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?