Paper Towns

1:15 a.m...just finished reading Paper Towns by John Green.

I got Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines (also by John Green) for Christmas. I decided to read Paper Towns first because John said he was going to make a video discussing the book and I didn't want to be spoiled. (I could have waited to watch the video whenever I finished Paper Towns, but that's not the same.) So that was my original motivation for reading Paper Towns immediately and as fast as I could--finish the book before John discusses it.

After reading a few chapters, though, I forgot about the forthcoming video and forgot about putting the book down. Paper Towns is an excellent, well-written story. I'll write a list of what I liked because I love making lists--but after I've thought about the book a little more.

By the way, I found out about John's books through the vlogbrothers (of which John is one half). Another way YouTube's been good to me in 2008.

Watchmen Update and PC vs. Mac

Two things stood out when I checked Google Reader today and both were from the Movie Blog.

First, a PC vs. Mac video inspired by the Transformers.

Second, Fox won the legal battle for Watchmen. To bring you up to speed...there was an issue concerning the movie rights to Watchmen between Fox and Warner Brothers. Fox originally had the movie rights but gave up on the project more than ten years ago. Warner Brothers made a film and set a March release date (and it looks awesome!) but supposedly didn't secure the rights.

Now Fox will probably settle a deal and Warner Brothers will lose money...and who knows when Watchmen will be in theaters.

Dollhouse and Serenity

Here's a still from a trailer for Dollhouse. See Echo.


Source

Here's a still from the opening credits of Serenity. See River.


Source

They're both great shots...but did anyone else notice how similar they are?
I'm curious.

Freerice.com now more than vocab

FreeRice.com was an incredible site to begin with. It's a multiple-choice English vocabulary game. You're given a word and you have to pick the synonym out of the choices. Do well and you move up to more difficult words. Simple.

Every correct answer donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. The more you play and the more you answer correctly, the more rice you donate.

Now they've added different subjects to play. The site loads English Vocabulary by default, but you can click on the Subjects tab at the top of the page and choose to answer questions about art, chemistry, English grammar, geography, languages, or math. Even better, you can switch subjects while you play and your rice total will carry from one subject to the next.

So now you can brush up on more than vocabulary and support a charity at the same time.

Project For Awesome: Aftermath

10:45 p.m. EST...I watched a few P4A videos today, but not nearly as many as yesterday.

The majority of the Most Discussed videos currently on YouTube are Project For Awesome videos.

Pages 1-3 of the Most Discussed videos:

P4A videos are on pages 4 and 5 too, but not in the vast majority. There are P4A videos in the other "Most" lists too...Most Popular, Most Favorited, and the others. They have the strongest presence, though, in the Most Discussed list right now.

So that was the idea: one thumbnail, one idea taking over YouTube to promote various charities. Looks like it worked. :)

Project For Awesome (P4A) Update

11:40 p.m. EST...I can't be bothered to make screenshots right now, but take a look at this. Go to www.youtube.com. Click on Videos.

No P4A videos on the first page of the Most Viewed list yet, but WHATTHEBUCKSHOW is making it's climb up page 2.

For the rest, I'm talking about only the first page.

Rising Videos: Johnny's video for Save the Children

Most Discussed: 16/20 videos are part of Project For Awesome on the first page!

Most Responded: 2/20 P4A videos, that one by WHATTHEBUCK and one by the vlogbrothers

Top Favorited: 4/20 are P4A videos

Top Rated: 9/20 are P4A videos

Yes, we are the Nerdfighters
and the world is in luck
'cause we increase the awesome
and we decrease the suck
--Hank Green

Project for Awesome: On the Rise

I've commented on and rated about 30 videos so far today. I checked the Most Discussed page on YouTube at exactly 3:52 p.m. EST and there are 6 P4A videos on the first page!

Check it out:



This is so exciting! Back to watching videos...

Project For Awesome

Tomorrow, December 17th, is Project For Awesome on YouTube. YouTubers make videos about their favorite charities. Then the YouTube community pulls together to comment on and rate the charity-related videos so that they end up on the Most-Discussed and Most-Viewed pages on YouTube to raise awareness (and hopefully some money) for charities.

Last year, Project for Awesome videos took over YouTube for the day. I didn't spend a lot of time on YouTube then so I didn't know about it. I'm looking forward to participating this year, though, by rating and commenting on videos.

The Project is headed by John Green, Hank Green (aka the vlogbrothers) and Alan Lastfuka (aka Monday on the Five Awesome Guys). Check out Project for Awesome's site and keep an eye on YouTube on Wednesday.

Technorati Tags: Project for Awesome, YouTube

Watchmen Trailer

The Movie Blog posted a new Watchmen trailer yesterday. It's pretty similar to the last trailer with a few extra shots in it. Still looks amazing. Still can't wait to see it.

Which reminds me that I wanted to reread the graphic novel...

Horrible Update

Newteevee.com has a great review up for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog with information about the special features on the DVD, including the winning applications for the Evil League of Evil.

I've seen a bunch of applications on YouTube the past two months, but the Final Straw is my favorite. He's an off-beat villain perfect for the League with lyrics like:

I am the the hangnail that consumes you
I'm the paper cut of doom.

and:

Not a glory hound attention hog who needs to make a splash
and hold a city hostage
for a briefcase full of cash.

I hope he's one of the winners.

New Terminator Salvation Trailer

The Movie Blog has the new trailer up for Terminator Salvation and it looks awesome, as do the previous trailers.

I love the Terminator movies. I love the concept. I love the world.

But I'm not sure I like Christian Bale as John Connor. No doubt Bale is an incredible actor. He's awesome in The Dark Knight. He was fantastic in The Prestige. But he sounds like Batman in the trailer.

If Bale mixes that gravely, harsh voice into John Connor, that could ruin the whole movie for me. John Connor is tough but not in the same sense as Batman, and he doesn't have to disguise who he is. There's no reason to use that voice. Maybe I've just grown too attached to Thomas Dekker's portrayal of John in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

I'm going to see Terminator Salvation in May regardless, but I don't want to hear the Batman voice in it.

Dr. Horrible on DVD

Dr. Horrible is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. (The release date is December 19.) The original price was $14.99, and it was reduced to $13.49, so it must be selling well. That's definitely good news.

Amazon is going to post a list of the special features, but I know there's a musical commentary, a regular commentary, behind the scenes clips, and the winning applications for the Evil League of Evil.

I can't wait for the DVD, and I hope Joss Whedon and company make some kind of sequel.

The incredible thing is, there's no advertising for Dr. Horrible outside of the internet. People involved in Dr. Horrible, especially Neil Patrick Harris, have talked about it in interviews, but no TV spots, no movie trailers...I don't know of any magazine ads.

Joss Whedon accomplished something huge with Dr. Horrible. He proved you can make quality entertainment without Hollywood studios. I hope more fantastic work comes out of it.

Technorati Tags: Dr. Horrible, Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris, DVD, Amazon