But Does It Come With a PIN?

OK so I've been a little slow on the uptake with this one but I still think it's worthy of a post. The peeps (yes, I said peeps) at Hasbro are getting ready to launch a moneyless version of Monopoly where debit cards and an electronic reader will replace the beloved rainbow cash that we all know so well. The reader will keep track of players' cash balance thus effectively eliminating the role of "banker". Doesn't look like Hasbro is dropping the traditional cash version on Monopoly just yet - the two versions will be sold side by side. I wonder what happens with the magnetic strip wears off.


Via Gizmodo.

Davy Jones' Special Effects

So I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest on Saturday and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. Sometimes it's nice to see a movie purely for the sake of entertainment. And this movie definitely has all the food groups of an entertaining movie: action, comedy, romance and good looking people. Add in some nicely done special effects and you've got youself a perfect Saturday afternoon. Actually the special effects were quite mesmorizing, especially when it came to the creation of Davy Jones and all the crew on the Flying Dutchman. Their faces were completely created by way of CG using a precise motion capture system developed by Lucasfilms' graphics arm Industrial Light & Magic. The scene where Davy Jones is playing the organ with his tentacles was deliciously nasty and kind of made me feel like a teenaged boy!



Via Quiddity.

What Will The Chickens Think?

According to this New York Times article CBS will start advertising their prime time line up on eggs. Warning: may contain lame egg puns.


Via Notcot.org.

Zidane Knockout

Well we all knew this was coming, it was just a matter of who got there first. The hastily put together Zidane Shot game lets you channel all that headbutting rage into mouse clicks. How many Materazzis can you take down?

Thanks Sasha!


Also check out these animated GIFs posted on Game|Life. I'm just waiting for someone to make a hadoken fire out of Zidane's head. Any takers?

Amazing Information About Kavalier & Clay

If you know me in real life then you've probably heard me go on ad nauseum about the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. Sorry but I like talking about things that I, um, like (see Nintendo DS Lite). That's why I have a blog! Anyway I just recently finished reading it and I wanted to share the sheer pleasure of this book with you. If you've already read it then you know what I'm talking about. If not, then maybe this will inspire you to pick it up - I like to think that I can make things happen with this blog, but probably not. If you're not interested feel free to tune out or skip to the next post about iPod something or other. I'm not going to get into the specifics of the plot other than to say that it's about the lives of two cousins (Kavalier & Clay) living in New York City who create comic books in and around World War II. And a whole bunch of other stuff happens too. Check out the Wikipedia entry for details.


Now anyone who has already read the book will know probably recognize that feeling of sadness and regret at not being able to read about those characters anymore. But never fear, I'm here to tell you there's hope! Author Michael Chabon's official site Organ has lots of great stuff about the book. Also, The Amazing Website of Kavalier & Clay is a great resource for all things, um, Kavalier & Clay.

Also of interest is the comic book spin off series The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist. Apparently Chabon felt compelled to further explore the Escapist's storyline and he penned eight volumes of the comic book now available through Dark Horse Comics.


And finally we'll all be able to relive the story of Kavalier & Clay (without having to reread the book) in the film adaptation of the novel. Wahoo! This I'm really excited for. The movie, expected to be released sometime in 2007, will be directed by Stephen Daldry and will show some scenes not featured in the novel. A cast has not yet been established but apparently Natalie Portman is a very likely candidate for the role of Rosa Sacks.

OK so that was a lot of information about something you may not be interested in. But you should be. And that's all that matters.

Thanks to Jenn Cutts for suggesting the book and to Ben for "lending" it to me (I'm not giving it back).

Imagine All the Apples

The online Apple dealers Apple Discounts recently held athe Apple Imagination contest inviting people to submit their best Photoshopped Apple product mockups. Many entries focussed on some type of iPhone (and they're all much better looking than the ROKR) but others included PDAs, tablet PCs, watches and turntables. Check out the gallery of entries and the winners. Lots of nice looking products here, I hope Apple is taking note.




Via Popgadget.