THE DAY IS AT AN END... I just found out that FOX is gonna cancel 24 after this season (Season 8...or Day 8) ends. On one hand, I’m sad to see this show go. On the other hand, I’m relieved...since I’ve been taking Monday nights off from work for the past 5 years to watch Jack Bauer kick terrorist ass. I wonder how much money I would’ve made if I worked Monday evenings between mid-January and late May since Day 4 aired (in 2005)? Hmmm.

Anyways, I’ve read online that a feature film for 24 may be in the works. That would be awesome. Of course, that kinda spoils the finale to this season in that it would clearly mean that Bauer doesn’t bite the dust at the end of the day. That's obviously good news...unless the movie is gonna be a prequel. And before you ask (not that I’d hear the question), I DO think this season is going pretty well so far. It started off slowly, but the episodes are becoming more intense. Go Jack!

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE... I saw the new comedy flick today, and if you like movies like this one and She’s Out of My League, then you’ll enjoy it. I happen to like these kinds of films, so I enjoyed it! Haha. Craig Robinson (of NBC’s The Office) and Rob Corddry (of...Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) crack me up, and John Cusack plays his usual role as the level-headed goofball who still happens to get the hot chicks. Speaking of hot chicks, there were many in Hot Tub Time Machine: Lyndsy Fonseca, Lizzy Caplan (of Cloverfield and...HBO’s True Blood. Nice. Google ‘Lizzy Caplan True Blood’ to know why this is nice), Collette Wolfe (who was also in last year's Seth Rogen film Observe and Report), Crystal Lowe (who was in an episode of TV’s Supernatural), Julia Maxwell and Amy Esterle. In case you’re wondering how I know all these names in the film, thank the person who invented IMDb.



If there’s one lame little gripe I have about the film, it’s that why would Craig Robinson and his friends go into that hot tub when it was in dilapidated condition moments before? Wouldn’t they have found it odd that after finding a dead raccoon in the empty Jacuzzi upon arrival at that ski resort, it’s suddenly filled with warm, bubbling water? And they nonchalantly enter the water without questioning this abrupt change? Hmm. Anyways, as I said before...this gripe is lame. It’s like pointing out why Ricky Ricardo didn’t leave or bitch-slap Lucy after all those screwball moments she had in I Love Lucy, or how Ben Stiller didn't feel that, um, piece of bodily-fluid land on his ear after "floggin’ the dolphin" in There’s Something About Mary. Because they’re freakin’ comedies! That is all.

UPDATE (April 1): Actually, here's a more specific I Love Lucy example: In that episode where Lucy (after getting into a huge fight with Ricky over who forgave first in a previous argument) is wrapped up in bandages inside her bedroom to pretend she was hit by a bus, and Ricky and Fred Mertz stage a fake fire in the apartment so that Ricky can come in and rescue Lucy, and all will be well between them... Wouldn't Lucy have asked a loud "WHAT THE F**K?" when she exits the bedroom, only to see that the apartment was completely unscathed? Wait to think things through on your plan, Fred. And by Fred, I mean the show's scriptwriters.

PREDATORS... Check out the newest trailer to this Robert Rodriguez-produced flick...which is the latest installment in the classic sci-fi action/horror franchise. I first saw this preview in front of Repo Men last Saturday. Speaking of Repo Men, Alice Braga—who was Jude Law’s main squeeze in that movie (and also the gal who both saved Will Smith's life and almost got him killed in 2007's I Am Legend)—will also be in Predators. So will Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne and Adrien Brody. Interesting cast... Well, except for Grace. This film looks like it has potential. I never saw any of the two Alien vs. Predator movies, FYI. I'm pretty sure I'm not missing out.

Predators comes out in theaters on July 7.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Yesterday, Scaled Composites’ White Knight II (a.k.a. VMS Eve) and SpaceShipTwo (a.k.a. VSS Enterprise) took off on their very first "captive carry" flight from an airfield in California’s Mojave Desert. This 2-hour, 54-minute flight started what is scheduled to be a year-long series of airborne tests for the private spaceliner. If things go well, SpaceShipTwo will begin suborbital flights into space in 2011...and the vehicle should begin ferrying paying customers 68 miles above Earth later that year, or early 2012.

If I was one of those 300+ lucky SOBs who already shelled out $200,000 to ride onboard the Enterprise, I’d totally be more ecstatic. But I didn't, so I won't. But these vehicles sure are cool.









All images courtesy of Virgin Galactic / Scaled Composites

FOOD FOR THOUGHT... 1.) What would John McCain have done (in terms of the whole health care reform issue that apparently reached a climax last night) if he got elected? 2.) What was up with that whole Michelle Obama arse-kissing fest on yesterday's episode of The Simpsons if she didn't even do her own voice (Angela Bassett supplied the voice of the First Lady)? And 3.) Kogi chicken tacos are good. You’d have to live in Southern California to know what I’m talking about.




PS: I voted for McCain in ’08...so really, what would he have done?

YESTERDAY, I saw the gory action thriller Repo Men (starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker), and I’m still pondering about how I feel about the ending. Was it a neat twist? Or was it totally f**ked up that the audience was watching a friggin’ dream during the entire final half of the movie? This reminds me of that one Family Guy episode where Stewie finally manages to kill Lois...only for us to find out that this was actually happening in a fantasy Stewie had while wearing a pair of virtual reality goggles. And Brian the dog told him afterwards that this plot device was cheating the audience, much like how the ending to the final episode of HBO's The Sopranos screwed over the fans (I never watched the TV show...but I heard that this episode concluded with a cut to black in the middle of an intense scene). What were we talking about again? Oh yea— Repo Men was okay. I wait for the day when people can actually get ear transplants (like in the movie) that come with a built-in socket where you can plug in an earphone. You heard right.



I also watched She’s Out of My League (for free, that is). I like how the screenwriters took advantage of the whole "romance flick ends with guy and girl making up at an airport" cliché by actually having the main dude (Jay Baruchel...best known for his role as one of Seth Rogen’s douchie friends in Knocked Up) work at an airport. This movie was a’ight as well... Alice Eve and Lindsay Sloane are hot. ‘Nuff said.

VIDEO OF THE DAY... Check out this hot music video by Shakira for her song "Gypsy". Not to sound presumptuous, but it seems like some airbrushing was done on that see-thru outfit she’s wearing...just to make this clip PG-rated. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then oh well.


The lucky SOB who gets to be touchy-feely with Shakira in this video is Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Since a flawless first launch of this rocket would somehow validate President Obama’s (crappy) decision to cancel the Ares rockets and the rest of NASA’s Constellation moon program last month, just thought I’d post up pics of the successful "hotfire" test of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle yesterday. The hotfire test involved the ignition of all 9 Merlin engines that comprise the first stage of the rocket. The engines fired for only 3.5 seconds, put presumably this was enough time for SpaceX to verify whether or not its newest vehicle (SpaceX's other one being the Falcon 1 rocket) will be ready for a maiden flight that is currently scheduled for April 12. We shall see.

FYI, an on-time launch of Falcon 9 on April 12 would be pretty symbolic...since Columbia ushered in the space shuttle era with the liftoff of STS-1 on April 12, 1981...and Falcon 9 will be ushering in a new age of commercial spaceflight to—low earth orbit. But not to deep space. That’s NASA’s job assuming it gets proper funding from Obama and Congress starting next year. Most likely not.

All images courtesy of SpaceX / Chris Thompson

IRON MAN 2... Check out the newest trailer to this upcoming blockbuster, which comes out in theaters on May 7. This trailer was released online right after the Academy Awards last Sunday. War Machine is lookin’ cooler and cooler with each new footage that gets released...though it’s a bit odd that Scarlett Johansson doesn’t speak at all in this preview. Hopefully her dialogue will be as good as she looks in Iron Man 2, though that may be asking for too much. I liked her in Lost in Translation and The Island though.



Below are my customary screencaps from the trailer, in case you couldn't tell.







Images courtesy of Marvel Characters, Inc. / Paramount

HUBBLE 3D... I’m lookin’ forward to this new space documentary, which gets released in IMAX theaters next week (on March 19). The trailer below was first shown in front of Avatar at IMAX (or should I say, "fake" IMAX) screenings last December. Kinda weird seeing NASA documentaries being advertised at regular AMC theaters and whatnot...but I'm glad America's space program is getting this kind of exposure.