• A funny but completely unfair two-minute version of President Obama's State of the Union address from last night:
  
  (via the Huffington Post)
• Republicans responded to the speech by pointing out that President Obama has asked for many of the same things and made the same points in previous State of the Union addresses. Not sure if it's a fair criticism or not, but if you feel like you've heard the same speech before, it might be because you have:
  (via Indecision Forever)
• Obama's also planning on coming back to L.A. soon to raise money. Lots of money. The "Platinum Package" will run you a cool $71,600 donation. Let's see, how much will the charcoal package cost me?
• The Hollywood Bowl's schedule is out; what catches your eye? Some personal highlights: "The Producers" musical, the Grease and Sound of Music sing-a-longs, and, of course, John Williams. (via L.A. I'm Yours)
• Comedienne Abbey Londer is trying to bring an alt comedy festival to L.A., and the Riot L.A. festival already has some pretty big endorsements lined up, like Patton Oswalt, Megan Mullally, Marc Maron and many more.
• What would it be like if the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills made it to Season 99?
• A brand new Popeye cartoon/Wilco music video. Yup. I'm not sure if this is super indie or a complete sellout since they got the cooperation of the Popeye comic strip syndicators and also included Wilco in the newspaper strip this week, but whatever it is, I like it:
  (via Robot 6)
• Superhero-themed cologne? Thor cologne "Worthy" and Hulk cologne "Smash"? Me want. (I may have worn "American Idol" cologne before. No, I don't know what that horrible smell is.)
• New iPhone game "Frederic - Resurrection of Music" features composer Frederic Chopin doing battle with representatives of other musical genres. Like Guitar Hero for classical fans.
• Pretty sure they're speaking directly to me (and a lot of other Angelenos) in this video about why you probably shouldn't text while walking.
  (via Jezebel)

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"Avengers" film trailer

Captain America and Thor, coming to Hollywood Boulevard?

The new "Avengers" superhero movie, combining the Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and Hulk franchises into one film, is reportedly doing reshoots in Los Angeles, according to comic book news site Bleeding Cool, so if you see anyone walking around in brightly colored costumes, they might not be prostitutes.

Oh boy! Who wants to go stalk superheroes with me?

But actually, seeing how these things are made can take away a little of the magic, so I think I'll just wait until this is in theaters. A little bit of movie magic died for me when I saw this fan footage of a fight scene from the movie featuring Captain America and Thor, with the blows not connecting by a distance of, oh, let's say five feet:

Yes, movie fighting is fake, but it is apparently even faker than I thought.

What needs to be added to the film? What didn't turn out so great the first time? Director Joss Whedon has said that he threw out the original script and wrote pages himself as the film was being shot, so the edge-of-your-seat filmmaking may have left some things undone, but we'll have to wait and see.

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