Author: Maurice Mitchell
This week I’m starting back up my Friday Geek Bits link list. I found a bunch of great new blogs to share links from thanks to the challenge. Hope you enjoy them and always remember to share great stuff you find on other blogs. The Internet is a big place and some great stuff gets lost without help. What does a rapping Dalek sound like? What famous superhero actor “didn’t get” The Dark Knight? When will we see another Hulk movie? Which albums should you won if you’re a sci-fi fan? How can you win a Giant Stuffed Microbe? What…
Can you spot a low budget knock-off of a popular movie? Universal Studios doesn’t think so. Earlier this week Universal sued the low budget movie company Global Asylum, or “The Asylum,” for producing a similar movie to the board game based film Battleship (2012) called American Battleship. Both movies revolve around naval ships fighting aliens. Universal sued them to stop them from confusing the public who would rent or buy the video thinking its the real blockbuster. This action arises out of Global Asylum’s knowing and willful violation of Universal’s rights with respect to Universal’s highly anticipated motion picture Battleship, and Global Asylum’s blatant…
The Avengers (2012) Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo Over the weekend, the film The Avengers (2012) set a record. Besides having the highest opening weekend gross ($200 million), it is also the movie that set the new standard for superhero team movies. It’s loud, boisterous and full of explosions, but still manages to take six characters and put them together in a way that doesn’t feel contrived or forced. Like Richard Murdock’s explanation of phone-hacking. The movie picks up where Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger left off. The military team…
Here’s a fun game: Can you guess which member of this away team is going to die? It’s a tough one, so I’ll give you a hint. Of the four people in this photo Kirk (William Shatner) Spock (Leonard Nimoy) McCoy (DeForrest Kelley) and Ensign Ricky only one has a shirt that’s red. Bonus Question: Which episode is this from? Who do you think isn’t going to make it? What do you think of the photo? [Image Source: lollercoaster.melollercoaster.me]
Big news! Our blogger buddie M. Pax has a new book launching today! Here’s the press release. The Backworlds is here! The first story in the Backworlds series by M. Pax. A vision of how humanity might colonize the galaxy some day in the distant future. The Backworlds After the war with Earth, bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to hoard his fortune by destroying his son. Cut off from family and friends, with little money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze…
With the release of The Avengers (2012) in the US comes the $220 million big-budget film based on the Marvel comic superheroes. The films already made $281.1 million, so the question is when are you planning to watch it? Official Synopsis: Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers”–the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in…
We’ve all been waiting for The Avengers for years. In the vacuum, fans stepped in and created fan trailers. The movies we wanted to see and some we didn’t know we wanted. Here are the seven most amazing, shocking and hilarious fan-made trailers for The Avengers. Before we had The Avengers, we had these. 7. Avengers Inception Style There are a lot of mash-ups of the Inception trailer with other movies. Frankly, I think this one is more effective than some of the others. Surprisingly enough, the music actually synches up pretty well in places. 6. Lego Avengers Trailer 1…
Captain Sunstrike’s (Adam Rini) noble battle style Voyage Trekkers season two is on it’s way and I can’t wait. Last year, the webseries Voyage Trekkers blew me away with it’s smart writing brilliant acting and social commentary. It turned everything we knew about space travel upside-down and on it’s head. I laughed through the whole season. When I interviewed Nathan Blackwell he said they might not have a season two without funding and that made me sad. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of the whole crew, they’re coming together to bring us more of the “worst crew in the galaxy.” I…
Here are some of the new DVDs coming out this week you may want to check out. Hot With Men in Black III coming out you may want to own the newly released Blu-Ray versions of the first two films. I was less impressed with the second one, but I know a lot of people liked it. The MIB collector’s edition has a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff if you’re into that kind of thing (***Raises hand***). The MIB disk has conceptual art and behind-the-scenes videos including “Telestrator Commentary with Director Barry Sonnefeld and Tommy Lee Jones” which means they can…
The Avengers opens this week. Your friends are excited, but you could care less. Here’s how you can look like you know everything there is to know about the movie in nine simple phrases. Your friends talk about some guy named Thor and “Mjolnir” like you should know what they’re talking about. They make you feel silly since you have no idea what a “Loki” is. As for “The Hulk,” you remember hearing about the TV series, but that’s it. Maybe you know a little bit about the movies, but haven’t seen them all and don’t have time to catch…
Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and Emma Frost (January Jones) X is For X-Men Update: All the entries are great, but the winner is Reno4711! We’re doing another long-overdue caption contest. This one has a picture from X:Men: First Class (2011) of Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and Emma Frost (January Jones) sitting on a couch in his groovy pad. Enter a comment below of what you think they’re saying to each other. Next Monday morning we’ll update the picture with our favorite caption and submit it to several image sharing sites along with your name and (if you have one) blog.…
Back in 2005 The Daily Show with John Stewart ran a piece about Hasbro’s merchandising tie-ins for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. It was called “Sith Happens” Hasbro toys rolls out a new line of toys to celebrate the opening of the final Star Wars movie. Everyone laughs about the talking Yoda doll and “Darth Tater,” but no one wants to do anything about it. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook It was funny then, but jump seven years and we have Darth Maul selling…
V is for Villains Where would Vader be if he hadn’t died from the Emperor? What would Jason be doing when he’s in his twilight years? What would the twins from the Shining be doing when they were in their sixties? Laughing Squid has a bunch of photos of your favorite villains being somewhat less heroic things. For Horror Vacui, Italian photographer Federico Chiesa has imagined what evil film characters would look like in their later years, including Darth Vader, Jason Voorhees and more. Carolina Trotta provided special effects, makeup artistry and styling for the project. Via Collider Thanks to…
Update: Removed duplicate wallpaper If you want to bring the force to your computer desktop here are some of my favorites. With six movies and hundreds of characters there are literally thousands of wallpaper backgrounds. You can’t see them all, but I brought you some of my favorites. Last time I brought you the best Star Trek wallpaper sites. I decided to bring you the best Star Wars wallpaper ever. Even if you don’t use a computer wallpaper you can still marvel at the beautiful images below. Here are my top ten wallpapers for Star Wars. 1. http://www.alexandgregory.com …
T is for Tenderstar Watch a cool sci-fi style video for a band called “Tenderstar.” The animation was created by a fellow blogger buddie you may know named Joshua Westbury AKA Sci-Fi Gene. Here’s how Joshua, the creator of the video describes it: For me the best part of making this video was working with the songwriter and lead singer who were both willing to share what the song meant to them. We started with abstract visualizations of the different sounds which also set the tone for the video, then added more concepts based on the verses and the overall…
Or…The Eight Ways Mariel Hemmingway Should Have Died in Superman IV In io9.com this week, they had a great post about the most absurd scene in the worst Superman movie, Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987). I’m not going to link to it because it has a ton of curse words and this is a family friendly blog. Even the title is NSFW. But, if you head there you can find it and it makes some great points. That one scene proves once and for all that no one in the making of the film cared. The film is…
Q is For Quine Ha! Bet you don’t see any other blogs in the A-Z challenge using the word Quine! Quine means a self-replicating program or machine. Took me a while, but I got a good word. In the history of science-fiction there have been many robots, androids and machines. Occasionally, a robot is given the ability to replicate. It’s considered one of the great moral questions of science-fiction. Does the ability to reproduce make the machine more than just a machine? Does it mean it’s alive? Here are some of the best and your chance to vote on your favorite. Data…
“An Assembly So Awesome, It Should Be Illegal.” Any movie that starts with a tagline like that is destined to be great. Add seven of our favorite Marvel superheroes and it goes to eleven. The Avengers movie is only a few weeks away, but that doesn’t mean we can’t wish for another version. This amazing fan poster design for a fictional movie idea featuring The Avengers called Fury’s Seven was created by ninjaink who describes the concept. “Fury’s Seven” is a 2012 American comedy-superhero caper film. It features an ensemble cast of the world’s mightiest heroes. The film was a success…
O is For Orion Women “They’re like animals. Vicious. Seductive. They say no human male can resist them.” Commodore Mendez Star Trek: The Original Series “The Menagerie” Of the many alien females that Captain Kirk came across, none were more visually striking than the women of Orion. First appearing in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Menagerie,” they captivated viewers. Throughout the original series they were thought to have been slaves, but in the show Star Trek: Enterprise it was revealed that the women actually rule the planet and use the idea of slavery to take control of…
There has been a bunch of unconfirmed rumors surrounding the sequels to two of the biggest Marvel films. Here’s the rundown: Ben Kingsley Will Play Mandarin In Iron Man 3 Ever since Iron Man there have been hints that the Mandarin was going to be Tony Stark’s villain. Rumors are swirling that the Chinese villain known as “The Mandarin” will be played by Ben Kingsley in the next sequel. He’s already been cast as the villain according to /Film, but we don’t know for sure which one. A recent casting call on CBM asks for Asian extras which sounds suspiciously…
M is for Man of SteelOn the Man of Steel (2013) Facebook page they changed the cover photo to the new logo. It’s darker, grittier and more metallic. I’d love to know how you feel about it. Huffington Post says it best: Eschewing the clean lines and look of past iterations of the Superman logo, the new “Man of Steel” logo goes with a metallic grittiness, deeper colors, and swooping lines and deep shadows. The new logo is a sufficiently dark look for what passes as a modern reboot, as it has a “I’m superman and I’m gritty and real”…
The television show Grimm is filled with mythology, fascinating creatures and terrifying beasts, but these are the ones that stand out as the greatest and freakiest. If you’ve never seen Grimm you’re missing a wild show. Think X-Files with fairy tales. It’s pretty popular, which explains why it was renewed for a second season. Set in modern day Portland, Oregon, Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) is a police detective who inherits the ability to see supernatural creatures that inspired ancient fairy tales. Besides the originality of the “species” and the complex social structure behind the “Wesen” (the collective name for the…
K Is For Kashyyyk When George Lucas decided to set one of the battles on the home planet of the Wookies, he had no idea how much work it would take. In Star Wars, Kashyyyk is the home planet of the furry Wookies like Chewbacca. One source says that one live-action scene alone pushed the entire filming of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). This Revenge of the Sith webisode below explains how much work went into the costumes and what it was like for the eight actors (Michael Kingma, Axel Dench, Steven Foy, Julian Khazzouh, James Rowland,…
My brother wrote this post in 2009. Since then the TV show Dollhouse has been cancelled, but there’s a lot to learn for new shows like Terra Nova and Awake. Sci-Fi’s Blastr wrote an interesting article on “7 Ways Dollhouse Could Have Been Great.” Personally, I don’t agree with most of them, because they don’t address the fundamental flaws in the show. So here’s my version: 5 Ways Dollhouse Could Have Been Great. 5. Don’t make the hero an Active. This is probably the most radical change to the series, but I think an important one. If you’re going to make…
I is for Indiana Jones In the fourth movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Indiana Jones survives the explosion of a atomic bomb by ducking in a refrigerator. You’d think this kind of impossibility would be shrugged off in movies where people have their hearts torn out and skydive using lifeboats, but no. Usually we can suspend disbelief because the plot and characters are engaging. This was not the case with The Crystal Skull. The plot and characters were so weak that we couldn’t help noticing it. It became a Internet phrase meaning the point in…
Did you wish The Dark Knight had been an 8-bit Atari game from the 80s? If so, your dream has come true! Eric Palmer has created a bunch of hilarious movie posters using a retro style. The Matrix and Dark Knight ones are my favorite, but I love the Jurassic Park toilet. Check ’em out… There are a bunch more, so head over to his site to see more of his work. My favorite is the Titanic poster. BTW, if you’re looking for the A-Z post it’s coming soon! Check back later. Hat tip to Neil F. for the tip! What…
G is for Galactica This Battlestar Galactica photoshoot with some of the cast is both hilarious and interesting. For the March 11, 2008 TV Guide Magazine cover they got a bunch of great behind-the-scenes moments and quotes from the cast of Battlestar Galactica (2004). It really shows why the show was so great. Tricia Helfer (Number Six), Katee Sackhoff (Kyra “Starbuck” Thrace), James Callis (Gaius Baltar), Mary McDonnell (Laura Roslin) and Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama) are funny, playful and beautiful. The chemistry between the actors is obvious. From Tricia Helfer laughing while covering her top to Olmos and McDonnell…
Long day at work? The kids getting you down? Why not listen to the Doctor Who Dalek relaxation tape for humans? Ambient music plays as the Dalek’s soothing voice reminds you to breath and relax. From Peter Serafinowicz’ last radio show on BBC 6 Saturday 31st March 2012. What’s a Dalek? The Daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Within the series, Daleks are cyborgs from the planet Skaro, created by the scientist Davros during the final years of a thousand-year war against the Thals. They are genetically engineered Kaled mutants…
E is for The Empire Strikes Back When most people rank the Star Wars films they put Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) at the top of the list. So, what do you do if you’re one of those people that doesn’t like Empire Strikes Back (ESB)? It’s my personal favorite for what I call the BIG REVEAL, for those few who haven’t seen it. Not everyone agrees its the best of the series though. In fact, George Lucas says its the worst. While many informal polls have The Empire Strikes Back at number two in…
When X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) came out, I posted the news that 47% of the $160 million dollars worth of tickets that past weekend were bought by women. I know why I was there. To see everyone’s favorite X-Man get down and dirt with the bad guys. But, I often wondered. Why did so many women go to see it? So, I did some research and broke down why, I think, so many women love Hugh Jackman as Wolvie. Wolverine’s Body Hair is In the Right Place According to a Harris Interactive survey, “more than 90 percent of women between the ages of…