Here is the first video from “She & Him,” the musical duo that includes Zooey Deschanel and Portlander Matt Ward. The song “Why Do you Let Me Stay Here?” is from their self-titled album.

DOWNLOAD She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here

In his bungalow on the Warner Bros. lot, Zack Snyder keeps a suitcase large enough to hold a rocket launcher. It doesn’t. Popping open the lid reveals a set of finely crafted action figures encased in black foam: Dr. Manhattan. Rorschach. Ozymandias. Nite Owl. Silk Spectre. The Comedian. They’re based on comic-book superheroes that aren’t exactly household names, but if the director of the sword-and-sandals smash 300 has his way, these characters will become icons as explosive as any state-of-the-art weapon. ”In my movie, Superman doesn’t care about humanity, Batman can’t get it up, and the bad guy wants world peace,” Snyder says with a smirk. ”Will Watchmen be the end of superhero movies? Probably not. But it sure will kick them in the gut.”

Watchmen won’t hit theaters till March 6, 2009, but Snyder and his cast are about to face a trial by fire: On July 25, they’re screening special teaser footage for thousands in San Diego at the annual summit of cult pop, Comic-Con. The movie is no kid-safe funny-book flick. It’s an R-rated, $100 million adaptation of the smartest, most subversive superhero story ever created. Published by DC Comics in 1986 and routinely hailed by even mainstream critics as a literary masterpiece, Watchmen is many things — a jittery expression of Cold War anxiety, a chilling meditation on human nature, an intricate murder mystery. But at its heart this sexy, violent, and politically charged 12-issue saga, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, is an epic love letter to colorfully clad superpeople and a wicked satire about them. Set in 1985, but in an alternate reality where Richard Nixon is serving his fifth term as president and costumed crime-fighting has been outlawed, the story begins with the brutal murder of a retired superhero named the Comedian. Another ex-superhero, the inkblot-masked Rorschach, believes that someone is trying to assassinate his former colleagues. Is it a serial killer at work, or is there a global conspiracy involved? A twisty plot unfolds, enveloping an array of bizarre, damaged, and bracingly human fantasy people. ”We wanted to explore simple questions with not-so-simple answers,” Gibbons says. ”What if superheroes really existed? How would they really think? And how would they really affect the world?”

Read the entire Entertainment Weekly article here.

Self-taught artist, Dale Mathis, has come up with this great looking Executive Desk. It not only appears to be a fully-functional work space but it also features cogs and gears under its transparent surface, some of which actually move. Mathis, who was once a bouncer for a Las Vegas strip club, creates amazing looking pieces, which often contain clock-work and other steampunk-y looking machinery. However, the $20,000 price tag on this particular item may put it out of reach for most home-office decor. See a video of the desk parts in motion below.

A week after its launch, the iPhone 3G remains a hard-to-find item in the U.S., with nearly all of AT&T’s company-owned stores sold out. According to checks made earlier this morning by iLounge, Apple’s online iPhone 3G availability page shows approximately 61% of the company’s 187 retail stores sold out of iPhone 3G. 57 stores (30%) show availability of at least one iPhone 3G model, while only 15 stores (8%) report stock of all three models. Out of the 57 stores with at least one model in stock, 22 were located in New York and California, with 7 out of the 15 stores showing availability of all three models coming from those two states. This gives NY and CA a disproportionately high percentage (40%) of stores with stock remaining. While Apple is understood to be making shipments to its stores on an almost daily basis, it remains to be seen when iPhone 3G availability will again be widespread.

Get a first look at what pop-culture fans are flocking to San Diego next week to see — what’s up presenters’ sleeves for buzz projects including ”Star Trek,” ”Dollhouse,” ”Fringe,” and more.  Click here to see the gallery.

ATTENTION ALL RECRUITS
DHARMA HEAD OF RECRUITING TO ATTEND LAUNCH

Octagon Global Recruiting, on behalf of the Dharma Initiative, is pleased to announce that Dharma’s Head of Recruiting, Mr. Hans Van Eeghen, has confirmed his availability for the launch of our latest recruiting drive at Comic-Con 2008.

“My colleagues at Octagon Global Recruiting assure me that Comic-con hosts some of the brightest minds in the country,” said Mr. Van Eeghen. “As Head of Recruiting it is my intention to personally assess the very best of this talent in the hope that they may join us.”

The Dharma Initiative will be conducting eligibility assessments at Booth 3529 at Comic-Con, San Diego between July 24th - 27th.

If you are attending Comic-Con and would like to submit your name for a randomly selected drawing to secure one of ten (10) pre-release appointments with one of our recruiting officers, please click here.

The volunteer eligibility assessment will be available online from July 28th for a limited time at www.dharmawantsyou.com

The Dharma Initiative hopes you will spread the word. Invite your friends to join the team at www.octagonglobalrecruiting.com

If you can’t view the images in this email please click here

Dave Eggers‘ Time Travel Mart in LA just released a fantastic poster set that takes on the look and feel of old Pan Am travel ads to hype several of the historical eras we’ll all be hitting in our future DeLoreans—Pangaea to run with the dinos, Tokyo 2.0 where binary is the official language, and so on. LA Artist Amy Martin is responsible, and like everything else in Eggers’s novelty shop empire (pirates and super heroes also have their own outlets), the $20 goes to writing workshops for kids.  You can look at additional posters and order them here.

1. Room 1738, 1740, 1742, Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, Canada

John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in bed here for a week in 1969 to protest the Vietnam War but the suite’s biggest event was Lennon and Ono recording anti-war song “Give Peace a Chance” there. Now available to the public as the John Lennon and Yoko Ono suite, the living room and bedroom have various press articles and other memorabilia to commemorate their stay.

2. Room 16, L’Hotel Paris, France

“My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go,” Oscar Wilde said in this hotel room where he spent his last days before his death in 1900. Wilde was flat broke when he stayed there as you can see from letters on the wall, asking Wilde to pay his bill.

3. Room 105, Highland Gardens Hotel (formerly Landmark Hotel), Hollywood, California

Janis Joplin checked into this Hollywood hotel room and overdosed on heroin, dying on October 4, 1970. Now renamed the Highland Gardens, the hotel does make her famous hotel room available to the public.

4. Room 776, The Mayflower, Washington, D.C.

Franklin Roosevelt stayed here in the months leading up to his 1933 presidential inauguration. The hotel is also more recently known as the site of Client 9’s (aka former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer) secret meetings.

5. Room 217, The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado

Stephen King and his wife checked into this room in Colorado for a quiet weekend but instead King came up with the idea for “The Shining.” Many believe the hotel is haunted. “The Shining” TV miniseries was shot here as well as parts of “Dumb and Dumber.” The hotel’s TV plays the movie and miniseries on a loop.

6. Room 524, Stamford Plaza (formerly The Ritz-Carlton), Sydney, Australia

INXS leader singer Michael Hutchence hanged himself with a belt in this room in November 1997, with a coroner ruling it was suicide despite a popular suggestion his death was accidental.

7. Room 203, Mark Twain Hotel, San Francisco, California

On January 22, 1949, federal narcotics agents raided jazz singer Billie Holiday’s room and she was arrested for possession of opium. The case went to trial but she was acquitted.

8. Presidential Suite Brandenburg Gate, Kempinski Hotel Adlon, Berlin, Germany

Michael Jackson dangled his baby from his room in 2002, later saying it was a “terrible mistake.” In the suite you get a living room with a fireplace, two bedrooms, an office, dining room, kitchenette, private sauna and a personal butler. Guests have included Bill Clinton and Queen Elizabeth.

9. Monet Suite, Savoy, London, England

French Impressionist Claude Monet painted over 70 canvases of downtown London and the Thames in this room. The Savoy is currently under renovations but before it closed, the hotel offered the Monet Experience — a two night stay in this room with canvases, paint easels and an art teacher.

10. The Churchill Suite, Mena House Oberoi Hotel, Cairo, Egypt

Sir Winston Churchill stayed in this room as an allied leader during World War Two while the hotel hosted the Cairo Conference between U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek and Churchill. It’s said Churchill returned to his room each night and slept with his curtains open so he could see the Pyramids of Giza. (Reprinted from the AskMen.com)