Humility by the Arcade Lights

My short "documentary" film from about ten years ago, starring Scott Hamilton and Amy Eisenman. Newly remastered for YouTube.

People Getting Punched Just Before Eating

And people say Saturday Night Live isn't funny anymore.

Palm Centro: Too Little, Way Too Late

If Palm had introduced this little smartphone a year ago, I would probably have been over the moon -- actual advances on their Treo technology (instant messaging software with support for MSN, Yahoo, and AIM?!) in a sporty new shell, and all for a hundred bucks. It's aimed squarely at the mass market, those folks who live on SMS and AIM but have never owned anything remotely approaching a Blackberry. I have a feeling, however, that it's all going to amount to a hill o'beans.

Yes, because of the iPhone. The iPhone lured me away from Palm (I've been a loyal Treo user for five years or more) and didn't even have to try to lure me away from Sprint. Hell, Sprint practically pushed me away by "upgrading" my broken phone to a different model which required a new, more expensive data plan. Paying the early termination fees to break my contract seemed like a bargain just to be shut of the nation's most arrogant cell phone carrier. Sprint's customer service was so deplorable I practically kicked my heels together upon crossing the threshold of the Apple Store.

But Sprint's crappy service isn't the reason that I think the Centro comes too late to the party. I just can't imagine that anyone, having seen the future of honest-to-god, uncrippled email and web surfing on a cell phone, would be satisfied with the half-assed experience that the Palm operating system provides in comparison. No, you can't install your own programs on the iPhone (yet). But the myriad of web sites I can get to from anywhere I'm likely to be are more than replacement for the tip calculator and password storage program I lost when I made the leap.

There are a million little niggly points you could bring up when comparing the two phones, but let's try to stick to the big picture: technology choices are about user experience and utility, and the iPhone has it all over the Treo/Centro phones when it comes to that. Yeah, it's $300 more, but I think you get your money's worth. I hope for Palm's sake that the Centro is a success and that somehow they rededicate themselves to advancing the state of portable computing, instead of rehashing a decades-old operating system. But even if they do have something interesting to say in the future, they'll have to fight pretty hard to get me to listen.

Oh, by the way, David Pogue has a review of the Centro on the New York Times.

Here comes the Austin Film Festival 2007

My first preview posted to Slackerwood for the Austin Film Festival 2007 -- American Fork, which I liked quite a bit.

Stomp Tokyo - The Cult Movies Podcast #45

All a youse guys hankerin' for the return of the guest nerd will be happy to know that Zack Handlen is in on the action this time.

Episode 45 - "Secret Diary of a Projectionist" - In which Scott, Chris, and Zack discuss the new Halloween, Resident Evil: Extinction, and a lot more.

Listen now, no iPod required.

So that's what a Hugo award looks like?

Patrick's Hugo, Tor, Manhattan, NYC, NY.JPG
Originally uploaded by gruntzooki

I don't know what's up with the Ultraman on the award (apparently the ceremony was in Yokohama?) but it looks supercool.



This one belongs to Patrick Nielsen Hayden, who is, according to Wikipedia, "an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger."

Critical Condition compilation of '80s video cover art

Back when Scott and I started Stomp Tokyo in 1996, VHS was enjoying its last days of glory. Most of the stuff we watched came from a single mom-n-pop video rental shop that had thousands of dusty VHS tapes with wonderful covers like these. Those days are gone but I still have a shelf of VHS tapes waiting to be transferred to DVD-R. Once I do that I'll have to donate them or consign them to the trash heap in order to stay married, but I'll probably hold on to one or two best examples of the form just as a testament to the heyday of VHS home video.

Wander on over to Critical Condition's amazing archive of '80s box art and learn more than you ever wanted to know about video companies of yesteryear.

[Thanks to tablesaw safety at the BMMB.]

Norton Fighter - Ultraman for your PC

This is quite possibly the coolest thing the Symantec/Norton antivirus company has ever done. Ever.

[Via Gizmodo.]

New hope for a Serenity sequel?

Moviehole reports that Alan Tudyk dropped a wee bit of life back into the Serenity sequel rumor machine. Apparently DVD sales (of the original version and now the revamped Special Edition) have been so strong that interest in a sequel has been resurrected at Universal.

Cross your fingers, Browncoats.

[Thanks to Blake Matthews for the tip.]

Pictures from a Chinese toy factory

From Mazm.com, an amazing set of images from a Chinese toy factory.



More than 70% of the world’s toys are made in China, most of them in Guangdong province.

See the full set of Chinese toy factory images here.

[Via Daring Fireball.]

Poor Little Person

Today my internet spies brought me something bizarre and hilarious. It's a clip from the Ed Sullivan Show, 1967 -- Don Ameche presents the original Broadway cast of Henry, Sweet Henry singing "Poor Little Person." And who should one of those poor little people be but a prepubescent Pia Zadora? Look for her singin' and tappin' her dear little heart out in the royal blue coat.

Watch the video of Pia Zadora in Henry, Sweet Henry here.

Cult Movies Podcast Episode 44

There's a whole lot of cult TV coming out this Fall, and we cover most of it in this podcast. We'll come back around to "Bionic Woman" in a future episode, if only so we can drag out that MP3 of the theme song from the original show. Listen to our expert dissections of "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," "Pushing Daisies," "Reaper," and more.

Listen now.

I knew this day would come, but so soon...?

Someone has turned the iPhone into a really expensive handheld video poker machine. My only complaint: no sound.