Monthly Archives: June 2011
Going Widescreen And Unveiling A New Look
When Gary Larson was churning out The Far Side in that historic age we often refer to as the 90′s, the daily strips he created were confined to a single square panel. Larson adapted and actually thrived as he sought to convey his style and humor in creative ways within the space limitations. He found the format made him a better artist and storyteller.
I started this blog over a year ago, and for some reason I settled on a layout that restricted images and videos to 445 pixels wide. So when I created images for the posts, I did my best to maximize what was conveyed, often resorting to taller images if needed. Needless to say, I was often reminded of Gary Larson’s experiences with sizing and layout.
When I registered the davesgeekyideas.com and .ca domains a few months back, priority number one was a site refresh featuring a wider format for the images I post. Not only would the visual content get some much-needed real estate, but it’s an overdue change. Just about everyone uses a widescreen monitor. Seeing the old layout compressed to the middle of the screen always looked weird to me.
As you can see in the header “Dave’s Geeky Ideas” replaces the old “Dave’s Ideas” moniker, with less emphasis on the Dave’s aspect. It’s my way of acknowledging that most of the time I am creative with other people’s creations - so I don’t want to give the impression that all the content shown here is entirely attributable to me. Also I want to spend more time featuring the geeky ideas and designs of others, whether it’s a reader submission or something found on the web, I will do my best to feature it here.
I’ll be making a few more tweaks in the overall appearance here and there, however you are seeing the most drastic changes as of this writing. I hope you like the new look and you find it agreeable in all your future visits.
Cheers!
-Dave Delisle
Jurassic Park Blu-Ray Details Emerge?
From a few reports circulating in Europe, Universal Studios intends to release three flavors of the Jurassic Park trilogy: a large amaray case, a steelbook, and this gift set depicted above.
No it’s not a replica of the cardboard stand used in movie theaters! Often times for toys or collectibles, a 2D cutout will be used as a placeholder in the early promotional stages. This mockup is then sent to many retailers (like Best Buy) for their input and to ultimately help decide how many units they want to order.
This will feature a T-Rex figurine standing in front of the iconic Jurassic Park gates. A few other items are rumored, like a map to the island and a miniature jeep. You can read (you’ll need to translate) about those items here.
Currently, all three options will contain the trilogy. No plans are in the cards to release the films individually.
Also the possible release dates are starting to trickle out, with October 24 2011 being specified. November is also speculated, but I think it makes sense to get this out before Halloween.
All this information could very well be a hoax, but it would not surprise me if details intended exclusively for retailers started to leak at this point in time.
The only indications this may not be legit are a few odd design cues. There is no box support at the corner, meaning the large wraparound window would make this case susceptible to crushing. The figurine is also shown in multiple scales, which telegraphs poorly to retailers - how big is it?
I actually like this gift set, which appears to contain many goodies a JP fan would want. I’d like to see the actual figurine before I render my final verdict.
For now I still prefer my take, if only for it’s compact design. You can see it here.
Eternal Sunshine Fridge Magnet
Having Joel and Clementine from the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on the front of your fridge would be the coolest magnet ever. Especially if you used them to hold notes for shopping lists and other helpful reminders - stuff you want to remember. Ha.
Of course you could just grab the iconic image from the film’s poster, and have it placed onto a a cheap magnet yourself - like the kind used for pizza and real estate adverts. Probably costs a few bucks at one of those business card places. Though I’d prefer a couple of figurines for this trinket.
Bonus: I was also going to recommend another magnet design, a replica of the Restraining Bolt from Star Wars, but those actually exist and you can buy them here.
Those restraining bolts would show your fridge and stove who is boss.
