this viral campaign forthe new hbo showreally bites...

HBO has been plastering the city with ads for their upcoming Fall vampire series "True Blood," which I have to admit got my attention.

Their online viral campaign on the other hand is utter crap. A series of YouTube clips with some of the worst acting this side of Ed Wood's filmography, as well as one of those "amateur looking blogs" dedicated to unveiling the mystery of another amateur website with password protected content. Give me a freakin' break.

highway to hell...

I have sung the praises of HULU.com before but their latest online freebee is just too much to ask for! David Lynch's astonishing Lost Highway is now available to watch below (you must be a member of HULU but that's free too).

I'm sure Lynch is somewhere shitting a brick over this...

fatt damon...

See what happens when you fuck Jimmy Kimmel?





















This totally just made my day. Maybe, I'll just tell people that I'm "gaining weight for a role." Or is that roll? One of those cinnamon raisin rolls from Amy's Bread?

the secret...

new new world...

Probably the best thing to come out of the recent merger of New Line Cinema into Warner Bros. is today's announcement of an Extended Cut of director Terrence Malick's incredible film The New World.

I had the fortunate chance to see the film before it was trimmed down by 30 minutes and released to mediocre reception. It was my pick for the best film that year (2005), and can't wait for the October 14th release.

sign o' the times...

Everyone knows I have major closure issues whenever one of my favorite places in the city closes. In the past few weeks, I've had the following discoveries of closings or soon to be closings in New York:

KIRARA SUSHI
CHEYENNE DINER
CAFE LE FIGARO
BARNES AND NOBLE CHELSEA
VIRGIN TIMES SQUARE
TOYS R US TIMES SQUARE

If those last three can't pay the rent in this god-forsaken town, what the hell's going in their place?

Only Jeremiah's Vanishing New York knows for sure. Check out his site some time to lament with the best of us.

summer essential download...

It's time for this year's official
BEWARE OF THE BLOG SUMMER MIX 2008
Play the mix right now on this old school controller
(press B to play)...

Or take it on the run baby and
RIGHT click here for the MP3 file..

TRACKS INCLUDE:
Viva La Vida (intromix) coldplay
To Die For the birthday massacre
Thirty One Today aimee mann
Boneless the notwist
Echoplex nine inch nails
Mama Tried merle hagard
Shake Some Action the flamin' groovies
On the Radio regina spektor
She's Come Home to Steal Her Rainbows great lakes myth society
Come Down Now passing strange cast

softball sillies...

My company's softball team is the Blood Monkeys (after our way awesome movie starring F. Murray Abraham that you may have caught a few times on SCI FI). Watch as we hammered another corporate softball team just across 110th street...

warp one engaged...

Congrats George and Brad

the new tron dance...

Hysterical local UCB comic John Gemberling has gone big-time with the slick new remake of his once free episodic Tron satire on Cartoon Network Fat Guy on the Internet. Click above to get the first episode free. Hysterical.

i'm just sayin...

I guess this means no more Randy Quaid jokes.

map of the broken hearted...

For some strange reason today I had the trifecta experience of passing by two places in the city I've been dumped and one where I very unsuccessfully tried to break up with someone.

New Yorkers will tell you that marking one's personal highs and lows by our geography is fairly common. Most will even point out the haunts each and every time you pass them.

I therefore herby commission anyone who understands this new iPhone 3G developers kit to come up with a truly useful personal tracking system of the city that never sleeps.

And I'll save the old embarrassing break-up stories for another post.

be kind rewind...

Recently discovered video from 1987 of me making a complete ass out of myself. Hard to believe I was a virgin.

fat tuesday...

This past week, I've had some eye-opening moments that there may be a little more to love about yours truly...

• My Super stops me in the hallway and proclaims "Todd, you're getting a little chubby, no?" Then makes a puffy face.

• The size 34 shorts I tried on at Old Navy were a little loose on me, but fit well, only to realize they were mismarked size 38.

• Craig's Nintendo Wii Fit calls me overweight, bordering on obese, with a "fit age" five years above my actual age.

• A pigeon wing clips the side of my face in mid-air for the first time in my 13 year New York City residence. I assume it a near miss of the whole bird, but can't help from wondering if my new fat face is to blame.

Given that the temperature in New York has risen to Dante Vacation spot levels, Fat Todd should be available for a limited time only as I sweat my way back to fitness.

In the meantime, please pass the Pringles.

i've seen the future and it will be...

So, I guess years ago when they said "1984" won't be like 1984, they really meant that 2008 will be more like 1984 than 1984 ever could be. In any case, Apple's new iPhone 3G makes me finally understand the appeal and maybe, just maybe, will get me to cancel out of my Sprint slavery.

the marketer's wet dream sex and the city podcast...

We subliminally plug the products of about fifty Fortune 500 company products in this eloquently presented episode of
BEWARE OF THE BABYLON
recorded live on tape from a Fortune 500 company auditorium
Put on your best Anthony Robbins asshat grin for...

* Afterglow on the Sex and the City movie [Time-Warner]

* The mystery Doritos flavor revealed [Pepsico]

* Todd's first trip to Burger King in over 24 years [Burger King Holdings]

* We remind you to join our Facebook page [1 % Microsoft]

* This week's Guess Who I'm With Phone Challenge [Sprint Nextel]

As alway, this and every BEWARE OF THE BABYLON podcast can be automatically downloaded from iTunes here.

Listen to the show here if you have ants in your pants:


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how to tell ifyou're dating a science geek...

• He boldly declares the new Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie "a complete disgrace as the fossil evidence clearly sets the two distinct time periods apart."

• He "can't believe you didn't just hear the news about Stonehenge being a cemetery," and he still rejects your space alien theory.

• He wants you to "save the cover story on the politics of endangered species" in this week's Newsweek.

• He hasn't yet read this blog entry, because he's too busy being all scientific and stuff.

yes, but can he spellmanamanah?