In keeping with my farm animal theme yet again, here is a cool thesis animation from Nikolas Ilic, who recently graduated from Sheridan College in Canada.

This brilliant image courtesy Jonathan Mak.

Keeping my pig theme going, here’s a radical stop-motion short film set to Willie Nelson covering Coldplay. Directed by Johnny Kelly.

I almost cried. Almost.

Here’s the making of. Right up my alley…

Click here to view the embedded video.

This is what a 5.9 earthquake in Virginia looks like. God, I love the internet. Via jmckinley’s posterous.

I will keep a running tally on the current state of casting here for all to enjoy, updating as frequently as the news comes in (or as close as I can get).

Nonso Anozie is Xaro Xhoan Daxos

Simon Armstrong is Qhorin Halfhand

Andy Beckwith is Rorge

Nicholas Blane is The Spice King

Sam Callis is Gold Cloak

Gwendoline Christie is Brienne Tarth

Ben Crompton is Dolorous Edd Tollett

Steven Cole is Kovarro

Liam Cunningham is Davos Seaworth

Karl Davies is Alton Lannister

Oliver Ford Davies is Maester Cressen

Stephen Dillane is Stannis Baratheon

Edward Dogliani is Rattleshirt

Roy Dotrice is Hallyne

Simon Fisher-Becker is High Septon

Ian Hanmore is Pyat Pree

Ralph Ineson is Dagmer Cleftjaw

Gerard Jordan is Biter

Rose Leslie is Ygritte

Patrick Malahide is Balon Greyjoy

Michael McElhatton is Roose Bolton

Fintan McKeown is Ser Amory Lorch

Anthony Morris is The Tickler

Hannah Murray is Gilly

Lucian Msamati is Salladhor Saan œ

Daniel Portman is Podrick Payne

Robert Pugh is Craster

John Stahl is Rickard Karstark

Carice Van Houten is Melisandre of Asshai

Tony Way is Dontos Hollard

Gemma Whelan is Yara Greyjoy

Tom Wlaschiha is Jaqen H’ghar

Alfie Allen is Theon Greyjoy

Emilia Clarke is Daenerys Targaryen

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is Ser Jaime Lannister

Peter Dinklage is Tyrion Lannister

Michelle Fairley is Catelyn Stark

Aidan Gillen is Petyr Baelish

Jack Gleeson is Joffrey Baratheon

Iain Glen is Ser Jorah Mormont

Kit Harington is Jon Snow

Lena Headey is Cersei Baratheon

Isaac Hempstead-Wright is Bran Stark

Richard Madden is Robb Stark

Rory McCann is Sandor Clegane

Sophie Turner is Sansa Stark

Maisie Williams is Arya Stark

John Campbell-West is Samwell Tarly

Ron Donachie is Ser Rodrik Cassel

Jerome Flynn is Bronn

Conleth Hill is Varys

Donald Sumpter is Maester Luwin

Amrita Acharia is Irri

Roger Allam is Illyrio Mopatis

Josef Altin is Pyp

Gethin Anthony is Renly Baratheon

Esmé Bianco is Ros

David Bradley is Ser Walder Frey

Dominic Carter is Janos Slynt

Antonia Christophers is Mhaegen

James Cosmo is Jeor Mormont

Charles Dance is Tywin Lannister

Joseph Dempsie is Gendry

Kate Dickie is Lysa Arryn

Stephen Don is Stiv

Emun Elliot is Marillion

Lino Facioli is Robert (Sweetrobin) Arryn

Elyes Gabel is Rakharo

Ian Gelder is Ser Kevan Lannister

Julian Glover is Grand Maester Pycelle

Ben Hawkey is Hot Pie

Wilko Johnson is Ser Ilyn Payne

Sibel Kekilli is Shae

Susie Kelly is Masha Keddle

Mark Lewis Jones is Shagga

Francis Magee is Yoren

Clive Mantle is Greatjon Umber

Ian McElhinney is Ser Barristan Selmy

Luke McEwan is Rast

Roxanne McKee is Doreah

Kristian Nairn is Hodor

Art Parkinson is Rickon Stark

Aimee Richardson is Myrcella Baratheon

Dar Salim is Qotho

Eugene Simon is Ser Lancel Lannister

Mark Stanley is Grenn

Conan Stevens is Ser Gregor Clegane

Owen Teale is Ser Alliser Thorne

Peter Vaughan is Maester Aemon Targaryen

Natalia Tena is Osha

Eros Vlahos is Lommy Greenhands

Callum Wharry is Tommen Baratheon

Washington’s Javale McGee does the unthinkable to Wesley Matthews of the Trailblazers. How would a statistician log this play?

Thanks, Elz.

For the first time in the history of boxing, a boxer and a trainer are facing criminal charges and facing potential jail time. For the first time in the history of boxing, that boxer and trainer are related (uncle Roger and nephew Floyd Jr.). For the first time in the history of  boxing, both men are facing the same charge: beating up a woman.

I’m finding it harder and harder to defend the reasons why I love boxing so much. It is sad for the sport, and sad for my own passion as a boxing fan.

Game of Thrones: “Raven” Teaser

Game of Thrones: In Production

November 18, 2007. The idea of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. going toe-to-toe in a super-über-mega-fight first comes to light. Mark Vester of BoxingScene.com writes:

“In the dark, among writers, there has been some talk of a dream bout between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr., at 140-pounds. Pacquiao came into the ring weighing 142 for his rematch with Marco Antonio Barrera, Mayweather can still make the junior welterweight limit. That fight, logically, is possible, yet unlikely to take place.” (“De La Hoya Eyes Pacquiao Bout? At 147?”)

This thought got the writers buzzing, and writing about the dream match-up, Chris Mannix and Bart Barry among the fantasizers.

September 26, 2008. The fight is still just a writer’s fantasy, a fight fan’s pipe dream, but Manny comes out with his first reaction. When asked if he would be interested — should he beat Oscar De La Hoya — in a Mayweather showdown, Manny has this to say to GMANEWS…

“That’s a possibility. If I win this fight maybe Floyd Mayweather will come out of retirement looking for a big fight.” (“Pacquiao eyes possible bout with Mayweather”)

Manny mentions later that year that the fight will work as long as his promoters can get with Floyd’s promoters and work it out.

December 20, 2008. After Manny destroys De La Hoya, Floyd answers with praise for Manny and confidence in beating him. Dan Rafael reports, from a conversation with manager Leonard Ellerbe, that Floyd said:

“It was a tremendous win for Pacquiao. He’s a good fighter, but I’ll beat his ass.” (“Mayweather to evaluate fight possibilities, adviser says”)

To set the tone for how the next year would unfold, it is important you pay attention to Ellerbe’s next words, from the very same article…

“Floyd has given Team Mayweather the green light to go out there and evaluate the biggest fights for him, to come back to him and present it to him. Then he will consider it.”

It is clear from this statement that Floyd holds the cards. He’s in retirement, but has given his manager the green light to start looking for fights. Manny is among those available.

Manny fights whomever his promoters put in front of him. He’s made a hell of a career out of it. And Floyd has made a hell of a career by being his own boss, and controlling his own destiny. There is a critical difference in that observation; monumental, in fact.

January 25, 2009. Shortly after Manny signs on to fight Hatton, and is no longer available as an opponent, Floyd begins to trash Manny. Gabriel Morency of Sports Rage recorded Mayweather saying the following…

“We all know, if you did your homework, that Manny Pacquiao is a ‘good fighter’. [...] He’s been knocked down in the first round before and like three or four years ago, he’s the guy that’s outboxed by a washed out Erik Morales [...] One of the Marquez brothers knocked him down three times in the first round and still got a draw so we know that he’s got outboxed in that fight, for real.” (“Mayweather Jr. belittles Pacquiao’s ring prowess”)

Pacquiao shrugs this off and continues to train for Hatton. Roach and Arum, on the other hand, see the megafight as something big, and make several statements in the interim implying they would like to see the fight happen.

March 2009. Dan Rafael reports the following: While Mayweather’s dad is busy training Hatton, and declaring he is going to “whup Pacquiao’s ass,” his son also indicates he wants to take on the winner of Pacquiao vs. Hatton.

May 2009. The buzz of Mayweather fighting the Pacquiao/Hatton winner is growing stronger. After Manny KO’s Hatton cold, that very same night, Floyd announces his return to the sport, and he’s got news: He will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez.

May 27, 2009. Both camps begin to toss ideas around to the press. Top Rank and Team Pacquiao are interested in the fight with Mayweather, but want an even split. Floyd is quoted as saying:

“It will be a cold day in hell before that happens.” (“Floyd Mayweather Jr: ‘Pacquiao Will Never Get 50/50′”)

Arum eyes Mosley and Cotto for a fight that November, having reached a preemptive impasse with Mayweather. As we all know, Cotto got the calling, and the fight went down later that year.

September 2009. Floyd’s father issues a public apology to Manny Pacquiao for accusing him of using steroids prior to his fights. mb.com.ph reports: “Pacman accepts public apology”. This begins the tainting of Pacquiao’s name, which follows much more heatedly in the months to come, though nothing besides accusations from Mayweather’s camp will ever be produced to prove anything of the sort.

November 19, 2009. Immediately following Manny’s victory over Cotto, Mayweather speaks out. USA Today interviewed Floyd as saying the following:

“Tell Manny Pacquiao to be his own man and stop letting everyone, including his loudmouth trainer talk for him. I am my own boss, speak for myself and tell it like it is. If Manny Pacquiao wants to fight me, all he has to do is step up to the plate and say it himself.” (“Mayweather Calls Out Pacquiao; Talks on Fight Set to Begin”)

Later that month, Bernard Hopkins makes a prophetic statement to Ronnie Nathanielsz of BoxingScene.com…

“[Mayweather] will probably fight Mosley before he fights Pacquiao.”

This is in November, folks, before negotiations with Pacquiao ever even begin.

December 2009. A hectic month in the way of negotiations between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. A 60/40 offer has already been proposed by Floyd, rejected by Arum, and now it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty…

December 2, 2009. Lance Pugmire of the LA Times reports that Arum is flying to the Philippines to discuss the details of the Floyd fight with Pacquiao, and to stay there through Manny’s general election. Before he lands in the Philippines, the word on the street is that Floyd has already agreed in principle to some of the contractual details from Top Rank.

December 4, 2009. Arum presents the proposal to Pacquiao. Michael Koncz, Pacquiao’s manager, says Arum presented:

“What he thought was the best proposal he can bring to the table. [...] Manny has some additional requirements, requests, which Arum didn’t think was a problem. The requests of Manny were so realistic that Arum doesn’t feel it’s a problem and it’s pretty much a done deal.” (“Pacquiao vs Mayweather, fight set for March, could be in Dallas”)

Keep in mind, the blood testing and drug use accusations are not out in the open as of yet. Manny has just reviewed the contract, agreed with minor tweaks, and Top Rank thinks it’s a done deal.

December 13, 2009. But wait, here’s where it gets interesting. A contract has been presented to Floyd, agreed to in principle, presented to Manny, and barring minor tweaks, it’s a done deal, right? Not so fast, fight fans.

Floyd’s father, who apologized though never took back his accusations that Manny has been using steroids in his last few fights, urges his son’s camp to revive the controversy. And they do. Mayweather’s representatives make a new demand: Both fighters must take Olympic Style Drug Testing during the training for their match, if they are to fight at all.

This is, it should be noted, a direct result of the newly un-estranged father, Floyd Sr., making a statement to Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated after the Pacquiao/Cotto fight:

“I know Floyd is the best. But when [your opponent] uses something illegal, even the best can get hurt.” (“Talks of megafight heat up, with Floyd Sr. taking first jabs”)

The month wears on, but the mood shifts. More and more quotes and audio/video excerpts are put out into the court of public opinion, all with the same intention: Raise suspicion about whether Manny Pacquiao is a dirty fighter.

Regardless, the negotiations move forward, even though they have lost a head of steam over the course of a few weeks. Pacquiao does not like the idea of giving blood too close to the fight, as evidenced in a video from shortly after after Manny’s loss to Erik Morales, nearly five years before Floyd was ever a candidate. Pacquiao goes on-air a few days after that loss and claims he was weakened by a last minute blood test taken from him after the athletic commission had misplaced his original blood-work. (Video of Pacquiao on Filipino network, TFC)

Mud is now flying everywhere, and Pacquiao is deeply offended by a radio interview Floyd Jr. gave to RA the Rugged Man on Sirius channel Shade45, leaked from October 2009, just before the Cotto fight, where Floyd said:

“We all know the Philippines has the best enhancing drugs.” (Mp3 of Mayweather Interview with RA the Rugged Man on Shade45)

The fanfare and posturing eventually led to stalled negotiations. The two sides could not come to a compromise on this drug testing addendum.

December 22. Bob Arum says Manny will not have blood drawn any closer than 30 days away from the fight. Team Mayweather says this is no good. Arum says the fight is off.

December 24. An overlooked development surfaces but never grew legs. Keith Kizer, president of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, having seen the negotiations stall, offers to do the pre-fight testing, in an attempt to find a middle ground. Arum is interested:

“The commission has suggested it, and we’re very much in favor of it. We would love it. It’s something that is a positive development.” (“Mayweather-Pacquiao Talks Back On?”)

The idea is rejected by Team Mayweather.

Pacquiao wishes Mayweather a Merry Christmas in the form of a defamation lawsuit. Negotiations dwindle on the verge of death.

December 28. Natasha Aiello of 15rounds.com reports that word of an agreement regarding a weight penalty in the original contract has been tentatively reached. Team Pacquiao wanted Floyd to agree to pay $10M for every pound he comes in overweight. This is above and beyond the NSAC penalty, which demands 20% of the fighter’s purse for coming in overweight. Half goes to the opponent, the other half goes to the commission. Here’s the scoop at the time:

“Insiders say Golden Boy has tentatively agreed to use the tests enforced by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, but only if the NSAC standards are also adhered to in the weight clause, reducing the $10 million penalty per pound over from the contracts to $600 thousand per pound over. Roach has no problem with this, stating ‘I don’t care how much the penalty is. If Floyd shows up overweight, we won’t fight him.’” (“The latest inside the Pacquiao – Mayweather saga”)

January 5. The holidays come and go, but still no resolution. Both sides agree to mediation, to see if they can come to terms once and for all. They meet before Judge Daniel Weinstein, who has worked with Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank Promotions before, regarding a contract settlement for Manny Pacquiao himself. Manny eventually offers a 24 day cut-off for testing. Floyd says 14 days or no fight.

January 7. The mediation fails. Negotiations dead. Both parties walk away. Fight is off.

March 13. Pacquiao goes on to fight and beat Joshua Clottey by 12 round unanimous decision.

May 1. Mayweather goes on to fight and beat Shane Mosley by 12 round unanimous decision.

I am not going to chart the most recent “negotiations”, because they are even more bizarre than the first attempt, ranging from one side claiming everything was all but signed to the other side claiming there was no contract to begin with.

Will we ever see Floyd and Manny face off in the squared circle? I don’t know, but the word according to millionaire Robin Leach (yes, that Robin Leach) is that Floyd is now looking for another fight in 2010, in Abu Dhabi (a location Michael Koncz has been toying with for Pacquiao recently).

If there was a hat, and a rabbit, now would be a great time for a magician to pull one out of the other. If such a magician exists, I guarantee you all would be forgiven by both sides.

“In these newly preserved tests, made in 1922 at the Paragon Studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, actress Mae Murray appears almost translucent, her flesh a pale white that is reminiscent of perfectly sculpted marble, enhanced with touches of color to her lips, eyes, and hair.

She is joined by actress Hope Hampton modeling costumes from The Light in the Dark (1922), which contained the first commercial use of Two-Color Kodachrome in a feature film. Ziegfeld Follies actress Mary Eaton and an unidentified woman and child also appear.”

George Eastman House is the repository for many of the early tests made by the Eastman Kodak Company of their various motion picture film stocks and color processes. The Two-Color Kodachrome Process was an attempt to bring natural lifelike colors to the screen through the photochemical method in a subtractive color system.

First tests on the Two-Color Kodachrome Process were begun in late 1914. Shot with a dual-lens camera, the process recorded filtered images on black/white negative stock, then made black/white separation positives.

The final prints were actually produced by bleaching and tanning a double-coated duplicate negative (made from the positive separations), then dyeing the emulsion green/blue on one side and red on the other. Combined they created a rather ethereal palette of hues.”

In other words, how the hell did I miss this one?? Stunning. I like how the medium is so new, that the actress is used more as a still-life model akin to the painters of old. Painting with pictures, indeed.

Above: Will of the Night’s Watch approaches fallen corpses on the wrong side of the Wall. Image courtesy ©HBO Original Series.

After many months of toiling, speculating, pilot-shooting, and waiting, the news is in; HBO has given a full season order for Game of Thrones, the character-driven epic fantasy series based on the books by George R.R. Martin. Those who follow this blog will be already aware of this project, but the greenlight is great news!

It will likely be a year before we see Episode 01, but by the look of the talent attached to this project, it should definitely be worth the wait.

For more details on the cast of the series, GO HERE.

First, there is something redeeming in seeing an old guy stand his ground and come out on the winning end of the equation, as this is so often NOT the case. However, let us not presume the old man absolved of all wrong-doing. He WAS provoking the younger man in the beginning of the video: “Let’s get back to business; how much you charge me for a spit shine?” isn’t exactly the best ice breaker with a stranger on a bus who already appears to be giving you grief.

He backs off his original jibe and acts naive, as though the younger man was truly offering to shine his shoes (which I find hard for the old man to have believed). What happens afterword is somewhat sad. You have innocent bystanders who would love nothing but to be anywhere else. You have friends of the young man in the back taunting their friend to “beat his white ass!” and who later proceed to take and go through the old man’s beard after he exits the bus.

Anyways, a fight ensues, with a surprising result, and then it ends. And we move on. Right? Well… there’s a second part of the story, and it involves an old guy with a beard named Thomas Brusco (Tommy Slick, Vietnam Tom). There is a man taking credit for the fight who looks like the man on the bus, but I have good reason to believe it is not the same man. Here is why.

First, they have different voices, very different. For evidence, listen to when the guy on the bus says, “Why you being so hostile, man?” He sounds more like Chong of Cheech and Chong than the gravel voiced Tommy Slick. They also are from different walks of life. The man on the bus wears ironed shorts with his t-shirt tucked in and a belt around his waist. He carries an organic grocery bag with him, and has an affinity for keeping his nose from running with a Kleenex. Tommy Slick is a street urchin who smokes and wears semi-gangster clothing, flat billed cap and a camoflauge jacket. He is much more urban than the man on the bus.

Furthermore, when Tommy Slick gave an interview going back over what happened on the bus, his story just doesn’t hold up. It sounds more like he’s just reciting what he saw on the video, using key words from what the camera caught. And there’s a problem with his story. First he relays what is said on the video, that he needed to spit shine his shoes for a funeral on Friday. But later in the interview, he falls apart saying his mama died two days later. So which is it? Furthermore, in the interview he says he is joking with his white friend next to him, but the man on the bus is flanked by a black man and a white woman. Where’s the white friend?

And some of what Tommy Slick has to say is just preposterous. He claims the man he defended himself against was a murderer, and convicted of robbery. That the black man had a knife on him, and that the old man had a knife of his own for protection. I don’t know where you’d put your knife with those shorts on. He said that the man was going to serve 10 years in prison, and another 18 for robbing him. I didn’t see the young man robbing anyone, though his friends did take the old man’s bag to the back of the bus.

I don’t know why I felt compelled to unearth the truth, but trust me when I tell you that the man on the bus is not the same guy pretending to be him in interviews, the man who calls himself Tommy Slick. Whether or not Tommy Slick is the same old man who gets tased at the Oakland A’s game… that’s for you to decide, but I have my suspicions about Tommy Slick, and how he might have gotten his nickname.

I won’t post the video(s) on my site, due to their graphic nature, but if you’re so inclined you can try and learn more about the 67 year old man bus incident.

This just in, Boxingtalk.com has received word from Bob Arum just moments ago stating the fight was off.

“Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon tried to get the Pretty Boy to make the deal, but he didn’t want to and I’m not surprised. Floyd Mayweather never wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao, my friend. Scientists were brought in to explain to Mayweather how protected he was.”

But it was all for naught. Mayweather, despite his own promoters trying to convince him, has refused to accept the final terms. He feels random blood and urine testing for Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) up until fight night is the only way to ensure a fair fight. Manny has agreed to random urine up until the fight, but only three blood tests no sooner than 24 days before fight night. This deal-breaker from Floyd comes despite the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) stated that human growth hormone testing works better through urine, not to mention the complete lack of precedent for such a request in the history of boxing.

Oh well, perhaps cooler heads will prevail this Fall, and the fight can happen then.

Read Full Article Here.

Here’s a clip from the upcoming series. Can’t wait!

Thanks, Mei-Ling!

In an interview with Danish entertainment website TVTID, actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau spilled news that actress Lena Headey (both of whom recently filmed a pilot for HBO’s Game of Thrones) is with child. I’ve included the original and translated interview side-by-side for your consumption.

Some speculate her alleged pregnancy may affect her ability to take on a leading role in a new series; I don’t share this opinion, and frankly, it may help her character, who plays a caring if manipulative mother of three.

Read Interview Here.

Along the way he has collected belts in seven different weight classes. That is an all-time boxing record, for those keeping score. He is one of the fastest, most accurate punchers of all time, and every time he steps into the ring, you are guaranteed a high-intensity fight.

More than all of this, Manny is an extremely humble guy. He leaves the fate of his fights to his God, and says his job is to train hard and fight hard, and that’s it. This humility translates out of the ring as well. He carries the weight of his country on his shoulders, and does everything he can to help his people, many of whom are impoverished and sick.

This spirit is in stark contrast to his next most likely opponent, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who is nothing if not delusional about his status in the boxing world. As one of the most technically sound boxer in history, Mayweather tends to confuse dominance with victory. Mayweather wins fights, Pacquiao dominates them.

To celebrate his seventh world title, I figured I would share a collection of the seven most notable opponents who have tried and failed to dethrone boxing’s true king.

Each commercial opens on a shot of a Sonic, then cuts inside a car where we listen to the ramblings of two passengers at the drive-in. As far as I know, there have thus far been three pairs of characters (I do remember a one-off with the wife and her friend, however).

The first (original?) pair are played by T.J. Jagodowski (as the wily dufus) and Peter Grosz (as the wisdom-imparting driver).

The second casting pair are a married couple played by Molly Erdman and Brian Huskey. Finally, there are a few spots involving a pair of female best friends, though I’ve always considered them to be a female incarnation of the two guys who started it off.

Anyway, I’ve included a fairly extensive set of the campaign, though it is not entirely comprehensive. If you make it through them all and really want to find more, I salute you and good luck!

P.S. If for some reason you load the page, and one of the flash movies isn’t embedding properly, you may need to reload the page. It seems I’m pushing Flash to its limits here!

Pete & T.J.

“Cheap Date”

“Alphabet”

“Spicy?”

“Boys & Men”

“Kick”

“George”

“Meat Jackpot”

“High Noon”

“Commemorate”

“Carpe Burrito”

“The Streak”

“Another Sonic”

“Denied”

“Shawl”

“Carbs”

“Meat Rage”

“Bananas”

“Break-Feast”

“Extra Long”

“Screamy”

“Turf and Turf”

“Outsmarted”

“Happy Hour”

“Charlie”

“Heightened Senses”

“Are You Ready?”

Molly & Brian

“Moustache”

“100% Apple”

“Eat Tea”

“Crantastic”

“Adult”

“Weatherman”

“Share”

“2.0″

“Not Hot”

“Fightin’ Weight”

“Phat”

“Espresso”

“You Decide”

“Happiest Day”

“Cinnasnacking”

“D.I.Y.”

“Speed Bumps”

“Driving Me…”

“Minty Breath”

“Live in the Now”

“Make Up”

“Mixing Spoon”

“The Gesture”

“Game”

Katie & Sayjal

“Want Some Fries?”

“Manly Voice”

Several weeks ago, NASA crashed a satellite into the moon. In the process, they found water, several white buckets full. I think we can all sleep easier now knowing that once we completely deplete our own planet of water (any year now according to Al Gore), us resource gluttons can simply hop into Richard Branson’s White Knight Two and get some cherry sno-cones on the moon.

Plus, let’s hear it from the local news how this woman came to pass out in the face of certain doom:

via UOL Blog. Thanks, Ryan!

For some reason this email didn’t make it into my Junk folder. Personally, I think it was because of how awesome it was. I almost went online to buy some Cialis just to support the makers of this spam.

“The Mayolution Will Not Be Televised” – Colbert Report.
Apologies for the Advertisement.

Some people are just too nice to say anything, myself included. Still, it was worth snapping the shot, if for no other reason than to share this little piece of humanity with you.

Saw this parked out in front of my workplace today. WTF? Was hoping to get a George Jetson autograph, but there were only a few teamsters loitering the vicinity.

For those of you unfamiliar with the movie business, “background” refers to extras on a shoot. And yes, that is a dark hallway leading seemingly nowhere.

You be the judge, and thanks for the reco Elz!

P.S. The surveillance video freezes a couple times, no need to adjust your screens, just wait it out.

Drunkest Guy Goes Back For More Beer

I will show you a series of images (how Freudian of me), and they will alternate between original still-frames from Digital Kitchen’s Dexter title sequence, and a series by the Getty Images photographer A. Carmichael.

It is worth noting that the Dexter title sequence was completed in the middle of 2006, while A. Carmichael (according to a correspondence with Getty directly) had uploaded their series only a few months ago. It is also worth nothing that I was able to get the director of the Dexter title sequence to pinky swear that he indeed does not own a time machine and therefore could not have travelled to the future to glean the images you will find on Getty.

As always, this is my opinion of course (see the tagline of my blog!), but I will be very interested to see what you viewers think.

Enjoy!

Kudos to Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman, Danielle Flagg, Tyler Whisnand, Julia Oh, Rudy Adler and Jeff Selis of Wieden + Kennedy for being one of the few teams at an ad agency willing to eschew safety for chance and make something brand-defining.

Cary Fukunaga, who directed Sin Nombre, filmed these two ads. Both of them take an eerie collection of Americana moments enshrouded mostly in shadow and silhouette, and put them against sparse music and two well-read Walt Whitman poems.

Enjoy!

Levi’s – “America”

Levi’s – “Pioneers!”

The Los Angeles Times just published an article entitled, “Fur flies on Mr. Fox,” which details some of the experiences and process of the filming of Wes Anderson’s The Adventures of Mr. Fox. The film appears to be a hipster’s answer to The Nightmare Before Christmas, and reminds me quite a lot of The Wind in the Willows, so much so that one has to wonder if the BBC series from yesteryear wasn’t as much an inspiration as Roald Dahl’s original story.

All of that said, one of the points of controversy was how the film was shot. The film was created using stop-motion photography, a technique where you move objects in front of the camera incrementally, and take still photos of each position, thus creating stop-action movement. The process takes ages, especially once you introduce animated characters, lip sync, and secondary animation in the form of swaying branches or passing cars.

Shot on a stage in London, Wes Anderson (who penned the adaptation after several weeks at Roald Dahl’s estate, researching what made the author “tick”) spent much of the production time nowhere near the set, but from his apartment in Paris instead. His opinion was that he would set the tone, and let the animators do their thing. Whenever there was a sequence finished, the animators would submit them as digital movies, and Anderson would fire back detailed emails with his notes, even filming his own digital movies where he would act out a certain gesture to explain what he was going for.

As a director of stop-motion myself, I can tell you that this is an understandable process. While I don’t agree with an entirely absentee director, it is a bit like watching grass grow to sit on set as the animators work on a given sequence.

Read the article for more insight on the Email Auteur himself.

Step 1: Fill a chamber with hydrogen gas

Step 2: Ionize that gas until it becomes plasma

Step 3: Heat that plasma up to one million degrees fahrenheit

Step 4: Use a powerful magnet to direct that plasma out of the engine

Step 5: Get from Earth to Mars in 39 days

Yes friends, this is real! There is a company (Ad Astra Rocket Company) developing a rocket which will be able to reach Mars in less than 40 days of travel time. By this math, astronauts might be able to reach the end of our solar system, to the Keiper belt beyond the planet formally known as Pluto, in under one year. The trick is to run the engine on hydrogen, which is a common material in the universe, making refueling possible en route. This enables the viability of deep space missions, making it possible and very probable with in the next couple of decades.

The rocket uses plasma and magnetism to create immense amounts of thrust; plasma is what happens when you charge up a gas and break apart its atoms.

And while there are only nine planets to choose from at present, scientists have discovered hundreds if not thousands of Earth-like planets sitting at the edges of our solar system, just out of sun’s gravitational pull. Once we learn how to move planets into the sun’s orbit, we may have a dozen or more Earth-like planets to choose from for first time home buyers.

The FHA is going to make a killing!

For those liberals and conservatives who think the best way to feel at peace with your views is to criticize the faults of the opposing party, could you try to start thinking for yourselves instead of following the talking points of your party? Perhaps you might have some positive, constructive ideas for the future of your nation. Anything’s possible. Name calling and finger pointing create a stagnant and apathetic society.

Allow me a cliché: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.

If I hear one more democrat villify Karl Rove or Rush Limbaugh, or one more conservative ridicule President Obama or Keith Olbermann, I’m going to lose it completely. Really, what’s the point?

Last point, it seems like these health care bills floating around DC are something like the bible: the believers swear by it even if they haven’t even read it. I think this country agrees on reform, and insuring all of our citizens, but we are not Denmark or Sweden, we are America. Each of our states are equal to or larger than those countries, and our economy is much different in complexion.

If the plan is to socialize medicine in America and reform health care, I fear it will require a complete reformation of Washington DC first. Sad but true.

</rant>

Favre celebrates a 30-23 victory over his former team. Photograph: Morry Gash/AP

When Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy decided not to bring Brett Favre back to the team after hold outs and draft picks were exercised, you could almost sense the inevitable match up between these two entities. Favre wanted to be traded to the Vikings two seasons ago, which Thompson and McCarthy vehemently opposed. In fact, upper management made sure that if Favre intended to keep playing football, they would make it a painful transition for him. And after a mediocre season with the New York Jets, one may have thought that the Packers had won the battle.

But every battle is just a part of a bigger war, right? And here we are, just two short seasons since that decision to make Aaron Rodgers the franchise, with Brett Favre donning the purple, playing against his alma mater in the very dome he despised his entire career. For the first time, Packers fans were forced to make a choice. Do they honor the contributions Favre made to the Packers organization, literally lifting them up from the Don Majkowski era depression into Superbowl contenders and eventual victors? Or do the Packers fans eschew idolatry for visions of a future with a new, young talent?

The line was drawn, and the fans sided with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers team. Did you really think it would be any other way? I, myself, wondered who I would be rooting for… for a few seconds anyway. Once the ball was kicked off to Blackmon and the game under way, I was giddy with the prospect of the young Rodgers, who admitted his role as an understudy to Favre when he was the backup was icy at best, dethroning a veteran I had come to know, love and respect as a fan over my entire adult life.

And what a show it was. The game was 14-14 before you could blink, and it seemed both of these offenses were going to light up the Metrodome like the days when it was Cunningham to Moss vs. Favre to Freeman with Desmond Howard blazing just about every special teams play. But it didn’t take long for the growing pains on both sides of the ball to emerge. For the Packers, it was turnovers, trivial penalties and a weak offensive line; for the Vikings it was a lack of a running game and timing issues between Favre and his new receivers. Let’s give it to both defenses, however. For Green Bay to hold AD to 55 yards rushing, and for Minnesota to cause turnovers and stop the Packers on several red zone drives says a lot for the future of both teams.

But all-in-all, this was a great game for fans, and for Packers fans, it was the first time to hear the announcers gushing all over Brett Favre during a Packer game, but not as a Packer. Did I find it annoying? Not at all. Because Favre, unlike any player I can remember, commands a certain respect from his teammates and opponents, every time he sets foot on the field. Even Joe Montana was a fair-weather player to San Francisco when he left to become a Chief.

In the end, the Packers lost too many opportunites to put points on the board, and this was especially true in the red zone. Going for it on 4th and goal rather than kicking the field goal was a gutsy call that should have been overruled by the assistant coaches; Jared Allen is far too much of an animal to roll the dice against them. Another scenario, with the Packers on their own 1 yard line, led to a (surprise) Jared Allen sack and fumble. Upon review, it was not a fumble at all… but a safety instead. The fact that accepting a safety was one of McCarthy’s smartest decisions in the game says it all.

You can go to proper sports sites to get a much more articulate breakdown of the game, but I’ll leave you with this: Aaron Rodgers is every bit as talented as Brett Favre. Yes, he threw an interception last night, but he also outthrew Favre by more than 100 yards, throwing for 384 to Favre’s 271 (keep your eyes on Jermichael Finley, Fantasy Football readers).

Also worth mentioning: this is the fourth week in a row that Rodgers has been sacked, hurried, hit and everything else a defense can do to him (he was sacked 8 times last night, making that a league leading 20 sacks so far this season. It’s hard to throw for almost 400 yards without pressure, but for a player to put up those numbers with Jared Allen and co. in his face literally on every other play, has to deserve some note. He is a sharp, accurate passer with enough talent to sate fans and critics alike, if only he can get more time to throw. Chad Clifton returns soon, the Packers’ premier Offensive Lineman, so we will see if they can get their act together.

On defense, Dom Capers, Green Bay’s new defensive coach, has an entirely new scheme in place, which misutilizes some of the inherent strengths to the players (namely Mr. Three Point Stance Aaron Kampman and Mr. Bump and Run Al Harris).

The fact that Rodgers walks in the shadow of who will easily become one of football’s greatest legends, a legend who Rodgers backed up for three years, may be a blessing in disguise. Thus far he has flown under the radar of most analysts and speculators, ruled out as a talented but second rate Favre (literally, if Rodgers does anything remotely Favre like, such as throw off his back foot, the comparisons come out like ants to a Twizzler).

But if the Green Bay Packers can get healthy on the offensive line, and learn this new and promising defensive scheme, the rematch between Rodgers’ Packers and Favre’s Vikings may not be so fortunate for the Minnesotans next time around.

Thanks, Caleb!

Thanks, Marco!

(#1 USE THE SUPER SOAKERS TO GET AL QUAEDA WET)

(#2 YOU’LL ALWAYS HAVE AN ANGRY GORILLA TO BE ANGRY WITH YOU)

(#3 A THAW IS POSSIBLE)

(#4 MAYFLOWERS MAY BRING LEAD POISONING)

(#5 GETTIN’ BLESSED BY JOE BIDEN FROM SPACE)

(#6 WAKING UP IS A STRANGE REASON TO DIE)

(#7 PEOPLE ON THE ROAD CAN TURN AN “LOL” INTO A GREAT BIG “OMG”)

(#8 I HAVE A MASSIVE DEBT & DEFICIT DRAGON CHART)

1. The LEGO
2. Danish Pastry
3. Femidom (female condom)
4. Hans Christian Anderson
5. Syno-pal (skid-resistant highway surface)
6. The Typewriter
7. Krarup cable (submarine loading cable)
8. Femi-X (female viagra)
9. The O-Ring
10. C++ Programming
11. Drum Motor (used to power conveyor belts)
12. Ussing Chamber (measures electrical currents through tissue)
13. Magnetic Wire Recorder (NOT magnetic tape, as used in casettes)
14. Dry Cell Battery (sort of, later: Duracell)
15. Fiber Trim (a diet pill)
16. The Corn Thresher
17. pH scale
18. Dogme 95 (avant-garde filmmaking movement)
19. Electromagnetic Coil (used in tattoo machines and doorbells)
20. Telegraphy (long-distance transmission of messages)
21. Triplane (airplane with three wings)
22. Aqua Wall (indoor waterfall)
23. DiaTest (saliva collection kit)
24. Hex (board game)

And here’s a fairly useless (and mostly incorrect) Youtube tribute to some of the “top” Danish Inventions…

So . . . Floyd Mayweather easily beat the smaller, slower Juan Manuel Márquez in a fairly clear victory from all sides of the ring. There was a knockdown in the second round, a nice counter left hook perfectly timed by Mayweather, and sending a dazed Márquez to the canvas. But beyond that, the most action we fight fans got to see was after the final bell had rung.

Enter Max Kellerman, HBO’s attempt at finding a younger, more quippish boxing expert/analyst to replace the increasingly verbally meandering Larry Merchant. Max does the post-fight interviews now, and tonight it seemed he had more than he could handle. It all started simply enough, with Kellerman asking standard questions about how Floyd felt he did etc., and Mayweather sending the standard shout-outs to everyone from God to Reebok.

But then two things happened that were ill-planned…

1. Max asks about the Mayweather not making weight, and how it was reported that Márquez received $600,000 for the two pounds over the limit Mayweather came in at ($300,000 per pound). Mayweather didn’t want to talk about it. Max did. Max pressed the issue. Mayweather said: “I’m not here to talk about money” (ironically just after he admitted to conducting his shout-out commercials to make his seven digits).

2. Max mentions the competition. We all know Manny Pacquiao is on the top of everybody’s mind. But apparently Max isn’t just a boxing expert. He’s a boxing expert with an ego problem. He thought it would be profound to make it known that he has someone else in mind for Mayweather. And that man is Shane Mosley. Oh, and Shane is standing in the ring, as part of Golden Boy Promotions. Oh oh oh, and Mosley really wants to call Mayweather out right there during the interview.

Whoops!

You see Max, not only did you lose control of the interview by not softening up Mayweather before going in for your “I’m so knowledgeable I’m going to throw you off your game” questions, you also failed (or maybe didn’t fail) to notice that Mosley was standing to your left when you asked about Mayweather ducking him.

Things quickly became heated when Mosley stepped to the mic and said “Floyd, we just want to get it on,” or something to that effect. Mayweather didn’t appreciate being disrespected during his interview, and some chatter flew back and forth, with (surprise) Bernard Hopkins joining in for good measure.

But this is where it gets annoying to the point of unacceptable. The whole time Mayweather and Mosley were verbally fighting, proud Mr. Max Kellerman refused to offer the mic to either party, opting instead to hold it close to his chest until he could do the talking himself. By the time Max finally got his words in, it was to change the subject to another challenger, Pacquiao. But by then Mayweather had had enough of Kellerman’s amateur shenanigans.

“Let me talk,” Mayweather said to Kellerman. “It’s my turn to talk. You talk too much.”

ZING!

What would proud Mr. Kellerman say to that, you wonder? Better yet, what would Larry Merchant do? I think Merchant would have said something like “Okay, Floyd, you’re the one they want to hear anyway,” and passed it off.

But not Kellerman. Oh, no no no. Max, instead, gets mad like a schoolgirl on a date who isn’t getting enough attention, and passes it off to Jim Lampley at ringside, thus ending the interview at its climax.

Way to go, Max.

A word to the ever so wise: The next time you have media gold on your lap, try not to be offended by the celebrity you are paid to interview. Instead, let the fans see the fireworks they paid to see but maybe didn’t get during the match itself.

And by all means, do not join Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Steward at ring side to defend your useless opinion of what happened in the ring. We all saw it, and we can all make our own judgments. What happened in the ring had nothing to do with Mayweather having a chip on his shoulder against the media, or having the audacity to not like you, Max. I know, it’s an outrage to think that he might not like you as an interviewer, since you are apparently one of the only ones who actually likes him because he’s a pure boxer.

It had to do with Mayweather thinking you were an amateurish interviewer who likes to hear himself speak, more than anybody else in the stadium (including Floyd).

And can we really disagree with the boxer we love to hate and hate to love? I sure can’t.

HBO, please reinstate Merchant as the boxing analyst/expert for championship PPV fights. He may be slower on the uptake, but he is entertaining in his own special way, and much more seasoned at pandering and prodding the most egotistical of boxers big and small.

Or, if nothing else, find someone else. Max has moments of insight, but for the most part he is a poser, the type of expert you hate to hear talk because he’s usually doing it to impress.

EDIT: Season 2 Cast List HERE.

As you may have noticed I’m a fan of Fantasy and Science Fiction literature. Well HBO is too as they’ve ordered a pilot for Game of Thrones the first book in George R.R. Martin’s epic Fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. Kings queens bastards zombies imps you name it this series has it.

The author and show producers have been taunting fans with casting clues tormenting us for days on end before a new actor is announced for a role. You have to remember this series is on par with Lord of the Rings in that the characters are larger than life as epic as the story they are beholden to.

I have amassed a running tally of the cast so far. Most all of the major players for the pilot have been filled so I thought it a good time to show you all what to expect (hopefully) come winter of next year. You’ll probably be seeing “Winter Is Coming to HBO” posters next Fall don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Mark Addy is Robert Baratheon

Alfie Allen is Theon Greyjoy

Sean Bean is Eddard Stark

Emilia Clarke is Daenerys Targaryen

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is Ser Jaime Lannister

Peter Dinklage is Tyrion Lannister

Michelle Fairley is Catelyn Stark

Aidan Gillen is Petyr Baelish

Jack Gleeson is Joffrey Baratheon

Iain Glen is Ser Jorah Mormont

Kit Harington is Jon Snow

Lena Headey is Cersei Baratheon

Isaac Hempstead-Wright is Bran Stark

Harry Lloyd is Viserys Targaryen

Richard Madden is Robb Stark

Rory McCann is Sandor Clegane

Sophie Turner is Sansa Stark

Maisie Williams is Arya Stark

John Campbell-West is Samwell Tarly

Ron Donachie is Ser Rodrik Cassel

Jerome Flynn is Bronn

Conleth Hill is Varys

Jason Momoa is Khal Drogo

Donald Sumpter is Maester Luwin

Amrita Acharia is Irri

Roger Allam is Illyrio Mopatis

Josef Altin is Pyp

Gethin Anthony is Renly Baratheon

Ciaran Bermingham is Mord

Esmé Bianco is Ros

David Bradley is Ser Walder Frey

Susan Brown is Septa Mordane

Dominic Carter is Janos Slynt

Antonia Christophers is Mhaegen

James Cosmo is Jeor Mormont

Charles Dance is Tywin Lannister

Joseph Dempsie is Gendry

Kate Dickie is Lysa Arryn

Stephen Don is Stiv

Emun Elliot is Marillion

Lino Facioli is Robin (Robert) Arryn

Elyes Gabel is Jhogo

Ian Gelder is Ser Kevan Lannister

Julian Glover is Grand Maester Pycelle

Jefferson Hall is Ser Hugh of the Vale

Ben Hawkey is Hot Pie

Rhodri Hosking is Mycah

Margaret John is Old Nan

Wilko Johnson is Ser Ilyn Payne

Dermot Keaney is Gared

Sibel Kekilli is Shae

Susie Kelly is Masha Keddle

Mark Lewis Jones is Shagga

Simon Lowe is the Catspaw Assassin

Francis Magee is Yoren

Clive Mantle is Greatjon Umber

Joseph Mawle is Benjen Stark

Brendan McCormack is Ser Vardis Egan

Ian McElhinney is Ser Barristan Selmy

Luke McEwan is Rast

Roxanne McKee is Doreah

Kristian Nairn is Hodor

Rob Ostlere is Ser Waymar Royce

Art Parkinson is Rickon Stark

Aimee Richardson is Myrcella Baratheon

Lalor Roddy is the Wineseller

Dar Salim is Qotho

Eugene Simon is Ser Lancel Lannister

Jamie Sives is Jory Cassel

John Standing is Jon Arryn

Mark Stanley is Grenn

Conan Stevens is Ser Gregor Clegane

Owen Teale is Ser Alliser Thorne

Peter Vaughan is Maester Aemon Targaryen

Natalia Tena is Osha

Eros Vlahos is Lommy Greenhands

Bronson Webb is Will

Callum Wharry is Tommen Baratheon

Miltos Yeromelou is Syrio Forel

View More.

I’m trying to figure out which of these will, historically speaking, suck more.

Avatar Trailer
Delgo Trailer

“Okay, let’s make this official.”

Bob Aram, who represents both fighters, said both have verbally agreed to the terms, and that he expects the contracts to be signed by the end of this week. Aram did not disclose the purse split, but one would be crazy to think that it is anything more than a 60/40 split favoring Pacquiao.

So how do these two match up? Well first of all both of these guys are south paws, so this may level the playing field for the cut-prone Cotto and the duck-and-swing style of Pacquiao. The cuts have really affected Cotto’s recent fights, so this may bode well for him. If Manny has one single strength over the Puerto Rican, however, it’s hand speed. He’s made the best fighters in the world look like they downed a few Valium before their matches.

On the other hand, we have to consider whether Cotto’s monstrous body punching will force Manny’s hands to stay at home base long enough to put the Pac Man on the defensive. Personally, I don’t think so, but we’ll see what the critics say.

To me, speed beats strength at 145 lbs., which is the catch-weight these guys have agreed to fight at. Another question, which I don’t weigh as much (no pun intended), is whether the naturally larger, stronger fighter (Cotto) will be able to bully the smaller guy (Pacquiao) after having to drop weight to a less than comfortable amount. The reason I don’t care about this is that these guys are professionals. Pacquiao started out fighting at 103 lbs. and he’s dethroned world champions at 130, 135, 140 and 145 already.

A final comparison is quite simply who wants it more. Both of these fighters can unload their fists in any given round, and few can claim to have the brute strength of Miguel Cotto while even fewer can lay claim to the explosiveness of Manny Pacquiao. But when it comes down to it, will the Filipino dynamite lay waste to the Puerto Rican tank, who has looked less than convincing in his two biggest fights, or will history rewrite itself yet again?

We’ll find out November 14, I’m already counting the days!

P.S. I’ll have you over for the fight if you can guess who I was quoting at the start of this write-up. You have to get to my place on your own dime, though.

Fans of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, are rejoicing at all of the casting news announced early this morning for the HBO pilot being filmed this fall (so far the show includes Peter Dinklage, Sean Bean and Mark Addy as the bigger names, with Gillian Anderson being rumored to jump on board as well). But one can’t help but shake one’s head in dismay at the Hollywood Reporter’s inability to put accurate facts into their releases.

Apparently in this series one must ascend to the Iron Throne in order to ensure their survival for the 40-year winter to come. This sounds enticing, but it is handedly false and mostly unfounded. Sometimes, editors, less is more. If you haven’t read the books, leave out the details.

Sigh.

Click for Larger Image.

If you like going to the DMV, or think our tax code is like totally awesome, then you’re going to LOVE going to the doctor once the government steps in to rescue our health care system! See you at the doctor’s office… in line… with all of our forms… and three ball point pens… and our birth certificates… and our checkbooks. Yay!

Mp3. “My Girls”
Mp3. “Summertime Clothes”

If you know anything about 90′s rap music, you’ll know who CL Smooth is (of the group Pete Rock and CL Smooth). And if you know anything about pop culture, you’ll have heard of American Chopper, and of Paulie Jr. formerly of Orange County Choppers.

And if you’re like me, you’re wondering: “How did I not notice before how much these two guys look alike?”

I know, and I feel your startled reaction just like I felt it earlier this afternoon. But rest easy; I’m on the case, and on the hunt for any other cross-culture dopplegangers out there.

If you have any, please let me know. The more professionally disparate the better.

Youtube. Paulie Jr.
Youtube. CL Smooth.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/paulie-jr-vs-cl-smooth/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/wwiii-propaganda-posters/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/wwiii-propaganda-posters/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:38:35 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2012

View Complete Set
(Via Eric Alba)

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/wwiii-propaganda-posters/feed/ 0 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/burtons-alice-in-wonderland/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/burtons-alice-in-wonderland/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:15:46 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=2006 Disney releases some concept art for Tim Burton’s upcoming reimagining of Alice in Wonderland. I have to say that, even though Ann Hathaway is going to be in this film (who has been omitted from the below photos for reasons of intolerance on my part), I am still very excited about this film.

Oh, and doesn’t Johnny Depp look like Elijah Wood in that photo?

Larger photos here. IMDB page here.

It’s a cardboard box. How Ironic. (Thanks Whitney!)

Buy it here.

]]> http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/06/the-hipster-crib/feed/ 1 http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/05/ryan-gets-stoned-part-i/ http://www.liftingfaces.com/2009/05/ryan-gets-stoned-part-i/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 11:52:30 +0000 Ryan Dunn http://www.liftingfaces.com/?p=1799 Hello,  

At 1:15a last night, I was unpacking wardrobe boxes in my new Connecticut home while waiting for my sheets to dry. By 1:30a I felt a mild cramping in my lower left back, and figured I may have gas or something. By 1:45a I was literally on the ground writhing in what would later become the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.

I tried to deal with the agony as long as possible, holding out hope that it may have been simple intestinal cramping, and would go away. It did not.

By 3:00a I had woken my sleeping father-in-law, and asked if he had any ibu-profin. I explained my symptoms to him and he said, without flinching, two simple words.

“Get dressed.”

We arrived at the Danbury Hospital ER within the half-hour, where I was admitted and laid on a stretcher in a small room. They placed an IV drip into my arm, and asked me to describe all of what had happened. I tried to do my best in between shallow, pulled, excruciating breaths. Soon after, they sedated me with narcotics, and asked that I strain my urine the next time I had to go, which I did without protest.

Then I slept.

Two hours later, I was awoke by a new nurse (the day nurse), who informed me we were headed to a CAT Scan, followed by an X-Ray. It’s worth noting that I felt much better by this time, what with the drugging and all. After being wheeled all around the hospital to take the tests I returned to my room to await the results. Within fifteen minutes the doctor on call came into the room. He reminded me of a skinnier Quentin Tarantino.

He told me that the CAT Scan showed what he suspected to be the case: I had a kidney stone, and based on the imagery, I had passed it while in the hospital. This doesn’t mean it has left my body, only that it has made its way from the kidneys and is now floating somewhere in my bladder.

The doctor discharged me with a prescription for Percocet, and two days rest, at which point I will have to have a follow up examination. I am currently back home in bed as I write this, the home I literally just moved into today.

My kidney still throbs vigorously when I stand up, and the pharmacy doesn’t open for another two hours. However, compared to my ordeal in the middle of the night, I am on top of the world.

All of this said, I will not be coming into the office tomorrow to work.

…ryan

So the performers have performed, the judges cast their judgement, voters phoned in their votes. Without a doubt, this was one of the best finales we’ve seen in all eight seasons of the show. And what are we left with? Two artists who have the relevance, talent and ability to sell millions of albums, that’s what.

In the red corner we have Adam Lambert, a Steven Tyler meets Steve Perry meets Nathan Lane type of stage character, and perhaps the first finalist who can really tap into the rock genre and have an impact in the way Carrie Underwood did in country music (I’m not sure if I should count the Nickelback-niched band Daughtry or not). He can definitely sing and perform, and has legions of fans ready to fight for him. His cover of Gary Jules’ cover of Tears for Fears was perhaps the highlight of the season when he first performed it a few weeks back.

And in the blue corner, the proverbial underdog Kris Allen. We’d barely heard a peep about this laid back singer in the auditions portion of the season, and he’s only gotten stronger as the weeks have gone by. I appreciate his ability to perform with an instrument, and feel his presence every time he plays. He fills that John Mayer, Jack Johnson, 311, Starbucks café niche perfectly. His connection to the audience and fans alike is different from Lambert in many ways, though he is just as willing to reinterpret a song, take risks, and make the performances his own. He doesn’t have the vocal prowess of Lambert, but he does possess more of that everyman, ordinary Joe quality which may take viewers by surprise tonight.

Their songs in the finale were for the most part excellent. Round 3 didn’t a prayer, as it was the Idol songwriter’s song round (ugh). But Allen’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and Lambert’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” left it all on the table for the viewers to decide. Allen had the misfortune of ending with an overreaching rendition of the crappy Round 3 song.

I predict Adam Lambert wins, narrowly. I wouldn’t be shocked if Allen pulls one out of the hat however, and I’d be happy either way. We have to remember that Danny Gokey fans had to cast their votes for someone last night, after all. Who do you think they are more likely to latch onto?

But I also predict both of these artists will produce more hits than all previous artists (with the exception of Carrie Underwood, who entered a very anemic country genre when she left the show). I would choose Kris Allen if the decision were in my hands, but with Gokey out of the competition due to a lack of taste and risk-taking, both of these guys would have been my second and third choices for the finals.

It’s worth noting that neither of these contestants have ever visited the bottom three until the final four week. It seems America has gotten it right this season, in my humble opinion.

Paramount presents a film directed by J. J. Abrams. Screenplay by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Running time: 126 minutes. MPAA rating: PG-13 (for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content).

Film Rating: 87%

Star Trek the umpteenth reboot to one of the most iconic and successful and rebooted franchises in TV and film history. It’s a prequel (my friend called it Dawson’s Trek, which after watching I can’t say I really agree with), which is nothing new in and of itself, but funny how a relative newcomer to Hollywood (J.J. Abrams) is showing old timers like George Lucas how it should be done.

This film, in its very concept, works in broad strokes, taking us from the birth of Jim Kirk to his inevitable rite of passage as the more commonly known Captain Kirk. This inevitability is important, because the franchise was up against two factors here; on one hand, they needed to entertain and keep the die hard and part-time Trekkies alike giddy until the end; on the other, they had to initiate a new legion of fans (myself included) into the world of the U.S.S. Enterprise. On the most basic level, I’d say they succeed at both, but not without a few sacrifices and distractions.

First of all, Star Trek was entertaining and fun (for lack of any overly sophisticated words). I found myself cringing as Kirk tried desperately to seek shelter on the ice planet. I clung to every Scottish syllable Montgomery Scott (Scotty) issued forth. And though the romantic element was slightly thin overall, I found solace in an unexpected flame sparked around the half way point of the film. The world building sustained my interest, suspending my disbelief just long enough to get the job done. There were a couple of Armageddon moments, where if you blinked you missed the plot detours, which were usually fed to us by Sulu or Checkov (funny in his Polish dialect, though not as funny as Eugene Hutz in Everything Is Illuminated, who would have been a more interesting casting choice).

Secondly, and equally as important when reading other reviews of this film and wondering why it is not held in the same esteem as, say, the original Star Wars, or even Casino Royale, is that Star Trek is also (for all of its charms) a very pedestrian movie. The plotting was mostly text book sci-fi pulp drivel, the characters strained yet never bent beyond their predeterined archetypes, and the dialog (while entertaining) never held any true sense of import. Moments of sage wisdom or contemplative decision-making came across as telegraphed punches, making the comic relief less sharp than it could have been. Where was the risk? The existentialist Stephen Hawking theories? Why tread lightly when you should be going boldly? I felt like the revelations in this film could have been as epic as the visuals themselves set out to be.

I was surprised by the devotion to Spock as a pivot-point of the plot. You would have thought it might have easily become a journey of Kirk’s rites of passage to becoming captain. I think it was a wise move to shift away from that pitfall, lest it feel too much like the Anakin Skywalker’s rise to Darth Vader. The central conflict—involving an alien race hell-bent on revenge, the Romulans—was just okay, nothing original or Earth-shattering (actually…). That aspect of the film felt like filler to me, the misguided revenge as a weak crux in the middle of a rollicking space opera epic. The macguffin itself, however, I rather liked; the whole red matter as pebble-in-a-pond motif worked for me here (literally) on an inter-planetary level.

A moment’s attention on the cinematography. I am a fan of J.J. Abrams, and LOST may be one of the all-time greatest television series of all time, but I swear to Jacob himself when I say that I lost count of how many lens flares he used within the first two minutes of the film. I think he even managed to get a flare in on a predawn landscape. He made Michael Mann look like Ken Burns after this. Combine that with J.J.’s newfangled Paul Greengrass inflected handheld maneuvering, and you have a movie that only functions at least twelve rows back from the front. This is an important footnote, for there is nothing as distracting as a camera who is overly aware of herself. I could almost hear her speaking to me like a fledgling pigeon, saying “Watch me, aren’t I clever?” on more than one occasion.

All of that said, I give this film a smiley face with a wink. I loved watching Chris Pine (James Kirk) and Zachary Quinto (Spock, aka Sylar in Heroes, aka a much better choice for the role than the once-courted Adrien Brody) build up their repoire over the course of the film. I really thought several of the scenes were wonderfully imaginative (Vulcan’s educational pods springs to mind, along with the sky diving down to the Romulan’s drill base scene). The acting was over the top but worked for the material, and besides a few of the interior shots of Starship Enterprise (see image below), Abrams managed to eschew the b-movie film/TV series connotations (ie. M.A.S.H. in spandex).

Star Trek is most certainly the first of many new films in an instantly rejuvenated franchise, the denouement alone made that much clear. They’ve rebooted the Bond franchise successfully, why not Star Trek? I can already imagine the sequel in my head; you know, the one where Kirk tries to change the past and rekindle his relationship with his father, only to be faced with a difficult choice when the fate of a helpless planet hangs in the balance. The one where black holes act like quick sand because the CG effects can look cooler. The one with lens flares used as glints on teeth and eyes, just because it makes everything look better. Yeah that one. See you at the theater in a couple years for more.

Oh, before signing off, I just wanted to mention how I found myself tying some of the logic of time travel in this film back to Abram’s LOST project, and actually I think he dropped some clues in this film. Anyone else catch that?

Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton, two of the most acclaimed boxers in the sport, faced off last night in Las Vegas. Many people speculated that brute strength would rule the day. Others posited the fight would come down to speed and elusiveness. Well it turned out they were both right.

Only it was Pacquiao in possession of both, as he steam-rolled the “naturally bigger man”, scoring two knockdowns in round 01 (one a perfectly timed counter right cross, apparently the very punch they worked on in the gym; the other an imposing straight left which connected with Ricky’s glove and subsequently into his face). I worried we might see a repeat of the Juan Manuel Marquez rematch, where Pacquiao knocked Marquez down three times in round 01, only to win a controversial decision.

But then I remembered that this is Ricky Hatton, the Manchester brawler who doesn’t back down, who doesn’t run away… who doesn’t adapt or adjust, try as he may. It only took one more round to be reassured that Hatton, good as he is, was not as good as Marquez last night.

The winning blow came in the waning seconds of round 2; a vicious Bruce Lee inspired left hook to the chin, torquing Ricky’s face and sending the Hitman flailing unconscious into the deep blue canvas (aka next Tuesday). Fortunately Hatton is okay; the way he went down it could have gone either way.

People can talk all they like about the “walk around weight” Hatton puts on between fights. That doesn’t really tell the whole story, however, as was demonstrated in this match-up. It has more to do with what strength and weight and speed and skill you bring with you into the ring, not out. Both of these fighters have huge fan-bases, immense country pride, and original, highly likable personas (case-in-point: watch the HBO 24/7 series).

But more importantly than all of that, both fighters are well-known knockout punchers. It just so happens that Pacquiao is about five times faster than Hatton, and Hatton is pretty fast. I’m not sure who you would consider to be the stronger fighter based on last night’s performance, but I’ll reserve my opinion for now.

I wonder, however, will the pundits reflect upon this victory and say Hatton just had an “off night” or perhaps it was simply a “bad game plan” or maybe Manny “landed a lucky shot”? Will they marginalize Pacquiao’s dominance once again? I surely hope not; that would be half-witted and foolhardy.

However, the critics were quick to throw caveats in the air following his win against De La Hoya, the same critics who deemed Manny the statistical underdog. Manny then went on to utterly dismantle the Golden Boy over the course of ten painful-to-watch rounds. Apparently Pacquiao actually didn’t prove he was a great fighter in their eyes though; Oscar was simply out of shape, dehydrated, past his prime. Funny, though, how much better De La Hoya looked against Mayweather just one year before, when none other than Freddy Roach was training him (Roach, who has been Pacquiao’s trainer and surrogate father for eight years and running; Roach, whom De La Hoya promptly fired after his loss).

But I digress. No matter how you look at it, whether you claim Hatton couldn’t pick himself up and evolve following his heartbreaking loss to Mayweather, or whether you believe Pacquiao is the undeniable pound-for-pound boxer in the world. Only one real question remains:

Will Pacquiao fight Floyd Mayweather Jr., and get to be the only fighter in the sport to deliver the Pretty Boy a loss?

Or will Juan Manuel Marquez beat him to the punch come this July? I believe it will be one or the other who does the honors, and hopefully the Pride of the Philippines gets the shot. As the boxer who single-handedly (the left hand, specifically) dethroned and dismantled the nearly empirical reign of Mexican warriors far and wide (Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera, Juan Manuel Marquez, Oscar De La Hoya), Pacquiao has certainly earned it.

Rose Stretching.

I know what you’re going to say: “But wait! In the first example it’s an old man with a flask, and the second example it’s a boy with a lantern.”

But seriously, let’s be real; the pieces bare a eerily strange resemblance in palette, technique, and execution to one another. The concepts are different sure, audio, etc. but it’s still a good idea to push things far enough away from the source so that the police (ie. me) don’t come out of the woodwork to make a point of it.

These guys have been around for a while, but they just recently jumped on my radar (thank you, ANTENNAE). I just really dig the mix of casual and classy. They juxtapose premium details, like leather interiors and custom molded footbeds, alongside casual sportswear design cues. The result is a comfortable shoe you can hit the streets in, even if you’re headed to the opera house for a night with the philharmonic.

Visit Clae Shoes.

It wasn’t until it was over that I realized that I would not be seeing Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy. That was at the California event. Tragic.</nostalgia>

Also, I predict Danny Gokey, featured in the heart-wrenching video below, will win American Idol. I predicted it after the second round of cuts, and I’m sticking to it. As of this posting, he is in the top 36, which will be cut down to 9 next week.

UPDATE: Last night, Danny made the cut, and is now part of the top 9. So far so good.

Click for Larger View.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLMcQ09BHc

http://www.youtube.com/v/ozX24VxC8NA

The writing and acting in this commercial is unparalleled. I’ve never witnessed a more genius way to sell product. Oh wait… huh?

(Thanks, Eric!)

(Apologies in advance.)

I left my job in Chicago to pursue a career in New York City. I have friends here… somewhere… but for now I am in a hotel room alone.

My very precious daughter Grace and very pregnant wife Erin are all back home while I figure this new (ad)venture out, which makes it all the lonelier.

I felt like pausing here, to exhale and put these words down somewhere. I’ve always been the reclusive type, preferring a quiet corner of the room to its noisy epicenter. But for some reason, this time, here, the isolation is cold. Or is that the wind chill?

I realize New York is not going to find me, I have to discover New York. I’ll get there, soon, when I’m done getting lost.

Thank you for listening.

Oh Joseph Stalin, so chic and so gentle. History must have gotten you all wrong. Such a poor, misunderstood, metrosexual, sensitive communist dictator. Tragic, really, don’t you think?

Lo! Circle your calendars friends, it’s looking like May will mark the first big boxing match of 2009, when Manny Pacquiao takes on the Manchester brawler Ricky Hatton. Bob Aram says it’s a done deal, and when he says it, it hath been written.

It should make for an exciting fight, two good styles, though Hatton had better train for speed, and learn from De la Hoya’s mistakes.

Apparently both of these fighters have grand plans to retire early. Pacquiao wants to finish 2009 and then become president of the Philippines or something (ugh), while Hatton wants to beat Pacquiao and then win a rematch against Mayweather, going out at the top of his game.

The likelihood that either of them will retire when they say? Slim to none. And that would be the best thing we fans would want to see happen.

View the Proof.

With evident inspiration from director Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Howl’s Moving Castle) comes an all together unique and amazing short film by five students from the Gobelins school of animation in France. Students, yes, you read that right. Unbelievable.

Set within a stilted village in the sky, a boy is fishing in a puddle with a banana for bait when suddenly, impossibly he gets a bite. He lands a creature far bigger than he could have imagined, and far too big to handle. What follows is a breathtaking sequence of shots, punctuated by an unexpected and abstracted ending.

It’s not just the vast, deep collection of photography that drew me to the Joseph Bellows Gallery, it was the presentation of this vast, deep collection on their website. Broken into four groups (contemporary, 20th century, 19th century, and Featured) the images are something to behold.

With photographers ranging from Ansel Adams to Thomas Allen, from Eadweard Muybridge to Michael Mulno, it’s easy to get lost in the variety and quality of these images.

Now it’s your turn to enjoy.

The National Fist, aka Manny Pacquiao, turned The Golden Goy into a paper weight with a left hand De La Hoya couldn’t answer, and speed the Mexican warrior couldn’t fathom. By the second round Oscar’s face was red from the Manny’s sharp left-hand lead, and by the fifth The Golden Boy was a purple ghost ready for pac-man to chomp.

De La Hoya’s trainer encouraged Oscar to stop fighting in between rounds eight and nine, to which Oscar gave a simple, sorrowful reply: “Si.”

Looking forward to seeing the Pretty Boy come out of hiding I mean retirement to face off against The National Fist (see post title). It makes you wonder, if Oscar went 12 rounds easily against Mayweather, and Pacquiao made Oscar look this slow, what would happen if he stepped into the ring with Manny?

Oh, a matchup with Ricky Hatton is possible for Manny as well, at 140, and I think that would be a good match (though as much as I like “Walking in a Hatton Wonderland,” he is no match for Manny).

2009 is looking bright.

p.s. I love when the oddsmakers get it wrong, as I knew they had. De La Hoya as a 2:1 favorite? Come on guys, you should know better than that.

Note, the URL on the poster is not valid. I don’t know if there’s irony in that? Probably.

If you’re a horny inmate, I think the answer is yes. Boy George was found guilty of falsely imprisoning a male escort in his flat. Apparently he handcuffed the poor innocent creature to his wall and beat him with a whip for not sleeping with him. Sentencing as yet to be determined.

Good Luck in Prison, Boy George.

A high fantasy series on HBO?

Well well well. I’m a couple weeks behind on this one, but HBO has ordered a pilot for a new series based on the epic high fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire, by author George R. R. Martin (who has committed to writing at least one episode per season).

The first season will span the length of the first book, A Game of Thrones. Each season thereafter will also span another book (it is a seven books series, four of them already writ, book five on the way).

But don’t get bogged down in the details, just get ready for some violence, romance, dragons, direwolves, sex, wights, knights, dwarves, bastards, tragedies, victories, kings and sellswords…..all on HBO!!

Move over, Xena. Step aside, Conan.

Okay okay, I have to go now, I’m 600 pages into book three (A Storm of Swords) and smiling at the prospect of seeing some of fantasy’s most interesting, flawed characters coming to my living room soon.

WindFire Cursor.
By WindFire Designs.

For a making-of, check out their Flickr set.

A wave that nearly killed him.

“Usually the wave never steps out or goes evil like that one, but it just went dry – the hardest wave I’ve ever had to surf. I went straight over the lip and did about 10 backflips. It felt like I ripped my arm out of its socket, my leggie snapped and then I felt like I was the deepest I’d ever been.”

Some things don’t need words. Thanks Nic.

Thanks for this, Vince.

Ron Clark Academy “You Can Vote However You Like“

Obama Sneeze.

MCCAIN: “Maverick I can do, but Messiah is above my pay grade.”

OBAMA: “‘Barack’ is actually Swahili for ‘That One’.”

What i think is most intriguing is how the cars, if you lay them out in a timeline, are a great reflection of the state of art/design over the years (the 90′s specifically stick out as particularly terrible). After 1982, I’d say these cars started to look worse and worse. Look for yourself.

Here are my six favorite, of the 15 they have done so far (they also happen to be the first six) . . .

1975

1976

1977

1979

1982

1986

Here is a :40 clip online, which looks strange, sparse, stark and super cool.

I find the idea of children singing a song about Obama in the spirit of Sunday School songs about God extremely disturbing. I wonder if Obama finds it slightly creepy as well?

Deshawn Jackson outdid himself last night.

And now Digital Kitchen has been solicited by Alan Ball to create the titles for his latest television series, True Blood, due this fall on HBO.

Which is fine, I wish them the best. But when the best their creative director can do is come up with a thin concept which relies largely on the imagery and compositions already put out by a documentary, “Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus,” I have to raise my hand in protest. Have a look at the following image comparisons, then watch the two respective clips, and decide for yourself.

The ole’ abandoned vehicle in the woods trick. I get it.

At least they chose baptists instead of evangelicals.

Props for using the Friday Night Lights art direction (red key, string lights in background.)

UPDATE. This one is actually ripped from a Chris Cunningham video. Undercranked nude contortionists tightly cropped. Wow.

I don’t know how this is even remotely permissible. Is it that hard to come up with your own idea?

View Original.

View Copy.

Nike has finally found a name for their product not directly targeted for on-the-field activity. But Nike Sportswear is something more, it rises above the Nike Town, Sportsmart classification, and is the limited, higher end niche they’ve carved from their established stock-and-trade. Whether reissues or new releases, the collection is looking pretty sharp.

And if you’re interested in spending over $200 for your hoodie, I highly recommend finding the Loopwheeler collection of tops. There’s a nice video giving you a glimpse into the Loopwheeler Factory, further proof that you still need thread and a loom to make a sweatshirt.

When you’re a Jet…

I was 14 years old when Brett Favre took over for the injured, and mediocre Don Majkowski. Now I’m 30, and for the first time in my adult life I get to see a new, young quarterback take over for an uninjured, hall-of-fame quarterback.

Here’s to hoping the Packers didn’t just do something really, really stupid.

1995

1998

1995

Click to view the whole Flickr set.

Virgin Galactic is getting ready for its maiden voyage with its mothership, the White Knight 2. The flight will last about 2 and a half hours, and spend about 5 minutes in space. The tickets are going for $200,000 a pop, and I don’t think you’ll have to pay a surcharge for checking luggage.

If you get a ticket, look forward to sharing your seats with Sigourney Weaver, Bryan Singer, Moby, Stephen Hawking, Paris Hilton, Philippe Starck, and Dave Navarro, amongst others.

“The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown.” -Rorschach

Sometimes there aren’t words. But if the attempt was to make light of the opposition’s opinion of Obama, I’m afraid it didn’t work out the way it was planned.

This is a group of professional sand sculptors called Team Sandtastic. They take on a wide range of projects from very small to very large. their site is hard to navigate, but each of the images on the home page will generally take you to a whole other section. Enjoy.

For a cleaner page to navigate, go straight to their Sculptures Page.

What a difference 22 years can make. For those of us old enough to remember Number 5, you’ll appreciate this post. I remember thinking that WALL•E reminded me of Short Circuit, but that was just me remembering in my head.

Then I pulled up an image of Number 5, and was pretty astonished. The head shape, tire tread shape, even the digits, all are spookily similar. It’s a little disappointing from a character design standpoint, but I still thought WALL•E (especially the first act) was a fantastic film.

Whether or not you watch this show (it is currently finishing up its auditions on NBC before the finalists move on and compete to win), I’m predicting that this man, Sean Cullen, from Petersborough, Ontario, and formerly of one of the original comedy performance bands Corky and the Juice Pigs (well before Flight of the Conchords or Tenacious D), will likely win the whole thing.

Either way, this show will get a good amount of exposure for him, which is only a good thing, as I think he’s one of the funniest comedians I’ve watched in a while.

Check out more of his work on his site, and if you want more, enjoy this two bits about foods people choose to be killed by.

“Food of Your Choice” #1
 

“Food of Your Choice” #2

I returned from week up in the Northwoods of Ontario, Canada, amidst a cage match between the two US presidential candidates, only to have a buddy of mine from Japan send me a link which is, well, astonishing to say the least.

eMobile, a Japanese mobile phone company, is running a campaign, with a monkey, playing the part of . . . . . Barack Obama. They even lifted his campaign slogan, declaring “Yes, We Change!”

Do the Japanese creatives even KNOW how racist this is? I can’t wait for CNN and MSNBC and FOXNEWS of America to get a hold of this one.

Check it out now, and judge for yourself.

I know that No Country for Old Men took the award for best picture at the Academy Awards, but I don’t see how the critics chose it over There Will Be Blood. For me, Blood was a stronger, more rewarding film. Daniel Day Lewis and P.T. Anderson gave me a glimpse into the foundation of the oil economy, and drew me deeper into a seemingly one-dimensional character than I thought I could have gotten.

No Country came off as a faithful retelling of a novel where the emptiness between action created the story’s tone. Which can work fine on paper, but on screen, with the Cohen Brothers at the helm, it felt desolate, a sketch of a film, a skeleton of an idea where the dots connected, vaguely, but didn’t really care if we the viewer did so. It was no Blood Simple, I can say that. All of this said, I still liked No Country.

I left No Country asking myself what I had just watched, and came up with a fragment of an idea. I left Blood with questions about the characters and their motivations, but the good kind, the kind that keep you talking for days on end.

My post about veggie burgers led me to a spoof product from a couple years back, designed to have some fun with the absurdity of soy and tofu-based product names.

So if you’re “a cannibal who wants to quit,” then Hufu, The Healthy Human Flesh Alternative, is for you.

Step 1: Drop from cargo plane at 7,500 feet

Step 2: Unfold your 8 foot wings.

Step 3: Glide then fly at speeds of 200 mph

Step 4: Show off for the ladies with a couple sweet tricks.

Step 5: Land safely.

Step 6: Be radically, totally awesome.

Read more about the amazing jet man in this jaw dropping article. I want one!

Umm . . . I’m not really sure what to say here. A tremendous accomplishment? Raising the bar for bedroom doodlers and flip-book animators around the world?

The fact that the piece functions on more than one level — blending and defacing a medium of permanence (street art) with another which thrives on the moment (animation) — sort of heightens the impact of the project for me.

Thanks moxi for the link.

Courtesy of The Gallery of Regrettable Foods by way of my buddy Matt Daly.

Others prefer a tweny-seven story, two-billion dollar home.

This is not a joke. Please read the article, and draw your own conclusions.

Guillermo del Toro is directing “The Hobbit”. Peter Jackson will serve as Executive Producer.

I couldn’t think of two better hobbits for the project myself. Read more about this week-old development over at The Guardian.

In related news, Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis will be returning to play the roles of Gandalf and Gollum, respectively. Guillermo says so himself in an interview with TheOneRing.net.

Kinder Surprise. A chocolate candy with a plastic egg inside. Inside the egg is a painted plastic toy. Munch munch munch!

Presented to you by Chucky’s fraternal twin, the evil Humpty Dumpty.

“. . . She helps out her aunty Babette in the library in the day and sings along to the birds at night.”

This one-of-a-kind doll is for my daughter, but I think my wife and I are going to fight her for it. You should own the fabulous works of Le Train Fantome, too!

“For Sale: Baby shoes,
never worn.”

To read this story in its entirety, go to . . . wait, that IS the story in its entirety. And a good one at that.

For other (lesser) attempts at six word stories by renowned authors, check out the Wired article from a little while back. You’ll see that (though some are good) it is NOT easy to write a six word story. Not at all. If you think I’m wrong, try posting one of your own in the comments section.

p.s. I bet Roald Dahl would have written a great 6-word story.