GoldbergBlog

Happy Birthday, Edgar Wright

Happy birthday to writer/director/Friend of Collider, Edgar Wright.  If you don’t like Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and aren’t looking forward to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, I may have trouble understanding you.

Friday Film Clip: APOLLO 13

Apollo 13, which I consider to be Ron Howard’s best film by far, hit Blu-ray this past week.  The film runs two stories: the bravery of the astronauts of Apollo 13 and the ingenuity of the men at Mission Control.  I find the latter more gripping simply because they’re the only hope the men in the command module have.  That’s not to diminish the quick-thinking and perfectly executed work of Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert, but it’s the fast-paced, intense discussion of those on the ground that really sell the film for me.

One of the my favorite scenes is when John Aaron (Loren Dean) breaks the entire problem of getting the astronauts home down to power.  When he tells a fellow flight commander that in order to get the astronauts home they need to use enough energy to barely power a coffee maker.  My other favorite scene is this one:

Friday Film Clip: THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Thought I’d try out a weekly installment where I post a clip every Friday from a movie I enjoy.  Since I’ll be watching the Blu-rays of The Lord of the Rings this weekend, I thought this was an appropriate one to kick it off.  Watch Ian McKellan be badass beyond all reason:

“Geev Us Ze Fulcon, Lebuwski.”

Artwork by Alex Lyon

I Am the Czar of Ruining America

Special Comment: “Help.”

This is one of Olbermann’s best.  Give it a look:

National Pancake Day

To celebrate IHOP’s National Pancake Day (free short-stack from 7am-10pm today), please enjoy the following comic:

Presidents Day

Aaron Sorkin’s tales of politics may be the stuff of fairy tales, but it helps bring out of the cynicism by reminding us what we should want in a leader.  No real President will ever meet an Andrew Shepherd or a Josiah Bartlett, but they should inspire us rather than disappoint us.  President Obama has not been the president we hoped he would be.  He has offered no substantive change in our politics, only in our president.  I shudder to think what a John McCain presidency would look like, but Obama has been a letdown in a big way.  We need to remind him what we voted for.  It’s not enough to just bitch about it.  You have to write a letter, donate to a cause you believe in, educate yourself about the discussion rather than just echo talking points.  We should always hope for Shepherds and Bartletts, but we can already make ourselves better citizens.

Women Respond to Stupid Dodge Super Bowl Ad

Perhaps the most tone-deaf, misogynistic Super Bowl ad of this year (although it’s certainly a crowded field) was Dodge’s ad for the Dodge Charger which is “Man’s Last Stand” against being emasculated.  To which I and hopefully most viewers, both male and female, responded with a resounding “Boo-fucking-hoo.”  Now here’s a fake ad from a woman’s point of view.  It’s only a billion times better.

First, for those who didn’t see it, here’s Dodge’s ad:

Now here’s the response:

The Best Super Bowl Ad (That Wasn’t on TV)

I took away 4 things from this year’s Super Bowl ads:

1.) Doritos has the best creative team followed by Bud Light

2.) Only people deep in the entertainment world really cared about the Leno/Letterman ad and responded to it as if it was the most amazing visual experience since Avatar.

3.) Women are emasculating shrews.

4.) Emasculated men can only be happy if they buy Product X.

Old Spice didn’t pay CBS the $2.6 million to air this 30-second spot and instead chose to debut it online.  It transcends the emasculation problem by being so over the top that it breaks through the stratosphere into “Holy-shit-this-is-amazing.”  Old Spice has made great ads for a while now, but they outdid themselves with this one: