httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3KEkBqDahg

Well, there goes the last commercials I actually didn’t mind watching. Hyper-excitable spokesman Billy Mays has died, capping off a bizarre week of celebrity deaths (hopefully) and breaking the “rule of three” that accompanies bad things happening.

He was found dead in his house yesterday, and no one really knows what happens. Three theories below:

1) He got hit in the head with luggage during a rough plane landing the previous day, and his death could be somehow involved with that.

2) He’s the most intense person on planet Earth and his body just couldn’t handle it.

3) Too much speed.

It’s probably the first or second one.

I have mixed feelings about Billy Mays. I think he was probably a generally good dude, but on his Discovery Channel show, Pitchmen, I saw him being a huge dick at least once an episode. Contrastingly, I didn’t know he invented most of the products he sold, and that’s pretty impressive to invent stuff that innovative and being one of the world’s best salesmen.

In any case, RIP Billy, I’m sure you’re selling God cloud-whitening Oxi Clean right now.

Update: Official results are in, and it was heart disease, the most common killer of everyone ever.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZXmqovJO0

With beta mere weeks away an a “hopefull” release date within the year, every time I see footage of Starcraft 2 it looks more and more like it should be out right this minute. This latest footage shows super intense, mult-unit battling between all three races, something I haven’t seen in any of Blizzard’s battle reports to date.

It’s almost too much to handle, but it is undeniably gorgeous, and this game is going to break an absolutely ridiculous number of sales records when it actually ends up getting released. Records which will then be broken by Diablo III, and then World of Warcraft II, and so on and so forth with every subsequent Blizzard title.

Despite overwhelmingly negative reviews across the board (from myself included), accusations of not-really-even-that-subtle racism (check out green robot’s gold tooth in that picture) and just being a terrible movie all around, audiences flocked to Transformes 2 over the past five days, and the film hauled in $201M, just shy of The Dark Knight‘s $203M five-day opening. Thankfully the record books are safe for now, and I think word of mouth will prevent the movie from surpassing TDK in any other categories.

But while fanboys, critics and general audiences alike agreed that The Dark Knight was an excellent movie, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such divisive reactions from a film. I’ve heard people say it’s the technological equivalent of The Happening (alright, maybe I said that), and I’ve heard others say it’s the best action film they’ve seen in years. And they’re being serious. While it’s obvious which camp I fall into, what about you? Did you really like this movie, and if so, how and why?

After this news today:

Gale Storm, whose wholesome appearance and perky personality made her one of early television’s biggest stars on “My Little Margie” and “The Gale Storm Show,” has died at age 87.

As the old adage goes, “death always comes in threes.”  And we certainly had a threesome over these past few weeks.  A big one of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and of course Michael Jackson.

But now Hollywood brings two more deaths in crazy ad man Billy Mays and 50s TV star Gale Storm.    I mean honestly this is simply terrible.  I feel badly for anyone close to these people.

Yes I could insert a Michael Jackson joke there but it’s probably way too early.  Jackson was a great entertainer but NOT a good person.  Let’s just leave it at that and go at it in the comments.

How does everyone feel about all these Jackson tributes?

Is it me or has The Office been significantly worse for at least two to three seasons?  I’m not going to say that “I don’t know why it sucks now.”  In fact I know exactly why it sucks and exactly why it used to be good.

And unfortunately something tells me that the producers feel that the reasons the show became a success stem much more behind its main character and not those other characters that made the show so lovable.

In any event, here are five sure ways to make this show funny again

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Sometimes it’s better just to stay down.

I wanted to give it a chance, I really did. I walked into Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with a wide-open mind. If the film just managed to be watchable and as mindless and fun as the first, I was alright with a few hours of robots crashing into each other. I only wanted to escape with my sensibilities unoffended, but unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards.

There is just so much badness crammed into Transformers 2, you’re thanking God by the end it’s only two and a half hours instead of the four it could have easily been. Though it’s roughly the same cast of characters as the first film, Revenge of the Fallen somehow makes the original Transformers look like The Godfather.

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There’s absolutely zero doubt that the live-action G.I. Joe movie is going to be a total disaster.  When your director is locked out of the studio and major, major rewrites need to be done just to create some semblance of a plot, your movie is doomed no matter how many special effects you have, and no matter how hard you try to capitalize on an entire generation’s sense of nostalgia.  Fortunately, someone besides Stephen Sommers took liberties with the G.I. Joe concept, and he managed to do it the right way.  Written by notable comic scribe Warren Ellis, G.I. Joe: Resolute takes everything we loved about G.I. Joe growing up and, quite simply, makes it bad ass.  Stupid accelerator suits and Marlon Wayans as Ripcord?  No thanks, I’ll take a bad ass, silent Snake Eyes and crisp animation over that garbage any day.

G.I. Joe: Resolute definitely isn’t for kids – there are massive death totals and awesome displays of violence throughout.  Basically, G.I. Joe: Resolute is for the people (like me and, hopefully, most of you) who grew up loving G.I. Joe but wanted a non-campy, more mature look at the franchise without major changes or a raped childhood.  I think Warren Ellis did a terrific job, and I hope you agree.  Enjoy G.I. Joe: Resolute in its entirety after the jump:

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Transformers have been toys, cartoons and fodder for Michael Bay’s CGI money cannon, but the basic premise remained: These were robots in disguise.

Sadly, some Transformers didn’t live up to their potential. They never forgot to be alien space robots. That part always came pretty naturally. But when deciding what to transform into, some went with disguises that were about as inconspicuous as, well, an alien space robot.

Here’s the trailer for Hilary Swank’s blatantly award-baiting movie, Amelia, which yes, chronicles the story of the doomed pilot who tried to fly around the world and ended up one of history’s greatest mysteries when she disappeared without a trace.

While all indications point to the likely fact that she crashed somewhere in the ocean and it’s really damn hard to find a tiny plane in a million square miles of water, I suppose it’s possible she was abducted by aliens or eaten by a Kraken, which would make for a much more exciting film.

It’s the debut trailer for The Other Side of Truth The Invention of Lying, Ricky Gervais’s next film project. The movie looks pretty decent, but if the man can turn The Sixth Sense into a very decent comedy (Ghost Town), I’m guessing he can do even more with this much better idea, about a world where only one man knows how to lie.

The trailer is showing up as pretty choppy on my computer, let me know if it’s the same for you and I can try to find a different version.