Movies

On February 10, "Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace" will come back to theaters, this time in 3D. That means we can expect to see Star Wars tie-ins squeezed out worldwide.

With that in mind, if you're in Europe and you're near a Quick restaurant, you might want to swing by and try one of the trio of Star Wars-themed burgers. There's the Jedi Burger, which looks relatively benevolent; the Dark Burger, the bun of which has poppy seeds, a sure sign of evil if I ever saw one; and the Dark Vador Burger. Dark Vador is what Darth Vader is called in French (man, they have a word for everything, don't they?), but that's probably not what draws your attention so much as the OMG WHAT IS--

--the black bun.… Read more

Steven Van Zandt was born to run and Netflix is hoping the former "Sopranos" actor and member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street band has a long run in the upcoming original Netflix series, "Lilyhammer."

Van Zandt stars in the show about a mafia boss who moves to Norway as part of a witness protection program. Netflix announced yesterday that series will debut on its video streaming and rental service on February 6, becoming one of the company's first exclusive TV serials.

The move comes as a minor surprise in that Netflix was widely expected … Read more

Here at Geek Gestalt, every day is different. The world of geek culture is broad--sometimes bewilderingly so. A typical year's coverage can easily include stories on everything from Burning Man to Lego, aviation to 3D printing, NASA to tech startups, MythBusters to Pixar movies, and so on.

That makes coming up with predictions for next year in culture a difficult task--but we're here to serve, so that's just we're offering. Of course, trying to settle on just five ideas for 2012 means leaving a lot of things out.

Still, prognosticating culture's next steps meant talking … Read more

It's easy to get a little jaded about the holidays.

If you're like me, you can't help but cringe when you hear that first strain of Christmas music wafting out of the speakers at your local drugstore in early November. ("Here we go again," you think.)

By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, you've battled crowds to grab your gifts and been bludgeoned with the latest Christmas cover tunes and advertising tie-ins. At this point, it's tempting to write it all off as nothing but an empty tradition or a moneymaking gimmick.

If you're lucky, though, you somehow manage to stumble on a Christmas story that hands you the holiday anew and makes the "spirit of giving" and "peace on Earth" more than mere platitudes.… Read more

Lego plus "Lord of the Rings." Need we say more?

It's not at all clear exactly what Lego has planned, but the iconic toy company said today that it is launching in 2012 a new LOTR line of, well, something.

Still, it seems obvious that what we'll be seeing is a "Lord of the Rings" themed Lego set, or sets. And that's because the extremely cagey Web site for the project features what I can only presume is Frodo--a Lego version of him, that is--holding on to a very large shiny ring.

This … Read more

Plenty of photographers have tapped Google Street View for imagery.

Doug Rickard travels the byways of the U.S. via Street View to find images that, in the words of the Museum of Modern Art, "comment on poverty and racial equity in the United States, the bounty of images on the Web, and issues of personal privacy."

Michael Wolf became a flashpoint for controversy when his project "A Series of Unfortunate Events" received kudos from the World Press Photo competition--could Wolf's Street View-based approach truly be called photojournalism?

And Jon Rafman, discussing his own Street View work, has cited "hard-boiled American street photography," Depression-era Farm Securities Administration photos, and the work of famous "decisive moment" photojournalist Cartier-Bresson, among other things.

Aaron Hobson, however, seems less concerned with the documentary and journalistic potential of Street View images. Hobson doesn't like his Street View images served raw. He likes to cook them a little.… Read more

Starting Tuesday, "Avatar" fans who buy the mega-hit film on iTunes will also get a set of cool behind-the-scenes interactive features.

For the last couple of years, movie buyers have gotten some of the same kinds of "extras" on iTunes that have long been included on DVD and Blu-ray versions of films. But now, with its new digital download of "Avatar," Fox is stepping up the offerings--"scene deconstruction" that lets viewers "move seamlessly from performance capture to template to final scene."

As part of the package, buyers will get … Read more

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

If that line, from "The Princess Bride," seems familiar, you're not alone. You may even have tweeted it at some point. After all, every day, as many as a dozen people do just that.

And every time someone does, somewhere on the Internet, a Web robot sees it and fires back its own line from the movie.

This is Emeraq, a movie-loving bot whose job consists of nothing more than looking out for and responding to tweets of choice movie quotes.

I … Read more

Netflix shares spiked more than 6 percent today on rumors that Verizon Communications is thinking about buying the troubled DVD rental and movie-streaming service.

Verizon has made it clear it wants to get into the streaming business, and according to a report from DealReporter, the troubled Netflix could be just the ticket, especially since its stock has fallen off a cliff in recent months after a series of disastrous moves that have included raising prices and a now-abandoned plan to split its DVD rental and streaming businesses in two.

Still, despite those stumbles, Netflix remains a household name and, as … Read more