New Extended Trailer for Star Wars: Rebels

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TK-421, what is your origin story? The public must know!

Lucasfilm and Disney XD released a new 2:27 trailer for their forthcoming animated series Star Wars: Rebels today. Presumably this is part of their ramp up to the San Diego Comic-Con where I'm sure a great deal of information on the series will be released. 

The series still appears to be aimed for a younger audience, and looks to be much lighter in tone than the Clone Wars series (especially the later sixth Netflix-exclusive season, which was particularly dark but absolutely fantastic). This trailer emphasizes the fun and adventure while stressing that we'll be seeing things through the young eyes of Ezra, who is pulled into the Rebellion Joseph Campbell-style. There's lots of great imagery and luckily, this trailer doesn't have any difficulty evoking that classic Star Wars feel, which was one of the biggest complains about the prequel trilogy.

Star Wars: Rebels premieres on Disney XD (which means if you're like me and on Dish Network, you'll be watching in glorious standard definition... gross) this October.

The Bacon-Wrapped "Danger" Dog (aka the Tijuana Dog) - Yay or Nay?

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They mostly come out at night... mostly. (Courtesy of LAWeekly.com / Gregory Bojorquez)

There's an interesting phenomenon in Los Angeles: any time a crowd of ten or more people is gathered on a sidewalk near downtown, near a bar, near a club, near a sporting event they appear...

...street-cart vendors selling delicious smelling bacon-wrapped hot dogs.

For a couple bucks, (usually open for haggle depending on how much pocket change you have left on you at the end of an evening) a fully-loaded dog, wrapped in bacon and topped with ketchup, mustard, mayo, peppers and onions is yours for the taking. And usually incredibly welcome depending on what type of debauchery you were partaking in prior to coming across this street cart oasis.

I used to eat the delicious and completely unnecessary treats more often, until the practice of eating a hot dog made from a small street cart was frowned upon by my significant other. Her concern (other than always calling them "gross") is that there's no telling what the dogs contain. Rats? Small kittens? Yoga mats?

Apparently they're also illegal. 

LA Weekly has a great article on the phenomenon and how they're illegal (and how many are calling for them to be legalized and sanctioned, which might help assuage any fears of what exactly it is that you're eating). According to the article, most of the vendors have been cited or even jailed for selling the late-night snacks. 

Where do you stand in the consumption, legality and/or overall deliciousness of the street bacon-wrapped hot dog? Sound off and let us know!

Thor: The New Goddess of Thunder

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One has to wonder if this means a digital re-edit of Adventures in Babysitting will have to occur? (Courtesy Marvel.com)

Hot on the tails of DC announcing a revamp of one of their most popular female characters, Marvel announced today that a change is coming for the mighty Thor: and she's not to be trifled with... an all-new female Thor will debut with a renumbering in October.

Writer Jason Aaron will be penning the story and Russell Dauterman will handle art on the new title. Thor: God of Thunder, which began with the Marvel NOW! restart will be coming to an end in September.

According to the Marvel.com release, Thor sounds like he's taking a long vacation and this new female Thor will be "more than just a temporary female substitute." The publisher is stressing that this isn't a parallel Thor ala She-Hulk who will run in tandem with the original male character, she will be the one and only Thor in the universe.

Whether or not it's a complete reboot that retells the character's origins, or if a storyline will necessitate the change remains unclear. One would imagine that more information including how the tag out/tag in will come about at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. But already there's been decidedly mixed reactions to the announcement of the change. It seems to be a running theme this week with character changes, how they're handled, and whether they are a positive or a negative.

Thor is a character that it's always taken a bit of motivation to get me interested in, I still haven't tackled any of the Thor: God of Thunder books, and admittedly the Cinematic Universe series of films were a pleasant surprise because my familiarity with the character is really slim to none. It'll be interesting to see how and where they take this character and the impact that she'll have on the greater series of Marvel books. And in my eyes, it's hard to get worked up one way or another over the news. 

So in summation of my apparent reactions toward character changes: Ninja Turtle Revamp: Nay, Batgirl Revamp: Yay, Thor Gender Change: Indifferent. And thus, my true nature as a fickle and unpredictable fanboy is probably revealed.

Weird Al's "Mandatory" Fun Comes Naturally

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Everybody MUST have fun, and they will like it!

Updated! 7/15/14 1:26pm - Added the brilliant video for "Word Crimes" below!

Second update! 7/16/14 3:49pm - Added another peach of a video for "Foil" below!

Fourteen albums later and Weird Al is just as sharp as he was back in the 80s. His latest album, titled "Mandatory Fun" (which also seems to have a title and album cover art inspired by one of my previous employer's lunchroom murals, which makes me giggle) is solid from start to finish. I can't remember a Weird AlBum that has given me so much glee with each and every track since Alapalooza.

No doubt if you were on the interwebs at all yesterday or today, you've seen the video for "Tacky", his spot on parody of Pharrell's "Happy". But here are some of the other offerings on the disc:

"Handy" - A send-up of Iggy Azalea (don't worry, I had to look that up) and her song "Fancy" which is the hard sales pitch for the self-proclaimed best handyman on the block. 

"Lame Claim to Fame" - A Weird Al original akin to "Dare to Be Stupid" that pays tribute to all those friends you have that have six-degrees of six-degrees of separation and use it for social status.

"Foil" - Probably my favorite track on the disc next to "Tacky" which is a clever take on Lorde's acclaimed "Royals" which begins with the practical uses for aluminum foil and then takes a turn to hilarious result. Update: The music video for "Foil" went live, here 'tis!

"Sports Song" - A marching band fight song that you'll soon be hearing clips of at sporting events to be sure. To put it in a rudimentary way, "We're the best and you suck."

"Word Crimes" - Which takes the Robin Thicke/Pharrell team-up and turns blurred lines into lessons in proper grammatical use. This song shall henceforth be used as the Still Playing with Toys style guide. Update: Staying true to his word, Weird Al has released the second video in as many days, check it out:

"My Own Eyes" - Would you believe that he's seen these things? Would you believe it if he said he saw them with his own eyes?

"NOW! That's What I Call Polka!" - Always the delightful track on Weird Al's offerings, his mega-mix of bubblegum pop songs mashed into one romp doesn't disappoint. Bonus points for Gangam Style working in a Jerry Lewis "Hey sexy lady!"

"Mission Statement" - Have you ever worked in a corporate environment and had to read the mission statement filled with buzz terms that sure sound great but don't make a whole lot of sense? Weird Al turns them into a beautiful and catchy Crosby, Stills & Nash "Judy Blue Eyes" melody. Value added synergy never sounded so serene.

"Inactive" - Oh Imagine Dragons, I bet you never thought your "Radioactive" single would be in everything from car commercials to stadium rock applications. Nor did you imagine Weird Al would turn it on its head as a tribute to supreme laziness.

"First World Problems" - How many are you guilty of, be honest? 

"Tacky" - Pharrell's catchy ear worm gets the Weird Al treatment, and if you haven't heard the song nor seen the video, stop what you're doing and do so now.

"Jackson Park Express" - Closing out the album is an epic seven-plus minute love story of a man who meets a girl on a bus, and the two read a little too much into each other's body language.

Overall a great album, one that kept me entertained (over two full listens) in morning traffic this morning and kept a smile on my face. Welcome back, Al.