Tuesday, December 18, 2007

McJeffersons

What happens when you mash-up a classic TV theme song with a red-haired, hamburger-shillin' clown? Watch:



McDonalds withstanding, I think the first sentence in this post actually makes an intriguing pitch for a new tv show. Better than yet another reality program, no?

Monday, December 17, 2007

Dark Knight trailer

UPDATE!

See the Dark Knight teaser trailer here in its full glory!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Dark Knight Teaser Posters

UPDATE!
See the Dark Knight teaser trailer here in its full glory!

What a week for movie posters!
Christmas comes early to those highly anticipating 2008's The Dark Knight. In addition to these three posters, there's a leak of the new trailer on YouTube that is showing in front of I Am Legend. I won't link to it here because they're getting taken down and reappearing constantly. But if you head over there and search "Dark Knight trailer" and sort by "Date Added" you'll get a few. It's grainy bootleg footage from inside a theater, but still fun.




I love that last one.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Tikis!

Over Thanksgiving, my fiance and I were in Waikiki and found some fantastic tiki mugs. We were unsucessful in finding any during out trip to Kauai last December. However, we discovered that the old campy cocktail tiki-style still pervaded throughout parts of Waikiki (we realized that Kauai is just too rural and laid back to have ever bought into the who Hawaiiana/tiki cukture image portrayed by wayward Americans in the 50's and 60's)

Long story short, we took hom three souvenir cocktail tiki's like the one below (in red, blue, and brown) from Tiki's Bar & Grill and found a host of other awesome ones at the Thor Store. Be sure to check'em out. The prices are pretty reasonable based on what we saw in other places in Waikiki, and most of Thor's selection is superior to others.

Monday, December 10, 2007

KOTCS poster arrives!

Let me tease you here with your first glimpse of the brand new teaser poster for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Friggin sweet.

Head over here to checkout and download the full version.

Monday, November 19, 2007

New Indy action figure

There's a link over at The Raider.net with a photo of the new 7-inch Indy action figure being done by Gentle Giant. According to the source, it may only be sold in the Disney theme parks. But it looks great and comes with some cool acessories, including a fertility idol, sword (from ToD) and, what appears to be the Grail Diary.

Music to Live By: Temple of Doom

As long as we're on the topic of Indiana Jones today, I thought I'd take a minute to impart my thoughts on a recent addition to my CD collection: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.


This is an album I've been after for years and when I finally got ahold of one a month ago, I was ecstatic. I was a bit anxious in acquiring this CD; first, because of its typically high price tag ($40+) and secondly because I had read a number of comments from mildly disappointed film score aficionados who felt it didn't adequately live up to John Williams' other Indy scores.

Being a devoted Indy score and film fan, as well as a John Williams appreciative (I don't yet aspire to be a score completionist, but admire those who are), I felt picking this title up for less than $30 was a no-brainer. Even if it found only a luke-warm reception in my heart, I could burn a copy and re-sell it for at least what I paid, if not more. But I haven't even come remotely close to considering that since I listened to it because it's a fun CD.

The CD's 40-minute playing time is the shortest of all the Indy movie scores so far (the 19-track extended Raiders CD is 70-some minutes; Last Crusade with 13 tracks is 58 minutes). And this one feels the shortest. But that's mostly because it moves so quickly. Most of the cues are action pieces, or at least action-oriented.

So, let me give you a blow-by-blow of the tracks:

The disc kicks off with the "Anything Goes" opening sequence from the film and plunges right into the "Fast Streets of Shanghai" which follows it shortly in the film. Some of the tracks that follow are a bit out of chronological order when compared to the film, but it's not terribly disorienting, even for guys like me who like a score to be an orchestral guide through the film's themes and memorable moments.

"Nocturnal Activities" recounts the musical cues during the romantic "stand-off" between Willie and Dr. Jones, culminating in the thugee attack on the good doctor. "Short Round's Theme", which follows, is the cue Temple of Doom aficionados will recognize from the elephant trek to Pankot Palace.

The next cue, "Children in Chains" is the scene where Indy stumbles upon the cadre of chained children digging for Shankara Stones and is summarily captured by Thugees.

Track 6 is "Slalom on Mt. Humol", the name of which describes it pretty well. Why this isn't track #3, I have no idea. (Note: this trek reminds me of the Indiana Jones ride in Disneyland because a recognizable portion is used in that ride. In fact, there are a number of cues from the Temple of Doom score used in that ride and finding them throughout listenign to this CD was a treasure of pleasure. I "claim" that term right here and now, by the way.) I love this track because it makes me want to do exactly what is happening in the movie - do a high-speed, perilous sled ride.

The next track, "Temple of Doom" is everybody's favorite thugee chant, which builds to quite a nice "heart-wrenching" crescendo. Be sure to grab a nice chianti when listening to this one.

"Bug Tunnel and Death Trap" ToD fans will recognize from the sequence Willie is called upon to conquer her fears of the dead, the dark, and things that go "crunch" under the feet to save Indy and Shorty from impending impalement. Another one I really like because of the tensions and urgency conveyed throughout this cue.

"Slave Children's Crusade" is the fight cue in the quarry near the end of the movie that leads into famous "The Mine Car Chase". Both of these tracks are fun and are as uptempo as they seem while watching these scenes in the movie. To me these two scenes always seemed the counterparts to the Airplane Fight and Truck Chase sequences in Raiders. Which probably just sets them up unfairly to seem weaker when compared. Those two scenes in Raiders are two of my all-time favorite movie scenes, favorite action scenes, and I'd argue that the Truck Chase is one of the very best action sequences of all-time in all of cinema; one whose score compliments it to a "T".

So, comparing the music cues for these scenes is a bit unfair because they just don't seem as inspired by adventure as the others. However, these tracks are still fun and sound great. The Mine Car Chase is fast-paced, but just doesn't pack the orchestral "wallop" the Truck Chase does. But that's not a criticism of Williams' work as much as it probably is of the filmmaking. Anyone who doesn't mind the music in the actual film is still going to really enjoy all these tracks.

The last cue on the disc is "Finale and End Credits", which picks up in the movie exactly where one would think - the end when Indy and Willie are about to kiss and Short Round annoyingly covers his face and I want to smack him. He just went through a hellish thugee debacle and he can't "bare" to see his surrogate dad/best friend kiss a woman. Come on Speielberg, dammnit.

I've seen people who feel that the Indy scores must be ranked in order of greatness, but I don't think it's a fair assessment for anyone else reading this review to do such a thing. Every individual likes and dislikes certain things about any given object and film scores speak to people in exactly the same ways. So, I'll just tell you what I liked about this CD and what would have improved the experience for me:

Liked:

  • Completing my trilogy of Indy scores!
  • Anything Goes, Slalom on Mt. Humol, Nocturnal Activities, Bug Tunnel & Death Trap - these are probably my favorites cues on this one
  • A John Williams score that reminds me of his other work from this period (Empire/Jedi, ET, Raider/Last Crusade)
  • Cover art

Coulda been better:

  • Release this in English! - Because this is only available via Japanese import, I can't read any of the extensive liner notes.
  • Give us an extended version like the one done for Raiders in 1995. At only 40 minutes, it feels like there's certainly some music missing.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Awesome Art: Crazy 4 Cult

I'm going to an art exhibition at the Laguna Beach Art Museum this weekend for the artist Shag. I'm a big fan of his work and am hoping to get to meet him at the opening party Saturday night.
Shag kicks ass!

While clicking down some rabbit holes on Shag's website, I stumbled upon another gallery in Los Angeles that done some pretty fantastic looking exhibitons. In particular: Crazy4Cult. You like movies with a cult following? You like pop art? You need to check this thing out.

How many can you pick out?

Edward Scissorhands, A Christmas Story, Hellraiser, Princess Bride, Freaks- if it has a following, somebody probably did it.

It's not for sale, FRAN-CESS!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

BEWARE!

Halloween is coming!

Beware!


BEWAAAAAAAAAARE!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Eating in Redding, CA

I did a brief site inspection in Redding, CA last Friday. Check out my "dining report" over on the GoSightsee blog for my review of Black Bear Diner - a place I highly recommend you get your grub on. It's some tasty stuff!

Monday, September 10, 2007

INDIANA JONES IV TITLE!!

It has been announced...and be sure to inhale deeply before you say it aloud.


Not exactly the "Pharaoh's Crown", huh JettL93?

For the non-believers (that have Flash!), check out the announcement on the official site or on Ain't It Cool.

Unlike some of the immediate reaction by raving fanboys/girls, I don't have any real distaste for the title. Fanboys/girls are apt tp have sudden, violent reactions, so nobody should be surprised. Least of all Lucas, who has experienced this phenomenon every two years since 1998.

The title has that pulpy, serial feel to it, which makes it fit in fine with "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Temple of Doom", and "Last Crusade". Personally, I almost wonder if it wouldn't have been appropriate just to call this film "Indiana Jones" and leave it at that. But using my previous arguement, that wouldn't fit in as nicely with the other three, would it?

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

DCA gets a facelift and SUPER Indiana Jones Adventure

Hi kids!
Disney's California Adventure (DCA) is finally going to get its $1.2 BILLION makeover, starting in 2008. Can you imagine, not even ten years old and already getting a facelift? (If you've been there, though, you know it's in dire need.) And before the decade is through, Disneyland's ailing Tomorrowland and several other attractions will also be getting some renovations. The rumor is that in addition to a Star Tours 2.0 (featuring new destinations!), Lucasfilm and Disney are working together on creating a bigger, better Indiana Jones Adventure ride over in Adventureland. By the looks of it, they're trying to recapture the spirit of what the original attraction was intended to be - TWO rides intersecting with each other AND the existing Jungle Cruise.

Read about all the plans on MiceAge.

There's an interesting article from last year detailing what the original plans for the Indy ride were, complete with artwork and site plans showing how the two Indy rides and the Jungle Cruise would have intertwined.

Behold: what Indy might look like at Disneyland one day.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Toothepaste For Dinner - Go read some webcomics!

Drew's whole month of July is outstandingly hilarious.



I thought I should let you know in case you haven't read it yet.



Monday, August 20, 2007

Ghostbusters score

I'm a big fan of the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. It was one of the I watched repeatedly on HBO and VHS (pirated from HBO) growing up. And int he spirit of watching it on DVD this weekend, not once, but TWICE, I feel obliged to share with you other Ghostbuster junkies a link to the score. Now, I can't be certain, but I believe these tracks are actually from the 1998 disc, not the newer Varese one. There are 22 tracks here and the Varese one contains 39.


This material was unavailable for many years until Varese Sarabande released the full score as part of their "club" collection (which just means there's a limited run of 3,000 produced). There was a bootleg release in 1998, but they're hard to come by as well. Unfortunately, I've only recently been reaching out to other score junkies on the Internet and didn't know about this release until long after the disc was sold out (which was probably a matter if weeks.) Now if you want the score, it means forking over $50 bucks on ebay.


The first time I listened to these tracks I was sort of underwhelmed, but it really grows on you. So much of Elmer Bernstein's original cues are cut up or altogether replaced in the final cut of the film that the score at times felt like it went with an inferior movie. In a way, it is a portentious reminder what a turkey this film could have turned out to be. That's not a knock at all against Bernstein's score or the material, which was executed impeccably. Tracks like the beginning of #21 will instantly bring to mind exact moments in the movie for any GB junkie.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Go See It - Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix!

The second in what will be an occassional on-going series of posts about movies that have been released for at least 2 weeks and that I recommend you see...
I'm making this brief because I'm working on something else today.

- Possibly the BEST Potter flick yet.

- These movies aren't meant to be stand-alone anymore; meant to capitalize on Pottermania, which likely just passed its all-time peak in the last week with the release of Deathy Hallows

- Great for those familiar with the book as well as the overarching story of Potter vs. Voldemort

- effects look great, though Grawp still cartoonish- but at least he wasn't annoying

- Imelda Staunton is Psychotic - awesome

-Not enough Snape - never is

- Dumbledore shines, esp when Ministry comes to arrest him and at the Wizard Duel with Voldemort



Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Cereal - The Staple of Childhood

I originally intended to make this post all about the way children bond with cereals while growing up, but work has got me plenty busy right now. Instead, I'd like to give a shout to The Breakfast Bowl, a blog all about cereal and the latest happenings in the world of Kellogg's, General Mills, etc.

"Cereal???" you say. Yes, there's all kinds of interesting things going on continuously in the world of everyone's favorite breakfast treat. Did you know that the big cereal makers are shrinking the size of their packaging to reduce costs? Have you seen these new "cereal straws" popping up in your grocery store? Ever tried one? Caffeinated cereal? It could be happening.
Check out the Breakfast Bowl and the other cereal and food releated sites Lloyd links to. I think you'll find it enlightening, and if nothing else amusing.

AND, check this out...

There's an emerging food chain called
Cereality. Situated around what seem to be college towns in mid-size markets, this cafe specializes in hot and cold cereals, cereal bars, and smoothies.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Hasbro's Indy IV toys at San Diego Comic Con

Sorry, this post was on-hold for a few days by accident.

Check'em out!

There's a close up of the "mini heroes" 2-packs here, some of which weren't in the Comic Con display. Interestingly, the Marion Ravenwood mini figure isn't in any of these sets.

Another look at the five 3 3/4 inch figures Hasbro will have. I hope they make a melting-face Toht, too!

Monster Squad on DVD

There's a pretty amusing and informative review of the 2-disc Monster Squad DVD over at CHUD today.

Go ahead, kick Wolfman in the nards one more time!

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Indy IV Teaser Poster

The teaser one-sheet poster for next May's new Indy sequel was spotted at Comic Con this poast weekend. Head over to Slashfilm.com to get a bigger look.


Monday, July 30, 2007

WATCHMEN: The Poster

Another exciting piece of Watchmen news from Comic Con:

Loving the look of this, since it means Snyder still appears to remain committed to staying as true to the comic as possible.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

HARRY POTTER AND THE LEAKY PLOT OF THE 7TH BOOK

It's true and it's all over the Net. Like trying to contain details on a Star Wars prequel or an Indiana Jones sequel, the secrets of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have been pouring out all over the Internet in the last 24 hours.

But before I get to the "leaky" news, I thought it was interesting to note what JK Rowling herself said of the "Deathly" spoiler leaks: "please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web."

Methinks she's not really saying the plot details are wrong (though, undoubtedly there must be numerous "spoiler" pages out there with made up shit which are there only to capitalize on the recent news), but that she just wants people to disregard it and try to keep themselves "virgin" for Saturday's release. Which is cool with me. I started to peek at them, but turned away before I was bespoiled too much.

Leaky Cauldron also has a bit on Scholastic's press release, which names the dastardly retailer who shipped the books early and wholeheartedly breached their contract with Scholastic.

Now, onto the SPOILERS!

Actually there are no spoilers on my page.

But somebody uploaded what is supposedly all 759 pages of the new book on BitTorrent and PirateBay. Screenshots are/were also available at bayimg.

Or you can check out this mysterious page for an alleged list of all the major SPOILERS. Take it all with a grain of salt if you do read it. It could just be some attention whore pulling your leg. COUGHjettl93COUGH
http://www.zendurl.com/h/hallows/

Or, just enjoy the book like the rest of us and wait to read it on Saturday at 12:01am!

Finky the Kid reminds you to choose wisely! (Hey, I just bring you the news here. It's up to you to decide what to do with it.)
He chose wisely. So can you.

Go See It! - RATATOUILLE

Sightseer and I saw this over the weekend and it truly exceeded my expectations. I had doubts and up until the final full trailer really felt Pixar might be falling on their face this summer.

But I was wrong.
In fact, I don't think Ratatouille has gotten enough acclaim in a summer full of overblown action movie sequels. The film was well written/directed/scored. It was Pixar's top quality product, second only to the Toy Story movies and tied (for me) with Incredibles for 2nd place among the best Pixar films.

But oddly enough, I find many people not knowing "what it's about" or "if it's any good". Hopefully the buzz builds in time for its DVD release.

And for what it's worth, Michael Giacchino scored Ratatouille- the same guy as the Incredibles. So if you enjoyed the jazzy throwback sounds of Incredibles...




Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Taking an Indy Break

In case you're wondering (and I have to imagine all four poeple who have seen this blog, at least two "accidentally", must be rolling around on your backs kicking and screaming about not having a new Indy IV post here) why I've not put up anything about all the recent Indy IV spoiler mudslinging going on lately, I'm just kind of in "Indy overload". There's more than enough of it out there for anybody who wants to keep up on it, but for the uninitiated, here are some links:

http://tinyurl.com/2orukj

http://tinyurl.com/35a4kg


In the meantime, I've been enjoying one of my favorite YouTube guilty pleasures, DRSMOOV's Transformer parodies. Guaranteed hands down to make any G1 fans laugh.



I think what I enjoy the most about "Shockwave's Burden" is the hilariously pathetic side DRSMOOV has shown us of Cybertron's brute-by-the-book "Guardian". It's really plays up some foibles that one might have suspected were always there, but I don't remember ever really seeing in the tv shows. Meanwhile, the dialogue DRSMOOV has given some of the characters just tops off the clever situations he's put the characters in. If you don't laugh at any of Shockwave's "Oh shit. What now?" or "What does this jerk want?" comments, you maybe be even less human than a transforming alien robot.

As for the Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime, besides hearing the iconic Autobot leader say words that would not have been fit for Sunbow, Prime's uber-human reactions to the remaining less-than-favorite Autobots seems to mirror much of my own (and undoubtedly other G1 fans') feelings towards Blur, Wheelie, Bumblebee's makeover, etc. when we first experienced these wonderful changes to the G1 Transformers.

To quote DRSMOOV's Prime: "Of all the Autobots to survive...fuck me." Yes, Prime. We all thought the same thing.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

INDY IV - UPDATE!

IndianaJones.com has just posted new behind the scenes production video.

Check that link to see Harrison Ford moving around in full Indy garb. I'd elaborate, but that's really all it is. And a glance at a couple of soldiers holding him captive.

JETTL93 IS A LIAR

The title says it all, folks. It was one thing for the guy to lead people on for his own good time (still a shitty thing to do, but it got alot of good conversation going on the movie). But when this fuckstick admits he's full of it and becomes a complete ATTENTION WHORE, well, the welcome mat's worn out, fella.
It's all on this Talkback over at AICN.

So...whatever.

Monday, July 9, 2007

Rumor is that Billy Crudup has been cast as Dr. Manhattan in the upcoming film. Somewhat less speculative is that big casting announcements will be made at Comic Con this month.

Check out CHUD for more.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Who Watches the WATCHMEN?

Seems Zach Snyder's crew is getting the viral marketing campaign for next year's Watchmen flick up and going. Perhaps they felt compelled to catch up with the effort Dark Knight started last month? Remember this one?

A little over a week ago, the Rorschach's Journal website came to my attention, by way of Harry Knowles over at AICN.com. Since then, I've been exchanging cryptic e-mails with "Rorschach" himself.

Then last night I got this broadcast message from him:

instructions.need to find mask killer.help spread word.see how. http://rorschachsjournal.com/
.RR.

No, I didn't accidentally forget to leave spaces between the words, either. But, that's Walter Kovacs for you. So, what did he want? Head over there yourself and find out.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Possible Indy IV titles?? And Other Indy Info...

Well, the mysterious "JettL93" has been at it again on the AintItCool.com talkbacks. In the last day or two he/she has divulged:
**HIGHLIGHT TEXT FOR SPOILERS**
  • Is the final script a rehash of older scripts? "besides a few key action sequences that where lifted (because) they were just to cool to ignore, the script is entirly different from the earlier drafts. and most of the leaked info was false or fan fic, including city of the gods, that title was never in the running, lucas has held onto it for possible use in a videogame."

  • When can we expect a trailer? (One) teaser in the november before, a trailer in feb or march and a third trailer a month or so before the film is relesed...expect paramount to launch a huge online campaign with the official site (similar to what the dark night did with "i believe in harvet dent too")

  • What movie will the trailer be attached to? (contains Title SPOILER) "Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf when it hit theatres this november...the teaser will not show a lot but will probabaly run in the range of a 1:45 to 2 mins, and you will see shots of the characters and certain action, the title "indiana jones and the Pharoah's crown" will also be revealed." Lucas has hinted that he would like to do 3 trailers, gradually showing more and more of the plot.

  • And what about that title? "crown of the pharoh could possibly be the title instead of the pharoh's crown, george also had dynasty of the pharoahs as one of his suggested titles... if its not pharoah's crown, it will be a titlle (sic) that is very similar to it."

  • What's the plot going to be? "The basic plot outline is (and I’m paraphrasing) the pharaoh’s crown was a crown that contained a large crystal (shaped like a skull) it held the power of the gods. Thousands of years ago a Egyptian tyrant stole the crown and tried to use its power to rule the world, the gods angry at this, unleashed a huge earthquake during which the crystal was separated from the crown and both were thought destroyed. However it turns out the crystal part of the crown was actually found 50 years ago (around 1910) by none other then Abner Ravenwood and has been stored by the Americans in the "raiders warehouse". Of course when the Russians discover the crown part they learn that the American’s have the crystal skull, they attempt to steal it and affix it to the crown to use the power to end the cold war and take over the world. The Americans are aware somebody has discovered the crown, since the crystal has been acting strangely, and causing weird things to be happening over area 51 (which the media has blamed on alien invasions) the American’s wanting the crown’s power to themselves decide to steal the crown from the Russians. However when Abner Ravenwood (john hurt) learns of this he is forced to come out of “hiding” and track down Indy (using shia) and convince him to find both pieces before the Americans and Russians do and destroy them both."
**END SPOILERS**
Now, be sure to take all the above with a high-blood pressure inducing amount of salt. "Jett" seems genuine enough, but I'm just cycnical enough to believe there's always someone out there willing to create an elaborate hoax with a mild-mannered demeanor.

Or, perhaps, this is an intentional "leak" by the Indy IV production to start building positive buzz early. This kind of internet "marketing" and PR has become increasingly popular and has really started to make a blip on the radar with some companies.

"Jett" says "more stuff will start to leak, i just have the advantage of being very close to the producer and able to get my hands on almost any info i want", which makes him/her even more intriguing.

Will we ever know who "Jett" really is?

Is this the boy who's got all the Indy info? (somehow, I doubt it)

Friday, June 29, 2007

Wanna see some photos from Indy IV?

A flurry of photographic activity has been happening in New Haven, Connecticut this week now that filming for Indy IV has gotten underway there.

Check out any of the below sites for pictures that appear to be Indy piggybacking a ride on the back of Shia" (Abner "Mutt" Ravenwood) motorcycle. Can you tell which are them and which are their stunt doubles?

http://www.dlisted.com/node/11958

http://tinyurl.com/2pdmln


http://tinyurl.com/37s5eh

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18532611&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576&rfi=6

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Nelson laughs at Paris

Yeah, this is sorta yesterday's news, but I thought the image somebody made was still funny...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Indy IV Plot Details?

I know I've been sort of on a kick lately with all the Indy IV stuff, but, well, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my all-time favorite film. And with Indy's production kicking off late last week, the flurry of news is to be expected.

That said, a mysterious individual with some alleged Indy plot details popped up on Ain'tItCool's latest Indy IV talkback yesterday and today. He has the handle "JettL93" and seemed un-arrogantly confident in "clarifying" some of the rumors flying around the upcoming Indy sequel. I'm not saying this is George Lucas' son, Jett, who was born in 1993, but it's certainly an interesting coincidence.

Stranger things have happened on AICN talkbacks before. Last November Syl Stallone himself visited the site to read reactions to Rocky Balboa news and later participated in numerous Q&A rounds with talkbackers.

And several months ago a talkbacker going by the name "Walter B" outted himself as Bruce Willis on Die Hard 4.0 talkbacks and engaged in Q&A's through the talkback for several days.


*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

Among "Jett's" Indy IV comments are...

Dinosaurs rumored to be in the film: "there is ... a scene involving a dino dig and indy looking for another artifact when he runs into some baddies, and theres a chase through the dig site...they are not live dinos.."

Stan Winston is creating "creatures" for this film: "Remember indy 4 is going to deal with the supernatural aspects of the 50's, but it won't just be out there, it will use science and history to explian the pasranormal aspetcs (sic) of the film."

Shia is Indy and Marion's son: "Shia is not (Indy's) real kid...he's marian ravenwoods kid, but indy is sort of a father figure to him"

So, is this info legit? Is this just some talkbacker with an unusually inordinate amount of reserved non-know-it-all attitude that wants to look like they know what they're talking about? Who can say. Either way, there's a heck of a lot of fun in all the speculation.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

PRODUCTION FOOTAGE! - More Indy IV News

IndianaJones.com has posted the first of what will surely be many more behind the scene production shorts. This one, from the first day of filming (rumored to be somewhere in New Mexico) seems to confirm a few minor clues we've heard about the "military base in the desert" setting for the opening sequence. As well as what appears to be a car full of teenagers (Indy Jr's "greaser" friends??) racing along the open highway.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Family Guy + Star Wars


A great Family Guy parody of A New Hope shown at Celebration IV in Los Angeles over Memorial Day weekend.

Friday, June 22, 2007

TINO is upon us. Are you going?

DAMN YOU , MICHAEL BAY!

Well, Michael's Bay's shit-tastic film adaptation of Transformers (aka TINO - Transformers In Name Only) hits screens next week and I can't say I'm any more excited about it than I was a year ago.

But I have gotten beyond my strong disappointment with the production. First there was the bait and switch My. Bay and Steven Spielberg pulled on the fans by telling them they wanted to ake a very "G1" movie ("G1" references the first few season of the show). Then production art started "leaking out" in the spring of 2006 and very little looked like G1 Transformers.

And most G1 Transformer fans gasped in surprise.

Can you find Megaton's facial features?

Making changes so that a character who originally transformed into a minivan now transforms into a pickup truck- not a big deal. The flames on Optimus Prime? Heinous and crass for the humble Autobot leader. But they were gradually reduced. So much in fact you can barely see them when Opitmus is in robot form. But the incredibly shitty robot designs that make it hard to find their facial features was and still remains in vapidly poor taste. And let's not forget about the leaked script from last February. I read it several times and it stunk just as bad with each read. The story is secondary to the action scenes. And the character development? It's tertiary to the storyline. I could go on and on, but I won't. It's pointless. There was so much potential to make a good movie, not just the typical Michael Bay "explosion-fest"

Show your disgust for Bay with TINO shirt, won't you?


DAMN YOU , MICHAEL BAY!

Indy is back! FOR REAL!!

Take a peek at who's back in the fedora!


Yes, folks, Indiana Jones IV officially started filming earlier this week and on Thursday June 21, 2007, Mr. Spielberg himself snapped this picture of something that hasn't been seen in over over 18 years.

Although I'm skeptical of a few things associated with this production coughShiaLaBirthcough, seeing Harrison Ford in his famous fedora again has really got me pretty excited. Sure Spielberg is likely just trying to atone for the hand he had in destroying the movie of 80's toy phenomenon Transformers (TINO!) with this Indiana Jones pic, but I have to say right now, it's working.

Check out IndianaJones.com for updates on the production of the yet (unofficially) named Indy sequel (though rumors stemming from Frank Darabont's old draft are that it will be called "Indiana Jones and the City of Gods").

Read more production rumors at The Raider.net

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Toothpaste for Dinner

Drew at Toothpastefordinner.com draws a pretty funny comic most of the time. I recommend you check them out, at least once a week.
He's got 1,700 for you to enjoy. I really like some of the older ones from the archives.

Two other great related sites you need to visit regularly for some random laughs:
MarriedtotheSea.com
NatalieDee.com

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Clone me a new Lucasfilm product, please

The Clone Wars, one of the two new Star Wars themed television series in developement for 2008, can now be glimpsed via a trailer released on Starwars.com.

Besides the fact that the prequels were overall a bit underwhelming for most fans (and forgetting that thousands of Sci-fi goobers just descended upon LA for Celebration IV this past weekend), I think the fanbase is generally a little jaded with Lucas and his quadrillion dollar space operas right now. On top of that, why is this new series focused on the Clone Wars period? Was that not suffiiently and decently well covered by the Tartokovsky animated series a few years ago? And why does it seem this series will feel like you're watching a video game that you don't actually get to play instead of just watching TV?

And shouldn't you really be cutting your TV time down by an hour, anyway???

At this point, I'm not over-excited for this series and am more interested to see what they come up with for the live-action show, which will cover a "new" time period (between Episodes III and IV) and feature mostly new characters.

So many questions. So long (perhaps not long enough?) to wait for answers...if there are any worthwhile.

Want 15 extra days in your year?

Sure you do.

My very good friend Sightseer over at A New You Now calculated that if a person watched one less hour of TV everyday for an entire year, they could have 15 days and 20 hours more to do something productive each year.

That's pretty amazing when you think about it. That's essentially 16 days to do whatever you want. Think about that stat everytime you complain about "not having the time" to do something.

If I watched one less hour of TV everyday, I'd be watching approximately -15 minutes on average. Perhaps I should cut the hour from my time at the office instead?


What you could be doing with 15 extra days in your life

Thursday, May 24, 2007

By the Power of Joel SIlver!

Well, the rumors about Joel Silver being involved with a new He-Man motion picture have been confirmed. Fashioning it after 300 might be okay, if not potentially alienating to any hardcore nostalgic fans (all 18 of them). But a "kiddie-300" just sounds like a bigger mistarget than branding Arachnophobia as a "thrillomedy".

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/32778

It might be better if they based the new movie off this version of He-Man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psTt1aOflps
he's feeling a "little peculiar".

Until He-Man comes out in 2009, or whenever, content yourself with these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kmeOktIwAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2clqW-Ddpg

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

New Potter film to premiere in Japan

Well, ain't that something? Another huge American film will have its debut outside the US.

Yes, it seems that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will have its premiere in Tokyo next month. The film will open in Tokyo on June 29, 2 weeks before it debuts in the US. First Spider-man 3. Now Potter. Interesting trend we have here, friends.

Read more at Mercury News .

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Silly rabbit, that ain't a "new" shape of Trix!

General Mills, do you have Alzheimer's? Or is a member of Pokemon-loving Generation Z running your marketing department? (yes, I realize this change happened in December, but I don't monitor cereal box changes the way I did when I was a kid, so this news is just now getting to me.)

Rabbit is happy to have a new shape

This "new" shape ISN'T new. Trix originally came in this circle-puff shape. When they changed to the "fruit shapes" in 1992, it was kind "fun" for about a week. But their metamorphism into fruit shapes was like when you got a new version of your favorite cartoon as a kid. You could still recognize the basics (here: the colors, though by this point Trix had added a few of those, too.) But something was just a little off. Anyway, it wasn't too long before the novelty wore off and you wanted the "old" circle shape again.

Something I noticed about these "new" Trix: they may be circular, but they're still not the same Trix as before. Originally, they were like a fruit version of uber-kid friendly Kix cereal: mostly hollow in the middle. These little puffballs are now solid in the middle, like a Cheese-puff. No more "miniature bowls of milk" in your bowl of Trix. (was I the only one who used to enjoy "drinking" out of a defect Trix that was only a half-globe in my cereal bowl??)


Old School Trix cereal

By the way, I know this is just a marketing gimmick to reinvigorate likely sagging sales of this staple kid-cereal, but it's just insulting to those of us who have been on this planet for more than 15 years. Calling this a "new shape" would have been like saying the Hulk became a "new' color when he went from being grey to green again. Don't act like people who were loyal users and remember the previous version don't exist. This change will still be "new" to your target audience of kids, but they don't really care whether this is truly new or just new to them. It's a change. They'll doubtless clamor for countless boxes of Trix with "new" shapes from the grocery store shelves just because something is "different" in them (this is called the "Lucky Charms" strategy because everytime they want to sell more cereal, they just add a new marshmellow charm and kids go nuts to chomp a soggy "pot of gold" or "red balloon").

Oh, and General Mills, good job keeping your branding up to date both on and off the Internet.

I guess I've ranted enough on kids' cereals for now.

Monday, May 14, 2007

The Dark Knight strikes...barely

Today Warner Bros launched the website for next year's Batman sequel, Dark Knight.

Don't get too excited yet. The whole website is currently just the one page. I've heard of "soft launches", Warner's, but come on. Was this even worth it?

Be sure to check back in a few weeks -maybe more- to see if they've decided to expand the site with a "Site Map" or "About Us" page. Perhaps one day there will even be a trailer. But, why bother when you can get it on YouTube at the same time or before then. (This fan-made trailer will have you reliving some of those old "Schumacher" Batman nightmares faster than Seal can say "kissed on a rose by a grave" or whatever the hell he said.)

Friday, May 11, 2007

Toejam and Earl rock!

How dearly I used to love playing this game. Now I can enjoy listening to it's fab music while I work. Thank you, YouTube!
Earl and Toejam: aliens from the planet Funkotron

This game was quite a memorable and occassionally addictive experience for the Sega Genesis audience of 1992. I found an interview with one of the designers of the TJ&E games (there have been 3 of them now).

SEGA!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

F.U. MICHAEL BAY (TINO!)

Well, there's now definitive proof for all how shitty the robot designs for the new Transformers movie are. In fact, Michael Bay himself has put them on his own blog.

Hey, it's MEGATRON! Actually No, it's not. That's Ironhide with the big-ass arm cannons. Way to go, Bay. Look below if you want to see what they did to Megatron (aka MINO: "Megatron In Name Only")
Not Megatron


THIS is Megatron:

Big Metal Mess

If you think that's bad, wait til you see what they did to Frenzy. (You remember him from the comics/cartoon, right?)

It's not that the designs in and of themselves- out of context- are so terribly bad. But looking at these, would anyone recognize it as a "Transformer"? More importnantly, does it seem "exciting" or like alot of other "sleek, metallic" robot designs you've seen in the manga world for the last decade? I mean, if you're doing a Transformers movie and you want to redo the looks of the 'bots, at least give them INSPIRED new looks. I can't even pinpoint Megatron's facial features!

Check out his blog for more crappy designs!



Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Spider-man 4 plot (only in my mind)

Here’s my set-up for the next film: Dr. Curt Connors, who keeps a piece of the symbiote in Spidey 3 for study, will attempt to regrow his lost arm with a reptilian-derived serum. When his self-experiment goes wrong (as they always do in Spider-world), he changes into the Lizard.

While undergoing his transformation, Connors trashes his lab, freeing the piece of the Venom symbiote. The symbiote escapes the lab and finds a new host. As the new host melds with the black symbiote, it leaves behind a puddle of red goo- the Carnage symbiote, which bonds to a psycho criminal named Cletus Cassidy.

Meanwhile, JJ Jameson has hired Kraven the Hunter to come to NYC and hunt down the Lizard, whom the Bugle has branded “the Alligator in the sewer!” Spidey realizes his friend Connors is the Lizard and fights with Kraven to save him. Kraven brushes aside the Bugle’s publicity stunt to hunt a more “ultimate” prize- Spider-man.
After escaping Kraven, Spidey clashes unexpectedly with Venom. Its new host has no animosity towards Spidey, but warns him to stay out of his way. He doesn’t; Venom and Spidey clash.

Meanwhile, Carnage goes on tear across New York. Venom and Carnage clash in an amazing effects battle of the symbiotes! Kraven catches Lizard while Spidey was busy with Venom. He doesn’t kill him b/c Connors’ wife has made it known her husband is the Lizard. Kraven, still thirsting for a kill gets wind of the Venom/Carnage battle and goes to hunt them down.

Meanwhile, Spidey helps Connors return to human form. Connors and Parker develop the soundwave amplifier to defeat the symbiotes. (Connors taking the role originally played by Reed Richards in the comics when Spidey first fought Venom.)

Spidey and Connors realize Venom is fighting against Carnage, but they use the soundwave amplifier against both men to remove the symbiotes from their hosts. Connors and Spidey return to the lab where-

Kraven, having tracked down Spidey. ambushes Spider-man. Connors frees the Venom symbiote and merges with it to help Spidey fight Kraven. Connors has both arms as the Venom symbiote. They beat Kraven. Spidey uses the soundwave amplifier to separate Connors and the symbiote and all is well again. Until…
Parker returns to Aunt May’s and finds HIS PARENTS waiting for him.

Spidey 5: Chameleon and Spider Slayers (No “clones” stuff, because that was a terrible, terrible idea in the comics. His parents are “spider slayers” in disguise. Chameleon has hired the man who built the Spider Slayers in order to expose Spider-man identity and kill him.)

Monday, May 7, 2007

Spider-man 3 sets Box Office records!

Spider-Man, Spider-man, breaking records like only a spider can!


It shouldn’t really surprise anyone to wake up today and learn that Spider-Man 3 smashed some all-time box office records over the weekend. Largest opening weekend, largest single-day, fastest to $100MM, largest disparity between 1st and 2nd place weekend box office grosses. Read more at Box Office Mojo.


In case you aren't sure, I'm a huge Spider-man fan. Loved reading all three/four titles available when I was growing up (Amazing, Spectacular, Web, and Spider-man). I saw the latest film IMAX style on Friday afternoon and enjoyed it. That’s not to say that fans of the first two films who haven’t yet seen Spidey 3 (why not? Some “fan” you are.) shouldn’t go into the theatre with managed expectations. The story has its slow moments where characters dialogue a little too long and occasionally a little to dramatically (this isn’t a soap opera, Mary Jane!) But when the action gets going, its of equal or better stuff than Raimi has previously given us. If the previous two Spidey films gave audiences some innovative awe-inspiring fight scenes, this new films delivers even grittier action. A portion of which seems spurned by Spidey’s increasingly vengeful black symbiote suit. But even the first fight between Harry (“Goblin Jr.”) and Peter Parker demonstrates how high the stakes are for these two central characters. And in the end, who really cares what Mary Jane is doing. As long as she can stop whining, we don’t care if she’s on Broadway or singing in a jazz club (and since when did singing become her big thing. I thought she was just trying to make it as an actress???)

The effects kick ass. Sandman has some amazing CGI and the moment where Thomas Hayden Church first emerges from a pile of amorphous sand and tries to regain his form as a human is handled with amazing, dare I say “touching” care. He’s a man, or was, trying to come to terms with a radical change. And he can barely hold himself together.

I had my doubts about Venom. I had even more doubts about Topher Grace as Eddie Brock, mainly because I know the Eddie Brock from the original Amazing Spiderman comics and only see Topher Grace as “That 70’s kid”. Grace really pulls a coup here as the slimey photographer who becomes ultimate anti-Spider-man. My only real gripe with Venom is that while we got a few money shots, I left the filming wishing he had more screen time.

So, what does this mean for Pirates 3 in a few weeks? Will it break more records?

Friday, April 13, 2007

Howdy Partners!

This here is my first blog. I have no idea what you should expect here from me. But check back now and then and see what's new. I'll try to keep it interesting.
In the meantime, check out Sheri's Travelblog! Http://gosightsee.blogspot.com

Now, here's Jabba and the gang to leave you swinging...