2×01: New Year, New Volume
With a new year comes the first episode of Vol. 2, and Jay V pretends to live-tweet and then tells you his New Year’s Resolution
The Watchmen can fight crime, but not the law
If you’re someone like Nicholas Reed, you know all about the upcoming Warner Bros. movie Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder and based on Alan Moore’s famously awesome comic book, and scheduled for release on March 6, 2009. If you’re like Nicholas Reed (and I’m only picking on you because you have near-daily tweets on the watchmen), you will know that last year, after filming wrapped, 20th Century Fox decided to bring down a lawsuit on the Dub, stating that they had the film rights to the Watchmen comic; they were acquired in 1986. If you’re Nicholas Reed, you want everyone to listen to your bands. But I digress.
How exactly this big gaping hole got missed by any of the execs at WB boggles me, because it’s in plain lettering that Fox did acquire the film rights back in the 80’s and WB shouldn’t really be making this movie. But then again, why Fox decided to wait until after Warner finished filming to file the—oh wait. I forgot, money’s involved somehow. Fox didn’t have to actually create the movie and now they’re contending that they, at the very least, have the right to distribute this film awesomeness ’splosion. I mean, anyone who’s really into comics is looking forward to this, and that number is [shockingly] growing, so this movie will make a killing at the box office. And that’s all they really want. All the returns with the least investment.
The biggest wrinkle in the saga is that now the movie probably won’t even make its March 6 release, while the fate of the Watchmen hangs dubiously in the hands of the law. People are really mad. Some stay hopeful, and according to the LA Times, Warner Bros’ dukes are still up.
And the saddest thing is, all of the people who really want to see the movie are just stuck in a waiting game. And all we really want to do is enjoy a movie. And all they ask is that Fox and WB put aside their slings and arrows and let the movie release.
We humbly request, please?
in my pants: incredibad
It looks like the same guys who brought you, “Dick in a Box” and “Lazy Sunday” are releasing an album.
Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer are the Lonely Island, whose digital shorts on SNL have been sometimes keeping us on the Internet late at night to watch them again and again. After the cut, you can see a video I watched again and again from this month’s SNL.
Here are some new laugh out loud funny entries from my favorite Web site.
You have to read the captions on these. They’re some of my favorites since discovering the site, and they’re all from this year.
http://www.uglychristmaslights.com/2008_collection/claus_kitchen.html
http://www.uglychristmaslights.com/2008_collection/little_santas.html
http://www.uglychristmaslights.com/2008_collection/feed_me_seymour.html
http://www.uglychristmaslights.com/2008_collection/treed.html
Merry Christmas – Here’s Some Crappy Art
This guy cracks me up for some reason. Commentary on children’s drawings is really funny.
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=irule2
How do survive a plane crash
Saturday brought a near-tragedy at Denver International Airport, but thanks to the crew’s quick thinking, tragedy was mostly averted.
And thanks to ABC News, you can now survive a plane crash, should you ever be caught in one.
By the way, they’re still trying to figure out the cause of the aborted takeoff, and it’s still surprising some rescue workers that no one died.
(photo courtesy of AP)
Keeping Warm for the Holidays
With winter bombarding parts of the U.S. already, one can only wonder what’s in store for us. Luckily, the Philly area is kind of lucky. Christmas Eve for us will be about 50°. But eventually, the cold air will blast its way into our lovely historical city and then we’ll be battling frigid temperatures just like Chicago and Detroit had seen. So, what’s a boy to do? Or a girl, really.
I mean, there’s the standard stuff you can do, like layer clothing and snuggle up to a loved one to keep warm, but is there anything you do in the cold winter months to keep warm?
My Name is Brady, and I am a Facebook Junkie
Okay, I’ll admit it. For about the first two years of its existence, my Facebook account literally held no interest for me. A zombie application and the chance that some long lost college friend might try to contact me were about the only reasons for me to log on.
And at that, it was only once about every three months.
With my discovery of the new Facebook layout (and my subsequent discovery that there are literally dozens of those I’m close to that use it instead of Myspace), I decided this Fall to give it another go. I made my page more serious, dropped the “Zombie” maiden name I had adopted, and went at it again hardcore, finding old friends and networking with wrestlers.
And I have to tell you… I like it. I find myself going on Myspace less and less.
The only question now remains… where will social networking take me next?
Leggings ≠ pants
I feel like I need to explain to the world that wearing leggings as pants is not exactly very fashionable.
One may think that since wearing leggings while performing ballet is acceptable, then wearing them out after your ballet production is, too. But no, it’s not. I’m not going to extoll the virtues of wearing leggings in place of pants from a man’s point of view, because it may be quite obvious. And I am actually only taking this standpoint as far as general fashion sense goes. In general, leggings as pants IS BAD!
Especially when on fat chicks.
Hitler Cake Wreck
Courtesy of Vanessa, I bring you a fairly strange Cake Wreck. There isn’t even a cake picture!
Remember Tom Cruise?
Tom Cruise appeared on the Today Show this morning (People). About four years prior, Cruise was all up on Matt Lauer about something-or-other, Brooke Shields, depression, whatever. Man that dude was crazy, off the deep end. And I used to like him, too. I was thinking about the movies he was in.
The dude starred in so many movies you can’t keep track of them anymore. I tried, and then at some point he just became an insane psycho and I stopped caring. He used to be my film idol. If I were to be a film actor, he was my aspiration. Then Scientology came along and ruined him. But there were the old days, weren’t there, when he wasn’t some crazy dude who jumped on couches and lightning bolted Oprah? Remember them?
Tales from the Teacher’s Lounge or America’s Young is Stupid
My wife is a teacher (math) and she sometimes tells me these ridiculous stories. After hearing these last night I thought these were well worth a blog post about….
During an English vocabulary quiz here were some of the sentences used:
I like to hear the clique of the mouse.
After school I like to blasé with my friends.
That animal had nice furlough.
Evidently the equator is literally a ring of fire and to cross it you need a rocket. (Seriously they thought that.)
On a class trip to England over the summer; the teacher/chaperone decided that there was enough time to spare before their show that they should get a bite to eat. One of the students suggested that they go try out the Shakes & Spears place across the street, although the sign said Shakespeare’s and was for the play they were going too. (He was serious as well.)
The one that probably takes the cake though is this one. During a biology class the instructor was discussing the discovery of a new/rare species of bear between a polar bear and a grizzly bear. After explaining how species are classified and come about a girl raised her hand and asked this question, “So are babies between black people and white people new species?”
Over the years my wife, the wife of a friend of mine (also a teacher) and my mom (a principal) have had some interesting names of kids that they have taught, here is a small selection of them:
Shithead (pronounced Sha – Thead, but you see how it is spelled and how some people might slip up)
Susquehanna (pronounced Sha – Quanna, but it is spelled like the river so you can see how that one ended up)
Lemonjello and Orangjello (the mother admitted to naming them after the flavors of jello that they brought her in the hospital as she was recovering from birthing them)
Bank bailout money now for car co’s?
ABC News reports that the car bailout bill thing didn’t pass the Senate. And it looks like it’s all because the UAW wouldn’t budge on any contract changes (abcnews). So they’re now considering taking our money that they set aside for the banking industry—
WHOA WAIT HOLD THE PHONE WHAT????
Did ABC News just report that the government is now going to take the money they had set aside to bail out the banks and use it for the auto industry?
Cure for Alcoholism in Dispute
You go to about.com. Their page on medical treatment for alcohol states, “Science has yet to develop a magic pill to cure alcoholism, but there are some drugs that will help reduce cravings and benefit those who are sincerely trying to quit drinking.”
Then you see on the ABC News (or the BBC News, like I did this past weekend) that there’s a doctor saying he did develop a magic pill to cure alcoholism.
Dr. Olivier Ameisen, 55, French cardiologist, claims he found a cure for alcoholism in a pill designed to help MS patients with their muscle spasms. In his book, “Le Dernier Verre,” he says he’d started taking the drug baclofen after reading about a man being cured of his cocaine dependence through baclofen. Now, claims Dr. Ameisen, he can have an alcoholic drink in a social setting with no side effects.
More doctors seem to dispute the cure claim than to support it, and I don’t really see it as a magical cure-all drug for alcoholism anyway. Perhaps it works for the good doctor, but it can’t work for everyone. There are too many factors that lead to alcoholism. Also, consider the fact that the, “discontinuation of baclofen can be associated with a withdrawal syndrome which resembles benzodiazepine withdrawal and alcohol withdrawal.” What’s the point of taking an alcohol-cure pill if discontinuation puts you into alcohol withdrawal anyway? I think we will have to see how this plays out in the medical journals.
Actually, what I think is most intriguing is how the heck this guy manages to cover a simple cure for alcoholism, but then requires an entire book just to say how.
1×10: Pajamas and Jobs
After Brady gets distracted by a spinning lady, Brady and Jay V reminisce about dream jobs, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
If you like the show, please log on to our website, about12minutes.com and leave us a comment. We’d love to hear from you.
What is it with drunk people and cars?
Saturday night. An illegal immigrant smashes into the take out guy with a truck, because he wasn’t served his Corona. The following morning. A woman tries to hit a cop with her car. These two incidents in my home county of Bucks.
The latter story is less tragic and more action-packed, as a four-mile car chase went under way in the wee hours of the morning across Buck Road (and beyond) until the 25-year old woman was finally captured in Newtown. Her headlights were off, she used all lanes, and ran every red-light she could. I could imagine it as a scene from a low-budget film, with the officer squawking into his radio for backup—for just another vehicle to head her off up ahead. She’s caught, attempts to get away again by stepping on the gas as soon as the cop gets the door open, is stopped when he lunges for the handbrake, yanks it up.
The first story, however, is much more tragic. (more…)
