Interesting links for February 8th:

• The Evolution of Tech Companies’ Logos – Interesting post on the history of companies and their logos. It’s not complete (there are a couple of things I know they’re not mentioning), but it’s worth a read.
• 5 Ways to say “Be My Valentine” to a Geek – This is just so sweet! I love the first suggestion [Via Geeks Are Sexy]
• Triviagasm: Behind the Cybernetics with the Next Terminator Generation – Great list of facts about the different type of Terminator models.

Last Wednesday, I got the chance to see a screening of Definitely, Maybe, the new movie from the makers of Notting Hill and Love, Actually.

The Plot

Ryan Reynolds plays the Manhattan advertiser Will Hayes who is about to get divorced and his daughter, Maya (Abigail Breslin), wants to hear the story of how he and her mother ended up together. He agrees to tell her the whole story, but changes the names, so that she (and the viewers) will have to keep on guessing which woman Will eventually marries. The story flashes back to 1992 when Will moves to New York for two months to work on the presidential campaign for Bill Clinton. Over the course of the next 16 years, Will has to deal with his relationships with three different woman, but which of these is Maya’s mother? Is it Emily (Elizabeth Banks), Will’s college sweetheart, who’s struggling with their long-distance relationship? Or is it April (Isla Fisher), the quirky copy machine girl? Or is it Summer (Rachel Weisz), the outspoken journalist and childhood friend of Emily?

The Good and The Bad

This is not your typical romantic comedy, where boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl and they end up happily ever after. And that’s a good thing. In contrast to other movies, Definitely, Maybe keeps the viewer guessing on who Will will end up with and it is not until the end of the movie that you finally find out. This takes away the whole problem of predicability that most romantic comedies suffer from.

Ryan Reynolds sets down a likable character and he has a great chemistry with each of his female leads. His character grows in the 16 years that we see him and Reynolds achieves portraying the right transformation. There’s really a difference between the 1992 “Will” and the current day “Will”. Abigail Breslin is sweet as his questioning, smart-alecky 10 year old daughter, although I know there are people who are going to find her annoying.

The three love-interests are perfectly cast. I love that Elizabeth Banks is getting larger movie roles. She was great in Scrubs and in this film she excels in bringing the girl-next-door Emily to life. I’m looking forward to see her Zack and Miri Make A Porno. I hadn’t seen Isla Fisher before, but I had heard a lot of raving reviews about her previous performances. Now I understand why. Her character is so fun and spontaneous, but at the same time quite vulnerable. Rachel Weisz never fails to amaze me, again pulling off a completely different character than in her previous films.

While the guessing game keeps the movie unpredictable and original, it also makes it a bit confusing. With there being different girlfriends, which couple are you supposed to root for? It saves itself a bit by having three likable actresses. Each character has endearing qualities and at a certain point in the movie it didn’t matter for me anymore who Will ended up with.

This film may be a romantic comedy, but don’t expect romance and comedy every step of the way. Will has three different girlfriends and you know from the start he’ll only end with one, so be prepared for at least some heartache and heartbreak.

The Verdict

This is a sweet romantic story of how a man deals with his various relationships and eventually finds love. If you don’t like romantic comedies, this isn’t going to change your mind, but it exceeds the standard chick flick productions. Definitely, Maybe is perfect as a date movie and I am sure it is going to be a big Valentine’s Day success.

[rating:4]

Episode 39: “Take anything you want”

These videos are just weird. They are from a Japanese TV show called Zuiikin’ English that aired in Japan in 1992, meant to teach English and gymnastic exercises at the same time. The complete collection of 55 videos can be found here.

Various Phrases:

What To Do If Your Husband Comes Home Drunk:

What To Do When You’re Robbed:

Let’s Go Dutch:

Interesting links for February 7th:

• Grammar Blog: Similes and Metaphors Used in High School Essays – Damn, I can’t remember the last time I’ve laughed so much. This list is hilarious: “Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.”
• Grammar Blog: Excuses Sent by Parents to Schools – OMG, some people just don’t know how to write. This list is terrible and funny at the same time. “Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side.”
• GTD In Space: Seven Habits of Highly Effective Spaceship Captains – Tips on how to be a leader based on actions of some of the most famous Sci-Fi captains (including Mal Reynolds).
• The Brick Testament – The Bible retold with Lego!
• Josh Brolin is the New Terminator? – Hmm, this good get interesting. If Brolin is indeed cast as the Terminator, it would be really a different direction than the previous ones. First Christian Bale and now Brolin, this could turn out in a great movie.
• Funny story about computer confiscation in Denmark – I can completely picture the type of guy in this story. ‘I mean the compuuuuuter. Understand?’ ‘Where the daaaaata goes.’

Episode 38: “We will be in the hall and then let the ass-kicking commence”

A couple of days ago Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brian did a great cross-over into each others shows. It was the final act in an ongoing feud between the three. In previous shows Colbert claimed that he made Mike Huckabee, which led to O’Brian claiming he made Huckabee, because O’Brian made Colbert. This again led to Stewart claiming that because he once interviewed O’Brian, he made him and thus made Huckabee.The three all made appearances in each other shows, filming it in such a way that it seemed as if all studios were connected by the same hallway. In reality the shows aren’t even recorded in the same building! If you don’t want to see all the videos, watch at least the last one, containing the ultimate fight scene.Here’s the first one during The Daily Show:

During The Colbert Report:

And here’s the final one during Conan O’Brian’s show:

Interesting links for February 5th through February 6th:

• The most ATTRACTIVE curtains ever made » Yanko Design – Very cool curtain design with magnets. Not sure if it would really be handy, but it does look great.
• My 22 Best On-Camera Interviewing Tips Ever – I’ve only had to interview on person once in my life, but this is still a great set of tips in case I ever need it.
• Seven Reasons Why Australia is the Most Apocalyptic Country – Yeah, Australia is definitely doomed. And it’s all the fault of vegemite.

Episode 37: “Moo…”

Yesterday evening Cristiano organized the first Werewolf night of 2008 and as usual it was a couple of hours of great fun, including a lot of accusing, lynching and mooing the Star Wars theme. There was a great round where Ian basically gave himself away as the werewolf and another round where I tried to be the seer while I was the werewolf, but failed miserably.

Sadly we didn’t video it, which would have been a lot of fun. I realised though that I never posted the videos from the evening of the first time I played (thanks Guy for posting them!). The first is an explanation of the rules, which were explained specially for me and and the camera. The second is of one of the games we played, where I unfortunately am killed during the first night. Damn you werewolves!

Here’s the Werewolf Wiki, if you want some more information. We’ll try to organize another Werewolf night somewhere beginning March, but this time with a little more time notice beforehand. If you’re in London around that time, you should definitely come and join us; it’s a fun game and very easy to learn.

Episode 36: “Since you really have no chance of winning the Academy Award”

Here’s a video of a bunch of middle school kids interviewing Jason Reitman, the director of Juno. I’m pretty certain it’s staged, but it still remains funny.

My last post got me wondering. When I was a kid, I used to have this custom/game/tradition/(not sure what I’m supposed to call it) with my brother and sister. Whenever we watched something, be it a tv show or a movie, we would have to pick one character out of the show, which we would have to “be”. We couldn’t be the same person and if you called it first, the other had to pick some one else.

When the show wasn’t on, we wouldn’t actually do anything with the chosen characters. They only had meaning when we were watching the show. Besides rooting for them during an episode, you got to “be” them in the case that there was some special song or special sequence. For instance, in the case of Captain Planet, I was Linka. So whenever you had the Captain Planet summoning scene (which of course happened every episode), I got to shout “Wind!”.

For most TV shows I can remember exactly who me and my brother and sister were. For Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, I was Donatello, my brother Leonardo and my sister Michelangelo. With Samurai Pizza Cats, I was Polly Esther, my brother was Speedy Cerviche and my sister Guido Anchovy. For Power Ranger, I was the Pink Ranger (“Pterodactyl!”), my brother was the Red Ranger (until he decided the White Ranger was cooler), and my sister the Yellow Ranger. With X-Men, I was Rogue, my brother was Wolverine, and my sister Jubilee. Need I continue?

Am I (and my brother and sister) completely crazy? Looking back, it’s seems such a silly thing to do and I can’t help but wonder if other kids used to do this too. I was talking to Cristiano about this tonight and he never did such a thing when he was young. So please speak up; I want to know I wasn’t a complete crazy kid with these actions.

Episode 35: “Gonna help him put asunder, Bad guys who like to loot and plunder”

One of my favourite cartoons from when I was a kid was Captain Planet and The Planeteers (I was 7 when it first aired). Besides a catchy theme song, the cartoon had some great easy-to-hate villains and lovable main characters, each with their own special magic ring. Theme Song! Villains! Magic powers! What more do you need from a tv show as a kid?

The show revolved around 5 kids, the Planeteers, with the task of defending Earth against disasters and pollution. They were chosen by Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, who gave them magic rings, with which they each can control an element. Kwame from Africa controls Earth, Wheeler from the US controls Fire, Linka from the Soviet Union controls Wind, Gi from Asia controls Water and Ma-Ti from South America controls Heart (telepathy). When needed, they can combine their powers and summon Captain Planet, a Green terrestrial Superman (Green as in environmentally friendly, not as in skin color).

I was always Linka when I was a kid, despite her being blonde and me brunette (if you don’t know what I mean here check out my next post). For some weird reason though, in my mind I remember her being from Sweden. Don’t ask me why, I just know that I have that memory “Linka is from Sweden”. Maybe I somehow made a faulty link as a kid that Sweden = Soviet Union, and, while I now know that that isn’t true, the memory of Linka was never updated.

Fun Facts: Most people know that Gaia was voiced by Whoopi Goldberg and Kuwame by LeVar Burton (the blind/visor guy in Star Trek: The Next Generation). But did you know most villains were voiced by well known actors?

Hoggish Greedly – Ed Asner
Dr. Blight – Meg Ryan (1990-1991)
Sly Sludge – Martin Sheen (1990-1993)
Duke Nukem – Dean Stockwell (1990-1992)
Verminous Skumm – Jeff Goldblum (1990)
Zarm – Sting (Season 1-2), David Warner (Season 3), Malcolm McDowell (Season 4)
Rigger (Hoggish Greedly’s henchman) – John Ratzenberger
MAL (Dr. Blight’s evil high-intellectual supercomputer) – Tim Curry

So as the video for today, here are the fantastic end credits of Captain Planet and The Planeteers:

I’ve even got the lyrics here for those of you who want to sing-a-long:

Captain Planet, he’s our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
He’s our powers magnified
And he’s fighting on the planet’s side

Captain Planet, he’s our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder

“You’ll pay for this Captain Planet!”

We’re the Planeteers, You can be one too
‘Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!
The Power is Yours!

Here’s also the opening sequence of Captain Planet and The Planeteers: