Pop Culture & Current Events

Skyfall Film Review

The longest-running film franchise of all time celebrates their 50th Anniversary in style with Skyfall, the twenty-third installment in the James Bond film series. Daniel Craig marks his third performance as James Bond (a.k.a. Agent 007) as Ben Wishaw debuts as gadget guru Q (a.k.a. Quartermaster). Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) helms this film and all the underlying themes amid Audiences get a great mix of surprises, new elements, and familiar fundamentals like the exotic international locations, overt sexual overtones and, of course, the gear, which for Bond personally is surprisingly simple. Unique weapons like a stinging…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Check Out the Intense Trailer for World War Z!

Have you read Max Brooks’ excellent ‘point of view’ zombie book ‘World War Z:An Oral History of the Zombie War’? If so then perhaps you – like me – have been concerned that the movie version would be a mediocre ‘reimagining’ sort of like the butchering of Asimov’s ‘I, Robot’. But based on the new trailer, it looks like the way that the book has been adapted will bring much of what made it good to the screen, but in a way that serves the need for a hero-based narrative. Plus, the zombie hordes look thrilling! Here is the plot…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Forbes Lists the 6 Top Earning Dead Musicians

There is an old maxim about an artist suddenly becoming much more wealthy and famous after death, which has been turned into countless ‘movie of the week’ plots about faked deaths and so on. The reality is the more often than not – famous people remain famous for some time, and unknowns tend to stay that way as well. But there is still considerable interest in those artists who continue to generate loads of revenue for years and even decades after their deaths. Last week Forbes rounded up 6 artists who made more than $5 million in the last year,…

Game Diary, Reviews

Wreck-It Ralph Film Review

Set in the video game realm, the fast-paced animated adventure-comedy Wreck-It Ralph has touching emotions that succeed where Toy Story started – entertaining audiences while making them care about inanimate objects as strong characters within engaging environments. John C. Reilly voices the main character Wreck-It Ralph, an original character with echoes of Donkey Kong and Hulk who has become tired of his bad guy role in the classic “Fix-it Felix” arcade game. As the game celebrates their 30th year in existence, Ralph takes life-changing steps that take audiences further into the video game realm where electric outlets and cords provide…

Gear Bits, News & Features

Cool Video of James Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince on Stage in 1983!

Sometimes when checking out yet another random ‘list of stuff’ you will find a gem … and here is yet another cool video as a result! It is a 1983 James Brown performance, in which he calls Michael Jackson to the stage and later Prince. Michael and Prince are still reaching the height of their powers, whereas elder statesman JB was about to have his last big hit with ‘Living in America’ the following year. Regardless, it is a magical moment captured on film of sketchy quality, but definitely worth watching! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hPK12SymqeQ Source: BuzzFeed

Gear Bits, Travel, Vehicles & Gear

The Amazing American Cars of Cuba

I was in Havana last week with two dozen members of my community; we were there as part of a “religious mission”, which meant that we brought down supplies to share with the aging members of the Cuban Jewish Community and spent time learning about the history of Cuba, the Jewish community in Cuba, and even the architecture of Havana. That was the “serious stuff”. For fun, among other things, we spent time “car watching”. I couldn’t believe the American cars from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s that are still on the road. It was nothing short of impressive. Here’s…

Editorials

Binders Full of Women, Bic Pens For Her, and Satire Product Reviews

Satire is probably my favorite form of humor. Everything and everyone are fair game, from products to Presidents. And with the speed at which social media and the Internet can move, it doesn’t take long for a Tumblr meme or Facebook page to get rolling. The latest trend: fake product reviews on Amazon.com. It started with Bic Pens, and now has spread to binders thanks to Governor Romney’s “Binders full of women” comment. But should Amazon let these spoofs stay live on the product pages? Context is key here. First, let’s look at the “BIC Pen For Her” reviews. Bic…

Music Diary

Watch Ellie Goulding ‘Live’ Streaming Concert on a 24-Hour Loop!

In an interesting change from normal livestreams or recorded video, Ellie Goulding is streaming her concert from The Troubadour in Los Angeles, recorded on October 16th. It is being made available to view on YouTube via LoveLiveTV, starting at 8PM EST and repeating for the next 24 hours. If you are a fan of her music, definitely check this out! Check it out here starting at 8PM EST!

Editorials

Welcome to OctoNovemCember

The other night we were watching something (or just as likely nothing) on TV, and suddenly a huge Christmas-themed ad for Target came on. I fumbled for my phone to grab an image but failed to snap in time. Fortunately, the Consumerist was on the job! My wife has been working selling fine jewelry since the economic downturn brutalized the tax base and forced schools to cut back on trivial extras such as ‘science’, so this will be her second year dealing with ‘Christmas before Halloween’. In fact, due to the focus of the store she works, there is not…

Gear Bits, News & Features

CBS Cancels ‘Made in Jersey’, NBC Sends ‘Saving Hope’ To Web – How Are YOUR Shows Doing?

The fall of 2011 was a virtual bloodbath with how quickly shows were axed en masse by pretty much every network. So I was surprised that we got all the way into the middle of October before I started hearing about shows getting cancelled. Turns out that it was happening – just a little more quietly and in different ways than before. Let’s start with a traditional axe – ‘Made in Jersey’ got whacked after two episodes due to dismal ratings and abysmal viewership: We have the first official casualty of the 2012-13 season. CBS has pulled low-rated new drama…

Reviews

Bond 50 Review on Blu-ray

For 50 years, Ian Fleming’s James Bond character has emulated style, bravado, special skills, and, most of all, the best gadget gear in the world. The recently released Bond 50 home video collection (Blu-ray and DVD) offers all 22 Bond films* and one bonus disc in one package complete with over 130 hours of bonus features. *Special note – 1983’s Never Say Never Again and 1967’s Casino Royale are not included in this special set. You Only Live Twice (1967), On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Octopussy (1983), A View…

Gear Bits

If You Watch One Video Today, This Is It

I live in the public eye. That’s a choice I made when I entered the congregational rabbinate. As a result, people comment on pretty much every aspect about me. Sometimes they are kind; at other times they aren’t. And, thankfully, over the years, I have developed a fairly tough skin. And when that fails I have a few good friends who let me vent and put it behind me. Elana did not make this choice, but she too will often receive comments from people. Sometimes they are kind, and other times they may not be. Regardless, people will often comment…

Gear Bits

Beer Goes Political

I love beer. Personally, my go-to choices are anything Sam Adams and Guinness. But really, if it’s not Budweiser or Coors, I will happily drink it. And while I have had many political conversations OVER beer, I have never politicized beer…but leave it to analysts to put together a graphic overlaying democrats/republicans/voting involvement and beer choice. Of course, this isn’t 100% accurate. After all, as I said above, I love Guinness and Sam Adams, which indicates I have a split political personality. The whole analysis is pretty neat, so be sure to check out the full article at National Journal….

Editorials

Who and Where are the 47% ‘Non-Tax Payers’?

This is not meant to be a political post per se, but after the ‘leaked’ video of Mitt Romney came out this week showing him talking about the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes (by which he meant income taxes, not taxes in general), there has been some interesting discussion. I wouldn’t have cared much, but one of the highlighted Kindle deals yesterday was What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, which looks at the question of “Why do so many of us vote against our economic interests?” So with that as a backdrop…

Music Diary, News & Features

The Who All-Star Tribute Album ‘Who Are You’ Releases October 2nd!

While The Beatles and The Rolling Stones get the 60’s glory, and Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd rule 70’s rock nostalgia – The Who were there for it all, blazing a path that strangely melded the ‘first punk band’, ‘thinking man’s rock musicians’, and ‘worst rock’n’roll band in the world’. Now they are getting an all-star tribute album coming out on October 2nd and featuring an amazing cast of rock musicians from the last five decades. As noted at Classic Rock Magazine: Cleopatra Records, behind the release, say: “The Who has sold over 100 million records, had 27 top 40…

Music Diary, News & Features

Believe it or Not, MTV STILL Has the VMAs, but Nobody Is Watching Anymore

The other night we stumbled across the VMAs while flipping channels, and while we barely slowed before continuing to change channels, we got to talking about it for a while that night and the next day. The basic conversation went like this: – I love the VMA’s. – Why? – Like to see who won – When was the last time you watched a video on MTV? – … And that pretty much sums it up. The ‘Music Television: Video Music Awards’ are about music on television and about music videos in name only – the real reason people watch…

Gear Bits

Please Make it STOP! Trailer for the ‘Official Sequel’ to ‘A Christmas Story’

For ages now, a tradition in our family has been watching our DVD (and VHS before that) of ‘A Christmas Story’, the beloved 1983 story of Ralphie Parker based on semi-fictional recollections from Jean Shepard of his youth. It is one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ movies that was not much of a hit at theaters but gained tremendously over time – much like the original (I say, only) ‘Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’. While I am not one to say something is going to ‘ruin my memories’, or that a crappy sequel or remake can destroy my…

Gear Bits

Can You Name All 9 Supreme Court Justices? Welcome to the 1%!

Looking at the image above is a rather depressing statement of the reality of our lack of knowledge of our own political systems. Every day on Facebook, Twitter and more you see people all fired up about ‘ObamaCare’, ‘legitimate rape’, or whatever the hot buzzword of the day happens to be. Yet how many of these people know much of anything about the political systems they rant and rave about? How many can name the Vice President? Our election process? The number of Senators? The names of your own Senators and Representative – and those going to your state assembly…

Gear Bits

Despite Mega-Blockbusters, 2012 is Worst Movie Summer in Two Decades!

If you think in numbers like I do, you might have looked at the movies of this summer, including the record-smashing ‘The Avengers’ and mega-blockbuster ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and assumed that the high numbers from those and other popular movies such as ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ and ‘Brave’ would be enough to produce a highly successful summer. You would be wrong. According to the Hollywood Reporter: The number of people going to the movies dipped noticeably in North America this summer, putting increased pressure on the final four months of 2012 to bolster the bottom line. According to preliminary estimates,…

Gear Bits

Get Your Marathon Time Estimated by Paul Ryan!

Every election cycle contains mis-statements and gaffes and other things that would be trivial for most folks … but in a campaign become serious fodder for one side and spin-control for the other. Recently we had one from Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan, who mis-spoke about his marathon time. Here is a bit from RunnersWorld: Ryan had said in a radio interview last week that his personal best was “Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.” RunnersWorld hooked into the comment because completing so quickly would require running sub-7 minute miles for 26.2 miles – and…

Editorials

The Most Important Lesson This Election Year

I worked for Borders in 2004 during the Bush vs Kerry presidential election. While most of our customers were polite, some took the election extremely seriously. We were sold out of a particularly incendiary title, and I had a customer get in my face to tell me he did not believe we were sold out, he believed our bookstore was “too <expletive deleted> liberal to carry it.” A coworker jumped in at that point and assured the angry man that we had cash registers, he had cash, and we would have been happy to accommodate him if we only had…

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