Everyone Knows Darth Vader is Awesome
Companies are always trying to find a way to differentiate their products, and lately viral marketing has started making even the most staunch consumer want to vomit on their netbook, TomTom nails how to execute a viral marketing campaign with this clip, an instant classic.
Run for your lives!
Making the ordinary terrifying! Awesome!
Rudolph Remix
This isn’t quite how I remember it.
Anyone See Roger Ebert Lately?
He is going through some rough shit right now and the first pictures of him were released on the 24th. The Chicago Eightandfivers may know this already, but I just found out and was shocked. I knew he was going through an illness, but I had no idea. According to the Ebert-penned article, this is how it all went down:
What happened was, cancer of the salivary gland spread to my right lower jaw. A segment of the mandible was removed. Two operations to replace the missing segment were unsuccessful, both leading to unanticipated bleeding.
A tracheostomy was necessary so, for the time being, I cannot speak. I make do with written notes and a lot of hand waving and eye-rolling. The doctors now plan an approach that does not involve the risk of unplanned bleeding. If all goes well, my speech will be restored.
The article is a good read and he is facing his disfigurement and illness with great strength…
I can eat 50 eggs, Streaming Online
I enabled Netflix Watch Now last night and for the first time in my life had the pleasure of watching Cool Hand Luke. And I do mean pleasure. Everything about the experience was great, with the small exception of being required to use internet explorer (even 7 sucks).
Here’s how it works: If you’re a Netflix subscriber head to the page, login and click “your account”. On the right there is an icon that says “How can I watch movies on my PC?” click “Start Now” and you get a new tab at the top called “Watch Now”. Hit that tab and you’re rollin’.
It’s not perfect. It doesn’t have all of Netfix’s catalog available, far from it. After about 10 minutes I’d paged through nearly everything available which could take days in their DVD section. But there was enough that I hadn’t seen (and wanted to see) to keep me busy for a long, long time. Well… 15 hours a month in my case as that’s the alloted time for my subscription level (one hour for every dollar per month).
After choosing Cool Hand Luke I hit “play” and internet explorer prompted me way too many times to allow some crap and it finally started. I moved the window over to my standard definition TV (480i) connected to my PC with an S-Video cable, hit full-screen and let ‘er rip.
There are three levels of video quality available that are determined for you basic, good and high. The qualification for which level you get is based on your connection speed. Basic = 500 kbps (the one I get), Good = 1.0 mbps and High 1.6 mbps or better. I imagine there are few people with the 1.0 mbps connections out there and far less with the 1.6 but that’s what they offer. I’d like to see the ability to choose you’re quality and just let the thing buffer more but I have to say that the quality of Basic was better than I expected. I’m sure it wasn’t DVD resolution, but I really couldn’t tell–it was that good. I wish they divulged what the different qualities actually meant but I’m not complaining that much–there’s just a failure to communicate… with the user.
Now where did I put those eggs?
Anyone else interested in Inland Empire?
I’m a pretty big David Lynch Fan, so when I caught word that his newest film Inland Empire was getting out in limited release, I had to see if it was coming to Minneapolis. I was happy to find that according to it’s website, it was opening here in Minneapolis last weekend…
The Problem was, I couldn’t figure out where they had it playing. It wasn’t listed at the the Uptown or Lagoon and it wasn’t at the Walker. I probably could have called these places to ask about it, but never did.
Amazingly, I was trying to get a couple beers Saturday night at the 331 Club (cool bar by the way) and happened to over-hear a guy talking about having seen it. I asked where and he said the Oak Street Cinema. He went on to explain the theater is in some amount of disrepair and the movie wasn’t very good, but I told him I still had to try and see it…
It runs now threw March 1st. I plan to go waste 3 hours of my life sometime between now and then watching a movie that will undoubtedly make no sense. If anyone else is interested, let me know.
B-Fest 2007
Last weekend I attended B-Fest 2007, a 24-Hour B (as in Bad) Movie Festival put on by A&O Productions, which is a student group my brother was a part of while attending Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. So basically I got real cheap tickets to Chicago, stayed with a friend Thursday night and spent Friday night through Saturday afternoon in a Theatre in the Student Center at Northwestern watching movie’s that by definition are not very good.
The Schedule is available here, but I’ll give you a walk-through of the event:
(more…)
Superbowl Flashback
In honor of the upcoming Superbowl, eightandfive.com brings you the trailer for original Hunter S. Thompson film, “Where the Buffalo Roam” starring Bill Murray and Peter Boyle in a fantastic journey into the madness of Gonzo journalism while covering the 1972 Superbowl.
If you can’t stand football, and you would rather watch something other than Minnesota’s royal Prince…then you should check out “Where the Buffalo Roam.” After all, you can always DVR the halftime show!
Where the Buffalo Roam - 1 min, 45 sec.
Jean-Claude loves the spotlight. I mean REALLY loves it.
I don’t want to bring down the level of the content here on 8&5. Unfortunately, and for reasons that I can’t begin to fathom, I feel compelled to post this video. For the sake of my conscience, though, I’m including a warning. Anyone with an aversion to 90’s action stars, stone-washed denim, or pup tents should look away.
“Sir, do you have a license to carry that?”