American Madness

Okay, besides Legos, and Indiana Jones (and what would seem like the ultimate linking of the two) you can add Star Wars to the list of nostalgia I like to write about.

I came across this article written by a toy designer who was contacted in 1998 to produce a line of toys for the Pepsi to use in coordination with the release of Episode 1.

The article gives a brief back-story about getting the contract and all that jazz, but also has concept art for a lot of Star Wars toys that never were. Some of the concepts are kind of bad, others sound like they would have been a Star Wars geeks wet dream. My persona favorite is the Han in Carbonite fridge. Other ideas seem to be stuck in the 80s (although I like the concept, does anyone still use sun shades in their cars anymore and when was the last time some one broke out a slide projector?).

If you are a Star Wars fan, it is just a little fun post to check out.

We all know that Indiana Jones comes out in just two months (slightly over 57 days).

For those of you know who really need an Indy fix now though there is IndyGear. Indy Gear is the site for the true fan, where you can read up on Indiana Jones gear like his iconic fedora, his boots and various other articles he wears throughout the films and find out where you can purchase said items.

Some of the listings are the original manufacturers. Others just detail the gear and tell where you can find reasonable facsimiles. These are seriously obsessive Indy fans here, and by no means is that a bad thing. If anyone would like to but me a gift (I like gifts) those Indy Boots by Alden look pretty nice.*

*I am a 10 D

Does anyone still remember a time when people predicted that you would be able to watch anything you wanted when ever you wanted? Any show on a whim? When we hit 1000+ channels people felt that was the way it was going to be, but it wasn’t. On-Demand costs money and there is a limit to the shows shown. iTunes wasn’t much better though had a lot more recent titles to choose from.

This year we had channels starting to ponder the iTunes model and they all started streaming most of their shows on the internet (a combination of pay-per-view and free content) though most of those streams were a bit choppy and interrupted by a ton of commercials.

Well, now we have reached a point where that any show on a whimis starting to look more like a reality- Enter Hulu. (more…)

While it might seem like I all of a sudden have found a ton to say after quite a bit of silence, what really is going on is that when I come across a link I want to write about I keep it open until I have some free time (or bookmark them until I have a chance to get back to it or it is no longer timely). I am just going through my various windows right now and finding those things I have been meaning to write about.

Fortunately some of them fall into similar categories and can be linked together n a post just like this one.

There is a movie out now called “Be Kind Rewind” the premise is, essentially, that Jack Black and Mos Def remake a bunch of classic movies. The process is apparently referred to as Sweding
(I have yet to see the movie so I am basing this on the preview, hearsay from friends and this article). To coincide with the release of the movie last month Esquire made up a list of The Five Most Awesomely Sweded Movies.

New York Magazine did a little leg work of their own to come up with their annual Best of New York list which has everything from “Fitness Classes for Kids” to the best steak. You can even check out the list broken down by neighborhood or as a straight A-Z list.

Last up for our list of lists we have another Esquire piece: The Best Sandwiches In America. At first I wasn’t too sure about this list, I mean it is one thing to find good sandwiches across the country, I am sure there are some great ones, but a Reuben from outside New York City? And a non-traditional one at that. Come on… (more…)

	Image from Pirated Movie.

The Motion Picture Association of America hit a bit of a snag this week. In their continued efforts to attack movie piracy and cut down on P2P (That’s Person to Person) sharing on college networks they developed a “University Toolkit” asking universities and colleges around the country to download the software they were supplying to curtail the peer sharing of movies over networks.

What happened wa that back in October the MPAA sent a letter to 25 universities that have been “identified as top locations for downloading of pirated movies” and asked them to install the software. From there an internal report would be generated and sent to the Chief Information Officer at the university. (more…)

In order to give Josh a hand I’ve whipped up a couple of posts to help him out along the way. Okay, so far that’s not true. In fact, I’ve only written this, but really, I blame Josh.

The time I had scheduled to write before my fleeing departure from the US was interrupted when Josh came over on Saturday. I would have typed up a few posts for him, but instead we went out to lunch and ate tasty Vietnamese sandwiches and discussed some of the weaker years that the Simpsons had on the air. So now, because I do feel pity for Josh, I have to take time out of my vacation to get his back and help him out with a post here and there this week. Here we go:

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American Gangster has everything going for it (story, director, cast, budget) but manages to come across as an exceedingly well edited made-for-TV movie.

It’s a Sunday afternoon snoozer during which every scene contains almost no evidence that the characters are more than automotans or props. Few of the supporting cast have more than a few lines in the film. And yet…what might have been.

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I just learned about Criticker today.

Criticker is to movies what GoodReads is to books, for the most part. Though there is a bit more work required on your part here.

Basically you go in and rank a bunch of movies, after you have ranked 10, using their TCI (Taste Compatibility Index), they match you up with other people who have similar tastes. Of course, the more films you rank allows the system to better match you with folks who have compatible tastes. You must sign-up though to see folks with similar tastes. Ideally folks with a low TCI (the lower the better) will have seen movies you haven’t seen and you’ll find some great ones to watch, maybe films that will become your favorites, plus it means you can use Cricker as a gauge, unlike Amazon’s user’s comments which lets you see how everyone feels and what they have to say about a film, with Criticker you get an idea of how similar your tastes are to the folks whose movies you are looking at. Could be fun…

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The bloggers here at AmericanMadness (and Peter Shankman from PR Differently) occasionally share articles with each other over email, earlier this week we were “discussing” Fred Thompson in the context of the article “Fred Thompson: Desperate Republicans Cheer for a Reagan Wannabe” posted on AlterNet.

Of course his various television and movie roles were discussed (including his stint as the air traffic controller in Die Hard 2) and the article touches on his platform- or lack thereof. Matt Taibbi writes that Thompson doesn’t have much of a campaign, that in terms of US politics, he is essentially a new low, not saying much about anything while he is on the campaign trail, putting off tougher questions and saying we need change without ever really addressing what needs changing and how. Taibbi seems to fear that Thompson will get elected by being the candidate that allows voters to daze off while listening to him speak and not actually missing anything, he compares Thompson’s campaigning to watching television, you don’t really need to pay attention to it and it allows you not to really think about anything. Based on all of this Taibbi seems to think that Thompson has a pretty decent shot at the ‘08 elections.

I find myself agreeing with Taibbi’s view that Thompson has a shot but for different reasons. Forget the fact that he isn’t saying very much in his campaigning (which technically only “officially” started at the beginning of September) and that he is behind on the fund-raising efforts where McCain and Giulliani both have a significant lead on him. I think what gives Thompson his best shot at scoring the bid for President and possibly winning in ‘08 is Law & Order.

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