But if we had room in our hearts to love two other things, they would easily be geekery and sexy dames. So why not combine the two? There’s nothing more attractive than a lady with a passion, especially if that passion is for some geek thrill like our favorite video game. Here are some of the sexiest women cosplaying as characters that were never meant to be attractive females. Just don't ask us to closely examine our attraction to women cross-dressing as hirsute plumbers or Harrison Ford.
We're going to one-two you here because everyone knows Mario starts off cute and adorably tiny, like this hotness toting around her geek cred bonus points in an R2-D2 backpack...
BOOM! Only to blossom into a mighty powerhouse with the consumption of magic mushrooms! This latent latex lady lurking within Mario's frame makes us want to slip on a Tanooki Suit and turn to stone, though we'd only last five seconds. On second thought, let's move on. This is getting uncomfortably close to furrydom.
Mmm-hmm, that's one fine-lookin' (wo)Mandalorian. But equally attractive? The care that went into that costume. You might find a foxy female who can put such an ensemble together and even carry it off, but how many of those have the passion for the Force that makes this picture all kinds of tingly?
Who's that hunting Boba Fett for a frisky pillow fight? Only slightly less hairy than either an Italian plumber or a plush raccoon suit is Mr. Han Solo. Now granted, the womenfolk find Harrison Ford crushworthy, but we much prefer the smoother Ms. version (though we can't imagine she'll stay Solo for long). See, this way you get spaceship stunts and sexy bad-assness. It's a very good nerd cocktail. Just try to stay away from any "Hand Solo" jokes.
Of course, you can take that smooth finish too far. Say, all the way to robotic chrome. These shimmering blondes aren't actually robots in disguise, but are in disguise as robots. And the next time you're tired of dealing with other people, remember you never had to spend an entire weekend in a convention full of guys repeating the pickup line: "Nice headlights."
Now who's that delightfully proper Riddler? It's like Agatha Christie wrote an issue of "Detective Comics." We respect class in our daily naked ogling of almost-naked ladies, and, brother, the dame's got it, with an ascot and everything. Plus, do you have any idea how hard it is to find a green cane?
There's a lot to like about Deadpool, but considering he has skin that looks like it was scraped from a frying pan full of corned beef hash, you wouldn't say "sexy" is one of those things. That's why this much improved version sports some significant upgrades, like curvature, fair beauty and not being a lunatic (we assume).
The Pokémon series is what happens when cute meets dangerous, and there's not much cuter nor more dangerous than a curvy blonde in a whole lot of mini and not a lot of skirt. This shockingly bare costume makes us want to make puns about Poké Balls, but to be honest, we're kind of speechless right now. Pikachu, we definitely choose you!
It's not quite official but there's little doubt that Google will launch its Google Music service at its big I/O event later today. While the Wall Street Journal couldn't get a Google spokesman to admit it, Peter Kafka over at All Things D got Jamie Rosenberg, Director of Android Product Management, to spill the details a bit early. Google's service will essentially mimic the music locker functionality of Amazon's Cloud service, albeit without the ability to sell songs direct to consumers. Ouch. Unfortunately, Google's plans to launch a more feature-complete service were derailed when discussions with the labels broke down. According to Rosenberg, "A couple of the major labels were less focused on the innovative vision that we put forward, and more interested in an unreasonable and unsustainable set of business terms." So, rather than putting the service on hold, Google will launch its music service with the ability to store up to 20,000 of your own uploaded songs for free which you can then stream over the web to your desktop or Android phone or tablet -- any device that supports Flash (don't worry iOS users, your time will come). Amazon's service, by comparison, offers just 5GB of free storage for about 1,200 songs stored at a mediocre bitrate. Google will also best Amazon with a feature that automatically creates playlists. Google expects to roll out the service to its US users within "weeks" with Music Beta invites going out later today to Verizon Xoom owners (others will be able to sign up at music.google.com). Keep it right here because we'll be bringing you the announcement live.
Update: And it's officially official, called "Music Beta by Google" at this point. There's a simple presentation with artists, albums, and easy playlist creation. You can manually create them, or there's a feature called "Instant Mix" that will make you a playlist based on any single song. It'll automagically pick 25 different tracks to build a "truly ingenious mix." You know, kind of like another, similarly intelligent service. All of this syncs to the cloud, which means no wires needed to download anything.
But, more importantly, songs can be cached locally. You can pick any song, album, or playlist to download onto storage, at an unknown quality. It's the same pinning idea that's in the new movies feature. That and more is demonstrated in the video below.
The service is launching in beta today, allowing 20,000 songs, and it'll be free -- "at least while it's in beta." Also, the updated music app is available now, which will work with any music on your phone and any phone running Android 2.2 or above. To get full-featured you can request a beta and get in line, but if you happen to be reading this from I/O you're in the beta. Congrats, you lucky bums!
That’s right, you may curse his name now, but a few scant years ago this swoop-haired teen dream was nearly destitute. According to Bieber, before becoming famous he grew up in a rat-infested home with an empty fridge. He had to sleep on a pull-out couch and lived off a diet consisting mostly of macaroni and cheese. Today, the rat-bastard is worth around $65 million.
8 Mariah Carey
Growing up in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Long Island, Mariah Carey grew up in near poverty. Lacking any toys or other fun things to do, she found her own fun by doing things like poisoning her dog and setting her parents’ car on fire. Later, she moved to NYC and took several part-time jobs to help make ends meet. By chance, she met a Columbia Records exec at a party, and she used her soulful voice to talk him into checking out her music.
7 J.K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling had to wait a long time to find her fortune. Before she started writing the Harry Potter series, she was struggling to get by as a single mother living off of welfare. As the story goes, Rowling had a four-hour delayed train trip to thank for her wealth. Apparently, while idly waiting for the train, the idea of a young boy attending wizard school appeared fully formed in her head. She’s now one of the richest celebrities in England (reportedly worth over $1 BILLION).
6 Danny DeVito
Before his big break on Taxi, Danny DeVito was not only short in stature; he was short on cash. In fact, he was once so penniless that he spent a night sleeping on a New York City transit bus. Using a few of his last coins to call his agent, he was thrilled to find out he had a job offer.
5 Snoop Dogg
Like a lot of famous rappers, Snoop grew up in squalor. His early days in Long Beach (a.k.a. the LBC) had him following the general career path of men in his neighborhood -– selling drugs. After a few short stints in jail, Snoop started making tapes with his friend who just so happened to be the step brother of Dr. Dre. The rest, as they say, is multimillion-dollar history.
4 Jim Carrey
For starters, Jim Carrey had one big strike against him growing up: he was Canadian. While in high school, he had the pleasure of living out of a camper van with the rest of his family. He also worked full day shifts at a tire factory. Not content with this lifestyle (Gee, who would be?), Carrey dropped out of school at 16 and moved to LA to make it big in Hollywood. The young comic caught the eye of Rodney Dangerfield, who gave him some respect and let him be the opening act to his show. Now, he’s one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.
3 Leonardo DiCaprio
You remember Leo’s days on Growing Pains that had him playing the character of a homeless boy? Yeah, well as it turns out that scenario wasn’t too far off from his real life. Leo grew up in Hollywood surrounded by drug dealers and prostitutes. Despite these unhappy surroundings, Leo skipped out on the low road and found himself landing acting gigs that helped catapult him to the very top of the Hollywood A-list.
2 Demi Moore
Would you be shocked to learn that Mrs. Ashton Kutcher could technically be referred to as trailer trash? As a kid, she spent part of her years in a trailer park, and had the misfortune of having an abusive father who spent his days drinking instead of working. Much like Jim Carrey, she just couldn’t take that living situation, so she dropped out of school and moved to Hollywood at age 16.
1 Mark Wahlberg
Mark Walhberg said “so long” to school even earlier than Demi Moore and Jim Carrey. At age 14 he dropped out and went to work as a street thug. After a couple years of stealing things, making drug deals and getting high, he was convicted of assaulting two men and sentenced to 50 days in prison. Reportedly, the stint turned him around. Proving once again that it’s often who you know, his older brother Donnie helped him out and got him a record deal.
When it comes to sick-in-bed daytime television watching, Judge Judy ranks right up there with The Price Is Right on the must see TV list. She’s been settling people’s petty disputes in her trademark sassy fashion for over a decade now and brings in enough viewers to outrank even Oprah as the #1 daytime television show in America in 2010.
And the shocking facts don’t end there. The good people at Paralegal put together this fascinating infographic with all sorts of surprising information about daytime television’s premier problem solver, Judge Judy.
Hollywood's summer movie season officially kicks off Friday, and I don't even have my spray-on tan yet. The first Friday in May is happy time for theater owners who hope to see streams of fans pouring into potential blockbusters for the next four months. And what creative wonders have the movie wizards prepared?
What else? Sequels, prequels, reboots and remakes.
The most anticipated sequel, of course, is the eighth (and final) Harry Potter, which opens Friday, July 15. But we're also bracing for the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean," fourth "X-Men" (fifth if you count the Wolverine spinoff), fourth "Spy Kids," and third "Transformers."
The biggest trend is not content, but format: Several films arrive in pricier 3-D. Also on the horizon, new movies from Terrence Malick, Jodie Foster, John Lasseter and Jon Favreau, who has combined two of our favorite genres for "Cowboys & Aliens." A sneak peek at the next 16 weeks of cinema:
MAY
Friday, May 13
"Bridesmaids"
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, John Hamm.
Buzz: A longtime single woman watches her best friend walk down the aisle and must find a new life. Plugged as the "female 'Hangover,' " but with more sex. "Saturday Night Live's" Wiig co-wrote and stars.
"Everything Must Go"
Cast: Will Ferrell, Rebecca Hall, Laura Dern.
Buzz: After a man loses his wife and his job on the same day, he moves into his front yard. Based on Raymond Carver's short story "Why Don't You Dance?"
"Priest"
Cast: Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Maggie Q, Christopher Plummer.
Buzz: An angry warrior priest battles vampires in a post-apocalyptic world. And in 3-D. Homilies will never be the same.
Friday, May 20
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"
Cast: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush.
Buzz: The third one was kind of lame, or was it the second one? Oh, well. Capt. Jack Sparrow returns to find the Fountain of Youth and battle Blackbeard (Ian McShane) in 3-D.
Thursday, May 26
"The Hangover Part II"
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis.
Buzz: The first "Hangover" was sharply made, hilarious and, refreshingly, not your typical bawdy comedy. No. 2 is already beset by semicontroversy (Mel Gibson was denied a role after some cast members objected, PETA objected to the treatment of monkeys, and Mike Tyson's tattoo artist is suing), but prospects are good for giggles. The main cast remains intact, and this time the lads are headed for trouble in Bangkok.
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
Cast: Voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan.
Buzz: Po and the Furious Five take on a new villain in the not-so-aptly named Valley of Peace.
Friday, May 27
"The Beaver"
Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin.
Buzz: A deeply depressed man communicates through a beaver hand puppet with a British accent. Gibson's various offending-everyone antics delayed the release of this film for months. The classy Foster also directs.
Also in May: Michelle Williams shakes things up on the rugged Oregon Trail circa 1845 in "Meek's Cutoff" . . . "Super Size Me's" Morgan Spurlock dissects branding and marketing in "POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" . . . A veteran New York Times photographer is celebrated in "Bill Cunningham New York" . . . and the struggles of a 14-year-old are explored in the World War II drama "Winter in Wartime."
Friday, June 3
"X-Men: First Class"
Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, January Jones.
Buzz: McAvoy, as Charles Xavier, has a gift for turning potentially predictable roles into memorable turns, so there may be hope for the latest "X-Men," an origins story that takes us back to 1963 and the Cold War. Jennifer Lawrence ("Winter's Bone") plays Mystique.
Friday, June 10
"Super 8"
Cast: Gabriel Basso, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney.
Buzz: A hybrid of home movies and alien horrors from writer-director J.J. Abrams. Strange things start happening in a small Ohio town in 1979. (Set but not shot here.)
Buzz: Megan McDonald's book series comes to the screen with Beatty as Moody, a third-grader determined to beat the summer blahs.
Friday, June 17
"Mr. Popper's Penguins"
Cast: Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury.
Buzz: In this family comedy, Mr. Popper's problem is a shipment from Antarctica that includes six slap-happy penguins. Cue the cuteness.
"Green Lantern"
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard.
Buzz: The superhero is re-imagined with Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the dude with the special ring and intergalactic responsibilities.
Friday, June 24
"Cars 2"
Cast: Voices of Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt.
Buzz: Pixar genius John Lasseter returns to put pedal to metal with Lightning McQueen and Mater traveling overseas for a big race and super spy-jinks thanks to new cars Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer).
"Bad Teacher"
Cast: Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel, Lucy Punch.
Buzz: As the title suggests, Elizabeth (Diaz) is a crummy educator. She does, however, have a plan to marry a meal ticket and escape the classroom. Former love buddies Diaz and Timberlake buried the breakup hatchet and agreed to co-star.
Also in June: Terrence Malick's long-awaited, "The Tree of Life" with Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain . . . Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts in "The Art of Getting By" (formerly titled "Homework") . . . Mike Mills' "Beginners," with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer . . . and the adaptation of Joe Dunthorne's novel, "Submarine," about a 15-year-old trying to save his parents' marriage.
Buzz: Megan Fox was dumped for Huntington-Whiteley, but LaBeouf is back for No. 3 as the Autobots discover a lunar secret. The first "Transformers" was an absolute blast. No. 2 was a mammoth drag. Director Michael Bay, the master of excess, owes us one.
Buzz: This summer's lots-of-cute-guys movie is aimed squarely at the young-girl demographic. A romantic comedy in which a teen is mistaken for an heiress and reaps the attendant high-life benefits.
"Larry Crowne"
Cast: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts.
Buzz: It's the first feature film Hanks has directed since "That Thing You Do" in 1996, and he's in good company. He co-wrote the script -- about a recently fired guy who heads to community college -- with Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), and cast Roberts as his love-interest teacher.
Friday, July 8
"Zookeeper"
Cast: Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Leslie Bibb.
Buzz: A romance-challenged zookeeper discovers a scary secret about his animals: They talk. A mixture of live-action and CGI, with the voices of Cher, Adam Sandler and Nick Nolte.
"Horrible Bosses"
Cast: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis.
Buzz: The universal fantasy of ousting awful employers is played out by three working stiffs who have a diabolical idea for getting rid of Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey.
Friday, July 15
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"
Cast: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint.
Buzz: Did they really need to mess with a good thing by adding 3-D to the Hogwarts equation? There's plenty to delve into in Harry's world without added gimmicks, but Warner Bros. is going all out as it says farewell to the wildly profitable series. Hard to believe it all began in November 2001, four years after J.K. Rowling published her first Harry book in England. What a ride.
"Winnie the Pooh"
Cast: Voices of Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny.
Buzz: Disney returns to A.A. Milne's Hundred Acre Wood for new adventures with Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit and the gang. Created using the old-fashioned method: hand-drawn animation.
Friday, July 22
"Captain America: The First Avenger"
Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving.
Buzz: Marvel hopes for more marvelousness as Steve Rogers (Evans) is transformed into a supersoldier to take on the Red Skull (Weaving).
"Friends With Benefits"
Cast: Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson.
Buzz: Didn't Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher just make this movie? They did, except it was called "No Strings Attached." Timberlake and Kunis are the new comely duo. Two friends share a bed. Issues ensue.
Friday, July 29
"Cowboys & Aliens"
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Harrison Ford.
Buzz: Things get a little weird in the Old West of 1873 when outer-space interlopers arrive.
"Crazy, Stupid, Love"
Cast: Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone.
Buzz: Recently separated Cal (Carell) becomes the wingman for a real player (Gosling) and learns the ways of modern romance.
"The Smurfs"
Cast: Neil Patrick Harris and the voices of Katy Perry and Jonathan Winters.
Buzz: The blue brigade lands in New York City in a blend of live action, animation and 3-D.
Also in July: Kristin Scott Thomas plays a journalist in "Sarah's Key" . . . 19th-century China is seen through the eyes of two young girls in Wayne Wang's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" . . . "The Devil's Double" charts 1980s intrigue in Baghdad . . . and "Another Earth" ponders the discovery of a duplicate planet.
AUGUST
Friday, August 5
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Cast: James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow.
Buzz: The umpteenth rendering of man and primate defying evolutionary and cultural codes. The apes are CGI and not played by Roddy McDowell.
"The Change-Up"
Cast: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Olivia Wilde.
Buzz: Bateman and Reynolds switch bodies. See: "Freaky Friday," "13 Going on 30," "Like Father Like Son," "The Hot Chick," "17 Again" et al.
Friday, August 12
"The Help"
Cast: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer.
Buzz: Kathryn Stockett's best seller about improbable friendships and black housekeepers in early 1960s Mississippi comes to the screen in the hands of Tate Taylor (an old friend of Stockett's). The terrific cast includes Cicely Tyson and Sissy Spacek.
"30 Minutes or Less"
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari.
Buzz: A pizza-delivery dude is kidnapped and forced to rob a bank in this action-comedy from "Zombieland" director Ruben Fleischer.
Friday, August 19
"One Day"
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson.
Buzz: Glimpsed on July 15, on and off for two decades, the friendship/love of Em and Dex evolves. Director Lone Scherfig's ("An Education") take on David Nicholls' novel.
"Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World"
Cast: Jessica Alba, Jeremy Piven, Joel McHale
Buzz: A couple of 10-year-olds (Rowan Blanchard and Mason Cook) are needed to save their mom, the world or both.
"Conan the Barbarian"
Cast: Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang.
Buzz: No Arnold this time. It's Jason Momoa (from "Game of Thrones") as the Big C, fighting to save the nations of Hyboria from supernatural evil.
"Fright Night"
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Buzz: Another night, another remake. Yelchin stars as Charlie Brewster, a high school senior who has some bloodsucking suspicions about his mysterious new neighbor.
Also in August: Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce scream in "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" . . . Elizabeth Banks and Paul Rudd look for laughs in "Our Idiot Brother" . . . Emma Bell and Nicholas D'Agosto go thrill-seeking in "Final Destination 5" . . . Juno Temple and Jeremy Dozier star in "Dirty Girl" . . . and the space mission saga "Apollo 18" arrives early from its previously announced 2012 release date.
Ticket sales of $86.2 million for the fifth volume in the high-speed car chase series, in which Paul Walker and Vin Diesel reunite with fellow Fast veterans, marked the biggest premiere for any film so far this year.
It is also currently racing ahead in the UK box office. In it’s opening weekend last weekend it took £5,332,096.
The film is directed by Taiwan-born Justin Lin who also directed Fast & Furious (2009), the fourth instalment of the series.
Lin’s versions of Fast & Furious are generally rated by critics as being better, with slicker sequences than the first three in the series by original director Rob Cohen.
Telegraph film critic Tim Robey wrote about the latest film: “The start and finish here, defying every imaginable law of physics, are series highs.”
There are siad to be seven installments in the Universal Studios franchise. None of the Fast & Furious films have had high critical praise. They are known for their daft plot lines and expensive action stunts.
Fast Five has knocked animation comedy Rio off its top spot after two consecutive weeks, with $14.8 million, according to tracker company Exhibitor Relations.
In third place was the latest comedic offering from Tyler Perry, Madea's Big Happy Family, and Water for Elephants starring British heartthrob Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon, came in fourth.
