Aronofsky and Boyle Interviews

Fox Searchlight, which has two films on all the shortlists this award season — Slumdog Millionaire, which I've seen twice now and highly recommend, and The Wrestler, which I'm looking forward to seeing after New Year's — had the brilliant idea to have the films' directors (Danny Boyle and Darren Aronofsky, respectively) interview each other in a series of web videos.

To save you all the trouble of searching around for the film blogs with "exclusive" embeds of each video, here are the links to all the available parts, which can be viewed directly on Fox Searchlight's site:

• Full Interview
• Part 1: Directing The Wrestler (topmost video)
• Part 2: TBA
• Part 3: Camera Technology
• Part 4: Directing Style
• Part 5: Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei
• Part 6: The "Millionaire" Game Show Rights
• Part 7: Film Development

Update 2009/01/11: Still waiting for Fox Searchlight to post the two remaining clips. In the meantime, here are some interesting videos on YouTube (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) taken by spectators at a CZW event in Philadelphia where the fight between "The Ram" and Necro Butcher was filmed. (The rematch with The Ayatollah was filmed across two Ring of Honor events.)

The clips really show why Aronofsky chose a cinematographer with a documentary background, as well as the pressures of shooting in such a chaotic environment, without having the safety net of doing many takes.

Update 2009/03/01: I can't find Part 2 on Fox Searchlight's website, but they now have a version where everything is in a single video, so I've added the link to that along with the link to Part 1.

VLC Easter Egg

The Santa hat that my VLC player has been sporting this holiday season was a fun surprise.



I know, I know; I should be using a skin, but VLC is good looking on the inside, and that's really what counts.

Put On Your Tinfoil Hats

Every time it seems like the fantastical visions of the future from Sci-Fi are slipping further away in real life, there's a new development that reels them back in.

As reported across the web, Japanese researchers used fMRI technology to study test subjects' cerebral blood flow while viewing 400 random 10x10-square black-and-white images, to the point where they could reconstruct and display a totally new set of viewed images — the letters of the word "neuron" — using only fMRI data. Scientists are saying that techniques like this may be the first step towards the ability to basically read minds.

So, readers, does news like this amaze you or terrify you?

DSL or Cable Modem Not Working?

If you're getting errors loading web pages, and have already tried restarting your computer, modem, and wireless router, it might be an issue with your internet provider's DNS servers.

For our less tech savvy readers, DNS servers basically translate a domain name like "example.com" to an IP address like "208.77.188.166", which your computer can then use to contact the example.com web server.

You can switch your PC or router to use OpenDNS, for example. (There are instructions on the site for configuring different operating systems or many types of routers.)

I've recently been experiencing what I thought were outages, but it turned out to be flaky DNS servers. I've seen people on Time Warner / Road Runner, Comcast, and Cox complaining about this issue, but had never experienced it personally until the past few weeks. OpenDNS solved the problem, and has been working flawlessly so far.

Another good resource to consult, if you have another means of getting on the web, is the Broadband Reports forums section. There are sections for individual providers and regions, which makes it easy to see if others in your area are having issues, and what, if anything, they did to solve them.

Although I Don't Believe In Coincidences...

A really good music theory explanation of the Joe Satriani v. Coldplay thing. Joe Satriani is and has always been the real deal.



He has a detailed blog post which is a really good read.

Inspirational Montage

(Credit: Matthew Belinkie; via Cinematical)

Jack's Bowl Cut

I saw a billboard for Jack in the Box's Teriyaki Bowls the other day and couldn't help but laugh at the photo and tag line. (The line "curds and whey" [and its delivery] in the commercial cracks me up, too.)

Lucky Penguin

I feel like the penguin in that video is smarter than the humans.

The killer whales may not be so merciful next time, my friends!


Aside: I have seen the future, and it is YouTube in 720p HD! (1, 2, 3).

(I have also seen the past and the present, a.k.a. Vimeo HD.)

Import a Library in iTunes 8

In iTunes 8, there's no longer a File > Import... item in the menu.

If you want to import a library XML file — after re-installing your system, or when moving the library from another computer, for example — you can use the File > Library > Import Playlist... menu item.

It's confusing, since there is a File > Library > Export Library... command, and it's not obvious that you export a "Library" but import it back as a "Playlist".

Billions Gone Wild!

Yes, just another link but wow! I knew about a couple of "big" buildings and a "big" amusement water park over there but never about all of this! Check out Dubai Building Projects

Eat the Head!

Have your birthdays been, well, a bit dull lately? Try being this guy.

Head tracking without a Wii.

Head tracking with a chicken. (+ superz-kyut follow up)

Yao's favorite food.

(first three videos via Waxy)

Midnight Movie News

That's "movie news at midnight", not "news about midnight movies"!

The Good: Jeffrey Tambor hints that the Arrested Development movie might finally be happening!

The Bad: Sir Ridley Scott — director of Alien, Blade Runner, and Gladiator — will indeed direct the feature-film adaptation of Monopoly. Yes, that Monopoly.

The Ugly: Much to alliesglove's chagrin, Jaden Smith (son of Will) is officially the new (wannabe) Ralph Macchio, in a remake of The Karate Kid ... set in China!?

Next time you have a 6,000 person layoff ...

... just say that you are "aligning your cost model with the global economic climate", like Sun Microsystems.

That will make it sound so much better!

Update: More euphemisms, via Fortune:

American Express — "re-engineering"

Fidelity Investments — "cost improvement"

eBay — "simplification"

Yahoo! — "become more fit"

Nearing the opposite side of the Uncanny Valley

We are getting closer to crossing the Uncanny Valley it seems. Check out this Emily video by Image Metrics. Quantic Dream, a French company, created the video game Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit) and is working on the game Heavy Rain using Image Metrics technology.

In this case curiosity kills the dog

... as well as a bunch of time from your life. Find the game here and the post on kotaku here.

Hunt for Broccoli Cheese October

Highlights from Souplantation's "guest favorites month" menu, from today's coupon circulars ...

October 1-11: Classic Greek Tossed Salad, French Onion Soup, Carrot Raisin Salad, Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers Hot Pasta, Loaded Baked Potato Soup, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Chocolate Lava Cake (after 4 p.m.)

October 13-18: Strawberry Fields Tossed Salad, Broccoli Cheese Soup, BBQ Chicken Focaccia, Four Cheese Alfredo Hot Pasta, Wild Rice & Chicken Salad, Shrimp Bisque Soup, Pineapple Upside-down Cake (after 4 p.m.)

October 20-25: Mandarin Spinach Tossed Salad, Classic Creamy Tomato Soup, Grilled Cheese Focaccia, Shrimp & Seafood Shells Salad, Albondigas Locas Soup, Roasted Eggplant Marinara Hot Pasta, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cups (after 4 p.m.)

October 27-31: California Cobb Tossed Salad, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Banana Nut Muffins, Old Fashioned Macaroni Salad, Yankee Clipper Clam Chowder, Garden Vegetable with Meatballs Hot Pasta, Warm Apple Cobbler (after 4 p.m.)

I've emphasized a few items of interest. The Strawberry Fields Tossed Salad is one that I pile on to the point of overload. This time, however, it will compete for stomach space with Broccoli Cheese Soup.

The Souplantation to which us Hydrans go most often almost NEVER has this soup — even when the online menu says that it should be there. If they really do offer it this time, I might make a run at alliesglove's "Most Consecutive Days Going to Souplantation" record. If not, there will be some angry glares from me towards the soup that takes its place.

Why would a soup worry about that, you ask? If I'm mad enough, my laser vision might kick in and boil it all away. You think about that before you volunteer to sub in, soups!

Bonus reading: A while back, Monster Munching recommended the chocolate chip cookies.

Ask The Hydra: Mega Man 9

O, blessed heads of The Hydra, I ask thee: what are your thoughts on the newly-released Mega Man 9? (trailer)

Goon City

A simple web page "powered by Google" sort of like Google Maps but instead is a view of an always expanding "fake" city named Goon.

Tap'dNY

Some coworkers/fellow-Hydrans and I were joking one day at lunch about taking the pretentiousness out of bottled water and just marketing a product called "tap water". Then, along came a link to a product called Tap'dNY (blog). I'm not 100% sure that it's a real product, since the site is so thoroughly tongue-in-cheek, but it's close enough to our idea that I'll say they beat us to market. The "Refills Available at Any New York City Tap" line and the custom Sigg bottles are particularly clever.

LHC Live Webcams ;-)

Now that the Large Hadron Collider is finally up and running here are some live webcams running at the site. The USA contributed $500 million to the project.

Super Seth's Take on Mario

Mr. Show: The Audition

[via Cyn-C]

Raisin Brahms

Cuil

A new search engine named Cuil (pronounced "cool") debuted last week, to much fanfare, with articles heralding its launch from the AP, Reuters, Time, Newsweek, BBC News, The New York Times, and more. (Someone give that PR person a raise!)

Cuil claims the to have largest index and most relevant results, and boasts a team of search industry veterans with impressive resumes, including two former technical leads at Google, the founding CTO of AltaVista, and the original developer of IBM's WebFountain. Of note to privacy enthusiasts, it does not log any IP addresses or keep any users' search histories.

I decided to try it out on its launch day to see how it stacked up against my — and millions of others' — go-to search engine, Google.

I first "cuiled" (doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Googled") my own name, being the self-centered egomaniac that I am. While Cuil did return one relevant result, the rest of the results had nothing to do with me. It did not find, for example, the site with my name in the domain name. Google, on the other hand, not only finds all of my personal websites, but finds a number of sites that mention me and my similarly-monikered brethren.

Maybe my first test was too difficult. I next decided to search for something much more popular. To my surprise, my query for "iPhone" turned up — wait for it — the Linksys iPhone!

Cuil was helpful enough to know that I might be looking for "Apple iPhone", but when I chose that tab, none of the results on the first page were from Apple's official site, and most were spammy links that weren't useful at all.

I then tried another popular search of the moment: "The Dark Knight". Finally, Cuil returned very relevant results on the first page, including links to the film's official sites (U.S. and Canadian), its Wikipedia entry, and some of its viral marketing sites (Why So Serious?). It also provided a good example of the "Explore by Category" box:

A few more searches of popular terms turned up similarly relevant results on the first page, though there were enough shady sites alongside them to make me suspicious.

Again, though, despite its claims about index size, I found Cuil's depth to be lacking. For example, my search for something at which I couldn't stop laughing that day, "horse backflip":

Google, for the same query, turns up over a million results, including direct links to corresponding online videos, and not just those from YouTube.

I can imagine that a decent percentage of web searches are for Warez and pr0n, and while I didn't really delve into this area, I've (ahem) heard that, there too, Cuil comes up short (har har).

Perhaps the most accurate result returned by Cuil during my testing (since fixed), is for the word "cuil" itself:

At least Cuil, the search engine, was honest enough to know that it isn't yet relevant.

R.I.P.

Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.

Get Well Soon, Morgan Freeman. (Sorry about the marriage.)

Stay strong, Samuel L. Jackson.

From, Your Friends at The Hydra

Garfield Minus Garfield ... The Book!

A few months ago, I'd posted a link to Garfield Minus Garfield, and followed up with a comment pointing to a New York Times article in which Jim Davis called it "fascinating", "flattering", and funny.

While one might argue about how funny Mr. Davis himself has been over the past 30 years, he's nothing if not a shrewd businessman. He's taken his love for the strip one step further, and is helping turn it into a book:

Now, thanks to the awesome generosity and humor of Jim Davis, Garfield Minus Garfield is going to become a book and I’m absolutely honored to be part of it.

Theme Park Thoughts

Due to a steady stream of visiting relatives, I make an annual or biannual pilgrimage to various Southern California theme parks. Here are some of my thoughts from the latest round of trips:

Universal Studios Hollywood — The Simpsons Ride

The Simpsons Ride takes over the area previously occupied by Back to the Future: The Ride, and continues the earlier attraction's tradition of entertaining motion simulation.

The ride's concept is that the Simpsons (including Grandpa Abe!) are visiting Krustyland, a cross between Disneyland and the shadiest carnival you've ever been to. Their outing turns into an adventure after escaped convict Sideshow Bob takes over the park and attempts to kill Bart and his family — and you — for always foiling his plots to take revenge on his former employer, Krusty.

The best part of the ride is the line. Nothing makes an hour go by faster than watching the numerous flat-panel displays placed throughout the queueing area, which show a mix of The Simpsons' funniest moments (with a heavy dose of amusement park parodies) and clips created exclusively for the ride. As you get closer to the end, the fun continues, particularly in one room where it looks like Apu, Groundskeeper Willie, Patty & Selma, and Hans Moleman are life-size, within booths, talking to the guests. Also, don't miss the park map, and the circus-style posters for Krustyland's various amusements, including everyone's favorite, the Yard Work Simulator.

Homages to Back to the Future don't stop at the rib-tickling Doc Brown cameo in one of the clips shown in the line. The ride itself is essentially the same as its predecessor, down to the number of people in the vehicles and the domed IMAX screens. Of course, the technology has been updated and there's more spraying of water and baby powder aroma, but that goes with the times.

People who remember the old ride (which you can watch in its entirety over on "the You Tube"; intro clips: 1, 2) will note the many similarities, including parts where you're flying over a city, entering into a giant creature's mouth, and nearly falling into the burning lava pits of hell. Truthfully, the newer ride is a bit harder to follow, as it has much more dialogue and random scene changes, compared to the simpler chase structure of the old ride. That may just encourage repeat visits, though, as there are many in-jokes and visual puns to take in. I'm also not a fan of the third dimension that's added to the animation once you're actually on the ride — if it's going to end up being like watching a giant PlayStation 2 game anyway, why not pay Rough Draft Studios the extra bucks to get the clean-looking cel-shaded 2-D/3-D blend of The Simpsons Movie and Futurama?

Personal preferences aside, The Simpsons Ride is a worthy successor to Back to the Future: The Ride, and is probably more enjoyable for anyone who doesn't remember or isn't nostalgic for Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and the DeLorean. Even if motion simulation isn't your thing, you'll laugh all the way to the ride. If not, well, don't expect Krusty to give you your money back.

Disneyland — Innoventions

By far the coolest thing at Disneyland's Innoventions — the building in Tomorrowland that you've probably never been into unless desperate for A/C — is Honda's ASIMO robot. I'd watched many video clips and photos of ASIMO, but seeing it in person left me even more impressed, if not fearful (of the inevitable bot uprising).

After viewing a brief video about the history of automatons and robots, which includes humorous montages of lame 1950s B-movie monsters and early experiments in robot walking (picture a metallic ostrich, drunk), the curtains open to reveal the living room of a house. In walks a Kirsten Dunst stand-in, who explains that she just received her new ASIMO and wants to show us what it can do. After a few more moments of suspense, ASIMO enters and the auditorium's collective jaw drops.

What follows over the next 20 minutes is a demonstration of the mechanical man's various capabilities: walking forward, backwards, and sideways; kicking a soccer ball, stretching, and running; dancing; and the highlight of the show, ascending and descending stairs. The movements are deliberate, but smooth. I could do without the cheesy dialogue that connects each demo, but I suppose Disney is going for a 1950s World's Fair vibe.

While I'm sure ASIMO needed some custom programming for a show like this, many of the actions seemed to make use of its voice recognition, as the hostess would often make sure to look straight into its camera eyes and use specific phrases like, "ASIMO, why don't we show these people that you can also walk sideways?" Once in a while, the TV screens would show live footage from the cameras, superimposed with graphics that ostensibly show the object recognition at work. ASIMO also speaks, with the voice of a young boy. Fear not, though, child voice actors, it will be a while before you're out of a job.

As an engineer, it's hard not to be dazzled by ASIMO, knowing how difficult it must have been to create. Everyone else in the auditorium couldn't take their eyes (and cameras) off it either. It may ultimately just be an expensive toy, a fancy version of the Robosapien or Pleo that kids are playing with these days, but it's also an inspiring achievement of science and technology. We're not yet living in the future that was promised 50 years ago, but ASIMO is one step forward (pun intended) in that direction.

As for Innoventions in general, I would say that the only other thing worth checking out are the Segways, which you can learn to ride, for a minute or two. The "aging mirror" might be good for a few laughs as well. The rest of Innoventions is no more impressive than your local Best Buy, in my opinion. I'll grant Disney that visitors from some places might be impressed by the "house of tomorrow", with its HP Vista Media Center PCs (some stuck on the hourglass cursor), Xbox 360s, and Microsoft Zunes (yes, really). Most people, however, will find the conceit that they're being shown "not wild ideas that may fail, but futuristic technology that you can buy today" to be a thin veil over the truth that it's just a place to showcase sponsors' products, many of which aren't very futuristic at all. I can't tell you how many people I saw walking up to the touch screens attempting to pinch-and-zoom or multi-touch, leaving disappointed. Kids might like playing some of the games, but did you really spend hundreds of dollars on Disneyland admission so that they could play the same Guitar Hero they do at their friends' houses?

I won't go as far as saying that Tomorrowland has become Todayland. I will say, though, that Innoventions needs more things like ASIMO and Segway, or even the Siemens "Project Tomorrow" exhibit (scroll down), if it wants to be something more than a place to sit down for a while and escape from the heat.

Anything Can Be Funny

Roger Ebert, in his Step Brothers review:

Is this funny? Anything can be funny. Let me provide an example. I am thinking of a particular anatomical act. It is described in explicit detail in two 2008 movies, "Step Brothers" and the forthcoming "Tropic Thunder." In "Step Brothers," it sounds dirty and disgusting. In "Tropic Thunder," described by Jack Black while he is tied to a tree and undergoing heroin withdrawal, it's funny.

Same act, similar descriptions. What's the difference? It involves the mechanism of comedy, I think. The Jack Black character is desperately motivated. He will offer to do anything to be released. In "Step Brothers," the language is simply showing off by talking dirty. It serves no comic function, and just sort of sits there in the air, making me cringe.

[...]

I'm sure I've seen movies with more extreme language than "Step Brothers," but here it seems to serve no purpose other than simply to exist.

This is exactly the way I feel about a few of the Apatow productions I've seen. It's like when you go hang out with a group of people you don't know very well, and they're all joking around and laughing, but you can only manage a smile because you're just not one of them. Maybe the idea is to make so many movies with Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, and the rest of the gang, that they do start to feel like friends and you can start laughing at their everyday conversations.

(BTW, I need to lower my expectations for Tropic Thunder if I still want to enjoy it. Even Roger Ebert is getting me pumped up for that movie!)

YAGS - Yet Another Google Service

Along the lines of Second Life, Habbo Hotel and the to-date vaporware Sony Home, Google has launched a new service called Lively. It requires a small download and MSIE or Firefox browser. There's already a pile of fully 3D rooms. It has or will have hooks for facebook and myspace.

Where the Hell is Matt?

No way to set this up, but here is Wherethehellismatt.com. He eventually got sponsorship to do this, and here's the end result.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Face scanning technology flawed

Japan has face recognition software to "see" the amount of wrinkles on a face to judge the age of a customer at their cigarette vending machines. It looks like the camera can be fooled by a simple magazine cutout. More on how Bruce Willis wants young Japanese children to smoke here.

Update: Taspo is being used due to the face recognition issue. Sales of in store cigarettes have increased as consumers do not want to register to get a taspo card.

Utah just got more apealing

Utah gets a mandatory four day work week. They're experimenting if this will help reduce engergy use and pollution.

NYC waterfall by olafur eliasson

Pretty neat writeup about a waterfall that Olafur Eliasson created.

blindness

Been awhile since i posted. I was cruising the theatre recently and saw the poster for the movie adaptation of Blindness by Jose Saramago (see: one of the greatest writers of our time).

I've been a big fan of Saramago for a long time now. The movie has notable actors such as Gael Garcia Bernal, Mark Ruffalo, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo. The director is Fernando Meirelles whose body of work speaks for itself. Despite initial critical responses, I am eagerly waiting to see this movie.

Playing Hurt

(click to enlarge)

Despite my begrudged respect for the defensive prowess and overall championship-worthiness of this year's Boston Celtics, I've been reading about how torn up Tiger's knee was during the U.S. Open, and I had Photoshop running already, so I decided that the above photomontage was not going to make itself.

I do think Pierce deserved his Finals MVP, though; not only for the way he continually attacked the Lakers on defense and hit big momentum-shifting shots on offense, but for the way he carried his team through two crucial Game Sevens earlier in the playoffs. Plus, he's an L.A. guy at heart, even though he plays for the bad guys now.

Just, please — fewer theatrics next time.

Meet the Sniper

Big Ideas (Radiohead remix)

This is awesome!


Big Ideas (Don't get any) from 1030 on Vimeo.

Hack a DS to Make a Digital Sketchbook

A brief How To article can be found here to boot digital art pad software on your Nintendo DS.

This site displays many images created using the "Colors!" digital sketchpad software for the Nintendo DS.

Why I Don't Participate in Bike Races

USA Today: Car plows into bike race in Mexico, 1 dead

(Photo: AP)

The Hydra offers its condolences to the family of the man killed. Given the photo, it's a small miracle that he was the only one. As you might guess, the driver of the car was drunk.

Kobe is a Wild Boy

I don't know if these are real, but entertaining nonetheless.

This stunt caught their attention:



This one was with the "professionals":



Even pros need a reason to get on youtube. Looks like Kobe's got a backup career.

Where's all the Wii Fit?

I need to start attending talk shows, especially female hosted ones, they give out the best loot. Kotaku article on the show.

The Japanese Office

Ricky Gervais: "It's funny ... 'cause it's racist."

Ars Technica gets acquired

Talk about breaking news.

Dating Advice

McSweeney's lists good dating advice, taken from a GameFAQ for GTA: San Andreas. Some advice from the FAQ that's funny when taken out of context:

Just because she says she likes something doesn't mean that it's true. You are usually better off doing the opposite of what she says.

Perhaps if she's related to George Costanza ...

If you were going out with the girl and you killed her on a date, then you're in a situation similar to if you were dumped.

Um, "similar" is one word for it ...

It might be that some kind of event triggers phone calls, as you can often stand outside a girl's house for weeks without getting one.

The number she's calling at that point is probably only three digits long ...

The best haircuts for sex appeal are the cornrow, blonde cornrow, groove cut, and detail cut. Haircuts that give no boost to sex appeal include pretty much any that involve coloring (other than blonde) and the Elvis hair. Afros, mohawks, and goatees tend to give pretty low boosts as well.

Elvis hair, no sex appeal? You sure about that?

Gaining fat is easy. Just go to the fast food restaurant of your choice, and order up to 11 of the biggest meal they have. Don't have more than 11 meals in a 6-hour period though, or you'll vomit and gain nothing.

Profound.

The third basic type of date outcome is an abandon date. [...] The easiest way to do this is to get into a car, and then quickly drive away before your girlfriend can get in. [...] This is just like a failed date, but faster.

I can't tell you how much time I've saved over the years doing that ...

Yes, you can date all of the girls at the same time, and I recommend that you do.

Easy for you to say!

Clearly you both enjoy coffee a lot.

So Long, Sweet Mazdas

Mazda is destroying thousands of unused cars worth about $100 million:

It all started about two years ago, when a ship carrying 4,703 shiny new Mazdas nearly sank in the Pacific. The freighter, the Cougar Ace, spent weeks bobbing on the high seas, listing at a severe 60-degree angle, before finally being righted.

Nobody knows exactly what parts the salty ocean air corroded, or what other issues arose from having the vehicles tilted for so long. Despite having many willing takers for the cars anyway, the company is afraid of the implications of the cars getting into the hands of scammers and their unsuspecting victims.

Wrecking that many cars presents particular challenges. Hazardous fluids must be disposed of properly, potentially salvageable parts must be irreparably broken, and then there's the matter of the airbags:

For instance, most of the cars have six airbags, and discharging them individually (forcing them to inflate so they can't be resold) takes about five minutes apiece -- or a total of a half-hour per car. So engineers back at Mazda's headquarters, in Hiroshima, fashioned a device that can discharge all six at once. Multiplied by 4,703 cars, that trick alone saved months of work.

Don't worry, environmentalists, the scrap will be recycled.

The Journal article simply mentions that the Cougar Ace was "righted"; detail on that operation is in a dramatic Wired feature, which illuminates the lucrative, but high-stakes, profession of salvage work:

"Shut up!" Habib shouts. He explains that the Cougar Ace has become a labyrinth. Since it's heeled onto one side, they'll have to learn how to walk on walls and scale the sloping, perilous decks. Unfortunately, they'll have to learn to do it in the middle of the ocean. This will be their only chance to practice before they board the ship. Hopefully, no one else will die.

Don't worry, entertainmentalists, the story will be adapted into a movie.

Coffee table NES controller

Either it's a huge controller turned coffee table or a coffee table turned controller. More on this work of art here.

How to Prototype a Game in Under Seven Days

A brief article on a team of five prototyping 50 games in one semester here.

Colbert vs Rain

The feud escalated, and Colbert threw down a challenge to his nemesis, Rain:



It looked as though the challenge was unanswered, but in the wee hours of the night, the challenge was answered:

The real get realer

Force Dynamics is the company who made the racing simulator previously posted. The sim in the previous video was their 301 model. The current 401 model is featured below. The newer model adds rotation to the sim.

Real racing simulator

Who needs GT5 with a Logitech G25 and racing seat? This is the real simulator with the best game! Turtle throwing sim to come.

Video Gamer-lite

I've accepted the fact over the past few years, that I'm not quite the gamer I used to be. I thought once I got a job, I'd have all the systems and a nice setup, but truthfully other things are more important. This top 11 shows that I'm part of this category. I think I fell into more than half of this list.

Day of the Golden Eagle

This post has been translated into English from its original form, a series of bleats and baas called out into the wilderness.

To our faithful goat audience — do not let this scare you away! It is only a vision [no equivalent for "movie" in goat parlance —ed.] ... Turn the young ones' eyes away, but teach them the story. The mighty death bird [Golden Eagle] is to be feared! See this vision of its air walk ending the life of your babes in a most horrifying way:



[via Waxy]

Terminator Company's first steps

More on Cyberdyne's HAL suit. Increased human strength demo at ~3:20 in the video.

What Plastic Recycling Symbols Mean - Earth Day was April 19

The Daily Green offers this handy guide on the various types of plastic:

Number 1 Plastics -- PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)

* Found In: Soft drinks, water and beer bottles; mouthwash bottles; peanut butter containers; salad dressing and vegetable oil containers; ovenable food trays.
* Recycling: Pick up through most curbside recycling programs.
* Recycled Into: Polar fleece, fiber, tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, straps, (occasionally) new containers

It poses low risk of leaching breakdown products. Recycling rates remain relatively low (around 20 percent), though the material is in high demand by remanufacturers.

Number 2 Plastics -- HDPE (high density polyethylene)

* Found In: Milk jugs, juice bottles; bleach, detergent and household cleaner bottles; shampoo bottles; some trash and shopping bags; motor oil bottles; butter and yogurt tubs; cereal box liners
* Recycling: Pick up through most curbside recycling programs, although some only allow those containers with necks.
* Recycled Into: Laundry detergent bottles, oil bottles, pens, recycling containers, floor tile, drainage pipe, lumber, benches, doghouses, picnic tables, fencing

HDPE carries low risk of leaching and is readily recyclable into many goods.

Number 3 Plastics -- V (Vinyl) or PVC

* Found In: Window cleaner and detergent bottles, shampoo bottles, cooking oil bottles, clear food packaging, wire jacketing, medical equipment, siding, windows, piping
* Recycling: Rarely recycled; accepted by some plastic lumber makers.
* Recycled Into: Decks, paneling, mudflaps, roadway gutters, flooring, cables, speed bumps, mats

PVC contains chlorine, so its manufacture can release highly dangerous dioxins. If you must cook with PVC, don't let the plastic touch food. Never burn PVC, because it releases toxins.

Number 4 Plastics -- LDPE (low density polyethylene)

* Found In: Squeezable bottles; bread, frozen food, dry cleaning and shopping bags; tote bags; clothing; furniture; carpet
* Recycling: LDPE is not often recycled through curbside programs, but some communities will accept it. Plastic shopping bags can be returned to many stores for recycling.
* Recycled Into: Trash can liners and cans, compost bins, shipping envelopes, paneling, lumber, landscaping ties, floor tile

Historically, LDPE has not been accepted through most American curbside recycling programs, but more and more communities are starting to accept it.

Number 5 Plastics -- PP (polypropylene)

* Found In: Some yogurt containers, syrup bottles, ketchup bottles, caps, straws, medicine bottles
* Recycling: Number 5 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs.
* Recycled Into: Signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, auto battery cases, ice scrapers, landscape borders, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, trays

Polypropylene has a high melting point, and so is often chosen for containers that must accept hot liquid. It is gradually becoming more accepted by recyclers.

Number 6 Plastics -- PS (polystyrene)

* Found In: Disposable plates and cups, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles, compact disc cases
* Recycling: Number 6 plastics can be recycled through some curbside programs.
* Recycled Into: Insulation, light switch plates, egg cartons, vents, rulers, foam packing, carry-out containers

Polystyrene can be made into rigid or foam products -- in the latter case it is popularly known as the trademark Styrofoam. Evidence suggests polystyrene can leach potential toxins into foods. The material was long on environmentalists' hit lists for dispersing widely across the landscape, and for being notoriously difficult to recycle.

Number 7 Plastics -- Miscellaneous

* Found In: Three- and five-gallon water bottles, 'bullet-proof' materials, sunglasses, DVDs, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, certain food containers, nylon
* Recycling: Number 7 plastics have traditionally not been recycled, though some curbside programs now take them.
* Recycled Into: Plastic lumber, custom-made products

A wide variety of plastic resins that don't fit into the previous categories are lumped into number 7. A few are even made from plants (polyactide) and are compostable. Polycarbonate is number 7, and is the hard plastic that has parents worried these days, after studies have shown it can leach potential hormone disruptors.
Sources:

* The Daily Green March 31, 2008

A Day At The Cube For the Cube Competitions

On Saturday April 19 2008 the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana funded in part by Taco Bell once again held "Rubik's" cube competitions. It is called The Cube since its most prominent feature is a very large black cube on the outside.

There's going to be a competition at Disneyland. Date Unknown. And a competition in San Diego on May 24 2008.

About 32 people competed. The final times were computed from the average of 5 solve times dropping the worst and best time.

All competitors are given a scrambled cube, scrambled the same way for everyone, and up to 30 seconds I think to view the cube before starting their solve.

The winning times in minutes:seconds.hundredths of seconds were:

3x3x3 one-handed 23.17 (best time 21.10)
3x3x3 blind-folded 4:11.56 (this year only one person completed a solve)
3x3x3 13.79 (best time 11.84)
4x4x4 1:03.12 (best time 59.18)
5x5x5 solution-1 41.31 (best time 30.00)
5x5x5 1:56:04 (best time 1:44:18)

Solution-1 is a cube shape when solved but changes shape as it is solved. It was released by Rubik's and is now being made by other people. The patent period has run out on the original 3x3x3 cube.

People are making their cubes. One made a 2x2x5 out of four 4x4x4 cubes using a single 4x4x4 core and all edge, middle and corner pieces. No center pieces.

oo

You'd Better Wait For The 2nd Marshmallow - But Read This NOW!!!

This is from a comment posted to a blog entry about Dealing With Information Overload

A study of emotional intelligence and the ability to wait as an illustration on how this ability to wait could be used as a stronger predictor of the future success level than IQ - all because a 4 year old could wait for the 2nd marshmallow.

Walter Michel of Stanford created a test to determine how well a group of 4 year olds could control impulses and delay gratification. Each child one at a time went into a room with a one-way mirror. The child was shown a marshmallow. The experimenter told the child he had to leave and that they could have the marshmallow right then, but if they waited for the experimenter to return from his errand, the child could have two marshmallows. A single marshmallow was left on a table in front of the child. Some children grabbed the marshmallow within seconds of the experimenter's departure from the room. Others waited up to twenty minutes for the experimenter's return. In a follow-up study (Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990), the same children were tested at 18 years of age and comparisons were made between the third of the children who grabbed the marshmallow (the "impulsive") and the third who delayed gratification in order to receive the enhanced reward ("impulse controlled"). The children who were most impulsive at four years old scored an average of 524 verbal and 528 math. The children who waited patiently scored 610 verbal and 652 math.

google the STANFORD MARSHMALLOW STUDY for more info.

Ken Lee by Valentina Hasan

Mariah's response to the video was, "I applaud anyone who can perform in front of an audience."

Miss Hasan got better though:



The original version was so popular, you can support it here.

Arris Cable Modems and Wireless Routers

Henry's Transcoding MKV/OGM to MP4 tutorial is the most popular entry on our blog, since many people find it via its Google search results position, so I thought I'd try to increase my practical post count in hopes of dethroning him solving people's problems.

Here's one I came across in helping some family friends with their home networking troubles ...

Having trouble getting your Arris telephony cable modem (used for digital phone and internet) to work with your wireless router, while it works fine with your PC?

The solution is to press the reset button on the back of the Arris device and make sure that the router is the first thing you plug in to its Ethernet jack afterwards. Just unplugging it and plugging it back in — the method Kyle Broflovski used to fix the giant Linksys Wi-Fi router we call the internet — won't work.

In my friends' case, it was a model TM502 modem from Time Warner Cable and a Netgear wireless router, but I think the same solution applies to TM402 models, Comcast or Cox cable, or other wireless and non-wireless brands of routers (e.g., Linksys, Belkin, Apple AirPort).

The Arris modem remembers the MAC address of the first device it connects to and won't work with any other device (even another computer) until it's reset. I suspect that the cable companies like this feature because they can instruct their installers to connect the modem to your "primary PC" and then force you to either pay some kind of extra "home networking fee" or at least pay for a service call to have someone come out and "upgrade" you.

Guaranteed to not get arrested

Tagging in 3d virtual space.

Mario Car

http://view.break.com/487616 - Watch more free videos

Wow.

The Original Running Man

English band Utah Saints reveals the origin of everyone's favorite dance move in its Something Good '08 video:



The part where the whole dance floor is doing a synchronized running man to the fast beat of the song really throws my mind for a loop!

[via Kanye West's Vimeo page via Kottke]

Update: the original embedded video was no longer available, so I swapped in one from YouTube. You can also watch a QuickTime version via the director's portfolio.

Phoenix Wright spinoff

The prosecutor with a past tie-in to Phoenix Wright, will be getting his own game, Perfect Prosecutor. Apparently the detective work done in the attorney games, will now have a walking character where he can interact with the scene for the detective work. This game will also co-star Dick Gumshoe, the friendly but down on luck detective from the Ace Attorney series.

New Audio Recording Processing Technology

There's a video on Melodyne Direct Note Access with commentary from Peter Neubacker the inventor of Melodyne along with four pages of technical info and a Q & A page and a media page with other presentations.

Blood, Sweat, and Bears

Some videos to pass the time:

• Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty ... of death!


• In America, you hit tennis ball with racket. In Soviet Russia, racket hits you! (apologies to Yakov Smirnoff)


• Kids, don't miss out on the hottest new dance craze that's sweeping the nation — do the Bear! (plays after a short ad)


• Keep those Rock Band skills sharp, my friends; you never know when your musical talents will come in handy. (read the linked Wikipedia page too, if you have the time)

Professional badminton

Somehow when I got back to the office from lunch, I was thinking about Yonex tennis racquets. Reading up on the company taught me that they are quite popular in badminton racquets. I had never seen a professional badminton match before, which led me to below.

Sweded Tron

Here's a CG (cardboard graphics) swede of Tron:


(via EPIC-FU via Neatorama)

Here We Go With Another Ridiculous Flash Animation

The Old Gray Lady has a fun interactive feature on Al Jaffee's fold-ins for Mad magazine. I was amazed to learn the following from the main article:

And while other Mad features, like Spy vs. Spy, have changed artists over the years, only Mr. Jaffee has drawn the fold-in. Since the first appeared in April 1964 all but a handful of specialty issues of the magazine have had one.

My favorite of the fold-ins featured is probably "Drug Trip", which is not as funny as the others, but has a powerful message. What's your favorite?

Extra Credit: How many Charlie Browns can you spot?

scott caan where are you?

Never woulda figured Scott Caan to rip it up in the bowl at Supreme on Fairfax. Here's to another celebrity skater.

Check out this page that I'm sure will change once they add more articles to the blog. It's under the video "Wednesdays With Reda" (second week). I couldn't figure out how to link just one posting.

Just thought it was pretty interesting.

Guitar Hero on DS

Guitar Hero to go!

Mr. Show: The Fairsley Difference

It's about time for me to post another Mr. Show video. Enjoy!



[via Waxy]

Simplicity in Software Products

This comic is both funny and true at the same time.

Spy Hunter car come to life

Ad for the Pontiac G8 GT channeling Spy Hunter.



Update: Looks like previous video link died. Added youtube video.

A Dozen Bytes Free

For the video game (or tech company) historians out there: Landon Dyer talks about creating the cartridge version of Donkey Kong for Atari. My, how far gaming has come ...

(via bb)

useful calculator

With the recent passing of Gary Gygax, we were trying to determine what an original Dungeons and Dragons would cost today (10.00 in 1974) and nanoflux and I found this calculator.

This calculator uses all sorts of different methods. We arrive at:

Current data is only available till 2007. In 2007, $10.00 from 1974 is worth:
$42.03 using the Consumer Price Index
$34.47 using the GDP deflator
using value of consumer bundle *
using the unskilled wage *
$65.35 using the nominal GDP per capita
$92.29 using the relative share of GDP

* Data for consumer bundle is only available till 2006.
* Data for unskilled wage is only available till 2006.

Microsoft Excel: Revolutionary 3D Game Engine?

Is this touch-in-cheek or not? You decide.

oo

Garfield Minus Garfield

Before this becomes the last blog on the internet without a link to it: garfield minus garfield

There Will Be Speeches

A couple of my fellow bloggers and I saw over 10 hours of movies yesterday, as part of AMC's Best Picture Showcase. There was a diverse audience, composed of people who want to see good films even if they may not like them, who get into the films enough to respond outwardly, and are ready to chat about them while waiting in line at the concession stand or when milling about between films — the best kind of audience, in my opinion. It was a fun experience, and I hope they continue to do it every year.

As for the Oscars themselves, here are George Clooney's picks:

Picture: No Country For Old Men
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actress: Julie Christie (Away From Her)
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country For Old Men)
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)
Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men)
Cinematography: Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood)

I'm inclined to agree with Clooney's picks, although the Actress categories are up in the air for me. The winners could easily be Marion Cotillard and Cate Blanchett, or Laura Linney and Saiorse Ronan (OK, maybe not that far). Also, I wouldn't count out cinematographer Roger Deakins, who's shooting for his first Oscar (he's up for two films). I'll go out on a limb and say that Ratatouille will win for Animated Feature, although I wouldn't be too surprised to see Persepolis take it. I've seen both, and they're great in their own ways.

SNL was back last weekend, and here's its spoof of the Oscar nominated films:

You can also consider the latest Digital Short a movie spoof as well. (Not a movie spoof: Tina Fey and Steve Martin brought the funny in the monologue.)

Be Kind Rewind

Usually before going to watch a movie I'll do some cursory web surfing about the movie. I ran into something interesting. I haven't researched this a little more but this post seemed interesting. I don't think Michel Gondry commented on this yet. I don't know about the use of "steal" etc. It's interesting nevertheless.

I think one comment on the post resonated with me:

I do find it utterly strange that movies come in twos so often, however, independent inspiration exists, and having a similar plot just isn’t a big deal anymore.

In keeping with the theme of documentaries....

In speaking of documentaries. I just got done watching a good documentary on Howard Zinn. It's a quick watch. I was just checking google news and found that they're bringing readings of it to film. With a strong lineup it sounds like an entertaining documentary.

I was hoping it was going to be a film and not just a documentary. I know that Michel Gondry "worships" Noam Chomsky (link)
and a lot of people who like Chomsky like Zinn. Maybe he could throw together a film where they pair a comedian with a rap star like Artie Lange and E-40 and reenact moments in history. I'd definitely watch that. Twice.

King of Wrong

Juno-bashing is so mainstream at the moment; if you want to be out of the box, start hating on the documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Jason Scott wrote about why he hated the film, and later added a follow-up (short version, long version), after a lively discussion sprouted up in the comment section of his original post.

In summary, he dislikes the film because the plot and character conflict that make it so compelling are a deliberate fiction, presented as fact (beyond the normal editorializing that all documentaries have). I haven't seen King of Kong yet, but I wonder how Scott's criticisms (which seem apt to me) change people's opinions of what they saw.

I will refrain from using the cliche "skateboarding is not a crime"

I found this on Thrasher this morning. Not that I condone how the kid acted but I thought it was interesting how the cop acted. Despite a level of acceptance there is still a big stigma attached to skateboarding. Part of it is cool that the stigma is still there, but it's reaching the point where it's walking a thin line between "fit in my back pocket" vs. full blown multi-zillion dollar demographic etc.

The attitude today very much seems like, "Skateboarding is cool in video games (EA Skate, Tony Hawk part 1 thru 390091491), sports channels (Xgames, dew tour, and anything sponsored by a deoderant brand), and MTV (Rob and Big, Life of Ryan, MADE). It's even cool to buy and even buy shares of the products. Whatever you do you better not be doing it in the real world."

Before this becomes a full blown rant, here's the video from the article:


Here's another one different place/people:

Happiness is a warm puppy

This article covers the return of the aptly named "Uno" the beagle as winner of best in show at the Westminster dog show.

The only breed consistently among the nation's most popular dogs for nearly 100 years, a beagle had never won in the 100 times the Westminster Kennel Club had chosen a winner. That changed when judge J. Donald Jones pointed to this nearly 3-year-old package of personality.

No longer an underdog — make that an Underdog — Uno beat out two neatly primped poodles, a top Sealyham terrier, a sleek Weimaraner, a lively Australian shepherd and a sprightly Akita.

I don't know too much about dog breeding etc. but the story caught my interest with the title, "Hail, Snoopy! Beagle Wins Westminster".

I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! I Drink It Up!

alliesglove asked me for more There Will Be Blood links.

Link the first: Alex Ross on Jonny Greenwood's musical score in The New Yorker.

Most soundtracks lean so heavily on a few preprocessed musical devices—those synthetic swells of strings and cymbals, urging us to swoon in tandem with the cheerleader in love—that when a composer adopts a more personal language the effect is revelatory: an entire dimension of the film experience is liberated from cliché.

Link the second: American Cinematographer's coverage of TWBB's cinematography in its January 2008 issue. As usual, it's a bit technical and jargony, but it also has some great insight into how the film captured the era it depicts.

Shaking his head at the memory, Elswit adds, "The next night, we had to shoot the reverses of the actors reacting to the big fire, and Paul didn’t want to use any artificial light." In fact, these reverses were lit with real fire generated by either the powerful flame jet operated by Cremin and his crew or, for certain shots, flamethrower-like devices. Crewmembers were protected from the heat by flame-resistant suits, but the grimaces on the actors' faces are genuine. "The flames got very, very hot, but that’s how we did it," says Elswit.

Link the last: USA Today's story on the growing popularity of "I drink your milkshake!" as a catchphrase. The article digs up its origin (via director P.T. Anderson):

Anderson concedes that he's puzzled by the phenomenon — particularly because the lines came straight from a transcript he found of the 1924 congressional hearings over the Teapot Dome scandal, in which Sen. Albert Fall was convicted of accepting bribes for oil-drilling rights to public lands in Wyoming and California.

In explaining oil drainage, Fall's "way of describing it was to say 'Sir, if you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and my straw reaches across the room, I'll end up drinking your milkshake,' " Anderson says. "I just took this insane concept and used it."

The film's studio, Paramount Vantage, is even using it as a marketing slogan.

paper iphone

I was having a recent conversation with Arun and Henry and the hipster PDA came up. After a little research I found this site: pocketmod. Totally cool applet that lets you print out a customized 8 page "mini-zine" format. Definitely a useful applet.

Many things make this little personal organizer special, here is a list.

1. It fits easily in your back pocket or purse.
2. It's as cheap as one piece of paper (Because that's all it is!)
3. It opens like a book. Leading to easier to find, more organized notes.
4. The first page has a pouch, big enough to carry a business card!
5. Customizable with "Mods" tailored to your needs.
6. It's free and fun!

Olafur Eliasson

SFMOMA has an Olafur Eliasson exhibit that alliesglove was talking about yesterday, and — not-coincidentally — a couple of the bloggers I follow mentioned seeing his works there recently.

unacceptable

UFC spoof. Some lines are pretty funny and characterize the UFC archetype...

for the working man

I guess we all hustle. Kat Williams + Rick Ross...



Too bad he didn't do it for someone sitting at a computer all day.

Toughest Terminator Breakdown

I've had this conversation with many people many times over the years. Here's Popular Mechanics' take on the situation.

Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer died earlier this week. His genius in the realm of chess is not in much dispute, but his actions outside of the ranks and files have won him many enemies. I'm interested to see what people will write about him now that he's passed.

The Atlantic ran a long profile of Fischer in 2002, which covers many of the bases.

Why he stopped playing tournaments, and how his life unraveled so pathetically, is a story one can learn only by seeking out those who actually know Fischer. There are surprisingly few such people—and fewer yet are willing to talk. Fischer doesn't tolerate friends who give interviews. His address book is a graveyard of crossed-out names of people who have been quoted in articles about him. But some formerly loyal Fischer associates, appalled at his recent behavior, are finally talking about him. They reveal that Fischer's story doesn't follow the usual celebrity-gone-to-seed arc. He has not been brought low by drugs or alcohol, by sex scandals or profligate spending. Instead he is a victim of his own mind—and of the inordinate attention that the world has given it.

In the days after his death, The New York Times had not just one ...

Bobby Fischer — the rebel, the enfant terrible, the uncompromising savage of the chess board — had captured the imagination of the world. Because of him, for the first time in the United States, the game, with all its arcana and intimations of nerdiness, was cool.

... but two pieces about Fischer.

A child’s gifts in such realms can seem otherworldly, the achievements effortlessly magical. But as Bobby Fischer’s death on Thursday might remind us, even abstract gifts can exact a terrible price.

Slate chimes in ...

His triumphs and the prize money he demanded helped transform what had been considered an obsession of "shadowy, unhappy, unreal-looking men" (as H.G. Wells put it) into an alluring form of mental recreation in the 1970s.

... as does TIME, with a photoessay.

Hot Rod

I've seen some amazing and critically-acclaimed films recently, like No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, as well as some not-as-amazing but still critically-acclaimed films like Juno and American Gangster. But the film I'm going to bless with a review on this blog is ... Hot Rod. Why Hot Rod? Because it's the film you are least likely to have seen. My review might not change that.

I had put Hot Rod on my Netflix queue, and it hit the top spot recently, so I gave it a chance to make me find it funny (a chance all comedies deserve). What I got was like a series of high-production-value Lonely Island videos played back-to-back, but not all ones that I like. It has the same quirky, 1980s-meets-internet-age vibe as Napoleon Dynamite, and many other similarities too, but I can see why Napoleon found more of an audience, before people became tired of quirk in general.

Of course, there are parts that I found funny — when Rod introduces his "crew" to the girl-next-door (literally), and they don't quite understand how to say a few words about themselves; the first jump, on the non-reinforced ramp; Will Arnett. Other things just didn't do it for me — Rod's enthusiastic fan, who loves to dance (it's funny because he's Asian!); Rod's "2 Legit 2 Quit" speech and subsequent crosswalk accident; the behind-the-scenes DVD extra that kind of made me want to punch people in the face. Many gags were so unrelated to the plot or tried to wring humor out of being so drawn out — Rod falling down a hill; an impromptu "cool beans" musical number; Ebenezer Scrooge. Family Guy has really played that out already.

As an example of where this film went wrong, for me, consider a scene in which Rod is telling someone about his biological father's death. Rod describes a series of gruesome injuries that his dad incurs during his last attempted stunt and ends with: "he died instantly". That's already funny, because it's comically redundant after what we hear the bike did to its rider, right? No. Too highbrow, apparently; Rod has to add: "... the next day". I un-laughed. The line that I found so disappointing is now listed as a "favorite quote" on many a MySpace page, though, so what do I really know about comedy?

I'm not surprised that they had to test-screen the movie to death, or that the same scene would be listed as both an audience's favorite and least favorite. Every joke is hit-or-miss. I watched all of the deleted scenes and outtakes, and I think I could edit together a version of the film that I would find at least 10x funnier (especially using some of Danny R. McBride's ad-libs or some of Will Arnett's alternate dialogue). The problem is that your funnier version might need different discarded clips, or clips from another movie.