Pic of the Day (above)
Erica Padilla gets her picture taken in a Star Wars booth during Comic-Con International: San Diego 2010 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Comic-Con is one of the world’s largest pop-culture conventions and runs from July 22-25, bringing together fans of various genres including science fiction, fantasy, movies and television.
Mood Swingometer
Today JOE has been feeling…scared.
Tiger kidnappings (no, we’re not talking about The Hangover) are an Irish creation, having first been used by the IRA, who would kidnap individuals in order to coerce them into placing car bombs. Although such practises stretch back to the 1970s, they are gaining prominence 2009 Bank of Ireland Robbery, where a junior bank employee was forced to remove €7.4m while his girlfriend was held captive. JOE writer Robert Carry may or may not have forced me to include his article on the Irish phenomenon – I’m reluctant to say.
Tonight’s Telly
Pick of the night: Undercover Boss, Channel 4, 9.00pm.
If you’ve never caught an episode of Undercover Boss, try to imagine the show Secret Millionaire, minus the mountain of sob stories and free money at the end. Each week, the Channel 4 features a senior executive at a major corpdoration altering their appearence and backstory to take an entry-level job at their company for one week to discover the issues of their place of week and unsung entry-level heroes. Tonight’s episode revolves around the owner of London’s Tower Hamlets council, Kevan Collins, who goes undercover to deliver meals to the old and vulnerable.
Movie pick: Starship Troopers, Sky Movies Scifi & Horror, 9:00pm
Upon its release in 1997, Paul Verhoeven’s (Robocop, Total Recall) Starship Troopers was derided as a dumb sci-fi action movie by critics, who years later would realise the error of their ways. Verheoven was much smarter than they, or Hollywood execs had expected, secretly hiding a huge subtext inside the movies then-astronomical $105m budget – that the entire movie is a satire of miltiarism and fascism. The human ‘heroes’ of Troopers are in actuality brainwashed, facist troops, with propaganda vignettes popping up frequently through the film, and even some of the human ‘Federation’s’ clothing styles based on that of Nazi officers. A fantastic guilty pleasure for anyone, we’re sure Verhoeven still can’t believe he got away with it.
Live Like JOE
Get kitted out
With the 2010/2011 football season fast approaching, excitement is hitting fever pitch in the JOE office – sure it’s been nearly two weeks since the World Cup was over and we’ve only got the Tour de France to sate our sporting needs. Why not get in the spirit of things and have a wander over to our 2010/2011 season kit gallery and see which new jerseys catch your eye.
