What happens if you fight with a chicken?

… I mean, a real one, not a coward. Peter Griffin from Family Guy is gonna show us how to deal with poultry.

Indiana Jones IV: just another review

2008: an summary

So today's New Year's Eve, which means it's time for looking back at what happened in 2008, don't you think? To help me remember all that I rely on the Wikipedia entry on 2008. I just highlight some events, or else this blog post would be filled by reports on suicide bombings and other wars, coups and mass killings…

2008 was designated as:

• International Year of Planet Earth.
• International Year of Languages.
• International Year of the Potato.
• International Year of Sanitation.
• International Year of the Frog.
• European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
• The Year of the Rat (by the Chinese calendar)

I hadn't even noticed all that. I even think that the "International Year of the Frog" deserves being mentioned for its lack of concern from the media.

• January 1 - Cyprus, Malta, adopt the euro.
• January 21 - Stock markets around the world plunge amid growing fears of a U.S. recession, fueled by the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis. [SL: "Premonitions? Premonitions?"]
• February 19 - Fidel Castro announces his resignation as President of Cuba, effective February 24.
• February 24 - Raúl Castro is unanimously elected as President of Cuba by the National Assembly.
• March 29 - Presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Zimbabwe.
• April 8 - Privy Council of Sark dismantles its feudal system to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights. and the first elections under the new law will be held in December 2008 and the new chamber will first convene in January 2009. [SL: WTF?]
• June 12 - Ireland votes to reject the Treaty of Lisbon, in the only referendum to be held by a European Union member state on the treaty.
• June 27 - President Robert Mugabe is reelected with 85.5% of the vote in the second round of the controversial Zimbabwean presidential election. [SL: Come on…]
• June 27 - After 3 decades as the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates steps down from daily duties to concentrate on philanthropy.
• July 2 - Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces. [SL: Hearing non-stop news reports about the rescue and so on completely drove me crazy!]
• August 8–24 - The 2008 Summer Olympics take place in Beijing, China.
• August 17 - Michael Phelps surpasses Mark Spitz in Gold Medals won at a single Olympics, winning 8.
• September 10 - The proton beam is circulated for the first time in the Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, located at CERN, near Geneva, under the Franco-Swiss border.
• September 15 - Following negotiations, President Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara sign a power-sharing deal, making Tsvangirai the new Prime Minister of Zimbabwe.
• October 3 - Global financial crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law, creating a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets. [SL: The beginning of the end for the world economy…]
• October 9 - Global financial crisis: Following a major banking and financial crisis in Iceland, the Icelandic Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of the 3 largest banks in the country: Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, and Glitnir.
• November 4 - United States presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama is elected the 44th President of the United States and Joe Biden is elected the 47th Vice President. Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President-elect.
• November 22 - Frozen water is found on Mars. [SL: Useful when the Americans bring their Coke or Pepsi on the red planet…]
• December 6 - Riots spread across Greece after a 15-year-old boy is shot dead by a special guard of the Greek Police.
• December 10 - The Channel Island of Sark, a British crown dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism.
• December 16 - Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru. [SL: And what about the crystal skulls?]
• December 31 - An extra leap second (23:59:60) is added to end the year. The last time this occurred was in 2005.

These people passed away:

• January 11 - Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist, conqueror of Mount Everest (b. 1919)
• January 22 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor (b. 1979) [SL: a dreadful loss.]
• February 10 - Roy Scheider, American actor (b. 1932) [SL: "We're gonna need a bigger boat."]
• February 13 - Henri Salvador, French singer (b. 1917)
• March 19 - Arthur C. Clarke, English author, inventor, and futurist (b. 1917) & Hugo Claus, Flemish writer, painter and film director (b. 1929)
• April 5 - Charlton Heston, American actor (b. 1923)
• May 26 - Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1934)
• June 15 - Stan Winston, American special effects and makeup artist (b. 1946)
• August 9 - Bernie Mac, African-American actor and comedian (b. 1957)
• September 1 - Don LaFontaine, American voice actor (b. 1940) [SL: he was the voice you could hear in many trailers]
• September 26 - Paul Newman, American actor (b. 1925)
• October 20 - Sœur Emmanuelle, Belgian-born French nun (b. 1908)
• December 13 - Horst Tappert, German actor (b. 1923)
• December 24 - Harold Pinter, English playwright (b. 1930)

That's it. Join me on 31 December 2009 for a summary of the year!

Extended musical journey

Please listen to these two great unreleased pieces of music coming from the Indiana Jones an the Crystal Skull soundtrack by the brilliant John Williams.

Area 51 warehouse escape



Jungle chase extended version

Indiana Jones IV: alternate endings

Indy isn't very lucky:

"Howard the Duck" reviewed by the Nostalgia Critic!

"A long time ago a young filmmaker named George Lucas helped create a parallel dimension in a galaxy far, far away. It's a strange world, bizarre aliens and unbelievable creatures. A world that the sci-fi community will never, ever, forget. Okay the punchline is Howard the Duck… For all the strange things that George Lucas has done, whether it'd been [EDIT: "it be" instead] bad, unnecessary or… just downright racist, nothing compares to the weird cinematic bomb that he made the strange choice of producing Howard the Duck. And if you think Jar Jar Binks was bad… HE STILL IS."



"He sits around, drinking beer, smoking cigars and reading the latest edition of 'Playduck'. You know, A KIDS MOVIE!"

"There's no way IN HELL that I'm going to beat DUCK TITS WOO-HOO! I mean, what is the point? You are making a kids movie starring a cute little ducky and you start out with duck tits? Are you mad? What kind of creepy pervert thought that up?!?" I mean, this movie is rated PG, right? And this is considered PG material? Are you seriously telling me that showing female breasts is wrong but showing Daisy's knockers isn't gonna cause any psychological damage?!? I think that the people who rated this movie had psychological damage!

"The human world of the eighties!"

"I'm just gonna have this on stand-by, I hope you don't mind."



"Help! I'm getting my ass kicked by poultry!"

"The scientist continues to re-enact scenes from The Exorcist."

'I'm now one of the dark overlords of the universe…'

"And your mother sucks cocks in hell! Blalalallalaa!! On top of that he can also use his mental powers to do horrible insane things like assassinate table condiments!"

"The odd thing is that even after people leave he just keeps blowing shut up. I guess he just has a real hate for condiments and kitchen utensils."

"After the scientist changes into Albert Einstein's heroin-addict cousin…"

"Oh yeah, you will believe a duck can rock. I also believe that a duck can blow! This is the worst thing that George Lucas has made since… anything not… Star Wars or Indiana Jones related. AND EVEN THAT HE SLOWLY TRIED TO DESTROY!"

The Dark Jones

What happens when the audio of the Dark Knight trailer gets mixed up with Indiana Jones shots?

(S)laughter

Indy should know that a plane's rotating helix can be dangerous:

Ants!

The title refers to a track on the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull score by John Williams, "Ants!":

Niet meer dakloos in Utrecht

A couple of days ago I was telling you about my housing problem in Utrecht, because I didn't have one and I was really sick and tired of the Dutch housing system. However, I did find a room! I can't believe it myself! (Well I do, but it's just a way of speaking… or "writing", rather.) Let me tell you how I found it.

On Thurday I went to the Educatorium on the Leuvenlaan, in De Uithof (where most of the Utrecht University lectures are given except for the Law and Humanities Faculties) because all the Erasmus and other exchange students could obtain information about activities related to culture, sports, etc. but also the so-called "inschrijving bij de gemeente" and many other things. We also listened to a girl from Canada who told us about her stay in Utrecht and we were introduced to the ESN (for Erasmus Student Network) of Utrecht. On a notice board I spotted a short message on a sheet of paper: "Kamer te huur in Bilthoven. Graag bellen op (…)" or something like that. I called the guy and made an appointment on Sunday at two o'clock.

So I went to Bilthoven and met with Mustafa, who's about 25 years old and decided to let two rooms of his appartment to share the rent. He showed me the room (2 meters by 4,5, roughly), the kitchen, the loo, the bathroom, the living room with television and a dining room with a big brand-new fridge — so I won't nuke it. Most important of all: everything was clean — just as if Mr. Clean was a friend of Mustafa. We chatted for half an hour and we got on very well with each other. I told him about my housing problems and told him I was really interested. He then replied that I could have the room directly! Surprised, I asked if there were other candidates and he retorted that he preferred the "first come, first served" system. So later in the day I told him I'd take the room.

On Monday afternoon Mustafa came to Zeist, at Magali's to help me with my luggage and my camp bed, and we drove to Bilthoven, and then he showed me where the train station, the shops etc. were located, and after that I unpacked my luggage.

Here are some pictures that I took in the apartment:

– My bed and the radiator


Same thing, but from the opposite side:


– The corridor:


– The entrance, with the kitchen on the left and the toilet on the right:


– The kitchen:


– The shower, curiously without glass walls to contain water (as is the case everywhere in the Netherlands):


– The living room:


– The dining room, with fridge:


– What I can see from the front window:


Mustafa told me he didn't have an internet connexion yet, but there are several WiFi networks in the building, so I decided to "take advantage of them" because as you know I can't live without the Web.

See you soon from more news from Utrecht!


PS. I don't know why but I just thought it was appropriate to feature this "C'est la fête" song, from the French-dubbed version of "Be our guest" in The Beauty and the Beast. It's Daniel Beretta (known for being the usual French voice of Arnold Scharzenegger) who sings:

"Let's put a smile on that face"

Hello kids, it's time to watch a silly episode from Happy Tree Friends, this time featuring the fertility idol from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark:



Here comes another one:

Indy IV: the preview to be watched after seeing the film

The video I'd like to show you today is a movie preview of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's really funny, I assure you.

Silly experiments

This test being successful, one cannot say that they "nuked the train" - just to make a reference to the newly coined expression "nuking the fridge", originating in an Indiana Jones IV scene.

"It is used to denote the point in a movie or movie series, usually one with a pre-established tone of only semi-seriousness, at which the characters or plot veer into an over-the-top level of the ridiculous or incredible, thus leaving one feeling alienated from the intention of the film."

Such tests seem to be common place, as shown in the various experiments that scientists make to test the solidity of the flasks.

Harry Potter is the Dark Knight

Some funny stuff, as usual: someone edited clips from the first Harry Potter movie so that they correspond to the Dark Knight second trailer:



Another try, but with fragments from all the HP movies:



I prefer this one, though:



A bonus: a Harry Potter version of the Indiana Jones 4 trailer:

"Water, no thank you sir. Fish make love in it"

Please watch one of my favourite scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody) is talking about the Grail's diary written by Henry Jones (Sean Connery).

Elsa Schneider: He's given them to Marcus Brody.
Henry Jones: Marcus? You didn't drag poor Marcus along, did you? He's not up to the challenge.
Walter Donovan: He sticks out like a sore thumb. We'll find him!
Indiana Jones: The hell you will! He's got a two day head start on you, which is more than he needs. Brody's got friends in every town and village from here to the Sudan. He speaks a dozen languages, knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear, you'll never see him again. With any luck... he's got the Grail already.
Marcus Brody: Does anyone here speak English? Or even Ancient Greek? Water, no thank you sir. Fish make love in it… (…) My reputation precedes me.

Some of you may have recognized the late Denholm Elliott, who played in The Signal-Man, the television adaptation of Charles Dickens' eponymous short story.

Beware of the seagulls!

If you happen to fly a plane (why not?), never fly too close to the beach, you never know:



Haha! Owned by retired 007!

"Chuk-chuk-chuk-chuk-chuk!" is one of the best lines in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Another quote that I like is also said by Sean Connery, talking about his Grail journal: "I should have mailed it to the Marx Brothers..."

By the way, the film whose ending got alternated is Sky Captain (starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law), which I've never watched. Here's the original Indiana Jones scene:



"I suddenly remembered my Charlemagne: Let my armies be the rocks and the trees - and the birds in the sky."

I know I've already featured the following video, but I think it'd be nice for you to watch it once more:

"You built a time machine out of a car!"

Goldentusk, who made the Indiana Jones theme song which I featured some days ago, made several other theme songs. Today, I'd like to show you this one about the Back to the Future theme composed by Alan Silvestry. You might want to listen to the original version first:



And now, the parody:



Please (re)watch this Back to the Future rap which I featured last year:

"Rarely I practise what I preach, that was why I was born to teach"

Since we're in a kind of Indy week, I propose you watch this brilliant song parody based on the Raiders March theme by the god of composers, John Williams. Let's watch first a music video with fragments from the first three films.



Parody by goldentusk:

In-D-Day

Indiana Jones hit the screen today in Belgium, and since I'm one of his biggest fans I had to go and see the movie today. So I decided to take a break in this rather long and tiresome period preceding the first exam and I went to the cinema. I was expecting a huge crowd of Indy freaks, but it appeared that only two dozens of people had come! Anyway, that's not a problem.

I really enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I won't write a lot about it right now, because I'm running out of time and because I prefer not to disclose to much information about the plot and so on. I'd just like to say that this film won't appeal to people who have never seen the other episodes, for it's full of references and "Easter eggs". The plot was terrific, except that a couple of scenes were too unrealistic… Yet, this film was great and I'm looking forward to seeing it once more after the exams. If you liked the other Indiana Jones movies, go to the cinema asap!

I suppose most of you won't have the opportunity to go to the cinema before a month or so, and that's why I thought that listening to John William's great music would be fine meanwhile. I hope you'll notice the many hints to the other films.

Raiders' March:



Journey to Akator:



Finale:

Indiana Jones IV: the trailer (2)

The second official trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has (eventually!) been released. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.



More TV trailers are to be seen on the official website. I'm really looking forward to watching that movie. I'm so eager that I'll sacrifice an afternoon in my study period to go to the cinema on 21 May when it is released. (Some call this day "InD-Day"!)

Uncyclopedia's featured article: Indiana Jones.