Poster Size

I keep finding myself having to search for poster and print size measurements so I’m posting it here for future reference.

Poster size visual reference guide from Free Poster Templates.

There are a few 20×30-inch posters I want to frame and mount, plus some other prints, but finding the right frames have been very difficult so far. Previously, I sent a poster to a professional frame shop. The result was great but the price was quite expensive, especially as I chose to use non-reflective glass. The glass also made the frame heavy.

So now I am looking for something made of plastic. I like the trade standard Flexiframe range by Mark Bric, but I haven’t seen them sold in a shop. Most likely then, I will buy either the RIBBA or STRÖMBY frames from IKEA. Their sizes (about 70×100cm) will be larger than I need but at least I can buy them conveniently.

September Movie: The Town

I just love a heist movie. The Town begins with four masked men robbing a bank in Cambridge, MA at gun point. Somebody triggers the silent alarm, so they take the bank manager along, just in case, before releasing her unharmed by the sea.

When they realize later that she lives near one of them, the leader of the gang decides to find out how much she knows. Eventually, he meets up with her and they develop a relationship.

Although the FBI is hot on their trail, the gang goes on to rob an armoured truck while dressed as Catholic nuns. The guards fight back and the police show up, but the gang manages to escape after a tight car chase scene along narrow streets of North End.

FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley: This is the not fucking around crew so get me something that looks like a print because this not fucking around thing is about to go both ways.

The Town (2010)

It pisses off the FBI special agent in charge. The members of the gang gets picked up for interrogation, but since there is really no evidence against them there’s nothing much that the FBI and police can do.

The leader of the gang wants to leave to Florida to start afresh, but the local crime boss is having none of it. For its final assignment, the gang is to rob Boston’s cathedral – Fenway Park!

The Florist: Do I hear you got a sweet new girlfriend? (Warner Bros. Pictures)

We went to the movie because Afi needed a little time off. So we bought the tickets after watching the trailer but without reading any of the reviews. We came out of the cinema really impressed. The Town is definitely one of the best movies we’ve seen this year. The movie felt authentic and efficient. There were plenty of bullets flying around but none of the over-the-top gasoline-fuelled explosions.

Ben Affleck both starred and directed the movie. I particularly like this quote of a review of The Town, or rather of Mr Affleck, I read on Rotten Tomatoes:

The rehabilitation of Ben Affleck is complete. His penance has been accepted. The star of Gigli, Daredevil and Pearl Harbor has now earned audiences’ respect again (to say nothing of finally being worthy of wife Jennifer Garner).

Brandon Fibbs

War Movies

I love war movies. Partly it’s because I practically grew up on war movies from those afternoon matinees they used to show on television; the more memorable ones being Von Ryan’s Express, The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, and Escape to Victory. Of course, there was also Tora! Tora! Tora!.

Then came 1998 there were Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. The two World War 2 movies were practically polar opposites in many ways, but both equally awesome. While Saving Private Ryan was action packed and hyper-realistic, The Thin Red Line was simply beautiful.

I would say that the best thing to come out of Saving Private Ryan was that Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg went on to make Band of Brothers. Compared to Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers had the added appeal of being based on real people and real events.

Looks like you guys are going to be surrounded.
We're paratroopers, Lieutenant. We're supposed to be surrounded.

Band of Brothers (2001)

I have the Band of Brothers DVD ‘can’-set.

Now, they are bringing us The Pacific. Somehow, in their infinite wisdom HBO is only going to show it in Asia in April, but I don’t think I’m going to wait.

Twenty!

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) celebrates its twentieth year this year. Not that it’s all that special but they do have a cool poster I would love to have hanging on my office wall.

Fried

Plenty to write about, but my wireless modem router is fried. :P

By the way, last night’s Michael Jackson’s This Is It was awesome! Make sure you watch it in Dolby Digital for that extra umph.

afk.

I’m off to Langkawi for a departmental retreat. See you all next week!

Height @ xkcd

(Click for full size)

^ I would love to have the poster in my office.

Star Trek, Reboot

1. AWESOME!
2. Neat trick to get around forty years of Star Trek history and start afresh.
3. Klingons, where are the Klingons?

Die

A random movie quote because I don’t have anything better to post.

President Thomas Whitmore: What do you want us to do?
Captured Alien: Die. Die.

Independence Day (1996)

Next Best Thing

Taking a short break from marking exam scripts.

I’ve been to a 3D cinema exactly three times; in all three occasions more for the 3D experience than what was shown. Well, actually they were more of the I’m-already-here-so-why-the-heck-not kind of occasions.

Hopefully, they’ll show U2 3D in KL. If there was to be just one time I’d suffer through the horrible traffic to get to the IMAX Theatre at Berjaya Times Square, this would be it.