R-Rated Comedies on the Rise!

R-rated comedies are grossing really well this summer - $1.05 billion compared to $1.01 billion for superhero movies (although, admittedly there are five big comedies out versus four superhero films)! Bridesmaids is doing particularly well, which is the baddassest news of them all, because female-driven comedies are proving to be the absolute best!

Thanks for helping point this out, Hollywood Reporter and John August!

Project Squirrel? Project Squirrelpocalypse!

Woah, woah, woah - I like the idea of something called, "Project Squirrel" but only if it's a secret spy organization bent on exposing squirrels for the evil little monsters they are!

But I do love this line from the Scientific American article on PS, "Squirrels are worth studying because they are active during the day and everyone has an opinion about them."

Yes, everyone has an opinion on it, but only mine is right.

Sneak Peak: The Green Album

The Green Album is a Muppet Tribute record filled with covers of Muppet songs by all kinds of fun artists (Ok GO!, My Morning Jacket, even Weezer - apparently they're still around!) compiled by Andrew Bird. At NPR, you can listen to Bird's cover of "It's Not Being Green."

I wonder if this has anything to do with the new Muppet Movie coming out this year?

Enjoy!

The full album will be released August 23rd.

So, the USA Scrapes by: A Debt Deal Reached

Obama addressed the nation tonight to signal that a debt ceiling deal has been reached.

To be honest, it sounds downright awful - cuts to vital programs without raising taxes on the wealthy when what we really need right now is more stimulus, expanded spending that will create jobs and bring our economy around.

Too bad the word "jobs" is meaningless in Washington, unless it's a politician yelling to his staff "I'll do whatever it takes to keep my job!"

Ugh, we'll see how 2012 goes... it can get so much worse than it is now, and it can get only slightly better, really. I'm really hoping for the better.

[via The New York Times]

Ugh, All the Arguments!

I'd say this sketch by Casey Donahue is a highly accurate portrayal of all of my arguments with the bf. That is, if you only include the last five seconds involving the hugging and lovey-dovey'ing! Power Couple zing!

Every Argument Every Couple Ever Has EVER. from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

[via Neatorama - yeah, a lot of my faves come from them, but what can I say? They're on my G-Reader and have some great stuff!)

Harry Potter and the Teen Comedy

I love (LOVE!) this remix of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" as a fun, romantic teen comedy. It really highlights all the humor and joy from the sixth book - the only time the kids let the grown-ups handle Voldy and Co. before they have to do it all themselves.

According to the creator, thewlisrox (clearly a fan of David Thewlis, who plays Professor Lupin), it's a reclipped music video for the song "Big Beat Repeat" from the HPHBP movie.

Enjoy!

[via Neatorama]

Maria Bamford: Stand-Up by Trade

Here's a fun interview with Maria Bamford by Splitsider.

I love that she didn't really mean to become a stand-up, but that just happened to be what she could be hired for.

I haven't seen "The Maria Bamford Show" but I'm looking forward to catching it online. Let's watch the first episode together now, shall we?

All is Not Lost, at least According to OK Go!

Here's the sweet (if somewhat simplistically lyric'd) music video for "All is Not Lost" by OK Go. Apparently they teamed up with a sweet dance troupe (who do less dancing and more rolling around on glass and showing a lot of skin-sticking body tights-clad butt crack than anything else) to show their lyrics in a fun way. Not that you really need to see them. Because, again, they're really easy to get. But it's fun anyway.

Enjoy!

[via Neatorama]

Zomg Hunger Games!

Oooh, look at Entertainment Weekly's cover shot this week!

Yeah, that's Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) and Gale (Liam Hemsworth). They look pretty good, right? At least they've bulked up Josh Hutcherson. He was so scrawny in "The Kids are All Right." Let's see if he can act like an adorable teddy bear who's thrown into war but is so cute and in love and stuff, though. I'm sure it'll be a challenge.

As for Gale, I'm still bummed he's not at least some sort of off-white color, but what are you going to do? He's not my favorite character anyway, so I'm ok with it.

Can't wait to nab this from work and read the rest! Do you think they'll have more photos?

Eyrie: David Walter's Short Film

David Walter is a story artist at Dreamworks. Can you believe this is his student film for Cal Arts? Clearly, he showed enough talent to land that job at Dreamworks!

A Doggy Opera in Three Acts

Tragedy on the Sea Nymph from machine project on Vimeo.

Enjoy this video of an opera performed by dogs. Believe me, even if you don't like opera or people over-humanizing their dogs, it's a pretty good and short watch.

A Day in the Life of John Lasseter

Spoiler alert: This video, "A Day in the Life of John Lasseter" (it's not embeddable, so you'll have to click on the link) will not make you want to watch "Cars 2" (actually, it made me want to watch it less. But I will see it out of obligation when it's free on my Netflix Instant Watch). This video also does not contain any reference to any other Pixar or Disney project besides "Cars 2."

However, it is well worth the watch in order to see:

A) How badass of a life it is to be an executive who's passionate, caring, and yet somehow laid-back.

B) How fun it is to work at Pixar (and how hard they work - even on "Cars 2"!).

C) How many hugs Lasseter gives out daily. That is pretty adorable. Also, I hope he doesn't sweat much, or else someone small like me could get a pretty gross nose-full if he or she isn't too careful.

It makes me even more excited to see "Brave" next year. It makes me hope even harder (but think it's even less likely) that there will not be a "Toy Story 4" as rumored by Tom Hanks and Lasseter himself.

Mark Malkoff VS(?) The Apple Store

Comedian Mark Malkoff tries incredibly hard to get booted from an Apple Store. Turns out Apple employee's laid back attitude (not to mention having a camera around watching their responses) will let you get away with quite a lot.

Clearly, you can have some good (if rather noisy) times in an Apple Store. My question is, though, where did he get that adorable goat in Manhattan?

Lucy the Shiba Inu Puppy - So Cute!

I'm kind of obsessed with Shiba Inu's right now (Manhattan is going through a Shiba phase. There are upwards of three that live in my building alone, and I generally see at least one every day going to or from work. It's insane) so I was thrilled (thrilled!) when I saw that The Daily Puppy had posted these great pictures of Lucy. Just look at those paws, those ears, and that smile! Tres adorable!

Muppets Take Manhattan - Again!

Wow! The Rainbow Connection has arrived here in New York (and I'm not just talking about the first weekend of gay marriages)!

The Museum of the Moving Image is hosting the traveling show, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World" from now until January. I can't wait to go see it!

Each weekend they'll have Muppet-related movies and events (I think I'm going to go see "Muppets History 101" on Saturday at 1pm if anyone's interested in joining me!) that will help you discover more about Jim Henson's life, career, and the legacy of films, TV shows, and overall great Muppet-ified storytelling he created.

The exhibit itself will hold classic Muppets, including Kermit and his crew, as well as "objects related to the inspired imaginary world of... "The Dark Crystal," (Oooo, do you think that means they have UrSkeks??) along with drawings, sketches, storyboards, and all kinds of other materials from his workshop.

Who's coming with me?

[Article via Neatorama, more info at the MOMI]

Want to Spay or Neuter Your Pets Without the Fuss of a Snip?

Then Chemspay may be for you... although it does involve injecting chemicals (thus the name) into your lady dog that induce premature menopause. Ehhhh... I don't really know how much better that sounds, really.

They're developing these drugs, as you can read in this article from The Week, so that people can quickly and affordably stop homeless dogs from reproducing, thereby curbing their population, the diseases they spread, and any negative impact they have on the environment and human population.

A number of these drugs are being tested both here and abroad. Chemspay, the one that gives your dog perma-hot flashes (seriously, who wants to be in menopause forever?), believes it will take 6-9 years before they gain FDA approval. The ASPCA is jonesing for these drugs, as it may stem the tide of dogs and cats being brought into their pounds, and the money saved from having to perform so many spaying and neutering surgeries could be used to buy more space and resources to hold more animals in their shelters in the first place.

While all of this sounds good, I think I'll stick to spaying and neutering any of my animals the old-fashioned way. Surgery isn't fun, but at the risk of nasty side effects is low. Who knows what happens when you chemically remove a dog's boning ability? Plus, no offense to any stud dogs out there, but I'm not a huge fan of seeing giant dog balls bouncing around town.

Just saying.

[Article via Neatorama]

Eighty Years of Cartoon Voices

I'm not exactly sure where this infographic comes from (here's the link from where I got it, but I don't think they originated it), but I thought it was a fun one to put after the sunscreen infographic, since they're so different.

This one is a list of famous animators and the characters they voice over the years. Pretty fascinating!

Stay Safe in the Sun

The Hairpin has another excellent write-up, though very different from Harry Potter fun - this time all about sunscreen safety. Check it out. It's really informative.

They include this incredible infographic from informationisbeautiful all about how much sunscreen you should wear depending on your current skin tone. You can buy it as a high-res PDF on their website.

One Day on Earth VS Life in a Day

Isn't this pretty much the same movie as Ridley Scott's "Life in a Day"?

Here's the trailer for "One Day on Earth" which seems to be more culturally and environmentally minded, so naturally it's underfunded and who knows when it'll actually see the light of day.

One Day on Earth - Motion Picture Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.

And here's the trailer for "Life in a Day" which is more focused on narrative and opens on the 29th in theaters around the country.



What a funny coincidence! I think I'd actually like to watch both, which would you like better?

The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Apparently, Alice in Wonderland (or as it's actually known as, The Garden of Cosmic Speculation) is a garden in Scotland, via Environmental Graffiti!

Take a look at some of these wonderful pictures of what a garden should look like - fanciful, magical, based on beautiful math and science principles, and just plain wonky. How cool!

Wouldn't you love to visit it? Why else would you go to Scotland - unless you're just into sheep and kilts.

Congratulations, Science Ladies!

Three super smart young ladies won the Inaugural Google Science Fair.

From Google:

• Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group. Lauren studied the effect of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken.
• Naomi Shah in the 15-16 age group. Naomi endeavored to prove that making changes to indoor environments that improve indoor air quality can reduce people’s reliance on asthma medications.
• Shree Bose in the 17-18 age group. Shree discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients when they have built up a resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs.

Great job, Lauren, Naomi, and Shree! You did it!

Tiny Harry Potter

OMG I love the Hairpin for their article "Tiny Wands!"

It's the cutest little Harry Potter fan article I've seen yet.

Advice to Girls: Hot Water

Love this little bit of Mark Twain's advice to girls the New York Review of Books pointed out:

If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud — never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little, for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to the lessons you are inculcating, and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to move impurities from his person, and possibly the skin, in spots.

—Mark Twain, Advice to Little Girls (1865)

[via The Hairpin]

Sad Weekend? Animals Help!

I know it's been a sad weekend (attacks in Norway, Amy Winehouse, you know), but Mental Floss has some very cheering videos of adorable animals nibbling on adorable foods. That ought to cheer you up!

My favorite (skunk eating carrot) is below:

Overheard at the Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

A College Humor original - pretty darn funny! But filled with spoilers - so only watch once you've seen the 8th movie!

If you like this, you'll probably enjoy this bit, "Harry Potter's Friends Sign his Hogwarts Yearbook" - also full of spoilers, but pretty silly.

Onion AV Club: A Trip to the Royal Tenenbaum's House

This really makes me want to go see the house and rewatch "The Royal Tenenbaums." I love that he saw the house and then thought of the idea of the movie. How cool?

New Aardman Film, "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

It's been a while since "Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" - the last delightful claymation Aardman film, so for that reason alone I'm looking forward to the goofy "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

I have to admit, though, that I wish there were more rabbits involved. And definitely more Wallace and Gromit (and therefore the amount of times someone says "cheese!").

The '90s are 'All That'

I actually really wish I had cable so I could watch all of these shows - but, then again, I have no idea if I'd actually like any of these shows as an adult like I did as a kid. Maybe I'd like them even better, because I get more of the jokes, or maybe I wouldn't like them as much, because the humor is too juvenile.

What do you think?

Rupert Murdoch just Got Hit by a Pie

Best day ever?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: Post-Midnight Screening

So many tears, so much joy, so little sleep. Bloody brilliant.

The Book of Harry Potter

A delightful parody of The Book of Mormon's "Hello!" as sung by an octet of Harry Potter characters.

Just what I need to hear before going to my midnight screening of HP7P2 tomorrow!

Enjoy!