Charlie Sheen Must Be Planning Something

OK, Charlie Sheen has to be trying to get fired or end Two and a Half Men at this point. That is the only thing that I can think of that will explain his continued outbursts and rants.

I know celebrities get weird ideas in their head, but you know, if someone was paying me almost 2 million dollars an episode (not to mention a huge chunk of residual money), I think I would keep my mouth shut until after that was over.

Maybe I am weird like that... you know, enjoying getting paid. Because they can do the show without him. They did Valerie after Valerie Harper left, so for a little more money, they will find a way to do 20 more episodes next year without Sheen (and given the ratings, maybe more).

And Charlie Sheen has the balls, the huge swinging brass balls to ask for even more money after he was slinging insults at Lorre and the rest of the crew? Yeah, that's not happening.

If it was any other job and you did what Charlie Sheen has done, you'd be fired. Pro athletes are looking at what Sheen has done and wincing. Think about what would happen if you called your employer a "contaminated little maggot". You'd be out on your ass.

The hint any celebrity should take that they really are going too far is when your publicist wants to distance themselves from you.

I mean, in a fight between himself and Chuck Lorre, Sheen is going to lose. Lorre has made the studios a lot of money working with troubled talent, and after those series were done, the troubled person ended up being much less prominent than they were when they were working with him.

Think about it. He created Grace Under Fire with Brett Butler when she was going through her difficulties (which included reportedly flashing her 12-year old son on the show)... and aside from a few guest spots on My Name Is Earl, she largely fell off the map. Admittedly, due to clashes with Butler, Lorre did lose some of his power early on in the life of the series, but he was still making cash as the creator of the show.

Then there was Cybill, with the titular Cybill Shepherd. On Moonlighting, a producer made an ultimatum that it was him or her, and he ended up leaving the show, and that show was infamous for having a lot of back stage drama. Chuck Lorre survived that.

He created Dharma and Greg, which featured Jenna Elfman, noted and vocal Scientologist. He emerged from that unscathed.

But I think what says it all is he worked on Roseanne, and much like New York, if you can make it there, even for a short period of time, you can make it anywhere.

Charlie may still have supporters, but you know what, OJ Simpson does too... it doesn't make either of them right.

Seriously, I am actually starting to side with Denise Richards here and I hate her... I mean, just hate her.

Sunday Video: Hipster Superheroes

Based on the College Humor comic of the same name.

If I Ran The Oscars Telecast...

...I'd show clips from the less than stellar movies, commercials and such that those involved did before getting the nomination.

Like tonight, I would totally show a clip from Annapolis when James Franco's name was called as a Best Actor nominee.

Natalie Portman would have to cringe as Mars Attacks plays.

And every time Meryl Streep gets nominated, it is She Devil time.

I think this vision of mine would be the reason I would never get that chance.

Week 41: Pageant of the Transmundane

The bicycling mayor of Seattle had his bike stolen. Alanis Morrissette is said to be writing a new version of Ironic just in include this real life incident.

This week's winning entry comes to us from Tasteless Yokels.

In this case, it is a series of pictures of an Evil Woody doll from Toy Story doing sinister things to other toys.

And since this week's winning entry has to do with toys, well, a Homer toy seemed to be the best image to go with.

Congrats. Here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Passing Thought

Does anyone else wish that Amazon took Paypal?

I understand why they don't mind you, but I still wish they did.

A Rather Fitting Gaddafi Image

Cal posted this on his blog, and I thought it captured a particular sentiment rather well.

I loved Disney's Robin Hood as a child, and Prince John is a great animated analogue to Gaddafi at the moment.

Is That It For Charlie Sheen?

Anyone else think that after Charlie Sheen's recent comments, Two and a Half Men is done permanently?

I think this scene from Kill Bill Vol. 2 explains the whole situation.

The Supposed Rosie/Oprah Feud

I think that would have to be a rather one sided affair if it was true since Oprah has all the power in that particular relationship, what with Rosie's new show scheduled on Oprah's network.

Granted, I heard some things about Rachael Ray being a little snippy about Oprah when her daily talk show was getting off the ground, and we all know that Rosie is very outspoken (that's as nice a way as I can put it), and she has been known to bite the hand that feeds her, but I don't think she would do anything negative in public before her show even hit the air.

I mean, I know she's willful, but I don't think she'd be that stupid.

Midweek Video: If Other Directors Made The Social Network

It is exactly as described.

Conan O'Brien's Beard

Am I the only one who thinks Conan O'Brien looks weird without a beard now?

I was watching some of his old clips, and he just looks odd without his beard. Like his face is naked. It has become a part of his image in my brain.

I don't know about you, but that is a successful rebranding in my eyes. He has been doing his new show for just a few months and the beard has taken over my entire conception of him as a physical performer.

How Would You Type That?

I was downloading some logos for Football Manager last night, and as part of the process, you have to fill in a captcha test.

I think this one was a little too hard.

I just wish at the time that I had had the presence of mind to hit the audio portion of that to hear it try to read the above.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip Revisited

Just after Christmas, I was able to pick up the complete series of Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip on DVD, because I had remembered I enjoyed the opening episodes of the series and the price was right.

Given that I've seen a few more things and I would be coming back to the series with a fresh perspective, and seeing as Sorkin is nominated for an Oscar for The Social Network, it seems like a timely revisit as well.

A lot of people, including Aaron Sorkin claimed that it didn't matter that the show within the show, the actual Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, wasn't funny, when the whole crux of the larger series, aside from the foibles of the various cast and crew intersecting in seemingly interesting ways, was that Danny Tripp and Matt Albie were brought back to restore the show within the show to both relevance and make it once again a bastion of cutting edge humor. When I first watched the series, I was on Sorkin's side on this, but in retrospect, I have to join the detractors. If you were watching a show where experts were called in to deal with a situation, they have to be demonstrated to be really good at that task.

If you were watching a show where there was an ex-cop who got called into by a connection at his old precinct to deal with cases that were too messy for the by the book police and he was shown to be not capable of doing that very thing, you wouldn't watch that show, even if the narrative conceit of the show was designed to accommodate a family drama base as well.

Speaking of which, how anyone, the characters or Aaron Sorkin/Thomas Schlamme, thought that The Cold Open would work for a modern sketch comedy show.

But the show did go off the rails for me in the very same place as it did when it first aired... after an episode called "B12" because there were a few decisions made in that episode that the rest of the series had to live with and it brought the whole thing down more than a few pegs.

And the complaint that there there was a needless attempt to raise the stakes of every little thing is well warranted... especially since it aired on Mondays, which had 24, which was a series which knew exactly how to do that. Because for the most part, the situations were not life and death on Studio 60, but they were treated as if they were every week.

In retrospect, I can see how given the basic narrative structure of the show it could have worked. It just needed a slightly different setting.

I mean, for those of you who watched this series when it aired, imagine if instead of being about a sketch comedy show, it was instead about a cable program that mocked the local news weeknights, whose previous host had a public sexual harassment suit levied against him and both left the show. In a scramble, the newly installed head of the network hired a former writer and his stand-up comedian writing partner as producer (Whitford) and host (Perry) respectively. The new host had faced some controversy from a previous show he had emceed because of satirical jokes he had made after 9/11. This makes the head of the corporation very nervous and there is a lot of antagonism between the two sides.

Of course, there is also a bit of tension as Perry's Albie's ex-girlfriend works on the show as a fake correspondent, and her strong religious beliefs conflict with his atheism.

With these two men in charge, the show changes direction and starts aiming its sights on cable news and politics, and becomes a massive hit for the network, allowing them to push against the established norms of the news cycle and political world.

I mean, think about this... Aaron Sorkin loves writing about politics and coming up with little quips about it, and since he did Sports Night, he has experience writing about a similar setup to The Daily Show/Politically Incorrect/Real Time setup, so it would have been win/win for him.

Of course, with the failure of the show, Simon Helberg was available to play Howard Wolowitz on The Big Bang Theory, so maybe things worked out for the best.

Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and the Venom Therein

Note: I wrote this back on January 20th, and I could have sworn I posted it... and yet, here it is in my drafts pile. Thus I am posting it over a month late. DOH!

By now the news that Anne Hathaway has been selected to play Catwoman in Christopher Nolan's upcoming Batman film has likely filtered through enough layers of the onion that is the blogosphere to have reached almost everyone who was interested in knowing that information.

And I've seen a lot of griping about this particular choice. A lot of those complaints are more about wanting another actress in particular to have that role, most commonly Rachel Weisz, and that I understand. That is disappointment about something tangible that could have been in one's mind, and I get where people may be coming from on that.

But there is also a lot of griping about Anne Hathaway in general. There are claims she is too nice, she isn't threatening and I even read more than one person referring to her in terms comparing her to a stuffed toy (words like fluffy and plush came up).

It is like having done a lot of roles as a nice girl/woman, people believe she is incapable of playing any other kind of role. Like playing likable characters most of the time makes her somehow less of an actress, or that she can't bring something to the role.

It isn't like she just suddenly materialized with The Princess Diaries. She had been acting throughout her life, and was an award winner even as a teen, and she's more than held her own onscreen with a lot of veterans of the craft.

Even if we are looking for something method from her performance, she did date someone for four years who turned out to be a master criminal.

I mean, there is a lot of venom out there about this announcement; way more venom than it deserves. Do people not remember Halle Berry as Catwoman... seriously?

Because when you are attacking Anne Hathaway for a role she has yet to play, you are also somehow saying that Christopher Nolan doesn't know what he wants for that role. Just wait for the movie and if you don't like it then, well you are perfectly free to complain (and let's be honest, if you are this against Hathaway now, you are prepared to loudly proclaim your hatred of the performance whenever the movie is released).

I admit that in the past I've mocked some casting choices, but I did base that on the precedent set by an actor or actress (Tom Cruise in Valkyrie comes to mind). Even then, I was sort of humorous about it. Some of these anti-Hathaway commenters are crossing a line in my mind.

And the thing is, it isn't as if I absolutely love Anne Hathaway... I enjoy her work, but she doesn't make or break a movie for me. I am just willing to wait and see what her performance is like before I judge it.

Sunday Video: Our Gouge Based Heritage

Yes Rick Mercer. Yes.

Week 40: Pageant of the Transmundane

A boy was suspended from a New York City school for 2 days after putting a "Kick me, please" sign on the back of another student. My first thought was he is in the fourth grade and he not only used the word please on the sign, but he used a comma correctly in that statement.

This week's winning entry comes to us from My Modern Met.

In this case it is some really surreal Mongolian Pop Art. I think having the word Mongolian in front of Pop Art is surreal in and of itself.

And since this week's winning entry has to do with pop art, I thought Homer in The Scream would be most fitting.

Congrats Eugene. Here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Congrats To Mary Elizabeth Winstead!

I would like to congratulate the lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead for getting cast as Mary Todd in the upcoming movie Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

Huzzah!

Midweek Video: How Breakfast Cereal Mascots Brainwashed You

Of all the Cracked videos, the After Hours ones are my favorites.

I am sort of bummed that they haven't announced the next one.

Another Video Game-Related Meme: Yes Please!

Samuraifrog did this meme and it looked like fun.

1. Your very first video game.

I vaguely remember playing Donkey Kong at a convenience store when I was about 5.

2. Your favorite character.

I think it would be Sgt. Cortez from the Time Splitters games. Hope they make a new one soon. Etna from Disgaea is pretty cool too.

3. A game that is underrated.

Naval Ops: Warship Gunner 2. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to play it. And The Peace Keepers on the SNES was also an underrated gem in my opinion (any game that has a stage named after Snake Plissken can't be all bad, can it?)

4. Your guilty pleasure game.

I liked Duel Masters. There, I said it.

5. Game character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).

I want to be Sly Cooper.

6. Most annoying character.

I am not picking a particular character. I am picking a specific type of character... anyone who you have to escort, especially if they don't have self-preservation instincts.

7. Favorite game couple.

Rydia and Edge in Final Fantasy II/IV (because you know that they hooked up after that game).

8. Best soundtrack.

The soundtrack for Chrono Trigger is pretty sweet.

9. Saddest game scene.

There is a particular non-player character in Persona 3 who you meet midway through the game... a young man who is dying of an incurable genetic disease named Akinari Kamiki and as you get to know him, he starts to be a little more optimistic about life and finds peace. And then he dies after giving you a notebook with a story he had been working on. Oh, and all this is happening while the world is coming to an end. After you finish the game, you can go back to where you used to visit him, and you will encounter his mother who will tell you that before he died, he had not only thanked her for giving him life and taking care of him in his infirmity. She then asks you if her son gave you the notebook with the story he was writing in it. When you tell her you have it, she doesn't want to read it. She wants to wait until she dies so that her son can tell her the story himself and she wants you to keep it because you had meant so much to him in his final weeks. Looking it up on the net, I started getting a little misty eyed again. Picking a saddest moment from this game is like shooting fish in a barrel since it is full of downbeat and tragic events.

10. Best gameplay.

The Katamari Damacy series is still engrossing.

11. Gaming system of choice.

Playstation 2.

12. A game everyone should play.

Katamari Damacy.

13. A game you’ve played more than five times.

Well, I beat Dynasty Warriors 4/5 a number of times.

14. Current (or most recent) gaming wallpaper.

I used to use a Katamari Damacy one with a tree.

15. Post a screenshot from the game you're playing right now.

16. Game with the best cut scenes.

Again, Persona 3.

17. Favorite antagonist.

Kefka from Final Fantasy III/VI was just so good. An insane clown of a character who destroyed the world because he could. Does that sound like anyone else?

18. Favorite protagonist.

There is a lot of overlap in this. Sgt. Cortez.

19. Picture of a game setting you wish you lived in.

20. Favorite genre.

I really enjoy open world/sandbox type games.

21. Game with the best story.

I know this is going to sound like a broken record but again, Persona 3.

22. A game sequel which disappointed you.

I loved Final Fantasy III/VI... I hated Final Fantasy VII.

23. Game you think had the best graphics or art style.

I liked the cell-shaded art style of No More Heroes and the Sin City-type graphics of Madworld.

24. Favorite classic game.

River City Ransom

25. A game you plan on playing.

Too many to list.

26. Best voice acting.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas had a great cast and script.

27. Most epic scene ever.

The drop from Brothers In Arms: Road to Hill 30 is pretty memorable.

28. Favorite game developer.

I like Pandemic.

29. A game you thought you wouldn't like, but ended up loving.

I hated SOCOM II, and then I played SOCOM 3, and it totally changed my opinion of the series. SOCOM III ended up ranking highly on my top 25 list.

30. Your favorite game of all time.

Super Dodge Ball

Note To Current and Future Celebrities

It isn't a secret engagement if I know about it.

It isn't a secret wedding if I know about it.

You want to have something secret... don't tell anyone. Simple as that.

This has been a public service announcement from Culture Kills.

My First Impression of CBS's Mad Love

Tyler Labine is on this? I love that guy. I can't wait for his movie to come out with Alan Tudyk.

Judy Greer too? She's awesome.

And I certainly don't mind Sarah Chalke. I wonder who the fourth member of the cast is?

Is This News To Anyone?

Did anyone not gather this? Seems pretty obvious to me.

Still working on some longer entries, so have faith that it isn't going to be short bits forever. :)

The Post-Credit Card On Two and a Half Men Last Night

Chuck Lorre ended last night's Two and a Half Men with a card that said the following:

I exercise regularly. I eat moderate amounts of healthy food. I make sure to get plenty of rest. I see my doctor once a year and my dentist twice a year. I floss every night. I've had chest x–rays, cardio stress tests, EKG's and colonoscopies. I see a psychologist and have a variety of hobbies to reduce stress. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs. I don't have crazy, reckless sex with strangers.

If Charlie Sheen outlives me, I'm gonna be really pissed.

Ouch.

Recommendation Fail

First of all, I'm trying to figure out where the intersection between PS2 era wrestling games and mopey melodramatic vampire romance is.

And how did I end up standing in it last night at Amazon?

Because nothing in my buying history there, recent or otherwise, should ever bring up a Twilight movie.

Based on my purchase history, Amazon should be trying to sell me the following items:

Books on Soccer
Books on Football
PS2 Role Playing and Fighting Games
Books by Terry Pratchett I Don't Own
Graphic Novels in the vein of Scott Pilgrim.

But really... a Twilight movie? *facepalm*

Sunday Video: The Problem With Jeggings

Matt McCarthy sells exasperation so well. He was awesome in the Nicolas Cage's Agent short film as well.

Ukrainian Style Frankenfoods: I Must Consume

Speaking of fast food, there is a takeout restaurant in my area which serves Ukrainian Nachos.

I have not eaten this delicacy, but apparently it is a traditional nacho plate served with pan-fried perogies rather than nacho chips.

And then I started thinking... since this is Canada, if there was any restaurant anywhere in the country that ever thought to make a Ukrainian Poutine?

So that would be Poutine (which, for those not in the know, is a French-Canadian dish composed of fries served with a rich brown gravy and melted cheese curds) with pan-fried perogies instead of the fries.

The rational part of my brain is turned off by all that fat and cheese and gravy... but my primitive lizard brain is causing my mouth to salivate.

Perhaps there will be a day this week when I play a little bit in the food lab.

Week 39: Pageant of the Transmundane

This week's winning entry was sent in by long time reader and friend to Culture Kills, Semaj.

His suggestion comes from the blog Fer's Forum.

In this case, it was a moment of supergeekdom involving a certain level of Star Wars fandom that has to be read to be believed.

And since this week's winning entry has to do with Star Wars, well, this image seemed perfect.

Congrats Fer. Here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Things I Miss: Saturday Afternoon Horror Movies

Jimmy J Aquino at A Fistful of Soundtracks posted about a music/image cue at the beginning of Ocean's Thirteen that referenced a particular movie program in New York, and it made me think about something from my youth in my neck of the woods.

You see, when I was a kid, there were two decent sized UHF stations in the Detroit area which took it upon themselves to both show horror movies on Saturday afternoons at one time.

But one of those horror showcases was a lot more memorable than the other. If you are of a certain age and you grew up in Detroit, I am sure you were familiar with the Channel 20 Thriller Double Feature.

Now, there is a particular piece of music from a well known song in the second commercial/opening in that clip which always makes me think of edited grindhouse movies now.

I don't know if they got the rights to use that music or if they just snatched it thinking that Led Zeppelin would never know, but that small section of Whole Lotta Love is now implanted in my brain. The first time I heard the whole song and that section came on, it blew my mind.

For me, it seems like the 1970's and 80's were a golden time for horror on television because it seems like it had quite a hold on a number of television stations.

But I really miss those days when there were always movies on during the weekends on regular television. I didn't like that they were cut and edited for time, but it just seems that with the proliferation of cable and satellite, somehow regular TV got the shaft.

I mean, it was a huge part of my youth, and now it seems like it is gone.

Granted, I had an awesome sister who let me/forced me/encouraged me to watch horror movies too from our local video stores (which were awesome, awesome places), so I may have had a slightly unique experience with the genre.

Midweek Video: Bang Your Head (Metal Health)

To eulogize the Guitar Hero series, I thought that a little Quiet Riot was in order.

May you have a rockin' evening.

Guitar Hero Has Left The Building

Activision has announced that the seminal rhythm based game that swept the world Guitar Hero is no more.

Yes, the franchise that, along with the Dance Dance Revolution, brought rhythm gaming to the masses will no longer be produced.

As has been established, I was a late adopter of the Guitar Hero series, but I still fell in love with it after I had played it, as many other people had as well.

We all knew that it couldn't last forever. Yet it is still sad to hear that this popular series has finally come to an end. Though part of me thinks that there may be other legal reasons why the series is coming to an end with so many artists suing them over their likeness in the game being used on other songs.

DJ Hero seems to be unaffected at this point, at least as far as I have read. But that could change soon too.

On the game trading websites I frequent, there is a little bit of trepidation about the future of the Rock Band series as the end of Guitar Hero may be an indication that music games in general are on their way out. I think that is indeed a legitimate concern, as the market is rather saturated at the moment and people may be sick of the genre. But hopefully Rock Band can weather the storm and come out stronger because of this announcement.

But I guess only time will tell how this entire segment of the industry grows now.

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher

I can almost hear her doing the voice now. I think that this is amazing casting. I am sure she is going to be fabulous as Thatcher.

And the fact that the movie is about Thatcher's life during 17 days in the Falklands War crisis, I think there will be something for a lot of different filmgoers in this movie.

And Streep certainly has a knack for portraying real people and characters based loosely on them, so she should be a natural for this role.

I am really looking forward to this movie now.

The New Yorker and Paul Haggis vs Scientology

Well, I've been waiting for this day for a while.

I knew that Paul Haggis was eventually going to spill some more dirt on his time with Scientology. But I wasn't prepared for The New Yorker to devote so much space to the matter as well because it isn't just about Haggis, but the sins of Scientology going way back.

I'm very happy seeing this kind of anti-Scientology press, truly I am. I am impressed by the depth of reporting present.

Read Paul Haggis Vs. Scientology... it is utterly fascinating, and I can't believe some of the people who actually talked to the reporter.

Why The Groupon Ads Were A Good Thing

I know there was a lot of negative publicity for the recent Groupon ads that aired during the Super Bowl, and I find myself in a rather unique position as I actually thought that some good actually came out of them.

The sad truth is, most of the time when an ad bought by a public advocacy group comes on, you know that a lot of people tune it out. You know it and I know it. I hate to admit that, but I am certainly guilty of tuning them out. And yet as tasteless as it seemed presented as part of a pitch for a website, the front-end information presented in those ads reached a very receptive audience, as the commercials are as much a part of the Super Bowl watching experience as the actual game. And aside from a few of the most well-funded groups, there would be little chance that an organization could buy ad time to air that message to so receptive an audience.

And the discussion about these ads on television and online allowed the first half of these ads to be shown repeatedly or made people who hadn't seen them to watch them and then think about why they were offensive. Which means that for at least a brief time, a large number of people were thinking about the problems facing Tibet and the Brazilian rain forest. That isn't valuable, even given the commercial trappings that created that interest?

I am not defending the ads for being tasteful in any way because I agree that they were tasteless. However, I still think a greater good ended up being served from their creation and distribution.

Sunday Video: Football Vs. Baseball

Super Bowl Sunday... have to go with something. So given my feelings about George Carlin and baseball, I thought his Football vs. Baseball joke would be great for today.

Thank you Mr. Carlin, thank you.

Week 38: Pageant of the Transmundane

In a fit of revenge, a young lady made a picture of her model ex-boyfriend into a meme that dominates searches for his name at Google Images. Even though it is sort of creepy, I do admire the ingenuity of it.

Anyway, this week's winning entry comes to us from Little Love Monster.

In this case, artist Madéleine Flores created a wonderfully-crafted story about an indigenous person named Espiritu.

And since this week's winning entry has to do with indigenous people, I thought Homer's experiences as a missionary would be the most appropriate image.

Congrats Madéleine. Here is your badge.

The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogging village to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.

This is not a meme. This is an award that I give out, and thus, I am not "tagging" you.

Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.

Ralph Fiennes In The Upcoming Bond Movie Too?

Wow. This movie just keeps sounding better and better.

Ralph Fiennes is also rumored to have a villainous part in the upcoming James Bond movie along with Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz, Daniel Craig and Judy Dench.

I am in awe of this amount of British Star power in the same movie. I mean, I think the only thing that might make that even better is Helen Mirren showing up too.

Midweek Video: McBain

I would have never known that if you put all the McBain clips together from the early seasons of The Simpsons, they make up scenes from one movie.

Now that is planning. I applaud that level of geekiness.

Dog Walking Tip For Everyone

I wish I didn't have to learn this one the hard way.

If you have a medium to large sized dog and you walk them with a Halti/Gentle Leader and an extendable length leash, and they happen to get out of the device and they start to dash... you are going to reflexively going to want to grab the leash line.

I implore you, don't do this.

You see, the above scenario just took place, and I ripped up the skin on two of my fingers and rope burned a nice long line across my palm.

Ouchie.

The Stand: The Movie?

Because of the unparalleled success that Stephen King-based material has had theatrically, someone in their infinite wisdom thought it would be a good idea to make a movie out of the 1000 page epic The Stand.

Given how many characters are in that book, they would have to do a lot of paring to get it down to a feature film length, and in my opinion, it would likely look rushed compared with the 1994 ABC miniseries which was able to explore the material with a little more depth.

And I know that King was looking to adapt the story to movie form in the 1980's before the miniseries was made, but the problem then and now is he had trouble condensing that massive tome down into a feature length script.

I really wonder how warped The Stand would become trying to fit it into such a small amount of time. I mean, I've even read suggestions that it could becomes a couple of movies... which I think could make the idea a little more viable.

But I still have my doubts.

Anyone Else Noticing Some Blogger-Blogs Disappearing

Has anyone else noticed that some of the blogs on the Blogger network seem to be disappearing intermittently?

I noticed when I tried to go to Nostomanic, Kick Out Wrestling and a few other blogs, it is as if they don't exist for a period of time.

When it first started happening, I was worried that a few of my favorite blogs had closed shop.

Anyone else been having problems with accessing Blogger sites in the past couple days?