Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Holidays are great

Being on holiday is great. I slept in today, then passed on a shower in favour of baked beans on toast and reading the news online.  Here is a round up of what caught my attention over breakfast:

1. Why are people considering Caroline Kennedy as a serious contender for Hilary Clinton's Senate seat? Kennedy has never financially supported a Democrat candidate (despite being worth an estimate $100 million) and she doesn't vote. In fact, she doesn't seem to have shown any real interest in politics until this opportunity came along. Crazy. Read more here.

2. Jaws 5 - Jaws in Space, t-shrit. Brilliant!



3.
The Predator Rap


4. Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain asks for a $10 million bonus because his bank collapsed less spectacularly than some of the others.

5. New cellphone / watch: Phenom SpecialOps Cellphone Watch. Even the name sounds nerdy. These things will never be cool.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Why So Serious PRC?


Warner Brothers has announced that there will not be a theatrical release of The Dark Knight in PRC. In a statement on Tuesday, the studio noted:

“Based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to ‘The Dark Knight’ as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forego a theatrical release of the film in China.”

Fortunately for me, Hong Kong, where some of the objectionable content was filmed, enjoyed a theatrical release of TDK back in July and the DVD release arrived in time for Christmas. (Much to my delight, a two-disc special edition box set - Joker cover of course - made it into my Christmas stocking.)

Given the prevalence of piracy, I'm staggered that PRC continues to have such strict censorship restrictions (it still allows only 20 foreign films to be released each year). That said, the absence of an official release is unlikely to have prevented many people in PRC from seeing the film. I'm sure a number of Christmas stocking in PRC contained bootleg copies of TDK this year.

(/Film)

Classic - He-Man and She-Ra Christmas


via Super Punch

Monday, December 22, 2008

Monday, December 15, 2008

The Hajj and Eid al-Adha

The Big Picture is an amazing blog: the pictures are spectacular and the subject matter is interesting and thought provoking.

The latest post, titled The Hajj and Eid al-Adha, is a serries of pictures capturing moments from the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha, or "Feast of Sacrifice", which marks the end of the Hajj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

The 10 Best Books of 2008

NYTimes has posted its list of The 10 Best of 2008. I haven't heard of, let alone read, any of them. I am such a philistine.

I didn't realise Shaq could dance


(via the ever reliable Super Punch)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I really like these posters




I think these posters are really cool.

(OKAYBOSS via Super Punch)

Ha, ha, ha

Elaine Chow, my favourite contributor on Gizmodo has posted this hilarious video of a Shanghainese woman getting her own back on a tow truck



(Gizmodo)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Choose the Dude, Playing a Dude, Disguised as Another Dude


Dreamworks has launched their Best Supporting Actor campaign for Kirk Lazarus. I like the idea behind this campaign, even though I hope Heath gets the award.

Dreamworks also edited together two “television advertisements”, which you can see on /Film.

Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning


The Dread Pirate Roberts Action Figure is a must have for my Christmas stocking. Great film. Read more about the action figure here.

(Via Notcot)

Monday, December 8, 2008

In defense of teasing

I'm a big fan of teasing. It's part of the national psyche in New Zealand. In fact, I wouldn't know how to interact with many of my friends if teasing was out of question. I think today's NYTimes magazine feature In Defense of Teasing is spot on.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Venice under water


This picture is amazing. Poor Venice. I hope the floods don't do too much damage.

(The Big Picture - ANDREA PATTARO/AFP PHOTO/AFP/Getty Images)

Drama on Apple Support

There is nothing quite as morbidly fascinating as a slice of drama from someone else's life. I came across a link today on Super Punch to an Apple Support forum thread. The subject of the thread is a request from a woman who is testing the credibility of her husband's explanation of why his iPhone history shows he sent a raunchy picture of himself to another woman. I couldn't stop reading the thread. It had it all - drama, intrigue, humour, sadness. It's the web support page answer to Wife Swap. I hope things work out for Susan042764.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The American Akira


Check out /Film's excellent video of the day: The American Akira.

(/Film)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Pirate Santa vs Jewish Ninja

Pirate Santa vs Jewish Ninja Card Set by Punkahontas.

(Supermarket via Notcot)

Jesusterminator

Excellent: Jesusterminator by Jerrod Landons Porter.

(Super Punch via Nerd Core)