Time-Killer - NANACA CRASH!

I can't remember where I found this online game but for a completely addictive time-waster, it ranks right up there. The rules are simple - run your bike into an unsuspecting dude and send him flying for distance. There are hidden power-ups and pitfalls among the people on the street. Let's see if you can beat my recent record:

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Grudge Match - Weinsteins versus Star Wars "Fanboys"

Who has the power in movie today - the film houses or the ticket buyers? That argument kinda played out this weekend as a grassroots campaign to boycott the Weinstein Brothers' spoof "Superhero Movie" was held this weekend (Friday to be more specific) by a group of Star Wars fans angry about the post-production re-edit of "Fanboys", a movie about a group of friends storming LucasFilms' Skywalker Ranch to see Episode I.

So, who wons? Well, if you go by just the sheer numbers, you would have that the ticket buyers won the battle since the movie only took in $9.5 million in the opening week versus the predicted $14-19 million range. But I think that the real reason that the movie underperformed was crystallized by the "Joe Loves Crappy Movies" webstrip:



However, if you read between the lines (minimal turnout claimed by Weinstein; an over-staffed security force by the protesters), the Weinsteins might win the war since you figure in that they have the power to shelf "Fanboys" indefinitely which really is a posing proposition for both sides. But for me, I'm coming out a winner since I found a new webstrip that I didn't know about but that I'm really digging. Thanks, Harv.

If you want to learn more on the protest, you can hit the Stop Darth Weinstein website.

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"Brooklyn's Finest" writer isn't an Overnight sensation

Yahoo! Movies has a great article on Michael Martin, the new screenwriter of the upcoming Antoine Fuqua-directed "Brooklyn's Finest" and possibly the new writer of New Jack 2. What's surprising about the story is that he's still at his old job even after he sold his first screenplay. It's obvious that he's hasn't become the next Troy Duffy.

For those of you who may not recognize Duffy's name, he sold a screenplay to Miramax and turned that deal into becoming a director of the movie he wrote plus got his band to score the movie. There was also talk of Duffy going in 50/50 ownership with one of Miramax's heads, Harvey Weinstein, in purchasing the bar where he was tending bar. Until his ego went unchecked and he blew it all away.

The movie finally was released with a significantly reduced budget. And there was a documentary crew to catch all of the highs and lows of this epic instant success turned into career flame-out. The movie was Boondock Saints. The documentary was Overnight.

If I would have to pick one to watch, I would go for Overnight every time. Not only is it a great snapshot of the time where the "Indie Movie" scene was blowing up to mainstream success and that you get to see a ton of flannel but it a great character study on how someone should not act once they make it "big" in Hollywood. Success can certain happen overnight but it can be taken away just as quickly.

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IndianaJonesShop.com Opens on Tuesday

Not Sure if this is an April's Fool joke but it appears that the official online shop for the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is going to be online on April 1 wiht a special 10% off everthing in the store.

I don't know about you but I might be tempted to pick up the new theatrical poster for me and a couple of figures for the kids. Very tempted, I must say.

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Sweet 16 - Michigan State versus Memphis

With this tonight's game with Memphis, the Spartans have four possible scenarios. Three of them do not lead to a positive result:

• The game is a physical one and the refs decide to call the play tight. End Result: The Spartans lose by less than 10
• The game is a run-and-gun affair and Memphis' pressure gets to State's PGs. End Result: The Spartans lose by more than 10
• The game is a close one but the Spartans' Bigs decide to disappear (which has happened more times than not). End Results: The Spartans lose by around 10.

But if you've been listening to all of the prognosticators this week, almost all of them have been picking this scenario:

• The game is a physical one and the refs let both sides bang a little. Memphis' lack of consistant free-throw shooting comes back to haunt them late in the game. End Result: The Spartans win by less than 10.

Case in point, here's some analysis by the worst comb-over since Marv was wearing the toup, Joe Lunardi:

My prediction: The game will be a tough one and both side will have their weaknesses exposed some more (Spartans are scarily inconsistant with both their shot selection and their ball control; Tigers' depth is not the greatest and of course, their free-throws) but at the end, the Spartans should get a few breaks (and calls) and limp away with a 5 point victory.

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NYCC blowing up with Miller and Mendes on "The Spirit" panel

Next month's New York Comic-Con just getting bigger and bigger. The latest news is the announcement of "The Spirit" movie panel with none other than the comic book icon Frank Miller and comic book movie veteran Eva Mendes. There will be other suits also on the panel, which will be moderated by former Rolling Stone reporter, now current MTV old man Kurt Loder, plus a clip from the movie will be previewed by those in attendance. More information can be found in the press release below:

New York Comic Con (NYCC) today announced Lionsgate will be at its 2008 event promoting THE SPIRIT, based on the classic comic book series created by Will Eisner and written for the screen and directed by Frank Miller.

At NYCC, production partners Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment will present an exclusive first look at THE SPIRIT on Saturday, April 19 in New York Comic Con's IGN Theater, featuring the world premiere of the film’s teaser trailer. Mr. Miller and Ms. Mendes will be on hand to speak about their respective roles in the upcoming film, which is produced by Deborah Del Prete, Gigi Pritzker and Michael Uslan. Co-CEO of Odd Lot Entertainment Deborah Del Prete and Michael Uslan, President of Comic Book Movies, will also be speaking. MTV News Correspondent Kurt Loder will moderate the panel and the teaser trailer will debut to a global audience on MTV.com later that night in high definition, and on MTV the week of April 21. NYCC will also feature the debut of the film’s first teaser poster, which Mr. Miller and Ms. Mendes will sign in a formal autograph session scheduled for 5:00pm.

New York Comic Con is the second largest popular culture event in the United States and features guests including Neil Gaiman, Mike Mignola, Grant Morrison, and T.M.Revolution.

Frank Miller is an American writer, artist, and director best known for his film noir-style comic book stories. He is one of today’s most widely-recognized and influential graphic novelists. His works include The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, and 300. Eva Mendes can be seen in films including Training Day, Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Hitch, We Own The Night, Ghost Rider, and this fall’s The Women. She plays Sand Saref in the new film. THE SPIRIT, which debuted in 1940, chronicles the adventures of a masked vigilante working on behalf of the police and is still regarded today for its deep and diverse narratives spanning film noir and crime drama as well as adventure, mystery, horror, comedy and romance.

"New York Comic Con welcomes the legendary Frank Miller with open arms, and we're delighted to have an actress of Ms. Mendes's caliber join us," Show Manager Lance Fensterman said. "It is a true honor to have them with us, and we earnestly thank all our friends at Lionsgate and Odd Lot Entertainment who are making this spectacular event possible."

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Five More Days Left - Vote for The Litterbox Chronicles

There's no hiding this fact - Wes Molebash is a friend of this blog and of mine, personally. His art graces the Tripping the Life Fanatic's banner and his web comic is a great, fun read and is the toast of the Viper Website (at least from this biased person's opinion).

Wes has now turned his attentions to conquering another web domain as he has put up eight strips of his new webcomic, The Litterbox Chronicles, at Zudacomics.com . If you are unfamiliar with Zuda, here's a very quick description. Zuda asks for webcomic submission and selects 10 of the strips to offer up for a month-long competition. The winner gets a very nice cash prize.

The strip centers around two house cats named Sophie and Stella. Both can talk (to each other) and have their own separate agendas. Sophie is usually level-headed and even-tempered girl while Stella is a big-thinker, mad schemer kinda gal which usually gets both of them (much to Sophie's dismay) into some wacky situations.

I see the two cats having a kind of Lucy/Ethel instead of a Pinky/Brain dynamic, which plays very well in a four-panel strip. The chuckles are there to be had in the strip and the art brings the traditional comic sensibilities with it. It is not a revolutionary strip but it enjoys far more than disappoints. Fans of Wes' You'll Have That no doubt will enjoy this series.

However, while the strip may be far from controversial, the more juicier stuff can be found on the strip's message board. Midway through the month, it appeared that there was some argument over the validity of the voters as one troll in particular decided that Wes was networking so well and it was tainting the voting results. Then there were other posters who deemed that the contest was turned from voting for the best strip to a popularity contest.

My question to both of those mindset is "What did you think this thing was, a tea party?" Anything that has to do with masses of people submitting votes boils down to a popularity contest; whether it is for the office of the President of the United States, for the best singer on a TV Reality show or for the best webcomic on Zudacomics.com. If you think differently, then please explain the talentless hack that is Sanjaya and tell me with a straight face that he deserved to stay on American Idol longer than five others. I doubt that will ever happen.

Wes's comic is the best one there (as shown by its Number 1 ranking as of this morning) but please don't take my word for it. Take a chance and read the board if you're still on the fence about the strip. Go for the controversy; stay for the webcomic.

* Disclaimer - Voting does involve signing up to the site. I am not responsible for any spam mail that may or may not be sent your way as a result of signing up to vote for this contest. *

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Celts knuckle down the Sun by 20

I haven't said too much about the season since really it's all just window dressing for the main event - the playoffs. But with Boston taking their recent Texas sweep, it has become apparant that this team has the chemistry and more importantly, an identity to win it all. Case in point, the Celts dismantle a team like the Suns, who were starting to win after incorporating Shaq into their rotation, behind KG's 30 and their now-traditional team D. Here are the highlights courtesy of ESPN and NBATV:



After this season is over, this team will be adored like the last great Celts team of '86 (even if they do not win a title) with KG as the role of The Resurrector, Allen as The Dagger and Pierce as The Glue.

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Bad Medicine - Sambora arrested for DUI

"Whoaa, we're halfway there..." That might have been the song that Richie Sambora was singing in the car on the way home Tuesday evening before he was busted for driving under the influence.

The Bon Jovi lead guitarist was pulled over when the arresting officer noticed that his black Hummer was weaving in between traffic lanes. He was arrested after failing the standard field sobriety tests.

The only bad news involved was that he was "very cooperative with all of the staff." Hopefully, he fully apologized for "Lost Highway", which should be the only reason why he was drinking the night away - to forget that it was ever made.

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"Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow" trailer now online

Marvel and Lions Gate have released the trailer for the next Direct-to-DVD video, Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow. The movie follows the offspring of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes (mentored by Tony Stark) as they avenge their parents by taking on the mechanized evil of Ultron. Here's the trailer:



These Direct-to-DVD have been somewhat inconsistant from being quite decent (the sublime Doctor Strange and the first Ultimate Avengers movies) to the so-so (Iron Man was ehh) to the awful (Ultimate Avengers 2 was just laughable). Jusging by this trailer, this one has the potential to be, at least, similar to the great Teen Titans series but we'll have to wait until this summer to find out if those first impressions are good ones.

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Dark Knight back on the Viral Campaign

After making some changes to their decidedly viral marketing promotion due to Heath Ledger's passing, it appears that the Ad team who is running the Warner Brothers has decided to go for a different tact than the "Why Be So Serious?" one of late last year, according to SlashFilm. This new initiative has a a couple of vans tooling around the country in efforts to campaign Harvey Dent for District Attorney while having some Dent "protesters" with slogans like "Dent is Two-Faced", "Your Future Decided by a Coin Flip" and "Change We Can't Believe In!"; all phrases are in reference to the eventual turn of Dent to the double head coin-flipping villain Two-Face.

I am a real big fan of this type of viral advertising. My own brush with one was with the first X-Men film. FOX had mutant protesters outside Clinton's Re-Election celebration in downtown DC and had some cameramen take some footage of it for some sort of publicity. I tried to get closer and talk with the protesters but security wasn't having any of it. Totally bummer because I wanted to find out how to get involved with that stuff because it looked like a blast. Just like this one does. Man, to be young and willing to work for nothing...

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The A-Team Movie Gets a Date

EOnline (through Yahoo!) is reporting that the hazy details for the new A-Team movie are coming into focus. According to industry trade Variety, the release date for this 80's gem of a TV show is June 12, 2009 with John Singelton tapped to be the director and the guys who wrote the 3:10 To Yuma remake named as screenwriters. And while there is no cast named, Woody Harrelson is the director's choice to be Murdoch while Ice Cube has stated previously that he would be down with playing B.A. Baracus; Mohawk (and probably chain) in all. Here's to hoping that the movie will be as fun as the first Charlie's Angels movie and nothing like the lameness that was the Dukes of Hazard.

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My Demise Is Nearing...

This morning, I received this missive from my old colleague at Movie Poop Shoot/Quick Stop Entertainment, Christopher Mills, which plainly states:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Your Fictional Demise

Page 3, Femme Noir #4. Murdered by a savage jungle girl from Monster Island.

September, 2008.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris is a great guy and a true man of his word when he took me up on my offer to use my name as a victim for his scintillating crime pulp, Femme Noir: The Dark City Diaries. The series will be making its debut this summer with Ape Entertainment. My "death" will be in the last issue of the four-issue mini-series; the cover is pictured above with said savage jungle girl on the fire escape. Man, what a way to go.

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How Sweet It Is - Michigan State

Although, my "area of the country" was not treated to the Spartans taking out the Panthers (BTW - it's the fifth straight victory for Izzo and MSU against Big East teams), it was sweet enough to watch the updates on the the crawler at the top of CBS' broadcast while watching UCLA almost lose to Texas A&M. The Worldwide Leader's Andy Katz has a nice write-up on Drew Neitzel (pictured above) and his performance last Saturday.

Next up is the Number 1 seed, Memphis. Do you believe that I'm more scared that prognosticators (Dickie V in particular) are going with the Spartans than I am the actual Tigers themselves. Ugh, I'm not liking the role of the favorite for this team in 2008. and the less that is said about brackets, the better (Thanks G-Town.)

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Dew Easter..

Here's to a great Easter to all. In honor of said holy day, here's a spoof of the old "Davey & Goliath" claymation by PespiCo.

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EW's First Look Pics of Del Toro as "The Wolfman"

Just a quick post but I saw the above picture in this week's Entertainment Weekly and knew that I had to find out more. On EW's website, there is a great interview with the legend Rick Baker on how he changed Benicio Del Toro into the latest incarnation of The Wolfman as well as another picture of a fanged Del Toro (pictured below). The article is a must read for every fan of the monster genre.

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Tropic Thunder "Red Band" Trailer Online

If you haven't seen the pics from Entertainment Weekly, you got to check out the website for the new Ben Stiller comedy called Tropic Thunder. Here's the description from the website itself:

Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr. lead an ensemble cast in "Tropic
Thunder", an action comedy about a group of self-absorbed actors who set out to
make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the
studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting,
leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they end up knee deep
in shit.

The main page has the regular trailer. However, there is a "Red Band" or R-rated trailer located on the site as well. However, in order to see that trailer, you must first provide your age for verification purposes. Once that has been confirmed of 17 years or old, another window will open and the new trailer will start streaming.

I highly recommend that you see the R version. It is truly hilarious stuff. This movie might just bring Stiller back to the heights of funnydom after trolling in the romantic comedy garbage ("Meet The Parents") and the tepid, goofball comedies (Dodgeball, Starsky & Hutch). I guess that the public will make its decision on August 15th.

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Two Minds - The Boston Celtics St. Patrick's Day Alternate Jersey

Last year, since the local 5 (at least for me) was just dreadful to watch, I decided to take a year-long sabbatical from watching the NBA in any form. But, after missing out on Oden and Durant but getting Allen and Garnet instead, I'm back with the Celts and the NBA in general in true "bandwagon" form, which didn't prepare me for the wardrobe change on Tuesday; otherwise known as the St. Patrick's Day Unis (pronounced You-knees).

As the saying goes, I'm of two minds on the subject of the these Alternate Jerseys and the Celts' Saint Patrick's Day one in particular. When I first tuned in to watch the Celts/Rockets game, I did a double take. To me, it thought that it was a college game with Notre Dame, which doesn't fly with a Michigan State fan at all. And since Boston College is the neighborhood big time team and has a gold-ish hue in their team colors, the initial look made the jersey seem it was made more for the Road to the final Four than the Road to the NBA Championship. Plus, the white block name lettering on the back when everything else was gold seemed cheap.

But as I was fixing to go full on with the urge to hate on the St. Patty's jersey, I looked at it again and noticed how cool the gold script looked against the Celtics Green. The gold clover was silly (in a good way). The white stripe in between the two bands of gold really accentuates how classic the jersey could have been if it was an actual organic (meaning back when the franchise was relatively new) creation versus the new and tired tradition of professional teams whoring out their fans by coming up with multiple alternate game jerseys just to generate additional revenue. And at $75, it's not a decision to make lightly.

Does anyone else out there have an opinion on this jersey specifically or alternate jerseys in particular? I'm ready to break it down wit the best of ya.

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Batman: Gotham Knight DVD details

Rather than fill this post with any setup, here's just the facts:

Release Date:
July 8, 2008

Versions:
Single Disc DVD ($19.98 SRP)
2-Disc Special Edition DVD ($29.98 SRP)
Blu-Ray Disc ($34.99)

Specs:
Video - Widescreen (1.78:1)
Audio - 5.1 Dolby Digital

Voice Talent:
Kevin Conroy
Kevin Michael Richardson
Will Friedle
Gary Dourdan
Ana Ortiz
Parminder Nagra
David McCallum
George Newbern
Alanna Ubach
Jason Marsden

Extras (included in SE and Blu-Ray):

• “Batman and Me a Devotion of Destiny: The Bob Kane Story” - The comprehensive chronology of the remarkable life of the creator of Batman


• “A Mirror for the Bat: The Evil Denizens of Gotham City” - A stimulating documentary covering Gotham City’s most nefarious of characters, combined with a look into the symbiotic relationship Batman shares with his enemies


• “Batman: The Animated Series” Bonus Episodes - Bruce Timm selects his favorite episodes from Batman: The Animated Series


• “Sneak Peek: Wonder Woman” - DC Universe animated original movie


• Audio Commentary track features the filmmakers of Gotham Knight

If you want more info, it can be had at KFR

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Sweet Christmas - Temple versus Michigan State

Today at 12:30, Michigan State, the five seed, will tipoff against the Owls of Temple and all I've heard is how the tandem of Mark Tyndale and Dionte Christmas might be too strong for the Spartans. This game has become a predictable 5-12 upset of most of the prognosticators.

Well, I mihgt not get paid for my opinion (yet) but how can these people think that the Big Ten doesn't offer the same type of team that Temple is - high-tempo, hard man-to-man. It just doesn't make sense why anyone would think that a team built to run it out of the gym (State) would be tripped up by a decidedly weaker Atlantic-10 tourney winner.

The predecition - State 80-60

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Red Sox players are stand up guys for BoSox staff

Breaking news just this after noon as the Boston Red Sox players unanimously agreed to boycott today's final spring training game and refuse to board their charter plane to Japan based on the fact that MLB withdrew a $40K stipend to the team's coaching and training staff.


However, this brouhaha might be over as soon as it began as it appears that there is a settlement in the works, according to the Boston Globe:

The Boston Red Sox have returned to the field for their spring training
game, now scheduled to begin an hour late amid a boycott over pay dispute for
their Japan trip. The players had refused to play the final spring
training game in Florida and threatened to boycott their flight to Japan for
their season openers unless their coaches and other staff are paid for the trip.
There has been some type of settlement in the coaches dispute or at least
progress made. We'll have more as news comes out.

It must be good for the MLBPA to see its members take such a positive public stand; especially since the union has been taking a beating from all of the non-preventative action they took about the league's steroids epidemic.

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Life in a Smaller Town...

I have spent the previous 20 years in the bosom of the Nation's Capital, also known as Fairfax County, Virginia. It has all of the amenities that a great suburbia needed - local malls, great restaurants and a ton of actives to fill your weekends; whether if you had kids or not. Except for the higher price of real estate and the fact that I was beginning to hate the hour long commute to go anywhere, it was a great place to live.

But as all of these wistful tales usually reveal, I moved away from the relative comfort of the former Murder Capital of the World and into the direct path of Hurricane Alley - the Florida Panhandle. And while the price of housing is more affordable and the commute was reduced by more than a half, it's the little things that I'm beginning to miss.

That's what these posts will consist of - me nitpicking about the stuff that little towns lack. most of the time, the post will be short and to the point but there are sometime when I need to get things off of my chest. Case in point, please read below.

Tuesday is usually new DVD/CD release day and I have only has one Yellow Tag store, one Red City store and three Bullseye stores in my general vicinity. I know. I live it every day. Please don't cry for me, really. But as you might suspect, I can get geeked if something is coming out on Release Day.

Yesterday, a new metal CD with a Yellow Tag exclusive DVD came out at $7.99 (highlighted in the Weekly Ad) so I decided to stop by said store to pick it up. I got there and found that both racks for the CD was empty. I was beside myself. I was thinking, "It friggin just came out today - I know that not everyone in this city came here before 4 PM and sold it out. It's just not possible."

I checked the band's white placeholder in the music section and saw nothing as well. I almost walked out the door but knowing how this business is run, I decided to ask a Store Representative if he could locate the missing CD.

After pointing out the empty racks to him, he went to the other place that I looked and, shocker, it wasn't there either. He then went into the back. After a few minutes, he came out with their entire order in his arms and gave the first one.

As I went to check out, I thought that only in this store in this small town would the highlighted exclusive release for this week wouldn't be stocked until 4PM. Now, this incident could be chalked up to more of a "Clerks"-bred apathy but I doubt that it would've happened in Northern VA. At least it would've been before 4 since there were three Yellow Tag stores within 5 miles of my work. Damn, I miss that.

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Pittsburgh Comicon Founder is found guilty of murder

As a follow-up to a news item that was posted here in the summer of last year, Michael George, founder of the Pittsburgh Comicon, was found guilty in Macomb County Court of killing his wife, Barbara Maria George, who was murdered in 1990 while preparing for his birthday party in their comic book shop, Comics World, in Clinton, Michigan.

According to reports, George collapsed and was openly sobbing as the verdict was read. Even though the verdict was given, there will be some feelings that will never heal from the outcome of these proceedings.

Both daughters testified for the defense of their father. "“We have two nieces who we’ll probably never see,” Joe Kowynia, Barbara George’s brother, said to the Detroit Free Press. Barbara George’s sister, Chris Ball, also said to the paper, "It’s a steep price for justice."

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Product Placement - Iron Man and Audi

Never has corporate synergy looked so good as it does with this newest Audi commercial for the new R8 model.

The coupe looks unbelievably sweet and the best part is that the :30 second ad totally gloms off of the upcoming Iron Man movie and its lead actor, Robert Downey Jr. Not only does it make me want to watch the movie right now but I'm not trying to stave off the need to forget about saving for the kids' college education and go car shopping for the new R8. I mean, they can get scholarships and student loans, right?

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Wii Sports Cheat - Blue Practice Court

Here's another time where I'm providing "fresh" commentary to a stale item. In case you don't read the Wii Sports cheat sheets, here's a way to play a doubles set on the blue practice court:

After selecting the Miis that you will be playing as, hold down the 2 button as you click the A button to pass through the Movement Warning screen (image is shown below).

Continue to hold the 2 button down after the screen fades to black. The next screen you should see is the opening of the match with your selected Miis on the blue practice court. You'll still hear the crowd oohs and ahhs and the game will still play the same but a new court is a great change of pace or those who are somewhat burned out by the standard WTA-like arena.

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Upcoming "Iron Man" movie tie-in video game trailer

This preview makes the game look promising but like all teaser trailers, this might be as good as the game gets. although, I do like the look of Stealth Mode Iron Man.

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New Def Leppard CD cover art unveiled and "Nine Lives" single

Here's the cover art for Songs from The Sparkle Lounge, the new Def Leppard CD which will be out on April 24th. The art was released on the band's website on a couple of weeks ago but may have been buried by the avalanche of Rocklahoma 2008 press releases. The title of the CD references the small studio that the group uses to write songs. The group also announced that the first "single" (if those still exist nowadays) called Nine Lives will be used to help promote the remaining NBA games on ABC as well as this year's playoffs. So a little forewarning if you are a NBA fan - be prepared to become sick of this song by June.

I caught the majority of the song, which features Tim McGraw in the opening, on YouTube and it's a little south of meh. Not all that great and the son of Phillies pitcher Tug McGraw doesn't really add all that much to the song. But I'm probably not the most objective person on this subject since I feel that the only producer for the group is Mutt Lange, who helped produced the band's comeback CD, Euphoria back in '99.

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Yahoo sez PS2 is Gaming Console Best Buy

I just read this recent article by Yahoo about the best buy in home console gaming was the last gen PS2. And you know what? While I'm a complete Wii convert, I can see the total economy of getting a PS2 if you're tight on cash but still want to rock on some of the newer games. But, when you consider that the PS3 can play not only the hi-def DVD champion Blu-Ray and most of the older PS2 games, you gotta look at the PS3 as a better purchase/investment.

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"Fair is foul and foul is fair" - Michigan State versus Wisconsin

I know that this missive might be perceived as sour grapes or a fanboy just pissing and moaning but I'm not about objectivity with this one.

I purposefully stay home to peacefully watch the MSU/Wisconsin game and ended watching an unbelievable display of flopping that would make Manu proud and ticky-tack fouls that made me wonder if the officiating team was working a Donaghy angle on the outcome.

Early on, you could see that the officials were imposing their will on the game by reaching for their whistle seemingly every other time Wisconsin brought the ball down court. By the first half, the Spartans had a meager two point lead but also was averaging about a foul a minute. Hmm, you don't think that those early fouls would have an effect on the second half, would ya?

By the time all was said and done, Michigan State held the Badgers to 17 made shots from the floor (37% from the floor, 29.4% from 3-point line), forced 11 turnovers and got 2 blocks while hitting 42% of their shots including being 47% from 3s, and dishing out 10 assists. That's a recipe for success against the very consistent and tough Wisconsin team. But the Spartans lost dramatically in the one area of the game that they could not control - fouls. Wisconsin only committed 18 total fouls resulting in 19 free throws while Michigan State had four player foul out and had a total of 30 fouls, resulting in 37 free throw attempts. The only reason that the Badgers only won by two was that they were a shade over 70% from the line.

At least the Spartans will get a chance to prove themselves in the NCAA Tourney against a non-Hightower led crew. But for this Big Ten semi-final game against the Badgers, the old witches in Macbeth were right - "Fair is foul and foul is fair".

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"The Wire" Exit Interview with David Simon

"The Wire" has been probably the most critically applauded TV series (Pay, Cable, or Network) since I don't know when. But unlike most Network series, they left when they were on top; though not without much speculation as to why the early exit from members of the media and fans themselves. Simon himself tried to appease thos people when he had his farewell letter posted on HBO's website.

But for those seeking a more behind the scenes view of the series and its creator, I highly recommend this great interview of Simon by Charm City's own City Paper. While there are some spoilers in the piece, there are some great points on how the final season was made to be shorter and why Simon appears to be everywhere talking about the show and giving more interview than he had in the previous four seasons. Take the time, print out the page, sit back and digest this definitive look at "The Wire". Plus, there's a great screengrab of Simon behind the computer with a "Save Our Sun" plaque on his cubicle shelf.

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Mock 1st Round Pick for the Patriots by Mike Reiss on The Worldwide Leader

When checking the scores of the Ohio State-Michigan State Big Ten Tourney game (which the Spartans won behind 28 pts by Neitzel), I saw this link to a mock draft clip for the Pats with Mike Reiss.



Wait until the :41 second mark and you'll hear First Take host Jay Stephens leave Reiss hanging out to dry with about two seconds of silence. The Patriots Beat Reporter for the Globe does his best to quickly fill the vacuum with actual factual analysis.

It probably was a technical issue. Or maybe it was due to Stephens running back to the set after downing down a vodka shot with fellow host, noted ESPN drunkard and Carol Burnett cartoon look-alike Dana Jacobson (comparison picture below). One could only hope..

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Last Day - vote SPARTY!

Today is the last day to vote on who will be the mascot on the EA Sports' NCAA Football 09 Wii cover and Sparty needs your help. He's in second place behind Butch T. Cougar of Washington State, who isn't in Sparty's league as far as image and style goes. So, who would you pick the rough and manly Sparty or the four-color Pink Panther?

So, I'm calling on all of the die-hard fans of classic American icons to click on the image below and vote to put Sparty over the hump. C'mon America (and outlying areas), let's get Sparty the recognition that he deserves!

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Eight Years Ago - One Shining Moment

It's hard to believe that eight years ago this week was the start of Michigan State drive to the NCAA National Baskbetball Championship. This year's team is too raw and too inconsistant to make another historic run. although, if you think to a couple of years ago, George Mason was just another mid-major starting down a Murder's Row of elite Basketball teams (MSU included) and that didn't stop them from making it to the Final Four. That's the way it is with the Madness - you never know...

So, in honor of the beginning of the Big Ten Tournament and here's to Charlie, Andre, AJ, Jason, Mo Pete and Mateen - my first National Championship team since I was a fan of any team (and I still have the T-shirts, guys).

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A Banner Season for Comic Book Fans - New Incredible Hulk trailer online

Here's the second attempt of making a franchise out of The Incredible Hulk with a new and improved Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) and Betty White (Liv Tyler). the trailer itself is decent enough to give the thinnest of plot details but it does give away the most compelling reason to see the movie (and no, I'm not talking about the Bruce/Betty kiss). But check it out for yourself down below and let your feelings be heard!

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Ripped from KFR - The Spectacular Spider-Man: A Fast-Forward Review

Just in case you’ve been away from KFR for the past week, the latest animated incarnation of Spider-Man, The Spectacular Spider-Man, hit the cable/satellite waves last Saturday. Rather than go through a rather lengthy traditional review of both shows, I’m only going to hit upon the good and bad things from the first two episodes.

The Good:

• No tired attempt at an origin rehash (At this point, everyone on the planet should know how Peter Parker became Spidey; glad that the creators didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Although, there’s probably gonna be an origin episode in Season Three but I’m crossing my fingers here.)
  Peter Parker is a short geeky teenager again (As One More Day in the comics proved, the only good Spider-Man is one where Peter Parker has angst; not one where he’s over 6’2”, handsome, married to a world-famous supermodel and an accomplished scientist. Call it the Honeycutt rule – BJ with no mustache = funny; BJ with mustache = not funny.)
• Good restraint in not going overboard with the redesigning of the villains (Aside from Electro looking more like The Batman’s Mr. Freeze than the excellent original, the slight redesigns of both the Vulture and The Enforcers looked different enough from its comic version but not so much that they became Marvel 2099. Surprisingly good.)
• Great use of plot touchstones to tie episodes together (Rather than introduce the villains in the episodes that they appear in, the method of using the characters in their pre-villain form such as Doc Ock, Sandman, Venom, Green Goblin and the Lizard give the appearance of some form of continuity and give the older fanboys cause to smile when seeing them on screen)
• Good integration of 3-D and traditional 2-D animation (The “vine swinging” city scenes looked good and showed how far the rendering and integrating of 3-D animation has come since the late 90s. If anyone doesn’t know what I’m talking about, go rent the Batman/Mr. Freeze Direct-to-Video movie to see what I mean.)

The Bad:

• Terrible use of stereotypes in lead female characters (While the redesign of Spidey’s villains was seemingly restrained in most cases, the same could not be said for the female characters in the first two episodes. Gwen Stacy is a typical girl nerd while Liz Allen is some sort of non-descript ethic airhead cheerleader. Not cool.)
• Eddie Brock as a Lab Rat and Parker’s friend (Again, what the…? I like my Eddie Brock dumb and jealous of Petey; not being his bud and helping him get his foot in with Dr. Connor’s at ESU. Not liking how this will play out.)
• Art was so-so (This is nitpicking but the art for the series has that Matsuda/the Batman feel to it, which is grating to some people and not so much to others. I’m not asking for Hanna Barbera or Filmation-style artwork but a change in style from the previous superhero series would’ve been nice.)
• Not enough JJJ (How can you have the nemesis for both Parker and Spidey on screen for less than a couple of minutes? J. Jonah Jameson is both comic foil and antagonist who needs to be there to hate Spidey and to work Parker to death. Can’t be stated enough –More JJJ!)
• Spidey-verse may be too small (another nitpick but how can The Goblin, Doc Ock, and the Vulture work for Osborn Industries and Electro, Venom and The Lizard work for the same lab at ESU? Just seems too forced for my tastes but then again, I’m not ht target audience for the show.)
  

Overall, the two episodes were fun and made for a great start to the series. If you missed it last week, this week’s installment has the Lizard’s series debut so you better get on board, pal.

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Rocklahoma 2008 Breakdown

Being a teenager of the 80s, I am quite fond of the Heavy Metal genre. Although I lean more towards the Speed/Thrash Metal side of the tracks, I can appreciate and enjoy its awkward drunk cousin otherwise known as Hair Metal; especially live in concert.

Well, it appears that I might not be the only one as there will be a repeat of last year's very successful US Rock festival in Pryor, OK nicknamed Rocklahoma. The 2008 version has a veritable who's who of the Hair Metal period from lighter metalish acts like Night Ranger and Triumph to veteran stalwarts like Cinderella and Poison to slightly obscure acts like Kingdom Come and Armored Saint to reunited groups like Warrant and Extreme. Pryor, OK is gonna be a long weekend full of debauchery, drunkenness, hangovers and devil's horns.

To get the true feel of each act and determine for yourself if a trip to the middle of the country is worth it, go to my favorite Hard Rock web location, Hard Rock Hideout. He can break the lineups down with the best rock critic around.

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NBA's Top 10 Shooting GOATs

The Daily Dime column over at the Worldwide Leader (practically the only column I read on a consistent basis over there) has put up a Special Edition of the Top 10 Shooting GOATs (Guards Of All Time) and I'll give you one guess who's in the top slot:



No argument here (and if you had one, I would have you committed to Saint E's for observation). But I do differ with the others. Here would be my list:

1. Jordan (Killer in every sense of the word on and off the court)
2. Jerry West (Made the Number 2 guard glamorous and became the Logo of the league)
3. Kobe (Has the mean streak and determination to become #2 behind MJ but can he be more than a scoring machine and elevate the players around him?)
4. Sam Jones (So under the radar due to the team he was on but could have been a mega-star if he was on any other team; flat out winner)
5. The Iceman (Brought a level of street game to the league with the finger roll and his ability to break down defenders with either the shot or off the dribble from anywhere on the court)
6. The Pearl (Another "street player" of the 70s who was just so smooth and seemed to always be in control)
7. The Glide (Almost Gervin part2; Not the greatest defender near the end of his career but yo knew that he always came up with a nice steal in the lane that would lead to a fast break dunk)
8. Reggie Miller (Mr. 3-Pointer and would throw it up with the best but could never get that elusive ring)
9. Dumars (Great defender who would light it up if you slept on him; great no-frills partner to flashy Isiah)
10. Iverson (Great individual scorer and durable who got to the Finals almost on his will alone but never could lift the play of his teammates; zero titles hurt his ranking)

Who's in agreement? Did I miss someone? Let me know..

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Here's a shocker - Pats Suit Dropped

That little whimper that you heard this morning was the news that the lawsuit against the New England Patriots, Owner Bob Kraft and Head Coach Bill Belichick was dropped. That is a stark contrast when compared to when the suit was announced back during the period known to me as the "Blame the New England Patriots with the Death of Modern Sportsmanship Feeding Frenzy" or for others, the month of February.

I've purposely stayed away from dissecting the whole "Spygate" controversy for two reasons: 1) not all of the facts are in or ever will be in and it's hard to make a case either way without knowing what was exactly done, who knew what and how it benefited the team during the game; and 2) there are too many non-qualified people (numerous bloggers and actual professional reporters) giving their heavy-handed and pious sermons and my two cent-ible points would get lost amid the shuffle.

But here's something that I feel that is not rooted in the moralization on the decay of professional sports ethics (which is an oxymoron if I have ever heard one) perpetrated by the New England Patriots. All anti-trust legislation aside, the governing body of the National Football League has made a ruling on the Patriots involvement and have rendered a verdict. Unless there is any new evidence to provide (potential Three Card Monty dealer Matt Walsh included) that can dispute the original findings, the further vilifying of the New England Patriots (and more importantly, their fans) should be dropped faster than this supposed lawsuit.

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False Claims make for an Impossible Dinner season

Well, I guess history does repeat itself; at least for people who think that the path to success is paved with bad resumes. In the honor of such luminaries as Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joseph Ellis, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., and George O'Leary (the 5-day coach of Notre Dame), Chef Robert Irvine decided to roll the dice with exaggerated job duties and came up snake eyes as Food TV canned his Dinner: Impossible show for next season.

I just don't understand why in this age of the all-knowing, all-seeing Internet would someone think that they could get away with blowing up stuff in order to be bigger themselves. Plus, if you're going to lie, why come clean to someone who can and will bring you down Watergate-style? It makes no sense. If you're going to lie, be like Barry (Bonds), Roger (Clemens) or Nero and go down with the fiddle that brought you there, man.

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Spectacular Spider-Man Trailer for 03-15-08

The lizard makes his Kids WB animated debut on next Saturday's The Spectacular Spider-Man. I'll have a review of the first two shows later in the week (hopefully). Until then, here's the trailer:

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All Points Bulletin - The Stylist is armed and dangerous

From the way out there department, here's a cautionary tale from our good friends at the Associated Press:

Police: Pa. Stylist Shoots Angry Client

After reading a story like that, I always think that my creed of not sending food back or not complaining about a bad haircut is all the more justified. I'll tip bad if I get awful food or if my hairline in the back is crooked but never complain while someone else could make things worse such as spit in said food. Nothing will save a loogi-flavored burger.

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A Funtime Friday Video

Here's a song that I've digging on since it's release last week:

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New Wanted trailer

After watching the second trailer for Wanted, I'm of two thoughts on it. The first is, as always, that this adaptation will not measure up to the source materials. That's a given with almost all mainstream versions of literary works (and yes, comics can be considered as literary as a book with illustrations in them).

The other thought is that it could be a totally different animal than the book; a highly-stylized better version of Shoot "Em Up, which would be very cool. Jusge for youselves by watching the trailer below courtesy of Traileraddict.com:

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WiiFit creators give up behind the scene fit facts

The WiiFit doesn't come out until May 19th and I've been counting down the days by scouring the Internets looking for anything and everything about this possibly revolutionary marriage between gaming and exercise. (And if you have seen me, you'll be glad that this kind of device is coming around.)

That's when I stumbled upon the actual launch site of WiiFit. On this site, the developers of this game break everything about its creation, software/hardware development and the sights/sounds of the game. You can read and hear all about the WiiBoard (pictured above) and WiiFit right here. And this is just a reminder - you better start limbering up because the release date is about two months away.

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Favre finally calls it quits

Brett Favre has finally let a Nation held hostage off the hook by announcing his retirement today. While the object of unadulterated fawning by the national media as a whole (Rick Morrissey and John Madden included), Favre did bring a certain aw shucks, dumbed-down slinger mentality to the position that traditionally the smartest athlete on the team usually played. And prior to his rejuvenation last year, his numbers were slipping greatly because of that mindset (see chart below).

But that didn't stop the media from practically make aural love to Number 4 every time he stepped on the field even when it was not deserved. And again, prior to finally getting a much needed ground game and taking advantage of a weak NFC Central, Favre's career numbers were headed south at a rapid almost Kurt Warner-like rate. For example here are his 2005 & 2006 regular season numbers:

He was throwing it over 38 times a game and only completing a shade over 58% of them. He threw more INTs than TDs and he averaged only 243 yards a game. Not terrible stats but definitely not Hall of Fame numbers by any stretch of the imagination (other than those who worship at the altar of Favre).

Look - he was a great QB for a long time (for NFL standards. He is the NFL Ironman, won a MVP and a Super Bowl and he did break Dan Marino's career TD and Yardage numbers in 2007. There is no argument that he is a first ballot HOF. But if you looked at the steady decline of his numbers, he probably should've retired 2004 when he first considered doing so.

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Jeff Healy dead at age 41

Word came out that Jeff Healy, who hit it big in the 80s with Road House and "Angel Eyes", had passed away at the age of 41. Healy was about to release his return to blues-based rock with a new CD when the cancer that took his sight at age 1, retinoblastoma or cancer of the retina, moved to other parts of his body and took his life. He was a husband and a father of two kids.

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Daddy's Got a New Pair of Shoes

Ran out today at lunch. Wanted to look for the new LeBron Vs but none of the stores in my area had them (man, I do miss the shopping choices in metro DC area). So, since I have impulse issues and needed to pick a pair, I decided on this sweet pair of kicks:

The Team Jordan Jumpman Elite 08 feel great; especially since I did no prior research in purchasing them. But since I also have a severe case of Buyer's Remorse, I decided to look up the price and description of the shoes. Eastbay.com have them going for $118 and ran this description:

Jordan Men's Team Elite 08
Black/Varsity Red
Elevate your basketball performance to a whole new level with the Jordan Team Elite 08 basketball shoe. This high flyin' Jordan shoe features a combination of floater and rich nubuck leathers with a foam-backed collar and perforated, synthetic leather tongue. The midsole is lightweight Phylon™ with a double-stacked Zoom Air in the heel for the ultimate reaction. A solid rubber outsole with herringbone traction pods add a great grip on the court.

I got the shoes for about $7 more at Foot Locker downtown. So when you include shipping & handling (which you have to since the free shipping takes forever), I feel like at least I didn't get raped by the guys in the stripes.

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Geronimo decides to take the leap into private life

The one bad thing about moving away for the Washington DC area is not being able to turn on the radio and hearing the Don and Mike Show, a show featuring a pair of Radio DeeJays that I had been listening to for about 20 years. From the first time I had heard them when they were "the Morning Zoo" at 105.1 WAVA (a Top 40 Station), it was obvious that Don Geronimo and Mike O'Meara had a genuine chemistry which is a rarity in the cut-throat world of commercial radio.

But it seems like that chemistry will broken when Geronimo does his last show on May 30th; a move which is due to major factors like the death of his wife and the change in regulating the commercial terrestrial radio airwaves. Geronimo touched on these points in an interview with the Washington Post last week. If you are not familiar with the show, here's an excerpt for the aforementioned piece describing what the show used to do prior to 2004 as well as Don's explanation for leaving the show:

"I'm going to be 50 in September," Geronimo says. "You change as a person. Maybe what you did when you were 35, you find it old and tedious now, regardless of Janet Jackson or Freda's passing. Even if you took all the restrictions off now, I don't know if I'd be up for all the shenanigans we did."

Of course, Don and Mike's die-hard fans -- who have made the show a ratings powerhouse in afternoon drive time here and in 25 other cities where the program is syndicated -- may lament the passing of some of the show's raunchier antics, such as taking a busload of listeners to Intercourse, Pa., to have sex in motel rooms while the hosts narrated the event on the air.

"This is certainly not the climate for something like that," Geronimo says now.

Nor do Don and Mike any longer subject celebrity interview guests to their patented sex quiz, which would get quite explicit back in the day.

Hearing those two radio bits reminded me how fun the show used to be; even if Geronimo's claim later in the interview that the show sounds better than ever before comes off like weak sauce. Even though the rest of the crew will continue as "The Mike O'Meara Show" which may be just as good as the original but for me, there will be something missing. And it won't be just just the guy behind the mike. It will be all those memories of listening to two guys talk about anything and everything that would usually start off with a proclamation of "We're fat, we're white , We're catholic and we're sick about it!" They never got any complaints from me.

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Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

In case you've noticed something odd about these surroundings, I decided to make some changes to this blog. I feel that if I was going to doing some sort of writing activity (to keep the tool sharp, as it were), I might as well as do it here; even if it's only a post a day. To that end, I've spruced up the banner and messed with the template somewhat since I'm CSS-challenged.

The art from my banner is from a friend of mine named Wes Molebash. He's the creator of You'll Have That, a great webcomic, and he is an upcoming comic book artist. You should really check his comic when you get a chance. You won't be disappointed, I assure you. Here is the actual full panel that Wes so generously provided.

There is a story behind both the clothes that Andy (main character of YHT) is wearing and what Katie is saying. But that is a story for another time.

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