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| Friday, December 9, 2005 04:04 PM |
| More Catsup |
 by Fëanor |
- Wow, Defective Yeti's an even better blogger than normal when he's sick. Check out this post, wherein he points us to a not half bad list of the 100 best boardgames of all time, as well as a really cool video of a kind of performance art piece that I also just read about in the latest Wired. I'd tell you more about the latter, but I enjoyed being surprised by what happened, and I don't want to take that away from you. Suffice it to say, it's neat.
- Another intriguing Penguin casting rumor (hopefully these won't get to be like the endless string of Bond casting rumors we had to deal with earlier this year): Philip Seymour Hoffman. Sounds possible, as this guy seems to turn up in every movie that comes out nowadays, and I could see him doing well in the role. I think I'd prefer Bob Hoskins, though.
- In other casting rumors: will Charlize Theron be the next Bond girl? I read about this possibility a while back, but didn't post about it because it sounded pretty unlikely at the time. Now, however, Theron appears to be the director's top choice for the role, so maybe this will actually come to be. Back when I had a crush on Charlize Theron, this news would have really excited me, but now I'm just mildly pleased.
- Yes, as Cinematical points out, this was inevitable: "CHiPs" is getting the movie treatment. I never watched the show, so I don't have many feelings about this either way. Of course, it will probably suck, given Hollywood's track record at such things. But I do like the idea of Wilmer Valderrama as Ponch. Seriously, that's inspired casting. I like Cinematical's suggestion of a Wilson brother for the token white guy, too.
- Researchers have discovered a not unsurprising fact: in the video game business, as in the movie business, critical ratings and reviews have no effect on sales. Instead:
The best indicators of sales strength appear to be the strength of the publisher behind the game, the performance of prior iterations of the game (if it is a sequel) and the performance of the box-office sales of the movie version of the game. So, people buy the safe choice. Which explains why the videogame and movie industries are always doing remakes, sequels, and adaptations - it's what the largest number of us are most likely to buy. In other words, brace yourself for more of the same old crap, people. Sigh.
- Some poor DB admin working behind the scenes on an online game was trying to restore a character and accidentally deleted them all instead. Oh man, how many times have I almost done something like that at work! I mean, um, Vis Major, I've never even come close to doing that, ever! Heh, heh... Anyway, luckily, they had a backup. (And so do we.)
- Say it ain't so, Jet! Are you really leaving martial arts films behind?? Agh! You're breaking my heart!
But yes, it is apparently true; Li does intend to continue making movies, but he won't be fighting in them anymore. Well, I think he's legitimately a good actor (no, really, I do), so I'll still check out his movies. But it'll be sad to not get to watch him kick ass in spectacular fashion anymore.
...does this mean he won't be in the Tekken movie?? Aww, man!
- I think this may be the very definition of irony: a film called This Film Has Not Been Rated, which is a documentary about how the MPAA unfairly rates films with "kiss of death" ratings like NC-17, has been rated...by the MPAA...NC-17. Hah!
I don't want to belittle the film, though. Apparently it dwells on the MPAA's weird double standard when it comes to sex and violence, which is an issue that should really be examined. I mean, how is seeing people thrusting a certain number of times somehow worse than seeing people get shot, blown up, and torn apart?
- Even though his much buzzed-about fantasy film Night Watch hasn't even made it to the states yet, Russian director Timur Bekmambetov has already been hired by Universal to helm what has now become the bread-and-butter of the industry: a comic book adaptation. This one is called Wanted and is about a white-collar office worker who discovers that his father is the world's most evil supervillain. When Dad gets murdered, Son is recruited to take up his legacy by a covert organization. I'm not familiar with the comic, but it sounds cool enough. I'm still curious to see how Night Watch turned out, though.
- Apparently, humor columnist Dave Barry and some guy named Ridley Pearson wrote a prequel to Peter Pan called Peter and the Starcatchers. The book explains how Peter became Peter - how he got his powers and so forth. Sounds like a terrible idea to me (shouldn't that part remain rather mysterious?), but it seems to have been wildly successful and now, inevitably, there's a Disney movie in the works. Gag.
- You need to watch this amazing Saab promotional video. I know, the phrase "Saab promotional video" doesn't exactly fill your heart with excitement, but seriously, this thing is absolutely thrilling. It's full of all kinds of incredibly precise and amazingly intricate stunt driving, and it's all set to classical music. It's like a car ballet. You need to check it out. (Via The Movie Blog)
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