Graph: The Audibility of Darth Vader’s Voice by Location on his Breathing Mask

There’s a lot of magic, both dark or otherwise, in the Star Wars universe. This is doubly true for the villain in the series, Darth Vader. But it’s not all magic. In fact, there is some cold, hard data out there about Vader. Specifically, we can chart just how easy it is to hear what he’s saying based on which part of his face it’s coming from. I’ve done just that in this bar graph.

Gojira Roars Back in Toho Studio’s 2016 Reboot

Today, we have a really great article from TDYLF reader (and apparently a great writer), Beth Kelly. Enjoy! 

Whether you know him as “Godzilla” or “Gojira”, a monster by any other name does not compare. Godzilla is the internationally-respected icon of radioactivity gone AWOL, famous for destroying cities from Tokyo to Paris with his hulking jaws, giant green feet and dangerously bad breath. But being a pop culture icon for over 60 years isn’t easy. After causing a ruckus in more than thirty different films, Ishiro Honda’s iconic monster remains with us, bringing life to our desire for monstrous imagery. And he isn’t going away anytime soon.

What Disney Princesses Would Look Like if People Would Stop Reimagining Them as Other Crap

We’ve seen Disney princesses reimagined in a lot of wacky ways in the last few years. Amongst a thousand other things, we’ve seen them twisted, as Star Wars characters, with beards, with Instagram accounts, and as Batman characters. Truly, the world of reimagined Disney princesses is a rich tapestry. But there’s one piece missing. What would Disney princesses look like if people would stop reimagining them as other stuff?

Original Trailers for Baseball Movies

The entire country is buried under a blanket of disheartening snow, but there is hope. Baseball is right around the corner. Pitchers and catchers are slowly making their way to Florida and Arizona for spring training. To help ward off the chill, here are the original trailers of some classic (and some not-so-classic) baseball movies.

Infograph: Every #1 Film at the Box Office in 2014

The 2014 movie season is done, evidenced by the arrival of the barrage of award ceremonies. But it’s not too late to recap how it all shook down at the box office. Here is every film that reached #1 at the box office in 2014, all quilted together in a tidy infograph.

Infograph: The P.T. Anderson Scorecard

P.T. Anderson is back in theaters, with Inherent Vice gaining a wide release this weekend. He has built quite a career for himself. Any conversation about the best American filmmakers working today has to include his name. Over the years, he has developed a style all his own, complete with recurring themes, actors, and even individual elements. I’ve put it all together in a scorecard.

ITC Serif Gothic: The New Sci-Fi and Horror Font

For approximately a year, I’ve been seeing a new font pop up in movie posters and promotional materials, amongst other places. It drove me crazy trying to find the name of it because it’s more of a retro typeface, clearly used primarily in the late 60s, 1970s, and early 80s. Finally, I dug a little deeper and found it. It’s ITC Serif Gothic, and it invokes all sorts of connotations of 70s horror and sci-fi. Sure enough, that’s exactly how it’s being used today- to inspire warm, fuzzy retro feelings of nostalgia about a very specific genre and era of films. It may sound like I’m busting the chops of poster designers, but I actually kind of love this. I think it’s a great font that serves its exact purpose to a tee. After drowning in years of Trajan, Gotham, and Gill Sans, it’s a breath of fresh air. Here are several examples of ITC Serif Gothic in recent use.

Re-Watchterpiece Theater: The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Re-Watchterpiece Theater is a series that explores the organic way that attitudes about films change after you watch them a second time, a third time, or more, further down the line than the original viewing.

Today’s Re-Watchterpiece Theater target is actually a direct result of TV. Specifically, I binge-watched NBC’s Hannibal– two seasons, 26 episodes- over the span of about one week. That I watched that much of it so quickly should tell you everything you need to know about my opinion of that show. Ultimately, it inspired me to re-watch the most popular version of everyone’s favorite cannibal, 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs. It’s a film I hadn’t seen in two decades. What changed?

Top Five: School of (Chris) Rock

If you’re my age (38), give or take 8 years or so, you’ve seen Chris Rock’s entire career. You saw him on Saturday Night Live in the early 90s. You saw him break out with his fellow SNL alums soon thereafter. You may have even seen him in Beverly Hills Cop II. You cringed when he starred in Adam Sandler movies, and basked in his comedy specials. And odds are pretty good that you’ve been waiting for him to catch a big break. Sure, he’s had some modest successes, but nothing befitting someone as funny and intelligent as Chris Rock. It may have taken until he was almost 50 years old, but his masterpiece finally arrived in the form of Top Five.

The Rededicationing

As I’m sure you’ve all noticed, TDYLF has been abandoned for some time. This is the first post since late August. It’s been a long, strange year. Lots of things- some good, some horrible, some that were just kind of things neither good or horrible- have prevented me from doing much with this site. But I miss it. This site afforded me a chance to work on both my writing and my design skills, all under the guise of watching lots of movies and television. Then I had less time for movies and TV, which meant I had less time to write about movies and TV. And that also meant that there were less ideas coming in, and therefore less ideas being converted into written word. As of today, I’d officially like that to change. I’m not making any promises, but I’d like to rededicate myself to this site, even if it’s just an article or two each week. It was too much fun to let it die on the vine.

So which movies and TV shows have I been dumping into my brain recently? That seems like as good a place as any to fire the ol’ Droid back up.