Greg Hardin's Miscellaneous Blog

Self-promotion

2012-02-17T14:36:00.000-06:00

I can get behind this.

Guns N' Roses back together

2012-02-16T11:57:00.003-06:00

The entire original lineup will be together for their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony on April 14! That would be awesome if they'd play a song or two together, and even more awesome if they could get along enough to reform and make a new album. They haven't played together as a group since 1990 (when they kicked out the drummer) but in my mind they haven't really played together since 1994 after their "Spaghetti Incident" album bombed. Anyway, if Van Halen can do it, why not Guns N' Roses?

Link

TRob's Face Basket

2012-02-12T23:27:00.003-06:00

I love this hilarious basket Thomas Robinson made off of LeBryan Nash's face yesterday.

Kia commercial

2012-02-06T11:50:00.003-06:00

My vote for best one played during the Super Bowl, aside from the Avengers trailer (which is even better on the web since it's twice as long). Oh, and I liked the Clint Eastwood one too. Most of the rest were uninteresting at best.

Tuesday

2012-02-01T20:57:00.003-06:00

I've heard most of the rest of the album now, and after hearing how great this album is, I can't understand why Van Halen chose "Tattoo" as their leadoff single. Practically every other song on the album is a better song. Anyways. Fun month here for a long-suffering Van Halen fan like me. First new album in 14 years on Tuesday, and the first with David Lee Roth since 1984!

Breaking Bad highlight reel

2012-02-01T20:05:00.001-06:00

DO NOT watch this if you've never watched the series and plan to. There's spoilers galore. But if you do watch the series, you'll love this.

My new obsession

2012-02-01T20:03:00.002-06:00

Somebody brought these into the office. Yum.

The Allen Fieldhouse Experience

2012-01-25T21:30:00.001-06:00

This is a nice professionally-shot video of a gameday at KU's Allen Fieldhouse. I could be wrong but I think an old friend of mine here in KC was involved in filming this since I caught a quick glimpse of him in the video as a cameraman.

Van Halen-Stay Frosty preview

2012-01-25T21:27:00.002-06:00

Now this is more like it! THIS should have been the leadoff single! Sounds like "Ice Cream Man" a little. I can't wait to hear how this song goes when I get to hear the full electric guitar! What a tease!

Van Halen-Blood and Fire preview

2012-01-25T21:23:00.002-06:00

I hated this the first time I heard it this afternoon. It's an old Eddie Van Halen instrumental from 1985 I've had forever with Dave singing over top.

However, upon further listens, I kind of dig it, but the chorus is still kind of weak. Regardless, I like it better than "Tattoo." Sounds a lot like "5150" in the guitar work.

Star Wars Uncut

2012-01-25T21:20:00.003-06:00

Back in April 2010 I posted about this fan film, and now it's finished and online for all to see. Basically Star Wars was divided up into 15-second segments and fans remade their clip any way they desired, from animation to babies in costumes. It's so fun to watch the finished show.

Real life Beavis & Butthead

2012-01-25T21:18:00.002-06:00

This made the rounds a couple of days ago but I had to make sure it got on here because I love it. Sooooo creepy. Link

Marc Martel, Freddie Mercury doppelganger

2012-01-25T21:06:00.005-06:00

Been meaning to post this for weeks now. Marc is the lead singer of the band "Downhere," a Canadian band based out of Nashville (Ashley and I are friends with the drummer who went to our church). We saw Downhere before Christmas in KC and while I was at the show I couldn't help but notice how much Marc Martel sounded like the late great Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

Well, funnily enough Martel had been in a competition called "The Queen Extravaganza" where the surviving members of Queen were trying to find look-alikes and sound-alikes to mount a 2012 summer tour. Martel posted his audition to YouTube and freaked people out by how uncanny the resemblance was--to the tune of more then 5 million views.

A week after we saw Downhere play, Martel won the Queen competition. He'll be traveling the country as "Freddie Mercury" this summer. I think we'll probably try to go see the show. Cool stuff!

TRob dunk

2012-01-16T23:38:00.006-06:00

That was an all-time highlight reel-worthy dunk. It was one of those where I laughed out loud when I saw it because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. So awesome!

Tremendous blowout win over #3 Baylor tonight. It's always great being a Jayhawk!

Update: same dunk, front view:

Van Halen's "Tattoo"

2012-01-10T08:46:00.003-06:00

Van Halen - Tattoo from Van Halen on Vimeo.

Man. Pretty disappointed. Sounds like 20-year-old David Lee Roth solo stuff, made for adult contemporary radio. The video is terrible too.

I hope they saved the rockers for the rest of the album. I'll still go to the concert though.

EJ's full-court basket

2012-01-03T18:18:00.001-06:00

KU guys seem to do this all the time.

Van Halen billboard New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T14:01:00.002-06:00

Van Halen is actually doing something. This still blows my mind.

VAN HALEN IS BACK!

2011-12-27T08:59:00.001-06:00

About time!! Man it's been hard being a VH fan these last 15 years or so. Yes!!!!!!

I wonder if this below is the new album's cover?

Death Buy Lemonade

2011-12-19T21:21:00.001-06:00

This is cute.

Going to the Store

2011-12-18T16:14:00.001-06:00

Hilarious.

Heh

2011-12-16T15:28:00.001-06:00

Walt Disney by Jon Favreau

2011-12-16T12:08:00.002-06:00

Really enjoyed this essay.

Damiennifer

2011-12-12T14:53:00.002-06:00

Animation stuff

2011-12-10T23:20:00.003-06:00

I'm catching up on over a year of posts on CartoonBrew.com--I kind of took a break from looking at industry sites for the last year or so. Got too busy to care. Here's some of the cool stuff I found so far.

Gotham City Impostors

2011-12-07T21:25:00.001-06:00

Really enjoyed this. Love the halftone dots all over everything making it look more old school than it is. Perfectly evokes a rough aesthetic for a Joker/Batman impostor game.

Belldog Studios matchbooks

2011-12-07T21:23:00.001-06:00

This was passed around at work the other day. He's got more on his site.

Keanu is first class

2011-11-29T18:24:00.003-06:00

How cool is this guy?

"The Speed actor has reportedly given away a huge chunk of change to some of The Matrix crew. Reeves signed off on a deal that transferred his profit-sharing points to the sci-fi franchise's special effects and costume design crew. The Wall Street Journal quoted an unnamed movie exec who said Reeves "…felt that they were the ones who made the movie and that they should participate.""

The article goes on to say that he's given up huge sums of money on others of his films as well to work with quality actors and somebody in the comments section said he bought each of the Matrix stunt guys a Harley.

I don't think this is any rich guilt or 1% stuff. He's been doing it for a long time and I think he's really showing appreciation for those who make him look good. I'm impressed.

Link

RPatz dissing Twilight

2011-11-17T14:42:00.004-06:00

I enjoyed this article cataloging Robert Pattinson's digs at the series he's the face of. Funny to think of him hating the thing that's made him millions, but I would too if I were him. Link

Rock and Roll Falcon

2011-11-13T11:03:00.001-06:00

Just doing my part to help Dairy Queen virally advertise.

Michael Moore's house

2011-11-10T19:58:00.003-06:00

Link

Same guy who's out stirring the pot with the 99% on Wall Street.

"No one begrudges Moore his wealth, but it is deceitful for him to claim poverty while encouraging class warfare among other Americans. It is also purely narcissistic and selfish for Moore to back radical and destructive socialist policies that would deny other Americans the opportunity to become as rich as he is."

"VeggieTales From the Crypt"

2011-11-04T19:37:00.003-05:00

I guess there's a "Mad TV" show on Cartoon Network now...man, I'm out of it. I heard they did a parody of my old employers, so I had to check it out. LINK

Not funny exactly, but I guess you can add that to the other VT parodies and appearances from Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, and Drawn Together.

Smart Car Batmobiles

2011-11-04T08:38:00.002-05:00

The top one might be a Photoshop job (not sure), but the bottom one definitely is a real car.

Skrillex video

2011-10-27T21:52:00.003-05:00

Amazing video I tracked down after seeing it on the first new episode of "Beavis and Butthead" in 14 years tonight. Reminds me of the Aphex Twin "Come to Daddy" video a little.

Puss in Boots

2011-10-22T13:53:00.002-05:00

Got to see an advance screening of this this morning. I remember when this was announced I just thought that Dreamworks was going to milk the Shrek franchise for as much as they possibly could, and I didn't think Puss in Boots was a strong enough character to anchor its own movie. But then I started hearing good word of mouth in the animation community and the trailers looked pretty good, so when I had the chance to go see this today I jumped at the chance.

And you know what? It's great! It's got tons of laugh-out-loud moments, fun action, and a neat story and characters. I enjoyed the heck out of this movie, and I'll bet it will be a smash hit, especially once word of mouth gets out. Go see this movie!

Superman Antics

2011-10-17T15:20:00.000-05:00

A buddy sent this to me.

Edit 10/18: This is one of the most "it's a small world after all" moments I've ever had. A buddy from Big Idea sent this to me from Tennessee. I thought it was great, printed it out and put it on my cubicle. One of my bosses here at Hallmark comes over here today and asks me if I visit his blog, and I hadn't. He told me that he made the art. HERE'S the link. So here I am thinking I'm showing the office something new, and it's my boss of all people who created it. Kuh-razy!

Trick 'r Treat director short

2011-10-12T18:17:00.002-05:00

I love "Trick 'r Treat." I need to get it on Blu-ray. I hope the director makes a sequel someday, but until then, watch this!

Obey spoofs

2011-09-30T11:59:00.004-05:00

Somebody around the office found a Mickey Mouse parody of the Shepard Fairey "Obey" design. Love these--I have a t-shirt of the Lebowski "Abide" one. There's probably other really good ones out there.

Update: Found this one too.

Paul Pierce Pop-Up Video

2011-09-24T22:07:00.004-05:00

From tonight's "Legends of the Phog" game at Allen Fieldhouse that I went to. 22 former Jayhawks (most of which are current or former NBA players) played in the game and it ended in a tie after Paul Pierce hit a three with 5 seconds left and Mario Chalmers hit a tying three with 0.1 seconds left. What an incredible experience!

photo from KUSports.com

"Nonstop" popping

2011-09-23T13:17:00.001-05:00

I would love to watch this guy live.

I'm Loving It

2011-09-22T18:07:00.002-05:00

Awesome.

Say What Again

2011-08-31T12:29:00.001-05:00

If this were a t-shirt, I would wear it!

K-State's new mascot

2011-08-31T11:46:00.004-05:00

This is just too funny. I can't decide which mascot is worse!

Metroid costume

2011-08-22T22:01:00.002-05:00

Now there's one I haven't seen before. Link to the guy's deviantart page.

Always Sunny photo

2011-08-18T11:57:00.002-05:00

A new season must be right around the corner!

No idea

2011-08-18T11:51:00.000-05:00

But it makes me laugh.

Spidey

2011-08-12T12:04:00.001-05:00

From here.

Nashville posters

2011-08-06T12:06:00.004-05:00

Well, it's official, I no longer live in Nashville any more. I really love the town-after living there for 7 years it's become as precious to me as Kansas City is. So I had to get a couple of these great posters that Anderson Design Group makes to decorate my office, just like I used to always have KU stuff in my office when I lived in Chicago and Nashville. The Loveless Cafe one below is special to me since I lived really close to it (and the poster is awesome) and the guitar one above really sums up the music & artistry aspect of the town. Psyched to get these in the mail here soon!

Captain America

2011-08-06T10:24:00.004-05:00

Really liked it!

Finally they made a superhero movie that brought back the thrill of reading comics, like the first Iron Man movie did. I love that they made Cap somebody who could actually inspire you. I love that they made him decent. I loved watching him take on Hydra--I got a fun rush watching him kick serious butt and that they weren't afraid of killing off good guys and bad guys in the movie on-screen. The special effects were seamless too; I still can't really figure out how they pulled off the skinny Chris Evans thing, which I usually can do.

My only complaint is that I would have enjoyed seeing the Red Skull be a little more scary and a real Nazi bastard, but he was still fun. Other than that, not really any complaints. Fun time at the theater!

Jawas

2011-07-19T13:23:00.001-05:00

Harry Potter finale

2011-07-17T16:20:00.003-05:00

SPOILER ALERT

I thought it was an amazing movie. However, after seeing it, I had many questions that I had to run by my friends who had read the books, because I was confused about some things that the movie didn't explain all that well. For instance, why did Harry drop the Resurrection Stone in the forest instead of using it to resurrect himself? Was Dumbledore maybe not as altruistic as we'd been led to believe in the previous movies? Could Snape have been Harry's actual father? And did the Elder Wand basically throw the fight when Voldemort was using it?

I also was a little disappointed in the actual death blow to Voldemort. It was sort of ambiguous--I was expecting some grand finale moment, but instead suddenly Voldemort is dissipating into ashes and I was like, "Oh! Voldemort's dead I guess!" Something was just off about that scene.

There were things I'd have liked to have seen more of too. I would like to have seen Fred Weasley and Professor Lupin's deaths. I REALLY would have liked to have seen more of Voldemort getting upset and scared and kind of losing his cool more than they showed, although I did enjoy watching Voldemort do a death curse on one of his underlings, kind of like how Darth Vader would do the Force choke on generals who failed him.

Anyways, mild disappointments aside, I thought the movie was awesome. I've been reading the books so I can get the details the movies have been leaving out, so hopefully I'll get a bigger idea of how it all really went down when I finally get to the final book. I just finished book 4 (Goblet of Fire), and I've been reading really slowly, so it might be a while until I finish. Anyways, great movie.

Morris Lessmore app

2011-07-13T13:51:00.003-05:00

My brother sent me this trailer--how incredible does this iPad app look?

A Day in the Life of John Lasseter

2011-07-13T13:51:00.001-05:00

Cars 2

2011-07-07T19:19:00.002-05:00

Oh man, so bored during this movie.

I actually enjoyed the first Cars movie, if only for the racing scenes and the excellent ending where Lightning McQueen purposely loses the race. But Cars 2 is strictly kiddie fare. I'd even go so far as to say this is the first true clunker in the Pixar filmography. I sort of hate Wall-E, but at least it was trying to do something and I understand why some people think it's the best Pixar movie ever, even if I disagree. But Cars 2 could have been straight-to-DVD in my opinion. Clearly this was a Disney cash grab for their billion-dollar merchandising machine.

My ranking of all of the Pixar movies:

1. The Incredibles
2. Monsters, Inc.
3. Ratatouille
4. Up
5. Toy Story
6. Toy Story 3
7. (tie) Finding Nemo
Toy Story 2
9. Cars
10. A Bug's Life
11. Wall-E
12. Cars 2

Anthony Weiner

2011-06-26T15:12:00.001-05:00

Now that's just funny.

NBA Draft

2011-06-23T23:31:00.003-05:00

Loving that KU's Morris twins got picked 13th and 14th in the draft tonight, making both of them lottery picks. Not loving Josh Selby going second round at #49. He should have stayed at KU for another year.

Fun stats: Kansas now has the most lottery picks since 2000 with 9 (Duke is second with 8) and ties North Carolina for most first round picks since 2000 with 11.

Victorian BMX

2011-06-22T10:44:00.004-05:00

Here's my newest game obsession. LINK I've been playing this at night for an hour or so before going to bed. The controls were slightly tricky to use at first, but once you master that it's insanely fun and completely addictive.

I love the design of the game with the black & white hand-drawn look, I love the heavy metal music playing while you ride...I'd love to figure out a way to download this game to my desktop so I could always have it.

"Paranoid Android" crowdsource remix

2011-06-21T19:43:00.003-05:00

Somebody took 36 YouTube covers of Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" and mixed them together into a complete song, and it is awesome! There's instrumental tracks from a drummer, tons of guys sitting in their bedrooms playing solo on guitar, a high school band, a marching band, and a guy in a bear outfit. My favorite part starts at about 1:45 and ends at 2:30 with the high school band. I think conceptually the disparate people playing this song totally fits the schizophrenic nature of the song too. I'm going to have to mp3 this YouTube vid!

Rob Zombie-directed Woolite commercial

2011-06-20T12:50:00.006-05:00

Wow, what is it with these horror movie-esque product commercials now? Not complaining--I think they're really cool. I'm sure they're at least succeeding in becoming viral hits on the internet.

Super 8

2011-06-18T11:23:00.002-05:00

I liked it. As a character drama and as an attempt to evoke nostalgia for the early '80s, it did what it was trying to do. As an alien movie, I'm not sure it was very successful.

The trailers and title for "Super 8" made me believe that the movie would hinge on footage the kids capture on Super 8 film during the train crash, but that's not true- I was sort of shocked by how little that mattered to the plot of the film.

Also, the ending of the movie felt strange to me because of the meticulous buildup of the stories of the children in the movie, and then the minor payoffs with the alien and everything else. It seemed like the alien stuff was tacked on and not really thought out. The ending also felt incomplete because it sort of abandoned the story arcs of the children we'd spent so much time with too.

But despite these issues, I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it, but you could probably wait for DVD too.

Conan's Dartmouth commencement address

2011-06-17T11:17:00.002-05:00

Most applicable to me: "If your child majored in Fine Arts of Philosophy you have good reason to be worried: the only place they are now really qualified to get a job is ancient Greece. Good luck with that degree."

Haha, Conan is an awesome public speaker. If you've got 24 minutes to spare, it's a great time.

Awesome commercial

2011-06-16T12:55:00.000-05:00

No, this isn't for a movie. Just watch it, it's great.

Dallas

2011-06-13T09:00:00.004-05:00

After losing last night, this happened:

"Question: Does it bother you that so many people are happy to see you fail?

LeBron James: Absolutely not. Because at the end of the day, all the people that was rooting on me to fail, at the end of the day they have to wake up tomorrow and have the same life that they had before they woke up today. They have the same personal problems they had today. I'm going to continue to live the way I want to live and continue to do the things that I want to do with me and my family and be happy with that. They can get a few days or a few months or whatever the case may be on being happy about not only myself, but the Miami Heat not accomplishing their goal, but they have to get back to the real world at some point."

This is why people are going to hate LeBron forever and ever. This guy has no concept of humility. Watching him lose last night was pure pleasure.

Kung Fu Panda 2 & Bridesmaids

2011-06-12T16:14:00.003-05:00

I'm extremely behind on my movie watching this summer--just too ridiculously busy to see everything. But I have seen these two movies so far.

KFP2: It's a fun diversion. The ending is pretty great. Yet I'm not sure it was necessary to make this sequel. Why? The villain is pretty uninteresting and I never cared about Po's origin story; in fact, I thought it was funnier that they totally sidestepped explaining that in the first movie. I thought the first Kung Fu Panda movie was awesome and I had it in my top two or three movies from the summer of 2008, but the sequel didn't quite capture the same interest in me this time. Still, it's entertaining and if you see it you'll definitely enjoy it.

All the reviews I had been reading for this movie kept saying, "Guys might like this movie even more than the girls." That had me pretty psyched--that must have meant that there was a ton of stupid humor and laugh out loud moments. The reality of the movie though is that it's still just a chick flick, but it's probably the most watchable chick flick for a guy I've seen to date. Thankfully, there actually were some pretty LOL moments in the movie, particularly the scene where they're trying on wedding dresses and have food poisoning. Ultimately though, it's still a chick flick through and through. I enjoyed the movie and Ashley loved it, but if you're a guy expecting a guy comedy, it's certainly not that.

Dumb blonde

2011-06-07T12:39:00.002-05:00

Mario Chalmers is still awesome

2011-06-06T18:40:00.001-05:00

Not going to like seeing a ring on LeBron's finger though if they win the title.

Sudeikis in KU hat again

2011-06-03T11:28:00.005-05:00

Sudeikis representing again. LINK to the article/interview.

Good spelr

2011-06-01T00:53:00.001-05:00

Ranking NFL helmets

2011-05-26T12:56:00.004-05:00

Eight of ESPN's analysts ranked their top 10 favorite NFL helmets, and their composite score is represented above. I found huge fault with their picks; they're too influenced by tradition and age. My picks below are based on a purely artistic eye--what makes a great football helmet in my opinion.

Regarding the Steelers: looking at their helmet purely as a football design, it isn't very impressive. I don't care that it's the Steelmark logo for the AISI and I don't care that the Steelers have won more Super Bowls than anybody else. Their helmet really isn't that cool if you take away history and tradition, which is how I made my rankings.

Grumpy

2011-05-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

What you call your soft drink

2011-05-25T09:07:00.003-05:00

I call everything "Coke," but that's pretty much all I drink anyway. If I want something else I call it by its brand name. I don't tend to ever use "soda" or "pop" or anything like that. You?

The Power of Love

2011-05-24T13:25:00.005-05:00

Fun article on Back to the Future and Huey Lewis music. Link

"Back To The Future is both undeniably timeless (its place in pop culture is beyond question) and incredibly dated (it's very much a product of its time). Interestingly, it's a period piece made in 1985 that depicts 1985 as an era as distant-seeming as its version of 1955."

Also enjoyed from the article the comparison of the use of Huey Lewis music in BTTF and "American Psycho" to embody different viewpoints of the same time period.

Smallville finale

2011-05-15T19:38:00.022-05:00

Totally going to go into spoilers--avoid if you care.

I watched the first five seasons of Smallville (starting in 2001), and had a great time with it until I realized that they were going to stretch the show out for as long as possible by any means necessary. They'd have incredible season premieres and finales, with a great mid-season cliffhanger, and everything else would be pure filler fluff that really had nothing to do with the overarching Superman story. So I quit watching in 2006. It just got too pointless.

However, I always knew I'd come back for the final season, because I wanted to see Clark Kent finally become Superman. So I watched, and once again the season started with a bang, had one other great episode (where Clark sees a glimpse of his future as Superman) and then abolutely nothing of consequence happened until the finale, which aired Friday.

Was it worth watching all 22 episodes in this 10th and final season? No way. One big reason was because the writers of this silly show decided to become political and blast one side of the political fence mercilessly through half of the season, and it really had no place on the show at all. It was transparent and juvenile, and ultimately irritating. The other problem was that pretty much every episode contributed nothing to the core story of Clark Kent becoming Superman. It was just 18 episodes of forgettable nonsense. The word "Superman" was never used, Clark never wore the Superman suit, and he never flew. I hoped the finale would make up for it in a big way.

Did the finale triumph as a perfect conclusion? Eh...if anything it was just an ending worthy of Smallville but nothing greater than that. Sort of okay writing, a from-nowhere and simple defeat of the bad guy, and that was it.

Finale complaints (excluding the obvious usual silly writing and dialogue):

1. So Darkseid was basically supposed to be the Devil from the Bible, right? He was specifically mentioned in the finale as being known as Lucifer, the Morning Star, etc., had shown his ability to possess people and put his mark of the beast on them (an invisible Greek omega sign), and showed up as a shadowy smoke monster with eyes throughout much of the season and it felt like they were setting him up for an epic conclusion. In the finale, Darkseid's planet Apokolips races towards the Earth (like in "The Fifth Element"), and it looks as if Apokolips will cause apocalypse and destroy the Earth. So we've got the Devil from the Bible who is using his supernatural powers that are clearly a level beyond Clark Kent's, who is about to unleash literal and figurative Hell on Earth, and how does Kent defeat him? He just picks up the planet Apokolips, flies off with it and throws it into space. The End. Series over. W-H-A-T? An entire season's buildup (not to mention ten years of the series) for that?

2. They really hung on to "no flights, no tights" all the way to the end, didn't they? Clark didn't finally fly until the second hour of the 2-hour finale. And as far as showing Tom Welling in the Superman costume, they even kind of cheated us out of that too. You got to see him as a small CG character, or close-ups of his face that cropped out almost all of his costume, and then in the big final moment when he runs off the rooftop (seen in the pic below), you just see him pull his shirt open revealing the "S." I wanted to finally really see Superman. I didn't get it.

3. Regarding Clark's newfound super power of flight: usually it would take him an entire episode if not an entire season for him to learn how to use a new power, like X-ray vision or whatever. But in the finale, Clark is given the ability to fly and he uses it to immediately fly into outer space, pick up a planet, and throw it far away where it can't hurt anybody. I can't help but think that maybe the writers could have given Clark the power of flight a few episodes ago instead of all of those totally unimportant filler stories they gave us instead. They should have given him a little time to get used to using his power, and it would have been much more fun for us the viewers as well.

4. They wasted the return of Lex Luthor. He really had little to do with the conclusion of the series--basically all they did was resurrect him because everybody knows that Lex Luthor is Superman's archenemy and he had to be able to survive for the mythos. But as far as being a contributor to the story of the finale? Nah, totally inessential. And what about Luthor's mind-wipe? Lame! Come on, his sister wipes some grape jelly on his face and it erases his memories in 30 seconds? But beyond that, if Lex has lost his memories, what's there to make him evil? He's now a blank slate with no memory of Clark's superpowers or his own father's betrayals. I know they were trying to preserve canon of Lex not knowing Clark's super powers, but it essentially destroyed all motivation for Lex Luthor's evil going forward. And why not let Lex keep his memories anyway? It's not like he'd ever blab about Clark's identity; Lex would want that knowledge all to himself to use for his own purposes. There really wasn't any reason to mind-wipe Lex Luthor.

5. Still don't understand the need for Green Arrow on the show other than the writers just needed ways to fill 40 minutes of story from episode to episode.

Finale positives:

1. The "first flight" scene was awesome. Darkseid posesses Lionel Luthor, and DarkLionel throws Clark Kent through his Kansas farmhouse. As Clark is hurling through the air, destroying everything in his path, he has a sort of life-flashing-before-his-eyes moment where his Kryptonian father JorEl tells Clark he's ready to become what he's meant to be and bestows upon Clark his power of flight. Clark then turns in mid-air and flies straight at Luthor, obliterating him into a cloud of smoke.

2. I like how they managed to have Lois and Clark's wedding occur but still somehow end up with their situation being still not-married-but-about-to-be-married, preserving the status quo. I also enjoyed Clark walking Lois down the aisle since her father couldn't be there, a nice touch.

3. Loved Jonathan Kent returning as a sort of memory ghost. Clark's Kansas upbringing is such a huge reason why Clark Kent became the Superman everybody loves, and John Schneider always played that role so well. Loved Jonathan Kent presenting Clark his Superman costume. So cool.

4. Always love John Glover as Lionel Luthor. The guy is a terrific villain. And becuase he's a great villain, the idea of putting his still-beating heart into the heartless clone of Lex Luthor was a geeky cool one.

5. Superman saving Lois Lane's airplane was pretty fun--they didn't really screw it up, so that's a compliment I guess. Still, from there we had to watch tiny CG Superman throw Apokolips into space, which kind of wrecked the moment.

Anyways, the show is over, and I've exorcised my fanboy need to dissect the ending. Looking forward to seeing what Zack Snyder does with Superman in the new movie coming soon.

--G

Triple Double Oreos

2011-05-13T21:39:00.003-05:00

Oreo has shockingly broken the three cookie barrier! Now I can't wait to see if another cookie will be brave enough to attempt the quattro.

Pixar Wars

2011-05-05T11:45:00.001-05:00

Very nicely done. Some of these Star Wars spoofs are pretty great.

Miley Cyrus covers Nirvana

2011-05-03T12:35:00.002-05:00

I got the biggest douche chill I've gotten in a long time while watching this.

Awesome

2011-05-02T12:46:00.008-05:00

As it drew nearer, I wondered what my 1000th blog post on this site would end up being. I had no idea that it would be this. So. Awesome.

"This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done." --George W. Bush

Harry Potter trailer

2011-04-28T12:51:00.001-05:00

This looks so good.

The Empire Strikes Out

2011-04-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

Carrie Underwood

2011-04-26T12:00:00.003-05:00

Really nicely done. And no, 7 years in Nashville hasn't made me like country music one bit. But this is really excellent.

Wookiee hairdo & Disneypocalypse

2011-04-20T21:05:00.001-05:00

Lovely web finds.

Royal Flushed

2011-04-16T22:01:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I was pulling into a parking space at a Subway here in Franklin, TN, and I almost did a double-take when I saw this magazine sitting in those "Free Paper" newsstands outside the shop. That couldn't be three of the most iconic sports figures of my childhood sitting on the cover of that Nashville City Paper, could it? Sure enough, I pulled one of those out and there it was, Dan Quisenberry, George Brett, and Willie Wilson on the cover of a magazine with an April 11, 2011 cover date. Never expected to see something like that in a million years.

The story they're telling is about how in the 1980s, then-Royals owner, the late Ewing Kauffman, sold half of the Royals to Memphis businessman Avron Fogelman. When it came time for the contracts of Quiz, Brett, and Wilson to be renewed, Fogelman gave them rich deals in his real estate holdings in Tennessee, which then soured years later. I guess the article is trying to tie in Fogelman's deals and the decline of the Royals since 1985. There might be some truth to it--if Fogelman hadn't screwed up his finances so badly, maybe the Royals wouldn't have ever had to be sold to David Glass and the last 20 years of futility might have been avoided. One can dream. The article does a little bit of follow-up with all of the people involved too.

Anyway, on top of the fun of seeing my old heroes on the magazine, I love that the Royals have leaped out to a 10-4 start, tied for second-best in baseball. Maybe this will finally be only the second year since the strike year of 1994 that I can hope the Royals might have a winning season and amount to something!

P.S. I found the article online if you're interested in reading it.

P.S.S. While I'm dwelling of Royals memories, here's a fun video look back at the Pine Tar Game.

Awesome food

2011-04-13T23:06:00.004-05:00

Tombstone vending machine and Dorito Loco Taco at Taco Bell. Add these to the KFC Double Down and the IHOP Cheesecake Pancakes on the list of awesome food ideas to come from the last couple of years.

Priest animated prologue

2011-04-07T14:03:00.000-05:00

Actually gets me interested in the Priest movie now. I'd like to see this clip in a better quality format though. It's animated by Genndy Tartakovsky, the creator of Samurai Jack, which I have every season of on DVD. Cool stuff.

Losing

2011-03-28T10:32:00.002-05:00

Hey hey, KU lost in the tournament to another no-name mid-major. So what? Old news. KU does this all the time, I'm totally used to it. We'll just add this to these other suck-fests that become these school's greatest wins ever:

• UTEP
• Rhode Island
• Bucknell
• Bradley
• Northern Iowa
• VCU

Good times. Nothing like an annual total choke job to start the year off. Wouldn't be March without it!

Thank God I'll at least always have 2008.

Elite 8

2011-03-25T22:03:00.002-05:00

Win Sunday and we're back to the Final Four!!

Meth

2011-03-23T12:37:00.002-05:00

Sweet 16

2011-03-20T23:13:00.001-05:00

So nice to be back to the Sweet 16! Can't wait for next weekend!

More Glee disses

2011-03-19T23:53:00.004-05:00

First Slash, now Dave Grohl. Thank goodness there are rockers out there who won't let their music be turned into absolute crap.

"The “Glee” backlash is in full force, and Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl is leading the charge.

“It’s every band’s right, you shouldn’t have to do f---ing ‘Glee,’” Grohl declared in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “And then the guy who created ‘Glee’ is so offended that we’re not, like, begging to be on his f---ing show… f--- that guy for thinking anybody and everybody should want to do ‘Glee.’”

The growing list of stars who refuse to join Britney Spears and Journey in getting the “Glee” treatment often send their regrets in similarly scathing fashion.

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill got into a Twitter war with “Glee”’s creator after refusing to license his music to the show. "Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go," Followill Tweeted. "See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say f---."

Damon Albarn of Gorillaz also declined to license his band’s music to the show, sniffing that “Glee” will be “forgotten in a few years.”"

Link to article

Obama picks KU again

2011-03-16T14:37:00.003-05:00

Uh oh. Let's hope this turns out better than last year.

Sports Illustrated cover

2011-03-15T12:25:00.000-05:00

KU gets #1 seed again

2011-03-13T19:12:00.001-05:00

Let's please hope the tournament ends a little better for us this year than last year.

Self

2011-03-13T14:24:00.002-05:00

Love this shot of him from last night after KU won the Big 12 tournament yet again.

Downhill bike race in Chile

2011-03-09T01:08:00.003-06:00

This is one of the most death-defying things ever.

I love the description from the referring site: "I have seen insanity and it happens on the streets of Valparaiso, Chile. The Valparaiso Cerro Abajo Race is a legendary urban bike race and is more extreme than skydiving out of an exploding F-18 piloted by Charlie Sheen - while chugging a 2 liter of Mountain Dew. The rider must brave jumps, stray dogs, and flights of stairs along the steep downhill path. The first person perspective provided by the excellent helmet cam lets us take in every glorious and frightening detail. Do yourself a favor and watch this one in full screen mode."

Up house done in reality

2011-03-07T14:58:00.001-06:00

Never seen a chicken

2011-03-03T12:16:00.001-06:00

Tron Uprising trailer

2011-03-03T10:58:00.001-06:00

Super cool. Mix of 3D and 2D art.

7 straight

2011-03-02T22:11:00.009-06:00

The Jayhawks won their 7th straight Big 12 championship tonight, which is totally unheard of in this day and age. No school from a Big Six conference has claimed that many consecutive league crowns since UCLA won 13 straight from 1967-79. For KU that's now 54 league championships overall, which is #1 all time (Kentucky is #2 with 46). Also, KU has won the Big 12 in 11 out of its 15 years of existence.

Bring on the NCAA tournament!

Coldplay steals Super Mario

2011-02-28T19:22:00.001-06:00

Not sure if it really matches up but it made me laugh.

Sudeikis on Kimmel

2011-02-18T12:08:00.002-06:00

All decked out in KU gear!

Chiefs football from 9/11

2011-02-17T15:02:00.003-06:00

This is on display in the Kansas City Chiefs' locker room. If you click on the photo and can read the letter, it's a July 7, 2002 letter from a New York City police detective sergeant who found this Chiefs football in the debris from the Twin Towers, and then sent the ball to the Chiefs. Pretty neat that a 9/11 Chiefs fan's ball made it back to the Chiefs and is now on display for inspiration.