Kiyoshi Martinez

Colt 45: Works Every Time - Thanks Billy Dee Williams! (Also,...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:35:00 -0500

Colt 45: Works Every Time - Thanks Billy Dee Williams! (Also, it’s good to know that he still is getting paid.)

Related: It’s national 40 oz. week at The Fifty/50.

Transformers 2 F.A.Q.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:30:00 -0500

This rounds up every single problem with “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” you can possibly conceive. An example:

How is Sam Witwicky dragged back into the fight?
Well, he finds a fragment of the Allspark shard. You know, the Allspark that he spent all last movie being told he shouldn’t give to Megatron, but when he gave it to Megatron, it killed Megatron. That one. Anyways, the shard makes the Beef see symbols and act like more of an spaz than usual.

So the Decepticons want the shard? Why?
Uh… to bring Megatron back to life?

What?
That’s what they said.

But the Allspark killed Megatron in the first movie.
Yes.

…and now it can also bring him back to life.
It’s very powerful, this Allspark.

Uh-huh. So what’s their plan to get it?
They send a small R/C car who talks like Joe Pesci in Casino to get it.

Shouldn’t they have sent Starscream or somebody?
Look, there’s another Allspark shard and get that one anyways, so it doesn’t matter.

Well, then why do they give a shit about Sam?
The symbols. In his head. That the shard of the Allspark gave him.

They weren’t in the other shard?
Apparently not.

And really, that’s just a small excerpt of the whole thing (spans two pages!), which points out a laundry list of inconsistencies. It’s almost like the writers were rushed on the script. Oh, wait. They were! And it sounds like a train wreck plot was inevitable for the film.

(Whatever, I still had fun watching robots beat each other up.)

fishy: Jeff Goldblum Addresses Rumors of His Death on The...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:12:00 -0500

fishy:

Jeff Goldblum Addresses Rumors of His Death on The Colbert Report (Comedy Central Insider Blog via RedEye Chicago)

Oh, Jeff Goldblum. I love you.

(for some reason, this won’t play on the dashboard; click through. and does anyone know how to fix this?)

For the video’s embed code, you need to strip out all the code before and after the “embed” tags. For some reason Tumblr doesn’t like all of this extra code when it’s put into the dashboard interface. I should also note that you need to do this for DailyMotion, MTVMusic.com and Cartoon Network videos.

Gizmodo: Disgusting Sewer Creature Update: IT’S F#$%ING...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:50:08 -0500

Gizmodo: Disgusting Sewer Creature Update: IT’S F#$%ING REAL! - Apparently, these are some kind of worms called “Tubifex,” which typically would be only found “in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams.” Well, so much for that! I only have one suggestion: “Nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”

Billy Idol “Dancing With Myself” - He fights...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:35:03 -0500

Billy Idol “Dancing With Myself” - He fights zombies! Also, does anyone know if that tattoo on his left arm depicts Wonder Woman?

Shepard Fairey’s work process - If you’ve ever...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:59:26 -0500

Shepard Fairey’s work process - If you’ve ever wondered how he creates his originals, then this video’s worth watching. (If you don’t know who Fairey is, he’s the guy that created that Obama poster all the kids thought was really hip.) Via OMG Posters!

Fancy Fast Food

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:53:08 -0500

Fancy Fast Food:

bandwagonpete:

danielslee:

“These photographs show extreme makeovers of actual fast food items purchased at popular fast food restaurants. No additional ingredients have been added except for an occasional simple garnish.”

This just makes me want to throw up all over myself.

ok, the fact that they go as far as to use everything including the cola is pretty bananas.

Major points for creativity. I wonder if you could serve this in a restaurant and get people to pay $50 a plate for this?

Jennifer 8. Lee hunts for General Tso - I had no idea how...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:50:32 -0500

Jennifer 8. Lee hunts for General Tso - I had no idea how diverse and evolutionary the concept of “Chinese food” actually was throughout the world. And fortune cookies aren’t even Chinese! (They’re Japanese.)

Blizzard Confirms No LAN Support For Starcraft 2

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:47:00 -0500

Blizzard Confirms No LAN Support For *Starcraft 2*:

jfenske:

Hmmm I smell BS. I love LAN play.

This sucks. The whole point of LAN play was to reduce latency and make the gaming experience better. I can’t even begin to imagine how this will affect IRL tournament play.

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman - A 13-year-old test drives the...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:38:56 -0500

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman - A 13-year-old test drives the cassette-tape player for a week. The observations he makes are pretty amusing, such as this:

Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn’t is “shuffle”, where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured.

I told my dad about my clever idea. His words of warning brought home the difference between the portable music players of today, which don’t have moving parts, and the mechanical playback of old. In his words, “Walkmans eat tapes”.

It’s amazing to think that kids these days never experienced (or owned) a Walkman. I remember the days of cassettes and carefully crafting a mixtape. Not to mention being blown away by the introduction of CDs and eventually the first few mp3 players. I remember being so stoked to have my 64 MB Samsung Yepp player.

The kid does recognize the Walkman’s significance though for its time, saying that he can imagine how excited people were at the idea of having portable music:

Perhaps that kind of anticipation and excitement has been somewhat lost in the flood of new products which now hit our shelves on a regular basis.

He’s got a point there. While there’s certainly buzz over each new version of the iPod/iPhone, it’s not the huge technological leap mentally to think that it’s going to significantly shift our way of life. Instead, the first thing we do when we hear about the new gadget is we quickly tear it apart and complain about features it doesn’t have included.

Sarah Palin says she can outrun Obama - In a marathon, that is....

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:23:46 -0500

Sarah Palin says she can outrun Obama - In a marathon, that is. From her interview with Runner’s World:

Could you beat the president?

I betcha I’d have more endurance. My one claim to fame in my own little internal running circle is a sub-four marathon. It wasn’t necessarily a good running time, but it proves I have the endurance within me to at least gut it out and that is something. If you ever talk to my old coaches, they’d tell you, too. What I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance. So if it were a long race that required a lot of endurance, I’d win.

And there’s also this bit about her and running in Alaska:

What’s the funniest thing that happened on a run?

In Anchorage on the coastal trail there have been many times where I’ve had to stop right in my tracks and turn around because there’s been either a moose standing there staring at me or a moose’s butt plopping on over into the trail. I have to turn around and leave, or I’m going to get clobbered.

And, no, I haven’t had time to read the Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin yet.

Squirrel nuts over builder friend

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:16:38 -0500

Squirrel nuts over builder friend: This is pretty adorable. Thanks to Maureen for the link!

“The Informant!” Trailer - This looks pretty funny...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:13:50 -0500

“The Informant!” Trailer - This looks pretty funny and they actually shot some of it in Decatur, Ill., too.

Worthless

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:20:37 -0500

anniehinton:

My company’s website has these calendars that employees can print off that have a bunch of special dates and “holidays” on them. On June’s calendar, at the top, it says “Potty Training Awareness Month”. We’re all clear here that potty training is necessary right?

Thought so.

This is the funniest thing I’ve read all week. After reading it, I literally LOLed.

An idea from Warren Ellis:

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:20:00 -0500

ubergrid:

I think that if I were launching a new longform comics series today, if at all possible I’d do a 10-page(ish) prequel piece and release it free on the net as a .cbz file, with backmatter and as detailed a set of ordering information as I could compile

That’d make me more likely to buy a new comic book. I don’t download comics, but it’s mainly guesswork and gut instinct on whether or not I should pick up a first issue. And if I don’t quite get what’s going on in issue one (because it’s one of those stories that takes several issues of serialized narrative to get into), then a preview would make me more likely to stick with it.

Kill The Cheerleader, Save The Show

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:41:00 -0500

Kill The Cheerleader, Save The Show: io9 gives their take on how to make “Heroes” better this season. I agree with most of their points. In comparison to “24,” “Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “Burn Notice,” I found myself pushing it outward from the list of shows I felt excited to watch each week. If I didn’t have a DVR, then I don’t really know if I’d watch it.

Japanese screen painting: This was my favorite from the...

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:48:08 -0500

Japanese screen painting:

This was my favorite from the “Beyond Golden Clouds” exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, featuring Japanese screen paintings. If you get the chance, then you should make a point to check this gallery out. I love the look of these ink paintings. It’s so simplistic.

“Alka Seltzer”: By Roy Lichtenstein, 1966. At the...

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:48:03 -0500

“Alka Seltzer”:

By Roy Lichtenstein, 1966. At the Art Institute of Chicago.

Tap dancin’: Tap dancers always amaze me. I don’t...

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:47:59 -0500

Tap dancin’:

Tap dancers always amaze me. I don’t know why.

Break dancin’: This guy was breakin’ it down at...

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:47:54 -0500

Break dancin’:

This guy was breakin’ it down at the Taste of Chicago.