Being a shutterbug and a video guy as well, I found this super interesting. The director of the show House Greg Yaitanes, let this interesting tid-bit out on his twitter earlier this week. Turns out the House season finale which will air May, 17^th will be shot completely with a Canon 5D Mark II.

This sparked quite a conversation with fellow Canon users and the director on his twitter, which I highly suggest you check out if you have any interest at all in photography. Now this is a still camera, but it shoots beautiful HD as well; and while the camera does retail for $2,500, this use on a major network show like House is still pretty unprecedented.

While I am a little upset this is a Canon instead of a Nikon, I find this fascinating nonetheless.  While the HD video shot with DSLRs have been mostly regulated to shorts and more experimental media, its great to see it truly go mainstream. But this is not the first time the Canon 5D Mark II made headlines either; it was also the camera to shoot the first digital presidential portrait of Barak Obama.

Chen Reichert, one of my many favorite local crafters, recently launched a website for her adorably quirky wares.

Created under the moniker Botodesigns, her Japanese inspired art, plush dolls, screenprints, and clothing feature cute robots, wild plants, and (especially in the case of her prints) unique scenery.

If you’re a Philly native, you can pick up Chen’s work in several stores through the region, including Nice Things Handmade, Pat-a-Cake Baby, Lost & Found, and the VIX Emporium. If not, well, now you can visit her website, or just shop at her Etsy store.

Congrats on the site, Chen!

Botodesigns
www.botodesigns.com
www.etsy.com/shop/botodesigns

Now, I know we’ve touched base on something similar to this before, but this is just too good to pass up. Joystiq recently found a new studio named Killspace Studios via Supererogatory and after some digging found they have recently purchased the domains ApocalypseNowGame.com and WarIsNotAGame.net (just sitting there, waiting). 1UP drew the conclusion that the new studio comprised of former developers from studios such as Obsidian and Pandemic as well as a few others might be creating a game surrounding the award winning film, Apocalypse Now.

You know, that award winning Francis Coppola directed film that starred Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall. The same flick that many believe set the standard for cinematography as one of the greatest films of all time. Yeah, that one. Not to mention the studios founding statement by talent agency, Digital Development Management, says the 40-strong team’s specialty is “action” games for the “[Xbox] 360, PS3, Wii, PC, iPhone [and] Facebook”. Oh boy, this ought to be good.  (more…)

Bradley Cooper’s new film, The Dark Fields, is currently filming here in Philadelphia… and earlier today, they transformed 19th and Market into 52nd and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. Reader Erik B. emailed in some photos…

Walking along Market Street at 19th on my lunch break I somehow ended up at 52nd and 6th Avenue in Manhattan. After some investigation, I learned that I was still in fact in Philadelphia, but near the set of the movie The Dark Fields. They temporarily transformed our great City into the Big Apple.

Erik saw Philadelphia born Bradley Cooper being whisked off the set into a car immediately after snapping these pictures. Have a look!

The Black Waters of Echo’s Pond is a great little horror film, which to me really harkened back to the glory days of 80’s horror. The film centers around nine surprisingly not college, or high school, but late 20’s early 30’s friends who travel to a remote island to get away from it all for the weekend. Once arriving on the island, which of course has no cell coverage, and is watched over by the T-1000 himself Robert Patrick; they settle in their rented Victorian house for the night, only to have the power go out.

When one of the characters, attempting to find the fuse box and comes upon an ancient board game stashed away in the basement. They decide what better to do than pass the time playing this interesting, very cursed looking game. Once the game begins, mysterious things begin to happen. The game begins to manipulate the players showing them things, which pray on the fears and desires of the participants. The game first starts out as a flirty truth or dare, but as the game goes on the questions change from simple queries to deeper secrets better left untold.

More and a trailer after the jump.

(more…)

Our Monday April 26^th screening of Black Dynamite at the lovely Trocadero is slowly approaching. So you better start shining up those platform shoes and ironing your bell-bottoms, because this looks to be quite the Movie Monday event. First off we will be screening the great Blaxploitation homage Black Dynamite, followed by a 70’s themed disco dance party, with the great folks over at Shmitten Kitten spinning till the wee hours. We will have some great prizes for those that come in 70′s garb.  For those of you not familiar with the film, here is the lowdown on my main man Black Dynamite:

Black Dynamite is a seamless recreation (it was even shot on 16mm!) of 70’s Blaxploitation classics staring Michael Jai White (Spawn) as the ex-CIA, Vietnam Veteran, Kung-fu master and ultimate badass Black Dynamite.  In a solid nod to the genre “The Man” has not only killed Black Dynamite’s brother, but is pumping heroin into the local orphanage, and has even flooded the ghetto with a secret weapon disguised as common malt liquor. Of course Black Dynamite is the only one who can stop him and get revenge for the death of his brother.

The event will be 21+ and a mere $3. Not only does that $3 go towards a drink, but get there before 7pm and get a free bag of popcorn as well.

We’ve got a Facebook event page. Feel free to RSVP, and let us know you’re coming.

See ya there!

Our favorite local watchmakers, the Cadence Collective, are teaming up with MakePhilly for an awesome event this month. Cadence are stopping by University of the Arts to give an “unprecedented inside look into how watches are designed, made, distributed, and sometimes recycled.”

As always, the MakePhilly meeting starts at 3pm sharp, on the 5th floor of Terra Hall (211 S. Broad Street). Be sure to bring an ID with you so you can sign in at the front desk. The event is free, of course.

As for the annual Maker Challenge, MakePhilly will challenge guests to design and build a recycled watch project, using old watches that Cadence is donating to MakePhilly. Awesome.

For more information on MakePhilly, visit their official website.

MakePhilly & Cadence Collective
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
www.makephilly.com
www.cadencewatch.com

Microsoft Student Insiders interview Twitter Platform Team from Hilary Pike on Vimeo.

To end our journey to Las Vegas for MIX 10 in March, Tom Ziegmann and I sat in on Raffi Krikorian’s session titled “Adding the Where to the When of Social Applications” to learn more about our favorite internet obsession, Twitter. More specifically, we learned a bit about where the social is network headed, but still wonder why it’s watching us. It’s kind of creepy.

Thankfully, we later had the chance to ask him some burning questions about geotagging, which helps reveal exactly where the 7-11 is in which your friend just bought milk (you heard it here first, folks). More importantly, we discussed geotagging’s social and security implications as well just who is the real Raffi. Speaking of which, I need to form the search party!

Axe Cop is currently my new favorite thing.

Ever.

Written by 5 year old Malachai and illustrated by his 29 year old brother Ethan, the online comic tells the epic saga of Axe Cop and his fantastic adventures protecting the world. The cast of characters is all together colorful and hilarious, from the vampire werewolf moon warriors to the uni-baby. According to the comic’s website, “everything in Axe Cop started in Malachai’s head,” and all Ethan does, is bring it to life.

As of this posting, the comic is currently up to issue #14. I suggest going back to the beginning, and following the zany story from the start. If you don’t understand something, you can always submit a question to Ask Axe Cop… just don’t ask him anything if you’re a mermaid. It won’t end well.

Axe Cop
www.axecop.com

Mark your calendars! In the second of four planned screenings, in conjunction with their great Marvels and Ciphers Exhibit. The Chemical Heritage Foundation will be screening the classic 1956 Hammer sci-fi film X: The Unknown in glorious black and white, Wednesday, April 14^th at 6:30pm.

The Plot of this great sci-fi thriller goes something like this:

Visiting American researcher Dean Jagger faces wrath from worried parents and mistrust from the military as he investigates a mysterious force that is causing death and mayhem in the Scottish moors. Despite this lack of faith in his theories (and his brusque manner), Jagger successfully reasons out the cause of the strange goings-on: a giant mass of intelligent, radioactive mud has emerged from the center of the Earth, starved for energy and multiplying in size!

This intelligent U.K. predecessor to The Blob features crisp black and white photography (largely shot at night), and excellent acting from a cast that includes Leo McKern (the ring-seeking villain from Help!) and singer Anthony Newley.

The event is free to the public and also promises, “Popcorn and other refreshments will be served.” Free Hammer films and food, I am so there. Check out the website for more info here!

Like this, only a little smaller.

It’s been a long time since I went to a good ol’ fashioned LAN party. You know, the sort where you devour giant bags of Doritos for breakfast, lunch, and possibly dinner, while gaming until your eyes are dried up. Well, the IST Club at Penn State Brandywine are bringing the LAN party back, and want you to come join on April 17th.

Called the “80 Man Lan”, this annual event takes place every year at Penn State Brandywine in Media, PA. This year, the event will take place in the new Tomezsko Building (Room 203), from 10am to 11:30pm. It’s an open event, so you don’t have to be a Penn State student to participate.

The first 50 guests to show up will receive a complimentary 2GB flash drive, with that day’s games preloaded, and all attendees can enjoy free food, including pizza, soda, and other misc (Doritos!) snacks.

So bring your desktop, laptop, gaming system, television, monitor… whatever it is you’ll need to play. Expect epic games of Soldat, Counter Strike, Track Mania, Armagetron, Quake, Tribes, Savage, and Stronghold, as well as console games on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

There are prizes, but those prizes are a secret. Come out and find out.

80 Man Lan @ Penn State Brandywine
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
10am to 11:30pm (OMG)

Welcome to Geekadelphia’s weekly discussion column, Cofffee Talk, where we talk about the finer topics concerning video games, technology and all the other things you can’t talk about with your slightly-less-geeky friends. Have questions or suggestions? Send an email to geekadelphia@gmail.com or tweet with us. Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to keep this week’s discussion alive.

We apologize (sort of) for the completely unrelated image, but that reference has been ignored for far too long. Anyway, Nintendo will be releasing an eReader game for the Nintendo DS called 100 Classic Books this summer, says Kotaku. Wait, that’s our inspiring piece of news for this week?

Here’s the catch: the game appears to have no ESRB rating and simply states, “This product does not require age verification.” That’s a bit odd. And here I thought all games required an ESRB rating to be released for retail sale.

Now, it’s easy to argue that this is barely a video game and more of an application, which may not need any sort of rating. While it does still provide influential content, writing 500+ words on a petty argument would be wasting our time. So, let’s keep it light(ish) this week and give a brief history of the ESRB and poke some fun at it, shall we? (more…)