Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Childhood dreams un-crushed? Could GI Joe 2 be good?
Why my childhood may have hope once more:
It may be good, it may suck, but 1987 me is getting his $9 ready.
- Bruce Willis as The original Joe
- The Rock as Roadblock
- Get rid of exo-suits, and add normal armor/uniforms
- Get rid of pew pew laser guns, and add...actual guns
- Get rid of director Stephen Sommers and add director Jon Chu (wait, what? the guy who made Step Up 2 and Step Up 3? However, if the trailer is any indication, I think it's more of a commentary on Sommers sucking...)
- Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are back
It may be good, it may suck, but 1987 me is getting his $9 ready.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Movie Trailer looks familiar?
#1. This looks like it will be an awesome movie.
#2. Does this look like Call of Duty, the movie?
#2. Does this look like Call of Duty, the movie?
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Unreal Landscape
Watch it in HD. (H/T: Gizmodo. Read the original here.)
Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.
Landscapes: Volume Two from Dustin Farrell on Vimeo.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Why the Government Won't Protect You from Getting Screwed by Your Cable Company
Read the original here.
You hate your cable company, right? Seems like everyone does. Cable television routinely scores lower in customer satisfaction than just about anything else—including congress. So why don't you just switch providers? Oh yeah, you can't. You're so screwed!
The sad truth is, most Americans don't have a choice of cable providers. Sure, there are a lot of cable companies out there, but odds are there's only one you can use. While no one cable company dominates the nation, there are a lot of regional cable fiefdoms. Live in San Francisco? It's Comcast for you. New York City? Time Warner. That matters because it translates into high prices and crummy service.
Nationally speaking, there's plenty of competition. But locally, that's just not true. For the overwhelming majority of us it's the local cable-opoly, or get bent. Which means we pay exorbitant bills, suffer four hour install time windows, and just suck it up when our cable provider throttles our download speeds or caps our bandwidth.
The only way this changes is with competition. When a competing cable company is present, your cable bill typically goes down by 15-percent, and service generally improves. But almost nobody has a competing cable company.
Simply put, you're paying way too much for Nickelodeon.
The cable industry is a patchwork of micro-monopolies. Or more accurately, natural monopolies: situations of little or no competition that doesn't break enough laws to get regulated. A natural monopoly occurs when it's so expensive to enter a market that it doesn't make sense for a competitors to come in. With cable TV, there's a massive fixed cost to enter a new market—putting in new cable lines. So, basically, whoever showed up first—or the company that bought them—has the legacy right of being the local cable company.
For decades, cable operators were allowed to set up exclusive regional franchises. A cable company would come into an area, and more or less tell the municipal area in charge of franchising that it needed an exclusive for the next, say, 12-15 years if it was going to build out lines. That ended in 1992 with the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, but the damage was done.
Cable companies had already divided up the nation like Europe colonizing Africa. By the time regulation arrived, the land grab was already over.
The last reliable statistic shows that a mere 2-percent of American markets had a choice of cable providers. That's from 2003, the last time the FCC produced a statistic. (At least that they could supply us with.) You may be surprised to learn that the FCC doesn't have anything to do with cable franchising. Nor does the FTC. An FTC spokesman told Gizmodo that "we don't look at industries considered common carriers, like airlines, phone companies and utilities."
Throughout most of cable's history, it's been regulated at the local level. Counties and cities were the agencies responsible for allowing cable franchises. That is changing, slightly. More than 20 states now have franchise authority, due largely to intensive lobbying by telcos like Verizon and AT&T.
You know you're fucked when you're relying on AT&T to make things better.
Ultimately, this patchwork of local regulation means cable companies themselves are often more powerful than the body overseeing them. And as long as none of the micro-monopolies grows too large nationally, it can continue to control the local weather.
But what about those second cable companies that some people have? They're typically overbuilders, a company that builds new lines in an area where one cable company already exists. They tend to be quite small. The best known, for example, is probably WideOpenWest Networks, or WOW. WOW has just 410,000 subscribers. And that's because it's really, really hard for a second company to come into an existing market.
While everyone has a right to access the poles, the same isn't true of the wires that hang from them. In short, if you're an upstart cable company coming into a new area, you have to run your own lines. It's very expensive, and it also means you can easily be crushed by the existing monopoly.
One cable industry insider, who would only speak on background, explained how it works:
First you have to overcome a mishmash of local regulations. You have to get a permit to come in, which can be a legal hassle, with a wait time of many months just to get approval. Then its time to build.
To build a new network and make it price-competitive, you have to reach 100-percent of customers in that area. Which means building an extensive network of lines, all the way to the door. If you're very lucky you may capture 10 to 20-percent of the market. You do that by offering steep discounts on bundled services. This gets you new customers, but at a loss.
Then, Comcast, or Cablevision, or Time Warner—or whichever provider is dominant in the area—comes along behind you with sweetheart deals for any of its customers who were leaving. They offer discounted packages and teaser rates. Poof. They're gone. That's five percent of the market. Now you've spent a fortune on new lines and infrastructure, for very few new customers.
So there's very little financial incentive for a competitor to try to build. It's just too damn hard to build a customer base. To do that, you need to be a giant company to begin with. Like, say, a telco.
If you're lucky, you may have the option for Verizon FiOS or AT&T U-Verse. But probably not. Verizon only passes (cable lingo for is available at) 15 million premises nationwide, and has just 3.7 million video subscribers. AT&T is even smaller, at 3.2 million. Comcast, by comparison, has 22 million video subscribers.
What's more, there's no evidence that telcos are having a positive effect on pricing. In fact, in some areas where AT&T managed to get the laws changed, like Michigan, prices have gone up.
But wait! What about satellite? Doesn't satellite fix everything? No.
According to the Government Accountability Office, satellite services have little-to-no effect on cable prices. (And besides, satellite service is terrible. Who doesn't want to watch TV when it's overcast outside?)
Ultimately what all of this means is that consumers are left with little recourse. Because there's plenty of competition nationally, nobody is looking out for you locally.
Except us.
All this week, Gizmodo is going to take a long-hard look at the cable industry, and how to improve it. We want to fix cable, and we need your help to make it happen.
We want to hear your horror stories of bad cable experiences, and your ideas of how to make things better. We'll collect the best of these and publish them on Friday. Tweet us with the hashtag#fixcable, email us at tips@gizmodo.com with #fixcable in the subject line, or just fill in the form at the bottom of this page.
Come on. We are totally going to do this thing.You can keep up with Mat Honan, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+
You hate your cable company, right? Seems like everyone does. Cable television routinely scores lower in customer satisfaction than just about anything else—including congress. So why don't you just switch providers? Oh yeah, you can't. You're so screwed!
The sad truth is, most Americans don't have a choice of cable providers. Sure, there are a lot of cable companies out there, but odds are there's only one you can use. While no one cable company dominates the nation, there are a lot of regional cable fiefdoms. Live in San Francisco? It's Comcast for you. New York City? Time Warner. That matters because it translates into high prices and crummy service.
Nationally speaking, there's plenty of competition. But locally, that's just not true. For the overwhelming majority of us it's the local cable-opoly, or get bent. Which means we pay exorbitant bills, suffer four hour install time windows, and just suck it up when our cable provider throttles our download speeds or caps our bandwidth.
The only way this changes is with competition. When a competing cable company is present, your cable bill typically goes down by 15-percent, and service generally improves. But almost nobody has a competing cable company.
Simply put, you're paying way too much for Nickelodeon.
The cable industry is a patchwork of micro-monopolies. Or more accurately, natural monopolies: situations of little or no competition that doesn't break enough laws to get regulated. A natural monopoly occurs when it's so expensive to enter a market that it doesn't make sense for a competitors to come in. With cable TV, there's a massive fixed cost to enter a new market—putting in new cable lines. So, basically, whoever showed up first—or the company that bought them—has the legacy right of being the local cable company.
For decades, cable operators were allowed to set up exclusive regional franchises. A cable company would come into an area, and more or less tell the municipal area in charge of franchising that it needed an exclusive for the next, say, 12-15 years if it was going to build out lines. That ended in 1992 with the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act, but the damage was done.
Cable companies had already divided up the nation like Europe colonizing Africa. By the time regulation arrived, the land grab was already over.
The last reliable statistic shows that a mere 2-percent of American markets had a choice of cable providers. That's from 2003, the last time the FCC produced a statistic. (At least that they could supply us with.) You may be surprised to learn that the FCC doesn't have anything to do with cable franchising. Nor does the FTC. An FTC spokesman told Gizmodo that "we don't look at industries considered common carriers, like airlines, phone companies and utilities."
Throughout most of cable's history, it's been regulated at the local level. Counties and cities were the agencies responsible for allowing cable franchises. That is changing, slightly. More than 20 states now have franchise authority, due largely to intensive lobbying by telcos like Verizon and AT&T.
You know you're fucked when you're relying on AT&T to make things better.
Ultimately, this patchwork of local regulation means cable companies themselves are often more powerful than the body overseeing them. And as long as none of the micro-monopolies grows too large nationally, it can continue to control the local weather.
But what about those second cable companies that some people have? They're typically overbuilders, a company that builds new lines in an area where one cable company already exists. They tend to be quite small. The best known, for example, is probably WideOpenWest Networks, or WOW. WOW has just 410,000 subscribers. And that's because it's really, really hard for a second company to come into an existing market.
While everyone has a right to access the poles, the same isn't true of the wires that hang from them. In short, if you're an upstart cable company coming into a new area, you have to run your own lines. It's very expensive, and it also means you can easily be crushed by the existing monopoly.
One cable industry insider, who would only speak on background, explained how it works:
First you have to overcome a mishmash of local regulations. You have to get a permit to come in, which can be a legal hassle, with a wait time of many months just to get approval. Then its time to build.
To build a new network and make it price-competitive, you have to reach 100-percent of customers in that area. Which means building an extensive network of lines, all the way to the door. If you're very lucky you may capture 10 to 20-percent of the market. You do that by offering steep discounts on bundled services. This gets you new customers, but at a loss.
Then, Comcast, or Cablevision, or Time Warner—or whichever provider is dominant in the area—comes along behind you with sweetheart deals for any of its customers who were leaving. They offer discounted packages and teaser rates. Poof. They're gone. That's five percent of the market. Now you've spent a fortune on new lines and infrastructure, for very few new customers.
So there's very little financial incentive for a competitor to try to build. It's just too damn hard to build a customer base. To do that, you need to be a giant company to begin with. Like, say, a telco.
If you're lucky, you may have the option for Verizon FiOS or AT&T U-Verse. But probably not. Verizon only passes (cable lingo for is available at) 15 million premises nationwide, and has just 3.7 million video subscribers. AT&T is even smaller, at 3.2 million. Comcast, by comparison, has 22 million video subscribers.
What's more, there's no evidence that telcos are having a positive effect on pricing. In fact, in some areas where AT&T managed to get the laws changed, like Michigan, prices have gone up.
But wait! What about satellite? Doesn't satellite fix everything? No.
According to the Government Accountability Office, satellite services have little-to-no effect on cable prices. (And besides, satellite service is terrible. Who doesn't want to watch TV when it's overcast outside?)
Ultimately what all of this means is that consumers are left with little recourse. Because there's plenty of competition nationally, nobody is looking out for you locally.
Except us.
All this week, Gizmodo is going to take a long-hard look at the cable industry, and how to improve it. We want to fix cable, and we need your help to make it happen.
We want to hear your horror stories of bad cable experiences, and your ideas of how to make things better. We'll collect the best of these and publish them on Friday. Tweet us with the hashtag#fixcable, email us at tips@gizmodo.com with #fixcable in the subject line, or just fill in the form at the bottom of this page.
Come on. We are totally going to do this thing.You can keep up with Mat Honan, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+
Friday, August 12, 2011
The 6 Deadliest Animals Too Adorable to Run Away
From Cracked.com, read the original here.
(I highly suggest reading the original article, if only for the terrifying pictures and video. This is more of a aggregation for text only readers. -E)
The 6 Deadliest Animals Too Adorable to Run Away
By:Tom Hohle August 12, 2011
As we love to point out, Mother Nature's favorite gag is giving vicious predators the bodies of harmless fuzzballs. As part of our duty to make sure you don't judge an animal's lethality by its appearance, we'd like to remind you that ...
#6. Roadrunners Eat Rattlesnakes
When someone mentions roadrunners, you probably think of a tall, skinny bird that runs really fast, goes "Meep meep" and routinely outwits cartoon coyotes. And while Warner Bros. did get some things right (the birds are capable of flight, but choose to just run around really fast), cartoons are rarely accurate sources for the aspiring ornithologist.
Real roadrunners are smaller (upward of 2 feet long from beak to tail) than their cartoon counterparts, and they're far more likely to be doing the murdering than running from it.
Wait, What?
Roadrunners are almost exclusively carnivorous. The diet they follow is not the wimpy "small furry things" sort, either. Try rattlesnakes.
A snake lunging at a roadrunner's face is the same as you punching at a mugger's gun.
The roadrunner just sinks its beak into the snake (or whatever abomination it happens to be facing), promptly lifts it high into the air and repeatedly smashes it into the ground until it is tenderized enough to swallow whole. This technique, according to scientists, "subjects the prey to an outward force away from the center of rotation, in this case, the center of rotation being the roadrunner's face." More importantly, it does it like a boss.
That there, friends, is a goddamn finishing move. It even has a name: the Centrifugal Slam.
Oh, and the roadrunner also eats other birds. It doesn't even fly after them -- instead, it just jumps in the air and snatches them as they pass. And then: the Centrifugal Slam.
Roadrunners are the only known predator of the tarantula hawk, a 2-inch insect hellspawn that fights tarantulas into submission and lays eggs inside their living bodies. Roadrunners also eat the horned lizard, a spiked monster that shoots blood out of its eyes when threatened.
Once the prey is dead, the roadrunner swallows it whole. Well, attempts to. The snakes in particular are usually too long to swallow entirely, so most of the meal ends up just sort of dangling from the roadrunner's mouth. But don't think that the bird gives a damn. It just goes about its business with a dead snake hanging flaccidly from its throat, slowly swallowing more as its stomach digests the meal.
#5. Giant Otters Murder Piranha and Alligators
Otters are some of the cutest, most innocent-looking animals on the planet. Statistically speaking, 102 percent of what they do is adorable. Giant otters are the same, only more so.
At 6 feet, the giant otter is physically the largest member of his family, and even though he's a bit on the big side, we would totally name him Buster and take him rafting. Come on, look at the big fella.
Giant otters even have a cute nickname:
"River wolves."
Wait, What?
Giant otters live in South America, where they primarily feed on perch, large catfish and characins, such as piranhas. They hunt in packs (hence the nickname), corraling fish into shallow water for easy pickings. When feeding cubs, they beat up the fish within an inch of its life but leave it hanging -- so that the cute otter babies can have fresh food.
But no matter how much of a fish-mutilating dick the giant otter may be, it's still just a cute and furry mammal. It has to be wary of other predators that haunt the Amazon River -- such as the local member of the alligator family tree, the caiman.
Oh, wait -- it's the other way around.
When a pair of giant otters see a caiman basking on the shore, they might start pawing at the reptile's tail, apparently just for shits and giggles. Maybe the caiman takes the hint and pisses off, but more likely it will turn around and attack. The otters will dodge, then have a go at the tail again. And again. Until the caiman is too tired to fight back. Then they calmly eat the caiman alive. Starting with the damn tail.
If there are more otters around, they'll skip the tail biting, gang tackle the caiman and start chomping away. A pack of giant otters can devour an entire caiman, bones and all, in 45 minutes.
Another delicacy on the giant otter menu is the anaconda, which you may remember as the largest damn snake on Earth. A small group of giant otters will swim up to and grab the snake, then start biting and clawing it. They will bash the anaconda against tree trunks and, if they feel particularly badass, employ a technique described by a biologist as "tug-of-war with an animated fire hose." Yes, giant otters can reduce the most powerful snake on the planet to a mere plaything.
Not bad for an animal that sounds like a squeak toy.
#4. Long-Tailed Weasels Are Dancing Spree-Killers
Oh, come on now. Weasels? They do probably hunt mice or something, like pretty much every small carnivore. But a long-tailed weasel on a list of ferocious killers? No way. Look at that little fella -- it's just a fluffy hot dog with legs.
Well, the long-tailed weasel isn't just one of the most horrible serial killers in nature; one of its many methods of mayhem involves break dancing.
Wait, What?
The long-tailed weasel likes to kill by wrapping its body around its prey, then crushing the prey's skull by biting it. If the victim tries to escape into its burrow, the weasel's slender body allows it to run in after the prey to deliver the skullcrusher. If the victim tries to run out of its burrow, the weasel crushes its windpipe instead, because variety is the spice of life.
But what if the teeny tiny predator feels like attacking larger foes, such as, say, snowshoe hares, which are routinely three to six times the size of the less than 10 oz. weasels?
Enter the "weasel war dance," an intricate series of movements performed by the weasel to charm the bunny with the power of dance:
Here's a step-by-step guide for rocking those moves at home: run right really fast; run left really fast; right; right; left; left; jump; hop; roll; roll; kill.
Somehow, it gets nastier still. Long-tailed weasels are genetically hardwired to commit mass murder. They kill whenever they can and store the food for later, but rarely visit their corpse stashes because they prefer their food "alive and quivering." They also lap the blood from the wounds they inflict, and as the icing on the serial killer cake, they make their nests out of the fur of their victims.
#3. Olive Baboons Are Kind of Dicks
First things first: an olive baboon is a monkey. Quick -- what do monkeys eat? You thought "bananas," didn't you? Everyone thinks it's bananas.
Olive baboons -- like all monkeys -- are actually opportunistic omnivores. That means they eat whatever they think looks delicious. This is usually just grass and plants and stuff. In fact, baboons are known to peacefully graze next to gazelles. But every once in a while, like a man forced to subsist on salad for too long, they decide enough is enough and they want some meat right damn now. And that's when their peaceful co-existence with the rest of the world ends.
By:Tom Hohle August 12, 2011
As we love to point out, Mother Nature's favorite gag is giving vicious predators the bodies of harmless fuzzballs. As part of our duty to make sure you don't judge an animal's lethality by its appearance, we'd like to remind you that ...
#6. Roadrunners Eat Rattlesnakes
When someone mentions roadrunners, you probably think of a tall, skinny bird that runs really fast, goes "Meep meep" and routinely outwits cartoon coyotes. And while Warner Bros. did get some things right (the birds are capable of flight, but choose to just run around really fast), cartoons are rarely accurate sources for the aspiring ornithologist.
Real roadrunners are smaller (upward of 2 feet long from beak to tail) than their cartoon counterparts, and they're far more likely to be doing the murdering than running from it.
Wait, What?
Roadrunners are almost exclusively carnivorous. The diet they follow is not the wimpy "small furry things" sort, either. Try rattlesnakes.
A snake lunging at a roadrunner's face is the same as you punching at a mugger's gun.
The roadrunner just sinks its beak into the snake (or whatever abomination it happens to be facing), promptly lifts it high into the air and repeatedly smashes it into the ground until it is tenderized enough to swallow whole. This technique, according to scientists, "subjects the prey to an outward force away from the center of rotation, in this case, the center of rotation being the roadrunner's face." More importantly, it does it like a boss.
That there, friends, is a goddamn finishing move. It even has a name: the Centrifugal Slam.
Oh, and the roadrunner also eats other birds. It doesn't even fly after them -- instead, it just jumps in the air and snatches them as they pass. And then: the Centrifugal Slam.
Roadrunners are the only known predator of the tarantula hawk, a 2-inch insect hellspawn that fights tarantulas into submission and lays eggs inside their living bodies. Roadrunners also eat the horned lizard, a spiked monster that shoots blood out of its eyes when threatened.
Once the prey is dead, the roadrunner swallows it whole. Well, attempts to. The snakes in particular are usually too long to swallow entirely, so most of the meal ends up just sort of dangling from the roadrunner's mouth. But don't think that the bird gives a damn. It just goes about its business with a dead snake hanging flaccidly from its throat, slowly swallowing more as its stomach digests the meal.
#5. Giant Otters Murder Piranha and Alligators
Otters are some of the cutest, most innocent-looking animals on the planet. Statistically speaking, 102 percent of what they do is adorable. Giant otters are the same, only more so.
At 6 feet, the giant otter is physically the largest member of his family, and even though he's a bit on the big side, we would totally name him Buster and take him rafting. Come on, look at the big fella.
Giant otters even have a cute nickname:
"River wolves."
Wait, What?
Giant otters live in South America, where they primarily feed on perch, large catfish and characins, such as piranhas. They hunt in packs (hence the nickname), corraling fish into shallow water for easy pickings. When feeding cubs, they beat up the fish within an inch of its life but leave it hanging -- so that the cute otter babies can have fresh food.
But no matter how much of a fish-mutilating dick the giant otter may be, it's still just a cute and furry mammal. It has to be wary of other predators that haunt the Amazon River -- such as the local member of the alligator family tree, the caiman.
Oh, wait -- it's the other way around.
When a pair of giant otters see a caiman basking on the shore, they might start pawing at the reptile's tail, apparently just for shits and giggles. Maybe the caiman takes the hint and pisses off, but more likely it will turn around and attack. The otters will dodge, then have a go at the tail again. And again. Until the caiman is too tired to fight back. Then they calmly eat the caiman alive. Starting with the damn tail.
If there are more otters around, they'll skip the tail biting, gang tackle the caiman and start chomping away. A pack of giant otters can devour an entire caiman, bones and all, in 45 minutes.
Another delicacy on the giant otter menu is the anaconda, which you may remember as the largest damn snake on Earth. A small group of giant otters will swim up to and grab the snake, then start biting and clawing it. They will bash the anaconda against tree trunks and, if they feel particularly badass, employ a technique described by a biologist as "tug-of-war with an animated fire hose." Yes, giant otters can reduce the most powerful snake on the planet to a mere plaything.
Not bad for an animal that sounds like a squeak toy.
#4. Long-Tailed Weasels Are Dancing Spree-Killers
Oh, come on now. Weasels? They do probably hunt mice or something, like pretty much every small carnivore. But a long-tailed weasel on a list of ferocious killers? No way. Look at that little fella -- it's just a fluffy hot dog with legs.
Well, the long-tailed weasel isn't just one of the most horrible serial killers in nature; one of its many methods of mayhem involves break dancing.
Wait, What?
The long-tailed weasel likes to kill by wrapping its body around its prey, then crushing the prey's skull by biting it. If the victim tries to escape into its burrow, the weasel's slender body allows it to run in after the prey to deliver the skullcrusher. If the victim tries to run out of its burrow, the weasel crushes its windpipe instead, because variety is the spice of life.
But what if the teeny tiny predator feels like attacking larger foes, such as, say, snowshoe hares, which are routinely three to six times the size of the less than 10 oz. weasels?
Enter the "weasel war dance," an intricate series of movements performed by the weasel to charm the bunny with the power of dance:
Here's a step-by-step guide for rocking those moves at home: run right really fast; run left really fast; right; right; left; left; jump; hop; roll; roll; kill.
Somehow, it gets nastier still. Long-tailed weasels are genetically hardwired to commit mass murder. They kill whenever they can and store the food for later, but rarely visit their corpse stashes because they prefer their food "alive and quivering." They also lap the blood from the wounds they inflict, and as the icing on the serial killer cake, they make their nests out of the fur of their victims.
#3. Olive Baboons Are Kind of Dicks
First things first: an olive baboon is a monkey. Quick -- what do monkeys eat? You thought "bananas," didn't you? Everyone thinks it's bananas.
Olive baboons -- like all monkeys -- are actually opportunistic omnivores. That means they eat whatever they think looks delicious. This is usually just grass and plants and stuff. In fact, baboons are known to peacefully graze next to gazelles. But every once in a while, like a man forced to subsist on salad for too long, they decide enough is enough and they want some meat right damn now. And that's when their peaceful co-existence with the rest of the world ends.
Those gazelles the olive baboon likes to hang out with? They do double duty as fluffy animal friends and a snack cabinet. At any given moment, a baboon may decide he wants him some gazelle. So he nonchalantly walks up to the grazing gazelles, pretending to be uninterested and doing whatever the baboon equivalent of whistling is. Then he just suddenly bolts at whatever looks like it runs away the slowest. Yes, of course this is usually a baby gazelle.
Once the baboon catches the African Bambi, he unceremoniously kills it by beating and biting it. Then he holds it in his hands like a watermelon wedge, munching on its sweet, sweet insides.
Wait, What?
Occasionally, olive baboons wake up and find that their home has been invaded by a bunch of flamingos, a "bunch" in this case meaning "up to four freaking million." Just as with the gazelles, the baboons are happy to sit and eat berries with them. Then, completely at random, they just charge the boundless sea of flamingos head-first, giving zero thought about the fact that they're outnumbered four million to one.
"Don't mind me, I'm just a fellow flamingo, and -- MONKEYPUNCH!"
The baboons jump into the fray with the exact same gusto monkeys apply to pretty much everything -- as running, leaping, screeching, shit-stained monsters, screaming at the very top of their voices. They tear through the flamingo flock, grabbing birds left and right the by the legs and throat, and crush the heads with their teeth. They then eat their prey, feathers and all. In fact -- they eat the feathers first, apparently just because they've heard of the phrase "apeshit crazy" and are making an argument for broadening it a bit.
#2. Leopard Seals Eat Penguin Heads
Seals? Seals? No fucking way. Seals are the cutest, sweetest, most adorably helpless-looking things ever. There's no way in hell seals could ever be anything but cuddly tubs of lard. They just eat fish, right?
That assumption goes right out the window when the leopard seal opens its mouth and you find out it's part dinosaur.
Wait, What?
Sure, all pinnipeds, including seals, are carnivorous. But whereas all other seals eat fish and other cold-blooded animals, leopard seals are one of the top predators of the whole Antarctic. As such, they have a taste for warm-blooded animals. They'll take an occasional fish or squid, sure. But they'd rather snack on fellow seals.
Even more disturbing is their tastes for birds. They'll happily catch an occasional duck or some other seabird. But their favorite is penguins.
Leopard seals will wait in shallow water or under ice ledges where penguins like to hang out. When the little guys jump into the water, the seal shoots out and grabs it.
After it catches its prey, the seal slaps the penguin across the surface of the water to skin it before eating it. Or, if it's feeling particularly merciful, just bites off its head. There are pictures of this if you don't believe us. No, we're not going to show you one.
#1. Cape Buffalo Are Remorseless Machines of Vengeance
The Cape buffalo is a large herbivore that roams the African grasslands. Its most distinctive feature is its fused horns, which form a solid bone shield across the forehead and look not unlike a Wild West bartender's haircut. Cape buffalo spend most of their day lying around, eating grass and drinking water. You know, normal cow stuff. That cows do. Because they're cows.
They also fucking murder everything that even thinks of messing with them.
Wait, What?
The Cape buffalo has many names. Names such as "Black Death" and "Widowmaker." It is, in fact, the most dangerous member of the "Big Five" of Africa. The other four members? Lion, leopard, rhino and elephant. This means Cape buffalo are officially deadlier than two big cat predators, a notoriously grumpy horned monster and the largest goddamn land mammal on Earth. Hell, even lions usually dare only attack old or sick ones, far from the herd.
A Cape buffalo weighs up to 2,000 lbs., and its stupid-looking horn helmet is actually a handy combination battering ram/impaler. The Cape buffalo is also, apparently, capable of recognizing the concept of vengeance, and definitely the only animal in existence to downright cherish it.
Cape buffalo can -- and do -- seek revenge against their main enemies, lions -- especially those that kill a calf. Should a lion make that mistake, they come for it with a mob that can contain up to a thousand pissed-off Cape buffalo. In fact, because some lion has surely killed a cape buffalo at some point, they make a point of actively attacking lion prides, either as pre-emptive strikes or, more likely, just to show them who's the boss.
And if a calf is in distress, every member of the herd immediately comes. A bit like this:
If you didn't watch the video, let us recap: a young Cape buffalo is attacked by lions. Then, by a crocodile. Then, the lions and the crocodile play tug-of-war with it for a bit. At which point an entire Cape buffalo herd shows up and gives the predators the beating of a lifetime, sending actual goddamn lions flying through the air, cartoon-style. And the young buffalo, the one two species of vicious predators were doing their very best to kill? It survives.
That's the cat doing wicked involuntary flips.
Attempts to domesticate these murder-cows have been made. They have, unsurprisingly, failed spectacularly. So, as the next most misguided move, we hunt them. As a direct result, more big game hunters are downed by Cape buffalo per year than by any other African animal.
This is largely because the Cape buffalo is a huge believer in offense as the best defense, and in complicated revenge schemes as the best offense. If you shoot one but fail to deliver a kill shot, it will receive an adrenaline boost that makes it oblivious to pain. After that, it will make its mission in life to straight up murder you no matter what. Even if you manage to escape the initial attack, the wounded animal will stalk you, circling around, just waiting for a chance to strike. Shit. Maybe you can try shooting it again? Feel free -- that silly-looking fused-together mass of bone on their foreheads is effectively bulletproof. And the bulk behind it is currently coming at you fast from those nearby bushes like an unholy, steaming, screeching lovechild of Predator and the Hulk.
All in all, we're pretty sure that the only reason aliens haven't attacked Earth yet is because they know they would eventually have to deal with the Cape buffalo.
For more animals not to judge by appearance, check out The 6 Deadliest Creatures (That Can Fit In Your Shoe) and 5 Lovable Animals You Didn't Know Are Secretly Terrifying.
And stop by LinkSTORM to see a giraffe dropkicking a rhino.
Read more: The 6 Deadliest Animals Too Adorable to Run Away From | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19351_the-6-deadliest-animals-too-adorable-to-run-away-from.html#ixzz1UpSendJe
Once the baboon catches the African Bambi, he unceremoniously kills it by beating and biting it. Then he holds it in his hands like a watermelon wedge, munching on its sweet, sweet insides.
Wait, What?
Occasionally, olive baboons wake up and find that their home has been invaded by a bunch of flamingos, a "bunch" in this case meaning "up to four freaking million." Just as with the gazelles, the baboons are happy to sit and eat berries with them. Then, completely at random, they just charge the boundless sea of flamingos head-first, giving zero thought about the fact that they're outnumbered four million to one.
"Don't mind me, I'm just a fellow flamingo, and -- MONKEYPUNCH!"
The baboons jump into the fray with the exact same gusto monkeys apply to pretty much everything -- as running, leaping, screeching, shit-stained monsters, screaming at the very top of their voices. They tear through the flamingo flock, grabbing birds left and right the by the legs and throat, and crush the heads with their teeth. They then eat their prey, feathers and all. In fact -- they eat the feathers first, apparently just because they've heard of the phrase "apeshit crazy" and are making an argument for broadening it a bit.
#2. Leopard Seals Eat Penguin Heads
Seals? Seals? No fucking way. Seals are the cutest, sweetest, most adorably helpless-looking things ever. There's no way in hell seals could ever be anything but cuddly tubs of lard. They just eat fish, right?
That assumption goes right out the window when the leopard seal opens its mouth and you find out it's part dinosaur.
Wait, What?
Sure, all pinnipeds, including seals, are carnivorous. But whereas all other seals eat fish and other cold-blooded animals, leopard seals are one of the top predators of the whole Antarctic. As such, they have a taste for warm-blooded animals. They'll take an occasional fish or squid, sure. But they'd rather snack on fellow seals.
Even more disturbing is their tastes for birds. They'll happily catch an occasional duck or some other seabird. But their favorite is penguins.
Leopard seals will wait in shallow water or under ice ledges where penguins like to hang out. When the little guys jump into the water, the seal shoots out and grabs it.
After it catches its prey, the seal slaps the penguin across the surface of the water to skin it before eating it. Or, if it's feeling particularly merciful, just bites off its head. There are pictures of this if you don't believe us. No, we're not going to show you one.
#1. Cape Buffalo Are Remorseless Machines of Vengeance
The Cape buffalo is a large herbivore that roams the African grasslands. Its most distinctive feature is its fused horns, which form a solid bone shield across the forehead and look not unlike a Wild West bartender's haircut. Cape buffalo spend most of their day lying around, eating grass and drinking water. You know, normal cow stuff. That cows do. Because they're cows.
They also fucking murder everything that even thinks of messing with them.
Wait, What?
The Cape buffalo has many names. Names such as "Black Death" and "Widowmaker." It is, in fact, the most dangerous member of the "Big Five" of Africa. The other four members? Lion, leopard, rhino and elephant. This means Cape buffalo are officially deadlier than two big cat predators, a notoriously grumpy horned monster and the largest goddamn land mammal on Earth. Hell, even lions usually dare only attack old or sick ones, far from the herd.
A Cape buffalo weighs up to 2,000 lbs., and its stupid-looking horn helmet is actually a handy combination battering ram/impaler. The Cape buffalo is also, apparently, capable of recognizing the concept of vengeance, and definitely the only animal in existence to downright cherish it.
Cape buffalo can -- and do -- seek revenge against their main enemies, lions -- especially those that kill a calf. Should a lion make that mistake, they come for it with a mob that can contain up to a thousand pissed-off Cape buffalo. In fact, because some lion has surely killed a cape buffalo at some point, they make a point of actively attacking lion prides, either as pre-emptive strikes or, more likely, just to show them who's the boss.
And if a calf is in distress, every member of the herd immediately comes. A bit like this:
If you didn't watch the video, let us recap: a young Cape buffalo is attacked by lions. Then, by a crocodile. Then, the lions and the crocodile play tug-of-war with it for a bit. At which point an entire Cape buffalo herd shows up and gives the predators the beating of a lifetime, sending actual goddamn lions flying through the air, cartoon-style. And the young buffalo, the one two species of vicious predators were doing their very best to kill? It survives.
That's the cat doing wicked involuntary flips.
Attempts to domesticate these murder-cows have been made. They have, unsurprisingly, failed spectacularly. So, as the next most misguided move, we hunt them. As a direct result, more big game hunters are downed by Cape buffalo per year than by any other African animal.
This is largely because the Cape buffalo is a huge believer in offense as the best defense, and in complicated revenge schemes as the best offense. If you shoot one but fail to deliver a kill shot, it will receive an adrenaline boost that makes it oblivious to pain. After that, it will make its mission in life to straight up murder you no matter what. Even if you manage to escape the initial attack, the wounded animal will stalk you, circling around, just waiting for a chance to strike. Shit. Maybe you can try shooting it again? Feel free -- that silly-looking fused-together mass of bone on their foreheads is effectively bulletproof. And the bulk behind it is currently coming at you fast from those nearby bushes like an unholy, steaming, screeching lovechild of Predator and the Hulk.
All in all, we're pretty sure that the only reason aliens haven't attacked Earth yet is because they know they would eventually have to deal with the Cape buffalo.
For more animals not to judge by appearance, check out The 6 Deadliest Creatures (That Can Fit In Your Shoe) and 5 Lovable Animals You Didn't Know Are Secretly Terrifying.
And stop by LinkSTORM to see a giraffe dropkicking a rhino.
Read more: The 6 Deadliest Animals Too Adorable to Run Away From | Cracked.com http://www.cracked.com/article_19351_the-6-deadliest-animals-too-adorable-to-run-away-from.html#ixzz1UpSendJe
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Hilarious review of Twilight...
From the geniuses at Cracked.com. Click here for the hilarity. And truthfulness.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Haywire Trailer
Steven Soderbergh's new movie with Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Fassbender, and Channing Tatum.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Best strategy game ever....
Best Strategy Game ever....
Wall Of Touchscreens Makes Fleet Commander A Hutt-Size Star Wars Game | GameLife
via Wired:
There have been some big Star Wars videogames, but none as big as Fleet Commander.
Arthur Nishimoto, a graduate student in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory, has developed his real-time strategy game to be played on a wall-size LCD screen. Players are divided into two opposing teams that take control of X-wings, TIE fighters and even Death Stars, all with a touch of their fingers.
“The purpose of [Fleet Commander] was to explore how a complicated application like a real-time strategy game … could be played in a large, multitouch environment,” said Nishimoto in an e-mail to Wired.com.
Because of the screen’s sheer size, any number of players can jump in and start moving ships around, Nishimoto said, limited only by how many people can cram themselves around the 20-foot-wide display.
Since the launch of Nintendo DS in 2004, touch-based controls have become a tantalizing new frontier of game design, delivering a more immediate connection between the player and the game. Development of iPhone software continued the trend, and Apple’s iPad has made it possible to create much more complicated, sometimes multiplayer, touch-based games.
With touch, bigger isn’t just better, it’s markedly different — you’ll never be able to crowd 20 players around an iPad.
In Fleet Commander, players control their ships through simple touch-based gestures, as Nishimoto demonstrates in a video he released this week (above). They can drag starfighters throughout the map or touch individual ships to open radial menus for additional options, like prioritizing targets. The game ends once one side takes out the other’s main base.
The wall of screens is part of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory’s Cyber-Commons, an experimental, high-tech conference room built in 2008. Another student project Nishimoto participated in was a virtual canvas that lets users mix paint colors utilizing an iPad as a palette, then paint on the LCD wall using fingers or an actual paintbrush.
Fleet Commander is playable right now, but Nishimoto says there’s still plenty of work left to be done. The original plan was to let players land their ships on planets and deploy ground troops. As it stands, it’s more of a technical demo than a finished game design, but Nishimoto said LucasArts, the game-development arm of Star Wars‘ parent company, has reached out to him to discuss potential commercial applications for Fleet Commander. (LucasArts did not return requests for comment.)
Nishimoto’s work is reminiscent of the origins of videogames themselves: The first computer game, Spacewar!, was developed at MIT on a PDP-1 computer that was the size of four refrigerators and carried a price tag just shy of $1 million in 2011 money. Not exactly consumer-level tech, either.
Nishimoto says he’ll continue to tweak his game and push it even further into bleeding-edge technology.
“I plan to continue using Fleet Commander as a platform for exploring multi-user, multitouch interaction techniques,” he said. “Other future work may involve a 3-D LCD wall.”
Wall Of Touchscreens Makes Fleet Commander A Hutt-Size Star Wars Game | GameLife
via Wired:
There have been some big Star Wars videogames, but none as big as Fleet Commander.
Arthur Nishimoto, a graduate student in the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Electronic Visualization Laboratory, has developed his real-time strategy game to be played on a wall-size LCD screen. Players are divided into two opposing teams that take control of X-wings, TIE fighters and even Death Stars, all with a touch of their fingers.
“The purpose of [Fleet Commander] was to explore how a complicated application like a real-time strategy game … could be played in a large, multitouch environment,” said Nishimoto in an e-mail to Wired.com.
Because of the screen’s sheer size, any number of players can jump in and start moving ships around, Nishimoto said, limited only by how many people can cram themselves around the 20-foot-wide display.
Since the launch of Nintendo DS in 2004, touch-based controls have become a tantalizing new frontier of game design, delivering a more immediate connection between the player and the game. Development of iPhone software continued the trend, and Apple’s iPad has made it possible to create much more complicated, sometimes multiplayer, touch-based games.
With touch, bigger isn’t just better, it’s markedly different — you’ll never be able to crowd 20 players around an iPad.
In Fleet Commander, players control their ships through simple touch-based gestures, as Nishimoto demonstrates in a video he released this week (above). They can drag starfighters throughout the map or touch individual ships to open radial menus for additional options, like prioritizing targets. The game ends once one side takes out the other’s main base.
The wall of screens is part of the Electronic Visualization Laboratory’s Cyber-Commons, an experimental, high-tech conference room built in 2008. Another student project Nishimoto participated in was a virtual canvas that lets users mix paint colors utilizing an iPad as a palette, then paint on the LCD wall using fingers or an actual paintbrush.
Fleet Commander is playable right now, but Nishimoto says there’s still plenty of work left to be done. The original plan was to let players land their ships on planets and deploy ground troops. As it stands, it’s more of a technical demo than a finished game design, but Nishimoto said LucasArts, the game-development arm of Star Wars‘ parent company, has reached out to him to discuss potential commercial applications for Fleet Commander. (LucasArts did not return requests for comment.)
Nishimoto’s work is reminiscent of the origins of videogames themselves: The first computer game, Spacewar!, was developed at MIT on a PDP-1 computer that was the size of four refrigerators and carried a price tag just shy of $1 million in 2011 money. Not exactly consumer-level tech, either.
Nishimoto says he’ll continue to tweak his game and push it even further into bleeding-edge technology.
“I plan to continue using Fleet Commander as a platform for exploring multi-user, multitouch interaction techniques,” he said. “Other future work may involve a 3-D LCD wall.”
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
All You Can Watch Movies?
via Wired.com. Read the original here.
All-You-Can-Watch MoviePass Brings Netflix Model To Theaters | Epicenter
Updated: Information on 3-D and Imax pricing and a comment from an analyst were added to this story June 27, 2011, at 11:20 a.m. Pacific.
MoviePass, a new $50-per-month service for film fans, will let subscribers watch unlimited movies in theaters using their smartphones as tickets.
Using an HTML5 application (native smartphone apps coming soon), MoviePass[1]will let users search for a film, find a local show time, check in to the theater and go straight to the ticket-taker.
The all-you-can-watch service, announced Monday with a private beta starting in the San Francisco Bay Area just in time for the Fourth of July blockbuster weekend, is looking to shake up the theater business in much the same way Netflix[2] has changed the DVD-rental game.
“Even with online ticketing, this side of the business is still a 75-year-old business and there’s not a lot of innovation,” MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes[3] said in an interview with Wired.com. “Getting your tickets, how you do that, how you interact with the theater, how you interact with the studio, none of that has really changed. We’re giving the viewer a lot more power and also allowing [studios and moviegoers] to speak with each other.”
MoviePass[4] will launch with an “unlimited pass” service allowing subscribers to go to as many films as they can stand for $50 a month. If they want to see a 3-D or Imax film, they will pay a $3 surcharge. A “limited pass” offering four movies a month for $30 is in the works.
“MoviePass makes spur-of-the-moment movie-going as simple as choosing a film on the phone and checking in at the theater,” Spikes said in a press release. “No more waiting in line.”
The private beta will launch with 21 theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend (see list below), then roll out to other U.S. cities throughout the summer. MoviePass plans to offer access to about 40 percent of the nation’s screens when the service launches nationally in the fall.
The flat-rate service, which will presumably work best for city-dwellers with access to multiple theaters and show times, will give hard-core movie buffs early looks at new trailers, plus invites to promotional screenings based on their movie picks. It will also give studios opportunities to target movies and promotions directly to fans interested in particular film genres.
MoviePass’ model could be highly beneficial for theater chains, which make great profit margins on concession sales, simply by getting people to go to more movies. Studios could also benefit from an all-you-can-watch model by encouraging people to take a chance on films they otherwise might not see, and ultimately leading to DVD sales. However, the number of people who can go to enough films in a given month to get a good return on their $50 investment is a niche audience, said Wade Holden, a motion picture and home entertainment analyst for SNL Kagan.
“At first glance I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to be sweeping in every moviegoer into its wake,” Holden said Monday in a phone interview with Wired.com.
But avid moviegoers who routinely hit the theater on opening night and are likely to buy DVDs are the kind of fans MoviePass is hoping to attract — and deliver to studios.
“We enable our members to extend their connection to the movie they just saw by pre-ordering the DVD, digital download or other merchandise as soon as they walk out of the theater,” said MoviePass co-founder Hamet Watt in a press release. “MoviePass also enables studios and producers to engage with avid movie buffs based on their film-attendance history.”
These San Francisco Bay Area Theaters will participate in the MoviePass beta, which launches Wednesday: The Clay, Bridge, Lumiere, Embarcadero, Opera Plaza Cinemas and AMC Van Ness 14 in San Francisco; AMC Bay Street 16 in Emeryville; California Theatres and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley; Piedmont Theatre in Oakland; Albany Twin in Albany; Big Cinemas Towne 3, Camera 3, Camera 12, AMC Eastridge 15 and AMC Saratoga 14 in San Jose; Camera 7 in Campbell; AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara; AMC Cupertino Square 16 in Cupertino; Camera Cinemas Los Gatos in Los Gatos; and Aquarius in Palo Alto.
All-You-Can-Watch MoviePass Brings Netflix Model To Theaters | Epicenter
Updated: Information on 3-D and Imax pricing and a comment from an analyst were added to this story June 27, 2011, at 11:20 a.m. Pacific.
MoviePass, a new $50-per-month service for film fans, will let subscribers watch unlimited movies in theaters using their smartphones as tickets.
Using an HTML5 application (native smartphone apps coming soon), MoviePass[1]will let users search for a film, find a local show time, check in to the theater and go straight to the ticket-taker.
The all-you-can-watch service, announced Monday with a private beta starting in the San Francisco Bay Area just in time for the Fourth of July blockbuster weekend, is looking to shake up the theater business in much the same way Netflix[2] has changed the DVD-rental game.
“Even with online ticketing, this side of the business is still a 75-year-old business and there’s not a lot of innovation,” MoviePass co-founder Stacy Spikes[3] said in an interview with Wired.com. “Getting your tickets, how you do that, how you interact with the theater, how you interact with the studio, none of that has really changed. We’re giving the viewer a lot more power and also allowing [studios and moviegoers] to speak with each other.”
MoviePass[4] will launch with an “unlimited pass” service allowing subscribers to go to as many films as they can stand for $50 a month. If they want to see a 3-D or Imax film, they will pay a $3 surcharge. A “limited pass” offering four movies a month for $30 is in the works.
“MoviePass makes spur-of-the-moment movie-going as simple as choosing a film on the phone and checking in at the theater,” Spikes said in a press release. “No more waiting in line.”
The private beta will launch with 21 theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area this weekend (see list below), then roll out to other U.S. cities throughout the summer. MoviePass plans to offer access to about 40 percent of the nation’s screens when the service launches nationally in the fall.
The flat-rate service, which will presumably work best for city-dwellers with access to multiple theaters and show times, will give hard-core movie buffs early looks at new trailers, plus invites to promotional screenings based on their movie picks. It will also give studios opportunities to target movies and promotions directly to fans interested in particular film genres.
MoviePass’ model could be highly beneficial for theater chains, which make great profit margins on concession sales, simply by getting people to go to more movies. Studios could also benefit from an all-you-can-watch model by encouraging people to take a chance on films they otherwise might not see, and ultimately leading to DVD sales. However, the number of people who can go to enough films in a given month to get a good return on their $50 investment is a niche audience, said Wade Holden, a motion picture and home entertainment analyst for SNL Kagan.
“At first glance I don’t think it’s going to be something that’s going to be sweeping in every moviegoer into its wake,” Holden said Monday in a phone interview with Wired.com.
But avid moviegoers who routinely hit the theater on opening night and are likely to buy DVDs are the kind of fans MoviePass is hoping to attract — and deliver to studios.
“We enable our members to extend their connection to the movie they just saw by pre-ordering the DVD, digital download or other merchandise as soon as they walk out of the theater,” said MoviePass co-founder Hamet Watt in a press release. “MoviePass also enables studios and producers to engage with avid movie buffs based on their film-attendance history.”
These San Francisco Bay Area Theaters will participate in the MoviePass beta, which launches Wednesday: The Clay, Bridge, Lumiere, Embarcadero, Opera Plaza Cinemas and AMC Van Ness 14 in San Francisco; AMC Bay Street 16 in Emeryville; California Theatres and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley; Piedmont Theatre in Oakland; Albany Twin in Albany; Big Cinemas Towne 3, Camera 3, Camera 12, AMC Eastridge 15 and AMC Saratoga 14 in San Jose; Camera 7 in Campbell; AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara; AMC Cupertino Square 16 in Cupertino; Camera Cinemas Los Gatos in Los Gatos; and Aquarius in Palo Alto.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Do you believe Shia Lebouf?
...from an interview with Details magazine. Read the original here.
Asked if he hooked up with Fox, LaBeouf nods affirmatively. "Look, you're on the set for six months, with someone who's rooting to be attracted to you, and you're rooting to be attracted to them," he explains. "I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation. But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen." When I inquire about Fox's status at the time with her longtime boyfriend, Brian Austin Green, LaBeouf replies, "I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. . . ."—repeating the phrase exactly 12 times with various intonations, as if trying to get it just right. Finally, he says, "It was what it was."
Read More http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/cover-stars/201108/shia-labeouf-actor-transformers-indiana-jones-wall-street#ixzz1QbL8VvKD
Asked if he hooked up with Fox, LaBeouf nods affirmatively. "Look, you're on the set for six months, with someone who's rooting to be attracted to you, and you're rooting to be attracted to them," he explains. "I never understood the separation of work and life in that situation. But the time I spent with Megan was our own thing, and I think you can see the chemistry onscreen." When I inquire about Fox's status at the time with her longtime boyfriend, Brian Austin Green, LaBeouf replies, "I don't know, man. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. . . ."—repeating the phrase exactly 12 times with various intonations, as if trying to get it just right. Finally, he says, "It was what it was."
Read More http://www.details.com/celebrities-entertainment/cover-stars/201108/shia-labeouf-actor-transformers-indiana-jones-wall-street#ixzz1QbL8VvKD
Friday, June 17, 2011
Inglourious Basterds with Magic...and Darren Aronofsky
Could be good. Read the original here.
Darren Aronofsky Joins Magic World War II Drama Series In Development At HBO – Deadline.Com
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 7:48pm PDT
Darren Aronofsky, who is currently shopping[1] Noah, his edgy re-telling of the Noah's Ark story, has also come on board an HBO drama series project, which has been in development at the pay cable network for the past several months. Titled Hobgoblin, the drama is being written by the husband-and-wife duo of Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman and sounds like Inglorious Basterds with magicians. It revolves around a group of con men and magicians using their skills of deception to help defeat Hitler during World War II. Aronofsky is set to direct the potential pilot and executive produce with Chabon, Waldman, John Lesher and Adam Kassan. Aronofsky is the latest director to take a TV gig after a strong showing at the Oscars in the past couple of years. David Fincher, who was nominated alongside Aronofsky for best director this year, is doing House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, which landed at Netflix. And last year, Kathryn Bigelow followed her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker with a directing stint on the HBO pilot Miraculous Year. On the writing side, Alan Ball and Aaron Sorkin both segued from winning Oscars to creating an HBO series, Six Feet Under and More As This Story Develops, respectively.
Click Here[2] for Deadline Email News Alerts - Subscribe Today!
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here[3].
References
^ shopping (www.deadline.com)
^ Here (www.deadline.com)
^ here (www.deadline.com)
Darren Aronofsky Joins Magic World War II Drama Series In Development At HBO – Deadline.Com
By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 7:48pm PDT
Darren Aronofsky, who is currently shopping[1] Noah, his edgy re-telling of the Noah's Ark story, has also come on board an HBO drama series project, which has been in development at the pay cable network for the past several months. Titled Hobgoblin, the drama is being written by the husband-and-wife duo of Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman and sounds like Inglorious Basterds with magicians. It revolves around a group of con men and magicians using their skills of deception to help defeat Hitler during World War II. Aronofsky is set to direct the potential pilot and executive produce with Chabon, Waldman, John Lesher and Adam Kassan. Aronofsky is the latest director to take a TV gig after a strong showing at the Oscars in the past couple of years. David Fincher, who was nominated alongside Aronofsky for best director this year, is doing House of Cards with Kevin Spacey, which landed at Netflix. And last year, Kathryn Bigelow followed her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker with a directing stint on the HBO pilot Miraculous Year. On the writing side, Alan Ball and Aaron Sorkin both segued from winning Oscars to creating an HBO series, Six Feet Under and More As This Story Develops, respectively.
Click Here[2] for Deadline Email News Alerts - Subscribe Today!
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here[3].
References
^ shopping (www.deadline.com)
^ Here (www.deadline.com)
^ here (www.deadline.com)
Thursday, June 16, 2011
The Wolverine gets a director...
Not a bad choice....his pedigree is fairly good. Read the original here.
Fox Chooses James Mangold On ‘Wolverine’ – Deadline.Com
By MIKE FLEMING | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 9:26pm EDT
EXCLUSIVE: James Mangold is 20th Century Fox's and star Hugh Jackman's choice to direct The Wolverine, ending one of the most competitive contests among directors for a major studio film. Negotiations are about to get underway, but I'm told that Mangold will take the helming job on the sequel to the X-Men spinoff film, a post that became vacant when Darren Aronofskydropped[1] out of the film in March.
I'd heard that Mangold was on a very short list coming into this week, along with Warrior director Gavin O'Connor and Brooklyn's Finest helmer Antoine Fuqua. I've heard that Fox will look to start principal photography in the fall. Scripted by Christopher McQuarrie, The Wolverine takes place mostly in Japan. Mangold most recently directed the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight and Day for Fox, and before that 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line. Mangold's repped by WME and Management 360.
Click Here[2] for Deadline Email News Alerts - Subscribe Today!
References
^ dropped (www.deadline.com)
^ Here (www.deadline.com)
Fox Chooses James Mangold On ‘Wolverine’ – Deadline.Com
By MIKE FLEMING | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 9:26pm EDT
EXCLUSIVE: James Mangold is 20th Century Fox's and star Hugh Jackman's choice to direct The Wolverine, ending one of the most competitive contests among directors for a major studio film. Negotiations are about to get underway, but I'm told that Mangold will take the helming job on the sequel to the X-Men spinoff film, a post that became vacant when Darren Aronofskydropped[1] out of the film in March.
I'd heard that Mangold was on a very short list coming into this week, along with Warrior director Gavin O'Connor and Brooklyn's Finest helmer Antoine Fuqua. I've heard that Fox will look to start principal photography in the fall. Scripted by Christopher McQuarrie, The Wolverine takes place mostly in Japan. Mangold most recently directed the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight and Day for Fox, and before that 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line. Mangold's repped by WME and Management 360.
Click Here[2] for Deadline Email News Alerts - Subscribe Today!
References
^ dropped (www.deadline.com)
^ Here (www.deadline.com)
Conan O' Brien's Dartmouth 2011 Commencement Address
I just had a senior level executive from Chrysler deliver my address...I wish I had Conan. More memorable, and better advice...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Go the F*** to sleep (Language NSFW)
There is only one man who should read the audio version of "Go the F*** to Sleep". And presented by audible.com, he does. Language NSFW.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Life imitates art?
And by life, I mean "Sean Bean". And by imitates, I mean "is". And by art, I mean "badass". AKA Sean Bean is like many of his characters, and just plain tough. I don't know about you, but when I get stabbed in the arm, I cry like a little girl. What I don't do is sack up, go back to the bar, and order another drink.
Read the original here.
Read the original here.
Sean Bean 'Stabbed' In The Arm Following A Row Over Glamour Model April Summers
By Ben Todd[1], Inderdeep Bains[2] and Chris Greenwood[3]
Last updated at 7:17 PM on 14th June 2011
He became known to millions as the rugged, hero soldier in historical drama Sharpe.
And now actor Sean Bean has proven once and for all that his tough-guy image is not just fictional.
The Daily Mail has learned that Bean was ‘stabbed’ in the arm following a row over a beautiful young model.
The four-time married star was apparently attacked outside the Hill Bar and Brasserie in Camden, North West London late on Sunday evening.
Mr Bean was said to have a cut arm and a bruised face, according to witnesses.
However, extraordinarily, he declined to attend hospital.
Instead, the star walked back into the bar and, after staff gave him aid from a first aid kit, ordered another drink.
A member of staff said: ‘Sean is a regular here and we’ve never had any problems before. He was with a very attractive woman and an incident occurred outside the bar.
‘He came in with a cut on his arm and a bruise on his eyebrow. We saw to his injuries with the first aid kit.He seemed ok and wanted to have another drink.’
The row began when Mr Bean, 52, and April Summers - a glamour model who is 30 years his junior who had gone to the bar with him - were standing outside, having a cigarette.
Miss Summers – whose real name the Daily Mail understands is Nadia Foster – lives close to Mr Bean in the same area.
According to witnesses, a passer-by then made lewd comments about Miss Summers, a topless model who has appeared in a number of UK lads’ magazines as well as the Italian edition of Playboy.
As a result, Mr Bean followed the man down the road to challenge him.
Later in the evening, Mr Bean went out for another cigarette and was then attacked by a man.
The star, who lives close by, was said to have been stabbed in the arm – believed to be with a broken glass - and punched in the face, according to witnesses. Police were then called.
Bean – who also appeared in Hollywood blockbuster Lord Of The Rings - divorced his fourth wife Georgina Sutcliffe last December after just two years marriage.
They said they had found it intolerable to live together. Miss Sutcliffe – who Mr Bean had first met when she was working at one of his favourite bars - had also once accused Bean of assault but the charges were dropped.
Mr Bean – who originally hails from Sheffield, South Yorkshire - was first married to hairdresser Debra James, his teenage sweetheart.
He then wed actress Melanie Hill, with whom he has two daughters Lorna, 23, and Molly, 19. They originally met at drama college RADA but divorced in 1997.
He married Abigail Cruttenden, who he had met on the set of Sharpe, that November. They had a daughter Evie, now 12, before divorcing in 2000.
It is not known if Miss Summers is Mr Bean’s latest girlfriend.
The star – who first rose to fame as Mellors opposite Joely Richardson in a 1992 BBC production of Lady Chatterley’s Lover – told the Daily Mail last month how he continues to enjoy drinking.
He said: ‘I like a good drink like the next man. But on my own terms. I feel a bit queasy at the thought of attending premieres and stuff.
‘I’m not that social type. But if you court publicity you can’t complain if you get pestered. And I don’t want to be pestered. To be famous and seen in clubs and bars – is that it?’
The police had no comment to make on the alleged fracas. Mr Bean was unavailable for comment.
Miss Summers – who also lives close to the bar - said she was not injured in the incident. She told the Mail at her home last night: ‘I’m fine, it is a private matter. I don’t want to make any comment.’
References
^ Ben Todd (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Inderdeep Bains (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Chris Greenwood (www.dailymail.co.uk)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2003338/Sean-Bean-stabbed-arm-following-row-glamour-model-April-Summers.html#ixzz1PHcwLKFM
By Ben Todd[1], Inderdeep Bains[2] and Chris Greenwood[3]
Last updated at 7:17 PM on 14th June 2011
He became known to millions as the rugged, hero soldier in historical drama Sharpe.
And now actor Sean Bean has proven once and for all that his tough-guy image is not just fictional.
The Daily Mail has learned that Bean was ‘stabbed’ in the arm following a row over a beautiful young model.
The four-time married star was apparently attacked outside the Hill Bar and Brasserie in Camden, North West London late on Sunday evening.
Mr Bean was said to have a cut arm and a bruised face, according to witnesses.
However, extraordinarily, he declined to attend hospital.
Instead, the star walked back into the bar and, after staff gave him aid from a first aid kit, ordered another drink.
A member of staff said: ‘Sean is a regular here and we’ve never had any problems before. He was with a very attractive woman and an incident occurred outside the bar.
‘He came in with a cut on his arm and a bruise on his eyebrow. We saw to his injuries with the first aid kit.He seemed ok and wanted to have another drink.’
The row began when Mr Bean, 52, and April Summers - a glamour model who is 30 years his junior who had gone to the bar with him - were standing outside, having a cigarette.
Miss Summers – whose real name the Daily Mail understands is Nadia Foster – lives close to Mr Bean in the same area.
According to witnesses, a passer-by then made lewd comments about Miss Summers, a topless model who has appeared in a number of UK lads’ magazines as well as the Italian edition of Playboy.
As a result, Mr Bean followed the man down the road to challenge him.
Later in the evening, Mr Bean went out for another cigarette and was then attacked by a man.
The star, who lives close by, was said to have been stabbed in the arm – believed to be with a broken glass - and punched in the face, according to witnesses. Police were then called.
Bean – who also appeared in Hollywood blockbuster Lord Of The Rings - divorced his fourth wife Georgina Sutcliffe last December after just two years marriage.
They said they had found it intolerable to live together. Miss Sutcliffe – who Mr Bean had first met when she was working at one of his favourite bars - had also once accused Bean of assault but the charges were dropped.
Mr Bean – who originally hails from Sheffield, South Yorkshire - was first married to hairdresser Debra James, his teenage sweetheart.
He then wed actress Melanie Hill, with whom he has two daughters Lorna, 23, and Molly, 19. They originally met at drama college RADA but divorced in 1997.
He married Abigail Cruttenden, who he had met on the set of Sharpe, that November. They had a daughter Evie, now 12, before divorcing in 2000.
It is not known if Miss Summers is Mr Bean’s latest girlfriend.
The star – who first rose to fame as Mellors opposite Joely Richardson in a 1992 BBC production of Lady Chatterley’s Lover – told the Daily Mail last month how he continues to enjoy drinking.
He said: ‘I like a good drink like the next man. But on my own terms. I feel a bit queasy at the thought of attending premieres and stuff.
‘I’m not that social type. But if you court publicity you can’t complain if you get pestered. And I don’t want to be pestered. To be famous and seen in clubs and bars – is that it?’
The police had no comment to make on the alleged fracas. Mr Bean was unavailable for comment.
Miss Summers – who also lives close to the bar - said she was not injured in the incident. She told the Mail at her home last night: ‘I’m fine, it is a private matter. I don’t want to make any comment.’
References
^ Ben Todd (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Inderdeep Bains (www.dailymail.co.uk)
^ Chris Greenwood (www.dailymail.co.uk)
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2003338/Sean-Bean-stabbed-arm-following-row-glamour-model-April-Summers.html#ixzz1PHcwLKFM
Friday, June 10, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
This is what Kinect has been waiting for....
Although, I do kinda wish they had built an optimized light gun controller too...
Friday, June 3, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Miley Cyrus "Party in the USA" redemption?
Crosby & Nash join "Neil Young" to sing "Party in the USA". Enough to redeem?
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Why Futurama is awesome...
Say that you have multiple objects that can switch inherent properties. However, once 2 objects have switched, they can not switch again. Is there a way that all objects can regain their original inherent properties? Let's ask Futurama. Read the original here.
Futurama Writer Invented A New Math Theorem Just To Use In The Show
Casey Chan[1]
. By routine verification i. e. σ reverts the k-cycle and leaves x and y switched (without performing
Futurama Writer Invented A New Math Theorem Just To Use In The Show
Casey Chan[1]
A writer for Futurama created a brand new math theorem based on group theory to explain a plot twist in the show. That is like, going way beyond the call of duty, dude.
Ken Keeler, the Futurama writer behind the theorem, actually has a PhD in math, so this was probably just a walk in the park for him. But for the rest of us non math geniuses, his theorem was used to explain a problem with an invention that let characters switch bodies. In the show, you can only switch bodies once with the same pair of people, so they needed an equation to prove that with enough switching bodies around, everyone will eventually end up as who they really are. Insert: funny jokes, robot humor and black comedy and mix accordingly.
Keeler's theory would mathematically put everybody in the right place so that all could be right in the Futurama world. Without Keeler's work, Bender's brain might have ended up in Amy's body forever! Which, to think about, actually might not be such a bad thing. I'm no Keeler so I can't explain his theory but you can check out the proof in full here[2]. [TheInfosphere.org[3] via Geekosystem[4]]
References
^ Click here to read posts written by Casey Chan (gizmodo.com)
^ here (theinfosphere.org)
^ TheInfosphere.org (theinfosphere.org)
^ Geekosystem (www.geekosystem.com)
Ken Keeler, the Futurama writer behind the theorem, actually has a PhD in math, so this was probably just a walk in the park for him. But for the rest of us non math geniuses, his theorem was used to explain a problem with an invention that let characters switch bodies. In the show, you can only switch bodies once with the same pair of people, so they needed an equation to prove that with enough switching bodies around, everyone will eventually end up as who they really are. Insert: funny jokes, robot humor and black comedy and mix accordingly.
Keeler's theory would mathematically put everybody in the right place so that all could be right in the Futurama world. Without Keeler's work, Bender's brain might have ended up in Amy's body forever! Which, to think about, actually might not be such a bad thing. I'm no Keeler so I can't explain his theory but you can check out the proof in full here[2]. [TheInfosphere.org[3] via Geekosystem[4]]
References
^ Click here to read posts written by Casey Chan (gizmodo.com)
^ here (theinfosphere.org)
^ TheInfosphere.org (theinfosphere.org)
^ Geekosystem (www.geekosystem.com)
First let π be some k-cycle on [n] = {1 ... n} WLOG [without loss of generality] write: represent the transposition that switches the contents of a and b. By hypothesis π is generated by DISTINCT switches on [n]. Introduce two "new bodies" {x,y} and write
π = 1 2 ... k k+1 ... n
2 3 ... 1 k+1 ... n
Let π* = 1 2 ... k k+1 ... n x y
2 3 ... 1 k+1 ... n x y
For any i=1 ... k let σ be the (l-to-r) series of switchesσ = ( ... ) ( ... ) () ()
Note each switch exchanges an element of [n] with one of {x,y} so they are all distinct from the switches within [n] that generated π and also from π* σ = 1 2 ... n x y
1 2 ... n y x i. e. σ reverts the k-cycle and leaves x and y switched (without performing ).
NOW let π be an ARBITRARY permutation on [n]. It consists of disjoint (nontrivial) cycles and each can be inverted as above in sequence after which x and y can be switched if necessary via , as was desired.
NOW let π be an ARBITRARY permutation on [n]. It consists of disjoint (nontrivial) cycles and each can be inverted as above in sequence after which x and y can be switched if necessary via
Chris Meloni leaves L&O: SVU
Read the original from E! here.
Chris Meloni Leaves Law & Order: Special Victims Unit After 12 Seasons
Farewell and thank you, Detective Elliot Stabler.
Christopher Meloni[1], who has played the short-fused, well-muscled sex-crimes detective for 12 seasons on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will not returning for season 13. Meloni's rep told us, "It is true—12 great years and time for the next chapter."
MORE: NBC News: Chuck Survives to Spy Another Day, Chris Meloni Hasn't Renewed SVU Contract Yet[2]
Meloni's partner-in-crime Mariska Hargitay[3] will be back for season 13. She will reportedly be on the special-victims beat full-time for the first 13 episodes of the season, and then step back to part-time status as her character, Detective Olivia Benson, gets a promotion to a more senior, less featured position in the police department.
Meloni's costar Ice T tweeted[4] in reaction to the news, "Honestly.. The news about Chris today was a BOMB to me too! Sad. But you never know what to expect in this TV bizz.... Stay tuned."
The departure of Meloni and the diminished role for Hargitay on SVU this year are two more nails in the coffin of NBC's epic Law & Order franchise. The original Law & Order shut down last season after 20 years, Law & Order: Los Angeles was canceled this year after just one season, and the 10th and final season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent is now airing on USA Network.
How do you guys feel about this news? What do you want for Benson and Stabler as they finish their run on the series? Hit the comments.
References
^ Christopher Meloni (www.eonline.com)
^ MORE: NBC News: Chuck Survives to Spy Another Day, Chris Meloni Hasn't Renewed SVU Contract Yet (www.eonline.com)
^ Mariska Hargitay (www.eonline.com)
^ tweeted (twitter.com)
Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b243772_chris_meloni_leaves_law_order_special.html#ixzz1NN48Nhmn
Chris Meloni Leaves Law & Order: Special Victims Unit After 12 Seasons
Farewell and thank you, Detective Elliot Stabler.
Christopher Meloni[1], who has played the short-fused, well-muscled sex-crimes detective for 12 seasons on NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will not returning for season 13. Meloni's rep told us, "It is true—12 great years and time for the next chapter."
MORE: NBC News: Chuck Survives to Spy Another Day, Chris Meloni Hasn't Renewed SVU Contract Yet[2]
Meloni's partner-in-crime Mariska Hargitay[3] will be back for season 13. She will reportedly be on the special-victims beat full-time for the first 13 episodes of the season, and then step back to part-time status as her character, Detective Olivia Benson, gets a promotion to a more senior, less featured position in the police department.
Meloni's costar Ice T tweeted[4] in reaction to the news, "Honestly.. The news about Chris today was a BOMB to me too! Sad. But you never know what to expect in this TV bizz.... Stay tuned."
The departure of Meloni and the diminished role for Hargitay on SVU this year are two more nails in the coffin of NBC's epic Law & Order franchise. The original Law & Order shut down last season after 20 years, Law & Order: Los Angeles was canceled this year after just one season, and the 10th and final season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent is now airing on USA Network.
How do you guys feel about this news? What do you want for Benson and Stabler as they finish their run on the series? Hit the comments.
References
^ Christopher Meloni (www.eonline.com)
^ MORE: NBC News: Chuck Survives to Spy Another Day, Chris Meloni Hasn't Renewed SVU Contract Yet (www.eonline.com)
^ Mariska Hargitay (www.eonline.com)
^ tweeted (twitter.com)
Read more: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b243772_chris_meloni_leaves_law_order_special.html#ixzz1NN48Nhmn
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
The Next LOST?
JJ Abrams, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill....although the question is...will FOX cancel it after 1 year because they always do?
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Stop! In the name of the law...
Dude...I wonder what the deal was...I think the NHL would even have a problem with that hit...
see more Gifs
see more Gifs
Monday, May 9, 2011
New Movie: Colombiana
From the producer and writer of Taken, and the Director of Hitman (and upcoming Taken 2), Zoe Saldana wrecks shop all over.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Shopping Deal! 2 Movie Tix, 2 Drinks, and Popcorn for $18
If you're in Ann Arbor, check out this deal. 2 tickets, 2 drinks, and popcorn for a movie at the old Showcase (now Rave theaters) for $18...
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Taken 2 News!
via Variety.com:
Fox takes 'Taken 2'
Liam Neeson starrer secures distribution deal
By ELSA KESLASSY, JOHN HOPEWELL
PARIS -- Twentienth Century Fox has come on board to distribute EuropaCorp's Liam Neeson starrer "Taken 2" in North America and most overseas territories.
Luc Besson said today at a presser that Fox had nabbed the rights for the world, except for France, Germany, parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Benelux.
"EuropaCorp has retained rights to these territories and has already pre-sold them," EuropaCorp's head of international sales Marie-Laure Montironi told Variety.
The German release will be handled by Universum, with which EuropaCorp recently inked an output deal. EuropaCorp will distribute the film in Gaul.
Fox had teamed with EuropaCorp on Pierre Morel's "Taken," which was budgeted at $25 million and turned into a mega hit. Pic topped the U.S. box office over Super Bowl weekend in 2008 and went on to take $145 Stateside and $226.8 million worldwide.
Besson also announced French helmer Olivier Megaton was set to helm the film.
Pic marks Megaton's third feature film. His latest, "Colombiana," a high-voltage revenge actioner toplining Zoe Saldana, will bow in Gaul on August 3. Tristar Pictures will handle the U.S. release.
Megaton previously helmed Jason Statham starrer "Transporter 3."
Contact the variety newsroom at news@variety.com
Fox takes 'Taken 2'
Liam Neeson starrer secures distribution deal
By ELSA KESLASSY, JOHN HOPEWELL
PARIS -- Twentienth Century Fox has come on board to distribute EuropaCorp's Liam Neeson starrer "Taken 2" in North America and most overseas territories.
Luc Besson said today at a presser that Fox had nabbed the rights for the world, except for France, Germany, parts of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Benelux.
"EuropaCorp has retained rights to these territories and has already pre-sold them," EuropaCorp's head of international sales Marie-Laure Montironi told Variety.
The German release will be handled by Universum, with which EuropaCorp recently inked an output deal. EuropaCorp will distribute the film in Gaul.
Fox had teamed with EuropaCorp on Pierre Morel's "Taken," which was budgeted at $25 million and turned into a mega hit. Pic topped the U.S. box office over Super Bowl weekend in 2008 and went on to take $145 Stateside and $226.8 million worldwide.
Besson also announced French helmer Olivier Megaton was set to helm the film.
Pic marks Megaton's third feature film. His latest, "Colombiana," a high-voltage revenge actioner toplining Zoe Saldana, will bow in Gaul on August 3. Tristar Pictures will handle the U.S. release.
Megaton previously helmed Jason Statham starrer "Transporter 3."
Contact the variety newsroom at news@variety.com
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