitch for years I know its readers have a rabid love for cinema. But I’m the guy who thinks the Jedi should be edited out of Star Wars at the same time the elves and hobbits get scraped away from Lord of the Rings. I found Dr Manhattan’s blue penis hard to swallow and the last cat person I fell in love with was Natassja Kinski. Avatar was never going to work for me. Yet for 150 minutes this evening James Cameron had me in the palm of his hand.

Snigger away. But this is the important part: Next week a kid who hasn’t seen Dances with Wolves is going to sit down wearing a silly pair of spectacles and be blown away. By the time he or she gets to my miserable jaded age, the effects here will look as old fashioned and as dated as anything I choose to rewatch for the umpteenth time in my DVD collection. But I collect those movies for a reason. So right now I’m jealous of that kid and what he or she is going to experience many years from now in the same way I’m jealous of the first kids who got to see King Kong back in 1933.

But if none of that sways you, just buy the ticket for Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. They steal the show.

Windmill Lane Pictures

Sleepydog CEO, Toby Moores recently paid a visit to Windmill Lane Pictures, Ireland’s largest and longest established film and television post production house.

Take a look at their online archive and showreels to see some examples of the great work they’re doing, but it was Gary Shore’s film, ‘The Cup of Tears‘ which really caught our eye.

This genre splicing fantasy combined Weiss Cam, slow motion footage, HD and high resolution Matte Painting to achieve the eventual look.

I’m sure you’ll agree, the results are stunning!

Tech’ing The Mickey

Technology website Cnet recently published a list of the top ten funniest tech videos. The highlight is this offering from spoof news site, The Onion which brilliantly observes how quickly the world has embraced digital distribution.  Also worth a watch is Peter Serafinowicz’s introduction to the new ‘Mactini’, and Slate V’s take on the Twitter phenomenon.

Monster Mashup

Empire recently published a list of their top 50 movie trailer mashups – a fantastic collection of Hollywood trailers which have been re-edited by fans to give an unexpected spin on classic movies.

Highlights include:

• Shining – Kubrick’s chilling masterpiece becomes a heart-warming comedy.
• 10 Things I Hate About Commandments – the biblical epic re-told as a teen coming-of-age story.
• Brokeback to the Future – a story of forbidden love between Marty McFly and Doc Brown.

To see the complete list of 50 movie trailer mashups, visit www.empireonline.com.

All The Rage

There’s an app for everything – or so Apple would have us believe – and from today you can experience your very own movie premier, as indie flick ‘Rage’ makes it’s debut on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Written and directed by British filmmaker Sally Potter, ‘Rage’ is an episodic story which takes a behind-the-scenes look at a New York fashion show.

The film has attracted a star-studded cast, with Dame Judi Dench, Jude Law, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard and John Leguizamo all making appearances.

‘Rage’ will be released in seven episodes via the free Babelgum app, with episode one available from today.

A Sandstorm Of Talent

Hot on the heels of Susan Boyle and Stavros Flatley comes Kseniya Simonova, winner of the Ukrainian version of Britain’s Got Talent.

Kseniya’s live ’sand animation’ is pretty amazing stuff and as you’ll see from the video, the audience get a little watery eyed during her performance!

Perhaps they’ve just managed to get some sand in their eyes, but I recommend you have a tissue to hand just in case!

Thanks to Kung Fu Monkey for originally posting this.

Bargain Hunting In Harborough

Whilst walking the Sleepydog in the local park, we came across none other than David Dickinson Tim Wonnacott shooting an episode of the BBC show Bargain Hunt.

It seems we’re not the only ones bringing the small screen to town! Happy hunting guys!

MacBook Aircraft?

I’ve still not got around to seeing Transformers 2 – although I’ve been told by several people not to bother! But after seeing this video my appetite is well and truly wetted!

Thanks to @philcampbell for tweeting this.

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