Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Cars Breakdown Part 1 of (many)

Pixar's Cars came out on DVD last week. What a treat. Another Pixar hit, yada, yada, yada. We can read all the press releases all over the place. Let's get to the good stuff. Sure, you can probably read everything I'm about to write somewhere else by now too, but I've got a little something different in mind for the packaging.

Let's breakdown the inside jokes in this masterpiece, one at a time. Upcoming articles will showcase the cars and their backgrounds, as well as side by side comparisons to their real life counterparts/inspirations, but today we're going to start small.

Keep in mind, I have no sympathy for you if you haven't seen the flick yet. There will be spoilers for sure, so go buy it now and watch it. I'll wait . . . . . . . . . . . Pretty good, eh? Some crazy good talent was used on this film.

Yet, I digress. So we find Lightning McQueen on his way to California for the big race around the 17:44 mark in the film. Pause it. If you timed it right you should be looking at this:


If you are a Pixar fan and you have seen with their animated shorts, this will look familiar.


These are the same pompous birds from the Academy Award winning short, For the Birds, part of which you can watch here.


Pixar does this a LOT, and we're going to track down as many as we can. They drop references to their past work in their current work, and it makes the films that much more fun to watch, over and over again.

Stay tuned. I'll be back with more detailed illustrations of the secrets of Pixar's Cars soon.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Nielsen's Top 20 Most-Watched Shows

Go Disney, it's your birthday. However, ever since my ex moved out, I haven't seen a single "Dancing with the Stars". I suppose I should look up who won.

(AP) – Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 6-12. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.

1. (2) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 22.27 million viewers.
2. (4) "Dancing with the Stars," ABC, 21.98 million viewers.

3. (3) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.83 million viewers.
4. (5) "Dancing with the Stars Results," ABC, 20.69 million viewers.
5. (1) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 20.65 million viewers.

6. (7) "NBC Sunday Night Football: Chicago vs. N.Y. Giants," NBC, 19.39 million viewers.
7. (X) "Dancing with the Stars Recap," ABC, 18.16 million viewers.
8. (8) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 17.57 million viewers.
9. (10) "Lost," ABC, 17.15 million viewers.
10. (6) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 16.8 million viewers.
11. (8) "CSI: NY," CBS, 16.78 million viewers.
12. (13) "60 Minutes," CBS, 16.23 million viewers.
13. (X) "House," (Election Night special), Fox, 16.11 million viewers.
14. (X) "CMA Awards," ABC, 15.96 million viewers.
15. (X) "NCIS" (Election Night Special), CBS, 15.44 million viewers.
16. (12) "Without a Trace," CBS, 15.22 million viewers.
17. (25) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 15.10 million viewers.
18. (17) "Cold Case," CBS, 14.77 million viewers.
19. (15) "Deal or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 14.67 million viewers.
20. (21) "E.R.," NBC, 14.56 million viewers.