Hijinks Inc.

The long awaited sequel to our widely popular first episode is finally available, you can either download it from iTunes or stream it after the jump.

As always feedback is welcome.

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What better time to write up a post than during a prep session for our latest podcast? I’ve been keeping an eye on the NBA playoffs, and was intrigued with all the struggles the Boston Celtics have had throughout the post season. Let me give you a quick breakdown:

They were the best team in the league record-wise to end the season. They had the best road record, and the best defense, two priorities if you intend to be a legitimate threat through the playoffs. They came bursting into the playoffs against a #8 team in Atlanta, a team they should’ve had absolutely zero trouble sending into their offseason. They proceeded to bludgeon the Hawks for the first two games in their home arena, then they went to Atlanta, and got destroyed. This trend proceeded through the entire first round, with the home team winning each game decisively and the Celtics advancing in 7 games.

Advancing to the 2nd round brought Lebron James and the Cavs to town. Boston completely owned King James for games 1 and 2… in their home arena… and then got used when the Cavs played at home. Again, this whole series went along those lines with the home team winning each game, and Boston advanced in 7 games to play Detroit.

Never before has a team been so dominating in the regular season, and had a situation like this happen in the playoffs. They look like an unstoppable force at home, and they don’t look like they belong in the playoffs on the road. But, and I only say this to bring this post back full circle, they have advanced to the conference finals, as was predicted, and at least for now, all is right with the sports world!

I figure that probably the only people that actually read some of these articles are our mom’s, so it’s only right to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. Thanks mom’s for putting up with all of our sarcastic remarks growing up, all of our moronic ideas (and the friends that gave them to us!), and all of our stupidity growing up. You’re the best!

Ok, I’ll admit, I don’t know ANYTHING about this movie. This picture of Rainn Wilson rocking out is the first I’ve seen or heard of it. But apparently it’s called The Rocker and a new trailer is up over at Yahoo. I just watched the trailer… and this movie has officially been added to my list of movies I’d like to see this summer.

I read this over at Cinematical in an article by Erik Davis, he says it about as good as I could, so I’ll just let him to the honors:

Not for nothing, but this could be the oddest piece of movie marketing I’ve ever seen. So we already know there’s a petition out there to stop Uwe Boll from making films, and this came about after the infamous director told FEARNet that he’d quit making films if one million people signed a petition. For about a week or so, a number of people tried to capitalize off the dude’s ridiculous antics, and Boll even viewed the whole thing as pretty good (and free) press since his new film Postal was debuting on May 23.

Cut to today: Cinematical received a press release in our inbox letting us know that Stride Gum is now “supporting the efforts of StopUweBoll.org in their attempt to convince famed film director Uwe Boll to stop making video game-based films.” Oh yes, Stride Gum. Makers of … gum. And if one million people sign this petition by May 23rd (opening day for Postal), then all one million folks will receive a digital coupon for a free pack of gum. Wait, I don’t know if you were paying attention just then — I said a FREE PACK OF GUM!

As Michael Kelso would say… “BURN!!!”

…that is the question.

So I was running late to work last week, on a day that I really couldn’t be late, and of course, that was the day I got a speeding ticket. Now, I haven’t been ticketed for a long, long time so I qualify for STOP class. But the ticket was for only $69. STOP class is $75, and will cost me a Saturday, of which I don’t have many available.

I’ve never actually gone to court for one of these, but does it work? Will I actually have a chance to get out of my ticket if I go? I had a friend tell me that alot of times the cops don’t go, and if they aren’t there, you can’t get charged. Which makes sense when you think about it. What about those speed traps, a month later, do those cops go sit in court all day long and wait to see if anyone shows up?

I’ve also heard this interesting theory. I was told that if you send in your payment for the ticket, plus an extra $5 or so, they end up sending you a check back for the overpayment. If you were to then throw away the overpayment check, the ticket doesn’t go onto your record as a citation, but rather as an incomplete transaction. What?

That can’t really work can it? Well, we’re about to find out ladies and gentlemen because I am writing and sending a $75 check to those lovely people down on that county court. Keep your fingers crossed.

What do you think I should do? Let me hear about it in the comments.

I am Iron Man. Those could be the lyrics of a certain Black Sabbath song, or maybe a little quip from Tony Stark. Or maybe both. You’ll have to go see the movie to find out for sure I guess.

And that’s exactly what I did last night. In a bit of a hasty decision, I ended up going to see the movie and honestly, had mixed expectations. It looked like it could be good, but I wasn’t expecting TOO much (if you’ve ever heard me talk about the upcoming Dark Knight movie, you know I’ll probably be disappointed by the movie because the expectations are simply through the roof). Comic Book movies are usually good to go into with lower expectations, because as good as some of them have been, some have been downright painful.

But which did Iron Man end up being? Find out after the jump Read More…

Fred was supposed to post this, but he flaked. Oh well, I’ll let him redeem himself by posting the show notes.

I present to you with very little fanfare, the debut episode of the Hijinks Inc. Podcast! You can listen below, or subscribe via iTunes. To subscribe in iTunes, click the Advanced menu, then select Subscribe to Podcast and enter http://hijinksinc.com/podcasts/pod.xml.

Feedback is welcome and appreciated!

http://hijinksinc.com/podcasts/ep1_2008.mp3

This is what Mario would look like if he was transformed into a real person. The people over at Pixeloo have taken it upon themselves to “untoon” some of the most famous cartoons, and are taking suggestions. Some of them were better than others (and Homer is just plain freaky if you ask me). More pictures, and a ‘making of’ video after the jump.
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Maybe I spoke to soon! Yesterday I posted about the presidential candidates and how they have put a damper on the pride that is being an American citizen. Well this story from the AP lets me know that the American people know where it’s at:

With fears of a recession growing, many Americans are cutting back on recreation — planning shorter vacations, eating out less often, staying home instead of going to the movies.

But they haven’t stopped buying video games: Sales jumped 57 percent in March compared with the same month last year.

“You’d never know that the U.S. economy was under distress by looking at the video games industry sales figures,” said analyst Anita Frazier of the NPD Group, the research firm that compiles those numbers.

Nintendo once again led the way, selling 2.7 million copies of “Super Smash Bros. Brawl.” And sales of Nintendo’s Wii jumped, as the company finally seemed able to get an adequate supply of the console into stores.

With Nintendo’s “Mario Kart Wii” and Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto IV” still coming in April, analysts expect players to keep spending. And if consumer spending is the engine that drives the economy, gamers may be the engineers who keep the whole thing from derailing.

That’s right, gas is either nearing or surpassed it’s all time high (depending on where you’re located), and everything else seems to be going downhill… but never let us forget the importance that is gaming!! This is just one extra reminder that I have just 1 more week until GTA is released, followed by the many hours of eye numbing madness that will ensue! Can’t wait!