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What if Michael Bay wrote the screenplay for The Dark Knight? A hilarious exploration on what that would look like. It’s uncannily - and sadly - spot on.
This pen would have been really useful in college (click on the videos at the bottom of the page). These days I don’t take notes often, but I imagine it would be quite useful if I had a lot of face-to-face client meetings.
UPDATE: There’s a better video at ZDNet.
My grandfather had to drop out of high school during the Great Depression. He eventually got his GED, but said that most people he spoke with assumed he had a college degree. He was a very bright man, but he credited this to reading The New York Times every day, cover to cover.
Seth Godin writes about how business is poor at The New York Times, while standards and focus are slipping. Recent articles include two stories on Barbara Walters and her new book, and a review of The Olive Garden. Yes, The Olive Garden. After reading this, I have serious doubts as to whether someone could repeat what my grandfather did.
I remember growing up hearing that The New York Times was “the paper of record“. I looked up that term in Wikipedia and found there is resistance to that venerable term by Western newspaper editors, especially those at NYT:
Daniel Okrent, at the time the public editor of The New York Times, wrote on April 25, 2004 that his paper is no longer a newspaper of record, and that this change is to be welcomed. In his view, the journalism of a “newspaper of record” is “as much stenography as reporting, as much virtual reprinting of handouts (in the form of verbatim transcripts of unexceptional speeches) as provocative journalism.” John Geddes, the managing editor of The New York Times, expressed this even more strongly: “I don’t think there can be a ‘paper of record’. The term implies an omniscient chronicler of events, an arbiter that perfectly captures the significance and import of a day in our lives. I don’t work at that place.”
I think we’ve lost something good here.
Coolio was on Kevin and Bean this morning, promoting Cookin’ With Coolio. They asked him if he’d do weddings, bar mitzvahs, etc. and Coolio said yes. When they were surprised at this, Coolio clarified: “Everything is for sale, it’s just not on sale.” I dig it. He’s no different from Jay-Z, Sir Elton John, and every other superstar who accepts ridiculous fees to do private parties. It’s just a matter of negotiating the price.
Just a reminder that the final season of Battlestar Galactica starts tonight at 10PM. In case you forgot over the one year break, last season ended with some sort of conflict between spaceships and robots and people. Or something. It’s been so long…
I frequently have to adjust my assumptions. Everyone knows the Wii is the top console these days, but it always amazes me to hear that the PS2 is next in line. Sony sold 352,000 units in February alone! Versus 281K for the PS3 and 255K for the 360. And the Nintendo DS outsells everything at 588K units last month. The #1 game was Devil May Cry 4, which I’d never even heard of - not even 1-3. I’m not a console gamer, but I figured I’d at least hear of the best selling game in the market. I think it’s time I a start midlife crisis.
Great presentation - in cartoon form - explaining the sub-prime mortgage debacle. Some naughty words, but quite educational.
Ski masks? Check.
Van? Check.
Handgun (or reasonable facsimile thereof)? Check.
90 seconds of spare time? Check.
Ok, we’re ready to steal $163 MILLION worth of art.
The graphic novel Akira will be turned into two live action films. Yes, this is the same book that was turned into the anime of the same name. Akira single-handedly brought anime to mainstream America; it’s legendary. Otomo, who wrote the novel and directed the anime, will be exec producing the films, so I’m sure it’s in good hands.
Ok, this is just weird to me. In the new Knight Rider TV movie, the voice of KITT will be played by Val Kilmer. He is replace Will Arnett - yes, the guy who played Gob on Arrested Development. Turns out Arnett is already the “voice of GMC Trucks” in all the commercials, so GM wasn’t too happy about him voicing a Mustang. Considering their recent all-time record yearly loss of $38.7B, they must have been devastated. So Val Kilmer is filling in.
Kilmer’s voice is so different from William Daniels (the original KITT) that I have to assume there’s a major personality change in the car.
Just a quick recommendation for two hilarious HBO comedy specials: Dave Attell: Captain Miserable and Louis CK - Shameless. Attell’s special just aired and will be in reruns for a while. Shameless came out almost a year ago, but I think it’s still available on HBO On Demand. If not, you can rent it on DVD.
I’m not sure I’d call this filthy comedy, but after watching them you’ll never look at whale semen or duck vaginas in the same light… On second thought, it’s filthy.
Great news! Christian Bale is set to play John Connor!
Horrible news! It’s being directed by McG.
I’m having flashbacks to when I learned there’d be a live action Transformers movie with the original Optimus Prime, but it’d be directed by Michael Bay.
I’ve wanted to buy stock in Blizzard since I got addicted to World of Warcraft (over two years sober, thank you very much). But it was stuck inside Vivendi Universal, diluting those profits. Soon it will be stuck inside Activision, making it the biggest game company around - slightly bigger than EA. Since Activision is responsible for games like Call of Duty and Guitar Hero, this seems like a good bet, and its stock has been skyrocketing. I’ll probably drag my feet like I did with Google and curse myself afterwards. Every once in a while, procrastination has it’s disadvantages.
Variety reports that Netflix will be offering Heroes, 30 Rock, and The Office the day after being broadcast. It appears you’ll be able to view them on your PC through Netflix streaming or rent them on DVD. You can already view them at NBC.com, but with commercials you can’t skip (and rewinding will play them again). I’m assuming the Netflix versions will be commercial-free. I already watch these via DVR, but it’s a nice backup plan if I miss one.
Variety reports that some democratic politicians (including Hilary Clinton and Joe Biden) are again attacking the game rating entity ESRB over Manhunt 2. The game was originally Adults Only due to violence, but it made some changes and is now Mature. They cite an FTC study that shows 42% of kids under 17 can still buy Rated M games. They’re also saying that you must consider whether the game will be released on the Wii! If it is, they believe it’s actually instructing kids how to kill. Probably doesn’t affect any readers here, but an interesting viewpoint. Like the MPAA, the ESRB was created to avoid gov’t regulation. If they don’t improve enforcement, they’ll fail. Of course, considering how awful the MPAA is, maybe gov’t regulation would be an improvement. And I don’t like big government!
So for the very first time, I actually clicked on one of those text ads. It was on Facebook, and it was for a movie I hadn’t heard of called The Ten. I still have no idea how this got by me. It’s essentially from the The State/Stella, and stars Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, Liev Schrieber, Rob Corddry, Gretchen Mol, Famke Janssen, and Oliver Platt. That’s a lot of people I like and/or lust after (I’m talkin’ to you, Paul Rudd). And I loved Wet Hot American Summer, which these guys also did. Anyway, it’s been in and out of theaters so add it to your Netflix queue. It’ll be released on DVD on 1/15/08.
If you’re looking for a good way to kill some time, check out FreeRice. It tests and improves your vocabulary while donating rice to starving people. So you improve your vocabulary, raise your karma, and procrastinate all at the same time!
Some are calling Seinfeld arrogant for this, but I find it pretty hilarious. Of course, I am arrogant, and I have nowhere near the success he has.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Internet Time Service has a little program you can run to sync your computer’s clock with the national atomic clock. It’s just an executable (no installation), but of course you need to be connected to the Internet.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia premiered Thursday (9/13) with two new episodes. You gotta love a show not afraid to tackle sensitive subjects like dumpster babies. I’ve added it to the fall television schedule along with Reaper, which might not suck (Kevin Smith directed the pilot).
Updated the fall television schedule to add Curb Your Enthusiasm (so now it’s not just network television). If anyone knows of a good guide to cable shows premiering this fall, please post a link.
The first episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will air on their MySpace page a month early. More at Variety.
Here are the wedding announcements of some hilariously named couples. For the sake of their kids, they should never hyphenate them. Of course, I wouldn’t complain too much if my last name was “Best-Lay”.
The Office is spinning off a video game. Yeah, I wouldn’t have bet on that, either. It’s marketed towards casual gamers, and will only be on handhelds (e.g., Nintendo DS) and PCs.
Variety reports on Universal making a movie of the old Spy Hunter video game. I can remember countless hours playing that in arcades and on my Apple IIc. Apparently, this is a revival of the project, which was originally to be directed by John Woo and starring The Rock. This seems, directorially, a step down. No idea if The Rock is still playing The Lead.
Some interesting film news. The Hughes Brothers, who did From Hell, are directing a film version of Kung Fu. And apparently Blizzard Entertainment has commissioned a script for Diablo. No word on whether it’s live action or animated, but I’d always heard those slick, 3D rendered cinematics were done as practice for a movie. Perhaps that’s it. And Robert Rodriguez, fresh off of Planet Terror (aka, Grindhouse part I), will be doing a remake of Barbarella. I never saw the first, but I’m sure this will be entertaining. No word on who will star, succeeding Jane Fonda. Rosario Dawson, perhaps?
Amusing animation about your desktop after hours. I loved the ending.
Paul Graham writes about the first anthropomorphic dynamically balancing robot. Basically, that means it walks like a human, but not in a pre-programmed way that requires a hard, flat surface, like Honda’s robot. The article has interesting background info, plus video. Waiting for commentary by Crack Team robot expert Masterchief. Also waiting for my own personal gynoid (NSFW).
Due to a recent conversation, I decided to look up restaurant closures in my area. It was surprisingly simple, I just Googled “
Normally, spammers will try to change their subject and email address to something unrelated to their wares. Well, I just got spam from somebody trying to sell me cholesterol medication, and true to form, their email address was totally disguised. It was 1bigsetofnaturalbreasts@1bigsetofnaturalbreasts.com. You fooled me again!
The online version of Variety is now free! I used to subscribe, but then they significantly increased their rate. Now they’ve eliminated it. I’m guessing the improved online ad market gets credit. Will Wall Street Journal Online follow suit? They already doubled their subscription price, so perhaps they’re next. Or they’ll just make twice as much money.
Skype popped up an invitation to swap contact info with the someone who sent this message: “I AM VICTOR FROM HARBIN China
the place where is world famous for ice sculpture. wanna make friend with you.I like Yaoming of Huston Rocket.” I declined. I got another one of these a while back, from Ireland, I think. When did Skype go from internet phone to global chatroom?
If you have a minute, check out Sacha Baron Cohen’s Golden Globes acceptance speech for Borat. Very funny but a tad gross, like the movie.
I just received a rather amusing virus. It claimed to be an encrypted email from AOL, in the form of a .zip attachment. I was told to keep it in a safe place. The amusing part was that in the body of the email, they included a user name and password with which to unlock the file. As if both were needed to unlock a zip file (AFAIK, only passwords are used to lock zip files), and that you would send that in plain-text. It’s the email equivalent of mailing a lock box with the key taped to its side.
Microsoft has become proactive about fighting obesity in their company [BusinessWeek]. They’re paying for 80% of the cost of a $6,000 clinical weight-loss program. And they’re getting a 1:1 ROI as their employees use expensive healthcare services less often. Of course, this doesn’t count the added benefit they get from happier, grateful employees.
Don’t install Internet Explorer 7! I just came back from a Java Users Group meeting, and there were a couple reports of it crashing systems. In addition, it prevents you from rolling back to IE 6. I recommend you avoid for now. In the meantime, Firefox 2 rocks!
You might not have caught it, but Firefox 2.0 has been released, and it has some cool new features. I’m really digging the built-in spell checker, which is pointing out typos as I write this post! You’ll have to download it manually, as “Check for updates” will not find it.
While watching 24 (season 5), I came up with a new TV warning:
Due to some graphic violence, this show will be completely awesome.
I only hope the networks don’t overuse it.
Here’s a very funny audio clip of comedian Tom Mabe freaking out a telemarketer.
After analyzing photos on places like MySpace, I created a profile pic that was dark and grainy, taken at an extreme angle using a cell phone camera and a mirror. Here is a handy photo guide to explain what all that means. It may not be safe for work. Thanks to Agent ZBalance for forwarding this to me.
While Carls, Jr. is one of my favorite fast food joints, I just had one of their “hand scooped” ice cream shakes - cookies and cream - and it had NO flavor. In addition, the consistency led me to believe they simply take ice cream and add WATER instead of milk! Ugh. Just avoid.
There’s a moral to this story. And it’s hilarious.
E3 is scaling way down. Surprisingly, the reasons are reasonable. The video game industry no longer needs a big event to garner the attention of the press, and May is too early to display games scheduled for fall. It’ll now be a place to do some press conferences and let the bigwigs network. Since they closed it off to the public this year, I don’t think anyone really cares. I guess this is good news for PAX.
I just noticed that the Weather Channel web site has improved my local weather page. They added a pulldown menu called “On the Spot” that allows you to select conditions at nearby intersections, parks, schools, event venues, etc. Nice for those places that get much hotter, colder, or wetter than the rest of town. Man, I wish we had A/C.
Variety reports a judge has decided that it’s not ok to edit films, removing things you find offensive, then sell the edited version. Well, duh. It is ok, however, to use technology to skip over or mute stuff you don’t want to see or hear. That seems fair to me, too.
Here’s a fascinating little story about how Nestle made KitKat the candy king in Japan. As KitKat is my favorite movie candy (which has disappeared from most theatre chains, the bastards), I applaud their effort. Kitto Katsu!
Found another goofy, funny voiceover video on Josh Rehman’s blog. This one covers the scene in Lord of The Rings where Frodo wakes up and everyone comes to visit. We finally learn what they’re saying! Safe for work. I think.
Delocator is an independent coffee shop and cafe finder. I have had plans to do something similar for a long time now, albeit a bit more grandiose. I still may go through with them, or perhaps collaborate, but this does the job for now.
It Should Be Outlawed: Men who not only undo their zipper, but also the button and belt on their pants when using a urinal. If you’re over 10 and you have to pull up your pants after taking a leak, you’re doing something wrong. You should’ve figured that out around the time you gained enough coordination to wipe yourself. And I’m seeing engineers do this, for Pete’s sake! It ain’t rocket surgery!
Just saw The Ice Harvest, and I have to give it a pass. It’s a film noir/dark comedy, but it’s too much dark and not enough comedy. For a good, relatively modern film noir, try Body Heat or LA Confidential. For dark comedy, try Army of Darkness or Shaun of the Dead.
The following are actual foreign titles for the movie RV:
- U.K.: RV: Runaway Vacation
- Taiwan: The Mission to Relax
- Spain: Vaya Vacaciones (”What a Vacation”)
- Other Spanish-speaking countries: Crazy Vacation
- France, Switzerland and Belgium: Camping Car
Variety reports that TV advertisers won’t pay for viewers watching the show on a DVR. Right now, those viewers make up only 4% of the audience for the big networks. But I wonder how will they make it up that revenue (i.e., charge consumers) as they lose commercial viewers.