I revisited my old copy of Frank Miller’s masterpiece last week, and just like always, it left me speechless. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comic packed with such raw power.

That’s what MG Siegler of TechCrunch boiled it down to, and as an Android user who loves the elegance of the iPhone, I must say the comparison is spot-on. But not in a winner-loser way, because here’s the thing: My dream car is a tricked out 80s CRX. (Okay, maybe an old yellow NSX.) So perhaps that has something to do with why I dig Android so much.

In related news, Gizmodo recently posted an excellent breakdown of why it’s wise to avoid skinned/modified iterations of the OS (like HTC’s EVO 4G, for instance) and stick to Google-backed devices that run stock builds, like the Nexus One and original Droid. Good advice.

I’ve been messing around with an old laptop of mine recently, one with a big 4:3 display, and I’m finding it quite refreshing to revisit the ‘old’ aspect ratio, especially for web content.

On a similar note, one thing I’ve always felt very strongly about is that old movies and games that were shot/designed in 4:3 are way better when experienced on displays that match their original aspect ratio. I’m not a fan of stretching the edges of the image, and there’s something decidedly empty about having two big black areas on either side.

Speaking of which, I’m getting the urge to track down a nice retro TV…

The Bermuda Triangle and a return to old-school effects?

From Wikipedia:

“His favorite video game is Tetris. In the 1990s he submitted so many high scores for the game to Nintendo Power that they would no longer print his scores, so he started sending them in under the alphabetically reversed “Evets Kainzow”.”

I’d never heard this before. Awesome.

Fifty years ago, a Dutch artist named Cor Blok created a bunch of really cool illustrations for The Lord of the Rings, some of which ended up being bought by Tolkien himself. I discovered a few of them by chance in the early 90s, and was immediately captivated. They have an abstract quality that reminds me of 50s animation, and they capture the essence of the text better than any illustrations I’ve ever seen outside those of the author. A nice sampling of Cor Blok’s work, LOTR and otherwise, can be seen here along with a recent interview.

I found this article a good read.

I ran across this picture on my hard drive today, and vaguely remembered that I’d discovered it at Animation Backgrounds way back when. Upon visiting the site to try and track down the post where I’d found it, I was delighted to see that the site is back in action, and evidently has been for some time. This is a wonderful thing.

This cover always blew my mind as a kid, and it still does today.

Seeing this shot at random in the IGN post once again made me realize how amazing puppets can be, and how much more powerful an impact they can have than CGI. I’ve watched Empire countless times since first discovering it in fifth grade, and even today, seeing a shot from the film such as this can still leave me speechless. It takes a special kind of movie to do that. Pure magic.

I got a real kick out of this post.

IGN has posted 100 little-known facts about the film.

This weekend’s Google doodle is the coolest ever.

[Update] It lives on here. Nice!

This and two more great production pics from Empire here. [Source]

I found this piece an interesting contrast to the majority of Facebook talk I’ve encountered recently, nearly all of which seems to be predicting world domination over the next decade.