There’s a popular misconception that nerd culture began in the 1970s with the rise of fandom conventions, adult comic book collectors and science fiction productions reaching a broader audience than ever before, but nerd culture as we know it today actually began around the turn of the 20th century.
Cosplayers are all the rage at the moment, but August Olson, the person often considered to be the first cosplayer, dressed up like a comic strip alien called Skygack to attend a masked ball in Monroe, Washington all the way back in 1912, so it appears cosplay is nothing new.
The original design for the alien in the movie Predator was not the look that ended up in the film. It was not amenable to an actor actually walking around it, much less performing martial arts, as Jean-Claude van Damme thought he would. Ultimately, van Damme was replaced by 7’ 2” actor Kevin Peter Hall, not only because of his disgust with the role, but also because he was so much smaller than Arnold Schwarzenegger and Carl Weathers. Let’s get another look at that costume.
Video games can be downright frustrating at times, especially old school games that rely on precision button mashing and level pattern memorization.
A gamer’s rage cannot easily be suppressed when the game they’re playing makes them want to throw the controller against the nearest wall, which is why most gamers will relate to this video entitled The 50 Most Frustrating Moments In Video Game History.
Now these aren't official rankings or anything, and there were definitely some NES and SNES moments they missed in their collection, but overall you’ll find yourself nodding in agreement at video game moments that once made you want to smash things in a frustrated fit! GAAAAHHH!
They say that no true Scotsman wears underwear beneath his kilt. To do so would be indecent. But the truth is that it is not the underwear (or lack thereof) that defines the Scotsman. It is what he does while wearing his kilt that makes him a Scotsman.
Master figure builder Sillof was commissioned by Mike Shoemaker and Seth Meyers to make figures of the characters in the Hulu series The Awesomes. They, along with Lorne Michaels, produce the show, which stars Seth Meyers, Bill Hader, Rashida Jones, Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan, Rachel Dratch, Kenan Thompson, and Ike Barinholtz. The action figures were to be given to the cast as gifts. Sillof blended the animated likenesses with the real actors behind the characters in his design. See all of the individual character figures at his site, and you may be able to pick out who plays who, even if you haven’t seen The Awesomes. -Thanks, Sillof!
Bears on Stairs isn't a high concept art piece, or a stop motion short that features revolutionary digital techniques or a highly detailed puppet cast. It's a simple short which showcases a simple idea that is sure to be imitated by many animators to come.
DBLG has come up with a rather ingenious way to create a stop motion short with the help of 3D modeling/animation software and a 3D printer- they created the bear character and the stairs using 3D animation software, animated the bear walking up the stairs then printed out each element frame by frame.
It may not be the most efficient way to create a stop motion short, but Bears on Stairs is a good example of how 3D printing can be integrated into a traditional artform like stop motion animation.
LEGO was a relatively unknown company in America circa 1968, but in Billund, Denmark they were already constructing the very first Legoland, which attracted over 600,000 visitors in its first year alone.
The power of those little building blocks was put on display in the form of highly detailed scale models- miniature towns, environments and landmarks populated the ten acre theme park and showed that LEGO bricks were more than just toys.
It's interesting to see how the LEGO empire has grown over the last fifty years, and the original Legoland revealed in this vintage footage is a far cry from the chain of LEGO theme parks we know today.
Game designers put their heart and soul into making video games an enjoyable, and extremely good looking, experience for the often highly critical gaming community.
However, there are always moments contained within the production as a whole that, when taken out of context, make the whole thing look like amateur hour.
Here is a collection of screenshots from a thread on NeoGAF that make otherwise good looking video games look really bad. Fan favorites like Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy XIII and Uncharted are all represented by a screenshot taken at just the wrong moment, capturing those WTF moments all gamers have experienced while playing an otherwise great game.
Now, thanks to the London based production company behind the opening th1ng, you can take a peek behind the scenes and see all the hand drawn awesomeness Sylvain and his team put into this incredibly stylish sequence.
This rare peek into the process will give viewers a better appreciation of the hard work many animators put into their productions, even the projects is simply a short intro sequence for a TV series.
Malaysian photographer Zahir Batin uses Star Wars figures in natural and created settings to illustrate further adventures in the Star Wars universe. Some are funny and some are dramatic, but all evoke an entire story with a single picture. At his Facebook page, you can find the process of creating many of the images. Bored Panda has an overview of his Batin's work, and you can see more in Zahir Batin’s DeviantART gallery. -via Everlasting Blort
To my enormous delight, this comic book arrived in my mailbox on Friday. It's the first issue in the relaunch of Ninja High School, a classic American manga.
Ben Dunn, the creator of the series, first published the series in 1987. Although intended as a one-shot, three-part mini series, Ninja High School was immensely popular--at least by the standards of independent comic book publishing back in those days. Dunn, along with other artists and writers, continued it until 2009.
The story was set in a small town in the American Midwest called Quagmire. It featured anthropomorphic skunk aliens, mad scientists, mecha, witches, time travelers, and, as the title suggests, ninjas. Both the art and the story were havily influenced by anime and manga.
It's a great story. When I was a teenager, it was one that I connected to. Ninja High School was, for reasons I find difficult to understand, let alone explain, deeply meaningful to me. Later struggles prevented me buying and reading it--money was just too tight.
It was only 2 years ago that I was ready to return to Ninja High School. I dragged out my long box of issues, read them, then began purchasing the rest of the series on eBay. It's been a joyful experience--like returning home after a long absence.
So I was delighted to learn that Ben Dunn planned to reboot the series through a Kickstarter project. Dunn acquired more than 3 times the money that he asked for. I happily threw in a contribution, of course. As a result, I acquired this copy of issue #176, the first issue in the reboot.
Readers of Ninja High School will recognize old, familiar faces. But #176 is clearly written in such a way that new readers could join in without needing to study the old comics. Just as people unfamiliar with the long-running Doctor Who fanchise could pick up the series fresh in 2005, so can people get started on Ninja High School from issue #176.
DC Comics has released a new Batman animated short in honor of the character’s 75th anniversary. "Batman: Strange Days" from producer Bruce Timm is a flashback to Batman’s earlier days. He encounters Dr. Hugo Strange and his henchman, who kidnapped an attractive blonde for nefarious purposes. The retro black and white artwork on this is just beautiful. Read more about the short at Crave.
Star Wars, crazy Star Wars, it's a blast from sci-fi history, with those kooky ewoks George Lucas kept it all PG... (sung to the tune of The Flintstones Theme Song).
If you have two and a half hours to spare, and a deep seated love of those wars in the stars, then you’ll likely settle in to watch this documentary called Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, which first aired in edited form on A&E back in 2004.
Now restored to its gloriously feature length and available to view in its entirety on YouTube since 2012, it's an enjoyable way to renew your faith in the Force and remind yourself why you loved the original trilogy so much.
