Domo Arigato, Colombian Supremo!
No, it's not a dream, 7-11 (at least the ones in my neck o' the woods) are offering Domo-Kun stuff! I picked up one of their four available Slurpee cups as well as the most obnoxious fuzz-covered figurine-straw they had (where Domo is dressed as a gangsta rapper). And while I was surprised that they didn't have any Domo plushies, the coffee cup they've got definitely made me smile. There's a good gallery of the schwag to be had here.
For those not familiar with Domo... I'm not much help beyond his Wikipedia entry. I was first introduced to the character in a way probably not sanctioned by the creators. A very popular image was circulated which I'll link to right after this special message: A warning that said image contains a word that some might not their young'uns to know just yet, so be warned. Anyway, this was my first look at Domo, and it's stuck with me ever since. For more (or at least, 7-11's take on him), there are webisodes and other urgings for you to patronize your local purveyor of 24-hour food-like items at Slurpee.com.
Stargate: SGU kicked off this week. If you liked other Stargate shows, then you'll probably dig this. It's got potential, I must admit. Though it's got influences from the successful SyFy "Battlestar Galactica" series, I think it's an improvement. Gone are the brightly-lit sets that sometimes reminded me of shopping mall architecture. Instead, darker sets with more industrial textures are used, which makes sense on a creaky old starship. New replacements for standard SGC items show up, including ski-ball cameras instead of MALP rovers. Other than setting the stage and giving us a quick problem to solve to build dramatic tension, this two-hour pilot doesn't have an away mission or goal for the characters to solve beyond working towards survival while marooned several galaxies away from Earth. The setup for each episode (or perhaps clusters of episodes, dare we hope?) is established, but it needs to avoid one of the many traps "Voyager" fell into: If you're traveling in roughly one direction away from where you were at very high speeds, it's very unlikely if not impossible for someone you ticked off back there to catch up with you. Consequently, unless the crew is following the aftermath of a chain of events or is on the run from an even more advanced race, they'll be hard pressed to sell the idea of a recurring villain, I think. But I'm definitely coming back for more.
Though I would like to know the rationale for the attack on the base in the first place. I know the villains mentioned were among the last bad guys who weren't defeated in Stargate: Direct To DvD, but still...
This week's Supernatural was a solid episode that did perpetuate two tropes: 1. The Devil, when given a choice, likes to dress in a white suit, and 2. never, ever, ever approach unfamiliar little girls; every D&D player and horror buff knows that little girls by themselves are to be left to the professionals.
And now, a troubling trend in movies, namely pornography. No, not that, kind, the "disaster" kind from Roland Emmerich. They've posted a five minute clip of one of the more outlandishly rube-goldberg-escape sequences from his upcoming film "2012," and it's as exciting and spectacularly created as it is ridiculous. I fear one of my female friends might have a hard time convincing herself to see this, even though it stars (as she says) the "luscious" John Cusack. It does make me wonder how this sort of thing is going to be "topped" in later years. I'm not sure if it can be done without the use of wire-fu, giant robots, three Godzilla-sized creatures, and a score by the computer-stored consciousness of John Williams.
And last but not least, "Star Wars" is getting remade, by fans, fifteen seconds at a time. At Star Wars Uncut, you can pick a part of the movie to re-shoot however you want, and the whole thing will be put together as one gigantic work of nerd-fans. Even with just the clips they have now, the trailer is a hoot, especially the attack on Leia's "Blockade Runner" ship. Can we do "Lord of the Rings" next?
While we contemplate a thousand different Gandalfs, here's something to ease your pain:
- It's been a while since we saw a mass lip-dub of a popular beat combo, so here's one done to the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling", done by 172 students from the Universty of Quebec at Montreal.
- I've lived in Kansas City for over a decade and never knew the place was the source of these nifty 'Nerdbots'.
- A warning for the squeamish on this next link, as it goes to a page showing how to make realistic guts from spray-foam insulation, among other things.
- Apparently, Sage the cat doesn't like it when you're not paying attention to her, and will do anything to catch your eye again.
- It's a five-part playlist on YouTube, but it's something I wish I still had in my video library: The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, a special that CBS broadcast after his death.
- Time to blow more things to smithereens with Demolition City 2! Bring down buildings to the strains of a reasonable facsimile of Scott Joplin ragtime music.
- Britain seeks to out-do America for unhealthy dining by unveiling the Super Scooby burger, which out-calories even two triple Whoppers with cheese.
- The UK also brings us Stephen Fry narrating a nature program, "Last Chance to See," where a rare land parrot (a warning: this clip contains hot rare-parrot-on-human action, seriously) tries to do unspeakable yet funny things to a photographer's head.
- This bit of performance art from Japan is an awesomely fun idea.
- Let's end with Mechs. Mechwarrior fans can indulge in a little Valkyrie Battlefield, a game where you customize your walking weapons platform and blow things to smithereens! Hmm... I seem to have a fixation, here...