The Dumb Are Mostly Intrigued By The Drum

Ever wondered how to check your car's oil level but were too embarrassed to ask someone in fear of catching a well deserved verbal beat down? Well now you can get the answer to this plus all types of questions in the form of DIY videos to help you reach enlightenment. Watchdoit is a local site created to become "the premier place for “how-to” videos – with an entertainment edge" according to the web site. Swing by the site and check out the vast amount of user generated content including basic juggling to replacing your car's air filter to how to get rid of a pimple overnight. Nyup! So if you got a talent to share with the world, shoot some video and post over at the site! Anyone know how to get rid of blood stains from my car seat? Yeah, that would be helpful....

I'm not going to lie, I haven't been watching the series from the launch, I don't own the DVDs or any clothing sporting their logo. But so far I've seen around 6 episodes and I know that I should be watching more of Aaron McGruder's series. Earlier in the year I heard a story about a couple of episodes that were canned due to the content mainly having to do with BET and their "reign of terror" in oppressing the black man. The story was later confirmed by McGruder and the season was cut by 2 episodes due to pressure from the BET Network. Magically, one of those has appeared on the internets. Check it out here and let us know if you think it was right to have not aired or were the creators unjustly censored.

So this is the new gal in my life. Sweet lil' Charly. Now, can someone tell me where the movie inspired name is from? Need a hint? Well, I'll give you an obscure one: The leading lady was once married to the director of the film. Nyup! Right answer gets a no-prize!

God I fucken love Three Amigos! You know when people say "Oh, I can watch that movie anytime" and you think, "Really?! You can watch fucken Schindler's List ANYTIME?!" Yeah, well Amigos is one of those movies for me. And this Tropic Thunder trailer reminds me a lot of those darn Amigos! Damn, if Iron Man doesn't solidify Robert Downey Jr. bad-assness (for nerds, I mean...well all know about Chaplin), this role will definitely be the haymaker. Is there nothing the man can't do? I mean besides staying sober for more than 5 years (keep it going, yo!). Still, I can't help to wonder how cool it would be to see Ned Nederlander, Dusty Bottoms and Lucky Day back on the screen again..... Check out the trailer here.

What can I say? When you watch the story from Channel 1....oops, I mean, CNN (he's always be the Channel 1 guy to me) anchor Anderson Cooper, it just totally paints a different picture of what happened. Just a reminder: these guys did absolutely nothing illegal. Nothing! Poor taste they say but if anything, they were promoting the safe use of the track instead of doing what had just killed some locals: illegal STREET racing. I was more concerned with the equipment getting fucking ripped off the top of the van than them doing anything bad. Sucks that one of the guys got fired (I'm sure there is no rule against these activities in station's handbook) but hey, shit happens. Geez...here's what a local had to say what really happened and why the news vans were at the speedway:

"I live in El Paso and I was also there...lol. It didnt happen the way the Anderson made it seem. The news crews were there for the opening of the Metroplex, they were reporting on new venues to keep racing at the track and off the street... due to recent street racing deaths. The news crews were leaving and the only way to leave without having to wait in line was to go down the 1/4mile strip and exit using one of the track exits. As they were leaving, people started chanting... One of the dudes revved the news van and they lined up. It sucks one of the drivers got fired."

Ah yes, the media hard at work, eating their own kind. It just baffles me to know that people actually think that all drag racing is illegal (as the female reporter said). I wonder if a drag strip were ever built here in the Valley we could get the ABC 30 News van to run against the KSEE 24 van? Or maybe Kopi would like to get in on the action? AWESOME!

Well, not me but my screenplay for Blur is going over there. This week brought me my first experience submitting my work for a film festival and with it came a lack of confidence. I'm not sure, but I'm not one of those people who thinks my shit is the best. I always quick to step back and begin to criticize how much better it could of been if I've focused more. But I guess I excel at pointing out how unflawless I really am when I should be going better in the "improving my shit" department. It seems like I might be being a little to critical since the purpose of the colony is to perfect an imperfect screenplay, right? Meh, fuck it. We'll see what happens and move ahead on our next project. But tha doesn't mean my fingers aren't crossed. Anyways, it's now it the hands of someone on the little island in the Atlantic and home of Sandpiper Air. For those of you who know me, I've always been a fan of the island, mainly because of the little TV show from the 90's called Wings (super-duper show and if you wanna fight about it, lets. Hey if it's good enough for Quagmire, it's good enough for me!) but this opportunity goes beyond just wanting to travel. What's up for grabs in the Nantucket Film Festival is a month's long screenwriters colony working with industry professionals to fine tune and perfect the piece and nothing else. How awesome would that be? Beyond words. So, I'll keep updating here to see what happens with that. For now, lets start working on the next one, shall we? And by the way, if your interested, there's still about a week left to submit screenplay entries so if you got something, prep it and send it in. You just never know what'll happen. Hit up the Web Site here for more info!

I reported on Hulu a while back when they were still in beta and now they've moved beyond just offering TV shows and started hosting full length feature films for you to watch (with limited commercial interruption, of course) anytime, free of charge. This business model isn't something new but to see some major movie studios get behind a service and offer their product is cool. Yeah, the selection is minimal right now but they do offer some classics such ranging from Requiem For A Dream to Kagemusha to Three Amigos! The quality of the video is top notch and while your there, go ahead and check out clips from NBC shows along with many clips from other recent films. So when are we going to see free, commercial sponsored films on the iTunes Store? So for this round, check out Requiem For A Dream that I've embedded for you to get your mind blown (if you haven't seen it).....don't say I never did nothing for ya!

My fondest memories of playing Spy Hunter was visiting the Greyhound bus depot in downtown Fresno (which surprisingly always had one of the cooler arcades in town) waiting for family members to either arrive or depart. I loved the fact that it combined crazy driving, evading and blowing shit up. Always an awesome combination! Fast forward to today and here, Pontiac pays sweet homage to the game with this commercial for their new G8, which actually looks pretty cool (for a Pontiac). The color palette, the screen overlay, the weapons......nice!

Ang Lee's Hulk....yeah, it was cool. Just to see a big ass, CGI version of the green bastard tear shit up on the big screen was cool. Everything else....pretty crap. Ang Lee really tried too hard to create a unique peice of art that really just didn't translate well on screen. Whatever. So now we have Ed Norton taking over for Eric Bana and Liv Tyler (hot) stepping in for Jennifer Connelly (even hotter) in this reset. It didn't bowl me over quite like the Iron Man trailer did but I'll take a wait and see stance on this bad boy. Check it embedded after the break or download the HD version here.

"Goddamn streetracers!" How does this guy keep it fresh? I don't know but so far so good! If you like this go back and check out the rest of his reviews on his Web Site here. He posts new reviews every Wednesday. Enjoy!

From what people have told me, the film version of I Am Legend is vastly different from the original Matheson book. I have to say that I rather enjoyed the film but was kinda dissapointed with the ending. It just seemed to easy, prim & proper. Now that the DVD is soon to be released, the alternate ending has surfaced and just redrawn the entire concept of the film for me. Over at firstshowing.com, they have the alternate ending along with some insight into the book and how it translated (or DIDN'T translate) to the film version. Good stuff! Guess the studio's still think the audience is too dumb to deserve the real ending and instead gave us the retarded version. If you haven't seen the film, there are a lot of SPOILERS there so if you don't want to ruin anything, best you just wait.

Yeah, they worked together in Heat, but they were only on screen for about 4 mins. or so and not much interaction occured. Now we get to see the Corleone alumni as police officers and partners in the upcoming film Righteous Kill. Wait a minute, 50 Cent is in the film, too? And the reject Wahlberg brother? Hmmm....my hopes have just been dashed. Naw, shit'll be different, right? Maybe 50 Cent will....see, I couldn't even say that with a straight face. I guess it's wait and see. Until then, check out the trailer here.

Anonymous Philanthropist Donates 200 Human Kidneys To Hospital

After seeing this video, I challenge anyone to say otherwise. The Onion has consistently pulled off some of the best stories without growing stale or repetitive. Smart & cleverly guised under the facade of real news, the best is when a n00b reads The Onion for the first time and totally buys it as real news (it has happened before). That is the best compliment anyone could give the brilliant writers of this fine newspaper. Fresno needs to get this distributed around here.....

Local photo journalist & blogger Joseph Hollak has touched on a good point over at his blog solo mojo: What's the deal with The Fresno Bee and ethics? I saw the mentioned story in the Bee this weekend and kinda wondered the same thing. It seems like every Gottschalks fart is blessed with front page coverage as if they were single handedly employing half the city (that would be Pelco, kind sir). True, be they do report on it, be it bad or good, but it just sucks that I have to read a giant story about a company all the while I'm bombarded with ads for that very same company. I guess I don't have to read it....but, meh. It's not really my bag to get into what is & isn't ethical but a good point Mr. Hollak brings up nonetheless. Journalistic ethics? Shit, I don't know shit about them (you see?). But I write for this blog that my mom and like 3 of my friends read so I really don't need to employ them, right? But The Bee is the voice of the people....or so I've been told. So message to Gottschalks: I'll write all the fluff you want if you advertise with me, too. Shoot me an email and we can talk numbers, yeah? It'll definately be.....wait for it......a G Thang! *shutter*

Fuck, Wanted is gonna suck. There, I had to say it because that way when I actually see it, no amount of suckiness will contradict my preconceived notions. The graphic novel is something that will forever be one of most cherished pieces of modern art that will stay with me until the day I die (unless they find a cure for 44 stab wounds by then) and the film strays far (very far) from the source material. Swap "unionized superhero villains" with "unionized assassins" and you can see the discrepancies. But the gunplay they've showcased so far does arouse me to no end (I can't wait to head out to The Range to see if I'm one of the few who can "curve" a bullet). Oh well, so instead of Lex Luthor we get Miguel Bain. Mark Millar (author of the graphic novel) has seen the film and has said he liked it so maybe it will be good....but I'm sticking to my notion of it sucking. Hopefully, I will be surprised come June 27th. If not, I'll always have my graphic novel to go back to. Check out the new HD trailer here or stream it right here:
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Seems like major recording artists love to piss off recording label people's and give out free music. NIN front man Trent Reznor has decided to do the same with his latest offering Ghosts I, but that's not all. He has also given permission for people to use his music in their non-commercial creative projects, such as films and podcasts, following the footsteps of Moby with his venture to do the same. Awesome. So what's the catch? No catch. Not only has Reznor put this stuff out there, he's making Vols. I-IV available for $5 on his web site. So go download the Vol. I here (you'll need a BitTorrent client to download) and if you can spare the change, go buy the others. You'll get some good, free music plus you'll be helping to encourage other artist to follow suit. Thanks to Robert Anaforian for the info and don't forget to visit his site, One Picture's Worth.

The PSP has been (for me, at least) one of those purchases that I kinda regret. Yeah, it's provided me with some good times but those have been few and far in between. I guess the days of riding the bus home after school as I played my monochrome Gameboy, yearning for graphics comparable to those of my console at home kinda hyped me up and made me buy my dream portable when it was released. Thing is, I don't ride that bus anymore. But that's not to say I don't bust it out every once in a while. I with the release of this new Echochrome demo, I think I'll be doing just that! The game itself is hard to describe exactly but the whole premise is you guide a walking figure through "puzzles" that resemble the landscapes of M.C. Escher all while shifting the perspective to make sure your little lemming gets from Point A to Point B. Sounds dumb when I describe it here so check out this video instead:

Yup, pretty cool, huh? Head on over here to PSP Fanboy and there they will bless you with the instructions on how to get it on your system. Hmmmm.....that headline got me thinking. Has anyone used MC Escher as a rapper name? If not, I call dibs!

Oh, Michelle Rodriguez....how you let me down. After seeing "Girlfight" I became a huge fan of the girl, actively waiting to see what she was going to do next, hoping she'd be able to spread her wings and become the dope-ass actress that she showcased in the film. Her next film was a small film called The Fast And The Furious. Oh yes, I can't wait to see it. I saw it. And she turns out she plays the same character in every movie, only this time her name was Letty instead of Diana. And she's been doing it ever since. Meh. Well, at least they're bring her back for one more round as Letty. According to her web site, she's recently signed on to revise her role in the fourth installment of TFATF, rejoining her co-stars Vin Diesel & Paul Walker. A reunion? Hopefully they'll get everyone back, even Jesse will be resurrected. And we can NOT have Coyotes R' Us Vincent return, in all his robotic movement-glory. Fuck it....BRING EVERYONE BACK! It'll be good to reunite with old friends....and make fun of them, cause they ain't gonna be doing shit after this one! And to Michelle: Please try your best to prove me wrong.

Hope you didn't click on that play button. Actually, don't worry about it because it's in grainy You Tube-vision so it shouldn't be clear enough to do any harm but according to this story from Yahoo.com, MTV has banned the video for Gnarls Barkley's first single "Run" off their new album because of it's possibility to cause epileptic seizures in some. It's like Pokemon all over again. It's always the good ones that bring you to the brink of possible death, no? Play at your own risk!

You see any happy accidents like this around town? Snap 'em and send them in to brodiemash@gmail.com!