Before you get all worried about this being some morbid post where the ails and angers of life gets splayed out to the sound of keyboard strokes tapped by Hot Topic blackened fingernails, relax, this isn’t going that direction. The title actually comes from an early moment about seven years ago when I first moved to California and someone pointed out that daring middle lane in certain roads where both directions of traffic are legal, usually meant for left turns off the road, but commonly used for passing people we randomly decide don’t deserve to be traveled behind. As I first laid rubber to the road here I was astounded that more people didn’t just plow into each other in the lane so aptly dubbed “the suicide lane”, but some little piece of that evolutionary survival instinct must keep us from multiple head-on collisions every day.
So how does that connect to Friendship? What a good question! Here’s my answer. Friendship is a give and take relationship. You get out of it what you put in. If the friendship is solid and you call someone everyday to check in on them or just talk, you can very well expect that they will call you as well and think of you first when they need/want someone to talk to. On the flip side, if you put no effort in to keep in touch or show people that you still think about them, you can equally expect they will let you slip from their minds as well. It is the emotional equivalent of the one-lane/two-way street.
Added to this fun ride on the relationship road is the possibility that you and your friend might be driving different cars, traveling at different speeds or lastly, heading to different destinations. What’s to be done now? Truth be told, everyone is headed in different directions, but we can have very similar ways of driving there. That is the secret to being on the same road together, how do you drive your car/truck/Vespa/Segway? (does anyone know someone who actually owns one of these) There needs to a shared respect of the road and of the other people on it, but if someone starts flipping U-turns in the middle of the intersection or just plain ignoring those amazingly loud “drunk bumps” on the side of the road, maybe it is time to stop taking that road on the way to your personal destination. All that happens in those cases is you get slowed down, taken off course and sometimes redirected completely. The goal in friendships is to find those people that not only seem to be heading your way, but their driving style actually helps you even more. They might leave a nice tailwind for you to slide into or they could be clearing the way ahead, showing you all the possibilities that lie before you. Also, they know when to let their foot off the gas and let you move into the pole position, blocking for them instead of the other way around. Give-and-Take. What a novel philosophy.
So maybe it’s time to sit back and look at the road in front of you. Who’s on it? Where are they going and how do they plan on getting there? Is this particular road trip the one you need to be on? Trust me, if you even been on intensely long car rides, you know the importance of choosing the right passengers.
Safe and pleasant trips to you all. I’m packing Pop-Tarts and Pop music for mine.
If you are having a problem finding this movie cute, endearing and bordering on unbearably adorable, please update your emotional server to Mac operating system 295.5.6, otherwise known as “Cockatoo”.
The moment of delivery finally came. Pixar gave birth to yet one more instant classic character who rode his miniature tank treads into the hearts of adults and children across the nation. Bringing in $62 million in the opening weekend it stole the #1 spot easily (but fantastic job to Wanted for its #2 appearance at $51 million). Once again Pixar created something that parents and older siblings don’t moan and groan about having to bring their little ones to, in fact, the little ones might even be dragged there without a choice of their own. This is the creative key to their continued success, lure in the entire family.
So let’s get to the star of our show, Wall-E. He is a self-sufficient, solar powered, mini-roving trash compacter left on Earth to clean it after the humans evacuated to party in space. In the span of 700 years, Wall-E becomes incredibly lonely as most life on the planet, even artificial life, shuts down, but Wall-E refuses to quit and he fills his time with his own style of treasure hunting and antique collecting. His life takes a drastic turn though when a unmanned probe is sent back to Earth as a routine to check for signs of surviving biological life. This is the moment where we see that in its core this is one of the most classic stories ever told: Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy chases after Girl (there is one more step, but I have to leave something to chance, don’t I?).
Beyond the dazzling CGI animation, which by now is expected and consistently delivered by Pixar, the amazing beauty of this film is the simplicity of it. In the first thirty minutes of the show is covered in approximately four or five words of dialogue. Thoughts and emotion shine through the most minute of movements, the sound of Wall-E’s eyes focusing, the inflection in tone as he repeats one word over and over again, and the continually changing angles of his head. Wall-E reminds us of the power of silent film when we were shown emotion and meaning without being told through banal and brain coddling exposition. Throughout the rest of the film more speaking roles appear, but our two main characters run the gamut with only a handful of words between them. It’s a wondrous achievement in screenwriting and a powerful display of trust and belief on the side of the studio.
Surrounding our two main star-crossed lovers, Pixar gently tackles the idea of making a cockroach, one of the most universally hated insects on the planet, into a loyal and adorable friend, once again proving that anything in their hands is capable of becoming endearing. There is also a noticeable left-leaning bend to the story, somewhat in the vein of our last eco-friendly animated juggernaut, Happy Feet, where we get a slight glimpse of what our future might be on this planet if we don’t start to turn things around. On a more sneaky and capitalist note, you should also take note to what operating system is running everything 700 years into the future. I’m not going to give away the goat, but let’s just say we could name it “iFuture”.
Overall, this is one more grand slam for the wizards of animation at Pixar and one more DVD that I will be including in my library in the coming months. See this as soon as you can!
p.s. There is another one of Pixar’s great short films in front of Wall-E, which coincidentally, is also completely silent. Seriously, these guys are geniuses. They must eat that Smart Start cereal every morning. I’m gonna get me some…
I don’t know the words to express how I feel right now, but as a writer words are all I have, so I’m going to do my best to find some of the right ones. A dear, close friend of mine was already going through a tough time in her life when things drastically went from bad to worse to unimaginable. The horrors she was put through are nothing short of inhuman and the pressure of dealing with them felt insurmountable. There is no way for me to look through her eyes in this situation, no way for me to even begin to empathize, no way to know how hard it was to reach out and ask for help.
There are things in this life that no one is meant to deal with. Pressures and emotions heightened to such extents leaving normal human capabilities far behind. So what are people supposed to do then? Do they have to become superhuman? Do they have to make themselves more than everyone else just to stay afloat in a life proving once and again to be unfair towards them? I wish I could say no, I wish I could say that people could just take a deep breath and things will suddenly be alright, but ignoring that type of pain is comparable to standing on train tracks and ignoring the rumbling getting louder beneath your feet. We all need to step up in those moments and do anything we can to help deal with this unequal reality, not just the victims, but those people close to them as well. The hands of the victim need to unwrap from around themselves, where they desperately try to hold themselves together, and reach out for the arms, hands, shoulders and chests all ready and willing to share in whatever small piece of the burden available to them. I’ve spent my share of time locked up in my room, hiding from the light, hiding from the outside world, only in the hopes that someone would come looking for me, but the responsibility is on both sides. We need to learn to reach out so we can in turn teach others how to reach back.
I realize that this might seem a tad vague, which is intentional because those details are her story to tell or not tell, not mine. What I hope for, what I wrote this entry for is to remind everyone out there to take a moment today, tomorrow, every day to think about those close to you. Think about someone you haven’t spoken to in a while and drop them a line, just remind them you’re out there and that you care. Just that small offering of an ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on can mean the difference between seeing the light and walking towards it. And for those people who might be reading this and are on the other side of the equation, don’t wait one more second to reach out and ask for help. There are people who care about you, people who know and love you, even people who have never met you, they are all ready and willing to drop it all to be there for you when you need it. If you find your circle of friends and family not as strong or responsive as you hoped, don’t despair, there are so many others on call at that very moment. Please follow this link to the Find Help section of To Write Love on Her Arms. This list is only the tip of the iceberg of support services and hotlines. These people are here for you. You are never alone and it is never, ever too late.
2 - Hunter S. Thompson was a visionary, genius and possible lunatic, which in turn means that anything you create to talk about and feature his life, I’m gonna watch it. [via FilmDrunk]
3 - If you watch this video of an amazingly happy child and don’t crack a smile yourself, you need to look under your bed when you get home, I think you’ll find you left your soul there. We all deserve days where we laugh like that just once. [via Pandachute]
4 - I’m a fan of Seth Rogan, along with millions of other movie watchers happy about the upswing in popularity and profit for R-rated comedies, but I’m not sure I’m a big enough fan to endorse the idea of him playing The Green Hornet in an upcoming adaptation. I knew he was writing it and I’m fine with that, but he doesn’t seem like the superhero type to me. Even Will Smith got on my nerves with unnecessary quips and jokes throughout I, Robot, you think Rogan is going to go through any scene without a pot/dick/sex/fart joke? I’m willing to wait and give him a shot, but this is a risky venture for him, no two ways about it. [via Perez]
5 - You know what’s not a rsiky venture? Making Transporter 3! Jason Statham is coming back once again as the driver who just can’t say no to a job, then can’t say no to kicking the crap out of those who gave him the job. I’m predicting ridiculous car chases, chaser bullets everywhere and needlessly hot women (wait, is “needlessly hot” actually possible? I’m gonna meditate on that…) [via FilmSchoolRejects]
6 - Universal Studios is taking their recent fire as positive as they can and using the destruction as an excuse to rebuild and recreate something new in lieu of the 20-year-old King Kong attraction. Smart move, people. As iconic as it was, it was time to move on from that. They let go of the Back to the Future ride recently and that was at least 5 years its junior. My hope, drive-thru Wanted experience! Angelina Jolie dives down and shoots curved bullets around the tram all day long. Sweet… (although in reality, they should make it a Hulk experience. It could basically be the same set, just updated.) [via ComingSoon]
7 - Sometimes I wonder if people read this and then go out specifically to do exactly the opposite of what I wished for. Brett Ratner came out talking about how he wants to make the next Beverly Hills Cop for the 10 and 12-year-olds who don’t know the first film. Guess what? No one would have known the first film or any of them if they were originally made for the kids. It was an R-rated comedy and one of the nest ever made. They need to jump on this bandwagon and run with it instead of trying to continually trying to shove Eddie Murphy into the family genre. It worked for him for a while, but it’s time he got his mouth dirty once again. Hell, let him wear the Michael Jackson jacket again too, if that helps. [via FilmSchoolRejects]
8 - The creepy next step after buying these Joker themed playing cards is for everyone to show up at the game in Joker makeup. Now tell me who’s bluffing… [via FilmSchoolRejects]
9 - Someone needs to go back and digitally insert this necktie into American Psycho. It’s just too perfect. [via Uncrate]
10 - Here’s a little folk song to end the day entitled New Math. It starts out cute and kinda funny, then segways smoothly into totally irreverent and borderline hysterical. Kudos guitar playing sir. [via GorillaMask via ejb]
1 - In the massive upswing of sequels, it was only a matter of time until they hit something I really hold dear. Beverly Hills Cop is one of my favorite comedies and it holds so many great peaks for R-rated laughers along with being the beginning of a possibly legendary career for Eddie Murphy. It’s not really a big surprise that Eddie would want to jump back into the role of Axel Foley, but take my word, the only way this will work is if they get the old Eddie back. No PG-13 rating here. We need swearing, cocky, abrasive Axel Foley once again. If they follow through on that, I might just start playing the theme song once again as my alarm clock. [via Perez]
2 - Turning from sequels, we go to the only logical place, prequels. J.K. Rowling said she would not continue any more books in the Harry Potter series, but she never said anything about going backwards. She wrote a prequel novel for the Potter-verse, but this is only going to sold for charity in an auction, no mass publication will be done. As gracious as this is, and I am sure it will pull in a healthy amount of Euros, I feel bad for the house that will inevitably get broken into by a mob of crazed quidditch players in search of the mythical tome. [via Starpulse]
3 - I’ve heard rumblings through my group of friends that I should start paying attention to the Fox TV starlet show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I usually would have been glued to this already by the casting choice of Summer Glau, but something kept me from feeling totally committed to it. Now they sweetened the pot by dropping in Shirley Manson, the lead singer of Garbage, for next season. Hello TiVo, goodbye productivity. [via ComingSoon]
4 - Is it possible the Coen Brothers will ever make a normal movie? I doubt it sincerely. Here’s a link to the Red-Band trailer for their next ecclectic collection of actors in Burn After Reading. [via WWTDD]
6 - So a couple of teenage girls blatantly stole $150 from a 9-year-old girl scout who was selling those painfully addicting cookies. Two things are wrong with the video here; first, these girls have no concept of morality and a frightening absence of realization of their own effect on the world around them, secondly, these girls are obviously not right in the head because they stole the money and not the cookies. Seriously, they are like crack cookies! [via Today's Big Thing]
7 - Hopefully you haven’t tossed your computer out the window after watching that last scarred piece of humanity, but if you are lucky enough to keep your revulsion in check, here is your reward. You see, there are still some decent people in this place. [via YouTube via Diablo Cody's Blog]
8 - Sometimes, just sometimes, they get something so painfully right. I have no idea if the movie is going to be any good at all, but I hope they keep making these videos, because they are certainly worth the entire movie’s budget. [via The Superficial]
10 - This is pure genius. Prints available here. [via TCritic]
P.S. There soon will be some changes to this blog. You will see more pointed posts about particular topics alongside those about random happenings on the web or in the entertainment world. Also, I just added two more links on the Charities page, so please take a look in there. I will be adding to that list more often now. Thanks for any support you can lend to these deserving causes.
1 - Let’s be honest, it really doesn’t matter what this movie is about, people…err…dudes are going to see this. (Coincidentally, I did already know what Witchblade is about since it is another comic book adaptation. Could be an awesome flick, but I’m reserving judgment until I see some actual footage, not just actual skin) [via FilmDrunk]
2 - What happens when the ex-White House Press Secretary writes a book about working in the Bush administration? Political sh*t storm. There’s already been plenty of people still in the administration to come out and condemn/tear down Scott McClellan, but you can be sure there will be more before this goes away. You can read an excerpt through the link and see that he doesn’t necessarily say that Bush is an idiot at all, just that he was horribly misled and deceived by the people in his own cabinet. I’m not sure which scenario makes my stomach turn more, but it’s time for a political antacid. [via Wall Street Journal]
3 - For those lucky ducks with nice new IBooks or MacBook Pros (you can add in the Mac Air, but I am still holding out on calling people lucky for having those), you can all enjoy some neat style and comfort along with protection for your expensive baby gadget. Since it looks kinda like an airmail pouch, you can convince people you are just always on the move. You jet-setter, you. [via JoshSpear]
4 - Is this just a glimpse into Jon’s mind or have we all started to hear burp from invisible fat cats? I think it’s time to refill my Xanax prescription. [via Garfield Minus Garfield]
5 - As excited as I am to buy and read Snuff, the new book from Chuck Palanhuik, that thrill only gets bumped up more by the first trailer being released for the newest movie in his adaptation train of films, Choke. I’m already interested since it is Chuck’s book, but you add uber-talented Sam Rockwell in as the sex-crazed, morally depraved lead role, a part he might have been born to play, well then, you had me at “Choke”. [via FilmDrunk]
6 - This is why we don’t want artificial intelligence. Eventually even the machines will be perverted. [via GorillaMask]
8 - A little kid skates under forty cars and these people celebrate like he won independence for the country. Someone get these people cable TV stat! [via Pandachute]
10 - Everyone has dreams and everyone has projects they want to accomplish, but we hold ourselves back way more than we realize (or want to realize), but comedian Kyle Cease is not going to let us flounder in mediocrity. He’s writing a daily blog post for the next month where he is detailing one or more things each and every day he is doing to better his life and his career. The more pumped up he gets about it, the more he wants to inspire others, so take a moment or two to catch up on this blog and see if he can’t help give you that little kick in the ass we all need to start the ball rolling. Trust me, it’s not as hard as it seems to make that move from where you are to where you want to be. [via MySpace]
“Why does there have to be protesters at every premier?!”
Nineteen years. That’s how long we waited for this movie to come to fruition. Nineteen years. Someone born after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade left the theater is no old enough to vote, get married and fly halfway around the world to fight for the right for this movie and many others to be made. For their sakes, I seriously hope they don’t see it. They’ll all go AWOL instantly.
Yes, I’ll get right out there and say it, I did not like the movie. In fact, I was fairly offended by time it was over. I’ve read a number of reviews that are cutting the movie a ton of slack because it’s an Indy film and we all just love him so much and we’re so glad to see him back, but there is only so much slack in the world and it must have gotten used up in the mere hours before I got to see it on opening day. I guess from now on I should keep an extra helping of slack in an airtight jar in my closet, just for these occasions. (There are spoilers from this point on, so if you still want to go in untarnished, stop here. Just know deep in your heart that I tried to stop you.)
Let’s see if I can list out just a small helping of the problems with this flick:
- The magnetism of the Crystal Skull (and other alien body parts): This little tidbit of information was brought out pretty quickly in the film as one of those cool tricks only Indy seem to know about, but for the rest of the film the magnetism became a choice of each individual scene. You could feel George Lucas think, “Should we have it attract metal here? Yeah that would be cool” or “Nah, that doesn’t seem cool here. Let’s not make it magnetic at all. Or how about we stop it’s magnetic powers with this mystical hemp cloth!! God, I’m a genius.”
- CGI - Spielberg has a well earned place in cinema history for pushing CGI to it’s limits and making it work. On the flip side, Lucas has an equally well earned place in cinema history for pushing CGI to the other end of the spectrum where he think he can just replace real actors from this point on. The quality and usage in Crystal Skull was borderline childish. The duck boat effects over the waterfalls, the unnecessary CGI in the jungle chase, the mind numbing alien ship evacuation, all of these felt like a freshman in animation school could have been impressed by his work, but not coming from Spielberg, who previously with War of the Worlds actually made me a tad skiddish going outside after the movie was over since I believed those things could be there.
- Indy’s age: Harrison Ford reportedly waited for a long time to find a script that he was happy with and took a respectful look at his age and the age of his character. This is what he agreed to? I can’t think of a fight scene where he got more beat down than in this chapter during the ant hill sequence, adding the fact that he is about twenty years older now. We needed Indy to be smarter, more clever, using that intelligence that he cultivated over a quarter of a century as a professor, but instead we get a completely ludicrous senior citizen MMA match in the dirt. Even the slightest touch of realism here would have seen Indy with a broken hip.
- Shia, the Monkey King: This almost ranks as the most disappointing part of the movie because they were just starting to win me back when Shia gets sucked up into the jungle trees. He gets wrapped up in a piar of vines that decide completely on their own to retract and pull him up into a mystical monkey kingdom, where in three agonizing seconds of screen time, Shia learns to swing through the trees like Tarzan and lead the monkeys on an all out assault against Cate Blanchett. If they had made a point earlier of saying all the monkeys in that region of the world were strict haters of Communism, maybe I could have joined in the fun, but they happen to leave that out.
- Indy vs. Nuke: Yep, why not? Let’s open this movie big since people have waited so long to see it hit the screen. What could possibly be bigger than showing Indiana Jones survive a nuclear blast in the first 20 minutes of the film? What could possibly not make sense about there being random lead lined refrigerators in a fake town? What could possibly not seem plausible about that same fridge being magically vaulted by the blast miles away, with Indy not only able to walk afterwards, but just plain able to get out of the fridge at all? Didn’t kids lock themselves in those and die all the time in the 50’s?
There are more things I could go into, but I’ll just leave you with those few bullet points. I’m all for continuing franchises and moving the story along as long as they are treated with the same intelligence and respect as the previous versions. This was not only denied the respect of a well written script, but it also managed to deny the respect of its audience. My advice now is for Spielberg to slow his downward spiral by moving as far away from George Lucas as possible, and if he likes a script from now on (as he supposedly did with the Indy version done by Frank Darabont, which Lucas vetoed), man up and shoot it. It couldn’t have been nearly as awful as what we got in the end.
Even worse is the fact that this will make a retarded amount of money, like previous crapfest Spider-Man 3, and further the studios and other directors to think making movies like this, no matter how bad, is a profitable and worthwhile venture. I’m begging someone with influence and opportunity to sit these people down, show them Once, Lars and the Real Girl, Brick, hell, make them watch the original three Indy films and see if they can’t remember what doing a good job really felt like.
1 - Think you have an obsession with 80’s toys? Go to this page and click on the letter “T” to see some amazing oil paintings of everything from Battlecat from Thundercats to Serpentor from G.I.Joe. [via Uncrate via robert burden]
2 - I know I’ve gotten older when I watch this video and the first thing I wonder about it, “Did they get clearance to roll down this road? What about cross traffic?” I miss being a Toys ‘R Us kid. [via pandachute]
3 - In a continuing desire to find new and innovative ways to donate and help others I came across this post about Give a Drop. Please check it out and help if you can. There are way too many things in this world that we take for granted without realizing millions and millions don’t have that same access to what we consider basic human needs. Give a little, trust me, it’s like giving back to yourself. [via JoshSpear]
4 - Just for those dudes out there who might have found there indie/quirky crush on Jena Malone wavering, watch this trailer for her new film and feel the flame once again. [via FilmDrunk]
5 - When you get these put into your house, you have one choice. Does this become a reference to King Ralph or There Will Be Blood. One of them ends up in a much larger cleaning bill. [via uncrate]
6 - With all the premiers being announced for next season, the one I was keeping an eye on was Heroes. NBC is going to relaunch the second season struggler with a one hour recap of the show to get everyone back up to speed, then a two hour season opener. Three full hours of Heroes. Will this win the fans back? Maybe. It has definitely won a spot on my TiVo, that’s as far as I will go just yet. [via starpulse]
7 - I love hearing stories about the loving and helpful people inside local churches, like this story about how they issued a restraining order against a family and their 13-year-old Autistic son literally banning them from attending because of his outbreaks. No offer to have him come in for more a private mass, no offer to assist in any way except to wipe their hands clean of a child they don’t understand how to deal with. Is he suddenly not one of God’s children? Hmmm…hypocrisy tastes familiar here. [via PerezHilton]
8 - A real tragedy for the film world, Sydney Pollack died over the weekend after losing a battle with Cancer. He was a brilliant writer and a consummate actor. The silver screen just got a little less talented. [via WWTDD]
9 - I want to openly say thanks to JoshSpear and his blog for not only providing such interesting things everday, some of which you see posted here, but for posting his appreciation for the band /Passenger, which after 30 seconds of listening I felt moved in a way that was more necessary than anyone, including myself, could have realized. Topping it off is finding out that they are going to be playing at the Hotel Cafe in LA on June 9, so you now all know where I am going to be that night. [via JoshSpear via MySpace]
11 - Somehow, deep inside, I always knew something was wrong with my cell phone, but I was nowhere near imagining this. I bet the IPhone is way a happier creature. [via Pandachute]
1 - I admire Hayden Panettiere’s determination and her passion for the safety of the whales, but auctioning herself off for a night with someone and five of their friends is pretty much replacing the danger for the whales with danger for an 18-year-old TV starlet. People bidding for the evening with her over eBay don’t come with pedigrees or guarantees of non-creepiness, which I think should be a prerequisite for something like this. [via The Superficial]
2 - This is another technological revolution that we have all been waiting for. Philips is showing off a prototype for their 3-D TV that will work without the use of any glasses at all. For most forms of media this will make things even more awesome, but for porn this is going to make things increasingly awkward. [via CNN]
4 - While everyone else is comparing how much they loved, or more likely didn’t love, the new Indy movie, I thought it would be nice to link you over to the new Lego Indy Game which will certainly bring you many more hours of enjoyment than the new film. [via Empire]
5 - How big is Iron Man you ask? Well, for the first time without any sarcasm or joking around, we can honestly say it’s so big that they are hearing about it in space. [via Starpulse]
6 - Even if this is only programmed as a kids toy, I really, really want one. Anyone who cares to challenge me in touch screen Pong is going down. [via gizmodo]
7 - Turn the volume down slightly on this because the dude’s voice can get annoying, but the visuals of 35 people getting balled in the head in 32 seconds is worth the effort.
8 - More shots being shown here of people on the set of Dragonball Z. I’m trying to block out visions from Double Dragon and the original Street Fighter, but they are so darn stubborn. [via Comingsoon via DBthemovie]
9 - Here’s another video where you might want to turn the sound a bit lower, not because of annoyance, but more because your head might explode like in Scanners.
10 - Looking for yet another way to give, or motivate you to give, well here you go. It’s the 29 Day Giving challenge. Take a look, you just might find you will get more than you give. [via givingchallenge]
1 - Do two acquired tastes taste great together? Let’s try out this idea with Steven Seagal and Vampires. A little dash of ridiculous bone-snapping sound effects and I think we have ourselves a nice little dish. [via FilmDrunk]
2 - You don’t often get a Double KO ending in MMA fights, but even rarer is getting it pretty much off the bat. Guess that’s one way to start off your fighting career. [via With Leather]
3 - This is the morning of your first day back at work after a vacation, something I have just recently had to deal with. Blarg! [via Garfield Minus Garfield]
4 - You thought our money was starting to lok funny now? Get ready for it to feel funny as well. There has been a long standing battle in the courts about the US monetary system being unfair to the blind since there is no way for them to differentiate between the bills, constantly depending on the honesty of tellers and cashiers for their correct change and payment. In that regard I am totally in favor of shifting the bills into a fashion that allows them to tell the difference, but I’m starting to think I should just save a couple of each denomination in a book somewhere since in twenty years they will be almost unrecognizable. [via CNN]
5 - The jurors in the R. Kelly sex tape trial have just been told that they are going to have to watch the tape in question, which might mean beyond convicting R. Kelly you might just find a couple over-excited jurors going to jail as well for enjoying it too much. His defense is saying that since the tape is most likely a copy of a copy at best, there is no way to tell who’s on the tape, but seriously, this is R. Kelly we’re talking about here. I’m going to be terribly surprised if he doesn’t start singing in the middle and chanting, “It’s good to be me. It’s good to R. Kelly!”. [via CNN]
6 - This is the most brilliant thing to come to the world of movie rentals in a long time. Mail order giant, Netflix, is unleashing a box that will set on top of your set and allow you streaming access to their entire catalog. For the same price as your normal Netflix membership, you will now be able to rent any movie at any time in their library (the section that is loaded up, that is, which will increase as time goes on). The only hindrance will be your connection speed to the network, but other than that, this is pure entertainment genius. [via Uncrate]
7 - Mr. Donnie Darko, Jake Gyllenhaal, has just signed on to play the lead in the live action adaptation of the video game, Prince of Persia. I’m not sure I ever really thought of Jake as video game hero status and I feel this is a risky move for him, but it’s in the capable hands of Disney Studios and recently they have proven they know how to pull through the big, big bucks. Look for this to possibly restart the marketing and production engine that ended with the last Pirates movie. [via The Hollywood Reporter]
8 - The phrase “There can be only one!” obviously applies only to the characters in the movie and not to the movie itself. Highlander is back once again, this time in the form of a remake of the first film, which admittedly brought a great story to life, but was very poorly done. My only issue with another remake is Highlander 3 was basically a remake of the first already, on top of the fact the last chapter of this story went straight to SciFi, skipping DVD. This might not be a franchise worth going back to, but I will be the first one to cheer for being proven wrong, as long as they incorporate the original Queen music. If not, heads are going to roll (get it? another Highlander reference! god I am witty.). [via The Hollywood Reporter]
9 - Chuck Palanhuik is back with a new book, Snuff, which deals with the story of three guys waiting in line at the world’s biggest gangbang. What could possibly get disturbing about that? [via The Cult]
10 - Christian Bale has reportedly signed on for three more Terminator films in the role of John Connor. I’m not sure there needs to be three more films, but this is interesting for a couple reasons. One, Bale is already playing Batman in the restart of that franchise and it seems to be going quite well, so how will that be impacted? Also, having him as John for three movies must mean the idea for the continuing story is not going to be jumping by years and years as we have seen previously. This feels a lot like the Batman move, restarting in a way the franchise from a new perspective, but can this be handled correctly in the poppy/glitzy hands of McG? I’m holding my judgment until I see some trailers. [via ComingSoon]
