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| Wednesday, August 21, 2013 02:26 PM |
| Book Report Roundup |
 by Fëanor |
The Cuckoo's Calling
This is that detective novel J.K. Rowling wrote under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. I have to admit, I had not even heard of it until the true identity of Galbraith was leaked, but having picked it up, I found I couldn't put it down. A great read and a fascinating mystery with some wonderful characters. I thought I'd figured out who did it before I got to the big reveal, but I was way off-base. Interestingly enough, the book is about some of the same things the Harry Potter books are about: fame and family. Although there's a lot more sex and expletives; I imagine Rowling enjoyed being able to let loose as far as that was concerned. There also seemed to be a lot more Britishisms, some of which left me a bit puzzled, but hey, it's a British book, so that's only fair. Definitely looking forward to more books from "Galbraith," and more books about Detective Strike and his sidekick Robin.
The Arabian Nights: Their Best Known Tales
Somehow I have never read The Arabian Nights. Sadly, I still cannot say I have, really, as this is an abridged "best of" collection which was the only audiobook version I could find. It doesn't even include the frame story with Scheherazade telling the tales to the King to stay alive. But it does include the story of Aladdin, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," and Sinbad's voyages, among various other tales - some of which are mighty odd.
I don't know if it was just the translation, or if this is the case in the original text, but the language is often extremely belabored and repetitive; it seems like the author(s) never said something in one sentence if they could use five instead. I almost stopped listening to the book many times because of that, but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did. There's a lot of neat stuff in here - plenty of magic, adventure, and madness. I recognized some of the basic story structures and elements from other collections of folk tales I've read, but there was still a lot new to me here. There's a very religious bent to many of the tales, with many exhortations to trust and believe in the one true God, and many examples of the terrible punishments visited on those who did not. The story of Aladdin is quite a bit different from the Disney version. For one thing, this Aladdin is really a bit of a jerk, although he does change for the better as the story goes on. For another, the genies (there are numerous) are never given personalities, and there is never any talk of freeing them. A few slaves do get freed in the course of these tales, but in general slavery is something that's accepted and taken for granted. There's also, unsurprisingly, a pretty conservative view of sexuality and gender roles and a good deal of blatant and unapologetic racism. The morality is also of a violent, eye-for-an-eye sort. All that being said, the female characters are as well drawn as the male and never feel like less than whole people. It's also a woman who is the real hero of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" - the young female slave, Morgiana. She is brilliant, brave, loyal, and a deadly enemy, and her story is one of the best.
I also enjoyed Sinbad's adventures, although as with Aladdin, there was almost no connection between them and any Sinbad movie I've ever seen. Each story is just a random series of crazy events which almost always involve Sinbad's ship getting wrecked and all his fellow crewmates getting horribly killed (as poppy said when I was describing these stories to her, you'd think people would stop going on voyages with Sinbad after a while). Sinbad rarely has any over-arching mission, beyond a quest for adventure, and money - he is, after all, a commercial traveler; a trader. He admits himself that after his first or second voyage he really should have just stayed home and enjoyed his wealth, but he always got bored and headed out again. Like Ishmael, he either had to go to sea, or start knocking people's hats off in the street.
Neverwhere
My journey through Neil Gaiman's bibliography continues. I saw the BBC TV movie version of this at Movie Night ages ago, but never read it until now. The audiobook I got was a good one, with creepy sound effects, neat musical interludes, and a reader with a nice strong, appropriate accent. It's a fast-paced fantasy adventure of the "average guy pulled into a secret magical world that has actually always existed invisibly all around us" sort. In this case, the magical world is London Below, a mostly underground, upside-down version of London that exists in the basements, sewers, and rooftops of the city we know. London Below is a wonderfully realized setting with fantastic atmosphere, populated by a host of fascinating and colorful characters, many of whom are archetypes of one sort or another. Door is an opener, Hunter is a hunter, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar are a pair of awful, demonic destroyers - a fox and a wolf. Famous London landmarks appear either personified (Old Bailey, The Angel Islington) or twisted into strange, literal interpretations of themselves (Knightsbridge, Earl's Court, Blackfriars). It's a short, fast-paced tale that includes a murder mystery, surprises and betrayals, and a quest to retrieve a magical artifact. It's good stuff.
The Neil Gaiman Audio CD Collection
This fantastic collection of children's literature includes three short stories, a poem, and an interview with Mr. Gaiman conducted by his daughter, Maddy. One of the stories I'd read before: "The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish." It's a surreal, funny piece that's about exactly what it says it's about. "The Wolves in the Walls" might be even better - a fantastic, hilarious, faintly creepy tale that had me smiling and chuckling throughout. "Cinnamon" is a story about a tiger, a princess who won't speak, and a bunch of silly adults. It's quite wonderful. "Crazy Hair" is an amusing poem that reminds me a bit of Shel Silverstein. And the interview at the end is great.
The City and the City
I'd heard a lot about China Mieville but never read anything by him. I grabbed this audiobook with no idea what it was about; it was just the only Mieville audiobook I could get my hands on. Well, I'll be seeking out more stuff by Mieville soon, because this blew me away. The book contains a double mystery: the murder mystery that is the plot, and the mysterious pair of cities that is the setting. (I enjoyed having both mysteries slowly revealed to me by the author, so if you'd rather go in completely ignorant like I did, stop reading now.) The cities - Beszel and Ul Qoma - are apparently somewhere in the Eastern Europe of a parallel Earth that is otherwise very like our own (so much like our own that it's sometimes very jarring; you'll be reading about some entirely alien facet of Beszel's history, and then someone will mention The Terminator, or Van Morrison). Economically, Beszel is on the downswing, and Ul Qoma on the up. They have their own languages, their own politics and laws, differing relations with the world's other major powers, their own ways of seeing the world. The weird thing about them is that they exist on top of and within each other, sharing many of the same roads, buildings, and parks, but they are kept separate and inviolate by carefully maintained differences in architecture and fashion; by just as carefully maintained cultural taboos; and by the mysterious and terrible Breach. The populaces of both cities are trained from birth to unsee, unhear, and even unsmell their neighbors. It's an absolutely fascinating concept, and one which Mieville explores in depth, with lively intelligence and astonishing cleverness. In one scene, a man chases another man down the street, but cannot look at him, because technically they are in different cities. In another, a man walks his way carefully through the crosshatches of the two cities, dressed and moving in such a way that no one can tell which city he is actually in, and so all carefully unsee him, and the police of neither city can take him - he is effectively invisible and untouchable, a non-entity.
The first part of the book takes place in Beszel, the second in Ul Qoma, and the third... in between. The main character is a bit of a mystery himself: Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. We learn little about his thoughts or his past, but come to know him almost entirely from his actions. These reveal that he is passionate, determined, and dedicated to his job. In each part of the book, he finds himself partnered with a member of the police force of whatever city he's in, and he drives each of those partners to become just as dedicated as he is to solving the mystery.
After getting us acquainted with the two cities, Mieville introduces the haunting ghost of a third city, that exists in the spaces between these two - a hidden city out of folktales that might be secretly controlling everything. On one level, The City and the City is an engrossing police procedural, with plenty of conspiracies and political intrigue, but on another level, it's a novel about the delicate, invisible, and insane ideas that all our lives are built and depend upon. I finished the book some time ago, but I can't seem to stop thinking about it. It's utterly brilliant.
To Be Or Not To Be: A chooseable-path adventure
This book is the product of a Kickstarter I helped fund! It's William Shakespeare's Hamlet, rewritten as a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book. Which you have to admit is a pretty brilliant idea. The author is Ryan North, who is also responsible for Dinosaur Comics, a web comic I enjoy. I guess you could say I've "read" this book, insofar as I've followed it through to the end a couple of times, although on the other hand, it's really the kind of book you can't ever say you've really "read," as there are so many different possible paths you can take it would be almost impossible to follow them all. North's style - which is light, conversational, and jokey - can grate a bit in large doses, and some of the ideas in here really seem to come out of left field (how did this become a book about inventing central heating?), but it's still generally entertaining, and I'll probably pick it up and run through it again a couple more times some day. |
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| Wednesday, July 31, 2013 10:43 AM |
| Random Review Roundup |
| by Fëanor |
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman's latest novel is a strange one. It's a fantasy novel that tells of a man returning to his childhood home for a funeral and coming unexpectedly upon a memory of a terrifying and magical episode from his childhood that he'd entirely forgotten. It is a book about childhood and adulthood, and the infinite chasm, and minuscule crack, between the two. It is a book about life and what it means and what it is for. It is a simple story that is as deep as deep can be, with an aching, yearning sadness at its heart.
"All monsters are scared," says Lettie. "That's why they're monsters... Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have. Like they did when they were your age. Truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in the whole wide world."
Pacific Rim
Someone described this as the Citizen Kane of giant monster movies, and I have to agree with that poetic soul. I saw it on the big screen in 3D, and it was just an awesome experience. The effects and visuals are astounding, the action incredible, the robots and monsters tremendous. And besides that, there's actually a great story with great characters that's surprisingly emotionally effective. Maybe it doesn't all make perfect logical sense if you sit down and pick it apart, but whatever - I loved it, and I'd see this movie again in a heartbeat.
Red 2
Remember that movie about assassins with Bruce Willis that came out a few years ago? Here's my review if you don't. I loved that movie, and this is the sequel! Almost the entire cast returns (Willis, Malkovich, Cox, Mirren, Parker) and this time are joined by even more celebrities (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and David Thewlis to name a few). Some of the artfulness and cleverness of the first film have been lost - to be honest, the story is pretty dumb - but this is still a rollicking good time. It's funny and exciting, with some unexpected twists and turns. It's a bit disturbing that it's a goofy comedy that features the cruel and almost off-hand murders of many, many people. But if you can set that aside, it's a good time. |
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| Wednesday, July 20, 2011 03:10 PM |
| Recyclotron |
 by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- An amazing, 11-minute, Spike Jonze-directed, Beastie Boys music video starring action figures in all the roles. It features zombies, a yeti, a shark, and plenty of the old ultra-violence.
- Guillermo del Toro is doing a Beauty and the Beast adaptation starring Emma Watson, who is disturbingly hot.
- Here's a video from Toyota showing off their concept of a car window as a touch-sensitive smart device. Woah.
- I don't have the time to read it just now, but maybe you do: Neil Gaiman's short story "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains." I like the title, anyway. (Via)
- Here is an astonishing product: glow-in-the-dark rats that you can wear on your fingers, which are advertised as "Ideal for NIGHT BLOGGING."
- Remember Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake's "History of Rap" medley from a while back, and how it was way better than it should have been? They've done another one, and if anything it's even better.
- Here's the trailer for the new Spider-Man movie. Can't say I'm too impressed. The dude playing Peter Parker looks ridiculous (what is with the two-foot high haircut?), and dragging his parents into the story seems unnecessary. That being said, the first-person shooter-style final sequence is pretty exciting. I assume that's what the video game version will be like?
- Take a gander at the craziest experimental weapons of the 19th century.
- Concept art from the third Riddick movie.
- Helena Bonham Carter is joining Johnny Depp on the cast of The Lone Ranger.
- Speaking of casts, here's the latest casting news for season 2 of Game of Thrones. We now have Stannis, Melisandre, and Davos. I'm not familiar with any of the actors, but they all look right, at least, and everybody else on the cast so far has been so great, it's hard to imagine they will be bad. (There goes the rumor that Eccleston will play Stannis. Ah, well. Maybe he'll show up as Balon Greyjoy.)
- I am intrigued by this short story collaboration between Lev Grossman and Mike Mignola - even if the only other prose collaboration I've read by Mignola was not so good.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Automobiles (Not), Books (Not), Celebrities (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Links (Not), Mike Mignola (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Spider-Man (Not), Technology (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Zombies (Not) |
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| Friday, April 15, 2011 12:06 PM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Art (Not), Books (Not), Cartoons (Not), Comedy (Not), Facebook (Not), Game of Thrones (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Mashups (Not), Movies (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Peter Jackson (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Scooby-Doo (Not), The Hobbit (Not), Tolkien (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), X-Men (Not) |
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| Friday, March 11, 2011 09:31 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Depression-era Batman with Batmobile.
- Universal may reboot The Wolfman again (these reboots are coming closer and closer together!), and Marvel may make yet another Punisher film.
- Neil Gaiman is writing a trilogy of 3D films based on the 16th-century Chinese fantasy novel Journey To The West, which is about "the events that befall the Monkey King, armed with a magic staff, as he journeys with a monk, a pig spirit and a fish spirit to India to retrieve Buddha's scrolls in an effort to find enlightenment." Okay then. The hope is that James Cameron will produce and Guillermo del Toro will direct, but those guys are pretty busy these days, so we'll see.
- Reenacting Inception in 60 seconds via stop-motion animated vintage paper cut-outs is a brilliant concept. It could have been executed much better, but the video is still worth a look, seeing as how it only takes a minute to watch it.
- Guy Davis recently ended his spectacular run as artist on B.P.R.D. CBR picks seven great moments from his run. (Via)
- It's hard to tell much about it apart from the fact that it's an action-packed period samurai film, but here's a poster and a foreign-language trailer for Takashi Miike's latest, 13 Assassins.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), B.P.R.D. (Not), Batman (Not), Books (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Links (Not), Monsters (Not), Movies (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Punisher (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Video (Not), Werewolves (Not) |
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| Monday, January 3, 2011 10:32 AM |
| A New Year, a Fresh New Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- You can listen to The Decemberists' new album, The King Is Dead, in its entirety on NPR. As the folks in the band have said in interviews, this album is a departure for them - simpler, more straightforward; not an epic concept album, just a collection of songs. As a result, I'm not as excited about it as I was about their more recent releases, but it's still good music.
- Yay! A hilarious new edition of Hark! A Vagrant!
- A visual history of Daft Punk's costumes. Daft Punk's cameo in Tron Legacy was one of my favorite scenes.
- You may have heard Pixar is doing a short film set in the Toy Story universe, centering on Barbie and Ken. The plot has been revealed.
- Watch polar bears attack and destroy the high tech spy cameras sent to film them.
- A 1991 Mexican Alka-Seltzer commercial directed by Guillermo Del Toro - it features a werewolf, naturally.
- Neil Gaiman offers a very fine New Year's benediction.
- Awesome Christmas card by Nick Edwards, featuring Santa riding a dinosaur and firing a laser cannon.
- Pac-Man's cameo in Tron, revealed!
- Nice custom Hellboy figure.
- Cult classic movies turned into comic books. I particularly like Legend #18, which features the return of Darkness, and The Other Adventures of the Dread Pirate Roberts #74. (Via)
- If you're going to Germany any time soon (or you live there), beware the radioactive wild boars!!
- I've been looking forward to seeing the entries in Super Punch's latest monthly art contest - the one centering on Stanley Kubrick's Lord of the Rings film adaptation, starring the Beatles - and now they've finally been revealed! As it happens, the site's erstwhile creator, Mr. Struan, is having a hard time picking a winner, and is asking for your help on deciding, so head on over and tell him your favorite.
- Download Squad picks its 12 favorite time-wasters of 2010. Might have to waste some time with these soon...
- Sad news: great character actor Pete Postlethwaite has died.
- Going up for auction on January 13th: the Playboy pinup that was smuggled aboard Apollo 12.
- Cute 8-bit version of Tron Legacy, based on Mega Man sprites, complete with an 8-bit version of Daft Punk's "Derezzed."
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Christmas (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Hellboy (Not), Holiday (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Pixar (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toy Story (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), Tron Legacy (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Monday, September 20, 2010 10:52 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- This scary old bird had a 17-foot wingspan and big, bony teeth. Woah.
- A new trailer for the live-action Space Battleship Yamato. Holy crap does it look (and sound!) corny.
- A collection of insane video clips from ninja and kung fu movies. The most insane feature magic abilities only available to ninja women, and are NSFW.
- A cat version of Neil Gaiman, from a special episode of Arthur.
- Cool paintings of giant animals menacing cities.
- Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely are teaming up again, this time for Pax Americana, a 21st century Watchmen using the original Charlton Comics characters. Dude. I'm so there.
- Cat representations of Marvel Comics characters sort of blew up on the internet recently. I believe Super Punch managed to collect all of them into one post.
- I've seen examples of these tiny, real-world, sculpture installations before, and they're always fantastic and beautiful.
- A lovely, evocative, Halloween-inspired piece of art.
- A gallery of impressive, sci-fi LEGO creations. I've seen a lot of these before, but some are new, and all are cool.
- This fall's new crop of TV shows are given more accurate titles by the folks at College Humor. (Via)
- Because they're from Fringe, I feel honor-bound to link to these set pics. But a warning: they are really boring.
- I'm not a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, but I am impressed that he made his own sword out of meteorites.
- A not particularly helpful poster on the subject of removing face-huggers.
- This past weekend was Street Fighter weekend at Springfield Punx.
- A NSFW burlesque battle: Star Trek vs. Star Wars.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Cartoons (Not), Cats (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Frank Quitely (Not), Fringe (Not), Grant Morrison (Not), Halloween (Not), History (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Street Fighter (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not) |
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| Thursday, September 9, 2010 02:27 PM |
| Book Report - A Neil Gaiman Library Book Roundup |
 by Fëanor |
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish
This is an exceedingly silly and fun children's book, written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by his co-conspirator from way back, Dave McKean. It's about... well, the title's pretty self-explanatory, actually. A young boy wants his friend's two goldfish, so he offers to swap something for them. When his buddy will accept nothing else, he offers his Dad. The friend agrees. But when Mom gets home, she disagrees quite strongly, and off the boy has to go to undo the swap. Unfortunately, a number of other swaps have gone on in the meantime, so it takes a while for him to work his way back up the chain to his Dad. I really enjoy the very matter-of-fact way the book approaches the quite ridiculous events that take place. Not everybody can write effectively from the perspective of a child, but Gaiman does it here. It's a wonderful little book, and even though the Dad in it doesn't seem like the best Dad ever, he's still rather lovable in his own way, and it's nice when he gets settled back on his couch with his paper again.
The Graveyard Book
(There are some spoilers in here, I'm afraid, especially in the last paragraph. You've been warned.)
I had a hard time getting into this book. I read the opening and then put it down for a few weeks, unsure if I'd ever finish it. Maybe the part about a little baby's entirely family getting murdered, and him toddling off alone to live in a graveyard and be raised by ghosts and a vampire upset me a bit. (This is supposed to be a children's book, right??) But eventually I decided to give it another shot, and by the time I got to the chapter about the ghoul-gate - a sequence that's scary and imaginative and funny and Lovecraftian all at once - I was really and truly hooked. It doesn't happen that often when I'm reading other people's books, but for some reason pretty often when I'm reading Neil Gaiman's books, I finish a passage and become so filled with envious rage that I hurl curses at Mr. Gaiman. Obviously this book is no exception. I believe it happened after I read the first page, actually, and again later when I read the subtle, deft, and deeply moving way he handled the evolution of the relationship between Nobody and Miss Lupescu. I don't know what it is about Gaiman in particular that makes me react this way. Maybe it's because he writes the kinds of books I wish I could write - clever and funny and fantastical and wise and sad and revelatory. Anyway, I hate him and love him for it.
This book is a coming-of-age story about a boy who grows up side by side with death, with the threat of death hanging over him all the while, and by the end realizes it's finally time for him to live. A friend of mine has pointed out to me in the past that a lot of Gaiman's stories have very similar plots, so I couldn't help but be hyper-aware of the various similarities between this book, American Gods, and Sandman. The meeting of the Jacks of All Trades reminded me of Sandman's serial killer convention, for example. But the fact that the main character turns out to have super powers, is in conflict with a secret and ancient society of evil, and is the object of a prophecy - well, that's not even a Gaiman cliche, that's just a cliche. Still, it's a cliche I like, and one Gaiman handles well. Besides, there's enough freshness and creativity here that it doesn't really matter if some other parts are a bit dusty. Gaiman includes a vampire, a werewolf, and a mummy in the book, but treats them in very different ways than such creatures are usually treated. I don't believe the word "vampire" appears in the book at all; the werewolf considers herself a Hound of God; and the mummy has wings and carries a lucky pig.
The mark of a great writer isn't so much what he says, but what he doesn't say, and Gaiman proves that here. Besides his obvious facility for showing and not telling, he leaves out details about his characters and their world in a manner that's intriguing and effective. The epic final battle between good and evil, for instance, happens almost entirely off-stage. We never really find out what the Honor Guard is all about, and who exactly they guard - apart from Nobody, of course. Silas - his past, his powers - is pretty much a complete mystery. And of course, we know nothing about Bod's future. This is the story of him growing up; what he finds when he goes out into the world and starts living his life is unknown. On the one hand, I'd rather like to read a sequel to this book where we learn what becomes of him. But on the other hand, I'd almost rather be left with that final image of him, walking out of the gates of the graveyard and into his bright future, with anything and everything ahead of him. It's bitter and sweet and lovely. Just as bitter, but also very realistic and very right, is the fact that Bod doesn't end up living happily ever after with the girl he befriended when they were both little children. When they meet again after all those years, you start thinking, "Of course, they were made for each other!" But despite all the death and magic in it, this is a book about real life - the beautiful and lovely parts, and also the parts that hurt like hell. Which is why it hurts and is beautiful in equal measure. |
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| Thursday, September 2, 2010 11:34 AM |
| (Last updated on Thursday, September 2, 2010 12:15 PM) | | Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
UPDATE 1:
- I wasn't going to mention this, because it's kind of old news, but just in case you haven't discovered it yet, behold the genius and awesomeness of Axe Cop. It's a sci-fi/fantasy/action web comic written by a 5-year-old and drawn by his 29-year-old brother. It is pure, wild, unfettered imagination - insane, hilarious, and fantastic. There are many, many episodes already, so it's taking me a while to catch up, but somehow it just keeps getting better with every episode I read. Check it out.
UPDATE 2:
- The guy who played the French master thief in the Ocean's movies is playing a real master thief in this movie. Looks good. (I don't remember where I got the link.)
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Battlestar Galactica (Not), Caprica (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Fringe (Not), Harry Potter (Not), Links (Not), Mashups (Not), Movies (Not), Neil Gaiman (Not), News (Not), Recyclotron (Not), TV (Not), Zombies (Not) |
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| Monday, February 8, 2010 09:34 AM |
| Recyclotron |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
- Nicolas Cage as every member of the band Dethklok. (Via)
- Supposedly Disney is so excited about Tron Legacy they're planning a TV show for 2011 and 2012, and another movie for 2013.
- Director Joe Johnston says in his Captain America movie, Cap's outfit starts out as part of his cover story, that being that he's a song and dance man in a USO show. Ugh. I'm starting to get really worried about this movie.
- Neil Gaiman appears to have written an episode of Doctor Who! Exciting!
- They're rebooting the Daredevil movie franchise, which makes sense, but for some reason they've hired as their writer the guy who wrote the Day The Earth Stood Still remake. But... didn't everybody hate that?
- The Planet of the Apes on Google Maps.
- Sony threw in a last minute bid for the Terminator rights. Interesting...
- The upcoming 2D Metroid game, Metroid: Other M, will supposedly focus on Samus Aran's human side. Hmm...
- They're putting out a new Blaster Master game on WiiWare! It's called Blaster Master: Overdrive, and you can watch the trailer here. The original game had a great soundtrack and was pretty cool, although it was also impossibly difficult. This new game looks very similar.
- LEGO roundup! The revolver and the Cloud Car are particularly cool.
- The Super Bowl was a pretty excellent football game, and the team I was rooting for won, so I enjoyed it. The commercials, however, were pretty poor - most of them were unimaginative and unfunny, and some were downright offensive. But none of that is what this bullet point's link is about. What I want to show you here is a recreation of Miami's Sun Life Stadium made out of 50 different kinds of junk food.
- I'm a sucker for assassin movies, especially assassin kid movies, so I'm interested in Hanna. It's about "a 14-year-old Eastern European girl who is groomed by her father to be a cold-blooded killing machine." Her father ultimately becomes her nemesis, and Eric Bana has just been cast in the part.
- Ryan Reynolds and Brad Pitt are both interested in the main role in a Gunsmoke reboot.
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
