This is Bruce Campbell's second Old Spice commercial which is just as great as the first one. It's amazing. I wish that he would run for President.



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Ash: Well, hello Mister Fancypants. Well, I've got news for you pal, you ain't leadin' but two things: Jack and shit... and Jack just left town.
-Army of Darkness

Labels: Video

Astronomers Find a "New Earth?"
It will be just like that TV show, Earth 2! Average temperatures estimated at 32 - 102 degrees F and only 20.5 light years away. At the speed we can go in space now, that'd only take us 300,000-some thousand years to get there.



Star Wars Chinese Bootleg Subtitles
This fellow picked up a bootleg of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, which had an option for English subtitles that were a direct interpretation of the Chinese subtitles. Freaking hilarious. I especially love the first one, since the translation is already right there on the screen and they still screw it up.

Dinner in the Sky
Basically, you eat your dinner suspended fifty meters in the air. Who comes up with this stuff?

Black Holes... Portals to Other Universes?
Sign me up. I'm willing to take that chance.

Buy Hot Dogs Online for $1
Have a feeling that you'll be craving a hot dog two days from now? Well, you can order a hot dog online for $1 via Paypal, and this guy with a little too much time on his hands will cook it up on his George Foreman and mail it to you, any way you'd like it. A little disclaimer at the bottom of his site: "actually eating hot dog after it arrives could make you really sick or cause death. do not eat."

Hero Machine 2.0
Create your own superhero online. The ultimate dork tool that promises to keep you busy for at least 25-32 minutes creating your ultimate superhero.

A Renowned Scientist Believes In God?
Surely, you jest!

17-Year Old Girls Just "Felt Right" Murdering Their Friend
"Sunday morning me and (her) woke up, and we were just talking, and for some reason we just decided to kill her ... We just did it because we felt like it, it is hard to explain." Well, it won't be hard for the judge to explain that he just feels right locking these two psychopaths up for the rest of their lives.

Why Didn't You Hear About This?
A young white couple is brutally (and I mean brutally) murdered by five black men, yet it doesn't make headlines even though headlines have been plastered with the Duke case full of lies, Anna Nicole Smith's death and love life, and last years white cops shooting the young black man. Yet this murder made no major headlines? Why? I reckon you can come to your own conclusions. It's just sickening how CNN looks over stuff like this and constantly gives news on Smith screwing every other man she met, on Richard Gere kissing a girl in India, on Alec Baldwin yelling at his daughter over the phone, and Britney Spears being a waste of life.

Flixster
It's like MySpace... except with movies! Yes!







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Joel: Constantly talking isn't necessarily comunicating.
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Labels: Linkage

First of all, if you haven't seen Spider-Man 3 and plan on it, don't read ahead. Also, my inner-geek is going to be more than apparent here, so if that might hurt you or offend you, I suggest you just read this way cooler post instead. You've been warned.

It's hard to express in words how I feel about Spider-Man 3, so I'm just going to type without thinking too much about it. Forgive me in advance if it sounds like random thoughts jumbled together, because it is. It's no secret that I've always been a Spider-Man nut. I loved X-Men as a child (I was Wolverine 75% of the time we played, since it was hard to pretend to be Spider-Man), I was a big Batman fan, and Superman's death storyline caught my eye too -- but none of these even measured close to the love I had for the wise-cracking webslinger. It was what I looked forward to most from my Saturday morning cartoons and they were the comics I always tried to take the most care of. So obviously, there is no way around it: this rant on Spider-Man 3 is extremely bias from an uber-Spider-Man geek's perspective. This is not written as a movie critic, but as a Spider-Man fan.

I really, really, really wanted to like this movie. Despite my hesitation to the choice of using a certain villain as well as some other changes, and despite the less than glowing reviews, I was still convinced the movie was going to be very good - or at least just good. So, do I blame Sam Raimi for the mess that was Spider-Man 3? Not completely, but of course, to an extent. First and foremost, it just felt like his heart wasn't in this movie. He was determined to make it known that he didn't want Venom in the third movie. When it was finally announced by the studio that Venom would make an appearance, the reluctance in his words were apparent. He simply didn't want to do it - but Marvel producer Avi Arad told Raimi, "You did the first two movies for yourself, do this one for the fans. They want Venom." In studio talk, he didn't have a choice really. Raimi just didn't grow up with Venom though. The character was introduced in the late-1980s, at a point when Raimi already had three movies under his belt. Frankly, he wouldn't have much of a passion for the character, nor would he really understand him. If this Raimi quote from an interview with Entertainment Weekly doesn't say it all, I don't know what will:

"I had never read Venom in the comic books, since they came after my time. Because of that, I didn't have a natural inclination toward him. And when I read those comics, at [producer] Avi Arad's urging, I didn't understand where Venom's humanity was. I know that kids think he looks cool, and they think he's a good villain for Spider-Man. I actually didn't. What was it about Peter's own makeup that this villain represented some weaker or darker side to? Just looking like a dark version of him is not enough for me. The more I read [Venom stories], the less interested I became. But then Avi said, ''Look, you've got to be less selfish. You've got to learn what it is these kids love about Venom.' So I tried to open my mind up."

The studios had minimal interference with the first two films. They were nearly 100% Raimi's movies and they turned out awesome (Spider-Man 2 is probably the best superhero movie ever made). The executives should have just kept their mouths shut and let the professionals do the work that they were hired to do. With or without Venom, Spider-Man 3 would have rocked the socks off the box office.

Venom. I'm not that big of a fan of him in the first place and was strongly opposed to the idea of including him in this movie, but the character was just plain butchered. What a complete waste of a villain. It seemed like he was just there so Raimi could say, "You've got him, happy? Now get off my back about it." What could (and maybe should) have been the most thrilling fight of the franchise turned out to be far from exciting and horribly executed. I felt almost nothing seeing Spider-Man and Venom fight, and since they are supposed to be ultimate arch-rivals in the Spidey-verse, this was beyond disappointing. Then 15 minutes after Venom was introduced, the symbiote and Eddie Brock were both killed -- don't mind the fact that Eddie Brock is supposed to get put into jail, the symbiote sent back to space, and then come back with a "spawn," reuinte with Brock while the spawn finds another inmate to create the super-villain known as Carnage. So, now if they actually wanted to do Venom justice in a later movie, they'll have to come up with some lame excuse with how Eddie Brock survived being disintegrated (OMFG, IT WAS A TIME WARP CONTINUUM THAT CREATED A VACUUM THAT BONDED THEM BECAUSE OF THE EXPLOSIONERS!). Granted, they can use the fact that Dr. Connors has a sample of the symbiote in his lab, but then what about Eddie Brock? Either way, why didn't they just introduce Brock in this movie, let Peter wear the black suit the entire movie (and just have the huge outburst where he's hits MJ near the end) and then leave us with a cliff hanger ending, and just show Venom for a few seconds instead of wasting the character? That would have been infinitely better and then the next movie could have focused on him and done the character justice. To put it in perspective how rushed this movie was, the black suit was around in the comics for a few years before Venom ever happened.

Then there is Sandman. His character made little sense. I was fine that they made up the back story about him trying to pay for medicine for his daughter, but why, oh why did they tack on the terribly convenient and clichéd plot point about him being the real killer of Uncle Ben? Not to mention the fact that we're supposed to believe he's a good guy, even after he does everything that he does, and finally at the last minute he thinks, "Aww, shucks and gollies, Spider-Man, I never wanted it to be like this!" and Peter forgives him. How special.

Harry. If you read the comics or watched the cartoon, you know that Harry becomes the Green Goblin, like his father. It's neat, because Spidey thinks, "Hey, how is Green Goblin back? He's dead, lol" and people in the streets think, "Hey, how is Green Goblin back? Spider-Man killed him, lol." I was fine with Raimi changing that though. You know, he (or more than likely the studio) didn't want to repeat the same villain that he already did, and that's fine. Except that in the way that Harry was used (and in the fact that he found his father's stash), it would have made so much more sense and made far more of an impact on me as a viewer had he showed up in his father's outfit. It would have been much more emotional for the viewer, for Peter, and for Harry. Instead, he had a flying snowboard, some weird mask, and some sort of sword made of what looked to me like Kryptonite. It was near the beginning that I knew things were going to go bad with the terribly written and overused "memory loss" dilemma. Then his complete change of heart at the end was just... wow. I don't even know. Like Sara mentioned to me afterwards, if the Butler knew all along the truth, why didn't he tell Harry sooner? Then watching Harry and Peter fight alongside each other as friends at the end was like watching Batman and Robin in the old Adam West version of the movie (but nah, not even close to as bad as last decade's Batman & Robin movie - I won't go that far). It wasn't cool, because it happened so suddenly; the resentment suddenly disappeared one-hundred percent. Maybe I'm missing some plot point here, but I thought that Harry was going really crazy in this one because he went through that strengthening gas process thingy - the same thing that made his dad go crazy. So, I guess it didn't affect Harry's mind then? He really wasn't crazy, he was just that angry? Am I missing something here?

Then there was the whole Peter and Mary Jane ordeal. Why do they even like each other? When Mary Jane isn't talking about standing in his doorway or him sitting in the front seat for the rest of their lives, she's complaining and moaning. As for Peter, he didn't even seem that interested in her in this movie. I mean, c'mon, he kissed Gwen Stacey (who, in the original comics, was his actually girlfriend far before Mary Jane ever was until she was finally killed by the Green Goblin - what another waste of a great character in this movie). Plus Gwen Stacey is a babe, whereas Mary Jane (or Kirsten Dunst at least) is a snaggletoothed gremlin - mean, but true.

For Peter himself, who wrote that crap? He's barely matured from the first movie at all, and I actually think he took a step backwards from the second movie, and not just because of the suit. Then there is the scene. If you saw it, you know what I'm talking about. I loved the 'Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head' scene in Spider-Man 2. It was cheesy, sure, but it was fun and it didn't feel out of place or ridiculous - at least not in a bad way. I'm sorry, but seeing Peter Parker go all creepy and then John Travolta Grease/Saturday Night Fever on us just didn't do it for me. I think I chuckled once or twice, but more out of awkward confusion than anything. I understand where Raimi was going with it, the suit makes somebody like Brock a monster, but a dork from Queens like Peter into just a cocky dork, but I still thought, Did Raimi really do this? The symbiote doesn't make Peter act like that, and that's the point here. Cocky, yeah, but not... not that. I did like how it ended though, with Peter turning and hitting Mary Jane. That is what the suit is supposed to do. Make him angry, and essentially, not in control of himself or his emotions. I'm not sure what else to say about that, really.

Then there was the severe and criminal underusage of J. Jonah Jameson and Captain Stacy (and like mentioned already, Gwen Stacy), but I think I've been negative enough thus far, so...

There were a few great points in the movie. Bruce Campbell was gold in his cameo, as he always is. As soon as the camera panned away and I heard the French accent, I recognized the voice, and I felt one of the only bits of excitement that I felt during the entire movie (I even turned to Sara and giggled something about it being Bruce - she pretended to care, but she was more than likely rolling her eyes).

The special effects were the best yet and some of the best I've ever seen. Sandman's CGI was well done, and Spider-Man swinging in the black suit was very cool. I also liked the fight between Peter and Harry in Harry's house. That was neat.

I guess I just need to watch it again. I still support Raimi 100% if he decides to sign on for Spider-Man 4 (and frankly, I hope he does) and I hope Tobey and even Kirsten, for the sake of continuity, signs back on (hopefully to kill her off - just make Gwen Stacy the new love interest!). I want to see one more, simply because I need to see Raimi's take on the Lizard (or Bruce Campbell as Mysterio - I would take that too). It's obvious he wants him in the movies (since he's had a Dr. Curt Connors cameo in the past two movies) -- but we can only hope the studio will stay off his back this time and not try to introduce Carnage in the next movie when Raimi doesn't want to.

Labels: Movies

This is just crazy. It's a dust storm called a "Haboob" that took place yesterday in the North Eastern country of Sudan. According to The Daily Mail, they are "caused by downdrafts created when a thunderstorm reaches its final phase. These downdrafts cause descending air to hit the ground and pick up large amounts of dust. The gathering dust clouds then travel forward at a speed of 30 mph, creating the frightening spectacle. The dust storms can reach a height of 3,000 feet and contain a wall of sand up to 60 miles wide. The word Haboob comes from the Arabic for 'phenomena'."

It's like something out of a sci-fi movie. I didn't even know stuff like this existed...



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Patrick: I don't think we should see each other any more.
Evelyn: Why? What's wrong?
Patrick: I need to engage in homicidal behavior on a massive scale. It can not be corrected but I have no other way to fulfill my needs.
-American Psycho

Labels: Picture