I caught the delightful documentary, John Wooden: Values, Victory featuring the Wizard of Westwood on Netflix, the other night. Despite growing up in a Trojan household, I wish I’d had the opportunity to learn from Mr. UCLA Basketball, himself, while he was still teaching.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

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The closer we get to May 26th, the more excited I am for the return of Arrested Development. And as anxious as I am to see what the Bluths have been up to after their seven year hiatus (the show was canceled), I’m equally as excited to see which of their many amazing guest-stars will be returning with them.

Here are the seven guest characters I most hope return to season four of Arrested Development.

1. Liza Minelli as Lucille Austero

Austero, AKA: Lucille Two, was Lucille Bluth’s chief social rival and Buster’s vertigo-suffering girlfriend. Will she be looking to reunite with her one-handed, former flame or will she still be tied up with Stan Sitwell?

2. Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn

Winkler as the Fonz was the epitome of ‘50s cool in the ‘70s—quite the opposite of the inept and clearly out of his league, milquetoast who served as the Bluth family attorney. Will the Bluths stick by Barry or will they rehire Bob Loblaw (I read his law blog)?

3. Amy Poehler as The Bride of G.O.B.

I don’t remember Poehler’s character ever having a name on the show—if she did G.O.B. sure didn’t remember it (I blame too many ruffies). Whatever it was, she was a force of chaos to be reckoned with whenever she made an appearance. In real life Poehler and Arnett split last year, but maybe the show can bring them back together if only for a few episodes.

4. Steve Ryan as J. Walter Weatherman

J. Walter Weatherman was the George Bluth’s one-armed employee that he would often use in elaborate schemes to teach his kids a lesson. These lessons always ended with Weatherman’s prosthetic arm being ripped off in dramatic fashion. Then came the moral of the lesson—usually something along the lines of “And that’s why you always leave a note!” What lessons would the eldest Bluth have him teach this time around?

5. Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Maggie Lizer

On a show full of liars, Lizer was arguably the biggest. She wasn’t blind and Michael never got her pregnant and neither did the two cops whose baby she was supposedly carrying. What whoppers could she have possibly concocted over the last seven years? I hope we get the chance to see.

6. Carl Weathers as Carl Weathers

The former Apollo Creed is the star of over thirty movies and served as Tobias Fünke’s acting coach and mentor. Weathers seldom taught Tobias much about the actual business of show, but made up for it by showing him the finer points scoring free food from restaurant dumpsters. What nuggets of wisdom would he share now?

7. Charlize Theron as Rita Leeds

In my favorite storyline of the entire series, Theron played Michael’s love interest, Rita. She was as lovely as she was cerebrally challenged. She wasn’t the notorious Mr. F, but instead turned out to be a Mentally Retarded Female (MRF). I don’t know if or how they could bring her back, but I’d love it if they did—tiny teddy and all.

One thing that really set Arrested Development apart during its initial run was the way that they were able to consistently tie in terrific cameo appearances and enhance the story. I hope they can do it again.

Who do you hope makes a stop at the banana stand this season? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are courtesy of the Arrested Development Wiki.

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• Arrested Development Easter Eggs on Netflix (slightlyinsightful.com)
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May the 4^th be with you! Today, Star Wars geeks everywhere will be cracking bad jokes and waxing nostalgic about how much better the original trilogy was than the prequels. And on this special day I would like to remind everyone that Han shot first.

If you’ve never seen the original theatrical release of the first Star Wars film, then you might remember Han’s cantina encounter with Greedo unfolding something like this …

Image via Wikipedia

Fortunately, my point is reinforced on the box art for the Micro Machine Star Wars Cantina playset which I stumbled across in my parents’ attic.

Notice, a single shot fired by Solo—not a defensive or counter shot following an exchange from the green-skinned bounty hunter. We all know that toys are incapable of lying, so, there’s your proof.

Do you think it matters that/if Han shot first or in self defense? Why or why not? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

They (Fox) made a huge mistake and now Netflix is set to prove that there’s still plenty of gold to be mined by the show’s incredible ensemble and writers. Unless you’ve been living under a banana peel then you already know that Arrested Development is coming back in a big way.

Netflix hasn’t been shy about promoting the fact that they are resurrecting AD. Starting May 26^th, subscribers will be able to stream all 15 episodes of the new season.

I recently discovered that the Netflix site is crawling with Arrested Development themed Easter eggs. Most of them are related to fake shows that were referenced during the series’ brief run. Here are a few of my favorites.

Scandalmakers

In this edition of “true stories, ripped from the headlines” Tobias starred as George, Sr. while Dave Attel portrayed Tobias. This episode highlighted the Bluth family’s fall from grace.

World’s Worst Drivers

Lucille was featured on this reality series featuring the worst drivers in—you guessed it—the world. That she regularly drove while intoxicated and/or under the effects of narcotics may have been a contributing factor.

El Amor Prohibido

The title of this Novela, or Spanish language soap opera, means “the forbidden love”. This is exactly what was going on between Michael and the star of the show, Marta, who just happened to be dating his hermano, GOB.

Franklin Comes Alive

GOB and his extremely un-PC puppet, Franklin Delano Bluth, sing, tell jokes, and manage to offend everyone in so doing. This could be why Marta was keen on ditching him for Michael (“Who is this hermano?”).

Boyfights (or Lucha de Muchachos)

George, Sr. used to egg the boys on until they’d fight. He filmed their fights and sold VHS tapes outside the US.

One last thing …

When you rate Arrested Development online you don’t rate it in stars. Instead you use bananas. After all, “there’s always money in the banana stand (wink, wink).”

In closing, here’s a clip from the upcoming and final season of AD

“No Smoking”

Have you managed to find any other Easter eggs on Netflix (I’m counting at least five more)? If so, sound off in the comments below.

All images in this post are from Netflix, unless otherwise noted.

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I know for a fact that Batman, Captain America, and the Flash all feature prominently in the story.

Want a sneak peak? Check out the picture below.

Unfortunately, it looks like there’s not a lot of budget which means they’re gonna have to skimp on fancy sets, costumes, and visual effects. Big name actors are definitely out. The entire production is being shot somewhere in Mexico.

Apparently, this is the crossover we deserve, not the one we need. Sorry for disappointing y’all.

I don’t think we’ll ever see a real DC vs. Marvel movie. But, if we did, what would it look like? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

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When I saw the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge yesterday, my mind immediately went into autocomplete mode and Up became Superman’s familiar exclamation:

The Man of Steel turned 75 earlier this week and as such he’s been on my mind. Yesterday, I stumbled across a few boxes of old comics at my parents house and I took some pictures of the coolest comics featuring the Big Blue Boy Scout that were there. Here’s what I found …

World’s Finest Comics v1 #69

Superman has been teaming up with Batman for the better part of their collective history. I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve had almost enough grim & gritty super-hero movies. I’m secretly hoping that one day we’ll get to see a buddy-cop style movie featuirng the duo.

Superman v1 #162

Long before Elseworlds, the Last Son of Krypton had a long line of “What if?” type stories. Super-hero speculative fiction? Count me in!

Justice League of America v1 #63

Right, like anyone needed convincing that Superman was the most powerful member of the Justice League. Is he stronger than everyone else on the team (put together)? Most definitely. Is he faster than the fastest man alive—the Flash? Check. Is he capable of space flight like the GL? Oh, yeah!. Can he hold his breath underwater indefinitely and communicate with marine life — um, who cares?

Superman v1 #167

An awesome super-hero deserves equally awesome super villains. The man in the blue suit and red underwear (boots and cape) had them in spades. But, none were more deadly than Luthor and Brainiac. While they couldn’t match him physically they forced Kal-El to outsmart them—which was never a small feat.

Adventure Comics v1 #356

For decades, Adventure Comics chronicled the (you guessed it) adventures and shenanigans of a young Superboy and, on occasion, his time-traveling super-pals, the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Ever the symbol of “truth, justice, and the American way”, the Man of Tomorrow continues to inspire us. Here’s to 75 more years!

This post is a part of the ongoing WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge series.

Want to participate in the challenge? Head on over to The Daily Post and follow the instructions below.

1. Each week, [they] provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.
2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use a “postaday2013” or “postaweek2013” tag.
3. Subscribe to The Daily Post so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements. Sign up via the email subscription link in the sidebar or RSS.

Now, take a picture that captures this week’s theme and post a link to it in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, but are © DC Comics unless otherwise noted.

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I’m sure that all of the teachers up for Live’s Annual Top Teacher are great and all, but none of them are more deserving to win—in my humble, but completely biased opinion—than (my sister-in-law,) Suzette Steward.

Suz teaches children with special needs, and they are, in a very literal sense, her life. When she’s not teaching them at school she’s working them out at the gym or babysitting them to give their parents a much needed break.

You know those fabulously long summer breaks that teachers get each year? Suzette has not once taken one. She spends all summer (each and every year) running camps where her kids can ride canoes, go down a zipline, dance, make crafts, etc.

Still need convincing? Read what one of her student’s parents said about here here.

Voting closes Monday, April 15^th, so head on over to the Live with Kelly and Michael site to vote for Suzette, today.

All images appear courtesy of Suzette Coates’ Facebook unless otherwise noted.

Elder Holland will be speaking this weekend during the semi-annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. I’ll be watching at home in 1080p. Will you be tuning in?

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted. Quote above from talk titled How Do I Love Thee? from a BYU devotional dated 15 February, 2000.

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Modern Windows systems aren’t nearly as awful as they used to be. They even look … OK (still not as nice as a Mac). However, it’s just as easy as ever to play a good old fashioned April Fool’s Day prank on an unsuspecting PC user.

Sneak over to your victim’s computer when they’re not looking, press the Control, Alt, and Down Arrow keys at the same time and voilà! Their screen’s display will have rotated 180 degrees—effectively flipping it upside down.

Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy alternative to this prank for Mac users. But, you can always mess with a Mac geek’s AutoCorrect settings or invert their system colors if you feel the need to pull a prank on a member of the cult of Mac.

No need for your hapless PC lover to panic though, pressing the Control, Alt, and Up Arrow keys at the same time will revert the screen to normal.

What pranks will you be pulling this year? Sound off in the comments below.

All images are from my flickr, unless otherwise noted.

Growing up in the 90s, one of the coolest albums I ever bought was DGC Rarities Volume 1. I played the heck out of that thing! Through the magic of the Internet I recently re-discovered this awesome compilation and now, nearly 20 years later, it’s one of my favorite things.

Released in 1994, it was very much a product of its time—full of grunge and college radio tunes by some of the biggest (and some of the most obscure) bands of the era.

Chock full of covers, B-sides, and demos, DGC Rarities featured some of my favorite songs of all time. This album is worth a listen for the inclusion of Pay to Play by Nirvana alone (released under the name Stay Away with updated lyrics on the classic Nevermind), but there’s much more to enjoy if you’ve got the inclination.

A complete track listing is provided below in case you need any additional convincing.

1. Teenage Fanclub, Mad Dog 20/20
2. Nirvana, Pay to Play
3. Weezer, Jamie
4. Cell, Never Too High
5. Hole, Beautiful Son
6. Beck, Bogusflow
7. Sonic Youth, Compilation Blues
8. that dog., Grunge Couple
9. Counting Crows, Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)
10. The Posies, Open Every Window
11. Sloan, Stove/Smother
12. St. Johnny, Wild Goose Chasing
13. Murray Attaway, Allegory
14. The Sundays, Don’t Tell Your Mother

You can download DGC Rarities from Amazon, Google Play, or iTunes for under $10. At less than a buck per track for the entire collection of 14 songs, it’s a steal.

Sadly, there never was a DGC Rarities Vol. 2, but if it had been released, which songs do you think would have made the cut? Sound off in the comments below.

Album art courtesy of Geffen Records