Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 2, 2010 in Cinema, Tech
Back in April, Paramount teamed up with Seagate to produce a special edition hard drive that came loaded with select movies, such as Abram’s Star Trek. Well, it sees Buffalo will be taking this cross promotional concept a step further with their upcoming Harry Potter hard drives. Buffalo has teamed up with Warner Home Video in order to load the drives with all six films to date. The films will come in a DRM-locked DivX format and require an Internet connection to be played. Chances are, if you’re reading this, that won’t be a problem. Aside from having the movies sitting on the drive, the only film-related reference seems to be the Harry Potter logo located on the external drive itself. Nifty, but is it worth the price? I guess we’ll have to see when it’s announced, along with the official release date later this month.
I imagine the first thought that’s probably running through most people’s heads would be “what’s wrong with that NES controller?” Well, good call. This slick little iPhone 4 case is actually modeled after a Japanese Famicom controller, hence the red and gold color scheme. Personally, I liked it but I wouldn’t dare question Nintendo’s decision-making process to rebrand their product stateside — it was only the best selling console of that era. Still, this design should speak to you, and if the classic d-pad or button layout aren’t enough, the fact that it’s an import might sweeten the pot in terms of nerd-cred. You can order them through geekstuff4u.com, but you’ll want to note that these are imported and will probably cost you a bit.
In this wonderful short video clip science writer Bill Bryson talks about how amazing it is that over the course of just a few short billion years we’ve gone from a collection of atoms to living life forms. Bryson also points out that it’s interesting that there is nothing special about the atoms that make up each of us.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 1, 2010 in Comic Books
Sadly he’s not better known in the west but Shigeru Sugiura (杉浦茂) was an amazing manga artist who lived in Japan from 1908 until 2000. He became famous after World War II with a series of manga aimed at kids but is best known for his more comedic work. Shown above is the beautiful print designed by otooto22 for a hoodie which will be released in mid-November: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 1, 2010 in Comic Books
How can you tell that Disney expect the upcoming Tron film to be huge? Because Marvel plans to cash in with a poorly done comic book based on the original film (Tron: Original Movie Adaptation #1) which will be released this week. Clearly the thinking is that fanboys will be nostalgic for the original and will buy almost anything with a Tron logo on it. Sadly a more creative team might have had fun with a creative interpretation of the original and done an amazing graphic novel — instead this preview reveals a bad tracing and coloring job: Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 31, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
It’s Halloween, and that means it’s horror movie season! But man, watching all those scream queens can be an awful lot of work. Why don’t you let the Fine Brothers do all the legwork for you? They’ve compiled one hundred spoilers for horror movies of all stripes and put them all in one convenient five-minute video. Want to know about Draculas? They’ve got you covered. Wondering who meets their maker in Final Destination? They’re all over it. Wish I had one of these for my college lit classes. “100 Puritan Texts Spoiled in Five Minutes,” anyone? Read more…
Great news for the astronomical number of you out there who saw (and liked) James Cameron’s Avatar — Cameron has officially signed on for two more films set in the Avatar universe. Not terribly surprising, given that the film grossed almost $3 billion worldwide, but good news nonetheless. Cameron, who’s currently working on At the Mountains of Madness with Guillermo Del Toro, will begin writing screenplays for the two sequels shortly, and he’ll decide whether or not to film them back-to-back once that task is complete. Regardless of the filming schedule, the expected release dates for Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 are 2014 and 2015, respectively. Read more…
Do you like Popeye comic strips? No? You don’t? Well, I suppose that’s probably because you’ve never read one, because why on earth would you have occasion to? But I bet you like Indiana Jones, in which case this most excellent adaptation of Raiders of the Lost Ark done in the style (and speech patterns) of classic Popeye comics. Now all we need is Last Crusade done Tintin-style and we’ll be all set. What’s that? There’s an Indiana Jones movie between Raiders and Crusade? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 30, 2010 in Cinema, Star Wars
Brock Davis, graphic artist for Wired and several other publications, broke form recently and released this great 70s-style invoice addressed from Boba Fett to Jabba the Hutt, requesting payment for services rendered. Even bounty hunters need to keep their paperwork straight, especially when a cool quarter-million credits are on the line. Makes you wonder what the invoices all those independent contractors sent Vader for Death Star construction (and repairs) looked like. Read more…
We’ve been pretty pumped about Christopher Nolan’s next (and possibly last) Batman film, and some recent casting news has helped that feeling. Now we have some big news — the film’s title! Nolan spoke with Hero Complex and divulged that the movie will be titled “The Dark Knight Rises.” But that’s not all: we also know who the film’s villain won’t be. Nolan confirmed that the Riddler is out of the running as antagonist. There’ve been rumors swirling around that recently-cast Thomas Hardy will be playing Bane or even Killer Croc, but at this point it could be anybody — except for Mr. Freeze, who Nolan also recently deconfirmed. Read more…
Entertainment Weekly’s cover story this week has Chris Evans as Captain America in his full costume, including the iconic shield. But that’s not all! EW was kind enough to release several other photos, including shots of Cap in his USO uniform, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, HYDRA goons, and more! The suit looks pretty great in the photos — Cap’s cartoony “flag pajamas” are nowhere to be found here, just some nice period-friendly superhero digs. Chris Evans also looks right at home in this particular film universe. Color me red, white, and excited. Read more…
With the exception of Darth Maul, I practically loathed the recent Star Wars films. They had their moments but between Jar Jar and Hayden Christensen, they left a lot to be desired. Maul, on the other hand, was mysterious, menacing, and the first on-screen character to wield a dual-bladed lightsaber. Sure he had his flaws, but as far as I’m concerned, this statue alone more than makes up for that lack of character development. Read more…
Back in 2009, improvisational pianist and composer Richard Grayson performed several requests for students at the Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica. The presentation was apparently filmed and subsequently uploaded to YouTube in a series of clips. In each video he takes a request and performs each song as if it part of a classical genre. Here we have him performing the theme to Star Wars as if it were a baroque gavotte — for those of you who aren’t musically inclined, that’s a type of rhythm based on a French folk dance that often went along with baroque compositions around the mid to late 1600’s. Needless to say, he does a pretty awesome job, though I imagine some of you would rather hear his rendition of the “Imperial March” ala Beethoven. Read more…
Amazing, isn’t it? While I’m sure this little Haro can’t possibly beat the limited edition Fist of the North Star alarm clock I bought when I visited Tokyo last month, it’s really cute and probably annoying enough to wake you from the deepest of sleeps. Modeled after Amuro Ray’s personal Haro bot, the Gundam mascot comes available in two distinct colors — pink and the original green. In addition to reciting a few lines from the show, it’ll flap its ears while it displays the time and date in Earth years. I was hoping it’d give us some kind of Universal Century equivalent but that’d be pretty useless. You can pick one up via Hobby Fan, but if you’re an Amazon prime member, you’ll want to order through them to save on shipping. The $69 price tag might seem a bit expensive, but can you really put a price on cuteness?
And no, we’re not talking about Khan. Pop Culture blog Badass News managed to snag a scoop on the upcoming Abram’s flick that should have Fanboys and girls relieved. According to an informant whom they claim is close to the production, the basic plot of the film has been decided. Rather than attempting to top Ricardo Montalbán’s legendary portrayal of the genetically engineered tyrant, Khan Noonien Singh, they’ve opt’d for more of an unconventional approach by instead focusing on a villain archetype that’s never been done before.
Japan never ceases to amaze me. If they’re not busy inventing crazy new flavors of Pepsi, and Pocky, they spend each day trying to reinvent the wheel. This week, their item of choice is the printer. Scientists at Tokyo’s Keio University have managed to invent a new printer that not only prints ink, but — you guessed it — smells. I’m not exactly sure it’ll catch on, after all, Smell-o-Vision certainly didn’t. Of course, that doesn’t mean this won’t either. Imagine it, we could be reading a cook book that lets us smell the pie we’re about to bake, or looking at various floral arrangements and trying to decide which one would smell best. There’s plenty of applications, I’m sure, but there’s just one little problem. Nobody quite knows how to synthesize the scents yet. It may be some time until we finally see these printers hit the market, and even then, plenty of research will have to be done before we can even enjoy the sweet scents. Until then, we’ll just have to make due with those scratch-and-sniff stickers you find at thrift stores.
While many of you have probably given up hope that Serenity will ever return the big screen, there are still a handful of you faithful who’ve continued to hold your breath. Though that may never happen, people will continue to produce plenty of Serenity merchandise for you to sink your teeth into. We’ve seen everything from replica knit caps, to comic books, and now there’s even a figure — a maquette to be exact. Featuring a pose from River’s unforgettable fight sequence, this limited edition maquette is made of a durable polystone resin and serves to remind us why Summer Glau ended up being the next Terminator. If you have $70 laying around, head over to ThinkGeek and pick one up. They’ve only made 1,500, so get them while they last. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 25, 2010 in Comic Books
Comic books have been around for quite a while now — so long, in fact, that it’s hard to remember just when certain characters debuted. Letters of Note uncovered this 1941 sketch of Wonder Woman’s original design by artist Harry G. Peter, replete with notes from William and Peter Moulton Marston. “I slapped these two out in a hurry,” Peter writes. The design’s main motif — the golden eagle on her chest — was eventually scrapped in the following months before her heroic debut in favor of the famous golden Ws for which we know her best. Iteration is expected, though — when you’re inventing the first real superheroes, like these men did, you don’t have any others to base your creations on! Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 25, 2010 in Dr. Who
Karma Orange posted these awesome Doctor Who fan posters, using very little visual real estate to convey some major themes from the show, from Daleks to the sonic screwdriver to the spoilery bits from this latest season of the classic sci-fi series. It’s pretty neat how much information is conveyed with so little. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 24, 2010 in Comic Books
Francesco Francavilla, currently working as artist on Marvel’s Black Panther, whipped up this amazing re-imagining of The Avengers in the year 1500 for Comic Twart. The Hulk is seen as a, well, hulking Celtic druid, Captain Amerigo wields the familiar star shield, Thor is the actual Norse god, and there’s a man walking around in what appears to be iron. Don’t know who that guy is supposed to be. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 24, 2010 in Cinema, Star Wars
IESB recently published a pretty substantial rumor that George Lucas was working on a new Star Wars trilogy to be released after the current two trilogies both receive their 3D conversions, citing a “super-secret Lucasfilm insider.” IESB has been right about several big rumors before — Joss Whedon directing The Avengers, for example — so it seemed that this could also be true. Expectedly, Lucasfilm flat-out denied that any new Star Wars movies were in the works once the rumor made its rounds.
Denial is expected when it comes to PR, of course, especially when discussing unannounced projects, but it’s still pretty interesting (and slightly terrifying) to think of what would come next in the Star Wars film universe. Read more…
Following on the heels of the dubiously successful Caprica, SyFy has greenlit another Battlestar Galactica prequel, this one titled Blood and Chrome. The series is set to explore the career of William Adama as a Viper pilot in the first Cylon War. While we’re pretty excited for more BSG, or at least more kind-of-BSG, experts have indicated that we may be running out of Adama family background to mine in television shows. Read more…
Peter Jackson officially announced casting for The Hobbit today, with the title role going to Martin Freeman, as was previously rumored. Richard Armitage will play Thorin Oakenshield, and Aidin Turner and Rob Kazinsky will play the brothers Kili and Fili. Other possibilities (as in not-yet-confirmed) include fan favorite David Tennant, Stephen Fry, Saoirse Ronan. Nice to see this film finally going somewhere, though where it appears to going is “not New Zealand” due to union issues. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 22, 2010 in Comic Books
As an art director I’m jealous of Japan because their publishing industry really uses a great deal of creative illustration while too many American book covers are the result of stock photography. While there are exceptions to the rules when ever I walk into a Japanese bookstore I’m always struck by the fact that almost every other book has a high quality illustration. For this article I’ve collected ten cover illustrations that caught my eye. Shown above is a Satoshi Kon Memorial Book — I really love the contrast of the black and white drawing with the column of color on the left of the page.
Fellows Felon
The use of dots as a texture in this illustration is wonderful — it’s like a cross between the the bugs Bunny cartoon Hair Tonic and the Memphis furniture design from the 80s. Read more…
