Video of the Day: Elliot Spencer - Badass!!

In the 3rd season finale of "Leverage", Elliot proves why he is not a man you want to piss off!

'TRON" Customized Audi R8 or "The Line?! It's Done Been Crossed"

       Yes. That's a tricked Audi R8, 'TRON' style!

       Yes, the guys at West Coast Customs have way too much time on their hands.

       Yes. I do want one and am willing to do just about anything to obtain it.

       Yes, I am STILL a 'TRON' fanboy.


       .... End of line.


(Via Geekologie)

2011 Razzies Nominees Announced or "Even When They Lose, We Win"

     It's that time of year again! The nominees for the 2011 Razzie Awards have been announced. You know, that wards show that "honors" the best (and by best, I really mean the most awful) performances, directing and entire films of the last year.

       Personally, I am rooting for "Twilight" or the "Sex and the City" sequel to sweep the Razzies. Seriously, if any other movie takes 'Worst Movie' over those two pieces o' crap, I'll know that there is no justice in this world!

(Via I Watch Stuff)

Video of the Day: Star Trek - Acid Drive

Hahaha, Love the little smile Data has just before they take off. Priceless!

(Via Geekologie)

Western Themed 'Star Wars' Figures or "A Long Time Ago, In A County Far, Far Away"

      "Boba Fett walks into the saloon" sounds like the opening to a bad joke, but it isn't! It's just the most accurate way you can begin to describe these awesome custom-made figures. The man behind these marvelous pieces of plastic goes by the name Sillof, a toy customizer known for his combining characters from that galaxy far, far away with various genres, like a line set in the time of the samurai!!

       The result? Some beautiful hand crafted pieces of geeky art!

      Yes. R2D2 is a bald, one-eyed midget blacksmith in the 'Western' themed set. You have a better analogy for the little AstroMech droid?!

(Via Great White Snark)

Sillof's website - http://www.sillof.com

Swiss Army Bathroom (?!?) Available or "The Ultimate Space Saver"

       The future is now! Just when you think you've seen it all. Just when you think the concept of the Swiss Army Knife has seen every permutation possible, you find something like this. British based Design Odyssey LTD, a specialized design firm, has created the Vertebrae, a compact, space saving device that incorporates all you need in a bathroom appliance.

      
It all looks pretty good, but there is one tiny flaw in the design. If you store the extra TP in either of those drawers, you'd have to be Stretch Armstrong to reach that next roll.

(Via Geekologie)

Video of the Day "TRON Legacy", 8-Bit Style!!!

       Yes, another "TRON" video.

       Yes, it is awesome.

       Yes, I am a "TRON" fanboy.

        Any more questions? No? Good. Enjoy!

(Via YouTube - pierremanry)

Patton Oswalt and The Current State of Geek Culture or "It Takes One To Know One"

       Patton Oswalt. Comedian. Actor. Geek. Patton drops more geek references in 5 minutes of his stand-up routine than most comedians do in their entire set. And having grown up in the 1980's playing D&D and reading Stephen King (in hardcover),  you can be assured that when he speaks about such things, he knows what he is talking about. Mr. Oswalt recently wrote an essay for WIRED.com entitled "Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die", describing how he feels about the current state of 'geek culture' and how it may be time to let it die out... at least for a time.

       After reading this article, I was given pause to think about how and why I love the geeky things that I do. It is certainly one of the most intelligent and thought provoking articles I have read in a long time. If you have ever thought of your self as a geek, give this a read. It will make you think about your mad, geeky passions in a different light.

"Wake Up, Geek Culture. Time to Die" by Patton Oswalt (Via WIRED.com)

Video of the Day: "TRON", The Modern Trailer

       YouTube user DrewboiX took his love of the original "TRON" film and crafted this 'modernized' trailer for the classic film. Being the "TRON" fanboy that I am, you might assume that I love this trailer.

        You'd be right!

DC Comic's First Muslim Super-hero Causes Controversy or "You Can't Please Everyone All Of The Time"

      In the recent crossover between Detective Comics Annual #12 and Batman Annual #28, comic book fans were introduced to a new hero for the DC Universe, Nightrunner! He is a French-born Muslim, who turned to parkour/ free-running to escape the pain of a friend's death. Becoming so proficient at the sport, he eventually donned a mask and set out to quell the crime and riots plaguing his city, where he ran afoul of both Batmen (Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne). After an initial understanding, the trio of heroes worked together to stop a cult from tearing Paris to pieces. Afterwards, Bruce Wayne recruited Nightrunner to be the 'Batman of Paris' as part of his 'Batman, Inc.' project.

       Now, this a character that I think is a long time in coming. Not only because his parkour skill set is something that lends itself to comics, but because of his faith. I mean, we all know what kind of hero a normal white guy from our society generally becomes, but what of a  man of a different faith?! That is something that I think comic would benefit greatly from. What it means to be a hero, fighting the good fight and all that, but from a completely untapped direction.

       And, of course, certain segments of the human race immediately began crapping all over this. Enter the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group of "concerned citizens" who amount to nothing more than a semi-legit hate group, are objecting to a Muslim being a superhero. Without going into too much detail, the CCC believe DC Comic's decision to make their Paris-based hero a French-born Muslim, instead of a white Frenchman, is an act of propaganda and "deceitful" political correctness. Of course white supremacists are going to hate on this character. Take a look at the CCC for a moment.

       Looks like a bunch of funny loving fellows, huh?!  They have already tried to boycott the production on Marvel Comic's "THOR" film because the character Heimdall, who was depicted as being white in the comics,  is being portrayed by actor Idris Elba (who is black). Seriously, I am not making this up. These dorks actually have their heads so far up their respective asses that they believe having a black man portray a mythological being (from a comic book!) is an act of evil and must be contested. Words fail me. No. Wait a second. I got one word.

       They want to boycott "THOR" and bitch about 'Nightrunner' being Muslim? I say bring it on! I'm pretty sure that most of us that go to movies and read comics are going to outlive these idiots.

(Via Comics Alliance - "THOR Boycott" & "Muslim Batman Freak-out")

Video of the Day: "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures" Intro

It's a shame this series is not on DVD yet. Besides being based on one of my favorite movies of all time, Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin all voice their respective characters in the first season. When it comes to animated series based on popular films, the closest any one else has ever come is having Christopher Lloyd voice Doc Brown on the "Back to the Future" cartoon series.

Quickie Movie Review: "TRON Legacy"

       Time for a Quickie Review of the new Disney film, “TRON Legacy”. And before one can speak on the new generation, you have to take a look back at the old.

       For those that have never seen this movie (and shame on you if you haven’t), "TRON" was a 1982 movie written and directed by Steve Lisberger that starred Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn and Bruce Boxleitner in the dual roles of programmer Alan Bradley and security program Tron. The plot revolved around hacker Kevin Flynn who is zapped into a digital world, populated by living programs that existed inside a computer. Once inside, Flynn teams up with security program Tron to defeat the Master Control Program, an evil artificial intelligence that rules this 'dimension' and is bent on taking over the world.

       Everybody caught up to speed now? Good. Now, let's dig into “TRON Legacy”.

       In “TRON Legacy”, we find that Flynn disappeared a few years after the events of the first film and left his son, Sam, an orphan. 20 years later, Sam discovers his dad’s computer lab in the basement of the old arcade and accidentally activates the digitization laser, transporting himself onto the Grid, a version of the Gaming Grid his father encountered when he first entered the world of the computer.

       With barely any time to understand what’s going on , Sam is captured and brought before CLU, the new version of his dad’s old avatar, who dominates the Grid like a police state. CLU has been searching for his creator for the last 20 years because only Flynn has the necessary data to allow CLU access to the real world. CLU then forces Sam into the Gaming Grid Arena where he intends to destroy him, but Sam is rescued by Quorra, a program loyal to Flynn. Once re-united, the Flynn’s decide the only way to defeat CLU is to get out of the Grid back to the real world. Meanwhile, CLU Our heroes must now race across the Grid to the exit portal, not only to escape the Grid but to prevent CLU from unleashing his digital armies upon the human world.

       The film on the whole was actually a lot of fun to watch. I saw it in ‘Disney 3D’, which I am sorry to say is just not that impressive. Visually, the film is one of the most visually stunning movies I have seen in quite some time. The new ‘TRON’ world has a slick, new sheen to it. Almost every surface, building or vehicle has the distinctive TRON neon highlights and everything is ergonomic and streamlined. My problem with the 3D aspect is once we enter the digital world, it just doesn’t hold up. The dark colors of this new digital realm do more to obscure the 3D effects, rather than accentuate them.

       Another plus for “TRON Legacy” is the soundtrack. OH ... MY ... GOD, I love this soundtrack! Daft Punk, one of the most well known eletronic music artists in the world, crafted the musical score which is almost a character unto itself in this movie. The singature track of the soundtrack has got to be “Derezzed”.  There is just something about this track that contains all that I love about “TRON”.

       Now that I have spoken about the good, I have to speak on the bad. And that’s not to say that I hated  “TRON Legacy”. There were just a few plot points that I just cannot get around in my mind. Now keep in mind, I grew up in the ‘80s. I watched everything from the most well crafted film to the schlockiest, cheese-filled piece of crap you have ever seen. I’ve watched “Swamp Thing” 10 times, for crying out loud!!! So, it can be said that I can make sense out of the most illogical of movie plots.

       However, “TRON Legacy” left me with just a few mind numbing brain teasers:


-- Why was Sam breaking into ENCOM if he owns 51% of the stock? He pretty much owns the company. 


-- How was CLU able to send a message to the outside world if the Grid is a closed system? 


-- And if he was able to do this, why did CLU need Flynn in order to access the portal? 


-- At what point did programmer Kevin Flynn become the Dude from “The Big Lebowski”?


-- Why was the film called “TRON Legacy” if the character of Tron was barely in it?

       And as far as the story goes, if you really want to know what happens between the two films, you have to check out the the 2 issue comic series “TRON - Betrayal” and tie-in video game “TRON - Evolution”.  

       The spin-off projects chronicle the events that lead to CLU taking control of the Grid and how he does it. The comic series “Betrayal" explores more of the social and ‘political’ aspects of the “TRON” world which was very entertaining, while the video game “Evolution” did provide more details about CLU’s rise to power .... by ripping off the “Prince of Persia” game series.  Seriously, check out this game play video and tell me that that doesn’t look almost exactly like one of the “Prince of Persia” games!

       Despite all of this, despite all of the hair-pulling plotholes, I have to say that that I really did enjoy “TRON Legacy” despite it’s flaws (of which there were a few). It was entertaining, it was fun to watch, it brought back some fond memories of my childhood. It’s just not the film that me and a lot of “TRON” fans were expecting. Which makes me hope and pray that the inevitable sequel will do better than it’s predecessor.

......
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        Don’t stare at me like that! You know Disney wouldn’t have ressurected this film (yeah, it IS a Disney film!) unless they planned to make some money off of this. That’s right. A sequel AND an animated series!