HEUGE

Happy 2012!

Here are a few pics from the Space Needle’s Fireworks Display that I took from my apartment (yup, I live closeby)

Click for bigger versions in a lightbox window.  :)

The Alamo has some of the best videos which encourage folks to not talk/text during movies otherwise bad things (zombies, axe murders, Ann Richards, etc..) will serve violent justice on your ass.  Earlier this year they tossed out a customer, and they got a voicemail response which they turned into one of their PSA’s.

I adore the Alamo Drafthouse.  Run by Tim and Karrie League, this chain of theaters is the preferred venue for most Austinites.  You can sit down, order a burger and a beer, and enjoy a movie.  How do they do this?  Imagine a theater that has every other row of seats ripped-out.  In that empty space a row is allocated to a small tabletop and walking space for a server to take your order (written on paper) and serve your food.  There’s a full kitchen and an army of hard-working wait staff who make sure that everyone is served quickly and quietly.  What makes this extra specials? There is a strict talking loudly is grounds for getting tossed-out, and texting is also grounds for getting tossed.  This means that the audience gets the benefit of a great movie without the distractions that plague less well moderated movie theaters.

I remember going to a theater in Rochester, NY watching The Ghost and the Darkness.  Halfway though the movie some kids started screaming and running down the isles.  At first I was wondering what foolish parents would let their little kids into an R-rated movie, and then after a few minutes without a rebuke, I realized that there were no parents.  Apparently some folks were using the movie theater to babysit their kids while they went to the mall.  These kids didn’t really know any better, but I’ve been to some movies where adults are being similarly disrespectful.

Ann Richards

R. Lee Ermey

George Romero

Patton Oswalt and Jason Reitman recreating the famous voicemail PSA.

Nowadays I turn my phone completely off whenever I go into a movie.  I can enjoy the movie completely, and I don’t worry about being distracted or distracting those in the theater. I hope you do the same.

If you were a little kid, do you think you would battle so bravely?   What would you use to defend your family from the zombie hoarde?

Thank you Japanese Television for making me laugh to the point of pain.

Yay! Well all I really care about is TRON vs other white elephant in the room. Yahoo has the new trailer footage from Comic Con.  For the first time someone besides Apple has the full trailer first, but perhaps Apple is falling behind on even things that are not white iPhones.

News services have picked up that the delivery date will now be pushed to 2011, but that’s not clear in this release.  It seems that white plastic and glass would not be that difficult to make vs black plastic and glass, but only Apple (and a bunch of Taiwanese/Chinese vendors) would know what’s really up.  I know simple and minimal is good, but Apple’s June press release was weak.  And the second one from July is also weak but it does change around the order of a few words.

JUNE: White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

JULY: White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have continued to be more challenging to manufacture than we originally expected, and as a result they will not be available until later this year. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

If the white iPhone 4 white model has never been sold, then yes, the black model might be just a touch (no, not a reference to the iPod… srsly) more popular by sales numbers.  I feel badly for my coworker who’s waiting for a hand-me-down 3GS from her friend who’s waiting for the white iPhone 4.

AUGUST (I’m guessing here): We are still very sorry for the delay of White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4.  It has less to do with the problems of producing the awesome screen, and fixing the antenna.  It’s just simply that with the record sales of the iPad and the new i7 MacBook Pro’s, we’ve simply run out of unicorns.  We are improving our unicorn capture, extract and release program, and as long as we can procure the necessary virgins, we should have a strong supply for Q4.  The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.

Old Spice Marketing FTW

So Old Spice has taken over YouTube and started me laughing off my ass this morning.  Additionally these have made me feel guilty about ignoring the gym for… *cough* …forever. The brilliance in the writing is obvious.  Old Spice has proven that it can be relevant and responsive!

The Channel for these videos with Isaiah Mustafa can be found here.

Not only can Old Spice carry a conversation with 4chan, Guy Kawasaki and Ashton Kutcher (and Ashton’s 1.2 kabillion twitter followers), but he can simultaneously seduce Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan. Suddenly I feel like I need a soap upgrade.  I may also need to go the gym.

Alyssa Milano Series

Rose McGowan

I’m looking forward to watching IRON MAN 2 which released at midnight here in the US (and I think last week in Europe).  Here are some great visuals from the trailer hosted by Apple.   War Machine is now my background image.  As good as Don Cheadle may be in this movie, Terrence Howard will be missed.  Terrence’s performance in Hustle & Flow makes me a lifetime fan.