Though it’s no great surprise to people who’ve been following the development of the past two Batman films, Christian Bale recently admitted that unless Chris Nolan tells him otherwise, the upcoming Dark Knight Rises will be his last Batman film. The statement does make sense — Bale is only contractually obligated to star in three Batman movies, and he’s said several times that he’d only star if Nolan was at the helm. He does leave some wiggle room, though; Nolan could very well decide to do another Batman film, and Bale could likely be convinced if that was the case. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 26, 2010 in Comic Books
Fabian Glez created these 77 rectangles, each of them representing a superhero with a bare minimum of detail. How many of them can you identify? If you can’t figure them all out, Fabian has a cheat sheet on his Flickr page. Prints of the work are available if you’d like to make your wall minimally super. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 26, 2010 in Cinema, Horror
The prequel film to John Carpenter’s The Thing was originally slated for an April 2011 release, but it just got bumped from that slot thanks to some reshoots. Thankfully, Universal decided not to just give up on the film entirely — it’s set to be released October 14th, 2011. Just in time for Halloween! Carpenter’s original film is a tense, claustrophobic horror classic, and the fact that the prequel is being handled by another director gives me cause for concern, but honestly I’m a little surprised it got made at all. Maybe there’s something here after all — and with a year until the release date, there’s enough time for the film to shapeshift into something compelling. Read more…
It’s been months since this was officially announced, but I recently stumbled across what appears to be some of the original character sketches from the upcoming anime based on the hit show Supernatural. Like the series, the anime will feature the story of the Winchester brothers and will consist of twenty four episodes which will feature the same story arcs from the first two seasons — namely their quest to find their father and avenge the death of their late mother. The first twelve episodes will go on sale in Japan in early January, and while there’s been no word on if Supernatural: The Animation will be licensed for distribution stateside, I imagine it won’t be long before someone does — if not Warner Brothers themselves.
Given the amount of time that passed between the previous installments of the Famliy Guy/Star Wars trilogy, I expected to be waiting until next season for the third and final episode. Family Guy: It’s a Trap, a reference to Admiral Ackbar’s most memorable quote. I’m impressed with the short turn-around, but I hope the episode doesn’t suffer as a result. I really enjoyed the previous two, Blue Harvest moreso, but I get the impression that someone was either holding an Imperial blaster rifle to the writing staff’s heads — either that or using thermal detonators. No word on when the episode will see a DVD or Blu-Ray release, but you can download the episode from iTunes on December 21st.
There are those of us out there, myself included, who haven’t watched a single episode of Doctor Who. I know, blasphemy, right? It’s not that we don’t want to watch it — okay, some of us just don’t want to — but the series has been running for over a quarter of a century. I honestly wouldn’t even know where to begin, and please don’t tell me we would have to watch them all because I’m sure most of you would agree that’s simply unrealistic. Maybe this little gem might be able to help us figure it all out. Doctor Who: The Visual Dictionary, avisual reference guide to everything a Whovian would want to know. I’m sure it’s not the most comprehensive guide, it seems pretty straight forward and might serve as a decent introduction to the series itself. ThinkGeek currently has it in stock for $25, though ordering it through Amazon can save you nearly $8 on top of that.
The other week, we showed you Michael Cera and the cast of Scott Pilgrim vs The World attempting British accents. They weren’t so bad with the exception of Cera, but then again, it’s a difficult accent to master. This time, however, the shoe’s on the other foot as Daniel Radcliffe and the cast of Harry Potter try their hands at an American accent. Being American, I couldn’t imagine our accent is so difficult to emulate, especially when I listen to actors like Hugh Laurie pull it off with such ease — that was, until I saw this clip. Of all his castmates, the only one who had me convinced was Rupert Gint, but Tom Felton wasn’t so bad either. Emma Watson, who I thought would have it in the bad, seemed to struggle the most. In case you live under a rock, and haven’t seen it,or read it already, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 hit theaters last week.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 23, 2010 in Videogames
I’ve always been fond of pixel art, but I’ve never had the time to sit down and create some. I’ve always seen it as incredibly tedious, requiring a lot of precision and attention to detail. Of course, one could argue that it’s no different than playing with Lego blocks, but I beg to differ. Lego has always been, at least for me, a tangible experience. Well, it looks like someone decided to give pixel art some tangibility. J-List recently listed these sweetSuper Mario Brothers pixel-art kits. How do they work? Instead of building blocks, you’re snapping them in place. like pins in a Light Bright — or so the product claims. It sounds neat, especially considering you can use the blocks to create the patterns provided, or whatever you feel like. You still have to import the product from Japan, but at $14, it might be worth the price of shipping.
It’s not really the 22nd century, and I doubt anyone would buy a degree in Xenolinguistics, but there’s no reason you can’t dress the part. Recently CBS Studios opened their very own Starfleet Academy store, which carries pretty much everything you can think of — from the ever-popular Red Shirt cologne, to vanity license plate frames. They have plenty of t-shirts with fictional institute’s logos, but given the season, I thought maybe you’d be more interested in a hoodie. Adorned with block lettering, this one simply reads Starfleet Academy MMCLXI — in case you’re still wondering, that’s 2161 — and comes in two colors, grey and navy blue. Personally, I’d choose the latter. The hoodie is probably trekkie enough to get noticed, but still cool enough to wear in a casual setting. Best of all, it’s slightly more fashionable than the fleece vests they’re selling. Currently, they’re going for roughly $49 each. Read more…
It’s the old classic problem: How do you keep your family from opening the fridge door all the time and wasting valuable electricity? Well Fridgezoo is here to help! These cute little characters which are shaped like mini milk cartons sense when you are opening the door of your refrigerator and then greet you in Japanese; and then if you leave the door open for too long they ask you to close it. The manufacturer claims that these critters are good for the environment, although I think the practical gag possibilities are much more entertaining: Read more…
This amazing video clip below features Jean Bartik who was one of the first generation of computer programmers from the 1940s. Her first job was working on the ENIAC computer in 1945: Read more…
Walker is a boy, who is suddenly thrown into the middle of returning a cursed skull to an already cursed pair of Merwitch Sister Monsters. Everyone still wants the skull though, so Walker has to escape or out trick them. Read more…
The upcoming Judge Dredd remake, spartanly titled Dredd, has just started filming, but a set photo of Karl Urban as the titular ass-kicker has already leaked, giving us a sneak peek at his costume. Thankfully, it looks like very few liberties have been taken with Dredd’s getup, and it looks slightly more gritty than the version used in Stallone’s terrible take on the character. Urban has done pretty well in the other genre pieces he’s been in, sometimes in spite of the subject matter, so it’ll be interesting to see how we judge this Dredd. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 21, 2010 in Television
Fox’s dimension-hopping sci-fi drama, Fringe, took its time to get good, but by golly did it get good. Unfortunately, its ratings haven’t been up to par — it’s in a difficult timeslot, competing with shows like CSI Thursdays at 9 PM. Well, the good news is that it won’t have much competition anymore. The bad news is that it’s because it’s being moved to Friday at 9 PM instead. This timeslot is colloquially referred to as the “Friday Night Death Slot,” where dozens of other shows — usually genre shows, at that — have gone to die. So is there any good news? Actually, yes — Fringe’s grand-daddy The X-Files lived a good long life Fridays at 9, so if you care about it, make sure you watch it at its new time, or it’s bye-bye Fringe Division. Read more…
Casting has officially begun for the upcoming Superman reboot (yes, another one), and Warner Bros. is ready to make a star, whether they like it or not. Not only are they looking for relatively unknown actors, they’re also saying that it may be impossible to hire a famous name anyway due to budget constraints. If you think they’re trying to get this film out the door quickly and cheaply, you’re probably right — if the Warners don’t start production by the middle of 2011, they risk losing the Superman license. But hey, whoever ends up being the new Supes will either deal with being Superman forever (Christopher Reeve), remaining in relative obscurity (Brandon Routh), or dating a Playmate (Dean Cain). I guess some of those aren’t too bad. Read more…
Reportedly, the script for Christopher Nolan’s next (and likely final) Batman movie is almost complete, and rumors are pouring in as to its contents. The latest rumblings indicate that, contrary to previous speculation, there’s not a more supernatural villain like Killer Croc or Clayface — instead, so they say, the story arc is based on Doug Moench’s Prey storyline. For those who haven’t read it, it involves Hugo Strange hypnotizing a man into becoming a vigilante and pursuing Batman. Catwoman even makes an appearance, which would make sense given other casting rumors. Of course, we won’t know anything for certain until we get some details from Nolan himself, and that might be a while. The film doesn’t start shooting until next year. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 19, 2010 in Comic Books
French photographer Sacha Goldberger’s 91-year-old grandmother was feeling depressed, so he suggested they have a photo shoot to cheer her up. But not just any photo shoot: he turned her into the superhero Mamika and lined up a ton of amazing shots. Grandma Goldberger looks like she’s having a great time throughout. In fact, says Goldberger, his grandmother hasn’t shown a trace of her old depression since, because the experience has let her share her amazing life story — living through World War II, surviving Nazism and Communism — with thousands of people worldwide. In my book, that makes her extraordinary enough. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Nov 19, 2010 in Cinema, Star Wars
Helvetica: it’s a font, not an alien planet, though apparently it’s right at home in the Star Wars universe. Ad firm H-57 created these great Star Wars images composed entirely of typography elements, and they’re pretty elegant in their simplicity. Makes you wonder who did the Empire’s design work. Imagine the repercussions if the kerning wasn’t right on Vader’s business cards. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 18, 2010 in Animation, Tech
It looks as though Japan’s getting another awesome anime-related memory stick. Similar to the Evangelion usb stick I talked about last month, these upcoming Gundam memory sticks will likely hit Japanese shelves some time next month. I’ve got more memory sticks laying around than I can count on two hands, but I think anyone would want to make an for these — I just wish wouldn’t have to import it, and that it’d come in a decent size. GeekStuff4U currently has them available for pre-order, but the only size they seem to have is 4 GB. That’s not very big by today’s standards, but then again, I’m sure most of you probably don’t store many documents — save for full-length feature films — over that limit, right? Read more…
ThinkGeek’s prepping for the holiday season with a ton of new merchandise, and I noticed this little gem amongst a slew of new products. It might not be the most attractive t-shirt I’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly one of the coolest. The Sci-Fi Armory, as they’re calling it, boasts an impressive array of weaponry from 1936’s Flash Gordon through 2009’s District 9. They manage to cover quite a bit, any fanboy can probably list off a few notable exceptions — BSG, Stargate, and Predator to name a few. Still, the fact that the shirt doesn’t outright list the origin of each weapon provides you with the opportunity to quiz your friends and family. Just don’t count on it winning your any dates. Read more…
Believe it or not, this actually exists — in Japan. Back in 2008 Konami released a first person “on rails” coin-op entitled simply Castlevania: The Arcade. The game lets you play as a whip-wielding Belmont, a Witch, or a gun-toting Eastern wanderer and makes use of a motion-sensing light-wand for attacks. Players then swing it at enemies or pull the trigger depending on their character of choice in order to vanquish the monsters. Sounds pretty awesome right? As if that weren’t enough to sell you on it, Konami threw in a soundtrack of arranged music from previous games in the series. Sadly, the arcade machine was never formally released in the United States, and though Wikipedia mentioned something about a European release back in 2009, I haven’t heard any reports of it showing up. Hopfully with the recent boom in motion-related gaming, Konami might have a change of heart and port it to a console.
Back in August, Michael showed us some rather expensive Star Wars Episode IV wall art — a massive 9 x 15 foot replica of the original Star Wars Episode IV movie poster. As awesome as it is, the $255 price tag seemed a bit much. Thankfully, the guys over at ThinkGeek seem to have a solution, and while you give up some footage — their wall art is only 10.5 by 6 feet — the $149 price tag is a much more reasonable. The art is supposed to be easy to apply and shouldn’t be very hard to remove should your signifigant other decide to complain. Now if only they’d make one for Empire Strikes Back. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Nov 16, 2010 in Videogames
There has to have been countless iterations of this game over the years but it’s looking more and more like Pac-Man Championship Edition DX may be the best to date. Scheduled for release via Playstation Network and Xbox Live!, this sequel features multiple game modes, and gameplay tweaks such as slow motion, bombs and a new type of ghost. Much like the original Pac-ManChampionship Edition released back in 2007, the visuals are stunning, clean, and colorful. If you haven’t seen for yourself, check out the video above. Pac-ManChampionship Edition DX is scheduled to release sometime this week. Read more…
I don’t have very fond memories of the Men in Black films. I’m not sure if it was the campy PG humor, saturation or excessive use of CG, but something about the films always left me wanting less. The first time around, it wasn’t because it was a terrible movie. In fact, I actually liked it until I had to watch it more than once. The sequel, on the other hand, was pretty terrible. Everything about it, save for the excessive CG, felt rushed — as if the producers couldn’t wait to capitalize on the oil they thought they struck. It would also seem that I’m not alone in my opinion. But why, then, would we need another sequel? Read more…
