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Avengers are assembling…

Posted in Dr Pepper, movies, soda with tags Dr Pepper, Marvel Comics, movies, pop culture, soda, sodapalooza, The Avengers on September 13, 2011 by Paxton

Behold, The Avengers in can form.

L to R: Black Widow (Diet Dr Pepper), Capt America (7up), Iron Man (Dr Pepper Cherry) and Thor (Dr Pepper).

I’m only missing Nick Fury who was found exclusively on a Dr Pepper Cherry can. But, damn, he was super hard to find. I never got him. Also there was, unfortunately, no aluminum support for Norton’s Incredible Hulk. However, there was a Mt Dew promotion featuring Ang Lee’s Hulk, but I tend to try and forget that movie ever existed. And since Hawkeye just barely showed up in Thor, then he isn’t represented yet either.

I wonder if The Avengers movie will have all new soda cans with everyone on them.

CT over at Nerd Lunch wrote a good Countdown to Avengers article with a look at the buildup throughout all the recent Marvel movies. Check it out.

As an added bonus, here’s the Red Skull can from Cherry 7up. How great looking is this can?

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18 Slot machines based on movies and TV shows

Posted in casinos, movies, slot machines, technology, TV shows, video games with tags casinos, movies, pop culture, slot machines, technology, TV shows, video games on September 8, 2011 by Paxton

I mentioned last week that I was going to Vegas with my wife to renew our vows with Elvis. While there, we spent some time in a few casinos. I’m not a big gambler but I love walking casino floors and checking out the other gamblers and the various themed slot machines.

Casinos are awesome. It’s like walking into an arcade back in the 80s. Lots of lights and noise. People hunched over lighted consoles hoping to get high scores. I love going to casinos. Like I said, I’m not a huge gambler, but I love looking at slot machines. They are the modern equivalent of upright arcade games. I’ve talked about my love for slot machines before and their taking the torch of the arcade machine.

Anyway, here are 18 slot machines I found that are based on movies or TV shows. You can click any of these images to see them bigger.

The Hangover – I’ll start with this one because it’s the most obvious. Expect to see images of tigers and babies on the reels. “Tootle-loo, mutha-f**kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Alien – As you can see, there are two versions of the Ridley Scott Alien slot machine. One slot machine has the picture of the egg from the theatrical one-sheet and the other has a picture of the alien xenomorph and includes a special Alien Hunt bonus.

Alien vs Predator – You got an alien slot machine, you also get an Alien vs Predator. Unfortunately, there isn’t a standalone Predator machine.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail – One of my favorite movies of all time. This slot was great because it had a ton of quotes from the movie, as well as clips and a special bonus round where you fought the black knight. There were even “hot spots” on the screen you could touch to generate a random quote or sound from the movie.

Star Wars Droid Hunt – This slot machine was pretty awesome. Lots of images and sounds from the original trilogy. Back in the late 90s, there was another Star Wars slot machine called Death Star Escape. It was cool because there was a bonus round that activated a model Death Star built into the housing that started spinning. Funny, I’ve never found a Star Wars slot machine based on the prequel movies.

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Review of DC’s The New 52 – Justice League #1

Posted in Batman, comic books, reviews, Superman with tags Batman, Cavalcade Comics, comic books, DC Comics, pop culture, reviews, Superman on August 31, 2011 by Paxton

Well, for those that don’t know, I’m off to Vegas tomorrow. My wife and I are renewing our vows for our 10th anniversary and there’s no better way to do it than to do it in Vegas by Elvis. So that’s happening for me this weekend.

I wanted to jump in today with a quick comic review. The first of DC’s “New 52” came out and I got my hands on it. It was Justice League #1.

Written by Geoff Johns and drawn by the awesome Jim Lee, this comic begins DC’s journey into Rebootville. I wasn’t for sure what to expect going into this. I was a little excited, a little apprehensive. I just wanted a good start to this whole thing. Plus, I didn’t know where they would begin. Will we see the origin of the JLA, or will everything begin further back and we’ll eventually get the full-fledged JLA. Let’s see.

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A collection of vintage milk PSAs

Posted in 80s, commercials, nostalgia, pop culture, TV with tags commercials, nostalgia, pop culture, TV, vintage on August 26, 2011 by Paxton

I loved milk commercials when I was growing up. There were tons of them and they were shown all the time. And there were so many versions of the ads that it was endlessly interesting.

So on this Friday, I’m going to show you a bunch of my favorites.

Let’s start with one of the most iconic. The one directed by Michael Bay. The “Aaron Burr” commercial.

Next up are the “Milk it Does a Body Good” commercials. These are the ones I generally think of when I think of milk commercials. There were two versions of these. The first was a series of musical numbers featuring kids and random images of things flying all over the place. Things like animals (cows, penguins and kangaroos).

Check out the awesome 80s randomness of this ad featuring a lot of kangaroos. Seriously, kangaroos on pogo sticks and tap dancing kangaroos.

Here’s the “cow on the moon” musical PSA.

…and here’s the penguin version.

The other version of the “Milk it Does a Body Good” PSA involved kids talking to someone about the benefits of drinking milk. As they talk, they transform into an older, taller, better looking version of themselves. There were even two versions of this ad, one in which the kids were talking to someone else and one where the kids were looking in the mirror talking to their future selves. All of these commercials are filmed in front of a gray backdrop that looks like a crinkled up curtain.

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7 Got Milk? ads featuring movie versions of comic book super heroes

Posted in advertising, Batman, comic books, movies, pop culture, Superman, Superman Returns with tags advertising, Batman, comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, pop culture, Superman, Superman Returns on August 25, 2011 by Paxton

I love the various advertising campaigns for milk. From as far back as the 80s, they’ve had some of the more consistently entertaining commercial and print ads ever. There’s just something about them I enjoy.

Everyone remembers Michael Bay’s “Aaron Burr”. Or the fun “Milk it Does a Body Good” commercials. Or the ubiquitous “Got Milk?” print ads. Classic advertising. I especially like the ones I’m going to show you today. They are all print ads for the “Got Milk?” or “Body by Milk” campaigns and they all feature movie versions of comic book super heroes. I love explosions of pop geeky culture like this. I found many of these while thumbing through old magazines I had in my garage.

Please to enjoy.

Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) – Two of the greatest Batman movies we probably will ever see. The Dark Knight is great, however, for re-watchability, I pick Batman Begins every time. I love the sequel, I really do, but when I want to watch a Batman movie I put on Batman Begins.

Superman Returns (2006) – I love Brandon Routh. However, this movie sucked. One giant missed opportunity. The lead was great and the effects were awesome. But everything else was wrong.

Green Lantern (2010) – This movie ended up exactly like Superman Returns. The lead was great and the effects were awesome, but everything else was a fumbled missed opportunity. Kudos for a great looking ad, though.