“Residents Flee MoCo Blaze” comes from the DC Examiner for January 5, 2009. MoCo is actually an abbreviation for Montgomery County Maryland, but to me, MoCo Blaze sounds like an oversexed mercenary. The idea of MoCo Blaze terrorizing poor suburbanites just made me chuckle.
Angry Zen Minion Kevin Bahrt sent along this prime example of how the internet is essentially destroying our language. Spelling challenged fan-fic author Peter Chimaera decided to post a story entitled Quaterlife: Halfway to Destruction. Having a hard time reading it? Well, the fine folk at ICTON Entertainment have taken it upon themselves to read aloud the offending fan fic in the hopes that you may gain some insight into just what the fuck sir Chimaera was attempting to say. They’ve even provided wonderful animation for further clarification.
AZM Ally Mike Dent sent along some sneaky peaky footage of the Watchmen flick. I love Rorschach’s face. The morphing pattern works amazingly well. Nite Owl’s costume is growing. The sets, the shots, all of it looks pretty damn faithful to the book. I’m still not sold on Ozymandias. He just seems like a skinny toothpick, not at all like the ideal god-hero character we see in the comic. But overall, I’m getting more and more anxious to see this.
It seems like they’re proceeding as if they’re going to release the film in March. The website hasn’t changed the release date. And the cardboard standees at the movie theater I passed yesterday all have the March release date. My guess is that they’re just waiting to see what happens on January 20th when the judge conducts the injunction hearing.
Audrey and AZM Ally Nelly both clued me into the announcement of the 11th Doctor. And he’s not who some of us thought he would be. The eleventh regeneration of the Doctor will be played by Matt Smith, no relation to Sara Jane Smith. There’s actually a nifty video interview with him over at the BBC Doctor Who site that for once, I actually don’t have access to.
I’ve never seen this guy in anything so I have nothing interesting to say. He looks pretty young, but I think I could get used to him. I’m a little disappointed that Paterson Joseph wasn’t chosen, but maybe he’ll show up as a companion or something. But I have faith in the producers and so I will wait with bated breath until 2010 when we get a full new season! What do you Angry British Minions out there think of the eleventh Doctor?
[Via BBC]
We got a lot more entries than anticipated in our first Great Monskey Design Contest so it took us a little longer than anticipated to choose three winners. But we’ve got em now! So, in no particular order here are our three.
Lavinia’s Ghast
MetaMephisto’s Chimpanzee
I can’t wait to see them in vinyl!
Congratulations to the winners! We will be contacting your shortly. And thanks to all who entered! Your designs were all quite amazing which made it even harder for us to decide. Thank you all.
If you ever pondered whether or not the modern Disney was only interested in egregiously ginormous sacks of cashola, ponder no further. Disney is dropping the Narnia franchise citing “budgetary and logistical” reasons.
Actually, looking at the numbers puts this move into perspective. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe brought in $292 million domestically and $453 million world wide for a total of $743 million in 2005. Caspian took in $141 million and $278 million world wide for a total of $419 million this year. If the downward trend continues, the third film will skirt dangerously close to the break-even line. Disney is quitting while they’re ahead. Who can really blame them?
Does this downward trend signal wanning interest in the fantasy genre? Golden Compass didn’t do so well domestically, and despite a strong overseas showing, the producers pulled the plug. Eragon and Stardust didn’t perform well at the box office. Could it be that certain fantasy properties just don’t reach an audience? Harry Potter will certainly make mince meat out of the box office this year. Are the Potter films an exception?
I would really hate to see studios shying away from the fantasy genre. Maybe it’s time for a genre makeover. So, dear readers, in 2009, what would you do to help get fantasy back on its feet?
[Via Hollywood Reporter]
Hello 2009!
“More Fuel For The Hot Stove” comes from the Examiner for January 2, 2009. All I could think of was a cute, potbelly stove. Kinda looks like a pissed off Domokun.
And more cheesy music thanks to YouTube!
AZM Ally Aegis reports that Australia is so fed up with tourists that they now feed the unwanted visitors to crocodiles. At Darwin city’s Crocosaurus Cove, tourists can spend quality face time with Choppa, a saltwater crocodile, by climbing into a 9ft high clear acrylic tank that gets lowered into the croc’s enclosure.
City of “Darwin,” eh. No, no irony there.
Swimming with deadly, hungry animals on purpose has never made much sense to me. I suppose if you wanted to see how croc teeth interact with live human flesh, then yes, I guess you have to just jump in. But if you’re not a biologist studying crocs, what the fuck are you doing? Pissing off a right giant eating machine by teasing it with your tasty bits seems like unnecessarily tempting fate. Okay, so climbing up a great big fucking rock is probably equally as dangerous. But teasing crocs is a really bad idea.
[Via Daily Mail]
A fart is like a little bubble of compressed air, right? Or gas. Well, air is a gas. So there you go! A car that runs on farts!
If some enterprising company decides to license MDI’s CAT for American consumers, the face of the auto and oil industries will dramatically change. The hybrid gas/compressed air engine alone will save drivers thousands on gas. I am slightly concerned with sitting on pressurized gas tanks, but if they say the carbon fiber tanks are safe, I’ll take their word. I’m also not impressed with the driver seat dead center. Taking out the passenger seat, no matter what side it’s on, doesn’t sound all that efficient in terms of people packing. That said, I would pick one of these up in a heart beat if they were sold in America.
You can check out MDI’s website for more information and a look at their whole line of cars. My favorite the Air Pod. It only carries three people, including the driver, but it’s so darn cute!
[More at Motor Development International]
Happy freaking New Year everyone!
A lot of blogs and magazines and news outlets make these long lists of the best and worst things about the previous year. Here at AZM, we like to look towards the future. Last year, I made a list of predictions and wishes. Some of them happily came true (President Barack Obama bitches!) and some were wildly inaccurate (no 3D movie revolution quite yet). So let’s see what 2009 will bring us!
Predictions - somewhat based on observations
Wishes - based on absolutely nothing but fun to imagine
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