Friday, May 30, 2014

‘Empire Strikes Back’ Voted The Greatest Movie Of All Time



Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back has been voted the greatest movie of all time in a poll conducted by the British film publication Empire Magazine. More than 250,000 film fans voted in this latest poll, resulting in a list of the 301 greatest movies of all time. When the poll was last conducted six years ago in 2008 with 10,200 voters, The Godfather took the top honors. This year the Star Wars sequel displaced the Francis Ford Coppola adaptation for the top spot. Who else did Empire Strikes Back beat for the top slot? How has the list changed in the last six years? Find out after the jump.
Here is a look at the top 15 of both the 2014 Empire Readers Poll and the 2008 Empire Readers Poll:
2014 Reader Poll2008 Reader Poll
1Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back The Godfather
2The GodfatherRaiders of the Lost Ark
3The Dark KnightStar Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
4The Shawshank RedemptionThe Shawshank Redemption
5Pulp FictionJaws
6Star Wars: Episode IV — A New HopeGoodfellas
7The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The RingApocalypse Now
8JawsSinging In The Rain
9Raiders Of The Lost ArkPulp Fiction
10InceptionFight Club
11Blade RunnerRaging Bull
12The Lord Of The Rings : The Return Of The KingThe Apartment
13GoodfellasChinatown
14Fight ClubOnce Upon A Time In The West
15The Godfather Part IIThe Dark Knight
Empire Strikes Back wasn’t the only Star Wars film on the rise this year: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope popped from #22 to #6. Interestingly, Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi dropped from #91 to #120 in this years poll.
While The Godfather was knocked off the throne, The Godfather Part II was on the rise — going from #19 to #15.
[via slashfilm]

Daily Spider-Man! That's what you get for swiping Doc Ock's pudding cup!


Now that Doc's back in his arms again, I guess we know it was the arms that caused the wall-bashing earthquake, right?  Then what's going on in this strip from Tuesday?


Did Daily Spider-Man just lurch clumsily into the realm of nonlinear storytelling on purpose or by accident?  One little "Earlier..." narration block could've fixed this.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

How to do Visual Comedy the Edgar Wright Way



I came across this randomly but it's a fun and enlightening way to spend eight minutes.  Some sharp cookie named Tony Zhou talks about Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and how he's keeping movie comedy innovative while most people are forgetting how.  Check it!

Daily Spider-Man! I wish Doc was running towards the tentacles with his arms held out. And also they were in a meadow.


Sunday, May 25, 2014

Emma Watson graduates from Brown University



PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — It's graduation day for movie star Emma Watson.
The British actress best known as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies was among 2,000 graduates receiving degrees Sunday from Brown University. She tweeted a photo of herself in cap and gown.
Watson graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from the Ivy League university in Rhode Island.
The 24-year-old started at Brown in 2009, the same year she was named the highest-grossing actress of the decade by the Guinness Book of World Records.
Watson had a busy film career during her time as a student, releasing both parts ofHarry Potter and the Deathly HallowsThe Perks of Being a WallflowerThis is the End, and the recent Biblical epic Noah.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Star Wars played in theaters 37 years ago today...

I remember seeing it in the theater like it was yesterday.  How did 37 years go by so quickly?

Daily Spider-Man! And a big Spiderverse hand for panel 4's "How? And why now?" guy for keeping cool and providing exposition during a crisis!


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Batman gets top billing in Superman's sequel, 'Dawn of Justice'



From ew, At least that’s part of the thinking at Warner Bros. when it comes to its Man of Steel sequel, which includes Ben Affleck as Batman. The studio announced today that the 2016 blockbuster will be officially titled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The subtitle, “Dawn of Justice,” is a not so subtle nod at the Justice League movie that Warner Bros. and DC Comics already have on the calendar for 2018. (Or maybe it’s a sly reference to director Zach Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead…)
The official logo fine-tunes the image that Snyder unveiled at last year’s Comic-Con. The House of El glyph from Man of Steel is carved into a more old-school bat symbol (the same bat symbol that appears on the new Batman’s chest.)
Dawn of Justice also stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and Holly Hunter in a role newly created for the film. In addition, it features Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Diane Lane returning from Man of Steel.

Sadness: Wife Makes Husband Sell 661-Pound LEGO Collection With Threat Of Divorce



Note: Picture unrelated, clearly somebody else's wife knows what's up.
A man in Sweden recently took out an ad selling his massive 661-pound LEGO collection for $11,500 because his wife was threatening to leave him. Then go! But you're never going to find another man with a LEGO collection like this one. You're gonna wind up settling for some derelict with a half dozen Lincoln Logs.
You can make a difference! Save my marriage. The old bag said last Friday 'now get this shit out.' I don't know if it was me or the Lego she was talking about but I think it was the Lego.

The loot comes in dozens of containers and includes 300 kgs of bricks, 20 kgs of instructions, 44 kgs of wheels and "a practically complete collection of the Lego space range."
Ahahahhahahha @ "The old bag said." Well it's a relief to know the romance isn't dead in their relationship. Ol' Saggintitties over here told me I had to get rid of my LEGO collection. And you know what I told her? I said, 'Now you listen here...' then I accidentally farted and she just walked out of the room laughing at me. So you know what I did? I put a laxative in her bedside water then scattered LEGO blocks between her side of the bed and the bathroom. "You're sick." Plus as many as I could stack on the toilet seat.
Thanks to AMY, who agrees any man who owns "a practically complete collection of the Lego space range" deserves better than this.
[via geekology]

LONG-AWAITED MAJOR DISCOVERY! (Uh, for me. And maybe JPX)



This is a French short that I saw as part of Fantastic Animation Festival, which screened at Rhode Island College in 1977 or so.  My mom took DCD and I to this because afterwards they screened The Point, which is slightly less obscure.

Fast forward to 1984 and JPX and I are throwing together our first claymation.  Our main character was basically a mash-up of Indiana Jones and my dim memories of these guys from Icarus.  Sorry I don't have a visual for "Indy," but JPX and I are working on that.

Every once in a while I've hunted around the web for this movie but I only found it last Sunday (it sucks when you don't have an actual title to look for).  Needless to say I'll be hitting Eddie Brant's Saturday Matinee, my local purveyor of obscure VHS goodies, to see if I can find the whole movie.  Apparently this was the first conglomeration of animated shorts ever.  Woo!


Heh.  I just called Eddie Brant's and got their message.  What's amazing is that they're in business when they only open their doors between 1pm to 6pm and they're closed Sunday and Monday.  Only in Los Angeles.  The best part was the message started with "You've reached Eddie Brant's Saturday Matinee, the first video store... and probably the last video store."

McDonald's scary Happy Meal mascot


McDonald's tweeted a photo of the new Happy Meal mascot, saying: "Say hello to our newest friend, Happy!"

But within hours, the new square-faced red and yellow mascot with big white teeth was scaring away people on Twitter and had become the butt of jokes.
@DrZombield said: THAT! Is scary!
@CraigGrannell warned: "HE WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! RUN!"
@Naive_Steve came up with his own tag-line: "Happy", "It's the meal that eats you."
And @jrichardmiller said: "Happy" looks happy bc he just finished off a family of six #RIP #HappyMeal."
"We are not un-happy about" the response, said Julie Wenger, senior director of U.S. marketing for McDonald's (MCDFortune 500). "Happy is not for everyone. He's about having fun. Really for kids and families."
Wenger said: "Happy is promoting healthy choices through fun and lightheartedness."
But not everyone was on board with McDonald's message, especially given the fast food chain's reputation for peddling calorie-laden fare.
@samkamani said, "In order to fight obesity in kids, McDonalds introduces its new mascot to scare children."
@erikbransteen said, "Congrats #McDonalds, first you fatten our kids, then you haunt their nightmares."

EBay customers must reset passwords after major hack


Hackers quietly broke into eBay two months ago and stole a database full of user information, the online auction site revealed Wednesday.

Criminals now have possession of eBay (EBAYFortune 500) customer names, account passwords, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and birth dates.
The company said the passwords were encrypted, but there's no telling when or if the hackers can decrypt them. As a precaution, eBay is asking everyone to reset their passwords Wednesday afternoon -- but not yet.
The company isn't saying how many of its 148 million active accounts were affected -- or even how many customers had information stored in that database. But an eBay spokeswoman said the hack impacted "a large number of accounts."
EBay's subsidiary, PayPal, said it was untouched by the data breach. PayPal data, which is sensitive because it includes payment information, is kept on a separate network.
To hack into the eBay database, the cyber attackers managed to get their hands on "a small number" of eBay employee log-in credentials, the company said. They then used that to worm their way into eBay's corporate network. The hackers grabbed the customer database between late February and early March.
It wasn't until two weeks ago that eBay discovered employee credentials had been stolen, the company said. The company then conducted a forensic investigation of its computers and found the extent of the theft.
The company said it hasn't spotted any increase in fraudulent activity on eBay yet.
The good news for eBay customers is that the passwords were encrypted, so hackers will have to work to figure them out. Also, eBay's password requirements are ranked slightly better than average by password manager Dashlane. That'll make them even harder to decrypt.
But that's not the point. The real danger here is in the fallout of such a major data breach. Hackers now know where you live. They can call you. Expect to receive fake deals and offers. Beware of getting duped into revealing even more sensitive information, like your bank details or Social Security number.
This is only the latest major data breach compromising people's digital lives. In April, AOL(AOL) announced hackers stole "a significant number" of its 120 million users' email addresses, passwords, contact lists and more. To top of page
[via USATODAY]

Daily Spider-Man! "Hey 'Iron Jonah,' I think you mean temporary sanity."


Want to be in Star Wars VII? Sure you do!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

I'm still not feeling 'Guardians of the Galaxy'

Marco Polo: Find Your iPhone By Yelling 'Marco'



From geekology, Marco Pollo is a $1 iPhone app that runs in the background waiting for you to lose your phone and yell 'Marco'. It then responds 'Polo'. You can also program it to respond to a different name, but it will always respond with Polo. BOOTYJUICE. "Polo." There you are!
I tried Marco Polo around the house, first putting the phone on a dresser. That was an easy one -- I said "Marco" and the phone replied. I also put the iPhone under a couple of blankets, and that worked too. Then I put my iPhone in a drawer in the kitchen, and while the sound was muffled, I could hear it respond. Obviously, if I got too far away -- like two rooms away -- it wouldn't trigger. But I would be quite happy to shout out a couple of different "Marco's" to find my lost phone.

I don't have the tools for precise measurement, but I didn't see any significant drain on my battery while the app was running. My only suggestion for the developers is that once the phone says "Polo", it might be nice if it emitted a repeating tone to make it easier to pinpoint without having to go through the house yelling "Marco" over and over.
Call me an antique, but I still find my lost phone the old fashioned way: tearing the house apart. Then I use somebody else's phone to call and listen for the buzzing (I always keep it on silent). If that doesn't work I accuse my roommates of stealing it, before laying in the shower and trying as hard as I can to remember if I KNOW I had it when I got home from the bar last night. That is never easy. Eventually, I get so angry I catch myself yelling at my penis for no reason. LOOK AT YOU -- YOU'RE LIKE AN EARTHWORM DRYING UP ON THE SIDEWALK.

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...