Here’s a nifty Youtube clip from an animator named PersonaSama commissioned by Syke energy drink.  The drink itself may be questionable as a real product, but the video was definitely entertaining to watch.  In short, our animated hero gets sucked into a video game world where familiar scenaries from the likes of Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog are borrowered.  After several views, wishful thinking would be for a flash based game in the near future.

Source: Infendo via Persona’s Animations

Perusing the Internets this weekend and just doing some catch up reading, I came across this hilarious article on Yahoo, that had a quote saying: “…according to a recent report, Chevys proudly proclaim of their owners, “I don’t use the Internet.”" HAHAHA. The article breaks down the numbers futher by saying “13% of Chevy owners don’t use the Web” and goes on to say only 35% of Chevy owners have a college degree or higher compared that to 70% for Honda owners. Other cars mentioned in this study are Honda, Ford, Mini, Bentley and Ferrari.

Check the article here.

The author/illustrator behind the chain of letters below, David Thorne, deserves recognition for being so witty with followup responses to a recently apartment inspection.  And if you enjoyed reading the below chain of letters, more of David’s dialogue can be viewed here.

Image Source: Geekologie via David Thorne

Finally got out to see a new flick for the first time in a LONG time. The movie of choice this weekend was the premier of Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg. Staying with the theme of Zombieland, I’m going to write this review in the form of Columbus’s rules. If you haven’t seen the flick yet, then this should help you decide whether or not you should.

Zombieland Rule # 8 – DON’T EXPECT A HORROR FLICK

Zombieland is a hilarious half parody of a lot of zombie flicks from over the years. It’s not anything like you’re typical zombie storyline where they explain the origin of the disease and a rag tag group of heroes saves the world. This flick is really about how people grow up and become something more in an independent society.

Zombieland Rule # 7 – APPRECIATE THE EFFECTS

Unlike a lot of huge big budget disaster flicks that blow their entire loads on explosions and gore scenes, Zombieland gets it all done on the cheap; and you can tell. Directed by Reuben Fleischer and written by the team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick it is quite obvious that Zombieland was not made to win any awards for special effects. What it does do is bring a lot of the old school style back into the fold. Blood is drippy, slimy grossness to the point where it is more comedy than gore. Heads explode, bones break and zombies literally splat, but if anything the situations will make you laugh.

Zombieland Rule # 6 – SMALL CASTS RULE

Without a huge ensemble cast of characters to have worry about, Zombieland brings you right into the story from the very beginning and keeps you in the world of 4 central characters throughout. Woody Harrelson plays Tallahassee, Jesse Eisenberg plays Columbus, Emma Stone plays Wichita and Abigail Breslin plays Little Rock. If you’re confused about the names, then you’re going to have to check out the flick. With one small but AWESOME cameo by a legendary comedian, this cast is more or less complete. Having a small cast like this was great for the viewer because it centralizes the story around nothing more than what you should be paying attention to.Woody did a great job as the roudy zombie hunter with an emotional past. Emma Stone plays the clever older sister and mother figure to the younger Abigail Breslin and Jesse Eisenberg again does his best Micheal Cera impression and goes awkward. When you string them all together, it works out wonderfully.

Zombieland Rule #5 – DON’T BE OFFENDED IF THINGS GO DISNEY

For all of the blood and gore and comedy strung throughout Zombieland, the heart of the story is really in the development of a family. With four homeless, family-less characters banding together after a few road blocks, this flick’s resolution is less about killing zombies and more about developing relationships. But this is not a a bad thing. Over and over again we see zombie flicks use the relationships of humans as a secondary storyline, but with Zombieland the development of a family environment is the central plot and also a breath of fresh air.

Zombieland Rule #4 – HOLD YOUR PEE TILL THE END

Okay maybe that was a bit gross, but with a run time of only 80 minutes, Zombieland is the perfect flick to see with a big group of friends. It’s long enough to develop a good story, but short enough that you won’t be squirming around in your seat waiting for the credits.

Zombieland Rule #3 – CHECK OUT THE TITLES

Zombieland is narrated by Columbus in a way that viewers can appreciate. This isn’t your regular “So there I was…” narration and Jesse Eisenberg pulls off the tone perfectly. The story is narrated through a series of Zombieland Rules and with them comes some amazing title work throughout the film. In a similar fashion to the television show Fringe, Zombieland uses animated titles within the frame of the shot. They work really well in terms of telling the story and showing a refreshing image on screen.

Zombieland Rule #2 – STOCK UP ON HOSTESS PRODUCTS BEFORE

When you walk out of Zombieland you’re probably going to want to munch on some kind of Hostess snack product. I have a feeling some funding may have come from the creators of the Twinkie because product placement is used quite well in this flick. Some advice would be to prepare your snacking habits before you go into the flick so you can munch away when the credits roll.

Zombieland Rule #1 – ENJOY ZOMBIELAND IN ANY STATE OF MIND

Very rarely does a flick come around that is equally as funny while in a bunch of different states of mind. Zombieland is one of these flicks where it can be enjoyed on multiple maturity levels for multiple reasons. Combining this with all of the other points made above and I’m going to give Zombieland a solid 8 out of 10 on the Bloated Penguin scale. The only slight thing holding this back from a nine is the outcome of the surprise cameo. When you watch Zombieland you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Directed by Daisuke Izumi is an entertaining short clip of some friends doing the impossible with fully cooked Nissin Cup Noodles.  These dudes have mastered the art of flinging food across the air without spilling, dropping or wasting any of it.  Watch as cups of Nissin slide down rails, get thrown out of windows, flung from an r/c racer and propelled from a fishing pole.  Quite entertaining stuff.

via TOKYOMANGO

Honestly, I’m still speechless after watching this clip. The girl in the video demonstrating how a bra can be used as a purse and proceeds to pull her nail polish, big ass set of keys with pepper spray, deodorant and a digital camera. Mildly surprised we didn’t see a cell phone coming out of there. Ladies what can you fit in your bra? Oh feel free to shoot videos and photos and send ‘em in to us…umm..’kay thanks.

Over the weekend, my cousin brought up some older movies he was getting into lately.  One such movie happened to be the original live action adaptation to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Considering, we’ve gotten so many comments on the elusive Bioworld Merchandise fitteds.  And with a previous post involving fan made Ninja Munnys, we should’ve paid homage to creation of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird a bit sooner.

I don’t think I have to delve too much into background of the 4 mutant reptilian ninja brothers.  But upon digging up the above pic, I recently discovered in the original comic, Splinter was actually just a rat that could mimic his master, Hamoto Yoshi’s moves and mentored the Turtles.  In the 80’s cartoon series, Splinter was a mutated Hamoto Yoshi.  Thanks to the quick wikipedia’ing I did, I now have the urge to rent the latest Wii adaptation of TMNT.  Happy Thursday all.

If I had to go iPhone or iPod Touch protective case shopping, Tech21’s iBand is exactly what Im looking for.  The result of me dropping anything is never an effect of me rushing to grab that phone call.  I am simply a clutz with my gadgets.  The iBand consists of a revolutionary material known as d3o, which is a pliable gel in its standstill state.  However, upon impact, the molecules band together and form a rock solid material that can take pretty much any impact.  The end result is a lightweight framed ipod case that can take a hell of a beating.  Watch the video and prepare to cringe as an ipod is being chucked around walls and dropped on floors.  By the end of the video, I’m sure you’ll become a believer.

Source: Flylyf via Recombu

George Clooney fans can rejoice once again as the old-skool actor looks like he’s got another winner. Check out this trailer for The Men Who Stare At Goats and I dare you not to smirk when Clooney spouts a couple of Jedi lines. The flick also stars Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Ewen McGregor, but judging from the trailer, Clooney takes the cake here.

Paul Reubens is attempting yet another return to the spotlight. The Pee Wee Herman Show is returning to its roots November 8th at The Music Box in Hollywood. Many will remember Reubens’ show Pee-Wee’s Playhouse from back in the 80’s. The experimental animation, costumes, design and humor was a major hit with a number of audiences. Many are now aware that Reubens had to stop the show after being convicted of public nudity…

But Pee Wee fans can breathe a sigh of relief as Reubens plans to bring his show back to the stage where it originally began. If you plan on being in the area, this is a show that CANNOT be missed.

Click here for ticket info.

In the meantime, check out this clip from the flick Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

Only in Japan can you find a wood sculptor dressed as Jason from Friday the 13th sculpting anime characters. In this 9 minute clip, watch as “Jason” whips up life sized Mio from the anime, K-ON!  Personally, I am not familiar the anime series, but his trade of sculpting wood with a chain saw is worth the view.

Source: Japanator

File this one under hilarious. I woke up Saturday morning and jumped onto to Twitter. I saw a link that Boys Noize (DJ / Producer) posted up on his Twitter, naturally I clicked on it and I saw the above imaged and peed myself laughing so hard. Well turns out she wasn’t the only victim to have had their Facebook account hacked. It turns out that a Christian dating site was hacked by “4chan Hackers” and they used the information to take over the victim’s FB pages. As you can see by the following examples they created a lot of havoc, but fuck, I couldn’t stop laughing as I looked at each image.

Check the rest of the images of accounts getting effed up here.

Source: thecoffeedesk.com

With a multi-platform all-star cast ranging from Henry Rollins to Chuck Liddell, here is funny or DIE!’s musical parody of GI Joe.  The video showcases what members of GI Joe and Cobra do on their off-hours.  Personally, I dig how Snake Eyes’s favorite pastime is painting landscapes like The Joy of Painting’s Bob Ross.  Add in Vinnie Jones’s tough guy element as Destro while playing a clarinet and you’ve got a pretty fun parody.

See below for the entire list of cast members.

Laz Alonso as Doc
Alexis Bledel as Lady Jaye
Billy Crudup as Zartan
Zach Galifiankais as Snow Job
Tony Hale as Dr. Mindbender
Vinnie Jones as Destro
Joey Kern as Tomax
Joey Kern as Xamot
Chuck Liddell as Gung Ho
Julianne Moore as Scarlett
Henry Rollins as Duke
Alan Tudyk as Shipwreck
Olivia Wilde as The Baroness
Sgt. Slaughter as Himself
Jamin Fite as Cobra Commander
Frankie Kang as Storm Shadow
Geoff Mann as Buzzer
Andreas Owald as Snake Eyes
Daniel Strange as Torch
Kevin Umbricht as Ripper

Source: funny or DIE!

Above is the music video to Alva Noto’s single, U_08-1 from his 2008 Unitxt album.  Prior to this clip, I personally haven’t heard of Alva Noto nor his glitch electronica.  But the video and music goes well hand in hand as actor, Kyusaku Shimada is seen struggling to get a bottle of Saori tea from the vending machine.  Instead, it plays with his emotions and offers him up a short light show before sending him off with the beverage.  Overall, its a short and fun visual treat.

Source: Pink Tentacle

One of my favorite supporting characters in the Simpsons is Pedro the Bumblebee Man. Allthough known for his bit parts consist of slapstick humor, I think its the costume that usually gets people laughing.  I don’t think I’ve seen him w/o his costume and not saying “”Ay yai yai, NO ME GUSTA!”.  Recently, The Bumblee Man has been given the David Flores treatment via an 16 x 20 print.  3 colorways are available with the yellow, grey and black colorway as the standard edition.  A more limited  orange/blue/green and pink/blue/green variant are also available in 18 x 24 dimensions but with a smaller edition of 9 units each.  Available here.

Image Source: OMG Posters! via SOMETHING.ILL

I had a chance to chat with Nikki Kelly of Hug & Kiss Designs to learn more about her company of saucy, joyful cards. A few years back, she couldn’t find a job (like half of the world right now due to the recession) so she started her own business and is now reaping the benefits of being self-employed after bringing a great idea to light. If only we all had a great idea like hers that we could cash in on!

Killahbeez: How did Hug and Kiss Designs come about?

Nikki Kelly: It officially started in January of 2007. Before then I started designing the cards for fun, just for my own personal artistic release. A few people had seen them and thought that they were really clever and funny and told me that I should do more with them.

I had been searching for a job in design and had gone to a bunch of interviews and it was one of those cases where I had either too much experience or not enough experience.

When I couldn’t find that dream job, I figured why not give my own company a shot. If it fails, no loss. If it works out, great!

KB: What were you hoping to do as a career?

NK: During the last five years I wanted to do something like magazine layout.

Now I can’t picture doing anything else. I’m still sitting here in my pajamas. It’s awesome. I don’t have to answer to anybody. There’s nobody telling me my design is wrong. I do what I want to do.

KB: What’s your process like?

NK: I have three books full of ideas. If there’s something I want to say in a card or if I know exactly what I want the card to look like and say, I’ll put it in the book.

KB: How did you decide on animals?

NK: They’ve just always been my style of drawing. I’ve always drawn cartoon characters, since I was six or something like that.

KB: Were your artistic abilities passed on from someone else in your family?

NK: My grandparents. My grandma paints and does ceramics, knitting, cross-stitching and all those other sort of grandma creative things.

KB: Do you do anything else creative on the side?

NK: It’s really just become this and I do little canvas paintings that are basically the same as my cards just painted onto canvases as opposed to printed on cards.

KB: What do you do outside of H&K?

NK: Not a whole lot! My job takes up most of my day. Otherwise I love going for walks, bike rides, and hanging out with family and friends.

KB: Do you find it hard to balance your time given that having your own company can be so demanding?

NK: No, it’s not a problem. Yesterday I probably worked like 12 hours but I had a nap in the middle of the day and its fun.

KB: Do you ever get hate mail?

NK: No! I get a lot of people praising what I do which is super awesome, I really appreciate that. I’ve never had anyone condemn me for what I do which I’m surprised. I was really worried that people would get really upset at me so I decided to create a huge warning sign saying, “Warning, these cards contain language that some people (with no sense of humour) may find offensive.” So that helps I think, because if I was at an art market and people did hate what I was doing and if they did say something to me they’d be admitting they have no sense of humour and I think that they kind of think about that. Usually there’s quite a few people gathering around laughing at my cards so for one person to say, “I just don’t get it, what are you doing?!” it would be embarrassing for them!

Sometimes I do get these dirty looks or I overhear people say to their friends or family, “I don’t get it!” If you don’t get it, I can’t explain it to you.

KB: How often do you make it out to art markets etc?

NK: Around Christmas time it’s absolutely crazy, I do quite a few different shows. I’ve signed up for Portobello West for the whole year, that’s the last Sunday of every month from March until December.

Next Sunday I’m doing the car-free festival in Vancouver and a lot of others

I keep busy!

KB: You also sell online?

NK: I’m at over 20 retailers. In B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ottawa. I have had international orders from L.A, Utah. How they heard about me in Utah I don’t know but it’s cool. It’s surprising and fun to get international orders.

KB: What are your future plans? You have cards, magnets, small paintings, and now you’re dabbling into the t-shirt market. Anything else?

NK: I’d like to come up with a whole new line of cards. I haven’t decided it’ll be Hug and Kiss Designs or if I’ll come up another company name and do it totally separate. They wouldn’t be animals, they’d be cute little monsters or stickmen or something. I’d like to do that but it’ll take quite awhile to get it up and running.

KB: Along the same sense of humour?

NK: Yeah same sense of humour but in a different way. I haven’t fully figured everything out, it’s just in the thought process stage right now.

KB: You seem really busy. Do you think you’ll have to hire an assistant sometime soon?

NK: Yeah it might come to that soon! I’m running out of room in my apartment to store everything. It’s a small business but when you’re doing a lot of art markets and you’re selling to retailers, you need stock of envelopes, paper bags, boxes, and all that. So I might need to get my own office space soon as well.
Right now my husband helps me out which is amazing because I don’t have to pay him but I might need to hire someone soon!

KB: Aside from cards do you see yourself expanding into different things?

NK: I have thought about other things and people have suggested other things. My husband thinks I should make stuffed animals. I have no experience in sewing so I wouldn’t know what I was doing; I would have to get someone else to do it for me.

The t-shirt thing I was thinking of for a really a long time and I just started them now.

It takes awhile to get the new thing happening.

It’s nice that I’m at that point that I can try these different new things because the cards are maintaining my income.

KB: Do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs? I think a lot of people are at a place where they’re thinking of starting their own business as a result of the poor job market. Anything you wish you had known when you started?

NK: Not necessarily anything I wish I had known from the beginning. I did a lot of research going into this and what it takes to start your own business. I have all these different For Dummies books which are all quite helpful but really, when you start is when you learn everything.

KB: No matter how much advice you get from people, when it comes down to it, you learn through trial and error right?

NK: You have to be prepared to wear many hats. I do my own bookkeeping, marketing, I’m on the phone with the retailers, and I’m the one shipping the orders. I do absolutely everything other than what my husband and sisters help me with. You can’t just start your business and expect it to pick up right away. Some people can hire people right away and that’s awesome but you can’t always afford to do that.

If you’re even considering starting your own business, take the jump! Just try it! Don’t put too many eggs in one basket. I kept my part-time retail job when I started because I knew that this might not work and I didn’t want to burn bridges and not have money at the end of the month.

KB: Okay so one more thing…will you play a game with me? You’ll probably think I’m crazy but I think this could be fun.

NK: Okay let’s try it!

KB: So I’ll give you a word and you say the first thing that the word I say makes you think of.

NK: Okay!

KB: Blue

NK: Ape

KB: Ape?

NK: I have a painting right in front of me and it’s an ape and it’s blue!

KB: Music.

NK: Smashing Pumpkins.

KB: The Recession.

NK: Money.

KB: M&M’s.

NK: Colourful.

KB: Youtube.

NK: Kittens.

KB: Kittens? Do you watch kitten videos?

NK: Yeah I do, I’m guilty of that.

KB: Stephen Harper.

NK: Uhhhh…

KB: Ha! He doesn’t even deserve a word?

NK: Uhhhhh……

KB: Well that’s it. That was fun!

NK: Well I don’t think my answers were necessarily fun, maybe predictable.

KB: Saying “Ape” when someone says “Blue” isn’t predictable! Other people I asked said “sky”!

Thanks a lot for chatting with me and good look with your business!

NK: Thank-you so much!

Ari Gold fans unite and check out Jeremy Piven’s latest flick The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard. This ridiculous comedy about car salesmen and their shifty ways of moving product looks hilarious. Piven stars with Ed Helms, Ken Jeong (both from The Hangover), Ving Rhames, Alan Thicke and a slew of other comedic specialists as they compete with a rival car sales lot for… Well, I’m not sure. Just check the Red Band trailer below and get ready for the ride.

Comic-Con was a huge success this year for a number of reasons and one of the biggest and best received panels came from the cast and crew of ABC’s Lost. As many of you are already aware of, Lost will be entering its final season this year and with a web of mysteries still surrounding the story of the show, fans are salivating for some news about the big reveals. Well, the Lost panel was a huge success for a few reasons. Of course it showed the world that the actors  behind a lot of the principle characters are real people with real personalities, but it also put show creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cruse in the spotlight when asked about the upcoming season. After a lot of hoo-hum back and forth with the fans that resolved basically nothing, the producers of the show revealed a sealed box containing what they claimed was the final script page of the final season of the final episode. Fans were ecstatic at the thought of being in the same room as a ending to one of pop-culture’ s greatest mysteries when suddenly Josh Holloway (Sawyer) stands up and decides to open the box himself. The cast and most of the crew usually don’t know what happens next on the show until they actually start shooting, so Holloway was as curious as everyone in the room. Check the video below to see Holloway struggle through the final page, then get help from Michael Emerson (Ben Linus).

Okay, apparently the producers of Lost decided to play a little joke on everyone in attendance as the final script page actually wasn’t from Lost at all. It turns out the producers did their homework and found out that the Heroes Panel would appear right after theirs in the same room. So instead of revealing what happens in the final episode of Lost, they wrote a mock ending to season 4 of Heroes! A classic moment is listening to Ben Linus muttering, “What the Fuck is this?” into the mic.

Ignacio Pilotto’s “Brand Keyboard” features household recognized logos in lieu of the respectable letter.  For example, Twitter replaces the letter ‘t” and “a” is replaced by Adidas’s tri-leaf logo.  All 26 letters of the alphabet are covered, but no “Brand” treatment is assigned to number keys or special characters.  It would’ve been fun to see the Guess logo in place of a question mark.

Image Source: Geeokologie via Geeky Gadgets

Comedian Aziz Ansari is back with part 2 of Raaaaaaaandy, a character that he plays in the new Judd Apatow film, Funny People, which stars Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen. If you missed the first part of Raaaaaaaandy, you can catch that here.