Archive for 'Entertainment' Category
Flynn Lives – A Physics Question
Around 0:50 in the Tron Flynn Lives clip the rider pushes a button that appears to drop the bike. I presume this would do two things: (1) lower the center of gravity, improving cornering, and (2) decrease surface area exposed to the wind, decreasing drag and increasing speed. Why wouldn’t the bike just start out […]
DVD New Releases – 7/28/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) There’s a real variety of movies being released this week. It looks like the industry is trying to make up for the past couple months. Dollhouse: Season One – Joss Whedon does it […]
DVD New Releases – 7/21/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) Watchmen – Fanboys always find flaws, but Watchmen was good enough to spur discussion and was a perfect application of Zack Snyder’s stylized visuals that he “invented” for 300. I’m looking forward to […]
DVD New Releases – 7/13/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) I didn’t post a release list last week because there was only one new worthwhile release — a film from 1962 released on DVD. Lonely are the Brave – Kirk Douglas stars in […]
American Remakes Rant? (Let the Right One In)
At GeekTyrant.com, MRBLACK posted about the American remake of Let The Right One In, and he’s being a bit of an ass about it. Let The Right One In was one of the best movies of 2008, and it received as much support in the US as you can reasonably expect from a subtitled Swedish […]
My Father, The Musician
For most of my life, I thought of my mother as the musical parent. She played both guitar and piano, checked out albums when we made trips to the library, and was always singing. During the holidays, she was the one who went to sing and play in the folk-music circle at a friend’s house. […]
DVD New Releases – 6/16/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – How is it that Strangelove, which was Kubrick’s most controversial film on its release, is his least controversial film […]
Death Knell of the Live Music Capital of the World
Many Austinites have been stewing over sound ordinances, and it looks like things are coming to a full boil. The initial laws, in 1994, were written with a reasonable intent to keep noise pollution to a minimum. They were eventually tweaked to include specific rules about decibel levels, and recent changes went so far as […]
DVD New Releases – 6/9/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) Gran Torino – After Eastwood ripped out my joy with Million Dollar Baby I didn’t feel he deserved my trust, so I’ve been holding out on seeing Gran Torino until the “this movie […]
DVD New Releases – 6/2/2009 (and 5/26/2009)
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) I feel bad this list is late…again, and missing a week…but I took the slow train to L.A., taking over a week to get there and back, returning Tuesday, and I have been […]
DFTBA Records Needs You
I’m pushing DFTBA Records. Trust me, all the kids doing it. It’s cool. You can start using and stop any time you want.
Seriously, July Can Not Get Here Any Quicker
Here’s the new video thingy about the Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince being released in July. var s1 = new SWFObject(’/backporchbeer/simpleviewer/player.swf’,‘mpl’,‘480’,‘272’,‘9’); s1.addParam(‘allowfullscreen’,‘true’); s1.addParam(‘allowscriptaccess’,‘always’); s1.addParam(‘wmode’,‘opaque’); s1.addParam(‘flashvars’,’&duration=152&image=http://www.rollerfeet.com/backporchbeer/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/HP6_NCM2_272_1008.jpg&controlbar=over&file=http://www.rollerfeet.com/backporchbeer/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/HP6_NCM2_528_2064.FLV&plugins=hd-1&hd.file=http://www.rollerfeet.com/backporchbeer/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/HP6_NCM2_272_1008.FLV&stretching=fill’); s1.write(‘preview’);
DVD New Releases – 5/19/2009
Every week I make a list of notable discs being released so I can figure out what I “need” to buy. ;) I feel bad this list is late but I was in Vegas, returning Monday night, and I have been playing catch-up. A Bug’s Life – The second Pixar feature film release wasn’t as […]
The Best Vegas Has To Offer
I’m gearing up for a weekend in Vegas, googling and planning, coming up with ideas. I came upon a readers poll of the 2009 Best of Vegas from the Las Vegas Review-Journal. You can probably guess the punchline to this question, but you’ll be flummoxed at the follow-up. According to the readers of the Las […]
Mistake in “Juno”
I hate to be that guy — no, I don’t — but, after seeing Juno over a dozen times, I feel I must draw attention to a “glaring” set of errors in the script and hence the movie, all in one phrase. I’ve repeated this quote several times with an admitted ignorance to the object: […]