Digging through the files this afternoon, I came across this document I’d written for The Nines three years ago, which outlines a lot of my production philosophies at the time. To complete my process-geekery, I thought I’d annotate it to show what we did versus what we planned.
You can download it [here](http://johnaugust.com/Assets/nines_philosophies.pdf) (.pdf). **Note:** Attentive readers will notice some mild spoilers, particularly in the visual effects breakdown.
For the last week, you may have noticed little pictures in the comments section. They are called avatars, and they’re hosted by a service called [Gravatar](http://gravatar.com/).
If you’d like one, you can [register](http://site.gravatar.com/signup) and upload an image. ((Note that it sometimes takes a few minutes for newly-uploaded images to show up, so don’t panic if it doesn’t register right away.)) It’s free and painless. Conveniently, the same picture will show up any blog that uses the Gravatar system, which will likely be a growing number, since the WordPress.com folks just [bought the company](http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/17/automattic-acquires-gravatar/).
I debated for several weeks whether or not to use them. Avatars feel a little social-networky, which this site certainly isn’t. But we get a lot of comments — sometimes 80+ — and being able to put a “face” with a name helps a lot. Also, I tend not to remember the names of people who post, but with photos, frequent commenters stand out.
The gravatars are a trial-basis thing. A couple of weeks from now, I might switch them off if I find they’re more annoying than useful. But feel free to use this comment thread to test them out, and offer any opinion on the issue.
I’m in New York for the second time in a week. This trip is for a director meeting on the studio’s dime.
While no one will confuse me for a native, I’ve become a lot more comfortable with the city in the past few years. When people give me cross-streets, I generally have some idea what area they’re talking about. I’m a fast walker and subway enthusiast, so a visit to New York City is an adventure.
The biggest challenge for me is that beginning with my first visit in 1994, I flipped Manhattan north-south in my head. I don’t know how it happened, but whatever map I first studied was 180 degrees wrong, and it’s taken every brain cell to get the city reoriented.
For years, I’ve been relying on my trusty laminated flat maps of the city. Nothing screams tourist like pulling one of these out while waiting at a crosswalk.
The advent of Google Maps on the iPhone changes all that. Quickly setting a few bookmarks, I can zoom in and out of the city. And if I have to refer to it at an intersection, I just look like everyone else checking email. But it’s not perfect.
1. **You can show where you are, or what you’re looking for, but not both.** At least a dozen times, I’ve searched and found what I wanted — only to forget where I was at the moment. Yes, you can bookmark both locations and pull up directions, but a persistent “I Am Here” flag would be a great addition for version 2.0.
2. **Don’t automatically trust the pins.** Upon arriving in the city, I searched for my hotel, and bookmarked it. However, it was four blocks wrong — a fact I only discovered when trying to get back to my room after a morning trip to Hamilton Heights. Fortunately, I remembered that I’m right next to the Directors Guild Theater, so it was simple to re-map.
3. **It always assumes you’re driving.** When you use the directions, a “walking” option would be a huge help, since it could ignore one-way streets and other restrictions.
Once Apple releases the SDK, I hope one of the first applications is an iPhone-native version of [Métro](http://nanika.net/Metro/). It’s a terrific mass-transit mapper for the Treo and other platforms, which I’ve used to get around New York, Paris, London and Tokyo. There’s a web version, but that’s not especially helpful when you’re underground and out of signal range.
Although we’re still in theaters, we’re busy at work on the DVD for The Nines, which should hit store shelves sometime after the New Year.
My question for the DVD gurus out there: How hard is it to find an Easter Egg? Searching online, I can find scores of sites that list eggs, but none that talk through how to find them in the first place.
Can a clever geek simply run a program revealing the hidden files on the disc, or does one have to click buttons endlessly? I ask because I’d love to have some sort of competition for finding them — but not if someone can simply hack the disc. Your answers will change how we do it.