Ferrell sucks, there I said it

Has Will Ferrell followed the steps of Adam Sandler as being one the most famous people ever, and then crashing back to earth with an incredible flop? You can't really argue with that considering his latest movies which have received critical pans and bombed at the box office. Now Forbes has named him the most overpaid actor in show business.

Looks like "Land of the Lost" has earned star Will Ferrell the dubious distinction of being the most overpaid actor in show business, according to the list makers at Forbes magazine.

Forbes looked at 100 top actors based on their widely released films over the past five years. It factored in the production costs of those movies against how much boxoffice, DVD and other revenue they generated in order to come up with an operating income for each film, which it then compared with the salaries the stars earned.

In Ferrell's case, the actor's films earned just $3.29 for every dollar he was paid. That's a pretty poor contrast to the $160 that Shia LaBeouf's movies returned to the studios for every buck he earned.

That figure, by the way, put LaBeouf -- who starred in "Transformers" in 2007 and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" in 2008 -- at the top of Forbes list of Best Actors for the Buck. Also included on that list were Robert Downey Jr., Christian Bale and Dennis Quaid.

"Land of the Lost," a boxoffice dud starring Ferrell as an offbeat scientist, racked up about $100 million in production costs, not including marketing, but only returned $65 million at the worldwide boxoffice. His movie "Semi-Pro," which earned $44 million at the worldwide boxoffice, has also dragged down Ferrell's return-on-investment performance lately.

This has always struck me as odd considering that Ferrell himself is still a pretty funny dude, but it just seems like the crap he gets himself into is his downfall. He was also overexposed to the point where you couldn't go to the grocery store without being thrown some sort of Ferrell-ism. That kind of stuff causes your shtick to get old quick, and in the world of comedy, your lifespan in terms of popularity can be pretty dawn short.

But hey, that doesn't mean he's poor or anything...

(Found this on Media Chow)

ESPN says Wulff is on the hot seat

Here's what the ESPN Pac-10 Blog has to say about Paul Wulff being on the hot seat...

The likelihood is the Cougars will go winless in the Pac-10 this year and Wulff's record will stand at 3-22 when his second season concludes. That. Is. Not. Good. Duh. Wulff inherited an empty cupboard of talent. He's had huge injury issues and had to play young players before they were ready. But fans are impatient. It wasn't too long ago that the Cougs were on a run of three consecutive top-10 rankings. Washington State will need to improve next year, which means win a few games. That won't be easy because the Pac-10 looks like it will be even more rugged in 2010 than in 2009.

Seat rating: toasty. 

I think perhaps on the outside it may look like Wulff is about to get shown the door but if you really look at the program and the position that it was in before he got there. Doba had one of the best quarterbacks and wide reciever corps in school history and largely had a .500 team. After he was fired, there was nothing... and I mean nothing left in the cupboard. I can't stress how unathletic WSU looks. Other than a few kids, the marjority of this team doesn't pass the eye test against Eastern Washington, much less the Pac-10. And in that conference, you're just not going to be able to do anything in horrible down swings like this.

Factor in Wulff's contact and the prospect of rebuilding again and it's not likely at all. 

Pontiac Silverdome sells for half a million dollars

They finally sold the Pontiac Silverdome, the former home of the Detroit Lions and standing monument to the complete waste of American sports. How much did it go for?

$583,000

How much did it cost to build?

$55.7 million

Talk about a price drop, holy cow! Ladies and Gentlemen, the Detroit housing market!

A business from Toronto bought the building and they actually plan to turn the place into a palace for soccer.

The company plans to refurbish the Silverdome into a stadium for men's Major League Soccer and women's professional soccer teams, said the auctioneer. While the stadium was the former home of the National Football League's Detroit Lions, it also played host to some of the World Cup games in 1994. Brazil's victory over Italy occurred elsewhere, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Not sure if a MLS team can draw 80,000 fans but it could be a good spot for bigger international matches. I'm still a little miffed that my $1 bid for the building was completely rejected.

The Internet Explorer monster

Even though I use Firefox religiously, Microsoft gearing up for another version of Internet Explorer is big news because I'll have to eventually get a new computer and use this browser to download FF and Chrome.

Microsoft will talk about its plan for upcoming builds of Internet Explorer this week at the Professional Developers Conference
-- though, it will not offer a preview of its next browser, according to CNET. It is also reported that the company is not planning to announce a move to the WebKit engine, despite speculation.

During a presentation today at the conference, chief software architect Ray Ozzie said Microsoft would make Internet Explorer the best Windows
browser, but did not elaborate. Redmond is expected to offer more details during tomorrow's keynote speech, however, which will touch on some "focus areas" for the next version of IE.

One thing that keeps getting me about IE is how darn slow the thing is. While more tests have shown that it's actually a fairly safe browser in terms of viruses and spyware items, it still takes forever to boot up and load pages. So Microsoft... speed things up a bit.

(This is from Tech Rave)

JustSON the Numbers: EWU's win over Whitman last night

So this wasn't pretty.

It was the third game for the Eags in four nights. Their roster was down to seven healthy players. They were just coming off an emotional near-miss against WSU.

In other words, they were spent. And they still managed to pull out a 100-88 victory over Whitman last night, which I'm sure was much more rested. Giving up 88 points to a Div. III school? Yeah they were gassed as a team since defense is purely a hustle aspect of the game. It shows when you dont, and look at these numbers from the game last night.

49 turnovers
56 fouls
79 free thow attempts
30 turnovers by Eastern

In other words, a sloppy, sloppy mess. But all things considered, what would you expect?

The Zags wont be as bad as we all thought

Several questions were answered last night, and despite it being a lost, it looks like the Zags will be a force this year after taking Michigan St. to the limit 75-71. I'll be the first to say that they proved me dead wrong and surprised a lot of other people. This is gonna be the year they falter? They won't win the WCC? They won't win the tournament? Um...

Gonzaga led most of the way and turned back numerous Michigan State rallies. But in the closing minutes, the second-ranked Spartans finally caught and passed the Bulldogs on Durrell Summers’ 3-pointer at the 3-minute mark and went on to claim a 75-71 men’s basketball victory Tuesday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich.


Summers’ 3 – his only 3-point attempt of the game – put Michigan State on top 68-67, its first lead since briefly moving in front 47-45 with 11:50 remaining. Summers created just enough open space after coming around a screen at the top of the circle to hit his clutch shot.

And with Portland looking pretty pedestrian against Eastern Washington, I'm thinking the Bulldogs will be tops in the WCC this year once again. As much as that pains me to say it, I think its true.

Seattle Ninja impales self on fence

Thanks to Keenan for pointing this story out. Apparently they don't make ninjas like they use to because you would never seen the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in this position.

An officer who was looking for an assault victim nearby Monday night heard the man screaming for help. Police supported him to prevent further injuries until medics arrived to take him to Harborview Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman said Tuesday he was in serious condition in intensive care.

Police spokeswoman Renee Witt wrote in a department Web site posting that officers thought he might have been involved in the reported assault, but the man insisted he was just a ninja trying to clear a 4- to 5-foot-tall fence.

Damn fences! Always foiling ninja plans!

Why vampires suck... terrible movie posters

Just a question... why does every Twilight poster make the actors look like their deathly ill. I know that vampires are supposed to be some sort of nocturnal creatures of the night, but seriously, Edward looks like Sammy Sosa after a bad skin-bleaching accident.

(From Media Chow)

Mariners get shut out by Greinke again

Mariners fans... did you really expect Felix to win the Cy Young Award? The AL announced their awards today and Zach Greinke of the Kansas City Royals has been named the best pitcher in the league despite (GASP!) just 16 wins.

However if you look at his ERA (2.16) you can see why the choice was made. I'd also imagine that his wins and ERA might be better if he had a better team behind him. While the Royals are Casey's team, that doesn't mean they're good or even competitive. In fact they were so bad I think Casey is thinking about reporting to Spring Training.

However when Greinke was pitching, it was an event and you knew that the other team was going to struggle with him. Just going by the eyeball test, I can see why Greinke was picked over Felix. He's damn good, but Greinke was phenomenal this season.

Russia doesn't like Video Games

This makes me wonder what they thought of Goldeneye. According to some content in the latest COD game, there's been a big snafu and the game has been pulled off the shelves in Russia. An apparently ban on it is rumored.

Activision is celebrating many successes with Modern Warfare 2 in general. The game opened up to amazing sales and helped contribute to a record-breaking number of Xbox Live connections. It's not gravy worldwide, however, following some recent trouble the game is dealing with in Russia. Despite an initial passing grade, MW2 is now facing an outright ban in Russia due to controversial content.

In particular the scene in which a player is put into an airport in Moscow has caused an upset, though for what specific reasons hasn't been clarified yet. Neither Activision nor the Russian government has released an official statement on what the situation is, but for now the game has been pulled from shelves in Russian stores. There's also rumors (though nothing official yet) that the game may face an outright ban.

So we don't know what it is yet? Can you say lame? Apparently they have a different idea of freedom over there in Russia, or some weird tastes when it comes to video games. After all, they did make Tetris.

(Found this from Tech Rave)

Another reason you're single... college basketball for 24 hours straight

24 hours of college basketball on ESPN? Might as well stay up all night and watch the games. After all it's not like you have work in the morning or anything. What's this? A hideabed couch? Perfect you can just pull out the best and watch college basketball. It's like the most perfect setup ever. Who cares about work! Time for live college basketball at 1 a.m. in the morning.

Granted nobody will be sharing the couch with you, but hey! College basketball is the most important thing right now.

I believe we've found the biggest threat to mankind

I'm pretty sure Casey has seen one of these things out in the wild, but never in it's natural environment of Walmart. Found this on People of Walmart.

Epic Photo: Words from a Persian Poet

It's Tuesday, the most depressing day of the week. Here's something that hopefully isn't very depressing.

Reasons why you're still single... Eastern Washington basketball

You're now going through several Big Sky Conference scores and predictions after your Eastern Washington Eagles nearly beat WSU, 67-61. Don't ask why defeats excite you but when your mid-major conference team has been mildly successful despite an 0-2 start, you've got to like your chances right?

Hmmm where's that season outlook article and video from the sports information department? There's got to be some nugget in there that shows me that the Eagles are indeed headed to a Big Sky Conference championship. This way you can make fun of Montana for basically being the state where basketball doesn't exist.

Chances are you'll be supporting a .500 at best case team, but you have to give this years squad some support right? Because they look very promising right now. Is this what its like to be going completely insane while supporting your favorite college program?

Yep, You just ordered a Benny Valentine replica jersey.

Following ESPN's 24 hours of college basketball...

If you'd like to follow my progress during tonight's 24 hours of college basketball on ESPN, please go to my twitter at..

http://twitter.com/BrandonwHansen

That's simply easier to update than hoping back here to my computer and updating. Keep in mind that I have to work tomorrow from 8 am until probably 10 pm, so may god have mercy on my soul.

And yes, that's a hideabed in front of the TV. And an Eddie George jersey. And a Matt Hasselbeck jersey. And an old-school Sonics jersey. Yep Yep. This is my set up for tonight.

Epic Video: Titans owner Bud Adams flips off Buffalo's owner

The Titans smoked the Bills this weekend, but that isn't as big of story as Tennessee owner Bud Adams doing this hilarious flip off act to Buffalo's owner. Awesome, old people a great.

2012 is probably the best movie ever

Apparently people are in love with another "end of the world" movie despite terrible reviews and one of the most ridiculous movie trailers everywhere. The American public is totally cool with suspending belief and buying into the joke that a limousine could outrun and 156.0 magnitude earthquake.

World-ending scenarios are certainly cause for concern in reality, but moviegoers couldn't resist dabbling in doomsday this weekend with the release of Sony's "2012." Director Roland Emmerich, already known for disaster epics such as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," set the box office on fire once again with a $65 million weekend debut domestically and an additional $160 million overseas, resulting in a $225 million worldwide intake.

World-ending scenarios are certainly cause for concern in reality, but moviegoers couldn't resist dabbling in doomsday this weekend with the release of Sony's "2012." Director Roland Emmerich, already known for disaster epics such as "Independence Day" and "The Day After Tomorrow," set the box office on fire once again with a $65 million weekend debut domestically and an additional $160 million overseas, resulting in a $225 million worldwide intake.

So I watched "The Day After Tomorrow" last night and despite it actually being completely ridiculous, it was still pretty entertaining. I'm assuming the same is for "2012" but just with different actors - don't fix it if it's not broken. 

(Got this from Media Chow)

COD heads up in arms

Gamers tend to like Call of Duty's awesome multi-player feature, which can basically suck up your entire day due to it's extreme enjoyability. Trust me in college, there was a week where we didn't have school due to snow and guess what I was doing that entire week? With the release of COD:MW2, it seems some gamers are up in arms about a few things.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released worldwide this week to an overwhelming success, selling 4.7 million copies on a single day and raking in an estimated $310 million in North America and the United Kingdom alone. Reviews have been mostly favorable too, at least as far as gameplay is concerned. But there is one group who feels slighted by a series of changes made in this latest addition to the Call of Duty franchise.

Ever since the word was out, PC gamers have been up in arms with Infinity Ward's decision to replace dedicated servers to host multiplayer matches with a proprietary infrastructure called IWNet. This has translated into less control in the hands of gamers, with no way to choose who is hosting matches (one player is assigned automatically), and no ability to kick or ban players from your game.

GASP! That's the end of the world.

Okay, so that does sound kind of annoying and I don't know why IW just couldn't stick with the old system unless there was some sort of concern that we're not aware of. Sometimes you don't want to give gamers too much control but the automated IWNet sounds a bit lame, kind of like Mario Kart Wii's automated and completely random multi-player system.

Makes me was to go use a rocket launcher.(Got this from Tech Rave)

Why vampires suck... rearview mirror

Vampires insurance rates are much higher than human beings since nobody can see them in the rear view mirror. And since they're usually like 300-400 years old, vampires drive slow, don't signal and generally hold up traffic. What a bunch of lame-os.

Epic Photo: Vince Young seems to be doing just fine

This time last year he was thinking about killing himself. Now? He's waving to fans. What a difference a year makes. Go Vince Young... and don't go all crazy again please.