YouTube member ROTO SCOPIC started a project he didn’t quite complete, but the test footage he spent so much time on didn’t go to waste because we get to enjoy SPIDERS with LIGHT SABERS!
Specifically, the wonderful dancing peacock spiders filmed by Peacockspiderman (Jurgen Otto, previously at Neatorama). Song lyrics may be NSFW. -via Metafilter
Comic book readers have such diverse opinions about the medium, and vary so widely in terms of commitment level, that it should be really hard to divide them up into categories.
And yet it seems that the 8 main types drawn up by Julia Lepetit describe most of the readers out there, especially when the types are combined into a new, improved super-reader-type.
There's the Museum Curator, who knows each issue's grade to the tenth; the Newbie, who has a hard time wrapping his mind around all the different worlds; and that maniacally geeky Researcher, who keeps all the alternate world stuff straight for the rest of us.
I'm a Collector-Groupie and occasional Lapsed Reader when I don't have the time or funds to keep up, what kind of reader are you?
The Japanese trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens has quite a bit of new footage not available in the U.S. version.
Even more so, it’s an exciting look at the movie we only have to wait another six weeks for. Still no Luke Skywalker. Unless he's wearing a mask. -via Geeks Are Sexy
It's no surprise that Rocket Raccoon is a big hit with the younger Guardians fans, since he's both spunky and fuzzy, but it seems their love for Rocket knows no bounds. They're wearing Rocket's image on their t-shirts, playing with his action figures, reading his comics and pretending to be him on Halloween.
But the kid in this pic might actually be turning in to Rocket in real life.
Oh wait, that's just a young human named Chase wearing an amazingly realistic costume his mom Christina Borchardt fabricated from scratch.
Christina says the suit isn't finished because she hasn't distressed the leather on the pants yet, but I don't think people are looking at the pants when that freakin' awesome Rocket face is grinning at them!
-Via GeekTyrant
When someone starts getting serious about writing screenplays it's a sure bet they'll eventually move to L.A., and this oversaturation of screenwriters in Hollywood makes it hard for amateurs to get advice on how to improve their skills.
Budding screenwriters should start by reading scripts from their favorite movies, many of which can be legally downloaded for free online, and check out this video from the Academy Originals YouTube channel entitled "What Advice Do You Have For Screenwriters?"
It features advice from heavy hitters lke Steven Spielberg and Danny Boyle (just to name a few), and the advice won't cost you a dime!
-Via No Film School
Remember the scene in Return of the Jedi where the Ewoks aimed two logs at an AT-ST Walker and obliterated it? These guys recreated that scene with a LEGO walker. They shot the destruction with a high-speed camera so we get to watch it in glorious slow motion. It took three hours and over 1,000 LEGO pieces to built the model, and less than a second to wreck it.
I was just a little disappointed that it wasn’t actually in the forest of Endor, or anywhere else. But George Lucas used a green screen for much of the forest warfare, so that’s actually the most authentic way to recreate the movie scene. See the making-of video, too. -via Geeks Are Sexy
Why do images of sad robots tug at our heartstrings more than pics of sad people?
Maybe it's the fact that robots aren't supposed to have emotions, so we feel for those robotic units which were somehow constructed with the capacity to feel.
Or maybe it's because their rigid metal faces weren't made to form expressions, and yet even without facial features you can tell just how a robot is feeling by observing its body language.
Regardless of why you sympathize with sad robots you'll find lots of feels in this beautiful series of sad robot paintings by Matt Dixon, a guy who has been creating poignant droid paintings since 2006.
Matt doesn't always paint portraits of sad robots, but when he does he gets all hopped up on 10W-30 and cries motor oil tears to get himself in the proper mood.
French artist Travis Durden loves two things: modern pop culture and ancient art. He’s combined them brilliantly in highly realistic 3d models that look like ancient Greco-Roman marble statues . . . of Star Wars characters!
The theme makes a lot of sense, as Star Was did occur not in the future, but a long time ago. So Yoda fits as Cupid, Boba Fett as a dying Gaul, and Darth Vader as a Roman patrician.
-via The Mary Sue
This comic is NSFW if you are a droid or other sentient hi-tech machine in a galaxy far, far away. .
Theirs was a forbidden love. Or who knows- maybe it was just a one-night hookup. But it left a lasting impression on Star Wars fans forever. This comic is by MediaSlugz at The Skeleton Blog. -via Kevin Anthony
The man who plays The Mountain on the TV series Game Of Thrones is an Icelandic actor, and World's Strongest Man title holder, named Hafthor Julius Bjornsson.
He's a 6 foot 9 inch tall beast of a man who weighs 400 pounds and seems to be made of pure muscle, but for some reason MMA featherweight fighter Conor McGregor isn't afraid to face The Mountain.
The fight looks a bit unbalanced, and Conor's blows seem to do very little to mighty Hafthor, but you've gotta admire young Mr. McGregor's moxie!
-Via Esquire
Screen Junkies does the Honest Trailer series, but for this project, they had to go with “honest teaser” instead, because the movie isn’t even out yet! Yes, they’ve gone and tackled Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
All they’ve got to work with is the trailers -and the six previous movies, and the reams of press, and the discussion groups, and the entire Star Wars mythology. It’s enough for this video. -via Gamma Squad
(Image: CBS)
By now, you've heard the great news: CBS is planning a new Star Trek television series in 2017. New Star Trek has not been present on television since the glorious conclusion to the franchise with the finale of Enterprise.*
There have been many spin-off and reboot attempts since the end of the original series in 1969. A few, such as The Next Generation, were successful. Others never made it to written scripts, let alone prepared pilot episodes.
Uproxx has described and ranked 5 failed attempts at new Star Trek shows, including my favorite: a Harry Mudd-focused show. Yes, Harry Mudd--the funny and fun-loving criminal who appeared in 2 episodes of the original series and 1 of the animated series. Gene Roddenberry once told Roger C. Carmel, the actor who played Mudd, that NBC wanted a Harry Mudd spin-off show:
A Harry Mudd spin-off series was, at one time, being considered. After TOS ended, there was a party at the studio. In Roger’s words, “Gene Roddenberry was there and we started talking and Gene said, ‘It’s a shame that series thing for you never worked out.’ I said, ‘what series thing?’ He said, ‘Oh, didn’t you know? Well, after the successful Harry Mudd episodes, NBC wanted to know if I would develop a spin-off series for you starring the Harry Mudd character. A space pirate, intergalactic con-man kind of thing.’ ‘My God Gene, I didn’t know anything about that. What happened?’ He said, ‘Well, the artists didn’t have enough time to develop it.’ And, of course, you couldn’t blame Gene; he didn’t want to let somebody take it off in a direction he didn’t approve of. Since he didn’t have the time to handle it all, the Mudd series project died. But it was a real blow to me because that was the first time I had heard of it. But what a great chance that would have been for me to star in my own spin-off series.”
You can read the rest of the Uproxx list here, including a 2004 reboot proposal by J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5. If there's one person who can definitely be trusted with the Star Trek legacy, it's Straczynski.
*Which I will argue to my dying day. Enterprise was an excellent show and final episode was perfect.
Some people assume all nerds suffer from social awkwardness, and it's hard for these close-minded people to imagine nerds using a dating app like Tinder.
But nerds come in all shapes, sizes, denominations and degrees of gregariousness, and even though their geeky passions keeps them from fitting in with the Joneses they still enjoy a full social life.
When people with similarly geeky tastes meet on Tinder the sparks fly right away, and nothing casts a spell on a fellow nerd like some witty wordplay related to their favorite pop culture franchise.
Screen Rant introduces us to deleted scenes from the first six Star Wars films. You’ve seen the sequence about Biggs Darklighter, but most of these were new to me.
There, doesn’t that make you feel a little better about waiting another month for Star Wars: The Force Awakens? -via Tastefully Offensive
CBS is planning on bringing back Star Trek, with a new series to be launched in January of 2017. Alex Kurtzman, who wrote that two latest Star Trek movies, will produce the show. It will air on CBS All Access, the network’s digital subscription service.
The new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.
The cross-platform streaming service, which hosts thousands of episodes from CBS' roster (both past and present) is available for $5.99 per month. Included in the fee is the ability to stream the local network live. All previous Star Trek series are currently available on CBS All Access. CBS Studios International will distribute the series for TV and multiple platforms around the world.
Fair enough. By 2017, I might be able to bother learning how to set up a digital streaming service for TV. Or they might just make it easy by then. -via Metafilter
