“I feel like a refugee from the Island of Dr. Moreau.”

- Brand Hauser (John Cusak), in War, Inc.

Bookmark to:

The Happening

Mark Wahlberg stars while
Shyamalan gets preachy
with gross suicides.

Is it phones?!? Is it
trees!?! Is it crowds?!? Is it bees!?!
What (the hell) is this disease?!?

Bookmark to:

The Incredible Hulk: Part Deux

Double dose of Hulk,
But don’t wait around, there is
Not a tag ending

Bruce Banner is back
Better than the last Hulk film
Norton’s Grade: B Plus

Bookmark to:

As some of you may know: when I’m not engrossed in Blogadilla, I’m a Mesoamerican Archaeology professor (really, no joke). So, I’m all for anything that gets kids intrigued with archaeology . . . even if it’s total bullsh!t.

Stores have been pimping Indiana Jones stuff for almost a month now and I thought it would be time to do yet another round-up of some of the more interesting items.

Of course Hasbro has released a huge line of Indiana Jones action figures, complete with awesome Raiders of the Lost Ark ‘Chachapoyan Idol’ Temple Playset and both young and elderly Indiana Jones figures.

Some cool touches: each action figure comes with a treasure/artifact and with 6 proof of purchase stickers, you can send away for the crystal alien skeleton (which is not available in stores).

And I broke down and bought a box of Kellogg’s Cocoa Krispies (you won, you marketing bastards) for the awesome Indiana Jones light-up spoon - which broadens children’s horizons, teaching them about the ancient Mesoamerican art of luminous spoonery.

Bookmark to:

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

[I just finished reading it (and yes, I know this book has been out a while)]:

By title alone, you are probably thinking one of two things:
a). “Cool! Zombie fiction!“
b). “Dear God . . . Zombie fiction?!?“

Here’s the catch: it’s not so much about zombies, it’s about how different societies would react to a global pandemic. However, the pandemic in this story happens to be the reanimated dead. And author Max Brooks didn’t get lazy about it either - he did his homework, he left no technical detail to chance. The only real fiction is the zombie part: no Deus ex machina, no laser guns invented to save humanity.

Topically, Brooks found a fascinating subject, flush with interesting questions:
“How would China or Canada react to a pandemic?”
“What is the best way to stop a pandemic from spreading across the globe?”
“What would happen to the average person when their town/city is overrun?”
“What would our government do?”
“How would we rebuild?”

Brooks also chose the perfect format for this type of story - the story is told through interviews (dozens and dozens of interviews) with different people around the world who were at significant events/moments during the spread of the disease and/or the subsequent war.

Bonus Round: It’s already on its way to being a feature film in 2010.

Bookmark to:

And speaking of Indiana Jones - no home is safe from looters and grave robbers without the ancient Mesoamerican booby trap kit: one idol drops plastic spiders on unwary looters, the other shoots darts from its eyes.

Bonus Round: The Chachapoyan Fertility Idol pencil cup and the Ark of the Covenant business card holder.

Super-Mega Bonus Round: The Crystal Skull Adventure Projector (man I wish I was making this one up).

All of these can be found at The Indiana Jones Shop.

Bookmark to:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

“Weekend at Bernie’s”
featuring Harrison Ford.
Was great . . . but he’s OLD.

Cate Blanchett: sexy
Russian dominatrix chick
with a bad accent.

I wanted to hate
Shia LaBeuof, but he was
great in this movie.

Karen Allen: great,
if only she were alive.
She played a mummy.

Bookmark to:

Celebrities like Christopher Mintz-Plasse (”McLovin” from Superbad) need your help.

Please donate now.

(via Funny or Die)

Bookmark to:

There are two kinds of people out there:

1). Those who loved the 2004 Wes Anderson film “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.”

2). Those who didn’t.

I loved it. I still love it.

If you’ve never seen the official website - it (still) may be one of the best designed websites out there, and worth checking out.

An interesting note of Zissou fandom:
“The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou” tattoos

(”Deep Search” tattoo photo from BMEink, Zissou profile tattoo photo from ModBlog BMEzine, “This is an adventure” tattoo photo from OutThrowingRoses)

Bookmark to:

Iron Man

Thought I would hate it.
It was surprisingly good:
four stars out of five.

Downey and Paltrow
truly made the movie great.
Will watch it again.

Bonus Round: Iron Man T-Shirt

Bookmark to:

Baby Mama

I like Tina Fey.
And Amy Poehler kicks ass.
But the film was dull.

It really dragged on.
45 minutes too long.
It felt like nine months.

Bookmark to:

Bookmark this post - we will be updating this schedule as events appear

Here’s a working list of upcoming bitchin’ stuff, mark your calendars:

MAY
May 1 - The Breeders will make an appearance at Amoeba Music, San Francisco.

May 2 - The film Iron Man opens.
May 2 - The (limited) opening of the film Son of Rambow.

May 3-4 – The Maker Faire, San Mateo County Fairgrounds.
May 4 - The Japanese Nikkei Matsuri Festival in Japantown, San Jose.

May 6-7 - Flight of the Conchords play the Town Hall Theatre, NY.

May 9-11 - The 37th annual Stanford Pow-Wow.

May 16 - Actor/author/director Henry Winkler speaks at the Menlo Park library. Coool! ‘The Fonz.”

May 17 - The Blogadilla 1 year anniversary!!

May 22 - The long-awaited film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens.
May 22 - The Yard Dogs Road Show hobo cabaret plays the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, CA.

May 23 - The (limited) opening of the John Cusack film War, Inc..

May 24-25 - The Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras, Morgan Hill, CA.

May 25 - The Neil Diamond cover band SuperDiamond plays Golden Gate Fields, Berkeley.
May 25 - NASA’s Phoenix Lander will land near the north pole of Mars.
May 25 - The Crucible in conjunction with NASA present a Mars-themed show “Fire and Ice,” Oakland, CA.

May 27 - Flight of the Conchords play Hob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco.

May 29 - Flight of the Conchords play Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco.

May 31 - The Neil Diamond cover band SuperDiamond plays Harrah’s, Lake Tahoe.

(more…)

Bookmark to:

With the new Indiana Jones movie less than a month away (24 days left), it was only a matter of time until the marketing tie-ins cropped up.

M&Ms offers Indiana Jones M&M candies - like regular M&Ms, but with skulls, pyramids, compass roses, Indy hats, and Precolombian masks printed on them.

LEGO managed to produce cool Indiana Jones sets months ago (though I still can’t find them in stores).
[LINK to their nice LEGO Indiana Jones wallpapers].

Bookmark to:

It’s here: the exciting conclusion to “Aliens (Sweded Edition)”!!

As you can see by the out-takes at the end, we had a blast filming this.

We hope you enjoy the show:

DailyMotion link
Google Video link
Yahoo! Video link

Update 4/21: We made the front page of SwededFilms.com!

Bookmark to:

Some friends and neighbors and I filmed this this weekend.
It was a blast.
Stay tuned for part 2.

DailyMotion link
Google Video link
Yahoo! Video link

Update 4/21: We made the front page of SwededFilms.com!

Bookmark to:

Yesterday Adobe released their Adobe Media Player (AMP).

It has a nice iTunes Store feel to it, but without having to buy anything - TV shows, podcasts, movie shorts, all free and all playing smoothly. I recommend you download it (it’s free!).

Also, this is perhaps the smoothest-running 1.0 version of anything I’ve ever used (apparently bug-free).

Suck it, Windows Media Player!

(via James King, Adobe’s PDF Architect)

Bookmark to:

Shutter (2008)

Japanese ghost chick.
Like ‘The Grudge’ with photographs.
New meaning: “dark room.”

A good ghost story.
The Thai version was better.
Now neck cramps scare me.

Bookmark to:

How Many Five Year Olds Could You Take in a Fight?

That’s right: all the years of wondering can finally be answered in one easy quiz. It’s good to know that those annoying yet wildly entertaining online quizzes haven’t gone anywhere!

Bookmark to:

The Ruins

Why gringoes should not
wander into the jungle:
Red Mayan Death-Vine.

Super sicko deaths.
The four grossest ways to die.
Do not bring your kids.

Bookmark to: