IMDb : The new design

IMDb is widely known for two things: the overwhelming size of its movie database, and the fact that it never changes the way it looks.

Well, guess what, IMDb update its look and feel, and it’s not a minor change. It’s fast, it’s functional, and it no longer looks like it was built 20 years ago.

The funny thing is that while I was looking for a blog post announcing the changes, I came across this one from 2009. I haven’t realized that it was from 2009 until I saw the screenshots.

Some time ago the incredible happened: our beloved movie database site IMDb finally realized that it was not 1996 anymore and dared to hire some designers in order to – you won’t believe it – change the design of the page! When I visited the site the other day, I couldn’t believe my eyes

And just so that we keep the history, here are a couple of screenshots of how it used to look:

Great job IMDb! Even if it’ll take all of us a bit to get used to the new design. At least we know it’ll last another decade.

1,150 Free Movies Online

Here’s a list of 1,000+ movies that you can watch for free online. It includes great classics, indies, noir, westerns, and more. Some links are to YouTube channels with large selection of flicks, others are to specific films.

I’m sure you’ll find something that you haven’t seen (or want to watch again) for a slow weekend ahead.

eDEX-UI – a sci-fi terminal

eDEX-UI is a science fiction terminal that runs on most operating systems. It was heavily inspired by the user interfaces in sci-fi movies, like TRON, Minority Report, and others. While it’s not very practical for the day-to-day use for anyone heavily using command line, it’s a lot of fun to run when there are non-technical people around, staring at your screen.

The installation is pretty simple:

git clone https://github.com/GitSquared/edex-ui.git
cd edex-ui
npm run install-linux
npm start

I think it works even better with a large touch screen, but I don’t have one around to try it on.

How Pixar Helped Win 27 of the Last 30 Oscars for Visual Effects

The evolution of technology always amazes me. Even more so, when it can so clearly be seen within the every day life, such as household items, day-to-day activities, or, like in this particular case, movies.

Well done, Pixar! Keep it up!

RIP Ronald Lee Ermey

This is one of the best scenes in the whole movies history.  And that’s because of the brilliant performance by Ronald Lee Ermey.  Unfortunately, Ronald Lee Ermey has passed away on April 15, 2018, at the age of 74.  He played a few more roles in other movies, but I think this is by far his best contribution to the cinema.  Probably, because he was a drill instructor in the United States Marine Corps in real life.

Thank you, Ronald.  Rest in peace.