Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Charlemagne's Birthday Show April 2nd @ The Echo!
Come see The Franks, P.S. Nevermind, Robot Love, The Outline, and Dream Kids at The Echo on April 2nd!
The doors for the show are at 7:30 PM and the show starts at 8. Presale tickets are $5 and tickets will be $7 at the door.
TO BUY PRESALE:
1) Link: http://tinyurl.com/3b2fmq
2) On top of the page, update the number of tickets you want to purchase (Do this before logging into PayPal)
3) Once logged in, click on 'CLICK HERE. Names REQUIRED' (on left of page) and type in the FULL NAMES of the people the tickets are being purchased for.
4) Bring your IDs to the show and everything will be wonderful.
CLICK HERE for the facebook group or feel free to leave questions or comments here.
ZOMBIES!!
If you're like me, you're constantly afraid of zombies. I mean, an earthquake could hit L.A. any second and destroy almost everything and people prepare for that, right? Well if people think earthquakes are so dangerous and scary, what about zombies? In my opinion, they are much more of a threat than stupid earthquakes or terrorist attacks or what-have-you.
Now imagine zombies have started to take over. Right now. What do you do? You're probably scared shitless right now aren't you. I'm telling you. You HAVE TO be prepared. And I know there are stupid little books out there telling you how to survive attacks or whatever, but don't you want something useful? Something that can come in handy while you wait for zombies to attack?
Enter the Zombie Escape Plan notebook. This thing has 150 sheets of blank paper, with 100 more pages of extremely useful information in case of a zombie attack. With this notebook, you can not only, idono, keep a to do list and jot down random thoughts, but you'll also be ready.
EDIT: ummm..after writing this, I went to the site for it again and I kinda realized that the item sold out on 9.20.07. Sooooooo you can either beg the guy to make more, and if not, I guess we're all screwed. Sorry.
Link (via Dinosaurs and Robots)
Death Cab album art
For the 0 people that checked out the link for the new Death Cab album leak (I had to do the rickroll since it's suddenly all over the internet again), here is the actual album art from their upcoming album, Narrow Stairs. So for you 0 people out there, this one's for you.
(via Stereogum)
Wow
Checking out Pitchfork the other day, I saw some stills from Bjork's new (3D) music video for "Wanderlust". These pictures look amazing. I like Bjork..she's not my favorite musician, but I like her. I think she's cool, definitely odd, but cool. Anyway, there's nothing else to really say, other than the 3D version will be available on her upcoming DVD (with glasses included!), but the 2D version will be on Yahoo as of March 31st. Enjoy!
Link to article and like one more picture
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
...Flying Whales
Get a whole buncha scientists together to discuss possibilities of extraterrestrial life and what do you get? This:
"Blue Moon" is a planet more like Earth, but with much more oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, allowing both plants and animals to grow bigger than on Earth. The air is extremely dense, allowing all sorts of animals to fly, such as so-called sky whales, which have nine-metre wingspans and fly using echolocation. They hover above thick "pagoda" forests, which stand at an astonishing 1,000 meters.This article, which is pretty cool (definitely makes you think), is about an exhibition from London that's opening soon in Montreal. It talks about the potential for life on two specific planets that are relatively close to the make-up of Earth.
Link (I think through Digg?)
Remember Chalkzone?..I was never a really big fan of that cartoon.
Chalk is cool right? Also, boards can be cool. So I guess that means chalkboards are pretty damn cool.
Now. Take the coolness of chalkboards and throw in mobility, walls, and adhesive. What do you get? This thing.
It's an adhesive chalkboard. You can stick it on any wall and go crazy. Make a weekly schedule like in the picture, draw murals, keep a journal, whatever. It beats having to wander classrooms at night to get your fix of chalkboard drawing (Not that I do that..).
Product Link (via Nerd Approved)
Did Steve tell you that?....Steve
Since I started watching the show again last night, and since this was posted today on Neatorama, I felt like it should be shared.
(Anyone that thinks this show tails off in...umm..let's use the dvds for measure...disc 2, is incorrect)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Gotta Catch Em All
I'm a huge fan of Pokemon. I remember back in like, seventh grade, when I had blue and my friend had red. I remember when I had to 'borrow' my friend's Charizard to defeat a realllllyy hard gym leader, and then told him I accidentally set it free when in actuality, I just kept it.
Yesss, in those days we would watch Ash Ketchum and his pal Pikachu go on many adventures. We (..I definitely did) would wonder why the hell Misty would carry that stupid Togepi around with her or why Brock was such an asshole sometimes.
Those were the days.
...Now fast forward to the present. You're in Chile. You see that the nation's youth has decided to take this innocent anime and turn it into something, well, completely different. Calling themselves 'Pokemones', these 15-16ish year olds, with their dyed hair and pierced..faces are a rebelious group that engage in mass public orgies known as ponceo. Why do they do it? Cause they aren't big fans of their conservative parents or their political leaders. Why do they call themselves Pokemones? Who the hell knows.
What I do know is that these kids are turning the little creates I loved love to collect into a sick game to piss their parents off. Shame on you Chilean youth...shame on you.
Link to article (via BuzzFeed)
Free (legal) South Park online!!
Okay...so the two newest episodes of South Park haven't been amazing. They're good, don't get me wrong. I mean I did laugh, but I guess Trey and Matt (..well Trey) just spoiled me with an awesome 11th season.
Annnywwwayy. After years of illegal South Park sites dedicated to online episode viewing (see allsp.com), the guys have finally decided to host the episodes online for themselves. Over at southparkstudios.com, Trey and Matt have put up pretty good quality episodes for your viewing pleasure. Yes, you have to go through a commercial or two, but I think it's much better than the random fun ads that those other sites sometimes decide to hit you with.
So click here and watch away!
Here's a preview clip from this week's episode:
Screw those old cardboard boxes..
Where the hell was this when I was a little kid and had a crazy imagination? Hell. Where is this now and why isn't it in my backyard? (or in my apartment. wherever. I just want it.)
Link (via BoingBoing)
This guy grew his finger back..
I saw this all over the internet, so I guess I should share.
Apparently, a guy who lost part of his finger was able to grow it back using powdered pig bladder.
Pretty weird. You can read the article here.
(via BoingBoing)
Pegg on American Spaced
Continuing with Simon Pegg stuff (since he's so cool), here's what he has to say about the American remake of Spaced:
"SIMON'S OFFICIAL STATEMENT REGARDING THE US SPACED
Thoughts on the subject of an American Spaced. Feel free to skip to the end.
Now that the pilot has been officially announced, I thought it might be a good idea to clarify my position on the subject. The whole affair seems to have inspired some spirited debate and some heartening displays of loyalty and love. All this for a show which is almost 10 years old, is all rather wonderful and a vindication of all the blood, sweat and tears (both of joy and pain) we shed in the show's creation. It was always our aim to create a comedy which spoke to its audience on such a personal level, it almost felt one on one. It would seem the fan reaction to the news that Fox has appropriated the format, confirms at least, that we succeeded.
As far as remaking TV shows for different territories is concerned, I don't have a problem. The Office remake being a perfect example. Yes, the original British version is a wonderful and compact piece of comedy writing and performance, but I think it's bit much to expect a large scale American television audience to fully relate to the minutiae of day-to-day business life in an obscure British suburb. I'm sure if you're reading this, you are the type of person who takes pleasure in the variety of entertainment you enjoy, relishing the differences between our various cultural touchstones but there is a massive audience out there, which perhaps isn't as culturally savvy (euphemistic phrase for 'geeky') as we are and need their signifiers to be a little more familiar. So, Slough is replaced by Scranton, and the office archetypes become a little more archetypal to an American audience. The spirit of the show remains intact. The performances are uniformly great and the show scores big ratings and wins EMMYs, whether we as comedy purists prefer the original or not. The success of the remake is born out by it's undoubted success and appeal.
My main problem with the notion of a Spaced remake is the sheer lack of respect that Granada/ Wonderland/Warner Bros have displayed in respectively selling out and appropriating our ideas without even letting us know. A decision I can only presume was made as a way of avoiding having to give us any money, whilst at the same time using mine and Edgar's name in their press release, in order to trade on the success of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, even professing, as Peter Johnson did, to being a big fan of the show and it's creators. A device made all the more heinous by the fact that the press release neglected to mention the show's co-creator and female voice, Jessica Hynes (nee Stevenson). The fact is, when we signed our contracts ten years ago, we had neither the experience or the kudos to demand any clauses securing any control over future reversioning. We signed away our rights to any input in the show's international future, because we just wanted to get the show made and these dark days of legal piracy seemed a far away concern. As a result, we have no rights. The show does not belong to us and, those that do own it have no obligation to include us in any future plans. You would perhaps hope though, out of basic professional respect and courtesy, we might have been consulted. It is this flagrant snub and effective vote of no confidence in the very people that created the show, that has caused such affront at our end. If they don't care about the integrity of the original, why call it Spaced? Why attempt to find some validation by including mine and Edgar's names in the press release as if we were involved? Why not just lift the premise? Two strangers, pretend to be a couple in order to secure residence of a flat/apartment. It's hardly Ibsen. Jess and I specifically jumped off from a very mainstream sitcom premise in order to unravel it so completely. Take it, have it, call it Perfect Strangers and hope Balkie doesn't sue. Just don't call it Spaced.
It's a shame, since the pilot is now a certainty, whether we like it or not, a simple phone call and a few reassurances might have helped to at least curtail the tide of indignation from fans and creators alike. I have, as of yet, heard nothing.
Simon Pegg"
(via Edgar Wright's Myspace Blog)
Schwimmer/Pegg Interviews
Not sure if anyone's as excited as I am for the upcoming movie "Run Fat Boy Run", but if you love Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced) and Dylan Moran (Black Books, A Cock and Bull Story) as much as I do, then these should be pretty good reads.I was initially worried that David Schwimmer was directing the movie, but after reading both interviews, I feel like I can kind of breathe a sigh of relief. They both seem to be pretty confident with the movie, and with Pegg having rewritten the screenplay himself, I think everything should be fine.
Anyway, read the Schwimmer interview here (via Ain't It Cool) and the Pegg interview here (via ComingSoon)
Here's a little quote from the Simon Pegg interview about showing bloopers in movies that I found interesting:
And there was talk about putting bloopers in the credits which I'm really against because I think that's the wrong kind of laugh. Very few people laugh at those things because they're funny for a different reason, but the worst thing you can do is have a film and the thing you laugh at the most is when people forget their lines.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Stuff.
Here's a bunch of random things that I was too lazy to post earlier:
- New video for Oh Astro's "Hello Fuji Boy" (via Stereogum) - pretty good mash-up from husband and wife duo Oh Astro...it incorporates Fujiya & Miyagi, Hot Chip, and some old kid's show called The Lost Saucer...pretty cool.
- New Black Kids video for "I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You" - another pretty cool music video. These guys are about ready to explode. They're playing Coachella and then going on a tour around the US, Canada, and Great Britain. Definitely check em out.
- Umm...this guy's pregnant. I don't think anything else needs to be said.
- Guitar Hero on the DS?!?! - If you like guitar hero and the Nintendo DS as much as I do, this should get you pretty excited. Not sure how good it's gonna be...but being able to rock out in the middle of class or on the bus or wherever should be pretty cool.
- I stumbled upon See Mike Draw a few days ago thanks to Neatorama. I've been hooked ever since. Some of the funniest comics on the internet. Here's a pretty good/fitting example for today?
- Woooo! New Bob Odenkirk/David Cross show!!!!!! - Called 'Situation', it's a sitcom on HBO following the life of David Cross..with fake commericals and such...just read the article.
- Another interesting article from Neatorama, apparently Japan has just appointed a robot cat as their latest Ambassador. Go anime!..?
Random thoughts about blindness..
Okay..so I spent most of spring break in the bay area, mainly San Francisco. On one of my surprisingly many adventures of the week, I was asked to ride BART (the train/subwayish system over there) for the first time. After taking a good thirty minutes to figure out where the station was, probably overpaying for my ticket, and almost getting on the wrong train that would've taken me in the complete opposite direction, I finally managed to figure a thing or two out.
Sitting at my window seat, anxiously reading the station signs from every stop (since I really had no idea when I was supposed to get off, besides from the station name), I was given the wonderful opportunity to do some people watching. About ten minutes into my journey, a young blind man with a seeing eye dog entered the train and sat down right in front of me. He then immediately took a prescription bottle out of his pocket and took a pill. Then, during the remainder of my stay on BART, I would notice that the man would rock his head back and forth from time to time, while the train was moving. Now I don't really know anything about the blind, so this could definitely be a common thing. But it did give me the opportunity to reflect..
This may sound stupid, but it got me thinking about life without sight. I was imagining being in that guy's position, being on the train, knowing all the details and technicalities, but not actually knowing where I was. I mean, it's one thing to feel things out and kinda know what's going on, but it's something totally different to be able to visualize it. I just got to thinking if the guy took the pill to maybe relieve stress..and that maybe he was bobbing his head back and forth because he was kind of nervous.
Continuing with this train of thought (haha..get it?), I started to wonder what he could potentially be thinking. I mean, what makes up your imagination if you haven't ever seen anything? Would your mind make up random visuals? I know when you lack one sense, your others get intensified, but does your imagination? Idono..but anyway, it was interesting to think about on my little trip from Berkeley to San Fran and I thought I'd share.
Ultimately, I have to give that guy a lot of credit. Here I am, freaking out, not knowing which train to take, anxsiously staring out at the train stations, and here he is, alone with his dog, collected. casually getting from one place to another.
Happy Easter.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Neverland at night..
So these images of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch taken by Jonathan Haeber are pretty darn creepy.
...Umm I can't get a picture up, so just click on Jonathan's name for a direct link to the article/pics.
(via Laughing Squid)
Won't you be my neighbor?
Happy 80th birthday to the man that brought so many smiles to so many kids across the world. It's a little late, but everyone should walk next door and say hello to their neighbors today, whether you live in a gated community, apartment building, dorm room, or hell, even if you're out of town and are staying in a hotel. Be happy people.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
How I Met Your Muppets
If you know anything about [good] television, you know who Jason Segel is. Currently, you can catch him in How I Met Your Mother, a show that should be more successful, but unfortunately isn't. Segel is probably most well known, however, for his supporting role in Knocked Up as well has his amazing performance as Nick Andopolis in one of the greatest TV shows ever made, Freaks and Geeks.
Well. It appears as if Mr. Segel is taking is recent fame (you can see him starring in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a film he also wrote, in about a month) and putting it to very good use. According to Variety, Segel will be writing the next Muppet movie, with Sarah Marshall director Nick Stoller directing. So if you like The Muppets, Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up, How I Met Your Mother, or the upcoming Forgetting Sarah Marshall (it's pretty damn hard to not like at least one of those things), then you are in for a pretty big treat.
Link (via Ain't It Cool)
Okay Travelocity..It's not funny anymore.
Apparently there's an actual gnome creeping around at night over in Salta, Argentina. The Sun has a brief video that shows a dark small figure with a long pointy hat walking sideways into the night. According to the kid that filmed the supposed gnome,
"This is no joke. We are still afraid to go out - just like everyone else in the neighbourhood now. One of my friends was so scared after seeing that thing that we had to take him to the hospital.”Now I'm not too sure about anyone else, but seeing a gnome crab walk into the street out of the grass right in front of me at night would scare the hell out of me. I know we all like gnomes, think they're cute little old guys with sweet beards and hats, but think about it. Really think about it for a second. If you're a really old guy that has a huge beard and a long pointy hat, do you think you're going to be nice? No. You're going to pretend to be, and then right when a human comes up to feed you, or poke your hat, you're going to attack. Not cool. Stupid gnomes...
Link (via BoingBoing)
Monday, March 3, 2008
...This scares me
Apparently in 2004, a tunnel was discovered around the Niagara Falls area in Canada. It's about ten stories underground, and you can only get there through a small slit in the ceiling.
Fun...
Link (with more pictures and an explanation)
Peggless Spaced.
Spaced creator and amazingly talented British writer/actor/director/just overall cool person Simon Pegg has officially confirmed that he is not involved in the American remake of the classic British show. More on the British-to-American tv show rant later today, but I mean...let's just say the pilot is probably going to speak for itself on this one. Sigh..
(via I Watch Stuff)
Pssh...cows don't lay eggs..right?
The people over at moo.com are having a worldwide egg hunt. They've hidden eggs all over the internet, as well as in cities across the world. If you find any of these eggs and submit their location, you can win a prize! yay! prize!!!! Keep an eye on their blog for surprisingly tough clues.
(via BoingBoing)
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The Shins designed what?
The Yellow Bird Project is a non-profit organization that has indie artists design t-shirts, with 100% of the profit going to the charity of the artist's choosing. Check it out. It's pretty cool.
