What would life be like without NBA Jam and its tinny Tim Kitzrow catchphrases like “Ugly shot!” and “He’s heating up!”? That frightening scenario is explored in a Great Big Story interview with NBA Jam’s creator, Mark Turmell. The then-lead designer at developer Midway revealed that the NBA almost didn’t give them permission to use their logo, because the league didn’t want it in the arcades. Undeterred, Turmell and his crew “made a videotape of nice family entertainment centers,” he recalls. “And we sent that back to them and said, ‘Look, your logo can be here.’” License granted, Midway finished NBA Jam—although not before adding himself in as a player, and programming the game so he has the strongest skills. Boom shakalaka!
Charlie Davoli snaps pics of everything that interests him through the day and blends them together with several apps on his phone to create surreal worlds and landscapes.
So many factors go into the decision of renting versus buying a home . One of the most important ones: how much time you’re going to spend in a place. This interactive map from Smart Asset shows you where the best places to buy or rent, depending on when you plan on moving to a different place.
Jacqueline Sloan Ziegler's daughter, Kailyn, loves to do cartwheels. And she's good at them, too! Oakland the Pit Bull would like to get into the action, but he can't get the hang of the movement. Keep practicing, Oakland (warning: auto-start video).
I didn't really see anything but a photo of a bald guy nuzzling an infant child, but many people online are claiming they don't see a bald guy at all- they see a hairy butt hanging above the baby's head.
This optical illusion is caused by a combination of heavy body hair, baldness and the father's posture, and Internetters from all over the world have shared, and shared a laugh about, this funny optical illusion photo.
Each year, U.K. site The Shiznit takes the current Oscar nominated movie poster art for a spin down the road of "brutal honesty." The result includes some amusing imaginary publicity posters that just may give readers the skinny on any films they would be interested in catching before the Oscars.
Be forewarned that the images include a liberal dose of humor that pushes the envelope (one of which "has a go" at the U.S.), and profanity. Visit the series in entirety here.
Porque combatir el crimen no debería estar reñido con ser cuqui. #DEADPOOLpeliucla ¡19 de febrero en cines! pic.twitter.com/TFzWzUlZbl
— 20th Century Fox (@20thCFoxSp) January 17, 2016
Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
Directed by Tim Miller. Written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Rheese. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Ed Skrein, Gina Carano and Brianna Hildebrand.
Terry Urban, author of last year’s curious FKA Biggie mash-up album, pays tribute to his two fallen heroes, David Bowie and The Notorious B.I.G. The mash-up—wonderfully titled “Biggie Stardust”—blends Big’s “Dead Wrong” and Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream”... while sounding ...
Disintegration Anxiety - Explosions in the Sky The instrumental post-rockers need no introduction really, having been around since 2000, and popping up in documentaries, movies, TV shows and the odd commercial. It’s been 5 years since their last… (in post Disintegration Anxiety - Explosions in the SkyThe instrumental... from Noonday Tune. More by this artist at )
Ever heard of Action Movie Kid? I never had, but apparently the webseries is quite popular. In fact, it’s popular enough that it’s being turned into a movie. The Action Movie Kid is currently being developed by Fox 2000 and Temple Hill.
Learn more about the webseries and the potential film after the jump.
After watching a few episodes, it’s easy to see the appeal of making an Action Movie Kid movie. The episodes are quite clever, and the idea lends itself to a film adaptation: a kid literally living the dream of starring in an action movie. That’s probably the kind of movie any eight-year-old would want to see.
The webseries was created by visual-effects artist Daniel Hashimoto. Hashimoto has worked on How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda 3. According to The Hollywood Reporter, who broke the story, the artist just one day decided to add special-effects to videos of his 4-year-old son, James.
Here’s the volume one of Action Movie Kid, which debuted almost two years ago:
The video currently has over 30 million hits on youtube. Hashimoto and Mandy Richardville ended up basing a children’s book on the idea, which is about a regular boy who uses the power of his imagination to fend off aliens, robots, and monsters.
Here’s the official book synopsis:
Meet Action Movie Kid, whose adventures began on YouTube and continue in his first book, a thrilling tale of the heroic acts and daring deeds that fill his day and follow him to bedtime—and beyond!
James may look like a regular boy, but in his imagination he is Action Movie Kid, defender of his own tiny universe. Monsters, aliens, and robots are no match for James’s super strength and infinite cleverness. Though his superpowers sometimes get him into trouble—especially when others can’t see the dangerous foes that prowl the school yard, and his home—you can always rely on Action Movie Kid to save the day, even if he does need his parents’ help from time to time.
What makes this potential film really enticing is who’s writing it: Andrew Dodge. The screenwriter is responsible for Jason Bateman‘s directorial debut, Bad Words. It’s a very funny and surprisingly sweet dark comedy, and he gave the young protagonist of that film a real voice and purpose in the story. The kid wasn’t just there to act cute; he was written as a real kid. Dodge is a fine choice for the Action Movie Kid movie.
Catching everyone off-guard, Paramount Pictures has unveiled the teaser for the new thriller, described by Abrams as "a blood relative of 'Cloverfield.'"
When discussing the comparison of streaming platforms to network TV shows during NBC's portion of the Winter TCA press tour, NBC President of Research & Development Alan Wurtzel stated that the shift from traditional TV to streaming isn't happening as rapidly as some think. According to the data Wurtzel pulled, over the course of 35 days between last September and December only averaged 4.8 million people (per episode) in the key, 18-49 demographic, watched Marvel's Jessica Jones. "Compare these programs to shows like The Big Bang Theory, Empire or Blind Spot, and they pale in comparison. It’s not that people aren’t watching, but they (streaming) aren’t replacing broadcast."
To add to Wurtzel's point, a show like Big Bang Theory garners 18 million viewers per episode in the coveted 18-49 demographic. Fox's Empire averages 17 million viewers. Even a freshman drama like Blind Spot earned roughly 13 million viewers an episode.
Wurtzel stated that
Stars have just announced that they'll be releasing a cover song every month for all of 2016, and they're kicking things off with a heavy take on Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Canadian group pares back the glitzy exuberance of their most recent full-length, 2014's No One Is Lost, in favor … More »
It’s rough out there at the multiplexes right now, unless all you want is to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the eighteenth time, but if you can hang tight for a few more months, some great films are just on the horizon. Like Jeremy Saulnier‘s Green Room. The thriller wowed on the festival circuit last year, and now it’s on its way to a spring release date on the U.S. Watch the first Green Room teaser trailer after the jump.
Green Room centers on a punk rock band (played by Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, and others) who get a gig at a sketchy club in the middle of nowhere. When they witness an act of violence committed by a white supremacist gang, they hole up in the club’s green room as the neo-Nazis try to break in and kill them. The great, lovable Patrick Stewart gets to indulge his villainous side as the club’s nasty owner, while the always strong Imogen Poots plays a bystander who gets mixed up in the events.
If you caught Saulnier’s last film, Blue Ruin, we probably don’t need to tell you that the guy knows how to craft one tense thriller. Watch the Green Room teaser trailer below.
A24 has Green Room set for a limited release starting April 1 followed by a nationwide expansion on April 15. Here is the official synopsis from A24.
Green Room is a brilliantly crafted and wickedly fun horror-thriller starring Patrick Stewart as a diabolical club owner who squares off against an unsuspecting but resilient young punk band.
Down on their luck punk rockers The Ain’t Rights are finishing up a long and unsuccessful tour, and are about to call it quits when they get an unexpected booking at an isolated, run-down club deep in the backwoods of Oregon. What seems merely to be a third-rate gig escalates into something much more sinister when they witness an act of violence backstage that they weren’t meant to see. Now trapped backstage, they must face off against the club’s depraved owner, Darcy Banker (Stewart), a man who will do anything to protect the secrets of his nefarious enterprise. But while Darcy and his henchmen think the band will be easy to get rid of, The Ain’t Rights prove themselves much more cunning and capable than anyone expected, turning the tables on their unsuspecting captors and setting the stage for the ultimate life-or-death showdown.
Intense, emotional, and ingeniously twisted, Green Room is genre filmmaking at its best and most original. Saulnier continues to build his reputation as one of the most exciting and distinctive directors working today, with a movie that’s completely different from his previous, highly acclaimed Blue Ruin, but which is just as risk-taking and even more full of twists. The entire cast deliver first-rate performances, but Patrick Stewart gives a transformative and brilliantly devious turn as Darcy—elegant yet lethal, droll yet terrifying, Stewart makes the film simply unforgettable.
The El Niño winter has brought record breaking rainfall to California after a long drought, resulting in lots of flooding and worryingly wet conditions in normally dry and sunny cities.
These effects are most noticeable when you're driving, which virtually everyone does on a daily basis in San Diego, and those unfamiliar with the city don't realize our roads flood with ease.
One shopping mall parking garage in particular is notorious for flooding, water levels rising to three or four feet at times, yet no signs are posted to warn drivers about potential flooding during rainstorms.
The flooding of Fashion Valley mall has become a yearly tradition in San Diego, one which the man in the video clearly wasn't warned about before he decided to go shopping!
As a kid we're told farting is rude, crude and utterly offensive, because parents don't want to turn farting into a fun activity for their kids and therefore have to smell stinky farts all day.
These parents wisely gloss over the fact that there are world records for farting, and that some people have actually become famous for their farts.
A Filipino man by the name of Gerard Jessie is one of these famous farters, and here he is setting the world record for most lit candles extinguished by farting.
One of the most enigmatic instrumental acts to ever exist has returned with news of a forthcoming album.Proud Texans, Explosions in the Sky, announced the release of their seventh studio album with “The Wilderness.” The follow up to… (in post Explosions in the Sky return from/with “The Wilderness” from Cause=Time. More by this artist at )
Whenever you have Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes, you just know you’re going to get some divisive comedy. The stand-up comedian and creator of The Office, Extras and Derek doesn’t hold back when he rips into Hollywood and its celebrities, and his monologue opening the 73rd Golden Globes was no exception. Jennifer Lawrence, Roman Polanski, The Martian and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association were all skewered in his opening monologue, and you can watch it in full, complete with the f-bomb that actually made it on air.
Here’s the Ricky Gervais 2016 Golden Globes monologue from NBC:
While Gervais has some material that isn’t the best, he still has some great quips here. However, a decent amount of the celebrity audience didn’t seem too eager to laugh much at a lot of what Gervais had to say, even when it was something good. Maybe the room wasn’t drunk enough at the beginning of the show, or maybe some of these celebs didn’t want to get caught laughing at some controversial material.
And you might think Gervais is being too mean about the Golden Globes and those excited about winning them, but there is a reason that Harvey Weinstein laughed really hard at Gervais’ jab about studios buying Golden Globes, followed by Matt Damon and Brad Pitt laughing at how hard the producer was laughing at that joke. It’s true. All of it.
Some people just don’t like a guy as smarmy and confident about it as Gervais, but I think that’s part of what makes his comedy work. Again, not every joke Gervais fired off last night was good, but he certainly wasn’t awful. In fact, one of the best moments of the night was his introduction of Matt Damon as the only person Ben Affleck has remained faithful to. Yeah, that was a sick burn, but it was absolutely hilarious.
Sounds like: Elton John, Queen Song: David Bowie - Life On Mars? What's so good? Not a whole lot more to say here that hasn't been said. And if I tried, I certainly wouldn't be able to say… (in post David Bowie - Life On Mars? from Indie Shuffle. More by this artist at )
Oh LOST... you are still mixing it up, years after you ended with one of the most talked about finales in television history. Fans watching the series on Netflix noticed that little bits were missing from that controversial last episode, and took to the internet to complain [...]
Stars have just announced that they'll be releasing a cover song every month for all of 2016, and they're kicking things off with a heavy take on Bob Dylan's It Ain't Me Babe. The Canadian group pares back the glitzy exuberance of their most recent full-length, 2014's No One Is Lost, in favor … More »
