Ok, you should probably just go down to Toy’s R Us and get in line now because Elmo is back and he’s officially a bad ass. Fisher Price introduced the hyper life-like Elmo Live at Toy Fair 2008 and he is fierce! Forget about TMX Elmo and shoe tyin’ Elmo and chicken suit wearin’ Elmo and pizza makin’ Elmo and hokey pokey doin’ Elmo; they are O-V-E-R over. The new Elmo, Elmo Live is basically like that bear from the movie AI, (you know, the one who dredges up all of your childhood abandonment fears in that forest scene) but without the un-cute voice that sounds like your college philosophy professor. Elmo Live tells jokes (he’ll be here all week, try the halibut), crosses his legs, and expresses himself with eerily human gestures and nuances and he’s coming to toy store shelves this holiday season. Get. In. Line.

Here’s that bear, Teddy. Awwwwwwwwwwwww.

What’s really creepy in this video is the guy in the lab coat doing his best Cookie Monster voice while he gets Elmo to show off his new skills.

Is it May 22nd yet? Here it is, the first trailer for the long awaited Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

He’s still got it! According to GMA, Harrison Ford says he did more of the actual physical work for this film than he did in the earlier films which were made when he was in his thirties. Go Harrison! Shai doesn’t look so bad either!

Take a look back at the trailers for the first three Indiana Jones films. Where were you when you saw your first? In front of a movie or television screen perhaps? We’re psychic! Aww, memories…

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Sometimes advertising campaigns are good. Really good. This ad for a Belgian optician, by LG&F makes us want to play librarian. We’re book smart like that.

Source

How many licks does it take? Have you licked the new Welch’s Grape Juice ad yet? At first site we thought it was a joke and didn’t bite..er lick. But upon closer examination we decided to go for it. It’s a little on the sweet side but remarkably realistic. Not bad if you like grape juice that’s not fermented which happens to be our favorite kind of grape juice. If you’ve taken a lick, tell us about it.

Don’t be afraid of cooties, according the WSJ, Welch’s says don’t fret:

Marketers are excited about the prospects for lickable ads, but also have to deal with the “ick” factor. Since magazines are often passed from reader to reader (think doctors’ offices) there is a good chance that saliva could be left on the ad. Readers are supposed to peel off the entire sticker on the Welch’s ad before licking, says First Flavor, the company that developed the technology used in the ad. If someone doesn’t rip off the whole sticker, First Flavor says, the flap can’t reseal, giving people an easy way to know whether the ad has already been licked.

Read the entire article here.

Every year around January we pine like Paris Hilton just before an undergarment challenged photo op, for the Vanity Fair Hollywood issue. And this year’s issue does not fail to impress. In fact, it the most fabulous ever!!! No really, ever!!! One of our most favorite joys in life as a layercake is recasting old movies and Vanity Fair has blown us away with their Hitchcock photo shoot that casts stars of today in some of the most celebrated Hitchcock works of cinematic art. Breath in the fabulousness:

Jodi Foster takes on the Tippi Hedren role in The Birds. We were unable to get the name of the bird in this shot but he’s doing a fine job as well.

Gwenyth strikes a vaguely familiar pose while paired with Robert Downey Jr. in this fresh look at a scene from To Catch a Thief.

This is pure gold. Charlize Theron as very convincing Grace Kelly in one of our very favorite Hitchcock films, Dial M for Murder.

Who doesn’t love Scarlett Johansson? Especially in this Rear Window scene with Javier Bardem, the dress, the hair she’s perfection. The set design in these photos is impeccable, wonder how long it took them to get the sets so perfectly identical to the film sets.

The subtly creeped out wide-eyed expression on Keira’s face is perfection, really captures the character at this stage of the film. Jennifer Jason Leigh seems a little young for this role in Rebecca but still she pulls it off.

This photo of Seth Rogen (looking quite dapper) as Cary Grant in a recreated scene from North by Northwest represents some truly visionary casting by Vanity Fair Features editor Jane Sarkin, who did all of the casting for this piece.

The sky is distracting and so beautiful in this chock full ‘o modern star power scene from Lifeboat. Stunning.

Naomi Watts. Marnie. Perfection. The end.

Uh, Two Hotties on a Train, Emile Hirsch and James McAvoy, as Two Strangers on a Train. A dangerous and dashing pair.

And the VERY BEST for last. An almost unrecognizable Renee Zellweger acting the f*ck out of this scene as Kim Novak in Vertigo.

Go behind the scenes of the shoot on Vanity Fair, especially interesting is photographer Art Streiber talking about how he got the Seth Rogen shot. Also, if you subscribe now, Vanity Fair guarantees that you will receive a copy of the Hollywood Issue as part of your subscription.

Maybe it’s for rental purposes.

We only watch one football game each year and it’s the Super Bowl. Basically we hang around the punch bowl waiting for the commercials and pay attention to the game only towards the end of each quarter. The instant replays are annoying and all that drawing on the screen and analyzing. It’s like the Family Circus only instead of Billy taking the long way to get the mail, it’s men in tights chasing a pigskin ball. So for us it’s all about the commercials. Here’s a peek at Justin Timberlake’s commercial for Pepsi Stuff (Pepsi’s answer to CokeRewards)  set to air this Sunday, entitled “Magnetic Attraction.”  And what’s the deal with CokeRewards anyway, you have to fill your entire swimming pool with diet coke just to get enough points for a “free” MP3. Thanks.

Andy Samberg looks fab as a blonde!

Let the will they or won’t they begin, hopefully the writers’ strike will be resolved in time for Oscar’s 80th. No doubt the show will go on regardless but let’s hope that we don’t end up with an Oscar show that resembles the Golden Globes. As for this year’s poster we were expecting something brilliant for the 80th instead we have the uninspired flashbulb flanked forward facing statue. Kind of looks like a Star Wars poster which is not surprising considering it was designed by Drew Struzan who created the one sheetsfor all of the Star Wars films. So being the giant piece of fluffy cake that we are, we decided to put our spectacular Photoshop skills to the test to morph the Oscar Poster with it’s separated at birth Star Wars Poster. Twinsies!

Here is our award winning (as determined by our distinguished panel of designers/cats) Oscar poster that should have been:

Exceptional, no? Just sayin’.

And now, the nominations:

Best Picture

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Actor

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away from Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney, The Savages
Ellen Page, Juno

Best Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson’s War
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Best Director

Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Jason Reitman, Juno
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood

Best Original Screenplay

Diablo Cody, Juno
Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton
Ratatouille (written by Brad Bird; story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird)
Tamara Jenkins, The Savages

Best Adapted Screenplay

Christopher Hampton, Atonement
Sarah Polley, Away from Her
Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood (Read on …)

Is it so wrong that we literally laugh to tears when the shark comes on with the laughter voice over? Uh yeah, so wrong it’s right. And then wrong again. And then back to right.

In what appears to be a major overhaul of the Liz Claiborne brand, WWD reports Isaac Mizrahi has left Target *sniff* to join Liz Claiborne as their new creative director. This is the third big move by LC in an apparent effort to revive the struggling brand; in 2006 they purchased the uber chic Kate Spade LLC for $124 million in cash and in 2007 they hired Tim Gunn of Project Runway fame as their Chief Creative Officer. We’ve always looked at Liz Claiborne as a brand targeted towards an older demographic and it looks like they are really trying to escape that image and freshen up the brand. But what’s a girl to do without her Mizrahi fix during the weekly trip to Target? Guess we’ll just have to get knocked up and start shopping Liz Lange rounders.