Easing You Into This

Editor’s Note: In case the date-stamp didn’t make it clear, this article was part of GF5’s April Fool’s Day Joke for 2008.

Because the changeover I announced last night was so sudden, I’m going to ease you all into the new format of GeekForceFive.com by spending the day highlighting stories which involve both members of the new Geek Force and the old Geek Force. Stay tuned. The first story of the day involves my old favorite band, Nine Inch Nails, and my new favorite musical act Hannah Montana.

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The New Geek Force Five

Editor’s Note: In case the reference to April 1 didn’t make it clear, this article was part of GF5’s April Fool’s Day Joke for 2008.

This is it, folks. This is the moment that you’ve all been waiting for. Starting tomorrow, April 1, 2008, I am going to finally come clean and be honest with all of you. Starting tomorrow, I’m abandoning all pretense, and I’m going to write about the five things that I really geek out about the most: Hannah Montana, Heidi Montag, Ryan Seacrest, Grey’s Anatomy, and Tyra Banks.

The time to get real is now, folks. It’s right fucking now. If you’re reading this via RSS, please do make sure to stop by the site to see the changes we’ve made. I think you’ll really appreciate the refreshing display of honesty on display.

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Live Action Simpsons Movie

Big ups to my pal Sara for pointing me in the direction of Filmonic’s casting ideas for a live-action Simpsons film. I’m particularly fond of the decision to cast William H. Macy as Ned Flanders and Ian McDiarmid as Mr. Burns.

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Reaching Inbox Zero

This afternoon, after catching Merlin Mann’s presentation on the Worst Website Ever for the second time, I wandered over to 43 Folders. I think I’d been to the site a few times before, for whatever reason, but I don’t recall ever spending a lot of time there. Anyway, one of the articles which caught my eye was the post on Inbox Zero.

I’m a geek for organization. I completely buy into the idea that, if only I could be more organized, I would be happier and less stressed out. I’d heard the term “inbox zero” before, a concept which is pretty much self-explanatory, but I had no idea how a person accomplished such a thing. The last time my work inbox was empty was the day I turned it on for the first time.

Then, I watched the video of the Inbox Zero presentation that Mann gave at Google in 2007. And a light came on.  Most of the advice that Mann gives could neatly be defined as “advanced common sense” (a term Mann uses more than once during the presentation), but it was all stuff that I just never did.

I used the remainder of my workday and the better part of my bus ride home implementing elements of the strategy outlined by Mann. And let me tell you what: I feel one hundred times better than I did this morning. I still have just about as much to do as I did this morning, but I have a clearer picture of what needs to be done.

If you have any problems at all with an unwieldy inbox, I can’t suggest this video strongly enough.

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Frat Pack Upcoming Movie Grading Guide

My brother-in-law Alex was the first person to ever use the term “frat pack” in a conversation with me, and I actually thought that he didn’t know what he was talking about when he explained that the members of the group included both Judd Apatow, who I think is a genius, and Ben Stiller, who I think is probably the worst thing to happen to American cinema in the last two hundred years (except, maybe, for Owen Wilson, who might be worse). So, I went home and looked up the term on Wikipedia. And sure, enough, Alex was not bullshitting me. There is such a thing as the Frat Pack.

And now, according to New York Magazine’s Vulture, there is apparently a definitive way to tell if a film featuring these fine folks will be any good or not.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is also written by an Apatow acolyte, Freaks & Geeks vet Jason Segel (3), who also stars along with Undeclared’s Carlo Gallo (1.5). Sadly, it’s directed by Nicholas Stoller (-2). We are promised wangs, “several scenes,” so let’s say three minutes (3). No big stars, but Kristen Bell is at least as proven an actress as Katherine Heigl (3). That gives us a relatively solid movie, with a total score of 8.5 — somewhere between Anchorman and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Not bad!

Any other Apatow fans up in hee-ah? What do you think?

[Via Kottke]

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