Friday, July 21, 2006

- The following website asks you a series of questions to determine which superhero you are most like. Apparently I am most like Green Lantern, which disappoints me. I have never cared for Green Lantern:
http://www.seabreezecomputers.com/superhero/


- Is there a certain word or speech pattern that you repeat far too often during conversations? For example, do you use the word "like" too much? Maybe you use "uh" or "um" too often to pause in between sentences or thoughts? Personally, I use the word "just" far too often when I am talking. It's a passive-aggressive trait, but I have never tried to stop doing it. Here is a website which gives you tips on how to curtail those annoying verbal habits we all have:
http://www.mtannoyances.com/?p=417


- A few months ago I wrote about how your cell-phone, TV signal, internet signal, and every other digital signal you use every day will all come from one source. The following article explains how this could all happen in just three years time. Soon we will think of the internet in the same way we think of the radio; free, always available, and accessible from everywhere:
Nation-wide access in three years

- What kind of genius are you? According to this article, there are two kinds:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html

- A few days ago marked the 150th birthday of Nikola Tesla, America's 2nd greatest inventor. If it wasnt for Tesla, you wouldnt be reading this website, I would be out of a job, and you wouldnt even be sitting in a well-lit room. Over 100 years ago, the great and all-knowing Thomas Edison was too stubborn to give up on Direct Current (DC), but Tesla knew that Alternating Current was the wave of the future. Tesla proved to the world that if you want to wire an entire city with electron-goodness, you had to use Alternating Current. Here is a biography of Nikola Tesla:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

Monday, July 10, 2006


- How the heck did I miss this? It's now official, Marvel is doing an Iron Man movie! The movie will be released on May 2nd, 2008. Jon Favreau (Swingers) will direct it. No cast yet. The movie will start filming in January.

The picture to the right is the very first teaser poster for the movie. The armor will probably not look like this picture, although the person who will be partially responsible for designing the armor, Adi Granov, drew this picture.

The obvious question is who will play Tony Stark? Darn good question. For years I have thought about who should play Iron Man. Here is my list of current actors who would make a good Tony Stark, and my ultimate list of people who should have played Tony Stark at some time in their careers:

Current List:
1. Jim Caviezel
2. Billy Cruddup (maybe too short. He is only 5'8" according to IMDB.com)
3. Ron Livingston (I think he is great, but maybe too under-stated for Tony? Tony is a babe-hound, alcoholic, larger than life, supra-genius.)
4. Timothy Olyphant (from Deadwood. Not brunette enough?)
5. Jeremy Northam (British, but one of my favorite actors.)

Ultimate List:
1. Tom Sellect (duh)
2. Burt Reynolds
3. Circa 1965 Robert Goulet! I aint joking. He has the voice, and the cheesy moustache.
4. Gregory Peck.
5. Kevin Kline (remember the scene in Soapdish, where he walks onto the set in the white suit? Perfect Tony Stark.)
6. Clark Gable
7. Errol Flynn (the character of Tony Stark was largely based upon Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes.)

I will add more actors to these lists as the weeks and months pass by.

They better use computer-animation to create the Iron Man armor, otherwise he will look silly. Spider-man looks great animated (Tobey McGuire is hardly ever actually in the costume), the Hulk looked reasonably good. The Thing, since he wasnt computerized, looked absolutely absurd, and so did Juggernaut. Computerize Iron Man! I beg of you Marvel!

Perhaps my biggest question about this movie is who will be the villain? Tony Stark has plenty of enemies, but none of them are very interesting. His greatest enemy, the Mandarin, is pretty lame, and can sometimes come off as stereotyping Asian people. Not exactly the kind of villain which will pack movie-theaters.

Here is an article with Jon Favreau about the new Iron Man movie, and a link to a MySpace website Favreau created so fans can talk about the new movie:
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1532303/story.jhtml
http://groups.myspace.com/ironmanmovie/


- A website which will teach you how to play blackjack. Use this website for a few hours, and I guarantee you will improve your play. Now, if you are looking to go beyond regular blackjack strategy, and learn how to count cards, I cannot help you there:
http://hitorstand.net/

- The president is experiencing a slight bounce in the polls, after killing Zarqawi. Fred Barnes, Mr. White House insider, explains why and how Georgie can keep the bounce:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/409wtshp.asp

- Why knuckles crack, and joints creak:
http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060710_mm_joints_crack.html