Long time, no posts. I have been enjoying my Christmas break by laying around the house doing very little. I think everyone here had a good Christmas. Santa brought me a TV tuner card for my computer, so I can meet in the IST building every night next semester without missing my favorite shows. I also have picked up a couple DVDs to continue my collection. All in all, pretty typical holiday here at the house.

I am anxiously anticipated my trip to Miami now. Monday morning we’re driving down to my uncle’s house in Maryland and he’s going to take us into Dulles. He does a lot of flying so he should be able to guide us through all the procedures smoothly. The weather is predicted to be in the 80s all week, so it should be a nice change of pace. I don’t think I’ll be bringing my laptop, but I’ll probably try to post something if I find a public computer somewhere.

I’ll be back later with my best of 2005 movies list, though I am sad to report I have not seen Munich yet so it probably won’t make the list.

I came across Google’s Firefox Extentions yesterday afternoon when I was looking for new software to play with. I downloaded and installed a new one called Blogger Web Comments. The extention uses Google’s Blog Search to find posts that link back to the page or site you are currently viewing. So it automatically brings up any posts about the page you are using, which is pretty handy.

It does have some weaknesses. For starters its branded as a Blogger tool, so its meant to allow Blogger tools to add posts. So I can’t use it to post to my blog. It also includes a lot of splog entries, which is rather annoying. Still, I find it kind of handy and I plan on playing with it for a while.

What I think is really neat is kind of creates a notion of blog posts being part of a larger online conversation. I wonder if in the future blog search tools will also be able to aggregate comment systems on a site – a one-stop shop for web feedback. Imagine if you could search for a movie and get a listing of critics and users opinions. This sort of interconnectivity sets the web apart from other mediums.

I haven’t posted in a while, so to catch you up, I am done the semester and home for the holidays, err Christmas vacation if you prefer. One of the projects my mom has me tasked me with is converting all our old family tapes to digital video. We have about two dozen videotapes and cassettes from the last 20 years. It was pretty neat looking back on my youth and also how different the adults in my life looked.

One thing I noticed is that humans must form most of their unique expressions very early. I swear I saw my sister giving the same evil eye at age 2 that she does today. The other, less surprising fact, is that almost all my siblings looked alike as chidren. What’s weird is that pictures of myself as a child look like some of my younger brothers today. All in all there were a lot of funny and embaressing moments. I might post some clips later when I finish the project.

Otherwise, its pretty boring here in Havertown. I got 5 As and a B+ this semester, so I can’t complain about how school ended. I saw Syriana last night, which was good and thought-provoking. I have been trying to help my mom shop for presents, but we haven’t had a lot of luck so far. I am also dealing with my regular home-from-school allergy/cold thing, but its not so bad. I’m going to try to keep up with the posting better over break.

I just got back from an opening night screening of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. The seats were a little lumpy and the popcorn was too salty/not buttery enough. I doubt you’re interested in that though. There’s a lot one can say about it, so I’ll keep things short. SEE THIS MOVIE. I have not seen a better one this year and I can’t say there was many better last year either. Let the gay cowboys wait for DVD. Go to your local cineplex, get some popcorn and see Kong. You may want some tissues though, it is tragic.

It is a long movie, but I never felt like things got too slow. In fact I felt disappointed with how quickly the original went when I saw it last month. Fans should not fret though, Jackson stays true to the original story and pays homage to it quite a bit. In looking at his success with the Lord of the Rings and now Kong, it seems Jackson’s secret is that he is a fan of his own material. Jackson understands what fans love about these stories and delivers.The connection between Kong and Ann seemed very real in this version, making it much more than some sort of monster movie. There are a lot of monsters in this movie though – Jackson went wild with his ‘bad taste’ for about 40 minutes of entertaining sequences.The special effects were good, though at this point that seems a given for any modern movie.

Like I said, I could go on for a while about this movie but I’ll stop. If you enjoy movies at all though, check this one out. You won’t regret it.

Due to my computer problems earlier this year, I lost a bit of my digital music collection including my Christmas music. So I have been trying to find stuff on iTunes and Napster to hold me over until I get home again. Here are some of my favorites.

A Charlie Brown Christmas – This is my favorite Christmas album of all time, so I have been listening to it quite a bit. The jazzy sounds of Vince Guaraldi convey the spirit of Christmas well, especially from the melancholy perspective of Charlie Brown. This year they released an anniversary album called 40 Years featuring contemporary musicians. I haven’t listened to it all the way through, but there are some interesting tracks on it. Doesn’t quite match the original though.

I discover a lot of music through movies, so I looked up the soundtracks of some recent Christmas movies as well. The soundtrack to Home Alone is really great, featuring new and traditional holiday music from legendary composer John Williams. On the other end of the spectrum is the recent hit Elf, which uses a lot of older Christmas songs in its soundtrack

Christmas Eve and Other Stories by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. There are some original songs, but the real highlight is their remixing of classical pieces, including “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”.

Finally if you don’t celebrate Christmas or like holiday music, I have The Alternative Classical Chillout Album. This was on sale on iTunes when I stumbled upon it so I bought it and I am really happy. It’s the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing pop alternative rock songs which are pretty good.

Alright that’s all for now. I know my list is pretty small so feel free to leave comments with your favorites. Merry Christmas to all.

This weekend two of the major films of the year came out: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and Syriana. Both films are getting good reviews and making headlines. Narnia is the first in a classic series of children’s fantasy books by C.S. Lewis. Syriana is a controversial political thriller that portrays corruption in the oil buisness. These films interest me for another reason though. They have been produced by two increasingly visable production companies: Walden Media and Participant Productions. Unlike most production companies, which are ventures mostly built around a founding actor or director, these two companies have a purpose which binds their projects together.

Walden Media is led by former Miramax president Cary Granat and an “educational entrepreneur” named Micheal Flaherty. They focus on making family-friendly films, inspired by classic children’s books like Holes or Charlotte’s Web. They have partnered with Disney on several recent movies. In addition to making the movies, they produce educational materials for schools as well as sponsor events and contests that promote learning. In addition to promoting education, it’s smart buisness. Connecting with kids in kids in the classroom gives them free marketing. It seems the company’s success has encouraged authors to allow them to adapt their books. I was excited to see they are planning an adaptiation of The Giver, a book I felt certain would never make it onto the screen.

Participant Prodcutions is also interested in eductation, but more for adults than children. eBay founder Jeff Skoll launched the company to produce films that raise social issues in addition to entertaining. Not surprising these types of movies attract a lot of star power. George Clooney directed and starred in Good Night and Good Luck for Particpant this fall before starring Syriana. In addition to producing movies, they use them as platforms to launch public awareness campaigns on their website Particpate.net. The issues publicize the movies and vice versa. I expect that Participant’s movies will also be recieving several nominations this award season.

So what’s the big deal? For starters, both companies are using alternative marketing to capture bigger box office revenues and DVD sales. I don’t know how successful they are money wise, but they both seem to be doing well. What interests me is the fact that these two companies are creating incentives for Hollywood to invest in quality entertainment. I imagine we will be seeing more production companies in the future that use their brand to cater to a specific audience.