Things of note for the week ending Friday May 20th, 2016.
I’ve been [back] in Dubai this week and, aside from (amongst other things) seeing the INCREDIBLE Atlantis Aquarium, I also saw this cray installation/combo of a SHOPPING MALL plus AQUARIUM.
Look!
Crayfish.
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Shall we?
1. NOKIA – ‘HELLO AGAIN’
Shocking new this week, Nokia is making* a comeback:
Stunning, right?
Woo!
*Thing is, it isn’t actually Nokia making these new devices. Not the Nokia you know and remember. This is a brand-licensing deal that allows a new hardware manufacturer, ‘HMD’, to create new smartphones, feature phones, and tablets (all using Android as its base OS) all bearing the ‘Nokia’ brand.
Don’t go daydreaming of your N95 quite yet.
The proof will be in the pudding.
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2. SCI-FI RECOMMENDATIONS
Looking for something to watch this weekend? io9 has published this fairly decent list of sci-fi movies that ‘everybody should see at least once’.
I think I’m at about 70% through it (without trying).
What about you?
On a related note: if you’re stuck for something to read right now, especially along a similar theme, then you go check out the SF Masterworks series. Whenever I’m stuck for something to read, I dive into this collection and just pick something at random. I have never been disappointed. There are a ton of classics in there too.
Go swim.
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3. ROLLING STONES
Late at night, as I was interviewing Richards, and he was a pirate in a high-backed velvet chair, he stopped and looked at me, really looked at me, and asked, “What year were you born?â€
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“Nineteen sixty-eight.â€
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“I can’t imagine that,†he said, smiling. “It’s weird. You should be answering questions for me. You tell me. I don’t know. What’s it like to live in a world where the Stones were always there? For you, there’s always been the sun and the moon and the Rolling Stones.â€
From someone who was there, who saw it all – ‘Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: inside a five decade bromance‘ is a fantastic read.
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4. A COUPLE IN CHICAGO
“On May 26, 1996, Mariana Cook visited Barack and Michelle Obama in Hyde Park as part of a photography project on couples in America. What follows is excerpted from her interviews with them.”
5. HOW DOES AN EDITOR THINK OR FEEL?
My favourite thing in this week’s edition? If only for the Ant-Man / Empire Strikes Back comparison…
Maybe.
Tony Zhou is back again with Every Frame A Painting and in this one, he talks about how editing creates better movies and also how to go about finding your own editing rhythm and language.
It’s less than 10mins long – why not watch it over lunch?
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Bonuses this week are:
- Apple stole my music (no really).
- Did you ever play Secret of Mana? You’ll love this interview.
- Spotify for Android TV is OUT NOW.
- This is a great (and meticulous) critique of THAT new logo.
- Last week’s DEFINITIVE (no argments) list of MARVEL movies really got y’all talking (one excellent thread can be found here) but it struck me: what other questions/topics would you want covered in a THING one week? I’m open to it.
- This Sunday’s episode of The Voicemail podcast (E169) will cover off everything that happened at Google I/O this week so, if that’s something you’re interested in, you should subscribe today.
Whatley out.
Ps. Watch this ’til the end.
Forget the N95. The Nokia I miss was my N900, which was awesome until it finally encountered the common issue with a fragile USB port. I’ve always meant to get around to trying to fix it – especially as the last time I saw an N900 was in the National Computer Museum in Cambridge…
I’ll wait and see if HMD can revive the qualities I miss most about Nokia handsets – the reliability for calls and the longevity of the phones. Among various Android handsets I’ve had since from a variety of manufacturers, they’ve all either suffered from dodgy reception, touchscreens being fussy about whether or not they’ll let me actually answer a call, or started falling apart fairly quickly etc.