I am here to admit I've thought this movie looked funny from the first trailer I saw. I won't go see it in theaters because its a chick flick (I don't care what you say) but now I am legitimately excited for the DVD. The DVD will allegedly feature a mockumentary about the making of the film, particularly about how the male lead Seth Rogen was actually the 10th choice in casting. This will be accompanied by "outtakes" from the other 9 choices including guys like Orlando Bloom, Justin Long and James Franco. The scene here feature Michael Cera, aka George Michael Bluth from Arrested Development. Below is the trailer for the movie, in case you've missed running nonstop on television:
A couple of months ago Drew turned me on to Blue Dot. It is a social bookmarking/news sharing tool similar to Digg or Del.icio.us. You create an account, install the Blue Dot browser and from that point on anytime you come across a website or news article you want to share with friends you just click your dot, add a comment and publish. The link and your comment gets added to your Dots, which are viewable by your friends. Its a pretty cool way to share interesting, probably non sequiturs that may or may not lend themselves to full blown conversation. Its almost like having a mini-blog.
I was at the neighborhood grocery store this morning and noticed they had a DVD rental kiosk. I read about these things a few years back when McDonald's announced its Red Box DVD program. At the time I thought it was a ridiculous idea, but today I realized my error in judgment. For a grocery store this is a perfect concept. There is always something people need from the grocery store, so if they have to come back to the store to return the DVD then chances are they will use that return trip to make some kind of purchase.
I haven't been keeping up on the weekly DVD schedules but I noticed this particular kiosk had Apocalypto and Dreamgirls, both of which are pretty recent DVD release. The store is the D&W on Breton and Burton, and the DVD service is TheNewRelease.com. The way the program works is that you go through the touch screen like a jukebox and select the movie you want to rent. Add up to three movies and then swipe your credit card. You get charged $1 for each movie, billed to your credit card at midnight every night. If you don't return the movie within 14 days of your rental your credit card is charged $35.00 for each movie (on top of the $14 you already owe).
The really nice thing about it, in my opinion, is that it gives you a nice middle of the road option between Netflix and Blockbuster for renting movies. You don't have to commit $14 a month and deal with the queues and mailing ordeal of Netflix, which isn't bad but it is a commitment. You also don't have to pay the $3-$4 Blockbuster charges for new release rentals, which really hurts if you rent one and find out it sucks.
That made my morning. So keep an eye out at your local grocer. If regular shoppers are as happy with this service as I am it should take off in a hurry (if it hasn't already).
In case you've been racking your brain trying to thing of other details you might have missed or dots you failed to connect between last night and the previous episodes of Lost, here is a link that should keep you occupied for quite a while. It is the Through The Looking Glass theory page on Lostpedia.com.
I've gotta say last night was probably one of the more phenomenal season finales I have ever seen. Absolutely the best of the three we've seen so far. A couple of weeks ago I felt like stretching the remaining 48 episodes into three seasons was a mistake, but I really don't feel like that is the case after last night. Finally for one episode everyone got on the same page and decided that they had a plan and nobody was going to talk them out of it regardless of the consequences. The Others got their comeuppance (Sawyer had a nice one), and for the immediate future we don't have to worry about backstabbing, distrust and a lack of communication. I was really expecting Bernard to be the only person to bite the dust because the writers suddenly started giving him screen time again.
This brings us to Charlie, who I wanted dead since the last half of the second season. But of course he totally redeems himself in this last quarter of season three and now I feel bad that he's gone. I'd be curious to find out from the writers how that all came about. As far as I know, Dominic Monaghan didn't ask off the show like Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Mr. Eko), but ever since the thing with Desmond, the Charlie storyline found its place on the show. I am just curious as to whether that was a byproduct of writing his death or if this was something they had known a year ago when Charlie was running around acting like a douche and getting on everyone's nerves.
The future was a brilliant twist on the whole episode format. I am sure they'd been saving that one for a long time, and I couldn't have been happier with the result. I can't even begin to speculate on how far into the future that was, who the obituary was for or anything else. I am probably going to watch the episode at least once more. But for now, here are some questions/observations I came away with:
1. Charlie's Death: He clearly had nothing to gain by staying in that control room, so why didn't he run out the door when he saw the grenade and try to escape with Desmond? Or why didn't he wait for the water pressure to equalize and then swim through the port hole?
I guess I can answer this one myself. The best I can figure is that he resigned himself to the fact that it had to happen the way Desmond envisioned it, and that him not dying might have altered the future and jeopardized everyone's chance of getting off the island. It doesn't make sense when you think about what they were actually there to accomplish, but I would assume he just decided not risk it.
2. The Future: If that was the future, and I believe it was, why did Jack yell at the Chief Of Surgery to "call my dad and get him down here, and if I am drunker than he is then you can fire me". I suspect that is either Jack's fractured mental state or a plot hole, but coupled with Jack stopping the pharmacy from phoning his dad's office regarding his prescription I think there is something more to it.
3. Jack's Wife: Was she pregnant in any of the flash backs? I feel like in one of his flashbacks after she left him, specifically when they signed divorce papers and such, that she may have told him that she was pregnant with her new guy. But I can't remember exactly. If that is the case, and she was pregnant in the future then we have to assume its the same pregnancy and Jack is back in Los Angeles within 9 months of the crash. This is somewhat irrelevant since they've covered roughly 90 days of island time in 3 seasons. But its potentially interesting nonetheless.
4. Aging: There was already a question regarding how people age on the island because of Richard and his appearance in Ben's Youth and in the present. I've seen it theorized that the lack of aging on the island is a reason the others wanted to kidnap the children. Basically it is a lot easier to notice when a child isn't aging rather than a 40 year old male. But this is sort of rendered moot when you remember island time has covered about 90 days.
But the reason I brought this up is because of Walt. He appeared briefly last night, and I believe now that he and Michael were just written out of the show because of Malcolm David Kelly, the actor that plays Walt. When the show started he was 12 years old, and about two weeks ago he turned 15. If he is anything like a normal kid, he probably grew six inches in the last 3 years and put on 30 lbs. That would be a huge problem for a show about an island that has some mysterious effect on aging. Michael was an insane wreck without Waaaaaaaaalllt!! so whats the easiest way to solve the problem? Give them a boat and let them sail off the island. I think this is also why they took that weird camera angle from Locke's back when Walt appeared last night.
5. Ben Is Still A Liar: Ben told jack that the people on the mystery boat were going to kill everyone on the island once they found it. But if that future is the future, we know that is a lie because at least three people, Jack, Kate and presumably the obituary person, made it back just fine. Also, here is a high resolution, rotated closeup of Jack's obituary person. We know its a man now. But who? (Click to enlarge) I can make out "Man found ???? (Dead?) in Downtown Loft - The body of J???? antham of New York was ????(found?) shortly after 4 a.m. in the ???? of Grand Avenue.
In the last two weeks a lot of announcements have have been made concerning the future of current TV series and the fall schedules from all the networks. Last night was the series finale for Veronica Mars on the CW, which also ended The Gilmore Girls just last week. CBS cut Jericho after one season and NBC made the one smart move of all the networks by renewing Friday Night Lights. So I thought it would be fitting to run down all of the new shows set to debut next year and have a laugh at the terrible decision making that dictates what we see or don't see from one season to the next:
NBC The Bionic Woman A television series which spun off from The Six Million Dollar Man. It starred Lindsay Wagner as Jaime (sometimes, Jamie) Sommers, a tennis professional who was nearly killed in a sky diving accident, and was rebuilt by Oscar Goldman (Richard Anderson) and Dr. Rudy Wells (Martin E. Brooks), who had also rebuilt The Six Million Dollar Man. As the result of her surgical implantation, Jaime Sommers had amplified hearing, a greatly strengthened right arm, and enhanced legs, enabling her to run faster than a speeding car. The 2007 series is a re-imagining (or more likely, a reboot) of the The Bionic Woman (1976–1978), dropping the leading "The" from the title. This series stars Michelle Ryan, Katee Sackhoff, Will Yun Lee and Mae Whitman, with David Eick as producer.
Really? Heroes was such a hit that naturally those viewers might be clamoring for a second super hero show. I can't believe this is how TV networks operate.
Journeyman Dan Vasser thought he had it all: a loving wife, a great son and a steady job. But life suddenly throws him a curve ball. Dan finds himself traveling into the past with a purpose – impacting people's lives for the better – and sometimes the worse. While doing so, Dan reconnectswith Livia Beale, his ex-fiancée whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash. Now armed with the knowledge of the present, will he be able to save her? What would that mean to his own future? And how would it change a man who thought he had it all?
If they wanted to bring back Quantum Leap why didn't they just do it? I am sure Scott Bakula has some free time on his hands.
Chuck Chuck Bartowski is just your average computer-whiz-next-door. He spends his days working for Buy-More with his band of nerdy cohorts, longing to find a woman who can appreciate him. But when an old friend, who happens to be a CIA agent, sends Chuck a mysterious encoded email, the world's greatest spy secrets are embedded into his brain.
He never asked to become the government’s most powerful weapon, but the fate of the country suddenly lies in his unlikely hands. Hopefully, this won’t take away from his video game time! International terrorist plots, sexy spies and cold pizza – it’s all in a day’s work for our trusty hero...Chuck.
This one is a fish-out-of-water nerd comedy. Think Shaun Of The Dead crossed with something like My Super Ex-Girlfiend.
Life Meet Detective Charlie Crews. Behind him sit tough years of hard prison time for a crime he didn’t commit. Ahead of him lie the challenges of a world that’s moved on without him. Now it’s time to walk through the painful cobwebs of his past and re-enter the scorn-filled halls of a job he loves.
It’s no easy task, especially when his reluctant new partner is as jaded as Dani Reese. Charlie’s appreciation for life’s details not only offers up unique insights into each crime, it reminds us of all the little things we take for granted.
It stars Damian Lewis, from Dreamcatcher and Band Of Brothers. It looks average, probably coming to a Friday night post Law & Order: SVU time slot near you.
The IT Crowd You know those cool guys who charm the ladies, have tons of friends and get invited to the hottest parties? Roy and Moss are not those guys. A night of fun for these I.T. nerds means getting dressed to the nines for the latest iPhone webcast. But Jen, their new office manager, is going to change all that. Tech-savvy, she’s not, but she knows how to win people over and get ahead. After living for years in oblivion, Roy and Moss hope Jen can help them get the recognition they so desperately long for.
This one stars Joel McHale from The Soup and Burger King commercials. As you can probably tell from the rather generic description, this one appears to be a work in progress. No clips have surfaced just yet.
Lipstick Jungle Based on the best-selling book by Candace Bushnell (Sex and the City), this enticing new dramedy follows three high-powered friends as they weather the ups and downs of lives lived at the top of their game. Nico, editor-in-chief of a hot fashion magazine, has her eye on becoming CEO. Movie exec Wendy does everything she can to balance career and family. And free-spirited designer Victory longs to make her dreams come true, and maybe find Mr. Right along the way. Armed with humor and strength, these three modern New York women support one another through the triumphs and tears that are all part of making it big in The Big Apple.
So its Sex And The City, starring Brooke Shields, Kim Raver (Audrey from 24) and Lindsay Price. Its set to debut Sunday nights at 10pm after the NFL season is finished (January). *Yawn*
Heroes: Origins A six-part mini-series featuring the background of six new Heroes. Each episode will focus on one character, and at the end of the run viewers will vote to decide which character becomes a full-time character on Heroes. The Origins series will run during the mid-season hiatus for Heroes, in an effort to keep people interested in the show while the network stretches it out for May sweeps.
ABC Cavemen Over the last hundred thousand years, mankind has evolved from primitive creatures into the sophisticated beings we are today, with the exception of a small minority who unfortunately didn't physically evolve.
Meet Joel, his younger brother Jamie, and his best friend Nick, three cavemen living in modern-day Atlanta. These cavemen continually find themselves at odds with contemporary society as they struggle to overcome their physical appearance and the accompanying stereotypes.
Joel is content with his life while pursuing the American dream, and has recently become engaged to Kate, a lovely Southern Caucasian girl. However, he must constantly vie for the respect of her conservative parents. Joel's relationship with Kate and his personal contentment are constantly being put to the test by Nick and Jamie's emotional demands..
Basing the show on their popular GEICO "cavemen" commercials, Joe Lawson, Will Speck and Josh Gordon (Blades of Glory ) have created a hilarious and thought-provoking social commentary on race relations in today's America.
The preview clip is just awful. People are already taking bets on how many episodes it will last. I still have high hopes for it, but I am already pretty pessimistic about the execution of a pretty good idea. Though Blades Of Glory should probably tell me this isn't going to work out.
Sam I Am How would you like to rewind your life, erase all the mistakes and cringe-worthy moments and start over with a clean slate? It's a common fantasy. But for Samantha Newly, the fantasy is far too real. After a hit-and-run car accident puts her into an eight-day coma, she wakes up with retrograde amnesia. She can function in the world, but she can't remember a single fact about her own life! If you could start over, would you do things differently? Could you do them differently? Can people change? Or are we just... who we are? These are the questions Sam I Am asks, as our heroine begins the long, comic process of starting over from scratch
Yeah. I like Christina Applegate and think she is actually a decent actress, but she hasn't had a whole lot of luck with television since Married With Children. I can't imagine this will change that.
Carpoolers There are men who actively try and figure out the world -- together. These men are more complicated than we might think -- they have hopes, ambitions, families, careers, and insecurities. These men are the Carpoolers; four guys, living different versions of the modern suburban family life who obsess, dream, and strategize as they rocket their way up and down the carpool lane every day.
This one looks like a bad stand-up comedy routine: "Women be shoppin! You cannot stop a woman from shoppin! Guys, you know what I'm talkin bout."
Pushing Daisies It is a love story about a young man with a very special gift…the ability to return someone dead briefly back to life with just a simple touch.
Ned, a mild-mannered baker of fabulous pies, discovered his gift as a child. Now he puts his gift to good use, working with his only friend, a private investigator, to crack murder cases by asking victims to name their killers. But the tale gets complicated, as all tales do, when he saves his childhood sweetheart and she miraculously stays alive. Each week, she encourages him to use his powers to solve mysteries and help others. Life would be perfect, except for one cruel twist: if Ned ever touches her again, she'll lose the life he gave her, for good this time. There's always a catch…
Yeah, I don't even know what to say except that this doesn't appear to be the worst of the undead detective shows projected for next year.
Private Practice The official title of the Grey's Anatomy spinoff featuring Kate Walsh, Taye Diggs, Tim Daly and Amy Brenneman.
Dirty, Sexy Money Power, privilege and family money are a volatile cocktail. Living proof: The Darlings of New York City, so absurdly wealthy they put the "upper" in Upper East Side. This preeminent family's five spoiled adult brats - one of them a Presidential candidate - are always getting mixed up with the wrong people, including freeloading spouses, illegal immigrants and transvestite hookers. It will take a miracle to keep this Kennedy-esque clan out of the tabloids - and out of jail.
That miracle comes in the form of Nick George. As a boy, Nick watched his father surrender his freedom and family as the Darling's trusted consigliere. Burned by his own boyhood encounters with the family, Nick did a 180° and became a lawyer for the disadvantaged. But the passing of his dad thrusts the daunting responsibility of protecting the Darlings' secrets onto Nick. When the family's patriarch offers him an ungodly salary, Nick isn't sure if it's the chance of a lifetime - or a life sentence. In no time, he finds himself racing to plead with cops, hush the tabloids and furiously try to wipe the mud off the esteemed Darling reputation. With new disasters every week, hopefully Nick has the stamina for a marathon.
Who knows. Your guess is a good as mine. Its not an awful concept, I'll say that much.
Big Shots The line gets blurred between the boardroom and the bedroom in a new outrageous drama about four dysfunctional CEOs who will do anything to stay on top.
First we meet James Auster, who is about to become the latest casualty in a corporate shake-up until a twist of fate makes him the newest member of the corner office club. Then there's Duncan, a cosmetics CEO who can't resist sex with his age-defying ex-wife. Next, Karl is a loveable pharmaceutical big shot whose life turns upside down when his wife and mistress become best friends. And finally, Brody, the edgy Harvard B-school executive is so whipped, he spends more time planning his wife's birthday than running his company.
This foursome take refuge at their country club where they can discuss business, confide secrets, seek advice… and, yes, even men will gossip. It's lonely at the top and they have to trust someone to cover their back. And when you're a desperate executive, you may have to do everything wrong for the right reputation.
This looks like ABC's answer to Lipstick Jungle. Also, Christopher Titus, Michael Vartan, Joshua Malina (Jeremy from Sports Night) and Dylan McDermott are the stars. Maybe I just never noticed, but at this point its clear that ABC is putting all their eggs in female viewers' baskets.
Women's Murder Club When you are a woman working in a man's field, you get a lot further by teaming up. Two-time Emmy Award®-winning Director/Producer Scott Winant (Huff, thirtysomething) adapts the best selling novels by James Patterson for a thrilling new crime series that redefines women's work.
San Francisco Detective Lindsay Boxer (Angie Harmon, Law & Order) can analyze a crime scene in seconds, but she's frustrated that investigating and prosecuting a crime can take months or even years. To circumvent the Justice Department men's club, she assembles an all-female group of experts -- a medical examiner, a newspaper reporter and a young assistant district attorney. And because personal lives often blend into professional ones, they also become reliable friends. These women solve the latest homicides while unraveling the mysteries of their own turbulent romantic lives.
I blame Amy Tan.
CBS Viva Laughlin Small-time casino owner, Ripley Holden, dreams of opening up a snazzy resort on the Laughlin Strip. Based on the BBC murder-mystery-musical series, "Blackpool."
As you might imagine, Hugh Jackman has his hands all over this one.
The Big Bang Theory A pair of brilliant theoretical physicists meet a woman who shows them how little they know about the real world.
It stars Johnny Galecki, picking up right where he left off a decade ago as David on Roseanne and Kaley Cuoco (the girl from 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter). Nice work with the double entendre CBS. You're so edgy. Also their shower curtain is the periodic table of elements, which should give you some insight regarding the depth of the comedy on this show.
Cane Jimmy Smits. Need I say more. Okay, this should be like watching paint dry. Remember how well CBS did with Falco. Crime families just aren't for that network.
Moonlight A second undead crime detective series for next fall. Honestly this is getting ridiculous.
Fox New Amsterdam John Amsterdam in the 17th century and served as a Dutch solider in the colony of New Amsterdam. That makes it really strange that in 2007, he's still working as a New York City homicide detective. Funny what a little immortality will do.
Sweet. Not one, but three new dramas about the undead and detective work.
K-Ville a heroic police drama set in New Orleans. Two years after Katrina, the city is still in chaos on "K-Ville." Many cops have quit, and the jails, police stations and crime labs still haven't been properly rebuilt. But the cops who remain have courage to burn and a passion to reclaim and rebuild their city. Stars Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser. Not bad if it were on FX. Fox will figure out a way to pump it full of cliches and stereotypes right off the bat.
There is some news about The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. Specifically some websites have been launched (click and drag your cursor down the page) to promote the movie, filming has begun and as result the cast has been solidified since I last brought it up. First off Maggie Gyllenhaal has replaced Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes. I am not sure why they needed that character back, but this is an upgrade as far as I am concerned. Second, the rumors of Philip Seymour-Hoffman as the penguin were just that. It looks like our second supporting character will be Aaron Eckhart as Gotham district attorney Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, though I suspect the story will focus more Harvey Dent prior to the incident that made him Two-Face.
I have my doubts as to whether or not Aaron Eckhart can pull off the sinister side of Harvey Dent though. I know we won't see it full on, but I'd bet they're going to make subtle references (at the very least) to the underlying sociopath that creates Two-Face, but I have been told to check out In The Company Of Men to see Eckhart's most villainous role to date.
The biggest news regarding The Dark Knight is the photo of the new Joker. This will definitely not be Jack Nicholson and Tim Burton rocking out to Prince's Batdance: I love the new look. I didn't think there was room for a Nicholson style Joker in this series of Batman movies and it looks like so far everyone is on that same page.
The Dark Knight is currently filming in and around Chicago and is on track for a December release in theaters.
Have you ever had a song pop into your head and then you immediately realize you don't have it anywhere in your collection? It happened to me today. I was reading a news article that mentioned a fire at a "west end clothing factory" in Australia, and as soon as I read "west end" my brain started off on its own "aaa haaaa eeeeeeee-In a west end town of a dead end world, the east end boys and west end girls, west. end. girls. (do. do. do-do ch do-do do-do)" tangent. And suddenly I realized I have no Pet Shop Boys on my iPod. Ridiculous and totally inexcusable. Anyhow since the song is probably in your head now too, here's the music video so you can get your fix.
Last Thursday ABC aired a special called Lost: The Answers with producers/writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse that was billed as "answering the biggest questions from the first three seasons, in preparation for the season finale". My DVR picked it up because it was flagged as a new episode, so I took 45 minutes yesterday and watched it just in case.
It was a pretty decent recap of the series, from the pilot up through last week's episode but they didn't answer anything new. Some of the better parts were when they clipped some characters' back stories into little 2-3 min summaries. For example I had forgotten exactly how much Locke doesn't want the island to be found. Sure he mentioned it quite a bit in the episode where he blew up the submarine, but when they showed all the clips together I realized I had forgotten exactly how many times he did things that made the situation worse for everyone on the island.
What annoyed me about it was that the writers completely ignored some unanswered questions regarding characters like Michael, Walt, Boone, Shannon and Mr. Eko. Obviously characters have to die or leave in order for the show to feel like its going somewhere, but an explanation regarding Mr. Eko's death would have been nice. The closest they came was to say that the smoke monster seems to have the ability to judge the past of the people it encounters. So presumably Mr. Eko got beaten to death for the sins of his previous existence, while others have "passed" for now.
I believe the special will air again on Wednesday night at 8pm before the 2 hour season finale. So if you want a refresher on The Others or some other minor insights into the show it might not be a bad way to spend an hour. Otherwise if you've kept up with the show this season you won't be missing anything new.
This might be the most I've ever liked Patrice O'Neal. He's pretty good on The Office, but here he just knocks it out of the park. Thank you very much to whomever saw this live and had the presence of mind to record it and upload it to YouTube.
There is a new trailer out for the upcoming Transformers movie by Michael Bay. It seems to have improved quite a bit since the last one I saw. Hopefully the fighter jet transformer you see is the earth form of Megatron. Still no luck with Optimus Prime's flames. Yes, I am a huge nerd.
It's clear that the Quizno's marketing department only thought halfway through their Prime Rib sandwich ad campaign. Anytime I can get some goat related humor on this blog is a winning situation.
Two college roommates have an issue because one of them slams the door on his way to early morning classes. Of course when politely asking roommate B to stop slamming the door doesn't work, roommate A turns to more drastic measures: buttering the tile floor. Language is Very NSFW
Okay, I hate stamps as much as the next person and the recent price jump to 41 cents per stamp is pretty stupid. Why not just jump it up to 50 cents right now and leave it be for 20 years? Raising it by 2 cents a year every 3-4 years is really annoying. Apparently someone in Camp Hill, PA agrees with. A guy walked into the post office there and bought $8,000 worth of "forever" stamps which are special stamps guaranteed to be accepted forever regardless of any postage increases. These stamps were announced on April 12 and feature the Liberty Bell on them. The USPS is offering them as a convenience for customers. I don't want to get into all the math on this, but that $8,000 got him 19,512 stamps. If he never uses one and we assume a $0.07 over the next 7 years (since there was a $0.07 increase since 2001) he could make $1365.76 by just reselling the stamps at the new rate of $0.48. A profit of 17%. But chances are thats not his concern, because if it were he'd know full well that you could turn a better profit with compound interest if you put it in a simple savings account for those same 7 years.
That and he wouldn't have 19,512 stamps to safeguard and resell years later. Not to mention the entire progression of everything away from snail mail and towards electronic payments and e-mails. It looks like we know what his grandkids are going to inherit when he dies; about 16,000 unused stamps.
Earlier this week a man died after falling on his head while battle dancing in the rough streets of New Britain, Connecticut. Today the battle dancers struck again with their fresh moves and hip-hop music. Parents, your children are no longer safe. If you're like me and can't stop laughing, please standby by for your first class booking:
This is the latest in the prank war between the two College Humor guys Streeter Seidel and Amir Johnson. If you remember the last one, it ended with Amir telling the crowd not to laugh at Streeter's open mic stand up performance. I think this one was maybe going a little too far, because Amir's reaction is pretty awkward. I am pretty sure they cut the ending because Amir started crying. I think the best part is the quick shot the tall guy in the green shirt right after Amir says "You didn't get me good. This is so fffff-" (8:40).
This is an awesome video someone put together of some cinematic landmarks in Los Angeles. So if you live in L.A. or ever visit you could probably make a nice day trip out of some cool scenes from some pretty big movies.
Thanks to Drew for reminding me that Molly Shannon returned to host SNL this past weekend. I didn't see the whole show, but from what they have up on YouTube I see she may have knocked it out of the park. So here are some skits from the show. Above is her famous Salley O'Malley character, featuring a Sopranos twist with Fred Armisen doing a terrific Paulie Walnuts. Below is another Molly Shannon classic, Jeanie Darcie stand-up comedienne. The third clip is a MacGyver knockoff called MacGruber. Its a little unclear if they ran this as one extended clip or sprinkled the three throughout the show. Anyhow I think next season Lorne Michaels ought to explore the option of just asking every SNL star from the 90s to host on consecutive weekends. Andy Samberg can still do his digital shorts, and the result should be a return to the old 70 minutes of comedy, 10 minutes of suck ratio.
Have you ever thought about the old Steve Martin standup bit asking "why do hotdogs come in packs of 8, but hot dog buns come in packs of 12"? Well tonight I discovered the answer. It's so drunk-ass single guys that don't buy groceries can have something to eat at 2:30 in the morning. Problem solved. Myth busted. Mmmmm bread, glorious beer soaking upping bread.
I always thought those little signs at gas stations prohibiting cell phone use or telling you to remain outside of your vehicle while fueling were just a bunch of BS. This was in part because of an episode of Mythbusters where they allegedly debunked the myth (but still advised you honor the request). Today I am not so sure. I don't know what I'd do if this happened to me, other than run towards some bushes and prepare to dive over them in slow motion just as my car and the pump exploded behind me.
What is it about football that makes grown men think that recording homo-erotic music videos is a good idea? If I understand correctly this is in promotion of the Glasgow Diamonds, World Football League (now NFL Europe) team of the 1980s. Oh and "football's a gaaayhaaayyyeeeaaammmmmee" is completely unnecessary. The audience is European, not retarded.
Also worth noting is that in the video, notice that the Diamonds are always wearing blue. Now notice how anytime (except once at the end) they cut to the football sequences the blue team is getting its ass handed to them. Brilliant move guys.
I remember back in the late 80s/early 90s I wanted and got a sweet pair of Detroit Lions NFL Zubaz sweatpants. Looking back on it now I can't believe such a thing existed, let alone got endorsed by the NFL. In 1991, the year of this video, two things happened: Zubaz sold $100 million worth of product and these Miami Dolphins went 8-8. I'd be willing to bet that these guys woke up in a cold sweat the night they first heard about YouTube.
I've mentioned before how annoyed I get with Subway and their Jared Fogle ads. I even went as far as breaking down approximately how much money his Subway diet probably cost him ($10/day = $305/month x 18 months = $5,490). Today I found out a little more about Jared, how he paid for that diet as a college student and perhaps some of the real motivation behind his entire transformation. The Best Week Ever has a blog entry up saying that back in his days at Indiana University Jared was known for running a small-time porn rental service. $1 a day for a video from his extensive porn collection. BWE is also saying that his love for Subway was born out of convenience, as a Subway restaurant opened on the first floor of his apartment/dorm complex, making it the fast food location nearest to him. Amazingly a picture of this was readily available on Photobucket:I don't know what kind of legs this story has, but if things suddenly begin to change with Subway's ad campaigns you'll know why.
So I have been thinking about Children Of Men and why I liked it so much. Like I had mentioned before, there are quite a few unexplained details regarding the recent (2009-2027) history of the world in that movie that could fairly easily be picked at as flaws. But at the same time I mentioned that it allows you to use your imagination, and tonight I realized why that struck me as a positive. Its because of 28 Days Later and the upcoming sequel 28 Weeks Later. If you haven't seen the first of these movies here is a quick synopsis:
Jim wakes up from a coma in a London hospital to find the hospital deserted - and the rest of London as well. By degrees he comes to learn that in the past 28 days, a blood-borne virus has been released from a research facility and swept across England, Paris and New York, killing many and turning most into murderous zombies. After coming across a handful of uninfected people, Jim and his companions go to Manchester, where they hear the uninfected are gathering. But they have more on their hands than just zombies...
And here is a synopsis for the sequel (in theaters Friday): Seven months after the rage virus has annihilated the British isles, the US army declares that the war against infection has been won, and that the reconstruction of the country can begin. In the first wave of returning refugees, a family is reunited--but one of them unwillingly carries a terrible secret. The virus is not yet dead, and this time, it is more dangerous than ever.
So here is what I am thinking in terms of weaving the three movies together. Imagine the setting of 28 Days Later is 2007, and the plot of 28 Weeks Later comes along in late 2007/early 2008. Now the sequel already centers on a boy and his family returning to Britain and the boy being one of the youngest survivors on record. This takes care of a lot of the population questions from Children Of Men.
Obviously I haven't seen 28 Weeks Later yet, but imagine that a major plot development towards the end of the movie is that the medical community has developed a vaccination for The Rage, and they are making it available immediately. Undoubtedly everyone on the planet would get this vaccination without question or concern just from the sheer panic of everything that has happened in the past year and a half with the zombies and the devastation.
Skip ahead one year to 2009, this begins the history of Children Of Men, practically everyone and their children have taken this Rage vaccination and a year later the infertility starts being noticed. There are rare reports of pregnancies in rural areas and eventually the last known child, Baby Diego, is born to a mother that dies during labor. All is lost for humanity as no new pregnancies are reported for the next 18 years. The desperation and violence you see in Children Of Men is now enhanced by a fairly compelling back story regarding how 6 billion people became infertile in the course of 20 years. This also gives a more thorough explanation regarding the distrust between the terrorist/guerilla groups and the government throughout Children Of Men. Initially these groups would blame the governments for not properly testing the vaccines and eventually that original squabble would lead to neither side trusting each other with finding a solution. This next part is in white for anyone that hasn't seen Children Of Men: The Fishes would be seeking to exploit Kee in an attempt to overthrow the British government by producing the first pregnancy in years. The government simply doesn't know she exists and the Human Project is still that sort of mystery good/evil/government entity Theo has decided to believe in. The refugee camps are in play because the government is still overly concerned about the vaccination of the population, not wanting a strand of The Rage to somehow mutate and break out again. So they treat the undocumented foreigners as if they have received no vaccination and isolate them in the refugee camps. Proceed with Children Of Men from here.
Now I know nothing will likely ever come of this and without seeing 28 Weeks Later I can't say if this would be better served as two or three movies (my gut feeling is two). I think at the very least once 28 Weeks Later makes is to DVD, with a decent amount of effort someone could put together a pretty awesome mashup "trailer" for this saga. Who knows, maybe I'll take a crack at it myself.
