FLOATING SHAWN

Danny DeVito: Method Actor

Clearly, it's not much of a stretch for Danny DeVito to play sloppy waste-of-life Frank Reynolds on my fav sitcom, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. My inner skeptic thinks he's just funnin' around in this clip from Philly's local morning news, but my inner drunk is 90% sure Danny's inebriation is 100% authentic. You decide.

A Fistful of Snark: Summer Movie Mid-Term Grades

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE
This is what we get when a leading man is so popular and so good at playing a superhero that the studio thinks his powers include the ability to produce a good movie: the Superman IV: Quest for Peace of the X-Men franchise. D

STAR TREK

The reboot that Superman Returns should have been. Ironic, considering that J. J. Abrams also wrote one of the unproduced scripts for SR. Warner Bros. is surely kicking themselves now. B+

ANGELS AND DEMONS
Note to Ron Howard: it is not thrilling, exciting, or intriguing to watch "super-smart" Robert Langdon solve a mystery that's as complicated as a treasure hunt from the back of a Lonely Planet travel guide. A mentally handicapped person could find the hidden bomb and see the twist coming. About as entertaining as Superman III (the one with Richard Pryor), and notable only for Ewan MacGregor's performance, if only because it's been so long since he's had a part in a big film. Wonder if a certain mega-huge space opera franchise has anything to do with that (not Star Trek). C

TERMINATOR SALVATION
It's not fair. The trailers were too good to be true. It looked like the perfect combination of Terminator, Saving Private Ryan, and Gears of War. I didn't care what the reviews said, in my heart of hearts I believed it would be good. And at times, it was brilliant. But like the last few seasons of Smallville, being brilliant every now and then doesn't compensate for being fucktard stupid most of the time. Christian Bale, you sleepwalked through this movie, or at least it looks like it, and with a performance like that, the crew should have been threatening to "fucking fire" YOU. C

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN
Maybe I'll catch this on DVD, but probably not. Love you Ben Stiller, but not in Eddie Murphy kiddie pool mode. INCOMPLETE.

UP
Ashamed to admit that I still haven't seen it, but I've set a date night with Christine to see it in 3D next week. From all the buzz and Pixar's track record, I can't wait. In fact, Pixar films are so good even when they're bad that I'm comfortable grading this film before I see it: A

LAND OF THE LOST
Sorry, Will and Danny. This clearly ain't no Evening with Bush or Eastbound & Down. It's studio franchise TV remake poop. I hope that everyone who worked on it takes their fat pay checks and uses the cash to make something better. D

THE HANGOVER
As Christopher McDonald said in that G-rated family film Requiem for a Dream, We have a winner! A line of coke in a summer slate of baking soda, this is the one we'll remember this summer for (with the possible exception of Up). It's a star vehicle for Bradley Cooper, a mainstream resurrection for underrated genius Zach Galifianakis, and a 40-Year-Old Virgin-style leap from small to big screen for Ed Helms. The manliest man's movie in a summer that was supposed to be full of them, it raises the hilarity bar for Apatow and company to deliver big laughs with Funny People. A

Cover letters

    I've been applying to jobs for the past few months with no success. I'm trying to keep my chin up about it. I'm lucky to have folks and friends who will buy me a beer and say, "It's not you, it's the economy."
    I'm tempted to cry solipsism and point out that it could very well be me, but I've never experienced this kind of failure before. I grew up as one of those kids with "so much potential," jobs and opportunities have never seemed far out of reach.
    Yet here they are. Or rather, here they aren't.

Requiem for a 1G

    When Apple announced the iPhone 3GS, most self-respecting geeks immediately began calculating how early they would line up outside the Apple Store to be among the first to collect the shiniest of shiny new toys.
    But me? I was thinking about last year's-last year's model, my 8GB iPhone 1G.

The Pirate- er- CUSTOMER is Always Right

    I've long bemoaned Big Media's unenlightened, endless War on Piracy. Try explaining "piracy is progressive taxation" to a Hollywood suit and he'll treat you like an evangelist for the Flying Spaghetti Monster (unless he's a Scientologist, then he'll invite you over for dinner and a personality test).
   Unfortunately, there's more common sense to support my views than hard data. Big Media companies aren't in the habit of encouraging research that runs counter to their narrow, protectionist financial interests.
    So, it gave me a warm tickle when I read that much-maligned file sharing company Vuze came up with numbers indicating that torrent downloaders are more than "common criminals," they're also content-hungry, big-spending customers with awe-inspiring AV setups.

So, where the @$%# is MY bailout?

LIFE INC. by Douglas Rushkoff — AVAILABLE NOW!

And I expect each and every one of you to read it!

Brand Obama: More of the same?

    Over at TruthDig.com, Chris Hedges thinks so.

    While I'm inclined to agree with a number of his observations, I feel like I've heard this all before...  Oh yes, of course!  Rushkoff said it last year.

Thanks to Fernando for the link.

LIFE INC.: THE MOVIE

    A few years back I came to work with Douglas Rushkoff on "the big idea book," the one that would conceptually amalgamate his diverse interests and decades of work as a media theorist, author, and public intellectual. 
    Working with Rushkoff was like Jedi Boot Camp.  Especially on this book, so packed with research and ideas that it seems Rushkoff learned as much by writing it as I did by assisting him.
    On June 2nd, Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back finally comes out. 
    It's an important book -- especially now, since Rushkoff successfully forecast the economic crisis years in advance -- that will definitely give you a new perspective on the opportunities we have to reconnect with our communities, our work, and our freedom.
    For a preview of the book, check out LIFE INC.: THE MOVIE, a short film by Janine Saunders with Rushkoff and footage from Florica Vlad, DJ Lanphier, and others:

Love for Kat Roberts

My "Indoorsy" collaborator and darling friend, Kat Roberts, has a lovely profile on Christopher Irving's Graphic NYC.* 

There are a million reasons to love Kat Roberts — like her glasses, her unending hunger for old comics, and how you can tell the art is hers from panel one.

Kat's preparing to debut a weekly strip at act-i-vate, and we're putting together an original follow-up story to knock all your boots off.  Hint: this week there have been a lot of "them" in NYC.

*I get a nice little shout-out, but they spelled my name wrong, doh!