I Love TV and the Movies. They ROCK!!!!

Nuff Said.


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Photoshop Your Way to Happiness, Kind Of.

Check out the following video for a new web photo compilation application which is said to take sketches and create composite images of your liking.
I have to say that this looks pretty funky, maybe even fun. Can I be bothered trying it out, I dunno, have a look anyway and see.

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Tsunami Time... Its a disaster...

Here in the Pacific we are subject to the possibility many kinds of natural disasters. Volcanic eruptions, tropical cyclones, tornado's, earthquakes and tsunami's. It is a constant threat that cannot be dismissed lightly. Anyone of these could strike at any time.
We all know what destruction a tsunami can cause as illustrated by the Indonesian tsunami of 2003. Hundreds of thousands of people perished. But what would happen if the worlds biggest volcano decided to do the Atkins diet and shed some weight. Check out the video after the jump of what could happen to the near by island of Oahu and the city of Honolulu if such a scenario occurred.


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The story of Ali Dia

Otherwise known as Bambi on Ice....

Has anyone reading this ever had the same daydream as me? You are at a Premier League game when the team you have supported as a boy is in big trouble; all 3 subs have been used and your star striker has come down with all-over cramp, or a heart attack or something, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, the manager of your team is having a head to head with the ref who starts nodding his head as if he agrees with what the manager is asking him. Suddenly the manager starts perusing the fans, looking the stands up and down and then…..he points at you. You look around and everyone is staring at you; this cannot be happening, surely, this is too immense – you stand up, the crowd goes wild, the manager throws you a shirt. You are playing up front my boy. Breathe it in!

Of course that scenario couldn’t possibly happen for a large number of various reasons, you weren’t named on the team sheet for a start, and Premier League rules would never allow it.

Plus it’s utterly ridiculous.

The following however, is a true story….


In 1996 Graeme Souness, former Scotland international and Liverpool FC legend was managing the then Premier League Southampton FC when he received a phone call from the great George Weah, FIFA world player of the year 1995. Weah told Souness that his cousin Ali Dia, a former Paris St Germain player and Senegalese international was currently without a club and would like to offer Southampton FC his services. Souness, being very flattered by a personal call from George Weah plus being offered a talent such as Dia could hardly refuse and signed Dia on a rolling one month contract. There was one slight problem, one that Souness would not know about until it was too late. Ali Dia was not an international player at all, he wasn’t even a professional and had never played top flight football. George Weah had never heard of him and never actually made the call to Graeme Souness, it was Ali Dia’s agent all along. The whole thing was a hoax.

How far did the hoax go? Well, on 23rd November 1996 Ali Dia made his Premier League debut as a 32nd minute substitute for the great Matthew Le Tissier in a game against Leeds United. It really did get that far. So utterly useless was Dia as a footballer he himself was taken off the pitch and replaced after the 53rd minute. The next morning he turned up to the training ground for treatment on an injury then was never seen again.

So, if there really is something you desperately want to do with your life and you cannot get there by skill or merit....

Just blag it.

Here's the aformentioned Matthew Le Tissier's take on the episode...



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This Is Not a Raleigh Grifter.

Now, as a kid I used to bike everywhere. I loved my bike. It took me all over town. I had a Raleigh Grifter and I am pretty sure there were not too many around. My skills on a bike were confined to getting from place A to place B, maybe riding through the odd creek or jumping from the curb where it dips over peoples driveways. That was it.
Nothing compares to the following dude. His name is Danny MacAskill and he is pretty handy on 2 wheels. Check out the vid after the jump for some mid blowing freestyle.


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The Last Last Supper.

I have always been a fan of Leonardo Di Vinci's painting of The Last Supper. Its an iconic image done in an amazing time of art and discovery. It, like many iconic images through history has been Contemporized for various reasons.

Here is a list from popped culture blog of 101 different interpretations of Da Vinci's Last Supper.
Here are some of my favourites.



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Freedom Tower construction speeds up.

I looks like the construction of the Freedom Tower in Manhattan is taking a little longer than some would like. Check out the news article after the jump for city and international representatives who are looking forward to the projected completion in 2011.


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New Terminator Trailer

Check out the latest Trailer to the new Terminator film.


No Doubt this will be straight to video, as with all of Asylum's other rip off films such as Alien V's Hunter, The Da Vinci Treasure, The Day the Earth Stopped, Transmorphers and Snakes on a Train.
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Seriously Good Movie Reviews.

Many people out there in the World may have already had exposure to a chap called Mark Kermode, I on the other hand have just learnt about him. He features on a BBC radio show hosted by Simon Mayo which is posted as a podcast every week. He is a well informed bloke in the world of movies and from what I can gather he is somewhat influential.
He has a love of horror movies and an extensive collection of some of the worst films ever made. If you are after a decent weekly and sometime humorous movie review then download the podcast from the 5Live website and have a listen. Well worth the 40-50 minutes of your week to find out what is good and what is not.

Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Create Your Own Fonts... Fun, Fun, Fun...

http://www.yourfonts.com/ enables you to create a font based on your own handwriting. A couple of snags that come with it. Number 1, only you can view the font unless you manage to get a copy of the font file onto every other PC in the world. Number 2, you have a to print out a form and then write the letters and characters down, then scan the images and load them up to the website......... Breathe...... Then after a while it will spit out a font that only you will see..... Great.....

I just sat through my work colleague writing out his alphabet and then spending a half hour trying to figure out how to scan using the MFP.
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Only in NZ - Guilty by Accusation

It is hard to believe but true that in New Zealand a new law is about to come into force that will reverse in one single swipe all that democracy and justice stands for, that is the right to innocence until proven guilty.

Now I am not here to defend the actions of people who download copyrighted material from the internet. Nor do I suggest that the action of downloading copyrighted material should be seen as anything other than illegal. When all is said and done copying copyrighted material is indeed a criminal offence. As a hobby I manufacture and sell 3d models on the internet, prices range from $5 - $10usd and I make maybe $3000usd pa profit from their sale. These products are protected under NZ copyright law, international copyright law and are also protected against copyright infringements by the host internet retailers. To date none of my 3d products have been made available on sites to download for free but other manufacturers of similar 3d products would be well aware of the ease with which their products are available to download for free (do a torrent search for Hongyu and you will see what I mean). My point here is to highlight that downloading files can financially hurt the hobbyist as well as the megastars and big corporations. For the record I am happy to confess to having downloaded copyrighted material from the internet.

But on February 28th when Section 29 (a to d) of the Copyright Act comes into force in New Zealand it will compel ISP’s by law to terminate the internet connection of any repeat copyright infringer without warning and without having to prove that the downloaded file(s) were copyrighted material or without giving the accused the right to defend their actions – GUILT UPON ACCUSATION. Hey fair enough I hear you say, the amount of material some people download is taking the piss right? Make no mistake here, all you would have to do is download two or three copyrighted images from Google Images and you have broken the law. Can you imagine that? You grab 3 images of Jessica Alba looking as hot as she does and you are now a law breaker. Let’s put this into context. If you speed in your car on any NZ road the police must prove conclusively that you have indeed speeded. They have a number of sophisticated tools at their disposal to do so which means they are able to determine your guilt pretty much without question however you are still allowed the right of appeal against any charges and punishments issued. Innocent until proven guilty right? Let’s put it another way. Let’s imagine you are a truck driver and you murder a prostitute (Thanks Jezza). The police and the feds hunt you down and eventually arrest you. Even though you are a sick fck who deserves to be incarcerated for your actions you as the accused are still entitled to a fair trial in court and to be judged by a jury of 12 good men and women. Once again innocent until proven guilty right? Democracy in action right? So why is it that someone who downloads copyrighted material from the internet is not subject to these same core principles on which our democratic society is justly based?
You could in return argue that infringing copyrights is a minor offense and by compelling ISP’s to act this way reduces the potential burden on the justice system, the state and on tax payers. That would be a fair argument for sure but it still does not change the fact that ISP’s must now act as judge, jury and executioner. Once we start down this path where does it end? If you buy a CD from a CD store and copy the contents to your PC, IPod and PSP will the CD store be compelled to ban you from entering their outlets? Even worse if you buy a magazine from a newsagent and then take scans of the images will the newsagent then responsible for enforcing any punishments against you as decreed by law?

The real problem with this law is twofold:-
One, it is very poorly designed legislation that is unworkable and punishes only the little guy.
Two, it does not actually address the issue of copyright infringement.
Surely this law would make much more sense if it was targeting the people who actually make the files available to infringe in the first place.

For more information go to creativefreedom.org.nz

I hope this post generates some responses from you, our loyal viewers. I would be very interested to hear your points of view.

PS. Whats with the blacked out image? This image has been taken up by the global internet masses as a way of protesting the stupidity of this law. Even comedian Steven Fry is twittering about it!
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The Force is strong with this one...

Now I love Lego and I also love Star Wars so when the two combine I am in nerd heaven.
There have been plenty of Star Wars Lego models made by enthusiasts that are mind boggling in size and complexity but this example really is something else .

Not sure who the builder of this Separatist Type9978 Landing Craft is and Im also not 100% convinced by the choice of colour but anyways this is damn impressive Star Wars Lego building. To add some context to the size of the model the brown Trade Federation MTT is an actual Lego set.

View here (Courtesy of Gizmondo)
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Terminator Meltdown Update

It seems Christian Bales' outburst has created a lot of controversy and noise prompting many commentators on the web to express their points of view. As per norm most are BS but some do make pretty interesting reading.

Christian Bale, star of The Dark Knight and upcoming Terminator Salvation flicks was recorded losing his toys, lollies, lunch and his mind on set of TS at some poor unfortunate, in the wrong place at the right time DP named Shane Hurlbut.

Some fat guy at aintitcool.com reckons Bale may have been somewhat justified in verbally flaming the dude - read here

Another dude at cinemablend.com reckons the fat guy is a nob but kinda agrees that maybe the whole thing was just a storm in a tea cup after all - read here

Another guy just got his kicks out of taking as much piss as is legally possible - listen here

But what about the poor schmuk caught in the crosshairs? Well he aint saying much and who would blame him but anyway his name is Shane Hurlbut and he has feelings too - feel here

Want my opinion? No? well f*ck u2. But seriously Bale's outburst is as funny as hell to listen to but only because it shows that even mega superstars are human just like you and me. Wot you cant remember the last time you told someone to go f*ck themselves at the top of your voice? weird....

If you really do want to hear it again here's the link
!WARNING! wear headphones if at work or your mum is near by - listen here
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Tainted rock the Maiden

So my cousin Cambell is lead singer in the Christchurch Metal band Tainted.
A few weeks ago they were nominated for a comp that The Rock.fm were running to open for Iron Maiden's gig in Chch. Naturaly they won and will be on stage before Iron Maiden at the Westpac Arena Sun 22nd Feb 09.
So If you are a metal fan get down there to support them, tickets seem resonably cheap and the Maiden always rock the house.

Outstanding effort Kuz, Go hard.

therock.net.nz

myspace.com/taintednz
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Terminator Meltdown

This is absolute gold!

Christian Bale, star of The Dark Knight and upcoming Terminator Salvation flicks is recorded loosing his toys, lollies, lunch and his mind on set of TS at some poor unfortunate, in the wrong place at the right time DP (whatever that is). Bale's onslaught is absolutely priceless!

!WARNING! wear headphones if at work or your mum is near by.
Click here to listen
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What happens in Star Wars again?

Here is a video in the same vain as the post previous of a girl recounting Star Wars. This time she has not seen the film and is making it up as she goes. It is pretty funny and there is some witty animation to go with it.


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No matter how hard life gets....

There is always someone out there who shows such a moronic display of stupidity...

You cant help but feel better about yourself.

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Merry Christmas

Thought I would show you all how much this atheist loves Christmas...

Here is my house*, I spent ages getting the timings right and I think I pulled it off perfectly.

Enjoy!





















* This is a lie. This is not my house. I don't know where the hell this is. Probably America...
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Star Wars, through the eyes of a 3 year old.

I have seen this before but I saw this again while looking for something else. A cute 3 year old kid explains the intricacies of the Star Wars plot. Its interesting to see what elements kids actually pick up on.
Very nice.


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Mad Spaghetti.

I just saw this pretty cool stop motion video of someone making Spag Bol. Check it.


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