Boss Hogg > The Terminator

How can you not vote for that face?

Jefferson Davis Hogg needs help right now. I think its clear that no one is giving Boss the credit he deserves, but I'm not certain why. Are the voters too young? Does no one remember Dukes of Hazzard; the #1 show in the country in 1981, with almost 22 million viewers every week? Boss Hogg was likely the biggest personality on that show and a villain for the ages. The schemes that he would concoct were grandiose! J.D. Hogg didn't allow being based in the small southern town of Hazzard, limit his thinking or goals. Think about the genius of rigging gas pumps to cheat customers, placing fake fire hydrants next to parked cars, using hair dryers as "radar guns," hidden stop signs... The guy is an innovator! And I didn't even mention the speed trap Boss Hogg used to force superstar celebrities to perform at his honkytonk bar, The Boar's Nest. I have no idea why they all passed through the dirt roads of Hazzard, but The Oak Ridge Boys, Roy Orbison, Buck Owens, Johnny Paycheck, Mell Tillis, and even Freddie Fender all got reeled in by Boss. Plus, the man has an eye for talent. How about the Sheriff and deputies he put on the payroll to enact his crooked schemes: Rosco Purvis Coltrane, Enus Strate, and Cletus Hogg. Meanwhile, through all of it, keeping his lovely wife Lulu happy at home.

Boss is pitted against the Terminator for a shot at the Elite 8. The Terminator? The Terminator is a robot. No personality, no creativity, no hopes or dreams or schemes of his own...  Kill Sarah Conner. That's it. Kill Sarah Conner and anyone else that gets in the way. I mean, the T-800 isn't even evil. He's a robot! Following his programming. Look at the sequel! The same model of robot is a hero that "now knows why we cry."

Come on people!!

(1) Boss Hogg vs (4) Terminator

You can vote on the other match-ups HERE.

80s Villain Tourney: Sweet 16

(1) Johnny Lawrence vs (4) The Kurgan

(2) Khan Noonien Singh vs (3) Fratelli Gang

(1) Boss Hogg vs (4) Terminator

(2) Hans Gruber vs (3) Spike

Follow all the Tournament action so far right HERE. Matchup results, brackets and more.

indie wednesday: easter bunny

Indie Wednesday is back with the true spirit of indie. Maybe not the true spirit of Easter, but definitely the true spirit of indie. This little gem is grainy and the sound is bad and its super funny and highly entertaining. Perfect. You may have seen it before, but I hadn't until last weekend, so pipe down.

Check back in later today for the next round of Villain Tournament voting. Its time to put some villains in the Elite 8!

DreamWorks' News and Notes 4.1.13

Movin' On Up

Well, it's happened. After years of hard work and toiling away on micro-budget productions, our efforts apparently caught the eye of... lets call it a "highly influential person" at DreamWorks Studios. Long story short, DreamWorks bought the rights to Space Cops and are optioning it to be either a television or film property or both. I don't want to lose my mind here or make it sound like more than it is. This is simply a development deal at this point, but our contact told us that the higher ups are all "extremely excited." And the feedback they've gotten from teenage test groups in response to the Chief is off the charts. Trust me, we can't believe any of this either.

Also, today is April 1st.

Villain Tournament

Here is the latest updated bracket for the 80s Villain Tournament (click to embiggen):

We're down to the Sweet 16 and there are no huge surprises in the remaining field. The story up to this point had been the Cinderella run of Ming the Merciless. After taking down the 5 seed, Ed Rooney, it looked like Ming was going to advance past Shredder as well and become the darling of the tournament. Unfortunately (unless you're a big Shredder fan) a couple votes came in, literally in the final minute of voting, to knock Ming out. It was a run none of us saw coming, and now everyone at the WSF Compound is sad to see it end.

The horror villains had a lot of steam early, but it ran out in the round of 32. Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers are all eliminated.

In contrast, all your 1 seeds are still alive and going strong, having won their matches in routs. The lone exception was Boss Hogg who was surprisingly pushed to the limit by Clubber Lang. Still, my prediction for the first #1 to fall might be Iceman based on the villains left in his bracket. That will not be an easy road to the Final Four.

If you're looking for a possible winner outside those top four, look towards Biff Tannen who has been absolutely steamrolling the competition so far.

If you've missed any of the tournament action or voting, you can catch up on every step right here.

Villain Tourney: Second Round - Iceman Region

(1) Iceman vs (8) Alien

The Alien is crafty and there were a whole mess load of them in Aliens. But Iceman knows the Alien is everyone's problem. It's unsafe. "I don't like you because you're dangerous!"
There is a reason Iceman is a 1 seed. He brought cocky smarm to a whole new level in Top Gun. Tell me that moment he chomped his teeth at Maverick isn't burned into your brain.

(4) Predator vs (5) Judge Smails

Predator:  Bodycount - 11. Including Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Sonny Landham.

Judge Smails:  Elitist with anger problems who tried to keep Rodney Dangerfield out of his country club. A cheater who will go to any lengths to get what he wants. Hates his grandson. "Spalding!"

(3) General Zod vs (6) The Joker

Two of the DC Comics/Warner Bros. representatives go head to head. Nicholson's Joker won him an Oscar and was extremely well regarded for twenty years. Heath Ledger's recent depiction of the character seemed to steal attention from the '89 version and made him seem outdated. Time to see how the voters feel.

(2) Biff Tannen vs (10) Michael Myers

Biff had an impressive performance against Lex Luthor. You have two of the most recognized participants going at it here. Can the popularity of Biff Tannen take down a legendary mass murderer?

Follow all the Tournament action so far right HERE. Matchup results, brackets and more.

Villain Tournament: Second Round - Boss Hogg Region

(1) Boss Hogg vs (8) Clubber Lang

I appreciate Clubber's effort. He talked a lot of trash and killed Micky (sort of). But, this is Boss Hogg we're talking about.

(4) Terminator vs (12) David

David from The Lost Boys has been racking up the votes thus far and I think he may have a chance against the villainous version of Arnold's T-800 from the first Terminator film.

(3) Spike vs (6) Lieutenant Harris

Maybe one of our odder match-ups so far.

(2) Hans Gruber vs (10) Jack Torrance

Hans Gruber was a fan favorite going in, with several suggestions from the masses. And according to reactions, Jack Torrance may have been under-seeded. So we have quite a battle lined up in the second round.

Follow all the Tournament action so far right HERE. Matchup results, brackets and more.

Villain Tournament: Second Round - Vader Region

(1) Darth Vader vs (9) Jason Voorhees

Uh oh, Jason. Looks like trouble for you, my friend.
But, let's see if the second Star Wars trilogy has hurt Vader's dominance in the minds of the voters.
"NOOoooOOOOOO!"

(4) Shredder vs (12) Ming the Merciless

Ming pulled off the unthinkable when he took down Ed Rooney. Is there any way he can knock out Shredder to keep his dream alive and move into the Sweet 16?

(3) Gozer the Gozerian vs (6) Dr. René Belloq

These guys met a very similar end if you think about it, but only one can advance in this tournament.

(2) Ivan Drago vs (7) Chet

This one is going to be interesting. Drago could have easily been a 1 seed. Few villains stick in our collective consciousness more than the Soviet superman that killed Apollo Creed. But he barely spoke, whereas Chet from Weird Science never stopped. Everything Chet did was both as hilarious and douchey as humanly possible.

Follow all the Tournament action so far right HERE. Matchup results, brackets and more.

Villain Tourney - Second Round Begins

(1) Johnny Lawrence vs (16) Leonard Smalls

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the King of 80s brats; your #1 seed, Johnny Lawrence. Black belt, blonde swoop, red leather jacket, skeleton costume, and annoying henchmen...
Leonard Smalls might be a bad, bad man, but it is nearly impossible to get more 80s (and more awesome) than Johnny L. "Get him a body bag! YEEEAAAH!"

(4) The Kurgan vs (12) Mola Ram

Well, let's see...

The Kurgan:  Immortal. Defiled and killed the Highlander's wife. Killed Sean Connery. Total freak show.

Mola Ram: The whole flaming, beating heart thing and also kidnaps and enslaves children for mining.

(3) Fratelli Gang vs (11) Cobra Commander

You know the score on this one.

Fratellis:  Murderers and thieves. Joey Pants with hair. The Goonies is a powerhouse movie for our generation.

Cobra Commander:  Animated terrorist bent on world domination. Shiny mask.

(2) Khan vs (10) Freddy

Khan Noonien Singh:  One of the top villains of all time on every nerd's list. Let's not discount the fact that Khan is the primary villain in what is considered one of the best sequels of all time. Plus, he put slimy mind-controlling bugs in people's earholes and got Spock killed.

Freddy:  Scariest janitor of all time.

Upload's News and Notes 3/25/13

I do not say this lightly:  Upload with Shaquille O'Neal is the worst television show I've ever seen. I got trapped by it last night after the NCAA Tournament games. It is impossible to look away. The format is a bizarre mess and even British practical joke shows are embarrassed by the laugh track.

Villain Tournament

Around here, it was all Villain Tournament all the time this weekend. I present you with the updated bracket after a completed first round of action. Just click to embiggen...

A quick look at the results shows that the genuine baddies did well. Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers all made it through. Slightly disappointing for a guy like me who enjoys as much goofiness as possible, but hey, we decided to let majority rule.

The biggest upsets came out of 5/12 match-ups as always. Mola Ram over Stan Gable and Ming the Merciless taking down Ed Rooney from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But I can get behind it. Ming officially becomes the dark horse of the tournament. Extremely dark.

Second Round

As you can see, we've got some amazing matches lined up and they start today. We'll see our number one overall seed up for vote for the first time. Come back for the first session at 10am.

Villain Tournament - First Round Final Session

(4) Shredder vs (13) Ric Flair

Shredder is sure to be a fan favorite, but the Selection Committee didn't do him any favors by pairing him with a grossly undervalued Nature Boy. I smell a possible upset. WOOOOOO!

(8) Alien vs (9) Chong-Li

Game over, man! The creature from 1977's Alien upped his game and his numbers in Aliens (1986). In this matchup, the alien takes on the infamous Chong-Li from Bloodsport and his freakish physique.

(2) Judge Smails vs (15) Freddy Krueger

Villains in comedies haven't been fairing as well as others so far, but Judge Smails is one of my personal favorites as the extremely quotable and fun to impersonate character from Caddyshack. Dr. Claw spent most of his time avoiding cameras, trying to take down Inspector gadget, and petting cats.

(3) General Zod vs (14) Bowser

Kneel before Zod.

(7) Megatron vs (10) Michael Myers

An animated legend that transformed into a gun versus a horror legend in a William Shatner mask.

(2) Biff Tannen vs (15) Lex Luthor

Biff is another heavyweight. He took bullying to new heights in classic 50s style and brought "butthead" back to our lexicon. While we all love Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, let's keep in mind this is Luthor from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace not the original. Hence the high seed. Luthor might have to act like a tree and get outta here.

(8) Gargamel vs (9) Jason Voorhees

Freddy vs Jason? No. Gargamel vs Jason. They need to make this one a movie. ...Now! I expect this one to come down to the wire.

(5) Ed Rooney vs (12) Ming the Merciless

Another amazing match-up. Ed Rooney is an iconic, smarmy principal from one of the most universally beloved movies of the decade. And Ming...? Just look at him!!