It’s good business. People love movies and people love video games. Combine the two and you’ve got yourself a peanut butter and jelly blockbuster. At least that’s what all these dense Hollywood producers think.  Too bad that virtually no video game based on a movie has either commercially or critically succeeded.  The same stands true for movies based off video games.  Remember Wing Commander?  Super Mario Bros.?  Double Dragon?  Of course you don’t!  They were horrible.  Bloody bloody horrible!  If by some some Twilight Zoney reason you did happen to watch these flaming piles of garbage puke, you remember how God awful each and every one of them were.  Sure they may hold some miniscule nostalgic value for the ultimate Luigi fanatic but, the fact of the matter remains; movies are like tuna and video games like ice cream.  Delicious apart,  disgusting together.  However, one man is attempting to change all that.  Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid series has taken serious steps towards bringing his most famous creation, Solid Snake, to the silver screen.  Although most talk around the movie is hush hush, IMDB reports rumors of Kurt Wimmer, made famous by his cult hit, “Equilibrium”, directing the adaptation of the Metal Gear Solid storyline.  At first glance that seems a little too easy.  It wasn’t until Metal Gear Solid on the original Playstation that gamers really started to take notice of the series.  For the time, Metal Gear Solid introduced a brand new way of video game storytelling, rivaling the concept of the Hollywood screenwriter.  It is perfectly logical to start with what has worked before but, that leaves out the adventures we as an audience know Snake has been on to get where he is now.  Its like watching the first Godfather then expecting to watch Godfather II right after.  But as soon as the movie starts, you’re right back at the wedding scene all over again.  Kojima has confirmed that it will be shot in live action, which means someone other than gritty voice actor, David Hayter, will portray the role as Snake.  Since Wimmer has already directed Christian Bale in “Equilibrium”, its a safe bet his name will be circling the rumor mill in the months to come.  Since production hasn’t even begun yet, I hardly believe this movie will be shot, edited, and released anytime in 2009 although IMDB reports a release sometime this year.  All we can do is wait and see…

Sometimes, you just have to say “What the #*&%?”  There is no doubt the motorcycle craze has completley swept through the U.S.  Just walk down the street wherever you are and count how many ninja like Suzuki warriors you see screaming down the highway.  Now tell me how many of those bikes have one wheel.  ”What the #*&%?”.  My thoughts exactly.  The “Uno” does actually have two wheels set side-by-side, but aligned so close together that they may as well just be one big tire.  Developed by 18 year old Canadian inventor Ben Gulak, his pet project was the talk of the town at the 2008 Motorcycle Expo in Montreal.  Not only admired for its innovative design it is in fact so simple there are no controls except for an on/off switch.  To move forward you simply push your body weight forward to tilt the machine. To back up, just lean back on the seat to tilt it and back it drives. The farther you lean in, the faster it accelerates in that direction.  Glenn Roberts of Motorcycle Mojo Magazine explains the physics of the controls:  The gyro tells the ECU how much to accelerate and that in turn delivers the proper amount of current to the electric motors, one for each wheel.  So basically, its a big ass Segeway.

Rest easy fight fans and drunks outside my apartment, all the fighters geared to take it inside the Octagon on Saturday for UFC 94 have made weight! Even B.J. Penn has made weight easily for his fight against St. Pierre, coming in at a trim 168lbs. We all know GSP, woke up, had a peanut butter crunch smoothie, ran to the weigh in, and still managed to weigh in at a perfect 170lbs for his half of the fight. That guy could probably lose weight and gain muscle mass eating at Panda Express while the rest of us hunker down and go with the 34 inch waist for comfort. Every fighter is poised to take their career to the next level with their respective fight, from debut fighter Dan Cramer looking to solidify a spot, to hard nosed Jon Fitch looking to get back on the main card, to Karo Parisyan just looking to show up and fight. This card has everything a calloused fight fan could want and everything a noob needs! Look no further for a fight card list and what each fighter weighed in at then right here:

1. MAIN CARD
2. * Welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre (170) vs. lightweight champ B.J. Penn (168) — for welterweight title
   * Lyoto Machida (206) vs. Thiago Silva (206)
   * Karo Parisyan (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (171)
   * Nate Diaz (156) vs. Clay Guida (156)
   * Stephan Bonnar (206) vs. Jon Jones (206)
3. PRELIMINARY CARD
4. * Jon Fitch (171) vs. Akihiro Gono (171)
   * Manny Gamburyan (155) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)
   * John Howard (171) vs. Chris Wilson (170)
   * Jake O’Brien (205) vs. Christian Wellisch (206)
   * Matt Arroyo (171) vs. Dan Cramer (171)

Like most, but not all of you out there, I am a relative newcomer to the sport of MMA spectating.  I may not have seen Helio Gracie war it out with Valdemar Santana for 4 hours but I sure as hell saw Rampage knock the tattoos off Wanderlei Silva’s bald head.  The sport is fast paced, exciting, and humbling to those who watch in awe of the athletes that we will never become.  And what two athletes represent the talent and speed of the game more than B.J. “The Prodigy” Penn and Georges “Rush” St. Pierre?  Following consecutive losses to St. Pierre and Matt Hughes, a re-dedicated BJ Penn continued on to 3 consecutive victories against Jens Pulver, Joe Stevenson, and former Lightweight champion Sean Sherk.  The only man to beat Penn and not be beaten back is St. Pierre who right now still looks like the best fighter out of the Welterweight division.  Its been a literal and figurative uphill climb for the champion who has labored long and hard to get to the pinnacle of his profession.  He is coming off 4 straight impressive victories and is looking to add a title defense against Penn to his resume.  The competition kicks up this Saturday at UFC 94 on pay-per-view. First punch is thrown at 7pm PT/10pm ET.

I’m sure you guy’s have read Eddie Ray’s “Play with my Station” and by this point everyone is excited about what 2009 is going to bring us. New games? New consoles? Only time will tell for sure, but I’m here to let you know why the hype is all just a little premature. It has been 3 years and 2 months since the Xbox 360 was let loose to take over the world of console gaming, and since then it has done just that. Sure the Wii has higher sales numbers but if you ask any hardcore gamer what is their console of choice, you will hear the echo’s of million’s screaming 360! Since it’s release on November 2005 the 360 has seen many changes and improvements, a larger hard drive, new color’s, game specific editions of the console, the addiction of an HDMI port, and just recently and whole new firmware/software upgrade that changed the face of your Xbox dashboard.


So why risk ruining a good thing? Just look at the PS3. A system that is much more powerful than the 360 and even has a blu-ray player in it (seriously think about it….The 360 had a HD DVD attachment that failed miserably), and even with all that sales this quarter for Sony were down by 95%. I remember walking in to a Fry’s Electronics a couple of weeks after the launch of the system and seeing PS3’s piled so high they were damn near touching the ceiling. Why do you think that is? Ask any gamer and they will tell you the 360 has the better game catalog, the lower price tag, and the most user’s online. Now let’s just say Microsoft decides to release the “720″, in today’s rough economic time’s how many people do you really believe would make the jump and spend another $400 or $500 on a brand new system.


We already had to accept a $10-$20 price jump in games since the release of the next gen consoles. Microsoft has got the right idea, the hardware is a keep and the games coming out are great, so instead of dropping a whole new system why not just improve the one we already have by give the consumer more downloadable content, hard drive upgrades, new innovation’s in controllers, and integrations with other online services (two thumbs up for the Netflix addition) all to create the all in one home entertainment system which Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have all been striving for. That’s why I’m willing to bet both my PS3 and Wii that a new system from Microsoft this year isn’t going to happen.

The other day I sat in class as the professor called on people to talk about any great movies we had seen lately. When it came to be my turn, I didn’t really have anything to say. Sure I watched a few classic movies I already owned…for the 80th time. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is a great piece of American cinema, people. Don’t judge. But I came to realize, I’m a film student who doesn’t watch any films. The last movie I watched in theaters was Transformers. How lame is that? Before my next class, I decided to go on a little impromptu field trip to the theaters. Staring at the selections, I noticed Gran Torino was still playing. I read some wonderful reviews about the movie and I haven’t met a Clint Eastwood movie I haven’t liked…until now. I’m not knocking Eastwood’s performace at all. I’m knocking the sappy, ironic, morality that saturates every page of the script. Without spoiling too much of the movie, the film focuses on Korean War vet, Walt Kowalski. After his wife passes, Kowalski becomes an even grumpier, unhappy, prejudice old man that hates the changing world around him. The only thing left for him to care about is his precious mint condition 1972 Gran Torino. His neighbor Thao, a young Asian teenager under pressure from his gang member cousin, tries to steal the Gran Torino as an initiation assignment. When his family discovers how Thao disgraced their honor, they send him to work off the debt however Walt wishes. Drawn against his will into the life of Thao’s family, Kowalski is soon taking steps to protect them from the gangs that infest their neighborhood. It felt as if the connections between the actors weren’t quite sincere. The character arc changes were too sudden and uninspired. A perfect example of deus-ex machina. There were even some characters that were focused on quite extensively yet had little impact on the direction of the story. I’m not one to tell anyone how to write or direct their art but, its obvious to a fellow filmmaker when shortcuts are taken. I loved Eastwood as an actor. If anything saved this movie it was his character and his character alone. But all that really matters is what you think. Don’t just take my word for it. Go see it yourself.

2008 brought home future classics like: Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Grand Theft Auto IV (still can’t get that 6th star), making it obvious the video game train isn’t looking to hit the breaks anytime soon.  2009 looks even more promising than the last year, building up anticipation for blockbuster titles like Resident Evil 5 and Halo 3:ODST.  Not to mention that talk is beginning to swirl around Microsoft’s next console installation, having the XBOX 360 blowing out candles on its fourth birthday this year.  The biggest speculated addition to the working titled “720″ is a large upgrade in RAM across both the CPU and graphics memory.  While most high end PC’s sport 2GB’s it is perfectly feasible for the “720″ to carry a 4GB capacity. I haven’t been this excited about the video game world since the days of the original Playstation, and for good reason.  With the market exhibiting cut-throat competition between Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all vying for your lawn mowing allowance, price cuts across the board are on schedule by this summer.  Just in time to spend vacation the way it was always meant to be spent.  Who says I need to get some sun?  It just burns me anyways.

3, 2, 1, Happy New Year! Wait, that was last month? It can’t possibly be. It’s almost February and all I’ve done to keep on track with my new years resolution of getting into shape is…well…nothing. I haven’t done a damn thing all year except pray that trading in one six pack would provide me with another. I think God hates me. I suppose if he’s not going to magically provide me with my lost speed, agility, and sex appeal, I will just have to regain it myself. Nay, the Perfect Pull Up will do it for me.

Since joining team Stardum I’ve been hooked on the Perfect Push Up for quite some time now. Simple, ergonomic, and affordable, The people at Perfect seem to know what they’re doing when they make their products. Hell, it was designed by a former Navy SEAL platoon commander. You going to say he doesn’t know what he’s talking about? That’s what I thought. So many people are impressed by this system, countless retailers such as Sports Authority, Modell’s, and Fodog Sports are flocking to warehouses to stock up on this years hottest product. They describe The Perfect Pull-Up as using the latest advances in biomechanics and engineering to replace an entire home gym for the upper body and abs. Unique features include twisting handles on adjustable swing arms that attach to the pull-up bar to maximize muscle motion. Ball bearings allow the handles to rotate a full 360 degrees, allowing your arms to move naturally, reducing joint strain. The best part is, it fits right in your doorway. It’s designed to power even the toughest training, with strong steel construction that supports 300 lbs. per handle. That’s 600 lbs. total for those of you in “special” math class.

The Perfect Pull-up combines two exercises, the chin-up and the pull-up, to achieve a total core workout. The swing arms make it easy for beginners to execute pull-ups while standing on the floor but don’t cheat yourself out of a workout. That’s why you purchased this system to begin with. Once you’re confident in your abilities, try testing your skills on the Navy SEAL inspired workout chart and brag to your buddies how you could have been a SEAL too. Damn college just got in the way.