We start with Thor, and then there's loads of Weird Al
Ah, Asylum Studios, you're the mimic in the back of the class armed with cameras and sets. As most people know, Norse gods are in the public domain, so it means that when Marvel makes a movie called "Thor," someone else can legally make one called "Almighty Thor." We've mentioned this upcoming film (it'll be on SyFy, naturally) before, but this time we come armed with a trailer. It looks to have much that's lacking in the Marvel film, namely Richard Grieco looking even more goth than usual and Thor with what appears to be a machine gun. For some reason, both Thor and Loki get to have hammers at some point, one made of styrofoam and the other from aluminum ductwork. The last time I even heard Richard Grieco's name was for another "Sci-Fi Original" called 'Webs'. Assuming there are reunion meet-ups, it's got to be awkward for Grieco and Johnny Depp to share the same room with their divergent careers after "21 Jump Street." That show, by the by, is getting remade as a movie some time in the future, because... um... it's something to do? Anyway, back to Thor, I'll close out this paragraph on things pantheonic with this rather cute commercial, reminiscent of the "Little Vader" ads that VW put out recently.
His Weirdness, Al Yankovic, got to have a little internet drama over a proposed parody track for his next album. Riffing on Lady Gaga's pop icon persona to the tune of (a warning to parents to pre-screen this vid, and the song doesn't begin 'till about 2:30) "Born This Way," Al composed his musical satire of the hit and called it "Perform This Way." At first, it appeared that Ms. Gaga wasn't thrilled with what I think has got to be a sign that you've really made it in pop music, namely a song from Weird Al. So Al released the song on YouTube, and it's gone viral. It was later determined that it was Gaga's manager who didn't have a sense of humor, and that she loved the song, and now it'll appear on the Al-bum (see what I did there?) to be released in June, entitled Alpocalypse. Other artists have decided that Yankovic's attentions aren't for them, as this list shows. I wonder if Prince's rejection came before or after Al dressed as him in a few parts of the music video for UHF. Also, while the list has U2 on it, Al did parody their song "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" with the easier to remember title, "Cavity Search." Lastly, I don't know if Billy Joel was on board or not, but his song "Piano Man" was Al-ified into "Ode to a Superhero."
If you think this was an excuse to wax nostalgic about Al... then you're right. I'm sure memorizing most of his songs made me the dating machine I was in high school, so I'll be keeping those tracks well away from my son, for his sake (grin). Anyway, I can't be the only one who wishes he'd fire up Al TV again just so a new generation can see what MTV would be like if they played music videos again.
The passing of Elisabeth "Sarah Jane Smith" Sladen will be acknowledged this Saturday during the premiere of Doctor Who's sixth season. It's noted that she was in the middle of filming the next season of "The Sarah Jane Adventures" when she became ill, so I'm not sure what's going to happen with the show. Would it be respectful to find a way to have it carry on by using what footage has been filmed? Should it continue? Actors who play beloved characters have died before, but I'm not sure working their real-life passing into an ongoing narrative is the most tasteful thing to do. I suppose we'll have to wait until the BBC announces what's to become of the program before we get a hint as to how they'll proceed. In the meantime, you can see a short tribute from David Tennant on BBC Breakfast.
Now I'm off to finish up the (hopefully) current round of a (hopefully ongoing) webcomic project, which should make its way online shortly. One of the other writing projects I did last year was supposed to have been released on the 19th, but... I don't think it was. I checked its Amazon page, and it has no reviews, no cover art, and no credits to the contributors, so I think it's been delayed. I've also not heard anything from the people who hired me to work on it, so... I guess it's still covered by the non-disclosure agreement I signed. Crud. Whenever it finally gets released, I'll post about it, along with some notes about what they're printing movie scripts on these days; I think the paper is probably more costly than the money I earned working from the one I received. :)
So while we wait on those items, here are a few that are ready for you:
- The amount of time and what we'll politely call dedication among Minecraft players is extraordinary, especially when they use the game to create a typographical music video to Gary Jules' song, "Mad World."
- Gameinformer got a hold of one or two screenshots from Mass Effect 3, where it looks like Shepard is back to fighting Cerberus. It also appears that Cerberus is really a slicker version of Fallout 3's Brotherhood of Steel.
- Speaking of steel, some science-types have created graphene, a paper-thin graphite material 10 times as strong as steel. It may be vulnerable to pink rubber erasers, however.
- Taking a cue from how most of us played "Roller Coaster Tycoon," a company in the UK has designed a roller coaster that euthanizes the people riding in it, though most likely not by launching them into a river.
- Staying on the subject of mortality, here's a page featuring the last will & testament of HP Lovecraft.
- This is more of a Halloween game, but I like cannon-physics games no matter the season, so here's Roly-Poly Cannon Bloody Monsters Pack. Try to send monstrous spheres to their doom with your projectile prowess.
- How many phrases could Robin, the Boy Wonder start with the word 'holy?'
- DailyBlam has a teaser from the CW which gives you a look at Smallville's version of Booster Gold.
- Just in time for Easter, Simon's Cat takes on a bunny.
- If you've finished Portal 2 and want to be reminded where a certain Personality Core is, just click here.
- Crazy Over Goo is a game where you try to launch your goo-ball self through perilous platforming levels to reach your goal: Another goo-ball with a bow stuck to her.
- We return to Weird Al for a moment to take in his short instructional film, Our Friend, Dirt. And this is as good a place as any to say I wish many of his concert-only food parodies would get studio recordings. :)
- Al's songs are often about food, so let's ask the age-old question of our ingestibles: Will It Waffle?
- There's a new TV spot for the Green Lantern movie. Aside from Hal's "purple alien" line, it looks pretty cool.
- More game screenshots, though this one is fantasy (and TV) related: Take a look at A Game of Thrones: Genesis.
- We close with a defense game, Monster Castle Defense. Those pesky adventurers, will they never learn?