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Movie Trailer: Samurais Versus Tanks, Helicopters & Machine Guns

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckL6Ssarw_k] Based on novel Time Slip by Ry Hanmura's, G.I. Samurai is an epic Japanese period film about a modern day Ground Self-Defense Force that gets accidentally sent back in time to feudal Japan. You know what that means doncha? Ninjas, samurais, tanks, helicopters and machine guns.

The plot reminds me of one of my favorite movies form my childhood, Final Countdown which is about a modern day American aircraft carrier that is also sent back in time--to a few days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

[Via]

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News I Find Interesting, Part 1

In an exercise that will be beneficial to both me (emptying out my Google Reader's "starred" items) and to you (a whole lot of stuntastic things from around the Internets), I'm bringing back an old segment that will be familiar to my oldest readers, "News I Find Interesting!" Here, I will be posting a long list of links and such that I've encountered that I found interesting, amusing, idiotic, titillating, or hilarious, but didn't get around to sharing with you. You may have already seen few, some, or all of the links below, but in any case I hope you will find an item or two of note that YOU will find interesting.

1. The New York City's Department of Transportation has installed nine unique bike racks designed by David Byrne, yes of the Talking Heads fame, but did you know he is also a bike enthusiast? It is only temporary but I hope the powers that be change their minds and make them a permanent addition to the City landscape. More information, including rack location (hi-ho!) here.

2. Do your best Beavis and Butthead laugh when looking at this unintentionally funny sign.

3. Idiot TSA "inspector" breaks commercial airplane. TSA guy should be added to the "no-fly" list as he clearly is a danger to travelers.

4. The DUI Mario Kart experiment. Damn, I'm ready to submit myself as a subject for an experiment like this. Any fellow geek want to organize this?

5. Best $2k I ever spent!

6. Photos of cute animals + website = Profit! Cute Overload, the popular site of fuzzy wuzzy puppies and kitties, is making the owner some nice chedder from advertising. WHY DID I NOT THINK OF THIS FIRST?!?!

7. People taking photos of Obama. One dude got himself one of those green disposables just for the occasion.

8. All that music you kids are uploading and streaming from Muxtape is costin the company a whole lotta money in the hosting category. Looks like cloud computing might be expensive enough to bring a company crashing back down to earth.

9. Michael Phelps doesn't want to make a splash and piss off advertisers and sponsors. He just wants to be a corporate bitch. Post-college idealist MRod is looking to do the same. Sponsors, sponsor me!

10. Selections from H.P. Lovecraft's brief tenure as a Whitman's Sampler copywriter. Haha!

11. What makes for a good blog. I agree with many of the points, but I break most of the "rules." I think those traits make for popular blogs, but that is separate from what I specifically enjoy about blogging. In the end, there's no hard and fast set of rules. Do you. Do what you like to do that will keep you blogging, even if it is for just a month or two.

12. LGBTA L.G.P.A, the Ladies Golf Professional Association, is requiring all its golfers to pass a verbal English test or face suspension. This new rule was especially aimed and communicated to the South Korean contingent. It's so jarring to read of something so anachronistic as "English-Only" in the 21st century particularly when it pertains to professional sports which is becoming more and more globalized in a symbiotic relationship for new talent, bigger audiences, and more money. As the Times writes:

Women have been fighting against discrimination in golf for decades, as Augusta National Golf Club — home of the Masters Tournament and still lacking a single female member — shamefully demonstrates. For the L.P.G.A. to impose discriminatory rules on its own members is not only offensive, it’s self-destructive.

And IDIOTIC!

13. Campbell Soup Company's marketing manager writes to Andy Warhol. So pop.

14. Eric Ripert, chef of top restaurant le Bernardin, is blogging recipes of dishes he creates using the common toaster oven. He's JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! Okay, not at all.

15. Drawing with a cup of coffee and a spoon. Genius. I can't wait to try this at brunch next time and piss off the server.

To read more click after the jump...but you've been warned: there's a LOT more to read.

16. Another upcoming show, called The Wrong Door from across the Atlantic that looks promising. The BBC is so on point.

17. Has the identity of the Zodiac Killer been uncovered? He may be....RIGHT BEHIND YOU!

18. The most obsessed Twat Twit ever. Dude gets the Twitter error message image tattooed. I'm definitely "unfollowing" this cat. Freak.

19. Matt Harding, you know the guy who danced all around the world, now brings his schtick to the corporate boardroom to "boost morale." I would jump around like an idiot for a paycheck too. Yea, I'm hating. So what?

20. Sarah Palin's Wikipedia page got a bit of Fall cleaning right before McCain announced her as his BFF (after only just meeting her once).

21. A new study in Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics argues that medicine tailored to specific "races" or racial groups are doomed to fail. Although two individuals may be of the same "race," a label that is a social construct in of itself, their respective genomes may respond differently to a particular medication.

22. Worst. Dress. Ever.

23. Bush eats cat on the cob. Haha.

24. This sci-fi film noir short (won a film contest) is pretty good. In a future where cloning is widespread, this detective tries to track down who is murdering his own clones.

25. LA has had a serial killer out there for awhile. Yikes.

26. This teenager started a Zune chat community in 2006. He earned $1,000 a month for a couple years from advertising and just recently sold it for $62,000. I hate my life.

27. Soulja Boy talks about the hacker who hijacked his MySpace and other pages.

28. VPILF. LOL. "Just a heartbeat away from being a PILF." LOL.

29. Headless teddy USB drive. Or in other words, "How to be even MORE creepy at work."

30. Nasubi, the naked guy who lived on freebies for an entire year for a Japanese reality show for a sort of real life Truman Show...except even more fucked up!

31. YouTube Comment Snot - A Firefox add-on that will hide all those stupid comments on the popular video hosting and streaming site.

32. Strawberries and shake, the perfect combination? YES YES YES.

33. Banksy hits up New Orleans. BANKSY -- COME BACK TO NYC! Specifically, come to Park Slope and tag up my apartment building or hell, even my apartment room itself! Thanks!

34. Militant art. ERIN, Please have your [famous] boss buy this please!!

35. I know it's a low blow, but mang, it's still funny. Old guy + young gal = Comedy.

36. Michael Jackson and Emmanuel Lewis vintage video. Back then this was probably considered cute. Today, frightening. I'm watching it and all I keep thinking is "How the heck is no one flying across the screen and tackling Michael while screaming KEEP THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE CHILD MICHAEL!"

37. Cute Overload. Damn, this puppy whistling is so cute I want to just pop it in the microwave on high heat.

38. Hysterical Nickleback parody. Seriously, I wasn't going to watch it because well, I hate Nickleback, but I'm glad I did. Hilarious.

39. Oddly compelling video put together using photos of Bush, Obama, and McCain. It sounds a lot more interesting than it reads.

40. This cat bento box should have two heads.

41. Nine breathtaking bridges. Although I'm pretty much amazed by any bridge which I think are amazing feats of engineering.

42. Obama needs to unleash his moneyed advantage and buy up some keywords.

43. GUTEN TAGGGGG! Breakfast for yo brain!

44. As Gawker says, this story is the most Onion like story yet. It reminds me a lot of the vibe of St Louis.

45. North Korean anti-America propaganda posters.

46. The most unhappy dogs in the world. I would be too if I had to wear what they were forced to wear.

47. Camouflage art.

48. If a black hole accidentally occurred here on earth, what would the repercussions look like? Like this.

49. Parking tickets for those who've crossed the line.

50. Dave Freeman, co-author of 100 Things to Do Before You Die" dead at 47.

51. Train nearly runs over idiots. It's a "HOLY SHIT" sort of a moment in the video.

52. "Old man" does magic tricks on subway trains and amusement parks. The last one is hilarious.

53. China isn't the only country that lip synched its Opening Ceremony. Those Aussies did it as well during the Sydney Olympics.

54. How did we end up with a drinking age of 21 in the first place [in the US]?

55. Zombie emergency procedure. Guide on what to do in the event of a zombie attack.

56. Heh. Evily genius in today's age of hyper-connectivity. Fake Following.

57. The Japanese Anna Kournikova...sourta.

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SHORT FILM: DARK KNIGHT VIRGIN

ANDY and his coworkers at Circuit City discuss the awesomeness of THE DARK KNIGHT on their break. Or so they think, because what ANDY is thinking about and what his coworkers are discussing are two very different things. Is ANDY a Dark Knight virgin? Has Andy seen or not seen the greatest movie of the century? Watch to find out! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPaxtJ7tObw]

Thanks to the cast and crew! The experience was a blast!

Ian White as TED Hector Hernandez as ANTHONY Marvin Telp as BEN Mike Callaghan as ANDY

Written and produced by Matthew Rodriguez Directed and edited by Jason Chew Cinematography by Patrick Chang Photography by Karynne Aliaga Special thanks to Randy Harinandan

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WES ANDERSON AND JASON SCHWARTZMAN SHOP AT BORDERS

Here's an annoying internet commercial for Borders Books under the guise of a video of two favorites of cultural elites, Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman flippantly browsing through the selections at a Borders location. How do I know it's a marketing effort from Borders? It was uploaded by BordersMedia on YouTube (brought to you by Google). I don't know why I'm posting this. I want a free copy of Rushmore in exchange. And a Borders gift certificate and apology from corporate for not hiring me during the summers when I was in college. It was very damaging to the self esteem.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdRC9oDeVjk]

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HOW TO WRITE A SCI-FI ACTION SCRIPT

How to write a sci-fi action script as outlined by Cecelia over at FilmIndustryBloggers.

Deep in the [name an uninhabited jungle or galaxy] in an abandoned [name an additionally isolated location such as an oil rig or a logging station], a crack team of [name a division of the U.S. army] special ops is sent to rescue a missing detachment of [name a group of innocent civilians (ie nuns, orphans, the blind, blind orphan nuns, etc)], only to come up against a force that is [sub/super] human. After brutally murdering [Brick Wall/Slate/2×4], the tough [black/latino] member of the team, and maiming [Hard Drive/Motherboard/microChip], the group’s geeky operations strategist, the entity shows itself to be a terrifying [alien/science experiment] shaped like a huge, grotesque version of a [name a species of reptile, crustacean or mollusk] with a [name a sharp and/or slimy noun]-like mouth. The team’s fearless leader, [Wolf/Bear/Panther], quickly realizes that if he doesn’t stop the creature, no one will, and that perhaps this battle, in addition to saving the human race, will help him [atone for/work through some of lingering emotional issues from] his recent [divorce/wife’s death/brother’s drug overdose].

As Cecelia writes, since Aliens and Predator the vast majority of the sci-fi action scripts are derivative of those two movies. Although I think films like Cloverfield and comic book based movies (including Hellboy and the upcoming Watchmen) are filling that niche to a degree.

Read more here.

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RECREATE FERRIS BUELLER PARADE IN NYC!

Mina Karimi is looking for 600-800 participants ("agents") to help recreate the parade scene from Ferris Bueller during the Deitch Art Parade in Soho, NYC on September 6th.

I am recruiting secret agents in the audience of the parade to mimic the extras in the movie as my Ferris float approaches. In order to fully reproduce the spirit of the scene I will need at least 100 agents on each block of the parade to get the Ferris joy-ball rolling.

If you want to participate or have questions, e-mail Karimi per instructions: please email me at projectbueller@gmail.com for further details and instructions.

Subject line: “Ready and Willing” if you are ready and willing. “?” if you have questions. “!” if you have a comment. (I will only be opening the “?”s and the “!”s).

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TARANTINO'S MONOLOGUE ABOUT TOP GUN AND THE GAY WAY

Here's a classic explication of Top Gun by Quentin Tarantino as he explains the subversive subcontext of this film. It's not about fighter pilots but instead about "a man's struggle with his own homosexuality" where you've got Maverick who's on the edge with Ice and his crew representing the gay man and the gay way while Kelly McGillis represents heterosexuality. This is pretty well known today but man, back then: groundbreaking stuff! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW9YutYlUHo]

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SUPER FAN POINTS OUT MATRIX MISTAKES

A super fan put together a good video on YouTube (over 2.7 million views) where he points out continuity mistakes in The Matrix. Granted this movie is sooo 1999, but it's still an interesting watch nine years later. Although what I really enjoyed about it was that the fan sounds a lot like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. Thanks to this I won't be able to watch The Matrix again without yelling at the screen "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GUNS?" and "ARMS IN THE FRONT, ARMS IN THE BACK!" [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ0v5H3Uctw]

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TWO THUMBS DOWN: EBERT'S MOST HATED FILMS

Roger Ebert's lists his most hated films (although the only one I completely disagree with is The Usual Suspects which is on his list). Here's a few samples:

Freddy Got Fingered This movie doesn't scrape the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't the bottom of the barrel. This movie isn't below the bottom of the barrel. This movie doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with barrels.

One Woman or Two Add it all up, and what you've got here is a waste of good electricity. I'm not talking about the electricity between the actors. I'm talking about the current to the projector.

Stargate It is also the kind of movie where the sun god Ra, who has harnessed the ability to traverse the universe at the speed of light, still needs slaves to build his pyramids. And where the local equivalent of a Nubian princess is sent into the chamber of the Earth visitors, to pleasure them. Don't tell me there aren't any coincidences. The movie "Ed Wood," about the worst director of all time, was made to prepare us for "Stargate."

Read more here.

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BATMAN THOUGHTS

I'm thinking of wearing a name tag now that says "No, I have not seen Batman." And then another name tag beneath that one which says "Why? Because showings have been sold out, the lines have been too long, and its only been out for two weeks." I've been asked whether I've seen Batman by everyone and when I reply that I have not, the tiring interrogation demanding my reasoning for not seeing immediately follows.

People, I get it. It's a great film that has a good balance of the eye candy razzle dazzle (Oooh, a black motorcycle! Explosions!) for the Michael Bay audience, without straying too far from the source material so as not to not piss off the hard-core comic book fans, combined with a compelling and dark performance by the now deceased Heath Ledger in the role of the Joker that pleases the art house crowd and validates the fact that they are watching a movie about one of the most mainstream comic book characters ever while masking their macabre fascination with Ledger's premature death.

Or I can just resort to lying, which doesn't seem too difficult here.

"Hey did you see--?"

"YES. Wow. Heath Ledger. What can I say other than Oscar. i don't mean the hot dog."

And then I can continue and talk about how "dark" it was and how the Joker really fucks with Batman's pysche, and the notion of how Batman, the ultra vigilante--a role the daytime playboy adopts to deal with his continuing childhood trauma over the gangland death of his parent--gives birth ironically to the ultra villain.

Am I right or am I right?

Also, I've noticed that people who have seen this movie fit into two distinct groups. One group simply asks, "Have you seen Batman?" The other and more questionable group says "Have you seen the Dark Knight? I generally respond to the latter group, "Dude, you're a little too close and are invading my personal space."

So, I have not seen Batman, but I did go to the Superheros special exhibit at The Met today and saw the Batman costume that Christian Bale wore in the latest movie. Have you seen that, huh? Huh? Have you?

The show highlighted "the symbolic and metaphorical association" and connection between the fictional world of superheros and its relationship with both fashion and technology. There was some great stuff there including the Iron Man suit (pre-paint job) and the suits from Spider Man. But it was also kind of bullshit because there wasn't a single mention of Aquaman.

Update: I received the following two e-mail messages from my friend DC this morning after he read this entry:

12:00 pm: When I called last night I was at the theatre and it was to ask if Batman...the Dark Knight was really good.

12:01 pm: Ahhh...also I'm a little freaked out because I did not realize the joker was ledger....

Mind you DC is one of the sharpest kids I know.

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GROUNDHOG READER

I spent a quiet night after a tiring work day watching Groundhog Day with my roommates who had never seen it before! That's practically un-American, so I'm glad they rectified their questionable patriotism. I think they enjoyed the movie, and they were intrigued, like many others, by the layered interpretations and meanings that can be found within the story. As I mentioned previously here, by one person's analysis, Phil relived Groundhog Day for a total of 4 years, while the original script called for that to 10,000 years.

Watching it again for the umpteenth time, it reminded me of this act by the agents at Improv Everywhere where they created a living moebius strip at the Astor Place Starbucks:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3hV1qSF-3U]

There's also a crapload of essays written and some published about theology, especially Buddhism, and Groundhog Day. Just Google it. Hah.

Lastly, Google completely failed me, but there is this play that I've seen performed a couple times that mimics (or is it the other way around?) the scenes in Groundhog Day when Bill Murray's character, Phil gets multiple chances to say the right thing to Rita, played by Andie MacDowell, in his attempts to woo her. Yes, I used the word woo. In the play, a guy attempts to solicit a random girl's attention and interest. Each time he fails because he mentions the wrong book or doesn't ask permission to sit down a bell goes off and he tries a different approach. It's amusing and I am annoyed right now that I can't locate it. Does anyone know what I am talking about???

Update: Thanks to the kind commenter who gave me the head's up about the play above. It is an act titled "Sure Thing" from David Ive's All in the Timing aka better known as The Story of MRod's Life.

Here's a lengthy excerpt from this great play:

Bill: Is this seat taken? Betty: No it's not. Bill: Would you mind if I sit here? Betty: Yes I would. Bill: Oh. (Bell)

Bill: Is this chair taken? Betty: No it's not. Bill: Would you mind if I sit here? Betty: No. Go ahead. Bill: Thanks. (He sits. She continues reading.) Everyplace else seems to be taken. Betty: Mm-hm. Bill: Great place. Betty: Mm-hm. Bill: What's the book? Betty: I just wanted to read in quiet, if you don't mind. Bill: No, sure thing. (Bell)

Bill: Everyplace else seems to be taken. Betty: Mm-hm. Bill: Great place for reading. Betty: Yes, I like it. Bill: What's the book? Betty: The Sound and the Fury. Bill: Oh, Hemingway. (Bell)

Bill: What's the book? Betty: The Sound and the Fury. Bill: Oh. Faulkner. Betty: Have you read it? Bill: Not ... actually. I've sure read about ... it though. It's supposed to be great. Betty: It is great. Bill: I hear it's great. (Small pause.) Waiter? (Bell)

Bill: What's the book? Betty: The Sound and the Fury. Bill: Oh. Faulkner. Betty: Have you read it? Bill: I'm a Mets fan, myself. (Bell)

Betty: Have you read it? Bill: Yeah, I read it in college. Betty: Where was college? Bill: I went to Oral Roberts University. (Bell)

Betty: Where was college? Bill: I was lying. I never really went to college. I just like to party. (Bell)

Betty: Where was college? Bill: Harvard.

Ahh, it's so good! I'm sure this is old news to many of you, but if not, read the rest of this play here. Some of you that I know "IRL" should DEFINITELY read this piece. I'm talking to you, DC, CK, and MC! You know who you are.

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WATCHMEN TRAILER

The Watchmen is one of my all time favorite novels ever, and from the first trailer the film adaptation looks very promising. I'm not spoiling anything, but I did notice that this teaser includes a lot of seminal scenes from the graphic novel--out of context as it is edited here it doesn't mean much but wow, I'm amazed at the very last shot. [youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=mSrgvJ2JyHs]

The Watchmen make Batman look like Spongebob Squarepants.

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WALL-E REVIEW

I saw Wall-E tonight after the attempt to go to the MoMA failed. Memo to self: Not everything in NYC is open until 4 am. The latest from the geniuses at Pixar, a CGI animation studio, is incredible: it's heartwarming and hilarious without being pandering or didactic, which is difficult balance considering its message. Also, in contrast to today's hyper-active entertainment environment, for an animated feature Wall-E has a decidedly slower and more contemplative vibe and pace (particularly in the first third of the film which plays almost like a silent film), despite a setting set in the future where humans evacuated a polluted Earth for large space bound cruise ships in which robots attended to every person's need.

I recommend.

All the promotional Wall-E vignettes are a nice treat as well:

Wall-E & Soccer Ball

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWfzHeUKwZY]

Wall-E & Headphones

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=p7AOH8Cx-2Q]

Wall-E & Hula Hoop

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=51FXSBGC39k]

Wall-E & Magnet

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=qqLzKPQqCIg]

Wall-E & Vacuum

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=KZLpXRroU7I]

Wall-E & Bouncy Balls

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=0hx-9t8jcvs]

Wall-E & Fire Hydrant

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=xMAEIh6S1_w]

Wall-E Break Dancing

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9j5ezGhXk4]

Wall-E & Camera

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC9DpRvAJE4&NR=1]

Wall-E & Basketball

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMt6NODv6OA]

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