everything's getting old

Like last year, I found a birthday present from the outside that I wasn't expecting -- besides someone new deciding to "follow" my blog (whatever that means).


This time it's in the form of this week's Entertainment Weekly with its date being my birthday and with Jon Osterman gracing one of its collectors' issue covers. Osterman is not only a famous Jon, but is of course going to be gracing us in full visual motion when we watch Watchmen a week from today.


It looks as if even more people are going to be coming than I thought. I've got this friend who does what he calls "The Nerdtacular" every year. He rents out a theater and the first of his podcast listeners/site watchers/friends who reserve seats can do so until the place is filled. I've gone the past two years for Spider Man 3 and The Dark Knight. This Watchmen show next week is kind of like my own Nerdtacular (but I'd probably call it a "Geektacular" because that phrasage would be a lot more fitting).

Anyway, several of my circles are colliding for this. We got reps from The Cinematic Experience, The Homestarmy and even my bizarre book club. The book club actually discussed Watchmen last night, so I, you know, threw it out there.

So the birthday party started today. Rhett used his Tucanos coupon on me. We then head (probably) to Ming's Garden for dinner this evening if you can come. 7:10. That means I'll have the afterparty at Charlie Chow's Dragon Grill tomorrow (I've got a coupon that expires at the end of the month) if you'd like to attend that (limit five people on the coupon, but come anyway). Here's to gaining 10 pounds this weekend. Next week at Watchmen will be the conclusion of the party.

I'm obviously nervous about the movie. I almost don't care about how I feel about it; I mostly care about how others will feel about it. I feel bad that the last three people I got to read the graphic novel really didn't like it at all.

So I'm older now and suddenly technology thinks I'm too square for it. Maybe that's not the right phrase for it. If I had to pick a shape for technology it probably would be a square. The point is, I'm suddenly having tons of ridiculous technical issues with my shiz and it's completely out of nowhere.

First of all, there's weird stuff goin' down with my Cinematic Experience videos. Lemme try to explain. I use this program called Final Cut Express to edit them. Whenever a transition or a logo or text or something gets put into the timeline, the computer needs to take the time to render the information before the sequence can be previewed. If you attempt to look at the footage before the render process goes through, the screen will pop up with an "Unrendered" title card. That's fine -- whatever, 'cuz once the final video is exported the computer renders everything as part of the saving process. The final video has no trace of any unrendered screens and I even watch the final videos after they're saved to make sure nothing has gone wrong.


Lately, however the forbidden unrendered screens are appearing on Cinematic Experience videos on YouTube -- despite the fact that the videos I actually upload onto YouTube are actually completed. It's like YouTube has to wade its way through the good data to get to the bad data and then display it. No. Sense. At. All. Perhaps a Final Cut/YouTube jockey is reading right now and can figure out what's goin' on.

Other problem. My Jon Demand videos aren't syncing to my iPod after they're downloaded. Makes no sense. It took me forever to get them to download to my iTunes, so now that they're in my system they're not working. Either my iTunes or my iPod will not allow my own stuff to transfer over to my iPod.


Do me a favor people. If you have an iPod, subscribe to the video podcast called Jon Demand. It's easy. Just click here. iTunes should open right up for you. Now make sure you can transfer Jon Demand over to your iPod. Let me know if it works. It'll be fun for you too! Remember that charming video of me exercising? Well you can enjoy it on your iPod in the comfort of your bus ride home and not just on your home (work) computer!

This means a lot to me people.

Oh yeah, and happy birthday. Totally is.

Jon Demand 7: What I Want For My Birthday

oscar pics '09!

spork power

Check out me as a superhero I created over at The Hero Factory. I wanted a hotter pink and a dark a bit closer to black, but it's pretty groovy anyway. At least I think this guy's head looks like mine a little.

I didn't have to pick a spork as my weapon, but it was probably the most interesting instrument offered. Ever since I've learned about sporks I've had a fascination with them. Did KFC invent the spork? As I'm typing I'm going to make a quick check on Wikipedia...

Wow. I was way off. Apparently the spork's been around since 1874.

I always thought it was very efficient to combine the spoon and the fork into one instrument. But even if it didn't come around until 1874, it's a combination that wasn't thought of for hundreds of years.

I use the spork as an example of something obvious that was completely out of our grasp for an embarrassingly long amount of time. Why didn't we use it sooner? We could have cut our silverware budget by 30% over several centuries. I wonder if on other planets the civilizations there thought of the spork within just a few years of thinking of the spoon and fork.

Then again, it goes both ways. Maybe there are a lot of obvious things we've always had that they've never had. I think one example is the dual-open car wash. We pull into carwashes on one side and then pull out the opposite side. I bet on some other planets they pull in, but there's a wall there like a garage. Then, if someone pulls up behind them they have to do this annoying sequence of backing up awkwardly while the cars second and third in line have to try to give them room to come out.

Yeah, they're idiots, but they thought of the spork forever ago!

v.d. '09

In honor of the V.D. this year I've painted my phone. This is a pretty big deal since a few years ago I decided I'd repaint my phone every month to correspond with some event from that month. So I started with black and orange for Halloween of '05 and my phone stayed that way until a few days ago.


We went to see Push last week. It's hardly a V.D. movie and actually not too good for a Sundance picture. Maybe it just went over my head. I had heard that it was about an overweight black girl in New York who was trying to get out of an incestuous relationship. I wasn't even aware of which actor was playing that part. Perhaps Dakota Fanning's power of seeing into the future (but not very well) was a metaphor for striving to escape from a bad home life.

Anyhow, a girl at the movie had some conversation hearts that she graciously let me have -- probably because nobody likes conversation hearts. I do if they're SweetTart ones. She was like, yeah, they totally are! So I ate a bunch and they were chalky, just like they traditionally are. The package actually says they're Sweetheart hearts. They really shouldn't have basically the same name on these. Then someone else donated another box to the heart bowl. How do people have all these boxes that they don't want?


I managed to decorate the place for the first time in a good while. Black hearts is pretty standard, but black hearts with horns? That's probably the icon I'm most proud of coming up with.


In case you couldn't tell, I painted my phone with nail polish. Since I borrowed the pink stuff and figured if this stuff works on phones, it might just work on toes! I made use of the situation. The toes of my right foot were acting all weird and sedimentary, so I threw a coat on there. My middle nail was recently ripped off, so I didn't touch that one. My pinky toe and the one next to it grow funny for the same reason. My toenails have been getting destroyed slowly and perfectly from right to left over the past few years. My theory is that by the time my pinky toe on my left foot gets ripped off, my life will end. There are only three down, so I should have a long life ahead of me.


I meant to make another VDCD, but it escaped me. I even took notes on what songs I should put in, besides being intercut with How I Met Your Mother quotes. All I could think of so far though was "You're My Best Friend" by Queen and "Father Figure" by George Michael. In the meantime, check out J.R.'s VDCD.

Every V.D. I look more and more like a hungover Eddie Munster.


Today's festivities may only consist of a date with Joe to see Confessions of a Shopaholic. Kind of reminds me of when I first moved to Salt Lake and saw 50 First Dates with Rhett for V.D. that year. I guess I'm not much of a monogamist.

the world is getting better

Fortunately I had my camera with me and I was able to snap a shot of this vanity license plate at a stop light.


It gives me great comfort to know that there are at least 994 other Neil Patrick Harris fans in this state alone. These are my people. You go NPH!

Jon Demand 5: Exercising

I've been sitting on the footage for this one for a while, but it's a story that must be told.

minor accomplishments, major grievances

I sort of left everyone hangin' on the whole Jeopardy! thing, huh? Well, I guess I haven't spoken a follow-up because they left me hanging. I did it. I answered all 50 questions, but they didn't give me (or anybody else) a score. Apparently they'll contact me at an undisclosed future date if I made the grade and the random selection process. So even if I aced every single question (which I know I didn't) I'm still dependent on a certain amount of chance (the probability of which scares me to think about).

I totally should have videoed myself taking that dumb test. You would have gotten a tremendous laugh. Five minutes before it started I went into major "Jon Fidget Mode" as I just sat there watching the countdown screen let me know when the test would start. I try really hard to be cool and laid back all the time, but a select few have seen me in my natural, anxious state. It's ugly (and funny). I really started getting nervous 30 seconds before the test began and it started playing the show's theme music.

It would have been easy to video too. I could have set up a Camtwist setting that would show my face as well as the question being asked (they actually ask questions instead of answers so that we wouldn't have to type "what is" every time).

The first 25 questions or so were easy, at least for me. I don't want to say that in a braggy way, but more in a "they asked questions from 80s movies and Greek mythology sorts of questions" type of way. I know I missed a couple of middle questions. I think nine of the last ten gave me problems. None of the questions were multiple choice. It was all "know-it-or-not" fill-in-the-blank.

A couple of my other friends from around the country tried out too. Edvalson said he didn't think he did too well and Ammon confided in me that he missed at least one -- one that I'm pretty sure I got. That's pretty cool because I always get a huge Jeopardy! surge of confidence when I can get a question that other contestants on the show don't get.

I guess we're allowed to take the test every year. Now it looks like I'll be taking it every year until I'm smart and lucky enough. Next year I'm gonna get video of the ordeal. Totally.

... So my car hit 200,000 miles last week. Much rejoicing. Here's the video of it. Joe was in the car with me. If you want to see the point of the whole thing, just skip to 1:54.



Last week I also discovered that life is simply unfair in so many ways. How fair is it that it's a hundred times easier to ruin somebody's day than it is to make the day slightly better?


I'm still sorry Alex. We'll be getting way awesomer eatingware.

My neck hurts. On the right side. It's buggin' me.

I hate the Fort Union area. It's like the forbidden zone of Salt Lake Valley. I'm so proud of SLV for being awesome enough to maintain a grid system where everything is easy to find. Not so in Fort Union. It's so diagonally that I make every attempt not to go there. Plus its main hub is the intersection of two streets -- Fort Union and Union Park. That's confusion waiting to happen, right?

One time Stephanie and Mark and I were hungry so we went to the Chili's downtown. When they said it was a 20 minute wait, Mark was like, "No way. We're not waiting that long. Let's try Five Guys." So we got in Mark's car and he drove as if he were driving Miss Daisy all the way to the Fort Union area. It took 30 minutes to get there. We couldn't find Five Guys at first, but found it after another five minutes of searching in the forbidden zone (right next to another Chili's). The burgers were okay. Sound gross now.

Anyway, the point is, there's only one Five Guys around and it's at Fort Union. A more likely story is that I'll want to go to the Belgian Waffle House. I went there a few weeks ago late at night, had some laughs and most importantly stuffed myself silly. They served me this stuff called garbage hash. It's a combination of hash browns, bacon, cheese and peppers -- and they gave me a couple of pounds of it. It very well could have just been the sweepings from the kitchen, but it was breakfast-awesome. An even more likely occurance for the Fort Union trip is World Market where I pick up my Tim Tams. Tim Tams are these Australian chocolate cookies you can suck hot chocolate through and then slide down your throat. The practice is called Tim Tam slamming. This Friday is a big Tim Tam slam contest so I had to pick some up (you're going, right?).

THE POINT IS if I ever crave the burgers, the garbage hash or the chocolatey gooey goodness I'll have to descend into what I call "The Salt Lake Axis of Evil." Observe:


I've discovered that I don't just get lost in Fort Union because it's diagonally. Notice that the union of Union Park and Fort Union combine to form an evil swastika. Surely this isn't a coincidence.

If you need to hit this evil part of town, though -- take this map with you.

the most popular kids in neptune

I'm nearly finished with the second season of Veronica Mars. I must say, I enjoy it even more than I thought I would. I may even enjoy it more than all the girls who told me to watch it. This is only an assumption, because I think I get a lot more of the disgusting terms and gestures that pervade the show. I'm fairly certain the good girls I know don't get all of that.

The most fun for me has been the craziness of characters at Neptune High School. My high school was pretty boring. There were hardly any detective cases to be solved. There also wasn't nearly as much flagpole taping, administrative corruption or (alleged) incest. Everybody was too bland for all that. The kids at Neptune are either way too smart, way too conniving, way too nice, way too mean or way too psychopathic.

Here's my countdown of my favorite characters from Neptune High School.

16. Weevil
I simply can't believe how annoying this kid is. First of all, he's like 35. Perhaps he was held back several times, although I don't know if high schools even do that anymore. I just watched the episode where he makes Beaver teach him the quadratic equation so he can graduate and his grandmother can die in peace. We never see his actual parents. Perhaps his "grandmother" is really his mother and he just says she's his grandmother so nobody suspects his real age.

It was a lot more annoying in the first season, but I also don't like how he can take the form of a single dude or take the form of entire biker gang. It's a Dracula-like power. A few times Veronica would call in a favor and if it was muscle she needed he'd show up with his biker gang like five minutes later -- as if he was waiting by the phone and then he opened a garage and the whole gang was there waiting and piled out ready to go. Silly really. That gang was so freakin' uptight too. At least the 09'ers had senses of humor.

I also hate how he constantly licks his lips and pouts 'em out a little.

15. Troy Vandegraff
This was Veronica's boyfriend for a couple of episodes at the beginning of the first season. He was snarky like her, but everyone knows she could do better.

14. Madison Sinclair
The school byotch. Very rich, very snobby, VERY one-dimensional; but I'd hang out with her because she flexes her pizza delivery privileges in front of the less-popular kids.

13. Jackie Cook
She's Wallace's flirty love interest. Of course she started out all diva-like, but Wallace calmed her down and turned her into a nicer person. BOOOOR-ING. Also, she's simply not pretty enough to be the obvious temptress the creators wanted her to be.

12. Beaver Casablancas
The smart, brooding non-shallow son of the big Neptune real estate tycoon. This kid constantly looks like an abused puppy. Live a little, dude.

11. Duncan Kane
This guy has a few mental disorders. As a result, he has blackouts, amnesia and severe mood swings. He also dated Veronica a few times. It wasn't just simple dating. He accidentally deflowered her shortly AFTER discovering that she was probably his half-sister. If that's not enough, for a time he was the biggest suspect in the Lilly Kane murder. With that kind of background HOW IS THIS GUY THE MOST BORING PERSON AT NEPTUNE HIGH?

10. Mac
She's the resident computer whiz. Now, I'm officially a Mac guy over PC, but did they have to name her Mac, really? Apple would have been a better name (but just BARELY).

9. Jane Kuhne
This is Wallace's nice, mainstream white girlfriend when Jackie is having her time of the month. A little too normal to be interesting, but you gotta feel a little for her.

8. Veronica Mars
Yep. Veronica's right in the middle. I like her because she's so smart, BUT she's also way too snarky, sassy and conceited. Yeah, that's right. Just because you make fun of people more conceited than you, it doesn't absolve you from your own conceit. Thing is, she's always complaining about how horrible everyone in Neptune is, but I'll bet you a million dollars if I was in her high school and I was nice to her, she'd still think she was way too cool for me.

I also have a problem with her being in contention to be valedictorian. Yes, I know I just said she's smart. She very well may be an absolute GENIUS. She's absolutely brilliant. Yeah, I know. Here's the problem though. She never studies. Okay, I know I know. This is high school. You don't need to study to get A's. Okay, fine. I'll give her a pass. BUT, she also never does homework. She's constantly out on a case of some kind. Even if she's a genius like I've previously said, she still has to actually do the work -- even if she is better at it than others. I had a 9th grade biology teacher who gave us perfect scores if we turned it in and it was complete, regardless of our answers. I discovered this slowly after supplying a few test responses. For example, if it was a fill-in-the-blank question, I'd write "do you really check these?" Never got a response about that. Yeah, maybe Veronica's teachers are like that. Okay okay okay okay okay -- MAYBE Veronica gets all her work done because she's so smart and because it's all she does when she helps out her dad at work. Even so, SHE RARELY ACTUALLY ATTENDS HIGH SCHOOL! What's up with that? And when she does go to school she sleeps through class. So yeah, Veronica's a valedictorian of detective work, but NOT Neptune High.

I hate her phone. What is that, a Sidekick from 1994?

I still like her a lot though, because she gave Logan Echolls a shot and she also wore that awesome material girl outfit to the '80s dance.

7. Wallace Fennel
Pretty cool kid that Veronica manipulates into doing the detective grunt work. One thing I don't get about him is that he started the show as a complete outcast just like her. Then, two episodes later he's suddenly the star of the basketball team and EXTREMELY popular. I guess that's one thing I like about Neptune. The turnaround rate of popularity is off the charts.

Wallace's head is huge. Seriously. Check out a few scenes of him with Jackie. His head is twice her size. No foolin'.

6. Hannah Griffith
She's not in it for much. She's the daughter of the star witness in Logan's murder trial, so Logan starts dating her for leverage. What's up with this town? Not only is there a high-profile, high-media murder case every year; but every single character in every single major case has some close relative in Veronica's class. Anyway, Hannah is a sweet girl. I'm putting her quite high because she's a curiosity to me. She must be half the size of Veronica. Veronica looks obese next to her. Perhaps Hannah's brash decisions in the show can be explained because she simply didn't consume enough calories to function properly.

5. Meg Manning
Aw. She's great. Every horrible horrible high school needs a super-nice girl who is just to good to handle the grit of a place like Neptune. Of course she was wronged terribly by Duncan, which gave her reason to despise Veronica. Perhaps that short bit of fault justified her tragic fate. Before such a tragedy happened, I'd be sure to hit on her a little.

4. Lilly Kane
The show kicks off by telling us of her death. She was Veronica's best friend and the whole first season revolves around Veronica's search for the truth surrounding the death. Still, nobody seemed to bring up the fact that Lilly Kane DESERVED to die. Hard. I mean, really. She was a HORRIBLE person (but at least she wasn't boring). We all know that if she wasn't killed she'd be on the stripper pole within four months. She would say it was to support her smack habit, but really she'd start using drugs to support her stripper habit. It actually doesn't make much sense that she was Veronica's best friend. Sure, Veronica was dating her brother but it doesn't mean they had to get along.

3. Gia Goodman
The daughter of the mayor looks a bit weird. She looks like an Addams Family character in an extremely impractical skirt. It's strangely cute. Some dumb people talk to themselves, but the way she talks to herself is awesomer/cuter/funnier than any other. Just the fact that she's into Dick Casablancas is funny in itself. Speaking of...

2. Dick Casablancas
Love this guy on the show. I'd HATE him in real life. He's shallow and one-dimensional, but since he's obviously tipping the scales in those regards, his actual character is borderline brilliant. It's like you couldn't find a laboratory that could produce the proper genetic makeup to create a guy as Californian as this guy. I mean, what kid these days actually embraces a name like "Dick" anyway?

Hey, ever notice what the names of the Casablancas brothers are?

1. Logan Echolls
See, most people start liking him after 15 or so episodes, but Logan was my favorite from DAY ONE. Sure, he's despicable, but he's got a snotty charm that I find endearing. That's weird to type, but it's true. He's every bit as bad as the PCHers, but he's also funny -- and that's important. Kudos for Veronica's bizarre attraction to him. I think their weird relationship fit perfectly and snugly into the narrative. Logan also has some of the best (suggestive) asides in the show.

He's also arguably the most tortured soul on the show. Well, there are A LOT of seriously messed up kids at Neptune High. Let's just say, I believe his tortured soul-ness the most.

Didn't you just love it when he crane-kicked Weevil when the biker gang tracked him down just in time to beat him up before he attempted suicide? That was awesome.

** Okay, now just a couple of notes on a few of the adults at Neptune **

Veronica's dad: He's simply way cooler than his daughter. I wish he went to Neptune High.

Woody Goodman: Okay, what's up with this guy's name? Is he really a "good man?" Kind of gives me the impression that he's not good, but is actually PURE EVIL. That's too obvious though, so I think it's reverse-reverse psychology. Now, I haven't seen the last episode yet, but what's up with his telling Gia not to take the bus that went over the cliff? Actually, a better question is what's up with Veronica, Veronica's dad, the sheriff and Gia NOT CALLING HIM OUT for obviously knowing the bus would crash? My theory? The creators of the show planted in something OBVIOUS for us to think we know about and we're gonna be thrown off again.

Jackie's dad: So he's like, O.J. Simpson, right?

Mumbly cop that Veronica dated for a little while: So like, what's up with that mumble, big guy?

Trina Echolls: Okay, she's funny because she's Allyson Hannigan and she's married to Jason Segal on How I Met Your Mother (and he absolutely dwarfs her). I find this amusing because Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) dated Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. When Allyson Hannigan and Kristen Bell are next to each other, Kristen Bell is like half Allyson's size. Strange that Kristen Bell could be that much tinier than Allyson Hannigan and still date Jason Segal when Segal obviously dwarfs Allyson -- if any of that made any sense. Don't even think about throwing Hannah Griffith in the mix.

Aaron Echolls: I like watching episodes with Aaron in and also his wife played by Lisa Rinna, because aren't they like married in real life? I think they are and whenever I see them on talk shows they seem a whole lot like the people they're portraying. I wonder if the Aaron Echolls scenes are actually filmed like a reality show and then they write his character around whatever footage Harry Hamlin provided that day?

Okay, no doubt you haven't made it to the end of this post without first being a fan of Veronica Mars. Congrats much! Let me know if you made it.

jeopardy! update

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. Also thanks for the advice about the buzzers. Bear in mind though that my life goal is to appear on Jeopardy! and not necessarily win (or even score in the positive). If I actually get on the show, I'll probably not even think about winning. Maybe I'll be the first person thrown off for trying to copy the girl next to me in Final Jeopardy.

What I really need is help on the online test. Who knows what sorts of things it will ask? I should bone up on some of my Latin. Crap! I forgot my college Latin book when I went back to the parents' house these past couple of days. Maybe I should learn stuff about mixed drinks. World capitals is probably a good idea too.

From now until Wednesday, when you see me or email me, be sure to provide me with something trivial (but useful). For example, tell me the capital city of wherever you went on your mission. Something like that.

Anyway, I did mildly well on last night's Jeopardy! I scored 15 answers in the first round and 12 in Double Jeopardy (that's a 45% score!). I also got Final Jeopardy correct. It was a pretty big deal because all three contestants got it wrong. The correct question was "Who is Lisa-Marie Presley?"

Oh! And also, lots of smart people read me. Maybe you should take the test as well. I may cry a little, but if one of you is able to leave me behind and advance in the tryout, I think that will (on the whole) be great!

Just go to jeopardy.com.

pray for me

I'm sorry haven't posted anything in a few weeks. Perhaps I have very little to say.

Now, though, I need to say something very serious and I need everyone reading to not only pray for me, but to do whatever is needed to see this thing through.

I just finished my registration for an online tryout of the gameshow Jeopardy!


Appearing on Jeopardy! has been on my life list for a very long long time now (and btw, I'm hoping to publish my life list soon). Odds are very against me. I think I peaked in my Jeopardy! prowess about eight years ago. Things may still go well at this time. I actually watched the game of my life a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully I get categorically lucky enough in the future applications.

The online test will be administered Wednesday, the 28th of January at 7:00 pm. Hopefully I will be intelligenter at that time than I am now. Besides praying for me to do well, if you happen to see me just sorta hangin' out doing nothing on that night REMIND ME THAT I HAVE A JEOPARDY! TEST TO TAKE!

Thanks.

some best songs of 2008!

Usually I rank as many songs of the year as new movies I saw. After stressing out about this for a couple of days I'm finding that to be impossible. Since my car stereo was stolen this year, I've hardly listened to any music at all this past year. Tragic I know. My New Year's resolution is to listen to a lot more music so I can tell people what to listen to next year.

Anyway, I think I'll just list a bunch of songs this year that I heard (or from bands that I know are awesome anyway) that I liked enough to make the list. We're not gonna hit 43, but maybe we can shoot for like 30 or so.

Here are some songs from this year totally worth noting:

"Viva La Vida" by Coldplay
"Human" by The Killers
"Ricochet" by Shiny Toy Guns
"I Don't Care" by Fall Out Boy
"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" by Beyonce Knowles
"Whatever It Takes" by Tom Morello
"Ulysses" by Franz Ferdinand
"Children of the Night" by NosfeROYtu
"Chill Factory" by Jon Madsen featuring Thom Yorke of Radiohead
"Bruises" by Chairlift
"I Feel It All" by Feist
"Something is Not Right With Me" by Cold War Kids
"Mercy" by Duffy
"The Reckoner" by Radiohead
"Circus" by Britney Spears
"No Sex For Ben" by The Rapture
"Addicted to Drugs" by Kaiser Chiefs
"Don't Trust Me" by 3OH!3
"J*** in My Pants" by Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone
That one song by Katy Perry that's not "Kissed a Girl"

And here's the top 10:

10. "Salute Your Solution" by The Raconteurs
Nice to see Jack taking his other band more seriously now that The White Stripes are imploding.

9. "Disturbia" by Rhianna
It's been said before.

8. "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie
This song TOTALLY gives away my game.

7. "A-Punk" by Vampire Weekend
Finally! Some bright, wicked old school ska! I'm talkin' real old school here.

6. "Low" by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain
It certainly made Step Up 2 the Streets watchable. Plus, it was all that was playing for a couple of months.

5. "Pork and Beans" by Weezer
Mmmm. Good.

4. "Love Lockdown" by Kanye West
Man! He seems to make my list every single year. Kanye, stay in the studio. Don't make public appearances. Just stay in the studio and work it hard.

3. "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon
Sweeping. Epic. Awesome.

2. "Paper Planes" by M.I.A.
I was really annoyed that this song wasn't in Pineapple Express, but was overjoyed when it was in Slumdog Millionaire. It samples from my favorite Clash song. Cool.

1. "Untouched" by The Veronicas.
Yeah. That's right. I said it. My favorite song of 2008 is by The Veronicas. Sue me. You won't win. This probably came out in 2007, but I've only heard it recently.

I also want to send a special shout-out to The Jonas Brothers. Hey guys, I've never heard your music, but hang in there. I know everybody's making fun of you but it's just because you're exceptionally talented ten years before you're supposed to be. At least I've heard you're talented. I assume that the writing and performing of chart-topping songs while you're still in high school has got to take some talent. Anyway, you may not deserve more fans, but you deserve respect. Let it shine, boys! Let's see what you come up with in your 20s.

the 43 best movies of 2008!

I saw 43 new movies this year. New record! Some of them actually came out last year. Some of them came out this year, but I saw them on DVD just a little while ago. Anyway, I haven't really hammered down the rules I use for measuring my end of year list. My brother does it in February to correspond with The Academy Awards. That seems like a good idea. I should do that maybe.

I think this was a really good year for movies. I hardly disliked any, actually.

Anyway, I did catch some movies from last year that I had listed as wanting to see on DVD: Zodiac, Hot Fuzz, Sunshine, Rescue Dawn and Into the Wild. They were all pretty good.

This years list of unseen movies that I meant to see includes: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; The Spirit; The Wrestler (certainly I will see this one when it finally comes to Salt Lake); Frost/Nixon; Bolt; Synecdoche, New York; Happy-Go-Lucky; W.; Rachel Getting Married; The House Bunny; Hamlet 2; The Rocker; Swing Vote; Baghead; Hancock; Mongol; Kung-Fu Panda; Speed Racer; The Fall; Baby Mama; The Visitor; In Bruges; Jumper.

I'm not at home right now, so my image of a year's worth of ticket stubs will have to wait for a little bit.

Here's the big list:

43. Wanted
Most of the people who saw this movie with me really enjoyed it. I couldn't digest the thing. The ridiculousness of it all wasn't played for camp at all, but more for sadistic bloodlust. This surprisingly came from the Russian director who brought us the vampire film Nightwatch. I think he tried to Americanize this one too much. I'm not the biggest Angelina Jolie fan, but the girl can actually act. Unfortunately they didn't give her anything of the sort to do. The fact that the main character is obviously working the wrong side through the whole movie made him that much more annoying when he actually addresses the audience at the end and berates them for not doing something with their lives while he's some badass assassin. Ridiculous. Insulting.

42. Mamma Mia
I love ABBA. More than most. The musical version of their songs is simply an atrocity. The shoe-horned story is too forced and the characters are too annoying. If it were up to me, half of the story would need to be told in flashback. That's just me, though.

41. Four Christmases
I guess it wasn't really that bad. It's tradition, however, that I don't like Christmas comedies.

40. The Foot Fist Way
This movie was actually made in 2006, but wasn't released wide until this past year. Caught it on video. It's got Danny McBride, but isn't as funny as it needed to be. The funniest part is actually in the alternate scenes, which is weird.

39. 21
Maybe I would have liked this one a little more, but I saw it with Rhett and he told me all the stuff in the book that they didn't put in. After that I was like, so why did they make it suck so bad?

38. You Don't Mess With the Zohan
Meh.

37. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Okay, let's get this straight. I don't mind the whole aliens thing. I feel that since Indiana Jones is based on pulp novels and Saturday matinees that the natural course for such things after 20 years would go from jungle artifacts to UFOs. That said, though... this will forever be considered one of the biggest disappointment sequels since Rocky V.

36. Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Better than I thought, actually. Sure wish they bought their own rights to their own music, though. Like the music, and the Ewok television specials from the '80s, this movie just didn't fit in with everything else Star Wars for me.

35. X-Files: I Want To Believe
This is the X-Files I actually like. I hate all the alien stuff (even though I said otherwise about a different movie). The self-contained stories are way better. Too bad this movie was quickly phoned-in.

34. Burn After Reading
Sort of okay. The Coens usually do way better. I guess they had to even things out after No Country for Old Men.

33. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
It was pretty boring. Good thing it had Amy Adams in it.

32. American Teen
The thing about documentaries is that there is manipulation. We need to accept that and perhaps I need to accept that more than I actually do. With most documentaries, however, the manipulation simply comes with the presentation of the facts. Sometimes though, like with American Teen, the manipulation actually changes the events that are being documented. This presentation of everyday high-schoolers had some awesome scenes in it, but much of it seemed like a dressed-down episode of The Hills, but with uglier people.

31. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
This look at young life in the Depression could have been a lot more fun if Joan Cusack wasn't such a spaz.

30. Step Up 2 the Streets
How hilarious is it that the big street gang in this movie is a gang that choreographs intense dance sequences to totally perform guerrilla on the subway? *Snicker* Good soundtrack.

29. Tropic Thunder
The unfortunate thing about this movie is that, by far, the funniest parts were the first ten minutes. It had some moments after that. I mostly remember lots of loudness and baby throwing.

28. Michael Clayton
Came out last year. Saw it this year. I liked the chick who played the White Witch in Narnia. Her villainous character played like someone on the edge of a nervous breakdown was quite welcome.

27. Forever Strong
I think this may have been the only low-budget local movie I saw this year. Looks like the big local scene is fading. This was pretty fun, but I would have liked more legit rugby action. Heck, I would've liked to have been more illuminated on the game itself. Awesomest thing about this one though? The good guy in Gossip Girl playing the bad guy.

26. Valkyrie
The history lesson was pretty illuminating, but I expect more from Bryan Singer. Ever since he left X-Men, I haven't seen him really put his heart into anything.

25. The Incredible Hulk
Gets points for simply being set in the Marvel Universe. Of course Norton has really bugged me for the past few years.

24. Hellboy II
Del Toro went all out with this one, but it wasn't NEARLY as fun as the first. Pretty cool visuals, though.

23. Ghost Town
I found this to eventually be understandably touching, but I am kind of miffed that it wasn't funnier than it was. My brother totally told me it was really funny and it had a couple of funny parts, but for the most part I don't even think it was supposed to be a comedy. It could've been though. Gervais can carry entire productions.

22. Get Smart
I liked it.

21. Twilight
Yeah, this one's getting a pretty decent score from me, surprisingly. I guess it helps that it had the lamest set of trailers ever put on celluloid. Bringing expectations down doesn't hurt at all. I did really appreciate the humor in the movie that was seriously lacking from the book.

20. Definitely, Maybe
For a romantic comedy, this one didn't insult me. My favorite scene was when Rachel Weisz sings to him. Cute.

19. Quantum of Solace
This, of course, would have been way better if it didn't have to be measured alongside the excellent Casino Royale. Still, besides the comparison I'm really starting to miss the cheeky old 007. The chase scene in the theater with sound of the production playing over the action was fun to watch. Watch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for a better use for the actor who plays the villain in Quantum.

18. Prince Caspian
I ranked this one well because I think there was a little direction taken away from the book that I really appreciated. Peter was more flawed, plus the appearance of the White Witch was a nice touch. Also, there was a lot more fighting -- hardly PG.

17. There Will Be Blood
Yeah! I know this came out in 2007! I didn't see it until 2008, okay?

16. Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
This movie couldn't fail for me because it's got New York City, great music (although there wasn't nearly enough music or talk of music) and Michael Cera. Plus, I just love high school romance movies. It does have some serious flaws, though (like the obstacles to the relationship occuring after the relationship is cemented). The most surprising thing about this one is the revelation of Ari Graynor. Watch her like a hawk!

15. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Apatow was so hot in 2008! Not only were there many hilarious parts of this Hawaiian fun romp, but I discovered that Mila Kunis is actually very pretty and can totally act. Plus you got Veronica Mars doin' her thing too.

14. Pineapple Express
Surprisingly violent, this other Apatow movie has the twin comedy forces of Danny McBride and James Franco. Joe and I saw this one twice. Since it's a stoner comedy it's awesome to see late. I'm looking forward to seeing it on the couch at two in the morning, hepped up on pizza and candy (I don't hep myself up on much).

13. Cassandra's Dream
This is a Woody Allen movie that hardly anybody but me liked. It gets Woody points. Funny or serious I always relate to the anxiety of a Woody film.

12. Quarantine
See Cloverfield below.

11. Son of Rambow
These guys made an okay version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a few years ago. They get a better chance honing their charm in this great one about two young British movie makers. Weird quirk + whimsical imagery = movie going delight.

10. Cloverfield
I've gone on record so many times saying that I hate shaky-cam. It totally takes me out of the story because instead of bringing me into the action I actually think of the cameraman actually having a seizure. This is a notable exception. I think the concept TOTALLY WORKS when the camera is actually held by a character in the movie. When that's the case it really does bring me into the action. Tons of people were miffed by the lack of vision of the monster and a lack of clarity to what was actually going on. I get that, but what made Cloverfield great is that it wasn't a broad story from a news perspective, it's what the story would actually be from our perspective just in case a monster comes and kills us. Monster movies totally benefit from a fresh perspective.

9. Role Models
A lot of attention is paid to the Apatow-type comedies and how ground-breaking they are for the genre. Role Models may have the Apatow raunch, but it's a simple straightforward old school comedic story with an uplifting message. It did for comedic movies what How I Met Your Mother did for comedic television shows. Old school isn't necessarily a step in the wrong direction if you make it funny. And this one was funny. Hard. Plus, it gets wicked bonus points for making a character a total larper and taking a chance by reveling in high points of the activity instead of simply making a joke out of it.

8. Let the Right One In
This is that movie about teenage vampires. Seriously. It's not Twilight. This one has all the vampire rules in it: sunlight, blood-sucking, vampirism spreading to different people, etc. You even learn what happens when a vampire enters a home when she's not invited (wounds open up and she bleeds everywhere). Strangely, though, it feels less like a vampire movie than any other vampire movie I've ever seen. It's an extremely intimate story between two kids. This one would actually score higher, but there were just too many unnecessary establishing shots of the snow and dull sequences of characters walking in the snow. Okay, I get it. This was an independent film! I know! I'm sitting the most uncomfortable theater seat in Salt Lake Valley. Anyway, the vampire chick goes totally nuts at the end and it's awesome.

7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
This is another one that might not count. I'm fairly certain this one came out last year. This one has the bad guy from Quantum of Solace (Mathieu Amalric) in it, but he's a lot -- A LOT -- more interesting here. Half the movie is from his direct viewpoint in a hospital bed and the other half of the movie is fantastic imagery from the rest of his life. His nurse is one of the most beautiful women in the world, btw.

6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Another Woody Allen. This one was far more agreeable to most people. It's probably a good idea that Allen switched his filming city of choice from London to Barcelona. Every time he does that his films become far more fresh. This one is seriously bleak. It studies the different aspects of love and their faults (with few benefits). It comes from a guy whose probable definition of love is simply entropy. It's famous for Scarlett Johanssen and Penelope Cruz snogging, but it should be famous for Cruz's far out crazy performance and also the wonderful work of the other female role -- Rebecca Hall.

5. Slumdog Millionaire
If many Bollywood movies are of this quality, maybe I should get into that genre. Danny Boyle's movies always hold my interest. The storytelling device on its own is enough to be a really fascinating movie, but the movie used the device far beyond the pedestrian method.

4. Man on Wire
Only a select few of us were able to catch this movie. We were really lucky. It's a documentary about the guy in the '70s who walked a tightrope between the twin towers in New York. Documentaries automatically turn people off, but the way this thing was edited it was more like a heist movie waaaaay more intense than Ocean's 11.

3. Iron Man
We all saw it, so I don't need to praise it. It was a perfect preview of just how fun the superhero movies were this year. I've never liked Robert Downey Jr. more.

2. WALL-E
This was probably the most substantive movie I saw all year (and I saw eight movies at the film snobby Broadway Theatre). The guys over at Pixar never cease to amaze and never cease to experiment -- which is the real soul of good filmmaking. Actually, let me rephrase that. Experimentation that works is what really counts and they have some kind of scientific method over there that just works dynamite alongside their artistry. Great visuals, great science fiction, great love story, fantastic humor. Splendid! I've actually only seen it once, but haven't looked forward to seeing it again because of its weighty emotionalism.

1. The Dark Knight
You know what? WALL-E is probably a better movie, honestly. But I saw The Dark Knight three times in the theaters and it was awesome. I'm not going to bother explaining it too, because everyone else has already said it. I'll just say this: characters make great movies. Here is a Batman movie where Batman himself is the fourth most interesting character in the movie.

2008 performance review

Okay, we've done well. 149 or so blog posts in 2008. We've added some new features like the Song of the Moment and the Jonblog Cam. We've also almost stopped using words completely and did a ton of video links.

Good: Awesome tenacity in keeping this thing up in spite of it not really mattering in the real world in the slightest. The Song of the Moment is lovely distraction.

Bad: We really need to update the Song of the Moment more often. Plus, the Jonblog Cam needs to go. It's totally malfunctioning and is hardly ever used. Hey and did we ever want to update the word's underneath "Jon's Blog." Yeah, everybody knows it's a freaking blog. Maybe we should put up something more profound. What about updating the blog template so that old entries can be more easily found? Pssshfft.

We'll think this stuff over. Here's to another year.

just a couple of items before the end of year stuff

So my brother called the tv show Square Pegs "ahead of its time." I didn't believe him until I watched disc two of the complete series. There were a lot of jokes I'd see in other stuff five or so years after Square Pegs. The most obvious (and perhaps reaching) example of this is Sarah Jessica Parker saying "not" in the exact Wayne's World usage. Also there's the joke about not being able to tell a joke -- specifically "make like a tree, and get out of here" from Back to the Future. Finally, SJP also mentioned the social suicide move of accidentally calling your teacher "mommy" which was mentioned in The Simpsons. Sorry if this is a random observation, but I had to make a note of it somewhere.

I scored pretty hard for Christmas. I got three things on the list -- a hard drive, How I Met Your Mother (seasons 1-3) and a video camera (which I haven't actually picked up). I also got a swell Gestapo black jacket, pounds of fudge and this year's pajama pants. Score! Like I always say, Christamas is successful when you get more than you give. I only gave physical gifts to my parents this year (all bought at IKEA). A few of my friends were able to receive my sort of gimmick gift. Seems to have been a success. If you didn't get anything from me, don't be hurt. I really really downsized this year -- but if you want a gift, let me know. The free gift is the gift that infinitely gives (which is what I gave).

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festivus and the airing of grievances '08

Happy Festivus everyone! Looks like I'm just squeaking this entry in time. I was hoping to get some feats of strength in this year, but I'm way down in Orem.

Anyway, on to the Airing of Grievances!

1. The lack of straightforward HTML embed codes on some online videos
They may provide the embedding, but often they actually have the audacity to ask for my Blogger username and password. There's no way I'm volunteering that! Get over yourselves and just give me the straight code. I don't care if it's easier on everyone who wants to share specifically with Blogger or Wordpress or Facebook or whatever. Yeah, you're probably legit, but it sets a bad precedent. We should never be asked that information by a third party. One of these days when everyone's used to supplying their info, somebody's going to nab all our blogs and identities.

2. Apostrophe's in plural's
Lately it's gone catastrophic. This past year has been especially harsh for this mistreatment. Hardly any words are pluralized with an apostrophe. I believe that just about the only exception is when you pluralize specific letters of the alphabet. Speaking of...

3. E's ate thee ende ofe wordse
Sure it may seem classier to spell it "towne" or "centre" or "theatre," but it's simply wrong. Correctness trumps classy. Incorrect classy is simply sleazy. We fought a revolution with the British to fight the lame pretentious way they spell words, and we won, dammit! (You say: "Pretentious? Moi?")

4. Cars parked on the wrong side of the road
Cars go on the right. Remember that revolution thing? Yeah.

5. All the football players on the team pointing that they have possession of the ball after a fumble
Yeah. As if your pointing is going to affect what the ref finds out when he piles all the guys off the ball.

6. Writer's strike fallout
How lame is it that they didn't release the new Harry Potter in the fall? I don't even care much about Harry Potter and I think it's lame. They already marketed it for the fans for a fall release. Now they're just sitting on it because they have so little for next summer? Same goes for Star Trek. It's done. It's sitting somewhere. I can watch it. And here's the thing: it's supposed to be a winter movie. It's not a summer blockbuster. I like Star Trek because it doesn't belong to the masses. It belongs to me and my people in the middle of winter. I know, I know. It's good business. This year was a good movie year so they have to save some for next year so the investors will be happy. Fine. Good business. Fine. Hey, how's this for good business: DON'T SPIT IN THE FACE OF THE CUSTOMER!

7. Getting penalized for keeping an unregistered car at my house
I can understand why we need to register cars. It could be a dangerous car after all. It's simply not dangerous sitting at my own house. Look, don't ticket unregistered cars in residential areas, okay? If it's parked in a business area. Fine. Ticket.

8. Firefox refusing to update
For some reason this open-source wonder miracle of all browsers doesn't like me or my computer. Haven't tried lately, but the latest version is not being used on this computer. And the other computer's Firefox doesn't recognize generic Quicktime embeds. Sometimes IE is way easier (and it shouldn't be!).

9. Too much emphasis on momentum in sports
I hear the phrase too much. "This play is a real momentum-changer." Can't these athletes be a little zen about their work and take every individual play seriously regardless of the context? Maybe not, but at least try to get it in their heads, coaches and fans. Don't weigh the game entirely on single plays.

10. Goatees

11. Gears of War 2 controls
I love me some Gears, but I am so sick of doing a somersault into a crowd of monsters instead of doing what I WANTED to do which is hide behind a stack of sandbags.

12. Lack of Mr. Plow
Did the city cut its funding in this area? I seriously think they did. The roads are way less plowy than last year. And where's the salt? I haven't seen any.

13. U of U basketball jerseys
When did they change everyone's name on the team to "Utah?"

14. Fast food inconsistency
It's too hard to memorize where all the "good" Arby's and Wendy's restaurants are in the valley. Can't you organize the franchise management so that they're all good?

15. Cafe Rio getting my meal too fast
Hold on there senor. I don't automatically want everything on my salad. Wait for me to say I want shredded lettuce before you put the entire cabbage head on there. Pico is like biting into a living rabbit. Guacamole is green, putrid play-doh. I don't want any of that stuff. And it would be nice if half the meal wasn't cilantro.

16. Dvds that don't rip
Why does my ripping program fail with only some dvds? Look, I'm not running a piracy ring out of my basement. Just let me grab a couple of scenes. Remember that bit with the ax going through the door in the Halloween movie? Well it would have been waaaaaay better if I grabbed it from the actual Shining cd instead of YouTube.

17. Simple cruelty
We're so mean to each other. You know that, right? I think we don't even know how cruel we are. Sometimes it's easy to miss when constantly surrounded by idiocy. That's no excuse. We've all been the moron before. When surrounded by idiocy, be nice. Try to anyway. I HATE being nice. Seriously. It's just something that needs to be done, you know? And it's way easier when everyone else is doing it.

jon demand 4

I had to pack my computer up and go to the parents' house to edit this, so that part about wanting a Macbook Pro is especially poignant.



Remember to subscribe to Jon Demand!

jon demand 3 and the giving of gifts

Here is Jon Demand Episode 3! I've had it done for a few days, but I haven't posted it because I've been trying to video blogger embed it into the Jon Demand blog. Why do I have to do that? Because I need the video itself in the official RSS feed so that it will automatically download for the fine folks who've subscribed to the podcast in iTunes or other RSS feed. Yes, I am quite aware that quite possibly nobody has subscribed yet. Well it's not my fault that I surround myself with unsupportive non-podcasters! Anyway, the point is, the blogger upload feature is totally not working for me right now. Did anyone else have problems uploading videos to blogger this weekend? I tell it to go and it just says "uploading..." for hours and hours and it doesn't even go up one byte. Lemme know.



Okay, so one more thing. I think I know what I'm giving for Christmas this year. I considered not getting anybody anything, but I thought of a fairly clever, frugal and easily mass-produced system of gifts for this year. I just don't know where to draw the line on whom to give to. Please comment on this post and let me know if you feel close enough to me to give you a gift.

jon demand episode 2 plus major technological announcement

Hey, before I forget, I just put up a new Song of the Moment. I've neglected it for like a month and a half.

So here's the next Jon Demand. And also here's a very special treat. Anybody have iTunes out there? Because now you can subscribe and sync episodes of Jon Demand to automatically download to iTunes -- and hence onto your iPod or mp3 player!

Go to this page on iTunes.


Also, Jon Demand is its own RSS now. That means that one can go to jondemandpodcast.blogspot.com and stick that in their reader and avoid having to deal with all my lame wordy blog posts. So if you hate my blog, just stick jondemandpodcast.blogspot.com into your Google Reader.

Anyway, the point of this whole Jon Demand subscription thing is to have a distribution outlet for all my videos, including Jon Demand specifically, Halloween movies, friends' movies, pirated movies, funny clips in general and recordings I make of you without you knowing.

I think it sounds totally fun! Seriously.

Okay, here's Episode 2:

watchful observations of new watchmen trailer

0:00 -- Freaky music, huh? I guess the pumpkins have been done to death with the Watchmen campaign. The churchy spookiness fits, though.

0:05 -- Has anyone noticed that in the past week YouTube has switched to the widescreen format. The place I got this from has the widescreen embedded into the blog, but it looks like it's not working for me. Sorry about half the screen being black bars everyone!

0:40 -- Check out the framed picture of the younger Silk Spectre in what's probably the Comedian's apartment. Nice touch.

0:43 -- One thing the movie really has going for it is the eerie ink movements on Rorschach's mask. I read the graphic novel twice and a half and I never really caught on that it even did that. Surely this will be one thing that's cooler on film than print.

0:45 -- Headline: "The Comedian Gets Last Laugh on Moloch."

0:52 -- Sometimes I hesitate watching and scrutinizing trailers because I'm afraid I'll hit too many spoilers. Perhaps I shouldn't have read the graphic novel then, because these trailer images are exactly like the novel's images.

1:02 -- Fade to black. I hate movie trailers for for fading in and out of black as often as they do. Since I started editing movie trailers into The Cinematic Experience, I've noticed it a lot more often. It's wicked obnoxious.

1:04 -- Wow, the original Silk Spectre's hair was hideous.

1:09 -- Was this sinister Comedian look toward Silk Spectre in the book? I don't have my copy right now (not that it matters, since I'm too lazy to look it up online). Anyway, it's a beautiful addition.

1:10-2:00 -- We've seen just about all of this in the past trailer. I suppose I didn't comment on it too much back then. The Mars sequence looks like it could be slightly breathtaking -- although it's completely given away now. I like whoever they got for Sally Juspeczyk. If she delivers her lines as well as she looks the part, I think we're in business. The Jon Osterman sequences look pretty good too. Hopefully they don't show off Dr. Manhattan too much. I think they'll get more mileage out of him if they keep him mysterious.

2:09 -- Sounds like Danny Elfman took the reins on the music.

2:19 -- Nixon! Anybody see Frost/Nixon yet? How about that Futurama where the disembodied head of Nixon wins the Earthican presidency?

2:22 -- I'm worried about Nite Owl's little ship. Will the audience believe that it can fly and shoot through ice with no wings and not really any noticeable jet propulsion? It may be the fakest looking thing in the story. Zack Snyder will need to tow a fine line between ridiculous camp and dead seriousness.

2:32 -- Did the Comedian just deck a woman?

2:35 -- Isn't Veidt supposed to be more handsome than this? He looks pretty drugged up.

2:39 -- Who's this kid? Does he have the shining?

2:42 -- Looks like Nite Owl goes a little nuts. You know there's no holding back with this movie when the nicest guy in the book is shown in the movie trailer totally wailing on a guy.

2:50 -- Is that Max Headroom as Moloch? Nice to see him getting work. Although I never really liked the guy. When he was here filming The Stand all those years ago, he implied in an interview that everyone in Utah was inbred.

2:55 -- Here's my favorite image in the trailer: Dollar Bill stuck in the revolving door. I'm pretty sure this one wasn't in the graphic novel. Kids! This is why you don't wear a cape! I like to believe that Bill's ill-devised cape was the inspiration to mention the impracticalities of capes in The Incredibles