Geek Force FiveCast 295: Jupiter Jack

In which ECC freaks out about the quality of the FM transmitter he uses to play iPod audio through his car stereo.

Worth Your Consideration #026

In no particular order, here are a slew of awesome links I’ve collected over the past week.

• Speaking of “awesome,” my favorite discovery from this month’s NH Media Makers meet-up was Dennis Lees‘ site Awesome Alternatives, which provides… well, it’s kinda self-explanatory, isn’t it?
• iJustine found this fantastic viral video that was made to raise awareness of breast cancer, and, while not particularly geeky, I definitely feel like it needs to be shared. I particularly liked how little awkwardness and embarrassment I saw. Everyone in this video just seemed to be having fun.
• Mel Gibson is set to direct Leonardo DiCaprio in a movie about vikings? That’s what AICN says is happening. And I, for one, agree with their assessment that this film “oughta be...something.”
• Nicholas Cage never got to play Superman (and here is why that’s a very good thing), but he is going to appear on-screen as the superhero Big Daddy in the upcoming film Kick-Ass, and AICN has a poster of Cage in costume and an amazing sequence of Cage training his daughter in the film to become Hit Girl. Neat, says I!
• Less neat: Tobey Maguire as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming film version of The Hobbit. I mean, I love Tobey, but he ain’t right for that role at all. Right?
• Kinda neat: the trailer for Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. I still love the Kevin Costner version—yes, go ahead and write me out of your will now—but I’m okay with seeing what they do with this.
• An uneven kind of neat: the trailer for the Clash of the Titans remake. Really, I’m not sure about this one. This trailer goes back and forth from awesome to suck about five or six times in the span of two or three minutes. But I do like this trailer better than the first, so that’s saying something.
• Neat? I’ll let you decide on this one: Rene Russo will play Thor’s mama in Thor.
• This one too: the new trailer for Alice in Wonderland, the Johnny Depp version.
• Definitely neat: Bryan Singer will return to the X-Men film franchise as director of the next movie in the series, X-Men: First Class.
• And now we need a neatalternatives.com, too.
• Moving on… Long-time Fivers will remember our posts on the McGangBang and the McNuggetini, but I think that even those of you who witnessed those monstrosities will be unprepared for the McDonald’s Big McSausage Egg Surf & Turf Mac.
• Now, to wash the taste of that out of your mouth—as if that would even be possible if you ate that thing—here’s an article about Tara Reid posing for Playboy.
• Hehe… did I just make you throw up in your mouth twice in a row? You’re welcome.
• If you’re crying now from what I’m doing to you, perhaps this will make you feel better: Woman Cries After Seeing Return of the Jedi. Seriously? I thought it was a rule that we only cry after watching The Phantom Menace.
• And, speaking of Return of the Jedi, did you know that Lucas wanted David Lynch to direct it? Do you think the girl above still would have cried if we’d gotten that version?
• Kottke calls Guitar Hero with 21,268 Christmas lights, “possibly the most American thing [he’s] ever seen,” and you know what? I can’t disagree.
• Slightly related (because there’s the music connection, you see): Mario Theme With One Hand Only.
• Also slightly related: Found footage: 6 iPhones almost make a full keyboard.
• Totally unrelated to that: Jorge Garcia just discovered the Hurley “dude” video. I love Jorge Garcia, and I love that he blogs. And, most of all, I love that we are getting closer and closer to the sixth season premiere of the show that made me love Jorge in the first place: Lost.
• I’m sure I’ve talked about Springfield Punx before—probably because the dude who runs it is doing a series of Simpsonsified characters from the aforementioned Lost—but I gotta mention it again, now that he’s posted Simpsons versions of Inspector Gadget, Penny, and Brain.
• And, last but not least (or, well, if you’re not an Apple fan, I guess it might be least): Adweek Media’s Campaign of the Decade is Apple’s Get a Mac ads.

Geek Force FiveCast 275: Canabalt

In which ECC geeks out about the iPhone game Canabalt (also playable online), which was introduced to him by Dennis Lees at the December meeting of NH Media Makers.

Geek Force FiveCast 273: Things

In which ECC geeks out about Things, the to-do list manager from Cultured Code.

Apple Joins AT&T in the Fight Against Verizon

Without naming names, Apple has released two new ads that take the fight to Verizon, whose Land of Misfit Toys ad (the one that attacked AT&T’s piss-poor 3G network coverage) kicked off the early holiday season’s most amusing and biting war of words. It kinda makes me wonder what’s coming next, and who, eventually, will land the knock-out punch.

Geek Force FiveCast 263: iPhone Apps

In which ECC geeks out about the Harry Potter Spells app, the Voices app, and an anti-buying guide from TUAW.

Geek Force FiveCast 257: AppPhone Gatekeepers

In which ECC discusses the iPhone gatekeepers who drove a Facebook developer to madness, and suggests that rival AppPhone developer better step it up.

Cast Spells With Your iPhone, Harry Potter Style!

A new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch emulates the wand-wielding action of the Harry Potter film franchise, and we think it looks mighty spiffy. The Leaky Cauldron was the first to point it out to us, and we thank them for that.

Verizon’s iPhone as Misfit Toy Ad

In this brief post about Verizon’s “Misfit Toys” attack ad, iPhone enthusiast Website First & 20 writes, “If Verizon wants to sell the iPhone in the future, I’m not sure this is the best way to go about it,” but I’m not sure that Verizon’s making any bad moves here. In fact, I think they position themselves rather well to be a potential iPhone savior. Nobody hates the misfit toys themselves. No, no, no. Who we hate are the people who made them misfits in the first place, the people who abandoned or abused them.

Verizon’s attacking AT&T here, not Apple. At least that’s what I think. How about you?

NBA Live Comes to iPhone

As sucky as I am at it, I’ve really been enjoying Madden 2010 for my iPhone. And, now that EA is releasing NBA Live for the iPhone too, I’m beginning to think that the device might totally eliminate my thirst for a gaming system of my very own. After all, back in the day, when I played games on a regular basis, it was Madden, NBA Live, The Sims, and Sim City. I can now get all of those games on my phone. Maybe they aren’t the full versions, but they all seem pretty damned close. And that, that’s exciting to me. I love having one device that does everything.

How about you? Do you play a lot of games on your mobile device? Or are you still a console person? And if you’re a console person, which console? Let me know.