Netflix actually has a lot of genre stuff available to watch instantly, so you may suffer from what I like to call Netflix Indecision Disorder: the condition that forces you to just aimlessly browse Netflix for two hours instead of actually picking something to watch. Suffer no more, friends! SF Signal concocted this excellent chart that’ll help you find the perfect scifi show or movie to watch on Netflix based on your interests or capricious whims. That reminds me … I need to go watch Alien Nation again. Read more…
Not a live-action one, though; don’t get your hopes up for that any time soon. Roberto Orci, half of the Star Trek reboot’s writing team, tweeted last night that he’s been talking with someone about putting together another Star Trek animated series. Details were left out, of course, given the 140-character limit, so we’re not exactly sure who he was talking to about it or whether it was just musing, but you have to admit that with how far TV animation has come, there might be some potential here. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 13, 2011 in Television
Warehouse 13 is apparently SyFy’s most popular show ever, so it makes sense that they’d want to milk it for all it’s worth. Enter spinoff! Yes, showrunner Jack Kenny announced he’s working with the scripted content-starved channel to create a Warehouse 13 spinoff starring, of all people, H. G. Wells. No, not the author. Well, kind of the author. See, on the show, Wells is actually a woman who let her brother write stories based on her real adventures with crazy inventions in the late 19th century, so the spinoff would focus on said adventures in that time period. Kenny describes it as “steampunky environment.” I worry whenever the term “steampunk” is used by a professional.
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 13, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
No, not that kind of song, and not that kind of cover either! We’re talking book covers here. George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is getting a Japanese translation via Hayakawa Publishing, and a few well-known manga and video game artists have provided covers for the series’ run. Ken Sugawara and Yasushi Suzuki have some of my favorites on here; it’s pretty great to see such a different take on the characters compared to HBO’s recent (very successful) Game of Thrones TV series. Read more…
The latest incarnation (literally) of Doctor Who has been its most successful yet, with Matt Smith proving a popular Doctor and his lovely companion Amy Pond acting as his impulsive foil. It looks like their duo (now trio, with husband Rory) may be coming to an end, though — actress Karen Gillan, who plays Amy, has signed on for a role in BBC’s drama We’ll Take Manhattan, and its filming schedule conflicts with Who‘s. Arthur Darville, the man behind Rory, also signed on to play Mephistopheles in Dr. Faustus, which runs throughout the summer and fall. Where does that leave the Doctor and his companion? Well, it’s not the first time he’s picked up a new companion in his travels. But somehow I feel a little more attached to Amy than others we’ve met. Read more…
Three of late the 80s’ pop culture mainstays (Back to the Future, Beetlejuice, and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) are being reimagined at Galleries One Nine Eight Eight in Los Angeles in the “3 B” show. Yes, that’s right: a real art show with artists’ renditions of 80s movies. Pieces like the above Beetlejuice-themed painting can be viewed right now at the gallery, and they’re even purchasable for what the gallery owners say are “insanely low prices.” Maybe not as insane as Beetlejuice, but still, that counts for something. Read more…
Leave it to Japan to create an entirely new level of cosplay. Tokyo-based Neurowear has created a set of cat ears that, when worn, allegedly react to your brain waves and act accordingly — if you’re concentrating very hard, the ears will perk up, and will droop back down when you’re mentally at rest. Are they very useful, all things considered? Well, probably not. At they very least they’d add a new level of realism to your catgirl cosplay, though. What do you mean you don’t cosplay as a catgirl? And a more important question: what happens if you put these on a cat? Read more…
Brooklyn artist Donato Giancola has made his living on illustrating scifi book covers, but the US Postal Service grabbed him for a slightly more grounded task — that is, if you can call what astronauts do “grounded.” He’s the artist for two of the USPS’s new commemorative astronaut stamps, including the one above, featuring Alan Shepard. So what was it like illustrating real space travel, as opposed to works of fiction? It’s all in the details, he says. “When you’re creating art that’s going to be a historical record like these stamps, there’s no room for mistakes.” That kind of work pays off for Giancola, whose work is now in circulation to the tune of millions of stamps nationwide. Read more…
Perhaps it’s a day late to post fun Star Wars stuff, but: did you know Christopher Walken was almost Han Solo? It’s weird to think of it now, of course. So who knows what could’ve happened if Star Wars was made a little … earlier? These mashup pics of classic cinema stars as Star Wars characters delves into it a bit, with appearances from Marilyn Monroe and Peter O’Toole, as well as … William Shatner? You’ll have to see that one yourself. Now we can just try to imagine a strange universe where there Star Wars movies made in the 90s. Maybe ones that took place before the original films. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 4, 2011 in Comic Books
Three weeks ago in the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland some selfish thieves stole the plaque honoring the home of Superman. However the creed of “Truth, Justice and the American Way” must have gotten the better of the thieves conscience because mysteriously the plaque has been returned in undamaged condition. Although Tracey Kirksey a local official feels that bad publicity may have helped just a bit to give the criminal collectors a change of heart: Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on May 1, 2011 in Comic Books
Well, I mean, he’s always been an alien in the colloquial sense, with the whole “being from another planet” thing, but in the latest issue of Action Comics (specifically #900) Superman renounces his U.S. citizenship. Supes, who grew up as the American boy Clark Kent before taking up the Superman mantle, has historically been an American icon, the ultimate immigrant success story, but this issue (written by Batman Begins scribe David Goyer) sees him get fed up with being viewed as an instrument of U.S. policy. It’s a pretty interesting turn even for Superman, and I suppose at this point Superman really belongs to the world more than just the U.S., but he has always represented the best of our national ideals, like some kind of alien Captain America. Hopefully this’ll turn out better than Straczynski’s mopey small-scale Superman story did.
So maybe Corellia isn’t as nice a place as the Hundred Acre Wood, but that doesn’t stop Wookiee the Chew from having grand adventures Chrisolo Robin. This Winnie the Pooh-style Star Wars woodcut comes from James Hance, who also has a book coming out — The House at Chew Corner — with art that’s just as adorable as the above. It’s like the earlier and latter years of my childhood put into a blender. In a good way. And yes, they made Eeyore into an AT-AT. Read more…
No, for real this time! Summit, the studio behind tween film behemoth Twilight, is set to distribute the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s much-loved sci-fi novel Ender’s Game. Genre fans might worry a bit about the film’s director, X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s Gavin Hood, but he’s also made some pretty good dramas, so a novel like Ender might actually be a pretty good fit. To assuage other fears, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, two of the dudes behind TV’s Fringe and the Star Trek reboot, are co-producing. Could it be a dynamite combination? Maybe, if this project gets off the ground. Wolfgang Peterson’s 2008 attempt didn’t. Read more…
We’ve known that the upcoming Green Lantern movie is going full-blown crazy in its display of alien Lanterns, as evidenced by its recent WonderCon footage, but the latest poster really exhibits the almost Lucasian variety of alien life. Just offhand, you’ve got yourself a Boodikka, Stel, Abin Sur, Kilowog, Tomar Re, Sinestro, and that looks like R’amey Holl with the butterfly wings. And that isn’t even all of them in this poster! Being a Green Lantern must be like living in the Mos Eisley Cantina every day, you know? Let’s hope all these neat races get their due in the film, which comes out in about a month and a half. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Apr 29, 2011 in Comic Books
Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman film, The Man of Steel, is already featuring one familiar villain by way of Michael Shannon’s General Zod, but it looks like another one is waiting in the wings: Variety reports that German actress Antje Traue will be playing Kryptonian brawler Faora. The man-hating martial artist had a number of appearances in Superman canon, including stints in classic Action Comics (where a stymied Superman was forced to flee their first encounter) and even showed up on Smallville, so it’ll be interesting to see how they tie her into the movie’s web of villainy along with Zod. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Apr 28, 2011 in Videogames
Back in January, fellow fanboy Michael Sacco informed us that Warner Brothers would be adapting Kevin Tancharoen’s Mortal Kombat film pitch as a web-based miniseries. As I’m sure many of you already know, Mortal Kombat: Legacy began “airing” earlier this month. So far, they’re about three episodes in and despite some initial gripes, it’s been getting better and better. The latest episode even features a guest appearance by the game’s creator Ed Boon. While it’s not exactly as gritty as the initial pitch, I still want to see where they plan on taking the series. Who knows, if it proves to be popular enough, we may even see a transition to network television. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Apr 24, 2011 in Videogames
Happy Easter! This turret Easter egg comes to you from Markt022002’s Flickr page. Portal 2 has been (no pun intended) a huge success in the few days since its release; what better game to celebrate Easter with? “Still Alive,” indeed. Now if only I could use some of those portals to get to my aunt’s house for holiday dinner (and then back home again before my uncle starts talking to me about venture capitalism). Read more…
So it’s not just me, then? Even George Takei thinks whitewashing the cast of Akira for the planned US live-action remake is a bad idea? That’s what he tells The Advocate in a recent interview, saying that the film is destined to flop just like The Last Airbender did if it ignores the importance of Japanese culture and history in the story and use all white actors. Takei, a longtime human rights advocate, is probably right; not only would closely following the original film’s Asian characters show respect for the property, it would also do what an all-American cast couldn’t — attract the original film’s fans along with the summer popcorn crowd. Read more…
Well, specifically, Ian Holm is back as Bilbo in The Hobbit. Not for the whole movie, of course! That’s Martin Freeman’s job. But old-Bilbo will be there for bookend sequences, apparently reading his book to Frodo as a way of introducing/closing the story. Peter Jackson was happy to confirm this recently, a move that I’m sure will delight fans of the original trilogy. Heck, I’m all for it, so long as there are no weird, jarring mean-face Bilbo scenes to serve as reminders of what Peter Jackson used to do before Lord of the Rings. Read more…
The Crow is a pretty beloved genre film, not only due to the tragic death of its young star Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee) during filming, but also because, hey, it’s a good movie. And like any good movie made in the last thirty years, Hollywood is about to remake it. Or are they? Relativity Media is supposed to handle distribution of the remake, with Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) directing and Bradley Cooper stated to be in the running for the lead, but they appear to have hit a snag. Miramax has filed a lawsuit claiming that they control the film’s distribution rights, a claim that Relativity Media calls “absurd.” Relativity says Miramax is just trying to sabotage production of the film and create bad press. I don’t know. Would that be so bad? Do we really need another Crow? Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Apr 17, 2011 in Comic Books
I love charts. Specifically, I love charts about stuff so nerdy that I feel the urge to buy them in poster form. This is one such chart, “The Illustrious Omnibus of Superpowers,” created by Pop Chart Labs. Contained therein you’ll find handy taxonomy for all types of superhero powers, from projecting glue to affecting probability. 200 superheroes and villains are on the chart, a considerable effort, and it’s certainly nice to look at it. If you don’t want to use the site’s magnifier to look at small portions of it, you can always buy it in poster form and hang it on your wall for those moments when you can’t remember who that one guy was who could emit a beam that only melts metal. Read more…
Wait! Don’t go! I know what you’re thinking. “I don’t want to smell like Cheetos and Mountain Dew and body odor!” But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG perfume oil collection. There’s a selection of race-, class-, and alignment-themed scents. Shroud yourself in mystic spices and exotic incense with the Mage scent, or exude holy calm with the Paladin scent’s warm vanilla and frankincense. You can even forewarn your love interest that today’s not the day with the Evil scent. I’ve bought from Black Phoenix before, and the scents really are top-notch, and a bottle lasts for a good long time. They even change a little depending on your skin chemistry. Plus it helps you roll for initiative at the bar. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Apr 16, 2011 in Videogames
I have fond memories of my little handheld electronic games I got for cheap at Radio Shack when I was a kid, back in the days when games for my “real” handheld game system were prohibitively expensive. Hippopotam– clearly a person (or persons) who knows that the very mention of the phrase “Plane & Tank” is enough to send me into a nostalgia seizure — has digitized classic handheld games like the above Plane & Tank, Game & Watch favorites like Legend of Zelda, and even Casio’s Castle Adventure and made them fully playable with mouse or keyboard controls. It’s like going back in time. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Apr 16, 2011 in Star Wars
George Lucas is (and has never been) never shy about the whole merchandising thing when it comes to Star Wars, but sometimes it just goes way over the top. This 80s Underoos commercial is definitely one of those times. It gets even weirder, though — as io9 points out, the C3P0 dancer is actually Erika Eleniak, aka the stripper from Under Siege. Try to be comfortable with that juxtaposition. Read more…
