Tag: music

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Video: A Star Wars sing-a-long

I generally run screaming in the night from stuff sent to me in press release form, but this is actually kind of neat. And, what the hell, it’s (another) slow news day. Enjoy.

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Sorry, nerds: Tupac hologram at Coachella was not actually a hologram

A lot of George Lucas jokes have been made over a ‘hologram’ performance by dead rapper Tupac Shakur at the Coachella music festival on Sunday, but it wasn’t a hologram at all.

Coachella’s Tupac was a 2-D creation of Digital Domain Media Group, who won a visual effects Oscar for aging Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And it was projected using technology dating from the 19th Century:

The effect relies on an angled piece of glass in which a “ghostly” image is reflected. “A piece of glass can be both transparent and reflective at the same time, depending on how it’s situated relative to the audience,” said Mr. Steinmeyer, pointing out the secret.

In the Victorian version of the trick, the glass reflected an actual actor, situated out of sight in near the orchestra. On Sunday night, the image was projected on a piece of Mylar—a highly reflective, lightweight plastic—stretched on a clear frame.

A similar effect was used in 2003 to project an image of Frank Sinatra. Virtual Tupac may go on tour later this year with other (living) hip-hop stars

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In the news: George Lucas takes in some fashion

Random… George Lucas at Fashion Week? Yes, indeed: Lucas was spotted at the Rodarte show on Tuesday with girlfriend Mellody Hobson. According to one report, Lucas is “obsessed” with the work of the women behind the label, sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy. (Maybe George is thinking about costumes for one of his art films?)

Also at the show was Natalie Portman, who was wearing Rodarte when she got her Oscar for Black Swan last year – they designed the movie’s costumes.

Sith strategists? Forbes’ Alex Knapp looks at five leadership mistakes of the Galactic Empire.

It’s an industry. In his latest Film Critic column, John Scalzi looks at why Star Wars just won’t go away.

Haters gonna hate. Has-been mouth-frother Glenn Beck went on a rant about Star Wars this week. In addition to hating on The Phantom Menace (so last week) he also hated on… Red Tails? Really? For what it’s worth, Rick McCallum is thrilled.

Listen. Geeky band The Board of Education has a cute song about Star Wars called ‘Why Is Dad So Mad?’