Forces of Geek: we like pop culture: 5/1/10

Monday, May 31, 2010

CONTEST!!! TOP SHOT Prize Pack!!!

Win Big with TOP SHOT on HISTORY!
Series Premiere Sunday June 6th at 10/9c on HISTORY!

Sixteen of the nation’s most skilled marksmen have been carefully selected to compete in the new 10-episode series. Some have professional shooting experience, some are amateurs –all will showcase breathtaking timing, speed and accuracy in their quest to win the $100,000 prize package and title of “Top Shot.” The winner will ultimately have to be skilled in everything from muzzle-loading muskets and modern pistols to slingshots and throwing knives. The series is hosted by actor, adventurer and athlete Colby Donaldson, a born competitor whose experience as a contestant on Survivor brings a unique perspective to HISTORY’s first elimination series.

Click here to visit the official site!

Become a fan of TOP SHOT on Facebook !

To celebrate the launch of the series, we're giving away a TOP SHOT Prize Pack courtesy of HISTORY!

It includes:

TOP SHOT Super Soaker Water Gun
HISTORY duffle bag
HISTORY track jacket

Details on how to enter can be found after the jump!

I'm not sure if you caught any of today's Clint Eastwood marathon on TCM, but don't fret.

Tomorrow, June 1st, The Eastwood Factor Extended Version, a captivating look at the work of one of the most influential stars and filmmakers will be made available On Demand and For Download (joining the rest of Eastwood's previously released films)

Narrated by Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman, The Eastwood Factor Extended Edition is written and directed by Time Magazine critic and film historian Richard Schickel.

Eastwood's latest film, Invictus, was released on DVD/Blu-Ray on May 18th and the auteur is currently in post-production on Hereafter and in pre-production on Hoover.

Check out a clip from The Eastwood Factor Extended Edition after the jump!

Mill Creek Entertainment/ Released May 18, 2010
Unrated/ Running Time 1380 Minutes

The Pitch
Tyrant Ming the Merciless and his vast army of evil accomplices are working overtime to eliminate the human race. But the Defenders of the Earth led by legendary crime-fighters The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake and his trusted confidant and bodyguard Lothar join forces with their uniquely talented teenage children to challenge Ming and his evil followers in a series of great adventures.

The dazzling quartet of heroes is joined by their young offspring: handsome and headstrong Rick Gordon; Jedda Walker and her panther sidekick; tough and smart Lothar "L.J." Jr.; and orphaned Kshin with his outer-space pet Zuffy. Together, the team of heroes must battle against evildoers from their pasts and future, including Ming and his underlings, as well as super villains, marauding aliens, destructive demons and sultry enchantresses! United as a team, they protect mankind as the Defenders of the Earth.

Both sides employ powerful computers and space age technology in their arsenals of weapons. They are our last best hope. For a frightened but determined planet they are the Defenders of the Earth.

A woman, who decided to trust a machine over her own eyes, was hit by a car after her Beta-version of Google maps made her walk down an extremely dangerous road.

The victim, Lauren Rosenberg is now suing Google for the damages (mental, physical and emotional) she incurred at the "hands" of her abusive Blackberry phone. The amount she is requesting? Around $100,000.

Yesterday, while visiting a local arts and crafts/music festival, I happened to stumble across one of the most interesting and wow-inducing craftsmen that I have seen in a long time.

Using nothing more than a bale of wire and a pair of pliers, Sean Brady is able to recreate the human form in such intricate and beautiful detail, that the pieces themselves are very similar to the haunting beauty of the people on display in the famous Bodies exhibits around the world.

Last week, Google announced Google TV, an effort that is sure to compete with soon-to-be revamped Apple TV, as well as other web-enabled TV gadgets such as those powered by Windows Media Center, XMBC, Boxee, and devices like the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the ever-changing array of cable boxes doled out by the cable companies.

So are all of these technologies that are supposed to enhance our living room experience going to make TV watching better and more entertaining?

Or are they just going to further clutter our digital lifestyles with infinite confusing options, incompatibilities, and headaches?

There's never been a better time for the potential improvement of the home media experience, if you know what you're doing. But even if you think you have a handle on it, you're probably still fighting an uphill battle to stay sane in the murky quagmire that is 21st century digital media consumption.

The latest trailer for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World has been released and can be found after the jump.

Word of mouth has been all over the place, with several directors championing it, to some harsh reviews coming from a recent sneak screening.

I'm still not quite sure how I feel.

Thoughts?

To the modern reader the term "fairy tales" elicits memories of a childhood in which the tales of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood made their indelible cultural impression.

Oddly, in most of the stories collected by the Grimm Brothers or scribed by the sadistic Christian Anderson there is little to no mention of Fairies per se.

The term fairy tale is a metaphor then doesn't mean "stories about fairies" but "stories of a fairy-like quality."

Actual scientific inquiry into the existence of fairies is relatively rare. The two books I'd like to talk about here are The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fawns and Fairies written in 1691 by the Rev. Robert Kirk and The Coming of the Fairies written in 1922 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Let me begin by saying that I am not girly. Occasionally, I clean up well enough to be taken out for a night on the town but usually I am rocking a look that I like to describe as "Beer Friendly". Meaning, that nothing I am wearing will be ruined the moment I (or someone else) spills that precious, hoppy liquid down the front of my person.

So, it comes as a bit of surprise to me that I am involved in the wedding planning process for my nuptials that will take place this Halloween in which I will be wearing white (a laughable concept) and dancing the night away to lame covers of Journey songs.

While the wedding itself is out of my hands (due to the fact that family and soon-to-be family members have come to realize that I have no understanding of how weddings work and therefore should just be told when and where said wedding will take place to save everyone the aggravation) I am in charge of the cake.

Which of course means I will Geek it up to the fullest so that the wedding isn't a complete Epic Fail.

Here are my top 10 picks of potential wedding cakes that will upset everyone but myself:

I was having lunch with some co-workers the other day and people were discussing the Lost finale.

The conversation progressed to opinions about how other shows ended their run, eventually turning into a roundtable condemnation of Seinfeld.

Our conversation was hardly unique to my lunch table.

Every May when a show comes to its end, the Seinfeld finale always comes up (it’s been more than a decade at this point). The level of disgust towards it is up there with Greedo shooting first -- it’s certainly the most infamous series finale (and emblematic of why series finales typically disappoint).

As a huge Seinfeld fan, it looks like I still have to defend the episode after all of these years.

As MARVEL movie fans are no doubt aware, SONY plans to bastardize… er… “TWILIGHTize” the SPIDER-MAN franchise when it 3D-boots the adventures of the titular web-slinger in 2012. Reports suggest the new film will revolve around Peter Parker’s high school days, when he was no less brooding and angst-ridden than diamond-speckled Edward, the heartthrob vampire. Peter Parker just might even receive a brand new origin story where it is revealed his powers stem from his excessive use of hair gel (Which is how Edward became a superhuman vampire, right?).

When even the success of IRON MAN, a movie series that has taken many cues from Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN trilogy, can’t save the web-head from a force worse than reverting back to DISNEY, who will come to this formally-super hero’s aid?

Donald Glover, the talented young comedian who you may recognize from NBC’s COMMUNITY and the Internet sensation DERRICK COMEDY, has answered the cry for help in the form of a team-up that would even flip Stan Lee’s lid.

del Toro Leaves THE HOBBIT

I'm probably one of the only geeks out there who is smiling right now.

I'm not a Tolkein fan, don't care much for Middle Earth and found The Lord of The Rings trilogy long and dull.

I am however a big Guillermo del Toro fan and I'm pretty happy to hear that for whatever reason, he's leaving the two-part Hobbit adaptation that he was previously attached to.

Hopefully, his previously announced projects as director and producer will hit the fast track. These include The Orphanage remake, Drood, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Witches, Death: The High Cost of Living, Pinocchio, Saturn and the End of Days, Champions, Hater, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Hellboy 3 and Doctor Strange.

del Toro and Peter Jackson broke the news to onering.net

Full details after the jump.

Warner Archive/ Released May 18, 2010
PG-13/ Running Time 98 minutes

Produced by Jean Higgins, Joe Wizan, Maynell Thomas,
Suzanne de Passe, Todd Black
Written by Cynthia Friedlob, John Semper, Michael Swerdlick,
Richard Brenne, Wayne Allan Rice
Directed by Randall Miller
Starring Christopher "Kid" Reid, Christopher "Play" Martin,
Alysia Rogers, Doug E. Doug, Karyn Parsons, Menshach Taylor,
Rhea Perlaman, Pauly Shore, Lamont Johnson

The Pitch
The House Party pals make sure the party isn’t over in a fresh comedy that asks: “What happens when the school records of a brainiac dweeb (Kid, the guy with the high-rise ’do) and a got-attitude street tough (hip-hop style master Play) get accidentally switched?” Meshach Taylor (Designing Women), Karyn Parsons (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), Alysia Rogers (Boyz N the Hood), Doug E. Doug (Hangin’ with the Homeboys) and guest-stars Rhea Perlman (Cheers) and MTV maniac Pauly Shore (Encino Man) round out the class cast. And the def music is a class tune-up too.

Warner Home Video/ Released May 18, 2010
Rated PG-13/ Running Time 125 Minutes

Produced by Samuel J. Brown, Mike Karz, Wayne Allan Rice, Josie Rosen
Screenplay by Katherine Fugate
Based on a story by, Katherine Fugate, Abby Kohn, Marc Silverstein
Directed by Garry Marshall
Starring Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Kathy Bates, Bradley Cooper,
Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner,
Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner,
George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift

The Pitch
An all-star ensemble cast comes together in Valentine's Day, which follows the intertwining storylines of a diverse group of Los Angelenos as they navigate their way through romance and heartbreak over the course of one Valentine's Day. Couples and singles experience the pinnacles and pitfalls of finding, keeping or ending relationships in a day in the life of love.

DENNIS HOPPER (1936-2010)

Dennis Hopper, actor, filmmaker and artist, has passed away from prostate cancer.

Hopper made hundreds of appearances in television and film, making indelible impressions in such varied works as Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, The Sons of Katie Elder, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, True Grit, Apocalypse Now, Rumble Fish, My Science Project, River's Edge
Blue Velvet, Hoosiers, Paris Trout, Super Mario Bros., True Romance, Speed, Waterworld, Basquiat, EDtv, Land of the Dead and the television series, 24.

Among his notable acomplishments, Hopper directed the film Easy Rider, which earned him both an Academy Award nomintation and an award at the Canne Film Festival. Hopper's work on the film was notable for his editing and use of improvisational technique to craft the performances.

To celebrate the work of Mr. Hopper, watch Easy Rider after the jump.

Warner Bros. has released their official description of their upcoming Green Lantern film.

This past week, Warner chairman and CEO Barry Meyer revealed upcoming adaptations are in the works for a number of DC Comics properties including Christopher Nolan's latest Batman film to be released on July 20, 2012 and a Holiday 2012 release for a new Superman film.

Also being developed are a Green Lantern animated series, and films based on The Flash, Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

Full synopsis after the jump.

GOSSIP GEEK: 50 Cent pulls a Christian Bale, Leann Rimes is Suing Mad, & Alicia Keys is Pregnant!

50 Cent Wants an Oscar

Leann Rimes Tells Eddie's Ex to Shut It

Plus Alicia Keys' Pregnancy Drama on today's Gossip Geek!

Ready for some more of The Cool Crap Five?

My very personal, highly subjective list of things that current make my life rock.

Experiences may vary, so no guarantees unless you happen to be me.

If you're not me, more's the pity...but maybe life can be a cabaret for you anyway if you consider the following entries under Food, Gadgets, TV, TV (yes, twice), and Books.

On we go...

The troubled child actor has passed away at age 42, the result of a brain hemorrhage that he sustained from a fall at his home. Coleman suffered lifelong congenital kidney disease, which in part, was the cause of the actor's diminutive size.

In 1978, he joined the cast of the television series, Diff'rent Strokes, becoming the series' breakout star, as Arnold Drummond. He stayed with the series until it's cancellation in 1986. He was also a regular guest star on television, making memorable performances on Good Times, Buck Rogers in the Twenty-Fifth Century, The Jeffersons, The Facts of Life, and the tv movies, The Kid from Left Field and The Kid With a Broken Halo. He was also the focus of an animated series, The Gary Coleman Show, which aired in 1982.

Coleman's personal life was wracked with poor health, financial mismanagement, assault charges and disorderly conduct.

Check out some clips of the late, great Gary Coleman after the jump.

"I don't like you talking to your nephew about being a Geek Porn Addict, he's a little too young to hear about that kind of filth", my mother said after she happened to overhear me use the phrase to describe the coolness of Mario Galaxy 2.

"Mom," I said exasperated, "Geek Porn has nothing to do with sex at all...and could you quit listening in on my conversations, Christ woman I'm not thirteen anymore."

"Oh, I know it's about sex young lady, I'm down with the sex codes of BDSM and HTML, you can't pull the wool over my eyes, so stop trying to make your nephew into a pervert!" she screamed before hanging up the phone.

Whatever.

So now, in an effort to promote the understanding of Geek Porn Addiction (not to mention the confidence to continue to speak with my awesome geeky nephew, grandma-free), may I present a short list of what constitutes the pornography of geekdom, so that others, like my mother, can finally get off my back.

Is it possible, that somewhere, in between all the political and sociological criticisms over gaming, that there lies the potential to save the entire world?

According to Jane McGonigal, there is.

In a talk given this past February on TedTalks the uber gaming goddess, extolled the virtues of the extreme gamers who spend, according to a recent article on VivaGeek.com, up to 48 hours a week playing games either on consoles or on PC’s.

Occasionally, as a writer, I am asked for suggestions by my fellow man (usually by family members who loathe me) on what it takes to break into the blogosphere world and to become rich and famous.

While I appreciate the fact that people believe that I have so much money that I can be found swimming in pools of nickles just for fun, in total honestly, I have no clue on what makes some Internet dabblers rich and famous, while others, such as myself, look forward to sample day at the local grocery store (and, to further my point concerning my ineptitude in hitting it big in the bloggo-lotto, judging by the state of my underwear, it’s looking like I will soon have to make a choice between going commando or simply encasing my lower region in duct tape because the tensile strength of my nine year old Hanes are waining and I cannot afford to even buy used tighty-whiteys from Goodwill).

Grostesque? Absolutely.

Tasteless? Maybe.

Genius? Without doubt.

Road-squashed toys have been seen before – I very nearly succumbed and brought the hedgehog one for my son, but (oddly enough) the chances of traumatising his grandmothers was just too high to be risked.

Though it was tempting…

The X-MEN Enlist JAMES McAVOY To Teach FIRST CLASS!

James McAvoy, star of such films as The Last King of Scotland, Atonement, Wanted and The Last Station has become the first announced cast member of director Matthew Vaughn's reboot, X-Men: First Class.

McAvoy will be playing Professor Charles Xavier, who was previously played in other films by Patrick Stewart, a powerful telepath and founder of Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters aka The X-Men.

According to Fox, via The Hollywood Reporter, “First Class” will “chart the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Eric Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were the closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto's Brotherhood and Professor X's X-Men."

The movie is expected for a June 3, 2011 release.

My pick for Eric Lensherr (aka Magneto) after the jump.

Beware Cold Sufferers! MUCUS TICK Gets An Action Figure!

The countdown is on and tomorrow at 10 AM EST at the Shocker Toys website, you have the opportunity to purchase the first figure in a limited partnership with Idle Hands to produce the first Idle Hands action figure exclusive - MUCUS TICK!!!

Sarah Ferguson Talks to Oprah

Mariah Cary Bump Watch

Plus, Willie Nelson's Hair and more on today's Gossip Geek!

A Bulgarian cell number has been linked (by those who have nothing better to do than follow crazy ass shit like this) to the deaths of three men.

The first victim was the CEO of the cell phone provider Mobitel (now there's some irony) who thought that the phone's number, 0888-888-888, would somehow, due to Chinese numerology, bring to him potential and growth throughout his life.

He dropped dead of cancer soon after using the phone.

I hate logic puzzles. In fact, if I were to list all the things I hate most in this world, logic puzzles would rate third. (the first and second being: Amy Grant's hair and the smell of a wet Guido wearing stale Drakkar Noir ).

I know a lot of people feel joy at filling in squares with numbers and I'm sure that there is a reason why this game is so popular with people taking a dump and needing something to fill the time between wiping and flushing. However, why this puzzle? It's not even that interesting. Case in point, you are dealing with numbers people, that's like math. Judging by how in debt everyone is I have to assume that math is not your best subject so why play a game that can only remind you that you have no talent in figuring out where numbers go? Try paying a bill on time...it's just not that much fun.

With DC Comics joining the ranks of Marvel in raising the price on their 32-page series from $2.99 to $3.99 this July, the end of the monthly comic book appears to be right around the corner.

As someone who has collected comics for the last fifteen years, I have seen my own bank account dry up as my monthly selections have gone from $20 a month to well over $40. This increase has definitely made picking up a new series or purchasing stand-alone issues of favorite characters hard to justify when the electric bill is due or I need toilet paper (which, of course, will always win out over Astro City any day).

You know every once in a while a comic comes along that you love.

It's well written, drawn and has some interesting characters. You look forward to it every month, tell all your friends about it and anyone else who will listen.

And then the book doesn’t make a dime, so its canceled.

Why do good books just not catch on?

SEX AND THE CITY 2 (Review)

Produced by Michael Patrick King, Sarah Jessica Parker, Darren Star, John Melfi

Written and Directed by Michael Patrick King
Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon,
Chris Noth, John Corbett, David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis,
Willie Garson, Mario Cantone and Liza Minnelli

They're back. Four hot-to-trot women more involved with one another than their own complicated lives.

Tina Fey's roll just can't be stopped.

30 Rock keeps the zany going week to week. Saturday Night Live's two funniest episodes this season had her in them. Her movie Date Night came out on top with Steve Carrell.

And the Sarah Palin impression ... SNL's best since Will Ferrell became our last president.

Do we need any more proof that she's the funniest person in America?

Apparently, yes.

Art Linkletter, who always found a way to get people - especially kids - to say the darnedest things on TV, died Wednesday at age 97.

If you weren't already crying your eyes out at the end of the Lost finale on Sunday, maybe you caught those last images after Jack closed his eyes.

Wreckage. Twisted, metal wreckage of Oceanic 815 strewn about the island shore. What did it mean? Did they all die in the plane crash? Was everything over six years just Sixth Sense-d away?

Not quite, says ABC.

With Aunt May's favorite nephew gearing up for his reimagining, it's no surprise that more news is leaking out of Hollywood.

Director Marc Webb has already met with James Cameron to discuss 3D technology which will be used in this film and writer Alvin Sargent is working on the latest rewrite of the screenplay.

That just leaves...

CASTING!

Now personally, I'm pretty excited if Webb takes a fresh, yet faithful approach to the subject. I like the idea of Peter Parker in high school (but find the idea that it will strongly be influenced by writer Brian Michael Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man a bit sacrilegious, considering how rich and entertaining the source material created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko is.

Now, according to Heat Vision, the candidates are named for the new webslinger.

Check them all out and my pick after the jump.

Shout! Factory has been doing an amazing job on their Roger Corman Cult Classics line and the latest announced editions are even more exciting.

Piranha and Humanoids From The Deep will both be available on DVD and Blu-ray and the double feature of Deathsport/Battletruck is on DVD only.

Both Piranha releases feature two different covers, one in lenticular 3D (pictured) and one in the traditional poster art.

Read the official press releases for all three after the jump and keep in mind that all of these titles are really must haves for any cinephile.

Get them all on August 3rd!

J. Lo & Marc Anthony Celebrate 6!

Shannen Doherty Calls Unfair Advantage for Nicole Scherzinger

Plus, Tina Fey is the Funniest Woman Alive, and more on today's Gossip Geek!

If you are going to set up a museum that romanticizes the mafia, I can not imagine a more perfect place than Vegas. After all, you are already getting scammed out of your hard-earned dough by the casinos, so I don't see why you shouldn't hustle it down to 300 Stewart Avenue in Downtown Las Vegas to get pick-pocketed at a museum.

It just feels like the right thing to do.

Shout! Factory has announced that they have expanded their relationship with Marvel Animation.

While most of the fare on the Fox channel can blow me, I will however give many kudos to whichever Head Honcho's son made his dad (or mom) put together the Red Dead Redemption short film deal to impress all of his dork-ass friends.

The film, directed by John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition) will run about 30 minutes long and air at midnight this Saturday (May 29) which means most of the people who this flick would appeal to are probably high and/or too busy trying to hook up with random people on Xbox Live.

Astrophysicists have recently learned that a planet in our galaxy, WASP-12b, will likely be devoured by it's parent star fairly soon (which in science-speak is about ten million years).

According to a recent article in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, WASP-12b is so close to the star that not only does it orbit it within 24 hours, the gravitational force from the star has changed the surface of the planet into an elongated shape.

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."

–Albert Einstein

Trends come and go.

For a brief period in the mid 1990s, it was both hip and financially advantageous to market pensive, thought-provoking films to an audience that respected intelligence.

Some of those films, like Quiz Show, were a scathing condemnation of this society's respect for sensation over achievement. Pulp Fiction turned pop-culture into a cause celebre. Forrest Gump revered the lucky-but-good-natured imbecile.

Most of this society's problems can be tracked to the success of Forrest Gump, because from the point that film crossed the $300Million domestic box-office gross line, it signaled that "stupid" was "in."

FAMILY GUY Emmy push
based on the brilliance of satire...

This Emmy season, Family Guy has jumped on the For Your Consideration bandwagon with a screener that's easily the most brilliant go-for-broke attempt...

Even better is the interior layout which celebrates the show's diversity...

In a season of bloated boxed set packages, this genius single disc sampler may be the most welcome and least understated FYC mailer being sent to voters.

Essential Fantastika: 13 Classics and Groundbreakers That Will Make Your Mind Bombilate!

I (too) often wonder what makes a book not just good, but mind-blowing.

Is it timeliness, literary legerdemain, realistic characters, chthonic metaphors, or other qualities not so easily quantified?

The characteristics, I have come to realize, do not mean as much as their combination into a work that makes me gasp or dream.

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