I may have long outgrown the need to watch Sesame Street or whatever, but I’m not going to deny that this was fun. The kid in me laughed out loud. It’s been years since I’ve seen Cookie Monster and this was just fun.

Have a look.

As I mentioned on The MovieByte Podcast Ep. 54, I have been working on a post for one of my personal sites, ChadTalksMovies.com, for two weeks now, all centered around the character and world of John Carter. Here’s a short excerpt:

Superman. Flash Gordon. Star Wars. Avatar. These characters/films share a common ancestry through Edgar Rice Burrough’s classic novel A Princess of Mars. The creators of these and so many others at some point in their lives picked up this story and were absorbed into the world of Barsoom, introduced to a man named John Carter, a man transported to a world apart…

According the Podcasts section of the iTunes Store, iTunes users have now subscribed to one billion podcasts. Originally introduced in 2005, Podcasts allow both individuals and major companies to broadcast episodic radio-style shows. Apple offers thousands of different Podcasts that are available via iTunes or its Podcasts iOS app [App Store].

Not really related to movies, but as a podcaster, and haivng podcasts here on MovieByte, it is of interest to me. 1 Billion subs is a lot. I think this podcast thing is going to catch on!

Not a lot is going on in the movie news today. That makes it kind of hard to find news and stuff. But that’s okay because it’s a holiday. I’m guessing most of my readers are in the U.S., but for those of you that are not, today is the day we celebrate the independence of the United States. We do all kinds of crazy things like set off dangerous fireworks, grill hotdogs that are ostensibly made of meat, and the like. Unfortunately for me, it’s raining here in Nashville, makes for kind of a soggy 4^th, but I’m sure we’ll make the best of it.

I’ll have The MovieByte Podcast, episode 50 posted…

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the stuff people do. I am not at all a fan of the new Star Trek transporter effect that J.J. and co. have come up with (nerdy I know to care about such details), but this video is pretty fun. Someone was having some fun with After Effects (probably). Now I’m wondering why I have never done anything like this. Hmm.

Anyway, “Scotty, beam me up!”

What happens when the old guy and the new guy go toe to toe? This video will show you just that.

This is just about the silliest car ad I’ve seen in a long time, but as a good geek/nerd/Trekie, whatever you want to call me, I enjoyed it immensely.

Plus, you know, Quinto is going to have to get up a lot earlier in the morning than that to beat Spock prime. Despite the silliness, I think this may actually be some of the best advertising I’ve seen in a while.

I am happy to announce that Instacast for Mac is available for download as a free beta version. We’ve been working very hard for the last 4 months to bring everything that you love from Instacast on iOS to the Mac. While it resembles a lot of similarities to the iPhone and iPad app, Instacast for Mac is not merely a port of the iOS app, it is a true OS X app in every possible way.

Everything’s there: subscriptions, show notes, playback and playlists, but also a lot of stuff that you can only get on the Mac: True Background Processing, Flattr, Search and an Up Next Playlist to only…

This morning I read one of those movie reviews that gives me an upset stomach; a review so pathetically ridiculous that it warrants criticism for its misleading tropes and arrogant close-mindedness.

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky at RogerEbert.com:

If nothing else, “Oblivion” will go down in film history as the movie where Tom Cruise pilots a white, sperm-shaped craft into a giant space uterus. The scene is more interesting to describe than it is to watch. Cruise’s sperm-ship enters through an airlock that resembles a geometrized vulva. He arrives inside a massive chamber lined with egg-like…

It’s April 15^th. One can easily tell this by the collective groan heard across the country as we reckon with the (arguably out of control) tax code. If you are lucky enough to have married a math major (like yours truly) who thinks numbers and stuff are cool, you may not be dealing direclty with the taxes, and yet, you know it’s there, mocking you. You can’t get away from it. It’s never ending.

But, don’t despair and stab your eyes out, let me bring some humor to the situation for you and make it all better. The joker has some words of wisdom for you today: “Some people just want to see…