It looks like a mosaic of four different photos. Mindblowingly, it isn’t.
This is the work of photographer Bela Borsodi. He achieved the mosaic illusion by spending hours carefully arranging the items through the viewfinder of his camera.
Oh, this is tremendous. I saw some of the older ones last year, but MAN. The Sonic one. I love that so very much.
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1.Swift Kill (Sonic The Hedgehog)
2.Origin Story (Katamari Damacy)
3.Descent Into Madness (Batman)
4.Trouble Afoot (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
5.Rickshaw Cart (Mario)
6.Soul Eater (Kirby)
7.The Hero Rests (The Legend of Zelda)
8.The Queen (Metroid)
9.Barrel and Hammer (Donkey Kong)
Jed Henry had a Ukiyo-e Heroes exhibit last fall at Gallery Nucleus, but now he has a new show,Ukiyo-e Heroes 2, with even more woodblock print versions of the heroes that grace our gaming consoles and television screens. Check out some of the new prints above, along with a selection of older, but equally stunning versions of some favorite characters. If you are so inclined, you can see even more, and even purchase the prints, at the Gallery Nucleus Website.
The show runs until June 23 in Gallery Nucleus at 210 East Main St, Alhambra CA.
Coran “Kizer” Stone has a vivid imagination that includes viewing the Scoobie Doo gang as Ghostbusters, a Tintin/Dick Tracey team up, and as you can see here, a military-esque Princess Peach. I’m loving these alternate histories. Check out all that, plus a redesigned Wonder Woman, Carrie Kelley, and a whole lot more…
I have never really wanted a turtle before...I am rethinking this stance.
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I’m certain there is some space in the center of the Venn Diagram of people who own turtles and people who can knit crochet. I suggest the rest of you on that chart team up immediately.
This is magnificent. The response letter is high comedy.
Average citizen Jake Freivald lives in West Orange, New Jersey and is the owner of the web domain, westorange.info. It is a bare bones site that provides basic information about his town, and there’s probably no chance in heck that anyone who would happen to visit might confuse it with the official West Orange website that looks like this. Again, look at Jake’s website and then look at the township’s site and ask yourself if you’d ever think that the former could be confused with the latter.
Apparently someone in the West Orange government believes that Jake’s website is actually causing confusion, so the township’s attorney, Richard D.Trenk, fired off a cease and desist to Jake with a bunch of fancy, big city legal terms.
Dear Mr. Freivald:
I am the Township Attorney for the Township of West Orange (“Township”). It has come to our attention that, on or about May 13, 2013, you registered and began to use the domain name “westorange.info” (the “Info Domain”). The Township interprets this action as an effort by you to confuse and conflate the Township’s official domain name and Web site with the Info Domain that you maintain.
The use of the Township’s name is unauthorized and is likely to cause confustion [sic], mistake or to deceive the public and may be a violation of the Township’s federally protected rights. The Info Domain falsely creates the impression that the Township is associated or affiliated with the Info Domain. At a minimum, this action has been taken with constructive knowledge of the Township’s name and Web site, and constitutes bad faith use of the Info Domain.
Accordingly, the Township demands that you cease and desist from use, ownership and maintenance of the Info Domain. The Township further demands that, within ten (10) days, the Info Domain be withdrawn from the current registrar, and that you cease all current and future use of the Info Domain, or anything else confusingly similar thereto.
The Township reserves all rights and remedies.
Please be guided accordingly.
Very truly yours,
Richard D. Trenk, Township Attorney
Now, I can’t speak for Jake or anyone else, for that matter, but any time I get anything even remotely legal in the mail, I freak out and curl up in a ball under my bed, praying for the bad men to go away. Jake, however, forwarded the letter to his own attorney, Stephen Kaplitt, who wrote what might be considered one of the most incredible and downright ballsy responses to any letter, let alone a cease and desist. Enjoy…
HBO has released the first teaser trailer for their new serial killer drama True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. In case you need a refresher, this show sounds awesome. And in case you need a slightly more detailed refresher, here’s the blockquote from our post from last year.
True Detective, which sparked heated bidding after it was taken out to the top cable networks earlier this month, is descried as an elevated serial narrative with multiple perspectives and time frames. It centers on two detectives, Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. The investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 is framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case has been reopened. The concept is for the 8-episode first season to resolve the mystery at hand, with subsequent seasons using same structure but new characters and story. [Deadline]
You know how Hollywood big shots like Steven Spielberg are telling anyone who will listen that TV (specifically cable TV) is the place to be right now? This is what they mean. Networks like AMC, FX, and HBO are putting considerable resources into compelling storytelling (and shelling out for name actors like McConaughey and Harrelson), whereas the film industry continues to dump hundreds of millions of dollars into movies where The Rock makes things go boom. Yes, I love The Rock dearly, and if you literally titled a film The Rock Makes Things Go Boom I would probably be the first person in line at the theater, but sometimes you don’t want candy, you know? Sometimes you want steak. And increasingly, TV is the only place that serves it.
p.s. This show had me at “starring Matthew McConaughey as Detective Rust Cohle.”
For the longest time, I thought that the conservative moment was alienating to young people because of its embarrassingly antiquated stance on social issues. Turns out, that's not it — it's because conservatives aren't good enough at Twitter and YouTube! You know how those millennials are: one well-worded snarky Facebook update with a cool infographic and they lose sense of all their sham values.
I don't really like alcohol that much. I mean, I definitely drink it—I like a wine or a cocktail (and a cocktail and a cocktail) on a Friday afternoon—but I'm not one of those people who, say, sips a fine oaky bourbon and is all, "Oh, impudent...aspirational...cryptic...NEEDS MORE LOAM." I don't give a shit. Just hurry up and get it down there so I can talk to people like a normal.
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Kiersten Essenpreis has created a series of prints hypothesizing what various villains, monsters, and cartoon characters do on their days off. On my day off, I went to the Museum of Natural History, but nobody made a drawing of me. (Actually, oddly enough, somebody did. But it’s funnier to say otherwise, so the artist will have to forgive me.)
In what I choose to interpret as a tacit acknowledgement of users sharing accounts, internet giant Netflix has finally announced that they will implement features to accomodate multiple user profiles within a single account. As of now, the profile count is oscillating between five and six per subscription, but that has yet to be completely decided.
In an interview with Yahoo News, Tom Yellin, the Netflix VP of Product Innovation, demonstrated a prototype start screen with various icons representing different members of a family on the same account. Much like a computer startup screen, you select the profile that’s yours and sign in, but all within one subscription. You can still only stream up to two videos, even with the new profile developments. The primary function of the update is to separate out the viewing preferences of individual users so that their recommendations and data on those users isn’t muddled with the other parties sharing the account. In short: no more having to awkwardly explain to your friends and family why you were marathoning episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or Bridezillas. No more having to wonder why your dad watched all four Twilight films! Huzzah!
But seriously– people have been sharing Netflix accounts since the website’s inception. This new development is doing more than acknowledge the situation– it’s catering to it; and for Netflix, this is a trend. We reported on their premium plan for streaming up to four videos at a time on one account, and now with this new feature they are going further along their “good guy Netflix” route. I have to give kudos to them for listening to its users.
Though the update is currently only in the testing phase, Netflix projects that it will be ready by the end of August. We (as in, me and all of my friends who share my account) are very excited.
Do you ever wonder who does the voiceover for movie trailers? Well, we’ve got a film for you. In A World (starring Lake Bell) is all about one actress trying to make it in the voiceover business, and all of the trials and tribulations that come with her career (and with sounding really epic all of the time). Check it out.
Grantland's RSS feed is terrible, but this links to the "Jesus Christ Superman" article. Good read about why the movie didn't really resonate like it should have, I think.
Today would have been Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak’s 85th birthday. To celebrate, Google dedicated their daily doodle to him. Hit the jump to see it in motion.
Man...these are super neat. It will be a shame when the actual branding gets done and it's not this cool.
Late last month, Major League Soccer announced that a new expansion team will join the league in 2015: New York City Football Club (NYC FC). This will bring soccer to the New York metropolitan area and perhaps also ignite yet another "crosstown" rivalry — a la Yankees vs. Mets, Knicks vs. Nets — with the other MLS team, New York Red Bulls that play in the less glamorous suburb of Harrison, New Jersey. Less than a month after the announcement, two soccer and design aficionados have taken it upon themselves to design a proper identity for the new team.
I really like the subway token feel of the primary mark, it's the first use of the multi-stroke trend that makes sense and actually adds meaning to the logo. The secondary mark feels a little flimsy by comparison and hard to read at smaller sizes. Typography is edgy and contemporary. Cap looks almost like it belongs on a cop or firefighter, hence: win.
I love the old-school feel of the FC monogram and the ambition that you wouldn't even need to say "NYC". I bet legal would have a difference of opinion. The flared approach to the pentagon is a nice contrast to the more basic shape of Hyperakt's proposal and adds to the vintage feel. Unis are sexy. The hoodie is something I need, hence: win.
Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Unlocking the Truth is a metalcore trio composed of 11-year-olds Malcolm Brickhouse (electric guitar), Jarad Dawkins (drums) and Alec Atkins (bassist).
Original members Brickhouse and Dawkins, started their first band, Tears of Blood, back in 2007. Despite their youth, Unlocking the Truth has honed their chops playing for audiences in Times Square, at NYC's The Bitter End, and Amateur Night at the Apollo.
Writing and performing original compositions, the guys listen to everything from metal and hip hop to R&B and pop, and cite Chelsea Grin, Motionless in White, Escape the Fate, SlipKnot, Metallica, and Disturbed among their inspirations.
The guys completely CRUSHING it in Times Square
Brickhouse, in the band's East Flatbush practice space (aka his mom's basement)
I want to know who dresses these kids, because their sense of style is pristine. And seriously, how does an 11-year-old own boots this epic??
This is the plot of the music video for “Gravel Pit”: The members of Wu-Tang Clan all pile into a magic elevator and travel back in time to the period when dinosaurs roamed the earth, then they put on fur coats and give themselves new nicknames and perform the song inside a Flinstones-like rock quarry. If that sounds like the greatest possible premise for a music video to you, it’s because it definitely is, and if you disagree with that you are stupid and wrong. The end.
Wait, no. Not the end. We are going to have to talk about this video some more. A lot more. I mean, I didn’t even tell you about the all-out ninja fight yet. That simply won’t do. Here’s the plan: You watch the video, take a few minutes to try to wrap your head around what the hell you just saw, then meet me back here for a thorough breakdown of all that took place. Hang on tight, people. This one’s quite a ride.
The video starts off, as I mentioned, with Wu-Tang piling into an elevator, which turns out to be a magic, time-traveling elevator. Obviously. My favorite part of this is that it just, like, happens. There’s no explanation of how the elevator can travel through time: no lightning strike hitting it as the doors close, no mysterious janitor tinkering with the gears, no demonic attendant standing in there with them and flashing a devious smile at the camera, nothing. They just push a button and are whisked away to a land filled with dinosaurs. It’s like the director said “THERE’S NO TIME FOR PLOT I HAVE CGI PTERODACTYLS TO MAKE,” which is an excellent course of action that should be utilized more often in cinema.
In a somewhat unrelated matter, if this screencap is to be believed, Wu-Tang doesn’t even leave for the club until 4:30 a.m. Rappers live fascinating lives.
In an 1889 letter to a colleague, Russian playwright Anton Chekhov wrote “One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” His point was that you shouldn’t show the audience something dramatic and potentially destructive — like a gun, or a nuclear bomb, or a mysterious character who may or may not be up to no good — unless you actually plan on using it at some point. This theory of foreshadowing is now popularly referred to as “Chekhov’s gun,” and is taught in storytelling classes around the world.
Point being, let’s just call this screengrab “Chekhov’s Tyrannosaurus.”
I don’t want to spend too much time discussing Wu-Tang mastermind RZA here, seeing as he was covered extensively in the breakdown I did of the video for “The Baddest Man Alive,” but I really can’t just skip over the fact that he’s sitting at a table covered with diamonds and bags of money with dollar signs on them, and talking on what appears to be a cell phone made out of stone. These are important things that deserve to be noted.
Method Man, who has given himself the nickname Joe Quarry, handles the first verse while wearing fur overalls and carrying a large wooden club that he occasionally holds in front of his groin like a giant phallus. These are also important things that deserve to be noted.
Just so we’re all clear on this: This music video features Wu-Tang Clan performing inside a rock quarry, on a stage that is surrounding by a moat and wooly mammoth tusks. I want this to happen so bad I can feel it in my bones. Wu-Tang Clan Live At The Quarry, it could be called, and you could film it and show the whole thing on pay-per-view as part of their 20th anniversary celebration.
NOTE: I will trade this idea for a ticket to the show.
I am incredibly sad that Ol’ Dirty Bastard was in prison while this video was being filmed. I think it’s nice that they tried to include him anyway, but, I mean, I really think ODB would have liked hanging out with CGI dinosaurs. It probably would have confused the holy hell out of him, based on this video of him talking with John Norris about E.T., but I still think he would have liked it.
If you look closely, you’ll see that “Crystal Diamonds,” who is performing the hook in the video while chained to palm trees and flanked by human skulls, is actually played by Tamala Jones from Can’t Hardly Wait and Castle. You are welcome for this helpful and useful bit of information.
List of things in the world that are better than Ghostface Killah giving himself the nickname Frank Stoney and performing his verse while wearing head-to-toe white fur:
1) N/A
2) N/A
3) N/A
4) N/A
5) N/A
Oh, and here’s something else we learn during Ghostface’s verse: The quarry also contains card tables and slot machines. So, to recap, in addition to apparently being a working rock quarry staffed by dinosaurs with large baskets strapped to their backs, this location also features a stage, a jail, and games of chance, and is located in a place that 1) gets good rock cell phone reception, 2) is cool enough that Ghostface isn’t sweating in his fur hat, and 3) is also warm enough that the girls in bikinis aren’t shivering.
The architect who designed this place deserves an award. Any award will do.
So … okay.
Rap videos — and music videos in general — are not always the most female-friendly forms of artistic expression (as you may have noticed by the fact that the most prominent female character in this video is a bikini-clad prisoner who seems to be performing for the crowd’s enjoyment). Given that history, the fact that this video tries to play the whole “cave lady getting knocked unconscious and dragged off by her hair” thing for laughs is … well, it’s not the proudest moment in the history of music videos. There’s plenty to love here, and we are about to get to one of my favorite video moments in history, but I probably could have done without this particular scene.
I’m sorry for being a buzzkill a second ago. Here is a screenshot of Ghostface eating an apple.
Around the 4:15 mark the song starts winding down and we see a bunch of shots that seem to imply things are wrapping up. This is all well and good, except for the fact that the video is a full six minutes long, which raises an important question: What are they going to do with the remaining 90 seconds? If you guessed “surprise evil ninja attack followed by a battle to the death in the middle of the quarry,” then you are both correct and really, really good at guessing.
“But wait,” you ask, if you guessed something that didn’t involve an evil ninja attack. “What’s the point of tacking what is basically a very short martial arts film onto the end of a music video featuring dinosaurs and Flinstones-style imagery?”
Well, I have two answers for you: 1) Shut up, and 2) Stop asking questions.
The battle starts out, as all good ninja battles do, with dozens of nameless, faceless, Foot Soldier-esque minions meeting in an open area and clanging swords while their leaders observe from the high ground. This only last for a minute or so, though, as things begin to escalate very quickly. Let’s take this one step at a time.
First, RZA (aka Bobby Boulders) and his nemesis Bo Rockhard run across the top of battle by stepping on their soldiers’ heads and proceed to fight while hovering in mid-air like someone up and changed the title of this song to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dinosaur…
… then they separate and RZA flies through the air doing spinsies and flips until he reaches the top of the quarry, grabs the bow and arrows thrown to him by one of his injured warriors, and fires a number of arrows at once, all of which end up in the hearts of his enemies.
BUT.
Bo Rockhard remains unharmed, and he attempts to escape the battle by doing a backflip out of the quarry. Fortunately for the good guys…
… BOOM TYRANNOSAURUS SNEAK ATTACK. FADE TO BLACK. END OF VIDEO.
There are not nearly enough music videos that end with an evil ninja getting eaten by a dinosaur. Just my opinion.
