Behind the Links

50 behind the scenes photos from RETURN OF THE JEDI. I had seen a couple of these but not all of them. Man I miss physical effects like goofy rubber suits and model space ships. Ever seen any behind the scenes of Episodes I-III. It's just Natalie Portman in front of a green screen acting with a big piece of lifeless plastic.... and that's just the scenes with Hayden Christensen. Hey-Oh!

Imagined Email Correspondence From The Desk Of The Marketing Director For Carl’s Jr. "Hey, so I had an idea for our next commercial: We open on a hot tub with David Hasselhoff in it, then we zoom out to see that he’s in there with some of his old Baywatch co-stars (Anderson, Electra, etc.) They’re all going TO WORK on some bacon burgers. Real sloppy. Real sloppy. BBQ sauce clogging the filter and everything."

Starblazers has been uploaded to youtube. I believe it was just a few months ago that I had this near the top of my "things I want on netflix list", youtube is the next best thing. Every episode is available for free including the tie in movies. Not bad at all.

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Marks The End Of The ‘First Class’ Trilogy And Wipes Away The Other ‘X-Men’ Movies. Jeez, YEARS ago I blogged about when Fox was going to reboot the X-Men franchise. It looks like that's finally happening? I liked First Class and Days of Future Past but they've kind of made a giant mess of the X-Men franchise going forward. You have two versions of the same characters running around and while that works in the context of a movie about time travel it doesn't work for a tentpole franchise. At a certain point Fox will need to cut the cord and recast Cyclops, Wolverine, Jean Grey, etc. and start telling contemporary X-Men stories again Sounds like that might just happen after Apocalypse.

Go Nuts! Ryan North & Erica Henderson Launch ‘Squirrel Girl’ Series For Marvel. Dammit, I'm trying to buy less comic books not more. Squirrel Girl is pretty rad. What started with a joke (her beating Dr. Doom with an army of squirrels) developed into the ultra-silly idea that Squirrel Girl can beat any character in the Marvel Universe. It's a nice way of poking fun at the nerds that like to debate Batman vs Captain America or Thor vs the Hulk. The answer has always been whoever the writer needs to win. It just so happens that's ALWAYS the girl with squirrel powers.

New Big Hero 6 Trailer

This new trailer for Disney/Marvel's Big Hero 6 came out last week but I finally got around to watching it last night. It still looks really good and I'm still excited to take my son to this one.

Interesting fact here, Big Hero 6 is the first Disney movie based off a Marvel comic book. You would think that with the success of the Avengers and all the other Marvel films Disney would be quicker to acknowledge that. However it's just the opposite. Disney is doing everything it can to brand this a Disney film. If the rumor mill is to be believed there was even some contention between Disney and Marvel in that Disney will be producing the comic book tie in, not Marvel (gasp!). Seems weird. I think when Disney bought Marvel one thing everyone was excited for was Disney or maybe even Pixar produced movies of Marvel properties. Doesn't look like that's in the cards, at least not for the bigger name properties like Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four.

I'll keep crossing my fingers for a Pixar produced Runaways.

Regular Car Reviews: 1998 Subaru Forester

This review for (a heavily modified) 1998 Subaru Forest is pretty glorious. It's both informative and hilarious. I completely lost it when he told the subaru marketing team to eat a dick.

I don't get most crossovers. The old Forester's I get. It's a station wagon but just a bit taller. The new crossovers are smaller than most wagons, most aren't even all wheel drive. They're like tall hatchbacks. It's like someone said, I like hatchbacks but they're too stable. Can we build anything taller and more unwieldy?

Puzzle World 6 looks alright

Back in the Halcyon days of the original Xbox I used to head over to the Microsoft campus and participate in game testing and focus groups. I WISH I got to test something as cool as Puzzle World 6. The only games I remember testing were a terrible Basketball game, a Mech game and a fighting game I tried like hell to have them rebrand into "Karl Douglas's Kung Fu-Fighting". I mean I really highjacked that focus group. I had this whole story about Karl Douglas having to fight his way through ninjas to collect his royalty checks and pay his rent on time. I still think Microsoft dropped the ball with that one.

Super Link Bros.

How Nintendo Convinced The World To Buy A Weird Mario Game. This article is a load of horseshit... more or less. Nintendo didn't have to convince anyone to buy a "weird Mario game". Super Mario Bros 2 could have been a port of ET from the 2600 and it would have sold like crazy. People WANTED Super Mario Bros 2 BAD, it didn't matter that the gameplay was vastly different from the first one. Super Mario Bros doesn't look anything like Mario Bros, much less that other game staring Mario, Donkey Kong. The idea that Super Mario Bros 2 would be different from the first one wasn't that weird.

What is weird and incredibly interesting, is how Super Mario Bros 2 for the US is WAY different that Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan. It literally is a different game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Nintendo of America felt like the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros 2 was too difficult and similar to the first one, so they ported over this Doki Doki Panic game and just changed the characters to match the budding Mario Universe. That's why all of the sudden Princess Peach can fly and Toad is a strongman.

What It’s like to Fly the $23,000 Singapore Airlines Suites Class. This made a lot of hay on Facebook so pardon me if you've already read this but this article on what it's like to fly on Singapore Airlines Suites Class is really interesting. Growing up I flew pretty much exclusively in First Class. My parents weren't rich or anything, my mom worked for United Airlines so a first class ticket cost like $25. I flew a lot on my own going from grandparents to my aunt and uncles and back to the other grandparents. Back in the 80s and 90s a single stand by has a great chance of getting a first class seat.

I never flew in a cabin with a bed but I remember once on a trip to Hawaii I got to sit in the upstairs lounge area on a 747. The seats faced each other, it was crazy!

DC Is Sorry About Their Dumb, Sexist Shirts. I've mentioned this before but buying superhero themed stuff for girls is AWFUL. Target had two Superhero themed onesies, the one for boys said "Future Man of Steel" and the one for girls said "I Only Date Heroes". Talk about sexist garbage.

2014′s Most & Least Fair State Tax Systems. Go Washington, we're number 1! We're number 1! This doesn't surprise me one bit. I know Washington is a very liberal state but it's also home to a boatload of tech millionaires. Rich liberals LOVE talking about income equality and social services but it's always on the back of someone else. Usually some other millionaire or corporation that they think is more evil than they are.

Recently the State Supreme Court found Washington State in contempt of court by refusing to properly fund education (something mandated in the state constitution). State Government's response is to throw up their hands and say "nothing we can do" and no one is willing to stick their neck out for tax reform. If I ever move to Oregon you can bet Washington States feckless political leadership will be one of the biggest reasons why.

Also it's worth pointing out that this report got no coverage in either the local paper or TV. Seattle/Washington only likes talking about themselves if it's positive. Come in 7th on Buzzfeed's list of best travel spots and you are going to hear about it ad nauseam. Heaven forbid anyone point out that all the Microsoft millionaires are screwing everyone else.

3 Famous Characters Whose Creators Got Epically Screwed. Jeez, today is just soapbox day for me isn't it? Earlier this week Marvel comics settled a long standing lawsuit with the family of Jack Kirby. In case that name doesn't mean anything to you, Jack Kirby (along with Stan Lee) helped created about 80% of the characters you recognize from the Marvel Universe. Based on some very interesting copyright law, his family was suing that eventually ownership of those characters should revert back to Jack Kirby (and his estate). I won't go into it here but the case was about to be heard by the Supreme Court so obviously there was something to it.

A lot of people are were happy that Jack Kirby was finally getting some sort of recognition/settlement from Marvel but while it's great for Kirby there's a TON of other writers and artists that aren't getting squat. Did you enjoy Rocket Racoon and Guardians of the Galaxy this summer? Thank Bill Mantlo the creator of Rocket. In fact thank Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning too as most of that movie was lifted from their run on the book. You like the X-Men? Well Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created them, but almost every movie or TV show based on them has pulled heavily from Chris Claremont's run on the title. Deadpool? Rob Liefeld. Thor? Walter Simonson. Superman? John Byrne. Batman? Frank Miller. The Avengers? Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern, Steve Englehart, Roy Thomas all of these guys and more had a hand in providing 50 years worth of stories for Joss Whedon to pull inspiration from.

Again, I'm happy for Jack Kirby's family but I'm not going to jump for joy knowing just how many others have been left with nothing.

These Windows go all the way up to 11 10

Yesterday Microsoft made the official announcement on it's newest operating system, Windows 10. What happened to Windows 9? Windows 9 is for suckers... that's what happened.

Windows 10 seems like Microsoft's best push at unifying your PC, tablet and phone. Windows 8 had a lot of mobile functionality built in but users BITCHED AND COMPLAINED to death over live tiles replacing the start menu. Windows 10 brings back the start menu and integrates the shit out of live tiles INTO the menu and it still has the option of switching to a more "Metro" style interface if you're using a tablet. Its been pretty well received and it sounds like what they should have done with Windows 8 in the first place.

There are more superficial style improvements like enhanced smart sizing and window snapping. Better search tools more intuitive swipe commands, blah blah blah. In my opinion the big promise here is that Microsoft is promising Universal Apps (patent pending I'm sure). Applications that will work and integrate with phone, tablet and PC. Lately I've been thinking about bailing on Windows Phone, the biggest reason outside of battery life is a lack of apps. If Microsoft can really deliver on expanding what's available on phone and mobile by having them automatically port from the PC we might be back in business.

I've been eyeing a solid state hard drive upgrade for my home computron and was contemplating an upgrade to Windows 8.1. After yesterday I'm definitely going to wait until 2015 so I can step right into Windows 10.

Also what is up with Capt. Microsoft's hair. He's a grown man with a Justin Bieber haircut, who lets him leave the house looking like that?

Interstellar: Trailer #3

I'm not sure I posted the first couple trailers for Chris Nolan's newest film, Interstellar. If I didn't it's because both of them had me near tears. I wasn't exactly a paragon of masculinity before having kids but I swear they've completely turned me into a blubbering mess. Any movie with parents sacrificing for their kids just hits me right in the feels. I still can't watch the opening scene of Star Trek without a Costco sized box of Kleenex.

Interstellar hits theaters in November. Lets go see it... you'll need to hold my hand.

Six Months With a Steam Machine

About 6 months ago SaharaDrac (probably not his real name) received a Steam Machine for beta testing. His review is less than enthusiastic. Apparently the controller blows and the Linux based OS is kinda limiting. That's not great news.

I don't think the controller issue is that big of a deal. If they're not already married to keyboard/mouse, most gamers that pick up a Steam Machine are probably going to find a way to install a Xbox 360 controller anyway. Valve obviously can't just include on, so while it's disappointing that their proprietary controller is hard to use I don't think it's a system killer or anything.

On the other hand, the issues with Linux could very well be a system killer. I've mentioned before that the single biggest obstacle for the Steam Machine is the Linux based operating system. They HAVE to get 3rd party publishers to have games available for it. Can you imagine spending a thousand dollars on a gaming console that can't play Destiny? Half Life 2 isn't going to cut it for Valve. If this bird's going to fly it's going to need some help from the big software developers like Activision, EA, etc.

Anyhoo, watch the video. It's not that long but he goes into some pretty good detail as to why he found the machine a disappointment.