R.I.P. LARRY STEWART - MAY WE EACH FIND THE SECRET SANTA IN OURSELVES THIS YEAR

The compassion shared from one spontaneous random act of kindness is elevating, priceless and not easily explained. It is an instant connection between souls that can change a life forever. This is the experience of being a Secret Santa. Being a Secret Santa has blessings beyond words.
-SecretSantaWorld.com

a single act of kindness changed Larry Stewart's life and planted the seed of Secret Santa in him. he went on to hand out over 1.5 million dollars over 27 years, changing lives. Stewart succumbed to cancer earlier this year but his legacy lives on.

Here's the story of the new Secret Santa

spread the word...

INDUSTRY SPEAK

The Ontario Finance Minister has announced that the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit for domestic producers would increase from 30 to 35 per cent and the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit benefitting foreign production, will rise from 18 to 25 per cent.

The boost comes just in time for FilmPort, a new studio on the Toronto waterfront set to open 31 March.

Traditionally US studios make decisions about film production in January, February, with many of the majors currently greenlighting features to stockpile in anticipation of a possible Screen Actors Guild strike in June.

The last time Ontario increased their Tax Credit Incentive, Brightlights, Vancouver's largest studio, threatened to move unless BC would match the incentive. Currently the BC Film and Television Tax Credit is at 30% for domestic and 18% for foriegn productions.

The original deal which was set to expire next year was recently extended to 2012 by BC Premier Gordon Campbell just this past October.

source: the Ontario Media Development Corporation

AMERICAN MCGEE'S ALICE

Universal Pictures and Collision Entertainment are prepping production on the film "Alice", based on the 2000 video game "American McGee's Alice".

The horror fantasy film will shoot in Langley, BC starring actress Sarah Michelle "Buffy" Gellar as 'Alice'.

Story begins after Alice's second adventure, "Through the Looking Glass", when she loses her parents, becomes catatonic and institutionalized in 'Rutledge Asylum'.

Years later, she is summoned by the 'White Rabbit' to come back to 'Wonderland', now under the despotic rule of the 'Red Queen'.

Director is Marcus Nispel, from a script by Erich and Jon Hober, based on author Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass".

Producers are Scott Faye and Julie Yorn."Alice' is set for a July 2008 release.

c/o Sneek Peak

TRAILER - THE DARK KNIGHT

KNIGHT INDUSTRIES TWO THOUSAND (a.k.a. K.I.T.T.)

Michael: Kitt, where are you?
KITT: I'm in your parking space Michael. Where else would I be?

we all remember the Knight Rider - the show that brought us the Hasselhoff? of course we do!



and we've all heard the movie rumours, yes? here's the skinny:

KNIGHT RIDER' REVS UP TO RETURN TO NBC FOR SPECIAL TWO-HOUR MOVIE
-source: NBC Universal Media Village


here's the KITT from the original series displayed at Universal Studios:



meet the new KITT (a.k.a. the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR):



did anyone else just get chills?

QUOTE OF THE DAY

cyndy: we've switched to free-range eggs

rad: are those the ones that say "oh-my-god 3" on the top of the carton?

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER

I <3 THINKGEEK.COM

it's Optimus Mash
see also the Spud Trooper, Darth Tater and Artoo Potatoo

THINKGEEK.COM

because i have that strange obsession with funny tees:

the back says "fair warning"

it says "you are dumb"

WATASHI BAKA DA

omg! how happy do these make me?!

THE PALM VS. THE PDA PHONE

so at the beginning of this year i was toting around a clunky Blackberry 7290
and i swore just this side of new years that i was going to work less which meant breaking free from my email ergo me being sans Blackberry - well that and the fact that it was huge and wouldn't fit into my teeny Guess purse.

i've been using the very sleek and mod krazr phone which i'm still very much in love with.

but here i am at the end of the year working more than ever and with no way of keeping track of the up from the down. i was up all night last night trying to make notes in the calendar app. on my phone but you can imagine how very not effective that was.

you know you need a new way of organizing your life when you're double booking your commitments constantly (sorry again to everyone i had to reschedule with and/or bail on) so tonight - i'm up all night again - and in the market but i'm torn. do i go back to the pda phone or go just plain old pda?

i have it narrowed it down to 2 products - both with raving reviews i might add!
the pda phone: HTC TyTN English - for $299.99 at Rogers on a 3 year contract.
friggin adorable, no?

this would save me from having to carry around yet another device. like my face plate, ipod, camera and phone weren't enough - do i really want to throw a pda into the mix? truth be told - i've wanted something like this ever since i saw Veronica Mars use one. i thought it was genius! if this bad boy were available earlier when i was shopping to replace my blackberry i would have gone this route - no contest.

option b - also known as the Palm T/X ML Handheld - going for $399.99 at Future Shop sexy, yes?

why on earth would i add another device to that huge bundle i lug around (also known as my not quite as cute but way more practical purse). well - it does what most stand alone devices do; it does more and it does it better. this is designed with organization in mind and it isn't encumbered by having to be a phone and a camera to boot, although it is bluetooth AND wifi enabled and it does come with this darling wireless keyboard that brilliantly folds up for easy web surfing and emailing:

oh how far we've come in only a year?

so i don't really want to go back to always being so accessible by email and paying for a monthly email/data plan on top of my voice plan but do i really need to be lugging around a whole other device? do i even really need everything the Palm has to offer?

even if i didn't really need it tho, we all know how much i love new shiny pretty things. on the bright side the designer purses come in large too!

oy! the choices!

feel free to opine...my Libra-ian indecision is kicking in.

TRAILER

behold! the Iron Man trailer

can you say saaa-weeeet!

RIGHT BRAIN VS. LEFT BRAIN TEST

do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise? full story here



thanx for the link janet!

THE GLASS MENAGERIE

playing at the Stanley Theater until Nov. 25.

see Trailer here

SAVE THE SCHMUCK!

from The Onion:

Saying he could no longer stand idly by while a vital part of American culture is lost forever, activist and Broadway producer Mel Brooks has founded a private nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the word "schmuck."

here are some of the cold hard facts Schmucks for Schmuck has compiled on "schmuck" usage in the last 80 years:

• Utterances of the word "schmuck" have declined every year since its peak in 1951
• in 2006, the word was spoken a mere 28 times—17 of these times by Brooks himself
• people are 50 times more likely to use the word "jerk" than "schmuck, 100 times more likely to use "dick," and 15,000 times more likely to use "fucking asshole."

So like the article says "Tonight, when you get home, please, call up your family, your friends, your loved ones, and tell them they're a bunch of schmucks."

FYI: THE FACEBOOK VS. BLOGGER CONUNDRUM

dear blog followers (all 3 of you that still come here),

i assure you that my lack of updates has absolutely nothing to do with Facebook. Facebook did not eat my blog as it has so many others.

there are 2 reasons for my absence. i do the majority of my blogging from work (this is where i procrastinate best) and:

1) work has been crazy busy - it's that time of year for us and i am quietly dying.

2) the powers that be sporadically blocks my blog - why? i dunno - something about sex and inappropriate content (neither of which actually ever make it onto my blog...i save that for my letters to Penthouse and Playboy)

so rest assured that tunabelly is alive and well but is temporarily preoccupied.

IT'S INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

here be some pointers to git you thru the day, arrr!

THE HOUR RETURNS!

just in case you missed it my boyfriend George Stromboulopoulos is back for season 4 of The Hour. see last night's show here

i love you George!

FILM NOIR

Pacific Cinematheque is hosting the newly revived Film Noir Festival and i'd like to go! unfortunately i've already missed the first half :(

i'd like to catch Kiss Me Deadly but am open to other suggestions as well.

any takers?

Kiss Me Deadly synopsis:

Film noir so nasty and nihilistic it's positively radioactive, Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly — “one of the most extraordinary films of the Fifties” (Georges Sadoul) — is the work in which the chaotic noir universe hits critical mass. Or reaches apocalyptic apotheosis! The movie is adapted from one of Mickey Spillane's sex-and-violence-filled Mike Hammer novels; Aldrich, professing disgust for Spillane's right-wing politics, transforms the author's private-eye vigilante hero (played here by Ralph Meeker) into Neanderthal sadist, bungling his vicious way from brutality to brutality as he tries to understand why the half-naked hitchhiker he picked up in the film's nocturnal opening was tortured to death — in front of Hammer's semiconscious eyes. Hammer stumbles his way into a sinister Cold War conspiracy — and, memorably, the desperate search for, well, “The Great Whatsit.” Extreme close-ups, crazy camera angles, and disorienting point-of-view shots keep the kinetic action deliriously off-kilter. The opening credits roll in reverse to the sound of a woman's heavy panting. Wow! “The most original American film since Orson Welles's The Lady from Shanghai ...You must see Kiss Me Deadly ” (François Truffaut). “Brilliantly characterized down to the smallest roles, directed with baroque ferocity, superbly shot by Ernest Laszlo ...it's a masterpiece of sorts” (Time Out). B&W, 35mm. 106 mins.

FROOGLE

yes, it's that time of the year again!

my wishlist hasn't really changed much from last year - it's just a bit shorter now.

TRACKS ON REPEAT

ANGELA AKI - KISSED FROM A ROSE (JAPANESE COVER)



mp3 here (this link will only be live for 7 days)
video here

INVEST IN MY BREAST, PLEASE

a website that funnels donations for breast augmentation - yay or nay?

so i think it's obvious who might post on a site like this. i know tons of females that are secretly - or not so secretly - planning on getting work done but the question is: who the heck is donating?

i feel as if i should be offended and yet i can't fully commit. i get it. all the way from discontent to self loathing - i think we all get it.

here's some other info i found at the Museum of Hoaxes

strange...

FLASHMOB: VANCOUVER ZOMBIE WALK

truely awesome! i <3 flashmobs the most!

the Zombie Walk - 25 August 2007


see video here

SOMEECARDS.COM

YOUTUBE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

from Cracked.com VLog

THE iPHONE HAS BEEN UNLOCKED!

Using abundant quantities of the liquid fuel source shown above, a very dedicated group of Apple fans have documented steps they took to unlock the Apple iPhone's chains to AT&T. Full instructions here

NEWS: BLOGGERS BEWARE

CBC story on bloggers being sued for libel

see video here

I'M CHILLIN' LIKE A VILLIAN

i don't know how reliable this source is but this is favorite reference: urban dicitonary

Seems that no one knows how this originated so let me break it down. It first appeared on the saturday morning cartoon Batman, where Batman approaches Freeze and Mr. Freeze says im chillin like a villan, hence why he was chillin (literal definition).

Batman: Freeze what are you doing?
Mr. Freeze: chillin like a villan

COUNTING DOWN TO IMAGINARY SCI-FI FUTURES

In a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of the timeline that has yet to occur. We want to provide practical countdowns for special moments in space-time that still have not occurred... even if some of those moments already happened.

see: Remoting Future

URINE STREAM VIDEO GAME

this is brilliant!

The Piss-Screen is a pressure-sensitive inlay for urinals, to play a game with your pee. The game is displayed on a screen above the urinal. We teamed up with bars across Frankfurt, and installed the Piss-Screen in the men's restrooms. We designed a driving game in the style of Need for Speed with the clue that people would have a terrible crash into the oncoming-traffic if their reaction was too slow. After the crash we placed the message: "Too pissed to drive? Take a Taxi instead! Call: 069-733030"

for more info visit piss scrreen

RUSSIAN CHILDREN CONFUSED BY BOY/GIRL DOLL MADE IN CHINA

Lately some Russian newspapers post photos of these strange Chinese dolls. You can see the scanned piece of article from one Russian regional newspaper. The reason for the panic is that in Russian children toy stores have appeared strange Chinese dolls looking like a girl-doll but if fully undressed there can be something found that better would suit for a boy-doll.People demand to band those dolls from being sold on the territory of Russia and claim that it maybe done on purpose by some evil forces from outside of Russia in order to form a bad perception of female/male orientation from the early age.

MY PRECIOUS! MY PRECIOUS, BUILDING?

proposed towers vying to be the tallest skyscraper built on the west coast

HTTP ERRORS CAN BE FUN SO TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN!

417 expectation failed:

415 unsupported media type:
408 request timeout:

400 bad request:
see more here

FROM WHENCE THE SHIT CAME TO HIT THE FAN

reference: The Phrase Finder

Meaning: Messy and exciting consequences brought about by a previously secret situation becoming public.

Origin: This expression alludes to the unmissable effects of shit being thrown into an electric fan. It appears to have originated in the 1930s. I can't say better than 'appears' as the earliest citation of it that I can find is in the 1967 edition of Eric Partridge's A dictionary of slang and unconventional English:

"Wait till the major hears that! Then the shit'll hit the fan!"

Partridge lists the phrase as Canadian, circa 1930, but as he gives no supporting evidence we have to go by the 1967 date, although it is undoubtedly earlier.

Other, more polite, forms of the phrase, involving eggs, pie, soup and 'stuff', can certainly be dated from the USA the 1940s. For example, Max Chennault's Up Sun, 1945:

"Sounds like the stuff was about to hit the fan."

The Fresno Bee Republican, May 1948, reported on a psychiatrists' convention, under the heading See How Brain Boys Also Run Wild:

"However, once that opening point was settled, the psychiatrists entered wholly in the business of the convention, which culminated, of course, in the selection of officers for the coming year. And that, as the saying goes, was when the soup hit the fan."

The other versions followed soon afterwards.

LEGO ME

make yer own at: Reasonbly Clever

HEADLINES

INTRODUCING BABY SUPERMAN (A.K.A. 4REAL)

A New Zealand couple is looking to call their newborn son Superman -- but only because their chosen name of 4Real has been rejected by the government registry.

Pat and Sheena Wheaton say they will get around the decision by the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages by officially naming their son Superman but referring to him as 4Real, the New Zealand Herald newspaper has reported.

The Wheatons decided on the name after seeing the baby for the first time in an ultrasound scan and realizing their baby was "for real."

They decided 4Real was the best way to write it, but the name was rejected because the registrar said a name had to be a sequence of characters.

Pat Wheaton said he was considering appealing against the decision through the courts, but whatever happens he won't be budged on his choice.

"No matter what its going to stay 4Real," Wheaton told the Herald, "I'm certainly not a quitter."
A spokesman for the Department of Internal Affairs, which operates the registry told the Herald discussions with the Wheatons about their son's name were continuing.

The baby is now two months old, after the Wheatons first applied to register his name in later June.

***

"have you met Mr. and Mrs. Awesome, their son Totally and their daughter Friggin? They're awesome!"

-Marshall from How I Met Your Mother

NETWORKING WITH NUTS

sorry, i'm fresh out of business cards but how about some cashews?

Taberu Me: Peanuts as business cards

BOOKS ON DEMAND

The patented automatic book making machine will revolutionize publishing by printing and delivering physical books within minutes.

Library users will have the opportunity to print free copies of such public domain classics as “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain, “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and “Songs of Innocence” by William Blake, as well as appropriately themed in-copyright titles as Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail” and Jason Epstein’s own “Book Business.” The public domain titles were provided by the Open Content Alliance (“OCA”), a non-profit organization with a database of over 200,000 titles. The OCA and ODB are working closely to offer this digital content free of charge to libraries across the country.

full article here

THE INCORRUPTIBLE WARRIOR

On July 25, an online game went live for testing. On the first day, more than 300 people registered. But due to the media coverage, the game quickly drew broad interest. At Sina.com alone, more than 100,000 downloads were made. By July 28, the server was so congested that people could not enter the game, which was originally designed for 500 or so people online at the same time. The server has been shut down for upgrade.

What is so interesting about this game? After all, the executable file is only 78M, the pictures are crude, the scenes are spare, the copyright is suspect (because it borrows a great deal of material from other games), the lone server is unstable and the financial sponsor is the Communist Party Disciplinary Committee of the Haishu district in Ningbo city.

The reason for the public interest is that the hero of the game is a "honest and upright official" whose assignment is to weed out corrupt officials, along with their children and mistresses. Here 'weed out' does not 'putting in jail' -- it means using weapons, wizardry and torture to kill them. There are 165 characters taken from history. On your side are the famous clean officials such as Hai Rui and Lord Bao. On the opposite side are the famous corrupt officials such as Zhao Gao, Huo Shen and others who exhibit different degrees of power (=corruption) as indicated by the gauge levels over their heads. When you kill a corrupt official, you gain experience points. For example, killing the eunuch official Wei Zhongxian gains you 100 experience points. As you accumulate points, you increase your powers for "Combatting corruption," "Moral character" and "Degree of being corruption free" instead of "life," "magic" and "strength" in other kinds of games. Your ultimate goal is to reach , where "the birds sing, the flowers give out fragrance, the people are full of love and harmony, the nation is prospering and the world is calm and peaceful."

Here are some netizen reviews:
- The characters and scenes are crude, perhaps even cruder than games such as Celestial Sword ten years ago.
- When the monsters show up, their names are always either "son of corrupt official" or "daughter of corrupt official"
- Even if an official is corrupt, is it necessary to kill their children?
- Why do the "mistresses of corrupt officials" walk around in bikinis? Why do they have to fight without clothes?
- There are options for adding values and purchasing equipment. Is this one of the 'free' games that make money off the value-added services?
- A lot of the materials is taken from games such as ,

and others. Does the fact that the government made this game mean that they don't have to respect copyrights?

article from: EastSouthWestNorth

WILL U BE MY MOMMY TOO?

this woman is amazing! check out her blog Lunch In a Box and her flickr page with all of her wonderful lunchbox creations!

WONDERFUL THINGS!

a ginormous Optimus Prime birthday cake:

how ginormous, you ask? here he is again to scale...

lucky guy! ya know september's just around the corner...

HEADLINES

MEET OMAR SHAMSHOON, HIS WIFE, MONA, AND THEIR SON, BADR. AND WELCOME TO SPRINGFIELD.

whole article here - Homer’s odyssey: Why The Simpsons flopped in the Middle East

1-18-08

i trust that we've all seen Transformers by now (a.k.a. the best movie ever!) and we've all seen the mysterious J.J. Abrams trailer.



here's a site that covers everything i've dug up so far

anybody have anything to add?

HEADLINES

FINALLY, A SPORT THAT LETS YOU WEAR A TIE!



Friends, I urge you not to watch this video clip.

When I saw a story about the popularity of jousting, I asked for some video of it, picturing in my mind Men of iron charging one another with lances on snorting steeds, the losers crumpled in shiny piles of metal on the ground.

Fat chance. No, what we get here is a form of jousting where competitors charge this contraption and stick their itty-bitty lances through a small ring. And you can just forget about bloodied helmets and chainmail; these folks play in white outfits with neckties!

All in all, if you want to see bold knights in combat, you’ll catch lots more drama and action at a chess match. You’ve been warned.

HARRY POTTER MANIA

and the countdown begins. happy reading weekend everyone!


I'll be celebrating at the Ministry of Magic at Vandusen Garden!

HEADLINES

This makes me unspeakably sad.

For seven days, Mark Kelley works as a teacher in the lowest ranked school in British Columbia.

watch Part 1 here

watch Part 2 here

HEADLINES

PAGANS HAVE A COW OVER HOMER

PAGANS have pledged to perform “rain magic” to wash away cartoon character Homer Simpson who was painted next to their famous fertility symbol - the Cerne Abbas giant.

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

A giant 180ft Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was painted next to the well-endowed figure today in a publicity stunt to promote The Simpsons Movie released later this month.

It has been painted with water-based biodegradable paint which will wash away as soon as it rains.

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: “It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.

“We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.”

She added: “I’m amazed they got permission to do something so ridiculous. It’s an area of scientific interest.”

She also expressed fears that the painting of Homer, from the animated television series The Simpsons, would cause a mess as it washed away.

During the Second World War, he was disguised to prevent the Germans from using him as an aerial landmark.

Since then he has always been visible, receiving regular grass trimming and a full re-chalking every 25 years.

***

"...not at all aesthetically pleasing." Pul-leeease! I'd take Homer with a giant pastry over dude with a giant hard-on any day!