'speed racer

Have you ever seen the movie Viva Las Vegas? In it, Elvis Presley plays a racecar driver in a city-to-city race, in between songs. The music isn't to my tastes, but the cars, a collection of mid- to late-1950s sports-racers, many with considerable history, are. And the plot, such as it is, was familiar. Point-to-point race over the open road, good guys versus bad guys. I hadn't seen Viva Las Vegas before viewing it on TV about 20 years ago, as Elvis never made my musical radar screen, but I had seen Speed Racer cartoons. Instant flash of recognition!

Viva and the Speed Racer cartoons share the same basic action-filled "plot." There is even some similarity in cars. And Speed Racer looks more than a little like an anime version of Elvis in his prime, even though he doesn't sing. Which might be for the best.

A gearhead classic that was underground for many years is now readily available over the counter. That's C'etait un Rendezvous by Claud Lelouch, better known just as Rendezvous. It's expensive, intense, and worth every penny. There is no real plot, merely action of the "kids, don't try this at home" variety.

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Eric Litman and Rana Sobhany stop by The 404 to wish Randall the best. We'll talk about HBO on iTunes, Google Street View face blurring, and how Speed Racer lied about how well it did at the box office!

Don't forget to leave your farewell messages for Randall! E-mail them to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com.

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Today we talk about the infamous $30 a month Sprint SERO plan, the 3G iPhone, and the new BlackBerry Bold. Also, we gladly watch as Speed Racer crashes at the box office and cry as Jimmy Fallon gets the late night love he doesn't deserve. Plus, we pimp Legends, Myths and Hieroglyphs, a brand new play by one of our favorite guests, Demetrius Wren.

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Rory Reid from CNET.co.uk joins us to talk all things tech. iPhones won't help you get laid in the U.S. or the U.K., Speed Racer looks like an abomination and Randall's stuffy nose ruins the show.

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Long before RC toys began terrorizing household pets, there was the slot car. They still exist today, of course, but have become more of a hobby akin to model trains than something that would occupy kids for hours on end, pre-Nintendo.

But now that Speed Racer has been resurrected--"the movie event of the century," as Craver Caroline McCarthy puts it--the venerable slot car may make something of a mild comeback. Carrera is coming out with a new package that includes a Mach 5 (of course), a Racer X Street Car, 20 feet of track, and endless bouts … Read more

Iron Man takes the box office by storm, Indiana Jones 4 looks promising, and Speed Racer most definitely will not be good (we promise). Plus, Amy Winehouse pulls out of a James Bond movie, and plastic surgery officially makes people look funny.

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Like everyone else, we can't wait for Speed Racer to hit the theaters next month. Not just because we're anxious to see the cutting-edge animation or to revisit childhood memories, but also because Craver Caroline McCarthy won't stop talking about it.

But despite all the hype, there seems to have been a surprising dearth of the kind of product merchandizing that usually accompanies releases of this ilk. In fact, the first branded gadget we've seen is this USB flash drive that comes with a Target gift card.

OhGizmo notes that the drive stores only 62.8MB, … Read more

Somehow, a reporter for Road & Track got to test the Mach 5, the car from the upcoming Speed Racer movie. We got to see the Mach 5 at the Detroit auto show, although the one we saw looked like a nonfunctional mock-up. Some of the features and specs covered in the Road & Track article seem fictional, such as the "crampons" that are supposed to wrap around the tires for better traction. But the article includes pictures of things such as the saw blades that pop out from the front, so we're not really sure what … Read more

Racer Motors, a family-owned racing company, displayed its Mach 5 race car at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. Although the car's design is not typical of what's found on today's race tracks, the Mach 5 boasts some impressive specifications. Spinning at 8,500rpm, the engine produces 1,000 horsepower, while its 1,000 ft.-lbs. of torque comes at 7,000rpm. All this power pushes the Mach 5 to speeds in excess of 300 mph. The spec sheet handed out at the auto show mentions some surprising and decidedly nontypical racing equipment, including a bulletproof cockpit, jump … Read more