Imagine being in a crowd of people 200,000+ strong, and feeling completely safe. Not only do you feel safe, but people are helpful, happy, and holding up hilarious signs everywhere you look. There are people as far as the eye can see, and everyone is awesome.

This was the scene Saturday in Washington D.C. at Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear which drew an enormous crowd and was such an incredible experience to attend.

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Those of us who have enjoyed reading comics for most of our life have been blessed with a decade of comic book movies. By the end of next year, with the exception of a few DC headliners,  every major comic book character will have been turned into a major motion picture and licensing opportunity. We’re blessed… Except almost every one of those movies is cringe-inducing. (I’m 99 percent sure PTB doesn’t agree with this assessment, but bear with me.)

I’m not saying there aren’t nice moments in almost all of those films. I’m not saying I don’t line up to see most of them. It’s fantastic to see Superman stop a crashing airplane, but yet another Lex Luthor real estate scam? It’s moving to see the X-Men battle intolerance, but the wacky battle atop the Statue of Liberty to stop Magneto from turning everyone into a mutant? I digress… Comics don’t translate well into films largely because one of the major appeals of comic books is their serial nature. Three X-Men or Spider-Man films in a decade (1.5 watchable ones of each) cannot recreate that serial experience, but it’s been clear to me for years that a television series probably could. The problem is that the only example we’ve had to test this theory during last decade or so is Smallville…

At least until last night’s debut of The Walking Dead.

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I’m sure it’s not the best stuff on Earth for my diet, but I really enjoy Snapple, particularly the Peach Tea. Aside from it’s general deliciousness, I also enjoy the “Real Facts” included on the caps. I don’t know why I’ve been getting so many about cats lately (three in a row!), but the trend was broken today when I learned a group of jellyfish is called a smack. I don’t know if all of these “Real Facts” are actually “True Facts,” but thankfully I was able to share this jellyfish information with a colleague who had a disappointing fact about the numbers of times a rechargeable battery can be recharged.

So the other day I received a press release in my e-mail about a new Web Site launching for the band Rival Schools and a new album that they have coming out in March. Why? I’m not sure. Maybe I signed up for their mailing list back in like 2000 or something. Like I’d remember that. Still I have to admit it got me kind of excited and that excitement is all about hearing new rock from Walter Schreifels.

If you don’t know Schreifels, he was in pretty much every awesome band ever: Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Rival Schools (obviously), even Youth of Today apparently which if that was something I knew, it’s also something I had long ago forgotten. He’s generally credited with writing the first CIV record, which features a ton of awesome pop hardcore fun.

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If I only said one thing about this movie, it would be telling you to go see it. Yes, it is worth paying to see in the theater. Yes, it is worth paying to see in 3D. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.

Jackass 3D opens today nationwide. If you have been jaded by the 3D overkill lately, this movie is for you. Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Ryan Dunn, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jason “Wee Man” Acuna, and Preston Lacy are all back along with many more Jackass favorites to present you with non-stop laughing and a mockery of the 3D everywhere nature of movies lately. Read more of this article »