The thoughts that run through a driver’s head when another vehicle collides with them can vary depending on the individual. The angry person wants to strangle the other driver; the anxious person wonders how they’ll get to work tomorrow; and the younger person may just want to call their mom. Automobile accidents happen every minute across the country and are one of the more stressful, and possibly deadly, situations anybody can be involved in. Thankfully there are a number of popular smart phone apps that can assist drivers through the entire process.

Insurance Company Apps

Several car insurance companies now offer some sort of accident app, such as the Hartford Mobile App. These apps provide a simple way to contact the claims department and report the accident immediately. Users can access accident checklists, seamlessly collect information from the other driver, and even get assistance finding a rental. Most insurance company apps, however, are only compatible with either Android or iPhone, not both.

Wreckcheck Mobile App

The National Association of Insurance Commissioner developed this handy app in response to a revealing survey it conducted this year. Wreckcheck gives accident victims step-by-step instructions as to what they should do from start to finish. The NAIC found that 40 percent of survey respondents believed they had to share their drivers license information, and another 30 percent willingly share personal phone numbers and home addresses. Not only are the aforementioned steps unnecessary, but the NAIC says this is an easy way to fall victim to identity theft. Wreckcheck also provides tips for staying calm, to capture and upload photos, and to email the finished report to yourself and insurance provider.

Car Accident Sidekick App

This is the only auto accident reporting application that has a five-star rating in the iTunes app store. This free app features an accident scene locator, which will tell you the nearest cross streets in case you’re uncertain of your location. It also offers several emergency tools, including a voice recorder and a built-in flashlight function. One feature that makes it stand out from similar apps is the real-time GPS “best attorneys” locator, which is especially handy when major injuries or death results from the accident.

R-U-Buzzed?

Drunken drivers were involved in 31 percent of all fatal car crashes in 2010, according to the National Highway Administration. The R-U-Buzzed mobile app can help prevent you from being involved in an accident while drinking (or being arrested for DUI). The app allows users to enter their height, weight, sex and what they drank that night to determine a fairly-accurate blood-alcohol level. The readings aren’t 100 percent exact because metabolic rates and age can factor into BAL. However, if the app says you shouldn’t drive, it would be wise to oblige.

Since the Lumière brothers screened the first film in the late 1800s, audiences have been clamoring to catch a glimpse of the latest and greatest filmmaking feat. We’ve come a long way since the first animated 3-D wire-frame graphic in “Star Wars,” and by the time “The Abyss” came around, the watery alien thing had us hooked and begging for more. Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has taken us through a maze of imagination, from Narnia to the inside of an atom, and the varying types of CGI are worth getting to know.

Artsy CGI: Toying With Fantasy Shapes and Textures

Most of us associate CGI with larger-than-life explosions and gory mutilations scenes, but they can serve as a canvas for allegory and psychedelic imagery just as well. CGI is more than just a quest to make the most photo-realistic media around; it can be used to paint a vivid, luxurious world of textures and layers that rivals our wildest dreams.

Jeremy Clapin’s short film “Skhizein” takes viewers on the dark journey of a 9-cm man who struggles with the pitfalls of trying to live life from his vantage point. Clapin’s use of CGI techniques are dark and murky, and none of his characters even remotely echo the look and feel of the real world – but that’s the point. And the result brings a parable that’s more true-to-life because of it.

“Azur and Asmar” is another captivating CGI oeuvre with poise, creativity and beauty. This award-winning film was written and directed by Michael Ocelot and tells the sordid tale of two children (blond, blue-eyed, white-skinned Azur and black-haired, brown-eyed, dark-skinned Asmar), both raised by the same nurse. The allegorical aspect of the tale is enhanced by CGI, as the paper-cut-out-look of it shines a stunning light on Azur and Asmar’s aesthetic differences, while helping sew together a moral lesson that can’t be unlearned. Ocelot was influenced by French, North African and Middle Eastern art, and the stunning result plays like a buffet for your eyes.

Realistic CGI: Reality Seamlessly Threaded With Fantasy

Explosions, large-scale destruction, new dimensions and mythical and alien life forms are a driving force in the realm of the CGI world, and we’re not talking about the werewolves from “Twilight.” Whatever your personal stance on Michael Bay might be, even top scholars of the Criterion Collection agree that the man is a technical CGI genius. When it comes to photo-realistic, visual storytelling, director Bay is at the top of the totem poll. Viewing a Michael Bay movie is perhaps the best place to start for a glimpse of realistic CGI prowess; director James Cameron has admitted to studying Bay’s methods for his blockbusters. Even “Transformers” shows Bay’s mastery of light, shape and movement, with rapid cuts that other auteurs can’t begin to replicate in style.

Joseph McGinty Nichol directed “Terminator: Salvation” and showed us a different kind of photo-realistic mastery, with its almost-ethereal coloring and an apocalyptic world of nightmares. For this odyssey through a Skynet-controlled world, McGinty used a mix of prosthetics and CGI blended together seamlessly to create a post-apocalyptic future. If the goal of photo-realistic CGI is to blend fantasy into a realistic situation, these films are a study not to be missed.