SR Pick [Video]: The Brocial Network

Sometimes it feels like everybody has made a parody or mashup of famous movies -- even we’ve taken a stab at it with the Toy Story 3: Inception trailer. But a group of “bros” at Atomic Productions put together the most impressive trailer remake we’ve seen in quite some time. An ode to The Social Network‘s trailer, the group made a hilarious parody of college life as they see it with The Brocial Network.

In this parody, the filmmakers put maximum effort into properly re-creating the atmosphere and tone of The Social Network. Only this time it is set at the University of Texas and deals with…less impressive students.

The quality of The Brocial Network blows a lot of other parodies out of the water, but it isn’t perfect. It could use some trimming at times -- which may (or may not) hinder it from becoming the next massive viral sensation. It does deserve your attention as movie fans and their efforts did not go unnoticed.

Watch the hilarious video below. WARNING: Some NSFW language.

The parody is extremely well done, apart from a weak ending. The Brocial Network commits itself entirely to set design, wardrobe and color tones to make it feel like an authentic replica of the The Social Network trailer.

If you like their work, there is actually another movie parody that went live months ago. It turns the intensity of Inception‘s trailer into an original action film about abusing alcohol. Let’s just say these men are not exactly the most ethical filmmakers, but they know how to make us laugh.

Source: YouTube

View the original article here

‘The Onion News Network’: Faux News Show That Will Save The World

“Accurate, hard-hitting, with over a century of broadcasting experience, 407 channels, 9 billion viewers across 811 countries and cameras watching 80% of the world’s population, The Onion News Network is: news without mercy.”

Yes my friends, if you are a lover of humorous faux news than you surely are a fan of The Onion. If that beloved publication has been your go-to source for the reality of our world as reflected through a fractured pane of humor, then rejoice: The Onion continues its evolution today, from print to web and now web to TV screens everywhere.

Tonight at 10pm EST/PT you can catch the launch of the Onion News Network on IFC. Led by virile anchor Brooke Alvarez and co-led by her dainty co-host/touch-screen monitor expert, Tucker Hope, The Onion News Network (ONN) hopes to invade your television sets and reclaim the title of “Bestest Satrical News Show Ever” from such usurpers as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Expect to see blood on the news room floor.

While the Titan-esque team of Alvarez/Hope run FactZone, ONN‘s hard-hittingest news program, other sub-shows will also be offered by the weekly 24-hour news satire network. For instance, early birds can catch co-hosts Tracy Gill and Jim Haggerty starting America’s morning off with lethal doses of pep on Today Now!; “raven-haired fact machine” Andrea Bennett holds down the ONN newsroom; former nervous breakdown sufferer Jean Anne Whorton hosts the news magazine program Beyond The Facts; political intrigue ensues with senior White House spy/correspondent Jane Carmichael; reports from the field come courtesy of Brian Scott, host of the Internet news show Brian Scott’s Internet News Show; we get our fix of left/right/middle talking head mania from FactZone “first responder” panelists like Duncan Birch and Nanch Fichander; and news you actually care about is provided by local Onion News affiliate, WONN5.  If there is a better team of fascistic news people out there, the CIA had to neutralize them long ago.

As head anchor Brooke Alvarez told me personally: “The insanity has always been in news/journalism, we are simply capitalizing on it.”

As you have likely come to expect from this brand, The Onion News Network‘s TV show is wonderfully demented and hilarious. In the first episode alone there are a multitude of eye-popping “headlines” to get your belly rolling with laughter. The stories (complete with segue skits) encompass the following:

Teenage White Girl in Detroit Tried as a Black Adult in a School Stabbing Case.Kim Jon-il willing to suspend North Korean Nuclear Program for role in Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises.Continuous  coverage about an attractive ONN reporter held hostage by the Taliban who is being denied vital makeup and cosmetics.A Today Now! interview with a boring young girl who tragically survived a fire that claimed the life her firefighter rescuer.24/7 media stalking coverage of a history teacher who dared point out an ONN reporting error.A new California initiative that requires sex offenders to wear cutoff jean shorts, white tanktops and lightly-colored aviator glasses while in public.The Joe Biden band playing at the 2011 Super Bowl.Political analysis of Americans’ morbid desire to vote Sarah Palin into the White House in order to “see what would what happen.”A story in small town Illinois about a perfectly good car tire that was left behind a local Kroger’s.Suri Cruise barely escaping an attack  by yet another assassin from the future.A “Today In History” segment on the invention of the handjob (with a very special celebrity cameo).

If one or more of those headlines don’t make you laugh out loud, you may want to check your pulse.

L to R: Haggerty, Gill, Alvarez, Hope, Some Guy

Though it’s the team of scathingly funny writers supplying the headlines and jokes, the ONN‘s team of faux news correspondents are a pretty witty bunch. Alvarez nails the role of a news anchor diva perfectly, tossing out egotistical asides about her own greatness and ego-piercing insults about her co-workers with equal aplomb. Tucker Hope plays the dogged sidekick unflinchingly straight, while Today Now! co-hosts Gill and Haggerty nail the overly-perky demeanors  and inane “journalistic talents” of just about every morning show host that ever was. All in all, a solid cast of satirists who aren’t too hard on the eyes, either.

While these first few episodes of ONN do inspire more laughs (for me at least) than your average Daily Show episode, there are still a couple of questions in regards to this show’s chances at longevity:

Will viewers stay in engaged for 30-minute stints of what is essentially non-news?Can this show, which is much more on the side of comedy than news, have same cultural influence as Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert?Do enough people even get IFC to turn this show into a ratings hit?

The Onion‘s real strength (in my opinion) has always been the ability to deliver big humor in small doses. People could read an article here, an article there, derive maximum pleasure from the absurdist humor being offered and then go about their regularly scheduled business. A weekly half-hour news show definitely runs the danger of providing too much of a very good thing.

That ominous warning aside, upcoming episodes of ONN will feature some great material, including “Snowlocaust”, “Man-Horse Marriage”, the military court trial of a predator drone plane, coverage of the President Obama kidnapping, and an examination of “The Real America”. A a BONUS, check out a preview of “Snowlocaust” below:

-

The Onion News Network TV show premieres tonight, January 21, 2011 @ 10pm ET/PT on IFC. Let us know what you thought of the show once you’ve had a chance to see it, or spew your thoughts across Twitter: @screenrant.

View the original article here

Justin Timberlake Campaigning for ‘Social Network’ Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination

The Social Network was one of the best received movies of the past year—critically and otherwise—and it’s practically guaranteed a Best Picture nomination at the 2011 Academy Awards, if not the Oscar itself. You can also expect to see director David Finch, actor Jesse Eisenberg, and writer Aaron Sorkin to get nominations in their respective fields.

But what about the rest of the cast? What’s the likelihood that, say, singer-dancer-actor Justin Timberlake, who played Napster creator Sean Parker, might get nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category? According to The New York Post, Timberlake is bound and determined to get said nomination, to the point that he plans to campaign personally by attending Academy screenings and rubbing elbows with the Hollywood elite.

So says a source close to Justin Timberlake:

“He’s hell-bent on getting a nomination this year even though he has tough competition from his co-star Andrew Garfield. […] Sony is footing the bill for advertising the awards campaign, but Justin is also doing things his own way, including attending Academy screenings on his own and privately reaching out to award winners and Academy darlings Tom Hanks and Kevin Spacey for campaigning advice.”

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that Timberlake did a surprisingly good job as the human weasel (otherwise known as Sean Parker). But that’s just it—it was good. The performance wasn’t extraordinary. It wasn’t mind-blowing. And it certainly neither matched nor exceeded fellow Social Network cast member Andrew Garfield’s turn as Eduardo Saverin. There’s a reason millions of Spider-Man fans stood up and cheered for Garfield after The Social Network was over—he was so damn good, and likable, and charming, and down-to-Earth, that he assuaged nearly all of their fears regarding the casting of Garfield as the new Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. Just like that.

Again, I say, Timberlake is a good actor, but he’s not a great actor—at least, not in my opinion. Not yet. I can’t imagine why he’s so hell-bent on getting an Oscar nod after only a half-decade of acting (in mostly terrible movies, I might add, including Southland Tales, Shrek the Third, and The Love Guru). Everyone knows that when it comes to the Academy Awards, actors have to pay their dues and move up the ladder ever-so-slowly or else blow their chances altogether. I can’t imagine it’s a brilliant strategic move to go with a full-court press the first time you’re in a movie that everybody loves.

When reached for comment, Timberlake’s reps dodged the question altogether:

“He’s doing everything to support Social Network.”

Well, that’s a non-denial denial if I’ve ever heard one.

Recently, it was announced that James Franco and Anne Hathaway will host the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, which is scheduled to air February 27th, 2011 (nominations are announced one month prior on January 25th). Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake’s next film, Yogi Bear, in which he plays Boo-Boo Bear, hits theaters December 17th, 2010.

What’re your thoughts? Do you think Justin Timberlake deserves a nomination for his work on The Social Network? Or do you think there are other more deserving supporting actors out there? Let us know in the comments.

Source: The New York Post

View the original article here

‘Young Justice’ Premiering on Cartoon Network This Friday

Justice League Unlimited fans waiting for a spiritual successor to Bruce Timm’s work are about to be satisfied. Cartoon Network is airing a one-hour premiere of Young Justice, which follows the adventures of teenage counterparts to DC headliners Batman, Superman, Aquaman, the Flash and Green Arrow.

Based on the DC comic and similar fare like Teen Titans (not to be confused with the more goofy cartoon series of the same name), Young Justice follows the Dick Grayson version of Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Superboy and Green Arrow proteges Speedy and Artemis.

Fans afraid of a return to the kid-friendly antics of the last series to feature these characters needn’t worry: the six-minute preview from MTV’s Splash Page features a more serious art style and plenty of input from DC headliners.

While DC Universe mastermind Bruce Timm isn’t directly involved with the project (he’s busy on the new animated Green Lantern, set to premier around the same time as the movie), Sam Register of Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Greg Weisman of Gargoyles are part of the production team.

The series isn’t part of the former Justice League Unlimited continuity or any of the recent DC Universe animated features. To avoid weighty continuity issues and better focus on the younger characters, Young Justice is set on Earth-16. This should allow the story room to breathe while keeping familiar heroes and villains available for future episodes and arcs.

You can take a look at the trailer below:

In the pilot, the young heroes are set up as a covert ops branch of the Justice League, able to carry out more subtle, nuanced missions than the heavy-hitters in the JLA main lineup. The hour-long special looks to feature the reveal of Superboy in his 90s-era Superman clone form, to avoid conflicting with CW’s long-running Smallville. Unlike the Teen Titans cartoon and the various comics, Aqualad will lead the squad instead of Robin.

Young Justice premieres November 26 @ 7:00 PM, on Cartoon Network.

Source: MTV, io9

View the original article here

3G And WiFi Can Work Together To Ease Mobile Network Congestion

The abstract idea seems pretty simple. Whenever possible try to offload traffic to any available WiFi network. Easier said than done of course. And if there is no available WiFi – Wiffler uses what the researches have dubbed as “prediction based offloading” which determines when it is likely to be within range from a WiFi hotspot. If this period is less than an acceptable maximum delay period it waits, otherwise it uses the available 3G network. Not all data applications can appreciate this behaviour though – VoIP applications certainly cannot be used in this manner. But something like a mailbox sync wouldn’t really suffer with a small delay.  According to Mahajan, they were able offload data within a delay period of 1 minute.

This concept is further extended to ensure that when both are available simultaneously Wiffler divides the data between the 2 networks. It could result in substantial cost savings for the customer and network decongestion for a carrier. However, I wonder how thrilled they would be given that customer saving translates into less earnings!

For the purpose of the study, they used only Free Public WiFi networks – it remains to be seen how the concept would hold up when it encounters commercially charged and encrypted WiFi’s. Honestly, I hope it doesn’t rely on the Wifi networks being open because in the face of the Firesheep incident people should, and those in the know certainly would, think twice about using unsecured wireless networks. But if they are lucky, and the FCC is able to make good on their “WiFi on Steroids” promise it could certainly revolutionize data consumption on-the-go!

The great thing from our point of view is that even though we are yet to go anywhere near facing the problem of 3G network congestion – a possible solution is already in the works!

Let us know what you think.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed OR Email Alerts!

ArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArray

Related PostsIndian Search Results Indicate Wireless Internet Breakthrough Soon – Report2 Billion – Number Of Users Using The Internet By End Of 2010Curb On Bulk SMS, National Broadband Plan, MNP Coming Soon – TRAIBharti Airtel Ties-Up With ip.access For Picocells – Readying For MNP?BCG Reports 237 Million Internet Users In India By 2015 – Possible?

Categories: International, Mobile, News, Technology
Tags: 3G, Arun Venkataramani, Aruna Balasubramanian, Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi, data usage, fcc, india, Network Congestion, prediction based offloading, Ratul Mahajan, researchers, traffic, White spectrum, Wiffler, wifi, wifi hotspot, Wifi on Steroids

About the Author

3G And WiFi Can Work Together To Ease Mobile Network Congestion

At a time when we are still waiting with baited breath for large scale 3G services in India, there are markets around the world where the 3G networks are under more stress than they can handle. In fact a Cisco Report this year stated that the average smartphone user generates 10 times as much traffic as a feature phone user. No surprise then that networks in countries like the United States are crumbling under the excessive traffic. At this opportune time 3 Indian Researchers - Ratul Mahajan and teammates Aruna Balasubramanian and Arun Venkataramani are trying to prove that 3G and WiFi connections on a device need not be Mutually Exclusive. The project is called Wiffler.

Should their research ever translate into a commercial product/service it could go a long way in helping the average consumer use data services at affordable costs. Their research is summed up in a paper titled – Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi - a good read if the topic interests you. The basic premise is that a moving vehicle in an urban area will experience intermittent WiFi connectivity. Thus, ideally a user should be able to offload some traffic onto WiFi networks whenever they are available.

As the first part of their research they set out to do a joint survey of areas of simultaneous WiFi and 3G connectivity. They found that 3G was available 87% of the time as compared to WiFi’s 11%. Moreover, in areas of simultaneous connectivity WiFi had higher loss rates. The first part of the study was conducted in a student town called Amherst in Massachusetts. And then extended to Seattle and San Francisco. According to the researchers, they were surprised to receive similar results across 3 cities with vastly differing network usage characteristics.

The abstract idea seems pretty simple. Whenever possible try to offload traffic to any available WiFi network. Easier said than done of course. And if there is no available WiFi – Wiffler uses what the researches have dubbed as “prediction based offloading” which determines when it is likely to be within range from a WiFi hotspot. If this period is less than an acceptable maximum delay period it waits, otherwise it uses the available 3G network. Not all data applications can appreciate this behaviour though – VoIP applications certainly cannot be used in this manner. But something like a mailbox sync wouldn’t really suffer with a small delay.  According to Mahajan, they were able offload data within a delay period of 1 minute.

This concept is further extended to ensure that when both are available simultaneously Wiffler divides the data between the 2 networks. It could result in substantial cost savings for the customer and network decongestion for a carrier. However, I wonder how thrilled they would be given that customer saving translates into less earnings!

For the purpose of the study, they used only Free Public WiFi networks – it remains to be seen how the concept would hold up when it encounters commercially charged and encrypted WiFi’s. Honestly, I hope it doesn’t rely on the Wifi networks being open because in the face of the Firesheep incident people should, and those in the know certainly would, think twice about using unsecured wireless networks. But if they are lucky, and the FCC is able to make good on their “WiFi on Steroids” promise it could certainly revolutionize data consumption on-the-go!

The great thing from our point of view is that even though we are yet to go anywhere near facing the problem of 3G network congestion – a possible solution is already in the works!

Let us know what you think.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to our RSS Feed OR Email Alerts!

Categories: International, Mobile, News, Technology
Tags: 3G, Arun Venkataramani, Aruna Balasubramanian, Augmenting Mobile 3G Using WiFi, data usage, fcc, india, Network Congestion, prediction based offloading, Ratul Mahajan, researchers, traffic, White spectrum, Wiffler, wifi, wifi hotspot, Wifi on Steroids