" What's most horrifying is that this is becoming normal. Everything about this is becoming normal." -My friend Raziq I couldn't say it better myself.  Here we are again.  27 dead today at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.  20 of them children.  Then come the screaming arguments over gun control. "Repeal the Second Amendment!" says one. "Over my dead body!" says another. "Gun violence is out of control!" "Guns don't kill people, people do!" Rinse.  Repeat. Such anger- and fear-driven responses to tragedy inhibit legitimate conversation and debate as much as anything else.  I myself have been guilty of much misdirected anger toward those I love today.  It's only human.  We're all angry and we're all afraid.   Both sides are quick to construct straw men to burn in effigy: "Those hatemongers won't stop clinging to their guns!" "Those bleeding heart liberals want to destr...

Holy shit! Have you seen the greatest thing since sliced bread the glory of the new Star Trek film Teaser Trailer. The Star Trek film that daringly uses Sar Trek as a verb STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. I can not wait to STAR TREK INTO a DARK movie theatre and see the awesome-NESS, projected in the real full screen mode before watching the Hobbit.  I love Star Trek have seen every episode of every series. Was absolutley enthralled by the last J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie which has put Chris Pine on my list of the only dude I'd go gay for, lol. Cumberbatch has some big shoes to fill stepping into the villain role, Eric Bana was intense and had some fantastic line deliveries. I think I'm going to have to catch up on Cumberbatch's Sherlock show to hold me over. 

The Dark Knight Rises blu-ray   is due out for holiday gift giving goodness. In a semi related note so is The Lion King on the Blu-ray . This mash-up trailer of the Dark Knight Rises and the Lion King is the purpose of this post. Check it out it is masterfully done. 

We hear at the Vundablog love us some action movies. One of the strongest pillars of the action movie genre is always Die Hard. This time Die Hard 5, the debut of McClane and Son ass kicking/terrorist thwarting freelance business. Bruce Willis tearing it up in the USSR. Based on the trailer the movie looks incredibly fun. The only time in the trailer I was annoyed was the gratuitous boob shot and then the card Died Hard was a bit in poor taste. However the action looks top notch premium explosions and car crashes. I'm excited, I think the Valentine's day release date is a bit odd, I'd wait till summer to make an event of this but I'm sure the super studio geniuses have figered it all out.    

So, inevitably, I missed yet another week--and a pretty big one at that--but I have a good excuse: I was at DISNEY WORLD!  Yeah, be jealous.  Don't worry though, I haven't forgotten about you, the three or four people who ever read this... HEADLINES Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel has catapulted himself into the Heisman conversation -Well, the biggest headline of the week is a no-brainer: Alabama falls 29-24 to Texas A&M.  I have to admit, I probably saw this coming less than just about anyone.  I was pretty well convinced that Alabama was in a class by themselves and would cruise to an undefeated record, SEC title, and eventual national title.  But what was so much more shocking than the fact that they lost was the way it happened.  After QB A.J. McCarron was intercepted in the end zone on a potential game-winning drive, the Tide would have had one more chance but were...wait for it...drawn offsides.  When was the last time yo...

It's wierd how Hollywood has two different Hitchcock movies in popular circulation. The first was on HBO called The Girl which explored a very dark side of the Hitchcock film legacy. The other project is   Hitchcock starring Anthony Hopkins, Scarlett Johansson, and the return to the silver screen of the great Ralph Macchio. More so than Hitchcock hype, I am a stickler for theatre ettiquette. I believe that the filmic experience is sacred. In movie theatres we are in a shared space. Partaking in a sharing of experiences and ideas.  Talking should be at an extreme minimum. Cell phones should be silent and touched rarely through out the film. The following is a viral video for the film which comes out January 2013. The video ironically looks like it was shot on a cell phone, and it imagines what Hitchcock's cellphone ettiquette message would have sounded like. Hopkins Hitchcock looks prettyy legit, I can barely see Odin in it.

Disney's newest film, Wreck-It Ralph is awesome. Disney has released these sweet viral videos to promote the movie and it is my extrem pleasure to share them with you. The first one is for Ralph's own game Fix-It Felix Jr. The game is similar to Donkey Kong although it also vaguely reminds me of Dig-Dug for the graphics and the fact you have to physically tap to fix the windows, the way you had to tap with Dig Dug to inflate monsters too death. I have been playing this game on my phone everytime I feel nostalgic for the film.           You can play the games made up for the movie here  Fix-it Felix Jr., Hero's Duty, and Sugar Rush. The second viral commercial is for the racing game Sugar Rush. Which is sort of like Candy Land, meets Mario Cart(the title recalls san fransisco rush). The character design work is pure genius. The gameplay and names and concepts for the games are better than most new games coming ou...

Well, as you can see, I had another "Bye Week" last week.  I was absolutely swamped with both school work and "church" work so not only did I take a week off from the corner but I missed a whole bunch of games.  I did, however, get to see the Gators blow an easy shot at an SEC title, so that was nice.  Let's take a look... HEADLINES QB Jeff Driskel and the Gators were brought back to Earth (literally) by the Dawgs last week -So the Gators finally got knocked off their cloud.  Thank the football gods.  The sad part is that I probably would have picked them last week because I had even less faith in the Dawgs.  I did always maintain, however, that the idea that the Gators were the #2 team in the country (the computers actually had them #1 which just illustrates the weirdness of the computer calculations and the desperate need for the human element--which then underscores how ridiculous it is that the Coaches Poll is 1/3 of the whole for...

Love the song choice to capture the epicness and scope of deep and primordial ideas bubbling in all these movies. I remember being in the car with my cousins on the way to see "Toy Story" for the first time. Contemplating the idea of a computer generated film and imagining that the film was made by some sort of giant super computer program, wondering if the fact that it was all computers would be entertaining enough for the length of the movie. I was so deliciously naive. And I was blown away. One time I tagged along on a date with my brother Gabby and his future-wife to see "A Bugs Life." I was so scared of those effing grasshoppers. I still kinda fear them. "Toy Story 2" has one of my favorite film intros to watch over and over ad nauseam and which I have YouTubed many times. It is the pure glory and imagination of playing with toys perfected.  When I saw "Monsters, Inc." with my cousin Dex we were in a theatre full of children a...

HEADLINES Landry Jones slicing and dicing the Longhorns -Well the biggest headline this week is pretty obvious: a pair of shocking blowouts in the Big XII.  Not only did Oklahoma throttle Texas (who I picked to win) 63-21 but West Virginia got their asses handed to them in Lubbock 49-14 (finally their inability to play anything resembling defense caught up to them against a team that, you know, plays defense).  Not only that but now the Mountaineers play host to Collin Klein and Kansas State tonight in a game that's likely to be even tougher even if it is in friendly confines.   -Perhaps the other big headline was LSU bouncing back in Baton Rouge to edge out the #3 Gamecocks.  The Gamecocks are in some hot water right now with Jadeveon Clowney (foot) and Marcus Lattimore (hip) both banged up to the point that both missed some practice time this week.  Not good news when you're heading into The Swamp. -Oh yeah, by the way,...

I'm not a huge fan of the  Ultimate Spiderman  cartoon, only watch it occasionally if my nephews are in the Spider-mood. However, I can't pass up how cool it is to see Agent Phil Coulson make his animated debut. His death was only the beginning to solidifying his awesomeness. I hope Phil has a big role in the new "Avengers Assemble" cartoon. Although he may be too busy for it as they've announced that everyone's favorite Agent Phil will be one of the stars of the new  SHIELD TV show . Whedon is taking care of Clark Gregg. Also, Coulson is set to appear in the comics making his immortality fully complete. I don't think fans have taken to a character like this since Harley Quinn. I'm sad to see  Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes go.

I love movies. I love westerns. The western is the earliest, most primal form of cinema. Technology is stripped away.  Danger is ratcheted up. Violence can erupt at any moment. The western was one of the most popular and enduring genres of early american popular fiction. Its popularity eventually waned before being reinvigorated by Clint Eastwood and the spaghetti western auteurs. I love me a good spaghetti western. Nothing is more cinematic to me than the spaghetti western music and visual style and Sergio Leone and his collaborators were geniuses. In fact, practically all of my favorite Pirates of the Caribbean moments are homages to the spaghetti western. Eventually its popularity slid once again but perhaps Django  Unchained can once again revive the genre. This is my most anticipated movie of the year, followed closely by the Hobbit.  This new trailer only makes me more excited getting pieces of DiCaprio's villain. This movie looks delicious and like an insta...

HEADLINES -Another week, another round of outrageous scores: West Virginia 48, Texas 45 Ohio State 63, Nebraska 38 Clemson 47, Georgia Tech 31 Stanford 54, Arizona 48 (OT) I know a lot of people tend to (consciously or not) equate high scores with quality football games but as a defense enthusiast I consistently object to this fallacy.  I remember everyone bitching and moaning about last year's epic regular season defensive battle between Alabama and LSU that LSU won 9-6 because it was, ostensibly, so "boring."  It's sad how short the attention spans of sports fans are.  Me, I love a good defensive battle.  But every now and then you see a game with great defense AND great offense.  They're a rare species but that's what makes them so special.  If you want to see what I mean, dig up a video of the 1971 "Game of the Century" between Nebraska and Oklahoma. Johnny Rodgers's (white jersey, center-left) famous "M...

I'm not particularly a pez collector. I've bought a few interesting pez dispensers in my childhood but nothing I've ever thought to keep or cherish. A few years back I got a Hal Jordan Green Lantern pez dispenser that was to cool looking to pass up. Pez may yet wrangle some money out of my pocket with Star Trek TNG pez dispensers. I was literally looking around my office for three minutes trying to find some one to share the news of their existence with who would care about this epic partnership between PEZ and Star Trek TNG. 

HEADLINES -That's right, I'm back!  Last week was another pretty hectic week and since there really weren't any particularly interesting games on, I decided I would let it go and take a week off.  Obviously can't do that this week.  Though I am out of town so this will be somewhat abbreviated.  Anyway, let's dive right in... -So, in case you were wondering if there happened to be a Heisman frontrunner yet, West Virginia QB Geno Smith just thought he would clear things up for you.  45-51 for 656 yards and 8 (yes, eight) TDs.  For those counting at home, that's more touchdowns than incompletions.  In fact, after four games, Geno Smith has thrown 169 passes and only 28 of them have been incompletions (13 of which came against Maryland).  20 have been touchdowns.  Not a single one has been an interception.  To top it all off, he's on pace to throw for well over 5,000 yards.  That could all change thi...

HEADLINES The Gators and the Irish appear to be returning to the level they were at when these guys wore their uniforms -Well, it was bound to happen.  When you decide to present yourself as a prognosticator of sporting events (especially college sports), there are bound to be those weeks that make you look completely ridiculous and cause you to second-guess whether anyone cares about the analyses of someone so incompetent as to be so blatantly wrong so many times in one week.  Luckily my confidence remains unscathed.  But let's still go down the list of reasons why I was a complete idiot last week!  In no particular order: --TEAMS I MASSIVELY OVERESTIMATED: Tennessee, Michigan State, USC --TEAMS I MASSIVELY UNDERESTIMATE: Notre Dame (ugh), Florida (UGH), Stanford, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, California --technically correct in picking Ohio State and Alabama although I thought the Buckeyes would cruise and Arkansas would keep it close...not exa...

 Lately, my buddy Jorge has been bombarding me with Power Ranger trivia and footage culled from the internets. I was searching for footage to combat his lust for obscure Power Rangers footage the other day when I came across this fan imation test footage. I do not know the story behind Mikethewolf the artist beyond his own website . However, his art is and this video are super cool. I love the bulky Power Ranger redesign and the fighting is fantastic. The overall look has a "cool" factor that Power Rangers hasn't had since I was nine years old. The fan film was created by Mikethewolf, a very talented artist. You can see his work at his deviantart page .