(via Dave) The teaser trailer for the second FF movie, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, is out, and it looks like it will be wicked fun. I didn’t really like the first one all that much (mostly because of the way they screwed around with Doctor Doom), but it was silly fun.
Even better: because we see the Silver Surfer, I am assuming we will also get Galactus and possibly The Watcher.
Guess it’s time to start handing out these tracts: Galactus is coming!
’tis the season for… The Funny 25 and my annual update to the TOP 100 (or so) DEMENTED HITS (from Funny 25
Well, another year has gone, and I hope you all are having some fun tonight. We plan on doing our traditional midnight movie, wherein we enter the theater in one year and come out in the next.
Yes, we’re dorks. Your point?
I think that we’re going to see Casino Royale, as it is one of the few movies that actually runs through midnight in the local theater. It’s odd that New Year’s Eve is on Sunday, so everything closes earlier.
We didn’t make our goal of seeing more movies than in 2005. I’m not sure if we’ll ever top that record, but we really didn’t hit the dollar theater as hard as we usually do, even with the daughter working at one. Still, we saw a crapload of films. Here’s how I saw it…rated from 1 to 5 “Pinkys” (I have no Brains).
I started copy-catting my friend Scott and his look back at 2006 via the first sentence of each month’s post. What I found was that most of the time the first post of the month said something like, “Hey, dudes and dudettes. Sorry for not blogging so much.” Bleh. So, instead, I’ll use the most commented-upon post of each month.
I know. I know. Everyone’s seen it. I just couldn’t resist.
Click to play.
For Christmas, I received a copy of Love by The Beatles. Tonight I sat down and listened to it all the way through for the first time, and the title of this post (which comes from a Guardian review) sums it up nicely. It’s truly an amazing record.
At my core, I am a Beatle geek. I completed my collection of their original albums 25 or so years ago. Everything since then has been repackaged “greatest hits” or outtakes and other assorted crap. But this was like listening to a brand new Beatle album for the first time. By taking shocking liberties with the original tapes, Giles Martin has produced the kind of greatest hits album that John, Paul, George and Ringo would have done before handing their catalog over to the corporate reissue machine. Not only that, but even the stuff he didn’t touch has been re-mastered to the point where it’s like you’re sitting in the same room with them.
Highlights:
– A version of “Get Back” that starts with the opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night” and the drum and guitar solos from “The End” mixed with Hollywood Bowl screaming and strings from “A Day in the Life” then flows into “Glass Onion” using snippets of “Penny Lane” and “Hello Goodbye” which floats into the “Eleanor Rigby” string quartet that’s just hella cool.
– A mix of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” that will make you want to hide under the bed in terror. It drifts in from the creepy “Blue Jay Way” mixed with “Nowhere Man” and some strings and other sounds from Sgt. Pepper at the end of “Something” (of all things), then builds from its own eerie calliope sounds into the death march of “She’s So Heavy” from Abbey Road with the screaming vocals of “Helter Skelter” over top of it all.
– “Strawberry Fields Forever” that uses John Lennon’s original demo and builds seamlessly through various takes, while mixing in sounds from Sgt. Pepper, the “Piggies” harpsichord and “Hello Goodbye”.
– “Within You and Without You” mixed with the drum track from “Tomorrow Never Knows” that sounds like they were always meant to be together.
– An acoustic take of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” with added strings arranged by George Martin (the only newly recorded sound on the album) that almost made me weep.
All-in-all this is seriously one of the best Beatle albums ever…though, I’m pretty sure that the Guardian reviewer is correct–a remastered set of the complete catalog is well overdue.
I know there are skeptics among us who don’t believe that Santa could have delivered their prezzies this morning. Once upon a time, these folk would have been chastised as party poopers for not believing in magic.
But this is the 21st century. This is the age of reason. We no longer need to belittle people for their lack of faith. We can use science!
Santa and the elves have ” . . . advanced knowledge of electromagnetic waves, the space/time continuum, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and computer science (that) easily trumps the know-how of contemporary scientists,” says North Carolina State University
That was the bestest pair of Doctor Who episodes ever.
And now, be still my heart, SciFi has announced that we won’t have to wait until next fall for the third series. They will begin showing Series 3 in the Summer (via Outpost Gallifrey)!
If you haven’t seen it, yet, then:
1. Shame on you.
2. Spoilers in the extended entry.
UPDATE: I just watched it again. I was far more weepy the second time.
Holy crap, the shuttle just made me wet my pants! I didn’t think it was coming in here today because of the clouds, so I wasn’t ready for the earth-shattering ka-boom!
Welcome home, Discovery.
Someone has scoured the internets to find video links to 1994’s 50 Greatest Cartoons.
Someone is now my hero.
[ via ***Dave ]
