ATHF is explosive!

Although the few reviews I read for the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film say that its really, and I mean really bad as a film. That's not going to stop some clever marketers from doing their job as best they can. And what better way to drum up excitement for a film than planting fake explosives around major metropolitan areas.

According to this story on ABC news so far today 5 bomb threats of suspicious packages have been called into the Boston Police Department. Bomb squads have been sent out and detonated 5 suspicious packages that were placed at strategic places (like bridges, and under interstates) around the city. In fact though, these devices were not bombs, but were actually promotions 'illuminated blinking stickers' advertising Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force and its new movie.

Is it true that any press is good press? In this case I'm not so sure. CN will probably get sued for the stunt, and I doubt it will help make people want to see the movie any more. It's sad, because I really love the ATHF but as excited as I was last time I talked about this film, it's all the more depressed I am now in thinking that it really might not be any good. The movie comes out March 23rd, and while I'll try to stay positive, I'm not sure I really can.

Ah well... nothing much to do about it now, but pray to the Mooninites for guidance.

- this blog post was created with the invaluable production assistance of Bernard. thanks. -

UPDATE - 02/01/07

if you head over to the Adult Swim website right now you'll see the official apology issued from Cartoon Network

Beckinsale in Whiteout?

So I just saw, to my surprise that Ms. deadly vampire Underworld hottie herself Kate Beckinsale is set to star in Whiteout. Aparently they're in talks now. Nothing confirmed yet, but I would love to see Beckinsale in the role of US Marshall Carrie Stetko. If you remember waaaay back when I mentioned that this comic to screen adaptation was picked up, I told you how great the book was. Now I hope you'll all get to see for yourselves. Director Dominic Sena (of Gone in 60 Seconds fame) is now confirmed to be directing the Antartic mystery flick which starts filming in March. I'm definitely down with all this very good news.

Anyone out there had a chance to check out either of the graphic novels yet? They're really a fantastic read that I highly recommend.

I join the masses...

Hit me up if you'd like to be my friend.

Oh, and as with other services like this, you have to already be a member to view my full profile.

Impressive auction

I was reading WiiFanboy this morning, and saw a story about this amazing auction on eBay. It's not particularly cheap or anything, but it is really just amazing! The guy here is selling EVERY SINGLE LICENSED GAME for the NES released in North America; ever! That covers 650 games, and includes the actual NES system, and 10 different peripherals including The Power Glove, and R.O.B. the Robot! . Currently the bid is up to $25, 000 USD. Just check out the auction to see the very cool pics. Honestly even just seeing everything collected together like that in a single pic is pretty sweet.

Ahh, if only....

Spicey Bruce

Here is just one more reason to love the incomprable Bruce Campbell...

Takei and Oka live long and prosper

This is just cool to see, eh?
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/heroes/links/15898



Even though it would really be more appropriate if it were Nimoy..
As I mentioned earlier, Takei comes on Heroes next week! playing Hiro's father who wants him to return home to Japan.
ya-tai! .

Flashback 02 - Battle Beasts

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Oh how I love you Battle Beasts. Little did I know when I was a kid that these little anthropomorphized cyborg warrior animal toys were actually a part of the Transformers universe. In fact they were. I just thought the Battle Beasts were kick ass little figures that provided me with a really solid amount of play time. There's not too much to explain here. These toys simply ruled. And they hold a place in my childhood alongside the likes of G.I. Joe, He-Man, and Transformers as some my absolute most favorite toys ever. Click on the images to make them bigger :)

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If you never had a Battle Beast, or just don't remember, the figures weren't very big. Only around 2 inches tall, and had only two points of articulation (at the shoulders). They still managed to have a lot of life to them though. Their design was great, vicious animals like panthers and... um penguins only suped up with sci fi armor and weapons! seriously whats not to love? On top of that, there were tons of them. In terms of small figure from back in the day, there was M.U.S.C.L.E. men, and there was Battle Beasts, and by all accounts (ok, by my account at least) these were the superior product. For my money the Black Panther was my best figure, because firstly he's a panther, and secondly, he's black. Really he was the lead in most of my Battle Beast missions.

Now that I'm looking into it, it seems that most of my figures were from the third series (or wave) of figs. Not that thats bad, I just wish I could've gotten my hands on some of the early ones like Saw Tooth Shark, or Web Slinging Spider. The ones I did have we're pretty sweet though, even though the 'official' names were all pretty lame. The gimmick with Battle Beasts was that each figure had one of those heat sensitive stickers on their chest, like how the Transformers revealed Autobot or Decepticon alignments. The Beasts stickers though, when rubbed would reveal either Fire, Water, or Wood. There was a conceit that gave itself to a rock, paper, scissors game where Water beats Fire, Fire beats Wood, and Wood beats Water (i think cause it can float or something). When you bought the figures you didn't know what alignment they would be until you got them out of the packaging and rubbed the sticker. The only problem with this randomization was that I remember having things like my penguin being a Fire creature, and my crab being Wood, when obviously that wasn't the right alignment for that animal. Also, I had a few doubles. Why would two pigs, brothers in arms, born in the same cybornetically enhanced test tube be on different teams?! it just didn't make sense. Before I'd play battle Beasts I'd generally pick team captains, and have them one by one pick their best possible teams for the coming onslaught. Species matters far more than some stupid elemental alignment. Anyhow, I tried rubbing the stickers of my newly recovered, from my parents attic, Battle Beasts, but found that most of them didn't want to work anymore. Maybe I ddn't try hard enough though...

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You know, now that I'm thinking, I'm positive that this isn't all of the Battle Beasts I had. I know I had the Blitzkrieg Bat, and I'm positive I had the Wood Beatle playset, and I think the Tearin' Tiger Chariot. I wonder what happened to them.

Maybe two or three years ago I tracked down a (very poorly dubbed) version of all the Transformers: Headmasters episodes, which shouldn't be overly hard to find if you're interested, and saw the episode which introduced the Battle Beast; "Rebellion on Planet Beast". I don't really remember it being a very good episode. Not as bad as some of those awful Blurr episodes, but nothing special. Then again the entire Headmasters series was kind of junky. stupid Wheelie... Anyhow, I really like the idea that these guys are really a part of the Transformers universe, it's a solid tie in.

Here's a final pic of all my collection, at least all the figures I managed to find. I know this was a long post, but I really had fun with these toys as a kid. Even today they're pretty damn cool. If you had, or remember the Battle Beasts please feel free to leave a comment below. And stay tuned for more of these Flashbacks. Next week I think I'll just tell you a story or something easy.

For even more pictures and info you can go check out this cool online guide/gallery at Beastformer, look through the Virtual Toychest's wiki, or even read up on the toy's history on the Wikipedia.

Peace out all...

Heroes returns

Hey did you guys see Heroes last night?

Finally back from hiatus Heroes started it's second story arc with a really kickass new episode last night. If you missed it you can check it out online over at NBC.com. ALSO you can watch it streaming with cast commentary! Hooray for the wonders of modern technology. Additionally on the NBC site you can check out the short video called Wireless that was part of the Heroes sneak peak last night. And if you haven't gotten enough Heroes goodness from there, you can catch up on the weekly graphic novel online. There is an excellent 4 part story introducing the new Hero, Hana who has the power to intercept and interpret wireless electronic signals be it cell phones, emails, or whatever.... it's a pretty cool power, and I'm looking forward to seeing her more on the show.

Guest stars abound on Heroes. Christopher Eccleston just started his run on the show, and I believe its next week that Geroge Takei shows up as Hiro's father. But this just announced today, beloved b-film actor and Cinemax staple Eric Roberts will be joining the cast! Roberts is set to play a character named Thompson, who is another associate of Claire's father, Mr. Bennet (aka HRG (horn rimmed glasses)). My guess, The Haitian will become a good guy and help Claire escape her fathers machinations. After the betrayal, HRG will be forced to replace him with Thompson as his new right hand man. I hope he's got a cool power, but you know... Eric Roberts is not really the kind of guy who I'd buy has super powers... That said, still very cool.

If you did watch Heroes last night you'll know to have a look at the Primatech Paper Company, and if you want to join the Heroes equivalent of 'The Lost Experience', use the code MT36 to find a good job... I know, internet meeting tv gets weirder and weirder everyday :)

Thats all for me now. Peace.

Oscar nominations '07

So before people get to upset with me for taking a few days off from blogging I thought I'd post something that everyone wants to know about, The Oscars. That's right people, the list is out and it's looking good. As usual with this kind of list, my picks for the winners will be in red. So lets get on with it already...

Oscar Nominations 2007

Best Picture: Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen

Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole, Venus; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Actress: Penelope Cruz, Volver; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Helen Mirren, The Queen; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet, Little Children

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Directing: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel; Martin Scorsese, The Departed; Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears, The Queen; Paul Greengrass, United 93

Foreign Language Film: After the Wedding, Denmark; Days of Glory (Indigenes), Algeria; The Lives of Others, Germany; Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico; Water, Canada

Adapted Screenplay: Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan; Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men; William Monahan, The Departed; Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children; Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Original Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga, Babel; Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima; Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine; Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth; Peter Morgan, The Queen

Animated Feature Film: Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House

Art Direction: Dreamgirls,The Good Shepherd, Pan's Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, The Prestige

Cinematography: The Black Dahlia, Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan's Labyrinth, The Prestige

Sound Mixing: Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Sound Editing: Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Original Score: Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla; The Good German, Thomas Newman; Notes on a Scandal, Philip Glass; Pan's Labyrinth, Javier Navarrete; The Queen, Alexandre Desplat

Original Song: I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge; Listen from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven; Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett; Our Town from Cars, Randy Newman; Patience from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger and Willie Reale

Costume: Curse of the Golden Flower, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Marie Antoinette, The Queen

Documentary Feature: Deliver Us From Evil, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments, Jesus Camp, My Country, My Country

Documentary (short subject): The Blood of Yingzhou District, Recycled Life, Rehearsing a Dream, Two Hands

Film Editing: Babel, Blood Diamond, Children of Men,The Departed, United 93

Makeup: Apocalypto, Click, Pan's Labyrinth

Animated Short Film: The Danish Poet, Lifted, The Little Matchgirl, Maestro, No Time for Nuts

Live Action Short Film: Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea), Eramos Pocos (One Too Many), Helmer & Son, The Saviour, West Bank Story

Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Poseidon, Superman Returns

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Honorary award (Oscar statuette): Ennio Morricone

Jean Hersholt humanitarian award: Sherry Lansing

Interesting... very interesting.... anything jump out at you from that list? I notice that Dreamgirls didn't make the best picture category. And Babel is all over the map here, but I don't know if it will really win too much. I'm happy that Little Miss Sunshine is getting some love, and really surprised to see Pan's Labyrinth in so many categories. I've got to get out and see some more of these films, before the big day. As it is now, I'm kind of just guessing with most things.

There's not too much that I would say is actually a 'Lock'. Cars should definitely win animated, and I think Scorsese will win for directing. Also An Inconvenient Truth will probably win documentary. Other than that though, I think there are a lot of things up in the air. Maybe I'll revisit my picks a little later, after I've got myself up to speed a bit more.

The Oscars will air on ABC on Feburary 25th.

UPDATE - Warner Bros has just announced officially that they will re-release The Departed into more than 1,300 theaters nationally on Friday, January 26th. So if you missed it, like me, now you'll get a chance to catch up :)

The BIG news...

So I was waiting until we'd told a couple of people first, before posting anything about this on here, and if you've listened to my podcast you'll already know the scoop, But the BIG BIG news is that on this past Monday my girlfriend Erica and I got engaged!

It's all very exciting and has been a bit of a flurry since then, but everything is really, really great overall. And I am very excited. I'd been thinking about it for quite a while and finally made up my mind for sure about a month or two ago. I waited until after Xmas because I wanted to talk to her parents first, which I in fact did. As I mentioned her father and I had a bit of a bonding moment, and after making clear my intentions towards his daughter, and then going out to do some construction in the woods, he really warmed up a lot. I also planned things out, by getting a ring from my mother. Not the wedding ring she wears, but still a family ring.

In terms of the ring, I went to a number of jewelers and decided to ultimately go with the ring as it was, even though it is 30+ years old. Its a round cut solitaire diamond ring. Nothing too flashy, classic cut, with a tapered white gold band, and hardly any wear. So I had it cleaned and gave that to Erica this past Monday.

On the big day in question, we both had the day off for Martin Luther King Day, and I decided that we should go for a lunchtime picnic in the park. It was very sweet and romantic. We had nice wine, and good cheese and all the usual picnicy things. I had only picked up the ring from being cleaned on Saturday morning, and although I had been thinking about waiting to actually propose, I knew that I couldn't handle that kind of stress. Oh yes, I had a bit of anxiety about this. I spent so long thinking about it that I really knew that I wanted to pop the question, but not matter how sure you are of your relationship, there's still the off chance she might say no. I mean honestly, anything can happen. So needless to say I was a bit of a stress ball this past week or two.

So back to the story. We we're in Dolores Park, which is in The Castro in downtown San Francisco. It's a big park on a hill, with a fantastic view of the city. As it was a bit cold there weren't too many people around which was a good thing. I'd been thinking that I would ask Erica before we started eating, but then we got settled too fast and I knew that if I asked while she had a mouthful of goat cheese and cracker she would probably never forgive me. ;) So I patiently waited until we had finished eating all the time getting more and more anxious. And then finally when we we're onto the chocolate desert I asked her. I was so nervous at that point and I really hadn't planned out exactly what I was going to say, that I started stammering, and came out with "You know Erica, we really seem to get along pretty well..." Thankfully it got a bit better from there. And even more thankfully, she said YES :)

Apparently she suspected something was up, when the night before as we we're walking away from the cheese shop she mentioned that she had really wanted some goat cheese and we had forgotten it. As soon as she said that I went into a blaze and ran back to the store, even though it really didn't matter, to make absolutely sure we got our goat cheese. She said that was a bit of a giveaway that something weird was going on with me... but honestly I'm surprised she didn't notice anything before, because for the entire week or two before that I could barely look at her without acting like a total spaz. Honestly I would be looking at her and all this fear, and excitement, and nerves would just boil up, I could barely hear what was going on. I couldn't concentrate on anything, and I would lose the thread right in the middle of conversations. I always thought it was a cliche that people do that sort of stuff, but honestly I was well on my way to becoming a total basketcase before this proposal. :)

Thank goodness it all worked out. :)

Erica and I have been fielding calls left and right lately, trying to contain the aftermath of the announcement. My parents? you can't even have a conversation with my mother at the moment. You see, my sister Catherine, just got engaged on New Years, so mom is like over the moon crazy now. The number one question from everyone after they ask how I proposed, is when is the big date? Man, I was so concerned with the proposal that I hadn't realized at all... I have no clue how to organize a wedding!

Right now, we're eyeing up mid July, I know it's quick but we don't want anything too crazy, and I don't want to wait forever. I'm going to try to not stress over the little things though, I think we're still just so happy to be doing this that we won't let the crazyness get to us.... Not just yet anyways :)

Welcome to the new World

Have you heard about The World yet?

I mean the new one. The one that will change and enrich all of our lives, forever. Because I just found out about the world, and already I feel like maybe everything is going to be ok. Like some kind of carefree future utopia may actually be within reach, And it will only cost millions of dollars to visit.

Our friends of the U.A.E. (United Arab Emirates) have decided to build a world, and make it a tropical paradise. Off the coast of beautiful Dubai nestled in the azure waters of the Arabian Ocean lie a series of man made extremely high end commercial and residential islands that must assuredly be the greatest place on earth. The island chain looks to consist of a few hundred huge and beautiful sand and palm laden paradises that when look at from above form an image of what appears to be a map of the world. These estates are near completion and now only require your investment dollar.

Seriously go to their site, http://www.theworld.ae/ and check out the Video Tour. It is absolutely unbelievable. Its a 5 minute trip through the looking glass that you really wont regret. Yes some of the video seems to be CG and artists rendered ideas of what this 'utopia' will eventually look like, But from the shiny happy people to the slightly futuristic decor you can really tell how amazing this place will be.

My friend Bernard, who just told me about The World, let me know that reportedly Rod Stewart has purchased portions of the island that corresponds to England for a cool 60 Million pounds. And other celebrities, and persons of influence, are flocking there to snatch up property daily. In fact, if you look on the wiki for The World, you'll see that progress on the islands is moving along smoothly. Set to be complete in 2008, a few mega resorts are already being built, and interest has been sparked by the likes of Sir Richard Branson, and sport stars David Beckham, and Michael Schumaker. Actually, its not even the first man made designed series of islands like this. It's second to The Palm Jumeriah just down the coast.

But as my friend so aptly pointed out, and I agree, doesn't it seem like there's something wrong with this picture. Doesn't it seem a little too Philip K Dick? Did you watch the video yet? well you need to. Then tell me it doesn't look like the perfect setting for a near future science fiction film where they've created a 'perfect in every way' Utopian society that is actually a powder keg ready to explode... You know I'm right. It's the kind of place that you see in Logan's Run, Gattaca, Minority Report, Blade Runner, or (obviously) The Island. It is the perfect setting for a dystopian nightmare on the levels of Metropolis.

This time in history that we're at now, where our technology and wealth are coming together in ways that the 'near future' science fiction of most of the last hundred years is finally starting to become science fact. I find it more than a little troubling that the divisions the Haves and the Have Nots is so pronounced. The World represents to me the extremes of opulence, and while of course it's appealing, I don't really know that it bodes well for the rest of the 'real' world. I know it's just a product of the times we live in, and at the moment I don't really see this kind of development as an actual problem, but it could turn into one, and it might be a safe idea for us all to try to remember to keep an eye on these growing divisions.

For example here's a question for you: how much of the revenue from this project is going to go into the Dubai economy? And how much will go into the pockets of a very select few?

I know my point is a bit muddled in there. And I probably need to think through what this means a bit more, I just know that it doesn't sit well with me. What do you guys think?

Sunshine trailer

Another new film I haven't heard much about is Sunshine. Here's the very stylin' new trailer that just launched today



I'm really liking what I'm seeing here. The film is from Danny Boyle who we all know is good, and stars among other young and beautiful faces the really interesting actor, Cillian Murphy. I love the look of this film. It's so pretty and scary at the same time. I know I shouldn't get my hopes up too high. There really is a striking resemblance to the film Supernova, which no matter how much you want to love always kind of sucks.

There are a number of webisodes out about the film which you can check out over at the official site, or on YouTube, but there's one that I think shows a lot more interesting character moments from the film, and is structured much more like a traditional trailer than what they've released above. So check out this video of Danny Boyle's intro for the film too.


Sunshine is set to come out on March 16th.

Disney picks up John Carter

Disney has picked up the rights to John Carter of Mars from Paramount who had previously had the film set up with Jon Favreau to direct. Of course that was before the whole Iron Man thing. While we don't know if Favs is actually off the film now, my guess is probably yes. Anyhow, now that this potentially huge franchise is set up with the mouse house I for one think that it will finally get made. Sure they won't let it be anywhere near as cool as it was going to be when Robert Rodriguez was set to direct it, but heck this film... this SERIES of films... could be the next Pirates of the Carribbean, only in space.

If you don't have any clue what I'm talking about I highly recommend you go check out the WIKI on the John Carter series of novellas by Edgar Rice Burroughs, or just go over to Project Guttenberg and read some of them yourself. A Princess of Mars is the first.

For all their faults, for all the watered down Haunted Mansions they give us, Disney at least knows how to get a film made. And something like this, something that everyone knows could be fantastic that has been trapped in pre-production hell for years... this is exactly the kind of red tape that I believe Disney knows how to handle.

Besides, we know Disney has got the chops... anyone remember a little film by the name of Captain EO ....

'nuff said.

What is Babylon A.D.?

According to the Wikipedia it is either an 80s glam metal band from Oakland... glam metal?! is that like motley crue? Or it's a new action sci-fi film starring Vin Diesel set to come out later this year.

Woah, woah, woah... now hold on there. You say you hate Vin Diesel?! Ok, I understand. A part of me hates him too, but stop giving in to the dark side for just a second, and think about it. I think people jump on not liking Vin Diesel for a lot of bad reasons. Fast and the Furious (the first one) was great. It was really a fun film. And the things that we're wrong with it had a lot more to do with the sometimes super cheesy dialogue, and Paul Walker. Face it F&F is good because it's basically Point Break in cars... so really if you love Patrick Swayze, you should equally love Vin Diesel. I know. My logic is flawless... Riddick was another story, but no matter what people said about it I really respect that it was a true passion project for him and David Twohy. Maybe it didn't turn out exactly as he hoped, and maybe it just didn't connect with audiences. But I really like it. It's like Conan in space. and that always makes me smile.

Seriously now, that is the last justification / defense I am giving for Vin Diesel. He has made some interesting choices, and even when I hate him for doing the money films like The Pacifier, I am always rooting for him to make it big. To create that one great action or sci-fi epic. He is also an uber geek, and comes off as a very likable guy in interview. If you don't like him please don't harang me about it, cause I do.

So where was I... oh yes Babylon A.D. According to ComingSoon.net, who nabbed a few rather boring on the set shots from Prague, the film takes place circa 2013 and follows a mercenary charged with delivering a young woman from Russia to Canada when he learns that she has been manipulated with a synthetic virus, and what lies inside her could doom the human race. According to the few reviews on the book which the film is based (Babylon Babies) over at Amazon.com it sounds like a mixed bag of fairly original cyberpunk (meaning nothing to do with Japanese businessmen or hackers), and weird explorations of schizophrenia. It also costars the lovely and talented Michelle Yeoh. You can actually see a few more pictures and bloggy news on the film here.

I'm not saying that I'm really super excited by this right at the moment. It's in that same overseas production limbo that is also keeping me from getting really interested in Will Smith's new one (a zombie film called I Am Legend). I think I was mostly just surprised because I had never even heard about this film until today. Hopefully it will develop into something interesting as time moves along. As I stated above though, with Vin Diesel on board, I am always keeping my fingers crossed, that this one will really be great.

Golden Globe '07 Results

Back in mid December I predicted the winners of the Golden Globes, based on pretty much no information. I thought it might be fun to have a look at the results. I only watched about an hour of the Globes themselves.... honestly it just got too lame for me. I see them as the middle of the road awards show, and with the Oscar nominations being announced this coming Tuesday, the Globes will shortly fade into the background and we can all move on with our lives.

haha... like it was even stopping us before.

Ok, here's the list:

Film
Best Picture Drama - Babel
Best Actress Drama - Helen Miran (The Queen)
Best Actor Drama - Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Best Picture Comedy/Musical - Dreamgirls
Best Actress Comedy/Musical - Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Best Actor Comedy/Musical - Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat)
Best Animated Feature - Cars
Best Foreign Language Film - Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Best Director - Martin Scorsese (Departed)
Best Screenplay - Peter Morgan (The Queen)
Best Original Score - Alexandre Desplat (The Painted Veil)
Best Original Song - "The Song of the Heart" (Happy Feet)

TV
Best Series Drama - Grey's Anatomy
Best Actress Drama - Kyra Sedgwick (the Closer)
Best Actor Drama - Hugh Laurie (House)
Best Series Comedy/Musical - Ugly Betty
Best Actress Comedy/Musical - America Ferrera (Ugly Betty)
Best Actor Comedy/Musical - Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)
Best Mini or TV Movie - Elizabeth I
Best Actress Mini or TV Movie - Helen Mirren (Elizabeth I)
Best Actor Mini or TV Movie - Bill Nighy (Gideon's Daughter)
Best Supporting Actress Mini or TV Movie - Emily Blunt (Gideon's Daughter)
Best Supporting Actor Mini or TV Movie - Jeremy Irons (Elizabeth I)

For a more complete list including all the nominees check here :)
Of the winners versus my predictions I only got a mesley 8 total right out of 25. Ouch.
Did you guys play along too? How did you do? Make better choices than me?

Let's play again with the Oscars next week, k? The Oscars will air on Sunday Feb 25th.

Paltrow joins Iron Man

According to The Hollywood Reporter among others, Gweneth Paltrow has signed on to join the cast of Iron Man! She will play the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man 's secretary Virginia "Pepper" Potts. Since I haven't really red much Iron Man I don't know too much about her other than she has been a long time on again off again love interest for Tony. I love Gweneth, how can you not, and honestly with her alongside the likes of Robert Downey Jr, and Terrance Howard, I think this film is really on the right track. I'm sure we'll hear more on Gweneth's role as time progresses. Sounds promising to me though.

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Flashback 01 - Tiger handhelds

Last weekend I was up in my parents attic looking for some of the old Legos that I had when I was a kid. While I was up in the crawlspace I was fortunate enough to come across a box or two full of some of my old toys. I won't give away everything that was in them, but I wanted to share one thing I found. I found this 1990 flyer for Tiger Electronics handheld gaming systems. And it brought back a flood of memories, click on these pictures for a big view and just have a look through some of these games...

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Man oh man, I LOVED these games. When I was a kid I never had a Gameboy, never had a Game Gear... did have an Atari Lynx (I know, seriously...) But before all of that happened, I had a couple of these truly awesome marvels of LCD technology. If you don't know, these games were based on the old crappy liquid crystal technology of the 80s. They weren't game systems in the sense of a Gameboy, or a comparable handheld, these gaming systems only played the one game that was in them, and the "game" technology was so lacking that screen would literally have some of the background designs decal-ed directly onto the plastic viewing pane. Behind this pane was the LCD screen which had maybe 10 pre-defined possible positions of your character, objects, walls, and enemies.

The games were usually based on much better 8 bit games from the likes of Sega, and Nintendo and were pitifully bad in so many ways. But I, and a lot of other kids really loved that they were easy to play, and totally portable. I'm pretty sure I owned Double Dragon, Paperboy, Mega Man 2, and Altered Beast - all of which rocked hard. I think I might've owned Batman too, but maybe I just remember playing a friends. And I know I played some Ninja Gaiden and really wanted it for myself but never actually got it. I literally played these games for hours and hours until I could finish them without fail (and I think people forget how hard games used to be overall). I remember that playing Double Dragon was literally the very first time I got the dreaded 'gamers thumb'. Looking at this flyer now, I'd really like to try out Snakes Revenge, Gauntlet, and Shinobi. Alas these games are quite hard to come by now. This site has a good list with pics of most of the Tiger games, and I see on eBay you can pick up a few for... around $10. but most of the good ones don't seem to really be there :( Ah well, I suspect the memories are better than playing them would be now.

Did anyone else out there get a chance to play these games? I'm really interested in the watch games. I don't think I've ever seen them before. We're they as awesome as I imagine???

Flashback - intro

Hey internet people, thanks for reading my blog I really honestly appreciate all the support I've gotten over the past 6 months or so that I've been doing it. I have some very BIG news from this past weekend, but for just right now I'm going to hold off on it Although I will say I had a very nice holiday this past Monday (Martian Luther King Day here in the States).

Today I'd like to start something I've been thinking about for a while now and just hadn't gotten around to. I'm not sure if I want to call this a Retro Review, or maybe a Flashback Post, or something but basically what I'd like to do is take a post every once and a while, perhaps even weekly, and dedicate a post to looking at some fun or interesting thing from the past. Sometimes it might be personal: like how I started my life of crime, or the first time I got drunk, and sometimes it might be a look at some old fun thing I've found online or physically up in my parents attic, or perhaps even some memory of a favorite toy or cartoon from yesteryear. Anywhichway, I think it'll be a fun feature; and actually my first attempt at doing a continuing blog feature.

You know, I think I like Flashback, then they'll be easy to find all together.

The first Flashback post will start today :)

too funny...

Ok, seriously, I think maybe I had heard something somewhere about this film once but then I totally must have forgotten because it seems like this trailer came out of nowhere. here's the pitch, Will Farrell and John Heder play professional figure skaters. That's really all you need. This movie looks absolutely hilarious.

Click over to IGN and watch the very funny trailer for Blades of Glory.

I spend my eBay spoils

So usually I'm not one for really super endorsing one "store" over another, especially on the blog, but there are a very few exceptions to the rule, and today I thought I'd mention one of em. In Stock Trades is absolutely THE best place online to buy comic books. It is far and away cheaper than anywhere I've seen for new books, they are constantly having deals on different titles, and if you order over $50, shipping is free. I pretty much buy all of my trade paperbacks there. The only other place I ever buy comics is from a local second hand store called Aardvark Books that sells everything at half the cover price or lower.

So I know I didn't get too much cash from the whole eBay debacle, but I finally got it all finalized and sorted out. Or at least as much as I can for now. And I spent the money on a couple of new comics that I'm really looking forward to. I picked up all four volumes of the 'epic' storyline X-Men: Age of Apocalypse. These are pretty massive books. In beautiful full color, on nice glossy pages. And while I've never read the story I think it'll be pretty good. Perhaps a bit befuddled, as it took place over a large number of years and I think most of it was while Marvel was going bankrupt and no one was reading. Not that that means it's a great story, in fact most of the Marvel stories at that time weren't considered so good, but hey... it can't be as bad as The Clone Saga right?

I am excited at least because it looks very pretty and it will tell a whole big story that I really know nothing about. I think its some kind of alternate timeline thing. Anyhow, I'll be sure to let you all know if it turns out to be good. I have high hopes though.

Laughing in public

Do you guys watch The Office? I only just started watching the American version maybe two months ago, and I have to say that it is just totally hilarious. I was watching this weeks episode on the Caltrain this morning and everyone was staring at me cause I couldn't help myself from laughing like a crazy person at Dwight. I really had put off watching the American version for a long time, because I loved the British Office so much, but then I think I was on a plane flying somewhere they were showing the US version, and I just fell in love with it. It just so good. I urge you to check it out if you haven't yet.

In sort of semi-related news, over on the iTunes store HBO has put up the season 2 premiere of Ricky Gervais' new show Extras for free! and even better, they've classified it as a video podcast which whether by accident or design, should mean it will be available to even those of you outside the US. Just open the store and run a search for Extras then look under podcasts and it should be right there.

Question: are there any tv shows that really make you laugh out loud on a regular basis?

That's all for me now, later.

Avatar and Avatar

Two very interesting and very different film projects were 'officially' announced yesterday and both of them are called Avatar.

The first that I'll mention is the lesser in terms of cool excitement factor. According to Variety, M. Night Shyamalan has partnered with MTV to write, direct, and produce a trilogy of live action films based on Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender. I am not generally speaking a huge fan of Shyamalan personally, ever since seeing some of the extras on Unbreakable and hearing him come off as an egotistical prick. His films however have generally been pretty good, despite the "surprise-twists", and obnoxious self-awareness. The cartoon is unfortunately not one I have had a chance to watch yet. Although I don't really have a good reason for that, and have as of today put it onto my DVR schedule. By all accounts this is one of the best cartoons in the past few years. And, forgive me if I'm a bit off here, as far as I understand it follows Aang a boy with a destiny to save the world. In his world of magic and martial arts he is part of the Air Nation of people and must use his froce like 'airbending' powers to defeat the evil Fire Nation who are trying to take over everything. For more info check out the show's wiki. It really is supposed to be extremely cool, and I have to say I'm glad about this pairing. Perhaps especially because this is Shyamalans first time going after material that is not his own, I think having to answer to the higher ups at Nickelodeon ne:-Paramount and deal with stringent license issues might force him to create a better film. At the least it will hopefully stop him from doing anything too crazy.

The second and really much more exciting Avatar film that was announced is the 10+ years in development James Cameron sci-fi epic. This is going to be his first directorial effort since Titanic, and I am very excited about it. Apparently he has been waiting for the technology to get to the level where he feels it can support his vision. He plans to shoot the film, which he says will be a seamless blend of live action and CG, on his personally developed 3D high definition digital camera technology. The story revolves around 'a wounded ex-marine who is thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity. Eventually though he crosses over to lead a band of indigenous people in a battle for survival.' The film isn't going to come out until 2009 which is like ages and ages away.... but considering the man behind it I have a feeling that the wait will be worth it. Cameron has cast two relative unknowns in the lead roles, Australian actor Sam Worthington, as Jake Sully, the protagonist, and Zoe Saldana as a beautiful local woman who Jake apparently betrays and then falls in love with. Is it just me, or does this sound a lot like one of the John Carter pulp novels? Anyhow, until Favreau finishes Iron Man and gets on the John Carter film I'm more than happy to have James Cameron take a crack at a cool sci fi war epic. Check out this great interview Cameron did with Ain't it Cool News yesterday after the story broke.

As a final side note, after he's finishing up on Avatar, Cameron is planning on launching into production on an adaptation of the manga Battle Angel Alita. Pretty cool, eh?

Oh and as for both films being named Avatar. I'm sure that won't last. Paramount has apparently registered the name with the MPAA already, and is strongly staking their claim to it. So it looks like the Airbender will win that battle. But I have a feeling Cameron might just win the war.

Some new music

I was talking with Devon about On Hold... after last week's podcast and we've decideed that we'd like to try to stick a bit more to some topics during the show. Not that we don't have topics now, but we tend to get a bit... tangential sometimes. So we're going to try to work at least one 'feature' into each show. I hope Devon follows through and actually does some planning to back up this idea, but I guess we'll see. This week we're going to talk about some of the new music we've been listening to, hopefully with a couple song clips and some commentary. So to that end, I've been looking into some new stuff and trying to see what all the hip kids are into these days. I thought I'd share some of the good stuff I discovered.

I'm not particularly out of the new music loop, but I'm not totally into it either. I love music, swaying mostly towards the alt-indie-emo-postpunk rock stuff, but I find it a challenge to keep up with whats on the charts and more importantly whats cool thats off the charts. Sure I get keep up with some newer interesting stuff from Devon, and listening to other podcasts (thank you Greg and Lisa) , or reading blogs; usually though I'll go a 3 or 4 month stretch totally out of touch with the music 'scene' and then I'll just spend a day or two and try to immerse myself in finding a whole bunch of new stuff. I've really come to realize too that there is just way too much great music out there to keep track of everything, unless you really dedicated yourself to it all the time. So you might imagine that I'm a big fan of the 'if you like this band you might like...' and 'people who bought this also bought this...' lists. Thats one of the best ways I find new and upcoming stuff. Yesterday though I also browsed my way through this Metacritic list of the highest rated albums of '06, Blender's list of 25 bands to look for in '07, and Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Best songs of the year. I found some great stuff too.

Check out some of the music I just found. Maybe you guys have some ideas of other bands I might like. If you've got any good ideas, please leave 'em in the comments thread.

The Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry



Ben Kweller - Sundress



Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah - Over and Over Again



Birdmonster - Cause You Can



Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment



So I guess thats probably about as much video as I should really put into a single blog post, but there really are a lot of cool cool bands out there. All of the links I provided go to the bands MySpace pages, I know, I know, but at elast they've got more music on them that you can check out for free. Also check out some of these other cool bands, The Sounds, The Hold Steady, Tapes N Tapes, Teddybears, She Wants Revenge, Yo La Tengo, French Kicks, The Long Winters, Band of Horses, and Dirty Pretty Things...

Let me know what you're listening to.

the naked gym

This past weekend I went to the gym downtown again. It's really good to have somewhere that's a bit more accessible than my work gym and has a pool. I actually think my knee is getting a bit better now that I have time to run slowly, not push things. Also my upper body is definitely feeling it now that I've really got time for the weight machines. But no matter how much I'm enjoying the new gym there's something just a bit odd about it. I call it the naked gym syndrome. For those guy readers out there you'll probably understand what I mean right away but for the ladies it might not be quite so clear.

To start with you have to understand that for guys there is a fairly strict ingrained set of social rules governing behavior in bathrooms, locker rooms, and really most anyplace you might end up named in front of other guys. For example if you enter a restroom with your friend and you both need to pee, you can take urinal A, and your friend can take urinal C, urinal B should be left vacant. You shouldn't be looking around, straight ahead or down are the prefered looks. You don't talk to each other, unless it's about girls or sports and you we're already in the middle of the conversation, but all conversation must be joking and only between friends. You don't talk to strangers. And if its a friend you never talk to someone who goes into a stall. God forbid you're at a bar with a trough urinal, subtleties come into play then. And in a locker room there are similar rules. Not qute as stringent, but they are there nonetheless.

Oh don't get me wrong I know that some people are more comfortable being naked than others, I in fact am more comfortable than many. But there are some things EVERY guy knows you just don't do in public. Even gay guys know these things. It's a weird social etiquette, that I don't think anyone ever teaches you, but you just do it; no questions asked. Some things that I have seen in my new gym's locker that strike me as odd include a naked man walking to a full length mirror and flexing different muscles to see how he looked, a man shaving (his face) fully naked, a man showering with the little plastic curtain thing totally open, and a man wearing only cowboy boots, stop changing and turn to face his friend then begin talking about the stock market. His friend was changing, but the cowboy boots guy just stood there talking about annuities and whatnot. Weird eh?

Now I honestly don't think of myself as a prude. Nothing wrong with being naked, and I don't have any issues with changing in a locker room, but those things I just described... that's not normal. This isn't a "gay" gym, those are in The Castro. This is just a regular downtown gym, and somehow it's totally off track with the noraml social guidelines. I wonder how that might have happened. Could it be that some of the more open people who go there started strutting their stuff and everyone else just followed suit? Could it be the particular age range or mixed specifically ethnic demographic? Nothing else seems particularly out of place, just all the nakedness.

It's not that I mind really. I mean, its not a huge deal or anything, I just couldn't help but notice it. I dopn't think anyone could help but notice it. And I'm left just a little confused as to what exactly is going on over at the naked gym...

2 new tv shows

It's TV premiere time again...

I was really surprised by The Knights of Prosperity because it was just so funny. For some reason back in September when this show was first announced I thought it sounded totally lame, thankfully though I was wrong. It follows the a group of would-be bluecollar criminals, who have decided to take what they believe to be their rightful place in the world, defy the hand that fate has dealt them and steal a bunch of money to make their lives better. The funny comes in how amazingly inept they are at being criminals; a life of drudgery cleaning toilets and driving cabs does nothing to help them become an Ocean's 11 crack team of crooks overnight, despite what they may think. And then there's who they decide to rob. At least for the start of the show, the pilot that is, they have set their sights on non other than Mick Jagger. Throughout the pilot we routinely cut away to snippits of a mocked up "E True Hollywood Story" of Jagger, and revel in his opulence. And man, Mick is dead funny. He's got so much opulence he doesn't even realize it. Everything from a gold plated Stones tongue butter dispenser for his private movie theater, to a swimming pool just for his dogs. I was rolling everytime he came on the screen. But I know he's probably just a guest star, and thats fine, because the regualr cast of the show do a great job with this mostly very funny material. I think this'll be a big hit. If you missed it last night, you can watch the pilot over at ABC.com right now. I highly recommend it.

The other new show that started last night was nowhere near as good as KoP. In fact, I might say that it was truly bad. I don't expect you to ever see this show so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it. In Case of Emergency has some quasi-stars that we all know and maybe mildly enjoy, but it is a comedy that just really isn't very funny. If honestly the best thing you're show has going for it is David Arquette, you know you're in trouble. There were a couple jokes that make me almost smile, but there were far more times when the shows star Johnathan Silverman (who is nowhere near as charming now that he's all growed up) made me cringe with how much I wanted to smack him in the head. Yes Lori Laughlin is still hot, I'm satisfied. Now we should all move on to something better. Thanks guys but no thanks, this show is worse than The Class. Its also an ABC show, so at least they got one out of two right eh?

If you're out looking for new shows, or just want to know when the goods are returning, check out Metacritic's list right here. Looks like we're looking at that Grease reality show next. Oh and I'm excited because the new Apprentice starts this week on Sunday. Ok, I'm off to eat later all.

New Wii Wriststraps! Hooray!

Look what arrived in the mail today!



Woohoo! Now I won't die while playing the Wii.

Thanks Nintendo....

the big bucks

$285 - Money made from selling comics on eBay
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$57 - eBay listing fees
$40 - boxes and packing material
$15 - Paypal fees
$83 - shipping costs
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$90 - profit


Some of these numbers are a bit rough or rounded off, but man thats low... A lot of effort for not so much cash. I only sold 10 lots of 19. I'm currently re-listing 2 of 'em that are very good and probably should've sold, and the rest of the comics... I'm going to try to sell at work. After that I guess I'll just give em away.

$90 for the total number of issues sold, exactly 250, works out to .36 cents a comic book.... low, low, low. Maybe if I can sell these two relisted lots I'll bump it up to $100 total but we'll have to wait and see. eBay is frusterating. I think you really need to have something worth a lot to make selling effective. Oh well, as Erica said, its all money that I didn't have before. At least that's true.

ATHF coming to theaters!

I truly love the Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They are just all around super-cool badical, and the awesome, cult-hit, animated show on Comedy Centrals Adult Swim programming block is pure gold. Hilarity incarnate. The show is weird, no doubt, but it has consistently has made me laugh since it started in 2001. I own the dvds, I watch it whenever I can, and although at first glance I understand how some might see the show as nothing more than weird captivation for the couch after you stumble home highly lubricated from the bar, it is really so much more.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're missing out. Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a very strange little adult cartoon that airs on Comedy Central. It revolves around three roommates who live in the slums of New Jersey and have strange adventures (of sorts). Mostly they just sit around and bicker, but man is that bickering funny. The characters are the key to the show. Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad are... well, maybe you should go watch some episodes for yourself. I don't think any explanation I could give will really be able to capture it.

Sure the comedy's probably not for everyone. But I really love it. And so I thought it was great to hear that "The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters " is going to be hitting the big screen this March. The film will be an "action-adventure epic that reveals the mysterious origins of Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake. When an immortal piece of exercise equipment threatens the balance of galactic peace, it is up to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force to run away from it. Peril escalates when the Plutonians team up with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past to strive for ultimate control of the sinister deadly device."

Pretty weird, eh? Anyhow, I know I'm excited. Should be fun.

More wii fun and games...

Hey all. So one of the great things that Erica did get me for Christmas, even though she didn't have to considering she already got me a Wii, was a Wii Points card. Basically this is a standard gift card like you'd get with iTunes or whatnot. You redeem it online, in this case at the online Wii Store for "Wii points", and then you can use these points to purchase games from the virtual console. Well I finally had some time to play the Wii last night and I used this gift card to download some pretty sweet classic games.

It's funny, 'cause I went onto the virtual store and checked out what they had. And while I kind of wanted to buy them all, when it came down to thinking about which ones I would actually get the best play value out of I settled on three. Although I still really want to pick up Street Fighter II, I knew that without an opponent the single player games were probably better. So I settled on Super Mario Bros, Bonk's Adventure, and Toejam and Earl. And then I spent a solid hour and a half reliving the past with probably my favorite Genesis game ever as the funky alien Toejam trying to find and rebuild my spaceship. I know when I was talking last time about the virtual console I said that it was really the biggest reason I wanted to get the machine, and that definitely still holds true. The games look great, there's a save game system now for all those old Carts that were so tricky and never had them before. And from what I've heard the graphics are actually improved just because of the component cable technology is better now than it was back in the 80s, needless to say it would obviously be bumped up if I was gaming in HD. Anyhow, it's really fun to play these old games again, and I think it definitely plays better on the Wii than a ROM on the computer. I'm also really glad I have the 'classic controller' although they would of course all work with the standard Wiimote, it just feels more appropriate.

Erica, being a great girlfriend, also gave me two new games for the Wii, which I haven't even cracked open yet. Rayman: Raving Rabbids, and Elebits. Both of which are supposed to be awesome. I'm still working my way through Marvel Ultimate Alliance though, and since I like to, you know, actually spend time with my girlfriend and do real world things too. It might take me a while to get through everything.

Over the past few weeks there has been a few big updates for the Wii. The Weather Channel launched. And while I think its cool and all, there is still the problem that weathermen have a pretty tough time forcasting in general. We're only as good as the people behind the technology. Or at least we are, until the machine revolution begins, where they rise up against their puny organic overlords... I've probably said too much though. Also more interestingly a 'Trial' (really a Beta) version of the Internet Channel launched. So now I can actually surf the web using the Wii. The browser was built specifically for the system by Opera and seems pretty decent. I missed tabbed browsing, and of course my Sage RSS reader, but generally speaking its very robust and easy to use.

For the most current Wii updates I've been keeping my eyes on www.nintendowiifanboy.com, and www.thewiire.com, which incidentially also has a great weekly Wii-centric podcast.

If anyone out there has, or was lucky enough to get a Wii for Xmas, let me know and we can be friends. Talk to you all later. bye bye.