The 1880

Baz Rox

Auteur patty-cake?

Sometimes I feel like I’m too busy with schoolwork to learn. Might sound weird, but there are worlds of stuff that interest me over the course of a day. I would rather be investing my time in any of them rather than waxing pedantic over some who-gives-a-shit essay on the postmodern condition du jour. Luckily, as of 9:45 last night, the semester has come to a close, inspiring that dizzying sense of freedom some call summer.

Earlier this week, in a fit of procrastination, I came across Apple’s new Set to Screen series. The set of podcasts follow Baz Lurhmann and his production team as they work on Australia, his new film starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. The series is exceptionally well produced, providing tons of practical knowledge and insight into the process of creating what appears to be a seriously epic motion picture. If the podcast leaves you salivating, jump over to the curriculum, which integrates lessons and more in-depth exploration of the topics from the podcast.

If somehow, that isn’t enough, there are also contests with some really cool prizes, including a seat on the film’s promotional tour or a trip to Australia to hang out as they work on post for the film. The current contest, at the link above, is a chance to design the movie poster for the film’s Australian release. Apple provides a set of very high resolution images from on-set photographer James Fisher, featured in the photography episode of the series. If you get bored in the next couple days, fire up Photoshop and go nuts, you’ve got nothing to lose.

I hope Apple has wild success with this project, and gets to do it in the future with other productions. Anyone know of any other opportunities like this anywhere on the internet? I’d love to get some links. Post ‘em here if you have any.

FUCK. You’ve lost your Word document?

FUCK YOU, CLIPPY.

Our lovely staff member Megan called me last night, frantic that she had lost her Word document. We’ve all been in the same boat– often it’s the same situation: you’ve e-mailed yourself a copy of your document that you open and start editing. You save and then close the window, not immediately realizing that you haven’t downloaded the file to your computer. Shit.

First of all, let that be a warning to you: When you receive a document of ANY TYPE in your e-mail, save it to your computer first!

So, the first thing (as anybody might do) I did was search google for “saved word document open from email lost.” What came up seemed pretty helpful. It was “10 Ways to Find a Lost Word .doc” from the website HackCollege.

9. Open up C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temp
This is a hidden folder, so you’ll probably have to use Windows Explorer. Hit Start, then All Programs.
Go to Accessories, then Windows Explorer. Navigate to that folder, where *USERNAME* is whatever your computer calls you. Do you see your document in that folder?

Check out the full article here.

I’m sure this could help a few of you guys out more than once.

I’m sure the IT Helpdesk at Emerson would be happy that I told you this (when you do have a computer issue, go to them– they know their shit).