New Animated Fantastic Four

So there have been a number of animated Fantastic Four shows over the years. And while I love H.E.R.B.I.E. as much as the next guy, I think that so far the best one has definitely been the FF show from the 90s. It was a part and parcel of the entire Marvel cartoon run with Fox, which included Spider-Man, X-Men, The Hulk, The Avengers, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and Silver Surfer. Honestly I loved all of these shows, but the Silver Surfer was always my favorite. That said I probably actually watched more Spider-Man and Fantastic Four than any of the others. Of course that time is long gone, and while those cartoons are really some of my most favorite shows from back in the day. I'm pretty amazingly stoked to see that Marvel is stepping up to the plate again with some animated fare. We got our first tastes with the two direct to dvd movies The Ultimate Avengers, and The Ultimate Avengers 2. I bought and loved the first one, and have just last week picked up Avengers 2, but I have to wait for my friend to watch it. Anyhow, I've been very happy with what Marvel is doing lately, and their first animated series to hit airwaves since the end of X-Men Evolution (which I also loved) in 2003, hits the Cartoon airwaves this coming Saturday, and yup you guessed it... it's a brand new series all about the Fantastic Four.

I know this isn't the best quality video, but check out this trailer from YouTube



I think it looks pretty sweet. The show is Premiering on Cartoon Network this Saturday, (September 2nd) at 8pm, during their Toonami block of programming. Interesting time placement. Maybe they're going for people like me to watch as opposed to the kiddies at first. My friend Joey suggested that he thought that maybe the Justice League cartoon started later in the evening too. Marvel's Animation Age website has a short synopsis of the first 5 episodes. I'm surprised that they're not going with Doom for the first episode but the Kree instead. Anyhow I'm very glad to see a guest star pretty early on in episode 4 "Hard Knocks" with The Incredible Hulk. I've definitely got my hopes up for this program. I've heard tell that they consciously decided not to go with the origin story for this show, as they are placing it squarely in the middle of the FF mythos. It's not a continuation of the movie by any means and I don't think technically its being considered cannon, but it is made with the expectation that most everyone coming into the show already know who the FF are, and some basics about them.

For some reason Cartoon Network does not have a page set up for the show yet. pretty weird... Although the Wikipedia page is ok, and has links to more. Honestly we'll probably have to wait to see what the show is like before we can really find out much more about it. I am pretty stoked by what I've seen though. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Oh and next year Marvel is coming out with more animated goodness in the form of an animated Iron Man Series, another series called Wolverine, and the X-Men, and more direct to dvd films including Iron Man, and Doctor Strange. Check out this article on SHH for more info on upcoming projects. Later all.

I am jack's childhood...

So lately I’ve been listening to this fantastic podcast that I recently discovered the GenY Retrocast. Its hosted by some really nice guys and they talk about all the fun stuff that I remember from being a kid. As a rough guideline, you might say they talk about everything from the start of Transformers to the end of Nirvana; effectively my youth. It’s a great show that I’d really recommend everyone check it out. Unfortunately they’re going through something of a transitional phase right now, so the future of the show is a bit up in the air, but its really really still worth checking out. I’ve been working my way through the back catalog and really loving it.

So, because these GenY guys Michael, and Gavin have inspired me, and because I really just like it, I decided that the absolute best thing for me to do yesterday while I had a few fleeting minutes over at my parents house, was to go up to their loft-like attic crawl space above the garage and check through the 30 or so boxes to find my long lost Battle Beasts. Yes that’s right; I said Battle Beasts. They were this semi-obscure toy from back in the day that I totally loved, although I didn’t really think anyone else knew them until Michael brought them up on their very first episode on the retrocast.

Picture it if you will, here I am above the garage hunting through tons of random boxes. I mean this isn’t the house I grew up in, I never packed these boxes, I have no clue how they were packed or where they might be. There’s really only room for two extra box moves, so it’s like that damn slider game where you have to move the pieces to make the picture and you’ve only got the one free square. I’m up here shifting one box to get to the next box. Working my way inside these mountains of boxes. I can’t stand up straight cause I’m at the top of a low A frame, and I’ve only got this single bulb 100 watt light which while blaringly hot when near is harder and harder to see as I move forward into the heart of the boxes. I’m sweating as I look through every box I can find. Of course I had to be wearing my favorite shirt, a black Armani Exchange dress shirt. And its about halfway into the belly of this cardboard beast that I stop for just a second and start to think.

What the hell am I doing?! I mean really, what the hell am I doing digging through boxes to find some lost old toy from 15 years ago. I mean I want it, I really want it. I want to play with them and look at them again, but I know I can’t keep them, I can’t take them to my apartment. You think Erica wants like 30 Battle Beasts hanging out in the corner of our place?! Of course not. I know they’re in there I’ve already found the box full of just G.I. Joe vehicles. Seriously my parents seem to have boxed up everything. The Skystorm X-Wing, the Rolling Thunder, and maybe the biggest toy I ever owned the G.I. Joe Mobile Command Center all just sitting there waiting for me to grab them. I had passed a bag full of Hot Wheels, and old Spider-Man figures. You wouldn't believe how much Power of the Force stuff I have, and further on in the back I swear I saw the box to Castle Greyskull...I mean there was so much random crap there that I had already made my way through, seriously I'm not listing even a small potion of it. And I couldn't help but marvel at how ridiculous I am. Not just 'cause I had all this stuff, 'cause really everyone had toys, but because I still want to play with it all. I mean really I want to just play.

I would never be such an a prick to say that I' m trying to recapture my youth (something about that just pisses me off), but I would easily say that I never grew up. I mean I'm not a huge toy collector or anything, but I'll tell you, I know for a fact that even at my apartment where I've only lived for the past 7 months, I've got a drawer full of toys. Including A robot cat, the green arrow, a lego knight and random ninja figurines.... where the hell did all this stuff come from?! I mean the majority of my dvd collection consists of old cartoons. And I have a bookshelf full of comic books. I know there's nothing wrong with it, I'm not upset about it. not really... Sometimes I just get amazed at how much of a kid I am still.

I think I get it, you know... I mean I think I get that it's really all a lie, or more accurately a joke. There is no magic time, afterwhich all of a sudden you're a grown up. People just pretend to be adults... right? Sometimes I get a bit worried that it's just me pretending. And probably doing a pretty bad job of it too. I was halfway through looking into these boxes and I had to stop, it was just too big a job, and I wasn't even sure why I was doing it. Should I really be wanting to play with my toys all the time? I think I am going to have to do it someday. go through all those boxes, and pretty soon too. I need to actually pull everything down from there, sort through it all. and find my Battle Beasts. Maybe I'll figure out what I'm supposed to do once I have them.

Whatever.... stupid over-dramatization.

ghetto camping, and some other crap

So I got back from camping this weekend and I definitely would have to say that I had fun. Our friends Ryan and Nancy are always cool to hang out with and their friends Shilpak, and his wife Yoko were as I suspected very nice people. We did have a couple snags though. Well maybe snags is the wrong word...

Firstly there was the campground if you can call it that. Maybe I've been going to State and National Parks for too long and just don't remember private campgrounds... but no. NO honestly this was more than that. Cause when I was a kid I stayed at K.O.A.s and other campground all over the States, and I have never, I mean really never stayed at such a ghetto campground in my life. I mean you talk about white trash! My god! This place was like a trailer park without the luxury of trailers... It was absurd. I mean really just every site was piled on top of one another, to the point that people going to other site had to walk through ours, there were tent sites right beside trailer and RV sites, right next to these ugly ass falling apart cabins. The people, all struck me as local types, and we were probably 150 feet from the nearest Pub. So there was this weird mix of people with kids and families, and rowdy drunks up literally until 3am partying. The bathrooms were atrocious, dirty and not working right, and they had these broken down homemade shower stalls scattered around the campground. Everything was really just dirty too, there was cheap plastic children's toys all over front grounds, a waaay overflowing full sized dumpster of nasty garbage, and just dirt everywhere. I was honestly completely disgusted. I really think we might've been better camping on the side of the road in a ditch. Seriously people, if you're planning on visiting the Russian River, DO NOT stay at the Hilton Park Family Campground.

The other minor snag, was the canoeing itself on the Saturday. Not that canoeing itself was so bad. I've done a lot of it back in the day. Also as a Canadian it's sort of a matter of national pride. Like we have to know how to canoe, lumberjack, and make poutine... Basically anything Farley Mowat does...which by definition is cooler than anything Jack London does... yeah. Anywho, we were using this company called Burke's who rent apparently like a zillion canoes out on the weekend in the summer, for people to travel a 10 miles stretch of the Russian River. And while I was a bit amazed at how crazy crowded the river was (once again with mostly white trash), and I wasn't really overly impressed with the "pristine wilderness", we passed multiple riverside pubs :( I was still generally having a good time. And honestly overall I did have a good time, I don't want to bag on it, but we had some problems with getting Shilpak and Yoko down the river in any sort of a reasonable amount of time. Granted Yoko is 6 months pregnant so I wasn't expecting much, and I believe only Ryan and I even knew the J-stroke, which is the standard paddle stroke for steering, but I think that really the problem was that they just didn't really 'get' the whole canoeing thing. I mean we were basically floating down the river, it was that slow. Maybe I'm coming off like a dick. Sorry. I really had a good time, and eventually we ended up convoying the canoes with me and a rotating other paddler, including a very dedicated Erica, and Nancy, paddling us all safely down the river just in time to catch the bus back up to the car. Still, that was a lot of work, and it left me pretty sore. I really don't think 10 miles is too far, it should have taken us 6 hours...

I think that overall the trip was successful, I mean ultimately it comes down to the people you're with. And we did have some good company, but I don't really think I need to go back to the Santa Rosa area again. I'd rather head down to Big Sur, or somewhere more interesting.

Onto other things though, apparently I spoke too soon when I made this post about our 'new' celestial buddies Xena, Ceres, and Charon. Although I got the gist of the reporting correct now apparently it's being labeled differently. So while Pluto, Xena, and Charon are called dwarf planets they are now NOT officially collected into our main solor diagrams. I guess I had been wondering if this meant that technically we had like 50 new planets. Anyhow, officially this means that we've only got 8 planets in our solar system now. Damn us and our astrological elitism! I'd heard this whispered for the past few days, but now that the IAU conference is over for good, I learned the entire sordid truth on this (rather boring) episode of Rocketboom.

In much more entertaining news, I was watching Yahoo's The 9 today and saw two extremely cool things: Firstly, this site called View Do. Basically its a how-to video site. So say for example you happen to know expertly how to do an Ollie on a skateboard, or bake an apple pie, or suck the venom out of a snakebite... well why not make a video about it showing everyone how-to and then post it online. This seems like a great idea. And really could be a good resources. Its not that big yet, but I could see it being really interesting. So far today I learned how-to make Jello shots, how to play Beer Pong, and how to do a running Wallflip. I can't wait to try all three! Although, admittedly I might chicken out of the wallflip... So the other thing I saw on the 9 was a link to this video on YouTube that's actually a BBC report on this Kung Fu master who knows how to channel his Qi (Chi) really really well. Check it out at http://kungfurock.com. The guy does these truly amazing things.

I watched basically the second hour of the Emmy's last night, and while I actually thought it seemed pretty good this year. I just honestly don't watch enough tv to be enwrapped by all the spectacle. I did see the Dick Clark tribute and the song by Barry Manilow, who is totally creepy looking. I also saw the Aaron Spelling thing which was sweet. Honestly I'm glad I missed the first hour for Big Brother, which although is kind of a bit boringer than it should be is still pretty damn good. Ok, this post is getting way long now. I'll head out. Talk with y'all later. damn white trash rubbin off on me now.

Plastic Man and More Camping!

Hey all, so I just watched this cute little pilot of a cartoon, that was I guess not picked up by Warner Bros. It showed up on YouTube for a brief while but is now gone. Of course you know internet, gone is never really gone... like pee in a swimming pool....exactly. Anyhow, So I watched this 10 minute pilot for a kids cartoon starring the always wacky stretchy man himself from the DC universes; Plastic Man. Yes, that's right. Plastic Man. He's been around longer than both Elongated Man, and Mr Fantastic... this adventure finds Plastic Man (formerly a petty crook, Eel O'Brien) working off his parole by taking down the recently escaped convict The Human Puddle. Sure Plastic Man may seem pretty damn stupid at first, but anyone who's read the modern age JLA books and seen what Morrison did with the character knows that while he has a goofy side, Plastic Man will always be one of the best heroes around.

I heard about it from this story on AICN.

Hey check out this trailer for the very interesting looking updated version of MacBeth. Its being directed by Geoffrey Wright who also did the fantastic and fucked up Romper Stomper. This trailer is NOT SAFE FOR WORK as it has some nudity in it. :)

I'm off camping this weekend, going up to The Russian River by Santa Rosa. Incidentally I've always wanted to go to Santa Rosa too despite the fact that I think it's probably just a kitschy little tourist town. Mostly I wanted to see what was so great about it that it would be the equivalent of Heaven to Kevin Costner's character in The Postman.... but I digress. We're going with our friends Nancy and Ryan, who are a very cool young married couple that we really don't hang out with enough. Another couple, their friends, are also coming; so I guess this'll be a weekend of couples. Nice thing though; the rest of them are all coming up on Saturday morning while Erica and I are heading out tonight. So we'll get an evening to ourselves out in the woods. I can't even really remember the last time we had that. I mean I love camping, but we always seem to invite other people. Tomorrow should be super fun. We're renting canoes for the day and spending all day going down the Russian River. There are a few rapids (or at least swifts) on the river, and I have to say this is maybe the most excited I've been fort a camping trip this entire summer! It should be really really fun.

I guess that's all I wanted to say today. I hope everyone is planning a fun weekend ahead, and not just saving it up for Labour Day. I think you should live it up all the time. Well, all the time you can. I'm gonna head out now. See you all after my trip. Later.

Yet another Transformers post

Ok, so I officially got over being mopey about my podcast. Shit happens, and I can't let it get to me.

Not too much going on today. Just work, boring as ever. I might have something lining up
for the near future... but you how it goes, if you talk too much about it, then it'll definitely never happen so I'm just going to shut up.

This past week I managed to get my hands on and read the Feb 28th '06 script for the new Transformers film! It's been floating around a bit, although I don't think I know where to find it anymore I've seen a couple sites posting reviews or talkbacks on the script. I'm definitely not here to give any spoilers for you. haha, ok, well maybe there are a few spoilers about things on my site, but I'm not going to give any major script spoilers :) Besides the script has probably changed a bit since the draft I read. From other things I've seen online I don't know that its too far off, but I'm sure there are one or two big changes from what I read to what will end up on the big screen in '07.

The only thing I want to say about the script is that it is really really cool. I'm am, as you might have guessed, VERY excited about the Transformers film, and I was sooo glad to see that the spirit of the bots more than survives onto the page in this updated version. There are a few distinct changes including Optimus and Megatron being brothers... and a almost "targetmaster-like" relationship between some of the various bots but overall it totally retains the spirit if not the letter of the G1 cartoon. I totally think that if this movie got made as it sat on the page back in February it would be a very cool film, hopefully they've been able to tighten things up a bit more since that draft too. If anything I just want more. More transforming action, more fights, and more character development time for the transformers, especially the Decepticons (Starscream). I will forgive them if the film is 2 hours long. Seriously. I just want them to make it bad ass. Which it really could be...

That said, a few TF pics of Megs leaked onto the net today. Check this out...



Also check Meg 01 and, Meg 02

Weird eh? I'm not sure about it. In my mind it seemed different. I knew it wouldn't be like classic TF, which is fine by me, but this is very... alien maybe. Anyhow, I'm reserving judgment until we see some more.

In a final bit of Trans-news I'm stoked that the 20th anniversary special edition of the 1984 Transformers film is finally coming out. And guess what? The cover is going to be Lenticular. Basically my theory goes that any and everything become automatically cool when it gets the lenticular treatment. Below are the two versions of the cover. Very nice...

-

The dvd hits shelves 11/07/06. You can pre-order it from DVD Empire for a mere $15.59 HERE. And HERE's an article from IGN on the disc with some info on the extras.

I'd better head out now. Gotta go run, now that I'm feeling a bit less sick. Later.

Podcast Blues

You know, one of the things that really bugs me? When I do a podcast, and I finish it up. and then I just feel like... wow, that could've been better. Like it wasn't horrible, but man, our (read my) audio levels were totally blown out, and I basically monopolized the show talking about my stupid stuff. I know that these shows can't all be winners, but it's just frustrating.

Recently On Hold... has gotten some new listeners, we're also starting I feel like we're finally getting into territory of maybe, just maybe, becoming a show that has a bit more of a broader appeal. When Devon and I are on were really great. Tonight we weren't off, but we just weren't as on as we could've been. And audio issues at this point just make me feel stupid, 'cause I know we can sometimes sound great.

I understand that ultimately the most important thing is that we keep going, keep doing it ever week. But consistency in both quality and content is important with podcasts, especially if they want to reach a real audience. I worry that I'm not bringing that to the table.

Pirates of Dark Water and Transformers

So I'm really not feeling so good tonight. Getting sick sucks. I've been sniffling all day, and just super tired. I went out twice today; both times pretty quickly but I just got cold and tired within a few blocks of my house. So lame. Basically I've wasted away on a fantastic Saturday.

Instead of doing anything really productive I sat around and watched my dvds for The Pirates of Dark Water, which you might recall was a cartoon from back in the early 90s. The show isn't out officially on dvd, but I bought a fan made set of the series maybe a year ago. Had yet to watch it until today. I had really only really vaguely remembered it in the first place, but now that I'm seeing it again I have to say wow. It really is a great show. Only lasted two seasons... well a season and a half, but it was this sweeping fantasy story that had great high seas action-adventure, well developed characters, for an 80s cartoon, and a really well realized world. I mean they went so far as to think out made up foreign swear words! It had a fantastic foundation, and some really unique elements, like people actually being able to die! I'm really impressed and would love to see something come of the series. At the least a proper dvd release. But according to probably the most comprehensive fan site for a show I've ever seen, HERE, that doesn't seem likely. This is just another one of those lost classics from my youth, that like another old favorite, Invasion America, will never be completed. That makes me sad.

From the back of my dvd bax for the show: "When Ren, a young lighthouse keeper, rescues a stranger foundering in the rocks near his home, he learns that the man was his father, the former King of Octopon. Ren is given a magical crystal Compass that guides him to the Thirteen Treasures of Rule. Unfortunately the evil pirate captain Bloth is also aware of the Treasures and is relentless in pursuing Ren to get them. On his side, Ren soon acquires companions like Ioz the pirate, Tula to Ecomancer, and Niddler the fussy monkey-bird. His quest becomes all the more urgent when Ren learns that the Dark Water, a carnivorous black liquid that consumes anything it snares, threatens to envelop and destroy his world, only only the treasures he seeks can stop it." Sounds cool eh? Anyone else remember this? Or was it just me?

Other than that I've really been loafing.. wait, actually that pretty much is loafing. So I guess I've been loafing around all day today. I think I need to go to bed. Before that happens though there was some good news on the Transformers front today. The live Yahoo! chat that I mentioned in the last post was held and names, etc have been revealed. This was accompanied with a few select pictures that have since disappeared, and a few other tidbits of information. Because I know you're all waiting. Here is the list of characters, and their descriptions (as provided in the live chat). I got all of the following information from HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Autobots:
Optimus Prime - Classic Prime type character. True hero of the Autobots.
Bumblebee - Underdog type character. The scout. Smallest of the gang. (Spike mentioned)
Jazz - Rock n' roll style character.
Ratchet - New form. Emergency vehicle. Medical officer/Science officer. Repairs Transformers injured in battle.
Ironhide - Optimus' oldest friend. Gritty

Decepticons:
Megatron - Survival of fittest. Less idealistic version of humanity.
Starscream - 2-faced. Secretly plotting to overthrow Megatron. Doesn't necessarily want Megatron's duties, but wants to be leader.
Brawl - Pissed off Decepticon. Heavy lifter. One of the first ones not from G1. More experimental with Decepticons. More G1 styled characters to come with sequels.
Bonecrusher - Closest to constructicon. Hates all other Decepticons except for Megatron.
Barricade - Hunter type. Cop car, likes to get to things first.
Skorponok - closest to a beast era type of character.
Frenzy - Character who evolved from Soundwave. Had contradictions to the original Soundwave, so they changed him to Frenzy. Smaller form. Stealth spy.
Blackout - Takes out ability to fight back. Likes to pulse blast electronics. First tier attacker. Transport, one of the biggest decepticons in the movie.


Also - Prime, Blackout, Group (incl Bumblebee Ratchet, Prime, Ironhide), Optimus toy, Blackout toy, Scorpinok toy. Pretty exciting stuff, I know...

The rest of the information gleaned from the chat, through fan questions didn't really reveal anything too earth shattering. You can go check it out at the links above though if you like. I am pretty stoked about this though. I'm looking forward to seeing Jazz hopefully soon and I thought it was noteworthy that they changed Shockwave into Frenzy. I mean would today's kids even recognize a microcasette? We'll have to wait and see. I'd say good news all around. Maybe for movie #2 they can add in the glaring omission of Grimlock, and hopefully at least one of the mega combining robots like Devastator, or Predaking.

Oh they also will be running a contest on the official movie site starting soon to submit a line you want Optimus Prime to say in the film. My vote is for the exasperated line that he always gave in the fantastic Beast Wars cartoon "Well that's just Prime..." But seeing as that's not cannon G1 TF, nor was it actually the same voice actor, I doubt they'd go for it. Maybe something from the movie like "Until all are one." just as you think he's going to die, but then he could comeback and kick some ass... hmm, maybe not. Honestly that's a pretty weird contest. Presumably they're already planning on having prime say the classics like "Autobots, roll out!" And really that's all I care about.

Ok, I'm off to bed now, night...

Bits and Bots

Transformers movie screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman are hosting a live video chat on Yahoo Friday morning. They plan to reveal the names of the characters being used in the film and answer questions from the internet! You can submit questions and join the chat tomorrow at 11am PST through the official website. I cant wait...

The title is now official - Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. so says SHH! I say not bad. It could've been worse. And SS is my absolute favorite hero, so this should be good. Plot rumors abound at the moment, and we'll have to wait to see the story for sure but word right now says heavy on the Surfer, and Doom, light on Galactus...

Dominic Purcell of Prision Break fame looks to be in talks to take on the role of Bruce Banner aka The Hulk, in the Hulk 2, which is supposed to be some kind of reboot. This would leave the uber cool Eric Bana high and dry... bad move. Check it on AICN.

I've come to realize that I hate intelliTXT.

Transformers Updates

Hey net nerds, I ran across a few more tantalizing glimpses of possibly art design sketches? of Optimus Prime. Unfortunate that the eyes are blacked out on the second pic, but you can't win 'em all I suppose. Check 'em out:



A few other notes of interest. On Michael Bay's blog he links to two recent stories on the upcoming film. Both are interesting for different reasons. The first older media piece was on Access Hollywood and has at it's end a few quick glimpses of fighting animatics. And the second is a new piece from MTV. The coolest thing about this in my opinion is hearing Bay actually confirm the rumor that they are in fact planning on filming a trilogy of TF movies. After the first one comes out, assuming everything goes well, they are apparently planning on doing number 2 and 3 back to back. Very exciting.

That's all tonight. I'll keep you up once more news arises.

Xena, Charon, and Ceres join the team...

So here's a very nerdy science post for you. Fortunately it will be short. I just wanted to mention in case you missed it. This week, today in fact, at the end of the International Astronomers Union forum in Prague they have finally put forth an actual "definition" for the word Planet.

Apparently in all the most fashionable astronomical circles, which as we all know are the coolest clicks in town, there's been something of an uproar since the 1930s when Pluto became a formal planet. Especially once it was discovered that Pluto is actually like half the size of the Earth's moon. Wow, can someone say awkward....

Then in 2003 the debate flared again with the discovery of a tenth planet Xena. Yes, it was named after Lucy Lawless' character on the tv show, proving once again just how cool astronomers really are :)

Finally the debate has been settled. Hurrah!!! According to this story, and a few more that I've read over the past few days and can't be bothered finding now, the IAU have come to a definition for the term planet. And guess what kids? Our little solar family just got a bit bigger. That's right I'd like to officially be one of the first non-science geekified bloggers to stand up and recognize our three, that's right I said three new official planets: Xena, Charon, and Ceres.

I'm sure our new planets will do us proud. Pluto, Xena, and Charon (once thought to be Pluto's moon) are now all classified as Plutons, and Ceres as a Dwarf Planet. But officially our count is now up to 12. I guess this means all the text books will have to be changed.

Another action packed weekend

Hey all, I know its been a little while since I posted, and while a few super fun things went on this past weekend I just wanted a bit of downtime too. On last Friday night we went out for a few drinks and dancing at the Beauty Bar which was very fun. They had a great DJ playing old school, but totally good danceable music.

The main real reason I didn’t post was because on Saturday I went to this festival and I was waiting on some pics from a friend to post with my description, but I don’t have any pics yet, so I’ll just tell you what happened. Firstly I just think I should mention that at 8:30am Saturday morning I got up and ran probably 9km. This was the second weekend in a row that I did that, and while it was great, its pretty hard to do after a night of drinking and dancing. I was worried that the alcohol that was seeping through my skin was going to make other runners think I was out for an early morning drunken jog. The really nice thing about it was that by the end I was wide awake and totally clean. Definitely one way to get rid of a hangover

But I digress; so after the run I went out to this really awesome street fair. It was the Nihonmachi Street Festival (aka the Japantown street fair). It wasn’t a big fair in terms of some of the ones around San Francisco, but man it was a cool one. I was there on the recommendation of a friend of Erica and mine, Olivia, who has just started this class at the SF Taiko Dojo. The more experienced people at the dojo were giving a Taiko performance and I have to say I was just floored with how amazingly cool it was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done except in movies or something, and it was just incredible. If you don’t know Taiko, its this amazing Japanese ceremonial drumming. You might have seen it somewhere, and I really will try to get some pictures up here, but It involves the really big drums and the people in almost martial arts like fashion beating these crazy rhythmic songs out of them. It was a really fantastic show, and if you ever get a chance to see it live, I’d totally recommend it. Just, wow. After that we had teriyaki burgers and walked around to the stalls. I bought a cool t-shirt of what I’m told is the Monkey King. I’m not sure if that’s a real thing or not, but the shirt is cool.

After that, we were all pretty beat so we went home and watched High School Musical which E just got on dvd. Maybe I was expecting too much. I think I remember Laura and the Pop Culture Shock girls really liking it a lot, but I just really wasn’t very impressed. It’s a Disney musical about peer pressure, following you heart and a bunch of other smarmy crap. All I want to say is that Grease did it much better and more realistically. If you like check out my Flixter page for a more complete review.

On Sunday it was another pool party. Out in Mountainview (that’s down south 40 miles or so) this time. It was cool hosted by our friends (in fact my only friends who are married) but our friends who are having their second child in a few weeks. They’re thinking of naming her Zoe, which is a very good name, but maybe I’m bias because of how much I like Killing Zoe. We had another great game of basketball in the pool, and although we were sober this time, it still got a bit violent and I managed to wrench my arm a bit. Its feeling better now, but it was super sore yesterday.

We also got to meet my parents new kittens, who you can see below here. If you haven’t I’d seriously recommend you click on either or both of those kitty pictures, with the increased resolution they are really even cuter. Seriously. I’m totally in love with them already.

Oh man, I was hoping to talk about some other stuff too, like my new most favorite podcast the GenY Retrocast… but that’ll have to wait until next time. I’m about to head out; podcasting tonight. I’ll catch you all on the flipside. Lates.

Loki and Freya

After two years without a pet, my parents got brand new kittens yesterday. I haven't seen them yet, but I'll stop by their house tomorrow on the way down to a pool party to say hi and meet the kitties. They got two six week old kittens from the same litter a brother and sister. The boy they've decided to call Loki, weights 16oz, and the girl who they've decided to name Freya weighs 10oz. They are both extremely cute, as you can see from the pictures below. My mom says that they are big explorers, and yesterday discovered that they have shadows. Click for bigger pictures. Very exciting :)

In Norse mythology, Loki is the brother of the ever popular Thor, and is known as the Trickster. Freya is also a Norse god, she is the goddess of Fertility, and Abundance.

Wii vs. PS3

hahahaha....

That's very very funny. And although, I don't know if I've said this on the blog, Erica and I are planning on getting a Wii, and that's all. The PS3 is way too expensive. We're going the sfe route. Besides I don't want to participate in the stupid new Blu Ray vs HD-DVD format war until its well over. In my opinion SONY has made some serious misteps, and I don't know if they'll be able to win this one...

Stoked about SoaP

Is anyone else besides me like super excited about Snakes on a Plane? I just sent out an evite to my friends trying to get a big group of us together for opening night! I'm really stoked that its finally here. One week to go. I'm going to buy my tickets a day or two in advance just in case. I wish you were all here with me so we could all see it together. It's going to be a blast!

That all said, I'm totally looking forward to this weekend too. Tonight we're planning on hitting Cama, in the Mission district (if you click the middle dot ... on the page you can get their specialty drink list). I'm thinking either the Insolent, or the Lucid. mmmmm... can't wait. Maybe we'll hit up the Beauty Bar after that. We'll just have to play it by ear.

Talk to you all later :)

Halo - the film

Man, there is so much information on Halo on the internet that I don't even know where to begin, and frankly I'm not even sure I should. I don't own an XBOX, always been a PlayStation guy. I know that I've missed out on more than one cool game that was exclusive to XBOX, but honestly the way my life is I just don't have time to play many games. So I'm not too worried, normally. But Halo, ahh Halo... this was really the one game I felt cheated out of never playing, I can live without some of the other games I've missed, like World of Warcraft, And I can live without really ever playing the later Final Fantasy games, or Grand Theft Auto, but Halo looked really really cool to me. And considering I'm such a sci fi nerd, right up my alley.

That said, while I know I will never play the game (or never at least for the forseeable future) I am very excited to see that the game is coming to the big screen in movie form. Now this has been in the works for a few years, but didn't really pick up steam until Peter Jackson got involved maybe 6 months ago. He got everyone excited. I mean hell this wasn't going to be another Doom; it wasn't going to be another Uwe Ball fuckup, this was going to be amazing. The kind of film Halo should be. Eventually though it came out that PJ would in fact not be directing the film himself but would be executive producing it, and would be hand picking the director, and (obviously) using his fantastic effects house WETA.

The story for the three of you who like me, may not know it is as follows. BTW this is from the Halo film WIKI:

The basic premise of the original Halo video game plot involves Master Chief (the protagonist) and his AI companion Cortana as the two traverse the galaxy trying to save humanity from alien forces. Master Chief and Cortana work together to fend off the religiously zealous but ultimately misled races of The Covenant, only to discover and even greater threat - the parasitic Flood. The release of the Flood triggers the main function of the massive, artificial ringworlds known as Halos - a weapon capable of destroying all life in the galaxy - which also happens to be the only known way to defeat the Flood. This introduces a further element of conflict, as the firing of the Halos must be stopped, even while the battles against (and among) the Covenant and Flood continue. Along the way, Master Chief and Cortana try to uncover a series of mysteries surrounding the ancient but now extinct Forerunner race that built the Halos, in a desperate attempt to discover a way to eliminate the Flood, stop the Covenant onslaught, and save humanity.

Simple right? right... ;) Well anyhow, today (ok maybe yesterday really) Microsoft announced the director for the film (READ). Neill Blomkamp.... exactly what i said... neill who??? Well he's not really a new director, but this would be his first feature film. He's done a number of shorts and a bunch of pretty acclaimed FX animation work. I myself was a bit concerned at this news but then I spent some time checking some of his shorts online and I have to say, this guy is really good. Here's his WIKI.

Firstly if you know him for anything it will probably be from the transformers-esque dancing car commercial he did for Citreon. Check that out HERE.

Other shorts, check out this 90 second robocop style industrial video for a new robot compnay. The short is called Tetra Vaal.

He did two slightly longer shorts that are interesting but unless you're really into this don't bother watching them int heir entirety. The Blade runner homage that was made with Adidas is called Yellow, and the other sad, and funny 15 minute film that uses the same robot from Tetra Vaal is called Tempbot.

If there's one short of this Blomkamp guy that I really recommend you watch its the really amazing one called Alive in Joburg. This film is great, and I mean great. It reminds me of something out of a dream I have sometimes. Very fucked up, and pretty scary. I'd really recommend you check it out.

Ain't it Cool News scored an interview with Blomkamp which you can read HERE.

My info was garnered from AICN, IMDB, and THIS news article on Gamespot.

I'd definitely say that Halo is worth keeping an eye on. With a script by Alex Garland, (rewrite by the awesome Lucky Wander Boy scribe D.B. Weiss) I'm interested to see where this film goes. It's scheduled at least for now to be released sometime in the summer of 2008.

Top 10 Canadian Films

I was actually writing about this in an email this morning and thought that it might make for an interesting post. Not because these films aren't great, but because I don't know that I can list more than a handful of other Canadian films. That is a fairly depressing prospect. There are a lot of Canadians 'in' film, and a lot of Canadians 'making' films, but to have a film that's really about Canada, isn't really all that common.

This one time I saw a really funny made for tv mockumentary on Canadians in the American run film industry called The Canadian Conspiracy. It basically purported that Canadians have slowly been infiltrating American film and television as a secret plan to subvert American culture and make them ripe for invasion. It was very funny, with everyone from Eugene Levy, and John Candy, to Margot Kidder, Bill Shatner, and Leslie Nielsen. And of course never forgetting the godfather Lorne Greene. I doubt anyone would ever be able to find this, but if you do let me know cause it was damn amusing.

So without further ado, my list, in no particular order, of the top 10 Canadian films, let me know if you agree, disagree, or whatever. Info is mostly from IMDB, trailers are mostly from Video Detective...

1 - Jesus of Montreal
A group of actors putting on an interpretive Passion Play in Montreal begin to experience a meshing of their characters and their private lives as the production takes form against the growing opposition of the Catholic church. (1989)
IMDB, TRAILER

2 - Hard Core Logo
A psuedo-rockumentary along the lines of 'This is Spinal Tap', we follow director Bruce Macdonald as he follows punk bank Hard Core Logo on a harrowing last-gasp reunion tour throughout Western Canada. As magnetic lead-singer Joe Dick holds the whole magilla together through sheer force of will, all the tensions and pitfalls of life on the road come bubbling hilariously to the surface. (1996)
IMDB

3 - Strange Brew
Something is rotten at the Elsinore Brewery. Bob and Doug Mackenzie (as seen on SCTV) help the orphan Pam regain the brewery founded by her recently-deceased father. But to do so, they must confront the suspicious brewmaster and two teams of vicious hockey players. (1983)
IMDB

4 - Dance Me Outside
A story of life on an Indian reservation in Ontario: Silas and Frank are trying to get into college to train to be mechanics but they find themselves having to deal with girls, family ... and murder. (written by WP Kinsella - 1995)
IMDB, TRAILER

5 - The Sweet Hereafter
A small community is torn apart by a tragic accident which kills most of the town's children. A lawyer (Ian Holm) visits the victims' parents in order to profit from the tragedy by stirring up the their anger and launching a class action suit against anyone they can blame. The community is paralyzed by its anger and cannot let go. All but one young girl (Sarah Polley), left in a wheelchair after the accident, who finds the courage to lead the way to the sweet hereafter. (1997)
IMDB, TRAILER

6 - Black Christmas
This 98-minute film is a stark and stylish horror/thriller that turns everyone's favorite time of the year inside out. Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder star among an ill-fated houseful of sorority sisters celebrating the holiday season. Festivities turn fatal when obscene phone calls break the serenity and it becomes clear that a psychopath is stalking the house. (1974)
IMDB

7 - Fubar
Terry and Dean are lifelong friends who have grown-up together: shotgunning their first beers, forming their first garage band, and growing the great Canadian mullet known as "hockey hair". Now the lives of these Alberta everymen are brought to the big screen by documentarian Ferral Mitchener in an exploration of the depths of friendship, the fragility of life, growing up gracefully and the art and science of drinking beer like a man. (2002)
IMDB, TRAILER

8 - Videodrome
Lowlife cable TV operator Max Renn discovers a "snuff TV" broadcast called Videodrome. But Videodrome is more than a TV show - it's an experiment that uses regular TV transmissions to permanently alter the viewer's perceptions by giving them brain damage. Max is caught in the middle of the forces that created Videodrome and the forces that want to control it, his body itself turning into the ultimate weapon to fight them. (1983)
IMDB, TRAILER

9 - Last Night
At the turn of the century (Y2K), the end of the world is known to be coming to an end. This modest comedy-drama examines how the impending doom affects its cast. McKellar plays an architect who plans to meet the end alone at dinner. Others (Sandra Oh, David Cronenberg) make a suicide pact, but are caught apart and struggle to get together before the end. Another man (Callum Keith Rennie) pursues final sexual conquests and a milquetoast woman (Tracy Wright) strives to gain courage. Of course, the group ends up interacting. (1998)
IMDB, TRAILER

10 - Black Robe
In the 17th century a Jesuit priest and a young companion are escorted through the wilderness of Quebec by Algonquin Indians to find a distant mission in the dead of winter. The Jesuit experiences a spiritual journey while his young companion falls in love with the Algonquin chief's beautiful daughter underneath the imposing and magnificent mountains. Dread and death follows them upriver. (1991)
IMDB, TRAILER

I also really enjoyed these other bits of Canadianna...
Anne of Green Gables
The Sweater
The Dog Who Stopped the War
The Log Driver's Waltz

Anyone have any thoughts on the list? Did I miss something vital?
What film or films represent where you're from?
Wisconsin? Colorado? I dunno....
Off for lunch now, later all.

are pandas really cute?

Panda Bears are extremely cute. Even the more raccoon like red panda. I don't honestly know very much about them. But I've browsed the WIKI on them, eaten at Panda Express a few times, and generally appreciated the WWF until they forced the World Wrestling Federation to change their name that is...

But today on the front page of Yahoo news, they had this story and picture. The headline: Giant Panda Gives Birth to Giant Cub. Are you serious!? THAT's what a baby panda looks like? That ugly little rat thing. I mean it looks like a... I dunno, I guess it looks like a baby panda. I thought everyone should see this picture and decide for themselves what it means though. Apparently, this cub is the largest ever on record weighing in at 218 gm. Labor for the momma took 36 hours too, another record.

No wonder Colbert hates bears, they have extremely unattractive babies...

The good news though Is that your hero and mine Jack Black is embracing this ugly little critter to bring us the fantastic looking upcoming animated feature Kung Fu Panda...

The story revolves around Po (Black) a lazy, inept, and generally unmotivated panda living in the valley of peace who discovers that he is the prophesized chosen one to defend his homeland from evil invaders, now he must train quickly to learn the ancient arts of Kung Fu and save his home.

It co-stars the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Lui, and Angelina Jolie. It's set for release in May of '08. IMDB, WIKI

Zee and Zed Tribute Post

Brace yourselves, cause I don't know if this'll make too much sense, and if you don't listen to podcasts you probably won't get it anyhow. It's nothing earthshattering, but it is something important, that's upset me that I wanted to talk about. If you listen to my show you know that I can get a bit geeky, a bit overhyped some of the time. Ok, pretty much all the time. Honestly I'm not like that usually, in 'real' life, whatever that is, I'm much more laid back about things. I actually sometimes cringe when I listen to On Hold and hear myself rambling on and on about Optimus Prime or some crap. I wanted to break it down real for you though. I'd like to try to infuse a bit more of that into the show too but its pretty hard for two reasons. Firstly Devon acts as a really good foil for my personality, although I admit I kind of think some of the things he says are a bit offensive, or at the least crass, I know he means well, and his relax-itude balances well off my excited nerdy guy thing. Also, it seems one of the two (when talking duo podcasts) always has to be the nerdy one who does all the technical podcasting stuff, and the other guy is always a bit 'cooler'. Secondly though, I get honestly pretty amped up when someone puts a microphone in front of me. I get excited and I start rambling a lot, I mean A LOT. If I didn't have Devon to anchor me I would talk forever. And I know that's not a horrible thing or anything, its just mostly that I talk to avoid being nervous. Put my in front of a crowd and I'll do the same thing, if I don't I'd probably have a panic attack. Very uncool...

Podcasting means a lot to me though, It was just about a year ago that I discovered it. Actually it was whenever the updated version of iTunes came down that supported it. I thought I'd try it out, see if I enjoyed it, seeing as I already had an ipod and a long commute. It worked great. I always enjoyed talk radio, and this was like wow, I can just listen to talk radio about things that interest me. cool. It wasn't for another two months or so that I got it. And when I say got it I mean like I all of a sudden had a lightbulb turned on in my head GOT it. Podcasting means more than a silly little talk radio show, it means more than just filling time on the commute, it is the start of what I honestly believe is a technological revolution. For reals. Its not about what it is even right now, the form doesn't matter as much to me as the message behind it. I suppose McLuhan would tell me that in fact the medium is the message but I think that in the context of podcasting, the medium is the form, its the framework and the people, and their intent is the real message. Podcasting is a million times better than terrestrial radio because in it I can see the future; of not just user controlled, but and this is key here, user generated media.

That is the message, and the promise of podcasting. I am not a corporation, I am a person, just like you, hell I am you. In the larger sense this is really what podcasting means to me, and why I call it a revolution. Because from now on, when the message spreads, when the potential is realized and technology continues to grow and it allows us to say what we want and feel organically, truthfully everything will change.

This is a very big deal to me. And now, a piece of the puzzle, some of the people behind this big moment for me, people that I really respect are leaving podcasting. And I'm a bit upset.

Haha, how very Canadian of me.... oh well. I'm not angry at all, I'm just sad and I don't know how to explain it. Upset. A few weeks ago Dan Klass, host of The Bitterest Pill podcast decided to hang it up, at least for a while. That really meant something to me, not because I'd been listening to him for so long, but because he had something important to say, whether he knew it or not, every time he opened his mouth. The exact same goes for Karen and Ross, of Zee and Zed, who have today after 40 fantastic episodes, called it quits. If you are at all interested in podcasts please check them out, they really had so much going for them. And I don't even know what to say....For me its like they were always there. I found them through listening to Adam Curry's Daily Source Code, which incidentally I don't even listen to anymore (although I suppose that's beside the point). It was a promo, for a show hosted by a sarcastic American and a wry Canadian, quirky funny, about a Canadian living in the states, I could definitely relate.. I remember sitting in SFO waiting for a plane sometime last September, about to head off to a wedding on Salt Spring Island, and I had downloaded episodes 8-12 (which was their newest), Karen talked about cheap box wine, and Ross complained about Don Cherry. I was totally hooked. It was right around this time, these few weeks that I started to piece together in my mind what the true potential for podcasting could be. And it was Zee and Zed, along with another 'cast called Hot Buttered Pop Culture (who are still on hiatus...) pretty much cemented the idea that I needed to be a part of this myself.

I guess I'd have to say I felt compelled. So I started forming a plan, one which would take me to the brink of world domination and beyond... but I'm getting ahead of myself, what I want to explain is why these guys were, are so important to me; so that you might get why its such a shame to see them go. It took me 4 months to get my podcasting plan into action. I got active on a couple forums, mainly HBPC, and chanced to meet another awesome podcaster, Angie, who currently hosts one of my desert island 'casts (those are the top 5 'casts that I'd need if I were to be stranded to a desert island with only my ipod and a podcatcher) Pop Culture Shock. She was just about to get started too, and I really drew inspiration from her, although she probably doesn't know it (until she read this blog I guess ...hehe) But here's the truth of it, in podcasting community is everything. Yes you have to podcast for yourself, just like you have to blog for yourself, but its the community that makes you love it. These people, Mark and Matt, and Angie, and the girls, and especially Ross and Karen mean a heck of a lot to me. And if Mark and Matt were the guys that convinced me I could do a podcast, because I could be as ok as them (well maybe not - but I could try), Karen and Ross were the people that made me realize I should do a podcast, if only to try to be as good as them.

Karen was one of, if not officially our first 'real' listeners. I don't mean like family and friends listener I mean like the first person out in the Podosphere that I know of who actively downloaded On Hold because of me. It was literally the day I registered the cast on Podcast Pickle and Karen mailed me saying "hey Geoff is that you? Are you podcasting now?" She actually honestly remembered me from like one or two little comments I'd sent. Amazing. And so sweet. It really meant more than they know. And then what, despite our total crappiness at the start, she actively promoted our show, on hers! Sounds crazy, but that's just what cool people they really are. Completely genuine.

So I'm sad, I'm sad to see them go. I'm sure they have a good reason, they're very sensible people. I just have this attachment for them that's not going to go away easily. My podcast really isn't anywhere near as good as it could be, and funny thing every time I ever asked Karen what her secret was she always said that they only liked some ridiculous amount, say 25% of their shows!? For real. Those guys are either absurd perfectionists, or they shouldn't be quitting because they have so much untapped potential. Personally I know that their show was great; be your own harshest critic all you want, but Zee and Zed have loyal and devoted fans, not because they tell us about Target Adam, and restart their show 10 times an episode... but because they are genuine real people, and that kind of honesty is refreshing.

I don't know if you'll see this Ross or Karen but thanks guys. Your show will be missed, it was absolutely great.

Americanadian forever.

finding new music on YouTube

So my buddy Devon, who as most everyone knows is obviously way cooler than me, turned me onto a few new bands recently. Including elefant, The Mother Hips, The Dead 60s, Wolfmother, and this band called OK Go. Honestly I can't give him all the credit for these bands, but I'll definitely give it to him for finding them and letting me copy them onto my ipod. He's always very reliable at finding new stuff. Not that I don't do my share of discovery too. Some of my recent personal finds include We Are Scientists, Head Like A Kite, The Slip, the awesome Nine Black Alps, the awesomely glam The Ark, and of course Asian Kung-Fu Generation. I had a point to that ranting little list; I was going to embed a video for this Ok Go song I saw on YouTube, only once I started writing this paragraph I felt like it was making me look bad. Like I don't know anything about new music myself. Rest assured I do know a thing or two, I'm just not as proactive as Devon about it.

Have you guys noticed that there are like tons of music videos on YouTube now? Its really cool. Honestly I mean, I'd pretty much stopped watching videos and now its like they're back again. :) Its really a cool thing. Last week I watched the new Muse video, I don't know if you've seen it yet, it's that Knight of Cydonia one with all the sci-fi kung-fu western shit. Very cool. I also think I saw my first videos of Panic at the Disco! on YouTube, and I know I've been stoked to see The Ark, and The Arcade Fire both well represented there. Check those links I just put in; 'cause they lead to very good videos from the bands, some official, some homemade but all cool. The few that aren't linked are bands that must be so cutting edge their stuff hasn't shown up on YouTube yet... haha ok just kidding, they might not have absolutely everything, but man they sure have a lot. I'm seriously digging YouTube these days.

Ok, so here's that cool video for OK Go. I don't think I've seen choreography this good since The Monkeys. I won't say they're like a boy band, cause a real 'boy band' would never make a video so adorably dorky. Check it here, and then go surf for some cool videos and recommend em to me :) Later.

Ok, so I know I said that was all, but man that Asian Kung Fu Generation vid is really really cool... seriously these guys are awesome:

If only real life was as cool as music videos... Lates.

UPDATE - You want awkward and sexy in a weird real world kinda way? Check out this intense Kent video.

Lil Baobab, and Fairweather Friends

Man I’m so tired today. I seriously want to just go have a nap, but I don’t honestly think I could sleep. I think maybe I’ve been up drinking too much these past two days. My friends and I have been doing this Friday Night Drinks thing now for the past two months or so. Its pretty fun, but can get a bit much especially if, like this weekend, we all had another party to go to on Saturday.

It seemed like on Friday it was all about the really artsy clubs, very urban, very cosmopolitan. We went to this gallery/bar and although I most of the art was student art and not that great, it was at least nice to be in an open space drinking, with interesting, at the least, things to look around at on the walls. I do like young art quite a lot also, pop art appeals to me quite a lot. But anyone who knows me would probably have alre4ady picked that up.

The last place we ended up on Friday though was this cool little hole in the wall called the Lil Baobab. It’s a pretty funky little place that reminded me a lot of my time in Africa. It was pretty much like what the local bars in Gambia were like, or at least what they wished they were like. But this one was pretty packed, and had obviously far more white people than in Africa :) The design and the music actually were as much African as a hybrid between African and Caribbean Or at least that’s how it seemed to me. It seems to me that the Sub Saharan American Africans (or maybe I mean Africanized Americans) community and the darker, more African island peoples of the Caribbean ocean (Haitian, Bahaman, Dominican etc) have really bridged their cultural differences in America for the most part. I don’t want to use the word homogenized, but they do all come from the same root African culture and they (the cultures) do seem to work pretty well together here. At least from my impression from my limited exposure to them Stateside. But it makes sense to me, and I felt like I was really seeing this fantastic fusion of traditional African dance beats and Caribbean reggae style at the club. The people were pretty darn interesting too. If I was out looking to find a good looking respectable young black guy this would be the place, or if I wanted a earthy culturally aware white girl this would also be a good place. Not that the Lil Baobab was a meat market or anything but it was definitely an interesting place to be. I’m not sure that kind of scene is really what I’m normally looking for on a Friday night,. But it was nice for a change.

Man, I think I have to stop here. I wanted to tell you about Saturday, cause I had a pretty interesting time out at my friend Daniel’s B-day party but I think I have to stop. I’m not in the best writing space right now and, if I continue much longer I might just go crazy. I will say quickly though that the Birthday bash was a pool party at his very ex-girlfriend’s house, which is another story and not one I intend to tell. Also, While at the party I met up with a couple who I know from… I don’t know how to explain without going well into it, but just a couple that Erica and I used to be friends with (or at least were trying to be friends with) who had completely flaked out on the relationship, and we haven’t seen for the past 6 months or so… It was good and bad to see them, but now I’m in a spot where, although I’m not sure I care enough to try, I could try to respark a friendship with these people and I'm not sure I should. Erica is basically saying she doesn’t care one way or another if we hang out with them or not, and I’m not sure I’m done being pissed with them for flaking out on like ever returning calls/emails, or ever wanting to going out in the first place. I mean relationships shouldn’t be that hard, especially super casual ones which is all I was going for in the first place. I tried to talk to the girl (of this other couple) about it, how I wasn’t to thrilled with their being such lousy friends before, but it really didn’t get through to her. She even pulled the ‘well I was the last one to try to get you to come out’. Which is really totally complete bullshit. So I don’t really know what to do…

Ah, I’m over thinking things again. I guess I’ll probably try one more time with them, but I’ve got a pretty short patience for any more flaky crap. I know I probably made absolutely no sense to you readers. Sorry, if you’re particularly interested, I’ll explain it in detail but for now, I really am just going to go. I had a lot of fun at the pool party regardless of the minor dramas And I even played a great drunken game of in the pool basketball, which I’ll try to get a pic of and post. I’m off for now though. Have a good Sunday, and don’t forget to watch Big Brother tonight. Danielle is gonna kick serious ass tonight!

I should read this every week

Man you know how it is when you think you're totally on top of things, totally got your game on and then wham something hits you, and you're like what... no one told me they're doing a movie version of Miami Vice... well its true in this crazy pop culture, candy fueled world there are a few little tidbit sized news items that slip though even my sticky little fingers. To whit I sat down today with this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly (#889 - 08/04/06) and read it basically cover to cover... and what should my wandering eye should appear but a bunch of funny little poppity newzits that I seem to have missed somewhere along to way. What;s that you say? yes a 'print' magazine actually scooped me. It's so analog I'm impressed with its retroness...


So here you go my pretties. A list of the things that I leaned from Entertainment Weekly:

• Sam Rami says SONY doesn't want to end the Spider-Man franchise at #3, they have plans up until #6 but whether the cast returns is another story
• Rambo IV (subtitle TBD) will begin shooting October 1st in Thailand. Stallone can't seem to keep his mitts off these old characters, even though both Rocky and Rambo were played out 10 years ago. The baddies in the film will be the Burmese. And if you don't know or remember Rambo (the first one), just like Rocky (the first one) are both excellent films. The sequels have uniformly sucked balls
• NBC has picked up a pilot for a sitcom off of YouTube. yes YouTube the show is called Nobody's Watching and you can see it here: part 1, part 2, part 3 I haven't watched this yet myself but am looking forward to it. Take that Brooker!
• Fox films has launched a new imprint aimed at the youth market called Fox Atomic. It is being headed up by the same guy (I forget the name now) who runs FOX Searchlight and the first film under this MTV-esque banner will be an updated version of Revenge of the Nerds which starts filming this fall
• Stephen King could probably write a pretty funny cookbook if he wanted to

Oh, and nothing to do with Entertainment Weekly but man, have you guys seen the trailer to Scorsese's new film The Departed? It's badass, check it out HERE

Ok, I've gotta go now, Big Brother is on and I'm missing the drama. Lates.

Wikiality

I love populist reality, or as Colbert calls it Wikiality. You see it creeping up on us every day. Just look at the popularity of Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary. It makes sense too, for most things in this world our perceptions are all that really matter. We've built up so much non sensical cultural etiquette and exceptions that for the most part reality is what we tell ourselves. FOX News and other manipulators can play on this general lack of interaction with reality by playing our emotions with flashy graphics, and video game explosions. Maybe it's kind of sad, this new populist reality and the fact that so many people fall so easily into it, me included. But it's also amusing to watch, especially with the promises of new media, if you can try to keep a critical eye about you. Maybe I'm deluding myself that I can observe and not be influenced... But the sheer truthiness of it is pretty darn entertaining.



The Elephant entry on Wikipedia has been temporarily locked due to vandalism :)

A couple of blog updates

So as you may or may not have noticed I've changed the sidebar of the blog around a little bit. I decided it was high time to start syndicating this here blog, and so I registered the site through Feedburner. The top feed icon is really just the basic feed. As far as I understand RSS (which is really only a little), this is the link to the Feedburner RSS for me. ie this:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/AdventuresInAStrangeLand

The + Yahoo, + Google, + Bloglines, and + Rojo chicklets are all to add me directly to Your customized personal page through any of those... what are they call blogcatchers?... probably just called an Aggregator. Anyhow, so if you use one of those services you could add me with a single click. Feedburner produced the code for these chicklets, and a bunch more that I didn't bother putting up. I'm actually not sure why I added Rojo kind of on a whim. I don't actually know anything about their service, but I just really like the word ROJO its fun to say. Try saying it in a Japanese accent... it works :)

Below that you'll see an Atom Feed link. I'm not sure I actually get the difference between the Atom generated XML and true RSS. It seems to me like most readers can access both, but I'm sure I'm missing something. To the end of promoting the site more through the RSS (aka feedburner) feed I took their advice and messed around with the meta tags for the page too. So now if you are using the new Firefox, or IE and want to subscribe directly through the browser it will register the RSS by default rather than the Atom XML. Hooray!!! Sorry, I'm just sure you probably don't care, although for me this means that if and when people actually start reading this blog I can get much more accurate stats through my single Feedburner profile.

Below the Atom link is a link to my Technorati Page. I haven't looked much into Technorati, but I know that pretty much everyone who is into blogs uses it. So I figured I'd jump on board. Seems pretty straight forward, and like a decent service.

The only other thing I actually added to the site is the eXTReMe Tracker at the bottom of the page. Theoretically it will give me some proper stats as to who is surfing here when and for what. Then I can sit in a corner and cry myself to sleep at my fantastic unpopularity. God this thing is so fucking self indulgent. Totally ridiculous... The eXTReMe Tracker is kind junky looking, actually it looks like a piece of spyware, and or something that will sell my info to the highest bidding spammer. Hopefully not though. I just don't trust it when they have to give the product more urban street cred or whatever it is they're trying to do just to try and make it hip enough for me to use. Am I a total sucker? Perhaps...

I've spaced and rearranged the links section too, but that's basically the same. The only thing I actually added there was a link to my DVD Aficionado list of Owned and Wanted discs. Check it out HERE if you're interested in marveling at how many dvds I have that are aimed at 12 year old boys. Or even worse, how many I have that are aimed at 12 year old girls ;)

Ok, enough self-deprecation. I'm off to podcast. Later all.