geekosystem

Michael Shannon is an intimidating guy. That's probably why he was cast as General Zod in Man of Steel. He has a certain disturbing vibe about him. The emails of clearly deranged college sorority girls are disturbing on their own, but are made even more so when they are read by Michael Shannon -- and it's NSFW at all, in case you didn't realize.

Sometimes it's better to be first than to be the best, and while that's far from the philosophy displayed by Apple during Steve Jobs' life, it seems to be the one comedy site Funny or Die took when churning out their Jobs biopic iSteve. It's available online right now, ahead of its competitors jOBS and Steve Jobs.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete is one of the greatest achievements in the history of television. To celebrate 20th anniversary of the show, the cast has been making some public appearances together. This Funny or Die video shows catches up with the Petes, Endless Mike, Artie the Strongest Man in the World, and Mr. Tasty. It also has Paul F. Tompkins, and a special appearance by Polaris singer Mark Mulcahy. If anyone needs me I'll be reliving my childhood with some Pete & Pete DVDs.

Jeff Bridges may not have been on board for this recently unearthed 1982 Tron holiday special which is not actually real, but at least they got such hot contemporary stars as Jefferson Starship, Welcome Back, Kotter's Gabe Kaplan, and Fraggle Rock. (FoD via Soup)

We've been really impressed by the well-put-together marketing campaign for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which has been ill-received by smartypantses like The New Yorker's Anthony Lane and New York Magazine's David Edelstein, but which still has a decent 78% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. And it was apparently very well-received at Comic-Con. But this ... well, huh. Michael Cera and Jason Schwartzman randomly showed up on this morning's Good Day Atlanta to report on the weather, of all things.

Any geek will know, of course, that October 23 is Sam Raimi's birthday. Why then, have James Franco and Bill Hader released this Spider-Man 4 viral video for Funny or Die, in honor of the director's birthday ... today? For one it's certainly topical, with rumors swirling around about who will be the next Spider-Man in the upcoming Marc Webb reboot. And two, I ask: Why not wish him a very early birthday? I've been a fan of Franco's Funny or Die videos for a while; that he's willing to be self-deprecating always makes for a good laugh. In the video, Franco confronts his inner Willem Dafoe over being killed off in the third film. Little known trivia: Hader in fact worked as a PA on the first film. He also does a killer Dafoe laugh impression. Video below:

It's getting to the point where "interventions" of has-been film and TV stars are such a cliche that parodies of them have become cliche as well. However, perhaps because of residual hatred for the new Karate Kid remake, the new Funny or Die video featuring an intervention of the original Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, somehow ends up working big time. The video features the 80s star's family (including "actress who's been showing up everywhere recently," June Diane Raphael, as his wife) and "friends" gathering together to persuade him he needs to stop...being so nice. We then get treated to a series of hilarious visual gags including a shot of Macchio cutting a pile of coke into a smiley face.