Monsterpiece Theater is a Sesame Street segment parodying Masterpiece Theater (which is now known just as Masterpiece). Monsterpiece Theater has been running since 1982; it's hosted by Cookie Monster (actually, Alistair Cookie), and it's brilliant. Although somehow I don't remember seeing this as a kid, there's a TON of awesome Monsterpiece segments on YouTube. Enjoy! Hamlet "It don't get classier than this." Featuring Mel Gibson. Chariots of Fur It's not often that you see muppet... READ ON

Star Wars: Uncut is a web project in which 473 people each contribute 15 seconds of footage for a complete, shot-for-shot remake of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Participants' remakes range from cartoons to Lego stop-motion, and there's even a segment using only dogs. The producers have released roughly five minutes' worth of footage, and it's a real treat -- silly and charming, with a new style every fifteen seconds. Check it out: Star Wars Uncut "The Escape" from Casey Pugh on Vimeo. Full... READ ON

I finally saw The Wrestler this weekend, and it was great. One little detail jumped out at me, though -- in one scene, the eponymous wrestler plays a Nintendo game with a neighborhood kid. The game is based on the character in the movie, and appears to be a real mid-80's NES game, but it can't be, because the wrestler character (Randy "The Ram" Robinson) is fictional. But in this scene they're playing the game, executing moves like the "Ram Slam" on each other. What? How did they do that? It turns... READ ON

Jeremy Bernstein (a professor of physics and occasional journalist) brings us a nice recollection of playing chess with Stanley Kubrick, covering the Fischer/Spassky chess match for Playboy using a pseudonym, and ultimately the Deep Blue match (in which IBM's chess-playing computer beat Garry Kasparov) which was presaged by a scene in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is a quick, delightful read -- you should check it out if you're interested in chess, Kubrick, or recent history. Here's a snippet:... READ ON