Even though I don’t get out to the movie theater as often as I would like, I’m always checking out trailers for upcoming films.  The other day I checked out one for No Strings Attached, starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman.  Not my usual cup of tea, but though I’d give it a look any way.

Cute, but insanely predictable from the trailer, I’m sure I’ll skip its Jan. 21st, 2011 release.

I didn’t give the movie another thought, went on about my life, and then another trailer popped up that made me go, “Didn’t I already watch a trailer about this?” No, wait, this one has Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake in it … and it’s titled Friends With Benefits … wait a minute … (slightly not safe for work due to language)

Is it just me, or are these not nearly the exact same movie? Oh, wait, I see the difference! Friends With Benefits comes out on July 22nd, 2011! My bad.

This isn’t nearly the first time this has happened in Hollywood, and it’s sure to not be the last, but come on.  These two are so obviously the same movie, and even appear to have very similar settings that it is actually a bit appalling.  Did no one think we would notice?  I mean, you released your trailers in the same week for crying out loud!

For the record, I actually chuckled at the Friends With Benefits trailer, not so much at No Strings Attached.

If there was ever any question about whether or not Hollywood has run out of ideas, I think it’s just been answered for you.

P.S. – How does That 70′s Show play into this since Ashton and Mila played a couple on that show?  Hmm … the plot thickens!

After reading the first 12 collected volumes of The Walking Dead, I was insanely pumped up for this TV series.

I should have known better.

Although I knew they had changed numerous things in the series from just the commercials, they are completely changing characters and their motivations.  (Spoiler warning from here on out)

Lets take Shane and Lori for instance.  In the comic series these two have sex once on the side of the road on the way to Atlanta.  Lori is racked by the guilt of leaving Rick in the hospital back home, torn with fear and she has sex with Shane just to feel something.  Although Shane wants more, Lori keeps the idea of her husband being alive in the front of her mind at all times.

In the television series we are treated to Shane being the one to keep saying, “Oh, Rick’s fine …” and then he and Lori sneak off for making out or having sex.  Lori has gone from a flawed human with one indiscretion to apparently the camp floozy.

That is just one change, although I feel completely changing a character’s motivations is fairly significant.  If that is all there was, I might not be so irritated, but we are swimming in new characters, completely pointless new scenes (please, the sewer scene from episode 2 was such obvious padding for time that it was actually insulting) and entirely new sub-plots such as Rick seeing a helicopter fly over Atlanta.

While I understand not wanting to do a slavish interpretation of the comic, the fact that series creator Robert Kirkman is involved leads to me being surprised.  If we’re supposed to treat this as a different imagining of the story, even that would be fine, but we’re you’re tell is … well … boring.  The comic is insanely gripping, and the TV series just feels like I’m moving from scene to scene with no real emotional connection to what is going on.

I’m not going to give up on it for the time being, but I’m certainly not looking forward to it each week like I thought I would. Do yourself a favor and pick-upThe Walking Dead (affiliate link) comic series if you want to see what it can be like, and you’ll instantly understand why this has been so disappointing thus far.

Last night, if you all remembered, you moved your clocks back one hour for standard time.  For the next 128 days (March 14, 2011) we are stuck with an outdated system of time that was based around helping farmers out.  For some insane reason people, namely the government, keeps this insane system going when there is absolutely no need for it to even exist.  It sure would be nice if they joined the rest of us in the 21st century some day.

We have reduced this time period to as little as we can while keeping it in service, which just makes you wonder harder about why we do.  As I pointed out in the above linked post, it is a proven fact that traffic accidents go up during this time period because people spend more time driving in the dark.

You know what else it does?  It drives up your electric bill because we turn our lights on earlier in the day.  Aren’t we supposed to be cutting energy use?

Just once I would like to see someone write an explanation of why we keep this stupidity going, but that would require someone, anyone, to come up with a logical reason for it.  And until this creative person comes along, we’re just stuck with it.

Come on, world, make it go away already!

A total of 37 published this week.

FunJug.com

• The Shining Twins Sing the Hits
• McDonalds iCon Chicken Dance
• Ipswich World Final Heat 2 wrecking train!
• Macho Salad
• Sesame Street: Song: There’s An App For That
• Inception Spoof/Parody “A Gross Misuse of Inception”
• Saturday Shorts: How to Be Well Groomed

RememberingChristmas.com

• Survey Shows Kids Are Turning From Toys To Gadgets On Their Wishlists

SeanPAune.com

• Tranformers 3 Gets A Title
• Halloween Is Officially The New Thanksgiving
• 2010 Mid-Term Elections
• San Francisco Bans Happy Meal Toys
• Second Trailer For Sucker Punch Makes Your Eyes Explode
• Scattercast Episode #120: They Can Take Our Toys, But They’ll Never Take Our FREEDOM!
• James Bond 23 Gets A New License To Kill

SpookieBits.com

• Happy Halloween!

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Turn Your Love Of Apple Products Into A Killer Halloween Costume
• Walmart Continues Its iPad Rollout
• Firesheep May Be The Scariest Thing This Halloween
• Sprint AIRAVEs Suffer Major Downtime
• Report: As iPhone Marketshare Grows, Android’s Grows Faster
• The Myth Of Users Vs Accounts
• Report: Yet Another Quarterly Report Shows Android Becoming The Top OS
• Rumor: iPhone 5 May Include Remote Computer Controls
• October Web Browser Market Report Has Chrome Posting Biggest Gains
• Rumor: Gran Turismo 5 May Miss The Holidays
• Supreme Court Hears Case Over Sale Of Violent Video Games
• Facebook Gets Serious About Mobile And Location
• Warner Brothers Considering Extending 28-Day Rental Window
• Is Hulu Cutting In To Pay TV Revenues?
• Make The Call For Last Rights, MySpace Only Has Quarters To Live
• Report: No One Cares About Foursquare
• Food Magazine Claims The Entire Internet Is “Public Domain”
• Flashback Friday: Could Friendster Foretell The Future For Others?
• Hulu Plus Finally Opens To The Masses
• Speculation Runs Rampant That Latest Bombing Plot Will End Wi-Fi On Airplanes
• Infographic: How Smartphone Users View One Another

It seems that even the potential closure of a movie studio can’t kill off the greatest secret agent ever, James Bond.

Back in July things were looking pretty dismal on the prospects of a 23rd James Bond film, but now it seems that MGM, the right’s holder since the first film, has figured out a solution to all of its problems: Bankruptcy! Yes, MGM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday, and under its restructuring plans it has figured out a way to get all of its movies back into production.

The current plan calls for MGM to partner up with another studio for 50 percent of the rights to Bond 23, and the other studio will put up all of the financing.  The next film is targeted for release in Nov. 2012, and beginning with Bond 24 MGM will take back over all of the financial obligations while also planning to release a new installment in the series every two years.

Of course the biggest question mark right now is if Daniel Craig will be able to return to the series considering the delay since Quantum of Solace.  He has taken up a role in the Millennium Trilogy, and is currently filming the first film in the series, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Mr. Craig has said in numerous interviews that he is anxious to get back to playing James Bond, but now it comes back to figuring out a schedule that will work for both him and the studio.  Considering the highly positive critical response to his first two turns in the iconic role, my feeling is MGM will do what ever it needs to to retain him playing 007.

Personally I’m rooting for the return of Craig.  He has breathed an entirely new life into the aging character, and he has made me more interested in the franchise than I have been in ages.  Everyone keep your fingers crossed this all works out.

It’s episode #120 of Scattercast and I’m taking on the nanny state.

San Fransisco bans Happy meal toys, and this isn’t the first of their weird bans. Where will they stop?

Generally this week is all about letting your local governments exert way too much control over your life. Enjoy.

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Lets face it, Sucker Punch is probably not going to be that deep, or make you sit around at a diner after the movie discussing how it has made you re-evaluate your life, but are you honestly going to care?

Ever since the first character images for this movie came out, quickly followed by the first trailer, I have been all hot on seeing this movie when it comes out next March.  There are times where even I can just say “this movie makes no sense, but since I am being visually stimulated to the point of my brain melting, I don’t really care.”

Sucker Punch is definitely one of those types of films.

While the first trailer gave us some hint to the plot of the film, this second one definitely focuses a lot more on the story aspects. It does sound pretty basic, but that’s just the way things are, and I’m still going to want to see this on the big screen just to take in the insanity.

Definitely check out this new trailer, and do yourself the favor of blowing it up to full-screen.

While turning 30-years-old isn’t usually something people celebrate, when it’s a product, that’s pretty impressive. You know what you should do when a product turns that old? Decide to treat it like the greatest threat to children ever.

As I’ve been covering before, it seems that everyone and their dog has decided that the toys packed in Happy Meals are produced by Satan himself.  From bans to lawsuits, it seems everyone is after those toys that come in the kid’s meals.  According to SF Weekly, last night while you were watching the election results, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed a ban on the toys effective in Dec. 2011.  The vote 8-3, making it veto proof, an action San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had promised to take if this passed.

The new ban says that no toys may be included as a promotion in any meal that is more than a total of 600 calories, including the drink, and they must have less than 35 percent of their calories come from fat.  Adding insult to injury, the promoted meal must also include fruits and vegetables.

Speaking to Reuters, San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure, said, ”Our children are sick. Rates of obesity in San Francisco are disturbingly high, especially among children of color.”  He went on to add, ”This is a challenge to the restaurant industry to think about children’s health first and join the wide range of local restaurants that have already made this commitment.”

Danya Proud, a spokeswoman for McDonalds, told the news service, “We are extremely disappointed with today’s decision. It’s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for.”  She went on to add, ”Getting a toy with a kid’s meal is just one part of a fun, family experience at McDonald’s.”

Look, I understand obesity is out of control in this country, but dictating to businesses what they can do to promote their wares, in a totally legal way mind you, is just absurd.  Taking away the toys will not make kids eat healthier no matter how much you try to fool yourself.  Kids are suddenly going to stop despising vegetables and eat them because they now come with a toy?  HAH!

This ordinance, like so many others we have seen (we’re looking at you Baltimore!) is just another case of the government turning into a nanny state.  How about you try educating the populace on healthy eating as opposed to instating some ban that will have absolutely no impact on childhood obesity rates.  Is this going to stop kids from eating candy bars?  From drinking sodas?  From plopping down on the couch after school with a bag of chips?  No, it isn’t, but oh happy days, you got rid of the evil Happy Meal toys!  The world is saved!

You know, why stop with banning the toys?  How about you just start dictating all the menu items?  I mean, you know what’s best for everyone apparently, so why not just start saying that restaurants can’t sell burgers with cheese, or bacon … or meat … or bread … why, all restaurants in San Francisco must now be tofu joints or salad bars (but mind the dressing!).

Some people are crowing what a victory is for the kids out there … tell ya what, when they move on to banning some other useless item that has absolutely no impact, come back and talk to me.  Maybe you’ll finally realize educating people as opposed to taking away choices is where the smart people are.

Once again voting day is upon us, and I hope that no matter who you intend to vote for that you will get out there and exercise this right so many of us take for granted.

It seems like every election cycle gets harder to get through due to the overwhelming amount of negative ads out there.  One has to wonder when the politicians will realize all those ads really accomplish is to turn us off to the whole process.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could focus on the issues as opposed to who did what 20 years ago?  Oh, wait, that would mean we might figure out that none of them actually know what they’re talking about … my bad.

No matter who you are choosing to vote for today, I hope you will get out there and vote.  I hate to belabor a point, but this is a right, and it’s one that we should embrace more fully.  There are places all over the world that people are dying for this right, and yet we somehow view it as a hassle to go down to our polling places.  That being said … I’ve already voted.  Our county offers anyone the ability to go to the County Clerk’s office up to a month before the election and vote “absentee”.  I was there over two weeks ago and there was actually a small line that formed after me to vote.  I was absentee ballot 296, and the box was already getting full.

That actually warmed my heart a bit.  I don’t care when someone votes, so long as they do it.

Get out there today, vote the way you want, and wear that “I Voted” sticker with pride … and prepare to hear a whole lot about the 2012 election tonight.

It used to be in that Thanksgiving marked the beginning of the Christmas season in the United States. Over the past few years that has been slipping earlier and earlier with people beginning to wonder if Halloween was the new landmark date.

If my e-mail this morning was any indication, yes, Halloween is the new Thanksgiving when it comes to Christmas shopping.

Considering that when I woke up this morning, almost every e-mail I had subject lines such as:

“Get a Jump Start on Holiday Shopping and Save up to 45% in our Gift Guide!”

“Pre-holiday savings: Optiplex desktops from $869″

“HOLIDAY SEATING only $59.95 each with 2 or more”

And on, and on, and on … I guess we’ll just have to get used to it no matter how annoying it might be.  Of course, is the next step moving it all to Labor Day?  I’m figuring by 2025 we’ll be up to July 4th, so make sure to clean up all those fireworks off your roof while you’re up there putting up the lights.