Hyperbolic statement of praise! Overt statement requesting readership views video embedded above, delivered in interrogatory format.

(Cite source.)

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer

“StarWarsUncut.com

Fans from around the world are joining forces to recreate the classic, Star Wars: A New Hope.

The entire movie is split up into 15 second scenes. Claim a scene, film it, and upload it! When it’s all done, it’ll be stitched together so we can watch the magic happen.”

Awesome.

I learned that Matt Mullenweg started WordPress partially of a desire to help out his church.

I learned that one does not mess with Finns named Simo Häyhä, particularly if one is Russian.

I learned that Guy Ritchie is making a “Michael Bay version” of “Sherlock Holmes” (“I command ‘Sherlock Holmes’ to be awesome“):

I learned that Ted Vigilante is the single best superior court judge name ever and that he will likely have to be played by Chuck Norris, should a made-for-TV movie ever be produced based solely upon his name.

I learned that Sen. Jim “R0xx0r Your S0xx0rs” DeMint is not afraid to drop the XML Bomb on his crotchety Senate colleagues. (I also learned he desperately needs a new headshot that doesn’t make him look like a goober.)

I learned that Photoshop + New York City street corners + lots of spare time = awesome photo compositions (can you spot the themes?):

I learned that Will Ferrell can still be funny, in certain contexts:

I re-learned that there are few situations in which Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry aren’t funny.

I learned that the government makes/has made a whole bunch of truly creepy “informational” comic books over the years.

I learned that the Kingston Trio is still alive and singing:

I learned that VCR tape covers didn’t die, they just hold hard drives now.

I learned that ShamWow(™exclamationpointoptional) also makes a great auto-tuned jam:

I learned that there’s an ongoing compendium of comic book-related urban legends. Also: Venom was supposed to be a woman.

^*Okay, no one actually asked me that, but they very well could have.

I recall thinking some of those movies looked very, very familiar the first time I saw them as a kid, and now I know why: I had seen them, albeit in a different form.

A friend invited me out to see Watchmen tonight and, in brief, it was a good way to spend a couple of hours on a Friday night.

The film hews very closely to the graphiccomicnovelbook (as noted on GeekDad) and is hugely indebted to the work put in by its original creators. I firmly believe that the solid foundation of the DC comic built by Moore/Gibbons is a (the?) chief reason the movie works. A weaker script would have doomed this movie.

As GeekDad also notes, it is most assuredly not one for the kids. It’s rated “R” and earns it — crude language and sexual situations abound, as do violence and disturbing scenes. A sex scene set to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is vastly overlong — and am I alone in liking Jeff Buckley’s version of the song better? Also, there is far (far, far, far) more screen time devoted to Doctor Manhattan’s, errrm, Junior Doctor Manhattan than I would have necessarily wanted to see. Ever.

Digitized electric blue Wang-Dang-Crudup-Doodles aside, I would definitely put it beside Zack Snyder’s other recent work, 300 in terms of both its thought-provoking nature and its visual artistry. Well worth seeing, if only to support the notion that loud, visually-stunning movies based on comic books can be complex, compelling and more than just over-muscled dudes in spandex prancing about.

Oh, and before I leave off for the night, two Watchmen-related earwigs to toss at you:

1) Try, just try to not think about just how durned impractical Silk Spectre II’s waist-length hair would be for a legitimate costumed hero, especially as she flees the burning building.

2) In honor of the film’s release, somebody done dropped this bit of awesomeness on Teh Internets (and all their associated website numbers):

Yes, it’s a fake, but no less awesome for it. (By way of Extra Life.)

Booo. Funny or Die removed the video — likely due to copyright claim[s]. Shazbot. -ed.

Heh. It is to laugh.

Over a year ago, I volunteered to escort the remains of Marines killed in Iraq should the need arise. The military provides a uniformed escort for all casualties to ensure they are delivered safely to the next of kin and are treated with dignity and respect along the way.

Thankfully, I hadn’t been called on to be an escort since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The first few weeks of April, however, had been a tough month for the Marines. On the Monday after Easter I was reviewing Department of Defense press releases when I saw that a Private First Class Chance Phelps was killed in action outside of Baghdad. The press release listed his hometown—the same town I’m from. I notified our Battalion adjutant and told him that, should the duty to escort PFC Phelps fall to our Battalion, I would take him.

Four years ago, Blackfive posted Marine Lt. Colonel Strobl’s accountof his accompanying the remains of a Marine Lance Corporal, LCpl. Chance Phelps, from Dover AFB to Phelps’ home town. It’s an incredibly moving account of the final honor accorded to our bravest and finest that die in service of our country and I found myself getting choked up at several points in reading Lt. Col. Strobl’s story.

Well, HBO has decided to make a film about Strobl and Phelps entitled Taking Chance. It stars Kevin Bacon as Strobl and is due to air February 21st. Here’s the trailer:

Looks like a must-watch. I get choked up watching the trailer too. God bless our men and women in uniform.

Heh.

Awesome.

(By way of Extra Life.)