Angry Puppy

Earlier this month, we posted a a picture of Jodie Foster re-enacting a scene from Hitchcock’s The Birds. Lovely.

Now, it appears that Jessica Alba wants in on the reenactment act to promote The Eye. Here’s her version from a recent Latina magazine photoshoot. She also does Scream, Rosemary’s Baby and Psycho. I’m most impressed that she manages to do it all with only two facial expressions.

From the photos, I thought that this was a tongue-in-cheek exercise, just a celebrity having fun with sets, makeup and a camera. Then I saw the accompanying video. It’s supposed to be “high concept”.

Ouch.

Via /Film

Posted under “science fair fun”: Potassium chlorate plus gummi bear equals this disturbing footage.

This version has the original soundtrack, but I couldn’t bear (no pun) the sound of the poor Gummibär screaming.

There are a lot of horror remakes in the pipelines: Last House on the Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Piranhas. I don’t expect a lot from the majority and am even dreading some.

The Wolf Man, which defined Hollywood lycanthropes from 1941 on, was a notable exception. The remake, starring Benicio del Toro in the title role, is expected in 2009, but in the past few weeks, there has been quite a bit of bad news. (Bear with me: there’s some shiny good news to make me keep looking forward to it.)

Let’s get the bad news out of the way. Mark Romanek has left the production. Though he doesn’t have a lot of cinematic credits to his directorial name, some of the most beautiful 90s videos are his: Got ‘Til It’s Gone, Criminal, The Perfect Drug. Beautiful imagery may not always translate into beautiful film, but 2002’s One Hour Photo was pretty well received, and I had high hopes for his vision of the wolf.

Director Joe Johnston has taken over after Romanek’s sudden departure. He has more cinematic directorial experience (see The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III), but some of his movies are considered pretty (in the special effects way) with little plot or substance to back them up (see The Rocketeer, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III). The director can’t be blamed for story problems, but here’s bad news 1.1: Johnston brought in David Self to rewrite the script. The three people who liked The Haunting can put this in the “good news” category.

My good news, though, is that Hugo Weaving has joined the cast. Though he’s looking rather wolfy himself, he will not be playing the Wolf Man, but Detective Aberline.

He is usually referred to as “Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, V for Vendetta)”.  Those are both impressive credits, but I will always remember him as Mitzi Del Bra / “Tick” from The Adventrues of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Maybe out of context it seems dated or particular to a certain sub-culture (not to mention fairly racist), but I remember renting it (secretly) and watching it (secretly) in my room and just being happy that it existed. Go back with me, dear readers, to 1994:

[Via ComingSoon]

I’m not a huge Twitter fan.

Not because I don’t like it, but because I haven’t found a use for it yet. My less interesting friends only Twitter their dinner plans or what movie they’re watching. The more adventurous ones, besides being too busy to keep me updated, would probably be afraid of the legal consequences of Twittering their exploits.

If you do care what your friends are having for dinner, you may also be the type who wants to know when the plants need watering, which you can do with this Botanicalls Twitter. [Via Makezine.com]

“Botanicalls Twitter answers the question: What’s up with your plant? It offers a connection to your leafy pal via online Twitter status updates that reach you anywhere in the world. When your plant needs water, it will post to let you know, and send its thanks when you show it love.”

I have no particular use for this, but I like the concept.

Twitter from my apartment: “I’m on fire!”
Twitter from my oven: “Marc is burning dinner!”
Twitter from Saint Mark’s Comics: “There’s a sale on Number Six action figures!”

As for the plants, might I suggest replacing those needy beasts with the robotic venus flytrap pictured above? Your Pleo and Roomba need company.

I’m sure that there are strategies to this Flash game, but I don’t really care. To be honest, I don’t even understand the scoring system.

But I do like catapulting items into granny’s house and watching the chaos. Send me your screenshots if you can get even a couple of pieces in their proper positions!

Via Kotaku