Episode 22: “You’re too good to be true” 

Heath Ledger was found dead in a New York apartment tonight. A part of me still can’t believe it and is hoping that it isn’t true. He was a great actor and will be sorely missed.

I first saw Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You where he performed the following unforgettable scene:

Episode 21: “I used to live in a windmill.” 

This evening I went to the recording of Russell Brand & Friends, a “live” show which will be shown on Friday on Channel 4. It was great fun, but because we had to stand during the whole thing, my feet and legs hurt like hell. I’m too tired to blog properly about it now, but here’s at least a clip from a previous performance of Russell Brand where he talks about computers:  

Episode 20: “Kiwi!” 

Even the toughest heart should shed a little tear with this video:

Episode 19: “Nerdy Chip McCallahan suddenly stops eating. Melinda the Mental Marvel is sitting down next to him!”

I don’t remember which year it was exactly when my brother, my sister and I got an Atari Lynx for Christmas (it must have been ’92 or ’93, something like that). Then a couple of years later (in ’94 or so) I got for my birthday the game Chip’s Challenge. By then then the cartridges were (if you could find them) cheap as anything. The game was perfect; it even started with the line:

Nerdy Chip McCallahan suddenly stops eating. Melinda the Mental Marvel is sitting down next to him!

Cool! Melinda the Mental Marvel! That’s me! I was only a bit disappointed when I found out you could only play as Chip (a stupid boy) and not as Melinda. The plot of the game was simple: you’re Chip and to gain membership of the exclusive Bit Buster Club, you’ve got to navigate through difficult puzzles. In total, there are 148 levels, but I have to admit, I think I didn’t even reach the 50.

I’ve just discovered a great Atari Lynx emulator for on the Mac, so I’ve been playing this game again to my heart’s content. I still have the Atari Lynx at my parent’s place, but it is slowly dying. I’ll have to open it up some time and see if I can figure out what’s up with it. I am so glad we never gave or threw it away. I also found out that one of the cartridges I got is quite rare (Lemmings :D). I am so going to hang on to this.

So here’s a clip of one of levels of Chip’s Challenge

Episode 18: “Would he run or walk?”

Funny candid camera prank setting up the world record holder for racewalking. When he’s “in life-threatening danger” would he walk or run?

I love the “It looked like some news I saw on TV, so I thought I was in real danger”. What kind of news would he have seen involving attacking samurais? And then the “We explained Mr. Perez that there’s no samurai in modern Japan!” Hilarious.

Episode 17: “We can bring peace and unite cultures”

The video I want to show you guys has been popping up all over the place today and just as quickly it’s being taken down. It’s sort of a promotional piece from the Church of Scientology featuring Tom Cruise and was shown in American morning shows yesterday morning. This afternoon I saw the whole thing on YouTube and all of the parts have been taken down. However, I’ve found two alternative sources where you can find it: here and here (there’s also a transcript if those videos also get taken down).

It creeps me out a bit. I’m all for accepting and tolerating other religions, but I’m not sure what to make of this. Some of the things he’s saying just doesn’t make any sense. For instance:

Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, it’s not like anyone else. As you drive past, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one that can really help.

Ehm, as if normal non-Scientologists can’t help? Or wouldn’t help? And then this bit: “We are the authorities in getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind.” No, you’re not! You’re a bunch of people that for some reason don’t believe in psychiatry and psychology, thinking that your way is the only way.

So what do you all think?

Episode 16: “…”

Raise your hand, if you’re just as sick and tired of the writer’s strike as I am. It’s been going on now for 10 weeks and 2 days and everyday the news gets grimmer. Writers have been fired, pilots for next fall won’t be developed and popular series have been indefinitely postponed (24 might even not be shown until January 2009). Then there’s a big possibility that some TV shows might not even get the chance to finish their stories, like Scrubs and BSG. And don’t get me started on all those replacement reality shows…

Since Thanksgiving Day the Writers Guild of America have been releasing videos featuring well known actors and actresses as part of the Speechless campaign. The videos express the idea of the actors being scriptless and speechless, demonstrating the necessity of writers. So far, there are 31 videos, with new episodes coming out weekly.

I’ve listed a couple of my favourite ones here, but if you have time you can see the rest of the episodes on the Speechless site or here on YouTube.

Episode 15: “Do you believe in miracles?” “No“

I just watched Battlestar Galactica: Razor and now I’m just craving for more episodes. I can’t stand it that SciFi Channel has the nerve to wait till April to broadcast the episodes; I want them now! On the other hand, I’ve kind of made peace with the fact that the second half of the season will be shown next TV season. When the writer’s strike started, most of those episodes hadn’t been written yet and with the writer’s strike not being resolved yet, it will take some time till they’re recorded and broadcast. In other words, even if they had wanted to show it after the first half of the season, they wouldn’t have been able to. Either way we would have had to wait.

Back to business: I’ve got two videos for you guys today. The first is a promo from the SciFi channel for the fourth season for BSG. The second is a mini featurette of season 4, containing clips and cast interviews. Watch them at your own risk; there are (of course) new scenes and spoilers. Although I have a feeling that most of the stuff is from the first (and maybe the second) episode.

Episode 14: “I dreamt a beautiful dream about riding a balloon and flying”

So today I went for the first time to a karaoke bar/room thing. I mean, I had done karaoke before, but more the “Let’s hook up the tv to the computer and here’s a mike!” type of student karaoke. This was much better, but it brought back memories of the student karaoke, specifically a very weird Korean karaoke video. We were looking for subtitled music videos and some how found this hyper Korean song with pseudo English subtitles. It was fast as anything and impossible to sing along to.

I couldn’t find that video (sadly, cause that one was brilliant!), but I came cross this other equally weird karaoke song. I can’t even describe it, you just have to see for yourselves.

Episode 13: “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

I’m in an Apple mood anyway today, so here’s the video of the Think Different commercial: 

The complete text used in the commercial is:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some may see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do.