Somewhat Manly Nerd

At Best Buy.

I’m a pretty well-known Best Buy whore among my friends, and it’s because of things like this:

Fucking sweet. That’s what the 2-disc steelbook (a la Gears of War or Band of Brothers) looks like. I have $23 in my wallet wrapped in paper labeled “The Departed DVD.”

Best Buy seems to get a lot of shit for their customer service and their Extended Service Plans on expensive items, but for buying DVDs and games, I absolutely love the place. I’ve bought the vast majority of my DVDs the past few years for under $10 due the weekly deals they have on DVDs. Only for a movie as awesome as The Departed do I go out and buy the DVD day one. And an exclusive deal as great as this makes the decision even easier.

If you want to find out what extra stuff the second disc has on it, check out this review over at DVDTalk. I’m only a little disappointed at the lack of a commentary track.

Not much introduction needed here. If you watched this Monday, you will know what this video is.

Maybe the rest of the episode was the definition of mediocre, and maybe the ending was extremely polarizing, but no one can tell me this scene was not brillantly acted and brutally intense. Even though the show has been declining in quality since the beginning, I still watch it purely for moments like this.

Source.

Even the boxarts get delayed. But if somehow those are the final UK boxarts, I’ll laugh pretty hard. At least they get across the point of the full package well. Five games – one of the them (Half-life 2) already proving to be one of the best games in recent years – for $60. The other still being a damn good deal at $40.

Valve never gets anything done on time. Did anyone not expect this glorious package to be pushed back? I predicted a Holiday 2007 release when they said “Summer 2007,” as it was the only release date I ever expected. Valve even admits themselves that they suck at getting games done on time. They probably just sit around playing their own games half the time.

Maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on them, because when they do release games, they’re pretty damn awesome. Even if it takes a damn long time for them to actually be released.

The quarterback who has been compared endlessly to Dan Marino now has the one thing Marino doesn’t – a Super Bowl ring (and also a Super Bowl MVP award). The Colts have just beaten the Bears 29-17. I’m happy for the guy, since he’s a class act and is one of the best quarterbacks the NFL has ever had. Unfortunately, Marino is probably going to cry himself to sleep tonight. Manning still has a couple of Super Bowl wins to go if he wants to catch the Anti-Christ Tom Brady, but now Brett Farve is pretty much knocked down a peg on the all-time list. They both have one ring, but Manning is a massive threat to his soon-to-be passing records, which at the moment still sit in Marino’s hands. Poor Dan, he’s just getting owned at every corner.

The game itself was the story of the Colts’ complete and utter dominance – and also a shitload of fumbles. The pouring rain turned the first half of the game into some sort of blooper reel. Twice there was a fumble by one team, only for it to be fumbled back on the very next play. The starting kickoff was returned by the Bears for a TD, but after that it was all downhill; I’m reminded of another championship game…

Honestly, the 12-point difference doesn’t truly show just how well the Colts were able to impose their will on the Bears. The Colts had the ball for two-thirds of the game. When Grossman actually got a chance to be on the field, he played pretty damn bad.

That second interception was one of the worst passes in NFL history. Maybe he can blame it on the rain, but holy crap that was terrible. The game wasn’t over at that point. The Bears were only down by 5 points. Somehow they had managed to keep it within a touchdown, but then Grossman fucked up gloriously. Yep, one of the worst Super Bowl QBs in history.

The halftime show was being hyped up pretty big by CBS. Prince was supposed to bring down the house. I honestly expected a good performance, judging by some of the stuff I had seen over on Youtube. I was never a fan of the guy growing up because he seemed like some less-popular version of Michael Jackson. But like Chris Rock has said, “Prince won!” Even though he’s 5 feet tall and dresses like a woman, Prince has banged a multitude of hot chicks in his life and is enjoying a surge in popularity, while the pedophile Michael Jackson now looks more like a woman than his sister Janet and is infamous for hanging a baby out a window. Unfortunately, Prince’s performance was a bit underwhelming. Some of it was definitely due to the mixing and the rain probably didn’t help either. He was certainly better than last year, but U2′s set still reigns supreme out of recent performances. I have a band I think would rock the house, but I’m going to leave that for another post.

And last, but not least – the commercials. Overall, I’d say they were decent this year. As usual, Budweiser and Bud Light spots ruled the day. I’m going to have the urge to slap all my friends now, and Ultimate RPS (a hometown spin on Rock-Paper-Scissors) has taken on new meaning in my head. The commercial with the dog was pretty cool too. But I’m partial towards anything involving dogs. They pretty much rock. Oh, and I never want to eat a Snickers bar again just because of their commercial. You can watch all the commercials over at CBS.com.

For all you Bears fans out there, hurry up – you can still pick this DVD up over at NFLshop.com:

That logo is pretty bad. Looks like a Tostitos Fiesta Bowl logo or something.

So I’ve got only about 14 hours left until kickoff. It’s pretty sad, but a lot of my enthusiasm (and I feel I’m not alone) is due to the great commercials always aired. If I really cared for either team, then maybe I’d be more hyped for the game itself, but as it is, I love how it’s an excuse to just sit on my ass for four hours.

I’m going to be rooting for the Colts and Peyton Manning, since I feel like he’s earned it with that astonishing win over the Patriots last week. He’s always been shaky in the playoffs, but with that one performance, he redeemed himself – but he still needs to finish the job. Marvin Harrison, hell the whole team, is a example of how to play the game. I really don’t notice too much showboating. Not that the Bears are a bunch of pompous morons like the New York Giants, but it’s always refreshing to see a guy as good as Marvin Harrison play the game with such class. And yea, color does have a lot to do with it. I bet he doesn’t like it when he sees the other players of his race acting like a bunch of idiots – namely TO.

But the Bears are a good team, and you can’t count them out. Anything can happen in just one game. Hopefully, it will be a game of the close, hard-fought variety. I know for sure that the halftime show will be better than last year’s. The Rolling Stones’ set last year was the most obscene thing I’ve seen on broadcast television. Seeing a 60-year-old man dance like that was more disturbing than an episode of the X-Files. But this year, Prince is lined up to play and he will no doubt give the best performance since U2′s during Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. Sorry, Paul McCartney.

I hope you have an awesome time watching the Super Bowl. I know I will.

Admit it, you laughed at that. Even I did and I think it’s pretty damn tasteless.

There’s been way too many things created because of this ridiculously embarrassing debacle.

YTMND – Jack Bauer Interrogates the Mooninites.

And now here’s a really rough, basic flash game, but I enjoyed it for about a minute. Save Boston – Whack a Mooninite.

Thomas Menino, the mayor of Boston, isn’t done making a fool of himself either. He wants to ban “guerilla marketing” now. So just because he and his entire police force overreacted, he wants to ban an advertising technique that is too broad to truly define. What an idiot.

You should already know who Judd Apatow is, but if not, he’s the guy who co-wrote and directed the 40-Year-Old-Virgin, produced Anchorman and Talledega Nights, and also was the man behind the quickly cancelled, but cult hit TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. He already has a pretty awesome resume, and the fact that he both wrote and directed “Knocked Up” has me pretty excited for it. The fact that this movie has both Seth Rogan and Paul Rudd in it makes me all the more optimistic. And then Katherine Heigl is just unbelievably hot. All the signs point towards greatness.

The U.S. trailers for the movie remind me of the ones for the 40-Year-Old-Virgin, as it paints over the dirtier side of the movie and tries to flesh out the story and seems a bit cheesy in the process. But I think this trailer is better than any I saw for the 40-Year-Old-Virgin, at least. Take a look.

Now, the following embedded Youtube video is the international trailer for Knocked Up. Unlike the PG-rated U.S. trailer, this one shows the true adult nature of the film, and only shows one scene – but that’s all that is necessary to get across the plot of the movie.

Now why can’t we get trailers like that over in the U.S.? Remember how the 40-Year-Old-Virgin didn’t look all that great in the trailers and commercials, but then it was probably the funniest movie of 2006? Luckily, it did well based on word-of-mouth, but I think this movie has a good chance of being an even bigger hit. It will be hitting theaters on June 1st. I can’t wait.

If you want to see a small sampling of what looks to be one of the most ridiculously over-the-top movies ever, click on this video.

Not only does this movie star the man who should have been James Bond (Clive Owen), but it also has the gorgeous Monica Bellucci. And then Paul Giamatti is in there too – a pretty damn good actor (even if he starred in the shitfest that is “Lady in the Water”). Like Children of Men, Clive Owen is once again protecting a baby, but this time he’s holding a newborn while he mows down dozens of guys Matrix-style. The movie looks to live up to its name.

I liked that little allusion at the end of the trailer to the fact that Clive Owen was meant to play James Bond. Unfortunately for him, he passed up on the highest-grossing Bond film ever. On the other hand, Children of Men is the better film. Oh well, this movie will have him killing enough guys to make up for a few Bond movies.

“Shoot ‘Em Up” is planned for release in the U.S. on September 7th.

There was a terror scare in the city of Boston today. Apparently, there were bombs left all over the city. Concerned citizens notified police of the threat.

The reports forced the temporary shutdowns of Interstate 93 out of the city, a key inbound roadway, a bridge between Boston and Cambridge, and a portion of the Charles River but were quickly determined not to be explosive.

What exactly were these threats?

That’s a Lite-Brite version of a character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the popular Adult Swim cartoon. And yes, it’s giving the finger. This is what was thought to be a terrorist bomb. These have been placed in cities across the U.S. by the advertising company Interference, Inc. as a marketing campaign for the show, but not until now did some person report one of them as suspicious. I think it actually might have been a few paranoid idiots.

Boston: City of Retards Confirmed.

Edit: This might be the funniest image I’ve ever seen:

Just looking at that picture, I should’ve known I wouldn’t enjoy this movie all that much. Seriously, what the fuck is that? Everything about the film screamed out to me – DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE!. I saw the trailer a while ago and my friend and I agreed that it looked like a strange, stupid children’s movie. The mere mention of “fantasy” makes my skin crawl. The movie is directed by the same guy behind a masterpiece such as “Hellboy.” And it’s subtitled. The last part doesn’t really bother me, but it just added gasoline to the flames. It’s easy in retrospect to look back and think, “I should’ve known I wouldn’t like this movie.” But it’s hard to ignore when critics are heaping praise a mile high on top of a movie. I figured the fantasy elements might not annoy me too much. (Hell, I don’t even love the Lord of the Rings trilogy as much as many people my age – or any age) The R rating and the ratings that Pan’s Labyrinth has on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic tricked me into thinking this would be some sort of genre-transcending masterpiece. Unfortunately, it’s not.

First off, the bits of graphic violence that litter the movie, leading to its R rating, are wholly unnecessary. Yes, I understand that they were used to display the cruely of the general and the brutality of war – but then minutes later I felt I was watching a children’s movie. An extremely fucked-up children’s movie – but still a children’s movie, nonetheless. I just don’t understand what audience this movie was meant for. Maybe it’s just not meant for young adult males who feel uncomfortable watching a poorly imagined faun (a half-tree, half-man) talk in Spanish accented with some weird noises. Or watching the movie’s protagonist, Ofelia, run from a disturbing character than looks like something out of a Marilyn Manson or Tool music video.

The movie isn’t all bad, I guess. The acting is definitely top-notch and the story as a whole is at least very original. I guess I just expected more from a movie that has the most universal acclaim I’ve basically ever seen. Pan’s Labyrinth has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a site that gives movies ratings based on whether its reviews are positive or negative. This usually leads to a inflated score most of the time, especially compared to a site like Metacritic. But this film has a 98 on Metacritic! That doesn’t happen. I think every critic made an agreement to hype this movie as The Wizard as Oz for adults or something. No movies get this amount of unabashed praise. I’m just here to provide a foil to this circle-jerk. If you want to see a true visual spectacle – if you really want to be transported to a brilliantly constructed and original setting – go see Children of Men. It’s not like Pan’s Labyrinth is any less depressing.

You might be thinking this is all sour grapes. Well, it is. I don’t want other people spending their money on a movie they might only be interested due to the universal acclaim the film is receiving. Hopefully, most people aren’t as easily influenced as I am, and they’ve already made their decision based on their relative distaste or attraction towards fantasy film-making.

Goddamn it. I thought this movie would be a gateway to “expanding my horizons” or something of that sort. Well, screw that. The Departed is coming out on DVD in two weeks, and I’ll be finally able to watch the true movie of 2006 over and over again. Children of Men wasn’t too shabby either.