February 2010 Archives

There's about to be an indecipherable mess in Chicago that has nothing to do with Scott Lee Cohen's aborted run at Lt. Governor.

Michael Bay is coming to town.

Specifically he's bringing his grindhouse robots, the "Transformers," to tear apart our fair town.

Bay tells his official site that major action sequences will be shot in Chicago and Moscow this time around for "Transformers: 3." So expect a marked increase in explosions and distinct lack of plot development shortly.

Ahh, who are we kidding? When does Megan Fox get to town, odd thumbs and all?

The threequel is due to hit theaters July 1, 2011.

They made gag reels in the '30s?!

Warner Bros. apparently assembled one each year, complete with fart-noise transitions. And there's some adult language here, which is somehow surprising. But it's sure fun to watch Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and more flub their lines and remind us they're human, after all ...

Finally, an Olympic medal we can all aspire to.

The gold, silver and bronze wavy trophies being passed out to the best of the best are themselves the best of the best this time. Designed by Omer Arbel, an acclaimed architect and industrial designer, and Corrine Hunt, a First Nations artist from the Raven Gwa'wina clan, of the Kwakwaka'wakw village on Vancouver Island, the shiny mementos are actually green.

As part of the Olympic organizing committee efforts on sustainablity, computer components, circuit boards, chips, cell phones and other parts and electronics castoffs were mined for their precious metals, which were then melted down to create the awards.

To take it a step further, the controversial Canadian mining company Teck Resources was tasked with extracting and retasking the metals from the used electronics.

The giant dishes of excellence turned out pretty cool, more so because of the moethods used to produce them.

Motherboard.tv

Jennifer Hudson does her motherly duty ... and joins the "Got Milk?" ad campaign:

Winter -- and snow -- is finally upon us. Here are some sugested tunes from this blogger's winter playlist that's been growing over the years like snow on the backyard tables. Some of them are explicitly wintry, some just feel chilly ...

Click through for the playlist and samples...

Has Fall Out Boy broken up?

Rumors have sputtered among people who care for a while now -- since the band announced an official hiatus last summer -- but now the leaders of the Chicago-area band seem to be confirming. Pete Wentz wrote as much Tuesday on his blog: "As far as I know, Fall Out Boy is on break ... I can't predict that I'd ever play in Fall Out Boy again." But singer Patrick Stump minced fewer words, telling Spin: "I'm not in Fall Out Boy right now."

Wentz continued commenting via Twitter:

• "Something would have to change in my head or my heart - not my wallet. It'd have to be real."


• "A hiatus is forever until you get lonely or old, [and] I don't plan on either."


• "Feel like I have to be honest but fair to my bros in the band at the same time -- it's no1's fault ppl grow apart."


• "Not gonna speak to anything publicly about the band internally. My brothers 2 the grave. Thnx 4 being there from day 1."

They are, indeed, working on other things. Stump has a solo record coming soon. FOB guitarist Joe Trohman and drummer Andy Hurley have joined members of Anthrax to form a new band called the Damned Things. Wentz and wife Ashlee Simpson are goo-gooing with baby Bronx, and Wentz has recorded a track for the "Alice in Wonderland" soundtrack.

WARNING: If you've never watched cable TV, there may be some offensive language - or beats - in this video.

Mel Gibson was chatting with WGN entertainment reporter Dean Richards the other day when he decided that "Edge of Darkness" was an abt description for the probing questioner he was made to endure.

So, after a bunch of "dudes" and a quick gulp of Starbucks, the actor known for flowing locks, epic productions and a whole raft of crazy in recent years snapped off an errant "asshole" on a hot mic. Hardly the first time it's happened to a reporter, but seldom do you get a dance mix from cursing a scribe.

But this is the YouTube age and nothing goes by for more than a day or two without being remixed. The Internet, as always, making our lives richer.

Or you can watch the original here and make your own version of the mix.