October 2006 Archives
For 36 hours....eek.
It's all over the nerdwire: Marvel is set to release a crossover (I guess it would be called a "mash-up" these days) Dynamite Entertainment property Army of Darkness! That's right, Ash may be set to meet Spiderman in some sort of meta-Raimi circus of brand synergy. I haven't been this excited about a crossover event since Star Trek/X-Men!
Link to the CBR article
Link to the Newsarama article
From the Wish-I-Woulda-Thought-of-That file comes the hilarious Uncyclopedia! Check out the listing for Shaquille O'Neal. Amazing.
Thanks to my boy, Jeff L.
Last night the most wonderful thing happened to me. There I was, sitting on the subway, when a man came bursting into our car with bells jangling. He was carrying an old fashioned box and a stand to put it on. "Oh my god, he's going to do magic," I whispered excitedly to Katie. "No he's not," Katie said, incessently thinking that I am wrong and she is right. Well this time, my friends, Katie was wrong. So very wrong.
Our good friend over at Boobs Radley has pointed out to me a golden nugget of headlining news from Yahoo News. Okay, get ready for this, because you are going to be SHOCKED...ready?...The headline reads: Vampires a Mathematical Impossibility, Scientist Says! (I didn't add that exclamation point, by the way) The all too short article goes on to tell us that an alarming percentage of the public actually believes that vampires and zombies exist. (I'm going to say it's safe to assume they mean the American public)...I wish someone had published this sooner, because the only reason I wanted to move to Eastern Europe was to find the vampires that I was sure were hiding in castles there...now I have to rethink my entire life plan...perhaps I should turn my focus to something scientists can't debunk...like werewolves, or maybe the Blob.
Apparently Weird Al is having the most amazing animators ever illustrate all the videos for his new album, "Straight Outta Linwood." The video for "Close but No Cigar" is animated with disgustingly sexy vigor by John Kricfalusi, the creator of Ren and Stimpy! I haven't really kept up with John K's work over the years, but judging by this video he has spent his post-Nickelodeon days getting even more awesome! See below.
Want to kill the surprize? Read below
Sam and Michelle should team up for a duet...
HOW IT WORKS: Musicians should go to (www.myspace.com/godofwar) to register for the contest and upload their song onto the God of War II MySpace entry page. All musical entries will be available for fans to listen to. Fans will be encouraged to vote for their favorite song - musicians are encouraged to get their fans, friends and family to go to the site to vote for their song. There are three rounds.
Round 1 "The Beginning" - Starting OCTOBER 11 - Musicians can log on and post their own recording on the official entry site. Fans can listen to all the entries and then vote for their favorite. The top fifty vote getters will make it to Round 2.
Round 2 "The Semis" - The top 50 songs/vote getters from Round 1 will be whittled down to the top 10 songs by the development team behind the creation of God of War II. They will pick their ten favorite songs that best embody the spirit of the game and potentially deserve a place on the official soundtrack.
Round 3 "The Finals" - The top 10 will be announced on the website and fans will be encouraged to listen to the top 10 and vote for their favorite. The song with the highest number of votes will win and it will be featured on the God of War II soundtrack alongside other major recording artists (recording artists to be announced).
I'm still waiting for the aural experience of being flushed down a toilet.
Also, Sam, put up some new tracks.
The nicely designed Stationary movies has a bunch of scenes from famous movies made with office supplies, and you guess what movie they're from. I got 12/20 so far, and the ones I can't get are driving me crazy! (If my explanation didn't make any sense, just go check it out, you'll understand). You can also take your own picture and send it in, and if it wins, you get a big old certificate to buy a bunch of movies. Let me know if you get them all so I can be jealous of you and be properly put to shame. (I'm counting on you, Stephen, I know how you like puzzles).
I've come to the disheartening conclusion that you guys do not enjoy my movie reviews, and I've been trying to hold off on them as of late. But you know what? I watch a lot of movies and I like to talk about them, so screw you guys.
I'll keep them short though.
Marie Antoinette: Pretty vapid, but I didn't mind it, perhaps because my inner lesbo has a thing for Kirsten Dunst. Yeah, I know, you hate her. Everyone does. I don't care, I think she's cute. If you hate her though, you're most likely going to hate this movie. As expected, it certianly wasn't spectacular, the pacing was weird, and her life was broken into sections, and it moved without warning from one part of her life to the next without reason. Coppola didn't try very hard to show us what makes Marie Antoinette such a captivating and compelling person in history. The costumes were cool (of course) and the whole movie was really very pretty. The ending was an insulting cop-out and I was disappointed that there was no chop chop (the way in which she was unjustly persecuted is what makes her fascinating...how do you leave her entire imprisonment out of her life story?!) Oh! And the fucking 80's music couldn't have been more irritating. Seriously.
The Prestige: Pretty damn sweet. And by pretty damn sweet, I mean David Bowie as Tesla was pretty damn sweet. He was a small part in the movie, but they made sure that he was totally sweet the entire time. As for the other 110 minutes of the movie, it was really good. It was almost more a story of obsession than magic, persay, and I was guessing and fascinated the whole way through (no small feat when you're about one inch from the theater screen and have to keep wrenching your head left and right to get the whole picture). Christian Bale was great and Hugh Jackman pleasantly surprised me as well (usually I really can't handle him without his Wolverine sideburns). Scarlett Johanson has a terrible British accent, and plays your average sexy character entirely lacking in depth. I can't really say anything about the plot since it would give it away. Personally, I thought The Illusionist was more magical and delicate (although most people would vehemently disagree and yell at me about how corny it was, and then I would cry). The Prestige obviously was intended for a larger audience and was much more focused on action...but you know, one wasn't better than the other, they were just different (surprisingly different for such similar storylines). In conclusion, David Bowie Rules.
I just saw four children playing a game involving clothing, colors and tag. Someone would blurt out a color and then everyone would violently hit the person wearing that color. The smallest child, who I had pegged as being age young was wearing something one shade less than tie-die and was continously getting pegged. Eventually he called out, in between grasps for breath "touch nobody." The game died down and he panted, "I win."
Sam Tyndall may not always make the best decisions w/r/t members of the opposite sex. I, myself, have quite a few skeletons in my closet. Women whose feelings I have hurt, trusts I have broken.
I have, on occasion, been a bad boyfriend. I have been a post-relationship pseudo-stalker. Checking on people's blogs or doing searches for them long after they have asked me never to speak to them again. I've even blogged here about one such instance.
Well, now I know how it feels. Our main man Telephone Sam has an internet stalker that just won't give up. She has caused inconvenience and annoyance to every poster on this blog by posting comments relevant only to Sam Tyndall.
The IP addresses connected to the comments always resolve to Canada. Now, I know what you're thinking. How could you possibly know who the commenter is? There are 32,623,490 Canadians out there!
There is only one Canadian so fixated on our own personal Mr. T. Sorry, Sam. You might be big in Japan, but you just haven't blown up in our neighbor to the north.
As Grand Overlord And Person Who Pays The Bills of thatsplenty.com, I now pass a royal decree: The Canadian known only as Nathalie is no longer welcome here at thatsplenty.com and any and all comments made by her will be treated as spam.
Thank you for your attention. That is all.
So you don't like Atlas Shrugged (because nature didn't select you to be a super human like me, I understand, you're sort of bitter). Well maybe you'll like this better, you simpletons.
They're making a Fraggle Rock Movie!
Update: I forgot to mention that Frank Zappa's son is making it, if it means anything to you.
This has been floating around for a while but it is new to me so I thought I ought to share it.
For even more entertainment just make sure to look through some of the other Chiru Videos on youtube, nothing but gold.
It looks like it's going to be a trilogy, and Angelina Jolie will be Dagny Taggart...you know, I think Sigourney Weaver would be more appropriate...or Frances McDormand. Maybe they're too old, but somehow, they both are so sexy because of their convincing lack of emotion. Anyway, excited to see the utopia where all the retired industrialists hide. Who's going to play John Galt? Christian Bale, maybe? He's so hot right now. I could really see him as the physical and intellectual representation of man’s ideal. Him or Popeye.
Its nice to know that there are others out there getting all psyched about Neo Victoriana. http://www.spookylibrarians.com/steampunk.html
Japanese toy manufacturer Boford specializes in weapons of war such as swords and guns. Boford released a set of toy weapons inspired by the swords of Onimusha last year. The company has an ambitious project in the works which focuses on the sketches and ideas of Leonardo Da Vinci.
Violet Fire...a Nikola Tesla multi-media opera?
I don't know whether I should be impressed or appalled.
edit: worst youtube clip that fits what I'm talking about a tiny bit, ever
David Bowie is playing Nikola Tesla in some movie called The Prestige. Something about magic. Prolly be better than his last performance in Mr. Rice's Secret which was retarded and hilarious. It involved David Bowie as a dead guy who had a secret elixer of life and a boy with leukimia trying to find the secret, while being bullied for, uh, having cancer? So bad. worth hunting down.
Anyway, Dylan, think you could do a comic about Nikola Tesla acting in a movie as David Bowie? That would be pretty cool.
Also, final episode of Venture Bros. had Bowie taking down Iggy and Nomi, while a parralel plot made fun of the neverendingstory and even luck dragons. ^ stars.
Oh, here's some girls at a slumber party drinking sugar water and reviewing the Mr. Rice movie
Wee! Sony Bravia (makers of the lovely advert where a squillion bouncy balls are shot bouncing their way down San Fransisco streets in slow motion) have made a new one. This time they're exploding paint out of some buildings in Glasgow. It's pretty sweet, especially the inside shots, which I wish there were more of. I could do without the clown, and I feel like The Thieving Magpie (the overture from Gioacchino Rossini's opera by the same name, which you will probably remember from A Clockwork Orange, and probably a bunch of radio and television commercials) is kind of played out, yo, and they could have found something a little more virgin to the ears, but otherwise, it's really cool. The behind-the-scenes video is good to watch too. They've got a good creative team (and piles of money to burn, apparently) over at Sony Bravia.
I found old "Private Snafu" shorts while looking for Warner Brother's cartoons on youtube. WB has of course had all the Bugs Bunny cartoons removed, but left the Snafu shorts, which they produced for the War Department between 1943 and 1945 to show to the troops as part of the Army Navy Screen Magazine reel.
I linked two of em after the jump
There's a great post today on the Athanasius Kircher Society Blog about ways to ensure that someone was actually dead before burying them in the days before modern medicine. These included a delightful hospitals for the “doubtful dead", also known as waiting mortuaries. These were environments which encouraged the rotting of a dead body (probably very warm, very wet, and with Celine Dion songs playing on a loop)...each doubtful dead would be equipped with a string attached to a bell, so they could be all, "duuude! I'm not dead!" Sadly, corpses have the unnerving tendency to twitch, so these waiting mortuaries were rife with false alarms.
Lots more (including "security coffins" with air tubes and horns for tooting, in case you awake to find yourself buried) at Athanasius Kircher Society.
And if you're into that sort of thing (and who doesn't want to be a Lost Boy, I mean really?) head over to Germany, and check in to Propeller Island City Lodge, a hotel filled with wacky novelty rooms including a coffin room, where, dream of dreams! you can finally sleep in a coffin. The site has pictures of all 45 rooms, and if you've got some spare time on your hands (and I know you do), it's pretty fun to look at. I especially enjoyed the room with the cages hanging from the ceiling.
Tenacious D made a little video to promote their new album. The iTunes plug at the end is probably the best convincer to buy music instead of steal that I've ever heard. Tell it like it is, Tenacious D. (I'm probably going to continue stealing, though.)
Not too sure about the Tenacious D movie coming out soon, (Trailer) it could easily go either way. I'm really feeling up for some dumb comedy though. Anyone seen Jackass 2? I hear good things, but not from reliable sources.
Also, wasn't School of Rock a great movie? I like Jack Black, most of the time. (I was going to make a crack about Nacho Libre being crappy, but frankly, the hater jokes in the comments are getting a little tired, and for one post, I'm trying to avoid them).
I'm playing on Saturday at Sin-E with Judah Johnson and Lions & Tigers. Please come if you can make it!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory originally had a chapter called, "Spotty Powder" and a character called Miranda Piker, who was edited out of the final verson. Now you can read the lost chapter at Times Online. I'm glad she was edited out, Miranda Piker is a square and a smart-ass and I hate her. Although the implied cannibalism wasn't wasted on me. Apparently Miranda's fate was too chilling to be included in the book. I say, bitch got what she deserved.
I'd make it this one. A conspiracy of signing music with melody. I love it.
"Quirky Nintendo music composer Kazumi Totaka has a 19-note tune that he likes to hide in his games."
not if yr a janitor, but if yr a baseball player...
http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4645998?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
30$ off.
After a 4-year hiatus, Evan Dorkin's ingenious gag book, Dork, has returned with issue #11! Dorkin is probably best remembered for the violent dairy products Milk and Cheese, but this wildly sporadic series is the repository for his other gag stuff like The Murder Family, The Eltingville Club, and his Fun Strips. While previous issues have featured multi-page comedy stories, this latest issue is all about the gag strips and is all the better for it, showcasing Dorkin's tight timing and misanthropic sense of humor. Dorkin is still probably one of the funniest cartoonists still operating in comics. Most everything I've ever read by him has made me laugh out loud. Dork #11 is on stands now!
See more of Evan Dorkin's stuff, including his regularly updated blog, at the rarely updated House of Fun.
His job? To throw a ball.
Literally, the man made $3,300,000 this year as a ball thrower.
He will be missed, and the balls left unthrown will, in their stillness and proximity to the ground, leave a gaping hole in the psyches of all Americans, but especially New Yorkers. And Philadelphians. You know, 'cause he was on the Phillies for, like, two years. And Cincinnatians, they'll feel it too over at Great American Ball Park. (Yes, that really is the name of the field where the Reds play.)
Torontoans, they'll feel it too, and the Blue Jays might even have a moment of silence during their next game.
Cory Lidle can never be replaced.
Except by the next $3 million dollar ball thrower.
Let's have a moment of silence for the other 6,500 or so Americans who died today.
Ugly Overload never fails to put a smile on my face, especially when I'm feeling misanthropic.
Check out the trailer for the adaptation of Frank Miller's 300. I've never read it (Eric, can you tell me more?), but the trailer definitely intrigues me. Like Sin City, it was shot entirely on green screen with CG backgrounds to try and preserve the look of a comic book illustration. The trailer looks like a cross between Night Watch, Lord of the Rings, and God of War. Seriously.
Read the production blog here, should you be so inclined.
Instead of sleeping last night, I downloaded and played a number of the old DOS adventure games that I grew up with. Its odd, but I feel way more nostalgia for these old PC games than any of the old NES or SEGA games. I think maybe its because "NES-Culture" is still being parlayed by plenty of Williamsburg Artists types Nintendo itself, and Beck. The Sierra and LucasArts game series, such as Quest For Glory, Monkey Island, Kings Quest or Liesure Suit Larry, take me instantly back to being curled up in front the ole 486.
This game binge fest was brought about by my discovery of DOSBOX, a Dos emulator for both Windows XP and all flavors of MacOSX. Want to get down with it? I linked up everything...
May I present the Casimir Effect?
In physics, the Casimir effect is a physical force exerted between separate objects, which is due to neither charge, gravity, nor the exchange of particles, but instead is due to resonance of all-pervasive energy fields in the intervening space between the objects.
no youtube video to back it up, but it would make a killer band name
edit From the Museum of Hoaxes: Dectractions on Casimir and Ships at sea. Well, there goes my solid example.
This is known as the Meissner effect. It is the effect by which a weak magnetic field decays rapidly to zero in the interior of a superconductor. The distance to which the field is active is known as the London penetration depth. (Isn't that an S&M club?) Anyway, long story short, its awesome.
This effect will levitate a magnet as long as the magnetic field does not exceed the critical magnetic field. A magnet that is suspended by the superconductor has two interesting properties; it does not move, and it can spin without friction. The ability for the magnet to stay perfectly still is due to flux pinning, in which the magnetic field lines become trapped within the superconductor at sites of impurity in the crystal structure.
You can read the first two chapters in the saga here.
The seemingly neverending struggle with Verizon ended today in defeat. I have cancelled my internet service, despite having no alternative route for access.
But I had little choice.
well, except bonus tranks... pretty close to last week. Annoying comments still in italcis.
1. Opening Licks
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Danzig - Mother This is so bad, it's awesome. like east and west in risk
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Wolfmother - Woman
Spinal Tap - Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight
2. Amp-Warmers
Kiss - Strutter
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box kkk girl in the video. haha remember black hole sun?
Police - Message in a Bottle
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son
3. String-Snappers
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Search and Destroy thank god
Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
4. Thrash and Burn
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night
Mathew Sweet - Girlfriend
Rolling Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knockin'
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
5. Return of the Shred
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of again, barfjuice. i saw zach eating hummus in la. i hate this town
Primus - John the Fisherman
Sword - Freya
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Aerosmtih - Last Child
6. Relentless Riffs
Heart - Crazy on You
Stone Temple Pilots - Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Stray Cats - Rock This Town still stoked
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Jane's Addiction - Stop
7. Furious Fretwork
Anthrax - Madhouse
Living End - Carry Me Home
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ the new decemberist album sounds like rush
8. Face-Melters
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized sam, all you wanted was a pepsi
Dick Dale - Misirlou
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
...if you don't have health insurance to cover the vaccine (or if you just don't feel like getting it).
I have had the flu in the worst way. I had a fever for four days straight and was bedridden for 7 days. I am now a weak and shrivelled specimen of the woman I once was. I really don't want anyone else to get the flu because it really blows and you have to miss a bunch of work (although you also get to miss a few of those unwanted pounds...bonus!)
Please enjoy the list of Don't Get the Flu Tips I've complied for your enojyment and education
I don't see Dan, but here's the people doing the muzac music for GH2.
disclaimer: I work at GameTrailers
For your consideration...
The trailer finally makes its way to youtube after being stuck in some horrible streaming moviephone exclusivity. Gervais from the office and the spinal tap guys? This shall be amazing. Even if Mighty Wind sucked a bit.
Bonus Gervais below
This reminds me - when we got a comment from one of the guys that worked on Guitar Hero II (in response to an apocalyptic comment from me), I was like "Yeah, whatever. It's not Dan @ Harmonix, it's just some dude." But I got all traceroute on his IP address and sure enough we was writing from Harmonix.
And - BONUS - the gentleman that messaged us worked on some of my favorite games, has done some interactive fiction, and kept a book diary of everything that he reads.
After poking around his website, I was actually pretty flattered that he wandered over to our website to give me the business.
Thanks for setting me straight, Dan @ Harmonix!
so.
I recently blogged a lil thing here which for some reason or anther got a few resposnes, including an anonymous misdirect:
Posted by: Anonymous | October 5, 2006 11:17 AM
Ah, but MisterMiss Any Mouse, yr IP address was still captured by the That's Plenty cyber patrol and I got creative...
Seems like somebody in Toronto is mildly interested in my sexuality.... the answer below
This is amazing and terrifying.
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness: "The Owl"
Well, Emmanuel Ho made it. This is probably the best music video I have ever seen.
I really want to have a pumpkin carving contest, so to get you kids excited and ruminating on exactly what kind of Pumpkins you want to carve I suggest you take a look at http://www.extremepumpkins.com/index.html
They put the man back in pumpkin...man.
But, unfortunatly, tis not me culture that is the odd one
I'm working on a review for a game called God Hand which is a modern day brawler, with tank controlls and is very odd. Above is a Japanese promotional video for it.
Wythe-y, can you tell us what's going on?
I know some of you kids love that Settler's of Catan thing so I thought I'd mention that it's coming to Bill Gates' box (Maybe Emerald can tag it??) with over da internet support. eh.
my legs are bruised from shattering a six foot glass vase in Barcelona. My skin seems to be reacting badly to glass.
Stolen from GAF, who stole it from some other forum, italics am me:
Opening Licks
Strutter - Kiss
Mother - Danzig
Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
Shout At The Devil - Motley Crue
Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight - Spinal Tap
Amp-Warmers
Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana
Message In A Bottle - Police
Woman - Wolfmother (artist not confirmed)
You Really Got Me - Van Halan (Kinks)
Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas
String Snappers
Surrender - Cheap Trick
Them Bones - Alice in Chains
Search and Destroy - Stooges (artist not confirmed, but it damn well better be the stooges!)
Tatooed Love Boys - The Pretenders
War Pigs - Sabbath
Thrash and Burn
Cherry Pie - Warrant my neighborhood is going to hate me
Who Was In My Room Last Night - Butthole Surfers
Girlfriend - Darkness (artist not confirmed), some say Mathew Sweet
Can't You Hear Me Knocking - Rolling Stones
Sweet Child of Mine - GnR
Return of the Shred
Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine barfjuice
John The Fisherman - Primus
Freya - Sword (artist not confirmed)
Bad Reputation - (too hard to say, my guess is Thin Lizzy, but could be Joan Jett)
Jessica - Allman Brothers
Relentless Riffs
Crazy On You - Heart
Trippin On A Hole In A Paper Heart - STP
Rock This Town - Stray Cays did we already know this one? this is a good thing
Last Child - Aerosmith
Stop - Janes Addiction (artist not confirmed, but I really hope it's Janes Addiction.)
Furious Fretwork
Madhouse - Antrhax
That's it, however don't forget the following that have supposedly already been confirmed.
Hangar 18 - Megadeath
Laid to Rest - Lamb of God
Misirlou - Dick Dale
Beast and the Harlet - Avenged Sevenfold
Freebird - Lyn Skyn
YYZ - Rush.
Psychobilly Freakout - Rev Horton Heat
also, it's not Guitar Hero, but check out this sweet Guitar Freaks controller:
Importy only at 250 bones Crikey. 3 chords? If they ever make a Misfits guitar hero....
The previously posted about site DailyEpisodes.com has been shut down by Fox's cyber goons! I don't know much about internet law, but a site that simply aggregates and streams from another site doesn't seem like a worthy target for the Foxhounds. Thus if you want to see cartoons as free as they were on broadcast, I guess you'll have to download them by getting this, and going here. Thanks Mr. Murdoch! (Image via Orange Lazarus)
Here is an effortlessly hilarious short story written by a friend of mine that makes all of us "writers" look like crap. He also has a terrifically entertaining blog (from which this story is linked). I've never met this "Brook," but I thank her for convincing him to take up fiction.
Link (via Gar's Thought Hole)
