He's Just A Sweet Batvestite

This lovely image comes to us courtesy of Deviant Art user LJK08, who has crafted one of the most amusing (if admittedly the only) Batman/Rocky Horror Picture Show mashup that I have ever seen.

Normally, the thought of Batman parading around in women's lingerie is something I wouldn't normally agree with as it's so counter to the basic nature of the character, but he just looks so happy here I can't help but enjoy this. Also, Superman as Brad Majors is so absolutely perfect that it makes me laugh every time I look at him. Just seeing him standing there looking awkward and uncomfortable in his red undies makes me want to scream out, "My socks! I can't move my socks!!!"

Thanks go to my friend Carrie for pointing this one out to me.

Know Your Vampires

At this time of year, Vampires and other times of scary monsters are well known to roam our streets freely. Before you bravely go out into the cold dark night, make sure you know which vampires are which with the help of this handy chart, courtesy of Laughing Squid.

Remember, not all vampires are dangerous. Sure, some of them may want to drink your blood. They can't help it though. That's just the way they are. You can't fault them for that. Some of them are even friendly and want to help you learn your numbers or want to give you chocolate cereal. Be wary though, some vampires are sparkley douchebags who whine incessantly about life and love and how hard it is to get their hair to look that crappy. Avoid them at all costs.

If you'd like to see a bigger version of this lovely chart, just click here.

The Best Back To The Future Ending Ever!

Don't get me wrong, the first Back To The Future film is something I consider to be one of Hollywood's shining examples of a perfect film. Making it any better would be something I would normally consider to be impossible, that is until I saw the above video.

Well done random fan with a skill for editing and special effects. Well done indeed!

The First Avengers Trailer Has Been Assembled

Holy Crap!!! I did not expect to wake up this morning and see that the first official trailer for The Avengers has been released, but oh my god am I happy it was. There is so much pure 100% bonafide badassness going on in this trailer, I don't even know where to start.

Ok, I think I'll start with Captain America calling Tony out for being nothing but a man in a suit and Tony, in his usual manner, giving a very flippant response that is at the same time both dickish and totally awesome. Yeah, that's my favorite part I think. I'm so happy to see that this isn't going to be some superhero love fest film. There will be team tension as they are forced to work together for the first time. That's what will make or break this film in my opinion, the character interactions. If The Avengers is a two hour special effects spectacle with no character development of any kind, it will be total crap. However, if they take the time to actually make the characters interact as real people, they'll give the audience a reason to emotionally invest in the team. If that happens, this could easily become the best superhero film ever.

Side note, the fact that the trailer is set to the Nine Inch Nails song "We're In This Together" is just making me all giddy inside.

Now, I wouldn't be a proper nerd if I didn't have at least one small complaint about the trailer. I really wish Ed Norton was playing Bruce Banner. I'm sure once I see the film I'll be fine with Mark Ruffalo's performance, but I'm going to always dream of what could have been I'm sure. Just imagine how much cooler that scene between Tony Stark and Bruce Banner at the end of the trailer would have been if Robert Downey Jr. had been chatting with Ed Norton instead. Sigh.

Ok, enough with the negative. That's really only a minor complaint anyways. Otherwise, this trailer is blowing my god damned mind right now. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to spend my day watching this about a thousand more times.

Leonard Nimoy Has Retired From Attending Star Trek Conventions

This is truly sad news. Leonard Nimoy, the legendary actor who has portrayed the character of Spock for 45 years, has announced that he is retiring from the convention circuit. That's right folks, Spock has attended his final Star Trek convention.

I can't say I'm surprised by this. After all, Mr. Nimoy is now 80 years old. He couldn't be expected to continue attending Star Trek conventions until the day he died, right? At some point the man will want to just call it a day and go home. I can't blame him for wanting to retire. As is, he already retired from acting a few years back to focus more on his work with photography.

I'm just sad as a fan to see an end of an era coming. James Doohan and Deforest Kelley passed away years ago. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are both in their 80's now. The rest of the trek cast isn't far behind them. It's only a matter of time before they all retire from the convention circuit. Will that mark the end of Star Trek conventions? Absolutely not. So long as there are still fans, there will always be Star Trek conventions. Besides, there is still the casts of all of the other Trek shows that can appear as guests. It will just seem strange to me is all.

I started attending Star Trek conventions when I was in middle school and I have fond memories of getting to see Shatner and Nimoy on stage together chatting. I feel bad for newer trek fans who will never get to experience moments like that. Yes, Trek conventions will continue on, but it just won't be the same ever again.

Thank you Mr. Nimoy for all of the years you put into attending these conventions. Your appreciation of the fans is one of the many reasons you are loved all around the world. We will miss you.

(Via Blastr)

Everything Is A Remix

There are no 100% completely new ideas in Hollywood. We all know this. Every film is either inspired by or is an homage to something that came before it. In fact, this isn't even something that is particular to filmmaking. Every form of media, be it music, literature, etc. is inspired by those things that came before. Nothing in the world is created in a vacuum. Culture is omnipresent and every creator, filmmaker, writer and singer grows up immersed in it. We grow up watching films, reading books, listening to music and as we become adults and start to make our own pieces of work, that which we grew up loving inspires us to take those ideas and to twist them into new creations.

This video is an excellent example of that. The first Matrix movie was a groundbreaking moment in Science Fiction filmmaking and special effects work, but just like every movie, the men who created it are themselves fans of other films that have come before and these films inspired elements that were used to create something new. Are the basic ideas behind The Matrix original? No, of course not. But is The Matrix a rip off of other ideas? No. It's something new that was created by taking elements from several other works and combining them in an original, unique and creative way. This is the process by which all artists ever create art.

In this particular instance, it's just really cool to see how specific elements were used in the creation of one film to make something new out of something old.

The Coolest Beer I'll Never Get To Drink

As I've mentioned on Geek-tastic before, I'm a huge fan of professional wrestling and have been since I was a little kid. This love of wrestling isn't just for the WWE though. I'm a fan of wrestling in all of it's forms, including classic Mexican style Lucha Libre wrestling where the competitors wear masks and portray characters like El Santo or The Blue Demon, who can span across multiple generations of fans.

I'm sure you are also aware that I'm a pretty big fan of drinking (hence the Friday Happy Hour posts). So you can imagine how excited I got when I saw the above picture for the first time. A line of beers based on famous Luchadors? Yes please!!!

Unfortunately for me, the beers don't actually exist. This amazing idea is simply a graphic design project that was put together by a brilliant designer named Jose Guizar.

I created the concept, brand, and designed the identity and packaging for this premium Mexican craft beer. The brand's identity is inspired by the golden era of lucha in the 1950's, when movie heroes were not Superman or the X Men, but El Santo and his wingmen, fighting creepy monsters on a silver '52 Alfa Romeo with surf music in the background.

The variety of styles are named after fictional characters also inspired by the 50's lucha style; Black King (Imperial Stout), Blond Gomez (Lager) and The Vampire's Son (Red Ale).

If there are any beer making entrepreneurs out there, please contact Mr. Guizar ASAP and work with him to get this beer line made for real. I would definitely be a big fan, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who would want to drink these.

Thanks go to my good friend Robert Blumel for pointing this one out to me.

I Want To Go Drinking At This Bar

This commercial is the beginning of a new ad campaign for the Sony Playstation called Long Live Play, and I absolutely love it. This is easily the coolest video game commercial I've seen in years. Instead of just advertising one game, or the system itself, this new campaign focuses on us, the game players, and the many different kinds of adventures that we can have while playing video games. This is an ad for not just Sony games, but gaming itself as a genre.

It perfectly showcases some of these various possible adventures that a gamer can have by having a ton of popular game heroes hanging out at a bar drinking together and discussing their adventures. I don't know about you, but I'd love to belly up to a bar and have a drink with the likes of Solid Snake, Ezio Auditore, Kratos, Nathan Drake and many more. Where is this bar and how do I get there? That's what I want to know.

Well done Sony. Keep up the good work.