Isaac Schrödinger

Prometheus lacks fire

David Thompson didn't like the new Aliens kinda-sequel Prometheus.

Too bad. I would have like to have watched it in the theatres. I'm now waiting for Nolan to finish his trilogy.

Oh, this movie would be quite entertaining as well.

Smash!

$200 million in three days for The Avengers.

Damn.

The Avengers!

I watched it. Marvel's risky strategy has paid off. The movie was immensely entertaining. There were many good parts; both in terms of dialogue and action.

The first hour can at times seem sluggish as there's a fair amount of setup and exposition that needs to be endured. And there are times during the final battle when the special effects take over and things edge toward Bay's fetishistic fascination with hardware over everything else. Yet those are isolated moments in a jaw-droppingly intense 50-minute battle royale (with cheese). Every hero gets his/her time to shine, although some shine more brightly than others.

The Hulk got tremendous applause just moments after Dr. Banner shared his secret and later the audience was laughing out loud when he faced the main villain.

Another part I liked was just before the movie had started: the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises.

Is the BBC raciss?

Mail Online:

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen claims the BBC have placed a ban on his latest character from new film The Dictator.

The 40-year-old alleged that top TV and radio shows have all mysteriously pulled out of talks over interviewing him as Colonel Gaddafi-style leader Admiral General Aladeen.

The Dictator is not amused:

While I am a huge admirer of state-sponsored censorship, the BBC banning me from their meagre channels is an outrage.

Another teaser!?

The Dark Knight Rises.

The skynet orchestra?

Today it's music, tomorrow mayhem!

Avengers goodness

The latest trailer is up and it, finally, shows lots of action. Though, I did laugh at the Black Window's cute little gun. The poor girl looks so misplaced in the group. Of course, she's not completely without, er, talent:

She relies on her smoking hot body to distract the enemy so she can do that thighs around the head take down thing she does.

Mm hmm.

So predictable

6 rules of modern poster design.

The superhero movie poster is often the biggest, er, offender.

Just take a look at this poster for the Avengers. Those who're not familiar with the Marvel universe will likely be left confused by it.

Lincoln hunted what!?

Stunning.

I want to see Hollywood make Mohandas Gandhi: The Terminator. I bet Connor won't see that one coming!

Avada kedavra me now

Alpha Game on short hair vs. long hair.

Long hair wins! I don't think I've ever found a woman with short hair attractive. I know it takes some work and effort to make long hair look good otherwise it gets kind of a wild look but its attractiveness should be a consideration for women who're thinking of cutting it.

The best example for the preservation of long hair follows.

Before:

After:

Why Hermione, why!?

Simply precious

Boromir Explains MMORPGs.

"I guess you wear red then!"

Geeks are Sexy:

Imitation is the sincerest form of annoyance.

I played this game in arcades in Pakistan. Brings back memories. The Sagat comment and Blanka dragging Balrog's drunken ass makes it hilarious.

REDUCE!

Totally awesome: Cooking with Walken. 

Very old Nazis

Steve Sailer:

Larsson fearlessly exposed the true plagues menacing contemporary Sweden: rich Nazis, Christian male chauvinists, rapist legal officials, and two generations of billionaire serial killers—the first preying on Jewish women, the second on immigrant women.

Fortunately, two human beings dare stand up to this fascist tsunami engulfing Sweden. One is a middle-aged leftist journalist (in other words, Larsson’s sockpuppet). Although persecuted (and possessing no discernible personality), he’s still dynamite with the ladies.

Even with all the ridiculous liberal spice, the first novel was an interesting mystery / thriller. The Trinity reference is right on, however.

Nolan finishes the trilogy

"When Gotham is ashes, you have my permission to die."

That's a very interesting line. I wonder, is he speaking to the Dark Knight? If so, then he knows his identity.

Smaug has guests

One of the greatest fantasy books of all time will be making it to the big screen in late 2012 and 2013. The first trailer is out.

Zombie Stalin?

Hitler learns about Sophia from the AMC series The Walking Dead.

Planet of the Woolies?

Holy Schnikes via HardOCP:

Scientists have been trying to clone woolly mammoths for years, but now they're really close. So close that in five years you may see herds of this gigantic beast—one of the favorite extinct prehistoric animals of the all-time.

Scientists from Japan's Kinki University and the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum have discovered well preserved marrow in a thigh bone discovered in Siberia, buried under the permafrost. The marrow is in such good condition that its cells' DNA could be used to replace the nuclei of elephant egg cells. This will allow scientist to create mammoth embryos.

I don't why but after reading that I instantly imagined a full-scale war between woolly mammoths and skynet. Perhaps, Cameron and Spielberg could get together and come up with a movie ...

Pakistani WMD

Tambi Dude emailed me this link.

I found a, er, better one.

A controversial Pakistani actress has been forced to deny posing naked for the India edition of FHM sporting a tattoo of the initials 'ISI' on her arm.

Veena Malik appears topless on the front of the December issue of FHM India, sparking outrage among conservatives in Pakistan - both for her nudity and the reference to Pakistan's intelligence agency.

The image does look plastic-y and photoshopped. For instance, the right leg and hip line up awkwardly.

Though, what really bugs me is the text formatting around Veena. Did FHM India use a monkey on acid for that?

Life of cowardice

Terry Jones from the Monty Python crew:

Asked if he would make a satirical film about Muslims now, he replied, “Probably not – looking at Salman Rushdie. I suppose people would be frightened."

Excellent incentive structure there.

Riddled with fun

A few videos from Geeks are Sexy:

• Super Mario Kombat
• Awesome Photoshop
• Batman Meets The Riddler

Shut yo mouth

The Big Zero is bringing it.

Green is the only way

Crude and hilarious:

Don Cheadle is obviously the best person to play Captain Planet in the movie version of the popular cartoon, hopefully they make his character a nicer guy.

Acceptable hatred

Julie Burchill:

Imagine if every song in which a woman had been belittled, insulted, threatened with violence and done to death was removed from broadcast after just one complaint! Talk about radio silence. From "Hey Joe" to "Smack My Bitch Up" taking in a positive legion of bitches, hoes and stupid girls, the abuse of women has been one of the backbeats of popular music.

And as someone who isn't bothered by abuse, can find it quite bracing even, I'm not whining for it to be stopped. But I am saying that the way sexist abuse is treated as a totally normal, even desirable, strand of popular culture while racist and homophobic abuse must be legislated and demonstrated against is a fascinating illogical phenomenon.

Race trumps the female gender in the hierarchy of victimhood.

When jokers collide

An Instapundit reader writes:

I guess that’s what you get when you dance with the devil.

1989: You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?

2009:

Not so colorful villains

Kathy Shaidle:

Kersey notes, “If you watch the 2002 Spider-Man film, all of the people that he apprehends are white. Never mind that between 2003 and 2009, 89 percent of the murderers in New York City were Hispanic or black.” He isn’t sure the “Disingenuous White Liberals” (DWLs, as he calls them) who run the comic-book industry have thought that matter through.

On a related note, in the upcoming Superman movie, Perry White is not going to be, er, white.

The pretty assault

Rosario Dawson via The Honest Courtesan:

"I remember everyone asking when I was doing press for the movie, 'What did you do to look so thin? You looked great' and I'm like, 'I looked emaciated' ... It's a form of violence, in the way that we look at women and how we expect them to look and be — for what sake? Not health, not survival, not enjoyment of life but just so you could look pretty.

I guess I've been violent with women all my life.

Fermat Wept

It's too good to be true: The Batman Equation.

This comment is hilarious:

In the Dark Knight Rises, Batman will add the TI-83 calculator to his arsenal. He'll whip that thing out and chuck it at the bad guy, it has serrated blades on both ends of it.

One Year Away

The Dark Knight Rises teaser trailer.

Nolan and his team have done a fantastic job on the series so far. If the third one is good, then it'll make for the best comic-based trilogy ever.

Holy Batman!

It's cool and damn loud:

Even for non-fans of Batman, the infamous Batmobile has come in many different shapes and sizes and have all become synonymous with the ultimate dream car. Sure there are plenty of impressive replicas and models out there created by die-hard fans and enthusiasts, but Casey Patsch has created what he claims to be the first and only 'turbine-powered Batmobile' in the world.

The Mummy Returns Again

But this time in America!

The Matrix Remixed

The audio here ruins one of the greatest action scenes of the 90s.

Also, this isn't a remix but a sad, sorry ripoff. Who knew that in India, Akshay Kumar is the one!

Not Tom Riddle

The Dark Knight is getting a bit slow.

The Duke Returns

After 14 years of development hell, next month Duke Nukem will come again.

I used to play basically three computer games when I was in high school. Doom, Quake and Duke Nukem. Ah, the pixelated glory days of gaming. Anyway, it'll be fun to see just how more uncouth the character has become.

A Late Caturday

Princess Leia like you've never seen her before.

His Dudeness

The Big Lebowski in 5 seconds.

No Fun in Islam

Bollywood vs. Bin Laden via Instapundit:

Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia explains, Bollywood movies and videos appeal to young men and women in Muslim and Arab countries because they dramatize the sorts of tensions between traditional and modern ways of living. "Who should decide who one should marry - is it the parents or is it the boy and girls themselves?" asks the Indian-born and raised Dalmia. "In the West, in Hollywood movies, it's not even an issue. But it's a huge issue in that part of the world and all of Bollywood movies deal with that one central question."

True. However, the next point is not correct:

Dalmia also notes that Muslims are among the most popular - and sexually suggestive - performers in Bollywood productions. "When you have Muslims succeeding in Bollywood as Muslims, it makes them feel, well, we don't have to give up our religion in order to be modern," observes Dalmia.

Seriously? Look at Saudi Arabia and Iran. That's Islam. How exactly does one merge that 7th-century oppression with modernity?

There have been some amazing Muslim performers over the years in Indian cinema. Yusuf Khan being the greatest. Yet, they couldn't possibly have succeeded under Islamic rules. They couldn't have been superstars under sharia. They call themselves Muslim but they discarded the core prescriptions of Islam to achieve fame and accumulate wealth. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

By the way, Malaika Arora Khan is not bad in Munni Badnaam Hui but her best work will forever remain the song on top of a train.

A Slight Cultural Incompatibility

The Sun:

A MUSLIM actress has caused a storm by posing naked for Playboy.

Sila Sahin has been branded a "whore" and a "western slut" after appearing topless on the cover of the German edition of the men's magazine.

Some nice comments from a Muslim in Germany:

A kebab shop owner, asked on German TV what he would do if Sila were his daughter, replied: "I would kill her. I really mean that. That doesn't fit with my culture."

Of course. Such Muslims move to the West to enjoy a life of luxury and liberty and yet in their hearts they support evil which if put into action would destroy their new life. They love the fruits but want to burn the infidel forest.

Let My People Go. Now!

A super-modern remake of The Prince of Egypt! The new music does the job but can't hold a candle to the original. Hans Zimmer provided his best work for that movie.

Those Crazy Mushrooms!

A Mario movie? Maybe.

This is how it'll end.

Not Cool

Just after finding out that he's not the villain in the new Batman movie ...

Batman 3

Slate:

Warner Bros. Pictures announced yesterday that Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway will co-star opposite Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated Dark Knight sequel, The Dark Knight Rises. The big news for Batfans, however, is that after months of feverish speculation, Rises has finally announced its villains: Hathaway as Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman), and Inception's Tom Hardy as Bane.

I figured Catwoman would be in after Nolan whacked the Bat's squeeze in the previous sequel. But Bane!? Now, that's definitely a surprise.

On a related matter, let's see if DC and WB can get their act together with the Kal-El franchise. Maybe, many years down the road, they can have the both of them together in the same movie ...

Who's Your Daddy?

That is one badass rendition of an iconic character. He would have looked awesome in the third movie with that pose. Instead we got a terrible, whiny, emo version of him.

The Important Stuff

I utterly fail to see how this scientifically accurate response is considered an answer fail. Anyhow, the more important question is, "Is there any wielder of the force powerful enough to stop Kal-El?"

Thor Entertains

Not bad. Here's hoping that the movie is better.

Should Have Invaded Canada

Hitler is vexed about the shipment schedule of the Nikon D7000.

Vampire Wants Clean Juice

Another doofus via Samizdata:

“Vampire Diaries” star Ian Somerhalder, an outspoken critic of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, appeared at Thursday’s Washington Post Live conference on energy policy in the nation’s capital.

Are there are any outspoken supporters of the BP oil spill out there?

The third comment there is, indeed, quite good.

Super Satisfying

Damn! FPS games have come a long way since the days of Doom and Quake.

The White Knight?

I've never before seen Batman look so radiant and colorful.

Visual Candy

The master of HDR presents a color-rich photo from Disneyland. If you look carefully, you'll see a few "ghosts" because of the low aperture.