The ‘Museum of Failed Products’
in Ann Arbor, MI, contains thousands
of old products that tanked within
months of their release. The shelves
are basically a graveyard for bad
products, like Clairol’s A Touch of
Yogurt shampoo, Gillette’s For Oily Hair
Only, and caffeinated beer. SourceSource 2
Enter the Dojo is a YouTube series that parodies self-defense instructional videos. Matthew Page plays Master Ken, a tough guy who has devoted his life to the creation and refinement of his own martial art, Amri-Do-Te. In these videos, Master Ken shows you how to protect yourself in practical ways on the street.
Master Ken's demonstration partner is Todd, played by Joseph Conway. Todd's purpose is to be the opponent who falls under Master Ken's masterful methods, most of which involve brutal groin kicks, stomps, and pulls.
In this video, Master Ken shows you how to defend yourself against someone performing the Heimlich maneuver on you. In other videos in his YouTube channel, Master Ken shows you how to defend yourself against a selfie, how to condition your face to take punishment, and how to protect yourself with an opponent armed with bananas.
by Casey Chan on Sploid, shared by Cheryl Eddy to io9
Following up their 100 best one liners made before a kill in movies, Burger Fiction has now done it up with the magically hilarious lines people say right after an on-screen kill. There is so much Arnold in here, it makes me happy. I guess, a lot of James Bond too. And Bruce Willis.
Curious minds love to see how things are made, and watching machines crank out massive quantities of hockey pucks, beer, threaded bolts and crayons can be a lot of fun for both our eyeballs and our brains.
These production processes can take hours to complete, but thanks to cutting edge Graphic Interchange Format technology you can take a peek at the key parts of the process in a flash.
These production GIFs are also perfect for winning arguments via email, improving your knowledge of modern production techniques and crushing haters during a heated chat online.
Tax Day was a few days ago, but I’m asking Uncle Sam to move over for Uncle Scam, the latest collectible from Kidrobot. Designed by Ron English, an American contemporary artist who explores brand imagery and advertising has brought us quite the funny statue. Uncle Scam comes at a price point of $75. It might seem like a lot, but how else are you going to spend your tax return?
Uncle Scam comes with removable accessories and packaged in a festively printed box. I’ve got to say, I love this design, and with the current political climate…you might want to grab one of these and put it on your coffee table. I bet it will lead to an interesting discussion.
In case you haven’t heard, the Netflix line-up just got a little sweeter on April 1st with all the episodes of the animated series Animaniacs available to stream. The cartoon followed the wacky adventures of the Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and their sister Dot. It was a favorite of children of the ’90s, as the show often available to watch right after school and on Saturday mornings. Though the series may best be known for bringing us unlikely rat duo of Pinky and the Brain, who eventually got their own spinoff series, perhaps the most iconic thing to come out of the show was “Yakko’s World.”
Airing in the second episode of the show’s debut season, the animated musical segment features Yakko Warner (voiced by Rob Paulsen, who has voiced both Raphael and Donatello in different iterations of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) singing almost all of the nation’s of the world as he points them out on a map, all to the tune of “Mexican Hat Dance.” It’s become a popular way for kids to learn the countries, and it’s a damn catchy and informative song. Now it will be updated because the voices of Animaniacs are going on a world tour where they will sing that song and many others from the show.
Learn more about Yakko’s World and the Animaniacs tour after the jump.
Just to get it out of the way, so we’re all on the same page, here’s “Yakko’s World” from YouTube:
Over the years, several discrepancies have been brought up with regards to the song. First of all, countries not covered in the lyrics include South Africa, Singapore, Brunei, Cote d’Ivoire, Central African Republic, San Marino, Vatican City and more. Furthermore, there are names mentioned that aren’t countries, and they even repeat some just to make rhyming a little easier. I mean, it’s really hard to have a song list all of the nations of the world an actually rhyme, so they employed some tricks.
But another problem nowadays with the song, according to The New York Times, is that it was written before 1991, which is when the Soviet Union broke up. Therefore, countries such as Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan don’t get called out. And there are several similar exclusions following nations formed after the break-up of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia.
Therefore, the song will be updated by writer Randy Rogel (Batman: The Animated Series), who wrote it as part of his audition for Animaniacs, to include a verse that will add any nations that have been formed since the song was written. And fans will get to hear it firsthand when Rob Paulsen (Yakko), Jess Harnell (Wakko) and Tress MacNeille (Dot) go on a world tour to perform “Yakko’s World” along with their 50 state capitals tune and another that looks back at all the U.S. presidents.
This isn’t the first time the voice actors have performed live, since they sang songs, including the theme, with a full orchestra in Colorado back in 2014:
As of now, there are no specifics on when and where this Animaniacs tour will begin, but it certainly sounds like it’s going to be a great blast from the past, just with some updates. Whenever details and dates for the Animaniacs tour are made available, we’ll be sure to let you know.
You’re gonna need a bigger pair of boat shoes. Actually, you might need a bigger closet when you see just how many different pairs of awesome Jaws shoes are coming from Sperry footwear. The shoes were sported by members of the cast (notably Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss) in the 1975 thriller from Steven Spielberg, and now Sperry is honoring them with six different pairs of shows coming next month. Even the packaging is cool. Check out all the new Jaws shows after the jump.
And each pair of shoes will come in a movie-themed box with blood-stained tissue paper:
Most of the time I find movie-themed shoes to be tacky and unappealing, usually too gaudy to match with any normal clothes you might wear. However, these are actually pretty stylish and cool. Just hope that you don’t lose them by getting your foot bitten off by a shark, especially the red ones.
Sperry will start selling the shoes on May 5th at Sperry.com, and then they’ll be on sale in select retailers like Journeys starting on June 9th. Even though the above images indicate which sex the shoe is made for, most of the shoes will be available in men’s, women’s, and unisex styles, so pick your favorite design and get ready to hit the beach.
Just yesterday, AMC Entertainment head Adam Aron really made a lot of AMC Theatres customers angry by indicating that the chain of movie theaters was considering having some of their screenings become more texting friendly. The consideration came about as a way to help entice more millennials who can’t put down their phone to come to the movies. However, an overwhelmingly negative response from customers has Adam Aron pulling back on any potential plans for AMC Theatres allowing texting in theaters.
Read a full statement about the matter from AMC Theatres after the jump.
As the press release notes, “In this age of social media, we get feedback from you almost instantaneously, and as such, we are constantly listening. Accordingly, just as instantaneously, this is an idea we have relegated to the cutting room floor.” It turns out that incessant complaining on social media can do some good from time to time.
Even though AMC Theatres was considering allowing texting in some theaters, they’ve gone in the complete opposite direction by saying, “There will be NO TEXTING ALLOWED in any of the auditoriums at AMC Theatres. Not today, not tomorrow, and not in the foreseeable future.” That’s a pretty strong stance, though they probably won’t be as strict about it as the Alamo Drafthouse has been about texting in theaters.
In fact, yesterday, Alamo Drafthouse founder and CEO Tim League released this full statement about the matter of texting in theaters, doubling down on his company’s strict rules that ban texting in their movie theaters around the country:
First off, I’d like to say that I am very excited for Adam Aron to be taking the helm at AMC. I am a fan of the Starwood Hotel and Resort brand and the customer experience that his former company consistently delivers. Bringing that leadership focus to our industry will undoubtedly yield positive results and drive healthy, innovative competition.
That said, I disagree with his statements on texting in a movie theater. Innovation in this direction could seriously hurt our industry.
My first objection stems from cinema’s relationship with directors and producers, the content creators. Auteurs focus for years to complete their films. We as exhibitors rely completely on these creators for our content and have an unwritten obligation to present their films in the best possible way: on a big screen with big sound and a bright picture in a silent, dark room. You can only be immersed in a story if you are focused on it. If while watching a film you are intermittently checking your email, posting on social media, chatting with friends, etc., there is no way you are fully engaged in the story on screen. I find that to be disrespectful to the creators, those who make the very existence of cinema possible.
My second objection stems from the generalization of millennial behavior.
“When you tell a 22-year-old to turn off the phone, don’t ruin the movie, they hear please cut off your left arm above the elbow. You can’t tell a 22-year-old to turn off their cellphone. That’s not how they live their life.” – Adam Aron, quoted in Variety.
22-year-olds aren’t alone; heavy cell phone use is far more widespread. Today, 68% of U.S. adults have a smartphone, a staggering increase from 35% just five years ago.
I spend a great deal of my life on my phone, too. I check news, social media and email obsessively. If there is the slightest of lulls in my day, a 20 second pause in an elevator, for example, I impulsively break out my phone and check something. I always carry an external battery because I can’t make it through the day on the standard power. I am not alone. According to some reports, the average American checks their phone over 100 times a day.
This isn’t just a millennial behavior, it is a global attention span epidemic.
Regardless of your age, turning off your phone and focusing on a good movie is much-needed therapy. This time of focus in a darkened room is core to the experience of cinema. Only with this focus can you lose yourself completely in the story and really fall into the magic spell of the movies.
Plenty has already been written about glowing screens and unchecked chatter driving people from the cinema experience, so I won’t belabor that point further. And I’m fine with “second screen” experimentation with regards to alternative content, gaming, interactive screenings, etc.
But when it comes to our core business, creating a special environment for our customers to experience new stories for the first time, there is absolutely no place for the distraction of a lit phone screen.
At the Alamo Drafthouse we are actively engaged in trying to make sure cinema remains a compelling destination for young people, and I agree this should be a focus for the whole industry. I just don’t believe that this line of experimentation is the right tactic. A firm policy against talking and texting in the cinema is about respect: for the filmmakers and fellow cinephiles of all ages.
Outside of this issue, however, I look forward to being challenged and inspired by what innovations and enhancements Adam Aron brings to the cinema experience.
Honestly, I’m glad that League came out and made this statement, especially with regards to his defense of the millennials who actually want to preserve the magic of going to the movies and don’t need to use their phone while in the theater. Even if the generalization about the younger sect of the population was true, it doesn’t mean they need to be pandered to at the expense of other moviegoers.
Thanks to AMC Theatres for listening to their customers and doing what they can to preserve the experience of seeing a movie on the big screen. Now if they can just get those ticket prices down a bit, that would be great.
Los conocidos e imprescindibles. Bueno, pues ya estamos aquí. Han pasado unas semanas desde que iniciamos esta serie dedicada a los mejores artistas que puedes ver a partir de hoy jueves en el Sónar Festival 2017. Hasta ahora… (in post Rumbo a Sónar 2017 : Recta final from Explicit Mag. More by this artist at )
While the sixth season of HBO‘s Game of Thrones has yet to debut, word comes that the series may be nearing its final stretch.
“I think we’re down to our final thirteen episodes after this season,” executive producer David Benioff told Variety. “That’s the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone.” The plan may see a final run of thirteen episodes stretched across a final two-season order.
That number may grow as plans firm. But it is likely seasons seven and eight will be shorter than the customary ten episodes. Benioff and fellow executive producer D.B. Weiss said the shorter runs will allow them to focus on the remaining story more closely and preserve the quality both they and fans expect.
Currently, no deal is in place for the next pair of seasons. HBO president of programing Michael Lombardo told the site he knows the producers plan to hit the finish line soon, but also hopes the remaining seasons will be more traditionally paced, saying “I’m always an optimist, and I do believe we will figure this out.”
Game of Thrones sixth season premieres on April 24th.
The Last Panthers opens with an intense jewel heist, as Milan (Goran Bogdan), one of the famous Panther jewel thieves, tries for one last score with a team he doesn’t quite trust. But the miniseries swiftly disabuses viewers of the notion this will be a caper: One of Milan’s team shoots a kid in his panicked escape, and the group becomes an international liability when lead detective Khalil (Tahar Rahim) starts tracking the abandoned handgun. The usual network of buyers is looking toward a future where international business shorthand, not jewelry, is priceless. And insurance investigator Naomi (Samantha Morton), desperate to track down the diamonds, starts to reopen some very old wounds.
The shift from decisive action to the quagmire of semi-legal business empires founded on crime soon scrapes any veneer of glamour right off those first few minutes. But that’s by design: This series lands halfway ...
Kurt Cobain was one of the most iconic singer/songwriters of his generation. IDW is bringing us a graphic novel this Fall that is sure to resonate with all of his fans. The book is titled, Who Killed Kurt Cobain?, and award-winning creator Nicolas Otero is bringing the story to life for us.
Based on the French novel, Le Roman de Boddah by Heloise Guay de Bellissen, this adaptation, a work of fiction, recounts real-life events from Cobain’s life but the cool part is…it’s narrated by his childhood imaginary friend, Boddah. Through the eyes of Boddah, readers get a front row seat to the highs and lows of one of music’s most influential voices like they’ve never experienced before.
Nicolas Otero spoke his personal motivation to tell this story by saying:
“When Kurt put an end to his life in 1994, I remember hearing the name of Boddah for the first time. I thought it could be a fantastic way to tell Kurt’s story, with Boddah as the narrator. Twenty years later, my hair is not long nor dirty, I’m the father of three wonderful kids, and life has given me such a great gift. I can finally draw this little voice and explore what I imagined Kurt’s mind and life were inside. I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as I enjoyed doing it. I’m 17 again today.”
This might just be one of the most imaginative graphic novel plots I’ve ever heard of. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. Who Killed Kurt Cobain? will arrive in book stores this October.
Today in “I can’t believe this wasn’t already a thing,”The Hollywood Reporter has a story about a “quiet” new movement among movie-theater owners: Banning children under the age of six from attending R-rated movies after 6 PM. Like several other exhibition trends (the theater is famous for its full menu and strict “no cell phones” policy), this one was pioneered by the Texas-based Alamo Drafthouse chain, whose founder, Tim League, tells THR that he picked the age of six by “determin[ing] at what age a kid can behave themselves and not blurt out the first thing in their heads.”
Now several other theater chains, including AMC and Cinemark, are quietly adopting the policy as well. Regal Entertainment, America’s largest theater chain, is going one step further and banning children under the age of six from attending R-rated films at all. Technically, this is in violation ...
Comedian Kyle Kinane, who’s been seen lately in recurring roles on Netflix’s Love and truTV’sThose Who Can’t, can soon be seen in his permanent role as himself in real life as he brings his stand-up act to fourteen cities across North America—including his hometown of Chicago, where he first honed his onstage comedy skills. The 39-year-old self-deprecating comedian has made a name for himself in recent years as one of the strongest voices in stand-up. The AV Club’s Vikram Murthi gave his 2015 special I Liked His Old Stuff Betteran A rating, taking particular note of his conversational joke style and “heartwarming optimism in the face of futile despair.”
Having recently displayed palpable chemistry with a romantic interest even while in less than favorable conditions, Sam Rockwell has gone ahead and signed on for another comedy about two people who fall in love under “strange circumstances.” According to Deadline, the erstwhile Mr. Right will topline the black comedy Blue Iguana, which was written by Cleanskin director Hadi Hajaig and will begin filming in London this July.
The film will follow a pair of “outcasts”—one of whom Rockwell will play—whose romance unfolds as an “offbeat story about lying, stealing, and shooting.” It’s the kind of stuff you’d expect to see in a movie about a paid assassin whose change of heart prompts the career change that endangers his life and that of his lover—which you’ve seen recently if you went to see Mr. Right. But Rockwell’s unflagging charm (which was bolstered by co-star ...
Green Room is a rare gift from the genre gods: a nasty, punk-as-fuck midnight movie made by a genuine artist, a filmmaker with a great eye and a true understanding of the people and places he’s splattering in viscera. His name is Jeremy Saulnier, and his last film, the similarly color-coded Blue Ruin, was an eccentric riff on the revenge thriller, featuring a soft-spoken, sad-eyed vagrant in the Charles Bronson role. Green Room, about a traveling hardcore band caught in a life-and-death standoff with white supremacists, is even better, even bloodier, even more grimly amusing than its predecessor. In clichéd rock-journalism parlance, it’s a bastard lovechild, what you might get if you could somehow mate one of Kelly Reichardt’s portraits of life on the Oregon fringe with one of John Carpenter’s castle-siege action vehicles.
The title is the setting: the dingy backstage of a hole-in-the-wall music ...
In the Venn diagram of mobile users, the circle marked "rabid Shaq fans" and the one marked "active Waze users" must have a pretty tiny crossover section. But if you do happen to use Waze on a regular basis and you have the special extended DVD edition of both Kazaam and Steel boldly displayed on your shelf, today is your day. Waze has announced that the company is celebrating the start of the NBA Playoffs later this week by adding official Shaquille O'Neal voice narration to the map app's navigation service.
Last week, we reportedSony Pictures had purchased the URL spidermanhomecomingthemovie.com, lead many to assume it might be the title of the Sony co-production with Marvel Studios.
A short time ago at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Sony announced the film will indeed be called Spider-Man: Homecoming. Star Tom Holland appeared at the Sony presentation to make the announcement, according to The Wrap.
The film will see Holland’s Peter Parker figuring out how to be a hero following the events of Marvel‘s Captain America: Civil War. According to some reports, the film may feature a few established Marvel Cinematic Universe characters and debut at least one other.
There is a lot of interesting Marvel movie news that has hit tonight. The most exciting for me is this, the first official trailer for Dr. Strange. Check it out:
One-Season Wonders, Weirdos, And Wannabes considers the merits of short-lived TV shows. In this installment: Terriers, which ran for 13 episodes on FX in 2010.
FX needed a comeback in 2010. The cable outlet had found hits in The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me in 2002, but, with the exception of 2005’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia and 2007’s Damages, the remainder of the decade had produced a series of duds. Much of it was bad luck: 2005’s Thief received critical praise, but only lasted a season. Starved premiered alongside Sunny, but didn’t survive its initial seven-episode run. The year 2006 brought the Ice Cube-produced and racially problematic reality show Black. White., which relied on blackface and white ignorance, and was received with a collective shudder. Damages, Dirt, and The Riches arrived in 2007, but despite strong initial showings, the latter two series had ...
Despite his Tim Riggins being one of the best parts of Friday Night Lights, Taylor Kitsch has struggled to carry any of that goodwill into much of a movie career. Through no fault of his own, John Carter was a legendary flop, X-Men Origins: Wolverine was reviled by both critics and fans, and Battleship was a movie based on the Battleship game. Nobody was going to like it no matter what.
Well, it looks like Taylor Kitsch is done starring in everyone else’s terrible movies. If he’s going to be a movie star, he’s just going to make it happen himself, Tim Riggins-style. According to Deadline, Kitsch is going to direct and star in Pieces, a drama film that he also wrote. That means there’s no Jason Street or Matt Saracen for him to rely on. He’s gotta throw this metaphorical football, catch the metaphorical ...
How does one improve upon perfection? The answer, as always, is Benny Hill. On a recent live episode of How Did This Get Made? podcast, wherein the panel was discussing the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme film Bloodsport, co-host Jason Mantzoukas threw down the gauntlet. There’s a chase sequence in the film where Van Damme is escaping government stooges sent to take him home (including one young Forest Whitaker). Van Damme’s business (of revenge) isn’t settled yet, so he demures and then takes off on a chase through the streets of Hong Kong, all set to Michael Bishop’s “Steal The Night.” The scene as it appears in the film is below:
A little interminable and only subtly ridiculous, right? Well Mantzoukas, correctly, pointed out that this scene would be much improved if it was given the old Benny Hill treatment—that is to say sped up with ...
While the sixth season of HBO‘s Game of Thrones has yet to debut, word comes that the series may be nearing its final stretch.
In the Venn diagram of mobile users, the circle marked "rabid Shaq fans" and the one marked "active Waze users" must have a pretty tiny crossover section. But if you do happen to use Waze on a regular basis and you have the special extended DVD edition of both Kazaam and Steel boldly displayed on your shelf, today is your day. Waze has announced that the company is celebrating the start of the NBA Playoffs later this week by adding official Shaquille O'Neal voice narration to the map app's navigation service.
Last week, we reported Sony Pictures had purchased the URL spidermanhomecomingthemovie.com, lead many to assume it might be the title of the Sony co-production with Marvel Studios.
