This pic was taken today at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event Bush was attending.
Monday, January 21, 2008
If Looks Could Kill
This pic was taken today at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event Bush was attending.
Friday, January 18, 2008
The Internet Party
Bryan also linked me to this very clever video made by some folks at cracked.com. Click the pic to get things rolling.Thursday, January 17, 2008
My Bullet Point Reviews Of No Country For Old Men, Juno, And I Am Legend
I caught a few flicks recently and it's time to play catch-up on reviews.
No Country For Old Men
- Probably my favorite Coen Bros movie since Fargo.
- As with all Coen Bros flicks, fantastic casting.
- Tommy Lee Jones restoring some dignity in the role he was born to play.
- The pacing and tone of the film many turn off some folks. They have my pity.
TORREY'S OPINION:
Recommended
RANDOM RELATED FACT:
Contrary to most successful films made from books, much of the film's action is taken word for word from Cormac McCarthy's novel and to boot occurs in the same order of events. Bell's final speech in the film, for instance, can be read on the final page of the book.
Juno
- Superb casting, top to bottom.
- Juno has a quirky sense of humor but manages to remain accessible to a general audience. I'd watch it with my Mom.
- The soundtrack fits like a glove.
- I wouldn't want to know the person who doesn't take away some measure of joy from this film.
TORREY'S OPINION:
Strongly Recommended
RANDOM RELATED FACT:
The hamburger phone in the movie is owned by the writer, Diablo Cody.
I Am Legend
- Will Smith is great in it.
- There were moments of brilliance scattered throughout. I really enjoyed the parts that dealt with feelings of solitude and longing for human contact.
- The last half hour feels very rushed. A lot of things happen out of convenience.
- I have made the comment to some that I think the premise would work much better as a three season run on the Sci-Fi Channel.
TORREY'S OPINION:
A Mixed Bag
RANDOM RELATED FACT:
All of the paintings in Dr. Neville's house were taken from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
EW's 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies & Shows Of The Past 25 Years
25. V: The Miniseries (1983)
24. Galaxy Quest (1999)
23. Doctor Who (1963-Present)
22. Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
21. Futurama (1999-2003)
20. Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)
19. Starship Troopers (1997)
18. Heroes (2006-Present)
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
16. Total Recall (1990)
15. Firefly/Serenity (2002/2005)
14. Children of Men (2006)
13. The Terminator/Terminator 2 (1984/1991)
12. Back to the Future (1985)
11. LOST (2004-Present)
10. The Thing (1982)
09. Aliens (1986)
08. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
07. E.T. (1982)
06. Brazil (1985)
05. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
04. The X-Files (1993-2002)
03. Blade Runner (1982)
02. Battlestar Galactica (2003-Present)
01. The Matrix (1999)
I often think Entertainment Weekly is a crock of shit, but they've actually put together a darn fine list of great sci-fi. Sure we could haggle about the ordering until the cows come home, but there's a lot to love here. Anyone have any write-ins?
24. Galaxy Quest (1999)
23. Doctor Who (1963-Present)
22. Quantum Leap (1989-1993)
21. Futurama (1999-2003)
20. Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)
19. Starship Troopers (1997)
18. Heroes (2006-Present)
17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
16. Total Recall (1990)
15. Firefly/Serenity (2002/2005)
14. Children of Men (2006)
13. The Terminator/Terminator 2 (1984/1991)
12. Back to the Future (1985)
11. LOST (2004-Present)
10. The Thing (1982)
09. Aliens (1986)
08. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)
07. E.T. (1982)
06. Brazil (1985)
05. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
04. The X-Files (1993-2002)
03. Blade Runner (1982)
02. Battlestar Galactica (2003-Present)
01. The Matrix (1999)
I often think Entertainment Weekly is a crock of shit, but they've actually put together a darn fine list of great sci-fi. Sure we could haggle about the ordering until the cows come home, but there's a lot to love here. Anyone have any write-ins?
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Friday, January 04, 2008
Pod People, I Turn To You In My Hour Of Need
So, I want to get some sort of transmitter for my iPod to use in the car but I'm having a pickle of a time finding something of good quality. Ideally I'd like a hookup that kept the player charged while in use but my biggest concern is sound quality. Before I continue this vicious cycle of trial and return I figured I would turn to you iPod-owning folks to find out what is working for you in your automobiles. Please comment any suggestions; I'll greatly appreciate the help.
Eating A Banana La-La-La
I share with you now an original poem written for me today by Jeremy Snell:
I eat a banana
When my tummy rumbles.
The long yellow fruit
Helps my mind not stumble.
It tastes like a rainbow
When I lick it high to low.
And it tickles my nose
When wrapped in pantyhose.
I eat a banana
But not for an entire feast.
They help me see in the dark
Like a man-cat beast!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
My Bullet Point Review Of Sweeney Todd
HIGHS
- Easily one of Tim Burton's greatest achievements.
- Fantastic cast. Who knew Johnny Depp could sing like David Bowie?
- As made evident by the South Park movie and now Sweeney Todd, any musical is made better by gratuitous bloodshed.
LOWS
- One of the theatre attendants commented that people have been walking out of the movie because "they didn't realize it's a musical." Idiots.
TORREY'S OPINION
Strongly Recommended (as long as you enjoy musicals)
RANDOM RELATED FACT
To prepare for the role of Adolfo Pirelli, Sacha Baron Cohen hired his personal barber as a consultant on shaving techniques. He spent 16 hours learning how to handle a razor.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Monday, December 24, 2007
/Film's Definitive Top 25 Movies of 2007
1) There Will Be Blood
2) The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
3) Ratatouille
4) Persepolis
5) In the Shadow of the Moon
6) Juno
7) Sicko
8) Once
9) The Bourne Ultimatum
10) No Country For Old Men
11) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
12) Enchanted
13) Gone Baby Gone
14) Away From Her
15) This is England
16) The Savages
17) Control
18) Hot Fuzz
19) Hairspray
20) 3:10 to Yuma
21) Rescue Dawn
22) Zodiac
23) Superbad
24) Knocked Up
25) Michael Clayton
Man, I have a lot of catching up to do. If you'd like to know the science involved in compiling this list, click here.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Bill Maher's Dickheads Of The Year
Michael Vick
Stop saying what he did is a cultural thing, just one of those things black folks are known for, like jazz. He's not one of the Scottsboro boys, he electrocuted dogs.
Erik Prince
We used to have rent-a-cops. Now we have rent-a-soldiers. As CEO of Blackwater, the most notorious private-security contractor in Iraq, Prince has his own navy, air force and spy agency. This guy is building nothing short of a parallel national-security apparatus. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's a super-Christy Jesus freak who looks on the Crusades the way rednecks pine for the Confederacy.
Bob Murray
The fat-ass, lying embodiment of the Bush administration's regulatory policies. After the cave-in at the Utah mine he owns, Murray hijacked the press conferences and insisted that the tragedy was caused by an earthquake. An assertion all seismologists agreed was wrong, but hey, it was a disaster — no time to start injecting facts. The probable cause was the controversial — but, of course, profitable — practice of retreat mining, where you remove pillar supports in order to get more coal.
Sen. Larry Craig
A man who consistently voted against gay interests, but turns out to be not just gay but the kind of gay who likes to get it in public restrooms. Don't people like Larry Craig and Ted Haggard and Mark Foley prove that being gay really is a hard-wired thing — not, as the conservatives always claim, a "lifestyle choice"? If anyone could choose not to have gay sex, it would be these guys, since their whole careers are built on not having gay sex.
Sen. David Vitter
Even more disgusting than Craig. Caught dead to rights as a customer of the D.C. Madam, and explained it away by saying, "Several years ago I received forgiveness from God in confession." Oh, well, all righty then, it's all good, then you're obviously not a disgusting, horrible hypocrite who runs on family values and then fucks whores at home and in Washington.
College Republicans
The place where cutthroat, amoral putzes like Karl Rove cut their teeth. They're all staunchly for the Iraq War, although none have volunteered to go, even though they're the same age as the grunts doing the fighting they say is so important. Doughy losers who, at age twenty, care more about tax cuts than girls. And lately they've been holding these "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" parties around the country where they basically play hide-and-seek with one lucky player posing as the wetback. Usually you have to be older and married before you start hating life so much you try to blame the Mexicans for all your problems, don't you?
The Solid Quarter
That twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck on the White House lawn. Is it a coincidence that twenty-five percent is also the number of people who, in an AP poll of predictions for 2007, said they expect Jesus Christ to return this year!? I don't think it is.
The Asshole Who Shot Up Virginia Tech
I've forgotten his name — which is as it should be! Please don't go look it up and do what the media did and give this shithead what he wanted.
Congressional Democrats
Who, when it came time to render judgment on the administration's patently illegal wiretapping, took advantage of a deeply unpopular lame-duck president by caving in to his every whim. They agreed to allow the Justice Department to spy on Americans without a warrant. I know it is unconstitutional and all, but hey, if you can't trust the sober judgment of Alberto Gonzales...
Alberto Gonzales
At the Bush White House, a constitutional crisis is when somebody actually reads the Constitution. Gonzales obeyed Karl Rove's orders to decimate the Justice Department by firing the U.S. attorneys who weren't Bush loyalists to the point of corruption, then told Congress, I can't recall who put together the list of which attorneys to fire. But I stand by the decision to fire everyone on the list. Which I never read. Also, nothing improper occurred. And I know, because I can't recall.
Michael Mukasey
And let's not forget the new guy, who further shredded the reputation of the United States as a nation of laws by testifying that because Bush is commander in chief, he can basically ignore the laws of Congress. Kind of makes you miss those innocent days when Gonzales just couldn't recall.
George Bush
Come on, no list of assholes and fuck-ups could be complete without the Dipshit in Chief. Who will tell this president what everyone but him already knows? The theory of evolution. And the times tables. And where the sun goes at night. And that Iraq is going to be three different countries. And that everyone hates us and we've run our military into the ground and the Taliban is back and we still haven't caught bin Laden and the economy is tanking and we wasted eight years blowing the oil companies while the Earth is melting. We had a pretty nice house when this Cat in the Hat of presidents came in and made the mess of all time. And who's going to clean it all up — Rudy Giuliani?
Rudy Giuliani
A phenomenon I still don't understand. Rudy says if a Democrat is elected in 2008, we'll be at risk of another 9/11, because... he was mayor of New York when they attacked the World Trade Center the first time? His slogan should be "Not on my watch... again." And if that's not enough of a reason for him to make this list, try this: The year before he was elected mayor, the NYPD made 720 arrests for marijuana misdemeanors. In the year 2000 under Rudy, that figure was 59,945. That's an increase of... a lot, dude. Why am I confident that he'll be on the list again next year?
Stop saying what he did is a cultural thing, just one of those things black folks are known for, like jazz. He's not one of the Scottsboro boys, he electrocuted dogs.
Erik Prince
We used to have rent-a-cops. Now we have rent-a-soldiers. As CEO of Blackwater, the most notorious private-security contractor in Iraq, Prince has his own navy, air force and spy agency. This guy is building nothing short of a parallel national-security apparatus. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's a super-Christy Jesus freak who looks on the Crusades the way rednecks pine for the Confederacy.
Bob Murray
The fat-ass, lying embodiment of the Bush administration's regulatory policies. After the cave-in at the Utah mine he owns, Murray hijacked the press conferences and insisted that the tragedy was caused by an earthquake. An assertion all seismologists agreed was wrong, but hey, it was a disaster — no time to start injecting facts. The probable cause was the controversial — but, of course, profitable — practice of retreat mining, where you remove pillar supports in order to get more coal.
Sen. Larry Craig
A man who consistently voted against gay interests, but turns out to be not just gay but the kind of gay who likes to get it in public restrooms. Don't people like Larry Craig and Ted Haggard and Mark Foley prove that being gay really is a hard-wired thing — not, as the conservatives always claim, a "lifestyle choice"? If anyone could choose not to have gay sex, it would be these guys, since their whole careers are built on not having gay sex.
Sen. David Vitter
Even more disgusting than Craig. Caught dead to rights as a customer of the D.C. Madam, and explained it away by saying, "Several years ago I received forgiveness from God in confession." Oh, well, all righty then, it's all good, then you're obviously not a disgusting, horrible hypocrite who runs on family values and then fucks whores at home and in Washington.
College Republicans
The place where cutthroat, amoral putzes like Karl Rove cut their teeth. They're all staunchly for the Iraq War, although none have volunteered to go, even though they're the same age as the grunts doing the fighting they say is so important. Doughy losers who, at age twenty, care more about tax cuts than girls. And lately they've been holding these "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" parties around the country where they basically play hide-and-seek with one lucky player posing as the wetback. Usually you have to be older and married before you start hating life so much you try to blame the Mexicans for all your problems, don't you?
The Solid Quarter
That twenty-five percent of America who would not desert George Bush if he ran over Dakota Fanning with his pickup truck on the White House lawn. Is it a coincidence that twenty-five percent is also the number of people who, in an AP poll of predictions for 2007, said they expect Jesus Christ to return this year!? I don't think it is.
The Asshole Who Shot Up Virginia Tech
I've forgotten his name — which is as it should be! Please don't go look it up and do what the media did and give this shithead what he wanted.
Congressional Democrats
Who, when it came time to render judgment on the administration's patently illegal wiretapping, took advantage of a deeply unpopular lame-duck president by caving in to his every whim. They agreed to allow the Justice Department to spy on Americans without a warrant. I know it is unconstitutional and all, but hey, if you can't trust the sober judgment of Alberto Gonzales...
Alberto Gonzales
At the Bush White House, a constitutional crisis is when somebody actually reads the Constitution. Gonzales obeyed Karl Rove's orders to decimate the Justice Department by firing the U.S. attorneys who weren't Bush loyalists to the point of corruption, then told Congress, I can't recall who put together the list of which attorneys to fire. But I stand by the decision to fire everyone on the list. Which I never read. Also, nothing improper occurred. And I know, because I can't recall.
Michael Mukasey
And let's not forget the new guy, who further shredded the reputation of the United States as a nation of laws by testifying that because Bush is commander in chief, he can basically ignore the laws of Congress. Kind of makes you miss those innocent days when Gonzales just couldn't recall.
George Bush
Come on, no list of assholes and fuck-ups could be complete without the Dipshit in Chief. Who will tell this president what everyone but him already knows? The theory of evolution. And the times tables. And where the sun goes at night. And that Iraq is going to be three different countries. And that everyone hates us and we've run our military into the ground and the Taliban is back and we still haven't caught bin Laden and the economy is tanking and we wasted eight years blowing the oil companies while the Earth is melting. We had a pretty nice house when this Cat in the Hat of presidents came in and made the mess of all time. And who's going to clean it all up — Rudy Giuliani?
Rudy Giuliani
A phenomenon I still don't understand. Rudy says if a Democrat is elected in 2008, we'll be at risk of another 9/11, because... he was mayor of New York when they attacked the World Trade Center the first time? His slogan should be "Not on my watch... again." And if that's not enough of a reason for him to make this list, try this: The year before he was elected mayor, the NYPD made 720 arrests for marijuana misdemeanors. In the year 2000 under Rudy, that figure was 59,945. That's an increase of... a lot, dude. Why am I confident that he'll be on the list again next year?
(info from rollingstone.com)
Friday, December 21, 2007
Big Red
I really enjoy the Hellboy comics and I thought the movie was well done. Now Guillermo del Toro has the sequel coming and I am excited for it! I have always been curious, however, of how Hellboy was received by those unfamiliar with the source material. I think people generally enjoyed it. Anyway, watch the trailer already.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
He Does Exist
After initially disputing Tony's claim, I discovered tonight that there really is a singer named Bootsy Collins.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Cleanse Your Queue Of These Puppies
Double Viking's Worst Movies of 2007:
Blogger's Note: I am pleased to announce that I managed to avoid all of these.
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.
Positive First Impression
If the movie can manage to live up to this badass poster, we'll be in good shape.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
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.
Monday, December 03, 2007
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.
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)
Sunday, December 02, 2007
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.
The Way Things Go from Jack Turner on Vimeo.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
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)
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)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
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.
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
Thursday, November 15, 2007
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.
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...
Sunday, November 04, 2007
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.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
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.
So basically that's $350 worth of free content with the purchase of a $179 player. Do it! Do it now!!
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:
That is 9 Free HD DVDs with the purchase of the drive.
- 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)
So basically that's $350 worth of free content with the purchase of a $179 player. Do it! Do it now!!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here
All potential Pokemon Masters begin their trials through Pikachu's vagina.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Ten Reasons Why Gay Marriage Is Un-American
- Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
- Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
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)
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)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
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.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
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?"
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Monday, October 08, 2007
Friday, October 05, 2007
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
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
My Spanish Flair
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
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?
Sunday, September 09, 2007
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.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007 with Subtitles
Try and wrap your mind around this one, folks.
(Thanks to Jeremy for the link.)
Sunday, August 26, 2007
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)
Saturday, August 25, 2007
What Tracey Doesn't Know Could Fill A Submarine
If anyone is offended by this, I got it from Jeremy.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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)
Monday, August 20, 2007
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
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
Sunday, August 19, 2007
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.
Friday, August 17, 2007
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??Thursday, August 16, 2007
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.)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Alaska Is Livin' Large
All this for a cool $7 million? Seward's folly, my ass!
(click the pic for a larger view) Sunday, August 12, 2007
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).
Thursday, August 09, 2007
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!!
Check out the trailer for his newest picture, Be Kind Rewind. It's gonna be gold I tells ya, gold!!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
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)
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.
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.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
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!
Saturday, August 04, 2007
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!
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!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Geek Quotes FTW
The Board of Wisdom's Top 10 Best Geek Quotes:
- There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't.
- 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.
- Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."
- If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0
- 1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
- 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.
- I'm not anti-social; I'm just not user friendly
- I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.
- The glass is neither half-full nor half-empty: it's twice as big as it needs to be.
- A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history - with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila.
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)
Sunday, July 22, 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
