Apple and Eve

LOS ANGELES (Fortune) -- In Pixar Films' upcoming animation epic, "Wall-E," the title character is a cute but clunky robot whose centuries of solitude on an abandoned Earth is broken by the arrival of a svelte, futuristic robot named Eve - who is so white, gleaming, and well, pod-like, that she looks like she was born in Apple's design room. It turns out that she was - sort of ...

2P START! Live!

I had the opportunity to appear on the latest episode of the 2P START! podcast. I had a good time recording it and, judging by the comments, it was a welcome addition for the listeners. Enjoy 30 minutes and 16 seconds of fun!

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Free Dr. Pepper? Probably not until 2010

I'm catching up on a few news items I missed over the past few months and even though this one's a little old, it's probably never going to be too old, considering how long this album has been 'in the works.'

Free Dr Pepper For "Chinese Democracy"

Dr Pepper is offering everyone in the country a free soda if Axl Rose releases the album he has been recording for 17 years, "Chinese Democracy," anytime this year, according to a press release.

I like how you can predict when the album will be released and one of the choices is "the day after you die."

Professional movie critics disappearing

I don't typically link to company blogs, but I thought this post for Fandango was interesting:

Disappearing Movie Critics

The Interent has made film criticism the ultimate democracy, and overall, that's great. With sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, and our own fan ratings and user reviews, consumers can quickly and easily find out the critical consensus, the word on the street, and how a movie played at preview screenings.

But it's still sad to see so many seasoned critics, with their unique writing styles and opinions, being lost in the shuffle.

I guess that's an industry I'm glad I didn't get into.

The 'real' crystal skulls

Real-life skull worship inspires new 'Indy' film

PALENQUE, Chiapas (AP) — There is a legend that the ancient Maya possessed 13 crystal skulls which, when united, hold the power of saving the Earth — a tale so strange and fantastic that it inspired the latest Indiana Jones movie.

I'm already liking the new movie's MacGuffin more than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's Sankara Stones, which few (or zero) teams remembered correctly at last year's museum trivia night.

Childless men still children

Child-Man in the Promised Land

We can argue endlessly about whether “masculinity” is natural or constructed—whether men are innately promiscuous, restless, and slobby, or socialized to be that way—but there’s no denying the lesson of today’s media marketplace: give young men a choice between serious drama on the one hand, and Victoria’s Secret models, battling cyborgs, exploding toilets, and the NFL on the other, and it’s the models, cyborgs, toilets, and football by a mile. For whatever reason, adolescence appears to be the young man’s default state, proving what anthropologists have discovered in cultures everywhere: it is marriage and children that turn boys into men.

Clearly some publisher needs to create a video game combining models, cyborgs, toilets and football.

'Forum' review

The review is now online and it's a good one, indeed. But if you don't want a funny plot surprise ruined prior to seeing the show, don't read it yet!

Farcical 'Forum' tickles the ribs

San Joaquin Delta College's drama program is offering a colorful, cartoon-styled farce that's a tickle-your-ribs kind of funny. It's a production of Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart's 1962 musical comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," with an emphasis on the comedy.

'Forum' preview article

It took me five days to find this article on The Record's web site. Hopefully I can find the review (which was published today) quicker than that. Victor took a great photo and it's too bad it's not in color on the site.

Cast faces comic challenges in Delta College's staging of 'Forum'

Last fall, Chris Hayhurst tackled the title role in San Joaquin Delta College's wildly zany production of Moliere's "Scapino." At the time, he described the part as perhaps the most physically demanding of his young career.

Free Comic Books this Saturday

Free Comic Book Day is a single day when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores. Click below for more information.