The Caltech Beavers in February after winning their first conference game since 1985.

The 2007 documentary Quantum Hoops is a must-watch for any basketball fan because it tells the story of the 2006 Caltech men’s basketball team and their epic quest for immortality. The five seniors on the 2006-07 squad, having no high school basketball experience at all when they accepted their spots on the roster at Caltech, were looking for the team’s first win in 11 seasons. Even more, the Beavers were looking for their first conference win in 21 years. They were the Washington Generals of Division III basketball.

Now their story is being told again, this time as a Disney comedy that has been picked up by Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. “Think Dodgeball meets Revenge of the Nerds,” some pun-laden studio press release will eventually proclaim.

Read the rest of this entry »

As part of his ongoing bid to become the nerd Oprah, Kevin Smith is taking on yet another project between weight struggles, most recently a reality show set inside his New Jersey comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.  Here’s the casting call:

He’s not looking for actors, he’s looking for real people who live and breathe [and wheeze -Ed] the comic book lifestyle. Must be funny outgoing and have a knowledge and passion for comics, superheroes, movie memorabilia and everything that goes with it.

Hey, pal, if I wanted to see loosely-strung together footage of people blathering about comic books with no regard for visual composition, I’d watch Clerks.

Last night he tweeted that the show would be on AMC, which recently announced plans for a stronger reality-show lineup. The pitch for comics fans also included a request for collectors. “It’s Pawn Stars for Fanboys, and if you have something to sell/trade/or value, we want you to bring it to us!,” the post added. [EW]

ANOTHER SHOW ABOUT PEOPLE SELLING USED GOODS?  MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!  Now I finally have something to DVR when I’m done watching Pawn Stars, Hardcore Pawn on TruTV, Antiques Roadshow on PBS, Auction Hunters on Spike, Auction Packed on Nat Geo, Auction Kings on Discover, American Pickers and American Restoration on History, and What the Sell? on TLC!  And this time with a clientele of nerdy shut-ins from suburbia?  This sounds like pure gold!  My only concern is that by recruiting our young, our able-bodied youths, trolling craigslist for reality show casting calls and dreaming of a career in graphic art sales (as well as “living and breathing the comic book lifestyle.” I mean, nothing against people who read comic books, but if you consider that a “lifestyle,” we probably couldn’t hang out), we’re endangering ourselves by shrinking our pool of future elites, our engineers and political leaders. I fear we may someday look back on this as a grave a mistake the likes of Ferdinand and Isabella’s expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pajiba’s edit monkey, Harry Hanrahan, has put together yet another awesome, eminently watchable mash-up/supercut of the best movie insults (part 1 here).  I suggest you crack open a cold one and watch all 10 minutes like I did (and by ‘crack open a cold one’, I mean of course make love to a corpse).  There are a ton of winners, and Full Metal Jacket will probably always be the high-water mark of movie insults, but this was a favorite:

“I guess there’s just two kinds of people, Miss Sandstone: my kind of people, and assh*les.”

That’s from Pink Flamingos, incidentally.  Anyway, I love a good insult, but a dumb one is just as good.  I could’ve watched this video with every insult dubbed over with “F*CK YOU!” “SUCK MY D*CK!”, a la that last Bobby Hacker video. “F*ck you, Private Pyle!”  “Suck my d*ck!”  “No, f*ck you!”

Additional trivia: Eli Wallach, the guy who played Tuco in The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly, is the same actor who played the weird whistling guy in Wall Street 2.

Read the rest of this entry »

I know this isn’t strictly movie related, but if you don’t want to hear about Red Shirt Guy aka King of All Nerds from the other day, you can get the hell off my blog.  Red Shirt Guy, who over the weekend shockingly revealed that he has a mild case of Asperger’s Syndrome, is now himself a World of Warcaft character.  As confirmed by lead designer Alex Afrasiabi on the WoW forums, “Wildhammer Fact Checker” is now a sidekick to the totally-not-dead Falstad Wildhammer, to accompany him through Aerie Peak in all of his duties as a member of the Council of Three Hammers (which I assume includes snortin’ cocaine and slaying vaginas by the dozen).

The announcement was made in pitch-perfect Warcraft fashion. And by that, I mean it showed up on the WoW forums, a bunch of people called it fake, and then the lead designer showed up to confirm that it was indeed real and made them all look like total n00bz.  Who’s a fake now, F@gzors?  PWNED.

I f*cking love Red Shirt Guy. This is my favorite story since Steven Seagal’s unique physiological reaction to arousal.  Red Shirt Guy is my write-in for governor.  Suck a wiener, Meg Whitman.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Olivia’s presence was necessary because we’re talking about geeks and San Francisco and I need to keep my manhood in tact.)

I’m not fully versed in nerd well enough to completely fathom what’s going on here, but I’m going to try my best. Apparently there’s an outfit called Operation Tron, part of a viral marketing effort to cram Tron Legacy into our lives. And tonight in San Francisco, there will be a special “Encom” press conference that will be “interrupted” during an appearance from “Alan Bradley.”

*hits asthma inhaler*

While the fake press conference begins at 8 p.m. PT, the “Flynn Lives” group will be passing out T-shirts (presumably XXXL) and other viral merchandise. The rally will take place at the Justin Herman Plaza on the San Francisco Embarcadero, in case any bullies or jocks in California were looking for the easiest score of their lives.

Tell it like it is Slash Film:

The Flynn Lives website launched last summer, dedicated to the idea that the character Kevin Flynn is still alive and must be found. It is the most professional-looking “missing person” website I’ve ever seen, let alone one dedicated to a fictional person.

Well that’s great to know. Thousands of children go missing every year and all along some dorks with great design skills could be out there saving them. Maybe if Soul Asylum had made the “Runaway Train” video about episodes of Battlestar Gallactica and Fritos, we’d be a safer society.

And just because it’s San Francisco, here’s my favorite Nancy Pelosi image ever.

Pelosi image courtesy of the Frogman.

- Burnsy