It's like someone made a catalog that has everything I should never be allowed to buy...
Alert reader David brings us a nifty catalog to peruse full of movie and TV stuff going up for auction in May (a link to a PDF of their catalog is on that page). Among the usual items of animation art/cels, movie props and costumes are a few interesting items that it's just neat to know they exist. My favorite is at the bottom of page 209, consisting of the animation models for some of those stop-motion commercials for Hershey's Kisses. That you could display them 'bouncing' adds to their novelty. There are enough bits and pieces to make you want to either peruse your movie collection for a favorite film or go seek one out you've never seen because the prop in the catalog intrigues. It's also kind of creepy to see some of the items made of latex; the Tauntaun face on page 252 looks like the Wampa monster took a few bites out of it before someone removed it from the set. This is also a cheap way for me to point out some of the items on page 273 from 'Highlander,' which lets me segue into a collection of the 'best of' bits from Rifftrax's take on the movie.
And since we're on movies, here's a trailer for one called 'Immortals.'. No, it's not about someone named MacLeod, but instead an apparent mashup of '300' and 'Clash of the Titans,' along with Hank's energy bow from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. They seem to have taken the aesthetic from Frank Miller's interpretation of mythology and made it even more ludicrous, especially when it comes to the costumes; I'd have a hard time facing the villain without asking when he decided that a lobster claw sprouting from a hood that made it look like his face was being eaten by a venus flytrap was the look he wanted. On the one hand, many mythological stories were over-the-top. I'd buy that this was at work here, if it weren't for the fact that it seems like the director was using effects setups from other films, but making them a little bigger.
Speaking of things we've seen before, Ah-nold will be back in some form or another in a fifth 'Terminator' movie. I liked the first two films, thought the third was pretty much a re-hash of the first two (especially since nearly all the one-liners were the same) with only two interesting parts: The deleted scene with a promo film where Schwarzenegger plays the soldier that would eventually become the face of the T-800 and the ending of the movie which featured a nuclear war. The fourth film had cool ideas for new human-hunting robots, but other than that it was kinda 'meh' for me. At this stage, I'd rather see the Doctor or even Marty McFly show up to put the timeline to rights. Either that, or give me one or two direct-to-DVD movies that wrap up "The Sarah Connor Chronicles." As it is, Arnie will need a lot of time in the weight room combined with CGI to make him look even remotely like his previous appearances (maybe they can use a body double like they did in 'Terminator: Salvation'?), so I'm kind of hoping he's passing the torch to someone else, if this somehow restarts the franchise.
Here's a weird lesson in technology and morality: A store with computerized door locks and other systems let people in when the system wasn't told Friday was a holiday. People shopped using the automated systems as normal until assistance from store clerks was required, at which point some shoppers thought, "free groceries." The store is hoping people will 'fess up and pay for what was taken, but in the meantime I'm sure some are taking notice in regards to automating a business. For one, you can't have liquor sales, since that's what tripped up what was, up to that point, a store running itself without human intervention.
Some "Game of Thrones" items before hitting the links. First up, if watching the show is a team sport, you could try some of the recipes for food from the novels (or pretty close ones, anyway) while you huddle on the couch. What people eat in the books seems about as important to George R.R. Martin as describing clothing was to Robert Jordan. However, be sure to monitor any heated arguments over the 'accuracy' of the medieval setting, as the police are no doubt on alert.
- What little I know about cars probably passed into antiquity several years ago, but laser spark plugs sound cool, don't they?
- If you're aware of (and possibly irritated by) those known as 'hipsters,' you can tell any you know (a salty language warning on this next link) that their dads were the original hipsters, though pretty much by accident.
- The last manufacturer of typewriters around is selling the last of its machines.
- Some of the declassified aircraft used to prove stealth technology could work are pretty nifty-looking. A few look like they're just missing their insignia for whatever mothership they fly missions from.
- It's probably not hard to build a Portal Turret plushie, but making it talk is pretty impressive.
- I stumbled upon one of the photos from this next page, thinking I was seeing a young girl from Central America doing some kind of meditation-thing while doctors treated her for something, but it turns out she's 500 years old.
- Here's a puzzle game with familiar mechanics, but it 'lets the monsters win.' Vampire Physics needs your help to turn all humans into children of the night.
- I can't remember where I originally heard this music remix in the first place, but whoever 'Skeewiff' is, he/she did a pretty nice remix of 'Man of Constant Sorrow'.
- Players on the PSN network have had their personal data stolen by hackers, and the security of their credit card info is still up in the air.
- Okay, Britain, what the heck? Viewership of the Doctor Who premiere rose in the US, yet ratings in the UK dropped by 17 percent. Was it the Stetson? It got shot straight away, so what gives?
- Batman is often portrayed as a borderline psychopath, so what if there were a mental condition called 'The Batman Complex?' It'd need a trailer...
- It looks like YouTube will start streaming on-demand movies. Legally, that is.
- For my own sake, I had to quit playing Fallout: New Vegas, but for those still roaming the wasteland, a new patch has been released that alters a lot of the weapon damage.
- And now the second puzzle game of the moment, Upbot Goes Up. Use the tile-shaped 'bots' to help each other arrive at their respective exits.