Mother of all fan films, The Hunt for Gollum is now on-line at DailyMotion. Watch it in full screen HD for the best effect.

“Above all I was so inspired by Peter Jackson’s trilogy – and jealous that he got to make it first! I loved the scale, the quality, the epic scope of it all and figured, hey, maybe we can do that too. We don’t have millions of dollars of funding (our budget is less than £3000) but we do have a huge love for the subject, a growing number of talented volunteers behind us and above all the determination to make it happen to a high standard of professionalism.”

What can be said? The quality of the production is amazing considering the cost and – after a few quiet minutes of exposition – the amateur production does all it can to mimic the big-screen quality of Hollywood’s most impressive trilogy.

The best part? They pull it off! With appearances by most every major character of Peter Jackson’s seminal films, excellent special effects, stunt work and professional film direction, this short film truly impresses.

It’s the first few hot days of summer arrived early this week and I’m loving it. I really needed the sun and some nice sittin-outside kind of weather.

Someone else who likes this time of year is obviously Gus, an English bulldog who just got a new pool of his very own:

Enjoy the sunshine!

Here are five 30-second “character profiles” from the upcoming move X-Men Origins: Wolverine. They are quick jump-cut introductions to the main characters of the film – Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), Gambit (Taylor Kitsch), Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), John Wraith (Will i Am).

X-Men Origins: Wolverine hits theatres May 1st, 2009.

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” – Thomas Jefferson

I haven’t devoted too much attention to the whole “tea party” movement going on right now in America. It always seemed cheesy and contrived, like too many of the gimmicks employed by the Right in recent years  (“Joe the Plumber”, Freedom Fries, etc.). I’ve always been of a mind that you beat the other guy with ideas, not fads and forced pop-cultural memes.

But what do I know? Turns out they had an inspired event recently – the Alabama Tea Party at Veterans Park in Hoover, Ala. Stephen Gordon has a good article on the whole shebang. But what seems to be getting everyone’s attention is the following speech by Stacy McCain:

The most anticipated trailer of the decade has finally arrived my peeps… here’s the red band (i.e. 18 years old and older only) trailer for Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno. And it looks good. Really good! Now you’ll be hearing people say how much more hilarious, and how much more racy it looks compared to Borat. And they’ll be right – it makes Borat look like an episode of Happy Days. This movie is going to be freaking insane. Bruno hits theaters July 10th, 2009.

And here is a video clip of my all-time favorite Bruno moment to hold you over until the movie is released, and to get you reacquainted with his fabulous journalistic exploits. Enjoy!

Article reprint from Popoholic

Following the new Apocrypha expansion for EVE, the best MMO game in the world, a series of new videos were released to showcase the game and the four playable races. Which one are you?

EVE Online: Apocrypha Expansion Intro

This is the new in-game intro for EVE Online, made using in-game graphics. It is part of the change for the new player experience for EVE Online: Apocrypha.

Minmatar Introduction Video

Amarr Introduction Video

Caldari Introduction Video

Gallente Introduciton Video

Never been a terribly big Alan Keyes supporter, but I have heard good things about him and had heard one or two sound bites before that impressed me. In this brief interview he hits the nail on the head so many times he could have built a picnic table.

There are a number of videos on science and philosphy I’d like to get back to posting on Merch. Here’s another from the late, great Carl Sagan. I’ve featured him before in a now-classic video, but it’s time for another visit with the man who brought science to popular culture.

Can anyone do it better? Very few people can match the passion and articulation of this great man who took 62 trips around the sun with us. What a shame to have lost such as this:

Yeah, it probably isn’t. But it should be:

Louis CK reflects on the marvels of today’s modern times and the jaded twerps who fail to appreciate them. Priceless at this time of year and when modern civilization is being blamed by the leftstream apologentsia for all manner of ills it never fostered.

Blame the schools and the Me Generation, who apparently fostered the Me First Generation.