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Reminiscing about the good old days has now begun to include the early 1990s, which officially makes those of us who are over 35 feel old. However, short films which utilize the 90s as a point of reference in the life of a kid aren’t all bad, and they're often quite relatable by people of all ages.

From 1994 is a short film by Casey Warren and Danielle Krieger that isn’t really about the 90s at all, the 1994 referring to a year when the main character's mother wrote him a farewell letter. This film is simple and straightforward, yet manages to be so touching you may tear up a bit by the end, especially if you've experienced the loss of a family member. But don't worry, it's not all sappy, and it's one of the best looking indie short films we've seen in a while.

Via Geek Tyrant

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The one thing that always seems to make a movie trailer look even better is when it gets the sweded treatment, and 2013 was a very good year for both blockbuster films and sweded versions of movie trailers. From Iron Man 3 to Thor 2 to The Hunger Games Catching Fire, and every other over-the-top action title in between, here’s a recap of the year’s best sweded movie trailers brought to you by the good folks at Geeks Of Doom.

Watching these sweded trailers is like taking a bite of cheese you’ve been holding on to since last year- at first the whole thing seems a bit off, but as you surrender to the cheesy flavor you’re transported to a magical land where up is down, bad is good and people acting out scenes from movies while wearing homemade costumes are actually funny!

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Stylistically speaking, the retro cartoon look has been done to death in short films, artwork and various animated series, but there’s one medium which hasn’t used this rubber limbed style of animation nearly enough- our old pals the video games.

Cuphead is an indie game from developer MDHR which is going to be hand drawn and inked in the style of 1930s cartoons. In it you will play Cuphead, who runs and guns his way through wacky levels and over 30 bosses that look like they stepped straight out of your favorite old timey cartoons.  

The game already looks like a breath of fresh air in a market flooded with quirky puzzlers and hyper realistic combat simulation games, and we are eagerly awaiting its release some time in 2014.

Via Cartoon Brew

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There’s no better way to ring in the new year than sitting around nursing a hangover and watching a bunch of amazing videos online, unless you’re planning to party through New Year’s Day! io9 has put together a rather amazing list of the Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Films from 2013 and they are so much fun to watch it makes you wonder what sort of visual goodies await us in 2014.

From face melting Liquid Television inspired shorts like PostHuman by Cole Drumb to kinder, gentler shorts about robots like Dr. Easy by Shynola, there’s something on the list for every kind of viewer, and you won’t have to scour the interwebs to find them all because they've taken care of the gathering for you! (Some films may be NSFW due to language and/or violence)

Lovers of classic video games rejoice, the Internet Archive is about to make your new year a whole lot more fun! They’re releasing a beta version of their Console Living Room,  a playable console simulator that when coupled with their Historical Software Collection will make tons of games from the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Magnavox Odyssey 2, Colecovision and Bally Astrocade free to play.

Soon you’ll be able to spend your days reliving a time when you were young, or time travelling to before you were born, while playing some great classic games like H.E.R.O., Yars Revenge and River Raid. So quit your job, plant your butt on a comfy chair and play your way through the 80s like a true retro gamer!

Via Joystiq

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When someone says they made a live action short based on the video game Minecraft your mind probably goes straight to those block headed costumes and pixilated props you see every year at Halloween, but Benjamin Combes didn’t want to go the traditional route with his short film Pixel Passion.

Instead, he chose to imagine what main protagonist Steve would look like in real life, and how badass it would be if blood sprayed instead of pixels every time he killed a zombie.  

There are still some blocky stylistic elements, to keep the whole thing true to the game from which Ben drew inspiration, and the totally gnarly retro soundtrack by Arcade High makes the whole thing super rad to watch.

Via Kotaku

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Ylvis's video "The Fox" (What Does The Fox Say?) took the interwebs by storm a few months back, creating an upsurge in Google searches for the keyword FOX and a renewed interest in the film The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Now that the video has gone viral and stuck around for over a week the inevitable wave of mashup videos have begun to come crashing down upon us! Avalanche!

This mashup should prove to be the least annoying of the bunch- it's a melange of scenes from Adventure Time clipped together to go along with the song. The Fox may already be getting on your nerves, but look on the bright side- Adventure Time!

Via Nerdist

Ask a man to watch your dog for you at work and you’d better have someone check in on them from time to time, or you may not like the pics you find online. Reddit user mmsspp has been posting pics of himself and his boss’ dog Wrigley re-enacting scenes from famous movies, and the only real problem is they all seem to be from love stories or scenes of romance.

The dog looks cute and all but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to share photographic evidence of their creepy love affair with a dog online, but maybe mmsspp justifies it by claiming they’re just pretending to be in the movies. Yeah right!

Via DesignTAXI

Have you ever thought to yourself- "Gee, I wonder if there’s a person who samples dog foods, or dives into golf course ponds for balls, or evaluates human breath odor?" The answer is yes, yes and oh my yes! These are the odd jobs that most people wonder about, never sure whether they actually exist or not.

They’re odd occupations not normally found in your local job listings, and they are all featured in two books of photography by Nancy Rica Schiff entitled Odd Jobs and Odder Jobs. They range from “that’s weird” to “man am I glad I don’t have THAT job!”, and the mere existence of these niche jobs makes for a fun bit of trivia.

Via 22 Words

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First Jean-Claude Van Damme did the Epic Splits stunt in real life between two semi trucks, then an animated Chuck Norris outdid Van Damme with an Epic Splits stunt between two airplanes with a bunch of spec ops guys balanced on his head, Channing Tatum apparently did the splits too but I don't think anybody ever saw that one.

And now we have the only Epic Splits video that actually matters, besides the original that is because Van Damme's stunt was pretty darn cool, featuring some sweet action figure stop motion by Kyle Roberts- here's Wolverine doing the Epic Splits his way, complete with a grumbly little monologue and some Sentinel destruction.

Via Nerd Approved

When we think of flu prevention we normally think of shots, vitamins, and washing our hands before we eat. But what if you could make yourself unable to contract the influenza virus simply by eating a pickled turnip? Japanese researchers have discovered this possibility hidden in a commonly eaten food called suguki, a pickled turnip that is thought to be a “superfood” because of its health benefits.

When the Lactobacillus brevis bacteria found inside suguki was fed to mice it kept them from contracting the influenza virus, but the same bacteria has yet to be tested on humans. If it turns out to be a viable way to avoid getting the flu every year I’m sure people will start to appreciate the taste of pickled turnip much more!

Via Geekosystem

When a guy asks a girl to marry him the proposal is usually accompanied by flowers, dinner, champagne and a box with a ring inside. But one Chinese man felt that the only way he could get his geeky girlfriend to say yes was to construct a thirty foot tall model of Optimus Prime.

He built the Autobot leader out of over 40,000 rivets and almost $10,000 worth of iron and stainless steel, working through 400 drawings over the ten months it took him to transform a pile of metal and bolts into one amazing looking metal sculpture.

Via Uproxx

Unless you’re in the habit of entertaining lots of guests, or you have a large movie loving family, you probably don’t have a need for a movie theater-sized screen and stadium seating when you sit down to watch your favorite flick.

In fact, those who live alone have probably found themselves wishing for a private viewing experience that completely removes them from all the annoying distractions of the outside world, like friends and family for instance.

According to unfortunately-named Reddit user CertifiedPuppyRapist all you need is a smartphone, a razor blade and a cardboard box big enough to cover your head and you've got a private theater experience that will make you at one with your movie, and forever alone.

Via 22 Words

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Any actor who steps into the iconic shoes of sci-fi’s most famous time traveler Doctor Who knows they will have to deal with some far out alien species, strange storylines and as much weirdness as the writers can fit into one hour long episode.

However, it looks like the man who will be playing the thirteenth incarnation of the Doctor, Peter Capaldi, is quite familiar with cinematic strangeness, and he wrote and directed a BBC funded short film entitled Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life back in 1995. Take a gander if you dare, and try not to hold this surreal oddity against Peter when he takes over for Matt Smith in 2014.

Via Geeks Of Doom

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Patriot and celebrity conversationalist Stephen Colbert has been very up front about his love of The Lord of the Rings, both the movies made by Peter Jackson and the classic novels by J.R.R. Tolkien, and now his devotion to the series has resulted in a split second cameo in the latest film The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug.

I’m sure Stephen was super jazzed to be included in the film, but his appearance was so short it’s doubtful moviegoers even realized that the briefly appearing vagabond character in Laketown was actually played by Colbert, but now thanks to ScreenSlam you can bask in the momentary glory of Stephen’s Oscar worthy performance in a LOTR themed movie! You’re welcome America!

Via Gamma Squad