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Dan the Mantern makes his triumphant return to The 404 to talk about his exploits as a newly single man. Yes, ladies, he is available. You can find him on J-Date. Today, we expound on weekend movies "I Love You, Man", "300," and "Revenge of the Nerds" and find out why Jeff Bakalar is going to prison.

Dan T. Allen: 22-year-old male seeking female.

(Credit: Wilson G. Tang/CNET)

Apparently, EA sent out packages of brass knuckles for the release of its video game version of "The Godfather II." Unbeknownst to them, it is a crime in most states to send brass knuckles, as they are in the same category of weapons as switchblades and gas guns. Also on today's show, we cover Vermont legalizing "sexting," a special eBay auction just in case you need to tell someone off, and Disney releasing a controversial animated movie featuring a black princess.

We've got a special treat for you today, as well. If you check your RSS or iTunes feed, you'll discover that we've officially pushed to you The 404 ringtones, including our main theme courtesy of Mr. Jamie Lewis and a Tom Merritt-inspired "Calls from the Public" ringtone. Also, if you have an iPhone, we've got special instructions on how to use our ringtones on your Jesus Phone. But wait, there's more! Yes, because of popular demand, we're pushing out acoustic versions of Jonathan Coulton's performances of "Codemonkey" and "Re: Your Brains" performed in our very own podcast studios. Don't you just love us?!?!

Remember to mark Thursday, April 16, as the day your life changes when Bore Out Loud and the Snore Oh Four battle to the death in a dance off (bring your tap shoes). Be sure to RSVP. We'll be partying hard at the whole upstairs floor of The Delancey in New York City at 7:30 p.m.

So does this mean Ursula from "The Little Mermaid" would be Jabba the Hutt?

(Credit: StarWars.com)

Synergy. It's not just a square on the buzzword bingo cards you take with you to big meetings. George Lucas and Disney have been pals for quite a while. They even have "Star Wars" weekends at the parks.

Now I'm a fan of "Star Wars." Not a rabid one, mind you, but I can't believe I missed these before now:

Limited statues of Disney characters as Star Wars characters. Ooh ooh, and each one will set you back 195 clams.

Each.

I'll just sit back while you let that sink in for a minute. No rush.

(Checks watch, looks around.)

OK. Not to be Mr. Negative, but in These Troubled Times (TTT), are there really that many people who can drop almost $800 for a whole set (let's be honest; if you're buying one, you're probably going to get them all)? This, on top of admission to Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida? Or Disneyland; out of the 600 made, 500 go to Florida, and the rest go to California.

The latest batch (previous statues included Goofy as Jar-Jar Binks, which I oppose on moral grounds) features Mickey Luke; Minnie Leia (in the gold bikini from "Return of the Jedi"); Goofy Chewbacca; and Donald in Carbonite. They look great, but still, I dunno.

Are they trying to tell us something about Mickey and Minnie's relationship by making them Luke and Leia this time?

Jeff Bakalar makes his return on Fat Tuesday--how appropriate. Justin reveals to the world that he loves Alvin & the Chipmunks, on top of his fascination with Disney music. Disney we can forgive, but really? An Alvin & the Chipmunks cover of "Uptown Girl?" And we figure out that Alvin wears a giant "A" because he's committed adultery.

On today's show, Justin learns some new racial slurs from Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino." Jeff tells us to check out Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"and reveals to us that he once was a professional wrestler known as "The Flying Daisy." In actual news, newspapers are asking the federal government for a bailout. Get with it! Newspapers are going the way of the dodo. On top of that, it's National Pancake Day, so head on over to your local IHOP! Let Fat Tuesday's debauchery begin in earnest.

The Zippity will hit stores this summer.

(Credit: Leapfrog)

Leapfrog in New York is showing off a few new products, one of which is the Zippity--pretty much a takeoff on the Wii Fit, but for the under-5 crowd. The Zippity was actually co-developed by Leapfrog and Disney and builds on the two companies' existing relationship.

Leapfrog describes the Zippity as a "high-energy learning system" and calls it "the first interactive TV-based gaming system for preschoolers that combines full body movement, music, education, and fun." Leapfrog's trying to move beyond the handheld educational gaming/reading market and Disney is trying to expand its presence in preschool segment with tie-ins to its Playhouse Disney programming. As you might expect, youngsters will take their cues from characters like Mickey, Tigger, and Pooh, and the Little Einsteins.

The system comes with a foldable mat, and that giant joystick-like thing in the picture is called a "bopper." The $79.99 system comes with eight learning activities preloaded and the foldable mat and bopper interact wirelessly with the Zippity console that attaches to your TV. Additional games will run you $25.

Unfortunately, parents eager to wear their kids out with a workout on this little learning/fitness system will have to wait till summer to pick one up.

Comments anyone?

(Credit: CinemaNow)

Add movies from Disney and Jaman.com to the growing list of downloadable content you can view on TiVo DVRs.

Disney movies will be available on TiVo starting next week. Rentals will be $2.99 each, and include titles ranging from animated classics (Dumbo) to modern favorites (Pirates of the Caribbean). The content will be provided via CinemaNow. See that site's TiVo FAQ for more details.

Movies from Jaman.com should be available this week. The $1.99 rentals include international selections, independent and art cinema, and anime titles.

The Disney/CinemaNow and Jaman selections will be presented in standard-definition video, and will be accessible on all current standalone TiVo models (Series3, TiVo HD, TiVo HD XL, and Series2 devices). They join such previous TiVo Internet-delivered content offerings as Rhapsody, Amazon Video-on-Demand, and podcast access.

Note: This post has been updated to specify that both the CinemaNow/Disney and Jaman selections will be available in standard-def only. An earlier reference to future HD content on CinemaNow's site has since been removed.

NASA and Disney are teaming up to put a figurine of 'Toy Story' space ranger Buzz Lightyear on the Space Shuttle Discovery when it launches on Saturday. The toy will be taken to the International Space Station, the destination for the shuttle.

(Credit: Disney)

Talk about cross-promotion.

One of the closest things to Disney World's Orlando, Fla., home, is NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This is relevant because on Friday, it was announced that among the objects expected to be blasted into the sky with the planned Saturday launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery is a figurine of Toy Story space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

Disney World, of course, is where the new Toy Story Mania ride has just opened.

The idea behind putting Buzz Lightyear aboard the Space Shuttle has to do with the "Toys in Space" initiative NASA and Disney are starting. This is an educational program designed to inspire children's interest in space and celestial discovery.

This is all also relevant to me because on June 10, I'll be hitting the highways for Road Trip 2008. I'll start in Orlando, and before I visit many of the South's most interesting destinations, I'll be stopping by both Disney World and the Kennedy Space Center.

At the theme park, I expect to visit and do a story on the Toy Story ride, and at the NASA facility I hope to be able to see the Space Shuttle land.

If the latter happens, however, I won't be seeing Buzz Lightyear, as the toy will have stayed behind on the space station.

Stay tuned to the Road Trip, and be sure to keep up, both now and during the trip, with what I'm doing on Twitter.

(Credit: Crave Asia)

Japanese camera accessories maker Kenko is slapping pictures of Disney characters on its new point-and-shoot.

The DMC-50 comes with a 5.17-megapixel sensor, 2.4-inch LCD screen, 128MB of internal memory (with SD card expansion slot), and 4x digital zoom. That's right, boys and girls, this shooter doesn't have an optical zoom lens: This new kid on the block is begging to be ousted from our labs so far as specs are concerned.

What's mildly interesting is the rear interface, which looks like a portable game console. But other than that, the design is still quite conventional, unlike Polaroid's kids cam.

(Source: Crave Asia)

TiVo is gearing up to dish out Disney movie rentals, as the digital video recorder company expands its lineup of movies from major studios.

Under an agreement with Disney-ABC and CinemaNow, TiVo subscribers can download the movies for 24-hour rental. TiVo expects to offer the Disney rentals later this year to its broadband-connected TiVo Series2 and Series3 subscribers. Price for the service was not disclosed.

The Disney movies will add to TiVo's more than 30,000 titles from Amazon Unbox, Music Choice, and other content providers.

TiVo's efforts come as Blockbuster is reportedly looking at set-top boxes for consumers to stream movies directly to their TV. DirecTV is reportedly cooking something up, as well.

(Credit: Disney)

Disney and Softbank have geen making phones for kids in Japan for some time, with the handsets becoming increasingly adult-like in both function and appearance. Its latest mobile handset also seems to be aimed at this ambiguous market in Japan, but the theme clearly belongs to the Magic Kingdom: Princesses.

The "Cinderella" line is being produced in a partnership with Sharp, using the Disney Mobility service offered by Softank, according to Akihabara News. The DM002SH has a 2.6-inch display, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, 50MB of built-in memory, and the 1Seg TV tuner used in Japan.

Probably more important is the phone's crystal-like finish, which comes in three colors--clear crystal, brown topaz, and pink diamond. (No pumpkin.)