Beggar cat

I've seen bears use that begging gesture before (the paws together gesture) but never a cat.

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Theater tattle tech

Regal is testing a program that lets frequent customers tattle on other movie-goers with silent wireless transmitters. Look here for the article.


I have to admit, the concept intrigues me, especially if they enforce it. That would even get me to sign up for one of their damned reward cards.

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Wal-Mart's hillbilly image

I realize that when Wake Up Wal-Mart bashes the evil empire of retailing, it's not because they are all Mom and apple pie, it's because they are funded by unions. And even though they often bring up good issues, it's because the unions can't get in Wal-Mart, not out of the goodness of their hearts.

So I find it especially amusing when Wal-Mart's own ad agency lays it on the line and tells Wal-Mart that its own image is its worse enemy, that Wal-Mart stands for value and not values, and it is still weighed down by its hillbilly image.


While Target hasn't even come close to over-taking the behemoth, it is gaining market share and it is financially outperforming Wal-Mart in sales growth and stock performance.

Remember when Wal-Mart used to be all about selling American goods? Well, most people don't, now they just associate Wal-Mart with cheap. Cheap is good for plastic hangers and baked beans. It's not for high-end electronics and some other categories.

Of course, knowing Wal-Mart they'll ignore this report, I mean stay the course.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

This is for the upcoming CG television series. I'm still undecided if I like the animation or not. It's reminiscent of the Clone Wars shorts, but I don't think the style works quite as well rendered in 3d.

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Stupid Hobbitsess - Episode 2

Homli, son of Fugli. Good thing I wasn't taking a drink.

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Stupid Hobbitsess - Episode 1

A MMO tradition - fan films made with in-game footage. Some of it won't make sense unless you've played the game, like the bit about the mail delivery. In the game there is an incredibly frustrating series of quests that involve delivering mail from one place to another in the Shire without being seen by nosey hobbits. And there are tons of nosey hobbits (and no, you can't just whack them).

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Olivia Munn as Princess Leia at SWC4

Yeah, this one is for the guys.

This is from G4's coverage of Star Wars Celebration 4. After seeing this, I may have to start watching "Attack of the Show" on G4. :)

And the line I loved...
Stormtrooper: "You even killed the younglings."
Olivia: "Yeah, well they should have ducked."

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Pirates 3: At World's End

I seem to be in the minority regarding the final installment of the Pirates Trilogy. While I really liked the movie, most critics and fellow geeks did not. While the response has not been as bad as Spider-Man 3, it has been lukewarm.

It actually makes me glad that I didn't read any reviews before hand. And it made me reconsider my review. But I review movies based on *my* enjoyment, not how I think other people will enjoy it. So I will elaborate a little. I won't actually give anything away, but you might be able to put things together based on what I'll say, so I'll put in a spoiler warning.

Avast, here there be spoilers!


I thought that the second movie was too frivolous. And while this movie does have some of that, it's not to the indulgement degree of Dead Man's Chest. And this movie is definately darker. It's not a movie for the kiddies, and saw many, many parents ignore the PG13 rating and some leave with their kids. While the violence is not particularly bloody, seeing the concubine-bodyguard shot in the head is not Disney Channel fare. And it's not just anonymous extras that die. Not everyone survives the trilogy.

Also, I expected them to take a cop-out on the ending. It would have been so easy to do, I could see it setting up in my mind's eye and fully expected them to take the route, but they didn't. Bravo.

Once the crowds die down, I'll go see it again.

My score remains 4.5 of 5 pirate-king flying-monkeys.

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Pirates 3 mini-review

Real quick, since I just took in a Thursday night show and have to be up in a few hours.

Pirates 2 is forgiven. Stay through the credits. Savvy?


Longer review later. 4.5 out of 5 pirate flying monkeys.

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Dubya as a Jedi

Found here
in 20 Funniest Geek Moments.

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Sarah Connor Chronicles

Seems like Summer Glau is being typecast as alienated but cute bad-ass girls. Hopefully her show will last longer than Nathan Fillon's "Drive". Thanks to Sherri for sending this to me.

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Funniest exit interview

Read the exit interview by a Verizon employee.


The funny part is, I think that it's real.

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Why we should be afraid of the Religious Right

Speaking at Liberty University following Jerry Fallwell's death, Newt Gingrich had this to say:

"I think anybody on the left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with them fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created," Gingrich said.

That is the problem with the Religious Reich. They are against freedom of religion because they think everyone should be their religion. And while some Christians may be nodding their heads, think on this: which denomination?



When I was a staunch atheist in high school and a group of my classmates set about trying to convert me, all I had to do was throw something out that they differed on and soon they were too busy arguing which version of Christianity was "right" and forgot about non-believer me.

History is full of examples why intertwining religion and government is a horrible, horrible idea. Plus the Religious Right has a total lack of respect for individual's rights because they believe that their religion should be imposed on everyone and they want to use the goverment as a tool to do so.

I don't want to be converted, thank you very much.

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Transformers trailer

I've been seeing a lot of stuff about the upcoming Transformers movie, but I haven't been paying much attention. There are a couple of reasons. One was that I was only a casual Transformer fan in my youth. The other is that a movie like this has sooo much suck potential. I've been expecting Hollywood to turn out an over-merchandised pile of CGI crap. But the trailer has me hoping this will be a decent flick.


Then again, I'm so underwhelmed by Spider-Man 3 that I still haven't written my review. And I remember clunkers like Hulk and Elektra. So I'm not getting my hopes up too much.

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CW fall line-up

Of course on of my favorite shows has been cancelled. Despite critical acclaim and a cult following, Veronica Mars is not in the CW's fall schedule. Smallville is back, which I guess is good, though I keep finding myself hoping they kill off Lana. I have to admit... I like "Lana Luthor" better.


And what kind of gems would replace a show so well-written that Joss Whedon and Kevin Smith asked to do cameos? A match-making show to hook up a farmer (bet he turns out to be rich and just posing as a farmer) and a mother-daughter beauty pageant.

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South Park Mac vs. PC

Too bad that sp-studio site seems to be gone. :(

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Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings

The ultimate geek trilogy showdown, Star Wars vs. Lord of the Rings here.

See my take after the jump.


Of course, the editors had to use their vetoes to ensure Star Wars won. And they only use the original trilogy, not the prequel stuff.

How Oz would have voted:
Leia [x] vs. Arwen (slave-girl costume ftw!)
Obi-Wan vs. Gandalf [x] (tough call)
Chewbacca [x] vs. Gimli (how far can a wookiee throw a dwarf?)
Han Solo vs. Aragorn (tie - original scoundrel vs. the stubble king is too hard to call)
Yoda [x] vs. Gollum (your psycho bug-eyed ass I will kick)
Storm Troopers vs. Orcs [x] (at least the orcs can hit something... just ask Boromir)
R2D2 [x] vs. Samwise (How many times did R2 save their asses without whining?)
C3PO vs. Merry and Pippin (tie - they're all annoying)
Ewoks vs. Ents [x] (I would smile for days if I got to watch Ents chase around Ewoks and splatter them. Ewoks were the foreshadowing for Jar Jar. Ents are badass.)
Boba Fett vs. Legolas [x] (since it's the movies only - Boba Fett died as comic relief. If he'd been in LotR he would have been stepped on by an elephant).
Lando [x] vs. Boromir (Lando helped rescue Han and then blew up the Death Star. Boromir was orc target practice. Lando was big with the ladies, Boromir was big with hobbits. And Colt 45 vs. the Horn of Gondor trick?)
Emperor [x] vs. Sauron (Sauron was a CGI eye while the Emperor was the Dark Side personified.)
Darth Vader [x] vs. Saruman (like this is even a contest? Vader made Dark Side cool.)
Luke Skywalker [x] vs. Frodo (whiny kid who gets his hand chopped off vs. whiny hobbit who gets his finger bit off. One beats Darth Vader and becomes a Jedi, the author gets dragged down the mountain by his man-love friend and becomes an author... why are we still talking about this?)
George Lucas vs. Peter Jackson [x] Yes, George made what would become the foundation for many a geek's childhoods but Jackson is the better director. And I know we said original trilogy only, but I have three words for you: Jar Jar Binks).

So, out of 15 categories... 8 for Star Wars, 5 for LotR and 2 ties.

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NBC Fall Line-up

The article on Dark Horizons can be found here. Obviously, Heroes coming back is a no-brainer (and the only show I watch on NBC). What I found interesting is that we are going to get a six epsiode mini-series, "Heroes: Origins", during the haitus.


Journeyman could be interesting, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe I'm jaded by sci-fi on TV, especially after Fox axed Firefly and so many sci-fi shows suck. But I'm a sucker for the whole "what-if" alternate reality time travel crap, so I'll give it a look.

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Star Wars bloopers

Some of these are old news (heck, for some folks they may all be old news), but I find this stuff amusing. Then again, I'm a nerd.

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Soon

The original can be found here, a long with tons of other funny pics mostly involving cats.

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Wal-Mart posts worst sales decline ever

As much as Wal-Mart's woes make me want to smile, odds are this will (or has) negatively impact most retail stocks , including my own. :(


Their new master strategy of place high traffic items at the end of aisles to save shoppers time might be great if Wal-Mart's weren't so fricking huge. I think the customer at the end of the story summed it up... it would be worth paying a few cents more to save the time by going somewhere else.

Just remember, when you are waiting in line at any store and wishing they would put out more cashiers and/or better ones, those cost money. And since everyone has to compete with Wal-Mart, they have to cut costs to survive, which means less money for labor (after the Cost of Goods, the largest expense). So blame Wal-Mart. >:)

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Inside gov't domestic spying op

Here is an article about the AT&T part of the domestic spying operation conducted, I mean "allegedly" conducted, by the US government, as told by an AT&T tech.


What I don't get is why the government doesn't just own up. The cat is out of the bag, and by dragging this out it actually causes more damage than saying "Yes, we screwed up" and firing the person that made the bad call.

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How lightsabers work

Not sure if I posted this article before or not, but you can't have too much lightsaber stuff.

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Mars Sunset

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Fitting the crime?

I've seen this article a few places around the net. Given that I hate shoplifters and I hate our criminal system that fails to deter them, I found this amusing.


I think something like this is great for first time offenders in low dollar cases. Hopefully the embarrassment will keep them from becoming repeat offenders. Of course, I'm in favor of stricter punishments than what we have now for repeat offenders. There are people out there that make their living by stealing from retailers. Some may think, oh well, big companies can afford to lose a few dollars.

We're talking about billions. Not to mention the impact on the people who work in the stores.

Then again, I think habitual criminals should just be taken out back and shot. They have become a menace to society once they've become habitual. They are not going to reform. So we can waste the resources to warehouse them, or put them down. Maybe then the criminal lifestyle will seem less glamorous.

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Vacuuming the cat

Maybe I should try this with Ryoga to control his shedding?

Here kitty kitty...

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Honeybee die-off may mean food crisis

Seriously. Read this article. If they don't figure this out or the bees don't rebound naturally, this would be huge.


Asteroid? No. Earthquakes? No. Nuclear war? No. Bees? Check.

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Conan at ILM

Yes, this would be a trip to Nerdvana. Working there would be the coolest job in the world for a geek.

I wonder if they need someone to manage their inventory?

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What if super heroes were real?

An interesting link sent to me by Toomey. Of interest to comic fans, but especially of interest to those who play supers rpgs.


PS: If you don't watch Heroes already, do so.

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Marvel vs. DC

Yes... it's a take off on the Mac/PC commercials. This link takes you to where I found it and a couple more.

What would have made these better is if the longer ones had shaved a few seconds off... a little long for "commercials".

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Wal-Mart "violates workers' rights"

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, Wal-Mart interferes with workers' rights to organize and violates the human rights of its employees. You can read an article on it here.


While I have no trouble believing that the evil empire really does those things, I find it a little dubious that 41 people out of a 1.3 million person workforce would represent a scientific sample.

Of course, Wal-Mart spouted the usual corp-babble:

"Wal-Mart provides an environment of open communications and gives our associates every opportunity to express their ideas, comments and concerns," said David Tovar, a spokesman at Wal-Mart, in a statement. "It is because of our efforts to foster such an environment that our associates have repeatedly rejected unionization attempts."

That and when a store does unionize, Wal-Mart closes it.

Not that I'm a big fan of unions mind you... it's no longer the 1800s and now unions mostly exist to perpetuate the wealth and influence of the people that run them. But maybe if the unions pose a credible threat, Wal-Mart will clean up its act to keep enough employees from getting so disgruntled that they'll have to close more stores.

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