The Movie Theater That Fits in Your Pocket

There is a great highlight in the newest Details magazine (March, the one with The Social Network’s Andrew Garfield on the cover) of the new ShowWX+ projector by Microvision. They say “time will only tell if Microvision’s ShowWX+ is mentioned in the same breath as the camera obscura or IMAX, but for now it’s the palm-size reason to give up your flat-screen.  The size of a cell phone, the projector connects directly to your iPod, iPhone or iPad (or, with an adapter, to a laptop or digital camera). Aim it at a dark wall and view high-resolution photos, TV shows, sales graphs – anything you have stored – at up to 100 inches wide. Just like that, your home video collection is a movable filmfest.”

$450; www.microvision.com

 

Near-Death At The Movies

This article, from the November 2010 issue of Men’s Journal Magazine, was inspired by the release of James Franco’s new film 27 Hours.  In the film Franco gets trapped and has to figure out how to survive, escape or get help (extreme abridged version).  That led the writers of the magazine to brainstorm a list of other near-death experiences in movies.  The mag calls the folliwing movies “Nerve-racking survival films that are a must-add to your queue.” They are the following:

Touching the Void (2003)

Life, pain, suffering, death, and the hard moral calculus of extreme adventuring intersect in this riveting documentary about two accomplished climbers on a disastrous descent in the Peruvian Andes.

Cast Away (2000)

Tom Hanks lost nearly 50 pounds to play a marooned survivor of a plane crash with the smarts and determination to overcome loneliness and privation. That said, its his close friendship with a volleyball that stuck with us the most.

The Edge (1997)

This overlooked action thriller set in the wilds of Alaska features a brilliant script by David Mamet, a pair of cagey but knockout performances by Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, and one very hungry grizzly bear.

Open Water (2003)

True story of a couple scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef who are forced to spend a long night in shark-infested waters when their charter boat leaves without them.  Simple premise, inspired execution.

Video From All Corners…Cubed

Wow.  I am in awe over here.  You gotta love GQ Magazine – even though the first article is usually located approximately 48% into the Stephen King-sized novel of a publication (you know, past all of the ads?), it has some great information in it.  One of the things that caught my eye in the March 2010 issue (Kobe Bryant on the cover) is the Boxee Box by D-Link.  Out this spring, the Boxee Box aggregates and organizes tons of free and paid TV and movies available on the web in a slick, user-friendly interface.  Want to watch LOST? No need to go to ABC.com or Netflix.  Just type “Lost” into Boxee and every episode available on the internet appears, no matter the source.  It’s like some Uber on-demand system from the future.  Get it from www.boxee.tv – it costs about $200.

New This Month: UFL

In the October 2009 issue of Esquire magazine (the one with Matt Damon on the cover), there exists their monthly “what’s new” section, as to be expected.  In the “What’s New” section, there is a tiny little snippet about the United Football League, or the UFL.  This is news to me that there is another American national football league that is claiming to be a professional league.  It will kick off its first season when the Las Vegas Locomotives take on the california Redwoods on October 8th. Some on the internet speculate that this league is more of a minor league of sorts to prepare players for the NFL, but that really ruffles the UFL stafff’s feathers (or so we have heard)…tune in to see if this is really legitimate.  OR you could watch good college football instead, which we may or may not be doing…