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| Thursday, November 1, 2012 09:50 AM |
| (Last updated on Thursday, November 1, 2012 09:53 AM) | | A New Hope |
 by Fëanor |
So it's been a few days since the news broke that Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. I wasn't sure how to feel about it at first. I think even as few as 5 years ago I probably would have hated the idea. But as time has gone on and I've thought more about this deal, I've become more and more excited about it.
I used to really despise Disney and everything it stood for. I felt like it was responsible for lowering the quality of American entertainment; making everything bland and happy and small-world-after-all-ish. Maybe because I've since had a kid, softened up, and had positive experiences with a lot of Disney products, I've changed my tune quite a bit. I prefer a happy ending these days. Two of my favorite current TV shows, Phineas and Ferb and Gravity Falls, are Disney creations, and even though Pixar has a rocky history with the Mouse, and is in some ways a rather uneasy partner, it is a Disney company, and it's responsible for some truly great films that I personally cherish. Not to mention, Disney now owns Marvel, the creators not only of my favorite comic book universe, but also of some of my favorite recent movies.
Swallowing up Lucasfilm as well is a brilliant move for Disney, and a wise one for Lucas himself. He gets the satisfaction of knowing his baby will be well cared for, by a gigantic company that's in line with his sensibilities and has all the necessary resources, and Disney gets some of the most valuable properties in the entertainment universe.
But beyond that, I think it's a healthy thing for my beloved Star Wars. Lucas had already said he wasn't planning on making any more movies, and frankly, after the prequels, nobody wanted him to. It was pretty clear that even if he did have more movies in him, they weren't going to be good movies. A lot of talent and good ideas went into the prequels, and there was a tremendous amount of potential for great things, which is what makes their ultimate failure all the more disappointing and painful. In my memory I keep reconstructing them as better than they really are, wanting them to live up to my hopes, and each time I return to them, they just seem to get worse and worse. Lucas has great story ideas, and great attention to detail as far as sounds and effects and visuals go, but his abilities as a writer of human dialog and a director of human actors are deeply lacking. The best thing that could happen to Star Wars is that it get handed off to fresh talent with the resources and the ability to do something new and wonderful with it, and I think that might be what just happened.
Of course, Star Wars: Episode VII (and the other sequels that Disney has already promised) could easily be a tremendous failure. It's amazing any movie of that magnitude, with all those moving parts, ever turns out even halfway decent. But I always like to remain cautiously optimistic about things like this, and I feel like with Disney in charge, I have good reason to feel that way. |
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| Friday, June 22, 2012 03:57 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.
- New Hark! A Vagrant!
- A panda enters.
- There a whole lot of blogs involving artists redrawing/reimagining other art, but... well, here's another! It's a series of artists redoing all the character portraits from The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe.
- One of my favorite artist/bloggers, Noelle Stevenson, has launched her fantasy web comic Nimona. It's pretty good!
- The very last Life In Hell strip was recently printed. Never really got into this strip too much, but definitely feels like the end of an era.
- This guy is redoing Blade Runner as a series of watercolor paintings, which is insane.
- A teaser trailer for the Monsters Inc. prequel, Monsters University. Looks like fun!
- A few drinks while you're pregnant is not going to permanently damage your baby. There's science now to back this up. So let's all calm down just a little bit.
- Here's a trailer for a movie called Prototype, which is about an experimental robot going rogue. Or a human being who turns into a robot? Or something? Looks neat.
- Apparently the best predictor of how well a movie will do at the box office is online buzz.
- There's going to be a Sesame Street movie! Who knows how this will turn out, but I'm cautiously optimistic.
- Apparently Hobotopia did a series of Lord of the Rings-related comics. Nice! The 2000th entry of that strip is coming up, which should be fun.
- Hey, Sin Titulo started updating again.
- The ISS re-cut The Avengers.
- A chart explaining the evolution of the alien as described in Prometheus. (Spoiler alert!)
- Crazy video of a dude killing bosses in Diablo III in ridiculously short amounts of time. Like, he polishes off the Skeleton King in less than a second. (Via)
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Animals (Not), Animated GIFs (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Business (Not), Cartoons (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Diablo (Not), Diablo 3 (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), Muppets (Not), News (Not), Parenthood (Not), Parenting (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robots (Not), Science (Not), Tolkien (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Monday, September 12, 2011 12:26 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.
- Egon 4-evah!
- Yep, been there, done that.
- This styrofoam cup art is pretty awesome.
- Mr. Hipp does it again with a couple of amazing Lord of the Rings pieces.
- A huge timeline infographic reveals what the future will be like, according to films. (Via)
- io9 offers you the chance to vote for the greatest use of pop music in all of sci-fi and fantasy. IIRC, I picked "You Could Be Mine" from T2, "Mad World" from Donnie Darko, "Johnny B. Goode" from Back to the Future, and "Day-O" from Beetlejuice.
- io9 has also collected for you the most amazing space pictures of 2011.
- Doctor Who My Little Ponies!
- What if Darth Vader's infamous "Nooooo!" were edited into other classic movies? In that same vein, here's Star Wars before and after blu-ray-ification.
- The first two episodes of a new Fringe web series.
- The trailer for Luke Cage! (OK, not really. Sorry to disappoint you there.)
- I usually avoid reposting Blastr's top ten lists, because that's all they ever post and it's kind of sad (although I don't have much room to talk...), but this one is rather fun: fake TV shows inside of real TV shows. Itchy & Scratchy is a classic, of course, and All My Circuits is always hilarious.
- Apparently carrots are only orange for political reasons.
- More of Sucklord's fantastic custom action figures.
- Cool piece of art created with tape. Also, Olly Moss' scary/funny Pikachu, and Kate Beaton's more accurate version of the Cheesecake Factory's logo.
- Lovecraftian lollipops! They're unspeakably delicious!
- Huh. Threadless is doing a pretty cool new thing.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Books (Not), Business (Not), Clothes (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Doctor Who (Not), Food (Not), Fringe (Not), Ghostbusters (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Lovecraft (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), Parenthood (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Shirts (Not), Space (Not), Star Wars (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not) |
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| Wednesday, May 4, 2011 12:44 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.
- LOLDinosaur!
- I'm kind of in love with Dan Hipp, you guys.
- In a recent comic book, Superman renounced his American citizenship, declaring himself a citizen of the world. Which makes sense to me, given how he's always facing off against potentially world-shattering threats and doesn't limit his patrols to one country. It didn't seem like that big a deal to me, actually - it's really more of a stunt that probably won't change much - but for whatever reason, the news blew up into the mainstream media and upset a lot of people (most of them conservative idiots, apparently). More importantly, it led to the creation of an inspired hashtag on Twitter.
- This has to be one of the best YouTube videos ever: every one of Hudson's lines from Aliens. (You should already know this, but the audio is NSFW.)
- I'm pretty sure I linked to this site before, ages ago, but it's worth another link: Hobbitish, featuring Hobbit-related art from around the world. (Via)
- The next James Bond film is getting about one-third of its funding from product placement: a whopping, record-breaking $45 million. I'm looking forward to the scene where Bond has a refreshing Mountain Dew instead of his signature martini.
- Check out the Geek Zodiac. I'm a Daikaiju. Godzilla FTW! (Via)
- Here is a website devoted to Fox Mulder's wristwatch. Yes, all it is is pictures and video of the character wherein his watch is visible. Somehow, even after all these years on the internet, things like this can still blow my mind. The rabbit hole is deep, my friends. (Via)
- Heh. Apparently a new Green Lantern display made to draw people into comic shops can occasionally catch fire. Definitely eye-catching!
- Details on Shatner's deleted scene in the 2009 Star Trek film.
- On May 15th, the Wii is dropping to $150, and will come bundled with Mario Kart and the Wii Wheel. Guess it's time to dump all those extra consoles now that Wii 2 is on the way!
- I enjoy Portal Tetris.
- Somebody's going for The Most Bad-Ass Tattoo Ever Award: a T-Rex with chainsaw arms!!
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Art (Not), Books (Not), Business (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Dinosaurs (Not), Green Lantern (Not), James Bond (Not), Kaiju (Not), Links (Not), Mashups (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Nintendo (Not), Photography (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Superman (Not), Tattoos (Not), The Hobbit (Not), Tolkien (Not), TV (Not), Twitter (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Wii (Not), X-Files (Not) |
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| Friday, April 22, 2011 12:08 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 (?): 3D (Not), Advertising (Not), Art (Not), Business (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Clothing (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Commercials (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Mashups (Not), Movies (Not), Photography (Not), Pixar (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Shirts (Not), Star Wars (Not), Superman (Not), Thor (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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| Thursday, October 7, 2010 01:39 PM |
| The Hulk Thought of the Day |
 by Hulk |
Hulk tired of Facebook invading Hulk's privacy! Hulk starting own social networking site: Hulkface! Every profile picture will be photo of Hulk's face. That as far as Hulk got idea-wise, but once design done, Hulk sure Hulkface will take off like space rocket. Hulk recommend puny humans invest venture capital now. |
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| Wednesday, July 7, 2010 09:50 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.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Business (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Facebook (Not), Harry Potter (Not), James Bond (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Wars (Not), Tolkien (Not) |
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| Tuesday, April 20, 2010 10:09 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.
- A new batch of pics from Iron Man 2.
- Pretty cool teaser trailer for the Gatchaman movie that will never be.
- Good Show Sir is a blog celebrating the worst sci-fi/fantasy book covers. Although, I think some of these are actually pretty cool... (Via)
- The anatomy of a Tribble.
- Some pretty amazing photographs of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, complete with apocalyptic lightning.
- Sam L. Jackson says the upcoming Avengers movie is mostly about his character, Nick Fury, and that he'll also be making an apperance in Captain America, but not in Thor.
- Previously the only reason to go into a 7-Eleven is if there was no Wawa nearby, but now there's another reason: they're going to start selling used video games for 20 bucks or less.
- Fans have released an updated version of Super Smash Bros. Brawl that's supposed to be more balanced with fewer opportunities for players to get cheap and take advantage of overpowered combos and the like. Supposedly you can load it up right from an SD card, without having to hack your Wii.
- This week (until Saturday) Target is offering $20 Wii, Microsoft, and PSN point cards for just $17. Good deal!
- I love these illustrations for nonexistent fairy tales.
- Looks like the rumors were true, and the James Bond franchise is on hold due to MGM's budget woes. Sad face.
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| Tagged (?): Animals (Not), Art (Not), Avengers (Not), Books (Not), Business (Not), Captain America (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Iron Man (Not), James Bond (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Star Trek (Not), Thor (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Wii (Not) |
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| Friday, April 2, 2010 04:17 PM |
| Recyclotron: Supplemental |
| by Fëanor |
Fëanor pours the entire internet into the Recyclotron, and only the best links come out the other end for you to enjoy.
(I usually do only one of these a day, but I found some more links, and I don't know when I'll get the chance to post again, so...)
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| Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:12 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.
- BBC Worldwide and PBS' Masterpiece Theatre will co-produce a new TV series called Sherlock which will feature a 21st century spin on the famous detective, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson. (Via)
- Fascinating story about a temple discovered in Turkey that rewrites what we know about the history of humanity. It's 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and 6,000 years older than Stonehenge. The archaeologist in charge of the dig thinks it's proof that religion came first, then civilization. Also fascinating: a scientist discovered the site years ago, but walked away from it when he simply couldn't fit it into his view of the world. Cognitive dissonance to the extreme! (Via)
- Incredible papercraft recreation of Howl's Moving Castle. Oddly similar: a gigantic walking city made out of LEGO.
- Nic Cage as the Norwegian curling team. Have I mentioned that I'm obsessed with curling now? Because I'm obsessed with curling now.
- io9 lists 18 upcoming TV shows that could save small-screen sci-fi. I hope they're right, because all the good TV shows seem to be going away. Anyway, a lot of these sound neat.
- io9 gives a good review to the new DC animated movie, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths. Looking forward to it!
- Mark Strong is officially Sinestro.
- They're making Missile Command into a 3D action/adventure film. Will it end the way the game always did: with a huge explosion and the words "THE END?"
- One of my favorite entries on Covered in a while.
- Potato chips with real bacon! I'd buy that for a dollar!
- John Carpenter returned to directing after a ten year absence to make The Ward, a horror flick about a bunch of young women disappearing one by one in an insane asylum. Sounds pretty cliche, but maybe it'll have something new going on that's not obvious from a plot summary.
- Yet more fun toys from the Toy Fair, including Bubo and Lord of the Rings bobbleheads (seriously - a Sauron bobblehead), and a Klingon disruptor.
- A used car (and droid) dealership. (Via)
- Hilarious Mola Ram valentine.
- Here's an amusing online app which you can use to make it look like you're updating your Facebook status via various outrageous methods, including mental telepathy, toilet, and your mom. (Via)
- Dude figured out how to control a whole band's worth of percussion instruments using a couple of Wii Remotes. Pretty amazing stuff.
- Ian McShane as Blackbeard? YES. I would totally watch the next Pirates movie if they do this.
- B-Side is a company that helps run film festivals, providing various handy online scheduling gadgets. I kind of liked some of the stuff they had to offer when I used it during the Philadelphia Film Festival. Sadly, B-Side is now no more.
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| Tagged (?): 3D (Not), Art (Not), Business (Not), Cartoons (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Curling (Not), Facebook (Not), Food (Not), Gadgets (Not), Green Lantern (Not), Hacking (Not), Hayao Miyazaki (Not), History (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Philadelphia Film Festival (Not), Photography (Not), Pirates (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Sherlock Holmes (Not), Sports (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Technology (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video games (Not), Wii (Not) |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
