That’s right, it’s Friday, the 13th day of March 2009, which means absolutely nothing except that the week is finely over.  Maybe you’ve wondered or maybe you think you know why Friday the 13th is shrouded with superstition. The authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail certainly think they know.  
Holy Blood Holy Grail was originally published in the early 1980’s when it immediately caused a religious fire storm.  The book again gained momentum after author Dan Brown used it as the backbone of his immensely popular book The Da Vinci Code. 
The authors present a tremendously thorough account of the Knights Templar, the Prieuré de Sion, and the history of the Holy Grail.  Though it’s an arduous book to complete, this conspiracy theory will have your head spinning!

Written by: Greg Vavoules
Photos by: Artem Chakirov

 
You know it, I know it, and she definitely knows it.  The bigger the better, and if you’ve heard differently then you ain’t sportin the bigger or better.  A girl just needs some size when it comes to her morning coffee.  And that’s where Jumpin Banana busts in to put a smile on that weary face.  As the exclusive distributor for Paladone Products in the US, Jumpin’ Banana brings us the gigantic "Size Matters" Mug.

 
Pleo, a one week-old dinosaur by Ugobe, is an interactive robotic marvel and the newest member of your family!  He’ll listen to your commands and learn new tricks as he gets older.  At first he might misunderstand, so you’ll have to spend some time training him.  Sensory devices such as a color camera, sound recognition, and infrared allow Pleo to see, feel, and hear.  He might beg for attention or cry when he’s hungry.  He may even get scared or disobedient, so listen to the training tips and download new enhancements when you can.  Not intended for children under the age of 8.

With a sophisticated sensory system, 14 motors, over 100 gears, 8 touch sensors, and an orientation sensor, it’s tough to pull a fast one over on Pleo.  Pleo includes Companion’s Guide, Training Leaf, Pleo Identity Card, NiMH Replaceable, Rechargeable Battery and AC Charger. Pleo’s NiMH battery recharges in four hours, which provides approx. one hour of operation.

20.7â

I’m not sure how practical this is, but it’s extremely cool.  The Bookcase Door System from Woodfold offers a unique space-saving option from closets and pantries to safes and hidden rooms; can’t find a suitable place for your bookcase, just park it in front of the doorway! 
Woodfold’s Bookcase Doors are custom crafted to support up to 500 pounds, yet the heavy-duty roller system allows the bookcase to quietly open and close with a smooth easy motion.  You can tell a lot about a person from their bookcase!

The Pac-Man Plush Head from Namco is a soft, warm compactable hat, that is sure to bring a smile where ever it goes*.  Use the hat as a regular plush for decoration along with the slinky and Rubik’s cube, or wear it on the slopes to attract attention and keep your dome warm. 

If you’re a Pac-man junkie, check out more products from Club Namco, or go visit them at the New York Comicon and Wondercon; tell them "WAKA WAKA" and get $2.00 off your purchase!

*May not be appropriate for weddings, funerals, job interviews or dinner at Q-berts.

The most powerful action hero in the past 2 millennia!  The Jesus Action Hero from Accoutrements has posable arms, magical healing capabilities, and shoots lasers from his eyes…well not really, but if we say it long enough people will believe it.

If your faith is really strong, you’ll want to splurge the extra 2 bucks for the Deluxe Jesus Action Hero; God that’s awesome!

With a price to die for, it’d be a miracle to keep these God forsaken things in stock.  Each hard vinyl Jesus Action Figure stands 5" (12.7 cm) tall, comes with 3 wishes, and wheels for walking on frozen water.  Don’t think about whether it makes sense, just buy it because it’d be a sin not to.  Remember, Jesus died so you could masturbate!

*If you do not buy the Jesus Action Figure you will burn in Hell for all of eternity.  People who bought this also considered the David Koresh and Marshell Applewhite Action Figures.

Is there any other game you can feel so stupid at when you lose?

I never understood why the standard tic tac toe wasn’t a matrix of four or five, at least that way it wouldn’t always end in a tie; of course then the game would have to be called tic tac toe te tum or something like that.  Really, the only time you ever win is when you’re challenging an infant, a downy, or Keanu Reeves.

The reflective design of this tacky game features half X’s and O’s which become "whole" once they’re placed on the board.  Definitely an interesting concept from designer Shahar Peleg.

* May cause irreversible damage to your pride

Before I tear into this film with all the reasons why you shouldn’t go see it, let me first just mention that you should definitely go see this film*.  It may be the typical inspirational ballad of a stubborn old-timer that reaches salvation through an unlikely friendship, but a little cheese can be good once in a while; even if it is from Hollywood.

The fact of the matter is that this is a Clint Eastwood picture, so if you like Clint, you’ll probably like this film.  The message is all wrong, but who cares, when Clint’s at the helm.  Basically Dirty Harry retired, moved to Detroit, and changed his name to Walter Kowalski.

*Addressed to those who are not minorities..read on for plot summery & critical breakdown

Eastwood portrays Walter Kowalski, a hardened Korean War veteran who’s disdain for everyone and everything occupies the time he hasn’t allocated for home repair, throwing back beers, or polishing up his past which is reflected in the 1972 Gran Torino that he helped roll off assembly back in the day when a flourishing Ford Motor Company afforded the typical white suburban family the American dream. 

                 "Children today are tyrants.  They contradict their parents,
                  gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers". 

Every generation has it’s own form of expression and rebellion, whether it’s Elvis dancing on the Ed Sullivan Show, belly piercing, or bustin out a 2 Pac rhyme.  Walter Kowalski, perhaps like many approaching death, finds a little bit of peace in a fresh face for whom his built up resentment over the years is only stereotypic rather than personal; by the way, the quote above was from Socrates (470-399 B.C.). 
 
With an M-1 war riffle close at all times, Walt finds himself a hero of the racially integrated neighborhood after confronting Hmong gang members that spill onto his lawn during a night time scuffle. 

Not wanting anything from his immigrant neighbors except to be left alone, he reluctantly finds himself compelled to do what he believes is right, despite his long held prejudices.  This includes rescuing Sue (Ahney Her), his teenage neighbor, from a trio of young aggressive African Americans-

                 "You ever notice how you come across someone once
                  in a while that you shouldn’t have f@#ked with?
                 That’s me".

…what a great scene, even little Eastwood was in it. 

Battling his bigot judgement, but compelled to call it like he see’s it, Walt brashly dispenses unsolicited advice to both Sue and her brother Thao (Bee Vang). 
Walt looks at the diffident young Thao (who pressured by gangbangers, attempted to steal his Gran Torino) the same way he looks at his grand daughter that wants his car when he dies, or the daughter-in-law interested in the house but not the man who lives there, and even his son who inquires about his fathers afternoon in hopes of scoring some lions tickets. 

Though a bit out of character, but compelled by a moment of loneliness at the loss of his wife and a recent attempt by his son to shovel him off into a retirement home on his birthday (not to mention the depletion of his beer), Walt accepts an invitation from Sue to join her families barbecue.  It wasn’t long before Walt discovered he had much in common with his immigrant neighbors (even more than his own surviving flesh and blood). 
The story had a very nice progression thereafter, gradually breaking down Walt’s walled off past and curtain of bigotry.  Slowly the Gran Torino made it’s way from under the cover and out of the garage, until it was displayed at the foot of the driveway.  Thao referred to by Walt as pusscake, egg-roll, and Toad (which gradually turned into an endearing term as their friendship grew), was even given the car to use on his first date, a reward for his advancements in becoming a man under Walt’s guidance.

It’s not hard to see where the story is going, and when the Hmong gang retaliates against Thao and later Sue, Walt’s ugly past is back to haunt him. 
The old man decides to act against the injustice that plagues his new friends and the neighborhood that until recently he viewed as another victim of immigration chocking the American town.  

I’m not going to argue the fact that Mr. Eastwood has some great movies under his belt both as an actor and a director, but I have some qualms with Gran Torino, which was obviously an attempt to show the world that old school Clint can be gangsta too.  First off, if Clint’s setting out to show audiences that he’s down with the times, he needs to drop the 80’s parlor tricks.  It’s true that children might commonly chat up the obvious flaws of their parents at every chance meeting, but we don’t need the 20 second prolog breakdown of Walt by his two sons, especially when the first 10 seconds tell us everything we need to know; without words.  Second, if you’re going to punch through balsa wood and sugar glass maybe you could put some force into it, you know, make it kind of realistic… it’s 2009, not a 1985 MacGyver rerun. 

The end has an interesting twist, but nothing we haven’t seen before.  So, aside from a bunch of directing shots that rubbed me the wrong way and the typical Hollywood scenario, the film was entertaining; some scenes even had me holding my breath.  If the overall message didn’t sound something like the Grinch who has a heart after all and the inept Hmong are a step above logs on the lazy scale without white man guidance, I might have been able to swallow some of the newcomer acting. 

Of course Clint nailed the bitter hard-ass role superbly, maybe almost too much; his ironclad glare of contempt could freeze Medusa in her tracks.  In a complete juxtaposition, the acting of Christopher Carley (Father Janovich) and Ahney Her (Sue Lor) made me twist and turn in my seat.  Carley’s more comical lines were delivered well, whereas Her’s just made me cringe every time she stepped on camera. 

Clint’s inflammatory racist remarks together with memorable stalwart lines will most likely make you laugh:     

 "If I have to come back here, it’s going to get
  f@#king ugly"

When all is said and done, like the generations before us and the generations before them, the story is the same, it’s just packaged by Clint Eastwood and stamped by Dirty Harry; dramatized by the original song "Gran Torino" performed by the man himself in a deep raspy hum reminiscent of Rod McKuen.

Movie Trailer-