While surfing around today I discovered quite possibly the greatest thing to amp me up for Zombieland (my second viewing!). гардеробиThe Miami Herald ran a story about the University of Florida’s disaster plan in case of, you guessed it, Zombies!

When I first read this I thought is was completely fake, but after a bit of research (and…uh… clicking on the link in that article) I found out that they are quite serious. All in all, its not a bad plan actually.

If you don’t want to read the Miami Herald article, you can find the PDF for the ZOMBIE ATTACK Disaster plan here.

And like I said, if you’re still on the fence of schools you might want to check out, consider U of F because, well, they can fight Zombies.

The movie is about our hero, that we only get to know as Columbus (Jesse “no-I’m-not-Michael-Cera” Eisenburg) being one of the last living people in a world of Zombies. He has survived by living in within the constraints of a list of rules that he will, under no circumstances, break. Such as “Always wear your seatbelt” or “CARDIO WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE” and of course, my personal favorite: “Enjoy the little things”.

Columbus decides to head out and find parents- who he is estranged from by being a World of Warcraft playing shut-in- in order to get some normalcy in his life. On his trip he meets up with Tallahassee (Woody “F’in” Harrelson, thank you very much), who is exactly what Columbus needed. He is a complete and utter badass who hates zombies more than pretty much anything. They killed his puppy after all, and you just don’t do that. So Columbus decides to hitch a ride and away  we go.

For reasons I won’t get in to- because it will TOTALLY be worth it to find out on your own- Tallahassee and Columbus end up at a supermarket where, after a brief and hilarious fight with some Zombies, they meet up with Wichita (Emma “my-eyes-are-so-beautiful-it-hurts” Stone) and her little sister, Little Rock (Abigail “I-was-in-Little-Miss-Sunshine-and-therefore-rock” Breslin). After a frank exchange of ideas the 4 split off in to 2 again, only now Columbus and Tallahassee are one car and 2 guns lighter.

The rest of the movie is filled to the brim with surprises, twists, and awesome stuff that I don’t want to give away. (*Hint) It sort of involves twinkies/mad cow disease/clowns AND the best cameo of 2009. As a quick side note, while we are on the subject: STOP WATCHING THE TRAILERS, STOP READING THE IMDB, and STOP GOING TO THE WEBSITE! A lot of this movie is given away because of these things and I promise any expectations that you have already will be blown away (Pun totally intended).

If I had to have a single knock against the movie, it would be that I have to wait until October 2nd to see it again. No, seriously, thats it. This movie can’t really do any wrong in my book. As an avid fan of horror movies, it is nice to see the writers and directors of this movie making a film that not only I can enjoy, but the kind of movie that everyone can enjoy, fan boy or not. It’s very funny, very entertaining, GREAT violence, awkward love, and WOODY “F’IN” HARRELSON!

Just do me this one favor… Don’t take it too seriously. In “Geek Speak” this movie is more like House Of The Dead: Overkill than Resident Evil, so bare in mind the cheesy stuff. This movie is extremely self aware, but not in that awful 90’s slasher sort of way.

Final thoughts? There is a scene where the song “No One Is Gonna Love You Like I Do” by Band Of Horses comes on. My ex ruined this song for me and this movie fixed it.  Also, I overheard a few people as I left that complained “It wasn’t scary enough” or “It wasn’t enough like Dawn of the Dead”. To you I say, “Eat me”. And again, pun totally intended.

*INTERMISSION*

The lights are dimming, I have my refills, and next up is Jennifer’s Body.

The movie is about BFFs Needy Lesnicky (Amanda “Mamma-Mia-and-Mean-Girls” Seyfried) and Jennifer Check (Megan “slow-motion-cleavage” Fox) doing what all high school girls do: Being best friends and going to a concert. An unknown band called “Low Shoulder” is playing at a local hot spot in the small town they live in and the girls doll up to see them. The band’s leader, Nikolai Wolf (Adam “only-getting-mentioned-so-Keegan-can-finish-this-joke” Brody) takes a liking to Jennifer and, after a horrible accident during the music, he takes her in to his van and they drive off. Needy is, of course, horrified and goes home to call her boyfriend Chip (Johnny “funny-thing-ha-ha” Simmons). During their talk, Needy hears a noise and finds a beaten and bloody Jennifer in her kitchen. From then on Jennifer, a demon possessed cheerleader, goes on an all-boy killing spree.

Oh, and remember Low Shoulder? Suddenly they are millionaires.

Again, this is another movie where I don’t want to give too much away. It is sort of Juno with Demons but with a lot of complex and well written undertones. It pokes fun of the same Indie Movie and Indie Music culture that made Juno such a success, but at the same time, stays completely aware of itself and never gets preachy or snarky. You know, like a hipster.

Diablo Cody proves that she can make anyone amazing yet again with her amazing writing, Karyn Kusama (the director of Aeon Flux) shows that with the right script she can make magic happen, and believe or not: Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried play off each other so well you actually believe them as long time best friends towards the end.

Therein lays my only real problem with this film. It does take till the end of the movie to really understand the scope of the girl’s friendship, which is fine, but in ONE conversation between Ellen Page and Olivia Thirlby (Juno) on a hamburger phone you can understand the deep friendship in a matter of minutes. Maybe it was lazy writing or maybe it’s that they seemed to cut a few conversations with the girls. Maybe it’s even just completely unfair to compare the two films, but since I’m such a huge fan of hers, I have to beg Diablo not to forget what makes her films great: The script.

This is another movie that you also have to not take so seriously. Is this an Oscar contender? Not at all. But it is another show of what makes movies, especially horror movies, worth the 10 bucks: Its REALLY entertaining. It’s got everything from evil indie bands to oddly placed but hilarious lesbians scenes to that same, funny, back and forth conversation we’ve come to love from Diablo Cody. Remember when that used to be what movies were about? Fun and lesbians?  Diablo Cody does.

And with that I say goodnight to you all. Both movies are must sees and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. And finally, an open letter to the cast:

Dear Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, and Emma Stone,

It’s not easy for me to say this so I’ll just say it and see what you think. I’ve been with you all for some time, watching you punctuate otherwise decent films with your lack of ability (Megan Fox), lack of strength (Amanda, and don’t even start with Mamma-Freakin’-Mia) or lack of a chance to really shine (see also: Emma in Superbad). I don’t mean to be harsh, but up until now it has been just another load of ditsy, unimportant, eye candy roles. Now however, I can safely say, those roles are far beneath the lot of you. You’ve proven yourselves girls… now get out there and keep doing it.

Your movies and have made this EASILY one of the most entertaining weeks I’ve been a part of in recent history. Congrats to you all.

Love,

Keegan

P.S. Ellen Page, you are still my one and only. PLEASE MAKE MORE MOVIES.

Along comes James May. James is British, so we know he likes good comedy and weird food. For his second childhood he did something redonkulous….

Who ever knew that this limey toy fanatic would ever undertake such a momentous building project as this.  James is building a full size house, not from stone, nor from clay brick, heck, not even from straw.

James is building his house out of HOUSE OUT OF LEGOs!

How freaking weird cool is that? It would almost be worth spending the ridiculous airfare fees to go see this thing. Just in case you were interested in seeing this creation, without spending thousands of dollars to go to England, Click HERE.

Way to go James! We salute you. Whenever your over here in the New World, look me up and the Guinness is on me!

I want cheap, fast internet and I want it NOW.  

Thank Shay Shafranek* that Google and Microsoft are both working on it.   If you are like me and have the attention span of a gnat, then click on over to the article at dailywireless.org and get the image-laden info on what is going on in the realm of the WHITE SPACE…..

Then go tell your Congressman that you don’t care about any of that national deficit crap, we want CHEAP BROADBAND ACCESS!!!!

* Read “Shay Shafranek, God of the Geeks“

Space…. The Fido Frontier…..   Ok,  I will say there are some people who get really creative in dressing up their pets.  There is, however, one rule for dressing mans best friend, which is:

DONT DO IT DRUNK!

Click HERE to see what I mean.

Fortunately, there are Open Source solutions for most of the areas in which I compute. The trouble with Open Source, however, is finding the stuff that works. You pretty much have to go on a Internet wide scavenger hunt to just find one thing that you need.

Thankfully, the Geeks atOpen Disk have created an “essentials” kit.  This ISO image has pretty much everything that you would need for general computing.  From OpenOffice.org to TightVNC, it’s all there.  

Check out their website to view the contents and download your copy, free of charge.

District 9 to me is the little movie that possibly could. Not a lot of foreign movies get decent screens in the US (before you sent hate mail, yes there are exceptions but let’s agree that they are few and far between), but this South African film directed by Neill Blomkamp is getting the full release treatment. Having Peter Jackson (of Lord of the Rings fame) as your producer and backer, probably helped matters quite a bit.

Without wanting to give too much away, the film is about a ship full of aliens (nicknamed “prawns”) who arrive to Earth in the early 80’s and are placed by the humans into a “colony” of sorts named District 9 located in Johannesburg. In 2010, when Multinational United (MNU) decides to relocate the “colony” to a new location outside the city, they send their man, Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a lowly bureaucrat to lead the team who will be handing out the eviction slips. Things go very wrong from then on.

The film is adapted from a 2005 short film called Alive in Joburg, which deals with undertones of xenophobia and social segregation. It is inspired by events that occured during the South African apartheid in the city of Cape Town, which had a area called District six.

The movie which cost a paltry (all things considered…) $30 million to make, looks and feels like what sci-fi should be. The effects are superb and well done. The movie is gruesome at times, but still with just enough heart for you to feel for the aliens. Well written, well acted and well directed. Good film all in all.

Side Note: On the way out of the theater, one lady to another said: “The movie was okay but will not work here. They should have set it here so people can relate to it better.” Clearly she missed the point.

Do you know the guy, the one in the Dyson Vacuum commercials?  

I always thought he was just a tool.

But you know, I came across something on the good ole’ intarwebs that has changed my mind about the guy. He gives awards for innovative inventions that improve our existence.   That is pretty nice of him to encourage people to make things that don’t suck. (That is, unless invent a vacuum, then your invention is supposed to suck.)  

Check out the James Dyson Award page to get more details.  While you’re there, take a look at a few of the projects, they are quite cool.

Just in case you missed it,  Google (you know the search engine that became a multi-billion dollar powerhouse) has revolutionized telecom. Google Voice is officially the best thing since sliced mutton.

With just one Google Voice phone number I can ring all of the phones that I use.   If someone calls me on my Google Voice number, my home phone, my cell phone and my work phone all ring.  The caller ID shows me who it is, so if I choose to ignore it, Google will automatically send it to the web based voicemail.  Yeah, I said it.. web based voicemail, which allows you to listen to your voicemail online. This one feature alone makes it worth checking out.

So for example, if you’re at work and it would be uncouth to blast the sexy message from that  that hot girl (or guy,not judging) that you hooked up with the night before, (this is the awesome part) Google will transcribes the email in to text for you.   That way you can read all the juicy details via your web browser,with your fellow co-workers none the wiser. It must be said that the  juicy details in question will appear to be written by a 5 year old who is blind and sadly doesn’t speak english very well.  For the price the service costs, of course some concessions had to be made.

So how much can you expect to pay for a service like this? Well you won’t be paying $59.99 per year. Or even $24.99 per year. You can own this particular service for only 3 easy installments of absofreakinlutely nothing.  Yes you get all this for free.   The service is still in beta and no launch date has been officially announced, head on over to www.google.com/voice for more information.