Marty will be here soon. Do we have all the tech he needs?

Displayed at the 2015 Hill Valley retro auto show

I like writing about self-driving vehicles, drone deliveries, 3D printing, and other technology that has great potential to shape our future. Occasionally however, I like to look back at how today was conceptualized by generations before ours. One great example of this was released in the form of a film known as Back to the Future II. When Marty arrived in October 21st, 2015 the setting was quite a bit off from what we will really see on that day. Let us take a look at some of the predictions made by that film and how close they actually came.

Flying Cars

Doc, Marty, and Jennifer arrive in 2015 on a skyway. A skyway appears to be an interstate in the sky which flying cars can use to more efficiently travel longer distances. Flying cars were not conceptualized by the Back to the Future writers. In 1962 the animated series, The Jetsons, traveled by flying cars. Every kid growing up in that era knew that by the time they were adults, flying cars would be ubiquitous. Perhaps the culture that was started with The Jetsons is the main reason that many times when someone expresses disappointment of the present, they commonly utter the phrase, “Where’s my flying car?”

In 1940 Henry Ford, of Ford Motor Company fame, said, “Mark my word: a combination airplane and motorcar is coming. You may smile, but it will come.” Where are we on Ford’s promise?

Of note are the Moller Skycar M400 and the Xplorair PX200. Both of these are what is known as vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The Xplorair is a single seat aircraft, while the Moller can accommodate up to four people. Moller states that the skycar is “an aircraft that takes off and lands like a helicopter, is able to fly at high speed, yet also able to travel at low speed on the ground and narrow enough to fit on urban streets.” The Moller uses rotary engines, unlike the Xplorair which takes advantage of the Coandă effect to propel itself into the air. The Xplorair has been funded by the Government of France and is scheduled for a drone flight in 2017 at the Paris Air Show and commercialization thereafter.

As you can see there are challenges to creating flying cars. Engineering something that is going to be practical takes time. But we haven’t given up yet and maybe by the time we get there we will even have flying cars that drive themselves!

Auto-Lacing Shoes

In 2015 Marty looks very out of place in his 1985 style. So Doc gets him some more current apparel including the Nike Air Mag shoes. So do we have Nike Air Mags today? Well, sort of. You can get a pair of officially licensed Nike Air Mags from an online costume shop for around $100. However you will be disappointed to find that there is no auto-lacing technology in these shoes. But, hey, they have functioning lights!

So what hope do we have for auto-lacing shoes? Well there is a company called Powerlace who have designed an auto-lacing shoe that works simply by pressing your heel down to tighten the auto-lacing. The problem is that their Kickstarter campaign never got fully funded and so it remains to be seen whether Powerlace will ever release a product.

The other, perhaps more promising, hope comes as a confirmation from Nike designer Tinker Hatfield who reportedly said that his team is working on delivering a Nike MAG with Power Laces sometime in 2015. The year is quickly slipping away, but maybe we will see them. I wonder if this would be more of a case of Back to the Future inspiring the future than predicting it, however.

Hoverboards

When Marty runs into Biff’s grandson, Griff, he manages to anger the violent psychopath and “borrows” a hoverboard to escape. Griff follows him on his own, more featured hoverboard which was jet powered. Not knowing that hoverboards would not work on water without jet power he was stuck and so to escape Griff he jumps off causing Griff and the gang to crash into the courthouse. Griff was arrested and Marty got away.

If you want something that looks more or less exactly like the board that Marty hovered around on in the movie, you are in luck. That product does exist today. When it was originally released, it cost a mere $120. That sounds like a pretty good deal for a hoverboard until you realize that it is a prop replica and is little more than a plastic board. It does not hover. Every once in awhile I see these things around. But then I am the type of person who hangs out at geek conventions where there are souped-up DeLoreans made to look like a Back to the Future time machine. I usually see the hoverboard sitting in the back seat next to the flux capacitor.

As far as an actually functioning hoverboard, there have been several attempts. As far back as the 1950s the Hiller Flying Platform was a hovercraft which was quite a bit more cumbersome than anything similar to a skateboard, but did accomplish the task of propelling a person in the air in a sort of hovering effect pretty early on. Jamie Hyneman built a makeshift hovercraft for MythBusters, dubbed the Hyneman Hoverboard. It was made using a surfboard and leafblower, but was still not very practical.

The closest that we have gotten is the Hendo Hoverboard created by a company called Arx Pax. The boards use magnetic field architecture technology to work. To the recreational hoverboarder all you need to know is that it requires a special surface to operate. According to Arx Pax: “Hoverboards have been in high demand since their launch in October 2014. Building Hoverparks and retro-fitting skateboard parks will soon be underway for this new sport to take flight.” There has also been a press release from the company just today that a next generation of their hoverboard will be unveiled on October 21st. This new version will supposedly feature a more skateboard-like design and feel and was collaborated on with famed skateboard guy, Tony Hawk.

So I guess we sort of have hoverboards now.

All of these advances are still far from commonplace though as depicted in the film. The challenges with these ideas are many and while we are forever trying to be inspired by our science fiction dreams of the future, reality always has laws that limit the extent to which we can reach them. But still we try and eventually we come up with some pretty interesting uses of technology. Some of which past fictional ideas never could have thought of.

Lastly, if you want to see a pretty funny fan-fiction comedy of Marty and Doc coming to the real October 21, 2015, I encourage you to check out College Humor’s: Back To The Future In ACTUAL 2015.

(ed note: Some non-tech predictions. Back to the Future predicted a Cubs World Series win. Is it going to happen? Universal also released a preview for Jaws 19, go check it out).

Kirk Aug

Kirk is waiting for his automatic drying jacket to turn on. He got all wet when his wheeled hoverboard ran him into a creek. Follow Kirk on twitter @kirkaug.

"The Walk" provides stimulation for all ages, especially in IMAX 3D

Once a symbol of inspiration

Ever since I saw the documentary Man On Wire in 2008, I have wondered why I had never heard of Philippe Petit prior. Once I found out that there was a children's book featuring Petit’s story titled The Man Who Walked Between The Towers, I had to get it for my kids. Scholastic even made one of their Storybook Treasure cartoons from the children’s book. There is something incredibly romantic about Petit, his dream, and his determination to realize his vision. When I saw a theatrical trailer for The Walk a few months ago which is a biographical drama based on Petit’s high wire stunt in New York, I was pretty excited.

It is, of course, no secret why this story had more recently come to light. The towers went down. A tragedy to be certain. But for me the story does not bring up the memory of the tragedy except in the context of acknowledging the role it had in bringing the high wire story back to consciousness. I see what a Petit did as a celebration of the elegance of human potential. The 9/11 attacks represent the level of animosity that can be born of indifference. The only thing that relates these two events is this landmark. Perhaps that is why the children’s story, the documentary, and this film have come about in the aftermath. People want to remember the inspiration that occurred in the landmark’s beginning rather than the desperation of its end.

Both my four and six year olds are familiar with the story. They had even seen the documentary and remained engaged throughout. An accomplishment especially for a four year old (who was three when he saw it). My partner and I were looking for movies that we could take them to. As far as animated features there was only a sequel to a movie that we had not seen, so we showed the kids the trailer to The Walk. They wanted to see it. So a few days ago my family and I went to see it.

My impressions of the story as told by The Walk are mostly good. It is a biographical drama. The “drama” part means that facts are changed to make it interesting. I do not know how many inaccuracies are included in the other versions of the story that I have heard, but I would definitely say there are inconsistencies. That being understood, I thought the story as it was told was moving and captivating the entire time.

As far as the casting, I was initially unsure if Joseph Gordon-Levitt could pull this one off. I have no complaints about any other role I have seen him in, but it seemed a strange fit to me prior to my viewing of the film. I soon realized that my concerns were unfounded. He did a remarkable job of depicting the character of Philippe Petit.

At the theatre which we went to, the only available way to watch it was IMAX 3D. I am not usually a fan of 3D films. It tends to come across as gimmicky most of the time. In this case however, I was very impressed with the use of the medium. The last film I saw in 3D was Avatar, a film which was supposedly made to highlight the possibilities of 3D. In my opinion The Walk much more aptly fits that proposition. After seeing this in IMAX 3D, I think it would be regrettable to see it in 2D.

My four and six year old said they liked the film too. At a point in the film when Petit was walking between the towers they did get a bit scared and ended up taking off the 3D glasses. They told me that they were afraid that he may fall. Even after reminding them that they already know this story and how it ends, they remained tense. In the end, they said it was good. I even saw my four year old playing a “man who walked the towers” imaginary game using our living room furniture the next day.

As I suggested to my partner as we left the theatre, this was one of the most stimulating films that I had seen in the theatre in a while. I recommend checking it out, and if you can, in IMAX 3D.

Kirk Aug

Kirk is SeedSing's go to source for what has inspired and what will bring new inspiration. He believes in hummanity's capicity for greatness, most of the time. Follow Kirk on twitter @KirkAug. 

Will Smith Needs to Focus on Being a Great Actor Again

Bad title puns courtesy of the editor

Yesterday I watched the movie "Focus".

You may, probably not though, remember this movie. It came earlier this year and it starred Will Smith and Margot Robbie. The movie was pretty blasé. It was a paint by the numbers heist movie with way too many moving parts. When you figured out who the mark was and who the thief was, boom, they shifted to two other people, that in my case, I'd forgotten about.

Now this movie could've been great. The first part, that takes place in New Orleans, is halfway decent. There's good dialogue and a cool montage of the thieves doing their thing. Then, inexplicably, they flash forward three years and now the two main characters are in Buenos Aires. This is where the movie falls off the rails. The story becomes way convoluted for its own good. There's too many twists and it doesn't work. Not for me at least. Margot Robbie and Will Smith do have pretty good chemistry and they almost make this movie watchable. Almost.

This brings me to what I really want to talk about today. What happened to Will Smith? He was, he still kind of is, a pretty damn good actor. Watch his performance in "Ali" or "The Pursuit of Happyness" or even "Fresh Prince of Bel Air". He's pretty good at the drama, and I really like him in comedic roles. His bit part in "Anchorman 2" as an ESPN broadcaster at the big news team brawl is quite funny. But, why does he take roles in movies that are down right terrible? "After Earth" I kind of understand. His son was the star and he wanted to help him on set, but that movie is horrible. Why did he make the terribly melodramatic movie "Seven Pounds" a couple years ago? That movie was a slap in the face to dramatic movies. It seemed like it wanted you to cry, but it was just a stupid, stupid movie. Why did he appear, as Satan I might add, in the movie "Winter's Tale"? That movie is an abomination and his role is garbage.

Even big budget movies like "Independence Day" and "Wild, Wild West" he can't save. I know a lot of people adore "Independence Day". It's one of my wife's favorite movies, but that movie is a turd. Will Smith is good in it, but that script and that director had no idea what they wanted to do. I loathe that movie. I guess, in Will Smith's case, this was his first big time starring role, so I understand a little bit why he took it. But, "Wild, Wild West"? Come the hell on. Not only is this one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but it's terribly, horribly racist. I can't believe that script didn't get rejected a thousand times. And the giant spider is a monstrosity.

Now, I don't mean to bad mouth Will Smith. Like I said before, I really like him. He's charismatic and you can't take your eyes off him him when he's on screen. He commands your attention. I'm more upset with the choices he's making lately. I just don't get it. "Focus" should have, and could have, been a really good movie, but the script was too loaded and didn't come together. I wish Will Smith would go back to doing smaller movies like "Pursuit of Happyness" or "Six Degrees of Separation". He's phenomenal in "Six Degrees of Separation". Go watch that movie and marvel at how well Smith acts in that movie. Considering his role and where he was at that time in his career, his performance is truly incredible. So, please Mr. Smith go back to the smaller independent movies and stop making big budget flops.

You're a better actor than that and you deserve better.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He has hopes for Will Smith, yet in Ty's eyes DJ Jazzy Jeff has had a great carrer. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: The rebirth of an insane beautiful dream in "Jodorowsky's Dune"

Madness can create great beauty

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Once upon a time there was going to be a movie that featured Mick Jagger as the scion of an evil family bent on ruling the galaxy. The evil family patriarch was to be played by legend Orson Welles. The band Pink Floyd, fresh off of Dark Side of the Moon, was going to produce the score for a planet in this movie. Salvador Dali, and a prop of Dali's head, was tapped to play the mad emperor of the galaxy. H.R. Giger worked on his very first movie with this film. The movie was going to be the first adaptation of Frank Herbet's science fiction classic Dune, the power behind this bold dream was avant-garde filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky.

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) is a documentary directed by Frank Pavich that looks at what could have been if the world got to witness this version of Dune on the big screen. Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Magic Mountain, Tusk) himself is the star of this documentary and he takes you joyfully through his memory, and vision, of creating a truly remarkable film. The french film financier Michael Seydoux, who owned the film rights to the book, adds his recollection to Jodorowsky's creative endeavour. The documentary is filled with the incredible stories these men lived, and goes through the disappointment of not having the director's vision be put to film. 

The cast for Jodorowsky's aborted Dune was an incredible story in itself. The director made insane deals to secure the cast of his dream. Orson Welles agreed to play Baron Vladimir Harkonnen if the actors favorite Parisian chef could be retained on set to make Welles favorite food on demand. The director's own twelve year old son was put through intensive martial arts training to prepare for the lead role of Paul Atreides. David Carradine, at the height of his Kung Fu fame, was tapped to play Duke Leto Atreides. Jodorowsky's  and Seydoux's story of casting Salvador Dali is one of the highlights of the documentary. No spoilers, you need to see the film to see this amazing story of what could have been.

The amazing cast of Jodorowsky's vision was equally matched by the forces who were creating the world of Dune. Legendary french comic artist Moebius was hired by Jodorowsky to create storyboards for the entire movie. Special effects technician Dan O'Bannon, later famous for Alien, was recruited to create the never before seen visual effects. British illustrator Chris Foss, famous for creating many iconic science fiction book covers in the 1960s and 1970s, was tasked with creating the "machinery" of the galaxy. The creative force of these three artists created a massive book detailing the entire layout of the film. This telephone sized book is featured heavily in Jodorowsky's Dune and is a star in its own right.

Seydoux attempted to get the budget together by using the Dune layout book and shopping the idea to film studios. Many speculated that the film would clock in well over ten hours, and in a pre Star Wars days, science fiction was not a hot property in Hollywood. Everyone interviewed in Jodorowsky's Dune seem excited by the memories of creating the film, and they share their dejection in the failure to get the project off the ground. The documentary is not quite as long as Jodorowsky's masterpiece, it is only 88 minutes. The time you spend watching this story will make you wanting more. The documentary made me wish for ten hours of incredible film.

Alejandro Jodorowsky may be known as an eccentric madman. His vision for Dune was incredibly unconventional, but great science fiction is visual and thought provoking. The 1984 David Lynch film, one in which Lynch had his name as director removed from the theatrical release, is considered a disappointing misstep. We will never know if Jodorowsky's version would have done the book justice. Thanks to the incredible documentary Jodorowsky's Dune we get a chance to peek at what could have been. Near the end of the documentary, Jodorowsky suggest that someone could use his storyboard book and make an animated film out of its contents. If we can get this done, I will be one of the first to watch the film. All ten plus hours.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. He is always looking for insane projects that deserve attention. Realize his dream by writing for SeedSing.

A year later "Snowpiercer" is still a movie to watch

This snow needs some piercing

September is a horrible time for new movies. I love to watch movies, but the theaters have nothing good to offer. Channel surfing is the best way to find anything worth watching.

Last night as I was channel searching at 10pm, I came across the movie "Snowpiercer". I saw this movie in the theaters and I loved it, but I also forgot about it. I own it on DVD as well, but I leant it to a friend, and I still don't have it back. I'm here to tell you today that, holy shit, this movie is still totally awesome! First of all, the cast is incredible. You have stars like Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt and Ed Harris just to name a few. The set and art direction to this movie is beautiful. The movie takes place in one area, the train, but the train has many different parts. There's the back, aka the poor people, there's sleeping cars, there's a garden, an aquarium and a spa. That's just a quarter of the train. As you get to the higher class people, there's a school, sushi bar, fancy dressed people in one random car, a night club and then the engine. All these cars on the train are beautifully and meticulously designed. For example, the garden looks like a real life garden. I wouldn't be able to tell you if it was on a train or if it was on ground. The nightclub looks like my nightmare of a nightclub. I don't frequent places like that, but the few I've been to are recreated in "Snowpiercer" to haunting perfection. The engine is enormous and beautiful.

The fighting and combat scenes are like watching a bloody ballet. There's one fight scene in particular, where the train's soldiers each gut a fish, presumably to show the passengers that blood will be spilled, and it's awesome. They fight each other with hatchets also. You can hear each plunge into a victim's chest, head, arm and leg. It's brutal, but awesome. When they reach a tunnel, the soldiers turn on night vision and they film the rest of the fight scene from the view of the soldiers. It's really, really cool. Inventive too.

The writer and director, Joon-ho Bong, is very talented and clearly has his own vision for movies. He's only done 13 movies, with "Snowpiercer" being his first, mostly English speaking movie. But, what other people may know him for is the terrifying Japanese horror film, "The Host". That movie is very scary.

Chris Evans, who is great in this movie, gives one of the most heartbreaking yet stomach turning monologues I've ever heard in a movie. I'm not going to spoil it because you need to hear it to believe it. It's so sad and extremely upsetting. When Evans gets to the engine, the back and forth between him and the trains inventor, Wilford(played by Ed Harris) is awesome. You get the viewpoint from the lower and upper class. It's really good, really interesting writing. I cannot recommend this movie enough. It's so great and so much better than crap like the new Transporter movie, or that Agent 47 movie. Hell, I think "Snowpiercer" is better than Chris Evans past two movies, "The Avengers" movies. And, I love "The Avengers" movies. But, if you want to see something super interesting and innovative, watch "Snowpierecer". It also has fighting and explosions and all the stuff you want in a popcorn movie, but "Snowpiercer" has the writing and directing of a small budget independent movie. This movie is incredible and comes highly recommended from me.

Watch it and enjoy.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. With the dreadful movie period coming up he is looking for other great movies to watch from the last few years. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty uses his kid as a reason to see "Shaun the Sheep"

Auditioning for the live action version

Over the weekend, me, my wife and a friend of ours took my son to see "Shaun the Sheep" and I believe that I was the only one excited and actually wanted to see the movie.

I have always been a big fan of the Aardman Animation team from the time I was a child. I had an art teacher, she was a big time hippie, and she used to show us old "Wallace and Gromit" cartoons. She liked the claymation and thought it would be good for us to see how artistic you could be with clay. Needless to say, we worked a lot with clay in my class. I was immediately drawn to the artistry and imagination in these cartoons. I loved how it looked like Play Doh, but the characters were interacting like real people. It was totally awesome and I became obsessed and watched all the "Wallace and Gromit" I could find. When I got to high school, I pretty much forgot about these cartoons and clay art. I was playing sports and chasing girls and the last thing on my mind was clay or "Wallace and Gromit". After we had our son, I started to get back into claymation and I started to watch more cartoons from Aardman Animation. Basically, I re found my love for "Wallace and Gromit". My son liked the cartoons too. It was a win win.

Last year, I was very happy to hear that the TV show "Shaun the Sheep" was going to be made into a feature length film. In fact, I read that they'd been working on one for six years, but when you do animation with clay, it takes a very long time. That was okay, I could wait. When I first saw previews for "Shaun the Sheep", the young me was very excited and wanted to take my son to see it ASAP. We had to wait, life gets in the way, but we finally saw it over the weekend and it did not disappoint.

I loved every single thing about this movie. Now, before you go to see it, remember how these particular cartoons work. There's no dialogue. The closest thing you'll get to dialogue is mumbling and animal sounds. That shouldn't deter you from seeing this movie. The movie moves along seamlessly and dialogue isn't necessary. I liked that, instead of a voice over, when a dog writes a letter to the titular Shaun, while Shaun reads it, it's a dog's bark. No human reading the letter, just a dog barking, but you still get the gist of what the dog is saying. The movie starts out with Shaun being a baby and we meet his owner, known simply as Farmer, and we meet the sheep herding puppy Bitzer. It's a very sweet opening. You see the Farmer and the sheep and Bitzer getting acclimated to farm life and they're all very happy. There's great music accompanying this opening scene. After the first ten minutes or so, we see what looks to be a teenage Shaun, an older Bitzer and a much older Farmer. They go through daily farm life and everything is planned. It's so boring, that Shaun dreams of a day off in the big city. Shaun and the other sheep devise a plan to get a day off. They plan everything almost perfectly. The one problem, the RV they put Farmer in rolls away and heads very fast towards the city. After all the mayhem on the farm, with a RV escape and the farm being destroyed, the sheep gather and Shaun decides he's going to find Farmer and bring him home. He is on his way to the city and when he arrives, he's met, not only by an animal containment officer, but on another bus, the rest of the sheep arrive. Meanwhile, Farmer is in the hospital after the big RV accident and the doctor's believe he has memory loss. Bitzer follows him all the way to the hospital, but is not let inside since no dogs are allowed. Bitzer eventually gets in, dressed as a doctor, but when he sees a bone on a skeleton, he's found out to be a dog and he's taken to the animal containment cell. Farmer eventually escapes when he sees the doctors diagnosis. He finds himself in a barber shop, and since he's so good at cutting sheep's hair, he tries his hand at cutting a famous actors hair. The people at the barber shop are appalled until they see the actor's joy at his new hair do. Farmer becomes a big time star and everyone in the big city wants him to cut their hair. Shaun eventually finds Farmer, but with his memory loss, Farmer doesn't recognize him and shoos him away. Shaun then gets found by the animal containment officer and he's thrown into animal jail along with Bitzer. Bitzer and Shaun devise a plan to get out, and with the help of another dog, they escape. Shaun meets up with the other sheep and they devise a plan to get Farmer back to the farm in the hopes that he will remember them and they can all be a happy family again. The only obstacle is the animal containment officer and he's determined to stop all the sheep. There's a great climatic scene on the farm and, spoiler alert, the sheep win(I don't think it's really a spoiler because, 1)the show is still on the air and all the sheep are fine and 2)it's a kids movie). Farmer remembers them and they are all a big, happy family again. There are a ton of great scenes in this movie and I highly recommend that parents take their kids and go see this movie. "Shaun the Sheep" is funny, heartwarming and a great family film.

I love this movie and I highly recommend it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor and co host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He spends more time prying dried playdough out of the carpet than he does building things. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Watch Ty awesomely live tweet a going to be awful "The Unathorized Full House Story"

We have invented a device that can beam garbage directly into your television

Tomorrow night on the Lifetime Channel they will be showing the "Unauthorized Full House Story".

This comes on the heels of their Saved By the Bell unauthorized movie and their Britney Murphy unauthorized movie and their Aaliyah unauthorized movie. Do you notice a pattern with these movies? If you didn't, they're all unauthorized. That means that the real people involved, for the most part, have nothing to do with these movies. It's maybe one person or, a friend of a friend that's involved with these movies.

I don't know who did the Britney Murphy or Aaliyah movies, but I know, for a fact, that the Saved By the Bell movie was based on, world renowned douchebag, Dustin Diamond's book. The fact that he wrote a book is disturbing enough, but Lifetime made a movie out of it! How troubling is that?! The Saved By the Bell unauthorized movie was god awful. It wasn't bad in a good way, it was down right terrible. I mean, there's scenes of Screech getting stoned and drinking beers with an extra. That same extra black mails Screech to get on the show. They barely touched on Mark Paul Gosselar and Lark Voorhies relationship. The guy portraying Mr.Belding wasn't creepy at all, when in actuality, he was a HUGE creep. And the one scene I can never shake, Screech's dream sequence, when they super imposed a body builders body under his head and he's in a hot tub full of beautiful women. That scene still haunts me.

With how terrible the "Saved By the Bell Unauthorized Story"was, that will not stop me from watching the "Full House Unauthorized Story". Why you may ask, the answer is I need to watch this "movie" to see how truly awful it can be. It's like a train wreck, or a terrible accident, you don't want to watch, but something inside of you makes you watch. This movie is going to be terrible, I know this, but I have to see if it's better or worse than the Saved By the Bell one. I'm sure it will be worse. If the early pictures of the cast that were released months ago is any indication, this is going to be a flaming piece of garbage. I'm still going to watch it though. Morbid curiosity is the only reason I can think of as to why I'm going to watch it.

Another reason I will be watching it, I'm going to be taking over the SeedSing Twitter account(@seedsingrdk) and live tweet the movie as I'm watching it. I feel this needs to be done for all our readers and listeners out there. The movie is on at 7pm and 9pm central time, so you have two chances to watch. I'll probably start at around 8, I'm DVRing the movie, so I don't have to watch commercials. I want to get this thing over ASAP. So, tune into Lifetime at the two times I mentioned or follow @seedsingrdk for live tweeting and watch in terror with me at the utter horror and stupidity that the "Unauthorized Full House Story" is going to be.

It's going to be epically terrible. I assure you of this.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He really cannot stand Kimmy Gibbler. It also seems like he watches a lot of Lifetime. Although he will be using the website account, make sure you go follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty wants director Neill Blomkamp to get off the M. Night Shyamalan path

The first step to directing. Keep the film in the can.

I finally got around to seeing the movie "Chappie" this week, and while it wasn't awful, it wasn't that good either.

Dev Patel and Sharlto Copley are serviceable enough in the movie. Copley as the robot Chappie is quite good actually. He does the whole motion capture thing really well and makes Chappie seem life like. I think Copley is a very good actor in fact. I like him in all his roles. Patel is decent as the scientist that created the robotic police force, and while I enjoyed his performance, it was nothing special. It was just okay. My two biggest problems with the movie were Hugh Jackman's performance as the bad guy and the Johannesburg rap duo, Die Antwoord's performance. Jackman, whom I love as an actor the dude plays Wolverine, my all time favorite superhero, does not make a good bad guy. He's too nice of a guy, and for those of you out there saying, Wolverine is kind of a dick, Wolverine is still a good guy in the end. It wasn't for lack of trying on Jackman's part either, that's on the writers and director, he's just too nice of a person in real life, that I don't buy him as the bad guy. It doesn't fit. Die Antwoord's performance was just confusing. I don't know if they're playing themselves in this futuristic world, or if their characters are just big fans of Die Antwoord's music. For example, they each go by their rap names in the movie, and there's, at least two that I can remember seeing, times that Ninja(that's the guy in Die Antwoord) is wearing his own band's merchandise as his wardrobe. I was confused by the whole thing. The two of them aren't very good actors either, which didn't help their case. The movie was very formulaic and you could tell how the movie would end very early in the plot. It was another disappointment from Neill Blomkamp, who I really liked after seeing his first movie, "District 9".

This brings me to my main point and question of my blog today, is Neil Blomkamp the new M Night Shyamalan? Let's start by comparing each director's first movie. Shyamalan came out of the gate and crushed a grand slam with the brilliant, innovative, and probably biggest shock in a movie in my lifetime with "The Sixth Sense". Talk about a great debut. This movie was well written, well acted and perfectly directed. People talked about the ending for years, and "I see dead people" has become as big as "My wife!" or "I knew it was you, you broke my heart"(if you don't know those references, you need to get up to speed people!). Blomkamp's debut was just as unique as Shyamalan's and maybe even more innovative. I'm of course talking about the brilliant "District 9". I remember seeing posters at movie theaters a year before this movie came out that just had a shadow picture of an alien, and the saying, "Humans not allowed". I was immediately intrigued by this and found out any and all information I could about this upcoming alien movie. As more previews and clips came out, I got more and more excited. I saw the movie on opening night, and it not only live up to my expectations, but it exceeded them.

"District 9" takes place in Johannesburg and there's a race of aliens, known as "prawns" living in the slums. They're treated as second class citizens, and in his film debut, Sharlto Copley plays a wet behind the ears, yet eager police officer. He goes into the "prawns" area to extract and arrest some that are stealing from the humans. He gets poisoned by an alien and slowly starts to turn into one. It is so awesome to watch his character's transformation into an alien and the movie has a great secondary story about how higher class people treat people they feel are below them. If you haven't seen "District 9" stop reading this, watch it, and then come back and finish reading this, That movie is so great.

Unforunately, at least in Blomkamp's case, the same can't be said for his second movie, "Elysium". Another good premise about the upper and lower classes in society, but this movie just didn't work for me. Matt Damon was miscast as a working class, former bad boy trying to turn his life around. Jodie Foster plays the leader of the higher class people living on the rich planet Elysium, and she's your typical, bitchy rich lady that only cares about the high society folks and can do without the poor people. She also sports a terrible South African accent. It's so bad. I mean, it's terrible. The only person I enjoyed in this movie was Copley. He plays a bad ass assassin for Foster's character and he's awesome. He's a great bad guy and he kicks total ass. But, he cannot save this movie. It's just not a good movie.

Shyamalan's second movie, "Unbreakable", I personally like more than "The Sixth Sense". It's a cool, pseudo superhero movie that I feel is criminally underrated. Bruce Willis is on a train that has a brutal crash and he's the only survivor. He actually comes out unscathed. Samuel L Jackson plays a big comic book guy and he's very intrigued by Willis' character and the fact that he did not even get a scratch in the train wreck. They team up and do some cool, super hero type stuff. It's a really good movie and I highly recommend watching it.

I've already mentioned Blomkamp's third, and most recent movie, "Chappie". You all know how I feel about that. After the success of "The Sixth Sense" and the high of making "Unbreakable", Shyamalan's star was going up, and it was never going to come down. Or so we thought. He followed "Unbreakable" with the god awful, Joaquin Phoenix and Mel Gibson bomb of a movie "Signs". That movie sucks, but hey, you can't hit a home run every time. Certainly his next movie would be better, it had to be. Once again, nope, he made "The Village" and that movie is worse than "Signs". I think it's Nicolas Cage's version of "The Wicker Man" bad. That movie is confusing and awful. He followed that up with "Lady in the Water". You know that movie about a mermaid, or some bull shit, that a guy finds in his pool and she of course has special powers. So, three stinkers in a row. Was this a sign of things to come, or was he just in a slump? His next movie would determine his fate in my opinion. He had the great un fortune of deciding to put out "The Happening". You know this movie, the one were plants come to life and make people kill themselves and Mark Wahlberg plays a scientist and calls himself a douchebag at one point. This movie was so bad that I convinced a group of about eight people to walk out. A movie we all paid for, and we didn't stay for the whole thing. I'd never done that before, but that's how bad that movie is. His next two movies did nothing to prove me wrong, that he was past his prime. He released the horrendous "Last Airbender" and the stupid and contrite "After Earth". Both these movies are just plain awful. "The Last Airbender" is so bad that fans of the anime won't even acknowledge the movie as part of the series. That's pretty telling. Shymalan is now dabbling in television with the mini series "Wayward Pines", and while it started interesting, I didn't finish it because it was way to boring and falling into Shymalan's routine of posing way too many questions that there's no way they could all be answered in ten, one hour episodes.

While I feel that Shymalan's fate is sealed as a director(he peaked early and is now no good), I think there's still hope for Blomkamp. He's only made three movies. "District 9" is, by a wide margin, his best movie, but while I didn't like either "Chappie" or "Elysium", at least "Chappie" was a bit more interesting and a touch better than "Elysium". I hope for his sake he's not turning into Shymalan, but the way it's going now, that's what I unfortunately see happening.

Time will tell I suppose.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and co-host of the X Millennial Man podcast. In the upcoming movie about SeedSing, Ty will have to wear Die Antwoord gear. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty wants to rant about the overrated Meryl Streep

The inside of every Diet Coke bottle Meryl Streep buys

With the release last week of "Ricki and the Flash", I want to take time out today to call out critics and, most importantly, Meryl Streep.

I don't get the love that's given to Meryl Streep. Sure, she's a fine actress, but all the accolades and the awards being given to get baffle me. Case and point, "Ricki and the Flash" has a rating of 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being, "while the narrative is trite and predictable, Streep shines in her role as an aged rocker reuniting with her family". First of all, when I first saw the preview for this movie, I thought Funny or Die, or The Onion made a joke preview. There was no way this was a real movie. Meryl Streep is easily in her sixties and they try to make her look like she's in her forties. You look great Mrs. Streep, but you don't look like your in your forties. The preview also makes the movie look like a melodramatic piece of garbage. AKA, a typical Meryl Streep movie and role. I cannot believe critics convinced themselves to, not only see this movie, but heap praises on Streep. Put someone like Naomi Watts or Maggie Gyllenhaal, two great actresses, in this exact same role and I guarantee you, critics would have crushed the movie. But not with Streep. She or her people must have given money to the critics association with the understanding that they'd never bad mouth her. That's not fair to other actresses and actors out there. Even guys like George Clooney and Brad Pitt get bad reviews when they're in bad movies. That doesn't happen to Meryl Streep.

Not only does she get rave reviews no matter how bad the movie is, but she gets nominated, and sometimes wins Oscars for bad movies. Last year the movie "August, Osage County" was released. It got luke warm reviews. It was about a family full of people with mental problems. It was another typical melodramatic movie that wanted to be a play. In fact, I think it was originally a play. Anyway, Streep plays Julia Roberts mother that has dementia, or something like that, and she spends the movie basically yelling her lines and, as Jon Lovitz would say, ACTING. She chews so much scenery in that movie. Did she get blasted by critics like a lot of the other actors in the movie? No, in fact, she got nominated for best supporting actress. What a crock of shit. That movie is garbage and her performance is really rough to watch. I don't recommend that movie. The same thing can be said for "The Iron Lady". This is the Margaret Thatcher movie and it got slammed by critics. I think it was below 40% on Rotten Tomatoes. That's not good, in fact, that's pretty bad. That's "Pixels" bad. But, once again, not only did Streep get nominated for an Oscar, I think she won it that year (ed note: She did win the Oscar). So, a movie that's given such a bad review for how terrible it is, gets awarded for with an Oscar. WTF! That makes ZERO sense!

I guess, I don't, and probably never will understand the love for Streep. I haven't seen many of her movies because I'm not into melodrama, but the love for her makes no sense to me. She's a very good actress, but I'll take Maggie Gyllenhaal or Naomi Watts or Jennifer Lawrence or Octavia Spencer over Meryl Streep any day.

No question.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the co-host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is really annoyed that everyone in his family loves Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

Ty is pumped for "Wet Hot American Summer" series.

Does this show have horsemen too?

In 2001 a movie called "Wet Hot American Summer" was released to very little fanfare.

The movie was panned by critics and made a very small amount of money at the box office. I don't remember seeing any previews for it and I saw little to no press before it was released. It just kind of came and went and I assume most people forgot about it.  

About two years later a friend of mine told me I had to see this movie she just saw called "Wet Hot American Summer" She said it was so bizarre and hilarious, and she knew that I liked wacky, humorous movies. I remember thinking, oh yeah I've heard of that movie, I thought it was supposed to be pretty bad. She told me to give it a chance, that she was sure I'd love it.

Boy oh boy do I love that movie. It was so off the wall and different than any movie I'd seen before. It was on the same level as "Pootie Tang" for me. I knew, after watching it, why critics may have not liked it so much. Critics, for the most part, are crotchety old men that usually only like documentaries and dramas. So, a ridiculous movie like "Wet Hot", they went into giving it no chance and decided before it even started that they hated it. I couldn't disagree more. This movie is a genuine "cult classic". I have friends strictly based on them knowing lines from the movie. That's how our friendships started.

"Wet Hot American Summer" was also the first place I saw actors who I love today. I had never heard of, or at least they didn't make any lasting impressions on me until after this movie, people like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter, Bradley Cooper, Margarite Mareau, Michael Ian Black, Christopher Meloni and Molly Shannon. Judah Friedlander had a small, but very memorable part in the movie. In fact, the only two actors I truly knew were David Hyde Pierce and Jeanane Garafelo. They are excellent in this movie. The pure silliness and goofiness with which this movie was acted, written and directed with could only be done by David Wain. I, for the most part, have liked all of his movies, my favorite being "Role Models".

"Wet Hot" is great for someone that likes off the wall silliness in their movies. These guys do it to perfection. This movie should be shown in film schools, to show students how to truly make comedic movies. Another hilarious thing that I love about it, the actors playing the counselors and workers at Camp Firewood are much to old to be playing the age of their characters. This was obviously done on purpose because it's hilarious. I cannot say enough good things about it, "Wet Hot" is great.

Which brings me to what I'm truly writing about today, July 31st 2015. Netflix announced months ago that they were in contact with the original writers of "Wet Hot" on possibly doing a prequel movie or series. All of the fans hoped for a series because it meant that we'd get at least four new hours of "Wet Hot". Our dreams were met when they announced that they would do 8, thirty minutes episodes on Netflix. You can stream them right now and watch all 8 in a row if you want to. The only reason I haven't watched it yet is, I have a three year old and I'm a stay at home dad. My job is to watch him, but he's about to go down for a nap and I know exactly what I will be doing for the rest of my day. It doesn't hurt that all the original cast members are back for the prequel, but they've also added some more big time names like, Jason Schwartzman, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm. Most of the people involved with the movie are huge stars now, yet they wanted to come back and do this show. That should tell you how good it is going to be. The addition of some major stars show how much people adore the "Wet Hot" movie. I'm so pumped to watch and 2 pm central time can't come soon enough. As I said, all eight episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, so you can watch it right now.

In fact, I'm probably going to move nap time up to right now so I can watch. Enjoy it everybody.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. If the show is that good, he may have to extend nap time. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Ty loved Sharknado 3. Wait, no he hated it. Wait I think he liked, liked it.

I ain't afraid of no sharknado.

Last night my wife and I decided to watch "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No" against our better judgment.

We'd seen the first two, and we are completists, so we had to watch the third one. The problem with or completionism (i think that is cromulent word), is that SyFy will continue to make these movies because they get huge ratings and it's the talk of the internet for the next week or so. I'm included with these people, now that I write my own blog and I'm reviewing it today. "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No" was exactly what I expected it would be. It was trashy, poorly written, terribly acted and I was completely engaged the whole time.

Let's get things straight, this was by no means a good movie. Even by SyFy standards, it was pretty bad. But, I think the writers and actors relish this type of movie because they know they can dick around on set and get a decent paycheck. And, in the case of Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, they're relevant for a few weeks. People actually remember that they are actors. The first "Sharknado" came out of nowhere and was received with great fanfare at how bad and hilarious it was. SyFy has always put really bad movies on their network and the first "Sharknado" took it's craziness to a whole new level. With all the internet talk and buzz surrounding the first one, naturally they made a sequel. "Sharknado 2: The Second One" (what a lazy title) was, unfortunately, not nearly as ridiculous as the first. I think they took the response from the first one, and tried their best to make the second one not as goofy, but a little more serious. That was terrible mistake. "Sharknado 2: The Second One" was a shell of its predecessor and I think a lot of people thought the "franchise" would die.

Boy were we wrong.

With little noise and not as much fanfare, at least through my eyes, "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No" was released this past Wednesday and was over the top insane. This time, the writers said, "to hell with anything making any sense whatsoever, we are going to put the craziest, most insane shit we can think of, and the idiots that watch this movie will eat it up". We had tons and tons of sharknados in the third movie, sharks in space, human babies being born inside a sharks stomach, sharks destroying the White House, Tara Reid's fake arm being super strong and having an attached chainsaw, and cameo after cameo. People like Ray J and Adam Lambert played NASA engineers. Yep, the writers felt that these two morons could pull off being NASA employees. Penn and Teller were hanging out at a diner with Fin's(Ian Ziering) dad, played by David Hasselhoff. Haselhoff was an astronaut by the way. Jerry Springer got eaten by a shark while posing for a picture under another shark. Michael Winslow was also a NASA employee. Former pro wrestler, turned "musician" Chris Jericho played a theme park employee. Frankie Muniz was a shark hunter that met his demise at the top of his truck. Before he died, four separate sharks ate off each one of his limbs. It was pretty hilarious. George RR Martin, the writer of the "Game of Thrones" books, was eaten by multiple sharks while watching a movie about sharks. The Today Hosts were all brutally murdered by sharks. Crazy ass republican nut cases Ann Coulter and Michelle Bachmann played just random people on the streets being attacked by sharks. Bo Derek played Tara Reid's mom. And Rick Fox was part of the presidents security.

Which, brings me to the best cameo in the whole movie, Mark Cuban. Not only was he cast in the movie, he played the President of the United States. You read that right. Not only was he the president, he delivered the two "best" lines in the movie. The first, "I always considered myself the top shark", obviously in reference to his show "Shark Tank". The second, and absolute best and most ridiculous, "I always considered myself a maverick", referring to the fact that he owns the NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks. The third "Sharknado" was by far the most violent of all three and easily had the highest body count. This movie is not for the faint of the heart. The kills are brutal and very bloody. When I look back at the hour and a half it took to watch this, I'm really torn. I was engaged the whole time, but it was a real shit show of a movie. It was really, pretty awful.

I'd say, if you've seen the first two, go ahead and watch the third, but don't expect a good movie, just expect a crazy movie. If you haven't seen the first two and you're thinking of starting with the third one, stop yourself and don't waste your time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor and The X-Millennial Man Podcast co-host. There are tornadoes where he lives, but no sharks. Yet. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty believes in Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser

Cloves and Fedoras is SeedSing's reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

I just finished watching "Joe Dirt 2:Beautiful Loser" and on the heels of my blog earlier this week I have a review.

This movie was exactly what I expected it to be. It wasn't as good as the first, but how many sequels are better than their predecessors? Maybe, only "Godfather 2" is equal, if not better than "Godfather"(ed note - The Empire Strikes Back is the greatest sequel of all time). That's about it though. "Joe Dirt 2:Beautiful Loser" was basically a goof around, everyone just have fun type movie. In a good way. There was no one saying, we have to make this one of the great comedies of the 21st century. They weren't fooling themselves. It's funny, stupid material and that's how you should watch this movie. If you're expecting some type of revelations, you're watching the wrong movie.

It may sound like I'm criticizing it, but I'm not. I genuinely enjoyed this movie. It was just under two hours and it was not a waste of my time. David Spade reprised probably his most well known, if not most famous, role and did just as good a job this time around. He was funny, witty and charming as Joe Dirt. Brandy was back and she was cute and fun this go around as well. Even showing a teeny tiny bit of range, playing a different version of herself in an alternate universe. She was a drug user, alcoholic money grubber. That's not the Brandy that I know and Brittany Daniel did a decent job playing both Brandy's. Dennis Miller was barely in this movie, basically only narrating parts that needed narration. You get one scene with Kickin Wing, who now has become a drug dealer during one of Joe Dirt's dream sequences. Christopher Walken is back, and his performance was the only one that actually underwhelmed me. He was so good in the first movie, but he's barely used in the new one. That's not his fault, that goes on the writers and director. He does get to say his famous line, "Does your mother sew? Tell her to stitch that!" twice in the movie, so at least there's that. Patrick Warburton plays a guardian angel and he just plays an angel version of Patrick Warburton.

My biggest worry was the addition of Mark McGrath. He took over the Kid Rock role from the first movie. I don't care for Kid Rock as a person and I vehemently disagree with his political views, but he was really great as the bully that's in love with Brandy in the First "Joe Dirt". But, playing essentially the same role, Mark McGrath does a pretty decent job. He's rude and crass and mean to Joe and I hated his character by the end of the movie. The fact that he got me emotionally invested, means he must have done something right.

The plot of this movie is basic. Joe is sitting at a bench, a la "Forrest Gump", and he starts to tell a lady his story. This movie involves Joe going back in time after being trapped in a tornado. He gets trapped because he's trying to save a toy for one of his three daughters that she left in a trailer. That's right, Joe and Brandy end up having triplets in this one. He wants to prove he's brave, hence him risking his life in a tornado to save a toy, because people still pick on him and Brandy has to fight his fights. So, he gets trapped in the trailer and the tornado takes him back in time. This, it turns out, is all a dream to show Joe that Brandy and their daughters love him for who he is. He doesn't have to be some tough guy or some rich guy or a jerk. They love him because he's a genuinely good person. A lot of crazy stuff happens while traveling through time. I suggest you watch it to see all the craziness. Some of it is very, very funny.

If you're reading this review and thinking, it's not in the theaters, how do I watch it? I found it, for free with limited commercials, on a website called Crackle (check it out here). If you're a fan of the first, you'll definitely like the second. Turn the movie on and turn your mind off and just laugh at the silliness that is "Joe Dirt 2:Beautiful Loser".

It's a great way to kill two hours on a rainy day.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He will always be up to listen to some Van Halen, not Van Hagar. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

When bad movies are really good.

With the release of "Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser" coming tomorrow, I'd like to take time today to talk about movies like these. 

By this I mean, movies that critics don't like all that much, but a lot of people really like. They may not be good, but these movies have a ton of fans and are a lot of fun. Let's call them "beautiful disasters". These are the movies I will be speaking of today.

Back to "Joe Dirt 2:Beautiful Loser", I'm sure that critics will pan this movie and it will rate very low on the rotten tomato meter. That doesn't matter to me, I will see this movie because I LOVED "Joe Dirt". I was hesitant to see the first "Joe Dirt" because of what the critics were saying, but a friend of mine convinced me to watch it and boy am I glad that he did. "Joe Dirt" is hilarious. David Spade is at his best in this role. I'd say it's his best role since any movie he did with Chris Farley. With the mullet wig and his never die spirit, he's funny throughout the entire movie. The movie is a simple story, kid becomes orphaned, looks for his family, finds them and they're terrible. He meets some friends and his eventual wife on the way. Very simple story, but the actors are so good and funny, I don't care what the critics had to say. This movie is great. This is my favorite Christopher Walken role by far.

  I want to single out three more movies that may be deemed "beautiful disasters".

 First, we have "Southland Tales". This epic disaster of a movie is so insane. I don't really know what it's about, even though I've seen it at least a half a dozen times, but the fact that I watched it that many times proves that I enjoy it on some level. It's a totally incoherent plot, I don't even think director Richard Kelly knows what it's about, but it's a beautiful movie. There are some exceptional shots with beautiful colors and images. The acting in this movie is pretty good too. Dwayne Johnson is the lead actor and, as always, he oozes charisma and you can't take your eyes off him on screen. Justin Timberlake plays a crazed ex soldier. He's not a typical pretty boy in this movie, he is messed up. Great acting is done by Timberlake in this movie. Seann William Scott is no Stifler in this movie. He's a cop that finds himself in a lot of jacked up situations. This is easily one of his best acting performances. Comic actors like Jon Lovitz and Amy Poehler are unrecognizable in their roles. Lovitz is a crooked cop and Poehler is a crazy political activist. There is so much going on in this movie, almost too much, but you have to see this movie for it's sheer craziness.

 Next, we have "Hot Rod". This is one of favorite comedies of all time. Andy Samberg plays the lead character Rod, who thinks he's a stunt man, but he can't even do simple stuff like, a wheelie on his scooter. He finds out his step dad is dying, so he and his "crew" go out to make money for the surgery so Rod can kick his step dad's ass, so he will finally respect him. Another simple plot. This movie was canned by critics again, saying it was unfunny and seemed like an SNL sketch stretched out too long. I couldn't disagree more. The supporting actors in this movie are excellent. Rod's "crew" is made up of his step brother(Jorma Taccone), and two friends of his friends(Bill Hader and the always funny Danny McBride). There are many shenanigans along the way and it's all very funny. Hilarious lines are written for this movie too. One that always sticks out to me, Rod is watching the news and you can hear the broadcaster in the background saying, "the dog walked itself home, ate a pizza and took a nap". I crack up every time I hear it. I love this movie and will defend it to my grave. It's a comedy classic in my eyes. 

 The last "beautiful disaster" I will mention is, "Pootie Tang". I adore this movie. It's about, for all intents and purposes, a super hero that speaks his own language and can beat people up by simply using his belt. The movie is just a hair over an hour long. After the end credits, Bob Costas shows up and says to Pootie Tang, "that was the longest trailer" I've ever seen. You have people like Chris Rock, playing multiple roles in this movie, Wanda Sykes as a hooker with a heart of gold, JB Smoove as Pootie Tang's right hand man and Dave Attell as the bad guy. This movie is bizarre on so many levels, but in a very good way. You get scenes of Pootie Tang as a child having a grown women crying hysterically as he leaves her home, Pootie's dad being mauled by a bear, but it's literally just a guy in a bear costume, Pootie rubbing hot cherry pie on his body to seduce a farmer's daughter and many, many more. It's so ridiculous, but so awesome. Critics once again destroyed this movie, calling it dumb and saying it was impossible to understand. I wonder how they would feel about it now if they went back and watched it knowing that Louis CK wrote and directed it. Everyone loves "Louie"(you can count me as one of these people, it's the best show on TV) and lauds how Louis CK has such a fresh, yet bizarre take on the world. Much like the movie "Pootie Tang". Watch it again, with the knowledge of who Louis CK is now, and I bet you that you'll love it. "Pootie Tang" is great.

 There are many more movies I've left off my list, but I know that everyone has a "beautiful disaster" movie that they watch and love. Let me know in the comment section what some of these movies are, so I can watch and find some new movies that I haven't heard of, or never gave a chance. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. It took him longer to write this article than it took to watch Pootie Tang. Sa da tay. Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Ty spends some time in heaven watching "7 Days in Hell"

There are spoilers for the HBO film "7 Days in Hell". Go watch and come back to read Ty's review.

I got around to watching "7 Days in Hell" the other day and it was pretty hilarious.

"7 Days in Hell" is a mockumentary style HBO Sports movie. It stars Andy Samberg as American bad boy tennis pro Aaron Williams and Kit Harrington as the far too wound up, immature English tennis pro Charles Poole. The movie was about the longest tennis match in the history of Wimbledon. The match took seven days, hence the name "7 Days in Hell", with no winner. The path the writers and actors took to get to this match was quite funny. "7 Days in Hell" reminded me a lot of the Will Ferrell and Jon Heder movie "Blades of Glory", except these two pros don't become teammates or friends, they hate each other. They respect each other, but they really do not like each other at all. The movie started by giving Aaron Williams back story, revealing that he was abandoned by his parents, only to be found and adopted by Serena and Venus Williams father. Serena Williams played one of the talking heads in the movie and she was very funny, taking her role very seriously. Aaron Williams learned tennis on the streets of Compton and rose through the ranks all the way up to number two in the world. On the precipice of winning his first Wimbledon Final in 1995, Williams was cruising through the championship, until one of his powerful serves knocked a linesman unconscious and caused him to have a heart attack and die, right there on the court. Will Forte, who played another talking head, writer Sandy Pickard, said that there was a silver lining in the linesman dying, it produced the fastest serve in the history of tennis, clocking in at 175 miles per hour. I found that extremely funny. This death caused Williams to lose the match and he walked away from tennis after shoving the Duke of Kent, played by Howie Mandel.

We next get Charles Poole's back story. When he was a three year old, his mother, played by Mary Steenburgen, pushed him into tennis and forced him to play and practice constantly. In some "home" videos you can clearly hear him say, "I don't like tennis". His mom was undeterred and Poole continued to play tennis against his will and he too, rose the ranks all the way to number two in the world, taking over Williams spot after he disappeared. When Poole was 15, he appeared on a British sports talk show, hosted by Caspian Wint, played fantastically by Michael Sheen, and when asked if there was a better tennis player than him on Earth, Poole replied with a simple, "No".

This seemed to go by without anyone noticing, but in a Swedish prison, where Williams was staying after a failed fashion career and being caught with PCP, saw it on the TV and escaped prison just so he could play Poole in the upcoming Wimbledon. On day one, we learn that all the tennis players have sponsorship deals for the clothes they wear, but Williams didn't currently have one. That's when Lanny Denver, president and CEO of Jordache, played hilariously by Lena Dunham, stepped in and made Williams an all white denim tennis outfit. Needless to say, the clothes were a nightmare and coupled with Williams terrible playing, Jordache pulled the deal. You think this may have ended the match, but rain put day one on hiatus, with Poole winning the first set 6-0. Things all seemed well for the Englishman, but with added pressure from the Queen, played by June Squibb, Poole was coming undone. Day two showed Williams storming back, playing the best tennis of his life. People weren't sure where this spectacular play was coming from, but it appeared that Williams was doing copius amounts of cocaine from many different places on and around the court. Williams came back strong to tie it up. With both players being tied and no one winning match point, the match lasted eight hours each for the next two days with no winner. Day four looked to be Poole's chance to take the match, with Williams running out of gas and steam. But, two streakers came on to the court, one male one female, and Williams had a three way that lasted so long, the match had to be postponed for another day. That night, it was revealed that Williams was in an accident and his shoulder was separated. This looked to be the end for Williams, but he played the entire day left handed and just when it looked like he was finally going to lose, his close friend David Copperfield appeared out of nowhere onto Poole's shoulders. A magic trick gone wrong explained Copperfield with a wink. This being in Poole's head, the constant threat of someone landing on his shoulders out of nowhere, gave Williams another chance and the match went to day six. Before starting play, Williams held a press conference claiming he found out that his real father was from England and he was the greatest English tennis pro, clearly only doing this to mess with Poole's head. There was also the reveal of a sex tape between Williams and Poole's ex girlfriend, model Lily Allsworth, played by Karen Gillan. This only further screwed with Poole's head and he could not get the win over Williams. Williams ineptitude playing tennis, after being away from the game for six years, caused him the inability to get the win as well. We get to the seventh day, the day everyone hoped and prayed the match would end. There were plenty of great rallies and pretty decent tennis being played. All the stuff Williams had been doing to Poole all week finally boiled over and Poole challenged Williams to a fight. With the acceptance and go ahead from the Queen, the two players charged the net with their rackets being held like weapons. They met at the same time and hit each other simultaneously. They each went down and it was revealed that they instantly died. The match never ended with a winner. People felt that these two were such great competitors, that they should be buried in a casket together. The movie also featured the likes of, Fred Armisen, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Soledad O'Brien, John Hamm as the narrator and, the funniest one in the movie in my opinion, Jim Lampley. If you don't know who Jim Lampley is, he's a sports talk show host on HBO and he constantly made jokes about how none of this story really mattered because tennis is a stupid sport. He was hilarious.

I highly recommend checking out "7 Days in Hell". It's very funny.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He has played tennis, it was 7 minutes in hell. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks "A Deadly Adoption" was deadly boring.

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

I finally got around to watching the Lifetime movie "A Deadly Adoption" the other night.

You know the movie I am talking about, the made for Lifetime movie starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig. I had huge expectations for this. I thought it was going to be a work of comedic over acting and terribly written dialogue delivered from two pretty great actors.

Well, the dialogue was pretty terribly written and performed as such, but the jokes and Wiig and Ferrell being in on the absurdity of this was missing. This was a pretty straight forward, completely ridiculous Lifetime presentation. It was just like every other movie on that channel. It was melodramatic lunacy and Ferrell and Wiig were acting as if they weren't humongous stars. They acted as if this was a real job for them, like they really needed the work. There was little to no lunacy from the two of them and that was highly upsetting to me. The only humor I really got out of "A Deadly Adoption" was how seriously they tackled the issue of child diabetes. Wiig and Ferrell's daughter in the movie has diabetes and there were many mentions about not keeping real sugar in the house and how she desperately needed her insulin when she was held captive. The movie was insane from start to finish. It opened with a pregnant Wiig hanging out on a dock by a boat and she slips off the dock, can't swim and Ferrell rescues her, but they lose the baby. Fast forward five years and Ferrell is a very over protective father of their one child. He's also a very successful financial author. They take in a young pregnant girl because they want to adopt her baby so their daughter can have a brother. But, a little to on the nose, there's something a little off about this girl. She's clearly hitting on Ferrell's character and wants Wiig's character out of the picture. She also has a bad news boyfriend who is about as white trash as they come. It's eventually found out that the young lady isn't pregnant at all. I know, real shocker right? She and her boyfriend just want ransom money from Wiig and Ferrell since they've decided to kidnap their daughter. At least that's what the boyfriend wants. Turns out that after they lost their child in the accident five years ago, Ferrell's character hit the bottle pretty hard and met a groupie of his on the road and slept with her. You know that common story of a famous author having groupies and a crippling alcohol addiction. Ridiculous. Well that groupie turned out to be, wait for it, the young "pregnant" lady they let stay in their home. Needless to say, she just wants to be with Ferrell and his daughter and have a "normal" family. She tries to kill Wiig by knocking her unconscious and putting her in her car and turning the engine on and closing the garage door. Ferrell comes home after a night of searching for his daughter only to be met by the crazy girl(I can't remember any of the names of the characters because this movie was so stupid) and she shoots him twice in the arm, albeit by accident because she says she doesn't want to hurt him. She flees and Ferrell finds Wiig in the garage. He removes her from the car and gets her breathing again and he's back on the road to search for his daughter. Now, we see the crazy girl and the daughter speeding away in a pick up truck, all the while the little girl complaining that her stomach hurts and she needs her insulin. I say again, ridiculous. Ferrell finds them, confronts the crazy girl, pretends to let his daughter go with her, only to have them both jump in an idling boat under the bridge and before the crazy girl can get a shot off, Wiig plugs her in the back with a bullet. Another flash forward, this time only six months, and all is well. Ferrell has even calmed down on the over bearing parenting and the family breaks out into a dance. Then, end credits.

All I could think of was, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?! This made me feel like I was going crazy. It was so bizarre. I guess I expected something different, akin to James Franco's role on the soap opera he was on. I didn't expect Ferrell and Wiig to take it so seriously. Maybe it's just me, but I was looking for something way different and therein lies the problem. Don't expect anything good or promising from any programming Lifetime TV puts out there. You will be highly disappointed.

This was a real drag.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing. He is an author but does not have groupies (yet). Follow him on twitter @tykulik.

Cloves and Fedoras: Who is joining Ty for a Lifetime movie viewing?

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

This Saturday on the Lifetime Television Network everyone needs to tune in to watch "A Deadly Adoption."

This is the rumored movie starring Kristen Wiig and Will Ferrell on the Lifetime Channel! It's really happening! I saw the trailer for it this morning and was shocked at how serious it looked. This is a legit Lifetime type movie according to the preview.

Will Ferrell and Kristin Wiig play a successful married couple with what looks to be one daughter. Next, we see Wiig talking to Ferrell saying, "the agency may have found us a single mother." I guess they can't have anymore kids, we will have to tune in to find out, but want a brother or sister for their daughter. Then Ferrell begins to treat this young, attractive pregnant girl with extreme politeness. He seems almost too kind, almost as if he has a thing for her. Smash cut to Wiig yelling at him saying that he is ruining the good thing that they have, and he brought this into their house. The next thing they show in the trailer is the pregnant girl ripping Wiig's character out of a picture so it only shows Ferrell's characters face. This I assume implies that she wants Wiig out of the picture. Then the final thing we see is a car barreling down on Ferrell, who's wearing a blood stained shirt and hooded sweatshirt while the pregnant lady watches from a distance. Fade to black and then the awesome title, "A Deadly Adoption" appears on screen, with the word deadly a bright color of red.

The craziest thing, amongst many crazy things about this, it looks like the actors are taking this very seriously. This doesn't look like a "Sharknado" type movie, where everyone is in on the joke. I think the only ones who are in on the joke are Wiig and Ferrell. These are two huge stars that have been the leads in big time productions. I commend the two of them for doing what looks to be a type of soap opera Lifetime movie. I wonder if they're looking at this like James Franco looked at his role on General Hospital. He is also a big star, who took a small, but weird and very memorable role as a criminal that's into art on the soap. He was incredible because he seemed to take it seriously, but was for sure in on the joke. I can only hope that Wiig and Ferrell take the same approach to their roles in this movie. If the trailer is true, that's exactly what the two of them are doing. I cannot believe I'm saying this, but I'm very excited to watch a movie on the Lifetime Network. I hope this is everything I'm expecting and wishing for, because, if this movie is half as good as the trailer, it's going to be EPIC.

Join me and tune in this Saturday, June 20th to Lifetime and watch the craziness that will be "A Deadly Adoption."

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He was not even born when The Burning Bed came out. Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ty tells you the definitive movie to watch (hint it is not the new one)

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture (or older pieces).  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known. 

As a kid, I loved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

I mean I was obsessed. I had all the action figures and the toys attached with the action figures. Hell, I even had a Ninja Turtle back pack at some point during elementary school. You all know who I'm talking about when I talk about the Turtles. Leonardo, my favorite and the responsible one of the group, Michaelangelo, the prankster of the group, Donatello, the smart, engineer and inventor of the group and Raphael, the strong, bad boy loner of the group (ed note: What about my favorite - Splinter the Yoda like rat). As I got older, I, as most adults do, lost interest in "kid" things and my passions turned to sports and girls. It's kind of sad when I think about it now.  

The other day I was shopping for stuff at Target and I saw the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. The one from the 1990(pre-Vanilla Ice). I continued to shop, but going through the aisles all I could think about was buying the DVD. The inner child in me was beginning to come out and my passion for the Turtles was returning! The movie was only five dollars to boot. It definitely helps that I'm a father to a three year old boy that is now equally, if not more, obsessed with the Ninja Turtles. He and I were equally excited when I grabbed the DVD, showed it to my wife and proclaimed, "WE ARE BUYING THIS!" She was very happy as well. She is also a fan of the Ninja Turtles, I guess I married the right woman. So, first goal is achieved, myself, my wife and my son are all on board, excited and we purchase the movie. Next my wife and I decide we will watch it that night to see if it's appropriate for our son to watch. But, I was secretly concerned that it may not hold up and not only will it not be good for my child to watch, but adult me may not like it as much as kid me. This was a very big concern.

I'm here to tell you, if you were a fan as a kid and are now in your thirties, this movie 100 percent holds up. It's so damn good. I was as intrigued now as I was when I was a little kid. What made it even better, I actually understood the jokes and references the directors put in the movie for the adults. I also was able to spot a young Sam Rockwell playing a thug that sells cigarettes. I was pleased watching the movie remembering how dark it was. In the comics, the Ninja Turtles are put in many adult situations and they handle those in adult ways. The movie is pretty kid friendly, but some of the fight scenes are pretty brutal, with the Turtles and the Foot Clan taking some big time beatings. There is a whole scene where Raph gets his butt kicked by the Foot Clan and he takes a good beating. So bad in fact that Leonardo is relieved when Raph wakes up. Implying that Leo was worried that his friend may not wake up. That's dark for a kids movie. Casey Jones was pretty bad ass as well. He still had his patented goalie stick and Jason face mask and the writers of the movie decided to give him a baseball bat as well. He is also a super impressive fighter too. The fight scene when Raph runs into him in the park is really cool. The fact they made it look that real in a movie made in 1990 is pretty fantastic. April O'Neil was pretty cool in the movie too. She was an independent, funny journalist, who no matter what the circumstance, be it her house getting destroyed during a fight between the Foot Clan and Turtles, or her losing her job, she always stayed on the Turtles side and was happy and eager to help them. Splinter was classic Splinter. He treats the Turtles as if they're his children, which if you think about it they really are, and he just wants them to be safe. Shredder is pretty terrifying as well. He's very ominous and even captures and tortures Splinter early on in the movie. See what I'm saying when I say it's dark. This was everything I remember it being, but means so much more to me now. I still haven't shown it to my son yet being that it is pretty dark, but in a year or two I will show it to him. This was more for my wife and I. We were both very into it, so into it we didn't even play on our phones or chit chat during it, we just watched it.

Don't watch the new, terrible Michael Bay produced TMNT, watch the original from the nineties. You will not be disappointed.

Ty 

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He is one man with one love for early nineties superhero films and needs people to help him cover pop culture. Write for Seed Sing.

Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: If you love movies Ty says listen to Maltin on Movies

My podcast pick to talk about this week is Wolfpop's Maltin on Movies with co-host Baron Vaughn.

Each week, Leonard Maltin and Baron Vaughn take a subject and review three movies associated with the topic.  In the first segment they talk about a well known movie that they both enjoy. They tell you what they both like about the particular movie and why they think you should watch it. This weeks episode was titled Adult Cartoons, and they chose a French movie called Persepolis for their first segment. This movie takes place through the eyes of an Iranian French girl growing up through war times in Israel. I've never seen the movie before, but hearing the two of them talk about it, makes me want to watch it. According to Vaughn, it's a real tear jerker. In the second segment they talk about a movie neither of them like, or as they call it, a turkey. This segment might be my favorite. I like to hear them tear apart movies that almost no one likes. Both of them are very eloquent as well, so it doesn't sound like my friends and I ripping a movie apart. These two actually know what they're talking about. This week their turkey was Cool World. This movie sounds so bad that I want to watch it to see how bad it is. Apparently it was meant to be a horror cartoon, but the studio turned it into a dark noir comedy. Those words don't work together at all. The third and final segment, they talk about a sleeper movie. These movies are off the radar to most movie goers and not very well known, but highly regarded by both Vaughn and Maltin. I like the suggestions given during this part, because I hardly ever know what movie they're talking about, but every one that I've seen since I started this podcast, I've really enjoyed. The movie they mentioned this week is called Max and Mary. It's a story of friendship between two loners. One being a young outcast girl, Mary. The other, a 44 year old man with no family or friends named Max. According to Vaughn, this is a must watch, but it's very off beat and very dark at times. So, it may not be for everyone, but I'm going to check it out. The episodes come out every Wednesday and are no more than an hour long. They're 31 episodes in, but for movie buffs, this is a must listen.

I highly recommend it.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  He loves movies and hearing people talk (or write) about movies.  Follow him on twitter @tykulik

Cloves and Fedoras: Ty thinks "Ex Machina" may be a vision of our near future

Cloves and Fedoras is Seed Sings reviews for little known pieces of pop culture.  Feel free to contact us with your own submissions of undiscovered gems that must be known.

Yesterday I saw the film Ex Machina and I think it is a modern day Sci Fi cult classic.

Ex Machina is very small on the effects and relies more on the story telling, which is impeccable. The movie opens with a young employee named Caleb(Domhnall Gleeson) who works for a computer company called Blue Book. Caleb wins a grand prize via email to go to the company owner's, Nathan(Oscar Issac), secluded island. Caleb thinks it's just going to be a meet and greet type of thing, but it turns out that Nathan wants to have Caleb do a Turing test with a female robot named Ava(Alicia Vikander, in a star turning performance). Caleb is very on board with this idea, seeing how this could be a great opportunity not only for himself, but also for mankind. The movie is broken into seven sections, each one titled "Ava: Session One", "Ava: Session Two" and so on up to "Ava: Session Seven".  As the tests go on, we start to realize that Nathan may have brought Caleb to his island under false pretenses. Nathan may be a sociopath using his employees as "bait" for his female robot tests. As we get deeper into the movie, we see that Ava may have some tendencies of her creator and she may be playing a game with both Nathan and Caleb. This is a movie you need to go into, I'd recommend, not watching any trailers. If you've seen the trailers, take them with a grain of salt. This is not some type of erotic thriller. This is a disturbing type of horror movie about what life will be like in the not to distant future because lets face it, AI's will be here, if not in my lifetime, they will be here in my son and future daughter's lifetime (is that right Siri?). This a great piece of work done by first time director Alex Garland(writer of "28 Days Later"), so let's hope he gets a lot of work in the future. I don't want to say too much more about the plot because it is such a well written movie with lots of twists and turns that you don't see coming. People need to go see movies like this, so movies like this will continue to be made.

So, go see Ex Machina, let it wash over you and gaze into the horror of what the not to distant future is going to look like. We as a people are so obsessed with upgrading our electronic devices that the only thing left to upgrade is the human race, or as Nathan says in the movie (this is NOT a spoiler by the way), "Ava is not an upgrade, she's evolution"

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for Seed Sing.  Is that right Siri?  Damn Siri can't seem to connect right now.  Give him a follow on twitter @tykulik

Calling all MRAs, Ty has a few thoughts to share with you.

After the phenomenal "Mad Max: Fury Road" I did some internet research on the movie and read about some douche bags who call themselves "Men's Right Activists" that were complaining about the lead of the movie being female.

These guys are the WORST.

I can't believe some assholes are out there complaining that a female has a strong leading role in an action movie. First of all, Charlize Theron is a total badass in the movie, so what's the problem? She kicks as much ass and is as good, if not better, fighter than all of the men in the movie. Where do these "activists" get off complaining about anything that a women gets. Second point - being a man myself, I've gotten way more advantages in my life than an average female gets. I also get to enjoy these advantages and I'm a stay at home dad! My wife goes out there and works her ass off everyday to take care of our family and I couldn't love or adore her anymore for it. She wears the pants in our family and I have no problem with that at all. She brings home the bacon and fries it as well.

She's a boss.

The fact that these guys are out there complaining about women getting more than a man is an absolute joke. They sound like a bunch of ignorant, arrogant, self absorbed dick heads who've probably never kissed a girl before. What a bunch of dildos. I read some more about the "activists" and saw that they are also very concerned and upset about the all female cast of the new "Ghostbusters" movie. Once again I ask, what's the problem? If you want an all male cast of "Ghostbusters", you know what, they made a few of those already in the eighties and they are awesome (ed note - Ghostbusters is awesome, Ghostbusters 2 is ok). Just go and watch those movies and keep your stupid mouths shut. I feel like, in today's culture, people just look for something to complain about. I mean, it's almost impossible, actually it is impossible, to make anything that the majority of people will be happy about. Someone somewhere will find something to gripe about. But, in rare occasions, you get insane people like "Men's Rights Activists".

The MRAs are some of the most difficult people in the world to understand and frankly, I hope they just stop talking so we never have to hear from idiots like this again.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for Seed Sing.  He enjoys being a stay at home dad and never engages in self loathing or being an idiot