It was the Butler with the Knife in the Library, right? Well, we get to find out who Hollywood decides to be the killer in everyone’s favorite mystery board game, Clue, as it sounds like it will be back on the big screen. All the talk of Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock got us thinking about other board games that would make great movies. Do we really need to suffer through another corny remake? Of course not, so here’s some free ideas for all the screen writers out there:
Hippo
Hungry Hippos – If Hollywood can make monsters out of dogs, sharks and alligators, why not hippos? They kill more people worldwide than any other animal. Just imagine a family on an African safari gone bad. Their only hope for escape is feed them the other families in the truck. Hey, It can’t be worse than Anaconda.
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Archive for February, 2009
6 More Boardgames That Could Be Movies
Saturday, February 28th, 2009$25 Billion to Promote Electric Cars Is Untouched
Saturday, February 28th, 2009The future of the American auto industry is getting off to a slow start.
The Energy Department has $25 billion to make loans to hasten the arrival of the next generation of automotive technology — electric-powered cars. But no money has been allocated so far, even though the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program, established in 2007, has received applications from 75 companies, including start-ups as well as the three Detroit automakers.
With General Motors and Chrysler making repeat visits to Washington to ask for bailout money to stave off insolvency, some members of Congress are starting to ask why the Energy Department money is not flowing yet. The loans also are intended to help fulfill President Obama’s campaign promise of putting one million electric cars on American roads by 2015.
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How To Kill The Music Industry
Friday, February 27th, 2009During The Pirate Bay trial, the music industry placed the blame for the decline in their revenues squarely on the shoulders of file-sharers. Their logic is clearly flawed, but it could sway the verdict if no alternative explanation is presented. So, if piracy isn’t to blame, then what is *actually* killing the music industry?
According to Per Sundin, CEO of Universal Music, the decline in music revenues in the past 8 years can be fully attributed to (read: blamed on) illegal file sharing. If this were actually true, many of us might even respect his decision to go after pirates as fiercely as the music industry is doing right now. However, the past 8 years have seen a lot more changes in the landscape of home entertainment than Per Sundin would like to admit, and some of those changes have had a massive impact on music profitability — much more so than any amount of piracy.
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Rare Superman comic for sale
Friday, February 27th, 2009
NEW YORK - A rare copy of the Action comic book that launched Superman as the first superhero is coming up for auction.
Comic book expert Stephen Fishler says bidding for the comic book begins at $1 and is sure to go up, up and away. It originally cost 10 cents in 1938.
He says copies of Action Comics No. 1 in “fine” condition are worth about $126,000, but this one could sell for several times that. About 100 copies of the No. 1 edition are known to exist.
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Microsoft said shipping Windows 7 in September
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Microsoft could have Windows 7 on shipping PCs by September, Compal president Ray Chen said today at an investor’s conference. The PC contractor executive understands from plans that the software should be available in either late September or early October. The news would corroborate word of an April release candidate that would let Microsoft finish, manufacture and deliver Windows 7 well ahead of the holidays.
Compal builds systems on behalf of Acer, HP and other major PC makers.
Amelia Agrawal, a spokeswoman for Microsoft, maintains the official company position that Windows 7 will be available within three years of when Vista shipped. However, the company’s upgrade program plans and other leaks have increasingly suggested that the public goal, which would put the release in early 2010, is deliberately conservative and meant to avoid embarrassment in the event of an unexpected delay. Microsoft has acknowledged a shortened development track that includes just one public beta and one readily available release candidate before the ship date.
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How to scare your friends
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Interesting way to scare your friends. Not really scary, but it is interesting to have fun!
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Charles Barkley Is Going to Jail
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009
Hope they’ve got XXXXL jumpsuits in AZ, ’cause Charles Barkley is officially going to jail.
Barkley just pled guilty to 2 counts of driving under the influence and pleaded “responsible” to running a stop sign for the December 31 incident in Scottsdale.
Barkley was sentenced to 10 days in jail — but will only do five if he completes an alcohol education program. Barkley was also fined $2,000.
Barkley will begin his sentence on March 21 — but it’s unclear if he will serve time in Arizona’s famed Tent City Jail, where they make the inmates wear pink.
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Many TV stations to end analog on Feb. 17
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009NEW YORK - More than a quarter of major U.S. TV stations intend to shut down their analog broadcasts on Feb. 17, sticking to the original date despite the wish of the Obama administration that they delay until June.
Congress last week gave TV stations until June 12 to shut down analog broadcasts, hoping to give viewers more time to prepare. Money has run out for the federal fund that subsidizes converter boxes, and there’s a wait list for the coupons.
The delay sent TV stations scrambling to figure out when to shut down analog Most had planned for years to do it on Feb. 17, and many had scheduled engineering work.
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Tank creator from village
Saturday, February 21st, 2009
Veaceslav Verevochkin spent more than 30 years serving in the armored forces, now creating full-existing models of armored vehicles. His workshop is located in the courtyard of a village house. As a material for his models he used the metal and parts from decommissioned tractors and harvesters. Some parts the master got at the local landfill. All equipment is manufactured in strict accordance with industrial drawings, to move, and even shooting wooden bullets. Vyacheslav Verevochkinym recreated T-60, T-26, MC-1, Japanese Tank «Those Cayes», a light German tank T-2C (Pz.Kpfw IIC), two cannons, mortar and two armored cars.
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Coldplay Tops Global List of 2008’s Best-selling Albums
Saturday, February 21st, 2009“Always keep mystery. Not many interviews.” There you have it, fledgling bands of the world. If you start right now and keep in mind those rules, as well as some key others, in about a decade’s time you can have the number one album in the world.
Coldplay tops the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s report listing the 50 best-selling albums of 2008. Coldplay moved 6.8 million copies of Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, more than High School Musical 2, which had the number one spot in 2007.
Filling out the rest of the top 5 were AC/DC, the soundtrack to Mamma Mia!, Duffy, and Metallica, and who knows what this list is going to look like next year, now that the Earth has fallen through a wormhole into the year 1998. See the rest of the list below.
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A grand old time with boy toy
Saturday, February 21st, 2009It’s Madonna and grandchild.
The Material Girl is the same age as her new Brazilian lover’s grandmother, an ex-girlfriend says. Jesus Pinto da Luz, the 22-year-old blue- eyed model Madonna met on a photo shoot, has a granny who is about 50. Madonna turns 51 in August.
The hunk’s mortified mom, Cristiane Regina da Silva - who is 14 years younger than Madonna - believes the pop diva has kidnapped her son, snatching him away to a New York love nest and controlling his every move.
Madonna and Jesus spent the Christmas holiday in the Maldives, where her public-relations people confiscated his cellphone, accord ing to the Brazilian media.
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10 Worst Post-Oscar Career Choices
Saturday, February 21st, 20091. Halle Berry
Oscar: Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 2002 for Monster’s Ball.
Terrible Post-Oscar Career Choices: Gothika (2003), Catwoman (2004)
What Went Wrong: Only three years after collecting an Oscar, Halle Berry did win another award: A Razzie for Worst Actress of the Year for Catwoman.
2. Roberto Benigni
Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in 1999 for Life is Beautiful (1997).
Terrible Post-Oscar Career Choice: Pinocchio (2002)
What Went Wrong: According to Benigni, Pinocchio was made at the suggestion of Italian auteur Federico Fellini, but the star’s hopes of crossing over to American shores went down with the whale.
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5 Things You Didn’t Know: Iron Man 2
Saturday, February 21st, 2009The sequel to Iron Man was announced before the studio could even finish counting the over $300 million in domestic box office earnings. Now the challenge is making the new franchise a sustainable one that doesn’t burn out by the third film (think Spider-man or X-Men). Iron Man 2’s producers had to act fast since their leading man is over 40, so the release date was set for May 7, 2010. So, while director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. are hard at work on one of the most anticipated sequels in years, we’re hard at work bringing you five things you didn’t know about Iron Man 2.
1- Don Cheadle is the new Terrence Howard
Due to salary disputes, the character of Jim Rhodes (Tony Stark’s best friend and ally) will no longer be played by Terrence Howard. He’s been replaced by fellow Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle. Apparently when the first film was being made, Howard was the first actor to sign on to the project, and he was rewarded with the cast’s highest up-front salary. He balked when the producers asked him to take a pay cut for the sequel, so Cheadle replaced him. The character of Jim Rhodes will prove to be a crucial one in the coming films, as he eventually dons his own “supersuit” to become War Machine.
2- Over 600 issues of the Iron Man comic went into Iron Man 2
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Top 5 Potential Oscar Night Surprises
Saturday, February 21st, 2009So many of the predicted Oscar winners feel like sure things, that a kind of malaise has settled into the season. Kate Winslet fans would have been thrilled a year ago to hear that she’s the likely Best Actress winner, but now we’re all dying to hear any other name mentioned. And everyone feels that Heath Ledger deserves his Supporting Actor statue, but wouldn’t you be secretly thrilled to see Robert Downey Jr. stroll up there?
Luckily for us, and our likelihood of staying awake through the ceremony, there’s still some potential for surprise in some key categories. Below are the five most likely, and who the spoilers may wind up being. But oh, Heath’s trophy is still locked down. These predictions may be a little bold, but they’re not crazy.