2012: SERIOUSLY?

2012. What can I say? I understand in disaster movies like these you have to suspend reality, but Roland Emmerich made a more believable movie when he had Will Smith team up with Jeff Goldblum to fight aliens in Independence Day. Which, by the way, thank goodness those alien computers were Mac compatible.

In this latest apocalyptic feature, hometown boy John Cusack plays Jackson Curtis, a no name divorced writer, who finds himself trying to unite his family while out running an exploding Earth. While on the other side of the country Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Eljiofor) tries to wrangle world leaders, and the super rich in a top secret plan to survive the end of days, while preserving the humanity of the human race on the side.

The story lines are too convoluted, the characters, with the exception of maybe Cusack are one-dimensional, and the dramatic scenes literally bored me to sleep.

As for the special effects, they're good, but they still didn't help make the movie any better. I didn't believe the characters were in danger. Apparentyly everyone in that movie can fly like a Topper Harley, Goose, Ice Man, and Maverick all rolled into one. It was more like watching a nature documentary on steroids.

I didn't feel any real suspense or anticipation until hour eight of the movie, when they drop all the CG effects and start using the water tank sets.

On the good side... Woody Harrelson has a great cameo, and I thought about Zombieland for about five minutes.

Rating: 3/10

I hate to spoil, but I can't help myself. Why would you build the largest boats ever conceived of, in the history of the human race, at the top of the Himalayas? You are going to have to sail those giant ass ships through a mountain range. Not to mention the shipping cost of moving the raw materials up a mountain. 2012. Seriously?

Droid: Full Review

I've been test running the Droid for a week now, and this phone is legit. That's not to say it doesn't have its shortcomings. I'm not going to get into the technical specs, you can get those here.

The Good: Phones are supposed to make phone calls, and since I've switched from my Juke, several people have commented on the improved voice clarity. The video player is really crisp. I've actually found the MP4 fomrat I was using compressed the video too much; making the resolution too pixilated. So I had to switch from a 176x144 to a 352x288 output. The Browser is nice and fast. When I compared it side by side with my friend's iPhone, it loaded pages faster both over Wi-Fi and the 3G networks, but there have been reports online of the browser battle going the other way around I have become a big fan of the of the pull down menu on the Driod. It's a nice little tab that stores all your notices, email, Text messages, voice mail, etc, and let's you know what've missed.

The Surprising: I initially wanted the phone because of the slide out QWERTY keyboard, but the touch screen keyboard responds so well, I find myself using it more than I thought I would be. Smart phones today live and die by their apps. While the Android Market boast 10,000 applications, many free, and while it may take some hunting to find the really well made ones, they're out there, and more are added every day.

The Bad: The Android 2.0 OS did freeze up on me once since I've had it. I think it's because the app I was using was designed for the original android OS. While I was running the app, slid open the keyboard and the phone froze up. One other OS note, sliding between the panes is a little choppy. Not so much a bad feature, as a quirk, the volume for the built in voice navigation system comes off as a little soft spoken, and the voice itself is awfully robotesque. I still have not been able to sync all my contacts from my Facebook account with my old phonebook. The phone just won't let me. I've also found the battery life is far from even tolerable. The phone can not go a whole night of regular use without needing to be plugged in.

Overall, the Droid is not only a great phone, but a great piece of technology. But it will not be the one to topple the iPhone.

Finally. Black Cat to Debute in Spider-Man 4

I can finally step down from nerd soap box. After the first Spider-man I've been waiting for Felicia Hardy to dawn the Black Cat costume and meddle in the ever convoluted life of Peter Parker.

Mania.com reports Rachel McAdam is the front runner to portray Marvel's most famous cat burglar in the next installment of the Spider-Man movies series.

It seems fitting that Black Cat finally make her appearance with Marvel priming up for two of its next big theatrical projects: Captain America, and The Avengers. Since in some story lines, Black Cat receives her powers from the super soldier serum.

And since I know Sam Raimi reads my reviews, how about giving Carnage some love? you already have, an all be it pretty bad, Venom.

Bored to Death Season Finale

It's over, but it's not done. Last night saw the season finale of HBO's Bored to Death, but the comedy noir has already been renewed for a second season, so fans will only have to wait a couple months for Jason Schwartzman to reprise his role as author turned armature detective Jonathan Ames.


Last night's season finale centered around the much anticipated boxing matches between rivaling magazine tycoons George Christopher (Ted Danson) and Richard Antrem (Oliver Platt), with Jonathan and Ray (http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/477f3b6bc5/between-two-ferns-with-zach-galifianakis-from-between-two-ferns-comedy-deathray-and-zach-galifianakis) filling the two undercard fights against their comical counterparts. We also fallow Jonathan as he puts off writing to woo Stella (Jenny Slate), and track down a would be blackmailer.

If you've been watching the show thus far, this finale does a great job of staying the course. Usually this would be a bad thing, but Bored to Death is consistently such a great show; it's hard to bring that little extra to a finale. Schwartzman, Galifianakis, and Danson all did a wonderful job in last night's finale, and the cinematography, again, beautifully  makes New York City look less like the world's most trash covered island. But I would have to say "The Case of the Stolen Skateboard" and "The Case of the Stolen Sperm" were better episode.

With that said, Last night's episdoe was still very enjoyable, and I can't wait for the second season.
Rating: 8/10

Wish List: Totally Rockin' Tee

Ready to take your air guitar to the next level? How about a T-shirt that actually lets you thrash? The geeks over at ThinkGeek.com have come up with this face melting bad boy that lets you play fifteen chords through the mini-amp.

Yeah I can rip some pretty mean solos with the Electronic Rock T-shirt, but it's about the music man. So who wants to be my drummer? No bass shirt though. But that's cool, one less to split the groupies with. Come to think of it, I don't think I'll be getting to many groupies with this great nerd gear. At least not the type of groupies I would want.

The tees cost $30 a piece, and the guitar shirt also comes with a magnetic pic, this ain't no keytar shirt. This shirt is metal. Check out the videos to see the Think Geek Garage band testing out their rock wear.