Now This Is What I Call Art

 

This wonderful piece of art was mady by artist Christian Waggoner as part of a line of work about Star Wars, done in a style of close ups with reflections of the action in their eyes.  Also included in the set is Darth Vader's duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett admiring his prize.

 

The pieces are part of a larger set of prints from many different artists that are available for purchase from Acme Archives.  Some of the art is pretty awesome too, so be sure to check them out.

Robert Rodriguez To Direct A Predators (Plural) Movie

 

The first Predator film is pretty much one of the most amazing sci-fi action flicks of all time.  It stars a young Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting a big, ugly alien out in a jungle in the middle of nowhere.  Amazing!  The second predator film, while fun to watch, paled in comparison to the first film.  In a future version of LA, Danny Glover (who's too old for this shit) plays a cop that eventually faces down a predator and kills it.  Then came two Alien Vs. Predator films.  One horrible, one amusing, but neither anywhere near as good as that first film with Arnold.

 

Now comes word that a new Predator film is in the works.  One that is being created as a sort of franchise reboot, since that seems the popular thing to do in Hollywood these days.  Heaven forbid that someone actually, you know, create new franchises.  Anyways, there is a small amount of hope that this new Predator film, entitled Predators, might actually end up being halfway decent.  How is this possible you ask?  Well . . . the film will be directed by Robert Rodriguez.  He's the guy who gave us El Mariachi and Sin Sity.

 

Rodriguez will produce and direct the reboot, he told a news conference today at Troublemaker Studios, where Texas state politicians were in attendance to sign HB 873, the long-awaited reform of the Texas film incentive program.

 

I'm going to be able to shoot my upcoming Machete here, a sci-fi action film called Nervewrackers, a reboot of the Predator series called Predators and a couple of smaller movies called Sin City 2 and The Jetsons," Rodriguez told reporters.

 

Here's how Bloody-Disgusting described Predators: "In the reboot, a team of commandoes face down a mysterious race of vicious monsters."

 

Holy crap.  That's a lot of work on that man's plate.  A Machete film?  Hells fucking yes!  Sin City 2?  Ditto on the previous statement, but with more exclamation points!!!  And a predator film about a team of commandos facing down against a team of Predators?  Awwwwww yeah!

 

Of course, with so many films in his line up, the chances are we won't be seeing this Predators film anytime soon.  At least we know it's coming though.  Let's just hope it turns out even half as awesome as it is in my mind.

Batman (And Other Heroes) Save The Day In Real Life Too

 

Mental_Floss has a great article up right now about people in the real world who have dressed up in supehero costumes and done heroic things.  Among them is the story I posted a while back about a guy in a Spider-man suit rescuing an Autistic kid, but the story that really made me laugh this time around was a guy who dressed up as Batman (pictured above) who helped save a group of people in Bangkok last week from a hijaked gas truck. 

 

Here's what happened.  There was some sort of angry protest going on.  A group of the protestors hijacked a gas truck, parked it in front of an apartment building and opened a value to enusre that the police wouldn't shoot at them for risk of igniting the gas.  Tensions were running high and people (especially innocent bystanders) were in danger of getting seriously hurt.

 

Then came Batman to the rescue! Out of nowhere, a person in the crowd, wearing a Batman suit and holding a video camera, jumped out and ran towards the truck, as seen in this video from Channel 3 news. The running Batman brought much-needed laughs and amusement to the stressed-out residents and protesters alike. The tension in the scene was lowered significantly.The Batman then climbed on the back of the gas truck and yelled, “Batman is here!”, distracting the protesters in the area and brighten up the atmosphere.

 

While the crowd was distracted, a government official sneaked into the gas truck and drove it away. Batman made his exit on the back of a water truck that had been standing by, in case a fire had started.

 

I always thought that Batman wore his suit to drive fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere.  This time around, his outfit seemed to only make people laugh.  Either way though, his presence saved the day, and possibly even saved lives.  Way to go Batman!

 

Be sure to read the rest of the article for some more amusing caped crusading done by real people.  There's even a story of a drunken Captain America.  I kid you not.

A New Live Action TMNT Movie Is In The Works (God Help Us)

 

As a part of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turning 25 years old this year, news has just come out that a new live-action TMNT movie is in the works.

 

The Mirage Group, which owns the property, is moving forward with a live-action film focusing on the origins of the iconic crime fighters. Project, targeted for release in 2011, would mark the fifth bigscreen outing for the sewer-dwelling heroes Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael as well as their master Splinter.

 

Ok, now don't get me wrong here.....I love the Turtles.  I read the comics when they first came out, I watched the TV show religiously as a kid and I've even seen all of the Turtles movies in the theater.  However, I must say that I really didn't care for the live action films too much.  With the exception of the first film (which I do think is good), the 2nd and the 3rd films are just plain awful.  I've never really cared for the rubber turtle suits and have always thought that the Turtles worked better as an animated property.

 

I absolutely loved the CG movie that came out a few years ago and was seriously hoping that they would make more of those.  But now we hear that a new TMNT movie is coming, and it's going to be live action.  What I don't get though is this discussion of going back to look at the Turtles orgins. 

 

"The original dozen comics created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman are some of the best source material one could hope for," said Mednick, whose exec producing credits include the upcoming "Where the Wild Things Are." Laird, who bought out Eastman's share of the property several years ago, said the film will remain true to the spirit of the original comicbooks. He added that the pic may employ face replacement technology, which would allow the turtles to be much more expressive.

 

Wait a minute. The first dozen issues of the comics? Those have already been adapted to film.  That's what the first live-action film basically was.  So are they just planning on remaking the first film with modern technology then?  And they're going to use a mix of live-action suits and CG faces?  I don't know about you, but that last sentence just gave me the heeby jeebies. 

 

I'll withhold my official opinion of this new film until I see some actual footage, but based on how it sounds I am very worried that we're in for a total crapfest/raping of the Turtles.  Let's just hope I'm wrong.

Harley Quinn Looks A Lot Sluttier Than I Remember

 

Another new trailer has posted for the awesome looking game Batman: Arkham Asylum.  Thanks go to Geek-tastic contributor Wes for pointing this out to me.

 

While I'm really happy Harley Quinn is being included in the game, and am even more excited by the fact that she's being voiced by actress Arleen Sorkin (the original voice of Harley from the Batman Animated Series), I'm disappointed in the fact that they've changed Harley's costume so considerably.  Harley Quinn's original outfit was that of a classic court jester.  It was red and black, with a funny hat that had little things going off of her head.  She looked like this:

 



 

In the new game, Harley now appears to be wearing something that is a cross between a school girl outfit and a dominatrix outfit.  It comes complete with super short skirt, visible panties, thigh high stockings, and a corset that shows a lot of cleavage.  So this really just begs the question . . . when did Harley Quinn become a big fat slut?

 

Did the game designers think that her old costume just wasn't sexy enough for teenage video game fans?  Is that why Harley has been turned into a harlot?  In a game that has otherwise looked completely amazing, I'm sort of sad to see this massive change to a character's design that does such a disservice to the character.  Let's just hope that this is the only time Harley goes whoring it up in this new outfit.  I'll be really annoyed if she starts popping up in the comics looking like this.

 

In happier news though, I just checked out the game's IMDB page and am amazed at the sheer number of characters from the Batman universe that will be appearing in the game.  Here's the whole list:

 

• Batman (obviously)


• Joker


• Commissioner Gordon


• Barbara Gordon / Oracle


• Killer Croc


• Victor Zsasz


• Scarecrow


• Poison Ivy


• Penguin


• Harley Quinn


• Riddler


• Mr. Freeze

 

That there is a bevy of Bat-characters all appearing in one game.  Unfortunately, not all of them are being voiced by the actors or actresses who voiced them in the Batman Animated series, but I guess that would just be asking for too much.  I'm perfectly happy with having Batman, Joker and Harley Quinn voiced by the right people.  That's enough to make me happy.

Geek Item Of The Week - 04/22/09

 

The Sega Dreamcast

 

Oh wow.  ThinkGeek has really outdone themselves this time.  No, this is not a joke or an April Fool's prank.  They are selling brand new, still in the box, Sega Dreamcast  systems for only $99.

 

I absolutely loved the Sega Dreamcast when it came out.  It had a number of really fun games, and the graphics were (at the time) mindblowing.  Even today I'd say that they're still pretty good.  The graphics on the Wii aren't any better than the Dreamcast's.  This was the first of the "Next Gen" systems that came out, and it sadly got overshadowed by the PS2 which came out a little while later.

 

If you've never played a Dreamcast before, but you love fun, arcade style games, then this really is something you should look into.  Unfortunately, ThinkGeek isn't selling any games for the system but if you can easily find games for super cheap online.  Here are some of my personal recommendations for things you should pick up for the system.

 



 

Chu Chu Rocket - Hands down my favorite Dreamcast game ever.  Chu Chu rocket is a multiplayer game in which you have to place directional arrows down on a tile floor to direct the flow of mice as they wander around.  You're trying to get the mice to go into your rocket ship.  Once you've accumulated enough mice, the rocket blasts off and you win.  However, there are cats wandering around too, and you have to use the arrow tiles to stop the cats from killing the mice at the same time as you're trying to direct the mice.  And in multiplayer games, other players are fighting you for control of the mice, and they're sending the cats your way on purpose.  The action gets really hectic too.  Be warned.

 



 

Walt Disney Magical Racing Tour - Admittedly, this is just a clone of Mario Kart.  What makes it great though is that you are playing disney characters as they race through courses that are actually Disneyland rides!  Tracks include such well known rides as Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and more.  If you're at all a fan of Disneyland, or even if you just really like Mario Kart, you'll love this game.

 



 

Powerstone - One of the original launch titles with the system, Powerstone is a 3D fighting game that doesn't suck balls.  The gameplay is easy to pick up, the controls are responsive and fun, the graphics are great, and the overall gaming experience is great (especially when fighting a friend).

 



 

The Typing of the Dead - Typing of the Dead is an incredibly interesting variation of the original rail based shooting game House of the Dead.  In this version, instead of using an infrared gun that you point at the screen to kill zombies, you are instead armed only with a keyboard, which you plug into the system.  When the zombies attack you, words flash onto the screen.  Your job is to type the word as fast as possible (and you have to spell it correctly).  If you are a quick typer, you kill the zombies.  If you don't type fast enough, the zombies will feast on your flesh. 

 



 

Shenmue - For RPG fans, this is the game you want.  Here's part of the product description from Amazon.

 

The story itself is ripped straight from a chopsocky flick: you portray the young hero Ryo Hazuki, whose father (a kung fu sensei, naturally) is killed before his very eyes by a mysterious and frightening villain. Ryo must uncover the identity of the killer and fight his way through the city in an effort to avenge this wrongful death.

 

Shenmue's Yokusuka might be short on space--in total, it represents maybe a square mile--but the detail is overwhelming. You can interact with nearly every person or object that you see; 300 citizens go about their daily routines, and whom you encounter is as much determined by where you are as when you are there.

A Star Trek Spelling Quiz

 

The good folks over at Mental_Floss have posted up another fun quiz.  This time, it's a spelling quiz all about actors from Star Trek.  As Trek fans, we all know who Sulu is, or who Deanna Troi is, but do you know how to spell the names of the actor and actress who played them?

 

I scored a perfect 100%.  Can you do the same?

 

While this quiz was fun, I thought it was too simple.  Instead of having to spell actors names, I'd absolutely love to see a quiz in which one had to both answer Star Trek Trivia questions and spell the answers correctly.  If you don't spell the answer right, you fail the test.  Here's som examples of what I'm talking about.

 

Q.  Wht is the name of the impossible test James T. Kirk cheated on at the academy in order to pass?

A.  Kobayashi Maru

 

Q.  What is Khan's full name?

A.  Khan Noonien Singh

 

Q.  What race of aliens occupied the world of Bajor for a hundred years and were a major threat to Deep Space Nine?

A. Cardassians