Monscooch

Goodbye 2007. Goodbye Blogspot.

2008-01-01T14:08:00.000-10:00

I do be not good with words so I'll make my point using pictures.

Here's Monscooch on Blogspot:

Compare it to Monscooch on Wordpress:

That's the best I could do at summing it up. The address is www.monscooch.wordpress.com and it is purty. Update your blogrolls and RSS feed if you have time but first, you shall buy me some orange sherbet.

2007-12-31T05:00:00.001-10:00

Monscooch will return. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but some day. So, for now:

Liverpool Watch: Chelsea

2007-12-20T12:36:00.000-10:00

So that's three major losses in a row now. Hopefully, with Portsmouth coming up, we can make it four! Come on the pool! Wait, that's not right.

Liverpool Watch: Manchester United

2007-12-18T11:14:00.000-10:00

Song Of The Week: Later With Beirut Edition

2007-12-16T10:08:00.000-10:00

Beirut on Later With Jools Holland- 'A Sunday Smile' (Download):

Here's M.I.A. with Paper Planes:

A Christmas Bonus: The Straight No Chaser a cappella group and The Twelve Days Of Christmas medley:

Tom Waits For Xmas Number One is a fantastic idea by Adam Maguire and I will support this idea over the X-Factor winner any day.

Here are the options to buy Tom Wait's 'Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis' to register for the Christmas charts this Thursday:

Apple iTunes* - 99c, works on any iPod or iPhone (please note the link will launch iTunes)
Eircom Music Club - €1.20, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device / €1.40, works on mobile phone
Sony Connect* - €1.29, works on any Sony device (please note the link only works in Internet Explorer and you will need the SonicStage application to download song)
EasyMusic - €1.35, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device (please note you may have to change your location to Ireland before purchasing as the site's default is for the UK)
Wippit - €1.39, works on any 'Plays for Sure' device (please note you may have to change your location to Ireland before purchasing as the site's default is for the UK)

I've already got the song twice in my music library but buying it again is worth it. Here it is being performed live:

Nana Nana Nana Nana Batman!

2007-12-15T11:13:00.000-10:00

Here are some brand new posters released just before the proper trailer is released:

Go here for a proper trailer to be released in high definition sometime soon... UPDATE: It's live, yo. And man, does it kick ass. Best two minutes I've ever seen of anything, ever.

Amy Winehouse: 1983-20XX

2007-12-15T11:04:00.000-10:00

Here's proof that there's too many mutha uckers in the world finding their way onto our peaceful internet with the arrival of WhenWillAmyWinehouseDie.com. Sick punters sign a pre-condolence form and predict when Amy will go the way of Janis Joplin in order to win an iPod Touch. So far there are already 2400+ entries including these tasteless nuggets:

-im am really sorry if i predicted your death
-Thanks for the iPod!
-you get what you deserve
-Merry Christmas World!
-She's got a little life left in her. I mean, she's got to suffer as much as she has made us suffer. Plus, isn't it the good who die young? Country music told me so, and country music is missing some teeth, too.

Here's her breakthrough single 'Rehab' featuring Hova himself, Jay-Z:

Coming Soon: Best Movie To Ever Feature A Drill Bra

2007-12-15T06:09:00.000-10:00

Here's the trailer for Kataude mashin gâru (soon to be known as The Machine Girl to us western folk):

That's crazy ass shit there, son. It kinda reminds me of the time my left hand became dismembered in a ham and cheese sandwich related accident and I attached a portable vacuum to my elbow. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it's starting to get a bit annoying now. I do however get a lot of attention from the ladies- boo yeah.

Internation poster:

It looks an awful lot like this:

Which was copied for this:

And also this:

They look nothing like this following image but I'll allow it only for the sake of posting pictures of Natalie Portman:

T-Pain is a great big phoney

2007-12-15T01:02:00.000-10:00

I've never been a fan of T-Pain. Most of his songs are weak, he talks like a fool and has no writing ability. Here he is performing without his digital voice, for once:

Here's proof that anyone can sing using T-Pain's digital aid:

Liverpool Watch: Marseille

2007-12-12T13:33:00.000-10:00

Beware of four-legged Stevie Gerrard

It's hard to put into words how lucky the Kop are to qualify at the last minute but as five time Formula 1 World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio would say "Hello. I'm Juan Manuel Fangio".

(If the video below doesn't work, go here. If football isn't your thing, go here)

A lesson in Liverpudlian accents

2007-12-12T12:41:00.000-10:00

Here's a clip from Walk Hard- the upcoming movie "from the guys who brought you Superbad and Knocked Up" (expect to see that on every comedy from here to Christmas 2009). It features Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Justin Long and Jason Shwartzman as Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, respectively.

Watch the first 10 minutes here and in case you don't have a ZIP code try this: George Bush, 7-6-46, 20500.

I'm still undecided about spending nine precious Euro coins on this one film. The trailer looked alright, I suppose. The first 10 minutes of every comedy starts with the basic story prologue, making way for the jokes that come in a few minutes later, right? It was the same case with Titanic. 150 minutes of prologue and then all the sinking ship hilarity ensued.

Song Of The Week: The Amy Edition

2007-12-09T11:51:00.000-10:00

I'm going to steal a comment made on the (lazy) YouTube video because I can:

"Gorgeous song. Probably the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Video is kind of creepy though. It's like a tribute to a dead person. This woman is so incredibly talented, it's heartbreaking to see her in the state she's in. I hope this song is a huge hit, it deserves to be!".

Those would probably be my sentiments as well. I'd prefer to hear this repeatedly over the Christmas period instead of The Pogues or whoever wins X Factor in the coming weeks.

I'd actually like to see this get to number 1. It would be a huge morale boost to Amy (since her mum can't get through to her). Even though the accolades she keeps on getting, don't mean crap to her, maybe if she tops the Christmas charts, that might stop her going the same direction as Kurt Cobain and other troubled singers .

It wouldn't be the first time a depressing song topped the UK Christmas charts:

1986: Jackie Wilson - "Reet Petite"
1987: Pet Shop Boys - "Always on My Mind"
1988: Cliff Richard - "Mistletoe & Wine"
1989: Band Aid II -" Do They Know It's Christmas?"
1990: Cliff Richard - "Saviour's Day"
1991: Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody" / "These Are the Days of Our Lives"
1992: Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You"
1993: Mr Blobby - "Mr Blobby"
1994: East 17 - "Stay Another Day"
1995: Michael Jackson - "Earth Song"
1996: Spice Girls - "2 Become 1"
1997: Spice Girls - "Too Much"
1998: Spice Girls - "Goodbye"
1999: Westlife - "I Have A Dream" / "Seasons In The Sun"
2000: Bob The Builder - "Can We Fix It?"
2001: Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - "Somethin' Stupid"
2002: Girls Aloud - "Sound Of The Underground"
2003: Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - "Mad World"
2004: Band Aid 20 - "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
2005: Shayne Ward - "That's My Goal"
2006: Leona Lewis - "A Moment Like This"

See? How many of those songs aren't depressing? A more complete list can be found here on Stereogum.

The 8th Of December

2007-12-08T12:02:00.000-10:00

... is special to me for a few reasons. To start, it's the anniversary of John Lennon's death so I go about listening to as much Lennon music as I can in one day. Today is also the official start of Christmas (the previous five plus weeks of festive decorations don't count) and is also considered one of the biggest shopping days before the mad Christmas Eve rush. To combine those two celebratory reasons of mine, here's John Lennon with "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)":

Celebrating their birthdays today are two greats; Sammy Davis Jr. with one of my all time favourite songs- "Mr Bojangles":

Sinead O'Conner was born today too. This song, written by everybody's favourite eccentric artist formerly known as a symbol, Prince, is the beautiful Nothing Compares 2 U:

Some say it's one of the best music videos ever made. I think it's quite boring. It could've used a car chase or some explosions at least.

Liverpool Watch: Reading

2007-12-08T11:44:00.000-10:00

Liverpool lost to Reading. Arsenal lost to Middlesborough. Shit happens.

Why yes, I am lazy.

2007-12-07T11:26:00.000-10:00

The Hollywood High Five

2007-12-04T13:36:00.000-10:00

Awesome.

Yet Another Stupid Web 2.0 Video

2007-12-04T12:51:00.000-10:00

It's the first time a video has ever told me to blog.

Liverpool Watch: Bolton

2007-12-03T02:55:00.000-10:00

Song Of The Week: D,O, double G, and the Stripes edition

2007-12-02T07:41:00.000-10:00

Snoop Dogg- Sensual Seduction:

The White Stripes- Conquest:

Worst song of the week: Tay "I assure you, my voice is real; My momma cross-bred with some frogs" Zonday with 'Cherry Chocolate Rain':

Previous SOTW posts are here.

Viral Videos of the Week

2007-12-01T11:33:00.000-10:00

"I thought Europe was a country?". In her defence, she (Kellie Pickler) is very cute. Until she starts talking that is. Then it's just a case of wanting to take a hammer to the head.

Two Cats Talking:

Two Cats Talking (and what they're really saying):

What Would Jesus Buy? Relevant, especially in this time of "good will" (i.e. crazed shopping). Here's the synopsis: Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir are on a cross-country mission to save Christmas from the Shopocalypse (the end of humankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt). It comes from Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame. His new project sounds interesting too. Here's the WWJB trailer:

A classy marraige proposal via the cast of Scrubs:

This clip could easily be a deleted scene from Hostel- Part II (If you were insane, that is):

It's called Chocolade Haas. Some of the comments on the video include:

-Laaa..laaa..laaalalala

-stomachable video!
dear rabbit we'll always love you.
rest in peace!

-you a fuckn idiot!
what the hell you need to post this shitting video?
i'v been hungry just a second ago.. now i'm depressed and a big angry.
i'm stomachached, i need to vomit and cry.

-If it was a block of chocolate you wouldnt feel like that. I love how the pieces in the background are all the same colour and texture .

-I think the most interesting study is not the video, but rather, the wide range of feelings and emotions it caused in each of us...

Who's going to watch Watchmen?

2007-12-01T10:37:00.000-10:00

I sure as flip will. Zach Snyder (director of 300) has just uploaded the following photos up to the Watchmen site to reassure fans of the graphic novel that he is not going to mess it up. These photos could not be more perfect:

Maxim.com have visual comparisons to the comic book here. Some stats about the film production so far:

• 5,800 feet of neon requiring 24,000 watts of power
• 100 unique and custom-designed graphics created for the various storefronts
• 5,000 square feet of custom posters
• Street had to work for 1938, 1945, 1953, 1957, 1964, 1974, 1975, 1977, and 1985
• 1,040 feet of 1:1 scale New York streets
• 98,400 square feet of exterior scenery
• 12,500 square feet of interior scenery
• Building heights range from 23′9″ to 42′6″
• 10,325 16-foot 2×4s
• 3,600 sheets of OSB (plywood-like construction material)
• 384,000 square feet of foam brick
• 200,000 nails
• 3,500 tubes of construction adhesive
• 160,000 lbs. of steel I-beams support the facades
• 300 cubic meters of concrete
• 6,000 square feet of glass
• 4,800 square feet of plexiglass
• 20,000 donuts were consumed by the construction crew
• 20,000 gallons of water and 3,000 gallons of Gatorade was drunk by the crew

The film opens on the 6th of March 2009.

Hey, remember when Transformers sucked?

2007-12-01T07:08:00.000-10:00

Here's Shia LaBeouf trying his best not to let the film suck but it never seems to go his way...

The Key To Reserva

2007-11-30T14:04:00.000-10:00

"But it has to look, it has to be the way he would made the picture then, only making it now, but the way he would make it then. If he was alive now making this now, he would make it now as if he made it back then."

-Martin Scorsese on preserving Hitchcock's 'The Key to Reserva'.

I can't embed the video (yet) but if you enjoy the art of film, you should check out Martin Scorsese's adaptating a Hitchcock script that was never filmed. It may be viral advertising but it's viral advertising at it's best.

Watch it here.

Evel Knievel dies at the age of 69

2007-11-30T12:58:00.001-10:00

According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia entry on Evel, "he was assassinated by ninjas under the command of hip-hop musician Kanye West. Rest in peace". For some reason, after some crafty edited, the story now reads that "he had been ill for years, suffering from hepatitis C, as well as diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs". The full story is here on ABC-news.com.

Here's Evel Knievel doing what he did best at Caesar's Palace:

And here he is jumping Snake River Canyon:

Liverpool Watch: Porto

2007-11-30T12:28:00.000-10:00

Song Of The Week: Everybody Knows Edition

2007-11-25T13:10:00.000-10:00

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals with 'Everybody Knows' (the official video can't be embedded for some reason):

Some other great songs of the same name:
The Divine Comedy: Everybody Knows
The Fratellis: Everybody Knows (Live)
Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows
Queens Of The Stone Age: Everybody Knows (You're Insane)
Rufus Wainwright: Everybody Knows (Cohen Cover)

Previous SOTW posts are here.

Freddie Mercury: Best Of

2007-11-24T13:10:00.001-10:00

It's the 16th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death and what better way to celebrate his life than give you a huge list made by somebody called Oberon1966. He went ahead and uploaded many Queen concerts and documentaries on Freddie Mercury and Queen (15, actually) onto the Youtube. You can find them here.

To get you started, here's their Live Aid 1986 performance:

Liverpool Watch: Newcastle

2007-11-24T05:59:00.000-10:00

This sort of play should be the norm. Click here for previous LW posts.

Playlists: Episode One

2007-11-24T05:24:00.000-10:00

I've just thought of a brilliant feature that doesn't give me a whole lot to do but is still very entertaining to you, the reader. After my earlier Freddie Mercury post where someone uploaded an entire concert and collected them together in seamlessly in playlist form, I remembered I found some other similiar ones on my interweb adventures.

This week, I'll start off with a few great shows from comedians in their prime providing hours of entertainment via JimmyTheHand86:

Chris Rock- Never Scared:

Dave Chappelle- Killing Them Softly in Washington D.C:

Eddie Murphy- The combined Delirious and RAW shows:

Eddie Izzard- Dressed To Kill in San Francisco, 1999:

The Story of Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T11:41:00.000-10:00

For some reason, I've received thousands of hits on this blog from the United States in the last two or three months. I thought I might as well post about their national holiday which they are celebrating today by committing a massive genocide of Turkeys all over America. If there are any Turkeys in the States reading this right now, I give you this message: Run, you feathered bastards, run!

Anyways, here's "Celebrity Bric-A-Brac Theatre's Story of Thanksgiving", created by these guys who were behind the whole Chad Vader phenomenon:

Whenever I see or hear Thanksgiving being mentioned anytime during the year, I always think of this classic scene from The West Wing for some odd reason- President Bartlett rings the Butterball Hotline as edited by a blind and deaf man:

Make love to Mother Earth... (plus some site news)

2007-11-20T13:47:00.000-10:00

Here's the new one from the golden three comedy God's outide of Judd Apatow. Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and John C O'Reilly create another short comedic sketch for FunnyOrDie.com, focusing on enviromentalists who take it a bit too far:

SITE NEWS:

Being Christmas for a few weeks now, my everyday work outside of this blog will become intense. I'll have to reduce my work load by posting only once a day until the Christmas rush is over because I wouldn't want something like this to happen again.

That's unless something drastic happens- The powers above might realise I'm getting double time pay for 15 hours of overtime a week and decide to limit my hours which will give me much more free time and energy for this blog. That, or my work place suddenly implodes because of a spatial anomaly, which is a very broad term for any sort of extraordinary disruption in the space-time continuum.

Science Week: The blogging winners

2007-11-19T12:44:00.001-10:00

The winners of the Science Week Ireland blogging competition have been announced:

-What was your favourite invention from your childhood? - Kevin Breathnach

-What invention would you most like to see in the future - Brian

-What is the next gadget you plan to buy? - Monscooch

-What was the best invention of 2007? - Poetbloggs

-What invention helps you most with your working life - Johnny Keyes

Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to Science Week Ireland and Damien Mulley for the organisation. Sinead has the great idea to continue on with this idea of one question a day for inspiration and I hope to take part in future. She isn't giving away a Wii, isn't she? ;)

Song Of The Week: Baxter's Better And The Expert Edition

2007-11-18T06:54:00.000-10:00

Tom Baxter with his new single 'Better' from the album Skybound:

Messiah J And The Expert and their Superfamous Supertune:

Other songs that I've had stuck in my head:

Babyshambles: You Talk
Talib Kweli: Everything Man
The Shins: Sleeping Lessons
Paul McCartney: Ever Present Past (Justin Timberlake could learn a few moves from this man)

Click here for previous songs of the week.

Science Week: The best invention of 2007

2007-11-17T19:59:00.000-10:00

As far as I can see, the best invention of 2007 going by the definition of the word (an innovation that is both novel and non-obvious) would be the Microsoft Surface (as seen demonstrated here by a Mr. Bill Gates).

It's the next step in iPhone style technology. I love the interactivity with the touch screen and the way it reacts to other devices. It's the final piece of home technology equipment I'd like until the flying car arrives.

Here's a five minute promotional video which gives a more in-depth view at Surface's features:

Not everyone is impressed by it, however. Here's Sarcastic Gamer doing what he does best (original version is here):

No matter your opinion of Microsoft, they are clearly technological pioneers. They might be a bit too ambitious and fail in some critical areas (i.e. the original Xbox lacking in comparison to the much older Playstation 2, the Xbox 360 having a 30% failure rate and Vista turning consumers back to XP) but they do push the competition. The Zune is currently giving the classic iPod a run for it's money in America and the Xbox 360 is currently leading the race in the Console wars due to it's huge online base and a surplus of excellent games.

This, in my pseudo-professional, is the future. It might be a bit pricey (it's somewhere in the area of $10,000 which is slightly more than your average table). It's not something I'd like to use as a foot rest, although you never know, maybe some funky rings will shine out from the heels of your shoes or something.

This is day five in the Science Week Ireland blogging competition as hosted on Mulley.net.

Best Book Designs Of 2007

2007-11-17T13:17:00.000-10:00

Via Boing Boing comes this brilliant collection of fancy book covers which are all uniquely brilliant. As a former graphic design student, I find them all very inspiring. They're all much better than the simple gallery of faces currently filling the charts right now.

Here's the link.

Whose line is it anyway (again)

2007-11-17T12:58:00.000-10:00

Some mad man has gone through the trouble of uploading all the early seasons of Whose Line Is It Anyways? and is still uploading away. If you have a few hours/ days to spare have a look at the YouTube playlists here. It includes the complete season one, two, three and he's just started uploading season four and his personal favourite moments.

Actione! Velocita! Terrore! Suspenso! Romanza! Goblin! Spiderman! Spiderman! Spiderman!

2007-11-16T15:22:00.000-10:00

Here's the video description as found on Youtube:

lrugo Entertainment, producers of A-grade, B-grade content bring you:

ITALIAN SPIDERMAN
Unearthed for the first time in 43 years and lovingly restored at Maxischermo Studios Milan, this rare theatrical trailer for the 1964 Italian classic 'Italian Spiderman' is a real treat. Featuring Franco Franchetti of 'Mondo Sexo' fame in his last ever role before being killed in a spear fishing accident in 1965. Director, Gianfranco Gatti, reminisces on 'Italian Spiderman'; "I have made some mistakes in my life...bad, bad mistakes".

You know it's big when it's in the news. Bonus- Japanese Spiderman:

...

Awesome.

Science Week Ireland: Which invention has helped you most with your working life?

2007-11-16T11:57:00.000-10:00

If it wasn't for my alarm clock, I would be unemployed right now. Most scientists and politicians argue that this is rarely a good thing. The amount of times that annoying ticking device has saved me from sleeping through the morning is a Godsend.

I had to get rid of it though, because the ticking noise drove me insane after a few weeks. All of my dreams revolved around that damn ticking. Sometimes it works out well and I've dreamt that I'm Jack Bauer in 24 or that Johnny Depp fellow in Nick Of Time (except much more handsome). In other dreams I just stare at a large annoying clock and that's... not quite as fun.

I'm actually thinking about buying myself one of these fancy hanging alarm clocks. The idea is that every time you want to have a few more minutes of dreamy sleepy nighty snoozy snooze, you have to touch the ever-raising orb, making you stretch more every time you do. It also plays soothing music apparently. As you might notice on the picture to the side, the man seems awfully happy with his magical floaty orb. That will be me someday (except much more handsome).

Now that I'm currently without a proper alarm clock, I have to make do with my phone. It's a nice bonus that I can wake up to the tune of Bill Withers because that's how we gangstas do. My phone isn't exactly suspended from the ceiling, so as motivation to wake up, I flake my phone across the room to force myself up.

This is all based on the fact that I'm a hard person to wake up. After a week in Spain with a large group school friends, we were held up by a cancelled in England and we were forced to stay in a five star hotel for free. I was knackered after a long week without sleep and chose to go to bed rather than make use of the all night restaurant and free phone calls. I woke up to find my hair covered in shaving cream and a nice fluffy beard to go with it, under another mattress and surrounded by the entire group playing poker using me as the table. I've a history of sleeping sitting down, sideways, while watching movies, and once I slept under a couch. I was drunk at the time, so that's alright.

What this all has to do with Science Week Ireland, I don't know. Props to Damien though for his hand in organising a brilliant competition for Irish bloggers to show off.

It's a good time to be a gamer

2007-11-16T11:37:00.000-10:00

I can't remember when there's been this amount of Triple-A games coming out on a weekly basis. It's hard to think of what's left for next year. Other than Metal Gear Solid 4, there are no other games that I know of worth getting excited about.

In the past two months alone, I've bought:

Xbox 360: Bioshock, The Darkness, Blue Dragon, Halo 3, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Half Life 2: The Orange Box, The Simpsons Game, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Scene It: Lights, Camera, Action.

Playstation 3: Heavenly Sword, Fifa 08, Resistance: Fall Of Man, Warhawk, Skate, The Eye Of Judgement, Ratchet & Clank: Tools Of Destruction and Assassin's Creed.

Games due in the next month:

Xbox 360: Guitar Hero III, Mass Effect and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men.

Playstation 3: Stranglehold, Haze, Singstar and Unchartered: Drake's Fortune.

I may not be blogging by Christmas due to my being homeless after buying all these games.

Exclusive: Cloverfield's monster is finally revealed

2007-11-16T05:18:00.000-10:00

From recently released production stills from the actual movie, it turns out that the evil creature in Cloverfield is a big blue plastic bag with arms. Here it is in action:

Just by touching that woman, her nose, lips and eyes start bleeding. She also gets a sharp pain in her back. It's definitely a different monster than what was expected. The look of it reminds me of this story in the States.

It's obligatory train station chase that most action movies have, with the main characters' backs starting to cramp up.

Here they are, barely able to walk because the back pain is so intense.

I'll post up the proper trailer when it's released online in QuickTime. With all these crappy camera in a cinema clips and the like.

Science Week Ireland: The next gadget that I want to buy

2007-11-15T13:01:00.000-10:00

Damien Mulley has been organising an awesome competition to promote Science Week Ireland. If you haven't noticed, I'm rather fond of Lego. Even though I'm a grown man (with deep voice, moustache and everything), I still love creating characters, cities, and mostly short movie recreations with these little connecting pieces of plastic.

My latest obsession in Lego is having motorised mechanisms that can make a truck drive in a straight line or maybe if I'm extra creative, create a building with real working sliding doors at the push of a button. I've decided I want to save up one for one hell of a gadget: Lego Mindstorms.
At €240, it doesn't come cheap. Even with Christmas on the way, I doubt Santa would get me this toy. I'm saving up all the money I can, despite the fact that there's a plethora of games and DVDs on my shopping list right now which I'll never have the time to come around to anyways.

Here are some highly recommended examples of what can be achieved with this nifty bit of kit as found on Youtube:

-The automatic toilet paper dispenser. At the push of a button you'll save yourself straining your wrist when ripping off the 23 squares of apparently needed toilet paper

-The SPC. The self parking car using motion sensors. Amazing.

-The rubik cube solver. Amazing-er?

-This mind-boggling machine can produce cars. I am not making this up.

-The bubble gum sorter. A giant monstrosity of a machine that is large and practical.

-This contraption called the Wiigobot can win a perfect game of Wii Bowling. How fitting...

Just watching those clips really sends my mind into creative overdrive of sorts. According to it's wikipedia page, it's got 30 different programming languages. This is the future of teaching mechanical engineering to children and is something that will keep me busy once I save enough money to buy it.

David Gray: Greatest Hits

2007-11-14T11:31:00.000-10:00

It's David Gray's turn now to do a best of compilation. White Ladder may have more copies sold in Ireland than there are actual people but I'm guessing he had other songs than weren't on that album. Here are as much proper music videos I could find with the rest in live performance form:

1. You're The World To Me
2. Babylon
3. The One I Love
4. Please Forgive Me
5. Be Mine
6. Hospital Food
7. This Year's Love
8. Alibi
9. Sail Away
10. Shine
11. Caroline
12. The Other Side
13. Flame Turns Blue

Groove Armada: Greatest Hits

2007-11-14T11:24:00.000-10:00

Apparently, it's Christmas now and that means it's time for bands to release a greatest hits compilation. Even though it's only been 3 years since their last compilation, Groove Armada have brought a new one.

Here's the promo:

01. Song 4 Mutya (3:39)
02. Get Down (3:24)
03. I See You Baby (Fatboy Slim Radio Edit) (4:04)
04. Superstylin (6:32)
05. Purple Haze (4:05)
06. My Friend (5:00)
07. The Girls Say (4:03)
08. Chicago (7:22)
09. Love Sweet Sound (4:37)
10. Easy (5:53)
11. Lightsonic (6:55)
12. If Everybody Looked The Same (3:39)
13. Little By Little (5:30)
14. At The River (6:33)

They iScrewed me again- Viral Videos

2007-11-13T12:06:00.000-10:00

SNL's dumb cousin Mad TV makes a funny! They take on the ever-evolving iPod design Feist-style:

Here's Bearforce1 with an early Christmas song called 'Christmas Is Here' and it's fabulous:

The song that the Futurama musical director Christopher Ting based the theme tune on is uncovered and on YouTube:

Half Life 2 is summarised in a nifty South Park style animation all in the space of 60 seconds (summarising popular movies and games is all the rage these days):

Bob Ross paints Star Wars (An awesome tribute):

Rap... in math form?

2007-11-12T17:57:00.000-10:00

Via Fimoculous, is this great site which takes rap lyrics and turns them into graphical charts. Click each one of the charts to watch the actual song video. I've just spent the last half hour there and am now going through to my old rap album collection. I've just remembered that Wu-Tang Clan ain't nothin' to fuck with and it's always good to know that in case you need it in the real world.

Paris doesn't understand lipstick

2007-11-12T13:40:00.000-10:00

I'm a man and even I know that lipstick goes on your lips and not on your teeth. I also know that when choosing the right foam while arranging flowers that generally, green water-retaining foam is for fresh flowers and foliage, whilst the brown stiffer foam is for dried or artificial flowers. I mean, AAARGH, football, beer, Lindsay Lohan and all that.

Bonus example of stupidity (in high-res):

Songs Of The Week: Queens Of The Future Edition

2007-11-11T13:13:00.000-10:00

The Futureheads- Broke Up The Time:

If you don't like the video, you're not the only one- I'm sure it's just a temporary one. If you do like the song, you can download the song from their website or stream the song from their MySpace page.

Queens Of The Stone Age with their new single "Make It Wit Chu" and a similarly crappy video:

Kanye West's mother and manager Donda tragically died this morning. Here's 'Ye performing Hey Mama with his mama, of all people:

Why there's no more American TV for us to download

2007-11-10T13:43:00.000-10:00

The Writers Guild Of America strike is still growing with no end in site. Here's a video to show why it's not going to stop until an agreement is made, whenever that may be:

You can follow updates and the progress of the stikes and stories from the ever growing picket lines (as seen in the picture below with a mass crowd of 4000 people) here on UnitedHollywood. Executive producer of Lost, Damon Lindelof wrote up a good summary of the strike which you can read here.

Look at all the people hoping to get 4 cents:

Bush loves a good photo op

2007-11-10T12:21:00.000-10:00

President George Bush visited injured vets at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Reuters have a picture slideshow which is very hard to watch but really shows how insincere he is about his troops.

I've also read today on Joystiq that he played some video games with some of the former soldiers in a war game simulating tactical action in Baghdad. That must have been a connecting experience for the much loved president to his troops having experienced the horrors of combat first-hand... Oh, wait.

Pfff... I have better taste in women than Rihanna

2007-11-10T12:13:00.000-10:00

It looks like that "chick" from The Crying Game.

Liverpool Watch: Fulham

2007-11-10T11:44:00.000-10:00

Meet the modern day Ninja

2007-11-10T11:14:00.000-10:00

I read about this a few days ago but I never knew what it would look like in motion. Now, I know. Further proof that the Japanese are crazy:

Imagine the embarrassment for everyone involved if someone thought that this disguise was so convincing that they wanted to but a real bottle of soda:

"Wait, why won't this machine take my money? Why aren't the buttons doing anything? Is it even plugged in? Do soda machines usually have feet?"

"My apologies, sir. I was merely hiding from a potential rapist, thief or murderer. This disguise is just a folded skirt."

"You know, I thought it felt like a skirt! Good luck with on your hiding adventures. One question- what are you doing in a forrest?"

Waterboarding isn't as fun as it sounds

2007-11-10T05:07:00.000-10:00

Here's Keith Olbermann presenting a special report on the latest hot topic in American politics, waterboarding and showing off his very, very, very, very... big vocalbulary:

Here's everything but a good answer- Mike Mukasey at a Confirmation Hearing:

Here's Harry Shearer showing us the most positive side of waterboarding in the style of a Beach Boys tune. It's up for an award too:

Overkill: Prince style

2007-11-08T14:48:00.000-10:00

Prince has continued to piss everyone off after trying to "reclaim the internet" from YouTube, eBay and the Pirate Bay and threatened legal action to prevent them further encouraging copyright violations. Now, he's taking legal action against sites (including many of his own fan sites) for hosting photos of him, album covers, even lyrics. Madness.

These tales of a Prince gone mad reminded me of the Dave Chappelle skit featuring Eddie's brother Charlie recounting his basketball game against Prince:

Overkill: 40 minutes of Family Guy style

2007-11-08T13:36:00.000-10:00

Press release: "Fox Home Entertainment has announced Family Guy Presents: "Blue Harvest" which parodies the movie that started it all – Episode IV A New Hope. The season six premiere will be available to own in either a standard ($22.98) or a special edition ($34.99). The standard edition will include more than four minutes of exclusive DVD material, animatics/commentaries, interviews with Seth MacFarlane and George Lucas, an Uncensored Track, and a teaser of the next Star Wars spoof, "Something, Something, Something Dark Side". The special edition will include a 3-D fight scene (with glasses!), a t-shirt, trading cards, an exclusive brochure, and collectible packaging."

Wow. It even includes the actual DVD there somewhere. That's 40 minutes worth of Family Guy in all it's filler-joke glory. It also comes with four whole minutes of extra scenes.

One of my favourite TV shows, Robot Chicken, had a much better Star Wars special than Family Guy. Watch a clip here:

Everything You Wanted To Know About The Vajingo * But Were Afraid To Ask...

2007-11-07T09:07:00.000-10:00

With the help of a cuddly toy, Tyra Banks are her friends show us... interesting stuff. She's speaking to women as if they don't even know it's there, which scares me.

The educational prop reminded me of a cool toy service Rick found. Every kid will want one come Christmas time (which is now, for some wicked reason). Here's a promo picture for Giant Microbes:

You can buy a cuddly toy version of: The Common Cold, The Flu, Sore Throat, Stomach Ache, Cough, Ear Ache, Bad Breath, Kissing Disease, Athlete’s Foot, Ulcer, Martian Life, Beer & Bread, Black Death, Ebola, Flesh Eating, Sleeping Sickness, Dust Mite, Bed Bug, and Bookworm (and in our Professional line: H.I.V. and Hepatitis). Who wouldn't want the whole darn collection.

People might actually think you are sick in the head, though.

Liverpool Watch: 8-0

2007-11-07T01:05:00.000-10:00

Now that's a pretty scoreboard. A record score in a European competition (take that Arsenal) plus Liverpool's 500th goal in Europe. Here are the ITV highlights:

Remember, remember the 5th of November...

2007-11-05T02:18:00.000-10:00

...The gun powder treason and plot,
I know of no reason the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent
To blow up the king and parliment
Three scores barrels were laid below
To prove old england's overthrow
By God's mercy he was catched
By a dimmed lantern and a burning match
Holler boys, holler boys, let the bells ring
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king

It wasn't the best movie in the world (The Pink Panther was more popular at the time) but I watched V For Vendetta on DVD for the first time since it came out in the cinema a year and a half ago because it's, you know, that day.

I know that Alan Moore doesn't approve of it but I thought it was okay... ish? The comic wasn't that much more impressive to me either, despite being an Alan Moore fan. Find out for yourself here. Here are some scenes from the Watchowski Brothers(?) -produced movie:

V takes over a news station:

V makes himself known to Natalie Portman:

That is by far the most annoying speech of any kind, made anywhere, ever. Here it is in all it's vile (oh-ho!) intirity:

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished."

It's at this point Natalie Portman's character looks at him like "Shut the fuck up already and shave my head, will you."

Yet he continues "However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified..."and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V."

I don't really understand much of that speech, but I do know this: Natalie Portman is hawt.

Liverpool Watch: Blackburn

2007-11-05T01:29:00.000-10:00

Can you see the passion in Crouchy's eyes? Look at him. He's a beast... failing miserably against Blackburns tight defense. Blackburn are title contenders- sorry, they were title contenders back in 1992-1995.

Here are the highlights from Saturday's match:

Here's proof that Liverpool have the ability to beat Blackburn using the scientific method of Fifa 2008 on my shiny PS3: Babel has time for some keepy up before an overhead flick and left foot smash.

Song Of The Week: Legendary edition

2007-11-04T09:56:00.000-10:00

John Legend- Another Again

I only chose this because I can't find the awesome Groove Armada tune I heard on Rick's show featuring someone who sounds identical to one my favourite artists, Rhymefest (Check out Blue Collar- one of the best rap albums of 2006).

Jay-Z interview and performance on David Letterman- Roc Boys (official video):

Ryan Adams- How Keep Love Alive/Pearls On A String:

Foo Fighters: Long Road To Ruin (video by the Learn To Fly director):

Daft Punk: Harder Better Stronger Faster from Alive 2007:

The trailer to Sigur Ros' new film Heima, released today on DVD. Total Film called it "The greatest concert film of TF's lifetime". Sounds promising, even though the band themselves seem like the most boring people on earth:

Here's a fool looking like a tool. Impressive feat, I know. Des Bishop with his half-arsed Irish translation of House of Pain's 'Jump Around' called 'Léimigí Thart'.

Tá an ghráin agam ar an asal seo. Tá súil agam go tachtóidh sé ar Kit Kat. Níl fhios agam faoi an leitriucháin seo ar chor ar bith. Ní scríobh mé aon rud mar seo le cupla bliain agus tá brón orm ma rinne mé buineach amach as an teanga seo (fiú abháin teanga a bhfuil ag fáil bás). Athríonn sé cinneall aisteach freisin ag scríobh poist ar blog le ainm cosúil le Pedro Monscooch. Seo é Des ag "canadh" ag an Oireachtas ar an dereidh seachtaine seo caite:

King Tut was David Schwimer in a past life

2007-11-04T09:25:00.000-10:00

My favourite topics in history class back in secondary school were the Egyptians and the Roman empire so I found the following story pretty cool:

Via BBC News: The face of Egypt's most famous ancient ruler, King Tutankhamun, has been put on public display for the first time.

Archaeologists took the mummy from its stone sarcophagus and placed it in a climate-controlled case inside his tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings.

The event comes 85 years to the day after the pharaoh's tomb was discovered by British explorer Howard Carter.

Until now, only about 50 living people have seen the face of the boy king, who died more than 3,000 years ago.

As experts lifted Tutankhamun from his coffin they briefly set aside the white linen covering his remains, revealing a shrivelled black face and body.

Read the rest of the story here on BBC News.

For a laugh, I decided to find out who is as ugly as King Tut in the celebrity world. The results are fascinating. Via that silly MyHeritage site that you see on Bebo, see the ancient Egyptian King morph into Lucy Liu:

Amy Winehouse is a great singer

2007-11-03T23:27:00.000-10:00

Winehouse's performance at the European MTV VMA show this week was so bad, they could've just let this guy get on stage. At least he could hold a tune. You've gotta love Amy's moves though.

Here are the lyrics (or at least as much as I could make out):

Heeyee leftno tiiime
To rigoray
Care his-day aray
Ray is say oh sa baaayah

Heeeyehe AND MY layaha
Yeeah, my tee arjah
Care oh,
Go-ho my gaaaawd

Nooo yearwayar
WatchanoowoOWOOo
So brought a coooaat
So a-har we bwent through

Noow Iii teray
A trouble track (switch pose)
My entourage track
Yeah, I go baahacckkk to blaaah

We only say goodbye to worse
I died a hundwed times
You goooo BACK to her
And I-hayl goho back ta
(whisper) I go back ta... OHoaaho

Ihiy lohove your musk
Yes I neeheed no,
You lobolobolo
Ayand I-ye lo-ovewaha

Ahand I, I be ba go BAaaaCK,
I goes, I dee, barely hover,
Over, ooowwe
All the time

(Chorus)
We only say goodbye to wher
I died a hundwed times
You goooo BACK to her
And Ihayl goho back ta

We only say goodbye to words
I died a hunded times
You goooo BACK to her
And Ihayl goho back ta...

(with emotion) Blaahahacck
BlaaaahAcck
BlahahahaaAAAAcck
Blaayaahahaya
Blahahack
Blah (repeat)
Blaaaayyyyaaaeerwaaaay
Waaaaaaaay I-iiiiiii goo back ta
I go, I go back ta

(Chorus)
We only say goodbye to wher
I died a hundwed times
You goooo BACK to her
And I-hayl gooOOOooaaahaha I,

We only say goodbye to Wher?
I died a hundwed tarnes
you goooo BACK To her
And I-hayl go back to
Blaahayahaaha...

Thank you.

-Transmission ends-

The Boy With The Incredible Brain

2007-11-03T13:20:00.000-10:00

Here's the story of a man who is known in the world of science as a savant. He is special in the sense that he has an amazing memory and can do long calculations without even thinking. He reads the math results in a landscape projected in his mind. In the following film, he is put to the test:

There are interviews with other savants, including Rain Man himself, Kim Peek. The footage of me and my outstanding achievements in the field of excellence was cut out. Too handsome, you see.

"Don't you know who I am?"

2007-11-03T13:18:00.000-10:00

You tell 'em, Jerry. I found out recently that Seinfeld was actually planning on doing a once-off reunion special, but unfortunately, everyone was busy. Julia-Louis Dreyfus has her own show, Jerry is promoting the hell out of Bee Movie and 30 Rock (just by appearing in it), Jason Alexander is probably homeless and Michael Richards is busy being a racist (Paul Mooney was not impressed but at least Kramer is sorry). Click here for Jerry's own reasons on why it can't happen.

Did you know the final episode had over 75 million viewers? I think I read that somewhere... The 9th and final series of Seinfeld is out on DVD November 19th. Also out that day is a giant boxset of all 9 series in a Play.com exclusive Fridge boxset or a simple black boxset if you don't want to look like a clown.

Meet my new BFF

2007-11-03T09:51:00.000-10:00

I had a few posts made over the last few days but I've been feeling like crap every evening after work so I never managed to get around to posting the finished product. Even though I wasn't working today, I still managed to get really sick from sleeping out. Either that or it's because of my irregular eating habits recently or the fact that my eyes have been twitching and I may need glasses. It might also be because of staring at a monitor or TV for so long.

I'm taking a short break until I'm better but rest assured, I'll be back.

The new Matrix: Wanted

2007-11-03T02:09:00.000-10:00

The trailer below is a film based on Mark Millar's comic book miniseries Wanted directed by the man who made Night Watch and Day Watch, Timur Bekmambetov. You can buy the original graphic novel here from Amazon or you could alternatively try some slightly more illegal methods... If I was a naughty boy I'd be pointing you in the general direction of Mininova's Wanted: Chapter 1-6 (plus bonus dossier, oooh) torrent, but I don't want to get into trouble, even if Trent Reznor says it's cool to steal.

Here's the trailer for Wanted, out on April 4th 2008:

I Heart Kevin Smith

2007-11-01T14:06:00.000-10:00

...but not in a big bear kind of way. I've been going through his movies lately starting my way with Clerks and working my way through to Clerks 2. Maybe more so than his films, I loved the Evening With Kevin Smith DVDs.

Some of my favourite scenes included where he discussed the time he was in line to write the first Superman movie after Christopher Reeve, his dispute with Tim Burton, his take on Passion Of The Chist and his tales of working with Prince.

One of the more surreal stories involved Kevin protesting against his own film, Dogma:

The actual footage from the news report eight years ago has finally been found and managed to get it's way onto YouTube. Amazing:

"What does it stand for?"
"I don't know, but I've been told not good."

The ugliest post ever featured on this blog

2007-10-31T13:01:00.000-10:00

Maxim have recently released a list to mirror their Sexiest Women Alive poll (topped by Charlize Theron) for the Unsexiest Women Alive.

1. Sarah Jessica Parker- A stickperson that looks vaguely like an emu:
2. Sandra Oh- One of the best looking Asian men I've ever seen:
3. Amy Winehouse- Mrs. Potato Head:4. Madonna- Her arms give me nightmares:
5. Britney Spears- How did she turn from this to this in the space of just a few short marriages:

Liverpool Watch: Somebody lost their pay slip

2007-10-31T10:01:00.000-10:00

Full story on BBC News.

Robert Goulet dies at the age of 73

2007-10-31T03:20:00.000-10:00

... and what most people remember him by is the following SNL sketch by Will Ferrell:

A tribute to Robert Goulet can be found here on 'Dispatches from the Lower East Side'. A tribute to the man's music can be seen here on Youtube. Some may remember that he was the main baddie, Quentin Hapsberg , in Naked Gun 2:

This is Halloween

2007-10-31T02:55:00.000-10:00

Tim Burton's 'The Nighmare Before Christmas' re-cut with Marilyn Manson's version of 'This Is Halloween' for the re-release of the film in Disney Digital 3-D and 2-Disc Special Edition Soundtrack:

How to survive a Zombie attack (via CommonCraft):

Behind the scenes of Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein:

It wouldn't be Halloween post without a Thriller video:

There's another general Halloween survival guide here on Empire and a gallery of 74 amazing movie themed Jack-O-Laterns here on /Film.

Top Top Gear Moments

2007-10-29T11:47:00.000-10:00

Top Gear is, by far, one of the best shows on TV right now. Here are just two examples from last Sunday's show.

The Bugatti Veyron versus the Eruofighter Typhoon:

Jeremy Clarkson reviews small cars:

Sorry about the lack of updates to the site. I had them all made up everyday but just kept forgetting to post the finished product. To make up for it, here is one of the funniest news pieces I've ever seen:

More features like this can be found on the constantly brilliant satire site The Onion.

Liverpool Watch: Arsenal

2007-10-29T07:51:00.000-10:00

Well, that was lucky. It could've been much worse. Then again, if Liverpool managed to keep their early lead, the Kop could currently be 3 points behind Arsenal.

Song Of The Week: The Band Of Horses edition (now with 100% more cowabunga)

2007-10-28T08:08:00.000-10:00

Here's the brand new video and single from Band Of Horses called "Is There A Ghost" from their album "Cease To Begin". It's certainly a grower of a tune:

When searching for the video on YouTube I came across a similarly named band called Horse The Band. Here's a cover they did of the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles:

For some reason, someone uploaded another song of theirs ("Anti-Pizza") to footage from the TMNT movies. The video had the following description which I found hilarious:

A music video, a work of art, a retrospect, a documentary, and an epic adventure of a life time. SATAN!

I'm off to the moving pictures

2007-10-28T07:36:00.000-10:00

I'll update this post later with a review of Ratatouille since I love these kind of movies. Pixar movies specifically, that is. Especially when they're directed by Brad Bird. Even though it's a Dreamworks production, Bee Movie seems promising enough too. Especially when they're viewed after alcohol consumption.

Here's a five minute clip from Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie:

The Monkeys... didn't have Owen Wilson's best interests at heart.

2007-10-27T09:35:00.000-10:00

Here's Owen Wilson's first interview, as part of the MySpace Artist on Artist series, since his suicide attempt two months ago. He's seen in the video above promoting The Darjeeling Limited with writer, director and general expert at smashing it, Wes Anderson. Through movie magic (as used in Transformers, apparently) they seem to be right next to each other but they aren't actually in the same room at all. Shocking, I know. It's like something out of those futuristic films like Tron or Spaceballs.

It's odd seeing Wilson a shadow of the ever-enthusiastic character he played in You, Me And Dupree or Zoolander. He's like a real life version of his character in The Royal Tenenbaums. It all reminds of the following 60's classic by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles called "Tears Of A Clown". Enjoy:

Well. That was random.

Bank Holiday Caturday

2007-10-27T06:57:00.000-10:00

There's something very wrong about the above video. To be fair, at least it's not cat-spanking.

Portal: 3 hours of gaming heaven

2007-10-26T12:30:00.000-10:00

Bundled into the Half-Life 2 boxset on the 360, PC, and PS3 is a brilliant little game called Portal. The idea is that you use a gun to shoot one entrance portal hole and one exit portal and work your way around a set obstacle courses by travelling through these portals.

Here's the trailer which gives a few simple example puzzles:

After finishing the game, you recieve the best videogame credit song I've ever heard. Watch it here via Youtube or download the MP3 here. Some call it the best song ever. I might be inclined to agree with that.

There is also a Flash version of game available to play and it's actually quite decent. It's nowhere near as perfect as the real game, but it's still a better way to waste half an hour than reading PerezHilton.com or something. Play it here (full screen mode here).

Monty Python would be proud

2007-10-26T09:05:00.000-10:00

This video might well contain the meaning of life. It starts off fairly boring but it really picks up in the middle. Godzilla looking into the skyscraper would be one of my favourite parts.

Visit the creator's site here. Here's his intro: "Hello, I am Cyriak from 100 years into the future, where I have been exhumed and sent backwards in time via cyberspace in order to welcome you to the unabridged contents of my brain-damaged imagination". This kind of thinking fries my brain.

Season 7 Preview Of 24: Live Free Or Die Hard

2007-10-25T09:54:00.000-10:00

*If you haven't seen the above trailer and don't intend to, please avoid reading the following rant on which it's based. Just assume I wrote some hilarious yet insightful comments.*

The producers of 24 must've really liked the entire plot of Die Hard 4.0 because Day 7 looks like it's based on entirely on that: A former loyal government agent (Tony Almieda -sporting dodgy facial hair as his character used to do in the early days) is pissed off at the terms on which he left serving the government, systematically shuts down the United States with his mad hacking skillz, yo.

It wouldn't be fair to say the Jack Bauer has jumped the shark. He doesn't do things as conventional as that. You could say that he and the show in general have definitely crossed the realism line while driving a car that's on fire, killing the line on the way, crashed into a building causing it and several trucks to explode, drive back, revive the line, torture it and then kill it again.

The addition of Kurtwood "Red from That 70's Show" Smith leaves very little else left from the cast of the Robocop series left to play a role in 24. See the entire list from season one to six here.

The series returns in January 2008.

Mine eyes, they bleed!

2007-10-25T09:23:00.000-10:00

The trailer Paris Hilton's new movie "Repo: The Genetic Opera" was released online today and I don't know what to think. As well as Paris, it also stars Sarah Brightman and Anthony Head (also known as that Giles guy from Buffy).

I've a feeling that Sarah Brightman's agent must hate her to give her something like this. As for Paris Hilton, I know that nobody likes her in the horror fan world (proof here), especially after such tosh as House Of Wax and Cat In The Hat. They weren't the least bit scary.

On the topic of slutty women, I saw this advertisement on a Nintendo website:

Note to self: must move to Mullingar.

Happy Birthday, Communism!

2007-10-24T12:55:00.001-10:00

I'm not so fond of the Communist ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production(thank you, Wikipeadia) but I do love the art of the time: Here's a quick summary according to the nifty blog A Soviet Poster A Day.

Every soviet poster no matter the date of creation bears a stamp of expressiveness and graphical quality. The attention to details is awesome. The scope of techniques is endless. Soviet posters are a treasure chest with inspiration for any graphical designer, not to mention the seeing pleasure itself. And what's important, every Soviet Poster has a historical reference essential for understanding the layers of meanings it carries through time.

Visit the site here, comrade.

Ew... gross.

2007-10-24T08:28:00.000-10:00

Cake Or Death?

2007-10-23T12:23:00.001-10:00

Via Critical Junk (which I wish was updated more often), comes this adaptation of Eddie Izzards "Death Star Canteen" bit. The animation is a bit sloppy but it tells the story well:

If, by chance, you liked the above video, then that means you have a sense of humour. I implore you to purchase the Eddie Izzard DVD collection.

One of my favourite of the six comedy shows featured in that 6 DVD box set above is "Dressed To Kill" which was filmed in 1999. It features the bit I used as the post subject, Cake Or Death, which can see here. I've embedded it in playlist form below. It's broken into 12 bits and is roughly three hours long altogether.

I, for one, am against children being hit by trains.

2007-10-23T09:17:00.000-10:00

Are the people in this video serious? Give me a break... (see what I did there). I think their main point is that the world is indeed royally screwed but it isn't so bad right now, is it? Ah.

Wait...

2007-10-22T11:35:00.001-10:00

I'm actually impressed I've lasted this long. A lot of might have been filler material but I'm fairly happy with the direction I'm taking but I'm still considering changing the format a bit. I may even register a domain name (something classy like monscooch.com- it's a unique brand name now).

Before my PC decided it had enough of this cruel world and gave up on life I want to reiterate what I promised before and post brand new videos, comics, movie reviews, more views on celebrities and go back to compiling more lists. I like writing lists. I might even post more than twice a day. I know, shocking stuff.

High up on the list of changes is a possible move to Wordpress. I've noticed it's done wonders for Rick and it may give this site a much more of a professional look to it.

If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to comment below. Or not. Whatever.

Liverpool Watch: Everton

2007-10-22T03:26:00.000-10:00

That was too close for comfort. Who knew Liverpool could come back from behind at that stage of the game? They may have been trying to outscore themselves but it was still a tight one.

It was another controversial game for Liverpool this season but at least we won this one. Unlike that shambolic Chelsea game... I still hate you Rob Styles. I know you read this blog. I hope you cry yourself to sleep.

Bonus Livepool video collection: 100 Players Who Shocked The Kop

It's the follow-up to the 100 Days That Shook The Kop feature I compiled a few weeks ago. A run-down of the list can be found on bill-shankly.blogspot.com.

Song Of The Week: Anything but Nelly edition

2007-10-21T10:04:00.000-10:00

This week, I have been mostly listening to Timbaland (feat One Republic)- Apologize:

It should be credited to One Republic featuring Timbaland and not the other way around since this song isn't really produced by Timbaland so much as he just programmed some different drums over it shouting "Ay, Ay, (lower pitch) Ay". Here's the (much better) original by One Republic in a (much better) fan-made video:

Here's Nelly acting like a royal fool during the recent BET Hip-Hop awards. Look out for such lyrical gems as "They call me Mister Intellectual, I keep a bunch of vegetables". Seriously:

*Bonus* Une télécharger gratis pour vous:
Mick Boogie, Terry Urban and 9th Wonder: The Graduate (Hosted by Kanye West)

League Crew/Kanye West - Intro
Kanye West & 50 Cent - Flashing Lights (Mick Boogie Mix)
Kanye West & Nas - I Wonder (Terry Urban Mix)
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Never Leave Me Down (9th Wonder Remix)
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Big Brother/Encore (live)
Kanye & Mos Def - Good Night
Kanye West - I Still Love Her
Kanye West - Stronger (Original Unreleased Verse)
Kanye West & Nas - Major League (Mick Boogie Mix)
Kanye West & The Notorious B.I.G. - Kicks Open Doors (Terry Urban Mix)
Kanye West - A Million And One
Kanye West, Little Brother & Lil Wayne - Breakin’ My Heart (Mick Boogie Mix /Produced by 9th Wonder)
Kanye West - Champion (live)
Kanye West & Jay-Z - Everything I am (Terry Urban Mix)
Kanye West - Freestyle
Kanye West & Common - Get ‘Em High (A-Trak Remix)
Consequence & Kanye West - Complications (Mick Boogie Mix)
Kanye West & Ludacris - Breathe In (9th Wonder Remix)
Kanye West & Talib Kweli - The Bounce/Two Words (live)
Kanye West - Two Words (9th Wonder Remix)
Kanye, Dr. Dre & Busta Rhymes - Imagine 2008 (Terry Urban Remix)
Kanye West, Consequence, & Patti Labelle - Anything
Consequence & Kanye West - Skillz (Terry Urban Mix)
Kanye West & Common - Glory (Mick Boogie Remix)
Kanye West & Termanology - Everything (The Diddy Song)
Kanye West & Consequence - Don’t Forget ‘Em
Kanye West, Common & Lupe Fiasco - Southside (Terry Urban)
Kanye West & Little Brother - Naaw (9th Wonder Bonus Track)

Download it here (only when the server is in a good move)

Via the wonderful amfmpm.org come these fantastic mashups which shouldn't work (but totally do):

The Red Paintings covering Gary Jules covering Tears For Fears vs. Linkin Park: Numb World

Busta Rhymes vs. Berlin: Touch My Breath Away

Some Viral Videos Sunday

2007-10-21T01:07:00.000-10:00

How a cat wakes you in the morning:

Those crazy Germans and their pranks:

A charming ad which I've never seen so I won't spoil it on you:

Deleted Family Guy scene:

Calamity on the catwalk

Street Fighter 4 teaser (if only the game will look like this):

Bonus video: How to trick the batter in baseball- Japanese stylee

Real Anchorman = Lego Anchorman

2007-10-20T12:32:00.000-10:00

After the overwhelming response on the movie comparison I posted yesterday, I decided to upload the Afternoon Delight scene from Anchorman for your enjoyment.

I had to alter it a bit to keep the length. Just as I tried doing on the Zoolander clip, I did my best to replicate the original shot-for-shot with the time (and pieces) given. What I found hardest was to control two people at once with my brother "acting" through the other two. And now, the lego film:

Award given where music starts

2007-10-20T12:03:00.000-10:00

My favourite radio station, Phantom 105.2, won Local Music Station Of The Year at the PPI awards last night and deservedly so. Check out the press release on the blog of Phantom's very own Nadine O'Reagan here. I listen to the station as often as I can on weekday nights and most weekends when I'm not working the streets.

Visit the main site here and listen to Phantom online here. One of my favourite shows on the station is Album Archive where a single classic album is profiled. Tune in tomorrow for a show dedicated to Queen Of The Stone Age's "Songs For The Deaf". Here's the staff showing off their mad guitar skillz:

Lego Zoolander = Real Zoolander

2007-10-19T12:51:00.000-10:00

For those interested in seeing the original Zoolander movie I based my lego movie on, I've uploaded it on the youtubes:

It's a bit sloppy in the editing but the main chunk I used for the lego clip is still there. I tried to get it down shot-for-shot as much as possible in the one day I had to shoot it. Here's the lego version:

A Brand New Mashup

2007-10-19T11:26:00.000-10:00

... in poster format. Sylvester Stallone's new Rambo movie isn't known as "John Rambo" anymore. Or "Rambo: To Hell And Back". Or "End of Peace", "Holy War", "In the Serpent's Eye", "Pearl of the Cobra" or "Rambo: First Blood Part Two: The Sequel: Attack Of The Clones". They didn't even take my own suggestion "Rambo IV: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb". Anyways, the film is now going to be called "Rambo". To make your own Rambo poster, you take one part Sin City and one part Scarface:

If you are a Scarface fan, you will love this poster. It's made up entirely from the 300 page script. You can buy it here for $14.

Perfect magazine ads that pleases the kid in me

2007-10-18T12:03:00.000-10:00

Colour blindness sucks (apparently)

2007-10-18T11:20:00.000-10:00

I'm colourblind. Apparently, that means I'm not allowed to become a pilot, an air traffic controller or win the Mr Perfect Colourblindness-Free Champion 2007. It didn't stop when I was studying to become a graphic designer or prevent me from giving the course up. To be honest, even though I've read Wikipedia's misconceptions and compensations, I have no idea why colourblindness would stop me from flying planes. I kick ass at Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 and have only managed to miss the landing strips about 3 times and land in the ocean. Somehow, that makes planes explode.

Feel free to take the coloublind test here and find out how "special" you are too. Here are the results I got from taking that test a while ago before the questions were changed.

Look at how many people got the same results I did! It boggles the mind. I found the image above at Threadless. It's a cool and cheap T-Shirt store. I'm all about the random sentences today.

Semi-exciting news #2

2007-10-17T13:29:00.000-10:00

Stephen Colbert joins the race for presidency of the United States:

Semi-exciting news #1

2007-10-17T12:53:00.000-10:00

Judd Apatow joins the collaborative comedy site FunnyOrDie.com.

Some highlights from FunnyOrDie.com:
The Landlord
Bush And The Zombies
Good Cop, Baby Cop
Spiders On Drugs

Lookee what I bought

2007-10-16T08:30:00.000-10:00

I bought all this for the low, low price of €519 in HMV Galway, saving over €250. It's still a lot of money to be spending on console. But the way I see it, I spend much less per week on computer games than other people who spend as much money on cigarettes. And the PS3 isn't going to give me multiple types of cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, circulatory disease and birth defects. That's if I ever decide to give birth one day, mind you.

Web 2.0 in under 5 minutes

2007-10-16T02:12:00.000-10:00

Here's a hugely popular video I've never seen before, which deserves a post:

Web 2.0 is linking us together, eh? If that's the case then I should give this whole Bebo thing another shot. I stopped exactly one year ago when people made it a competition for homepage views as testament (in their heads) to their own popularity. The only reason I'm doing it is that I just want a way to bug people using a creepy avatar. At least until friends of mine can step up and upgrade to Facebook.

I know this isn't what Rick would want but, oooh, check out my freshly set up bebo now! It's got flashing lights and everything! Nude cats! Lego porn! It's also got the best picture of me you'll ever get to see. Add me if you want, fellow bebotards.

Top English wits

2007-10-15T12:34:00.000-10:00

UKTV channel Dave conducted a survey to find out the top British wits. Here are the top voted wittiest men in British history and I've linked each one to Wikiquote for more wit than you can handle.

Oscar Wilde: "Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast."
Spike Milligan: "A sure cure for seasickness is to sit under a tree."
Stephen Fry: "It is a cliche that most cliches are true, but then like most cliches, that cliche is untrue"
Jeremy Clarkson: "We all know that small cars are good for us. But so is cod liver oil. And jogging. I want to drive around in a Terminator, not the heroine in an EM Forster novel."
Winston Churchill: "I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals."
Paul Merton: "My school days were the happiest of my life: which should give you some indication of the misery I've endured over the past twenty five years."
Noel Coward: "Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar. Never spread it about like marmalade."
William Shakespeare: "Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery."
Brian Clough: "I wouldn't say I was the best manager in the business, but I was in the top one"
Liam Gallagher: (on Victoria Beckham) "She can't even chew gum and walk in a straight line, let alone write a book."

The list doesn't make much sense to me. Firstly, William Shakespeare never had to be consistently witty as a team leader on "Have I got news for you". Second, the top two in the list are Irish. I bet the next survey will be to was to find the best city in Britain only for Galway to win it. See, that's just me attempting to find my way onto the list for next year.