Wow, amazing HD on YouTube. If you have tried HQ on YouTube before you’ve probably been impressed, but not incredibly so. Wait till you watch this trailer from Toy Story 3 on youtube. It’s in 1080p goodness, and at least for me it runs smooth as silk on my Mac. Jut amazing how much better video keeps getting on the net.
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Category: Fun10/13/09 Jon Stewart digs CNN for fact checking SNL skit
You just have to watch this video. It’s a classic. Here are some keywords to think on before watching. President Obama, SNL, CNN and John Stewert. This isn’t about politics, just basic sillyness on an international level.
This morning I found this iPhone Ad “Leaked New iPhone Commercial” on YouTube. It’s a little long for an iPhone commercial (more than a minute) but it’s really well made. Here’s the short description – iPhone Apps for the man who’s girlfriend has broken up with him. Okay, now just hit play!
UPDATE: I’ve decided to make this one the Video of the Week for August 31st.
On July 27th (last night), Conan O’Brien had William Shatner on the show to do one thing; read Sarah Palin’s good-bye speech as a poem. I can’t do it justice by explaining it, you just have to see it to understand.
I loved The Electric Company growing up, much more so than Sesame Street. Even today when I watch the opening or see skits from so many years ago, I get a little tingly. I don’t know how much I learned from the show, I just have really fond memories. Besides, its the first time I ever saw Morgan Freeman and even today I will watch anything he does. He’s just so easy to watch.
Anyway, I was checking out Hulu last night and noticed that they have added this 1970’s children show to their lineup. Embedded below is one of the episodes. For more, check out Hulu.
Mad Hatter - Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have teamed up again for another interesting adventure, this time one we all know from our childhood, Alice in Wonderland. The trailer was released this week at ComicCon and the movie is set for a March 5th, 2010 release date. This is more of a teaser trailer, but the visuals are stunning and Johnny Depp is doing what he likes to do, strange characters. He does it so well.
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have worked together for many years. You might remember Edward Scissor Hands, Sleep Hollow, The Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Ed Wood and Sweeny Todd. Some of these movies have been great, some not so great; but all of them had memorable performances by Johnny Depp.
In Alice in Wonderland he plays the Mad Hatter and it seems that in this version, the Mad Hatter is the leading character and if the teaser is any indication the narrator of the story. The film looks stunning and Disney is releasing the movie in both Disney 3D and IMAX. I noticed the other day that the local theater already has posters of the movie up.
You can’t tell much from the teaser trailer, but take a look for yourself. Don’t forget that if you click on the HQ button you can get the HD version of the trailer and next to that button is the fullscreen button. My suggestion, go HD and full screen for this one. (The embedding may not work yet, if not just click on the View on YouTube Button).
[youtube LjMkNrX60mA]
For father’s day Tracy purchased me a Mr. Beer Premium Beer kit. What’s that? Well, best you check out their website at www.mrbeer.com; but basically it’s a kit that allows you to make your own beer at home very easily.
Tonight Tracy, Kristie and I attended the Wylie Highschool theater production of Laughing Stock. First, let me say we all laughed very hard. It’s a very funny play, and the kids did a wonderful job with the presentation. Per usual I took many photos, over 400 of them. Now I did take a bunch of photos of Courtney, who had a part in this production; but don’t feel bad if you don’t see many of her here. In every picture you will see a little of Courtney because she, along with many others, were responsible for building the set. From what I saw of the set, that was no small undertaking. Bravo kids, Bravo!
It’s a Saturday morning and I’m seriously in the mood to head to my local theater, buy a big tub of popcorn, an oversized jug of soda and enjoy a good flick. Sounds great right? Well, there are two big obstacles to this; and neither is related to the failing economy.
1) Movies don’t start in the morning anymore. There was a time on a Saturday or Sunday when you could go and catch a movie at 9 o’clock in the morning. I’m not talking 20 years ago here, more like just a few years ago. Now movies start at 11:00 or after. Have we Americans gotten so lazy that we don’t get out of bed in enough numbers to go out the door and hit the local theater anymore before noon? I know I’m not your average guy, but am I that far away from average?
2) Okay, let’s say that my local theater did have movies starting at 9 o’clock or so; I still have another big problem. The movies released in January – SUCK SWAMP WATER. I know its a time honored tradition of Hollywood to treat January as though it were the worlds largest trash can. They dump the movies they are pretty certain won’t do well during January and even February. I just don’t understand what goes through the heads of the movie studio executives. If I were one of them I would think, all my competitors are dropping crap in the theaters right now so let’s put out one of our sure fire hits and blow them all away. Even if ticket sales are slow this time of year, leave it in the theater longer. Worried about not getting a good nod at the Oscars 12 months later; re-release in December or RELASE THE DVD!
It’s bad enough that DRM is seen as the holy grail to the movie studios. It’s bad enough that my big tub of popcorn and oversized jug of soda cost more than a movie ticket. DO THEY HAVE TO MAKE GOING TO THE MOVIES IN JANUARY THAT MUCH MORE PAINFUL? Movie Execs, you have good stuff in the can right now. I know you do. JUST RELEASE A FEW! Who knows, maybe you will create a new blockbuster season. It’s not like there is tons to do in most of the country in January, maybe people actually want to sit in a warm theater for a few hours and enjoy a great epic or an exciting sequel. But the drivel that’s out right now… man, what is there to love about going to the movies in January? RANT ENDS – We now return you to your regularly scheduled internet browsing.
Most of you probably know that one of my all time favorite films is the Lord of the Ring Trilogy. Just none better. When the movies were being released I heard talk of The Hobbit being made, but that it was tied up on rights, litigation and so much other paperwork it seemed unlikely The Hobbit would be made with any great haste.
Since it is 2008 and the original trilogy was released in 2001, 2002 and 2003 to say it’s happening quickly would be a serious exaggeration. That being said, The Hobbit will apparently see the dark of theaters around the world! I hadn’t checked in over a year, but tonight while Tracy and I were looking up some facts on another movie we tripped over the fact that The Hobbit 1 and The Hobbit 2 are to be released sometime around 2012. Del Torro is directing and yes Peter Jackson is fully involved. He is actually working on the script. The scale of The Hobbit will be as big as the original three movies with an estimated budget of 150 million for each movie, about 300 million was spent on the original three. They are also going to film both movies at the same time, just like the original three.
Originally it seems The Hobbit was to be one movie and The Hobbit 2 was to be a lead-in to The Lord of the Rings; but it seems now that The Hobbit will be broken in to two parts with the end of the second movie leading into The Lord of the Ring in some manner.
No actors have apparently been signed, but Del Torro wants to use as many of the original trilogy actors that are available, healthy and can be used; including Ian Holmes who played Bilbo.
Can you tell I’m excited? The trilogy was just movie magic and for that matter King Kong wasn’t bad either. Peter Jackson has been off my radar since King Kong, but I will be happy to give him my 8 bucks to let him take me away for several hours and visit a land as tumultuous as our own, but still so different.
Here are some links: IMDB-Hobbit 1, IMDB-Hobbit 2 Wikipedia
