Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland Trailer

The teaser trailer for Tim Burton’s anticipated version of Alice in Wonderland has finally been released, and it more than lives up to my hopes for the film.  It looks like he’s taking the classic story and making it his own, adding in new elements and expanding on the things we love about the story.

Of course Johnny Depp looks like he does a fantastic job as the Mad Hatter, but I never doubted that.  I also really like the looks of Alice, played by Mia Wasikowska.

This is one of the few movies that I really can’t wait to see, although we have to wait until March for it to hit theaters.  It’s also going to be released in 3D, which I love!

Regifting Robin

Regifting Robin can read your mind…she can figure out which item you choose every time.  Follow the instructions on the first page, then find your item, and she will know what you chose.  It had me amazed for a while, but being the “need to know everything” sort of person that I am, I finally figured it out.

Can you figure out how Robin reads your mind?  Feel free to guess on the comments section, but if you get frustrated, I’ll post the answer in a few days, so come back and check.

http://www.regiftable.com/regiftingrobinpopup.html

Today’s Playlist

Here’s the playlist for this weekend.  Click on the song title to listen to it on YouTube.  Enjoy!

Marina and the Diamonds – “I Am Not a Robot”

Keri Hilson (Feat. Timbaland) – “Return the Favor”

Wale (Feat. Lady Gaga) – “Chillin’”

Santogold – “Your Voice”

Passion Pit – “Sleepyhead”

Hilary Duff – “Any Other Day”

Moby – “Mistake”

New Buffalo – “Cheer Me Up Thank You”

Lovers Electric – “Honey”

Britney Spears “Radar” Video

Normally the day a Britney video is released is a major event for me.  I would typically get a Chicken Grilled Stuft Burrito at Taco Bell, pop open a Bud Light, and cry with joy.  Today is a sad day.  The new “Radar” video was released and it’s boring.  I watched it with Cheetos and a bottle of water because it wasn’t worth the $5.49 I usually spend at Taco Bell for these occasions.

I’ve already complained about “Radar” being Britney’s newest single (read that article by clicking HERE), but at least she could have made a good video for it.  With artists like Lady Gaga changing the industry, Britney really needs to step it up.  She was always the one doing the things that shocked the music world, taking risks and introducing new styles and amazing us over and over again.  Now she’s slowly falling off the “radar.”

The “Radar” video isn’t bad exactly, it’s just boring.  I don’t understand why I would want to watch a guy play polo when the song could be so much more interesting than that.  And there was no dancing at all.  Britney used to be known for her dancing.  Now she just walks around while some guy is braiding his horse’s tail.

I’d even prefer another disaster like the “Gimme More” video over this, because at least that was interesting and got people talking.  She might have looked completely out of her mind swinging around the stripper pole with a black wig and leather on, but at least it had major entertainment value.  This one is just forgettable.

Watch the boring video here: www.perezhilton.com

Spacesleeper Pillow: A Helmet of Comfort (and Embarrassment)

According to their website, the Spacesleeper Pillow is useful for treating TMJ, airplane trips, and saving your skin from wrinkles.  In my opinion, wearing a pillow helmet is mostly useful for embarrassing yourself, looking even more ridiculous when you sleep than usual, and entertaining me with your willingness to look like a fool.

The marketing for this product is also ingenious.  Here are some highlights from the website:

The concept for this product came to its inventor, Tony Hightower, in late 2002. While observing his wife sleeping, he noticed the terrible creases and wrinkles on her face caused by pressure and contact points between the face and pillow.

So basically the guy couldn’t stand looking at his wife’s creepy wrinkles and imagining them being there permanently someday.  Whatever inspires you I guess.

This product with so many uses and benefits touching on key industries in the market could sell itself to anyone.

First of all, they need to hire an actual writer for their website.  This looks like one of those sentences my teacher gave me in my college writing class to fix up and help it to make sense.  Secondly, could they find a more cliche sales phrase?

After all that, I’m sure you’re interested, so I’ll let you know that the Spacesleeper Pillow sells for the low, low price of just $49.95.  Seriously…

Maybe the thing actually works, but that’s not going to stop me from laughing at you if you wear one.

http://www.spacesleeperpillow.com

http://twitter.com/SpaceSleeperCEO

The Box Movie Trailer

The movie trailer for Richard Kelly’s new film, The Box, looks to be pretty much what I expected when I wrote about the movie poster a few months ago (read that article by clicking HERE).

I still think it seems reminiscent of David Lynch films, but still carries the apocalyptic quality that Richard Kelly is known for.  At first I wasn’t sure how they could make an entire film about pushing a button, but it looks like it ends up going deeper than that.

I’m not sure if this film will live up to Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko quality, but it does look like it could be interesting.  Richard Kelly wrote his other films himself, so basing this new one from another story might change his style a bit, although he still wrote the screenplay.

The Box opens October 30th.

Mind Reading MRI Technology

This week on “60 Minutes,” they showed this segment on new brain scan technology, called Functional MRI.  By watching which parts of the brain are active, they are developing new methods of actually reading someone’s mind.

This sort of technology has been in use for a while now, such as knowing which areas of the brain contain speech, memory, etc.  However, this new method can actually start to understand your intentions and emotions.

Some parts of this video amaze me and other parts scare me.  Such as being able to beam a light onto your forehead and read your mind without you even knowing.  Someone questioning you will know if you’re telling the truth, or a store could use that technology to know what you want to buy and how to sell it to you.  What if we could even scan our friends and family to know if they were being honest with us?  Would we even  be able to live our lives normally anymore?

They also say how they can use this to investigate crimes, which could be an incredible way of proving innocence or guilt, but there are still so many ethical questions we need to ask before we could use something like this.

Apparently this technology could be reading our minds within the next few years, so it will be interesting to see what changes this brings about in society.  Big Brother isn’t just using cameras anymore.

71-Year-Old Madoff to Spend the Next 150 Years in Prison

Madoff, who swindled people out of hundreds of billions of dollars, has received his sentence: 150 years in prison.  So that means he won’t get out until he’s 221 years old.  Good thing they covered all their bases in case he’s a medical mystery and lives that long.

Seriously though, I think this is one of the best examples for why our justice system is flawed.  Madoff did terrible things.  He ruined so many people’s lives, he destroyed families, he stole from basically everyone he dealt with.  So in this country, that means you go to prison for the rest of your life.  That means you sit in a cell and think about what you did for years and years.  You can never make up for what you did, because you’re behind bars.

I agree that prison is a necessary thing.  I wouldn’t want to see murderers or rapists back out on the street.  Prison is a safe way to deal with violent criminals.  But for someone like Madoff, why waste his life away in prison?  I think people like that should have to work off their crime, pay their debt back to society in a positive way.

Send Madoff to a homeless shelter and let him see the effects of poverty on people.  Have him talk to victims of fraud and theft and perhaps start to understand the pain he inflicted on others.  Make him volunteer for the rest of his life and try to help others instead of just having a wasted life that went all wrong.

Is it really fair to anyone to just put these people behind bars forever?  You ruined everything, the end.  There are so many people in our world struggling and hopeless.  There is an endless need for volunteers and assistance for these people.  Why not take people who have helped to put society there and start to reverse it?

Obviously these white collar criminals are intelligent.  Madoff didn’t make billions by being an idiot.  Yes, he used his intelligence for bad instead of good, but why waste that intelligence further by putting him in a cell?  It’s an asset that can be used to make things better.  If we start to change the way these people use their minds, and prove that it can reverse some of the bad in the world, maybe more people will see that and follow their examples.

Everyone loves the story of Scrooge changing his ways after seeing how he made people suffer.  People love to see bad turned to good.  So why not sentence people to be good?  If there’s an option to change things, why do we not take it?  Is vengeance so important to people that they aren’t willing to let positive change happen?  Would people really rather see someone suffer than let them make things right?  I think that’s the case, but I hope I’m wrong.

“Her Last” by Valerie J. Patterson

“Her Last,” the latest short story from Valerie J. Patterson, reads like an episode of your favorite police drama.  The story opens with detectives investigating the death of a young woman in the park, a mysterious crime scene that stumps the best of their staff.  As you continue to read you are taken through the whole process of the investigation and the thought process that goes into solving a crime.

“Her Last” jumps straight into the action from page one and holds your attention to the last sentence. Patterson creates a vivid world within the story that keeps you involved with the action and the characters.

It’s difficult to develop character’s personalities within a few pages, but Patterson’s characters are intelligent and likable, letting the reader form a connection to the story in a short time.  Even though it is a fast-paced crime drama, the reader can imagine the lives of the detectives outside of their work, which makes you root for them even more to solve the case.  Even the minor characters have distinct personalities that help paint a clear picture of the scene.

“Her Last” will release from Eternal Press on July 7th, and can be purchased through their site at www.eternalpress.ca.

You can also visit Patterson’s personal website and check out her other books at www.valeriejpatterson.com.

Valerie J. Patterson blog: valeriejpatterson.wordpress.com

Crazy Cat Ladies

A documentary is being made about the crazy cat ladies of the world.  I don’t think I could ever watch it because I would cry for all these cats forced to live in what should be called a mental institution.  These people even admit that they hoard cats because they’re lonely.  So they claim to love the cats, but they’re really just giving them an awful life in an overcrowded, unsanitary home.

Some of these people say they do it to save the cats if they’re suffering in the outdoors.  That’s great, but there are shelters for those animals where they can get better care and then be adopted out to a loving family.  Taking them all on yourself is not healthy for them or the crazy cat ladies.  Yes, I will probably be a crazy cat lady someday, but only with 1 or 2 cats.

Thank goodness for the animal rescue people who go in and take those cats away.  Now we just need them to go in and deal with the Octomom.

The hour long documentary has already won some awards.  Go to their official site for bios of the cat ladies and more information about the documentary.

http://www.catladiesdoc.com