Hunger Games: The Succulent Sixteen

In honor of both the impending release of The Hunger Games and March Madness, it only seemed appropriate to create a March Madness bracket to commemorate these two stars aligning. Disclaimer: this is based on my current knowledge of what The Hunger Games is, which is none. I assume it's some sort of food battle though.

That said, I proudly present to you The Succulent Sixteen. Mainly because I couldn't think of 64 food icons and personalities or how to put them into divisions.

The Succulent Sixteen

You can click that bracket to make it bigger, but for convenience, here are the different divisions and the competitors. Seeding is done by my discretion, which is why an obscure Gremlins 2 character has a higher seed than the Swedish Chef.

Notorious Food Lovers Division
1. Adam Richman - I wish I was half as passionate about anything as the Man v. Food host is about cuisine.
2. Paula Deen - Loves food so much she ate herself into diabetes.
3. Kobayashi - The man can eat hot dogs like nobody's business.
4. Barefoot Contessa - Nobody else can make a living out of loafing about enjoying food like this lady. At least, I think that's what she does.

Icon and Restaraunteur Division
1. Colonel Sanders - This man mass produced a recipe for chicken that's so good the KFC in my hometown ran out the day they reopened.
2. Slap Chop Guy - He may be a sleazeball, and I don't think he actually created the device, but boy does he talk it up a good game.
3. Bob Evans - This is the next best breakfast chain to IHOP. But IHOP doesn't have a name, so Bob Evans it is.
4 Mr. Food - He's the guy you see talking about on the news with a beard that says "Ooh, it's so good!"

Imaginary Culinist Division
1. Microwave With Marge - Ill-fated TV chef from Gremlins 2.
2. Swedish Chef - Yerupa doop a boop doop.
3. Chef - Specializes in salisbury steak for the children of South Park. Also, Scientology.
4. Jack Tripper - Three's Company character who always got into wacky misunderstandings. Lived like a playa (aka with two chicks).

Savory Symbol Division
1. Mr. Stay Puft - Physical manifestation of Gozer. Fond memory from the childhood of Ray Stantz.
2. "Original" Ray - Innovator of New York City pizza who I'm convinced is an urban legend.
3. Willy Wonka - Creepy candy dude.
4. Long John Silver - Fisherman who may have terrorized Jennifer Love Hewitt in a movie a couple times.

2011 Movie Rankings

I found it quite challenging to make a Top Ten list for the year, because there are so many films I've missed. I've tried to fill in as many holes as I possibly could, but it could be forever before I catch up. Instead, I've decided to present all of the films I saw this year ranked. So here are the top ten movies, with the rest of the list to be found after the jump.

1.    Bellflower
2.    50/50
3.    Drive
4.    I Saw the Devil
5.    Warrior
6.    Point Blank
7.    The Adventures of Tintin
8.    Take Shelter
9.    Fast Five
10.    Hugo

2011's Tightest Tracks

People seemed to enjoy the fact my end of the year playlist was available for all to download, so I suppose I'll do that again this year.You can download it here. Track list after the jump. Now, I unfortunately didn't get a chance to make a snazzy album cover like last year, but as a bonus you can check out the extended mix on Spotify, if you're so inclined.

The Stupidest Movies of 2011

This was my snap review of Robots! in 3D.

Since I don't get paid to write about movies like many of the people I associate with, I have absolutely no obligation to see every film that comes out which allows me to curate my moviegoing decisions pretty well. Still, something will often slip through the cracks or my morbid curiosity will get the better of me so I always have a solid list of stinkers each year. Here are the movies that insulted my intelligence the most in 2011, presented in alphabetical odor order.

The New Top 10

As a geek who likes to keep track of lists of favorites, it's only natural that I should have a top ten list of favorite films. However, this type of thing always get switched up every few years based on changes in taste, discovering new films, or having a reinvigorated love for something old. This is why it's important to take a step back every few years and re-evaluate what's on the list. A newfound realization that I could watch Point Break on a loop is what inspired me that it was that time of the decade to take another look.

And so I proudly present my revitalized list of all-time favorite films:

1. Gremlins 2: The New Batch
2. Ghostbusters
3. Little Shop of Horrors
4. The Good, the Bad and The Ugly
5. Pee-wee's Big Adventure
6. Point Break
7. Scream
8. Fantastic Mr. Fox
9. Teen Wolf
10. Blue Velvet

Digital comics are a good thing

I’ve been mulling over the big DC Comics announcement from yesterday and bemoaning a lot of things this presents from a storytelling standpoint (what will happen to Dick Grayson and all of the development Grant Morrison has given him? will there still be a Justice League International book?).  This has distracted me, and surely others, from considering the impact of the other half of that announcement - that DC Comics will be releasing their comics in a digital format the same day as the print editions are released

Brian Michael Bendis tweeted yesterday that it would kill local comic book shops.  That’s nonsense. It's simply a method to help facilitate a wider audience to have access to comics.

13 Year Old Me would have loved it.  In the wee town of Olean, NY, there’s a pretty tiny store that allegedly sells comics, but they really don’t get much in stock.  For example, when DC flagship event Blackest Night happened, I stopped in during my trip home for Christmastime to see if they had an issue and the guy working there had no clue what I was talking about.  The same goes with the frequency of theatrical releases becoming more readily available through video-on-demand while in theaters - Olean's movie theater would never play any arthouse films, and the closest theater that would is an hour and a half drive.  If technology like this prevents anyone in similar cultural dead zones from having to deal with a lack of access to things they're passionate about, I’m all for it.

Of course, Adult Me loves having a tangible product in his hands and is a compulsive collector of DVD's and comics. And since I live in a city where I can buy every comic that comes out each week, I’ll still be at my local comic book store every Wednesday. I know I’m not the only one.