Saturday, my wife and I took our two boys to see the U2 3D Movie. I have to say this was an absolutely amazing show. While I do like U2's music, I would not classify myself as a US zealot. I do own a few of their albums, but have never seen one of their live shows. However, this movie -- filmed in IMAX 3D format -- was second to none. We paid $15.00 a ticket, but I would have easily paid twice that and still felt like it was a steal. To be able to experience a live show live that would have cost 200 times that same amount.



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Tags: U2, entertainment

So a bunch of aerospace guys got together to build a half-scale X-Wing fighter. Not happy with just making a model, they decided to make the wings open and close remotely. Oh yeah, and they stuck for solid rocket engines in it.



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Tags: star wars, entertainment

Today I was informed that my backyard theater was awarded second place in smarthome.com’s “Home Control Contest.” Each entrant needed to put together a brief description of how they automated some portion of their home. Well, since last summer we’ve been doing movies in our backyard. And since our October party, I’ve managed to have a Mac Mini run the whole show.

To see how I “turbo charged” our backyard movie theater, check out the complete video on how it was done.



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Tags: backyard theater, apple, entertainment

These JibJab guys are really funny. Well, at least I think they’re funny. You may remember their great parody of This Land is My Land starring George Dubya and John Kerry.  Today I discovered an email from them in my inbox letting me know of their latest creation... an animation poking fun at the American news media. Good times.

What We Call the News | Funny Jokes at JibJab

Tags: jib jab, entertainment, animation

I’m sure you’ve used Google Maps before to find an address or get some driving directions. But how about for a greeting card of sorts? Well, someone has cobbled together a pretty cool site called geogreeting.com which allows you to do just that. How you say? Well, magically (and don’t ask me how) they have found buildings in the satellite imagery used for the site for all the letters of the alphabet. The result? See for yourself:

By clicking on one of the letters, say the “k” in Mike, you will quickly see that building is located in  Salt Lake City, Utah. (Click on the map above to see it --- and where all the other buildings -- are located).
 
Give it a try over at geogreeting.com

Tags: entertainment, google

For my new friends over at Backyardtheater.com, I thought you’d like to see the “marketing campaign” behind our upcoming Halloween party movie showing.
 
We’re going to be showing The Nightmare Before Christmas in the backyard. And before that, in true Southern California tradition, we will watch a live performance of Oingo Boingo. For those of you outside So Cal, Oingo Boingo was the greatest band to never quite make it out of LA. The band would play sold out shows all over LA (and had a tradition of playing Irvine Meadows every Halloween). But enough with that...

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Tags: backyard theater, entertainment, oingo boingo, nightmare before christmas

I took a few pictures during last night’s movie. The one below is a favorite. A little doctoring to get the screen to have something on it. But don’t tell anyone



Link to pictures: 4 September 2006 Morperhaus Theater

Tags: photography, entertainment, backyard theater

This one is kinda cool. Thanks to Digg-ers for finding this one. For those of us that were kids of the 1980s, you will recognize all of the video games in this 1:33 movie. [ Link to 80s video game movie ]

Tags: entertainment, frogger

OK, now I don't think I will ever be able to afford these guys. I was watching the Today Show on NBC yesterday morning, and for the second (or is it third) time, they were on it. Actually, good for them. These guys have a great sense of humor and their work is quite funny.



In this latest short movie, the JibJabbers continue down their parody path with an entertaining look at George W and friends singin' about their next four years in Washington. And no JibJab production would be the complete, without a bunch of moping Democrats, world leaders, etc holding their heads in their hands.

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Tags: jib jab, entertainment, politics, animation

I confess. This is something I'd read cover to cover. I always like the gizmo reviews in WIRED. Now, 117 pages of geek bliss. Everything you ever wanted to know about mobile phones, digital cameras, digital video cameras, HD TVs, DVRs... you get the idea. And the best part? You don't have to go to the news stand to pick it up. Instead, you can download a pdf of TEST right here (8 MB).

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Tags: technology, entertainment

Good to be in DC! | Funny Jokes at JibJab

These guys are funny. First it was the "This Land is Your Land" parody, now they are singing Dixie. Um, I mean DC... Ah, just watch it. Too funny. So, who holds the copyright to Dixie? Are we going to hear from them too? OK, if you have no idea what I am talking about, read about the goobers at Ludlow Music who tried to sue these guys. I need to find something to hire JibJab for...

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Tags: jib jab, entertainment, animation