Coffee Klatch

Today I went to see the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, today and, frankly, I was disappointed.

It’s not just that there was so much missing that was in the book or that there were quite a few inconsistencies even within the movie. I understand when elements of a book have to be omitted to keep the movie moving along or within a certain time frame. But it seemed more like they took a bunch of the plot points from the book and made a movie out of them.

It’s also not that I’m not fan, because I own and have read all the books, have pre-ordered the last one, and own the first four DVDs. This last movie just wasn’t as good as the others. Having just read the book again, I felt there was an awful lot that should have been covered in the movie that wasn’t. And I guess it just didn’t “grab” me. There were a couple moments that were humorous or interesting, but so much of the movie just felt strung together and uninspired.

So there you have it. My overall opinions after one viewing. And without any spoilers. You’re welcome to have your own opinion and to share it in comments here.

One of the funniest ad campaigns that Bud Light has come out with is the “Real Men of Genius” series. I’d seen several commercials and then one day I heard one on the radio. Turns out there are TONS of these! While the video versions are funnier, the audio-only are still really good. Some of the early ones were called “Real American Heroes.” The TV versions that I remember were Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer and Mr. Way Too Much Cologne Wearer.

On their website, they don’t have any of the TV commercials, but they have a few of the radio versions.

You can even get a 2-CD set of the audio versions of these commercials at the BudShop.

Here’s a list of all the commercials I’m aware of:

Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer
Mr. After Halloween Costume Shop Salesman
Mr. Airport Baggage Handler
Mr. All You Can Eat Buffet Inventor
Mr. Artificial Tree Maker
Mr. Backyard Bug Zapper Inventor
Mr. Bathroom Stall Dirty Joke Writer
Mr. Boneless Buffalo Wing Inventor
Mr. Bumper Sticker Writer
Mr. Ceremonial First Pitch Thrower Outer
Mr. Chinese Food Delivery Guy
Mr. Company Computer Guy
Mr. Cruise Ship Entertainer
Mr. Department Store Mannequin Dresser Upper
Mr. Discount Airline Pilot Guy
Mr. Dishonest Cable TV Hooker Upper
Mr. Driving Range Ball Picker Upper
Mr. Exotic Cowboy Boot Wearer
Mr. Fancy Coffee Shop Coffee Pourer
Mr. Fantasy Football Manager
Mr. Footlong Hot Dog Inventor
Mr. Frozen Turkey Helpline Guy
Mr. Furniture Assembly Manual Writer
Mr. Gangsta Rapper Posse Member
Mr. Garden Gnome Maker
Mr. Gasoline BBQ Starter
Mr. Giant Foam Finger Maker
Mr. Golf Ball Washer Inventor
Mr. Hair Gel Over-Geller
Mr. Holiday Gift Regifter Guy
Mr. Hot Dog Eating Contest Contestant
Mr. Humongous Pumpkin Grower Guy
Mr. In The Car Nose Picker
Mr. Indecisive Food Orderer Guy
Mr. Inspirational Poster Writer
Mr. Jean Shorts Inventor (Jorts)
Mr. King of the Karaoke Mic
Mr. Mail Order Bride Orderer
Mr. Major Highway Line Painter
Mr. Movie Theater Ticket Ripper Upper
Mr. Multi-Colored Sweater Wearer
Mr. Next Day Carpet Installer
Mr. Nosebleed Section Ticket Holder Guy
Mr. Outside The Stadium Peanut Seller
Mr. Over The Top Carb Counter
Mr. Over-Zealous Foul Ball Catcher
Mr. Paranoid of the Ocean Guy
Mr. Pet Toy Designer
Mr. Pickled Pigs Feet Eater
Mr. Pontoon Boat Maker
Mr. Push-up Bra Inventor
Mr. Putt Putt Golf Course Designer
Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer
Mr. Really Big Golf Club Maker
Mr. Really Loud Cell Phone Talker Guy
Mr. Really Stinky Breath Breather Outer
Mr. Really, Really, Really Bad Dancer
Mr. Restroom Toilet Paper Refiller
Mr. Silent Killer Gas Passer
Mr. Supermarket Produce Putter Outer
Mr. Tiny Dog Clothing Manufacturer
Mr. Tiny Thong Bikini Wearer
Mr. Ultimate Philadelphia Sports Fan
Mr. Underwear Inspector No. 12
Mr. Way Too Much Cologne Wearer
Mr. Way Too Proud of Texas Guy

And here’s a blog I found where you can get most of them: http://thefuntimesguide.com/2004/10/bud_light_real.php

So there you go.

Here are a couple funny videos from YouTube:

The American Film Institute (AFI) has again published a list that film buffs are talking about. Last year it was the Top 100 Most Inspiring Movies. This year it was the Top 100 Movies of All Time. They first created this list 10 years ago and they’ve now updated it for the 10th Anniversary. Yes, there were some changes.

First, here’s the Top 10 of the list:

1. CITIZEN KANE
2. THE GODFATHER
3. CASABLANCA
4. RAGING BULL
5. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
6. GONE WITH THE WIND
7. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
8. SCHINDLER’S LIST
9. VERTIGO
10. THE WIZARD OF OZ

Citizen Kane is AGAIN at the top of the list. Raging Bull and Vertigo are new to the Top Ten list (in 1997, they were ranked #24 and #61). The Graduate and On the Waterfront WERE in the top ten, but have moved down to #17 and #19. Films that are new to the Top 100 list are The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (#50), Saving Private Ryan (#71), Titanic (#83), and The Sixth Sense (#89). Visit the AFI website for more trivia and info about the list.

And visit the AFI’s Top 100 Interactive Tour to see them all in groups of ten (requires Flash).

This morning I stumbled upon a blog post that had YouTube clips of The Maury Show where he had different people on that had really strange phobias. Things like pickles, balloons, mustard, and peaches. Like REALLY afraid, not just dislike. Click the link to view the weird phobias.

Granted, the people could have been faking (maybe they’re acting students or something), but the people on the show certainly weren’t trying to help them. They were just trying to get the audience to laugh at them about it. Oh, and then “thank you for being brave enough to confront your fear and be on our show.”

You know, this is just a modern-day version of the old-time carnivals, where people paid money to see “freaks.” Not really any difference, is there?

Current music: Tibet, by Waterbone

So it looks like Pirates of the Caribbean is getting into the MMORPG racket. It’s called Pirates of the Caribbean Online and after I read about how it was going to work, my first question was, “Will I have to pay for this or will there be a free version?” Turns out they’re expected to have an “Advanced Player” subscription of $9.95 a month but the basic version is supposed to be free. FREE! I read that the only difference between the two versions is going to be ads. And since I use Firefox, I can easily block the ads and just play the game! WOOHOO!!

(These pictures are screenshots from the game. Click them to view tons more screenshots.)

There’s already a nicely detailed article on Wikipedia about the game, which I’ve read is supposed to launch on June 1. I’ve been playing Tribal Wars for a couple of months now and have started to get bored with it. I’ve already dropped most of the accounts I had the various Tribal Wars worlds (there are 7 now) and am down to just one or two that I still maintain and check on daily. Still, a pirate MMORPG would be awesome! There are a couple out there now, but they’re not very impressive. THIS one sounds like it will be.

Here are some key elements of this game:

• You create your own customized pirate character and battle other pirates and go on piratey quests.
• When you’re on a ship, it’s not just you running the ship. It’s an actual crew, with someone in charge and giving orders and the rest carrying them out. It’s going to be a “friendly community” setting where people can interact with each other rather than everyone on their own individual ships.
• You can interact with many of the characters from the movies.
• There will be player guilds and a “virtual economy,” so you can acquire gold and buy and sell things. Buried treasures are, of course, part of the game, and you can trade the gems and artifacts in this open-market-style economy.



• There will a variety of ships to choose from, which you can buy or even take over from other pirates.
• The combat system is supposed to be quite “robust,” with levels of weaponry that you have to earn to “unlock” and make available.
• You can join crews (for quick battles) or guilds (for long term strategic play).
• Your character can build up notoriety by mastering skills, winning battles, hunting for treasure, and even by playing poker, blackjack, and darts with other pirates in the taverns.

All in all, this sounds like the best of Puzzle Pirates, 3-D interactive gaming, and MMORPGs, all immersed in the Pirates of the Caribbean setting. How fun is THAT??

We all know that lemmings migrate every so often and end up jumping into the oceans to drown in large groups, right? Turns out that’s a myth. An urban legend. Snopes.com tells us that while Disney was filming White Wilderness back in 1958, “the film crew induced lemmings into jumping off a cliff and into the sea in order to document their supposedly suicidal behavior.” Click the link to find out more about the filming of these lemmings. Turns out it wasn’t even a migration. They only had a small amount of lemmings that they filmed “deceptively” in order to make it appear like huge herds.

The trivia section for this film in the Internet Movie Database says: “This picture was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a native habitat for lemmings. They were imported from Manitoba for use in the film, and were purchased from Inuit children by the filmmakers. The Arctic rodents were placed on a snow-covered turntable and filmed from various angles to produce a “migration” sequence; afterwords, the helpless creatures were transported to a cliff overlooking a river and herded into the water. The entire sequence was faked using a handful of lemmings deceptively photographed to create the illusion of a large herd of migrating creatures.”

Now you know.

Recently I purchased The Whole Bean–all 14 episodes plus some great extras. All on 3 DVDs. I’d taped quite a few episodes off of TV in the past, but there were still four or five that I’d never seen until I got this complete set.

One I’d actually never seen was “Merry Christmas Mr. Bean,” where he gets the turkey stuck on his head. (And WHAT a HUGE turkey!! It was almost obscene!) The clip below is a hilarious part from that episode, where Mr. Bean plays with a Nativity Scene in a department store window. You may need to turn up your volume a little, since the sound isn’t too strong in this one.

What was REALLY cool was that the last DVD in the set had some great bonus features, like some Mr. Bean sketches that were never aired and a really interesting biography, complete with interviews with his writers/co-workers who knew him and worked with him back when Rowan Atkinson was in college at Oxford and was doing comedy already. Great stuff!

Here’s a clip of one of the sketches that was “never before seen on tv” but was on the DVD.

The Library

This summer has a LOT of movies coming out. Interestingly enough, there are quite a few “#3″ movies hitting the theaters. Ones like Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates 3, Oceans 13, The Bourne Ultimatum, Resident Evil: Extinction, and Rush Hour 3. Seven movies in one summer that are a “third” in the series has GOT to be some kind of record. Plus, you’ve got movie series that are even farther along, like Die Hard and Harry Potter! And then there are the kind that are highly anticipated by fans of the TV versions: Transformers, Underdog, and The Simpsons Movie.

So here’s my list of the cool or interesting movies coming out this summer. There are so many you can go see a new one almost every week! Click the links to get a synopsis, showtimes (when they’re close to opening) and other info.

• May 4 - Spider-Man 3
• May 18 - Shrek the Third
• May 25 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
• June 8 - Oceans 13
• June 15 - Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer
• June 22 - Evan Almighty
• June 27 - Live Free or Die Hard (personally, I really don’t like this title)
• July 4 - Transformers
• July 13 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• July 27 - The Simpsons Movie
• August 3 - The Bourne Ultimatum
• August 3 - Underdog
• August 10 - Rush Hour 3
• September 21 - Resident Evil: Extinction

This was AWESOME!!