The Big Data Lebowski?  I can only imagine what Donny would say after learning about this...

Big data apparently has similar identity issues to what The Dude experienced; are we talking about the millionaire or the deadbeat?  The word data has been grossly overused in the technology industry and it's apparently coming back to haunt a few of us nerd types.  I said "us" because I'm one of them. 

The Data Abides.

http://www.information-management.com/blogs/big-data-social-unstructured-Lebowski-hoarding-10021848-1.html

If you hadn't noticed yet, our beloved Walter, John Goodman, is in two films up for the Academy Award's 2011 Best Picture statue.  The first is a black and white silent film titled The Artist.  In it he plays a studio boss involved in the film industry back before movies looked and especially sounded like they do today.  The second is a film based off a book dealing with the September 11th tragedy in the US titled Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  I think it's great to see Goodman being recognized for his work.  So many people remember him for Rosanne, which isn't the worst thing in the world - I just think he's done better things.  Here's an article linked below.  At this moment I haven't seen either film and am hoping to before The Oscars.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/01/john-goodman-the-artist-extremely-loud-incredibly-cllose.html

Filming will be taking place in the East Village next week Feb 16th.  This makes me think of the 'vette bashing scene John Goodman did for The Big Lebowski.  Oh how I wish the Coens would film in my neighborhood.

http://animalnewyork.com/2012/02/the-coen-brothers-want-you-to-make-east-village-look-1960-ish/

Last night I realized I've had United States of Tara in my Netflix queue for a while and should probably start watching.  I only watched the first episode, and it was pretty amazing.  Tara is played by the amazing actress Toni Collette.  You might recognize her from films like Little Miss Sunshine, Shaft (the re-make), About a Boy, and Dirty Deeds where she co-starred with our favorite Walter - John Goodman.  Tara suffers from multiple personality disorder and the show is setup to show you the life of Tara, her family, and her alternate selfs. 

One of her "others" is named Buck.  Buck wears dogtags, large glasses, smokes, likes to bowl, and is generally rude to everyone but has a heart of gold.  Does this sound like anyone we know?

Walter Sobchek perhaps?  I don't know about you, but I'm going to keep watching.  Watching Walter Buck beat the crap out of his/her daughter's boyfriend was pretty hilarious.

For years now I've seen re-done movie trailers where films are made to look nothing like what they actually are.  Some of you might argue this happens already with the way some Hollywood production companies give away all the good parts to sucker you in.  I haven't seen too many examples of "new" movie posters being made with different people acting the parts though.  Here's a great article showing posters for a variety of films from the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/martin-newman/peter-stults-retro-reimaginings-of-classic-movie-posters_b_1217257.html?ref=uk

Here are a couple I'm partial to...

For those of you who stopped by yesterday and noticed the site was down, I hope you're aware of the circumstances.  The United States House of Representatives and Senate were considering a vote on two bills - SOPA and PIPA.  SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA stands for Protect IP (Internet Protocol) Act.  These two bills were aimed at making a stand in the long war against pirating copyrighted material.  This all really became apparent to me back in the day when Metallica brought down Napster.  Since then there was been a battle raging between studios and records labels against their customers.  I'd bet money these two bills were largely established by those wanting to profit from them whether anyone would admit it or not.  In the spirit of The Dude, we decided to lock arms with our compeers across the internet and take a stand.  It's not exactly the Seatle Seven, and we didn't smoke any thai stick or occupy various administration buildings...but I like to think we did our part.

If you'd like to tell the US government you think these two bills are a bunch of malarky, feel free to check out the link below.  Fortunately it appears both sides of Congress have decided to back down...for now.

http://google.com/takeaction

SOPA - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

PIPA -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

Big Lebowski: The Musical
On Saturday February 11th, 2012 you'll have a chance to watch a live rock opera based on The Big Lebowski.  The show starts at 8pm and tickets are $10/$12 at the door.  I wish I was closer to the Motorco Music Hall in Durham, NC.

http://motorcomusic.com/big-lebowski-the-musical

I've recently started watching Portlandia, Fred Armisen's show poking fun at Portland, OR, so I'm feeling very up to date on the hipster culture of the Northwest.  I'm sure most of you are aware Pendleton recently created a new "dude" sweater loosely based off the original design.  Many Achievers are split on whether or not to embrace the product.  I think the sweater looks nice, it's in now way a "Dude Sweater," and if it was priced for $50 I'd instantly purchase one...but that's just like, my opinion, man.

So here's a story about a wedding where the grooms all wore these new Pendletons.  Of course Pendleton loves it for their PR stuff, and it just so happens to come from Portland, OR.  Sounds like the basis for a Portlandia episode if you ask me.

http://blog.pendleton-usa.com/2011/12/22/a-very-lebowski-wedding/

I dug this old story from September up today.  Mitt Romney, in an effort to align himself with more "common folk," has talked about eating at Carl's Jr (aka Hardees) and enjoying $5 Footlongs from Subway.  Apparently at one point he talked about sharing his love of Coen Brother films including The Big Lebowski.  It was reported his favorite film is O, Brother Where Art Thou?  Is this what everyday Americans do?  This really reminds me of Barton Fink ranting about the common man, am I wrong?  Am I wrong?

I don't really know what to think of Romney.  It's hard to relate to a guy worth $200 million who, I heard this today, has a $100 million trust set up for his kids.  I don't know about you, but I've never offered a $10,000 bet to prove a line wasn't in a book.  I'm more of a $1 - $10 betting kind of man.  Do I have it all wrong?  Should Achievers and Lebowski fans vote this man into office?  Give the dudes some advice here, man.

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/144213/mitt-romney-wants-you-to-know-that-he-likes-the-coen-brothers/

I saw Amazon now offers a replica Quintana bowling bag.  It looks pretty decent, but I'm guessing this is mostly a Halloween prop, not something you'd actually use long term as a serious bowler.