RaaD Technology, Movies & News

I know most have heard of High School Musical, but the sketch comedy gang The Monkey Box (subscribe here) created a somewhat darker comedy trailer for the musical College Musical.

Ahh, memories…

Dany

I know it may be hard to tell from the above pic, but Olivia Munn is kind of a geek. She co-hosts Attack of the Show and their Friday (3/2 Around the Net segment was HILARIOUS! Get to the funny directly by clicking here and watch the video, especially if you start from the 2:36 mark. The game is called MushMouth and watching Olivia and Kevin Pereira play had me cracking up.

Thanks to The Bastardly for the above pic, if you want more pics of Olivia, get the rest from this great Brie Childers photo shoot, which are about as safe for work as this one is, from Playboy After Hours and subscribe to Around the Net here.

Enjoy

Dany

Oh, here’s the commercial from the imponderables

This is the extended cut of director Michael Bay’s AWESOME Verizon FiOS ad. It’s great when a director is able to make fun of himself.

This is just another example of making good commercials so we WANT to watch them.

Dany

Here’s an interesting video for PBS Nova’s upcoming special about Germany’s solar power initiative.

The full special, Saved by the Sun is already available online here and will air on PBS on March 18th at 8pm. Check it out!

Thanks to Nova’s podcast for bringing news of this special.

Dany

I first saw the Hawaii Chair infomercial on youtube and thought it was a gag product, I didn’t think it was real. Then I saw clips of it demoed on Attack of the Show and The Digg Reel! I still can’t believe that anyone would actually try and get any work done while riding this combination mechanical bull and 1950’s style vibrating belt exercise machine! Knowing it’s real, makes me wish it was just another case of vaporware.

Dany

I promised a friend that I would find this clip for her. It has been over 10 years since this ad first aired, but this Snickers ad with Gheorghe Muresan is still hilarious! I wish their current ads were as funny as this one.

Enjoy

Dany

After weeks of speculation, it is official, CBS will be airing Dexter, season 1, starting in mid February!

This looks to be the same model that TBS took with Sex in the City and A&E uses to air The Sopranos. The episodes will be edited for tv, which means commercial breaks as well as content neutering of more extreme language, sex and violence. I am not a huge fan of this style editing, but I am a fan of bringing this show into more people’s homes to give them a chance to experience, what I think is one of the best shows on TV. I think this model has really been a boon for Sex in the City, so I hope this does the same thing for Dexter.

I first heard inklings of this when I saw an ad for CBS tv shows and after seeing the poster for CSI flash across the screen, they followed it with a signature shot of our favorite serial killer. Now I came across this press release from Showtime which confirms this story!

I still think the best way to watch this show is on either Showtime, DVD or both, but this is still exciting news and I WILL be checking out the network airings starting this February to see just how much the show changes with these edits.

Thanks to Toxic Shock TV for the above pic.

Dany

Woody Allen seems to be making a different style of movies lately. He made Match Point back in 2005, which was an extremely well made romantic drama, but very different from the types of movies that made him famous (like Annie Hall and Manhattan).

Now that his latest movie, Cassandra’s Dream, is going out on limited release this Friday, January 18th I wanted to bring some attention to the film. I know I’ll be seeing the film here in NYC, if not on opening night, maybe this weekend. This film looks to be a tightly made, hard nosed, murder mystery, but the film looks to be following the killers instead of what most films do: follow the people tracking down the killers. The movie stars Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Tom Wilkinson (an actor who is becoming one of my favorite actors, by picking some really memorable roles).

Check out the HD trailer over at Apple Trailers.

Dany

I just got done going through the humongous backlog of unread Engadget stories I hadn’t had time to read over the past month (995 to be exact) and I wanted to highlight a few of the more interesting ones that caught my eye just before the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off.

First there’s the potentially fetishistic and definitely creepy/weird vibrating bluetooth bracelet.

Then President Clinton, while speaking in Iowa was heckled by a robot protester! Don’t worry though, he can handle himself.

How about a 10+ inch, 10mm thick, color plastic LCD display?

Lonely? Ever thought about building a creepy $30 android for that needed companionship?

Hey, wow look at that, Former President Clinton is BACK and this time reveals he uses an iPhone… the man even signs it too!

You know, there are some days when I’m so lazy I wont walk across a room to charge my cell phone… look at what some people in India go through for their cell phones. It makes me exhausted just thinking about it.

My handwriting is already illegible as it is, I can’t imagine writing any smaller than I already do, so seeing the whole Bible written on something smaller than a grain of rice is pretty daunting.

Now, for the winner in vaporware keyboard technology, Art Lebedev and his LCD touchpad keyboard.

I also want to try the pillow that relaxes you, using light and sound, but yet manages to look like a whoopee cushion.

I am very excited that you can now order a mac tablet computer here through pretty much the only official 3rd party Apple builder. It’s called the Modbook and it uses Wacom tablet technology.

Are you tired of those prankster scientist friends of yours, always putting ink on your microscope viewfinder, giving you raccoon eyes? Well, no more, enjoy the newest LCD view microscope.

Get the Pinnacle Video Transfer if you want to bring ANY analog video onto your portable usb video player (that means you iPod and PSP).

Now, saving the BEST for last, learn how to REALLY play the guitar using a REAL guitar with Guitar Wizard! Stop wasting your time with Guitar Hero! At least with Rock Band, you can learn to play drums.

Thanks Swiftpage for the picture.

Dany

Here’s the trailer for the new Will Smith movie, Hancock, instead of being the reluctant last man on Earth, he’s the reluctant super human with super powers.

Check out the HD Trailer here, thanks to Apple Trailers or just check it out here. Thanks to Film School Rejects for the poster.

Enjoy

Dany

Powerthirst is for the human on the go, one that wants to be WAY more than human. Do you want all your fat to fall off? Grow the kind of muscle that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Mcguire and Barry Bonds tear up in jealousy?!?!?!

Thanks Dan for the linky linky. Enjoy

Dany

OS Living and Downloadpedia are sites devoted to providing information about all the best open source software programs for all different types of computing. These are great programs to use when you have just bought a new computer and realize you spent all your money on hardware and have no more money to devote to software, it’s also good if you want quality software that has been created and improved by computing enthusiasts, you can also, if brave enough edit the software yourself.

Thanks to Expand open source reach for the above pic.
Enjoy

Dany

This is probably pretty close to the perfect way to tell a political comedy drama, especially when based on a true story. This film was directed by Mike Nichols and written by Aaron Sorkin. These two powerhouses have been creating some of the most interesting and entertaining big and small screen productions over their careers and their partnership (their first joint venture) to bring this movie to the silver screen is no different, this movie was just a joy to watch.

Tom Hanks plays Charlie Wilson and is GREAT in this role, there is a perfect mix of hilarity and surprisingly, of a man who is smarter than the persona
he publicly promotes. I must say, I was extremely young during the early 1980s, I don’t really remember most of the events that the movie talks about and the only things I knew about Charlie Wilson specifically was what I saw from the previews for this movie (I didn’t want to research the history of this until after I saw the movie). So, I was not expecting the glimpses of an extremely smart politician that were presented.

Most of archive footage was very well interspersed into this film, but the very first helicopter scene was a bit jarring and unexpected, mainly for the amount of violence they showed, which was pretty unexpected because of how humorous the film had been up to that point. In the grand scheme of the story, the scene works to bring the audience into the degree of violence going on over seas, but it WAS unexpected. I was watching this film in a NYC theater and when Rudy Giuliani’s name came up during this film, without giving too much away, there was NOTICEABLE laughter from the audience for this.

The other massively enjoyable performance came from Philip Seymour Hoffman. He has played great parts in so many movies and this performance is no different. The scene where he is arguing with his boss may just be THE best scene in the entire movie. Julia Roberts also stars in the film, I am not usually a big fan of hers, but in this role, I didn’t think she was bad… a stellar review of her performance, I know, but at least she didn’t detract from the movie (like she did from Ocean’s Eleven).

I would recommend this movie for almost anyone, it is a really enjoyable film. The only people I would say should avoid this film are those who don’t like politics/history, if this is the case, you would probably be pretty bored not understanding what’s going on.

Thanks to Renee Ashley Baker for the above pic.

Dany

If you haven’t already seen it, check out the Get Smart teaser trailer. You can get the HD version over at Apple trailers.

I like the idea of having Steve Carell star as Maxwell Smart, it looks like a great choice, not to mention Alan Arkin as the Chief, Anne Hathaway, Bill Murray and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The movie has some big shoes to fill though, the original TV show starring Don Adams was insanely funny and the show was also remade and reimagined in the early 1980’s as one of my favorite cartoons, Inspector Gadget, which incidentally was also voiced by Don Adams as well.

You can watch those original opening themes below for these two Don Adams classics below.

The world is going crazy, w00t become Merriam-Webster’s #1 Word of the Year for 2007, but this clip, which is an official ad for PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (Yes, you read this correctly) tops anything I’ve seen so far! Chuck Norris facts used to just be the domain of internet geeks like me along with Mr. T and Vin Diesel facts, but now, the Chuck Norris Facts have exploded to the surface of mainstream news and politics!

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that the internet is having more and more influence on mainstream culture and this campaign video for the US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION is the best example EVER!

OK, I have told many people this already, but I predict that Mike Huckabee will WIN the Iowa Caucus. My friends know how I feel about this upcoming election, but this is BIG news!

Thanks to the Buzz Report for finding this absolutely brain melting video.

Dany

Are you pissed that NBC has pulled its videos off of both iTunes and Youtube BEFORE their big Hulu venture has been fully released to the public? Well, OpenHulu is a project that has been working to embed every video that has been placed onto Hulu, but will allow ALL to access these files. That’s right, no private beta to lock you out anymore. You still get the ads and all current shows are truncated to only allow viewing of the latest 5 episodes, since the content is direct from the source, but at least most shows are already posted.

Thanks to Lifehacker for finding and broadcasting this info. Also, don’t forget that you can get all the same content at AOL Video’s Hulu channel, I know I keep forgetting about it.

Dany

The highly anticipated film by J.J. Abrams, which was initially only known as 1-18-08, has released a far more extensive trailer and we now know the film is titled Cloverfield. It looks (from all the gunfire and shadow shots) and sounds like some combination of monsters, both Godzilla big and Alien small (and hungry) has attacked New York City.

Take some time and get a looksy at the HD trailer from Apple trailers by clicking here. or just watch it from youtube above.

Dany

I know I slammed the look of Alvin and the Chipmunks for their CG chipmunks, but now, it’s time for rubber to meet the road, check out the trailer (HD is always best if you can wait for it, otherwise, just watch the youtubiness above. Now that I’ve ranted over the CG, I must say, I’ve liked Jason Lee since Chasing Amy and I hope this movie is good.

Thanks to moviefone for the hd clips.

Dany

Now that some more extensive trailers have hit the market, it looks like I am Legend is a much different movie than just Will Smith as the last man left on Earth, now it looks like he has to battle/solve the mystery of the monster problem he seems to have at night. I am especially excited to find out that this will also be released in IMAX! That’s definately how I will be seeing this film.

Check out the HD trailers (thanks apple trailers otherwise you can see the youtube version at the top of the page.

Dany