_Veronica Mars_ cinematographer Victor Hammer uses a Nikon digital camera to communicate his intent to the color timer. Basically what’s going on here is that _VM_ is shot on super 16 (16mm widescreen) film with some very interesting lighting and color effects. It can be difficult to communicate to the person developing the film just how you want the colors to turn out. This guy’s brilliant idea was basically to put some filters in front of a digital still camera and crank up the saturation and such until he had the look he wanted. He then sends those stills to the developers so that they can know how a scene should come out. Oh, and also, for some of the weird distortion/lines for the flashback scenes? He uses Vaseline in front of the lens, and shapes it with a comb. You learn something new every day… At this rate by the time I’m a hundred and eighty I’ll know enough to do some neat camera work.

A LiveJournal community lists the deaths of MySpace users. Each person is linked to their MySpace profile and their picture is displayed. There seems to be a high correlation between pictures of people getting trashed at parties and deaths due to alcohol-related causes, most frequently drunk driving. Occasionally the cause is a gunshot or something else. And some of the people, still living, are responsible in some way for *other* people’s deaths. (via Waxy)

Interesting explanation of why there are so few television shows about college and why the ones that are created usually don’t do very well in the ratings. The author claims that some of the problem is a lack of good stories to tell, part is that college is not a shared experience that all of society can relate to (only about 25% of us have attended a four year residential college), and part of the problem is that old standby, Nielsen Media Research, which measures TV consumptions in family homes, not college dorms, apartments, or public venues like bars.

A Knight Rider movie is in production with David Hasselhoff reprising his role from the 1982 series. Weird. I used to watch that show a lot.

The _Chicago Tribune_ makes the standard comparison, calling _Veronica Mars_ as good as _Buffy_ but without all the demons: Let’s face it, despite the incredible richness of the stories Whedon told on “Buffy” and “Angel,” some folks were just never going to be down with TV shows involving demons, vampires and other assorted mutants. “Veronica Mars,” on the other hand, has all of the trademarks of Whedon’s shows: witty writing, great acting, strong plotting, a love of the unexpected and a ferocious devotion to emotional truth. And there are no monsters or demons to put off those who might find such fiends off-putting.

_The Monitor_ asks the obvious question, namely, why we put up with so much corruption in government and why campaign finance reform never becomes a big issue. They also state the fact that most all of the scandals coming to light now are from Republicans. Now, granted, they are the party in power, which would explain a lot, but it sure looks bad for the party of reform and under the watch of the President who pledged to clean up Washington.

Movies That Won’t Be Shown on the Lifetime Network — The Number of Children We Planned For, All Healthy

Southern California girl, suspended and transferred to a different school for kissing her girlfriend in public, sues the school district, claiming discrimination and breach of privacy. The judge refused to throw out the lawsuit against school officials, and the ACLU is representing the plaintiff.

Heathers thoughts on pausing real life are spot on. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself reaching for my TiVo remote in random life situations, and especially wishing I could hit the pause button in the middle of conversations. And to some extent the instinct is correct — technology is giving us the ability to leave the confines of a “broadcast” world and conform reality to *our* expectations. Media is becoming “narrowcast” as we are given more options for controlling what and when we see, hear, and read. Sadly, I don’t believe a TiVo remote for controlling “real life” will be forthcoming…

Derek Powazek tells us about the subliminal reassurances of TV procedural dramas:
*Bones* – Don’t worry, if you get killed and all that’s left of you are your bones, a brilliant but socially awkward woman and a vampire with a soul will solve the crime using a combination of 3D imaging and sexual tension. (via Heather)

Slate offers a quick overview of the salient points with regard to recent rumblings by various countries about the US holding too much control over “the internet” and what consensus was reached at the WSIS conference in Tunisia two weeks ago.

The Church of Scientology has built symbols in the desert visible from space so that when members return in the future they will be able to find the location of L. Ron Hubbard’s sacred writings.

US declares reports that Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera “outlandish”. If that is so, then why not deny it?!

Fred Kaplan at Slate charifies Rep. John Murtha’s proposal, noting that what Murtha wants is not a “withdrawal” from Iraq but a “redeployment,” and that no matter what people say to the contrary, it will happen: It almost doesn’t matter whether withdrawing or redeploying the troops is a good idea; it’s simply going to happen because there is no way for it not to happen (short of a major act of political will, such as reviving the draft or keeping troops on the battlefield beyond reasonable endurance). This because, in short, the Army is at a breaking point, and the Army leadership knows it.

I like the BBC’s practice of not capitalizing acronyms. If you pronounce the word rather than saying each letter, it shouldn’t be capitalized. CNN. Nasa. WTO. Unesco. Make sense?

In an article about reaction to Murtha’s call to withdraw troops from Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumself is quoted as saying, “The enemy hears a big debate in the United States, and they have to wonder: ‘Maybe all we have to do is wait and we’ll win. We can’t win militarily.’ They know that.”. Really? I thought history was chock fill of examples of terrorists/freedom fighters sticking it out for *years* until the occupier/liberator tired of the situation and pulled out. I think they know they *can* win, and we know it too.

Tom Engelhardty presents an in-depth analysis of the events and strategies leading up to the stunning downfall of the Bush administration in his new article, “Losing the Fear Factor: How the Bush Administration Got Spooked.” An excellent and enlightening read.

Fannie Mae offered 1,500 housing units rent free for 18 months to hurricane refugees. FEMA refused. They’re doing a heck of a job.

People are figuring out that Harvard’s extension school is a back-door into the University. I just hope the classes don’t start filling up while I’m working towards my masters (yes, I’m serious)…

Report Details F.D.A. Rejection of Next-Day Pill – The conservative and guarded language of the GAO report masks the amazing audacity of top political appointees at the FDA who chose to completely ignore the recommendations of independent scientific studies and panels, including the FDA’s own established practices, and decide to deny this request before the review was even completed. Another sad day for impartial science, as if there is any impartial science left in Washington.