Free Music Mondays: Cigar

This week's featured band is Cigar. The punk group features Rami on guitar, Jon on drums, Jason on bass, and all three on vocals.

Here are the tracks (right click and choose 'save as' to download ,+ indicates recommended):

* No More Waiting
* Mr. Hurtado +
* Me the One
* Movies & TV

Tags: Cigar, music, free, mp3, punk rock

Donky Kong, 2001 T-shirt Design

Check out this t-shirt design on threadless.com. It's a mashup of references to Donkey Kong and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I guess you can vote for it to become a design they used - I tried signing up but the activation email was never sent.

Tags: Donkey Kong, 2001, Stanley Kubrick, Nintendo

Want free books? Try bookmooch.com

Over at bookmooch.com, you can offer up for books you are willing to give away and can receive books that you want. When you give away a book, you get a credit, and when you request to receive a book from someone it costs a credit. You can also earn partial points just for listing a book or notifying that you have received a shipment. So far I've sent out one book and requested three from other people and things seem to be moving smoothly. This is a really great idea and I would encourage people to join if they are active readers.

Tags: free, books, bookmooch

Movie Review: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

How come I didn't hear about this movie earlier? Kiss Kiss Bang Bang takes you on a wild ride through LA as "a murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor". The stylistic elements of the movie are what made this film excellent, including the choice of using the voice-over narration. Robert Downey Jr. plays his character perfectly, and all of the actors/actresses nail the humor that makes this film so fun to watch. One of the only complaints that I have is that the plot gets very convoluted near the halfway mark (although there is justification for it in the film). It just brought me down a little after the remarkable first act. With this added complexity, there was less room for the voice over/storytelling humor that I feel was the best quality of the film. Even with this criticism, I still highly recommend seeing this film.

Tags: movies, movie review, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Movie Review: Land of the Blind

I really wanted to enjoy Land of the Blind, but it just didn't happen. The camerawork was great, Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland did a fine job acting, and the costumes/props/setting all looked magnificent. However, the script did not reach the same level as everything else that contributed to the film. In an attempt to make a complex and thought provoking story, the screenwriter instead created a mish-mash of historical events and literature. It seemed like the film borrowed way too much from everything else instead of trying to create something new. In addition, the attempts at comedy clashed with the seriousness of the film and most of the time the lame jokes failed to amuse me at all. I think I would have preferred if the humor came out more subtly. Also, the pacing of events in the film seemed off as well - it's hard to put my finger on it, but the film just didn't seem to flow very smoothly. I recommend staying away from this film.

Tags: Ralph Fiennes, Donald Sutherland, movies, movie review, Land of the Blind

Youtube Tuesdays

After last week's edition of Youtube Tuesdays was linked to by woot.com, I got a HUGE spike in traffic. This week I'm going to try something to help encourage traffic to everyone's favorite YouTube videos. Here's the deal:

1. On your blog, make an entry that showcases your favorite YouTube videos you've found in the past week.
2. In the post, include a link back here.
3. Write a comment on this post linking back to your blog, and I'll update this post to link back to you.

It's as simple as that. Now, onto the videos:

Links to other YouTube Tuesday posts:
* None yet! Post yours in the comments!

1. Michael J. Fox - Japanese Commercial
A wacky commercial for a Japanese drink featuring Michael J. Fox. His facial expression at the end is priceless.


2. Mr. T Fashion Show
Who convinced Mr. T to do these videos? Chock-full of 80s cheesiness, watch Mr. T act as an MC of a 'fashion show'. Does anyone know where to find the full version of "Be Somebody or be Somebody's Fool" (the movie that this is from)?


3. Travis Pastrana Double Backflip X-Games XII
Absolutely insane. A few years ago, a single backflip on a dirtbike was considered impossible, but now Pastrana has raised the bar again.


4. Sadness Trailer (Wii)
OK, I know this is a few months old, but I first saw it this past week. Although this doesn't contain any gameplay footage, it hooks me into wanting to know more.


5. Mel-O-Drama
On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart and crew use footage from Mel Gibson's movies to illustrate fake news stories about him after seeing real news sources do it for his drunk driving incident.


I hope you've enjoyed this week's videos. Remember to post a link in the comments back to your own YouTube Tuesday post and I'll put it in here!

Tags: YouTube, videos, comedy, Michael J Fox, Japanese, commercial, Mr T, Travis Pastrana, X Games, dirtbike, Sadness, Wii, The Daily Show, Mel Gibson

Free Music Mondays: Wonderland Dementation Dept.

This week's Free Music Monday features the politically-charged Wonderland Dementation Dept. Formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, they are self-described as "mental guerilla warfare through a melodic hardcore sound". Here are the tracks (right click and select 'save as', + indicates recommended):


* Hypnosis +
* Black Channel
* Collaboration of Thieves
* Homeland Security Program

Tags: free, mp3, music, Wonderland Dementation Dept, hardcore

Movie Review: 11:14

This film focuses on a number of interconnecting events that occur one night around 11:14 PM. Each section of the film presents one character's point of view. With the revelation of each new substory, you can see how the decisions that each person has made affected everyone else in the film. Most of the dilemmas facing the characters deal with how to handle a crime - should they cover it up or tell the truth about what happened? Everyone chooses the former and this is what spins the events out of control. A fun film to watch, you begin to pick up how each person's actions have altered the outcome of events and continually need to re-evaluate what you have already seen based on new information. The screenwriter chose carefully when and how to release each piece of the puzzle, and this is what drives the story to a satisfying conclusion.

If you liked this film, I recommend seeing Crash, Pulp Fiction, and Go.

Tags: movies, movie review, 11:14

Blanks on a Blank

Blanks on a Blank is a filmmaking contest where participants, randomly assigned an animal and a vehicle, must create a short film parodying Snakes on a Plane. So far, the videos are actually much more entertaining then I expected - people definitely put a lot of work into these. I would have loved to enter this contest, but a) they charge $40, and b) I just found out about it today and there are only about 10 days left.

Tags: Snakes on a Plane, movies, filmmaking

Video Game News / Findings

Again, mostly Nintendo related, but I've got some others in there as well.

Gamecube: A Video History That Never Was - Check out videos for games that were never released for the Gamecube. - via Digg

The Gamecube Reliquary - Incorporates the Gamecube into a piece of furniture. - via Kotaku

How to Get the Most Out of your Dead Rising Demo - A guide to the XBOX 360 demo (the full game is released tomorrow).

The Unbelievers - A blog that features gamers reveiwing games (while playing them for a month) that they normally would never play. - via Joystiq

Nintendo Monopoly - Play the classic Monopoly game with Nintendo characters. - via Digg

Tags: video games, Nintendo, Gamecube, Dead Rising, XBOX 360