Back from the East

Just returned from the trek from New York/New Jersey trip. I'm quite exhausted. Although I'm always a visitor when going to the Big Apple, there are always people you can tell who are tourists:

Return of the Conchords

New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo is making its return to TV in January. The premiere for Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords has been released early.

Check it out!

Happy Birthday to Aaron

Today is Aaron Nordstrom's birthday, to celebrate I present the original Got Milk? commercial. A little inside joke for my buddies from Purdue. Here's a tidbit of info about the ad, this was directed by Michael Bay before he started doing high budget movies with tons of explosions.

Home of Those Who Believe in Blue

Since returning to Indy, I finally got to visit Lucas Oil Stadium - home of the Colts, by taking the stadium tour with my dad and brother. Stops on the tour include the press box, a walk along the field, and the away team's locker. It's odd, since Lucas Oil is obviously slapped all over the stadium you can actually buy motor oil while you're at the game. Also, I got to see the remnants of the old Hoosier/RCA Dome. The rest of the stadium will be demolished this Saturday morning. It was a great experience, I really want to see a game here!

Heavy Metal in the Bones....Summer '09

More trailers for next summer's blockbusters have come out.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine



Terminator Salvation

Back Home Again in Indiana

I'm back in Indy, it feels great to be back. Yesterday I went back to West Lafayette and indulged in some pleasures that unfortunately are not available to me in Seattle - White Castle and Chick-Fil-A. I had a great time with Mark, Dan, and Kristen eating White Castle burgers and all you can eat chicken nugget night at Chick-Fil-A. The picture above is an image of something I so strongly miss: Slyders, Fries, and Barq's Red Creme Soda.

Dan, I'm hoping you don't go through with this.....



If you don't know what White Castle is, maybe you have heard of Krystal - same little burgers. Here's the 2008 Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship:

Tired of the Waiting?

The last couple of weeks have been going by so slowly. I've got a lot of work to do with finals this week until I can go home. Life has too much responsibility for one to take a few of these:

Spoiler Alert!!!

Don't care about the cinematography of a film, the quality of the acting, character study or their development, soundtrack, editing, the director, or perhaps how well the screenplay was adapted to the original content? Feel like you'd rather fast forward through the long parts and find out what happens at the end? Feel like the twist is all that matters? Here's 100 movie spoilers in 5 minutes to save you all those hours of your life wasted. SPOILER ALERT! Don't say you weren't warned!

The Weekend's True Holiday

So Thanksgiving's unfortunately become Black Friday Eve, as many (including myself) peruse ads to get the best deals possible to start the Christmas shopping season. Despite whether or not the economy is bad or there is not an 'IT' item for the holidays, there are always huge lines in the morning before doors open up. Walmart has been notorious for massive stampedes of people storming the gates and causing casualties of shopping madness. This morning was no exception, although unfortunately a 34 year old employee was killed during a stampede at a Long Island Wal-Mart. Every year on the news you'll see a sea of people pour into the stores and every once in awhile a person or two gets tripped up and people are hurtling over them or preventing them from getting up in the holiday spirit. Some of these places with a high propensity for injury should have a medic or ambulance just sitting there for the first hour of opening. Here's a clip of one of those occurrences:



UPDATE: Police Statement about the incident at the Long Island Wal-Mart:

Hadouken in 1080p

About 17 years ago the first iteration of Street Fighter 2 came out. Today, a new update to one of the most iconic games of all time is released in the form of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix. This game maintains the original mechanics of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo and enhances all the sprites with full 1080p HD images and sound. The original frames are maintained, so there isn't an improvement in animation. I've never been good at fighting games, especially Capcom fighters, but Street Fighter 2 definitely was one of THE games to play during the 16 bit generation. The game can be downloaded for the X-Box 360 (which I'm getting today!) or the Playstation 3. Apparently some of the moves have been tweaked, but many online reviews have stated that it still feels like the old Street Fighter 2 we've all grown to love - except it looks a whole lot prettier! Once I can get onto X-Box Live, I'm getting it! Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!

As usual, here's some video:

A trailer for the game with good old Karate Kid music:


This is a highlight from EVO 2004, a fighting game tournament of some of the best 2D fighter players in the world, where this player comes from behind with some killer counters to win the match playing Street Fighter 3:


Street Fighter 2 came out a long time ago, where are The World Warriors now? Here's the trailer to Street Fighter: The Later Years. Click Here to see the whole series.

James Bond Will Return

....and hopefully with more plot to fill up an hour and 45 minutes. I just saw Quantum of Solace, which is very much more of the sequel to Casino Royale than just the next Bond film. The film takes off exactly where Royale left off and if you plan on seeing Solace I strongly recommend holding off until you see Royale again or for the first time. The revamped Bond in Royale has been more interesting and believable than Brosnan's last few forays with 007. Solace seems to continue with what was good with Royale, the story and the new Bond, and use them as bookends for the film. It places what should be important in this film in the beginning quarter of the film and the very last scene. The rest of the movie is action scene after another, using way too many quick and shakey camera shots. I guess the director has to blame for this, unlike Royale so many of these scenes seemed too confined and you seem to miss the big picture of whatever locale they were in. Since it was only the director that changed and not the writers, I'm hopeful that the next film made will continue and develop the story and current state of the revamped Bond character much further than Solace did. All this Bond reminds of the best Bond, Sean Connery.....and Celebrity Jeopardy from SNL. There were many of these sketches with or without Connery (played by Darrell Hammond), here's my fav 5 w/ Connery:

Tom Cruise (Ben Stiller), Adam Sandler (Jimmy Fallon)


Keanu Reeves (Tobey Maguire), Hilary Swank (Jimmy Fallon), Ricky Martin (Chris Kattan)


French Stewart (Jimmy Fallon), Burt Reynolds (Norm MacDonald)


Jeff Goldblum (David Duchovny), Minnie Driver (Molly Shannon)


Robin Williams (Jimmy Fallon), Catherine Zeta-Jones (Lucy Liu)

Want to Be More Proficient with the Internet?

You've probably seen those countless commercials on TV for Video Professor where founder John Scherer keeps bidding you to 'try his product' , advertising video training modules for learning basic computer programs that many use everyday. Here's a couple great commercials I've seen for an internet proficiency video series called Master of the Internet. Product's a bit older, but still does the job:





Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim from the hit show Tim and Eric's Awesome Show Great Job! pitch this program called the Innernette:

Episode 2: Featuring Gary the Stormtrooper

Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode 2 premiered last night, not as good as the first one but still quite hilarious. They used a lot of what had worked last time and did it over again: So tons more of Seth McFarlane's Palpatine, Ackbar, and Boba Fett. It felt like a sequel to the first Robot Chicken Star Wars and not like another special with more Star Wars skits. This special really pushed the limits of content more than the last one, not something surprising for Robot Chicken. Adultswim doesn't have embed codes or a website available for the whole episode, so here's the link to the entire episode:

Watch Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode 2 now!

Watch Robot Chicken Star Wars, the first one, if you STILL haven't seen it!

Here's some highlights of the show:

Gary is a stormtrooper who has to take his daughter to work. Donald Faison plays Gary.

More Palpatine:

Remember that part in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin kills those jedi kids?

Art......What is That?

So over the last few months I've seen some interesting documentaries on art, primarily the legitimacy of art. Recent films like My Kid Could Paint That and Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? question the legitimacy of modern art due to the fact that it is defined by art experts or connoisseurs. My Kid... follows the path of child prodigy Marla Olmstead and the controversy of whether or not her parents tampered with her paintings of abstract expressionism. Who the #$&%... delves into the story of a 73 year old truck driver who fights to have a painting she bought for five bucks at a thrift store to be accepted as a true Jackson Pollock painting. These films use a child painter and a truck driver as an intriguing hook to the film, but the center controversy in both films is who or what defines good art to bad. Both don't give you an answer but do provoke thought and conversation. This argument is not new in film, the great Orson Welles made F for Fake in 1974. F is one of the most unconventional films I've seen, but a good one. The film questions art authenticity by showing clips of a documentary done on Elmyr de Hory, a famous art forger. F then focuses on the documentary's writer Clifford Irving, who was found to have fabricated an authorized biography on Howard Hughes. These three movies question the authenticity of art, art expertise, science's use in proof of authenticity in art, and legitimacy of modern art. If you're not sure which film to watch, I'd probably suggest My Kid... as the first and then Who the... next. I'll say right off the back that F for Fake is not for everyone, but check it out if you're adventurous enough.

My Kid Could Paint That trailer:



Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? trailer? Can't find one for some reason! Click here to Netflix it, the film can be seen on Watch Instantly:


Since F for Fake is such an unconventional and can be a somewhat confusing movie, here's a retrospective on the film by director Peter Bogdanovich which can be found on the film's Criterion Collection DVD:



A film called The Hoax was recently released based on Irving's story with Richard Gere as the lead:

More Star Wars Robot Chicken!!!

Robot Chicken does another Star Wars special! It premieres on Cartoon Network's adultswim this Sunday, November 16 @ 11:30 PM. I have a feeling that it may premiere earlier online (I hope!) If you didn't see the original one, shame on you but you can still see it on the official website.

In celebration of Robot Chicken and stop motion animation, I've posted some awesome videos this one guy has created.

Featuring some Boba Fett, what a feelin':




Gotta love Optimus and the Autobots:





This video of Bumblebee is a parody of a Citroen C4 Commercial:



Wanna see how it's all done? Here's another video and the latter is the making-of video:

Join The Kevin Bacon Movie Club!!!

Check out the advert for the new Kevin Bacon Movie Club, what a deal:

Farewell Michael Crichton....

Yesterday the bestselling author, film maker, and Harvard MD Michael Crichton passed away from cancer at the age of 66. One of his most notable works, and one of my favorite movies, was Jurassic Park. I won't go too much into detail about Jurassic Park's impact on me as I mentioned it when Stan Winston died earlier this year, but his book exposed me to modern adult fiction and many of his works are favorites of mine. His writing was always tied to science while pushing its limits and making a fantastic read. Not only did he write novels, but he also wrote screenplays like Twister and directed films like Westworld. His medical expertise also led him to create the hit show, which ironically is on its 15th and final season, ER. Some of his books that were adapted to film include The Andromeda Strain, Congo, Sphere, The Great Train Robbery, Disclosure, and Timeline. Congo and Sphere were great pageturners that were unfortunately adapted to terrible films. His scientific views have also created some controversy including his views on global warming , environmentalism, and political influence on science.

Here's a short video with some bits of his film adaptations:


This is a really interesting interview with Charlie Rose:


A great lecture by Crichton on science and politics:


Crichton answers a question on his view of environmentalism as a religion:

Election '08

Do you feel Grrrrreat?

Classic Viral Video, the banned Nutrigrain commercial:

The Soul for Getting Down

October 31st is the day that many people celebrate Halloween. I've never been a huge fan of Halloween or horror movies or things that go 'BUMP' in the night. One 'ghoulish' video that's always been a favorite of mine is Michael Jackson's Thriller, which is iconic in enough of itself but is even more prominent around Halloween. Last weekend, those in Washington took part in a worldwide event called Thrill the World, which attempts to get as many people/zombies across the world to dance to MJ's ballad simultaneously. The record was broken with 4179 people across 10 countries.

Want to learn how to dance to Thriller? Here's Thrill the World's Step by Step Video Guide!

Here's Michael's original video 'Thriller'

Here's the 165 Seattle zombies that showed up to contribute to the record:

To Philly....

Yesterday, the Philadelphia Phillies won The World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games. The Phillies broke the City of Brotherly Love's championship drought, being the first major league team to win one since the '83 76ers. But great competition and rivalry has existed in Philly for a while, in the form of the Philly Cheesesteak. Sure you've had a form of the sandwhich in one way or another, but Philly's the place to get it. The original does not have provolone cheese or onions, just thinly sliced ribeye and Cheez Whiz - that's right, Cheez Whiz. Like the battle of the Ray's in New York City for pizza, the cheesesteak has locals and tourists going for the best in Philly. The two heavyweights are Geno's and Pat's. Pat's invented the sandwich, but Geno's claims to get the more celebrities as well as a better sandwich. Here's a clip about the shops, located across the street from each other:

Samurai Mike Sounds Off

This last Sunday marked Mike Singletary's first game as the 49ers' head coach. I'm excited to see this man finally get a head coaching job. I know his name was bounced around for a head coach position in the preseason, but never got it. The Hall of Famer and SuperBowl XX champion linebacker was the leader of one of the most prolific defenses in NFL history with the Chicago Bears of the '80's. Unfortunately, his first game at the helm resulted in a beatdown in their second division confrontation with the Hasselbeck-less Seahawks. Afterwards, Mike's press conference was a very stern one. Some in the media are calling it a tirade, but I see it as a stern call to action. I wish this guy the best, because the Niner's could have easily picked their offensive coordinator Martz for the job, who's been a head coach for many years and led one of the most pass-happy offense in the NFL's history with the Rams. Some great anecdotal footage of Mike can be found on NFL Network's America's Game site, with him recollecting the '85 Bears' season.

Here's the conference:



Singletary's great, I'd buy anything this guy sold - like these glasses:



If you want NFL coach tirades, here's some of the classics:


And who can forget Mike Gundy from Oklahoma State last year:

Springfield Audiology

Grandpa Simpson takes a hearing test along with Jasper and Old Jewish Man. Even though there's tons wrong with the audiologic protocol, still chuckle-inducing.

Of Vegetables and Voice-Overs

I've already posted a tribute awhile back when voice-over master Don LaFontaine passed away. Another really great video compilation of his work was recently released, I feel like I had to post it. Also, I'm going to talk about vegetables, because of the rumors being thrown around that I've got a problem with them - this is simply not true. One vegetable product out there, which had its advertisement voice-over work done by the late Mr. LaFontaine is the Birds Eye Steamfresh frozen vegetables line - I particularly go for the Specially Seasoned Asian Medley.

Here's the ad of interest, making frozen vegetables cooler than ever:


Here's the Don LaFontaine tribute:

KazooKeylele - 'Nuff Said

....plus he's singing that awesome song again.

Hollywood-Worthy Football Commercial

Nike has just released a new commercial titled "Fate" for their Nike Football line, with their recurrent "Leave Nothing" tagline. It features LaDainian Tomlinson's and Troy Polamalu's path from birth to their eventual intersect on the football field in the NFL. The interesting bit about the commercial is that it was directed by David Fincher, known for films like Alien3, The Game, Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac and the soon to be released The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Love the music in this commercial, which is a remix of Ennio Morricone's score from Leone's The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.




UPDATE: Just after I posted this entry, I decided to watch last year's Nike "Leave Nothing" commercial with Shawn Merriman and Steven Jackson. I didn't realize that Michael Mann of Heat, The Last of the Mohicans, and Ali fame directed this commercial featuring music from 'Mohicans. I like Fincher's commercial better, less noticeable fake players - who really believes that the Patriot's QB is #4? (Even when Vinatieri was on New England, he had one pass during his 10 season stint in Foxboro)



Mann also directed the Nike Air Zoom commercial "The Plan":

Singing It Like You See It

So someone's been making 'Literal Video Versions' of 80's music videos, starting with A-ha a couple of weeks back. Tears For Fears' Head Over Heels was just released recently. Click the links for each song title to see the original video.

A-ha - "Take On Me"



Tears For Fears - "Head Over Heels"

Fun with Megaphones

My roommate Gary wants to use a megaphone for Halloween. He got one in the mail today, it's quite a fun toy. Here's a couple of videos that remind me of megaphones.

'Observational Humor' from The Tom Green Show:



From The Simpsons: I'm not sure if this would amplify Bart's voice, just amplify a giant wave of feedback, anyways hilarious. In remembrance of National Protect Your Hearing Month, remember kids, don't do this if you want to keep your hearing. That ringing at the end of this clip - tinnitus - may not go away.

A Day in the Life of a Sidewalk Superhero

I'm not sure how long this will be up, but SnagFilms has some legitimately free movies (mostly documentaries) up online. Posted here is the doc Confessions of a Superhero, which is a somewhat melancholy film about those who dress up and walk along Hollywood Blvd.

Update 3/26/09: Watch the whole thing below thanks to HULU





Update 10/19/08: If you're not quite sure what the film is, here's a trailer before you decide if you want to watch the whole thing:

Another Reason to Hate Def Leppard

I'm not a huge hockey fan, but Def Leppard was dumb enough to flip the Stanley Cup upside down.

I = V/R

We went more over Ohm's Law in one of my classes today, as applied to circuits - somehow reminded me of robots. Robots are going to take over the world. Reminds me of this Flight of the Conchords song:

Communication Strategy by Sir Mix-a-Lot

The rapper from Seattle gives us a good strategy that would work in aural rehab.

Netflix Gets Cooler....

Netflix has now added the Starz! collection to it's Watch Instantly section. Now I can also watch the primary Starz! channel streaming over the Netflix player as well. I can watch "No Country" whenever I want and as many times as I want! What a deal, friendo!

A 'Hearing Aid' Good Enough to Throw Away?

So there's been a lot of buzz on tech sites recently about the Songbird flexfit, which it being marketed as 'the first disposable hearing aid.' I find the use of the word 'hearing aid' here is quite loose as there is no documentation as to how this device works. Since there is no documentation explaining how this device is actually improving hearing, these appear to be no more than an assistive listening device (ALD) that is shaped like a behind-the-ear hearing aid. It will amplify sound across a broad frequency without specifically amplify what the user needs based in his/her hearing. TV Ears are a good example of an ALD. Many movie theaters now have these available.

On top of that, here's some issues I have with the flexfit based on what their website and advertising states and how it relates to the user manual:

• Claims that there are no hearing exam or in-office fittings required: Again, I'd question the definition of it being called a hearing aid as opposed to an ALD since I'm not sure exactly how the Flexfit performs its functions. If there are no hearing exams, one will not have a device tailored to his/her hearing and may be fitted with something that may amplify sound too loud and could actually create a hearing loss. If there are no in-office fittings, the hearing aid may not fit the ear canal properly and may cause pain or will not properly amplify noise or create feedback noise.
• Claims is "Very Comfortable": It appears as though the receiver for the device is in the earpiece. There is also only one available earpiece for the price. Since comfort ability is a subjective thing, it's hard to claim something is very comfortable especially if there is only one set earpiece. Ear canals come in all shapes and sizes, I've seen enough ears in the hearing conservation field to know that there is no one-size-fits-all ear plug or piece: maybe one-size-fits-most.
• Claims "No Maintenance": This is a little common sense to realize this is deceptive advertising. Depending on how your ear produces wax and how you take care of anything that would be placed in your ear, anything can and probably will get dirty and will need to be cleaned. The users manual even has a section on how to clean the device.
• "400 Hours of Active Use": One of the big selling points for this device is that it's disposable. Anyone with with experience with hearing aid batteries, they have a sticker you take off to activate the battery because it works on the oxidation of a material like zinc. Because of this, whether you use the battery or not, once that sticker is removed the battery will continue to age. The flexfit uses a similar type of battery. If you read the guidebook, it strongly advises user to not remove the device from it's foil pouch unless you are ready to use: opening it will begin the oxidation process. The guidebook also has a section about battery life. The '400 hours of active use' are based upon regular use of the device 3 or more hours per day. For hearing aids to be effective, they should be used regularly and not infrequently so that a person can adjust to how different things sound.
  
• "Invented by Sarnof..": I won't go to far off the deep end on this one, but if they're insinuating that because a company came up with HDTV then they can come up with a high end hearing aid because they're both digital that's deceiving. The visual and auditory processes of the human body are very different and should not be directly compared. There is no "lasik" surgery correlate to hearing loss nor is getting glasses for poor vision garner the same type of improvement of life that being fit with a hearing aid does.
• Affordability: Obviously this device is cheaper off the back than buying a hearing aid. Part of the advertising states that you "never pay more than you use." If you buy 2 flexfits (having both ears at the same hearing level is more beneficial than one), it'll initially cost roughly $160. But how about in the long run? Based on the battery life, we'll say a person uses the flexfits about 8 hours a day. It'll take about under 2 months to need to replace them. We'll be conservative and say the person replaces them every 2 months, so 6 times a year: $160 x 6 = $960/year. We'll say hearing aids will last you 5 years (again conservative and they're getting better with technology), so the amount of flexfits for that time would be: $960 x 5 = $4800. You could, depending on where you get them, get a pair of basic digital programmable hearing aids (which would also include a pair of custom earmolds) for under $2000. At this cost these days you can get a device that has a directional microphone (major factor for increase of understanding speech in noisy areas), has multiple listening programs, and an option for a telecoil (makes it able to listen to the phone). I know that $2000 is not going to put into account the audiologist visits or batteries. Keep in mind that although insurance may not pay for all costs, they may pay a big chunk. Insurance is not going to cover an over-the-counter device.
  

Something about over-the-counter devices like flexfit is that FDA has rejected creating a class of over-the-counter hearing aids that don't require a medical evaluation because of the medical risks to a person's health. Our hearing is a strong proponent of our ability to interact with others and be social. A recent study at Michigan State did not have very favorable results for these types of devices either - take what you will with the fact that Oticon funded the research.

I know that's a huge list of things I'm bashing for this device and I can't go into ALL the aspects of hearing aid fitting and cost in this simple blog. I'm sure people will say that because I'm in the process of getting my AuD (Doctorate of Audiology), that I'm against the thing because it would be a hit from my future income. Fitting someone with hearing aids is only a portion of what an audiologist does and can do. Hearing aids are definitely a lucrative business and it's gotten to the point where those who are not audiologists are now qualified to sell a hearing aid.

We'll Miss You Paul

One of the great actors of the 20th century, Paul Newman, has died at the age of 83 from a long battle with cancer.

Headful of Dead Meat

Anyone remember Mayor McCheese from McDonaldland? According to Wikipedia, McDonald's was sued by the creators of H.R. Pufnstuf for ripping off the show's magical land and elected official. Personally, I don't see how a giant yellow-headed character looks anything like a guy with a sandwich for a head, but I'm not paid to make those kind of decisions. The Pufnstuf guys won over a million bucks after 1977 off of Mickey D's.

Here's a few funny parodies of the patty-mouthed politician:

A Car That was 1.21 Gigawatts of Awesomeness

Yesterday I saw a Delorean DMC-12 on drive past me while I was on campus. If you don't recognize it in my pic, it's the vehicle making the left turn in front of the minivan. The DMC-12 is the notorious Irish-made car from the 80's that didn't reach a high production. The company went under after its founder was arrested on drug trafficking charges. It's well known for its stainless steel body and gull-wing doors.....and we all know it from the Back to the Future Trilogy.


Here's a clip about the car from Modern Marvels:




Here's what we remember from Back to the Future:

Revelation in Music Parody!

When I flew down to San Jose last week, I took Alaska Airlines. For the first time my flight actually took off on time and landed early with no fuss! The plane I took looked like what you see here, has the Genie from Aladdin. Inside the plane, while boarding and exiting the plane, Disney songs are constantly being played throughout the plane: soft enough to penetrate the mind, but not loud enough to be disturbing or obtrusive. For some reason 'Be Our Guest' from Beauty and the Beast kept replaying in my mind, a tune I 've not heard in ages from a movie I haven't seen in ages..... until I recently put 2 and 2 together. Mr. Burns from The Simpsons sang the song 'See My Vest' in his attempt to make a vest out of Santa's Little Helper's canine offspring. It's the same melody as the Disney film. It took me this long to figure this out!

Be Our Guest




See My Vest

PLEASE! Leave the Lights On!

I spent many a night in a Motel 6 when I worked for Washington Audiology. The rates are much cheaper than a hotel, yet a lot nicer and modern than a small motor inn that are still stuck in the 70's and 60's. If I found a newly remodeled Motel 6, I wouldn't have to worry too much about rowdiness or filthiness. This facade allowed me to continue to sleep there. I didn't bother myself with videos like this:

The Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner of Champions

Looking for a new dieting plan? Try what works for olympians:

Why Mario Games Don't Have Much of a Plot

This is what would happen if they tried adding some character development:

Sing Along, Just Follow the Bouncing Dog

The last few months, I've spent many days on the road and many a night in a motel room for work. Like cable channels TNT, USA, TBS, like to show the same old movies over and over again, so does HBO. There's Something About Mary seems to play anywhere I had HBO. I always thought the movie was funny when it came out, but never got back to it and now parts of the movie keep playing over and over in my head, like some of the Farrelly brothers' films. One thing that keeps plaguing me every once in awhile is the credits of the film, with The Foundations' 'Build Me Up Buttercup', which is quite funny. Apparently they made a karaoke version when it came out on home video, with the same footage from the end of the movie (including the new member of the J-E-T-S, Brett "Faahhhvrah"):

Mandatory Manning: Last 2

It's quite disappointing to post this after today's opening Sunday the '08 NFL season. The Colts lose their first game in Lucas Oil to Orton and the Bears, Patriots lose Brady for the season (not too unhappy about this), and other AFC teams seemed quite weak today. Hopefully Manning can get back into the rhythm after tonight's loss. Here's the last 2 commercials of my list, here's to a successful season for Peyton and the Colts - as well as another AFC South Conference title:

#2 Sprint Laser Rocket Arm: Peyton must have unlimited text messages for life with no penalties for go over his minutes after a commercial like this. So memorable, Bob Lamey introduced Manning as the 'Rocket Arm' during Indy's Super Bowl celebration.




#1 SNL United Way Commercial Parody: OK, this is not a real commercial, but it's got to be the most memorable in my mind. Not only does Peyton win a Super Bowl and get MVP honors, but also gets to host Saturday Night Live on his birthday.

Counting Down......

This last Thursday, I bid farewell to my job at Washington Audiology. It was a great experience and now I look forward to going back to grad school at UW in a couple of weeks. Coming up before then, the first NFL Sunday begins tomorrow for '08 and should be exciting. I'm going to a wedding next week as well and I always thought the song 'Final Countdown' by Europe, which is played during the final minutes/seconds of a sporting event, would be a fitting song to play instead of 'Bridal Chorus' or 'Canon in D major' as the bride comes down the aisle. The 80's arena rock song was recently rejuvenated during the show 'Arrested Development'. Here's a great cover of the song by a cello trio Melo-M.

Mandatory Manning - Honorable Mention

A tad bit late, the NFL season opener was last night. Here are some Peyton TV spots, in no particular order, that didn't make the cut.

NFL Kickoff '07: Humorous rivalry with Peyton and Reggie Bush advertising last year's season opener pitting the Colts against the Saints. Indy pummelled New Orleans 41-10 and embarrassing former Colt CB Jason David by burning him on 3 TD's.



NFL Network Colts/Falcons Thanksgiving '07 Promo: Manning's not really in this commercial, but quite a clever shot at his constant audible calling that'll make a defensive captain's eyes roll.



Gatorade Rain: Another commercial I couldn't seem to find. Manning comes out of a football as if the pigskin was giving birth - a little reminiscient of the facehugger eggs from the Alien films. Here's one with Kevin Garnett










NFL Sunday Ticket: Jeff Garlin of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' fame is dancing around and singing a la Charlie Bucket as if he found Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket. Although Peyton has such a minor role, Hall of Famers Dick Butkus and the media-elusive Barry Sanders make an appearance.

Double The Advertising

It sure helps a company if they can get not only a pair of relevant relatives to grace your advertisement, but 2 pairs?! Oreo, who I mentioned in the Manning commercial posts has the Super Bowl MVP QB siblings licking sandwich cookies, has now begun to feature the hard-hitting Williams sisters for their Double Stuf Racing League (DSRL). Venus and Serena Williams just finished their quarter finals match at the '08 U.S. Open center stage at Ashe Stadium with the younger winning 7-6,7-6. It was a great match, and a bit disappointing that it didn't go to 3 sets as Venus went 0-10 in set points in those 2 set tiebreakers. Not only are the tennis sibling duo being featured this week, but Oreos' other cash cow siblings are being featured as well. Eli and the defending Super Bowl XLII Champion Giants will be taking on the Washington Redskins tomorrow to start off the '08 NFL regular season, while Peyton is featured with a night game this upcoming Sunday night in a rematch of Super Bowl XLI against the Chicago Bears. Immense advertising for Nabisco! Here's the ad they've been sporting for the last couple of weeks:




How much are they spending on this campaign?! Are their Double Stuf Oreos that hard to sell? I like them, in fact I never buy regular Oreos if I ever buy those dentally-bespeckling cookies. Although neither the Mannings or Williams are from twins, what happened to just getting a bunch of twins from an ad agency like those Double Mint Gum commercials?




Here's the commercial NBC has to feature the Mannings for this weekend's NFL kickoff:

Farewell Mr. LaFontaine: Living in a World Without The Voice

Don LaFontaine, known for his powerfully raspy voice on thousands of trailers and commercials, passed away yesterday at the age of 68 in Los Angeles from lung complications. Apparently the former sound engineer had to fill in for an announcer in 1965 and the voice stuck with him and the rest has been history up till now. His voice is so distinct, it can be spotted immediately upon a single utterance. Watch trailer for films like Terminator 2, Batman Returns, The Untouchables, The Godfather Part II, or Indiana Jones, the voice is as sharp as steel - just don't mistaken him for Hal Douglas.

Here's a bit of perspective on Don by himself and his peers:

Voiceover work for TV spots, commercials, and trailers almost subliminally inform the audience of the type of product, show, or movie you're watching. That's why Don's voice has been used for many an action flick. Voiceover, like voice acting, work is quite underrated. One doesn't realize how much more difficult it is to project one's voice when there is no face to go with it. Here's a couple of TV clips about LaFontaine and voiceover work:






With the decrease of narrative in trailers over the last couple of decades and spoofs of overhyped and overproduced TV and movie work, Don's performances have been lampooned many a time over the years. He will be greatly missed and the gravitas of his trailers will be missed as weel. Here's a few spots he's made shots at himself:

Spot for an awards show with 4 of the most famous voiceover actors:




Geico Commercial:




Sketch on Frank TV with comedians Frank 'John Madden' Caliendo and Pablo Francisco: