Tomorrow...in Theaters

There are two movies opening tomorrow that deserve special mention. First is 'The Incredible Hulk.' Who can't help but be excited about the next film from the director of 'The Transporter,' and 'The transporter 2!' Louis Leterrier (did I mention he was French?) directed this second Hulk movie after Ang Lee's 2003 box-office disappointment starring Eric Bana. Rumors of fights and feuds between Marvel, Leterrier, and Edward Norton (who was brought on not only to star, but to re-write large portions of the script) may have already tainted this movie for fans. Norton skipped the publicity tour because of the negative lime light. Both Leterrier and Norton released short, completely unbelievable statements about how blown out of proportion the rumors are and what pure joy it was working with each other and Marvel on this project.

This movie is particularly important to Marvel as it's one of only two movies it will release this year (the first being the mega-hit 'Ironman'). Despite all of this, early reviews of the film have been hopeful. This coupled with the fact Norton rarely fails to deliver provides hope for Hulk fans, and non-geek theater-goers a like. Here's one of the many trailers released:



The second film is 'Baghead.' I know a lot less about this film. It's directed by the Duplass brothers. Whoever they are. Apparently they had a hit in the festival circuit in 2005 or something called 'The Puffy Chair.' But it obviously wasn't that big of a hit since no one's ever heard of it. What I do know, is that it was a hit at this year's Sundance Festival. I also know it has a rating of 100% on rottentomatoes.com. Click here to read the reviews at RT. While all the reviews are positive, they use what seem like conflicting words to describe the movie. Such as: horror, sexual, scary, political, charming, funny, sweet, warm, and innovative. Frankly, they had me with the first two words, but the last few do add intrigue...

This film is not being widely released, so unless your near a large city with a decent arthouse theater, you might not get to see this one until it's on the bottom shelf at your nearest blockbuster, probably hidden under the 700 copies of the latest Lindsey Lohan movie they ordered. If you do have the opportunity to see it, be prepared for a different type of film making. Nick Schager from Lessons of Darkness describes it as a "semi-improvisatory film making approach, capturing authenticity in their cast's fumbling gestures, half-spoken lines, and stumbling advances.' Still though, the trailer makes it look pretty promising.

Candy Mountain

Wandering through the billions of Youtube videos never fails to endlessly entertain me. It also never fails to make me feel a little sad thinking about the people that spend so much time making these videos that, without some stroke of luck will probably be lost among all the others.



After I get sad thinking about all these wasted efforts, then I get really sad that I can spend hours entertaining myself this way. I start wondering if there is some more productive way I can spend my time, like alphabetizing my DVDs by director. Or making my own Hot 100 list since Maxim's was clearly created by a group of of men/women attracted to the androgynous underdog. It's at about this point that I start to shut my laptop...and just then, I find something like this:



Or this little diddy that Ben showed me:



That's when I get happy again.

4am

Yesterday I went to Salt Lake to hang out with a friend. When I got downtown, my 'Low Fuel' light turned on. I drove a few more miles until I was afraid of running out of gas. That actually happened to me a few months ago. I literally ran out of gas. You know, like when you have to walk to a gas station with a container, buy a gallon of gas and walk back to your vehicle? I've never run out of gas, ever. But it happened (all except walking, because I called a friend to drive me the four blocks to the gas station). I blame it on the gas prices. Never have I feared 7-11 so much.

So I stop at the nearest gas station and end up paying more than 4 dollars a gallon.
This is bull shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some countries have been paying 6 dollars a gallon for a while. So what? I wasn't buying gas in London, or in Paris, or where ever else the average per capita income is like, a billion dollars. Filling my tank at these prices costs over 100 dollars. But hey, at least Iraq is on the road to true democracy (is that why we went there? Or was it Saddam? Or was it the WMDs? I'm confused). Thanks Bush. I owe you one.



During our trip to Vegas two weekends ago, Ben was introduced to the game of roulette. That game is bitchin'. It really is a lot of fun. When we got back, Ben bought all the stuff to make our own table, and we spent about 4 hours making it. This is pretty much what my roommates and I do now. We each buy in using our bottomless savings of imaginary money. What if one of us runs out? No problem, we never run out of chips representing imaginary money. We use a random number generator, or an online roulette wheel to generate our numbers and bet on Lady Luck to win even more imaginary money. Sometimes I pretend my chips are worth 50 dollars each while everyone else's chips are only worth a dollar. It makes me feel like I'm at the high roller table. Does this make me a wanna-be elitist? Maybe. They're my chips though, so back off. After we've lost months worth of imaginary income to 'the house,' we start brushing up our blackjack skills (of which, we really have none). Is it actually possible to win at blackjack? I'm sure it's not. I could pay tuition for years with all the imaginary money I've lost at that game. But I guess that's why it's called gambling. In this picture are my friends, Mindy, Cen, and Bark (names have been changed to protect the liberal sinners).

BYU DISCLAIMER: NO MONEY, SERVICES, OR OTHER PRIZES WERE ACCEPTED OR PAID OUT IN THESE 'GAMBLING-LIKE' GAMES. WE RECOGNIZE THAT DOING SO IN ANY FORM WOULD BE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE HONOR CODE, AND UTAH'S ANTI-GAMBLING LAWS.

Sorry, just wanted to make sure Big Brother knows we're conforming.

Finally, I move to Radiohead. In their continuing conquest to be the best and most innovative band around, Radiohead released http://www.radioheadremix.com/ a few months ago. The band released the separate stems to 'Nude,' a single off their latest album, 'In Rainbows,' and allowed listeners to remix the song and upload it to this site. Visitors voted on their favorite mixes and the polling closed on June 1st. All 2252 remixes are still up on the site. Go listen to them. They're great.

With Radiohead's permission, Amplive remixed seven of the 'In Rainbow' tracks. These tracks are available for download for free here.

Consumption

Have you ever wondered how many pints of milk you will drink in you life - and what that would look like? Or how many liters of tears you will cry? Have you ever wondered how many times you’ll have sex - and with how many people?

I don't agree.

Survey says:

You're The Catcher in the Rye!

by J.D. Salinger

You are surrounded by phonies, and boy are you sick of them! In an
ongoing struggle to search for a land without phonies, you end up running away from
everything, from school to consequences. In this process, you reveal that many people
in your life have suffered torments and all you really want to do is catch them as
they fall. Perhaps using a baseball mitt. Your biggest fans are infamous
psychotics.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

That's bull.

Dane Cook is a Silly Son of a Bitch

My buddy Ben and I took a little trip down to Vegas Memorial Day weekend. It was rad.

We sang karaoke, rode the rides on top of the Stratosphere, played roulette (not to mention I won), and saw Dane Cook perform at the Collesium at Caesar's Palace.

The performance was hilarious. Before the show, Ben heard a rumor that Dane's manager was handing out passes to a VIP after party. So he hunted the manager down, his name was Barry, and snagged us two tickets to the party.



So after the show, we went to a private room and hung out with the 3 comedians that performed and about 30 of the hottest girls I've ever seen in real life (watching The Hills doesn't count as seeing a hot chick I guess).

It feels so good.

One of the many joys of going to my Mom's place in Idaho (and there are many) is taking a shower where the shower head is high enough that the water hits my head.

I understand that student apartments are run by monopolizing companies in Provo that know they don't have to compete with quality because 32,000 students are forced to live within a two miles radius of campus. And I get that these apartments aren't built to really be comfortable, but to stand the test of time. But why, when a bathroom has an 8 foot ceiling, is the shower nozzle so low that it hits me in the lower back? Since I've lived in Provo, I have lived in 5 different apartment complexes, and each one has had this problem. Why? I don't get it.

My Mom started a business and the grand opening of her office space is today. There's going to be a ribbon cutting and everything!

Awesome.

This totally turns me on.

I Type Fast

103 words

Speed test

Go and take the test, I guarantee you're not faster than me.

Taxes

Only six days left until taxes are due. There's a lot of grumbling heard around this time of the year. People don't like to pay taxes, but I think it's important to remember that without our tax dollars, our political leaders wouldn't be able to afford upscale hookers.