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Tired TV

Flipping through the many TV channels yields near-identical scenes — a doctor show here, a dance show there. It’s hard to tell which is worth watching when the previews are so similar. Check out this helpful guide to picking the best of the cable copycats.

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Tired TV

Original programming is dead: Here’s how to sort through the knock-offs

Flipping through the many TV channels yields near-identical scenes — a doctor show here, a dance show there. It’s hard to tell which is worth watching when the previews are so similar. Check out this helpful guide to picking the best of the cable copycats.

Click This: RunPee.com

See blockbusters, not bladder busters

You don’t want to miss a minute of your movie, but you downed a Coke the size of a kiddie pool before the previews ended and a bathroom break is in order. Luckily, you checked RunPee.com, a Web site that maps out the best times for cinema potty stops.

Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

(Web Exclusive) It’s surprising that a CGI robot can bring both tears and laughter to the humans watching it. Though it’s unlikely, it’s exactly what Optimus Prime and the rest of his clan accomplishes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which opened Wednesday.

Movie Review: Outrage

(Web Exclusive) The politicians outed in Kirby Dick’s documentary Outrage do most of the talking for themselves.

In the oven

Pizza girl perfects the art of chilling out in this new film

Channeling what it’s like to be a slacker who works as little as she can — the premise for the latest Columbia-based movie — doesn’t come naturally for the cast and crew of 10 Hours a Week. In fact, they’ve often been toiling in cramped locations for 12 or more hours a day to film a feature-length movie in less than a month.

See this: The Room

It’s time for the Rocky Horror fanatics to wipe away their makeup and strip off their fishnets. Likewise, The Dude wannabes should hang up their bathrobes and set down their White Russians. It’s time to make room for The Room, a new old movie that’s started to cultivate … well, a cult following.

Movie review: Year One

(Web Exclusive) The laughs Year One does have don’t outweigh the many groans it elicits. This film is a satire, though not a strong one, of the Old Testament.

Movie review: Anvil! The Story of Anvil

(Web Exclusive) Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a documentary for every band that ever tried to make it – and failed. One needn’t be a fan of the flying hair or tight leather of ’80s hair metal to appreciate this film’s message.

Flat out family fun

(Web Exclusive)

You’ve been Googled

How to make your public identity No. 1

The 10 hyperlinks that show up beneath a Googled name are the first clues strangers have to someone’s identity — one’s online presence.

Movie Review: American Violet

(Web Exclusive) Based on a true story of unreasonable incarceration laws and racial prejudice, American Violet sheds light on practices that target innocent people.

Movie Review: The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

(Web Exclusive) The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, the newest hostage movie to hit the screen, has a bit of everything -- car chases, explosions, brain matter and men wearing diamond studs.

DIY: Video Games

Students turn their favorite hobby (playing video games) into a craft

It’s hard to imagine what people did for fun before Atari created “Pong” in 1976. The visuals on the early game consoles are now considered cheesy compared to the graphics of today’s systems such as the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Get Tech-Savvy This Summer

Let’s face it, when it comes to technology, your kids have you beat. Behind closed doors, tweens are generating millions in advertising revenue off their comics blogs or inventing the next big social networking site. So this summer, give your children the tools to help diversify their tech talents with fun workshops designed to enhance their knowledge and encourage their creativity.

Movie Review: The Hangover

(Web Exclusive) The trailer for The Hangover doesn’t exactly do the movie justice. Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have produced a script laced with obscene comedy that effectively brings new meaning to the phrase, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”

Movie Review: Land of the Lost

(Web Exclusive) Dinosaurs, ice cream, planes, crabs bigger than a man, and the Titanic all have at least one thing in common – they can all be found in a weird, distant desert. Or at least that’s the case in the recently released Land of the Lost, a remake of the classic ’70s TV show.

Midwestern Movie Machine

MU student filmmaker works behind the camera, script and screen

Crime families, revenge missions, post-apocalyptic zombies and deadly class crushes are only a few of the thematic elements that Evan Melkersman is exploring. The 22-year-old MU senior has his own production company, Melk78 Productions, a couple of films and a miniseries in the making. He’s not messing around.

Location, location, location

Missouri Life contest seeks spots in Missouri to bring Hollywood to the Midwest

Find an interesting location: Snap a low-resolution picture and upload it onto the Missouri Life Web site. If it sounds simple, that’s because simple is exactly what the minds behind the Location Scout contest intended. The idea is to create a thick portfolio of locations that will help recruit big-time producers to all that Missouri has to offer.

Channel Surfing

Mondays 7 p.m.

Vox guides the way through channel surfing. Check out what you should be watching on Monday night.

Lit up

Locals take a break from their 9-to-5s to film a TV show

The key cast members come from different backgrounds and have different expectations for what Lit will bring them. Director Brian Maurer hopes the show’s premier will happen late this summer.