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| Monday, April 25, 2011 12:20 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.
- Dan Hipp does another Tintin mashup, this time with Tron.
- I love the work of remix artist Pogo. Here he (she?) takes on the extremely weird H.R. Pufnstuf.
- The Onion A.V. Club gives a surprisingly positive review of the new Mortal Kombat. Now I'm intrigued!
- More cool posters on Reelizer: Inception and Star Wars.
- Cool vintage behind-the-scenes image from the making of the original Star Trek TV series.
- Nintendo has officially announced that the successor to the Wii console will be released in 2012. The company goes on to say it'll already have a playable version ready for this year's E3 in June. So by next year, I will no longer own a "next gen" console - just a last gen one. I'll be out of the loop! Until Griffin demands whatever the newest thing is, of course, and I'll have no choice to meet his demands. No choice, I tell you!
- Amusing buttons.
- Classy animated gifs. No, really! (Via)
- Clever ad that only becomes visible when wet.
- LEGO, pirate version of Shuttle Tyderium.
- If you "like" My Morning Jacket's Facebook page, you can listen to a couple of tracks off their upcoming album, Circuital. "Holdin' on to Black Metal" is pretty damn fantastic.
- I'm usually not a huge fan of papercraft, but this papercraft replica of Howl's moving castle is impressive.
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| Tagged (?): Advertising (Not), Art (Not), Cartoons (Not), Craft (Not), Facebook (Not), Hayao Miyazaki (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Mashups (Not), Mortal Kombat (Not), Music (Not), News (Not), Nintendo (Not), Photography (Not), Pirates (Not), Products (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Trek (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not) |
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| Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:45 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), Celebrities (Not), Christmas (Not), Craft (Not), Holiday (Not), Links (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photoshop (Not), Pirates (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Video (Not) |
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| Thursday, December 9, 2010 01:27 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.
- This bullet point is for reposts from Twitter! There are a lot of rumors flying back and forth about the Alien prequel, and it's hard to determine which are true and which false. The news the other day was that the film's release had been pushed back, but now it sounds like that would only have happened if they could have gotten Leondardo DiCaprio for the movie, because they would have to have taken his schedule into account. Since they couldn't get Leo, the movie will proceed on its original schedule, with production beginning next March. However, the same report said the movie would be called Paradise, and now it sounds like that's not true. So who knows? In other movie news previously tweeted, Orlando Bloom is supposedly close to signing on to reprise his role as Legolas in The Hobbit. Now we all know Legolas was not in The Hobbit, but seeing as how he's a wood elf, and the dwarves spend some time in the wood elves' prison in Mirkwood, I can see how you could sneak him into the story. I just hope they don't make a big deal about it, and he's more of a background character. My final bit of previously tweeted news has to do with a TV show. Fringe's first episode of 2011, and the first episode aired from its new post in the Friday night "death slot," will be called "Firefly." I thought at first this was an ominous coincidence, but Blastr points out it was probably a deliberate joke/reference by the show creators.
- Sometimes reality really is stranger than fiction: those Indonesian Hobbit people may have shared their island with giant, 6-foot-tall cranes.
- Mario is celebrating his 25th anniversary this year, so The Autumn Society produced a nice commemorative image for him.
- Dude, Madballs! I remember Madballs!
- An... interesting reimagining of a Casper the Friendly Ghost comic book cover.
- The first official promo pics from the fourth Pirates movie. Nothing too exciting here, but still. Fun.
- The nisse is apparently a Scandinavian gnome of some kind. Here are some neat snow globes featuring the creature.
- A wonderful Star Wars print by Daniel Danger called "Sanctuary Moon."
- This year's Swedish Icehotel features a room inspired by Tron: Legacy. Click through for some cool pics.
- Click through and comment for your chance to win a custom-crafted lightsaber.
- My favorite Daily Batman in a while.
- Nick Cave is doing a movie about bootleggers during prohibition which will star Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy. Cool.
- The Wachowskis have been unable to secure funding for "their tale of forbidden love between an American and Iraqi soldier and the men's plan to assassinate President George W. Bush" (big surprise there!), but not to worry! They have another project in the wings: a modernized take on the story of Robin Hood which they're hoping might star Will Smith. Considering their love of stories about bad-ass rebels sticking it to The Man, this sounds right up their alley.
- A couple of intriguing set pics from X-Men: First Class.
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| Tagged (?): Aliens (Not), Animals (Not), Art (Not), Batman (Not), Celebrities (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Fringe (Not), History (Not), Links (Not), Mario (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Pirates (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Robin Hood (Not), Star Wars (Not), Tolkien (Not), Toys (Not), Tron (Not), Tron Legacy (Not), TV (Not), Video games (Not), X-Men (Not) |
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| Tuesday, September 14, 2010 12:55 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.
- Jaws in Japan! I didn't watch the behind-the-scenes video, but the pics are fantastic.
- Interesting article about how adults and children "see" the world in fundamentally ways.
- I can't remember if I've posted this before. Regardless, it's pretty awesome. Rubber band Gatling gun!
- Original Wicker Man filmmaker Robin Hardy and star Christopher Lee will apparently be teaming up again for a sequel called The Wicker Tree. Click through for a teaser and a plot summary. It actually looks pretty lame, but I still kind of want to see it, given the talent involved.
- Heh.
- New pics from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Actually, I think they're mostly images I've seen before, or stills from the trailers, but whatever. Harry Potter! (Via)
- James Cameron wants to make a TV series out of True Lies. Sigh. That movie has its moments, but it's also pretty creepy and questionable for much of its length. And anyway, how would the TV series be substantially different from Undercovers?
- A description of the opening of the next Pirates movie, supposedly.
- If you don't mind being spoiled, here are the last 10 minutes of Metroid: Other M, complete with the inevitable final boss fight, gratuitous clothes removal, and dash for the exit while the whole place self-destructs. There's also some agonizing melodrama, and a really lame reward (or really, no reward at all) for collecting 100% of the items. I guess the journey is its own reward, or something? Anyway, now I feel like I really don't need to play this game, which is good to know.
- Apparently one of the installations at Burning Man was a collection of tiny dioramas. Some of them are really cool.
- Very cute Wampa cake.
- Via a Super Punch link roundup: comment and win a print by Sam Bosma, and some amazing photos from Russia, the first one being the most amazing.
- Faux vintage superhero (and supervillain) prints, and amusing superhero bumper stickers.
- An appreciation of Body Heat.
- Some changes to Spielberg's Terra Nova include the addition of Stephen Lang to the cast. The guy who played a bad-ass in Avatar will apparently play a bad-ass here, as well.
- It sounds like nothing's set in stone yet, but supposedly Robert DeNiro and Martin Scorsese have been developing a drama based on the real-life story of a Mafia hit man and now Al Pacino and Joe Pesci might get involved. And speaking of real-life Mafia hit men, Mickey Rourke might play one, too. I could totally see that!
- That's a great shirt. (Via)
- Some clips from The Tourist, which features Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, and Timothy Dalton.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Celebrities (Not), Clothing (Not), Comedy (Not), Comic books (Not), Craft (Not), Food (Not), Harry Potter (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Metroid (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Photography (Not), Pirates (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Science (Not), Shirts (Not), Star Wars (Not), TV (Not), Video (Not), Video games (Not), Web comics (Not) |
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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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| Monday, January 11, 2010 10:40 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.
- MTV is planning to do a Dawn of the Dead TV series.
- Star Trek 2 has a release date, and it is June 29, 2012.
- A woman named Blake Lively, who looks like this, will be playing Carol Ferris in the Green Lantern movie.
- The folks at io9 list five directors they wish would do science fiction, and I have to agree wholeheartedly.
- More samples from that Masters of the Universe art show.
- I'm not usually a fan of sweater vests, but this one I like.
- Why does NBC hate its own programs? Their sci-fi series Day One has gone from being an ongoing show, to a one-season show, to a miniseries, and now it's just a TV movie.
- Updates and details on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Feeling Naked Without a Subtitle.
- That is one impressive cookie. (Via)
- The LEGO Universe trailer is very cool.
- Snazzy-looking motorcycles.
- Amazing sculptures based on movies.
- Techland picks the best of CES 2010. (As an aside, for some reason I really, really hate Techland's insistence on writing a post that's basically a lot of filler with a link to the actual content. Just give me the list right off the bat, for God's sake! Anyway, that's why I'm linking directly to the list, to save you from my aggravation.)
- Techland picks some underrated sci-fi movies. I agree that these are all very good films, but I'm not sure they're all underrated. Aren't critics always going on and on about Dark City and Silent Running?
- Uh oh. Trouble in Asgard? Stuart Townsend, who was going to play Fandral, has left Thor over the usual "creative differences." They've already replaced him with Joshua Dallas.
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| Tagged (?): Art (Not), Celebrities (Not), Clothing (Not), Food (Not), LEGO (Not), Links (Not), Lists (Not), Mario (Not), Movies (Not), News (Not), Pirates (Not), Recyclotron (Not), Star Trek (Not), Star Wars (Not), Thor (Not), Toys (Not), TV (Not), Video games (Not), Zombies (Not) |
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| Friday, September 26, 2008 02:45 PM |
| On the Viewer - The Pirate |
 by Fëanor |
A month or so ago, poppy and I, along with SuperTarzan, Val, and a few of Val's friends, attended one of the occasional outdoor movie screenings at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philly. They were going with a pirate theme leading up to Talk Like a Pirate Day, so the film playing was The Pirate, an odd little period romance/musical comedy from 1948, directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring his then wife, Judy Garland, not to mention Gene Kelly. Although it's called The Pirate, and the plot does indeed revolve around one particular pirate, it's not really a pirate movie. There is no high seas adventure; in fact, there is no high seas at all - the movie takes place entirely on the land. Garland plays Manuela, a young woman who lives a safe and boring life in a small town and longs to be captured and taken away by the infamous pirate, Macoco. Her dreams of romance and adventure are shattered by her Aunt Inez, who has promised Manuela in marriage to the Mayor, an older, rounder man with no interest in travel. Manuela is initially upset, but quickly resigns herself to her fate - although she does make a final request of her Aunt before being locked in the shackles of matrimony. The marriage dress has been ordered from offshore, and she wants to travel to the city to meet the ship when it comes to port. Her aunt reluctantly agrees. But it turns out that also arriving with the ship is a troupe of traveling players led by the arrogant, womanizing Serafin (Kelly). When Serafin sees Manuela, he experiences love and desire like never before. He chats her up and invites her to that evening's performance. She reacts with disgust, but when the night comes, she finds herself sneaking out to the show. When Serafin sees her in the crowd he skips to the part of the show where he hypnotizes an audience member, and of course his subject is her. He's hoping to wheedle out of her what he assumes is the inevitable fact that she has a secret desire for him, but in fact all he gets out of her is a song about how she wants to be swept off her feet by Macoco - or "Mack the Black." ("Mack the Black" is a bit suggestive, but apparently the original number - "Voodoo" - was so racy that MGM chief Louis B. Mayer demanded the negative be burned. Nobody wants to see Dorothy acting like that!) When Manuela comes out of her daze and realizes the shameful thing she's done (that is, sung a racy song with actors), she runs back, wakes her Aunt up, and demands they go home immediately. It seems she's gotten away safely, until the troupe shows up in town on the day of the wedding and Serafin invades Manuela's room, determined to win her. The Mayor shows up to find out what the hold-up is, and that's when things start getting really interesting. (Spoilers ahoy!) Serafin, it turns out, was one of the few victims of Macoco to escape the pirate alive, and he quickly recognizes that the Mayor himself is the pirate. Yes, in an ironic twist, the man Manuela is about to marry, crushing her fantasies of being carried away by Mack the Black, is himself Mack the Black! The pirate has gone straight and doesn't want anyone to know about his old life. So Serafin immediately resolves to blackmail him, but in a creative way. Serafin claims to be Macoco, and with the help of the pirate's terrible reputation, is able to lord it around the town, making all kinds of ridiculous demands. Of course it's all just a ploy to capture Manuela's heart, but Serafin didn't think his plan through very well and it ends up backfiring on him and nearly killing him.
The film has some fun song-and-dance numbers (like "Mack the Black"), others that drag on a bit too long or seem out of place (like the awful closing number, "Be a Clown," which features Kelly and Garland dancing around in full clown makeup and dress, performing stupid physical comedy; it simply doesn't belong in the movie), and others that are just seriously weird (like the surreal dream sequence that occurs when Manuela is watching Serafin circle a horse with a whip; she imagines him as Mack the Black, leaping about and terrorizing a native populace while flames dance in the background). In fact, the movie is in general rather weird, swinging from carefree, fun-loving moments - with silly gags, physical comedy, and romantic comedy - to moments of serious and deadly danger, embodied by the central character of Macoco, who is actually a terrible mass murderer.
The story is quite clever, with interesting ironic twists, and there are some very funny moments, like the scene where the townspeople come to shame-facedly request that Manuela give herself to Serafin/Macoco to save their lives, and she pretends to refuse over and over, when really she can't wait to go to him, and is just stalling so she can put on makeup and a nice dress. But the movie drags on a bit longer than I'd like, especially during the drawn-out final sequence, where we have to sit through a ridiculous performance from Serafin and Manuela as they try to provoke the Mayor into revealing himself. And then there's the terrible, tacked-on "Be a Clown."
Still, overall The Pirate is a fun, entertaining romp, and an interesting example of the grand old movie musical.
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P.S. Seeing a movie at the Independence Seaport Museum was a fun experience, but I think if we went again we'd definitely follow the example of others in the crowd that night and bring cushions; the seating consists of nothing more than a series of bare stone steps. |
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Jim Genzano's books on Goodreads
