MegaPython vs. Gateroid

January 15th, 2011

So you find yourself thinking: I want to watch Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, but I’m afraid it may be too intellectually challenging to jump into right away. Is there perchance a stupider movie I can watch first?

Come January 20, the answer to your question will be: Yes, yes there is. Behold the wonder that is MegaPython vs. Gateroid.

Still not convinced? Hey, it stars Debbie Gibson AND Tiffany! (Granted, 15 years too late, but still…) And if that’s not enough, I have two words for you: cake wrestling.

It’s good to see the folks at The Asylum and the SyFy Channel maintaining the reputation they’ve worked so hard to earn…

(Hat tip: Bill Crider.)

Tor.com Wants Your Vote for the Best SF Novels of 2000-2010

January 14th, 2011

Cast your vote here.

The current vote leaders are shown here.

The Fake Book Charity Box Scam

January 13th, 2011

So, you’ve got some old books and see a big box that says “Books for Charity” on the side, and you think “Well, that’s better than selling them to a used bookstore, isn’t it?”

Not so fast. You could be about ready to fall for a Penny Seller scam. A tiny portion, 25% or less, goes to charity; the rest of the books are sold for profit for a company called Thrift Recycling Management, or pulped.

They’re also torpedoing friends of the library sales, which are a much more deserving destination for your book donations than a for-profit company that doles out a few pennies for charity.

Stanley Kubrick’s Iron Man

January 12th, 2011

Those are some mighty fine posters, posters.


(Hat Tip: John DeNardo’s Twitter feed.)

Disclaimer of the Year

January 11th, 2011

So far, anyway:

The views and opinions expressed by GWAR do not reflect those of The Pentagon Channel or the Department of Defense

Well, thank God they cleared that up. I just naturally assumed that the views of a 1980s metal band in alien monster costumes did indeed reflect the opinions of the Defense Department of the United States of America, and will have to adjust my opinions on overseas base closing strategies appropriately. In light of this shocking revelation, I must also reconsider my long-held beliefs that Motley Crüe reflected the official views of the Secretary of State for events in southeast Asia, and that the pronouncements of H.R. Pufnstuf adequately reflected official Department of Energy policy on building additional nuclear power plants…

Chewing on Bob’s Burgers

January 10th, 2011

So, I finished watching Bob’s Burgers, and thought I would delay writing about it until today because I’m incredibly lazy I wanted to ruminate on it for a while. The short description is: It’s not great. Not awful, but not great.

A few random thoughts:

  • Right now it seems more than a little generic (family with three kids: lord knows we’ve never seen that on a Fox animated Sunday show).
  • The setup (small business owner vs. the bureaucracy) has the potential to be good, but most of the restaurant gags already seem stale.
  • I like two of the three kids, but the quiet girl and the father don’t do much for me.
  • The mother, with her generic New York Jewish Mother accent, does less than nothing for me. If you talk like that, you damn well better look like Fran Drescher if you want people west of the Hudson to endure your voice.
  • The edgy stuff (the suggestions of cannibalism, the funny daughter putting up a notice for a hamburger special called The Child Molester (“it comes with candy on the side”)) didn’t bother me (after all, I watch South Park), but the “can’t remember my wedding anniversary/old boyfriend” business was so old it might have been written by Henny Youngman. (No, scratch that; if Henny Youngman had written it, it would have been funnier.)
  • Every now and then there was a funny bit, but there weren’t enough of them.
  • I don’t want to write it off entirely, because the first episodes of animated shows frequently suck (have you watched “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” recently?); it might very well get better.
  • I was able to watch all of it, unlike Sit Down, Shut Up (I’m amazed that lasted all of four episodes).
  • It’s still better than The Cleveland Show, which I couldn’t last beyond the first commercial break of the premiere, and even that took willpower. Every time since I’ve happened to catch part of it, something would make me turn it off before two minutes had passed. It seems that every time Seth McFarlane creates a new show, his old shows become half as funny. Which is why I gave up on Family Guy shortly after the O.J. Simpson episode.

I’ll probably watch the next episode of Bob’s Burgers, but if it doesn’t improve I expect it to fall off my list well before Fox axes it 6-8 weeks from now…

Bob’s Burgers: Flash 1/3rd of the Way In Report

January 9th, 2011

So it’s the first commercial break for Bob’s Burgers, the new animated show after The Simpsons on Fox. So far, I’m sort of enjoying it, not because it’s great (it’s OK: moderately funny, too predictable), but simply because it’s not The Cleveland Show

Jew Got Served

January 7th, 2011

Normally I don’t link to something that’s already been on the Fark tab, but this Fiddler on the Roof/You Got Served mashup is too good to pass up:

The Top 500 Books Sold at Auction in 2010

January 5th, 2011

Here’s an article on the top book price realized at auction in 2010, topped by a first edition of the legendary Audobon Birds of America, which pulled in an astounding $11,321,215, or four times the price realized for the Shakespeare First Folio that came in at fifth place at a measly $2,315,273.

Not a lot of books of particular genre interest, but there is an inscribed first of A Christmas Carol, and I’m sure that Howard Waldrop will find this copy of The Book of John Mandaville, the most complete version in Middle English known, and which sold for $447,282, of interest.

And here’s the entire list in spreadsheet format for the hardcore.

Edited to Add: Top link should work now, though you’ll have to click on the article link there.

Edited to Add 2: Link now even more cromulent, thanks to the sleuthing of SF Signal’s John DeNardo.

Screw Macy’s

January 4th, 2011

From Dwight comes news that the Macy’s in Highland Mall is closing. Sad news for anyone losing their job, but I can’t really work up much sympathy on the care-o-meter otherwise.

Which is a real shame, because I used to be a regular shopper at that store…when it was a Foley’s. Foley’s was a Houston-based department store chain that offered decent prices on good products. (I did a short stint as Christmas help at one of their stores long before I had a lawn to chase you punk kids off of.) Macy’s, by contrast, expected you to pay list price in the Internet era for the privilege of shopping at Macy’s. So I stopped going and never looked back.

There’s a lesson for businessmen there: Don’t do away with a cherished local brand for the sake of uniformity. The pennies you save on printing costs are far outweighed by the dollars you lose in ill-will.

Of course my disdain and indifference is nothing compared to the white-hot hatred of people unfortunate enough to work there.