Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Link roundup

1. Christopher McQuarrie analyzes the failure of marketing Edge of Tomorrow, and partially blames himself:
A: The movie didn’t have the moments that a trailer needs to tell you, “This is the experience you’re going to have.”
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Q: And one of the first things we saw [in Rogue Nation] was Tom Cruise taking off on the side of a plane. It’s impossible to not be interested in that.

A: We knew you needed that image. And, more importantly, we knew that image would be the image that is selling the movie, which is why we argued from the very beginning to make that the opening of the film and not the ending.
2. TDB:
China’s killer robots are at war in Nigeria, apparently helping Abuja’s military battle the deadly Boko Haram extremist group
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with unarmed American robots and armed Chinese models flying top cover, Nigerian troops and warplanes have stepped up their attacks on Boko Haram.
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Chinese missile-drones are apparently helping the government beat a militant slavery ring that the United States also wants to defeat.
3. "The Most Important Scenes from Fantastic Four (As I Remember Them)."
Ben Grimm: Wait, what about Sue?

Reed Richards: What about her?

Ben Grimm: Sue’s coming along, right?

Reed Richards: Nah. Let’s keep it to us bros.

Ben Grimm: The hell?! We’re supposed to be the Fantastic Four. How is she supposed to get her powers if she doesn’t come with us to this other dimension?

Reed Richards: I dunno.

Ben Grimm: So you’re telling me, in this movie about the Fantastic Four, in a movie that is solely about our origin story, we’re going to exclude one of the core characters from the key moment in our origin story.

Reed Richards: I guess.
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Sue Storm: You realize that not only did I not get to go to the other dimension, but my job on the projects was making the environment suits? Making clothes? For the men?
4. Imagining the future of Disneyland:
Imagine being the rebel spy on Star Tours, later seeing your mug shot on “wanted” signs around Star Tours Land, leading to a possible confrontation with a bounty hunter at the Cantina?
5. "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and the case of the hidden sprint key"
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a beautiful game that tasks you with exploring a seemingly uninhabited town to try to figure out what exactly happened to all the people. The game's pace is meant to be deliberate, but the inability to increase the speed in which you move proved frustrating to some reviewers.
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Here's the interesting bit: There was always a run command in the game; it was just hidden, with no hints of its existence.