Hey everyone, have a fun night? This picture pretty much sums up the “Totally Rad 80′s” New Years party I went to with a bunch of people from Speedshape.

Fire + drunk co-workers = DANGER Will Robinson, DANGER!! But still, it was a lot of fun.

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I don’t know why but I just got the urge to watch “Blade Runner” today. Which just so happens to be #2 on the VES’s “50 most-influential visual effects films of all time“. And for good reason. It still holds up after all these years and is a great inspiration for Visual Effects artists everywhere.

If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor and seriously consider picking it up. They just released a 5 disc HD box-set version of the film with all sorts of goodies. And I don’t know about other geeks out there, but if you say the words “box-set” and I just have to buy it.

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Anyways, I did a little digging into the digital restoration they did for the HD and Blu-Ray releases and I thought you’d all find it pretty interesting.

It is in this facility that the original movie negatives from the nearby Warner Bros. vault (in which films are kept at a brisk 45°) go digital. The “4K” refers to the 4,000 lines of resolution at which the movies are scanned — more than triple that of 1080p high-def. And for even more perspective: Your typical theatrical film tops out with a rez of 3K to 4K (few actually reach the 4K level).

LINK: Blade Runner Film Restoration

LINK: Blade Runner on the Cutting Edge

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Pretty cool stuff. Now all I have to do is decide whether to go HD-DVD or Blu-Ray. But I will say, after seeing Blu-Ray on a 100 inch screen, It’s hard not to lean that way.

Anyways, I have a meeting coming up in a few so I better get all my renders in order. But I hope you all had a great and safe New Years! 2008 is going to be an interesting year…

Talk to you all soon!