I Have A Thing For Spencer Krug

My current music obsession:

Crayon Physics Deluxe

Thanks to Bryan for pointing me toward this outstanding vid.

He Does Exist

After initially disputing Tony's claim, I discovered tonight that there really is a singer named Bootsy Collins.

Perfect!

Cleanse Your Queue Of These Puppies

Double Viking's Worst Movies of 2007:

9) Revolver
8) Hostel II
7) The Number 23
6) Who's Your Caddy?
5) Delta Farce
4) I Know Who Killed Me
3) Because I Said So
2) Norbit
1) Epic Movie

Blogger's Note: I am pleased to announce that I managed to avoid all of these.

According To Greg

Title in Most Dire Need of a Comma than Any Book in Literary History:

Positive First Impression

If the movie can manage to live up to this badass poster, we'll be in good shape.

My 12-Year-Old Side Finds This Hilarious

That's How He Rolls

Chris linked me to a couple of hilarious Darth Vader clips tonight. Enjoy.

Look Out Below

If anyone knows how I can get this on a t-shirt, let me know.

Governor, I'm Not Sure Now Is The Best Time For That...

California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger curls a dumbbell that was found in the remains of a home that was burned down on Sunday in the Angora wildfire near South Lake Tahoe, California June 27, 2007. (from Reuters)

Thanks to Jeremy for the link.

Batman Returns

Great poster!

GlucoBoy

I thought this was a brilliant example of how video games can be more than a simple mindless pastime.


GlucoBoy, a game compatible with the Game Boy Advance or DS Lite, was launched in Australia a couple of weeks ago on World Diabetes Day. The Glucoboy makes monitoring and achieving blood sugar goals fun. Whenever a user performs a glucose test, points are awarded which allows the user to unlock games. More points are awarded if the user’s blood sugar falls within the specified goals. The points may be spent in the game or the GRIP online community. Users post their scores to the GRIP community to see who has the best scores in a town, country, and world.

There are 2-full length games along with a mini-arcade (3 additional games). Games are played by inserting the Glucoboy cartridge into the Nintendo Gameboy.

The idea was created by Paul Wessel who noticed that his 9-year-old son would constantly lose his glucose monitor but not his gameboy. Mr. Wessel states “That moment something came to me - if I could combine blood glucose testing and video gaming technologies, perhaps Luke would be more motivated to test.”

It took Mr. Wessel 3 years to obtain Nintendo’s approval to make this device. The development is well worth the wait. The Glucoboy will prove to play a critical role in providing the incentive for kids to be compliant with their blood sugar monitoring.

(from Hippocratech)

Props

Bryan pointed me toward this clip today. It's pretty darn hilarious.

The Way Things Go

I can't even comprehend the planning involved in setting this entire thing up. It is truly amazing.


The Way Things Go from Jack Turner on Vimeo.

Going For The Gold

It certainly gets my vote...

Disney/Pixar are contemplating pushing Ratatouille for the Best Picture Oscar at the Academy Awards, but the Mouse House is worried that such a push, might diminish their chances of winning the Best Animated Feature Oscar. As you probably know, Beauty and the Beast is the only animated film to ever be nominated for Best Picture, losing to Silence of the Lambs in 1992. Five years ago the Academy created the “Best Animated Feature” Oscar to reward the animated film’s which have been clearly given the shaft in the Best Picture category.
Ratatouille is one of the best reviewed films of the year, and of all time (with a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with over 195 reviews). Brad Bird’s film is already ranked in the top 100 films of all time on IMDb with an 8.4 user rating (44,000+ votes).

(from slashfilm)

Scene Caps: The Return

It has been ages since I've done one of my little Scene Caps competitions on here. Well fear not, the drought is over!

The rules are simple: The first person to identify all five movies correctly from the screen captures I've posted gets my admiration along with their name displayed in a really sweet font. Even if there are some you don't know, give it your best shot and I will tell you how many you have correct. You can resubmit answers as often as you like until someone names all five.

And the winner is...

CHRIS BREWER!

(I was hoping for a cooler font but my options were pretty limited) Nevertheless, the correct answers are:

Goldeneye, The Devil Wears Prada, Dumb & Dumber, The Princess Bride, and Edward Scissorhands

Flagpole Sitta With Gusto

Bryan shared this video with me the other day. It is undoubtedly the most joy you will ever find associated with this song.


Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.

Good Luck With That

If life ever has you down, just think, you could be the IT person in charge of maintaining this...

That's Incentive

While Microsoft now bundles the Xbox 360 with 2 free games...

Sony has gone ahead and pooped in every Playstation 3 box...

With priorities being clearly defined, the choice should be clear this Christmas.

Now That's What I Call Festive

The Great Pumpking House

Every halloween season, the house at 748 Beech Street in Kenova, West Virginia is transformed into the Great Pumpkin House. The owner, Ric Griffith and hundreds of other volunteers carve thousands of pumpkins for display at his home every halloween.

This year (2006) they have approximately 3,030 pumpkins on display. The pumpkins will be on display between October 28th - November 4th. The display will be featured on the Ellen Degeneres show early next week.

(from wvpics.com)

A History Lesson From Mr. Snell

Erulehto81: "Shift that fat ass, Harry. But slowly, or you'll swamp the boat."
Erulehto81: When Washington was getting on the boat to cross the Delaware he said that to Henry Knox.
deviledHam79: LOL
Erulehto81: They should teach this stuff in history because it's far more entertaining.
Erulehto81: I had to put that quote on facebook.
deviledHam79: where did it come from?
Erulehto81: It was reported by Knox. Doesn't say where. Probably a letter or diary entry.
deviledHam79: he REALLY said that??
Erulehto81: Yes.
deviledHam79: LOL
deviledHam79: well George Washington is my new personal hero.

An Offer I Can't Refuse

And Jeremy wins for the most random thing anyone has asked me this week...

Would you be willing to spend $8 to go through a corn maze?

The Revamped Jack Bauer Power Hour

Check out the trailer for the seventh season of 24! It looks like the show is getting the shot of adrenaline it needs after a disappointing season six.

HD Deal-O-Rama

I'm posting this text from Ozymandias' blog. Anyone with an Xbox 360 and a high-def TV would be bonkers to not take advantage of this deal.

As most of you already know Best Buy had an awesome promotion this week. With the purchase of a Xbox 360 HD DVD drive you would also recieve Heroes Season 1 for free (a $99 value!). Yes, great deal, but was that not enough for you? In this same ad there was another HD DVD deal which allowed you to pick two free HD DVD movies with the purchase of any HD DVD player. Originally Best Buy intended this deal to only apply to Toshiba set top boxes, but due to poor word choice they have chosen to honor the promotion for the Xbox 360 HD DVD player due to being overwhelmed with complaints. Now with the purchase of the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player you recieve:

• King Kong (packed in with the drive itself)
• Heroes Season 1
• 2 Free HD DVDs of your choice priced $34.99 or below
• 5 Additional free HD DVDs (via mail in rebate)

That is 9 Free HD DVDs with the purchase of the drive.

So basically that's $350 worth of free content with the purchase of a $179 player. Do it! Do it now!!

Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here

All potential Pokemon Masters begin their trials through Pikachu's vagina.

Ten Reasons Why Gay Marriage Is Un-American

1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

(list courtesy of Bill Weinman)

Vamp Cinema

Because Halloween is right around the corner, here are the Top 25 Vampire Movies based on IMDB review scores:

25) House of Dracula (1945)
24) Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)
23) The Monster Squad (1987)
22) Salem's Lot (1979)
21) The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
20) The Last Man on Earth (1964)
19) From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
18) The Lost Boys (1987)
17) Day Watch (2006)
16) Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1991)
15) Interview with the Vampire (1994)
14) Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
13) Fright Night (1985)
12) The Night Stalker (1972)
11) Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
10) Cronos (1993)
09) Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
08) Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002)
07) Near Dark (1987)
06) Horror of Dracula (1958)
05) Martin (1977)
04) Black Sunday (1960)
03) Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
02) Dracula (1931)
01) Nosferatu (1922)

Sith Lord Of The Blues

Chris and I agree that this video is much funnier than it should be.

Condi Rice Gibberish

Barry sent this video to me. I have no idea what is actually being said but I was laughing the whole way through. Be warned, there is an ample amount of explicit language involved.

Polling For The People

The Next Sega Saturn? Ouch.

Don Reisinger at CNET.com weighs in on the current state of the PS3. Obviously I strongly agree with his points if I made the effort to post it here...

With a rumored $399 40GB Playstation 3 on the way, a cheaper device hitting shelves in Japan and UK, and announcements of an all-out price blitz this holiday season, is Sony really as desperate as it looks?

By just looking at news from the last week, it's quite easy to see that Sony is grasping at anything that will make the PS3 stick. Whether it's a new color, a cheaper price, or a rumbling controller, the company is hoping we will like something that make us spend our hard-earned money. I can't blame Sony for trying--the PS3 is hands-down, the most important device Sony is selling right now. Not only is it the harbinger of Blu-ray, it represents one of the most economically stable divisions of the company over the past decade.

But once again, Sony has it all wrong. The company is a victim of its own self-image and there is no stopping it with the current management in place. Simply put, Sony sees itself as a hardware company and in this business, that's the last thing you want to do.

Is Sony just a hardware company? Well, yes and no. Almost every product it releases is hardware and it seems to know this business best. There is no denying the fact that Sony threw all of the cutting edge components into the PS3 and it's simply the most powerful game machine we have ever seen. But for some odd reason, Sony genuflects at the sight of high-powered hardware while thumbing its nose at software--the true sellers of gaming consoles. Isn't this ironic considering the company develops software for its platform on a regular basis?

I can appreciate Sony's position--it needs to drop the price on the Playstation 3 to appeal to consumers first, but at what point does the company plan on selling consoles? A dropped price is fine and $399 is a good place to start, but if it gets rid of backward compatibility as it did with the UK device, how will it stop people from buying the Playstation 2 and opt for a PS3?

In fact, look no further than the PS2 to see how the video game industry really works. The Playstation 2 is underpowered when compared to this generation of consoles and yet, it's selling better than the PS3. Some may say it's price, but I disagree. Sure, it's easy to afford, but think of how many games you can play with a Playstation 2. And once you do that, compare it to the Playstation 3 library of games and then tell me which console you would prefer to play.

For the first time, Sony is off the mark entirely. To make matters worse, this couldn't come at a worse time. With a floundering PS3 that Sony hopes will catch on, what will happen to Blu-ray? What will happen to its game development division if the PS3 continues to fail? Worse, what will happen to Sony as a whole?

Sony is under the impression that a lower price on its console will stimulate sales and help it attain the lead it used to enjoy. But with no exclusive blockbuster titles in sight, what's the impetus for us to run to the store and buy the Playstation 3?

The Xbox 360 currently has the best software library and that console has been selling for $399 since its release. The Nintendo Wii is riding a wave like nothing we have seen in this industry and that console costs just $250. Simply put, if I want to play video games, why would I choose the Playstation 3?

Now, I'm sure Sony zealots will stand up and tell the world why there is a need to buy a Playstation 3 immediately, but I think any and all of those arguments are pure rubbish. I've owned the console since December and I can say that I've tried to play it as much as I can, but there is nothing out there that has made it imperative that I do so.

The Playstation 3 is on life support and unless Sony starts grasping at something it can hold on to, it should stop worrying about how the public perceives its hardware and start doing what it can to bring exclusive blockbuster titles to the console. So far, the Playstation 3 is the biggest gaming blunder we have seen in years.

Can you say "another Sega Saturn?"

This Can't End Well

Ladder Collapses On Dude - Watch more free videos

Well, I don't know about you but I'm sold.

Coincidence? I Think Not

Good News, Everyone!

Ann Coulter Is Out Of Her Damn Mind

For anyone who may not already know, here is a good example of why you should never, ever listen to anything Ann Coulter says.

If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

-Ann Coulter

Amazon Cuts To The Chase

Well, this person IS from Canada...

Wavy Beans

This picture is not animated. It is an optical illuuuuuuuusion.

Fun With Captions

Jeremy shared some pictures today that make me chuckle...

The Writing Is On The Wall

MSNBC put together a list of 10 businesses that will slowly fade away from existance over the next 10 years...

Record stores
One of the most prominent music retailers, Tower Records, shut down all 89 stores last year after concluding it couldn't withstand the onslaught of online music stores and chains like Wal-Mart, which can offer lower prices and sell other items to offset the smaller number of CDs being sold.

Camera film manufacturing
According to The Chicago Tribune, from May 2006 to May 2007, the volume of prints made from digital cameras grew by 34 percent. Film camera sales, meanwhile, fell by 49 percent, while digital cameras sales continued to grow — by 5 percent. Of American internet users, 70 percent own a digital camera; another survey shows that 70 percent of Canadians now use a digital camera.

Crop dusters
The average age of the typical crop duster is 60, the number of crop dusters is dwindling, and the profession can be dangerous. Just several weeks ago, an Arkansas crop dusting company was ordered to stop flying in Iowa after spraying farm workers with a fungicide; 36 farm hands in a cornfield had to be decontaminated by a hazardous materials crew. In 10 years, the type of crop dusting plane that chased after Cary Grant in "North by Northwest" will have almost certainly gone south. Farmers say that they'll always need crop dusters, even though new technologies have made them less important than in the past.

Gay bars
As The Orlando Sentinel noted in a recent article, around the country gay bars have been going out of business as gay men and women have been gaining greater acceptance in society. What used to be a hangout for people who felt unwelcome elsewhere is becoming less necessary.

Newspapers
Some people thought they were through when radio and TV news came about. Even after the fax machine revolutionized offices, some people predicted that everyone would have their news faxed in, since that would be quicker than relying on a newspaper. But the numbers have been falling precipitously since the 1990s when the internet came on the scene. In the past year, the Audit Bureau of Circulations twice has posted drops averaging 2.1 and 2.8 percent over six-month periods. Newsrooms across the country have been hemorrhaging staff.

Pay phones
In 1997, there were more than 2 million pay phones in the U.S.; now there are approximately half as many. There are probably always going to be certain places like airports and hotels that offer pay phones, as long as there are people who don't own or can't afford cell phones. Because phone kiosks on the streets are a favorite for drug dealers, who don't want to have their own numbers tapped and tracked, cities are shedding them.

Used bookstores
They've been closing fast, and those that are still open are relying on what's making them obsolete: the internet. A used bookstore used to be the place to find that beloved, out-of-print children's book you used to read 17 times a day until your little sister flushed it down the toilet. Now you just type that title in a search engine and order it within minutes.

Piggy banks
You may chuckle, but as we continue gravitating toward a paperless society, it's not difficult to imagine a day when piggy banks no longer exist. A decade from now they may only be found in antique shops.

Telemarketing
Telemarketing has been hit hard by the national Do-Not Call list that was established five years ago, and sales have been stagnant, but the industry still managed to bring in $393 billion in revenue last year. Some of this is due to clever marketing. This includes holding raffles at shopping malls; when you sign your information, you agree to accept calls from the company running the contest and its partners. Cell phones are exempt from automated telemarketing calls, but not from individuals calling. Then there are occasional windows of opportunity: The national Do-Not Call list is set to expire in 2008, unless you remember to register again.

Coin-operated arcades
With Nintendo Wii, casual gaming online and the Xbox 360, the video game arcade industry is thriving, but not the standalone brick-and-mortar arcades. Ten years ago, there were 10,000 arcades in the nation, and now the number is close to 3,000, according to the American Amusement Machine Association. Revenue from arcade game units brought in $866 million last year, which sounds good until you consider that in 1994, the industry was pocketing $2.3 billion and that the profits are only still high because it costs so much to play a game.

Ain't Progress Grand?

I'm often guilty of taking technological advancements for granted so I found this picture to offer a nice little reality check. Here is what 1GB of storage looked like 20 years ago compared to what 1GB of storage is today.

Juno

This movie looks like a winner.

My Spanish Flair

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!Jeremy dug up some old footage of he and I from our short but much-celebrated stint as street performers in Guadalajara. I was known as "The Great Hambino."

Just Be Cool, Pluto. Be Cool.

Is This Why Ticket Prices Are So High?

Sounds Like The Kim Bauer Approach

Leave Britney Alone!

This, my friends, is the reason the Internet was invented.

It's Official

It was announced today that the new Indiana Jones film will be titled "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Your thoughts?

Well Now I've Seen Everything

Dear seasoned reviewers, like Greg Miller of IGN (pictured and whose work back at the Columbia Tribune we covered), you're reviewing Lair wrong -- according to Sony. Miller, and probably many other reviewers, received their copies today of the "Lair Reviewer's Guide" so that they might go back and say, "Yes Sony, we totally don't know how to play video games, thank you! Thank you so much for showing us the light on how to play these ... things. We will now go back and redo our scores with the wealth of information we have been given."

We probably couldn't say it better than Tycho of Penny Arcade when he wrote what every video game professional with half a brain should think, "For my part, I don't give a good Goddamn if someone has trained themselves to eat shit and like it. The game is not challenging, it's difficult to play, and it's taken many years but I'm ready to begin making this distinction." Controls shouldn't need an explanation (or a video like the not-official one after the break), innovation can be intuitive if it's done right. Yeah, you can explain what the buttons should do, but when professionals can't use the controls properly, and they're trying to review the game for a general video game enthusiast -- that's a problem.

(photo and article segment from joystiq.com)

Blogger's Note: I really thought this post was a joke when I first read it. The fact that Sony actually designed, published and distributed this "Reviewer's Guide" simply blows my mind. Certainly these people who review games for a living do not understand how to play them properly. That's the only logical conclusion for a PS3 game to get a lousy review. The only thing Sony accomplished here was to insult the very people who will review every future PS3 game to come down the line. Good one, Guys.

Mark Your Calendars

Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 with Subtitles

Try and wrap your mind around this one, folks.

(Thanks to Jeremy for the link.)

These Polls Will Cure What Ails Ya!

Mr. Rogers Working His Magic

This is something of a follow-up to a post I did on Mr. Rogers awhile back. Witness him convince the Senate to contribute $20 million to public television in about six minutes.

Yet Another Reason Why New England Rocks

If blue states care less about moral values, why are divorce rates so low in the bluest of the blue states? It's a question that intrigues conservatives, as much as it emboldens liberals.

As researchers have noted, the areas of the country where divorce rates are highest are also frequently the areas where many conservative Christians live.

Kentucky, Mississippi and Arkansas, for example, voted overwhelmingly for constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. But they had three of the highest divorce rates in 2003, based on figures from the Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics.

The lowest divorce rates are largely in the blue states: the Northeast and the upper Midwest. And the state with the lowest divorce rate was Massachusetts, home to John Kerry, the Kennedys and same-sex marriage.

In 2003, the rate in Massachusetts was 5.7 divorces per 1,000 married people, compared with 10.8 in Kentucky, 11.1 in Mississippi and 12.7 in Arkansas.

"Some people are saying, 'The Bible Belt is so pro-marriage, but gee, they have the highest divorce rates in the country,' " said Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, co-director of the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University. "And there's a lot of worry in the red states about the high rate of divorce."

(from The New York Times)

What Tracey Doesn't Know Could Fill A Submarine

If anyone is offended by this, I got it from Jeremy.

Photography 101

(stolen from the thought bucket blog)

Global Warming, You Say?

I'm no former vice president but could what we are seeing here perhaps be... global cooling?

(CBS) Don't forget to bundle up if you're headed out in New York City today. After all, it is August 21. The city along with the rest of the tri-state region is feeling the chilly effect of a cold front sweeping through the region, accompanied by cool rain showers. Tuesday's high temperature in Central Park was just 59 degrees. The normal high for today is 82 degrees. The normal low is 67.

"This unusual blast of cold air smashed our previous record for the coldest high temperature on August 21, which is 64 degrees, set back in 1999," CBS 2 meteorologist Jason Cali told wcbstv.com. In fact, the 59-degree high tied the record for the coldest high temperature ever for the month of August in New York City, when it reached just 59 degrees in 1911.

(from wcbstv.com)

Nailing The One-Trick Pony

Here are a couple of excerpts from an article I was reading today on cracked.com regarding movie cameos. I really couldn't have said it better myself...

Alfred Hitchcock appeared in every one of his 37 full-length feature films, often for less than a second. It was considered a tasteful and humorous signature for devoted fans of his brand of horror/suspense. M. Night Shyamalan is kind of like that, except he puts his name in a larger font than the movie title, inflicts his “acting” on us for minutes at a time, and makes far, far shittier movies.

The hardest part was just getting through a take, considering that Shyamalan compulsively masturbates whenever he catches a glimpse of himself in a reflective surface.

Score One For The Good Guys

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation Each Declare Exclusive Support for HD DVD Movies Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment Including Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films to be Released Exclusively in HD DVD.

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) and DreamWorks Animation SKG (NYSE: DWA), each announced today that they will exclusively support the next-generation HD DVD format on a worldwide basis. The exclusive HD DVD commitment will include all movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films, as well as movies from DreamWorks Animation, which are distributed exclusively by Paramount Home Entertainment.
The companies each said that the decision to distribute exclusively in the HD DVD format resulted from an extensive evaluation of current market offerings, which confirmed the clear benefits of HD DVD, particularly its market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs. Paramount Home Entertainment will launch its exclusive HD DVD program with the release of the blockbuster comedy hit "Blades of Glory" on August 28th and follow with two of the biggest grossing movies of the year "Transformers" and "Shrek the Third". These three titles alone represent more than $1.5 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide.
"The combination of Paramount and DreamWorks Animation brings a critical mass of current box office hits to consumers with a line-up of live action and animated films that are perfect for HD DVD," stated Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, which is currently the leading studio in domestic box office. "Part of our vision is to aggressively extend our movies beyond the theater, and deliver the quality and features that appeal to our audience. I believe HD DVD is not only the affordable high quality choice for consumers, but also the smart choice for Paramount."
"We decided to release "Shrek the Third" and other DreamWorks Animation titles exclusively on HD DVD because we believe it is the best format to bring high quality home entertainment to a key segment of our audience -- families," stated DreamWorks Animation CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg. "We believe the combination of this year's low-priced HD DVD players and the commitment to release a significant number of hit titles in the fall makes HD DVD the best way to view movies at home."
With the rapid increase of HD TV screens in households, and audiences wanting to enjoy the total entertainment experience, HD DVD has emerged as the most affordable way for consumers to watch their movies in high definition. In addition to pristine quality, HD DVD also offers consumers the chance to personalize the movie-watching experience, to interact with their movies and even to connect with a community of other fans.

(taken from a Paramount press release today.)

Blogger's Note: *tents fingers* Excellent

Why The Bourne Series Is The Best American Film Trilogy Ever Made

Yes, I realize this title makes a bold statement. After posting my Bourne Ultimatum review today, I came across an editorial online that made this very claim. Whether you agree with the statement or not, the guy does make a good arguement for himself. Click on the picture below to check out said article.

Spoiler Alert: The article contains plot details for all three Bourne flicks. Consider yourself warned.

The Bourne Ultimatum Review

HIGHS

• I'll start with the most important point. The Bourne Ultimatum is a great ending to an already fantastic film series. It is very, very consistent with the other two films, particularly the second one, and manages to stay true to the characters and themes established while still showing us something new.
• I will always appreciate the Bourne flicks for treating the audience with respect. The material is never dumbed down but is presented in such a way that it won't go over a person's head either. The viewer is given the tools necessary to be able to piece things together on their own. I can't think of any other instance where a series of films has so expertly crafted action and smarts.
• The Bourne trilogy is like a steady parade of today's best actors. Besides Matt Damon obviously, who I think is one of our most valuable American actors going today, I don't care what anyone says- you also had Chris Cooper and Clive Owen in The Bourne Identity. In the second film you have the always excellent Brian Cox and Joan Allen. And now with Ultimatum we have David Strathairn and Albert Finney joining the frey. Such suberb casting only adds to the credibility of these films.
• One thing that stood out to me while watching Ultimatum was a fantastic use of sound effects and score. I really appreciate it when a director pays as much attention to audio as he does visuals (see: Mr. Tarantino).
• What is probably most important about a successful film trilogy is that there is a satisfying conclusion, and thankfully Ultimatum had that. I would go into more detail here but per usual, I don't get into plot points in these reviews out of respect for those who haven't yet seen the film.
• Paul Greengrass even managed to get me to care about Julia Stiles, if only for a couple of hours. That is no small feat, let me tell you.

LOWS

• How long we will have to wait until another series of films comes along that is as superlative as the Bourne trilogy.

Torrey's Opinion:
5- Strongly Recommended*
4- Recommended
3- A Mixed Bag
2- Sub-par
1- Don't Bother

*As an entire trilogy. No one should start with this movie first. That's just silly.

Random related fact: It took six weeks to film Ultimatum's climactic car chase in downtown New York City.

The Perfect Crime

Can somebody please tell me why Perfect Strangers hasn't been released on DVD yet? That show played a vital role in shaping me into the hilarious individual I am today! I will sit idly by no longer. Not while craptastic shows like Bosom Buddies and Dr. Quinn are getting the Complete Series treatment! This is a call to action! Who's with me??

Even Better Than The Singing Bunny

I don't know how the Skittles folks manage to keep topping themselves, but this is by far their best commercial yet.

(Big thanks to Greg for sharing this with me at work today.)

A Very Serious Flyer

Alaska Is Livin' Large

All this for a cool $7 million? Seward's folly, my ass!

(click the pic for a larger view)

Reinventing the FPS

I just want to plant my stake in the ground right now so I can fire off the "I told you so's" at the end of the year. My claim: Bioshock will be the Best Video Game of 2007.

(click on image to learn more about the game)

It's also the best reason going to get an Xbox 360 (although the recent price drops make for a strong arguement.) Sure, Bioshock will be available on the PC as well, but you'll probably need a better video card and some more memory if you hope to run it at a decent framerate and all that will probably add up to more than the cost of a 360 console. It's also worth pointing out that the PS3 isn't getting Bioshock (game of the year, as stated above).

How Low Can He Go

(you'll want to click on the image for closer inspection)

Cinema Virtuoso

Oh Michel Gondry, je t'aime. You are truly a cinematic God among men.

Check out the trailer for his newest picture, Be Kind Rewind. It's gonna be gold I tells ya, gold!!

All Reasons Why I'm Destined To Be "The Fun Uncle"

10 Good Reasons You May Not Want To Have Kids

1) They are Noisy
I am not saying that all of them are, I wasn’t, but the fact is that most of them will be constantly mouthing off about something. They have questions coming out the ass every day, day after day. No single thing is too small to be worthy of comment, no problem too insignificant to whine about, and then there’s the nagging. They nag. You give in once and after that they never let up.

2) Social Responsibility
You are not supposed to leave them alone for extended periods of time according to law, so you have a commitment to always providing people for them to be with, and sometimes to be with them yourself. You have to watch them in stores, keep them in sight wherever you are, and you absolutely cannot be mean to them in public for fear of winding up before a judge. How your child behaves will reflect directly upon you and your character. They say one curse word and people assume that you speak in Two Live Crew lyrics.

3) They Are an Economic Drain
Food, clothes, school-supplies, tuition, school-projects, toys, fast-food, prescriptions, not to mention having to pay for a large enough living space for two adults plus however many of them those two adults choose to have. If you rent, then there is always the potential of them destroying/something that you will have to pay for.

4) You Have to Teach them Things
You may or may not have figured this out: They are born knowing nothing. A blank slate. This means that you have years, possibly decades before they have anything insightful or interesting to say. But still, you will be a bad parent if you don’t listen to them. You are obligated to listen to all kinds of nonsensical irrelevant crap, all kinds of worthless interests and recaps of the Hannah Montana marathon they had on TV last weekend. You are obligated to tell them about life, sex, how to spend money, hygiene, calculus etc.

5) The TV Shows and Books you will have to Endure
A big part of knowing nothing is poor taste. Taste is a product of experience and therefore there will be a considerable length of time before they like things that make sense. You are obligated to read stories to them unless you want them whining about it when they grow up, you are also obligated to surrender at least one of the TVs in your house to the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon for several hours each day.

6) Their Friends
If your kids are normal they will at some point make friends, which means that you will not only have their presence to endure, but an assortment of other people’s failures as well. They will, perhaps, invite them home, at which point you may have to feed these other children, and endure their noise.

7) Constant Illness
Kids, especially when small, are walking petri-dishes. Nothing guarantees repeated stomach-flus, colds, and assorted random illnesses like being in the presence of a small child for hours at a time. Have a co-worker who is always sniffling or running to the bathroom? They either have a cocaine problem or they have a small child.

8) They Attract the Ill-Will of Strangers
Nothing in the world will get you more dirty looks than a poorly trained child. For some reason whole segments of the American population either have not yet had children, or will never have children, these people will not be sympathetic to your plight. Children to them are mere annoying strangers being inflicted upon them by you.

9) Once they are Born you are Pretty much Stuck with them
Under normal circumstances anyway. You don’t get to give them back, you don’t get to pass them on to somebody else short of going to prison or dying. If they are ugly or stupid, you will have to endure them for a long time to come.

10) They are Ungrateful
Kids in America grow up with a sense of being entitled to good parenting, as if it were something they earned in a previous life and have now come to collect. No parent, however is good enough, and they usually cannot find it in themselves to see how much worse it could be. They feel entitled to your time, the contents of your wallet and the remote control. And what do they give back? Maybe you will get to see your grandkids every now and then, and maybe, just maybe, they will pick a good nursing home for you when you are too old to take care for yourself.

(from Dirty Writer)

After Legend

I came across this photo today that I'm guessing is a promo shot from The Lord of Darkness' short-lived and seldom talked about stint with "Up With People."

Hope Is All We Have

From an interview with Joss Whedon at this year's Comic Con...

So after all is said and done, was Serenity profitable? Do you consider it a success?

Joss Whedon (JW): It’s a success to the studio or else we wouldn’t be doing a special edition DVD. They actually admitted as much on paper, which you know studios are loathe to do, and that was actually from the theatrical. Theatrical was a disappointment, as everyone knows, but it did go into the black. Then the DVD came and they took me aside and said “We can’t keep these things on the shelf. We want to do a special edition.” And I didn’t want to hear that because I knew it would have to be a truly special edition to make me happy. There had to be a real reason, some real goodies.

So what will the special edition have for us?

JW: We took some stuff from the region two version; the making of – a really beautiful one that’s a bit longer. It has the first read through for the movie with the cast, two years after the show ended. And it has the River Tam sessions, the stuff I did on the internet with Summer. We got to do another commentary too, Nathan, Summer, Ron and Adam – I made sure it didn’t go the same direction as the first commentary. It feels like this version will be something more for the people who would tend to buy both.

So give me hope for a Serenity II

JW: Hope for it probably rests with this DVD.

So then you’re saying we’ve got a chance?

JW: Well it’s probably not being discussed in boardrooms right now, but the fact of the matter is if it makes enough money sooner or later they say “hey, this is money!” Also there are paradigms that are much cheaper, it doesn’t have to be enormous.

Hitler For The Holidays

This Thing Would Make MacGyver Cream In His Pants

Get a load of this! The Wenger Giant Swiss Army Knife is packed with 85 fully functional implements including seven blades, three types of pliers, countless screwdrivers, saws, wrenches, a battery operated torch, a laser pointer with a 300ft range, the thingy that repairs golf divots, a magnifier for mineral crystals, tire-tread gauge, signal whistle and a cigar-cutter. And that's just scratching the surface! Inspector Gadget ain't got nothin' on this baby!

One Of These Polls Was Inspired By Barry Dodd

Final Results (8/12/07):

Would you rather be more creative or smarter?

More creative - 70%
Smarter - 30%


Which major television network would you consider to be your favorite?

ABC - 20%
CBS - 0%
FOX - 30%
NBC - 50%
The CW - 0%


With both men in their prime, who would win in a fist-fight?

Elvis Presley - 0%
Johnny Cash - 100%


When playing checkers, which color do you prefer?

Black - 67%
Red - 33%

Thanks to all who participated!

Geek Quotes FTW

The Board of Wisdom's Top 10 Best Geek Quotes:

1. There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
2. My pokemon bring all the nerds to the yard, and they're like you wanna trade cards? Darn right, I wanna trade cards, I'll trade this but not my charizard.
3. Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."
4. If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0
5. 1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
6. Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.
7. I'm not anti-social; I'm just not user friendly
8. I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
9. The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be.
10. A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.

She Had It Coming

Oh, Inverted World

Some folks calling themselves VladStudio created this really cool vision of a "Reversed Earth," showing what the World might look like if land and water were flipped.

(You'll want to click on the image for a detailed view)

Musings Of A Hardcore Legend

In Mick Foley's latest book, he sums up the difference between a conservative and a liberal with a story involving a late-night road trip and two ill-fated raccoons. I found it to be rather insightful.

I have read articles ranging from speculative to scientific on the physical, genetic, or psychological differences between conservatives and liberals, which basically deal with whether political sensibilities are a learned or instilled behavior, or a combination of both. For me, it all comes down to my traumatic raccoon experience. A couple of years ago, I was heading out onto the highway, about half an hour into a four-hundred-mile trip. I've always loved the peace and solitude of the open road, especially when accompanied by some good tunes or a few promos to cut in my head during the course of a late-night sojourn. As a matter of fact, it's probably the thing I miss most about life on the road.

I was really looking forward to this particular drive when a raccoon suddenly darted out into the middle of the highway. I swerved to avoid the little masked bandit, but in doing so, hit a second raccoon whose presence had, until that last split second, been unknown to me. It was a direct hit, a sickening thud that left no doubt as to its victim's fate - roadkill for sure. I turned to my right to see the first raccoon scamper off into the safety of the roadside brush. And in that one moment, my entire trip was ruined. No number of quality tunes could assuage the sadness I felt. Not so much for the dead raccoon, for his demise had been quick, relatively painless, and honorable - after all, it had been the hardcore legend who got him. No, my sorrow was reserved for the surviving raccoon, who would be left to wander aimlessly, ransacking suburban garbage cans without the special friend my Chevy Impala had made such an impression on.

Look, there's no way to rationalize this type of reaction. You're either going to care about the sadness of a surviving raccoon or you're not. You're either going to hit that thing, pop in a CD, and continue your drive unaffected, of you're going to do four hundred miles behind the wheel with a heavy heart.

So if that makes me a bleeding heart, I guess I'll wear that badge with pride.

Walk It Off

I'm not trying to offend anyone here, but I really disagree with allowing fat people to park in handicap spaces. If anything, they should have to park farther away because the walk would do them good.

It's A Buyer's Market For Haunted Lighthouses

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - For sale: $1 property surrounded by Long Island Sound off the coast of Fairfield. Must be able to cope with possible haunting.

The U.S. General Services Administration is seeking a buyer for the Penfield Lighthouse, built in 1874 about 1.1 miles from Fairfield Beach. It is said to be the site of strange occurrences following the drowning of lighthouse keeper Frederick Jordan in 1916.

The agency is offering the lighthouse for $1 in “as is” condition to local, state or federal government agencies or nonprofit organizations. Those interested will have to submit an application identifying their proposed uses of the lighthouse, besides that of a navigational beacon, and how they will pay for that use and maintenance.

Fairfield First Selectman Kenneth Flatto said the town is very interested in acquiring the property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 51-foot-tall lighthouse sits on a concrete foundation surrounded by rocks. It is attached to a two-story keeper’s residence.

According to legend, Jordan drowned in December 1916 when his boat capsized near the lighthouse and appeared as a ghost two weeks later to his assistant, Rudolph Iten, the Connecticut Post reported yesterday.

Iten took over for Jordan after his death. In his log, Iten wrote that Jordan’s apparition glided down the tower’s stairs and disappeared into darkness. Iten then found the keeper’s log opened to the page that documented Jordan’s death, the Post reported.

(from bostonherald.com)

Color Me Surprised

So I watched The Devil Wears Prada on HBO today and I actually really enjoyed it. I couldn't care less about the world of fashion, but this worked for me. Go figure.

The Absolute Worst

I just have to say that I have found no greater source of frustration in life than in dealing with the people of Time Warner Cable. I loathe that company with every fiber of my being.

My 2nd Emo Post

I saw this on a t-shirt today and it made me laugh.

College Professors, Take Note

Ron Hammond, Phd, professor at Utah Valley State College, has quit using textbooks in his classes. Why? They're too expensive.

The cost of textbooks is rising faster than inflation and Hammond doesn't feel right forcing his students to purchase ever more expensive books on top of their already expensive tuition and fees.

"I think it's immoral because of the cost of it," Hammond told the Central Utah Daily Herald.

Instead of textbooks, Hammond has been assigning journal articles and other reading materials that his students can check out from the library or download from the internet, a practice which, if every one of their professors did it, would save students (on average) $900 a year.

It took Hammond a year to rewrite his own curriculum, after throwing out all his old textbooks. "It was worth it in the long run," Hammond said.

(from The Consumerist)

Number 15 Should Be Higher On The List

Here are the Top 25 Greatest Simpsons Quotes according to Blogzarro.com:

1. Homer: D’oh.
2. Ralph: Me fail English? That’s unpossible.
3. Lionel Hutz: This is the greatest case of false advertising I’ve seen since I sued the movie “The Never Ending Story.”
4. Sideshow Bob: No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it.
5. Troy McClure: Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about!
6. Comic Book Guy: The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity…
7. Homer: Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!
8. Ned Flanders: I’ve done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!
9. Comic Book Guy: Your questions have become more redundant and annoying than the last three “Highlander” movies.
10. Chief Wiggum: Uh, no, you got the wrong number. This is 9-1…2.
11. Sideshow Bob: I’ll be back. You can’t keep the Democrats out of the White House forever, and when they get in, I’m back on the streets, with all my criminal buddies.
12. Homer: When I held that gun in my hand, I felt a surge of power…like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.
13. Nelson: Dad didn’t leave… When he comes back from the store, he’s going to wave those pop-tarts right in your face!
14. Milhouse: Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? *Why did I have the bowl?*
15. Lionel Hutz: Well, he’s kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace “accidentally” with “repeatedly” and replace “dog” with “son.”
16. Comic Book Guy: Last night’s “Itchy and Scratchy Show” was, without a doubt, the worst episode *ever.* Rest assured, I was on the Internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.
17. Homer: I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman.
18. Homer: Save me, Jeebus.
19. Mayor Quimby: I stand by my racial slur.
20. Comic Book Guy: Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.
21. Homer: You don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.
22. Chief Wiggum: Fat Tony is a cancer on this fair city! He is the cancer and I am the…uh…what cures cancer?
23. Homer: Bart, with $10,000 we’d be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like…love!
24. Homer: Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs.
25. Homer: Books are useless! I only ever read one book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin…but what good does *that* do me?

Bush Vs. PBS

The House on Wednesday evening overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's plan to eliminate the $420 million federal subsidy for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The 357-72 vote demonstrated the enduring political strength of public broadcasting. The outcome was never in doubt, unlike a fight two years ago when Republicans tried but failed to slash public broadcasting subsidies.

The move to kill subsidies for the CPB, which make up about 15 percent of its budget, was launched by Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado.

"Taxpayers are being asked to pay more in taxes because Congress is not willing to make hard choices and balance our spending with our income," Lamborn said.
Congress created the corporation in 1967 to shield public broadcasting from political influence. The CPB distributes federal subsidies to PBS, National Public Radio and hundreds of public radio and television stations.

"It is providing a voice for America, a noncommercial, independent voice that is sadly lacking. It isn't available any place else in the million channels on our cable networks," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Oregon.

(from cnn.com)

Blogger's Note: It's nice to see some measure of sanity coming out of Washington.

I Need This Controversy Settled As Only Democracy Can

Final Results (7/26/07):

What color socks should be worn with khakis and black shoes?

Tan - 11%
Black - 56%
White - 11%
Grey - 22%

Thanks to all who provided feedback!

Telling It Like It is

(from wired.com)

It's hard to believe, but every so often the developers at E3 forget that they're talking to a room full of journalists and they say something that they probably shouldn't.

A developer was demonstrating her team's multiplatform game for myself and two other journalists, both of whom happened to have been from Xbox-specific outlets. She jokingly asked if it was ok that we were going to see the Wii version, and the two guys chucklingly assured her that yeah, that was fine.

Picking up the controls, she began sorting through the debug menu to get to the bit of the game that she actually wanted to show us, making idle chitchat as she did so.

"Of course this will be on the 360, too. We love the 360. Hoo, we love it." Pause as she waited for the demo to load. "We love the Wii, too, it's a lot of fun. Playstation, pfffffffft. Gah." One of the Xbox guys laughs at that and she goes on to say how hard it is to "get anything to run on that box."

A Notice For All You Pack Rats

If you happen to have an Osama Bin Laden stashed away somewhere, the US Senate just voted 87-1 in favor of doubling the reward for his death or capture to $50 million.

A Unique Hidden Gusset, You Say? I'll Take Two!

Get a load of that behind! He's all man, that's for sure.

The Circus Is In Town

What happens when the tallest man in the world meets the shortest? You get a really creepy picture like the one found below.

Here we see Mr. Xishun, sporting his Dorothy Zbornak look, shaking hands with Mr. Ping Ping, who is understandably feeling a tad overdressed.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

(the following is an excerpt from TV Critic Ian Jones' article "Rise And Fall Of A Comic Genius" which was originally published in The Guardian.)

Once, it was the greatest show on TV. Every episode was brimming with imagination, excitement and some of the sharpest one-liners to come out of America for decades. But above all it was smart: The Simpsons knew how to parry crudity with intelligence blow for blow. Bart's big-haired nemesis Sideshow Bob stepping on a rake nine times would be followed up with a surreal two-minute performance of HMS Pinafore. Homer lobbing a lookalike of himself over a waterfall would be followed by a reference to Walt Whitman's collection of poems, Leaves and Grass. This was dizzyingly intelligent, daring, exhilarating stuff. For every burp gag came an arch pop-culture reference. For every time Homer fell down the stairs or Bart got strangled, we had a nifty TV parody or sly political dig.

And it kept on coming, week after week. An entire generation didn't understand it. George Bush senior, then US president, even wished aloud that American families could be more like the Waltons than the Simpsons. A massive rift opened up between those who "got" The Simpsons and those who hated it. You chose your side carefully. To be a Simpsons fan was truly one of the most privileged things in the world.

Then it all changed. A new guard took over and ripped up the rules. Veterans of the show with pedigrees on venerated US comedy institutions like Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show - Jon Vitti, George Meyer, John Schwartzwelder - either departed or went part-time. In came writers who had cut their teeth on sappy teen comedies like Blossom and unsophisticated knockabouts like Beavis and Butt-Head. A looser, lazier sensibility took hold, given free rein by new executive producer Mike Scully. And the show became stupid.

You can even put a date on it: 1997, in the early episodes of the ninth series, where the head of Bart's school, Principal Skinner, was suddenly, arbitrarily revealed to be an impostor, and his entire life to date had been a lie. Come again? A major character in a long-running series gets unmasked as a fraud? It was cheap, idle storytelling.

This was just the start. The show went on to jettison all interest in pretending to have earthy, avuncular roots: the warm, good-natured centre that, when you scraped away the multi-layered jokes and cerebral grandstanding, had been there from day one was obliterated. No longer did we see the family bonding, caring for each other, showing emotion. Instead, it was anything goes.

Plots swung sickeningly from one cliche to another. Jokes arrived out of the blue for no reason. No attempt was made to cling to reality. Now Homer would end up in new employment six or seven times a series. To date, he's held 118 (and counting) jobs, from missionary to garbage commissioner to grease salesman to fortune cookie writer, which wouldn't be such a damning statistic had almost none of them been particularly funny.

True, a long-running series has to evolve. Nobody would expect Simpsons episodes to still be solely about Lisa getting a pony or Bart failing a school exam. But, in the second decade of its life, The Simpsons evolved into a dreadfully predictable monster. With each new series came the same questions. Which foreign country will the family just happen to end up visiting this time? Which pop star will the family just happen to encounter while there? And what unsubtle bit of physical violence will Homer be subjected to en route? Contract leprosy, perhaps; get raped by a panda; or maybe get his head trapped between two halves of a lowering drawbridge?

This was change all right, but change as an excuse for idiocy. It was desperately disheartening for those who cherished and loved the show's early years. Watching Homer hold forth on the topless women he'd seen on holiday in Florida, or Marge accidentally getting breast implants, you wanted everything to be revealed as a huge wind-up, or a cunning satire on trashy TV. But there was no hidden agenda. What you saw was what you got: a base, repetitive, unfunny cartoon.

Blogger's Note: This guy really hit the nail on the head. I've said for years that The Simpsons stopped being good around season 10. It's a real bummer when a show is dragged on for too long instead of finishing on a high, with dignity.

I Really Like Chicken Salad

Quote of the day once again belongs to Jeremy...

"I'm quick to assume the worst when it comes to people's use of mayo. It's my one and only fault."

-Jeremy Snell

Smut For Smut

(from xbiz)

A group of atheists at the University of Texas at San Antonio is putting a novel twist on the toys-for-guns programs run by many urban police departments. But instead of toys, they are handing out porn in exchange for bibles.

“We consider the bible to be a very negative force in the history of the world,” student Ryan Walker said. Walker is part of a student group that calls itself the Atheist Agenda.

Club members this week posted fliers promoting what they call the “Smut for Smut” campaign then set up a table in the student union to collect religious materials and pass out adult magazines such as Black Label and Playboy.

The group is not officially sanctioned by the university and has raised the ire of several religious organizations on campus.

“In my opinion, there are no atheists. There are fools,” Pastor Rick Hawkins of UTSA’s Family Praise Center said. “So, that would be foolish propaganda. I don't know one believer that would take his Bible and turn it in for pornography.”

Hawkins obviously didn’t stop by the Atheist Agenda table, where several students had dropped off copies of the good book and walked away with skin mags.

Athiest Agenda isn’t the first student group to explore the idea of introducing porn to former bible toters. Members say they got the idea from students in Austin who ran a similar pro-porn drive.

Walker added that members thought it sounded like a creative way to exercise their freedom of speech.

(Special thanks to Bryan for sharing the link)

They May Take Our Lives, But They'll Never Take Our Allspark!

Here's another quote of the day winner:


Regarding the Transformers movie...

"I wanted it to be Braveheart starring Optimus Prime."

-Chris Brewer

Fun With Post-Its

If a friend of yours ever purchases a $60,000 Jaguar, this would be a great prank to pull on them.