ORIGINALLY AIRED: 3/14/2005
Hard 'n' Phirm, First 50, Dark Deals
Episode #5043
| Adam West is Back! TV’s original Batman dons the cape once more in a student animated film featuring computer-generated LEGO toys.
Joined As One: Modder Matt Turner installs a Mac Mini into his VW GTi. More Annoying Than Ice Sculptures: When planning your next social gathering, consider hiring a “talking food centerpiece.” In P.J.'s Footsteps: Director Bryan Singer posts video diaries of his experience making Superman Returns. So Many Choices: Vote for the geekiest G4 host at IHeartMorganWebb.com. |
| Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman, AKA “Hard ‘n’ Phirm,” are troubadours of the American experience—a very, very weird American experience. Stylistically, their humorous tunes range country odes to dinosaur patriotism (“American Dinosaurs”) to funky riffs about funkiness (“Funkhauser”).
“I think we intended to make the album funny, but then it just kind of ended up being weird,” said Chris, who cited They Might be Giants as their biggest influence. Descend into the world of Hard ‘n’ Phirm at HardnPhirm.com. |
| We get many unusual devices sent to the G4 Lab, and many of them are just too strange to review on the air for one reason or another. Thus, inspiration struck: let’s put ‘em on the air anyway. Here are some inexplicable products hand-picked from the Lab:
Levitron Anti-Gravity Top BeoCom 2 LED Scrolling Text Belt Buckle |
| You Vill Give Us Ze Names! A California judge rules that web reporters must reveal their secret Apple tipsters. What about the public’s right to know trade secrets?!
Not So Marvelous: Marvel gets most of its City of Heroes lawsuit thrown out of court. Tsunami of BS: Court documents reveal that KaZaa set up a Red Cross trust for tsunami relief, but actually used it as money shelter for its ongoing trial. Hope the IRS Doesn’t Hear About This: Indian tax collectors get evaders to cough up their payments by sending drummers to play outside their homes. |
| Kevin R. prowls the darkest fringes of the internet to find you the coolest deals:
Electronic Gaming Monthly via VU Games Nintendo DS at Overstock.com iPod Shuffle 1GB at Amazon.com |
| Web-surfing around the clock, Sarah uncovers yet more weirdness on the web: |
| Today we enjoyed the scene of a young woman ingesting a rather long balloon. Unfortunately, because we locate our Web Classics weeks or months before their airdates, the links for clips such as these often change or become void before we actually show them. Therefore, we can only offer you the site where we originally found this web classic, which was kontraband.com. |
| Kevin P. gave his preview of a new game for the Nintendo DS, Yoshi Touch and Go. Here’s what he had to say:
“Yoshi Touch and Go is essentially two mini-games stretched out into a standalone product, thanks to the two modes: falling stages and walking stages. “But don't worry. The folks at Nintendo haven't forgotten to take advantage of other DS features. There's a shallow multiplayer mode that thankfully only requires one copy of the game; and they also worked in a use for the microphone. “It's really the perfect $15 or $20 game; yet sadly, they're charging $30 for the thing! Don't get me wrong, it's good solid fun, but I hardly think it's $30 worth. Unless you're really hurting for a new DS app, I'd say try it." |
| Rick from Canyon City, California suggested CatDVD.com as a Gem of the Internet.
Sarah was disappointed that the site did not offer cat testimonials, but she promised to investigate it further. |
