'Won't you be my neighbor?'

Believe it or not, March 20 would have been the late great Fred Rogers' 80th birthday.

The day is being promoted as "Sweater Day." Neighbors everywhere are being asked celebrate Mr. Rogers by wearing their favorite sweater.

Here's Mr. McFeely (not the best name for a children's show character in today's world) with more details...



Thomas has a Mr. Rogers DVD, which actually came zipped up in a little sweater. But you can tell the episodes on it are pretty old. In one of them, Mr. Rogers goes to a restaurant and orders a nice looking sandwich, but he only pays about $2.

'No fate but what we make'

I've been enjoying "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" on Fox. The show is good, and apparently others have noticed -- because it seems like I keep catching reruns of "T2" and "T3" on cable.

Anyway, with that in mind, this Reuters headline caught my attention:

Killer robots pose latest militant threat: expert

Is this the beginning of the inevitable robot uprising?

Bridging the generation gap

We visited Kris' mom and dad this past weekend. It was a very nice visit.

While we were there, Thomas tried to teach his grandpa the finer points of video games.

Bummer

I was supposed to bring Nolan and his friend Danny to see the Harlem Globetrotters tonight at the Times Union Center. Mother Nature had other ideas.

We had such a great time seeing the Globetrotters last year. Nolan was really excited to see them again.

Kris started bringing the kids out to meet me at work, but called from the road to say how bad the driving was thanks to the snow storm we were in the middle of. She wound up turning around and heading back home.

Nolan was very disappointed (I was too). But we're going to try to come up something else cool to do with Danny.

'What are you supposed to be? Some kind of lion tamer?'

Check out this cool piece of swag I picked up today. This was sent to a good friend of mine who passed it along.

Now I've got the whip. I still have my old fedora. Unfortunately, my leather jacket wore out a long time ago. I just need to get a new one -- and a revolver -- and I'll have all I need for my next archeology expedition!

'Sunny days...'

Actually it was a fairly snowy day here today.

But that didn't keep Thomas and his friend Stephanie from enjoying a morning at the theater. They took in a matinée performance of "Sesame Street Live."

This was Thomas' first time attending a live show like this. Kris says Thomas was a little nervous at first, but by the end of the show he was dancing in the aisles!

The greatest rivalry in sports?

Yankees To Play Exhibition Game Against The Media

TAMPA, FL—In a spring showdown between two venerable organizations that will battle one another daily during the 2008 regular season, the New York Yankees are scheduled to play a nine-inning game Sunday against their greatest rivals: the...

Things that have nothing to do with Indiana Jones

One of my loyal readers has commented that there has been too much geekery here on the blog and not enough family photos.

So here’s a picture of the boys from today’s trip to the New York State Museum. We’ve been to this museum a gazillion time and know it like the back of our hand. But the kids love it. It is a very cool place.

We’re halfway through vacation week and so far no one has killed anyone else. Besides the museum trip today, Kris and the kids have found some more letterboxes. It’s been one year since we started this hobby and so far the kids have found 53 letterboxes!

In other news, I did something I’ve never done before last weekend. I donated blood for the first time.

Growing up, I had something of an irrational fear of needles. Never in a million years would I have entertained the idea of voluntarily having a needle stuck in my arm and blood drained out of me. EEeww!!!

As I got older, I became much less squeamish when it came time to get blood drawn at a doctor’s appointment. Then last year Kris started donating and I realized I had no good reason not to – especially after watching the medical ordeals that our friend Mike Ford and my nephew Patrick went through.

It was easy and felt good to do. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time.

Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Disappearing Guns

A very interesting observation has been made about that Indiana Jones trailer we all went bonkers over yesterday.

Remember all of those heavily-armed soldiers seen surrounding a car and throwing Indy to the ground about a minute into the trailer? It didn’t dawn on me any of the 63 times I watched the trailer before now, but when we see Indy in that first shot where he and Ray Winstone have their hands up…um…where did all the guns go?


It appears they’ve all been scrubbed out of the shot through the magic of CGI. As you can see in the image above, they’re still in the trailer’s international version – which you can watch for yourself right here.

Moriarty at AICN theorizes the guns pointed at our hero were removed at the insistence of the MPAA. Keep in mind, the trailer debuted on the big screen in front of the PG-rated “Spiderwick Chronicles.”

First of all, I’m not convinced removing the guns was necessary. If it was, would it have been too hard to provide one version on the Internet – for fans like me who seek the trailer out – and another to show with a PG movie so the kiddies won’t be scarred for life at the sight of a firearm?

A little history: remember, the PG-13 rating was created primarily because of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” in 1984. Some thought the whipping of children and ripping a heart out of someone’s chest was a little too intense.

Also worth noting: there is one other difference between the American trailer and the one the rest of the world is apparently seeing. After a montage of clips from the old films, the first new piece of footage we see in the trailer is an American flag. You’ll note that Old Glory is conspicuously absent in the international version.

Now we know what can stop Jack Bauer

It's official -- Jack Bauer won't be killing anyone in 2008.

Despite the end of the writers strike, "24" will not return to TV until January 2009.

Everyone wants to stick to the plan of running the show continuously without any interuptions or repeats. But if they started now (eight episodes are already in the can) the season finale would air over the summer, when TV viewership is low. If they start in the fall, they'll have to take a break for the World Series.

They could start the season in November. But then it would probably end in March. They probably want the finale in May for sweeps.

So if you can't make it through the next 12 months without a does of Bauer Power, you can always watch the Day 7 trailer over and over or the hilarious 1990s version.

TOO DAMN COOL!!!

Unless you attended Indyfest '89, you have no idea how giddy with excitement I was this morning when I first saw this! On May 22 I am so there!



Check it out in glorious HD here...

A longer 'Trek' to theaters

Remember that trailer for J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" that came a out a few weeks ago and touted a Christmas 2008 release? Yeah well, forget that.

Variety reports that in the aftermath of the writer's strike, Paramount has reshuffled their release schedule. Apparently they think the movie will make more money with a summer release. So it's now set for May 8, 2009 (yeah, I know that's still spring, but that's pretty much when what's considered "the summer movie season" begins).

Variety says this puts "Trek" opening one week after "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and one week before the "Da Vinci Code" sequel/prequel "Angels and Demons."

In the long run, this is probably a good thing -- giving them more time to work on the movie.

Valentine for Indy fans

Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, not the big day. That will be May 22 when "Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" hits theaters.

But tomorrow is when we get our first glimpse of the movie with the release of the trailer.

Stay close to the TV tomorrow morning. The trailer will debut during the 8 to 9 a.m. hour of Good Morning America. It will be on IndianaJones.com and in movie theaters everywhere after that.

And if I can find an embeddable version, you can be sure it will be here as well.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this beautiful artwork. According to AICN, this is a cover for an upcoming comic book adaptation of the movie.

The view from the street

It was brought to my attention today the Albany area has been added to Google Maps street-level views.

This might be old news, but I just found out today. The last I knew it was only major cities that had this feature available.

Anyway, there's our place. The house number it shows up under is way off, but it's there (a disclaimer notes that "addresses are approximate"). It looks like they took the pictures over the summer. I'm glad my lawn was mowed!

Who wants some Hulu?

Hulu remains in private beta testing. I think it's supposed to open up to the general public next month.

But if you'd like an early peek, I can hook you up. I've got 10 invitations up for grabs. If you're interested, leave a comment. First come, first served. It's as simple as that. No games, unlike some cranky TV doctors we all know...

UPDATE: My mistake. I need your e-mail address to give you the invite. So please leave that or send it to me.

Mike, I have about three different e-mail addresses for you. Drop me a line and let me know which one to use.

Michael and Willie, I don't actually know you guys, but you're still welcome to the invites. Just leave an address that you want me to use.

If it's good it must be bad

Kris has decided that for Lent we're going to eat healthier. The conversation went something like this (this is a custom clip created from that Simpsons episode I posted earlier)...

Dig the Wig

Hop on the Wiggum Wagon!

A lot of Republicans seem bent out of shape that they're left with John McCain as their candidate (although it's my opinion that the vast majority John Q. GOP-types think McCain is just fine, thank you very much).

Rather than throw a hissy fit, maybe they just need to find a new guy to back...like Ralph Wiggum!

Thanks to PLANET3RRY for pointing out Ralph's campaign site. It was set up to tie in with a recent Simpsons episode. If you missed it, here it is on Hulu...

Charity champs

I always wondered what became of the hats and T-shirts that must be on standby for the team that loses a championship game like the Super Bowl, the World Series, etc.

Sure enough, there was a full supply of hats and shirts proclaiming the Patriots as Super Bowl XLII champions -- camplete with "19-0" printed under their logo -- ready to be handed out last Sunday night.

It turns out those clothes will be distributed to needy families in other parts the world. The ones pictured here are headed to Nicaragua.

New York vs. Boston

I knew there was a reason why I liked Jon Stewart. Here he shares his thoughts on the rivalry between the Big Apple and Beantown...

The truth is out there

Want to see what a Crystal Skull looks like? Click here. And read more about here. (Beware of spoliers!)

Super Bowl summary

I was happy to see the Giants knock down the Patriots last night.

In the weeks leading up the Super Bowl, I was getting real sick of all the talk about how great the Patriots were and how they will be regarded in history -- as if they had already won the game!

As a Yankee fan, I admit that I'm something of a hypocrite when it comes to the Patriots -- I was just sick of seeing them win all the time.

Speaking of the Yankees, on Mike & Mike this morning there was an interesting discussion: how does the Patriots going 18-0 and then losing the Super Bowl compare to the Yanks dropping their 3-0 lead to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS?

Really it's apples and oranges. They were just trying to find a way to play up the New York-Boston rivalry. And I don't think there is any question the Yankees transgression was worse. But it makes for fun conversation.

In the top man's office

Here's yet another new "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" picture. I saw this in USA Today last week. That was a small black & white photo. But now there is a nice big color version on the MTV Movies Blog.

Is this in the warehouse I think it is?


UPDATE: I've replaced the image with an even better version straight from IndianaJones.com.