Robert Downey Jr. to Remain Tony Stark; I Cry

Rejoice

The Eighth Passenger

I have a bad habit when it comes to browsing the web that sees me open a link in another tab and then then leave it there for days.  By the time I finally bother to look at it I forget how I was linked to that particular article or why I wanted to read it in the first place.  This is an example of such an occurrence.

These are all of the tabs I have open as I post this.  I suggest clicking on the image for a better look.

I've had this article about movies that have had their titles mangled by translators over the years open for days without bothering to look at it until now.  It's fairly interesting and elicited a few laughs from me over the poor nature of some of the translations.  If you have nothing better to do (which you obviously don't, considering that you're reading this blog), it's worth a look.

And here's another gem:  The French title for The Hangover.  I don't understand the point, considering the title remains in English.

Random Musings About a Movie Soundtrack

It has been well established that Radiohead is one of my favorite bands.  But for a while now, when I hear one song of their's in particular, I always imagine it being used during the opening credits of a movie.  That song would be "Planet Telex," the opening track off of their second album entitled The Bends.

Now hear me out.  Imagine some indie movie about a dude.  Very descriptive, I know.  After finishing the prologue, the screen segues to black.  After a few seconds, an alarm clock goes off.  The screen shows the alarm on his nightstand, followed by a hand slamming down on the alarm to turn it off.  The instant the hand turns off the alarm, the song begins to play.  While it's playing, a montage of previously referenced dude going through his morning ritual to prepare for work begins.  He brushes his teeth, showers, eats, shaves, etc.  

After showing him driving, he enters the office he works at, the office he desperately wants to escape because he feels that there has to be something more to life than this mundane job he must experience day-in and day-out, as the narrator explains.  The song fades as his boss approaches him.

....And scene.

It's perfect.  Some Indie Movie About a Dude is Academy Award winning stuff.  

I think I need to seek a profession as a screen writer.  I actually have a few decent ideas that I think could work as movies.  Maybe one day on here I could share one with you, my beloved audience.  But I don't want to make that promise.

And if I ever see this happen without some sort of compensation coming my way, someone's getting sued.  

Until next time, this has been Random Musings.

Videos Too Long to Post to Facebook But Still are at Least Partially Worth Your Time

Sorry to keep you waiting, friends.  I've been very busy lately and haven't had the time to post.  For right now I just wanted to share a few videos that I've discovered on YouTube in my spare time over the last couple weeks.  I tend to post videos I find on Facebook, but I feel like these are too long and uninteresting for the Facebook crowd.  You, my dear readers, are a different story, for better or worse.

The first video is entitled The Death and Return of Superman and looks at DC comic's decision to kill off Superman in the 1990's and the aftermath of said decision.  While the visuals appear cheap, the short film was produced professionally and includes several big name talents including Elijah Wood, Simon Pegg, and Ron Howard.  The cheap quality of most of the footage only adds to the humor and overall it's a very interesting look at the creative process behind comic books while remaining thoroughly entertaining during its 15 minute run time.  If you have 15 minutes to kill I highly recommend it.

The second video, on the other hand, is not worth sitting through its entire run time.  This isn't to say that it's bad , but due to the fact that it's the length of an entire feature film.  That would be because the video is Toy Story lovingly recreated shot for shot with real toys.  I couldn't sit through the whole thing and only jumped around watching a few clips, but what I did see was very impressively done.  I should also mention that Toy Story was a very big part of my early childhood.  How serious?  I'm pretty sure when I was in preschool I alternating watching it every night with A Charlie Brown Christmas for some reason.  This strange combo likely helped develop me into the twisted shell of a man I am today.  Anyways, the point is that this video had me nostalgia tripping hard, which made the short time I spent with it worthwhile.  Because nostalgia is a powerful tool against the uninitiated.  But, we are initiated... aren't we, Bruce?

The Xbox One Reveal in a Nutshell

The other day I shared my thoughts on the Xbox One.  Search any gaming website or forum and you can see that my concerns are shared by many.  In reality people are freaking out.  The press conference Microsoft held the other day has led to nothing but negative press and word of mouth.  Maybe they can stop the bleeding at E3, but the common perception of the announcement is summed up nicely in this GIF.

UPDATE:  Since this topic is too fun to stop talking about, Cracked just posted an article that, in their unique style, explains the problems with the Xbox One.  The article also includes a video that I've seen floating around the 'net today summarizing the conference in under two minutes that I've included below.  If the point hasn't been driven home yet, this video is sure to do it.

Bane's Speech as Performed by The Joker

This is great.  Some guy on YouTube does a perfect imitation of Mark Hamill's interpretation of the Joker and uses it to recite Bane's speech about Commissioner Gordon and Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight Rises.

For those of you who don't know, Mark Hamill is most famous for playing the little known role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.  In recent years he's become well known for providing voice work for The Joker over a variety of mediums, most notably the animated Batman series from the '90's and the excellent Batman: Arkham video games (not including the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins).

All the same dude.

Anyway this is just a fun re-imagining of  what could have been if Hamill's Joker "liberated" Gotham in the place of Tom Hardy's Bane.  And it needs to be said again, the guy who did this really did an outstanding job of imitating Mark Hamill's voice.

And to compare, here's a behind the scenes video of Hamill providing voice work for Batman: Arkham City.

Source Filmmaker vs. Batman

     So I've been on a huge Batman kick ever since I saw The Dark Knight Rises at the midnight premier, and these Team Fortress 2 videos made in Source Filmmaker really hit the spot.  What's Source Filmmaker you ask?  Why it's only the tools game developers Valve use to make movies for their games, such as this spot for TF2 (important details within for understanding a joke in one of the later clips).

     Recently, they released these tools free to the public to do with as they please.  So far, almost every video has involved characters and areas from Team Fortress 2, but that doesn't stop the work people do with Source Filmmaker from being amazing.  Both clips I am highlighting can be seen after the break.

I SAW THE DARK KNIGHT RISES AT MIDNIGHT

     The title says it all.  I loved it.  Maybe I'll talk more about it later, maybe not.  All that can be said now is that if you didn't see it, you must.  You simply must.  And in addition, if you are one of those people that only saw The Dark Knight, you must see Batman Begins to fully enjoy The Dark Knight Rises.  Knowledge of what happens in Batman Begins is imperative to the experience.   

WATCH THIS FIRST

TO FULLY ENJOY THIS.

I hope that I've made myself clear.

They Will Find Him, and He Will Kill Them

     So apparently they're making a sequel to Taken.  Hopefully a trailer will be released that includes Liam Neeson giving a monologue that will be quoted endlessly for years to come, kind of like this: