Heir Lauda

The boys of Axis of Oversteer posted up their recap to the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix which was won by comeback story of the decade Jenson Button. Axis compared Button to one of my favorite Formula One drivers of all time, Niki Lauda. However, I disagree with them - Lauda was way more bad ass than Britian's newest favorite - though I agree to some parallels in their style of driving.

Lauda was the guy who told THE Enzo Ferrari that his race car was a "piece of shit" but he would help him sort it out because he's a nice guy like that. Lauda's also the guy that nearly died in a horrible accident at the Nurburgring in '76 then came back from death's door to get back in a car 6 weeks later and still remain competitive for the World Championship right up until the last laps of the last race at Fuji. Oh yeah, he also quit for 3 years, came back and ended up winning a championship in his 3rd year back in 1984. Check out the tribute below to the "Super Rat"- once you skip passed the Sade music. Before that is a tribute by Murray Walker for Lauda during his first retirement.

Neill Blomkamp

I just saw District 9 and thought it was pretty well done. Mike tossed up a good review of the movie here.

I was interested in other stuff the director has done and came across this link which collects ten of his short works (ads, shorts, etc.). They are worth watching. Except the last one. Skip that.

I knew about the Citroen commercial, Alive with Technology, long before the Transformers movie came out. I still that that one commercial is cooler than the Transformers movies. Check out the link: http://www.filmjunk.com/2009/05/04/the-short-works-of-neill-blomkamp/

Putting Encyclopedia Brown in his place

I used the read these stories as a kid, I remember liking most of them. But even then, I just had the think... "WTF? Who would know that one esoteric bit of trivia." Apparently the author did, and he liked to hold it over me to make me feel dumb.

I found this post that takes apart Encyclopedia Brown and points out 10 ridiculous mysteries he solved. Check it out here.

A few quotes:

And even the few children who can tell the Civil War from the American Revolution certainly don't display an Apu-like knowledge of its major motives, battles, and dates.[...]

Would you really try to challenge a group of isolated strangers who have just proven that they can slaughter and cook a goose, and then lie to innocent children about it? Is that not the worst real-life Deliverance red-flag imaginable?[...]

To solve this one, a child would have to either be a bird-watcher (unlikely) or inclined to wake up before sunrise (impossible).[...]

Kanye likes fish sticks...

He is a gay fish.

Oh, Southpark, you make me laugh.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/1305/

Finally!

Will this be the best movie ever? A million times yes.

Awesome...

... if it had been made 7 years ago.

Fuck You Nicholas Cage

Seriously, fuck you, Nick Cage...and not just for Ghost Rider.