Orange Whip

Pumpkin bombs away

2011-10-29T19:18:00.003-04:00

"Rockwell Spiderman" by Luke Radl, a superhero/Halloween take on Norman Rockwell's "The Runaway."

The beautiful game, some sweet graphics

2011-10-18T18:11:00.005-04:00

Bosnian artist Zoran Lucic created a really rad set of poster images featuring current and old-school soccer greats titled "Sucker for Soccer." Some of the graphics look like magazine or game program covers, and the rest are just cool.

Sadly, it doesn't look like these are for sale as prints yet. Lucic will be getting some of my money when they are, though. See a bunch more of his soccer designs here. [via WITC]

Looks Refn good

2011-09-21T18:20:00.005-04:00

Drive has some things going for it that will require a viewing.

1) The film is about a criminal underworld driver which, as we all know, is the best job in the criminal underworld. Or at least the most entertaining. I guess "boss" would be better.

2) It's directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, who's done some good stuff, including Bronson and the awesome Pusher trilogy. He's not averse to getting weird, as well, which might account for this visual.

3) Hooded-out Hendricks.

4) A synth/80s-style soundtrack in the mode of Michael Mann and Tangerine Dream.

5) Albert Brooks in Scorpio mode.

Peep the trailer.

Bicycles(s)! Bicycles(s)!

2011-09-09T17:51:00.003-04:00

Finished up my photos from the 2011 Philly bike race. Check them out over here. Or don't. Free country.

I can only hope Chainsaw Safety Records signs this guy

2011-08-25T09:21:00.002-04:00

"Tiny Chainsaw" by rathergood.com, which is a Web site, not a guy. So there goes my headline.

Major Gale

2011-08-09T19:21:00.005-04:00

From Sunday's Breaking Bad, Gale Boetticher crushing it on karaoke with "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling or, if you prefer, Shiny Toy Guns.

In short, Gale rules.

Can't not be feelin' this

2011-07-28T06:19:00.008-04:00

I could seriously listen to this all day.

The song is a snippet of "Feel It All Around" by
Washed Out, and while I like it just fine without lyrics on the opening of IFC's Portlandia, it's also quite snazzy with the lyrics.

Bonus review of Portlandia: I thought it looked insufferable in the commercials leading up to it, but I gave it a shot and thought it was pretty funny. A solid B, if I was grading Season 1. So if you avoided it for the same reasons I almost did, give it a shot. The first episode is strong like ox.

Illio logical

2011-05-27T21:43:00.005-04:00

Did Spock have a daughter? I don't know. But I do know Phil Noto is a pretty awesome artist. [via Laughing Squid]

Orange On the Aisle: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

2011-02-02T13:29:00.008-05:00

Perhaps the presence of the word "sleeps" in the title should have been a danger flashing sign.

Then again, as a mega-fan of the Oliver Stone's original Wall Street, no danger flashing signs — even those as strong as the overwhelmingly negative reviews and presence of Shia LeBeouf — were likely to keep me from checking out the return of Gekko.

The problem, or one of many, was the return of Gekko that Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps was supposed to be didn't have much Gekko in it.

Maybe Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox got more screen time in Wall Street than Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko did, but there certainly was a lot more Gekko in the original than in the sequel. And when there was, he wasn't reconnecting with a daughter who blamed him for not being there (because he was in prison, the selfish bastard), which somehow contributed to her brother/his son committing suicide.

Oh yeah, sorry. If you were hoping for the return of the fruit-tossing brat Rudy from the original, no dice. Guess those French lessons didn't pan out.

Douglas was good returning to Gekko, his most iconic film role, but the material he got to work with just didn't come close to matching up. He was barely in this movie though, so it didn't much matter.

The stuff we did get was mostly pretty lame. Josh Brolin is solid as the fill-in Gekko character Bretton James, and when the movie focuses on the back-room financial warring and deal-making, it's entertaining enough at times. But there's just way too little of that and way too much crybaby relationship stuff with LeBeouf, Carey Mulligan, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and even Douglas a bit.

And, much like a corrupt CEO's million-dollar bonus (or golden parachute), none of the emotional conflict feels earned in this movie. Most of Money Never Sleeps is just boring as hell.

Stone wants to warn us about an impending economic apocalypse should the cycle of Wall Street chicanery, no federal oversight and huge bailouts continue. And a movie more focused on that might have been better, but this isn't that movie. Sleep on it.

— 1.5 out of 5 giant '80s mobile phones

NOTES:
* Charlie "cocaine suitcase" Sheen makes a cameo as original Wall Street hero Bud Fox, and it is pathetically lame. I, for one, will choose to believe it never happened. Bud Fox deserves better.

* The writer of this post on the trailer was severely bummed after finally seeing the movie. The only good news is I think I have a leftover free OnDemand movie coupon to use, so this one will be on Comcast.

Cool Uniform Props: Oregon carbons

2011-01-10T19:14:00.005-05:00

In honor of their playing for the national championship tonight, I dole out some Cool Uniform Props to the Oregon Ducks for their "carbon" uniforms donned in their Civil War win against Oregon State Dec. 4.

People tend to love or hate the Ducks' uniforms, and I'm definitely in the pro camp. As they wear a different arrangement every game seemingly, they tend to have several candidates for props, but the carbons were my favorite so far this season.

White jersey and socks, a carbon fiber-patterned helmet and silver cleats. Top shelf.

Not sure what they're wearing for the BCS Championship, but I'm sure Nike will bust out something crazy.

Cool Uniform Props: Tampa Bay creamsicles

2010-12-14T16:11:00.002-05:00

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers seem to roll the franchise's original creamsicle uniforms out once a year now, as they did a couple weeks ago against Atlanta, but they should make it permanent.

Tampa may have won a Super Bowl in the current pewter and red uniforms, but they are lame and the orange, red and white creamsicles rule.

Watch and wait

2010-12-05T05:46:00.007-05:00

Even if this Blade Runner replicant continues to freak me out, I dig the If we don't, remember me tumblr blog, which posts cinemagraphs of little moments in films.

Some of the animations are pretty subtle, and some take a few seconds, so keep watching. And yes, some are a little freaky.

IWDRM has a Twitter page too.

Fakin' the Criterion funk

2010-12-05T05:00:00.008-05:00

Fake Criterions — fairly self-explanatory.

Most of these are really good, and I'm wondering if some were inspired by artwork on existing Criterions or not as some feel familiar. So, I guess some explanation would be helpful.

So as to avoid confusion, this one's not a fake.

UPDATE: More fake Criterion case art can be found as part of the Dec. 10 "Photoshop Phriday" at Something Awful, including the outstanding example below by HMC.

I ride around town on my road-racing bicycle

2010-11-23T02:15:00.005-05:00

Because I like to get things done in a timely fashion, I've finished posting my photos from this year's TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship over here.

Arsenal victorious

2010-11-21T17:47:00.010-05:00

Arsenal might have had a brutal loss to Tottenham yesterday, but it will always win this commercial for EA's FIFA 11, if you know what I mean.

The above is the Euro version of the long-form commercial, a slightly different cut than the U.S. version. I guess the U.S. audience was deemed too sensitive to view the BetClic sponsorship on the Juventus uniforms.

Good to see my boy Mesut Ozil, playing for Germany here, getting some props. And funny to see Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech without his trademark noggin protector — I actually missed him the first few times I watched it.

The commercial was directed by Johnny Green for Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam.

If the McGlynns can keep from passing out by 9:30 p.m. (I kid, but not really), I may be checking this game out with Tim soon.

[Previously]

Better off bad

2010-11-09T03:59:00.005-05:00

I'm fairly certain Tron: Legacy is going to be pretty cool anyway, but I wish the sequel would have Jeff Bridges' Flynn be a bad guy as implied in the original Comic-Con teaser posted above.

That's the implication I took from it, anyway. Having seen the subsequent trailers and TV spots that lay out more of the overall story, the teaser views as simply ambiguous. I had taken it as implying the bearded Flynn was now some corrupted/master controller who had his avatar riding around killing trouble makers.

Seems more interesting than the straight forward story it looks like we're going to get. Maybe my idea will be similar to the background on how we end up at the start of Legacy. We'll see.

I guess Bridges does end up playing a baddie though, even if it's a CGI'd version of his younger face (at least, that's what I think they did).

Gen 13, suburban glamorous

2010-10-21T06:46:00.006-04:00

The Gen 13 crew by Jamie McKelvie. Uninked version here.

The opposites of dildos

2010-10-05T10:27:00.003-04:00

New Soundgarden video for "Black Rain," the one previously unreleased track off their recent Telephantasm.

It's directed by Brendon Small of Metalocalypse, features a cameo by Dethklok and involves giant aliens fighting a Soundgarden-controlled mega-robot. So suffice it to say it's brutal. Song's pretty rockin' too. Watching it full-screen in HD recommended.

I no ah've seen et before

2010-09-30T19:51:00.004-04:00

I was reading this article and someone in the comments pointed out this teaser for Trainspotting. Hadn't seen it previously, but I like it.

I can feeeel it

2010-09-22T07:15:00.009-04:00

That new cop show Detroit 1-8-7 premiered last night. I have no interest in watching it, but it does provide a good excuse to hearken back to the golden age of West Coast gangsta rap, and another more significant premier. Dr. Dre introduces Snoop Dogg to the world on "Deep Cover," off the soundtrack to the Laurence Fishburne/Jeff Goldblum film.

I seem to recall the edited/MTV version of this song had Snoop saying "nickel-plated .22," which I actually prefer to the four-syllable phrase we get in the original version here. Seems like "nickel-plated" would be the more clever phrase to come up with. But who am I to deny Snoop his cuss words? Few have used them better.

Now that's winning!

2010-09-01T06:46:00.003-04:00

Lex Luthor and the Joker hanging out, Calvin and Hobbes style. From Superman/Batman 75, by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Lee Bermejo, who discusses the piece here.

Love the old-school Legion of Doom swamp HQ. [via BuzzFeed]

Rated Vitamin D

2010-08-25T04:09:00.007-04:00

"Lights" from Interpol's upcoming self-titled album, wherein we learn where milk comes from. I suppose it's better than Fat Tony's system.

I haven't had potato skins in forever

2010-08-21T06:12:00.002-04:00

ATta boy, good armored transport

2010-06-28T19:00:00.007-04:00

AT-AT Day Afternoon by Patrick Boivin. Blog-worthy for shooting squirrels with lasers and Jabba the poop. And because AT-ATs are awesome.

Cesc Fabregas is pissed!

2010-05-26T12:12:00.005-04:00

Nike's new "Write the Future" World Cup commercial it rolled out during the Champions League final. It was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu for Wieden + Kennedy, Amsterdam.

Pretty sweet commercial (though I could have used more love for The Netherlands). I especially liked bearded Wayne Rooney living in a caravan.

Hmm, I guess Nike expected Ronaldinho to make the Brazilian squad. Oops?

\m/

2010-05-19T23:54:00.004-04:00

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio. Luckily for us, he did rock for a long, long time, and has now ascended to the higher realms to throw lightning down upon the evil wizards and demons.

This vid was actually shot in the Spectrum, also soon to be R.I.P. (which is a bunch of crap if you ask me, but no one did).

Load up Celery Man, please

2010-05-07T01:47:00.004-04:00

This is not unlike what unemployment feels like sometimes. Important work is still getting done, but sometimes it involves a hat wobble or a flarhgunnstow.

Paul Rudd, on Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job.

One of the best yet

2010-04-21T03:08:00.003-04:00

R.I.P. Guru.

Below is "Full Clip" off of the best of Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr album, which I recommend you pick up.

Thanks for picking it

2010-04-13T03:06:00.005-04:00

Above, Alkaline Trio does an acoustic cover of "Web in Front" as part of a new A.V. Club series. Below, the video of the original by Archers of Loaf.

When I watched the Alkaline Trio cover, I didn't realize it was the same song. Not because it wasn't a good cover (though it was acoustic this time), but because "Web in Front" is one of those '90s alternative videos I saw a hundred times, but now must be starting to forget.

Good song, silly video, good stuff.

While I dug that song, I never picked up any Archers albums. But the nice thing about music is while there might not be anything new out that you're liking, there's always something from back in the day to delve into for the first time.

Don't just be sorry, THINK

2010-04-11T04:52:00.004-04:00

Christian Bale is right, you know.

Friggin' birds

2010-04-02T23:10:00.006-04:00

Graphic artist Laz Marquez did some nice redesigned Hitchcock movie posters, with this one for The Birds being the standout for me. [via BuzzFeed]

Dicey

2010-04-01T19:33:00.006-04:00

Brooklyn artist Stukenborg is offering some pretty sweet prints made by placing lots of dice in a letterpress and rolling them with ink. Some are available on a "light green Japanese handmade paper called Kitakata," which is a nice touch.

I have 100 things sitting here waiting to be framed and hung, but I kinda want one of these. [via The Daily Wh.at]

Put that cookie down ... NOW

2010-04-01T19:25:00.003-04:00

Sit back and enjoy the brilliance.

Cool Uniform Props: U.S. Olympic snowboarding team

2010-02-23T02:03:00.005-05:00

The navy and red plaid jackets and weathered jeans-styled pants designed by Burton for the U.S. snowboarders got a decent amount of press for being "out there." But looking at designs sported by some of the other nations' boarders (and, of course, Johnny Weir) and snowboarding kit in general, the 'Mericans' unis were almost staid in comparison.

Anyway you look at it, they were definitely cool.

The orange monster

2010-02-01T11:05:00.003-05:00

Even if this photo features Nick Swisher of the considerably disliked New York Yankees, it's still a pretty cool photo with a color scheme appreciated here at Orange Whip.

Photo by Noah K. Murray of The Star Ledger/US Presswire.

The sequel has become reality

2010-01-29T10:54:00.011-05:00

While "Return of the Bud Fox" in the title might have psyched me up a bit more, psyched levels are high for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. If you know how many times I've watched Wall Street than this makes sense to you.

NOTE 1: Videogum takes issue with the "greed is good" mention in the trailer. But, this being a Hollywood sequel, it was inevitable, no? What they should have mentioned was the awesome mobile phone sight gag. That killed and you know it.

NOTE 2: Eli Wallach is in the movie. Hell yeah.

NOTE 3: The short-haired actress is Carey Mulligan of An Education fame. I just watched her in an excellent, spooky ass episode of the current Doctor Who series from Season 3 titled "Blink." Even if you're not into Doctor Who, this is a damn good hour of TV.

NOTE 4: Bud Fox, aka Charlie Sheen, is in the movie according to IMDB. It may well be a cameo, but even so, that gets a double hell yeah.

Now why don't YOU get the hell out of MY office!

Sidekicked

2010-01-29T10:24:00.002-05:00

"Teenage Sidekick" by Paul Pope. This was from a short story in the Pope issue of D.C.'s Solo series. Scoop it up if you can get your hands on it.

J.D. Salinger, R.I.P.

2010-01-28T19:39:00.001-05:00

Orange On the Aisle: 1941

2010-01-25T09:33:00.009-05:00

Sometimes you read an article or an online discussion that makes mention of a movie, and it sparks a curiosity to check it out. Sometimes, it's best to ignore that curiosity.

Steven Spielberg's 1941 was such a movie for me. It came up in some random AV Club conversation (I think) and, as 1941 infrequently airs on cable, I wanted to watch it for the first time in probably 20 years to see how it held up, and if it deserved all the derision it receives.

In short — yes, 1941 deserves the derision. And then some.

My vague recollections of the movie were even vaguer than I realized, as John Belushi running around being John Belushi was really the only bit I accurately remembered. My impression of the film from back in the day was that it wasn't good, but not as horrible as most said. Rather, I remembered it as a giant mess.

Well, it's a giant mess, yes, and a pretty horrible movie too. Even worse, at about 2 hours and 20 minutes long, it's grating and often boring as Spielberg spends an inordinate amount of time on really lame subplots.

Supposedly, Spielberg admitted to not really knowing what to do with the movie, and so threw as much as he could think of at the wall. The resultant product seems to bear that out. It's like five bad movies formed up like one idiotic Voltron — if Voltron was designed by a team of geriatrics, 9-year-old kids and horny high schoolers who each stuck their favorite stuff into the movie.

I should note here that the movie watching experience was in no way enhanced by the quality of the movie offered on the "Collector's Edition" DVD — a quality best described as shit (technical term). The picture quality was so bad that I had to pause the movie a half hour in to research what the deal was. The thinking is that this was a copy from the laser disc version of the movie, and a bad one at that. It's presented in a non-anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen, but it shows up small on your screen for some reason. Blowing it up might not help anything though, as the film looks really bad at times — sometimes grainy, sometimes overexposed. If you burned a DVD from an old VHS copy of a movie, I imagine it would look something like this. This review takes the DVD to task pretty well.

Anyway, there actually was some good to be had in 1941:
— Spielberg's direction was pretty fun (when he wasn't relying on some obvious airplane model shots) and even reminded me of the Cohen brothers in terms of camera movement. And there were a few stunts that actually looked pretty scary for the stunt men, who took some real slams for bits that took up 3 seconds of screen time.
— Slim Pickens is never not awesome.
—No one gets good writing here, but Treat Williams at least gives it a game effort early on ... before his character basically spends the last two-thirds of the movie trying to rape the ostensible female lead. Hilarious!
— Dan Aykroyd, after his character gets bonked on the head, proceeds to look absolutely insane and act like he's on drugs (and in 1979, he may have been).
— A ventriloquist's dummy appears without warning at one point and remains without any explanation. When it talks it looks funny. I'm serious.
— The main players are listed in the end credits along with a clip from the movie, and almost all of them feature the actor screaming. This amused me for some reason.

And that's about it. There are a ton of great actors and performers in this — John Candy, Warren Oates, Toshiro Mifune, Ned Beatty, Nancy Allen, Tim Matheson, Joe Flaherty had a line that made me laugh — and so there are some funny moments (although Candy, Mifune and several others are either completely wasted or given terrible material). It's just that no one involved and none of the funny moments in any way justify sitting through 2 hours-plus of this movie.

Not even Belushi, who early on in 1941 appears to modern eyes to be doing a John Belushi parody, only this movie came out in 1979, so that's not possible. That said, by the time he reappears near the end of the movie he's actually a breath of fresh air, as the preceding hour-plus has been so exhaustively bad.

— 1.5 out of 5 Wendie Jo Sperbers

NOTE: If for some reason you want to watch this mess, the version at Crackle.com looks much better than this cruddy DVD's transfer.

Marvel vs. DC: Late Night Wars

2010-01-22T21:55:00.006-05:00

In case you didn't catch it on Conan the other night, here's a Taiwanese animation describing the whole late night talk show imbroglio, which steps up the action quite a bit from that Tiger Woods animation. If our news was like this, I might watch it more often.

Also, last Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien tonight! Go Team Coco!

Majestyk

2010-01-14T08:15:00.003-05:00

Bronson in Mr. Majestyk by Sean Phillips. This looks like art for an essay in the back of a future issue of Criminal.

For Jay

2010-01-13T16:50:00.004-05:00

Jay Reatard was found dead today. While I'd heard a little about his non-musical antics — fights, firing his band, etc. — I never heard his music until seeing the below vid a while back. I dug the song and the vid, and I'll have to check out the rest of his stuff.

Warning: This vid contains a sort of evil looking clown. Not too bad, though, no need to call Maury Povich.

F'n A

2010-01-11T02:14:00.003-05:00

Trailer for The A-Team movie. Two words: hell yes.

More words: Faceman shooting a plane from atop a parachuting tank.

Cover artistry

2009-12-21T14:55:00.008-05:00

There may come a time when the comic book single issue ceases to exist, giving way to trade collections, graphic novels and digital formats. But comic book covers remain a singular art form and, when done right, an eye-catching selling point for the single.

Complex magazine offers its 50 Best Comic Book Covers of 2009, and while I'm not feeling some of these, there's some good stuff on display here.

Stay frosty

2009-12-19T07:28:00.006-05:00

Shoveling isn't the only thing to fear with a snowstorm this close to Christmas. Jack Frost watches, believing his wandering spirit can once again take on corporeal form should the right human host be found. But there is no salvation of the flesh — there's only the snow, now occupied by the spirit of his latest victim.

Gaze not into his dead eyes, or else share his hopeless fate.

Having unknowingly released Jack Frost into our world, Michael Keaton may be the only one able to vanquish him — Ash style. But I haven't seen Keaton since Out of Sight, so ... stay frosty.

(Pic via fellow NTF poster Legendary Classic.)

Trippin' fastballs

2009-11-17T15:52:00.005-05:00

I've watched a lot of baseball games in my life, but never heard this story, which is pretty awesome. Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden, presented by No Mas. Via Ebert (even if he thought it was a Phillie and not a Pirate).

No Mas, it should be noted, has some pretty sweet T-shirts, including this series on original/non-corporate stadium names.

One and done

2009-10-30T17:50:00.010-04:00

Ben Spies clearly had the speed and skill to eventually be a world champion heading into his first season of World Superbike, but likely very few on the world scene figured it would happen his first time out following a season that saw a record number of poles won and consistent running at the sharp end.

Mix in five DNFs from the Yamaha runner though, and typical strong running from second place finisher Noriyuki Haga aboard his Ducatti, and the title came down to the last weekend's races in Portimao, Portugal last weekend. Spies did the business in race one, taking home the win and padding his lead when Haga crashed out. But the second race was fairly nervous, with Haga getting up to second — behind his teammate — and Spies hovering in the range he needed to finish at to secure the title. In the end he did enough to win by 6 points.

The rest of the SBK paddock won't have to deal with Spies next season though, as he's moving on to the Tech 3 Yamaha team in Moto GP, making it one season and one championship in SBK. Not bad.

Should be fun to watch next season with Spies teaming with fellow American and Texan Colin Edwards at Tech 3. Spies is replacing James Toseland, who's actually assuming Spies' ride for Yamaha in SBK. Edwards has had a great season in Moto GP, but podiumed only once on the satellite factory team, while full factory Fiat Yamaha rides Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will finish 1-2 in the championship. Will Spies be able to go for podiums and race wins against the full factory riders? We'll see.

The Moto GP season ends Nov. 8 in Valencia, and Spies will be entered as a wildcard entry before doing the full schedule next season.

I have to also give some props to my boy in the SBK feeder series World Superspot — Eugene Laverty — who finished second in the championship, but won four races including last weekend's season-ender. Title winner Cal Crutchlow is moving up to SBK next season, and Northern Irishman Laverty will be among the favorites for the 2010 Supersport title.

UPDATE: Spies did real well in the one-off Valencia race, finishing seventh which also secured fifth place in the season championship for fourth-place finisher and future teammate Edwards.

Cool Uniform Props: Buffalo Bills throwbacks

2009-10-13T08:38:00.005-04:00

If the Buffalo Bills wear these rad throwback uniforms enough, eventually we won't be reminded of national pariah O.J. Simpson every time we see them. More importantly, we won't be subjected to their current regular uniforms, which are heinous.

The Bills rolled out these third uniform throwbacks out last season, and have continued with them this season. And whether all white, or with blue jerseys, they're super sweet.

Cool Uniform Props: Denver Broncos throwbacks

2009-10-11T20:47:00.008-04:00

These uniforms are nutso — and pretty far from any orange and blue arrangements you'd expect the Broncos to be wearing — but I like them.

If the yellow jerseys and brown pants weren't enough, Denver was sporting socks with vertical yellow and brown stripes. They looked pretty Oompa Loompa, and normally I'd prefer horizontal stripes, but they grew on me and earned points for crazy factor.

Top everything off with a black helmet with only numbers on the sides, and you have a winner. Also, Orton and Marshall ran up fantasy points for me today, so it was win-win.

UPDATE: Road version!

Adios amigo

2009-09-15T07:00:00.004-04:00

Patrick Swayze, R.I.P.

Wolverines!

It must be said ...

2009-09-14T00:13:00.007-04:00

... Alicia Keys kind of rules.

No I didn't watch the stupid VMAs, but I caught this end performance.

Oh, Jay-Z — I don't think you made the Yankees hat more famous than any Yankees did, holmes. (I think that's what he said.) Let's bring it back down to Earth. Alright then.

With animation, there's no limit to what we can ... imagine

2009-09-10T02:58:00.004-04:00

Caught this animated Beatles Rock Band piece on MTV tonight. Pretty cool. (Hit the link to embiggen.)

You know what I can't find online, though? The scene from Beavis and Butthead where Butthead calmly asserts, "The Beatles ruined music." One of my favorite lines from the show.

For the greatest bit of Beatles animation — involving Dewey Cox, anyway — check this out. Or just watch Walk Hard, because it's awesome.

UPDATE: Some more Internet research leads me to now believe it was Beavis who said the above quote — it was his response to the query of whether England was near Britain. I may have been mixing it up with another quote from Butthead who, according to Wikipedia, said, "You know those asswipes The Beatles? Those guys ruined music," though I've seen that phrase in slightly different forms.

While I am a huge fan of B and B, it's been a while since I watched, folks. Perhaps Ron Wood knows the truth of it ...

Donkey!

2009-09-08T22:41:00.004-04:00

Defending Moto GP champion Valentino Rossi, always game to break out a new helmet design should inspiration strike (see also here), was sporting a donkey face on his helmet this weekend in the San Marino GP, which he won.

I missed any mention of the helmet by the announcers, and thought maybe it was a rabbit on the helmet. But a note on the above photo points out that Rossi was calling himself a donkey — as opposed to his regular nickname of "The Doctor" — for falling on his own at the previous race in Indianapolis.

Photos above and below by ialla.

L.A. on fire

2009-09-04T01:15:00.005-04:00

The Sacramento Bee posted some great photos from their coverage of the wildfires raging near Los Angeles. The above is by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images.

Via Ron Wood, who also pointed out these time lapse vids of the fires.

UPDATE: The fire has now been declared an arson, and thus a homicide. From this Reuters article:

The so-called Station Fire has killed two firefighters, destroyed 64 homes and torched an area the size of Chicago in the nine days it has roared across the rugged San Gabriel Mountains overlooking Los Angeles.

Font wheel drive

2009-09-02T01:44:00.003-04:00

I thought this would be dumb when I read the description somewhere (I forget now), but it's actually pretty cool. "iQ font — When driving becomes writing" by wireless.

Cool Uniform Props: Barcelona MES jerseys

2009-09-01T01:36:00.003-04:00

I watched the above pictured Zlatan Ibrahimovic score his first La Liga goal for Barcelona today in a dominating win over Sporting Gijon, and remembered this one-off uniform Barca wore against Manchester City a couple weeks back.

Pretty sweet (though the colors are a bit faded in this pic; see the next link for a better look). Some more details here on the MES jersey, sold in limited numbers to raise funds for the UN Refugee Agency.

4 on the floor

2009-08-20T14:24:00.018-04:00

Get psyched. Venture Bros. season 4 preview trailer. We're only getting half of a new season before another hiatus, but anything from maybe the best show on TV is still welcome.

In related business, some stuff from the Venture Bros. Comic-Con panel, ostensibly about the upcoming season.

John Hughes, R.I.P.

2009-08-07T02:01:00.008-04:00

It's being reported that wirter/director John Hughes died yesterday of a heart attack. Weird, since I was talking to someone tonight who just took an overnight job at Target. She hadn't seen Career Opportunities, and so didn't get my Jennifer Connelly in a white tank top reference.

Hughes probably did better movies — Weird Science and Ferris Bueller's Day Off come to mind — but I always liked Career Opportunities, which he wrote, for its weirdness and desperation. And, uh, Jennifer Connelly.

Hughes, RIP. Connelly, FTW.

Owen for oddness

2009-08-06T01:40:00.005-04:00

This doesn't look right at all — Michael Owen, playing for Manchester United, wearing number 7. Weird.

Should be interesting though. Hopefully he stays healthy.

Make it work people

2009-07-30T15:56:00.004-04:00

BIll Murray as Hunter S. Thompson in Where the Buffalo Roam.

I really like it, you know?

2009-07-16T19:16:00.004-04:00

Sick video. "Happy Up Here" by Röyksopp, directed by Reuben Sutherland.

UPDATE: This one is pretty cool too. Reminds me of an early 80's MTV video.

Just walk away, and he will spare your lives

2009-07-12T21:46:00.008-04:00

Ben Templesmith will be at Comic-Con. This is how he chose to announce that fact. I approve.

The votes are Inge

2009-07-09T02:07:00.012-04:00

The deadline for Major League Baseball's Final Vote — in which the fans fill out the AL and NL All-Star teams by picking one player from five for each league — is 4 p.m. today.

As steadfast Phillies fans, the Orange Whip editorial board naturally advocates the election of Shane Victorino in the National League, and has voted several times thusly. But we'd also like to endorse the Detroit Tigers' Brandon Inge for the American League. Why? Because Inge has had a large part in the success of this blog writer's fantasy baseball team — the Bulletproof Tigers — over the first half of the season (that catcher eligibility has been clutch). And we take care of our own 'round these parts.

That being said, I have no idea why the Phillies organization itself is advocating the Inge/Victorino ticket. Anyone?

UPDATE: Victorino and Inge were the top vote-getters. Mission accomplished.

Wild in the streets

2009-07-03T12:20:00.006-04:00

Girl Skateboards has released a skateboard series featuring characters from company co-founder Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are. Pretty cool.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right

2009-07-02T11:17:00.007-04:00

I checked out the Philadelphia International Championship bike race for the first time this year with some friends and family, and I just finished posting my photos over here. Everything was shot on Lemon Hill, aside from a few down on Kelly Drive.

Glastonbury? Who ever heard of a Glastonbury?

2009-06-30T06:06:00.006-04:00

The Big Picture has some pretty cool photos from the Glastonbury festival, including the above by Joel Ryan/AP and the below by Leon Neal/Getty Images. Via.

Not sure what this is about. I can only hope the guy's carrying cases or a quarter-keg in his arms.

Right on target

2009-06-10T07:50:00.007-04:00

Normally I subscribe to Butt-head's theory on the visual representation of lyrics in music videos. That being, "If I wanted to read, I'd go to school." But a good jam and a cool video can make for an exception.

"Casa Bey" by Mos Def off his new album, The Ecstatic. Video directed by Coodie & Chike, with graphics/text design by Superfad.

Electric light organization

2009-06-09T04:44:00.011-04:00

The song "1901" by Phoenix is really good, but I might like the video better. As far as I can tell, this is just projected light — arranged in constantly changing patterns — hitting the band. Simple and smart.

The video was directed by Bogstandard and commissioned by Dazed Digital.

Super super special stage

2009-06-04T01:31:00.004-04:00

Notown

2009-06-02T04:37:00.005-04:00

Anyone want to get in on the ground floor of a residential investment? The above is part of a photo essay by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffrey on the ruins of Detroit, as featured on Time.com.

Tracking back, I saw it linked by Ben Templesmith in reference to a pretty insightful column by Australian journalist Guy Rundle, as seen here.

There’s many places you can visit with your limited time on earth — the Turkish rivieria, Finland’s Ice Hotel, Mt Fuji, Wobbie World — but everyone who wants to understand the last century and this one, should see Detroit.

Why? Because Detroit is the first modern urban ruin, the largest city that has simply been allowed to die.

Zezel, R.I.P.

2009-05-27T07:11:00.005-04:00

Non-hockey fans might better recognize Peter Zezel as one of the background teammates in Youngblood, but 'round these parts he'll be remembered as a core member of the classic '80s Flyers team that lost in the Stanley Cup finals to Edmonton. Zezel died yesterday at age 44.

As a side note Youngblood, I can't say when I last saw the movie, but was the point really that he had to learn to fight to make the NHL? I mean, I remember it being pretty cheesy, but not that outright boneheaded.

That's the old pepper, kid!

2009-05-18T16:46:00.007-04:00

Caught a commercial for The Hangover the other day and I thought I heard "Pepper" by the Butthole Surfers. And I like that song.

I'd post the actual video but the ones I've found online all seem to have a glitch in them, which is a shame as I like the video. So SpongeBob and Patrick will have to hold it down.

Ashro Boy

2009-05-06T04:38:00.006-04:00

How rad is this Ashley Wood variant cover to the first (?) issue of IDW's Astro Boy Movie Prequel miniseries?

I guess I saw the old-school Astro Boy cartoon a couple times, but I don't really care about the upcoming Astro Boy movie. This painted piece, however, would make a great litho. I like it with the dead space at the top, too.

Cool Uniform Props: Flyers third/throwback jersey

2009-04-23T03:11:00.006-04:00

I figured I better get this one up before the Flyers were (possibly) out of the playoff picture a lot earlier than last year, so here are the official Cool Uniform Props for their third jerseys that debuted this season.

Styled like the original 1970s Flyers jerseys, the orange on these things really pops. And we're big fans of that around Orange Whip. I also like the white C and A's on the front of the jersey, the white background for last names on the back, and the fact the numbers on the sleeves aren't contained within the white stripe. I think the arm stripes were a little less even/skinnier in the '70s, but I like them better here.

Let's hope we haven't seen the last of these jerseys for this season.

It's a lovely arbor!

2009-04-20T18:42:00.003-04:00

Also: Drew Carey references the above. And, while he's not as consistent a bidder, this guy is pretty funny.

Can't stop the Easter

2009-04-15T18:44:00.003-04:00

Tim and Eric, still flying high since Easter, rush the crowd on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon last night.

Harry Kalas, R.I.P.

2009-04-13T21:53:00.011-04:00

The games will go on, but will never sound as good without Harry the K announcing. It's hard to imagine a summer without Kalas as the voice of the Phillies, but then it was hard to imagine games without his longtime color man Richie Ashburn as well. He will be missed.

There is a fairly extensive write-up on his career here, as well as some vids and interviews, including the one below.

Brawny

2009-04-05T04:55:00.005-04:00

This is looking like it will be a crazy Formula 1 season. And I'm all for that.

Brawn GP, which formed only 23 days before the first race of the F1 season in Australia, ran 1-2 in qualifying and, even more improbably, 1-2 in the race with Jenson Button leading home Rubens Barrichelo both times. By 2008 standards this, in 300 terminology, would be madness. Especially since Brawn GP emerged from the Honda factory effort — they're basically the Honda cars that were in development since sometime last F1 season, but with Mercedes engines and gearboxes — that was awful last year, and saw Honda pull out of the sport in the offseason.

But a slew of rules changes were introduced prior to 2009, and it looks like the big teams were caught out. Brawn, Williams and Toyota all exploited a hole i the regulations regarding the rear diffuser, where Ferrari, McLaren, BMW-Sauber and Renault did not. Red Bull didn't either, but they appear to have brought a very fast piece to the track anyway, especially in the hands of youngster Sebastien Vettel.

So what did all this mean for the first race? Brawn GP first and second, with Button winning for the second time in his career. As a longtime Honda and Button fan, I'm liking it. And based on qualifying for the second race of the season in Malaysia, it looks like it will continue.

With no money restrictions or spending caps in the sport yet, the big teams could rebound once this early part of the season is out of the way, but they may well have been caught out by more than the diffuser issue, if Red Bull and Vettel's pace is considered.

We will see. In the meantime, it certainly cannot be called boring.

Joe and the Coma Girl

2009-04-04T04:23:00.005-04:00

Caught this song on Y-Rock on XPN while driving home from a Phillies spring training game last night, and I quite liked it. "Coma Girl" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros.

Strummer's inflection while singing the chorus reminds me a lot of some other song, but I can't think of it.

I've actually heard very little from this band. The stuff I did hear I was not blown away by, but I may give it another try. RIP Joe.

Gova Nova!

2009-03-30T00:53:00.004-04:00

You knew it was going to go to the wire, but the great Villanova-Pitt East Regional final has to be acknowledged. Simply awesome.

I had a better, Daily News-worthy headline for it over here. Please take note newspapers that don't hire anymore.

Wild

2009-03-26T01:15:00.008-04:00

Where the Wild Things Are, directed by Spike Jonze. Looks pretty good. Trailer below, or embiggen here.

Bear, Delaware

2009-03-24T01:21:00.009-04:00

Speaking points:

— "Yeah right."
— "Get real."
— "Memorize that bass line."
— "You white #!&*#$!"
— "They call me The Bone."
— "I'm king of the trees."
— "Ello guvna!"
— "NOW!"
— "Work drugs."
— "No way."
— five-disk changer

A noble heart embiggens the smallest man

2009-02-27T20:37:00.005-05:00

As do giant purple undies.

This basically looks like it rules. Big Man Japan, aka Dai-Nipponjin. Embiggen here.

We never said that

2009-02-21T03:30:00.004-05:00

Watched the last Late Night with Conan O'Brien earlier tonight, and while I had worries about Consey dialing it back for the new Tonight Show gig, he ended the finale by assuring us this would not be the case. A strong way to move on. Stay strong.

I have less confidence in what Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will bring to the table, and less reason to find out with Conan over at 12:35. But in the spirit of not being negative, I'll keep an open mind. The below, at least, was funny, though mainly due to the Lonely Island dudes.

5 G's

2009-02-18T23:39:00.005-05:00

This blog saw its 5,000th view today, which makes me feel like 5,000 Belarussian bucks. Not sure if that's good or bad.

Tokyo! be lookin' good

2009-02-18T20:15:00.005-05:00

Tokyo!, with segments by directors Joon-ho Bong, Leos Carax and, fresh off last week's excellent Flight of the Conchords episode, Michel Gondry. This looks really cool. See it embiggened and in HD here.

According to the YouTube posters, the song is "Be Good" by Tokyo Police Club. I've never listened to them, but I may have to.

Heeeyheeeeyyyyyaaah!

2009-02-13T17:58:00.008-05:00

The Internet is always good for some random bits of genius. A recent one you might have seen, or heard, was David Lee Roth's isolated vocal track from Van Halen's classic "Runnin' with the Devil." It might have originated here.

Without the music, it sounds less classic, more hilarious and bizarre. Did he actually write those, uh, sounds?

Anyway, while downing a reported 17 beers with Myers the other week, he clued me to this soundboard of Diamond Dave's vocals from Runnin'. Fun on its own, sure, but it's also very amusing to employ while listening to other music. Just about everything is improved by a little DLR. Enjoy.

Oh, and for more soundboard fun of the Christian Bale variety, see here.

Brumos def

2009-01-27T23:03:00.007-05:00

So the racing season got off to a pretty nice start when the Grand-Am's Rolex 24 of Daytona came right down to the last lap, with the number 58 Brumos Porsche holding off the number 01 Ganassi Lexus — the team that's won the event the past three years.

The "24" in the race name signifies 24 hours, meaning it was crazy to have the top four cars finish on the lead lap, let alone running nose to tail for the last 3-plus hours. It may well have been historic.

It was definitely entertaining, especially as the car I was rooting for took the win. The win was a long time coming for the Brumos team in Grand-Am, and former Formula 1 star and current Nascar racer Juan Pablo Montoya — piloting the second place Ganassi Lexus — definitely made them earn it.

Broms also came home third with the number 59 car, which included sports car racing legend Hurley Haywood in its driver lineup. A suggestion to Brumos on the 59: Get rid of the heinous florescent green spot color on the windshield and sidesills. It was there last year, and I was disappointed to see it back.

If the 58 has florescent red, how about a blue? I guess it's there so spotters can more easily pick out the car from afar, and to differentiate it from its sister car, but surely there's a more eye-pleasing option. That green is ruining the classic Brumos white with blue/red stripe paint job.

These dudes will mess you up

2009-01-22T23:18:00.009-05:00

But this is where thug life gets you. "Thug life ..."

DJ Jazzy Jerks

2009-01-22T20:57:00.004-05:00

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Remix Challenge

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Amazing.

Bird crap

2009-01-18T20:04:00.007-05:00

I said as much over at Will We Ever Win, but here's my reaction to yet another Eagles loss in an NFC Championship game, with some bonus venting thrown in for good measure.

The Eagles were still getting good luck from some refs' calls and screw-ups by the Cardinals, and just didn't do anything with it.

The Cardinals' last drive for a TD felt inevitable. It's like their offensive coordinator woke the hell up and went right back to what worked in the first quarter.

The long pass to DeSean Jackson where he bobbled the ball while walking into the endzone had me laughing out loud. That was pure joy. Didn't last, of course.

The Eagles are down 14-3 and driving in the first half, inside the Cardinals' 30, I believe. And they call a momentum killer in a quick pass to Greg Lewis right on the line of scrimage, where he's supposed to deek the defender one-on-one. Has that play ever, ever worked with Greg Lewis? Ever? Needless to say he got thrown for a 2- or 3-yard loss. PATHETIC!

Kevin Curtis has to catch that fourth-down pass that basically ended the game. If he was touched it did not impede him. It's football, people touch you.

McNabb isn't bothering to say he, himself, came up short, when he clearly did. Big surprise.

Brent Celek is clearly a better player than L.J. Smith, like most fans have said all season. We were smarter/less stubborn than Andy. Again.

I continue to maintain the drafting of DeSean Jackson was a complete fluke. Reid lucked into that draft pick like the Eagles lucked into the playoffs. Jackson and Celek were studs Sunday.

I thought all year there was more talent on this team than the record and play indicated. They were lucky as hell to even get into the playoffs, where it was evident they could have been in the Super Bowl. Who then is to blame for being a mediocre team all year, being gifted into the playoffs and then coming up short in crunch time? Mostly Andy Reid.

Can't say I didn't enjoy the game, once the Birds started the comeback anyway. Down as they were at halftime, I thought they could come back. And they did, taking the lead. And then ...

Maybe the Phillies winning the World Series softened me up, but I'm not outraged or anything. I'm not going to be calling for Reid's head or to move McNabb, because that's been futile for years now. It's just really disappointing realizing you were that close to the Super Bowl, and would have gotten there in incredible fashion. All for naught.

UPDATE: Ron Wood on the above-mentioned Greg Lewis play. "That horrible play call to Greg Lewis on 2nd and 2 was from the 13 and was the worst play call of the game."

Free at last

2009-01-15T00:52:00.006-05:00

Actor Patrick McGoohan died Tuesday, and I've been avoiding online discussion of the final episode of The Prisoner all day as I have yet to see it.

Incidentally, AMC has all the original Prisoner episodes available on its Web site in anticipation of its new miniseries. But I may just have to spring for the DVDs. I've seen about half of the original 17 episodes, and they are indeed weird and awesome.

As he himself has said, he'll always be best known as "Number Six" from that series, but he was pretty great any time I saw him. I especially liked him as the warden in Escape from Alcatraz, and as Longshanks in Braveheart. He also won two Emmys for his work on Columbo. Pretty much any Columbo episode is good times, but those I saw those episodes in syndication many years ago and they definitely stood out.

R.I.P Number Six.

UPDATE: AV Club's Zack Handlen posted a good write-up on McGoohan, which linked to another blogger's reaction. Interesting reads.

Clear the set

2009-01-10T01:47:00.005-05:00

Baltimore photog The Hood Watch posted photos from a former soundstage used for The Wire, aka the best TV show ever. I can't believe all this cool stuff is going to waste. I would fill my apartment with this useless junk, after clearing it of the current useless junk.

The Baltimore Sun newsroom was an awesomely realistic set, and the photos of it here kind of look like my former place of employment ... while there were people working there. I wouldn't be surprised if it looks exactly like this pretty soon.

Via.

Turkey hurlin'

2009-01-01T02:16:00.005-05:00

Boxer Christmas Card 08' from Boxer Design.

Via.

Belie dat

2008-12-24T04:13:00.008-05:00

For some holiday fun of a different sort, the "Seasons of Belief" episode of Tales from the Darkside, circa December 1986. Are your doors locked?

I'll man the island, the cocaine and the elegant cars

2008-12-24T00:45:00.007-05:00

I saw this vid when it first came out, then forgot about it. But I started hearing snippets of the song in different places and have been trying to remember who did it, recalling only the band's name was a bunch of letters, in the EPMD sense, not the sense that words are formed with letters.

Thanks to a tweet from a work chum, I see it was "Time to Pretend" by MGMT. Seems like 20 of these kinds of bands pop up every year now, of which I usually like one or two. But I guess this is one I like.

This vid quality is pretty cruddy. Check out the video in its full kitten-riding glory here.

Pierce the sky!

2008-12-23T01:19:00.007-05:00

The Office is on its holiday break, so get a quick fix — or maybe pick up that last minute gift — over here. See also Boner Champ and Angela's online wedding album and, uh, this.

According to "the legend" of Princess Unicorn, she's from "a distant land on a distant planet, far away in the future." But she may well be from the Time of Legends, and related to Robert on the right here:

Potter catches a bad one

2008-12-23T00:20:00.007-05:00

In honor of the holidays, the "lost ending" of "It's a Wonderful Life" from SNL. I might have posted the Glengarry Glen-Christmas sketch with Alec Baldwin reprising his "Glengarry Glen Ross" role, but the end of the clip is cut off for some reason. And I demand perfection.

Walk hard

2008-12-11T01:06:00.010-05:00

With my tips based on 33 years of walking, and the latest in bee suit technology, you too will be walking like a champion at 9 months old. Don't believe me? Franklin demonstrates the benefits of the SeannyBoy Bee Suit Method.

It's the segregationist pumpkin!

2008-11-30T04:46:00.003-05:00

I was looking for the Mr. Plow episode of The Simpsons on Hulu.com, but they only had clips. So instead I watched this year's Treehouse of Horror installment, which I missed when it first aired a few weeks back.

Not unlike most other current Simpsons episodes, I found it to be pretty forgettable. I did, however, enjoy the third part, "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse," based on the classic Peanuts Halloween special. Santa's Little Helper as Snoopy, a Grand Pumpkin who's racist against yellow pumpkins, Tom Turkey — the magical turkey who gave Pilgrims the technology that allowed them to put buckles on their hats — all good stuff.

Maybe the best part of the 19th Treehouse was the opening of the second part, "How to Get Ahead in Dead-Vertising," which was a quite awesome Simpson-ized version of the Mad Men opening.