This is a pretty cool link. I think you should click it. They are taking submissions for robot designs.

Enhancement Module 101:

It seems like I have had Street Fighter IV on the brain lately because I've been playing it so often. Anyway, I wanted to through a short-stack of images together of people or characters who resemble characters from the game, in my opinion. Keep in mind that I stressed the word R E S E M B L E. No hate mail please. I realize they're not exact doppelgangers and that some are downright stretches of the imagination. But take a look anyway at my look-a-like images and see if you can tell me who these pictures look like in SFIV. You might actually have to use your imagination.

I've been interested in this movie ever since I first heard the director speak on NPR. Did you know that Tommy Lee Jones played college football?
Apple Synopsis as follows:

An extraordinary retelling of one of the most famous college football games in history, Kevin Rafferty’s HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29 combines rare footage of the wildly unpredictable 1968 game with unguarded, politically-charged recollections from the original players. As actor Tommy Lee Jones (an offensive guard on the Harvard team) puts it, “ideas were flying around like bullets” —- and as becomes clear by the end of the film, this was a social experience that resonated well beyond one Saturday afternoon on the playing field.

Yes, I realize this is old news. It's been a major story on all the movie blogs. So the story goes, and you can check it out on her IMDB page, Linda Hamilton is in talks to do narration work for the movie Terminator Salvation. This is ridiculous to me, because this means that a possibly integral character for the movie hasn't even been signed yet and the movie comes out in around 3 months. Any hope that I had about this movie being any good is seriously dwindling. And wasn't Sarah Conner dead in T3? The Slash Film guys pointed this all out in a recent podcast of theirs. I really wanted a new good Terminator, but if the story is so half baked that such an important character can swapped in or out at this point in the game so easily then I don't hold out much hope.

Anyone else find this mildly offensive?

Gigantic is John Goodman's triumphant return, in a weird looking comedy. Think: Juno meets Igby Goes Down. But since this is director Matt Aselton's first outing let's all give it a chance. Date movie? In theaters April 3rd


Must Read After My Death Looks positively creepy.

Apple trailers Synopsis:

Filmmaker Morgan Dews was very close to his grandmother Allis, but it wasn’t until after her death in 2001 that he became aware of an astounding archive she’d amassed throughout the 1960s. Filled with startlingly intimate and candid audio recordings detailing her family’s increasingly turbulent lives, the collection also contained hundreds of silent home movies, photographs and written journals. Using only these found materials, Dews has fashioned a searing family portrait that affords fly-on-the-wall access to one family’s struggles amid an America on the verge of dramatic transformation. Must Read After My Death follows Allis, her husband Charley and their four children in Hartford, Connecticut. Charley’s work takes him to Australia four months each year, so the couple purchases Dictaphone recorders as a way to stay in touch throughout Charlie’s extended absences. A modern woman at least a decade ahead of her time, Allis struggles against conformity – against the conventional roles of wife and mother. She finds the recordings cathartic and, with the family’s cooperation, incorporates them into their everyday existence. When the family turns to psychologists and psychiatrists, their strife increases and the recordings turn progressively darker – even desperate. All the while, Dews employs the family’s many home movies and the seemingly placid, typically American façade that they convey, as visual counterpoint to the raw and sobering tape recordings.

According to the NY Times, the American Medical Association is angry with Warner Bros. over it's recent movie He's Just Not That Into You. It all stems from the usage of cigarette packages in the PG-13 movie. Though there isn't any actual smoking in the movie, the high visibility of cigarette packs in a movie rated acceptable for teens is enough for the AMA to lodge a formal complaint with WB.
I haven't seen this movie and hadn't planned on it until now, but if the placement is as blatant and unnecessary as described then I think this is a valid complaint. Since Hollywood studios are one-by-one declaring their movies no smoking zones for fear of an R rating, then why would it be acceptable to have so much product placement (yes, that's what it is) in a movie rated PG-13? And I can personally attest to the ability of a movie to make you want to smoke. Did you ever see the Long Goodbye, or Good Night, and Good Luck.? I want a cigarette just thinking about those movies. In all honesty though, a box of smokes doesn't seem like it would be all that compelling. Still, it does make the cigarette business look that much more like scum bags.

Last night we recorded episode 3 of the Media Fix Podcast. It's a little on the quiet side but if you can stand it, pump the volume and listen to us discuss everything from Noby Noby Boy to the Oscars.

Remember the old school Conan O'brien Show? Remember that guy who you to sit next to Conan a la Ed McMahon and the Johnny Carson show? His name was Andy Richter, and he was pretty funny. I was pretty sad to see him leave the show to pursue a television and movie career, which never quite turned into anything. But a recent story from the A.V. club states that Richter will, in fact, be reunited with Conan on the Tonight Show as its announcer. This is welcome news for those of us who enjoyed Andy Richter controls the Universe

This looks surprisingly good.

We missed the openening because we were playing Street Fighter IV.
9:07 EST: Wall-e Wins Best Animated Feature, Btw, why don't they call this award the little kid award. There were no adult themed movies in this category this year. Booo. Waltz with Bashir should have been there.

9:09 EST: La Maison en petits cubes wins best animated short. Btw, iTunes has it, you can watch it for 2.99.

9:17 EST: Ben Button (Donald Graham Burt, Victor J. Zolfo) wins Art Direction, and deservedly so.

9:20 EST: Costume Design goes to the Duchess(Michael O'Connor), period pieces galore. Apparently only ball fashion wins this one.

9:23 EST: Ben Button(Greg Cannom) wins Best Makeup no surprises here.

9:28 EST: Romance montage. Really, the Dark Knight? Was there that much romance in that movie?

9:33 EST: Cinematography, my prediction Ben Button...

9:32 EST: Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix...Pure Hilarity

9:35 EST: The Cinematography winner is Slummy (Anthony Dod Mantle). Sweep?

9:44 EST: Why is Seth Rogen so skinny? Eat something.

9:47 EST: Best Short Film goes to Spielzeugland (Jochen Alexander Freydank) Hmmm, I'll have to check this one out.

9:52 EST: I'm digging this dance number. The musical is back. Hey is that Beyoncé? Adam says,"Every gay man orgasms."

10:03 EST: Phil Hoffman looks "thug." Adam says, "By the way, [Hof] already won." We'll see about that.

10:08 EST: Jaw on the floor, Heath Ledger wins Best Supporting Actor. Adam infuriated.

10:13 EST: Oh snap, Bill Maher takes it there, bitch slaps god(s).

10:14 EST Best Documentary goes to Man on Wire(James Marsh, Simon Chinn). I couldn't agree more. Philippe Petit dazzles.

10:17 EST: Best Short Documentary goes to Smile Pinki (Megan Mylan)

10:27 EST: Visual Effects Awards. I'm going with Ben Button again.

1028 EST: Ben Button Wins best Visual Effects (Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron)

10:28 EST Sound Editing goes to the Dark Knight (Richard King) Wow, this is pretty surprising, I thought Ben Burtt's work on Wall-e merited this one.

10:31 EST Sound achievement goes to Slumdog(Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Resul Pookutty). That makes two for Slummy.

10:35 EST: Slumdog(Chris Dickens), wins Best Editing. It's picking up momentum. Best Picture for sure.

10:53 EST: Best Original Score goes to Slummy(A.R. Rahman). 4th award for the evening.

10:55 EST: A.R. Rahman, jams on two songs. John Legend performs Peter Gabriel's Wall-e song. The combination of all the Wall-e and Slummy song sounded pretty terrivle though.

11:00 EST: Best Original Song goes to A.R. Rahman for Jai Ho, Slumdog. Amazing.

11:06 EST: Best Foreign Film goes to Okuribito (Japan).

11:11 EST: Touching farewell to a lot of great actors.

11:20 EST: Best Director goes to...Danny Boyle for slummy. 5 Awards for this movie so far.

11:29 EST: Best Actress Award goes to Kate Winslet

11:44 EST: Best Actor Award goes to Sean Penn. Hey, at least it wasn't Brad Pitt.
Mickey Rourke gets escorted out by loan sharks and later murdered.

11:52 EST: Best picture goes to Slumdog Millionaire.

Wow, Ben Button couldn't capitalize on all its nominations. Two things: First, the Oscar's have shown a willingness to get political by nominating and awarding Shawn Penn in Milk for best actor. Second, Slumdog Millionaire's success signals the arrival of Eastern world. I'll write about it more later, but for now I need to play some more Street Fighter.