What you could be doing with 15 extra days in your life
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.
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?
Earl and Toejam: aliens from the planet Funkotron 
SEGA!
THIS is Megatron:
Big Metal MessIf 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!
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?
