MamaPop™

I'm a Call of Duty Widow

My husband, who could not tell you who just won the World Series (or who has EVER won the World Series for that matter) and who could not tell you who Harry Potter was even written by or who has ever owned a game console before stood in line for hours last night with a packed backpack full of Red Bull in anticipation of the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. He got home this morning at 8 a.m. after playing it ALL NIGHT LONG with a friend of his. That's ... weird, right?

Apparently it's not that weird.

Disney's "First Black Princess Movie": Should We Be Worried About This?

In a word: no. Or at least, probably not, but from the looks of the first five minutes of Disney's upcoming The Princess and the Frog - the movie that's being called its "first black princess" movie - it seems that Disney might come out okay on this one. Sure, it's just five minutes - which leaves somewhere in the area of 75 to 90 minutes for Disney to trip-up with some dodgy racial sterotypes - and we are, after all, still talking princess movie -  but these are a pretty good five minutes.

Watch them after the jump:

Cloudy With A Chance of Adaptation

Last weekend, the top-grossing movie in the country was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It made more than $30 million.

Thirty. Million. Dollars. Worth. Of. Meatballs.

Coupled with the enormous anticipation accompanying the forthcoming release of Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are, this signals what we can only presume will be an absurd stampede of film versions of children's classics rushed to the screen in a bald-faced attempt to cash in on nostalgia and/or a great and largely untapped source of creativity.

The Beatles and Disney - It's On!

This has been a big week for the Beatles.  Their new game (see insanely cool commercial below) The Beatles: Rock Band is on the top of many a gift list and their entire UK catalog (plus Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters) has been remastered and rereleased with a depth and a clarity that so many of us are missing in our lives right now.  Yes, once again we have found ourselves in times of trouble and the Beatles come to us.  Words of wisdom and all that.

The Technicolor Yawn in Technicolor: The Top 6 Instances Of Puking On Film

How did you sleep last night? I ask because I didn't — in large part because I spent most of it awake with a 4-year old who was apparently trying to turn herself inside-out. The good news is that while I was enjoying this extended dance remix tour of my daughter's digestive system, my thoughts wandered to the many and splendored ways that this particular facet of existence has been illuminated on film over the years. In some contexts, it has been treated as comedy. In others, it's an element of high drama or great horror. But no matter how it is presented, these scenes create a portrayal of humanity at its most vulnerable — and, in the process, may even teach us a little something about ourselves.

(cue: a very special episode music...)

• Team America
I can only presume that you're already familiar with Team America, the Academy Award-winning geopolitical documentary featuring hardcore puppet sex. Lovingly crafted by the sensitive minds behind South Park, Team America features an entire galaxy of stars (my personal favorite: Matt Damon), the Eiffel Tower getting blown to smithereens, and a scene in which our hero Gary - having descended into alcoholism - hits bottom and proceeds to engage in a bout of epic vomiting that must been seen to be believed. 56. Full. Seconds. Of. Puppet. Vomiting. So staggering is this mannequinamation expurgation of effluvia that its status as the ne plus ultra of onscreen hurling is challenged by only a single precedent...

Tron: Legacy = Mind: Blown

I posted a bootleg of some of this footage almost a year ago, but now we have the full, glorious mint version, and wow. Just WOW.

And in IMAX. Squee!

The Tron: Legacy site Disney has up is basically just a placeholder page at this point, but that new trailer says 2010, and god I hope so. I feel like I've been waiting for this movie since... well, since 1982.

Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland - the two are a match made in heaven, or possibly hell, but either way this was a movie that was destined to be.

When I first heard that Burton was directing a version of the Lewis Carroll acid trip novel (oddly while playing Trivial Pursuit on my iPhone, the question came up about who would was slated to play the Red Queen in Tim Burton's upcoming film "Alice in Wonderland". Obviously I guessed Helena Bonham Carter because 1) She is his girlfriend, 2) she is in all of his movies and 3) she is perfect for this role.) I rejoiced. I knew that this film was going to be a visual masterpiece.

Then I tried to figure out who Johnny Depp was going to be. I gave myself three guesses but really we all only need one.

Did you know there's a recession going on?  I read about it on Twitter.  Apparently people have fallen on the collective hard times including the handsome devil that lives in my mirror- Fairest. Of. Them. All.  I vote that we all fall on the collective High Times should this happen again, the one with Willie Nelson on the cover.  I think Studs Terkel would back me on this.  Also, Snoop Dogg.

Perhaps it would make you feel better to see someone else suffering.  I know that I always enjoy it.  Well, you're in luck.  It seems that some others have slipped from their pedestals and landed in a little thing the kids call life.  Not the cereal.  The slippers?  Princesses. 

A bunch of scientists from Australia got bored with studying the mating patterns of koala bears or studying how high kangaroos jump or whatever - maybe they just ran out of issues in Australia that required the explanatory power of science. That could happen, you know? As a result of our insatiable rage for knowledge, we might just run out of things to know.

So they said "Fuck it" and watched 400 episodes of The Simpsons. Which is what I do when I can't think of anything new to discover.

Then I don't really get how it works. Do scientists have bosses? Who's the boss of Truth? I'm not sure. But I imagine one of the Australian scientists saying "We just watched 400 episodes of The Simpsons. What're we gonna tell the Science Boss?" Then another one says "DOH!" and then another one says "You know what? There were 795 instances of smoking in those 400 episodes."

Up is the latest offering from the good people at Disney/Pixar.  I'll tell you right now, if you're here for some snark and some hate and some throwing rocks at the kid on the pedestal, it ain't gonna happen.  It's too good.  And I like throwing rocks, especially at kids on pedestals, but mostly just kids.

I'm also not going to provide any spoilers because, and this is new, they SPOIL shit.  Who wants to be that guy?  Oh, and Darth Vader is Luke's dad.  Deal with it.

Disney's new animated film, The Princess and the Frog, is intriguing for a couple reasons. For one, it's a return to more traditional 2D animation now that Disney has purchased Pixar and is letting them do the 3D, since they don't completely suck at it the way Disney seems to. The other remarkable thing is that it features a new entrant to the Disney Princesses fold, and for the first time, she's African-American. Ah, but there's a hitch!

Thar be spoilers here, along with a full-length trailer:

The rise of 3D movies is quickly becoming the new "thing" for movies, particularly those aimed at kids and tween audiences. There are at least 10 more 3D movies set to be released this year, and I've already seen three of them: My Bloody Valentine 3D (it was free), Coraline, and now Monsters vs. Aliens.

Y'all already know all the truly funny shit is on the internet, right? I mean, obviously you must know — you're a MamaPop reader! However, for something more televisual, you should really be checking out current.com if you aren't already. In edition to being the home of the "Target Women" series, their new, expanded version of their animated comedy sketch series, "Super News," is funnier than just about anything on television these days, at least if the preview below the jump is any indication:

The Oscars are like my Super Bowl. Well, no, wait. The Super Bowl is my Super Bowl (Go Steelers!), and the Oscars are my fancy-dresses-pretty-men-cry-during-your-acceptance-speech-and-I'll-cry-with-you bowl.

Amidst all of the happiness and optimism surrounding yesterday's inauguration comes a bittersweet moment: the very last Get Your War On strip.

Being asked to compile a best-of list always makes me happy that I have a blog, because I can never remember anything, not even pop culture that I've enjoyed in a 12-month period. But I have a "plop culture" category that I spent a few minutes perusing this morning and I said a lot of things like, "Oh, YEAH, that WAS awesome!"

Dude. DUUUUUUUUUUDE

What, dude?

Dude. Cheech and Chong, man.

Heh. Heh heh heh. Yeah, sweet, man.

No, man. Cheech and CHONG, man. They're, like, making a cartoon, man.

Whoa. Cool, man...Wait, what?

Tim Burton's 3D Alice in Wonderland Extravaganza!

Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland - the two are a match made in heaven, or possibly hell, but either way this was a movie that was destined to be.

When I first heard that Burton was directing a version of the Lewis Carroll acid trip novel (oddly while playing Trivial Pursuit on my iPhone, the question came up about who would was slated to play the Red Queen in Tim Burton's upcoming film "Alice in Wonderland". Obviously I guessed Helena Bonham Carter because 1) She is his girlfriend, 2) she is in all of his movies and 3) she is perfect for this role.) I rejoiced. I knew that this film was going to be a visual masterpiece.

Then I tried to figure out who Johnny Depp was going to be. I gave myself three guesses but really we all only need one.

The Royal Fall or Some Such Catchy Title

Did you know there's a recession going on?  I read about it on Twitter.  Apparently people have fallen on the collective hard times including the handsome devil that lives in my mirror- Fairest. Of. Them. All.  I vote that we all fall on the collective High Times should this happen again, the one with Willie Nelson on the cover.  I think Studs Terkel would back me on this.  Also, Snoop Dogg.

Perhaps it would make you feel better to see someone else suffering.  I know that I always enjoy it.  Well, you're in luck.  It seems that some others have slipped from their pedestals and landed in a little thing the kids call life.  Not the cereal.  The slippers?  Princesses. 

Simpsons Linked To Childhood Smoking And Winged Anal Mammals

A bunch of scientists from Australia got bored with studying the mating patterns of koala bears or studying how high kangaroos jump or whatever - maybe they just ran out of issues in Australia that required the explanatory power of science. That could happen, you know? As a result of our insatiable rage for knowledge, we might just run out of things to know.

So they said "Fuck it" and watched 400 episodes of The Simpsons. Which is what I do when I can't think of anything new to discover.

Then I don't really get how it works. Do scientists have bosses? Who's the boss of Truth? I'm not sure. But I imagine one of the Australian scientists saying "We just watched 400 episodes of The Simpsons. What're we gonna tell the Science Boss?" Then another one says "DOH!" and then another one says "You know what? There were 795 instances of smoking in those 400 episodes."

Disney/Pixar's Up - In Which We Discuss Everything but the Plot

Up is the latest offering from the good people at Disney/Pixar.  I'll tell you right now, if you're here for some snark and some hate and some throwing rocks at the kid on the pedestal, it ain't gonna happen.  It's too good.  And I like throwing rocks, especially at kids on pedestals, but mostly just kids.

I'm also not going to provide any spoilers because, and this is new, they SPOIL shit.  Who wants to be that guy?  Oh, and Darth Vader is Luke's dad.  Deal with it.

Disney's Princess and the Frog Full-Length Trailer

Disney's new animated film, The Princess and the Frog, is intriguing for a couple reasons. For one, it's a return to more traditional 2D animation now that Disney has purchased Pixar and is letting them do the 3D, since they don't completely suck at it the way Disney seems to. The other remarkable thing is that it features a new entrant to the Disney Princesses fold, and for the first time, she's African-American. Ah, but there's a hitch!

Thar be spoilers here, along with a full-length trailer:

Monsters vs. Aliens 3D Review

The rise of 3D movies is quickly becoming the new "thing" for movies, particularly those aimed at kids and tween audiences. There are at least 10 more 3D movies set to be released this year, and I've already seen three of them: My Bloody Valentine 3D (it was free), Coraline, and now Monsters vs. Aliens.

Current.com's Full-Length "Super News!" Premieres Friday, Is Hilarious

Y'all already know all the truly funny shit is on the internet, right? I mean, obviously you must know — you're a MamaPop reader! However, for something more televisual, you should really be checking out current.com if you aren't already. In edition to being the home of the "Target Women" series, their new, expanded version of their animated comedy sketch series, "Super News," is funnier than just about anything on television these days, at least if the preview below the jump is any indication:

Oscar Noms Announced!

The Oscars are like my Super Bowl. Well, no, wait. The Super Bowl is my Super Bowl (Go Steelers!), and the Oscars are my fancy-dresses-pretty-men-cry-during-your-acceptance-speech-and-I'll-cry-with-you bowl.

Obama Begins, Get Your War On Ends

Amidst all of the happiness and optimism surrounding yesterday's inauguration comes a bittersweet moment: the very last Get Your War On strip.

Non-Specific Top However-Many-Items-I-Can-Think-of List for 2008

Being asked to compile a best-of list always makes me happy that I have a blog, because I can never remember anything, not even pop culture that I've enjoyed in a 12-month period. But I have a "plop culture" category that I spent a few minutes perusing this morning and I said a lot of things like, "Oh, YEAH, that WAS awesome!"

Hey Man, Cheech and Chong Are Making A Cartoon, Man

Dude. DUUUUUUUUUUDE

What, dude?

Dude. Cheech and Chong, man.

Heh. Heh heh heh. Yeah, sweet, man.

No, man. Cheech and CHONG, man. They're, like, making a cartoon, man.

Whoa. Cool, man...Wait, what?