Verizon Advertisements from The Podcast
November 19, 2009
I was just listening to the latest episode of Geek Actually and realised that our audio only listeners might be a little baffled by the Verizon vs AT&T ads that we played and talked about. So, for you faithful audio podcast listeners here are the three Verizon ads that we have discussed in the order we discussed them.
Okay Verizon, what’s next? What is the knock out punch?
Hollywood Remakes – Archived
May 16, 2009
I have discontinued updating the remakes page and have moved it here as a post just for historical reference.
The Remake Insanity
Filmmakers have been remaking films for years, but over the last few it seems to have reached ridiculous levels.
I am not actually against all remakes. I want to make that very clear. What I want to examine is the difference between a remake for the creativeness or a remake simply to make a buck. Slightly unfair, as I understand all movies are made to make money, it is a business after all. This list is really just a sober reminder of how creatively bankrupt Hollywood seams to have become. I hope that we come through this little fad and start really having a look at some more original ideas.
First I think we need to have a few ground rules:
a) No remakes of foreign films (that just opens a whole other can of worms), this is about Hollywood remaking itself
b) No TV series to film remakes (that is also a whole other list)
c) No made for TV movies, this is about theatrical releases
d) You must be able to list the dates of the original and the remake(s).
This list is by no means complete, if you can think of any that I don’t have here, submit them to the forum, make sure you look at the instructions above. Here they are in no particular order:
War of the Worlds (1953, 2005 and many TV versions)
The Punisher (1989, 2004)
Not of this Earth (1957, 1988, 1995)
Get Carter (1971, 2000)
The Pink Panther (1963, 2006)
The Longest Yard (1974, 2005 and a British remake in 2001)
Fun with Dick and Jane (1977, 2005)
The Hitcher (1986, 2007)
Halloween (1978, 2007)
King Kong (1933, 1976, 2005)
Slueth (1972, 2007)
Psycho (1960, 1998)
The Producers (1968, 2005)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971, 2005)
Yours, Mine and Ours (1968, 2005)
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967, 2005)
Cheaper By The Dozen (1950, 2003)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 2003)
The Amityville Horror (1979, 2005)
The Shaggy Dog (1959, 2006)
My Friend Flicka (1943, 2006)
Lassie (1943, 1994, 2005)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972, 2006)
Charlotte’s Web (1973, 2006)
Last Holiday (1950, 2006)
When a Stranger Calls (1979, 2006)
The Omen (1976, 2006)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977, 2006)
The Hills Have Eyes 2 (1985, 2007)
Planet of the Apes (1968, 2001)
Dawn of the Dead (1978, 2004)
Night of the Living Dead (1968, 1990, 2006)
Day of the Dead (1985, 2008)
Ocean’s Eleven (1960, 2001)
Cape Fear (1962, 1991)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947, 1994)
Red Dragon (1986 as Manhunter, 2002)
The Fog (1980, 2005)
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976, 2005)
The Three Musketeers (1921, 1933, 1939, 1948, 1951, 1973, 1993 and others)
Hairspray (1988, 2007)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956, 1978, 1993, 2007)
The Thing (1951, 1982)
Invaders from Mars (1953, 1986)
Dracula (1931, 1958, 1979, 1992 and many other versions)
Frankenstein (1931, 1994 and many other versions)
Rollerball (1975, 2002)
The Nutty Professor (1963, 1996)
The Absent Minded Professor (1961, 1997 as Flubber)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951, 2008)
His Girl Friday (1940, 1988 as Switching Channels)
The Women (1939, 2008)
Prom Night (1980, 2008)
…and what does the future hold for Hollywood? More of the same…
2009 Child’s Play (1988)
2008 The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
2009 The Big Chill (1983) - Oh, the humanity!
2009 The Karate Kid (1984)
2009 Barbarella (1968) - at least Rose McGowan is hot!
2009 Street Fighter (1994) - they say it is not a remake.
2009 Escape from New York (1981)
2009 The Evil Dead (1981)
2009 The Birds (1963) - because remaking Hitchcock has been so successful in the past!
2009 A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
2009 Masters of the Universe (1987) - HAHAHAHAHAHA!
2010 Friday the 13th (1980)
2010 Clash of the Titans (1981) - is this really necessary???
2010 Logan’s Run (1976)
2010 Dune (1984) - Keep Lynch away from it!
2010 Fantastic Voyage (1966) - Wasn’t InnerSpace already a kind of remake?
2009 The Hidden (1987)
2011 Captain America (1990)
(unknown release date) The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
(unknown release date) Mother’s Day (1980)
(unknown release date) Candyman (1992) - that’s right, we are now remaking 90s films!!!
Update: (14th July, 2008) I have just read that the remake of Clash of the Titans is going to be directed by Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk”, the “Transporter” films) from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan (“The Big Chill”, “The Empire Strikes Back”, “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “Silverado” etc.). This might not be such a bad idea after all.
Another Update: We have reached a new benchmark! We are now remaking 1990s movies! I am always interested in seeing how close we can get to the original before we remake it. I was sure that we wouldn’t remake films past the 80s because surely that wasn’t long enough ago….I was wrong. What’s next? Do we remake The Dark Knight or better yet we could remake The Watchmen?!?!?!?
Scientists Use Google Earth to Watch Cows
August 28, 2008
Okay, this is fascinating in a geek kind of way. Scientists have used Google Earth to watch grazing cows and have made an astonishing discovery, cows are basically compasses.
News.com.au (Follow the link for the full story) reports that scientists used Google Earth software to study the alignment of 8510 cows in 308 pastures around the world and 2974 red and roe deer in 241 locations in the Czech Republic. They found that grazing cows tended to align themselves with Earth’s north-south magnetic fields.
This phenomenon has gone unnoticed by everybody until now.
The study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America says, ”Because wind and light conditions could be excluded as a common denominator determining the body axis orientation, magnetic alignment is the most parsimonious explanation.”
I’ll be keeping my eyes on this neat story. I guess the moral here is, if you get lost in the wilderness, look for a cow!
Who’s That Girl?
August 16, 2008
With the release of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” on DVD only 5 days away, (I visited Blockbuster earlier this evening) it has made me think about this issue again. Who is the girl on the poster?
I have included a picture of the poster and a picture of Kristen Bell (that is who it is supposed to be) to compare. That girl on the poster is not Kristen Bell. Why hasn’t anything been written or said about this? I only bring it up now because when the film was at the cinema, I wasn’t running this site. I did however point this out to Mirren (she was a guest on the last podcast – you did listen to the last podcast I hope) and she was also wondering what was up with this poster.
It is one of two things:
a) Kristen was not available for the poster shoot and the producers assumed no one would notice. It would seem no did.
Or b) They have airbrushed her beyond the point of recognition. This is a possible option except she looks too chunky. Kristen Bell is a tiny, thin little thing. This girl has some meat on her. And Kristen Bell’s features are sharper than this girl.
This will be filed under the “what the…?” catagory I’m sure but watch those movie posters, they are not all they would seem.
Angelina Jolie wants to play Catwoman
July 31, 2008
According to news.com.au, Angelina Jolie is said to be in final negotiations to play Catwoman! It is not known at this time whether this is for a new spin off movie (bad idea, can we say Halle Berry anyone) or as a nemesis for Christian Bale in the new franchise (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight). This could be awesome if it is for a new Batman movie for two reasons: a) Angelina would look hot in tight leather and b) It might be confirming a third Batman movie for the franchise (please let Christopher Nolan be directing it!).
I thought it was interesting that Julie Newmar (who played Catwoman in the 1960s TV series) has given her blessings to Jolie.
Newmar said, “Angelina would own the part, My industry friends tell me she has already made enquiries about the role. I can understand how it would pique her interest. Catwoman is Batman’s one true love. She is tremendously popular with women because she’s both a heroine and a villainess.”
Other Jolie news, studio bosses have reportedly ordered her to put on weight for a role The Thomas Crown Affair 2.
You can read the whole story at the link above.
The Hulk’s CGI Finally Gets Upgraded!
July 13, 2008
Found this article and thought it was interesting. Here is the article as written:
I ran across a new TV spot today and noticed some freshly upgraded CGI. Not that this wasn’t expected, but there are some enormous differences between now and two months ago. Care to take a look?
